De Lucy Explained

de Lucy or de Luci ^[1] (alternate spellings: Lucey, Lucie, Luce, Luci) is the surname of an old Norman noble family originating from Lucé in Normandy,^[2] one of the great baronial Anglo-Norman families which became rooted in England after the Norman conquest. The first records are about Adrian de Luci (born about 1064 in Lucé, Normandy, France) who went into England after William the Conqueror. The rise of this family might have been due to Henry I of England,^[3] although there are no historical proofs that all de Lucys belonged to the same family.

Notable members

Richard de Lucy

Richard de Lucy^[4] (c. 1089–14 July 1179) was Sheriff of the County of Essex, Chief Justiciar of England and excommunicated by Thomas Becket in 1166 and 1169. He married Rohese, who might have been a sister of Faramus of Boulogne.

Walter de Luci

Walter de Luci (also Walter de Lucy) was brother of Richard de Lucy. He was a monk at Lonlay Abbey in Normandy, then was elected Abbot of Battle Abbey in Sussex, England. He died while still abbot on 21 June 1171.

Godfrey de Lucy

Godfrey de Lucy (c. 1124– 11 September 1204) was son of Richard. He was nominated Archdeacon of Derby, and Bishop of Winchester.

Reginald de Luci

Reginald de Luci also known as Reynold was an itinerant judge in the Counties of Nottingham and Derby in 1173. He was governor of Nottingham. He had a son, Richard, who succeeded him.^[5]

Robert de Luci

Robert de Luci was sheriff of the County of Worcester in 1175. He was the brother of Richard de Luci, the Chief Justiciar of England.^[6]

Stephen de Luci

Stephen de Luci (13th century), one of the sons of Walter de Charlecotte, the first with his brother William de Luci to use the surname Luci. His brother, William de Luci, was the ancestor of Thomas de Luci (also known as Thomas Lucy de Charlecotte). Stephen de Luci was nominated one of the justice itinerants by Henry III of England in 1228.^[7]

Anthony de Lucy, 1st Baron Lucy of Cockermouth

Anthony de Lucy (1283– 10 June 1343) fought at the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314, under Lord Clifford; became Warden of the West March in 1318; arrested and put on trial Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, 1323, and was made Lord of Cockermouth in that year; made Chief Justiciar of Ireland in 1331; was keeper of Berwick and justiciar of English-held Scotland, 1334–37. The "predominant magnate in the far North-West, superseding the Cliffords..."^[8]

Anthony de Lucy, 3rd Baron Lucy

Anthony de Lucy, 3rd Baron Lucy was the second son of Thomas de Lucy, 2nd Baron Lucy (died 1365) and grandson of the Anthony de Lucy mentioned above. He was born around 1332/33, and was probably killed in 1368, at New Kaunas, Lithuania, while on crusade fighting for the Teutonic Knights. It is widely accepted that the well-preserved body of a knight found at St Bees Priory is that of Anthony de Lucy, known, prior to his identification, as St Bees Man.

Thomas Lucy de Charlecote

Sir Thomas Lucy (24 April 1532 – 7 July 1600) was a magistrate and an evangelical living in Charlecote near Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. He persecuted recusant Catholic families in the area, including William Shakespeare's maternal relatives. He assumed the surname Lucy, probably descended from the Norman de Luci family by his mother's line.^[9]

See also

• Baron Lucy
• Duchy of Normandy and the Norman conquest of England
• Charlecote Park

Notes and references

1. Surname de Luci is the most ancient form, later substituted by Lucy (Mark Antony Lower, Patronymica Britannica, 1860, p. 202)
2. The Norman invaders of England were the first in Western Europe to use surnames. They usually styled themselves after the name of the village that was under family feudal control by use of the french preposition de indicating possession or territorial origin. Lucé in Normandy is derived from Latin or Gaulish personal name Lucius + suffix -(i)acum "place, property", "and is made use of in heraldry to denote a fish called a pike (or jack) full grown" (The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, London, F. Jefferies, 1822, p. 130).
3. • Lewis Christopher Loyd, Charles Travis Clay, David Charles Douglas, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, Genealogical Publishing Com, 1975, p. 55
4. Latin: Ricardum de Luci, de Luciaco, de Luceio.
5. [Edward Foss]
6. Edward Foss, The Judges of England: with sketches of their lives, and miscellaneous notices connected with the Courts at Westminster, from the time of the Conquest, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1848, p. 270
7. https://books.google.com/books?id=w4bQ9ygex_gC&pg=PA417 Edward Foss, Biographia Juridica: A Biographical Dictionary of the Judges of England from the Conquest to the Present Time, 1066-1870, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 1999, p. 417
8. Book: Grant, Alexander. The St Bees lord and lady, and their lineage. North-West England from the Romans to the Tudors : essays in memory of John Macnair Todd. Keith J. Stringer. Carlisle. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. 2014. Extra series no. XLI. xviii, 288, p.179–181. 9781873124659.
9. John Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank: but uninvested with heritable honours, Henry Colburn, 1836, V.3, p. 97

Bibliography

• Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances, London: H. Frowde, 1901
• George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition revised by the Hon. Vicary Gibbs et al., 1959; .
• Edward Foss, Biographia Juridica: A Biographical Dictionary of the Judges of England from the Conquest to the Present Time, 1066-1870, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 1999
• Edward Foss, The Judges of England: with sketches of their lives, and miscellaneous notices connected with the Courts at Westminster, from the time of the Conquest, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1848
• Lewis Christopher Loyd, Charles Travis Clay, David Charles Douglas, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, Genealogical Publishing Com, 1975
• Mark Antony Lower, Patronymica Britannica: A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom, J.R. Smith, 1860
• Lucey & Lucy Family History by Norman Lucey - full genealogy for deLuci at http://www.rickmansworthherts.com/webpage10.htm