Gone Medieval - England's First Female Sheriff: Nicholaa de la Haye

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

Nicholaa de la Haye’s strength and tenacity saved England at one of the lowest points in its history.She remained loyal to King John to the very end, even after most of his knights and barons had deserted him. She stood firm during a siege at Lincoln Castle - where she was constable - that lasted more than three months, holding off the English rebel barons and their French allies. A truly remarkable woman, Nicholaa was the first woman to be appointed sheriff of Lincolnshire by King John, shortly before he died.In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Sharon Bennett Connolly, whose new book King John’s Right Hand Lady tells the extraordinary story of Nicholaa de la Haye.This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code MEDIEVAL. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here > You can take part in our listener survey here. If you’re enjoying this podcast and are looking for more fascinating Medieval content then subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here: https://insights.historyhit.com/signup-form Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From long-loss Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places to tales of murder, power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr. Eleanor Jarniger, and some of the world's leading historians as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life only on history hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand-new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world,

to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval. I'm Matt Lewis. Today's guest was last here to talk to us about the Warren family. Sharon Bennett Connolly is back to explore the life of a truly fascinating medieval woman. If you know your early 13th century history or if you live around Lincoln, you may know of Nicola de la Haye. Whether you've heard of her or not, Sharon's new biography of this Trailblazer is out now so you can learn all there is to know. The title King John's right-hand lady only makes this an even more interesting story for me. Welcome back to Gone Medieval Sharon. Thank you, Matthew. Thanks for having me. It's wonderful to have you back and to talk

about someone so utterly fascinating as well. As I say, even if people haven't heard of her before, they're in for a shock and if people do know a little bit about her, I think they'll be intrigued to learn a bit more about a fascinating character. So to kick us off with, can you tell us what we know about Nicola's family background? Where are her family from? Nicola de la Hay. She's technically a Norman, but unlike a lot of the Norman families in England, she had Anglo-Saxon English ancestry. On her father's side, she was from the De La Hayes, who were from De La Haye du Pui in the Cottontan in Normandy, and they were actually distantly related to William the Conqueror. Nicola's grandfather's uncle was married to William the Conqueror's half-sister. So distantly related. Henry I did call

Robert Delahaye, Nicola's grandfather, cousin. But it just took a little while to search out where the cousinly relationship was. And it's tenuous to say the least, but it is there. On the other side, Nicola's grandmother was Muriel of Lincoln, who was the granddaughter of Colswine of Lincoln, who was an Englishman already in Lincoln long before the conquest, although he didn't have lands before the conquest and he seems to have benefited from the Norman invasion. He must have been a younger son because he inherited lands from his nephew, who was probably the son of his older brother and eventually gained some interest in Lincoln Castle, though we don't quite know what. He may have been the first constable of Lincoln Castle or his son Pico may have been the first

constable. But by the time Pico's daughter Muriel was married to Robert de la Hay, Robert inherited the constableship of Lincoln Castle through Muriel, through his English wife. And that's how Nicola eventually became the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle, from her grandfather Robert through her father Richard to herself, if that makes sense. It's a pretty heady mix, isn't it, of this kind of half-norman origin that has this connection to William the Conqueror who becomes king of England. So you have that connection to the English royalty. And on the other side, this strong Anglo-Saxon contingent. And in Colswine, it's odd that we find someone who seems to gain land from the Norman conquest, even though he's an Anglo-Saxon. We tend to think

of that period being about all of the land being taken from the Anglo-Saxons and redistributed to the Norman. So it's interesting to hear about an Anglo-Saxon who seems to have benefited in land terms from the conquest. It is. But when you look at the government of Lincoln, the time, the senior officials in Lincoln after the conquest, most of them were Lincolnshire men. I think it was about eight out of the 12 leading councillors in Lincoln were natives, and they carried on passing down their positions to their family. So for a long time, it very much belonged to the English contingent in Lincoln, which was unusual for the time.

