This Charter is confirmed by King Henry: "Ego Henricus Rex Angliæ signo sanctæ x crucis confirmo."
After a few years' exile, Robert was allowed to return, and all his estates and honours were restored to him. He assisted in the roof the Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell, and confirmed many of the grants of Churches to that Priory which de la Val had made in his absence, including those of South Kirkby, Featherstone, Huddersfield, Rothwell, and Kirkthorpe.
In the Dodsworth MSS, Vol.II. 52, we read, "Iste Robertus de Laci de Pontefracto fundabat prioratum Canonicorum Regularium Sci Oswaldi apud Nostla, non procul a castello suo de Pontefracto * * * fundabat etiam prioratum Sci Johannis Apostoli et Evangelisticæ in Domino suo de Kirkeby postea vocata de Pontefracto."
He gives too (f. 119) "Carta Roberti de Lacy de situ Prioratus S. Oswaldi de Nostell ." (Nostell—North Stall).
Robert died in the latter part of Henry I., leaving two sons, lbert and Henry, the latter of whom became the founder of Kirkstall Abbey, after he had succeeded to his father's estate on the death of his elder brother Ilbert without issue.
This second Ilbert greatly distinguished himself by his faithfulness to King Stephen against Matilda's claims, and by his conspicuous valour in the Battle of the Standard, fought at Cowton Moor near Northallerton (1138), where the barons and freemen of the North gathered round Archbishop Thurston, and completely routed their Scottish enemies.
Henry de Laci, Ilbert's brother and successor, died in the latter part of Henry II., being succeeded by his son Robert, one of the barons who attended the coronation of Richard I. This Robert died in 1193, leaving no child. He is spoken of by Hunter (Deanery of Doncaster, Vol.II., p. 202, 1831) as "the last of the original line of Laci, and, as far as it appears, the last remaining descendant, male or female, of Ilbert de Laci, the original grantee" of the Conqueror.
