Roger de Lacy

Roger de Lacy is one of those people for whom I started this blog: a person not famous enough to be of interest to the Modern Age but who was significant in his time.

Born in 1170 to the Baron of Halton John Fitz Richard and Alice of Essex, he was also known as Roger Fitz John, but also went by Roger de Lisours for a time, hoping he might inherit the de Lisours lands after the current holder (his paternal grandmother) died. She held a barony because of her relationship to its previous owner, Robert de Lacy, the Baron of Pontefract.

Robert de Lacy died in 1193, and Roger agreed to change his name to de Lacy as part of the agreement with his grandmother to give up his desire for the de Lisours lands but inherit the de Lacy-connected Pontefract. This agreement also made him Lord of Bowland and Lord of Blackburnshire. He was also hereditary Constable of Chester.

The problem with Pontefract was that Robert de Lacy had not supported King Henry I in the power struggle with his brother, Robert Curthose. Henry confiscated Pontefract Castle as a result, and Roger had to pay King Richard I 3000 marks for the "Honour of Pontefract"; Roger could live in the castle and take care of it, but its owner was still the Crown.

Roger stayed in England during the Third Crusade, although he was a powerful noble with several lands from which he could draw men to accompany Richard. His father went along, however, and died at the Siege of Acre.

When John became king, Roger was part of the noble escort to bring King William "the Lion" of Scotland to John. John trusted Roger to be commander of Château Gaillard, the fortress built by Richard as a staging point in his quest to re-take lands in Normandy that Philip of France had conquered while Richard was in the Holy land and imprisoned. That put Roger in charge during the siege by Philip, which was discussed yesterday.

de Lacy survived the siege and returned to England, where he worked to reinforce Pontefract Castle. Meanwhile, there was trouble in Wales. The Earl of Chester, Ranulph by name, took a small army into Wales and, finding himself opposed and outnumbered, was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle, whence he sent a message to the Constable of Chester for military support. Roger de Lacy gathered a bunch of minstrels and other sketchy figures and led them to Rhuddlan. It was a very large group, and seeing it approach frightened the Welsh, thinking they were about to face a fierce army. The Welsh fled. Ranulph conferred upon de Lacy the patronage of minstrels, an "honor" which de Lacy gave away to his steward.

Roger de lacy married Maud de Clere and had two children. John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and a daughter who married a Scottish lord of Galloway.

So what was Ranulph doing in Wales? Why did he think going there was a good idea? Let's look into his life tomorrow.

Château Gaillard After Richard

Château Gaillard had a long history after its creation by Richard I, and what remains can still be visited today.

Richard I built it in Normandy as a staging site for his war with Philip II of France, but died shortly after its completion. His younger brother and successor, John, was unsuccessful in defending his lands against Philip, and lost Gaillard along with Normandy in 1204.

After capturing several other Norman castles, Philip besieged Gaillard in September 1203. The castle might have survived a prolonged siege, being well-provisioned. The citizens of Andeli—the town that grew up at the base of the hill on which Gaillard was situated—fled to the castle to escape the Normans, and the additional mouths that needed food and water stretched the supplies thin. Furthermore, John did not send any troops that winter to help the garrison, and Gaillard fell into Philip's hand in March of 1204.

The castellan, Roger de Lacy, requested of the surrounding French that the civilians be given safe passage. Over the course of two days, about 1000 civilians departed the castle and went safely through the French army. When Philip found out, he was furious, and forbade any more leniency. He knew that more people to feed would shorten the ability to withstand a siege. When de Lacy sent out the rest of the civilians, the French attacked them. Hundreds of non-combatants found themselves attacked by soldiers on one side, and up against locked gates on the other. They huddled at the base of the outer walls, and many starved over the winter. In February 1204, Philip arrived on the scene, and ordered that the remaining civilians be fed and let go.

The French got through the defenses in stages: first the outermost wall was breached by undermining it, then an inner barrier was breached by finding a latrine that allowed them to enter the chapel. Once the French were inside, they lowered the drawbridge for the rest of the army. de Lacy kept retreating to inner defenses, but finally surrendered on 6 March.

Gaillard was useful for many purposes. It was the prison for Margaret of Burgundy in the Tour de Nesle Affair. During hostilities between England and Scotland, King David II of Scotland fled to France and was hosted at Gaillard with some retainers from 1333, when he was only nine years old, until his return to Scotland in 1341.