Like you say, most places were taken over by the Normans, but in Lincolnshire, it seems to have carried on with very much a large English contingent in control. So by the time Nicola is born, how powerful would you say her family were in England, but also locally around Lincoln? They're closely connected to the castle by this point. Are they a serious influential family by the time Nicola arrives? They were an influential family. They were on the wrong side of the crown for a little while,

because during the anarchy 1135 to 1154, they appear to have supported Empress Matilda. So there's no sign that the Dula Hayes were actually in Lincoln Castle at that time. They must have been kicked out by Stephen and his own man put in charge. But as soon as Henry II came to the throne in 1154, he confirmed Richard, Nicholas' father, in possession of Lincoln Castle, saying that there's a charter that actually says that Richard's in possession of Lincoln Castle as his father had been before, which is our proof that it's a hereditary position. But yeah, throughout Lincolnshire, they had originally 20 nights fees,

but when the lands were redistributed or reassessed, it went down to 16 nights fees. But they had lands north of Lincoln at Brattleby, south of Lincoln at Swaiton. They founded an abbey called Barlings just to the east of Lincoln, which was a very influential abbey at the time. and Alice de Lacey, who was the wife of Thomas of Lancaster during the reign of Edward II, is actually buried there. And it seems that they weren't the most powerful family in the area.

In the 1150s, there was also a gentleman named Gilbert de Gantt, who was named Earl of Lincoln by King Stephen. And his son was later Nicola's sworn enemy sort of thing. There seems to have been this rivalry between the Gantz and the Gantz and the de la Hayes that looks like it had gone on quite a while by the time of the 1217 Battle of Lincoln the Gilbert de Gaunt was involved in against Nicola. We've got a 12th and early 13th century turf war going on for control of Lincoln between two families. Yes.

There's a musical in that somewhere, I'm sure. So we know this is a culture in which female power is unusual. How is it that Nicola inherits in her own right and has all of the authority as Nicola rather than as the wife of someone else? Nicola is the eldest of three sisters Unfortunately for Richard de la Hay He didn't have a son So Nicola as the eldest Usually with female inheritance

With primogeniture If there's a boy Everything goes to him With girls Everything is split between the three girls But you can't split a castle up So the eldest girl Nicola got the constableship of Lincoln Castle

Of course as you say Girls are not supposed to control castles They're not allowed to fight and they're not allowed to be in command, so Nicola had to marry. And she was first married to William Fitzernes, who died in 1178, and then a few years later married Gerard de Camville. His family had been royal servants for quite a while. But in 1215, Camville died, and this was at the height of the Magna Carta crisis.

By this time, Nicola was in her 60s and declared herself fam soul. as a widow, she was allowed to control her own lands. And for some reason, she was also allowed to stay in control of Lincoln Castle. And as you say, became probably the most powerful person in the region. In 1216, John made her even more powerful by naming her Sheriff of Lincolnshire just a few hours before he died. I was saying to an audience one day, they always say that the best thing John ever did was die when he did. And I said, the best thing he ever did was actually named Nicola Sheriff of Lincolnshire. Then die.

Just before. Yeah, because of her relationship with Lincoln Castle and the lands she had throughout Lincolnshire, she was a powerful draw. She commanded the loyalty of a lot of people. So she was the right person to be in charge of Lincoln Castle when it came under attack. So becoming a femme soul, just to clarify, that is essentially her saying, I'm not going to marry again, I'm going to operate in my own right. I'm a soul woman, a lone woman.

Yeah. I don't need a man anymore in my life and I don't want a man anymore in my life. And it meant that she had control over her own finances and her own lands. She could make all the decisions and there was nobody who could take them from her. It was the one time that a woman could be in control of her own life was when she was a widow. And how did that status as a femme sullen and as a widow affect her own authority? Was there any question about whether her power ought to devolve to her children, to her son, for example, or be taken away from her?

