Born: Lucia de Thweng was born at Kilton Castle on 24th March 1279. She was the only child of Robert de Thweng and his wife Matilda, daughter of Roger de Merlay of Morpeth Castle.
Educated: Lucia’s parents died while she was still just a baby and she became a ward of King Edward I. She grew up in Kilton Castle under the protection of her uncle Sir Marmaduke de Thweng. She would have been taught the social arts which young ladies of high status were expected to learn.
Married: In 1294 King Edward I gave her in marriage to Sir William Latimer. In 1305 Latimer divorced Lucia on the grounds of her adultery. In 1313 Lucia married Sir Robert de Everingham, who was killed in the Scottish Wars three years later. In 1320, then aged 41, Lucia married her third husband Sir Bartholomew de Fanacourt. He outlived her.
Family: Lucia had illegitimate children by Marmaduke de Thweng and Nicholas de Meynell.
Home: Lucia spent her childhood at Kilton Castle. After her first marriage she lived at the old castle in Castleton, at Danby Castle, and then at the Latimers’ manor house at Brunne in the East Riding. For a time she lived with her lover Peter de Mauley at Mulgrave Castle, and then with another lover, Nicholas de Meynell at Whorlton Castle. She spent her later years with her second and third husbands either at Kilton Castle, or at her manor house at Brotton.
Known for: Lucia’s hand in marriage was sought by many barons of Yorkshire and beyond, as she was the heiress to a quarter of the de Brus estates. She is known in history as being the mistress of several northern barons as well as for marrying three of them. One divorce and three marriages was an unusual life story for a member of the northern aristocracy.
Died: Lucia died at her manor house at Brotton on 8th January 1346, at the age of 67.
Further Information: “Kilton Castle” by William M. I’Anson, in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal vol. 22 (1912).
“The Early History of the North Riding” William Edwards (1924)