Sir William de Montagu Knight, 1st Earl of Salisbury

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Willian de Montagu, 2^nd but 1^st surviving son and heir, of William, 2^nd Lord Montagu (under the writ of 29 Dec 1299), by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Piers de Montfortof Beaudesert, county Warwick, by Maud, daughter and heir of Matthew de la Mare, was born at Cassington, Oxon, and was aged 17-18 in May 1320, having succeeded his father, 18 October 1319. In September 1325 he was going overseas with the King, being then presumably the King's yeoman, and he was knighted in 1326. She was summoned for service in Scotland 1327. In May 1329, he attended the King to do homage at Amiens, and in June began his successful service as a diplomatist. In July following he had a grant in consideration of labors daily endured by him, dwelling at the King's side.

William de Montagu was a prime mover in the seizure of Mortimer, 1330, and was summoned to Parliament as Lord Montagu, 18 Feb 1331. In April 1331 he accompanied the King on his short secret journey to France, and in September, he held a great tournament in 'Chepe.' He was one of the keepers of Somerset 1332, under the Act of 6 Edward III, and later commissioner of the peace. In that year he became lord of Lundy Island by purchase. In 1333. he was in command of the siege of Berwick. From March 1333/4 to May 1337 he was joint keeper, with Henry de Ferrières, of the Channel Islands.

William was with the King in Scotland, 1335 and 1336. In January 1336/7, he was appointed Admiral from Thames' mouth westwards. On 16 March, he was created in Parliament Earl of Salisbury. In October, he was appointed joint commander in Scotland, and a commissioner to treat for a peace. In December, he was made the sole commissioner to deal with John of the Isles for a treaty. He accompanied the King to Flanders, July 1338, and on 20 September, at Antwerp, he was made Marshal of England for life.

William was largely responsible for the negotiations, diplomatic and financial, with England's possible allies and supporters, in 1338-39, including the pawning of the royal crowns. In September 1339, a practical measure of relief, for which the Earl had long pressed, was granted to debtors of under £10 to the Exchequer, to persons sued for escapes of prisoners, &c. In December of that year he remained as hostage to the Duke of Lorraine, while the King returned to England. Soon after Easter, 1340, he and the Earl of Suffolk, in a too adventurous pursuit of the French, were taken prisoners inside the gate of Lille. In August 1343 he went, with the Earl of Derby, on an embassy to Castile, where he is said to have fought the Moors.

William married (in or before 1327) Katharine, youngest of the three daughters of William de Grandison, 1st Lord Grandison, by Sibyl, daughter and coheir of John, Lord Tregoz, and in her issue, coheir of her nephew Thomas, 4^th Lord Grandison. William died 30 Jan 1343/4, and was buried at Bisham. Katherine, made a vow of chastity, and had dower in all his possessions, including the £20 annuity, and died 23 Apr 1349.

~Cockayne's Complete Peerage, (Salisbury), Vol. XI, p. 385-388

William married Katharine de Grandison Countess of Salisbury, daughter of Sir Guillaume de Grandison 1st Baron of Grandison and Sibyl de Tregoz, circa 1350 in Donyatt, Somerset, England.²⁶¹ (Katharine de Grandison Countess of Salisbury was born circa 1312 in Ashford, Herefordshire, England and died on 5 Jan 1381-1382 in Bisham, Berkshire, England ¹⁴¹.)