Or was everyone quite comfortable allowing Nicola to carry on? There doesn't seem to have been a question of it going to her son. Most of the history books suggest that her son, by the time of Magna Carta, was on the side of the rebels. So he wasn't going to get Lincoln Castle. Nicola did actually attempt to resign her position as constable of Lincoln Castle in 1216. When John came to Lincoln, either in the February or the September, there's a scene that was recounted in Edward I hundred rolls

when Nicola meets him at the gates to the castle with keys in hand saying that she's too old and tired to continue in the onerous duties of constable and resigns her post and John insists that she stays in place. Now John probably didn't have a lot of support by this point so he probably would have been hard-pressed to actually find a suitable alternative to Nicola

in command of the castle. But at the same time, I think it was a bit of play acting on both their parts so that John could visibly demonstrate his continued support in Nicola at Lincoln Castle. She'd already held this castle during a siege in 1191. For 40 days and 40 nights, she'd held out during John's arguments with William Longchamp, Richard I, Justiceia. William had tried to seize the castle from Nicola, and she'd held out, and he'd had to go away empty-handed.

So she had a proven ability in defending this castle. John would have been stupid to give the job to somebody else. Because she also had the support of Lincolnshire itself, not the city of Lincoln, but the county definitely supported her. So she was the one in place and the best one for the job, even though she was a woman. Yeah, it'd be interesting to wonder how much of this was a kind of set up publicity stunt that would have benefited both parties. So Nicola gets to demonstrate that the king has full confidence in her as a woman to run this castle and reinforce her local authority.

But I'd imagine there's some benefit for John as well in having this local worthy who is well respected, willing to serve him and continue to be of service. It would bolster his position in the East Midlands, I would have thought too. So there's perhaps a bit of mutual benefit for both of them in that scene. And he didn't have to put one of his other commanders in Lincoln Castle, who he could have used elsewhere. So she proved she could hold it and it worked well for him to just let her hold it and then he could concentrate on other places. And you mentioned that Nicola becomes the first ever female sheriff, not just of Lincolnshire, but anywhere in England, which is an incredible achievement for her to hold. Yes. How does she go back becoming sheriff? How does that fall into place? To start off with, I guess, why is she considered so key to keeping Lincoln secure for John?

Yeah, like I say, she did have the support of Lincoln. She knew the castle inside of. now. It had been her home. She probably wasn't born there. She was probably born in the village just North Brattleby, which was her father's barony. But she would have known the castle from childhood and everybody in it, and she knew its strengths and weaknesses. So she was the person for the job. As to making her sheriff, her husband Gerard had been sheriff from 1199 to 12.05. So there was this tradition of the constable being also sheriff. And Lincoln was, a secure castle. She was already holding a lot of the taxes and fines and hostages that John had collected. There's these letters from the close and patent roles of between John and various

people, including Nicola, Philip Mark, the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and other people where John's ordering the release of money from Lincoln, the release of that Nicola sent hostages to Philip Mark or take the ransom payments to release hostages. And she's very much involved in John's government and in the day-to-day running a movement of money and people. And when she's appointed as sheriff, was there any objection or pressure against that? We've talked about the idea that she had a fairly strong local rival. Was there any bid to dislodge her before or during her appointment? Not then, no, not from what I found, not until after the Battle of Lincoln.

After the Battle of Lincoln, things changed a little. Nicholas's son, Richard, had been married to Eustacia Bassett, and they'd had a daughter named Idenia. Now, sometime in 1216 or 1217, or perhaps a little later, Richard had died. He'd already been on the side of the rebels, so his daughter, Idenia, had been made a ward of the court, and her wardship had been sold to John's half-brother, William Longspay, the Earl of Salisbury, and he married little Idenia to his son and heir, William Longspey. Keep the names in the family, so it gets really confusing. So William I second was married to Idena.

So William I thought that it would only be right for him to have control of Lincoln Castle and Lincolnshire so he could protect it for his son's sake, who would eventually inherit, once Nicola did the decent thing and died. You have this between 1217 and 1226 when William Longspey died. of him trying his best to get hold of Lincoln Castle in various ways. He besieged it in the 1220s. He offered hostages in return for the castle. He did everything he could.

