Biography of Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke 1319-1348

Before 20th March 1319 [his father] John Hastings 2nd Baron Hastings 14th Baron Abergavenny (age 32) and [his mother] Juliana Leybourne Countess Huntingdon (age 16) were married. She by marriage Baroness Hastings.

On 20th March 1319 Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke was born to John Hastings 2nd Baron Hastings 14th Baron Abergavenny (age 32) and Juliana Leybourne Countess Huntingdon (age 16) at Allesbury, Warwickshire.

On 20th January 1325 [his father] John Hastings 2nd Baron Hastings 14th Baron Abergavenny (age 38) died. His son Laurence (age 5) succeeded 3rd Baron Hastings, 14th Baron Abergavenny Feudal Creation.

After 20th January 1325 [his step-father] Thomas Blount 1st Baron Blount (age 62) and [his mother] Juliana Leybourne Countess Huntingdon (age 22) were married. The difference in their ages was 40 years.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. The King of England, after the aforementioned betrothal of his sister, shortly after the Feast of the Holy Trinity [31st May 1328], proceeded to Hereford, where solemn weddings were held for the daughters of Roger de Mortimer and certain noblemen,¹ namely, the son of the Earl Marshal (age 27) and the heir of Lord [his father] John of Hastings. There were also grand tournaments held there, in which the king's mother took part.

Rex Anglie, post predictam sue sororis desponsacionem, cito post festum sancte Trinitatis, se transtulit versus Herefordiam, ubi fuerunt solemnes nupcie inter filias Rogeri de Mortuo mari et quosdam nobiles, videlicet filium comitis Marescalli et heredem domini Iohannis de Hastinghes. Fuerunt eciam ibidem hastiludia solemnia, quibus interfuit mater regis.

Note 1. His daughter [his sister-in-law] Beatrix (age 6) was married to Edward (age 8), son of Thomas of Brotherton; and [his wife] Agnes (age 11) to Laurence (age 9), son of John, Lord Hastings, and afterwards earl of Pembroke. He had in all seven daughters, each of whom was married into some powerful family.

After 13th August 1328 [his step-father] William Clinton 1st Earl Huntingdon (age 24) and [his mother] Juliana Leybourne Countess Huntingdon (age 25) were married.

On 12th October 1339 Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke (age 20) was created 1st Earl Pembroke. [his wife] Agnes Mortimer Countess of Pembroke (age 22) by marriage Countess Pembroke.

On 29th August 1347 [his son] John Hastings 2nd Earl Pembroke was born to Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke (age 28) and [his wife] Agnes Mortimer Countess of Pembroke (age 30) at Sutton Valence, Maidstone.

On 20th August 1348 Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke (age 29) died at Abergavenny Castle [Map]. He was buried at Abergavenny Priory [Map]. His son [his son] John succeeded 2nd Earl Pembroke, 4th Baron Hastings, 15th Baron Abergavenny Feudal Creation.

In 1368 [his former wife] Agnes Mortimer Countess of Pembroke (age 51) died.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. In the nineteenth year of the king's reign, Henry, Earl of Derby,¹ later created Duke of Lancaster, and the Earls of Devon and Pembroke, as well as Lord Ralph Stafford; not yet Earl of Stafford but still a baron, and Lord Walter de Mauny, were sent to Gascony. There, having conquered walled towns and castles, they won many glorious battles with great bravery. The town of Aiguillon,² which they captured by assault, was placed under the guardianship of Ralph of Stafford. Afterward, they moved against other towns, such as Bergerac, which due to its strength was called "the chamber of the French," and also Saint-Jean, La Réole, and many other large, strong, and well-fortified places, which they captured through great effort and perilous assaults. In these campaigns, the Duke of Lancaster fought in underground tunnels, which were being dug to undermine the towers and walls, and suffered fierce attacks from the valiant defenders, fighting hand-to-hand against the besieged. And, something unheard of before, he knighted both Gascon and English soldiers in those very tunnels. Indeed, by conquering towns, cities, castles, and fortresses numbering two hundred and fifty, he marched across a large part of Gascony and advanced as far as Toulouse. There, he invited the ladies of Toulouse and noble maidens, through letters, to dine with him, his fellow nobles, and Lord Bernard de Libreto,³ a loyal Gascon. But, with God's protection, he did no harm to the city or its inhabitants, except for instilling in them unbearable terror, as those who had been besieged later told me. The terror was such that even mendicant friars took up arms, and the Prior of the Carmelite order of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toulouse, bearing a silver banner with a golden image of the Virgin, led the citizens of his quarter from the walls. He raised his banner in defence,⁴ and by this display, he stirred pious devotion in the duke and many in the army, though some mocked him as well.

