Henry de Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings

Henry de Hastings (c. 1235 – c. 1268) of Ashill, Norfolk, was a supporter of Simon de Montfort in his rebellion against King Henry III. He led the Londoners at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, where he was taken prisoner, and fought at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, where de Montfort was killed. He resisted King Henry III's extensive siege of Kenilworth and after the Dictum of Kenilworth he commanded the last remnants of the baronial party when they made their last stand in the Isle of Ely, but submitted to the king in July 1267. In 1264 he was created a supposed baron by de Montfort, which title had no legal validity following the suppression of the revolt.

Origins He was the only son of Sir Henry de Hastings (died 1250) Joan's mother was Eva de Braose, heiress of the Lordship of Abergavenny in Wales. Her brother Sir George de Cantilupe (1251-1273), Lord of Abergavenny, died aged 22, when Joanna and her sister Millicent became the co-heiresses to his vast estates. By his wife he had issue including: John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (1262-1313), Lord of Abergavenny, eldest son, summoned to Parliament as Lord Hastings in 1290. Lora de Hastings, married Thomas Latimer, 1st Baron Latimer, had issue.

Death and burial He and his wife (and son John and daughter-in-law Isabel de Valence) were buried in the Hastings Chapel of the Greyfriars Monastery in Coventry, Warwickshire (founded circa 1234), where were placed their effigies (now lost). Joan's heart however was buried in Abergavenny Priory, where survives her effigy holding "in the palm of its hand" a heart. According to Dugdale (1666) quoting from an inscription in ancient French, the stained glass windows of this chapel displayed coats of arms including: Hastings, Cumyn (wife of son Edmund), Cantilupe, Valence (first wife of son John), de Spenser (second wife of son John) and Huntingfeld.