William (Montagu) de Montague (abt. 1275 - 1319)

Born about 1275 in Cassington, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Oct 1319 at about age 44 in Gascony, France [uncertain]

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Biography

Son and heir of Simon de Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu , by either his first wife, Hawise de St Amand, or his second wife, Isabel, whose parentage is unknown.^[1]

He married Elizabeth de Montfort^[2] circa 1292.^[3]They had four sons and six daughters.

Montagu died in Gascony on 18 October 1319. His place of burial is unknown. "William Montagu was descended from a prominent west-country family which traced its origins back to the conquest. The patrimony was concentrated in Somerset with the manors of Jerlington and Thurlbear as principle residences. During the thirteenth century the family had extended its holdings beyond the south-west, most notably acquiring the manor of Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, in 1252.

William's father, Simon, had an impressive record of military service under Edward I, and was personally summoned to parliament between 1299 and 1316.

Between 1301 and 1304 William Montagu too made his mark in the Scottish wars. In 1302, described as king's yeoman, [William Montagu] was entrusted with the supervision of shipping for the war.

In 1306, like many of his illustrious contemporaries, [William Montagu] was knighted along with Edward, prince of Wales.

In 1314 he was keeper of Berwick [Castle, Northumberland]. This military experience served him well, for it [was] as ‘commander of the royal cavalry’ (prefectus militie regis) in 1316, a description accorded to him by the Vita Edwardi secundi, that he first emerged as an important servant of the king (Vita Edwardi secundi, 68).

In [1316] he played a leading part in suppressing the revolt of Llywelyn Bren (d. 1318) in Glamorgan [Wales] and in settling the disputes between the townspeople of Bristol and Bartholomew Badlesmere (d. 1322), the constable of the castle there.

In November 1316 he was appointed steward of the royal household. The material rewards of his stewardship included a pension of 200 marks, the absolution of his father's debts, forfeited lands in Cumberland, a quay on the Thames, and the marriage of Joan, one of the heirs of Theobald de Verdon, which he bestowed upon his younger son.

[William de Montagu] also acted as a channel of patronage for others and a number of grants were made on his information.

By influencing [King Edward II] and making himself a lynchpin in the relationships which bound Edward II to his courtier supporters[,] Montagu developed the importance of the stewardship, which after his death became an important focus of contention among the rival magnates and the particular object of the earl of Lancaster's ambitions." (Ref: ODNB)

An article, part of an extended blog with well-researched information on William Montacute and his political and social environment, can be found at edwardthesecond.blogspot.com

Spouse and Children

"Montagu had four sons with his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter de Montfort. The eldest, John, predeceased his father before August 1317. Of the others, William Montagu (1301 - –1344) succeeded as third Baron Montagu; Simon Montagu (d. 1345) was successively bishop of Worcester and Ely; and Edward made his career in the wars of Edward III.

[Widow] Elizabeth [de Montfort de Montagu] later married Sir Thomas Furnival whose son Thomas Furnival the younger had married John Montagu's widow, Joan de Verdon."^[4]

Note of caution

This profile is involved in what the great genealogist J H Round called the "The Carington Imposture", a famous fraudulent pedigree. See his Peerage and Pedigrees Vol. II, starting at page 134. At least some of the people in that pedigree (such as this profile's supposed daughter Katherine, now detached) never existed and others are represented inaccurately.

Sources

1. ↑ Cokayne 1936, p. 80.
2. ↑ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition...page 28, by Douglas Richardson; https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=1461045207
3. ↑ The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.243-4, pedigree of Courtenay
4. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

See also:

• Medieval Lands -- Montague (Earls of Salisbury)
• The Montague Millennium

• An article, part of an extended blog with well-researched information on William Montacute and his political and social environment, can be found at edwardthesecond.blogspot.com
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB)
• Royal Ancestry, Douglas Richardson, Vol. 4, page 114. Entry for WILLIAM DE MONTAGU.
• Wikipedia]