D'Acre Lineage Leading to Fienes

Dacre coat of arms. CC 3.0 license, Wikimedia Commons, Jimmy44

The Dacre, or D’acre, family was a line of barons and baronnesses in Co. Cumberland, England. The lineage I address here lived in the Medieval Period and married into other noble families of the time. Some of the line in the post-invasion family were said to be from Dacre, or use the surname de Dacre, even though later generations used D’acre.

We’ll start with the 7th Baroness of Dacre - Joan (d. 1486), who married Sir Richard Fienes by 1457 - and work backwards. For full references and additional family members in the lineage, see My Lineage from the Roots Up, vol. 1, which can be read for free on Kindle Unlimited.

The marriage of the 7th Baroness of Dacre resulted in the creation of the title Baron Dacre of the South for her husband when Joan inherited the barony from her grandfather, Thomas the 6th Baron Dacre. Sir Richard Fienes, 7th Baron Dacre and 1st Baron Dacre of the South, passed the barony to his grandson Thomas in 1484. This Thomas’ grandson ended up forfeiting the barony and was executed by Parliament for murder in 1541.

Lineage of William de Dacre to Joan Dacre Fienes from My Lineage from the Roots Up, Vol. 1. Copyright Alicia Prater. Aliconia Publishing, 2019.

Sir Thomas Dacre had married Philippa Neville, the daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland, the 4th Baron of Raby. I’ll write more about the Neville-Stafford lineage in another post. Thomas was Chief Forester of Inglewood under Henry V. Henry VI appointed him as peacekeeper with James I of Scotland. The 6th Baron Dacre was summoned to Parliament from 1412 to 1455.

The 5th Baron Dacre was Thomas’ father William de Dacre, who was summoned to Parliament from 1384 to 1403. He married the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Dougas.

The 4th Baron Dacre was William’s father Hugh de Dacre, who was summoned to Parliament from 1376 to 1383. Two of his brothers held the barony before him. The 1st Baron Dacre was Hugh’s father Ranulph.

Ranulph de Dacre was first summoned to Parliament in 1321. His father was William de Dacre, who took part in Edward I’s expedition to Scotland. William was granted land in Dacre, Cumberland, and granted castle rights by Edward II.

William’s father was Ranulph de Dacre, a supporter of King Henry III against the Barons. Ranulph succeeded his own father was Sheriff of Cumberland and was appointed Sheriff of Yorkshire under Edward I.