General Notes

was made a banneret in the end of the reign of Edward II. In the first of Edward III. (1327) he was present at the expedition then made into Scotland, and in the 3rd of same reign attended the King when he was summoned to do homage to the King of France for his duchy of Aquitaine. In the 4th year of same reign he again attended the King to France, and had also the honor to wait on his holiness the Pope with Bartholomew de Burgherth, as Edward's ambassador, to thank him for confirming a bull of his predecessor Honorius, in favor of the Monks of Westminster. But the best service, perhaps, which this brave man ever performed for his master, was his bringing the famous Mortimer Earl of March the Queen's gallant, to punishment *. A parliament being held the same year it was enacted that William lord Montacute and all others with him, at the apprehension of the Earl of March and others, since what they did was authorized by the King's command, should be---"wholly acquitted thereof and of all murders and felonies they have done." This act of indemnity was not only passed in his behalf, but many manors and lands forfeited, by the attainder of the Earl of March and others, were bestowed upon him.
* The lord Montacute, having laid before the young King the infamy which the course of the life of the Queen, his mother, had brought upon his family, and the dangers which Mortimer's greatness threatened to the Crown, met with a favorable hearing from his Majesty, who ordered him to associate himself with such of the nobility as be could trust, and then apply to Sir William Eland, Constable of the Castle of Nottingham, in which the Queen and Mortimer had shut themselves up for defence. As the Keys of the Castle were brought every night to the Queen and nobody permitted to come in or go out without her knowledge, Sir William Eland directed Montacute and his associates to a private passage, by which they entered the Castle and marched directly to Mortimer's apartment, where the lord Montacute before he could seize his prisoner, was forced to kill Sir Hugh Turplington, steward of the household, and Sir John Monmouth. Mortimer was then made prisoner and carried before the King, and a short time after he was with his chief friends and abettors put to death.
In the same year (1330) he was also appointed governor of Sherbourne Castle in the County of Dorset, and of the Castle of Corffe with the Chace of Purbeck.
In the 5th of Edward III. he had a charter of free warren in all his lordships of Cookham in County of Berkshire, Swyneston in County of Southampton, Fulmere in County of Bucks and of Catsound and Lewisham in Kent. Likewise wreck, waif, stray goods of felons and fugitives, with fines and forfeitures of his tenants in his manors of Christ-church, Twyneham, Ringwood, and Swyneston, in the Isle of Wight and County of Southampton. Next year he obtained for John, his son-in-law, a grant of the Castle of Werk, on condition of his fortifying it and keeping it in repair; and for himself a release of all his Majesty's claim, right and title, in the isle of Man, and its appurtenances for him and his heirs forever. In 1335 he was constituted governor of the Isles Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Alderney, and Seul. In 1336 he was made Constable of the Tower of London, and in consideration of his great expenses in divers services obtained a grant of the forest of Selkirk and Ellerick, with the town and County of Selkirk in Scotland to hold in farm to him and his heirs. In the same year he also obtained a grant in fee of several manors, lands, and hundreds lying in the Counties Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, and Buckingham.
In 1337 he was constituted Admiral of the King's fleet, from the mouth of the Thames westward, and the following year in consideration of his faithful services in the Scottish wars, and otherwise, he was advanced to the title and dignity of Earl of Salisbury, with a grant of the annual rent of £20 out of the profits of that County.
The same ye