The castle switched from English to French possession several times during the Hundred Years War, until the last switch in 1449 when the French took it and have had possession ever since. By 1573, however, it was uninhabited and in need of radical repair. Henry IV of France ordered it demolished in 1599.

Poor Roger de Lacy, who did his best but had no support from his king. I'll tell you abut him tomorrow.

Château Gaillard

It was called the Bellum Castrum de Rupe ("the Fair Castle at the Rock"), and has a fascinating history, starting with the illegal seizure of the site.

It was built on a hill overlooking the River Seine in the Andeli territory of Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen. Richard I of England, King of England and Duke of Normandy, wanted the site for a fortress from which he could mount a campaign against King Philip II of France, who was encroaching on Richard's continental possessions. The archbishop refused, but Richard seized it anyway, causing a controversy that was explained here.

Although a treaty with Philip agreed that neither of them would attempt to build on the site, Richard went ahead anyway, and created a magnificent fortress in a mere two years. Richard's father, Henry II, had spent enormous sums building castles to protect the royal possessions, and Richard's efforts in building were significantly reduced, but Château Gaillard cost £12,000 from 1196-98, whereas only £7,000 was spent on construction in England.

Some of the earliest information we have on castle construction is recorded concerning Gaillard. We see lists of payments to miners, quarrymen, and the carters who brought stone to the site; stonecutters, masons, and lime workers for mortar; carpenters, smiths, assistants, and even water carriers; and soldiers who guarded the site while the work went on. Missing is mention of a master mason, who would have overseen the project, and it is suggested that Richard himself chose and ordered the design. Richard spent a lot of time during the two years of construction on the site.

It was designed with three enclosures separated by dry moats, and with machicolations, which were protected openings above the outside edge of the walls so that defenders could shoot down on anyone reaching the base of the wall [link].

There were incidents during construction. William of Newburgh wrote of a "rain of blood" that fell in May 1198, that alarmed the men as a bad omen, but Richard did not let it stay the work. Also, when some Welsh mercenaries were ambushed by the French, three French soldiers were captured and thrown off the walls to execute them.

Richard did not have much opportunity to enjoy his creation, dying less than a year after it was finished. The history of Gaillard did not stop there, however, and tomorrow I'll tell you how his successor, John, lost it (as he lost so many things), not long after.

Richard vs. Philip

Once Richard I was out of captivity and home in England, he forgave his brother John for John's actions while Richard was away on the Third Crusade.

On the continent, however, Philip II of France had taken over part of Normandy that belonged to Richard, the Norman Vexin. The Vexin was a plateau in northern France, the western half of which was in Norman hands, while the eastern was called the French Vexin.

Philip had started while Richard was imprisoned by conquering the Château de Gisors, a key fortress of the Norman dukes on the border between the two Vexins. Richard searched for a new site on which to build a fortress from which he could launch his campaign against Philip. There was an ideal site above the Seine in Andeli. Richard tried to buy a manor there that could be expanded and fortified, but the Archbishop of Rouen did not want to sell the location. When Philip continued invading territories in Normandy, an impatient Richard seized the manor.

The archbishop, Walter de Coutances—although he had been vice-chancellor under Richard's father, and had invested Richard as Duke of Normandy—condemned the action, and placed that part of Normandy under Interdict, declaring no church services could be performed there. Richard wisely made gifts to Walter and his diocese, and Pope Celestine III repealed the interdict. Richard started to build (it took two years total) the magnificent (and exorbitantly expensive) Château Gaillard, referred to in charters by apud Bellum Castrum de Rupe ("at the Fair Castle of the Rock") It is now only a ruin (see illustration).

Richard did not just rely on physical and military means in his revenge on Philip. He created alliances with Baldwin IX of Flanders, with Count Renaud of Boulogne, and with his wife's father, King Sancho VI of Navarre, who attacked Philip from the south.

These moves all aided in driving Philip from the lands he had taken. In 1194 Philip abandoned his former conquests. The Treaty of Louviers, signed in January 1196, agreed that Philip would forsake the lands that he had formerly taken, but would get the Vexin from Richard. It also said that Alys, Philip's sister who had been betrothed to Richard long ago and was now 34 years old, would be allowed to return to France. It also agreed that Andeli would not be fortified, but Richard had already begun the construction of Gaillard and ignored that part of the treaty.

Hostilities, for the time being, were over.

Walter de Coutances had an interesting life, and was tied more closely to Richard than mentioned above, including going to prison for him. I'll explain tomorrow.