The first member of the de Lacy family to arrive in Ireland was Hugh de Lacy, of the Hereford branch of the family, who accompanied Henry II on his expedition of 1171-1172 and received a grant of the entire kingdom of Mide (Meath), possibly as a check on the territorial ambitions of Strongbow and probably also to provide a buffer between the land of the unsubmissive high king, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair, and the capital of the new colony at Dublin, custody of which was entrusted to Hugh. Assassinated in 1186, Hugh left two sons by his first marriage: Walter (d. 1241) and Hugh II de Lacy (d. 1242). William Gorm de Lacy, son of Hugh I’s second marriage to "Rose" Ua Conchobair, was a close associate of his half brothers. As lord of Meath and earl of Ulster, respectively, Walter and Hugh were among the most powerful men in Ireland, but their relationship with King John was not an easy one, and they suffered forfeiture of their lands more than once.
Walter may have been a minor at the time of his father’s death, as he did not gain possession of his full estate until 1194. In the late 1190s, Walter spent time on campaign in France, and Hugh acted on his behalf in Meath. In 1195, the brothers assisted John de Courcy in a war against the English of Leinster, and Walter’s lands were escheated as punishment. But in 1199, Walter, having been fined 2,100 marks, regained the king’s favor, and when John turned against de Courcy he used Hugh to bring about the downfall of his former ally.
In 1203, Hugh drove de Courcy out of Down and the following year was granted de Courcy’s Ulster lands, in addition to lands in Connacht. The following year he was titled Earl of Ulster, the first earldom created in Ireland. The brothers combined to foil de Courcy’s attempt to reenter Ireland this year, and Hugh spent this period campaigning in Ulster. But their relationship with the king deteriorated as they quarreled with his justiciar Meiler fitz Henry, and when William de Braose, Walter’s father-in-law, fled to Ireland from John’s wrath, the king crossed the Irish sea to humble the de Lacys.
The brothers fled to Scotland, and then to France. Walter regained the king’s favor by 1215; his lands were returned, and the following year he was appointed sheriff of Hereford. Several years of loyal service in France and England followed. But Hugh was left in the cold for some years, and his lands were entrusted to Walter during this time. After spending time in France on the so-called Albigensian crusade, Hugh returned to England in 1221. Refused permission to go to Ireland, he crossed over illegally and entered an alliance with Aed Ua Neill, king of Cenel nEogain. The following year he conspired with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, prince of north Wales, in a failed campaign against William Marshal, and in 1224 was again with Ua Neill in war against Aed Ua Conchobair.
During this rising Hugh was supported by his half brother, William Gorm. The rebellious pair was captured by William Marshal, and Hugh was deported to England; he was not reinstated until 1227. In 1228, Walter and Hugh were summoned to serve in France. Walter commanded a division in the 1230 invasion of Connacht. Both brothers supported the justiciar’s struggle against Richard Marshal, were present at his defeat in battle on the Curragh in 1234, and were on campaign in Connacht again the following year.
William Gorm, who had fought for the king in France in 1230, was killed in Breifne in 1233. Walter’s health declined in the late 1230s, but Hugh’s turbulent spirit remained. After the death of his son-in-law Alan, lord of Galloway in Scotland, Hugh supported Alan’s illegitimate son Thomas in a failed rebellion against the Scottish king. In 1238, he was temporarily driven out of Ulster by the Mac Lochlainn family; one of his sons was killed in the fighting before he regained his position. Hugh died at Carrickfergus late in 1242, a year after his brother Walter.
Walter left no surviving male heirs, and the lordship of Meath was partitioned between his surviving granddaughters: Matilda, who married Geoffrey de Geneville, and Margaret, who married John de Verdon. A cadet branch, the de Lacys of Rathwire (possibly descended from a brother of the first Hugh) carried on the name in much-reduced circumstances. In 1309, a Hugh de Lacy was constable of Rinndown Castle in County Roscommon, but he must have resented the loss of the de Lacy patrimony, and with his brothers Walter and Amaury took advantage of Edward Bruce’s invasion to conspire against the de Verdons. Accused of treason in 1315, they incredibly managed to convince a jury of their innocence, but in 1317 were forced to flee with the Scots army to Carrickfergus. The following year a number of the family died with Bruce at Faughart. The survivors fled to Scotland and their lands were confiscated, although a partial recovery was secured during Edward III’s reign.
