In January 1238, John de Lacy’s, Earl of Lincoln and lord of Pontefract, daughter Maud was betrothed to Henry III’s ward, Richard de Clare, future Earl of Gloucester.

On 10th August 1231, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, along with five earls, attested charters granting Richard of Cornwall, Henry III’s brother, hereditary rights to the county of Cornwall and honour of Wallingford together with Beckley and Berkhamstead becoming his principal residences.

On Ist July 1230, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, left Nantes and accompanied Henry III on his way to Poitou. Henry’s original intentions of conquest morphed into a promenade through the country as many towns were ostensibly loyal to Louis IX of France and Henry could not rely on the loyalty of the Poitevin barons.

On 23rd July 1229, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was at the Northampton council convened by Henry III which agreed to muster an army and fleet at Portsmouth on 13th October to recover ‘lost’ lands in France.

On 6th February 1229, Henry III broke off negotiations with the papal legate concerning the status of Gascony and the recovery of the Saintonge and Poitou after consulting with the Earls of Chester, Pembroke, Derby and Gloucester and John de Lacy, informing his tenants-in-chief and household knights an expedition to France was imminent.

On 23rd July 1215 King John wrote a strongly-worded letter, from a council at Oxford, to the men of Yorkshire, covering all ranks (and by implication John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract), to hand back possessions they had seized from the king, by the 15th August; the same date that London was to be returned to the king.  On the 16th July, at Oxford King John had demanded the restoration of his treasure from London plus the formal restoration of peace.  The  barons had sought to extend their power over institutions such as the Exchequer in addition to presenting further claims for restoration of lands from the king and intervening in the appointment of local officials to secure favourable terms.  Unsurprisingly the council ended abruptly with the Barons leaving “with great rancour”.

On 9th July 1297, Edward I ordered the tenants of Thomas of Lancaster’s (Earl of Lancaster and future lord of Pontefract) late father, Edmund, to do homage to Thomas, albeit he was underage, probably nineteen.

In May 1293, King Edward I asked his brother, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster (father of Thomas, future Earl) and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and lord of Pontefract, to go to France to try to resolve diplomatic problems with the King of France, Philip IV. Quarrels between English and French sailors from Normandy had resulted in the former attacking La Rochelle and Philip’s letters to Edward were discourteous, failing to address him as King of England nor acknowledging him as Duke of Aquitaine.

Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and lord of Pontefract, was with Edmund of Lancaster visiting Gascony when he made his will on or around 25th January 1287 in Bordeaux, although it was later cancelled. In it he left £100 (£97,000 today) each to the poor scholars of Oxford and Cambridge and made reference to £1,000 (£970,000 today) he had deposited at Lincoln Cathedral in case his then five-years-old daughter, Alice, did not marry.

It is surmised that Edmund of Lancaster and Blanche of Artois’ eldest child, Thomas (later Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract) was born on or around 29th December 1277, his name indicating a reference to Thomas Beckett’s murder on this date, one hundred and seven years before.