He offered payments, but Nicola wasn't giving it up. And it was like, he's trying to do this so that he can protect his son's inheritance. And at the same time, you're looking at it thinking, son's inheritance is in the best place possible because Nicola is not giving up this castle. She was in her 70s in the 1220s, so she was going to eventually die and give it up anyway. But Longspey wanted it there and then. It's just Nicola didn't want to relinquish it.

It kind of undermines his own argument that the castle needs better care, that he can't get hold of it with all of his resources. He can't dislodge Nicola, which kind of demonstrates that she's doing a very good job indeed. Thank you very much. Yes, exactly. The book positions Nicola as King John's right-hand woman. Given John's reputation, is that a good place for Nicola to be? That was my one worry about this book.

I didn't actually choose the title. It was chosen by Pen and Sword, my publishers. And at first, I was a bit dubious. But it does actually work as a title because John did rely on Nicola an awful lot. But it did give me a quandary, which was, can Nicola be a decent, good person and somebody really decent to write about

if she was John's supporter? And then I thought of William Marshall, who had always been loyal to John. He was loyal to Henry the second, he was loyal to Henry the Young King, to Richard the first, then to John, and then he would be loyal to Henry III. So it wasn't unheard of that good people were loyal to John. Nicola, there were a couple of dubious things she did. There was a court case where she had been given wardship of some lands and she sold off some of them, but she was actually found to be in the right mostly in that case.

So she was a strong woman. Yes, she was loyal to John, and I do find it a little difficult to appreciate. appreciate that because of the way John treated Matilda de Brayos, who was basically starved to death in one of John's dungeons. But at the same time, I think Nicola was in the place she needed to be. She was constable of Lincoln Castle. It was her family inheritance, and she did what she needed to do to stay in command of the castle. And to be honest, if you look at the alternative, which is Gilbert the Gant, who kept besieging Nicola and seizing the city of Lincoln, you can't blame her for the same.

supporting John if he's the one who's going to keep her in her home, whereas Gilbert the Gantt would kick her out. And Gilbert the Gant was one of the leaders of the rebels. So the rebels want your castle. John wants you to stay in your castle. Who are you going to support? Yeah, when you put it in those terms, it's pretty clear who and why she would support. And I guess with William Marshall as a good example, it's often about separating out the idea of being loyal to John the King and being loyal to the Crown and the institution of kingship. And if you're not loyal to the Crown, What is the alternative? It's generally civil war and fighting and a lot of uncertainty.

So there's something to be said for being loyal to a king who is a bad king because sometimes the alternative is not great either. I'm Professor Susanna Lipskin. And on not just the Tudors from History Hit, my guests and I run through the full gamut of human emotion and experience. From the heartbreak of the Virgin Queen. Elizabeth, not being able to marry, arguably the only man in the world she ever really wanted to marry,

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Subscribe now to not. just the Tudors from History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts. Do we see in the aftermath of John's death before we get onto the Battle of Lincoln and her key role in that, do you think that association with John had any effect on Nicola's reputation? Does it damage her or do we see her rise above it? Does it cause her problems later on? Or does she manage to come out unscathed by that close association with John? No, I don't actually see her having any problems from that. Her later problems arise from her rivalry with William Longstay. But whilst she was in command of Lincoln Castle, all the chronicles, except for one Frenchman, who I think was a sore loser, see her as a noble

woman, a good dame. William Marshall himself says it would be dishonorable not to help so brave a lady. So they do see her as a strong, brave woman. Then how important is Lincoln in the aftermath of John's death? So, efforts are being made to secure the throne for the nine-year-old Henry III in the face of her what appears to be a very successful French invasion by Prince Louis. How critical is Lincoln to everything that falls out then? By the time of John's death, most even of his household knights had gone over to the rebellion, which was, as you say, it was led by a bunch of English barons who were rebels with the support of Prince Louis of France, who had been proclaimed

