Hugh Hastings

Sir Hugh Hastings I (1310–1347) was an English administrator and soldier. He fought for Edward III in the first phases of the Second War of Scottish Independence and the Hundred Years' War. His largely surviving monumental brass in Elsing Church in Norfolk is "one of the most celebrated of all English brasses".

Family and property

Hugh was the second son of John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, by his second wife, Isabel, a daughter of Hugh Despenser, Earl of Winchester. By 18 May 1330, he was married to Margery Foliot, who was born around 1312 and was a ward in his mother's house from 1325 until their marriage. With Margery, he had two sons, John (c.1328–1393) and Hugh (died 1369), and a daughter, Maud. Margery outlived him, dying on 8 August 1349.

Hugh held several manors from Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby. Shortly before 1342, Hugh acquired a life interest in the manor of Oswardbek in Nottinghamshire from Laurence Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, his nephew. These two earls were the principal lords under which Hugh served in the wars with France. Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (missing); Ralph Stafford, 2nd Baron Stafford (later KG and Earl of Stafford); Amauri de St Amand, 2nd Baron Amand.

It is believed to make references to the future Order of the Garter which was established by the king in 1348, shortly after Hugh's death. St George, The Order's patron saint, appears at the top of the brass killing the Dragon, and a pennon displaying the saint appears on the lances of three of the mourners, namely the Earl of Lancaster, the Earl of Warwick and Lord Stafford, who together with the king formed four of the Order's 26 Founder Knights. "One may speculate, therefore, that the figures with St. George's pennons may have been members of a proto-order or association, which also included Hastings, and eventually became the Order of the Garter."