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HUGH DE LACY

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 569 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUGH DE See also:LACY , 1st See also:Earl of See also:Ulster (d. 1242 ?), was descended from See also:Walter de Lacy (d. 1(385), who fought for See also:William the Conqueror at See also:Hastings. The See also:family came from Lassy in See also:Normandy, and after the See also:Conquest Walter de Lacy obtained extensive grants of See also:land on the Welsh See also:marches. He was the first See also:baron Lacy by See also:tenure, and was probably a See also:brother, certainly a kinsman, of Ilbert de Lacy, from whom were descended See also:Roger de Lacy, See also:justiciar in the reign of See also:King See also:John, and the earls of See also:Lincoln (q.v.) of the de Lacy family. Although Walter had three sons, one of whom founded Llanthony See also:Abbey, none of them See also:left heirs; but his daughter's son See also:Gilbert took the name of de Lacy and became the See also:fourth baron. Gilbert's son Hugh de Lacy (d. 1186) was one of the barons who accompanied See also:Henry II. to See also:Ireland in 1171; he obtained a See also:grant of See also:Meath, and governed Ireland as vicegerent for the king. By his wife See also:Rose of Mon-mouth Hugh was See also:father of Walter de Lacy (d. 1241), who succeeded his father as See also:lord of Meath and took a leading See also:part in the conflict of his family with John de See also:Courci in Ireland, and also of Hugh de Lacy, 1st earl of Ulster. The latter was for a See also:time a coadjutor of de Courci in See also:Leinster and See also:Munster-, but after 'zoo the rivalry between the two See also:developed into See also:war, and in 1203 de Lacy drove de Courci out of Down, and in the following See also:year took him prisoner. He was rewarded by the king with grants of land in Ulster and See also:Connaught, which were confirmed by the See also:charter of the 29th of May 1205, when Hugh was created earl.

He returned to Ireland with quasi-viceregal authority, and endeavoured without much success to reduce the O'See also:

Neill of See also:Tyrone to submission. In 1207 war See also:broke out between the earl of Ulster and FitzHenry, the justiciar. This brought King John in See also:person to Ireland, where he expelled the earl's brother, Walter de Lacy, from Meath, and compelled the earl himself to See also:fly from See also:Carrickfergus to See also:Scotland. For several years Ulster took part in the See also:wars in See also:France, and he did not return to Ireland till 1221, when he allied himself with O'Neill against the See also:English. In 1226 his lands in Ulster were handed over to his brother Walter, but were restored to him in the following year, after which date he appears to have loyally served the king, being more than once summoned to See also:England to give See also:advice about Irish affairs. He died at Carrickfergus in 1242 or 1243. He left no surviving legitimate See also:children, and on his See also:death the earldom of Ulster reverted to the See also:Crown. In 1254 the lordship of Ireland was granted by Henry III. to See also:Prince See also:Edward (afterwards Edward I.), who about 1255 transferred " the See also:county of Ulster " to Walter de See also:Burgh, lord of Connaught, in See also:exchange for the See also:rich domain of Kilsilan. De Burgh was henceforth, or at all events within a See also:short time afterwards, styled earl of Ulster, to which See also:title he may have advanced some hereditary claim of a loose See also:order through his See also:mother Egidia, daughter of Walter de Lacy, the first earl of Ulster's brother. The earldom remained in the family of De Burgh until the death of William, 3rd earl of this See also:line, in 1333, when it passed to his daughter See also:Elizabeth, who married Lionel See also:Plantagenet, son of Edward III. Lionel, having inherited in right of his wife the See also:great estates of the family of de See also:Clare as well as those of de Burgh, was created See also:duke of See also:Clarence in 1362. Leaving no male heirs, Lionel was succeeded in the earldom of Ulster by his daughter Philippa, who married See also:Edmund See also:Mortimer, earl of See also:March.

The third Mortimer, earl of Ulster, died unmarried in 1425, when his titles were inherited by his See also:

sister's son, See also:Richard Plantagenet, duke of See also:York, whose son Edward ascended the See also:throne as Edward IV. in 1461. Since that date the earldom of Ulster, which then merged in the Crown, has only been held by members of the royal family. It was granted in 16J9 to See also:James, duke of York, second son of See also:Charles I., on whose See also:accession as James II. it again merged in the Crown. The next prince to See also:bear the title (1716) was Ernest •See also:Augustus, duke of See also:Brunswick-See also:Luneburg, son of the elector of See also:Hanover, and youngest brother of See also:George I. The title became See also:extinct at his death without heirs in 1728. It was next conferred on Edward Augustus, brother of George III., in 176o, again becoming extinct at his death seven years later. In 1784 Prince See also:Frederick, second son of George III., was created earl of Ulster, and died leaving no children in 1827. Each of these last four earls of Ulster, all being of See also:separate creations, held the title in See also:conjunction with the dukedoms of York and See also:Albany. On the next occasion of its revival it was See also:united with the dukedom of See also:Edinburgh, Prince See also:Alfred Ernest See also:Albert, second son of See also:Queen See also:Victoria, being created duke of Edinburgh, earl of See also:Kent and earl of Ulster in 1866. Otl the death of the duke of Edinburgh in 190o the earldom became extinct. See, for the de Lacy and de Burgh earls of Ulster, The See also:Chronicle of See also:Florence of See also:Worcester, edited by T. Forester (See also:London, 1854) ; See also:Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters, edited by J.

O'See also:

Donovan (7 vols., See also:Dublin, 1851) ; The Annals of See also:Loch Ce, edited by W. M. Hennessy, " Rolls See also:Series " (2 vols., London, 1871) ; See also:Calendar of Documents See also:Relating to Ireland, edited by H. S. Sweetman (5 vols., London, 1875–'886); W. W. See also:Shirley, Royal and See also:Historical Letterc of the Reign of Henry III., " Rolls Series " (2 vols., London, 1862–1866) ; See also:Sir J. T. Gilbert, See also:History of the Viceroys of Ireland (Dublin, 1865). For the later history of the earldom see G. E. C., See also:Complete See also:Peerage, vol. viii.

(London, 1898). (R. J.

End of Article: HUGH DE LACY

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