Hugh de Lacy (Lord of Meath)

Hugh de Lacy (* around 1125; † 1186 ) was the son of Gilbert de Lacy from the Norman noble family de Lacy , who had come to England with William the Conqueror . In 1171, Hugh de Lacy played a major role in the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland . He accompanied King Henry II of England on his campaign to Ireland and received the former Irish provincial kingdom of Meath as a fief. The fifth Baron de Lacy became "Lord of Meath", took over the castle at Dublin built by the Vikings and represented the king as Justiciar of Ireland when he returned to England in 1172.

Lord of Meath

Trim Castle ruins

Hugh built a number of fortifications including Castle of Scryne, Navan, Killeen Castle, Durrow, Kilkea Castle in Castledermot ( Leinster ), and Castle of Leighlin in Carlow . Trim Castle was built in Meath , originally built as a motte , which over time has grown into the largest castle in Europe. Also Nugent Castle in Delvin in County Westmeath is credited.

In 1160 Hugh de Lacy had married Rose of Monmouth. The couple had a daughter and two sons: Walter (1172-1241), who succeeded his father as Lord of Meath and Sheriff of Herefordshire, and the younger Hugh (1176-1242), later the Earl of Ulster .

In 1185 Heinrich's son, Johann Ohneland , decided to visit Ireland, which his father had promised him as an inheritance. In fact, he should have been crowned King of Ireland, but objections from the Pope as well as local leaders and Norman barons deterred him. Although Johann translated with a large force, neither the contemporary chronicles nor later historians report any particular successes for the future English king. After a few months, Johann Ohneland had to leave again. Some historians believe that he ran out of money for his lavish court, others estimate that Hugh de Lacy, who saw himself as the Viceroy of Ireland, became impatient because of John's presence.

During this time the saying arose that the foreign occupiers had become “more Irish than the Irish themselves”, handed down in Latin as Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis . Among the families who spoke Irish and partly took Irish names were those of Richard FitzGilbert de Clare , called "Strongbow", Gilbert de Angulo, later called "MacCostello", and Hugh de Lacy.

Hugh's death

In 1186, however, Hugh de Lacy was slain with an ax by an Irishman while he was building a castle himself. The legend tells that the motive for this was the destruction of an abbey founded by St. Columban of Iona or a church dedicated to the Irish national saint St. Patrick , because Hugh needed the stones to build the castle in Durrow. Of course, it was also the hard labor that the Irish had to do to build the vast Norman fortifications that they turned against the Lord. However, the historical sources do not agree on whether the murderer was a simple laborer, a disguised Irish nobleman or even a murderer hired by the English royal family. Hugh de Lacy was buried in Bective Abbey in 1195 .

Johann Ohneland immediately considered returning to Ireland after Hugh's murder, but was deterred by the death of his brother Gottfried, who had been installed by his father Henry II as ruler of Brittany and other French possessions of the Plantagenet family . The dispute over Gottfried's inheritance caused conflicts with the French King Philip II August on the European mainland. The rule of Meath was now passed on to Hugh's older son Walter de Lacy. However, after Hugh de Lacy's death, King Henry II appointed Baron John de Courcy , who had conquered the former Provincial Kingdom of Ulster since 1177, as the “Justiciar” for Ireland . Only later did the brothers Walter and Hugh de Lacy achieve the installation of the younger Hugh as coadjutor de Courcys for the provinces of Leinster and Munster .

Web links

• LibraryIreland.com

literature

• Paul Martin Remfry: Longtown Castle 1048 to 1241. SCS Publishing, Worcester 1997, ISBN 1-899376-29-1 .
• Paul Martin Remfry: The Castles of Ewias Lacy, 1048 to 1403. SCS Publishing, Worcester 1998, ISBN 1-899376-37-2 .
• Frederick Lewis Weis: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700. The Lineage of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and some of their Descendants. 7th edition, with Additions and Corrections by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. Assisted by David Faris. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore MD 1999, ISBN 0-8063-1367-6 , Lines: 177A-8, 177B-7.