The extraordinary life story of an ambitious, thirteenth-century adventurer.

Walter de Lasci is one of the earliest known progenitors of the De Lacy family. He accompanied William the Conquerer to England. One of his descendants, Gilbert de Lacy, helped with the Norman invasion of Ireland. The De Lacy family was a powerful family in Anglo-Irish politics. One of the numerous De Lacy descendants, James Lacy (b. 1828) immigrated to America in 1847. His descendants live in the United States. There are descendants of the original De Lasci who live throughout the world.

This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

"The last great work of the age of reason, the final instance when all human knowledge could be presented with a single point of view ... Unabashed optimism, and unabashed racism, pervades many entries in the 11th, and provide its defining characteristics ... Despite its occasional ugliness, the reputation of the 11th persists today because of the staggering depth of knowledge contained with its volumes. It is especially strong in its biographical entries. These delve deeply into the history of men and women prominent in their eras who have since been largely forgotten - except by the historians, scholars"-- The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/apr/10/encyclopedia-britannica-11th-edition.