William De Montague

• General Notes
  • WILLIAM, lord of Montacute, eldest son of Sir Simon de Montacute (No. VIII.), served in several expeditions into Scotland, both before and after his father's death, in the reigns of Edward I. and II. In the former he also received the honor of Knighthood, along with Edward prince of Wales; and in the second year of the latter, he obtained the royal charter for free warren at his manor of Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, as he did afterward for those of Saxlingham, in the County of Norfolk, Knolle in the County of Somerset, and Woneford in the County of Devon. In the same reign he was governor of Berhamstead Castle and steward of the King's household; and had a grant of the bodies and ransoms of Rene ap Grenon, Madock ap Vaughan and Audoen ap Madock, Welsh barons who had rebelled and been taken prisoners.
    
    Moreover, he obtained from the King a special license to make a Castle of his house at Kersington in the County of Oxford, and was appointed Seneschal of the duchy of Aquitain and at last in 1318 of Gascony. In the 11th and 12th of that reign he had summons to parliament and died in 1320 in Gascony, but was interred at St. Frideswide, now Christ Church Oxon *.
    
    * William de Montagu, who held the Manor of Aston Clinton, in the County of Buckingham, held it of our Lord the King, by grant of Sergeanty, viz.---by the service of finding for our lord the King a lardiner at his own proper costs." Harl, MSS, British Mus.6126.---"The lord William Montacute holds the Castle of Denbigh, with the honour from the lord the King in Capite." Denbigh and its lordships, "William de Montacute held Wynford by the gift of Hugh de Courtenay by Sergeanty, viz. by the service of finding a bedell to serve in the hundred of Wynford in the office of bedell for all service."---Tenures of land---Blount.
    
    "Alexander III., King of Scots, had invaded Man also, and entirely subdued it, and set a King over the isle. However, Mary, the daughter of Reginald King of Man, addressed her self to the King of England for justice in her case. Answer was made that the King of Scots was then possessed of the Island and she ought to apply herself to him. Her grandchild, John Waldebeof, notwithstanding this, sued again for his right in Parliament, held 33rd of Edward I., urging it there before the King of England as Lord Paramount of Scotland, yet all the answer he could have was that he might prosecute his title before the justices of the King's Bench; let it be heard there and let justice be done. But what he could not effect by law his kinsman Sir William Montacute (for he was of the royal family of Man) soon did by force of arms. For having raised a body of English, he drove the Scots out of the Isle with these raw soldiers. But, having plunged himself into debt by the great expense of this war, and become insolvent, he was forced to mortgage the Island to Anthony Bec, Bishop of Durham, and Patriarch of Jerusalem; and make over all the profits thereof to him for seven years, and quickly after, the King gave the Island to the said Anthony for term of life. Afterward King Edward II. gave it to his great favorite Peter de Gaveston. Soon after this the Scots recovered it again under the Conduct of Robert Brus. Afterward, about the year 1340, William Montacute, the younger (Earl of Salisbury), rescued it by force of Arms from the Scots and in the year of our Lord 1393 sold Man, and the Crown thereof, to William Scrope) for a great sum of money."-Camden's Britannia.
    
    By Elizabeth, daughter of Peter lord Montfort of Beaudefert in the County of Warwick, he had issue four sons and seven daughters.
    
    Of his four sons the eldest died in the life time of his father, the second succeeded him, Simon the 3rd son in the 8th of Edward III. was made Bishop of Worcester and in 1336 was translated to Ely. He was a great benefactor to the University of Cambridge and laid out a large sum on the fine Lady Chapel, on the north side of the Cathedral of Ely, though he did not live to finish it.
    
    Sir Edward Montacute, the 4th son, was governor of the Castle of Werk. He served afterward in the French wars with great reputation. In the 23rd of Edward III. (1330), he had livery of all those lands which descended to his wife Alice, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, fifth son of Edward I., and Marshal of England. He died in 1342.