HASTINGS, a famous English family. Sir Henry de Hast ings (d. 1268), was summoned to parliament as a baron by Simon de Montfort in 1264. Having joined Montfort's party Sir Henry led the Londoners at the battle of Lewes and was taken prisoner at Evesham. He was among those who resisted the king at Kenil worth, and after the issue of the Dictum de Kenilworth he com manded the remnants of the baronial party when they made their last stand in the isle of Ely, submitting to Henry in July 1267.
His son JOHN, BARON HASTINGS (c. 1262—C. 1313), married Isabella (d. 13o5), daughter of William de Valence, earl of Pem broke, a half-brother of Henry III. His paternal grandmother, Ada, was a younger daughter of David, earl of Huntingdon, and a niece of the Scottish king, William the Lion; and in 1290 when Margaret, the maid of Norway, died, Hastings came forward, unsuccessfully, as a claimant for the vacant throne. He fought constantly either in France or in Scotland; he led the bishop of Durham's men at the celebrated siege of Carlaverock castle in 1300; and with his brother Edmund he signed the letter which in 1301 the English barons sent to Pope Boniface VIII. repudiating papal interference in the affairs of Scotland; on two occasions he represented the king in Aquitaine.