I’ve introduced a few strong, maybe not so typical women into my novel over the last couple of weeks. One’s a fierce mother figure, one is in love with her maid, and one is a young woman determined to buck the trend of being married off and consequently written off before she’s even reached adulthood!
These women got me thinking about other contemporaries that lived in Lincoln. I’ve picked out three below to tell their stories.
When her father died, Nicolaa de le Haye became a wealthy heiress with extensive estates in Lincolnshire. She married twice and after the death of her second husband, Gerard de Camville, she had a claim to the position of Lincoln castle governor. Much admired by King John, she had already proved herself by defending the castle from attack in 1191, and in 1216 he made her Sheriff of Lincolnshire. Not bad for a female in her mid-sixties.
In 1217 the second battle of Lincoln was fought, and Nicholaa withstood months of sieges from invaders, but shockingly, she lost her position to the Earl of Salisbury just days after the battle, but undeterred, she continued to run her estates into retirement.
Alice de Lacy was an heiress to the earldom of Lincoln, and a great prize on the marriage market. At around age 12 she was married to King Edward I’s nephew, Thomas of Lancaster. But, in a bizarre event, she was abducted by an enemy of her husband, with Thomas making little attempt to have Alice returned to him.
She re-married in 1324 to Sir Ebolo Lestrange, in seemingly a love match. Ebolo died in 1335, and was buried in Barlings Abbey. Then in 1336 Alice was abducted for a second time by Sir Hugh de Frene, who assaulted her, and as was common, the couple then married.
Alice lived until 1348, was buried next to Ebolo, and is an example of the perils of being an heiress at this time.
Katherine Swynford, born in 1349, was married to Sir Swynford, a knight in the service of John of Gaunt. She became governess to John’s daughters, but started a scandalous relationship with him that resulted in four children. Two years after the death of John’s wife, they were married in Lincoln cathedral and their children legitimised, and because of this she became an ancestress of several royal dynasties.
Her tomb, and that of her daughter are in the sanctuary of Lincoln cathedral.
https://www.lincolncastle.com/
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Janet Stock 