78 
HENRY DE LACI, THE GREAT EARL OF 
LINCOLN. 
The Last Is orman Baron who owned Burnley and District. 
(Illustrated by the Lantern). 
By S. COM PSTON. October 26th, 1909. 
The Lecturer made short reference to the ten Lacies, mostly 
barons of Pontefract and Clitheroe, from Ilbert (or Albert), 
born in 1090, to Henry de Laci, who founded Whalley Abbey, 
and who was born about 1250 and died in 1311. This last 
of the local Norman barons was a ward of Henry III., 
was brought up at Court with Prince Edward, his senior 
by about ten years, and was destined to be the last, but the 
greatest, of his race. As a little boy, Henry de Laci was 
married to Margaret, daughter of Sir William Longspee or 
Longsword, who was a grandson of Henry II. by “ Fair 
Rosamund.” This association with the royal blood, and 
the esteem in which he came to be held in later years, led 
to his being frequently styled “ our cousin ” in the King’s 
writs, and to the appearance of purple in the quarterings 
of his coat-of-arms. In 1270 letters patent were issued 
granting to him the Blackburn Hundred or Honour of 
Clitheroe, with other ancestral possessions; and in 1772, 
when full of age, he was made keeper of Knaresborough 
Castle, shortly afterwards receiving also full investiture as 
Earl of Lincoln. Henceforth this young Lord of Clitheroe 
and Pontefract was not only an important factor in the 
cousels of kings, but an energetic actor in the national concerns 
of war and peace, religion and government. When Edward I. 
came to the throne, de Laci, after being engaged in the Welsh 
wars, served in 1279 as Joint Lieutenant of England during 
the King’s absence from the realm (April 27th to June 19th). 
During the eventful years 1282-3, Henry de Laci was engaged 
in checking the Welsh revolt ; and probably in celebration 
