Ralph de Hastings

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 17 Nov 1346

Notes:

"Sheriff of Yorkshire. Governor of York Castle. By 1332 he had established himself in the service of Henry, third earl of Lancaster (d. 1345), acting as constable and steward of the earl's honour of Pickering and serving with the earl's eldest son, Henry of Grosmont (d. 1361), on a series of successful military campaigns—in Scotland (1336), Brittany (1342), and Aquitaine (1344, 1345–6). The substantial rewards of this service (a fee of £20 as steward of Pickering and an additional £40 retaining fee) enabled Sir Ralph to expand the Hastings family estates, both in the North Riding, where he purchased the manors of Slingsby, Howthorp, and Colton, and in Leicestershire, where he acquired estates at Newton Harcourt and Welford. A series of royal privileges, including free warren in all his lands (1329) and a licence to crenellate and impark his new residence at Slingsby (1344), underlined his increased status and prosperity, while the acquisition of the advowson of Sulby Abbey, Northamptonshire, in 1343 allowed the Hastings family to treat this Premonstratensian house as their mausoleum—both Sir Ralph and his eldest son requested burial there. Appointed a keeper of the peace in the North Riding in 1332, Sir Ralph served as sheriff of Yorkshire between March 1337 and October 1340 and was closely involved, during his tenure of the shrievalty, in implementing Edward III's schemes for the regulation and financial exploitation of the wool export. He died in November 1346, less than a month after he had led the rearguard of the army that defeated the invading Scots at Neville's Cross." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

"Sir Ralph de Hastings, of Slingsby, Co. Ebor., was the son and heir of Sir Nicholas Hastings, who was descended from a younger son of an Earl of Pembroke. His mother was Emeline, daughter of Walter de Heron. He was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1337 and 1340, and Governor of the Castle of York. He married Margaret, daughter of William de Herle, one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, and died of wounds which he had received at the battle of Neville's Cross on the 17th of October, a month before the date of his will. He had, as it appears, taken in the battle of Neville's Cross a prisoner of importance, whom, or rather whose ransom-money, he bequeaths." [Testamenta Eboracensia, citation details below; but note that Nichols' Leicestershire, which we follow in this instance, shows Emeline de Heron as his great-grandmother, not his mother.]

Richardson's Royal Ancestry (2013 edition) calls him "Hugh de Hastings," but queried via email, Richardson graciously acknowledged the error and provided several references confirming that the husband of Margaret de Herle, father of Ralph Hastings MP, was indeed named Ralph.

Family/Spouse: Margaret de Herle. Margaret (daughter of William de Herle and Margaret) died after Nov 1346. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Ralph de Hastings was born about 1322 in of Slingsby, Yorkshire, England; died on 21 Oct 1397; was buried in Sulby Abbey, Northamptonshire, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1316

Nicholas married Agnes. Agnes died in 1322. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1302

Hugh married Beatrice. Beatrice died after 1300. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1284

Nicholas married Emmeline. Emmeline died after 1300. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Probably not Emmeline "de Heron", as reported in The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester (citation details below). This appears to have been the result of confusion with her granddaughter Emmeline Heron (d. 1329) who married John Darcy (d. 1347).