General Notes

ALICE MONTAGUE

dau. of General Thomas above mentioned, became at his death Countess of Salisbury.

She m. Sir Richard Nevil, who in her right became Earl of Salisbury. He was the eldest son of Ralph, first Earl of Westmoreland He followed the York party, was taken prisoner in a battle at Wakefield and beheaded. At his death, their eldest son, Richard Nevil, succeeded to the title of Earl of Salisbury, and, in right of his father, Earl of Warwick.

He was that Earl of Warwick, to whom the House of York owe their ascent to the throne. He also bore the titles of lord Monthermer, great chamberlain and High Admiral of England, lord Warden of the north marches toward Scotland and High Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster, and among his many titles, was also known as "the: King maker." He was a man of invincible courage and took delight in dangers, engaged his country in a fresh civil war in which he lost his life. He was slain at the battle of garnet, 14th April, 1471, though some authors affirm that he was murdered by his own party.

John Nevil, the younger of the two sons of Richard and Alice (Montague) Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, was 1st of Edward IV. created Baron Nevil of Montague, and 10th of the same reign, Marquis of Montague.

He was slain at the battle of garnet, (some say murdered) 147r, while endeavoring to succor his brother Richard, Earl of Warwick.

They were both laid in state at Westminster, London, and afterward were carried to Bisham Abbey and buried among their ancestors.

Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury and Warwick, had two daughters namely, Isabel, married to George, Duke of Clarence, and Anne, married first to Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI.; second to King Richard III.

George, Duke of Clarence, was murdered in a hogshead of wine,. leaving his wife Isabel with an only son Edward who was beheaded on Tower hill at the age of fifteen by order of Henry VII., and an only daughter Margaret who became Countess of Salisbury in right of her mother. She was the last Countess of Salisbury and with her death the title became extinct until revived in the person of Cecil, in the year 1605 by King James.

The title of Countess of Salisbury had been restored to Margaret by Henry VIII. in full parliament about the fifth year of his reign.

Both George, Duke of Clarence, (who was a brother of both King Richard III. and Edward IV.) and his unfortunate son, the young Edward, were taken to Bisham Abbey and buried among their ancestors. Margaret the last Countess of Salisbury, married Sir Richard Pole (also often spelled Poole), and had four sons and one daughter. Ursula, married Henry Stafford, son of the Duke of Buckingham. She was beheaded 27th of May, z3d of Henry VIII. The sons were, Henry Pole, created Baron Montague, Sir Arthur, Sir Jeffray, and Reginald Pole who was Dean of Winburne, then made a Cardinal by Pope Paul III., and afterward Archbishop of Canterbury. He was, for his religion, banished from England by King Henry VIII. He went to Rome and became eminent with Pope Paul III., at whose death he was unanimously chosen Pope, as. his successor. This he refused to accept. " Thereupon, one night the Cardinals came unto him, being in bed, and sent him word they came to adore him (which is one special kinde of electing the Pope) but he being awakened and made acquainted with it was firm in his refusal."-(Baker's Chronicles). The Cardinals remained with him all night.

Her son, Henry Pole, was made Baron Montague in 1504 by King Henry VII. He married Jane, dau. of Sir George Nevil, lord of Abergeveney. Being connected with a plot to re-instate his brother, Reginald, Cardinal Pole, he was beheaded upon Tower hill in 1538, together with his co-plotters and relatives, Henry Courtney, Marquis of Exeter, and Sir Edward Nevil. Sir Jeffry Pole was concerned in the same plot but gained his pardon by becoming informer. Sir Reginald the Cardinal was chosen to become the husband of Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) to whom he was much attached. He died the 18th November, 1558, on the next day after the death of Queen Mary. The mother, Margaret pole, Countess of Salisbury, now at the age of seventy years, was beheaded by Henry VIII. in the year 1541.

Anne, the other daughter of Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, and Warwick, married as before stated King Richard III. '['hey had one only son Edward whom his uncle, King Edward IV., in the 17th year of his reign created Earl of Salisbury, and Richard his father, usurping the Kingdom, made Prince of Wales. He died young and his mother soon after died, not without suspicion of poison. While King Richard himself perished upon the field of Bosworth.

Thus in darkness and blood, and in a violent manner, upon the scaffold, perished the descendants of Alice Montague the gentle and only daughter of General Thomas Montague, fourth and last Earl of Salisbury of the name of Montague, and this branch so prolific in great men, who bathed all England in blood during the dissensions of the Houses of York and Lancaster, became extinct.

Their lineage has thus been traced to its final ending, not because it is supposed the American family were lineally descended from any of these personages who are so well known in history, but because they all lived previous to the year 1550, at which date the will of William Montague, from whom it is known that the American family are descended, was proved, and therefore it would not be out of place to mention their history as descendants of the Earls of Salisbury.