Hastings & Earldoms
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Blazon: Gules, a maunch§ or . 
The maunch or ladies loose sleeve was purportedly used as a favour by one early Hastings jouster. Hastings Arms: Arg, a maunch, sable. However the imagery is more likely to be an allusion to the shape of the English Channel, in French, 'La Manche', wide at the western end and narrow in the east. |
The earldom of Huntingdon descended from Henry Prince of Scotland, earl
of Huntington and Northumberland (d.1152).
Henry married Ada [Adeline] de Warrene (b. abt. 1104
at Huntington, d.1178), Ada being the 6th
daughter of six children of William II de Warrene, earl of Surrey (d.1138).
Ada's fifth and youngest son, David became earl of Huntington (d.1219).
He married Matilda de Kevlioch ['Maud of Chester'] who had two children,
Isobel de Huntington and Ada de Huntington, the youngest, who married Henry
de Hastings. The elder daughter, Isobel de Huntington married Robert de
Bruis [Bruce]. [Another version2 says that David de Huntington
married Maud of Chester (d.1232/3) they produced two daughters, the
eldest, Ada of Huntington married Sir Henry de Hastings (d.1250). The title
earl of Huntington passed to a son of David earl of Huntington, John Le Scot,
Earl of Chester.
The earldom died with this Scottish noble in 1327 either at
Darnhall [Cheshire] or Darnall [Sheffield], perhaps whilst he was on his
way to his estate of Hallam Manor [which had been inherited from his great-grandfather,
David I of Scotland through his wife Matilda/Maud de Huntington, daughter
of Waltheof the last
English eorl] John died from poisoning, his wife was suspected. It
is of interest to note here that John Le Scot had an older brother Robert
Le Scot [~1191-1221]who would have inherited the earldom of Huntington,
the Huntington so mentioned by the playwright Anthony Munday as opposed to
perhaps a later appellation, the title earl of Huntingdon created for George Hastings by Henry VIII.
Sir Henry I de Hastings b. 1191 Fillongley, Warwickshire d.1249/50 married Ada de Huntingdon* [Huntington also known as Ada le Scot or FitzDavid, a daughter of David Earl of Huntington] ca. 1224 and had a daughter, Eleanor and a son Henry, subsequently Sir Henry I de Hastings this Sir Henry was probably involved in the subjugation of Wales.
John married firstly, Isabel de Valence d.1305 [Herbert? daughter of the Earl of Pembroke]
descended from Henry I. William de Valence was her father, the 3rd
Earl of Pembroke [Henry III's half brother]. They had a son, John Hastings
2nd Lord Hastings, Earl Hastings and Earl of Pembroke. Their [grand?9]
daughter was Elizabeth de Hastings. She married Roger de Grey 1st baron
Grey de Ruthyn and they had a daughter Elizabeth.
Roger married secondly, Isabel le Despencer
[daughter of Hugh Despencer, Earl of Winchester] by whom he had two sons,
Thomas who produced the Grey heirs and Hugh b. ca. 1310, d. 1347 at Sutton
Courtenay, Oxfordshire, who married Margaret [Margery] Foliot which led
to a line of the Hastings family. There arose later a conflict between the Greys and the Hastings heirs
over the Hastings estate, as a result the Hastings line never held the titles of Lord Hastings in their own life
times9
Hugh Hastings was the brother
of John II Hastings The 'label' on the monumental brass to
Sir Hugh at Elsing indicates that he was the eldest
son. 
See the Elsing Brass
The Hall at Elsing was in the Foliot family until Margery, Sir Richard
Foliot's daughter married Sir Hugh Hastings, commander of the army of
Edward III. in Flanders. As a result, Elsing Hall became the residence
of the Hastings family until it passed by the marriage of Anne, eldest
daughter and co-heiress of Sir Hugh Hastings to William Browne, shortly
before the year 1554. In Elsing Church there is a large east-facing
window containing stained glass with figures of Sir Hugh Hastings and his
wife as founders of the church.
Hugh's great grandson, Edward, lost the barony of Hastings to Reginald
lord Grey of Ruthin following a Court meeting at Elsing church. However
Edward did not accept the ruling of the Court and consequently spent
the remaining twenty-one years of his life in the Marshalsea prison.
