John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings

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Seal of John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings

John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (also John de Hastings ) (born May 6, 1262 in Allesley , Warwickshire , † before February 28, 1313 ) was an English nobleman and military man. He was one of the thirteen aspirants to the Scottish throne in 1290 and served the English kings as Seneschal of Gascony .

Origin and heritage

John Hastings was the eldest son and heir to Henry Hastings and Joanna Cantilupe , daughter of William III de Cantilupe . His father, who was one of the leading rebels during the Second War of the Barons , died in 1269, his mother died in 1271. King Heinrich III. gave the guardianship of John to his younger brother Richard of Cornwall and his son Edmund . To this end, he gave the right of John's marriage to his half-brother William de Valence , one of the so-called Lusignans . When George de Cantilupe , his mother's brother, died in 1273 , John also became the heir of Abergavenny , a reign of the Welsh Marches in South East Wales. On July 12, 1283, when he came of age, he was therefore given Abergavenny with Abergavenny Castle and Cilgerran Castle .

Marcher Lord of Abergavenny in Wales

Hastings served the king in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Gascony for the next several years . In 1285 his sister Ada married the Welsh Lord Rhys ap Maredudd , one of the few Welsh people who still had their own rule after the conquest of Wales in 1283 . Hastings donated his estates in St Clears , Angoy and Pemmlick to the couple . Already in 1287 Rhys ap Maredudd was driven to a rebellion against the English rule. Hastings belonged to the English army that was mobilized to put down the rebellion. Rhys Dinefwr Castle was captured, he himself was expropriated and fled. Some of Hastings Welsh subjects had also supported the rebellion, which is why they were sentenced to fines. Hastings was allowed to keep the relatively mild fines itself.

Contender for the Scottish Throne and Scottish War of Independence

When it came to the Scottish succession controversy, Hastings raised a claim to the Scottish throne in 1291 as the grandson of Ada, the youngest of the three daughters of David of Huntingdon and thus as the great-great-great- grandson of King David I of Scotland . As the grandson of a younger daughter of David of Huntingdon, however, he had little real chance against John Balliol or Robert de Brus . He claimed, however, that Scotland, as an English fiefdom, was not an independent empire, so that the Scottish throne had to be divided among the heirs according to English inheritance law. However, this claim was rejected by the committee that should decide on the succession to the throne. When it became apparent that John Balliol had the best chance of taking the throne, Robert de Brus supported the Hastings claim in vain. Brus had previously attempted to dispute both Balliol and Hastings' claims to their share of Earl David's reign of Garioch .

Hastings was first called to parliament in 1290 . From 1295 he took part regularly in parliamentary meetings, so that he received the title of Baron Hastings . In 1296 he took part in the campaign of King Edward I , which brought Scotland under direct English rule. After the Scottish War of Independence began in 1297 , Hastings regularly took part in the English campaigns. Hastings was also officially knighted during the war . In 1300 he took part in the siege of Caerlaverock Castle , while he carried the banner of his friend, Bishop Antony Bek of Durham. The war with Scotland directly burdened his finances, as Joan de Clare , the widowed Countess of Fife owed him 960 marks . Because their estates had been sacked by the Scots under Sir Herbert Morham , they had to leave several estates in Scotland and England to settle the debts Hastings. After Hastings got his money back through the income from these goods, he gave them back to Joan de Clare after three years.

Seneschal of Gascony and further participation in the war with Scotland

As a recognized and capable vassal of the king, he was appointed King's Lieutenant and Seneschal of Gascony in December 1302 . After the uprising of Robert the Bruce , who had become King of Scotland as Robert I , he returned to England in 1306 and again took part in the fighting in Scotland. His main task was now the sea blockade of the Scottish west coast, for which Ayr initially served as his main base. He later moved his base to the Isle of Arran , where he became the commandant of Brodick Castle . In February 1307, a group of Scottish rebels under James Douglas and Robert Boyd managed to land on Arran from Kintyre . The rebels captured weapons and other equipment from a transport that was supposed to bring reinforcements to Brodick. Nevertheless, Hastings was in gratitude for his services instead of Alan Stewart, Earl of Menteith , Robert the Bruce supported, the Earl of Menteith levied. In 1307 Hastings returned to England, where he attended the coronation of Edward II on February 25, 1308 . In October 1309 he traveled back to Gascony on behalf of the king, where he again took over the office of Seneschal and King's Lieutenant in November.

Hastings died before February 28, 1313 and was buried in the Franciscan Church in Coventry .

Marriages and offspring

In his first marriage, Hastings was married to Isabel († 1305), a daughter of William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke and Joan de Munchensi . He had several children with her, including:

In his second marriage before 1308 he married Isabel le Despenser , the widow of Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Thomond and daughter of Hugh le Despenser the Elder and of Isabella de Beauchamp . He had at least three children with her:

  • Thomas Hastings († 1333)
  • Margaret Hastings (around 1309-1359)
  1. ∞ William Martin, 2nd Baron Martin
  2. ∞ Robert de Waterville

After his death, his widow married Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, for the third time .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 196
predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Hastings
1295-1313 		John Hastings
personal data
SURNAME Hastings, John, 1st Baron Hastings
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Hastings, John, 1st Baron Hastings
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman and military man, Seneschal of Gascony
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1262
PLACE OF BIRTH Allesley , Warwickshire
DATE OF DEATH before February 28, 1313