King in London and by the time of John's death held about half the country. The only royal castles that were still holding out were Dover, Windsor and Lincoln. So Lincoln Castle, with the other two, was seen as a sign of resistance to the French invasion. Now luckily with John's death, some of the English rebels decided to come back to the Royal Fold, mainly because they weren't getting what they wanted from Louis, who was rewarding his French, French, French friends rather than his English allies. But yeah, Lincoln holding out was a good sign of resistance and it was a symbol to the rebels. The royalists did still stand a chance. So it was probably one of the reasons that people were coming back to Henry III side, as well as the fact that

it was a young king, you couldn't blame a nine-year-old child for the actions of his father. No one really wanted a French king in England. There were a lot of factors. But the simple, the simple symbols of resistance of Lincoln, Dover and Windsor would have been strong physical symbols of the fact that there was still strength in the royalist side. Yeah, I think the biggest boon for Henry III side was simply that he wasn't John. John was gone and that was done with. Yes. So we know that Nicola is constable of Lincoln Castle during a siege, the rebel army and the French army arrive. Do we see Nicola playing an active part in protecting the castle from that siege? Do we see her actually directing events?

I certainly see her directing events. She wouldn't have been expected to fight. She probably didn't hold a sword. She did have a deputy who was sent to her in January, 1217, Jeffrey de Sirland, who was appointed deputy of Lincoln Castle and her deputy sheriff as well. And he had already held Wallingford Castle, I think it was. So he had a track record of being a good soldier.

So he was the one who was expected to fight, that she could well have posted soldiers to where they were most needed, made sure that they had adequate provisions, rationed the food and the water to make sure that there was enough to keep going. Because it looks like at first, when I first did the research, it said that Nicola was under siege from March to mid-May in 1217. But as I've looked further into it, it actually looks like in 1216, Nicola had paid off Gilbert de Gant,

the leader of the rebels, to leave Lincoln. He'd seized the city and besieged the castle, and she paid him off to leave Lincoln. But he seems to have come back as soon as John died. So he was back in Lincoln at the end of October, 1216. He'd seized the city and was laying siege to the castle. It seems to be that March was when the French reinforcements arrived to make the siege a little tighter, and they brought in siege machinery like Treboschates. So she had been under siege for about seven, months by the time of the Battle of Lincoln in May 1217. So she must have been really careful with the provisions and making sure that everybody had the supplies they needed, the arrows

and crossbow bolts that they would need for defending the castle. She was in the castle all the time, so she was present as a symbol of resistance to those outside and those inside equally. And the thing is with Lincoln Castle though, I'm not sure how tightly they could have besieged her because the castle, two sides of it are within the city. So the rebels could really keep an eye on that, but two sides of it are basically the city walls. And she had several post-urn gates. So I think she probably could have got some supplies in so long as they were careful. So I don't think she was ever going to run out of food. But certainly you have to make sure that you have enough food and you don't know when your next supplies are coming in.

as if the convoy with the supplies gets ambushed or something, that's your food for the week on. So she had to keep a tight rain on food, artillery, and her soldiers, and make sure that anybody who got her was looked after and make sure there were no desertions. Keep spirits up, which she certainly would have been able to do, I think. Her resistance there and this growing army of rebels

swollen by the French, then coming to Lincoln as well, seems to be what attracts William Marshall to make an all-out attack on the rebels and the French forces at Lincoln. To some extent, he stakes the future of the Kingdom of England on believing that Nicola will hold out within the castle and that he can sort of sandwich the rebels between his army and the castle. So how important do you think Nicola was ultimately to what would become a royalist victory at the Battle of Lincoln? Do we see the castle playing an active role in the fighting as it's going on? It certainly did. The fact that it held out long enough for Marshall to muster an army in order to march on Lincoln

