Lawrence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke

Hastings coat of arms as the Earl of Pembroke

Lawrence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (also Laurence Hastings , after another count also 12th Earl of Pembroke ) (born March 20, 1320 in Allesley , Warwickshire , † after August 24, 1348 in Abergavenny Castle ) was an English magnate and military .

Origin and childhood

Lawrence Hastings was the only child of John Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings and his wife Juliana Leybourne . His father died as early as 1325, whereby Lawrence became the heir of his estates, including the rule Abergavenny in Wales, Ashill in Norfolk and the title of Baron Hastings . In addition, after the death of his great-uncle Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke in 1324, he became his co-heir. During his minority, however, his lands first fell under the administration of the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser the Younger , after whose overthrow to King Edward III. and finally to his stepfather William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon , who married his mother after the death of Hastings' father. Shortly after May 29, 1328, the young Hastings in Hereford was married to Agnes Mortimer , the third daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March , who was the actual ruler of England from 1327 to 1330. It is possible that the date of Hastings' wedding to Agnes was confused with the weddings of two other daughters of Mortimer, which did not take place in Hereford until 1329, after Mortimer was promoted to Earl of March.

Youth and beginning of military career

In July 1332, Hastings is mentioned as an Esquire in Queen Philippa's household . From July 1338 to the end of October 1339 he took part in the campaign of Edward III during the Hundred Years War with three servants . to Flanders , for which the king gave him a gift of 100 marks in April 1338 and in September 1338 promised him an annual pension of 200 marks. Although he was still officially a minor, the king ordered the surrender of the inheritance on February 4, 1339, with the exception of the lands still administered by Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby . In autumn 1339 he took part in the Chevauchée , which the king led to the region around Cambrai as well as to the Vermandois and Thiérache . During this campaign, the king elevated him to the 9th of October in the convent Mont-Saint Martin to Earl of Pembroke , as his grandmother Isabel de Valence, the oldest sister of Amyer de Valence , the last Earl of Pembroke had been. Accordingly, he included the coat of arms of Valence in his coat of arms. On November 16, 1339 Pembroke was called to parliament for the first time . In the next few years he mainly took care of the administration of his estates, which he took over completely in May 1341 after he was of legal age. Presumably he did not take part in the naval battle of Sluis in 1340, in the siege of Tournai or in the campaign in the winter of 1341/42 to Scotland. On September 30, 1340 he was appointed administrator of Ferns Castle in Wexford and other estates in Ireland. On February 11, 1342 he took part in a major tournament in Dunstable . He gave several of his followers fiefs in Pembrokeshire and made them his vassals, including his uncle Sir Hugh Hastings .

Role in the Hundred Years War

In the last weeks of 1342 he resumed his military career and fought with the king in Brittany during the War of the Breton Succession until early 1343. He led a total of 64 servants and 100 mounted archers. In the next few years he was further involved in the fighting in France. In August 1345 he followed Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, to Aquitaine with 80 men in arms and 80 archers . He fought at the side of Derby for over a year, taking part in the conquest of Bergerac on August 24, 1345 . However, he did not take part in the Battle of Auberoche , as he was only able to join Derby with his troops on the day after the battle, on October 22nd. Derby was able to take numerous prisoners in the battle, which brought him high ransom money. Pembroke was deeply hurt by the fact that he had not waited for the fight to arrive. As a result, Pembroke was one of the leaders of the English garrison, who successfully defended Aiguillon against the troops of Duke John of Normandy from late March to early 1346 . In December 1346 Pembroke returned to England, where he got into a heavy storm on the way back. Back in France, Pembroke took part in the siege of Calais . In June 1347 he was together with the Earl of Northampton in command of a fleet that should block the port. On June 25, 1347 they achieved a complete victory over a French fleet at Le Crotoy .

Return to England and death

Pembroke returned to England, where he made his will on August 24, 1348. A few days later he died, presumably of the plague . He was buried in the priory church of St Mary of Abergavenny .

He was heir to his one year old son, John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke . His widow Anges married John Hakluyt .

Web links

• Andrew Ayton: Hastings, Laurence, twelfth earl of Pembroke (1320-1348). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
• Laurence de Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke on thepeerage.com , accessed May 2, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 206
2. ↑ HISTORIC MONUMENTS at St Mary's Parish Church, St Mary's Priory, Abergavenny. Retrieved May 3, 2016 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Pembroke 1339-1348	John Hastings