Peter Lacy

Count Peter von Lacy, or Pyotr Petrovich Lacy (Russian: Пётр Петро́вич Ла́сси), as he was known in Russia (26 September 1678 – bef. 11 May 1751), was one of the most successful Russian imperial commanders before Rumyantsev and Suvorov. During a military career that spanned half a century, he professed to have been present at a total of 31 campaigns, 18 battles, and 18 sieges. He died at Riga, of which he for many years served as governor.

Peter Lacy was born as Pierce Edmond (de) Lacy on 26 September 1678 in Killeedy near Limerick into a noble Irish family. It is claimed that Peter's de Lacy family of Limerick descends from William Gorm de Lacy, the son of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath (bef.1135–1186), and from thence back to the Norman soldier Walter de Lacy (–c.1085) who hailed from Lassy, Calvados.

In an autobiography preserved by his descendants, Count Peter claimed that his father Peter was the son of John Lacy of Ballingarry. Count Peter also claimed Pierce Oge de Lacy of Bruff as a kinsman. It appears that Count Peter's grandfather John Lacy of Ballingarry was of the House of Bruff, and possibly the brother of Pierce (Peter) Oge (the young) Lacy of Bruff (−1607, executed) celebrated from the wars against Elizabeth I, the son of Sir Hempon Pierce de Lacy, who maintained that he was 18th in direct descent from William Gorm de Lacy, son of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, and great-great-grandson of Walter I de Lacy (–c.1085), the Norman soldier. It also appears that his father's brother was Lieutenant-Colonel John Lacy of the House of Bruff, and that this was the uncle John with whom Count Peter served at the age of 13 in the defence of Limerick, who had rescued Count Peter by buying him off at the capitulation of Limerick, then fled overseas with Count Peter and the rest of his regiment (which included Count Peter's father and brother) to join the Irish Brigade in France, and who was killed in October 1693 while fighting with Count Peter in the battle of the "Val de Marseilles". Lieutenant-Colonel John Lacy of the House of Bruff who had resided in Killmallock had prior to 1647 been an officer in the time of Charles I of England, had fought in France and Flanders, and been a prisoner in England for 2 years. In 1647 he was the only Lacy to be a member of the Supreme Council of Confederate Catholics, and in 1651 he was excluded from amnesty after the 1st Siege of Limerick. He was Deputy Governor of Limerick 1685–86, and one of the representatives of Killmallock in the Parliament of Dublin in 1689.

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