of Fulk Fitzwarine,’ Gilbert, and not his grandson Walter, must be the hero. That Joce and Gilbert were opponents is an historical fact. Gilbert appears to have obtained the favour of Henry II, and recovered his uncle's lands; in 1158 he was excused the ‘donum’ to the king. A little later he joined the knights of the Temple, and went to the Holy Land. There he became preceptor of his order in the county of Tripoli, in which capacity he engaged in Geoffrey of Angoulême's successful expedition against Noureddin in 1163 (William of Tyre, xix. 8). He gave the templars twelve hides of land, and one virgate in Guttinges, and also five burgages in Winchcombe. He is described as a prudent man and skilful soldier.
Hugh de Lacy is said to have had a dispute with Joce de Dinan as to certain lands in Herefordshire in 1154 (Wright, Hist. of Ludlow, p. 54). He was in possession of his father's lands before 1163, and in 1165–6 held fifty-eight and three-quarters knights' fees, and had nine tenants without knight service (Eyton, Shropshire, v. 253). In October 1171 he went over to Ireland with Henry II, and early in 1172 was sent to receive the submission of Roderic, king of Connaught. Before Henry's departure about the end of March Lacy was granted Meath by the service of fifty knights and with almost royal authority; he was also put in charge of Dublin Castle. Later in the year Lacy arranged a meeting with Tiernan O'Rourke to take place at Tlachtgha, now called the Hill of Ward, near Athboy in Meath. The meeting ended in a quarrel, which both parties attributed to the treachery of the other; Tiernan was slain, and Hugh only escaped with difficulty. Lacy seems to have left Dublin in charge of Earl Richard de Clare by the king's orders, and to have commenced securing Meath by the erection of castles. Among these was the castle of Trim, which was put in charge of Hugh Tyrel. After this Lacy went back to England (Regan, ll. 3152–3238). On 29 Dec. 1172 he was at Canterbury, where, according to a story preserved by Giraldus, he reproved Archbishop Richard for his boastful language (Opera, vii. 69). Next year he was fighting for Henry in France, and held Verneuil against Louis VII for a month; but at the end of that time the town was forced to capitulate. Hugh de Lacy is mentioned as one of those who were sent by the king with his treasure to Jerusalem in May 1177 (Gesta Henrici, ii. 159). Another version names Henry de Lacy, and in any case it cannot be our Hugh, who was at the same time sent over to Ireland as procurator-general, Richard de Clare having died shortly before. The grant of Meath was now confirmed, with the addition of Offelana, Offaly, Kildare, and Wicklow (ib. ii. 161, 163–4; Giraldus, v. 347).
As governor of Ireland Lacy secured Leinster and Meath by building numerous castles, while he maintained peace and good order by making it his first care to preserve the native Irish in possession of their lands. By his liberal and just conduct he won the hearts of the Irish; but his friendly relations with the native chiefs soon led to an accusation that he intended to seize the sovereignty of the island for himself (ib. v. 352–353, 356). The author of the ‘Gesta Henrici,’ however, says that Lacy lost his favour with Henry in consequence of complaints of his injustice by the Irish (ii. 221). In 1181, he was recalled from his government for having married the daughter of Roderic, king of Connaught, without leave (ib. ii. 270). But in the following winter Hugh was sent back, though with a coadjutor in the person of one of the royal clerks, Robert of Shrewsbury. When, early in 1185, Henry sent his son John over to Ireland, the young earl complained to his father that Hugh would not permit the Irish to pay tribute. This led to fresh disgrace, but Hugh remained in Ireland, and occupied himself as before with castle-building. He had erected a castle at Durrow, in what is now King's County, and on 25 July 1186 had gone out to view it, when ‘one of the men of Teffia, a youth named Gilla-gan-inathar O'Meyey, approached him, and with an axe severed his head from his body’ (Four Masters, iii. 73). The murderer was a foster-son of Sinnach O'Caharny, or ‘the Fox,’ chief of Teffia, by whose instigation he is said to have done the deed. A later story described him as one of the labourers on the castle, but there does not appear to be any authority for this older than Holinshed (ib. iii. 73–5 n.) William of Newburgh says that Henry was very glad at Hugh's death, and repeats the story that he had aspired to obtain the crown of Ireland for himself (Chron. Stephen, Henry II, &c., i. 239–40, Rolls Ser.). Certainly Lacy had made himself formidable to the royal authority, and Earl John was promptly sent over to Ireland to take possession of his lands (Gesta Henrici, ii. 350).
Lacy was buried at Durrow, but in 1195 his body was removed to the abbey of Bective in Meath, and his head to St. Thomas's Church at Dublin. Afterwards a controversy arose between the canons of St. Thomas and the monks of Bective, which ended in 1205 in the removal of the body to Dublin, where it was interred, together with the head, in