Laurence/Lawrence Hastings, b. 20th March 1319 Warwickshire,
d.29th August 1348 Abergavenny, Wales, 3rd Lord Hastings, 4th Earl of Pembroke2
[others say 11th] married [29th May, 1328 Hereford] Agnes de Mortimer9 of March [Agnes March], and was called to
Parliament9. He had the 4th earl
of Pembroke's Arms quartered with two Hastings maunches. The maunch emblazoned
on George Hastings arms indicates a family relationship
with the
4th Earl of Pembroke [South Wales] being continued until that time. The
orle fifteen martlets quartered barry indicate the arms of Aymer de Valence,
1st Earl of Pembroke's Arms [b.1296 d1323] Martlets are often associated
with the "The Crusades"10. Hastings, 4th Earl of Pembroke was
mainly a producer of wool at this time, much of which was sent by ship to
North Wales for processing and N.E. to the Bristol region2. Following Edward III's death, William Lord Latimer was appointed to Richard II's council in 1377. There was open public disgust at this. Lord Latimer served as Governor of Calais from 1380-1
William Hastings born 1430/1, Kirby
Muxloe, Leicestershire, married Catherine [Katherine] Neville 6th Feb. 1460/1,
sister of Richard Neville the 'king maker'. William was created a peer
[Lord Hastings] in 1461 by Edward IV on the battlefield,
following the battle of Towton led by Richard Neville,
earl of Warwick, the 'king-maker". The Hastings title baron of
Hastings had not fallen into
abeyance9 but having been granted to Lord Grey
of Ruthin in 1410 became available again at his death allowing
William to be titled Lord Hastings of Hastings. The battle of Towton was fought on Palm Sunday in snow
and icy conditions in which 30*-50,000 military were killed. Whatever
the number of dead, it is considered to be England's greatest loss of life
in a single battle. *Edward IV in a letter to his mother claimed 28,000,
or about 1/3 of the combatants.
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The Battle of Towton 1461 Present at the battle for the Yorkist cause were: Sir William Hastings, given Ashby manor in Leicestershire after the battle. Sir Richard Hastings Ralph Hastings esq. Richard Neville, Earl Warwick, was wounded. He later assisted the Yorkist position in the North. William Neville, Lord Fauconberg cr. Earl of Kent. Edward Neville, Lord Abergaveny who was rewarded after the battle See exhaustive list for others Edward and Warwick commanded the two central divisions with William
Neville [Lord Fauconberg] commanding a forward group [archers, pit diggers#
and caltrap throwers?] who moved in behind their own left and right flank
to reinforce the push as the battle progressed. The Yorkists were pitted#
against three divisions of Lancastrians, under Lord Dacre and one of the
Neville family. |
Later Lord William Hastings commanded 10,000 in the left division for the
Yorkists at the Battle of 
Barnet [4th April 1471]. Here Edward IV commanded the middle division
and Richard Duke of Gloucester [later Richard III], Edward's younger brother,
had commanded the right division against Oxford, Montague and Exeter
for the Lancastrians
Again at the Battle of Tewkesbury Hasting's and his men formed one
of three divisions, this time the right flank, Edward the centre division
and Richard Duke of Gloucester the left flank. They here opposed Somerset,
Wenlock and Devonshire for the Lancastrians.
See The Tewkesbury
Battlefield Society.
Other honours were bestowed upon William when he became Master of the Mint
and Chamberlain of the Royal Household.
Hastings supported the Yorkist line, it was he who helped Edward
IV to escape to Holland/ Belgium/ Flanders in 1470.
William Lord Hastings became the Lieutenant-General of Calais about
1471-2 following the previous incumbent's death [Earl Warwick at Barnet].
Tyger Pursuivant is the title taken by the man-tyger supporters of Lord
William Hastings4. The Midgley crest was achieved as followers
of Lord Hastings.
Tyger Pursuivant, a title taken from the man-tyger supporters
of Lord Hastings, from 1471 the Lieutenant-General of Calais, is known
only from a letter from Edmund Bedingfield, dated at Calais 17th August
1477, to Sir John Paston in Norfolk. Having conveyed local 'tydings' to Paston,
and reported that King Louis XI of France is beseiging St. Omer, he goes
on to say that, 'the said French King within these three days railed greatly
of my lord to Tyger Pursuivant, openly before 200 of his folks; wherefore
it is thought here that he would feign a quarrel to set upon this town
if he might get an advantage'. Louis XI was using Tyger Pursuivant as a
messenger, knowing that he would tell his master, Lord Hastings what he
had heard......Certainly Tyger Pursuivant's diplomatic language must
have been tested to the limit when he was railed at by the French King.
From: Heraldry, Henry Bedingfield, Rouge Croix Pursuivant. |
Thus it appears that those who bear the crest of the tyger were
families closely linked to the Yorkist cause, opposing the Lancastrians.
