John de Lancaster of Grisedale and Stanstead, was an English knight, and a parliamentary baron in the Peerage of England. He was the first and last in his line to be called to parliament, as he had no heir. He was therefore the only "Lord Lancaster" or "Baron Lancaster" apart from the separate titles which belonged to a branch of the royal family descended from Edmund Crouchback. His father's family had many lordships in northwestern England, including Grisedale ; while his mother's family made him an heir to important lordships in other parts of England, including Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex.
Family
John de Lancastre's father Roger de Lancastre "of Rydal" was an illegitimate younger brother to the last feudal baron of the Barony of Kendal before it was divided, William de Lancastre III, the son of Gilbert fitz Reinfrid and Hawise de Lancaster. As Ragg therefore noted, this means that he had "not a drop of de Lancaster blood" from Hawise's family who were the original de Lancaster family of the barony of Kendal. Nevertheless Roger was given "ample possessions in Westmorland and Lancashire" and consistently referred to with the second name of "de Lancaster". While Roger's mother is unknown, Ragg proposed that she may have been the illegitimate daughter of William de Stuteville, whose marriage rights Gilbert fitz Reinfrid seems to have purchased in 1212. It is from Roger than John inherited many lands in Westmorland and surrounding areas, including Rydal, which he held in chief, directly under the king. During the 1260s, Roger had also been summoned to give council to the king as one of the "keepers of the counties" in the north, possibly Lancashire. This was during the time of Simon de Montfort. In 1265 Roger had become Sheriff of Lancaster for life, and replaced his friend and kinsman Roger de Leybourne as keeper of the royal forest, north of the river Trent. John's mother was an important heiress, Phillipa de Bolebec, eldest daughter and one of three co-heiresses of Sir Hugh de Bolbec, who was lord of the feudal barony of Styford, Northumberland, and of a third of the already divided feudal barony of Stansted Mounfitchet. This included Stansted itself and "Lancaster's manor" in Barrington in Cambridgeshire. During his own lifetime, John succeeded to increase his share so that he held the entire Styford inheritance, and half the Mountfitchet inheritance. John had at least two brothers, both of whom apparently had no legitimate children.
A younger brother Roger was expected to survive him is mentioned in documents concerning John's inheritance, as someone who would inherit certain properties for his own lifetime only.
Another brother William was mentioned as a cleric. He was involved in a dispute about assigning an archdeacon in Beetham.
John's wife, who survived him, was named Annora, but her origins are unknown.
Life
John, sometimes described as a banneret, represented England in both warfare and other missions in Scotland. He was present for example at the siege of Caerlaverock in 1300. In the , written in medieval French, his arms were compared to those of Thomas de Multon, and are the same as those of the earlier barons of Kendal, his paternal grandparents' family, despite his line being illegitimate. attributed to John de Lancastre at Caerlaverock: "Argent, two bars gules, and on a canton or quarter of gules, with a lion, passant guardant in it, coloured or " The same heraldry appears on John's seal on the Barons' Letter to the Pope, of 1301. In several parliamentary records John de Lancastre of Grisedale is attributed with a variation of these arms where the "leopard" is replaced by a cinquefoil or five-petalled flower. John was a parliamentary baron of England by writ. Complete Peerage explains : John was also given administrative responsibilities in northwestern England. According to the interpretation of Complete Peerage he was also the John de Lancastre who held the important position of holding the possessions of the Thomas de Lancaster, the rebellious earl of Lancaster and Leicester. This Thomas was a member of the "House of Lancaster" branch of the royal family, descended from Edmund Crouchback, who was executed in 1322. Complete Peerage : John de Lancastre died shortly before 18 April 1334 without heir. Annora, who had received livery of his manors, died shortly before 6 October 1338.
