Nicola de la Haye

Nicola de la Haie (born c. 1150; d. 1230), of Swaton in Lincolnshire, (also written de la Haye) was an English landowner and administrator who inherited from her father not only lands in both England and Normandy but also the post of hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle. On her own, she twice defended the castle against prolonged sieges. After the death of her second husband in 1214, she continued to hold the castle until she retired on grounds of old age in 1226.

On 18 October 1216, she was also appointed sheriff of Lincolnshire by King John.

Life Born about 1150, she was one of three daughters and coheiresses of Richard de la Haie, and his wife Matilda, daughter of William Vernon. Her paternal grandfather Robert de la Haie, of Halnaker in Sussex, had in 1115 been granted the posts of hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and hereditary sheriff of Lincolnshire. When her father died in 1169 she inherited the post of constable, which in practice was filled by her two husbands in succession.

When King Henry II died in 1189, she and her second husband Gerard de Camville travelled to Barfleur in Normandy to obtain a charter confirming her rights from the new king Richard I. Richard then went off to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade, leaving authority in England in the hands of William de Longchamp. Having failed to take the castle, Longchamp reached a compromise with Camville and restored him to his two posts, but then had him excommunicated. When King Richard returned from crusade and captivity in 1194, he removed Camville from both posts. Philip Mark, also sheriff of Nottingham, was co-sheriff.

Lincoln Castle then came under attack by the rebels against John, led by the French prince Louis. While besieged there, Nicola was visited by Peter des Roches, the influential bishop of Winchester, who knew a secret way in and assured her that loyal forces would soon attack the besiegers. Her sturdy defence kept the castle intact until May 1217, when the Second Battle of Lincoln resulted in the defeat of the rebels and their French allies.

In 1226, when she must have been over 70 years old, she retired from the castle to her estate at Swaton, where she died on 20 November 1230.

Family Her first husband was William fitz Erneis, who died before 1185. By then she was married to Gerard de Camville, who died shortly before January 1215.