Nicola de la Haie

When King Henry II died in 1189, she and her second husband Gerard de Camville travelled to Barfleur in Normandy to obtain a charter confirming her rights from the new king Richard I. Richard then went off to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade, leaving authority in England in the hands of William de Longchamp.

While Camville stayed with Prince John at Nottingham,[3] Nicola held out against a month-long siege by a force of 30 knights, 20 mounted men-at-arms and 300 infantry, together with 40 sappers who attacked the walls of the castle.

Though a difficult man who fell out with most people, both Nicola and her husband remained loyal to him and were fortunate in maintaining a cordial relationship.

[3] Nicola then held both posts and, when John came to Lincoln in 1216, she is reported to have gone out to meet him with the keys of the castle in her hand, saying that as she was now a very old widow she was unable to continue in office any longer.

[2][9] Nicola then had to face a new threat, this time from William II Longespée, son of the Earl of Salisbury and husband of her granddaughter Idonea, who tried to evict her.

[2] At her death, in addition to Swaton, she held lands at Ashby, Billingborough, Bullington, Dembleby, Faldingworth, Fillingham, Horbling, Hogsthorpe, Ingham, Ingleby, Kirkby Underwood, Marston, Newton, Pickworth, Riseholme, Scawby, Spanby, and Willoughby.