LAURENCE HASTINGS, first Earl of Pembroke (1318?-1348), son of John, third baron Hastings by writ and ninth by
tenure, and Juliana, granddaughter of Thomas de Leyburne, was probably born in the latter part of 1318, since
he was six years old when he succeeded his father as Baron Hastings and Bergavenny in 1325. Soon after Trinity Sunday,
29 May 1328, he was married at Hereford to Agnes, third daughter of
Roger Mortimer, earl of March.1
In 1339 he served with Edward III in Flanders,2 and on 13 Feb. he was created
Earl Palatine of Pembroke as representative of his great-uncle, Aymer de Valence (d. 1324); neither he nor his
successors were styled Palatine in their later summonses.3 His first summons to parliament was dated
16 Nov. 1339; in 1340 he was summoned to the Scottish war for the defence of Stirling,4 and in the same
year served in the fleet at the battle of Sluys on 24 June.5
He accompanied the king in his Scottish expedition in 1341, and was present when Edward paid his famous visit to
the Countess of Salisbury.6 In 1342 he was present at a tournament at Dunstable on 11 Feb., and in March
accompanied the expedition to Brittany, where he remained till the following year. In July 1342 a warrant was issued
for the payment of wages to him and to sixty men-at-arms and a hundred archers.7 According to Murimuth,8
he was one of the Knights of the Round Table in January 1344; he was not, however, included in the regular foundation
of the order of the Garter.
Pembroke took a prominent part in the French campaigns of Henry, earl of Derby
(afterwards Duke of Lancaster), whom he accompanied to Gascony in June 1345.9 He was present at the siege
of Bergerac in July, and marched with Derby to Auberoche; he was then sent to take command at Bergerac, where he was
when the French laid siege to Auberoche. Derby marched to the relief of the town and summoned Pembroke to join him,
but Pembroke's coming was delayed, and he did not reach Auberoche till 22 Oct., the day after the battle. He was much
hurt that Derby had not awaited his coming, and plainly expressed his feelings.10
During the winter he was present at the capture of Aguillon, La Réole, and other towns, and when the French
threatened Aguillon in March 1346, Pembroke was one of the principal captains sent to defend it. The siege lasted
from the end of March till early in August;11 when on one occasion Sir Walter Manny was hard pressed
during a sally, Pembroke led a party to his rescue. Pembroke returned with Lancaster to England in December, when
they were in great danger from a severe storm.12
He then went to take part in the siege of Calais, and in June 1347 was appointed with the
Earl of Northampton to command a fleet which was to prevent the introduction of
provisions into the town; on the 25th they won a complete victory, and dispersed the French near Crotoy.13
This was Pembroke's last exploit, and he died 30 Aug. 1348, leaving a son
John, second earl of Pembroke. His widow married John de Hakelut, and dying 20
July 1369 was buried in the church of the Minoresses without Aldgate.
Pembroke is figured in the fine brass of his half-uncle, Sir Hugh Hastings, at Elsing, Norfolk.
1. G. Le Baker, Chron. ed. Maunde Thompson, p. 42; Murimuth, Chron., p. 57.
2. Hemingburgh, Chronicon domini Walteri de Hemingburgh, ii. 347.
3. Selden, Titles of Honour, 3rd ed. pp. 644-5.
4. Rotuli Scotiæ, i. 601.
5. Froissart, ii. 37.
6. ib. ii. 342; Report on Dignity of a Peer, iv. 536-7.
7. Fœdera, vol. ii. pt. iv. p. 132.
8. Murimuth, Chron., Appendix, p. 232.
9. Fœdera, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 142.
10. Froissart, ii. 67 sqq.
11. Luce, Froissart's Chronicles, iii. xxxiii.
12. Knighton in Twysden's Decem Scriptores, col. 2592.
13. Avesbury, Chron., pp. 384-6.
Excerpted from:
Kingsford, C. L. "Laurence Hastings."
Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XXV. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds.
New York: Macmillan and Co., 1891. 132-3.
Other Local Resources:
Books for further study:
Rogers, Clifford J. The Wars of Edward III: Sources and Interpretations.
Boydell Press, 2000.
Seward, Desmond. The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337-1453.
Penguin, 1999.
Waugh, Scott L. England in the Reign of Edward III.
Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Laurence Hastings on the Web:
to Hundred Years' War
to King Edward III
to Luminarium Encyclopedia
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