is one thing given that, like I say, she was under siege for about seven months and tightly for two months. And then once they marched on Lincoln, there's this scene in the Istoire de Guillaume de Marischal, where the French and rebels actually come out of Lincoln once Marshalls appeared on the plain north of the city. The rebels come out to look at the army. Marshall's plan was a field battle, a battle in the field, in front of the castle walls. But the rebels saw the army, thought it was bigger than it was, because the camp followers were there as well. So they'd actually miscounted and thought that Marshall's army was bigger than it was

and decided that he might as well batter himself against the city walls rather than them fight him. But unfortunately for them, Jeffrey de Sirland managed to get out of Lincoln Castle and meet Marshall and show the folk de Brayote, the commander of the crossbowmen, away into the castle. So this hundred crossbow men were shown into the castle and arrayed along the castle walls so that they could fire bolts down on the enemy besieging the castle at the east gate. They also apparently, although one book I read suggested that this might not be actually true,

found an old gate into the city that had been barricaded and they managed to break down the barricade so that they could use that gate to get one wing of the army into the city another wing was sent round to the east so that they could attack from behind the cathedral and Marshall apparently was so eager to get into battle that he had to be reminded to put his helmet on remembering at this time Marshall is in his 70s

Nicola's in her 60s and these are the two main people rescue in England. It's one of my favourite stories about Marshall, that, is that he almost forgets to wear his helmet. I don't know whether it's a result of his age and he just forgets his helmet or whether he's just so full of youthful excitement at the thought of riding into battle one more time that he's so desperate to get in there that he forgets his helmet.

And one source says at the end of the battle, his helmet is dented and battered in a way that if he hadn't been wearing it, his skull would have been smashed apart. So it's a good job someone stopped him. But I like to think that rather than it being his age, meaning he forgot, I like to think that he has this rush of adrenaline and he feels like a 20-year-old again and he's off to fight. I agree with you. I don't think it was his age at all. I think if he was so forgetful that he wouldn't even remember to put a helmet on,

then they wouldn't make him regent of England. There were two or three other options for the regency, but they all insisted on Marshall. So I don't think they'd have done that if they thought he was losing his marbles. And I also wondered to what extent the fact that it was, Nicola inside Lincoln is the reason that they target that and that they're so successful. Because there is this chivalric driver behind it that you're going to save a damsel in distress. This woman who is being encircled by these vicious men who just want to get at her.

It's a way that Marshall could certainly motivate his army that we have to go and save this English lady from all these terrible French monsters who are trying to get into a castle. And he does say that in his pre-battle speech that it would be dishonorable not to help so brave a lady. So he is calling on his men to rescue Nicola. I'm not sure she'd have been impressed with thinking that she needed rescuing. Maybe she's pragmatic enough to think whatever works, you know, if that's what motivates the men, then go for it. Yes, Marshall did make this decision that a battle decisive,

that it could turn the tide of the war, and he decided it would be Lincoln. Because mostly, everybody seems to think that medieval history is all about battles, when actually most medieval history is about avoiding battle. Yeah. Because battles were so... difficult to predict. Nobody wanted to fight if they didn't know they would actually definitely win. So Marshall battle through city streets as well. It was a risk and especially seeing

that the French had a little bigger numbers than the English. But the English, Peatov had the element of surprise because although the French and the rebels knew the English were there and had come out to see them, they didn't seem to expect them to get into the city as quickly as they did. Because there's this one scene where the commander of the siege engines turned round to greet who he thought was a friend on a horse

and it turned out to be one of the English royalists who promptly locked off his head before he realised what was happening. Yeah, I think we have a tendency to get seduced, I guess, by the excitement of battles and overlooked the fact that 95% of medieval warfare is a fairly boring castle siege where everyone's sitting around waiting to see who snaps first.

Yeah. So the royalists are victorious at Lincoln, and that really turns the tide of the civil war that's going on and ultimately leads to the successful reign of Henry III. What happens to Nicola after the battle? I mean, you would like to assume that the Regency government are very grateful, but it sounds like perhaps she got a raw deal in the aftermath. Oh, yes.