The
idgley achievement
contains a tyger sejant crest indicating that they were followers
of Lord Hastings, i.e. Yorkists. William is known to have been at Calais
in 1477 from a letter sent to Paston in Norfolk on the 17th August. Lord
Hastings was undoubtedly helping to control the wool staple at
Calais which had been established here under Edward III.
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The Wool Staple1363-1558 A central depot for the collection and distribution of wool. The wool staple in 1337 was at Antwep but by 1353 had been moved to 15 towns in England, Wales & Ireland. In 1360 The Commons petitioned for free trade, which led Edward III to locate the Wool Staple from 1363 at Calais, which, following Crecy and Poitiers was now in English hands. A group of 26 English merchants, later termed Merchant Staplers or Merchants of the Staple, established a company at aCalais. Before the defeat of Calais in 1347, Calais had been a port sheltering piratical Channel privateers7. Thus to remove these threats of piracy and secure a continental bridgehead from which Edward could extract revenue directly, Calais became the preferred entrepot staple. It was easier to control the collection of revenue derived from wool here and Calais was nearer to the markets of Flanders and parts of France. This single location allowed Edward III to collect revenues directly without having to go to The Parliament. Thus after 1347 Calais became an English possession. The wool merchants who held the monopoly at Edward III's staple received considerations in exchange for lending the king money7, which gave Edward a loan rather than asking the Parliament for money which would have no doubt carried reciprocal requests from the Parliament thus ham-stringing the king. The monopoly raised the prices of wool cloth in Europe. This had the effect of stimulating the manufacture of cloth in England, which until now had been a small industry. Yorkshire as well as Leicestershire,
Suffolk and the Cotswolds were major suppliers of wool for Europe which
produced 40% of the revenue in Edward III's time and thus it is likely
that members of the families of Yorkshire were well aquainted with Calais.
English traders and their families were brought from England to replace
the French citizens of Calais. Some terms derived from wool which have entered the English Language:
Calais was held by England from 4th August 1347 until 1558 |
Following Edward IV and Hasting's return to England in 1471, William Hastings
was prominent in the forces fighting the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury
and commanded the 3rd division at Barnet. Richard Neville,
"The king-maker" was killed at Barnet. William commanded the English
forces in France during Edward IV's brief campaign of 1475. He acted as
chamberlain from 1461 until Edward's death in 1483
After Edward IV death in 1483 Thomas Grey earl Huntington,1st
marquis of Dorset, took Edward IV's mistress [Elizabeth Jane Shore]1.
It is said that William Hastings then took the
former king's mistress from earl Grey for his own. There was certainly
great enmity between the Greys' and the Hastings'.
Elizabeth [Jane] Shore [nee Lambert] who was the daughter of
a wealthy London mercer had married William Shore a goldsmith about 1470.
She was renowned for her beauty and wit, her marriage was annulled due
to her husbands impotence3.
Following William Hastings execution, Elizabeth Shore was accused
of sorcery, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London and made to do public
penance as a harlot, which was a tradition of the time, walking through
London in her "kirtle" [a skirt cut short] carrying a lighted taper. She
was freed by Thomas Lynon, a royal official who fell in love with her.
She died in poverty, possibly in 1527.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester arrested Hastings
on a false charge of treason on the 13th June 14831 and had
him beheaded without trial [beheading for treason was common for nobility]
the same day [some argue 14th or 20th] in the Tower of London. He is buried
in St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, Berkshire.
The death of William Hastings as protector of Edward IV left the
throne of England clear for Richard 5 who became Richard III
in the same year, yet Richard was to meet his end only two years later
at the Battle of Bosworth.
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King Richard III was the last Yorkist king of England, he usurped the
throne in 1483 and took his nephews Edward V and Richard. Their disappearance
led to rumours that he had had them killed in the Tower of London. In 1674 two male skeletons were discovered sealed into one of the tower
walls although the 1933 forensic examination of these bones did not
lead to an identification.. However, if the D.N.A. was tested today
there could be a determination. Importantly we now have Richard III's
D.N.A. and as Edward V and Richard, the two 'princes in the
Tower' were nephews of Richard III through their common
ancestors, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and his wife Cecily
Neville it could be possible to make some determinations. However,
even more intriguing, if the princes D.N.A. were shown to
be related to Richard Plantagenet it might lay to rest the more recent
claim that Edward IV, the father of the princes was the legitimate son
of Richard Duke of York. This claim has led some to believe that
the true claim to the English crown lies in the Abney-Hastings line.
Interestingly the present Crown
refuses to have these bones tested, perhaps there is something to
hide! For the suspected murders, King Richard III is considered to have been an evil and unscrupulous man.