Anno Domini MCCCXLV, regis XIX, Henricus comes Derbie, postea dux Lancastrie creatus, et comes Devonie et comes Pembrochie et dominus Radulfus, nondum comes Staffordie set baro, et dominus Walterus de Magne Vasconiam destinantur; ubi, conquisitis villis muratis et castris, multa gloriosa certamina fortiter vicerunt. Villam Daguiloun per insultum adquisitam deputabant custodie Radulphi Staffordie. Postea diverterunt se ad alias villas, ut Brigerak, vocatam pre sua fortitudine 'cameram Francorum,' et ad villam sancti Iohannis et de la Ruele et alias multas grandes et fortes et bene munitas, quas magnis laboribus et insultibus periculosis adquisierunt. Ibi dux Lancastrie, militans in fossatis subterraneis que pro diruendis turribus et muris effodiebantur, graves a virilibus defensoribus insultus paciebatur, et manualiter contra obsessos dimicavit, et, quod antea fuit inauditum, in eiisdem fossatis milites tam Vascones quam Anglicos effecit. Quippe villas, civitates, castra et fortalicia ducentas l. conquirendo, magnam partem Vasconie et usque Tolosam transequitavit, ubi dominas Tolosanas et virgines nobiles per suas literas ad convivandum secum et suis comitibus et domino Bernardo de Libreto, Aquitannico fideli, invitavit. Set, civitatem Deo conservante, nihil eius incolis malefecit, nisi quod terrorem intollerabilem, ut obsessi mihi retulerunt, eiis intulit; ita quod, religiosis mendicis ad arma compulsis, prior Carmelitarum beate Marie Tolose, sub vexillo argenteo ymaginem auream beate Virginis habente, de quarterio sui incolatus civibus prefectus, ostendens suum vexillum ad muros, per armorum errancias descriptum ducem ad devocionem piam et quam plures de exercitu, atque nonnullos ad derisionem, provocavit.

Note 1. Henry of Grosmont succeeded as earl of Lancaster, 22nd September 1345, and was created duke on the 6th March 1352. Hugh Courtenay succeeded as earl of Devon in 1341; died in 1377. Laurence de Hastings was created earl of Pembroke, 12th October 1339; died in 1348. Ralph de Stafford succeeded as baron Stafford in 1308, and was created earl on the 5th March 1351; died in 1372.

Baker is very confused as to the capture of the different places. Bergerac was first taken on the 24th August 1345, Aiguillon, early in December, La Réole, in January 1346. The Saint-Jean-d'Angely was not taken till September 1346. Derby did not go near Toulouse, although it is not impossible that some incursion was made thither. Baker says that he had his information from persons who were besieged there; but he was quite capable of confusing events, and he is most probably referring to the expedition of 1349.

Note 2. Aiguillon, is located at the confluence of Rivers Lot and Garonne. Bergerac is on the River Dordogne. La Réole and Saint-Jean-d'Angely are both on the Garonne downstream of Aiguillon.

Note 3. Bernard, sire d'Albret; died 1358.

Note 4. This seems to mean: by the procession of his banner, on which the picture of the Virgin stood for his armorial device.