The Honour of Lancaster was a medieval English

England in the Middle Ages

England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Medieval period — from the end of Roman rule in Britain through to the Early Modern period...

 honour

Honour (land)

In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...

 (a large estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

) located primarily in the north-west of England, between 1066 to the 15th century.

Details

The Honour of Lancaster was established after the Norman conquest of England

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

 after a wide band of territory, including the lands between the River Ribble

River Ribble

The River Ribble is a river that runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, in northern England. The river's drainage basin also includes parts of Greater Manchester around Wigan.-Geography:...

 and the River Mersey

River Mersey

The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....

, was granted by William the Conqueror to Roger the Poitevin

Roger the Poitevin

Roger the Poitevin was born in Normandy in the mid-1060s and died before 1140 . He was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat, who possessed large holdings in both England and through his marriage in France....

, a powerful Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 lord. Roger formed his caput

Caput

The Latin word caput, meaning literally "head" and by metonymy "top", has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate...

, or chief castle, at Halton

Halton, Cheshire

Halton, formerly a separate village, is now part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The name Halton has been assumed by the Borough of Halton, which includes Runcorn, Widnes and some outlying parishes.-Geography:...

 in modern day Cheshire. The lands in the north-west of England formed a largely autonomous palatinate, but was linked to other land holdings stretching down as far as Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, collectively known as the Honour of Lancaster. Roger sided with Robert of Bellême

Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury

Robert de Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury , also spelled Belleme or Belesme, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, and one of the most prominent figures in the competition for the succession to England and Normandy between the sons of William the Conqueror...

 against Henry I

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

 and was subsequently exiled, but the Honour remained intact as a distinct collection of estates.

Henry I gave the Honour to one of his royal favourites, Stephen of Blois

Stephen of England

Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

, who later became king after Henry's death. Control of the northern parts of the Honour was disputed during the civil war known as the Anarchy

The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...

. Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

 took the Honour, before it passed to Stephen's son, William, in the late 1150s. William's widow held the Honour for a period, before it passed back to the Crown in 1164. In 1189 Richard I

Richard I of England

Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

 granted the Honour to Prince John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

, when the estates were listed as providing a revenue of £200 a year.

By the end of the 12th century, the County of Lancaster was increasingly being referred to as separate from the more disparate Honour. By the 14th century, the term Lancastershire was being used, and the term Honour had fallen into disuse, both being replaced by the shortened form of Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

by the 15th century.

Further reading

• Cronne, H. A. (1935) "The Honour of Lancaster in Stephen's Reign," The English Historical Review, Vol. 50, No. 200, pp. 670-680.