Gerard de Lisle, 1st Baron Lisle

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Gerard de Lisle was an English nobleman. He was the son and heir of Sir Warin de Lisle and his wife, Alice, sister and heiress of Henry Teyes Junior, Lord Teyes. In March 1327 when proceedings against his executed father, as an adherent of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, were annulled, the escheator was ordered not to meddle with his lands, as Sir Warin had held nothing in chief.

Gerard was knighted in the same year and was summoned by the King for military service in December 1334 and March 1335. In 1333 and 1335 he was certainly engaged in the Scottish Wars of Edward III of England, in the latter year under Richard, Earl of Arundel. In 1339 Sir Gerard had a dispute with his mother as to the presentation to the church of Stowe-Nine-Churches (Northamptonshire) but he eventually admitted that it was not his turn. He also complained of trespass in Stowe Park which appears to have been his preferred residence, though he must also have spent a considerable amount of time at Kingston Castle in Berkshire when attending the King in Woodstock, Oxford, Windsor or London.

In June 1340 Sir Gerard was again in the army of the Earl of Arundel, this time travelling 'beyond the seas' as a knight banneret, engaged in the French campaign of 1346-47. He fought at the Battle of Crecy in the Earl's division. In 1347 Sir Gerard succeeded to his mother's inheritance and, according to modern doctrine, became Lord Teyes, although it seems unlikely that he ever used the title. He made an agreement, on March 5, 1350, to again accompany the Earl of Arundel, with 30 men-at-arms in return for 100 marks (£66-13s-4d) per annum, receiving £100 before leaving England.

In September 1350 Sir Gerard received a licence to make a pilgrimage to Rome, along with seven horses. This he presumably undertook shortly afterwards perhaps in thanks for his safe return from the Hundred Years War. In August 1354 as Gerard de Insula, dominus de Stowe he was one of the barons who agreed to the appointment of the Pope as arbitrator in the continuing dispute with France and on June 20, 1358 he attended the King at a Royal Council. Eventually, on December 15, 1357, Sir Gerard was summoned to the Parliament of England by writs directed to 'Gerardo de Insula or del Isle' whereby he is held to have become Lord Lisle (of Kingston Lisle). In September 1359 he was again engaged in the French wars.

Lord Lisle married firstly, in or before 1330, Eleanor, whose parentage is unknown. She was presumably dead by 1347, when Gerard was contracted to marry Margery, widow of Sir Nicholas de la Beche. However, she was carried off from Beaumys Castle, near Reading, by Sir John de Dalton and others. Gerard was appointed to arrest the marauders and, fearing bodily harm in the attempt, was authorised to bear arms. However, Margery married Dalton and, before July 1354, Gerard had also taken a new wife: Elizabeth, widow of the fourteen-year-old Edmund, Lord St. John of Basing Castle in Hampshire who held several manors in dower.

For a fine of £100 he was pardoned for marrying her without a licence. Lord Lisle died on June 9, 1360 holding, amongst others, the manor of Kingston Lisle from his overlord, Robert de Lisle of Rougemont by the service of one knight's fee and a pair of gilt spurs or 6d. He was buried at Stowe-Nine-Churches and succeeded by his son, Warin de Lisle, as the 2nd Lord Lisle. Gerard's widow later married Sir Richard Pembridge Junior KG of Pembridge Castle (Water Newton) and Clehonger Manor in Herefordshire. She died on September 16, 1362.