Order of Medieval Women
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PictureNicholaa was a benefactor to Castle Acre Priory, West End and Prior’s Lodging
© Egghead06.
Nicholaa de la Haye, d 1230
Order of Medieval Women Appendix  J


Daughter of Richard de la Haye, wife to William fitz Erneis and secondly to Gerard de Camville.  The death of Nicholaa’s father about 1169 transformed his eldest daughter Nicholaa, “a strapping Norman woman of the same breed as the famous Arletta, mother of William the Conqueror and Matilda, his wife,” into a wealthy heiress, a highly attractive marital prize. She possessed extensive estates in Lincolnshire centered on the barony of Brattleby and a claim to hold the office of castellan (castle governor) of Lincoln (both her father and grandfather held this office.)  The Camvilles, like the de la Hayes, were established servants of the Crown, Richard de Camville was admiral of King Richard’s cruising fleet during the Third Crusade in 1190.

Despite her legal subordination to her husband, Nicholaa was actively involved in the management of her own estates during her marriage to Gerard. In 1191, Nicholaa was left to defend Lincoln castle against an attack from the Chancellor’s forces while Gerard was supporting John at Nottingham Castle.   The siege lasted for over a month, in fact the pipe rolls of 1191 reveal that mercenary soldiers were employed for forty days on the siege of Lincoln Castle.  Nicholaa, “not thinking about anything womanly, defended the castle manfully” and was described by chroniclers exhibiting qualities as a military leader, unusual for a woman. ​
PictureLincoln Castle held by Nicholaa de la Haye for over 40 days, the turning point in the First Baron’s War
© Michael Schenk..
After her husband’s death in 1215, as a “femme sole’, she secured possession of her inheritance and in 1216 assumed the office of castellan of Lincoln Castle followed  by royal appointment, just before king John died, as Sheriff of Lincolnshire. The appointment of a woman as a sheriff was highly unusual in an age when women, as members of ‘the weaker sex’, were usually barred from public life.  In 1216, Nicholaa prevented Lincoln Castle from falling into enemy hands by purchasing a truce when a rebel army led by Gilbert de Gant who had occupied the city.  Upon king John’s visit later in the year she offered the castle keys and tendered her resignation as castellan explaining she was of great age and had endured great labors and anxieties in the castle and was not able to endure any longer to which John protested and requested her to keep the castle keys.   ​

In 1217, she again “manfully defended herself” against Prince Louis and his reinforcements with a loyalist victory May 20, 1217 at the Battle of Lincoln changing the tide of the war and effectively sealing the fate of Prince Louis' ambitions in England. Despite her track record she was removed from office four days after the battle and replaced by Henry III's uncle, the Earl of Salisbury which meant not only loosing custody of the county but the castle itself.  Not one to give up, she travelled to court to remind the king’s regents of her service and her castle was restored to her.  She was a religious benefactor to Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk, Spalding Priory, and 2 new grants to Lincoln Cathedral.  Nicholaa is a woman renowned for her abilities rather than her family and connections and  proved she was able to hold her own in a man’s world.   ​
Map of Lincoln, England
​References and Further Reading
  • Labarge, Margaret Wade. A Small Sound of the Trumpet, Women in Medieval Life.  Beacon Press, 1986.
  • "Lady Nicholaa de la Haye.”  Wilkson, Louis.  Magna Carta Trust.  magnacarta800th.com/schools/biographies/women-of-magna-carta/lady-nicholaa-de-la-haye/. 
  • “Nicholaa de la Haye.”  Foundations for Medieval Genealogy.  UNTITLED ENGLISH NOBILITY A-C, CAMVILLE, 1.  — de Camville  ii. GERARD de Camville. Web 31 December 2016.  //fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/EGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3.htm#_Toc389040802.
  • Wilkinson, Louise J.  Women in Thirteenth-Century Lincolnshire.  Royal Historical Society, 2015.
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  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Membership >
      • Genealogical Sources
  • Women of Consequence
    • Early Middle Ages (500-1000) >
      • St. Adelaide of Burgundy
      • St. Bathilde
      • St. Bertha of Kent
      • St. Clothilde
      • St. Olga of Kiev
      • St. Theophana
    • High Middle Ages (1000-1300) >
      • Adelaide of Turin and Susa
      • St. Adela of Normandy & England
      • Anne of Kiev
      • Berengaria of Castile
      • Blanche of Castile
      • Ela, Countess of Salisbury
      • Eleanor of Aquitaine
      • Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
      • Margaret de Quincy
      • Matilda, the Empress
      • Matilda (Eadgyth) of Scotland
      • Nicholaa de la Haye
      • Sikelgaita, heiress of Salerno
    • Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) >
      • Caterina Sforza
      • Dorothea of Brandenburg
      • Elizabeth de Clare, 11th Lady of Clare
      • Isabella d’Este
      • Isabella I of Castile
      • Isabella of France
      • Jeanne de Belleville
      • Joanna of Flanders
      • Lucrezia Tornabuoni
      • Margaret Beaufort
      • Philippa of Hainault
  • Roll of Honor
    • Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians
    • Anna Comnena, Princess of Byzantium
    • Beatriz Gallindo, La Latina
    • Christine de Pizan
    • Emma of Normandy
    • St. Hildegard von Bingen
    • Hrotsvit von Gandersheim
    • Jacqueline Felice de Almania
    • St. Joan of Arc
    • Matilda of Tuscany
    • St. Rodegunda (Radegund)
    • St. Theodora, Byzantine Empress
    • Trota of Salerno
  • Connections
  • Genealogical Charts
    • House of Sforza
    • Welsh Ancestry of English Royalty
    • Descendants of Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
    • Houses of della Rovere and Gonzaga
    • House of Este
    • House of Trastamara
    • Lords of Clisson
    • Descendants of Jeanne la Flamme
    • House of Medici
    • Genealogy of Nicholaa de la Haye
    • Welsh Kings
  • Maps
    • Early Middle Ages >
      • Kingdom of Burgundy
      • Merovingian Kingdoms
      • Kent England
      • Principality of Kiev, Drevlyans
      • Thuringi & Franci, 6th century Europe
      • Quedlinburg, Germany, circa 962 AD
    • High Middle Ages >
      • Turin & Susa, Italy circa 1050 AD
      • Europe circa 1000 AD
      • Spanish Kingdoms 1210 AD
      • France & Burgundy circa 1032 AD
      • England & France 1152-1327 AD
      • Salisbury, England
      • England & France in the Reign of Henry I
      • Wales
      • Lincoln, England
      • Norman Lands in Italy & Sicily
    • Late Middle Ages >
      • Forli, Italy
      • Sweden circa 1658
      • Usk, Wales and Cambridge, England
      • Ferrera & Mantuga, Italy
      • Iberian Peninsula 1257-1492
      • England & France 1152-1327
      • Clisson, Anjou, France
      • Brittany, France
      • Florence, Italy
      • England & Wales circa 1399
      • Hainault
    • Roll of Honor >
      • Kingdom of Mercia and Surrounding Kingdoms
      • Byzantine Empire 1000-1100
      • Iberian Peninsula 1257-1492
      • Paris, France
      • Dominions of Cnut
      • Bingen, Germany circa 962 AD
      • Gandersheim, Germany circa 962 AD
      • Military Campaign of Joan of Arc
      • Canossa & Tuscany, Italy
      • Eastern Roman Empire circa 565 AD
      • Duchy of Salerno
  • Members Only
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