William (Montagu) de Montagu (abt. 1303 - 1344)

Born about 1303 in Cassington, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 30 Jan 1344 at about age 41 in Windsor, Berkshire, England

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Biography

Biography in Brief

Sir William de Montagu, son of William de Montagu and his wife Elisabeth de Montfort, was born about 1302/3. He succeeded his father as Lord Montagu in 1319. He was created Earl of Salisbury 16 Mar 1337 and was succeeded by his son William in 1344.^[1]

By 1327, Sir William (c1300-1344) had married Katharine de Grandison, daughter of William de Grandson and his wife Sibylla de Tresgoz.^[1]

Sir William and Katharine had six children:^[1][2]

• William de Montagu (1328-1397)
• John de Montagu (d 1390)
• Sibyl de Montagu, m Edmund de Arundel 1349
• Philippa de Montagu (d 1382)
• Elizabeth de Montagu (d 1359)^[3][4]
• Agnes de Montagu, m John de Grey (by contract dated 12 Jun 1335)

Sir William de Montagu died 30 Jan 1344 and was buried at Bisham.^[1]

Longer Biography

"Born at Cassington, Oxfordshire, he was under age at his father's death in 1319 and his lands were taken into the custody of the crown; he was made a ward of the king and was created a yeoman of the royal household in the same year. He was allowed seisin of part of his inheritance in May 1321, though still under age, and was granted full possession on 21 February 1323, proof of age having been taken some time after 29 June 1322.

"As a member of the royal household Montagu served abroad with Edward II in 1320 and 1325, and he received a knighthood in 1326. Summoned to provide military service on the first Scottish campaign of Edward III's reign in 1327, he was elevated to the rank of knight-banneret of the household by June 1328 and was granted the manor of Wark on the River Tweed in January 1329, in part payment for his agreement to serve the king in peace and war for life with a personal retinue of twenty men-at-arms. In October 1329 he was made keeper of the king's stannary and the water of Dartmouth.

"Montagu clearly established a close friendship with the young Edward III. He accompanied the king on a journey to Amiens in May–June 1329 and was sent to France in June of the same year to negotiate a marriage alliance with Philip VI. More particularly, in September 1329 he was sent to discuss certain secret business with Pope John XXII at Avignon, as a result of which Edward III wrote to the pope indicating that only those written instruments containing the words pater sancte, written in his own hand, should be considered to express the king's personal wishes, and specifying that only Montagu and Richard Bury, the royal secretary, were apprised of this business. The implication was that the king's mother, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who controlled the government, were preventing the king from taking charge of his own regime.

"He is buried at the Augustinian Priory at Bisham (Berkshire). (Ref: ODNB).

(Royal Ancestry) Sir William de Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 3rd Lord Montagu, died 30 Jan.1343/4 from injuries received at a tournament held at Windsor, Berkshire.

He was buried at Bisham Priory for Austin Canons, Bisham, Berkshire, as were many other earls of Salisbury.

Marriage and Family

"Montagu married, in or before 1327, Katharine [Katharine Montagu, countess of Salisbury (d. 1349)], the youngest daughter of William, first Lord Grandison, and Sybil, daughter and coheir of Sir John Tregoz. The marriage brought Montagu into contact with Katharine's brother, John Grandison, bishop of Exeter, who corresponded with him on both personal and political matters. Montagu and Katharine had six children: William Montagu, second earl of Salisbury (1328-1397); John Montagu (1330–1390), who married his father's ward, Margaret, heir of Thomas de Monthermer; Elizabeth Montagu (d. 1359), who married successively Giles Badlesmere, Hugh Despenser, and Guy de Bryan; Philippa Montagu (d. 1381), who married Roger (VI) Mortimer, second earl of March; Sibyl Montagu, who married Edmund Fitzalan, the disinherited eldest son of the earl of Arundel; and Agnes Montagu, who was contracted to marry John, eldest son of Roger, Lord Grey of Ruthin. The prestigious marriages of his children are a mark of Montagu's political ascendancy. His brothers Simon, bishop of Worcester and Ely, and Edward, Lord Montagu, also rose to prominence through his good offices." (ibid)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Source: William de Montagu, Medieval Lands
2. ↑ see William de Montagu's family in Medieval Lands (WilliamMontagudied1344B this link) for more information about his children's marriages and families.
3. ↑ Medieval Lands shows Elizabeth's three husbands: (1) Giles de Badlesmere, (2) Hugh le Despencer, (3) Guy de Bryan (see this entry). Richardson's Royal Ancestry (Vol II, p 1) shows the same three husbands as Medieval Lands and three sons by Lord Bryan: Guy, William, and Philip. It also shows Guy's daughters by his first wife (Joan de Carew): Elizabeth, Margaret, and Philippe.
4. ↑ the biography of Sir John Chandos, posted by The History of Parliament Online, shows that Elizabeth married Guy, Lord Bryan as widow of Edward de Bohun and was by Guy the mother of Philippa, second wife of Sir Chandos. (This is incorrect. Philippe, wife of Edward de Bohun and John de Chandos, Knt., was daughter of Guy de Bryan's first wife, Joan de Carew.)

• Project Medlands English Nobility: Grandson
• Royal Ancestry 2013 Vol. IV p. 115-118 (#Richardson)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB)
• The Descendants of King Edward I, King of England, and Eleanora of Castile: https://web.archive.org/web/20121229011855/http://goose.ycp.edu/~tgibson/RoyalAncestors/Edward.html
• Ancestry.com family trees
• The Montague Millenium
• Medieval Lands
  • William de Montagu (listed as son of William and Elizabeth)
  • William de Montagu (same person as above, but in listing where he is head of the family)
• Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013)