Hence the evolution of the modern Richard III Society to try
to amend the image. |
Although William Lord Hastings was beheaded, the Hastings family retained Ashby Manor in Leicestershire as William's son, Edward [b. 1466] supported the Royal cause at the Battle of Bosworth.
Edward Hastings [d.1506] was second baron Hastings and High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1483 This Edward had held this position previously four times in Edward IV's reign. No Sheriff of Yorkshire with the name Hastings appears after 1483. However the son of Edward Hastings, George, was re-created earl of Huntingdon [
According to Graham Kirkby, George
Hasting's son was christened by Henry VIII in 1529 as [Hon] Aubrey
Craven Theophilus Robin Hood Hastings. It was Henry VIII who helped
to popularise the story of Robin Hood for he, and therefore his Court were
exposed to pageants, ballads and muscicians all extolling the virtues of
the legend. It was with Anthony Munday's plays that the person loosely described
as Robin of Locksley [from the 'Sloane Manuscript', 1600, and Dodsworth,1622]
was raised to the level of an earl, echoing John Major's [1521] allusion
to a "noble outlaw". Henry's chief antiquarian, John Leland in 1542 referred
to Robin Hood as a nobleman. Did George Hastings, Henry VIII and the much
older Robin Hood of ballads become inextricably linked here? The title
earl of Huntingdon certainly had a chequered past being the title of the
last earl of Anglian descent executed by William I
see: Waltheof
the Last Eorl
George's Coat of Arms are emblazoned with a maunch, this could be from
the fact that Lawrence Hastings was earlier, the 4th Earl of Pembroke
who had two maunches quartered.
Earls of Huntingdon according to John Speed and The Complete Peerage:
| JOHN SPEED2:
* Waltheof
Earl of Huntington |
COMPLETE PEERAGE
Waltheof |
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Francis Hastings b.1514 d.1561
The second son of George Hastings through Anne Stafford of Ashby-de-la-Zouche
became the 2nd Earl of Huntingdon in 1529 granted by Henry VIII. Francis
was one of the Royalist leaders who helped to suppress The Pilgrimage
of Grace [1536]. Francis married Catherine Pole [d.1576] possibly a
descendant of the Pole family of Welshpool.
Henry Hastings b.abt.1535 d.1595 became the 3rd Earl of Huntingdon.
He married Catharine the daughter of the Duke of Northumberland. His
mother was Catherine Pole who was the great-granddaughter of the
Duke of Clarence who was a brother to Edward IV and Richard III. As a result,
Henry could have claimed succession to Elizabeth I but he predeceased
her.* He was a custodian for Mary Queen
of Scots in 1569 and became president of the Council Of The North
in 1572. He compiled a history of the Hastings lineages which is now held
in the British Museum. Henry and Catherine had no issue thus the earldom
passed to George Hastings.
* Henry Hastings is unlikely to have 'dared claim the right to the crown as Elizabeth's successor. It must be remembered that Henry VIII killed Katherine Poole/Pole's father Henry and Henry Poole/Pole's mother Margaret countess of Salisbury, both on the ground that they were threats to his reign and succession. Henry Hastings would have been a fool to have made such a claim himself, though there was speculation about it. The Spanish Ambassador, De Quadra, wrote to Philip of Spain in 1560: "Should any disaster befall her [Elizabeth] I am told that the Catholics would choose for their King the son of the Countess of Lennox [James VI of Scotland]... The Queen professes to intend to nominate Hastings; but Hastings himself thinks that the Tower his more likely destination." (R.J. Beevor Hastings of Hastings, p. 17). I think he would have learnt some discretion, if only because of all of his grandfather, gt-grandmother, 2x g-uncle and 3x gt-grandfather had been executed on charges of high treason.' [Tim Powys-Lybbe ]
The earldom of Huntington was suspended for 300 years from John Le Scot's
death in 1327 at Darnhall [Cheshire] until 'recreated' in 1529 in George
Hastings as the earldom of Huntingdon.. However according to John Speed,
1610, the earldom of Huntington was granted
to William Clinton [Fiennes] in Edward I's time, Guyfard Angolesme, John
Holland, Thomas Grey & William Herbert until the Eerldom of Huntingdon
was 'recreated' in George Hastings.
This may explain why Munday the playwright in 1598 used 'Robin Hood'
for the first recorded time as an alias for the earl of Huntington, because the title had been dormant for 271
years with the Scots. Did Henry VIII create the earldom of Huntingdon in deference to Munday's plays of which the king
was so fond?
* William Herbert 8th Earl. 