Biography
His wife Rohese, who is named in several documents, was a sister of Faramus of Boulogne. When Henry II came to the throne in 1154, he was made Chief Justiciar of England jointly with Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester. When de Beaumont died in 1168, Richard de Luci continued to hold the office in his own right.
He resigned his office between September 1178 and Easter of 1179, and retired to Lesnes Abbey in Kent, where Richard de Luci died and was buried three months later on 14 July 1179.
His brother Walter de Luci was abbot of Battle Abbey. His second son was Godfrey de Luci (d. 1204), Bishop of Winchester.
His mother was Aveline, the niece and heiress of William Goth. In February 1130/31, Henry I in the charter for Séez Cathedral refers to Richard de Luci and his mother Aveline.
An early reference to the de Luci family refers to the render by Henry I of the Lordship of Dice, Norfolk to Richard de Luci, Governor of Falaise, Normandy, after defending it with great valour and heroic conduct when besieged by Geoffrey, Earl of Anjou.
In 1153–4 de Luci was granted Chipping Ongar, Essex by William, son of King Stephen and his wife, Maud of Boulogne, where he built Ongar Castle. He later became the Sheriff of both Essex and Hertfordshire in 1156.
One of the members of his household was Roger fitzReinfrid, the brother of Walter de Coutances. Roger became a royal judge and later donated land to Lesnes Abbey, which had been founded by de Luci.
Read more about this topic: Richard De Luci
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)