''King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye''. Interview with Author Sharon Bennett Connolly

June 11, 2023

''King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye''. Interview with Author Sharon Bennett Connolly

840 years ago today, Henry the Young King, aged twenty-eight, died at Martel, Limousin. In the closing days of May he had contracted dysentery, called "bloody flux" and did not survive its merciless attack. Henry had been co-king of England since 1170, when his father, King Henry II, had him crowned at Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately the elder king was unwilling to share power and responsibilty with his eldest son and heir, thus pushing the latter to rebel against him, first in 1173, then ten years later, in 1183. Henry had been long dead when his younger brother John faced the greatest crisis of his reign. In his hour of need he was left with few staunch supportes, one of them being Nicholaa de la Haye. Today we have invited Sharon Bennett Connolly FRHistS to the blog. Sharon is the best-selling author of 4 non-fiction history books, including Heroines of the Medieval World, Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England, and Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey. Her latest book, a biography, King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, was released in May 2023. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Sharon has studied history academically and just for fun – and has even worked as a tour guide at a castle. She also writes the popular history blog, www.historytheinterestingbits.com. Sharon regularly gives talks on women's history; she is a feature writer for All About History magazine and her TV work includes Australian Television's 'Who Do You Think You Are?'

Welcome to the blog, Sharon! It’s lovely to have you (and Nicholaa) here on this special day. Congratulations on your latest book! The obvious question to begin with is: why Nicholaa de la Haye? You call her your favourite heroine. What do you find so special about her?

Nicholaa de la Haye is a fascinating character – a woman who held her own in a man’s world. She was hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and, rather than relinquishing her duties to the nearest man, administered the office herself. In 1191, for instance, her husband (Gerardde Camville) was away from the castle, negotiating with Prince John, when William Longchamp, King Richard’s justiciar – the man left in charge when Richard went on crusade – laid siege to the castle. Instead of putting a male deputy in command of the castle, Gerard left Nicholaa in charge. And she directed the defence for 40 days and nights – until Longchamp gave up and went home.

And that was just the first siege. In 1216, now a widow, Nicholaa paid off a bunch of rebels when they tried to besiege Lincoln Castle again but later in the same year, found herself surrounded by a force comprising rebel barons and their French allies. Nicholaa led the defence of Lincoln Castle for 7 months, as she waited for William Marshal, Henry III’s regent, to muster an army and come to her aid, which culminated in the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 1217. By this time, Nicholaa was in her 60s and showing no signs of slowing down or wanting to hand over her responsibilities to someone else. She was still very much the woman in charge!

It must have been quite challenging to write about a woman who remained loyal to the king abandoned by most and considered by most to have been a tyrant…

It was! One of my concerns when writing King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye was to examine the reasons behind Nicholaa’s loyalty to King John. Nicholaa must have been aware of John’s reputation, and of his nefarious practices. And she cannot have been ignorant of John’s treatment of the Braose family. John had persecuted the Braose’s to the point of destruction. He had demanded they give up sons as hostages, seized their castles and invaded Ireland in an attempt to get his hands on them. And when Matilda de Braose and her son, William, did fall into John’s grasp, they were imprisoned in a dungeon and starved to death.

So, it was challenging for me to find reason behind Nicholaa’s support of a man who could do that. And my conclusion was that John and Nicholaa’s relationship was one of mutual support: Nicholaa and her husband had sworn fealty to John in 1191, and almost lost everything in King Richard’s reign as a result of their loyalty to John. But when John took the throne in 1199, one of his first moves was to restore Nicholaa and her husband to favour – giving them back Lincoln Castle and making Gerard sheriff of Lincolnshire, a post he held for the next 6 years.

And in 1216, at the height of the First Barons’ War, Nicholaa was one of John’s most trusted barons. She did try to resign her post at Lincoln, handing John the keys to the castle and claiming she was too old to carry on in her duties. John refused to accept her resignation. Which I think would have been a relief to Nicholaa. I suspect she never intended to resign, but rather wanted John to demonstrate his continuing trust in Nicholaa in front of his knights – who may have been mumbling about a woman being in command of the defence of one of the most important castles in England.

And John was right to put his trust in Nicholaa de la Haye. She was formidable and highly capable. So much so that just hours before his death, John appointed her as Sheriff of Lincolnshire; Nicholaa was the first woman to ever be appointed a sheriff in England in her own right.

You have been promoting your book, giving talks and lectures. Where can your readers expect to meet you in the nearest future?

My next talk on Nicholaa de la Haye is at Sherwood Forest on 24 June – at 11.30. It’s free and at the Visitor Centre – there’s going to be something very special about speaking at Sherwood – it’s a forest that Nichoaa would have known well.

And I am defending non-fiction in a Battle of the Genres at ther Newark Book Festival on 9 July – at Newark Town Hall at 1pm. That’s going to be special, too – talking about Nicholaa in the town where King John died and where he signed the document making Nicholaa a sheriff.

And in October, I will be telling Nicholaa’s story at the Lincoln Book Festival.

Using the occasion, I would like to ask about your upcoming projects. I am reading that your next book is out in January 2024. Congratulations! Could you tell us a few words about it?

Thank you, yes. My next book is Women of the Anarchy, looking at the war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, in the twelfth century, through the eyes of the women. So I concentrate of Empress Matilda and Stephen’s queen, Matilda of Boulogne, who were cousins as the granddaughters of St Margaret, Queen of Scots. I’ve always though Empress Matilda’s reputation as a haughty, overbearing woman, was a little unfair and I am hoping that in Women of the Anarchy I have dispelled some of that and portrayed her in a more favourable light. At the same time, Matilda of Boulogne – Stephen’s queen – is often overlooked and yet she negotiated peace treaties and continued to fight after Stephen was captured.

Both Matilda’s were remarkable women and it was a privilege to shine the spotlight on their lives...

After that, I have two more projects, Heroines of the Tudor World – a sequel, sort of, to my first book, Heroines of the Medieval World - which is due out late 2024/early 2025 and Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark, which I am working on now and will also be out in late 2024.

Henry the Young King’s paternal grandmother Empress Matilda, Matilda of Boulogne… Apart from them what other women of the Anarchy are we going to meet in your latest book?

Now that would be telling! There are a few other women who appear in the story, such as Matilda of Scotland, Ada de Warenne and Constance of France, but the main focus is on Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, their rivalry and the influence these two women had on the era.

Thank you for this fascinating glimpse into your work. Best of luck with all your upcoming projects.

About the book:

King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye by Sharon Bennett Connolly

In a time when men fought and women stayed home, Nicholaa de la Haye held Lincoln Castle against all-comers. Not once, but three times, earning herself the ironic praise that she acted ‘manfully’. Nicholaa gained prominence in the First Baron’s War, the civil war that followed the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. Although recently widowed, and in her 60s, in 1217 Nicholaa endured a siege that lasted over three months, resisting the English rebel barons and their French allies. The siege ended in the battle known as the Lincoln Fair, when 70-year-old William Marshal, the Greatest Knight in Christendom, spurred on by the chivalrous need to rescue a lady in distress, came to Nicholaa’s aid. Nicholaa de la Haye was a staunch supporter of King John, remaining loyal to the very end, even after most of his knights and barons had deserted him. A truly remarkable lady, Nicholaa was the first woman to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Her strength and tenacity saved England at one of the lowest points in its history. Nicholaa de la Haye is one woman in English history whose story needs to be told…