Title: High Sheriff of Lancaster
Name: Thomas, Earl of Lancaster
Herald date: 1298-1320
Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or a label of five points Azure semee de lys Or.
Thomas Plantagenet (1278-1322) was one of the most powerful and controversial figures in medieval history. Cousin to the King, Edward II, he was also one of his staunchest opponents. An Ordainer, Thomas despised the hold Edward’s ‘favourites’ had over the king, and he was personally responsible for the death of Piers Gaveston, an act for which Edward was never to forgive him.
Edward’s many failures only served to enhance Thomas’s power and despite the hatred that existed between the two Edward was forced to reinstate Thomas as his chief advisor in 1316, in the wake of the defeat of the English army at Bannockburn.
Finding himself faced yet again by more ‘favourites’ this time the Despensers, Thomas eventually rose in rebellion and was captured at Boroughbridge in 1322 and taken to Pontefract where he was beheaded infront of the King.
Although a cult briefly grew up around him Thomas was no Simon de Montfort. In fact he was a callous. self-serving petty tyrant, whose main concern was the accummualtion of wealth and power.
