Page:VCH Lancaster 1.djvu/406

 A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE spend a visit at the Scottish court.' Early in 1226 he had a warrant for holding his courts of Penwortham and Rochdale with the pleas belonging as he and his predecessors had held them before the war,' and the same year was appointed a justice in eyre in cos. Lancaster and Lincoln.' The year following the king granted to him the vill of St. Botolph (Boston) and Holland with its fairs for his maintenance in the king's service,* and in September sent him on an embassy to Antwerp.^ In January, 1229, he was appointed to conduct the king of Scots from Berwick to meet the king at York,* and in September, 1230, was a commissioner to treat for a truce with France,^ while in July, 123 I, he was in the king's service in Wales.' Upon the death of the earl of Chester in 1232, John de Lacy, his nephew, succeeded him as earl of Lincoln,' in right of his second wife Margaret, only daughter and heir of Robert de Quincy and Hawise, fourth sister and co-heir of Earl Ranulf. He had previously married Alice, daughter of Gilbert de L'Aigle, by whom he appears to have had no issue." He married Margaret de Quincy before 2 1 June, 1 22 1, when he had livery of Winborneholt Chace, co. Dorset." In 1233 he joined the confederacy under the Earl-Marshal against Peter des Roches, but the bishop corrupted him by a bribe of 1,000 marks" and won his adherence to the king, to whom he continued loyal for the remainder of his life. He was constable of Whitchurch Castle at this time," and of Chester and Beeston castles in 1237,'* ^" which year he was one of the witnesses to the confirmation of the charters "and present at the queen's coronation." On 20 November he was one of three sent by the king to the legate Otho and the prelates at the council held at St. Paul's to forbid them to do anything against the dignity of the crown." Having attached himself completely to the court party, he now became one of the king's unpopular counsellors," and using his influence over the king, obtained a conditional grant of the marriage of Richard de Clare, first earl of Gloucester, for his eldest daughter Maud, promising 5,000 marks for the grant, 2,000 of which the king afterwards remitted." This marriage, being arranged without the consent of the barons, caused grave dissatisfaction, especially on the part of the king's brother, Richard, earl of Cornwall, who reproached the king for being thus influenced by Lincoln.*"* The latter made his peace with the king's brother, who was also Richard de Clare's step-father, by means of prayers and gifts." The earl was appointed sheriff of Chester in 1 Pat. R. 1216-25, 527- ^ (^l"' R- (Rec. Com.), ii. 936. 8 Ibid. 151. * Ibid. 202^. 6 Rymer, Foed. (Rec. Com.), i. 187 ; Pat. R. 1225-32, 162. 6 Rymer, FoeJ. (Rec. Com.), i. 193 ; C/ose R. 1227-31, 229. 7 Rymer, FoeJ. i. 198 ; Pat. R. 1225-32, 359, 394-5. 8 Close R. 1227-31, 534. 9 Matth. Paris, Ciron. majora (Rolls Ser.), iii. 230. The letters patent creating him earl of Lincoln and granting him ^^20 in lieu of the third penny of the county, were dated 23 November, 1232, Pat. R. 1 7 Hen. III. pt. ii. m. 9 ; Ormerod, Hist. ofChes. (edit. Helsby), ii. 697. 10 Mon. Angl. vi. 315-5; Cokayne, Comp. Peerage, v. 90. Alice was apparently the daughter of Gilbert by Isabella, relict of Robert de Lacy (d. 1193). Seep. 319 below. Also c£ Mm. Angl. vi. 315^. ; Close R. (Rec. Com.), i. 14^. 11 Close R. (Rec. Com.), i. 462^. 13 Matth. Paris, Chron. majora (Rolls Ser.), ii. 356-7. 13 Pat. R. 18 Hen. III. m. 17. '* Pat. R. 21 Hen. III. m. 5. 15 Stubbs, Select Charters, ed. 1870, 356. 16 Matth. Paris, Chron. majora (Rolls Ser.), iii. 338. " Ibid. Hist. Angl. ii. 400. 13 Ibid. Chron. majora, iii. 412 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. xxxi. 380. " Pat. R. 21 Hen. III. m. 5. 20 Dugdale, quoting Matth. Westm., Baronage, i. 102^. SI Diet. Nat. Biog. xxxi. 380^. 306