Instead of thanking her four days afterwards, She is relieved of her position as sheriff, which is given to William Longshbey, the Earl of Salisbury, the father-in-law of Nicola's granddaughter, who then promptly seizes the castle as well. So four days afterwards, she is turfed out of the castle that she's just spent seven months defending. But not one to give up easily, Nicola marches herself down to the Royal Court, presents herself in front of Henry III. and there is actually a record of her meeting, Henry III, before the end of 1217, presents herself in front of the Privy Council, reminds them of her service to the country and the king,

and they order Longstay to relinquish the castle and give it back to Nicola. She doesn't get reappointed as Sheriff of Lincolnshire, but she is given control of the city of Lincoln and made constable of Lincoln Castle again. But as I said earlier, Longstay still tried to keep. get hold of the castle and spent the rest of his life when he was in England. He did have a stint abroad and got shipwrecked and things like that. But when he was in England, he did keep trying to get hold of the castle. And every now and then, there's notes in the Privy Council meetings and that where

Volta Brayote sent back to Lincoln with another hundred crossbow men to help Nicola hold the castle against another attack from Longspay. It's pretty rotten thanks for everything that she'd done. I guess you could put against that the fact that she supposedly, wanted to resign her position before John died. And I guess this gives the lie to that. She clearly didn't really want to be relieved of any power because she fought to keep what she had

when it was taken away from her. Yeah, she did. I always giggle at the fact that I think it was March 1226, William Longspay died. Three months later, Nicola retires. Not until after Longstay's gone and definitely can't get hold of the castle. That's fascinating. Just see off one more threat and then she's done.

Yeah. So how does the rest of Nicola's life play out? She has this long-running dispute with Longspay, but how long does she live after him and how does the rest of her life go? Does she retire and die in reasonable happiness? Yes, she does. She retired from the castle in 1226 and went to her lands at Swaiton, which are in South Lincolnshire. They're just near Bourne where Herwood the Wake was from. She died there in November 1230. She was still involved in things. She was giving donations to Lincoln Cathedral and to Casaleke a Priory. And she arranged for a market to be held at Swaiton.

She got permission to hold a market. And when she died, she was buried in St Michael's Church in Swaiton. She obviously cared about the village an awful lot. And right until the end, she was administering her lands. Is Lincoln proud of its connection to Nicola de LaHaye today? Is it proud enough of it? I think there could always be more, of course. but yes, there's a plaque in Lincoln Castle recording Nicola's service to the castle.

The guides always mention Nicola. And we'll do more so now because several of them were at my book launch in May and several of them have got the book. So they'll be able to put a little bit, a few more anecdotes into their guides. The Lincoln University have an entire building named the Nicola de la Hay building. And their history department is within the building. I'm sure Nicola would love that, especially given that there's no William Longer Space. building or Gilbert de Gantt building anywhere. She won in the end. Definitely. Well, thank you so much for Sharon for joining us again to talk about an incredible story, an incredible life. And as I said

at the start, a genuine trailblazing woman of the early 13th century. Thank you very much for sharing that. Thank you. I've really enjoyed it. Thank you, Matthew. Sharon's book, King John's Right Hand Lady, the story of Nicola de la Hay, is out now if you'd like to discover even more about this remarkable medieval woman. There are a new episodes of Gone Medieval every Tuesday and Friday. So, please join us next time for more on the greatest millennium in human history. Don't forget to also subscribe or follow us wherever you get your podcasts from and to tell your friends and family that you've gone medieval. If you get a moment, please do drop us a review or rate us anywhere that you listen to podcasts.

It does help new listeners to find us in the forest. If you're enjoying this and looking for a bit more medieval goodness in your life, you can subscribe to our Medieval Monday's newsletter by following the links in the show notes below. Anyway, I bet to let you go. I've been Matt Lewis and we've just gone medieval with history. History hits.