# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hastings, Edward (1381-1437)

​HASTINGS, Sir EDWARD (1381–1437), claiming to be Baron Hastings, was second son of Sir Hugh Hastings, who was grandson of Sir Hugh Hastings (1307?–1347) [q. v.], and great-grandson of John, second baron Hastings [q. v.], by his second wife. His father served at Brest in 1378, and in the Scottish expedition of 1385. In 1386 he was with John of Gaunt in Spain. In all these wars he bore the arms ‘or, a maunche gules’ (Blomefield, vi. 414); his son says that he died at ‘Vyle Hove in Spayne.’ He married Anne, daughter of Edward, lord Spencer; by her he had two sons. Hugh, the elder, who died without issue at Calais in 1395, was, on the death of his cousin John, third earl of Pembroke, in 1389, declared heir of the half blood, but Reginald, third lord Grey of Ruthin [q. v.], claimed priority as heir of the whole blood in right of his grandmother Elizabeth, daughter of John, second baron Hastings by his first wife. The dispute was nominally as to the right to bear the Hastings arms, ‘or, a maunch gules,’ but it virtually included the right to the family honours. It became one of the causes célèbres of the middle ages, and was still undecided at the death of Hugh, and Edward being then only fourteen years old, it was further delayed.
In 1401 Grey petitioned the king to appoint a curator for Sir Edward Hastings in order that his suit might be dealt with (Rot. Parl. iii. 480), but though there were some legal proceedings at this time (Usk, pp. 56–7, 62) it was only on 9 May 1407 that a commission was issued by John of Lancaster, afterwards duke of Bedford, as constable of England. The court of chivalry assembled at Westminster 4 Feb. 1408, and judgment was given on 9 May 1410; Hastings was condemned in costs, but at once appealed. At the coronation of Henry V Hastings claimed to carry the spurs before the king, which Grey had done undisputed in 1399. On 22 May and 22 Nov. 1413, and again on 8 Feb. 1415, commissions were issued to hear the appeal, but the trial was apparently prevented by the French war, in which Hastings took part in the retinue of the Earl of Dorset. On 16 Feb. 1417, before the trial came on, Grey obtained an order for the taxation of the costs of the first trial, and on 24 May they were assessed at 987l. 10s. 10d. Hastings, who swore that he had spent a thousand marks besides, refused to pay lest it should be construed as an acknowledgment of Grey's rights. He was, therefore, imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where he remained till January 1433, and perhaps later, being for much of that time, as he himself says, ‘boundyn in fetters of iron liker a thief or traitore than like a gentleman of birth.’ He steadfastly refused to purchase his release by abandoning his claims, despite all his sufferings, which included the death of his wife and several children (Account of Controversy, &c., p. ix). He, however, offered to resign his claims to his eldest son John on condition that Grey would marry him to one of his own daughters. Hastings died in January 1437. In addition to the title of Hastings, he assumed by a deed dated 4 Nov. 1406 that of Stuteville, as heir of his great-grandmother Margery Foliot. He was twice married, first to Muriel (?), daughter of Sir John Dinham, by whom he had, with other issue, a son John; she died before 1420 (ib.) Hastings's second wife was Margery, daughter of Sir Robert Clifton of Bokenham, who after his death married Sir John Wyndham, and dying in 1456 was buried in the church of the Austin Friars at Norwich (Weever, Funerall Monuments, p. 804). Sir John Hastings never prosecuted the family claims, and having married Anne, daughter of John, lord Morley, died in 1471, and was buried in Elsing Church (see inscription given in Blomefield, ix. 519, and Gough, Sepulch. Monuments, ii. pt. 3, p. 369). His descendants in the male line became extinct in 1542, and ​the barony of Hastings fell into abeyance till 1841, when it was revived in favour of Sir Jacob Astley, grandfather of the present Lord Hastings. The Earls of Kent, as representatives of Lord Grey of Ruthin, claimed the title of Hastings till 1639.
[Authorities quoted; Account of the Controversy between Reginald, Lord Grey of Ruthin, and Sir Edward Hastings, ed. Sir C. G. Young, fol. 1841, privately printed (besides the formal record of proceedings and an introduction, this volume contains four pathetic letters written by Hastings from prison); Dugdale's Baronage, i. 576–8; Blomefield's Hist. of Norfolk, v. 186, vi. 414, viii. 112, 201–3, ix. 470, 513–14, 519, x. 52.]
C. L. K.