Henry de Hastings (died 1268)


Henry de Hastings of Ashill, Norfolk, was a supporter of Simon de Montfort in his rebellion against King Henry III. He led the Londoners at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, where he was taken prisoner, and fought at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, where de Montfort was killed. He resisted King Henry III at Kenilworth and after the Dictum of Kenilworth he commanded the last remnants of the baronial party when they made their last stand in the Isle of Ely, but submitted to the king in July 1267. In 1264 he was created a supposed baron by de Montfort, which title had no legal validity following the suppression of the revolt.

Origins

He was the only son of Sir Henry de Hastings by his wife Ada of Huntingdon, the youngest of the four daughters of David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon and Maud of Chester.

Marriage and children

His father died in 1250 when he was a minor and in about 1252 his wardship and marriage were purchased by William III de Cantilupe, 3rd feudal baron of Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire, who married him off to the elder of his two daughters, Joan de Cantilupe.
Joan's mother was Eva de Braose, heiress of the Lordship of Abergavenny in Wales. Her brother Sir George de Cantilupe, Lord of Abergavenny, died aged 22, when Joanna and her sister Millicent became the co-heiresses to his vast estates. By his wife he had issue including:
, which his brother also sealed. He displays the arms of Muireadhach I, Earl of Menteith : Barry wavy of six argent and azure
He and his wife were buried in the Hastings Chapel of the Greyfriars Monastery in Coventry, Warwickshire, where were placed their effigies. Joan's heart however was buried in Abergavenny Priory, where survives her effigy holding "in the palm of its hand" a heart. According to Dugdale quoting from an inscription in ancient French, the stained glass windows of this chapel displayed coats of arms including: Hastings, Cumyn, Cantilupe, Valence, de Spenser and Huntingfeld.