Barons and castellans · Lordship of Ireland · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Meath (Lacy)

Meath is the second great liberty: the old kingdom of Mide granted to Hugh de Lacy in 1172 for the service of fifty knights, the richest plain in Ireland, settled thickly with English barons, mottes and villages.

Its lord has his own courts and seneschal, and his barons (Nugent, Tuit, Petit, Tyrel, Fleming, Hussey, Nangle, Feipo and the rest) hold of him. Walter keeps the core in his own hand: Trim with its great stone keep, Kells, Ratoath, Duleek, the Meath half of Drogheda and Loughsewdy in the west. Westwards the liberty runs into Irish country: Ua Mael Sechlainn's remnant, Annaly of the Ui Fergail and the Shannon fords.

Who he is

Name
Walter de Lacy
Title
Lord of Meath (dominus Midie); lord of Ludlow, Weobley and Ewyas Lacy in England and the March
Since
Heir of Hugh de Lacy (killed at Durrow, 25 July 1186); did homage to Richard I and received Meath in 1194
Born
About 1172 (about 27)
Family
Eldest son of Hugh de Lacy and Rose of Monmouth. Brothers Hugh (the future earl of Ulster, already a war-leader of the Meath English) and William Gorm, Hugh senior's son by an Irish wife (Rose, daughter of Ruaidri Ua Conchobair). Married Margaret, daughter of William de Braose (date not pinned, about 1200).
Confidence
high

In 1193-94 he backed Richard against John, helping to seize John's knights in Ireland with John de Courcy and Peter Pipard; in 1199 John complained that de Lacy and de Courcy had damaged his Irish lands. He moves between Meath, his Welsh March lordships and Normandy; where he is on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Overlord

King John (as lord of Ireland)

What it holds

  • Trim castle (the keep, begun by Hugh de Lacy about 1176-80, is being finished in Walter's time) and the borough
  • Kells (castle of 1176), Ratoath, Duleek, Loughsewdy (Ballymore) and the Meath bank of Drogheda
  • The overlordship of the Meath baronies and of Castleknock in County Dublin
  • The lordship's courts, held by the lord's seneschal (name in 1200 not pinned)
  • In England and the March (other researchers): Ludlow, Weobley, Ewyas Lacy and the Lacy honour

How it was acquired

Henry II's grant of Meath to Hugh de Lacy (1172), confirmed 1177; Walter's homage to Richard in 1194.

Allies and rivals

His brother Hugh, who leads the Meath English in the wars of Connacht and Ulster; John de Courcy, his ally against John in 1193-94 and now a rival in the north; William de Braose, his father-in-law. John distrusts him.

How things stand that morning

Holds Meath firmly in the east; the western baronies (Granard, Mullingar, Kilbixy, Ardnurcher) are a frontier facing Breifne, Annaly and the Shannon. Out of John's favour since 1199 but not dispossessed.

Wealth

The grain lands and cattle of the Meath plain, the boroughs of Trim, Kells and Drogheda, and the Boyne trade.

Military

Service of fifty knights owed to the crown (Henry II's grant of 1172); the baronial mottes; the Meath English are among the most active soldiers in Ireland and hire out to Irish kings.

Threats

  • John's hostility
  • The Ui Ruairc of Breifne and the Ui Mael Sechlainn
  • Being drawn into the Connacht war by his brother Hugh

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

  1. 1200 (not pinned)The Meath English kill Ruaidri Ua Flaithbertaig, king of west Connacht, when Cathal Crobderg raids Meath (Mac Carthaigh's Book, 1200).Depends on: Crobderg's raid on Meath Stopped by: Peace with Connacht

Later, on the likely course

  1. 1201 (later course)Hugh de Lacy and the Meath English march with John de Courcy for Cathal Crobderg; after the rout they hold Crobderg for his unpaid wages and take de Courcy back across Lough Ree.Depends on: Crobderg's flight north Stopped by: Peace in Connacht

Places of note

  • Trim castle: Caput of Meath
  • Kells castle: Castle of 1176 beside the Columban church town
  • Loughsewdy (Ballymore): Lacy castle in west Meath

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Walter's tenure and quarrel with John are well attested; his seneschal and his own whereabouts that winter are not pinned.

On the map: Only the lord's own demesne is drawn; the whole liberty is Liberty of Meath and the barons have their own records.

Primary sources for Lordship of Ireland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Clonmacnoise, Anonymous; English translation of a lost Irish chronicle by Conall Mac Geoghegan (medieval original lost; translated 1627). A midland chronicle, tied to Clonmacnoise and the kings of Meath and Connacht, surviving only in a 1627 translation. Read online
  • Annals of Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. Read online
  • Annals of Loch Ce, Various (compiled for the Mac Diarmada of Moylurg) (compiled 1580s from older annals; the medieval section rests on a Connacht chronicle). The fullest Connacht account of the year: Cathal Carrach's seizure of the kingship, Cathal Crobderg's flight north, the Connacht expedition of de Courcy and the Ui Neill on Crobderg's behalf and its defeat, William de Burgh's role, and the devastation of the province's churches, with the names of the Connacht nobles and clergy who died. Read online
  • Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
  • Annals of Ulster, Various; compiled by Cathal Mac Maghnusa (compiled about 1498 from much older annals; the entries for 1200 derive from contemporary record). The most reliable Irish annal for the north. Read online
  • Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
  • Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. Read online
  • The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The British Isles.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath (citing Otway-Ruthven and C. Veach, Lordship in Four Realms)
  2. G. H. Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, vols 1-2 (1911), Internet Archive
  3. Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals) 1200-1211, CELT

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.