Sir William de Montagu Knigh, Lord of Montagu

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
William de Montagu, Lord Montagu, son and heir of Simon de Montagu, spent the greater part of his life employed in the wars in Scotland and Wales, and abroad. In respect of his Iands in Oxon and Berks he was summoned for military service in 1301, and in March 1302/3, as "King's yeoman," he was under orders for Scotland, being appointed to supervise the shipping for the war. In May 1304 he was with the King at the siege of Stirling. He and his uncle Amauri de St. Amand, governor of Oxford Castle, and others were in this year imprisoned in the Tower for an alleged offence at Oxford. Since his father, Simon, was one of William's sureties, he was soon acquitted. He was ceremoniously knighted, with many others, at the knighting of Prince Edward, 22 May 1306. In Feb. 1306/7 he was with his father on service in Scotland.

In 1309, William had a charter of free warren at Aston Clinton, Bucks, which was perhaps settled on him on his marriage, and took part in the tournament at Stepney. In 1311, he was commissioned to survey Hastings and other castles and their defenses, and to provide custodians for them. On 29 September, he was given charge of Berkhamstead Castle. In 1312 he gave the advowson of Donyat to Medmenham Abbey, and in 1314 had license to alienate land, to Godstowe nunnery.

In May 1313 he accompanied the King and Queen overseas to attend the Coronation of Louis X. He was on service in Scotland again this year and the next, and had very varied duties as captain of the knights of the King's household. Early in 1315 he was abroad again for the King, and in Feb. 1315/6 was a commander in Wales against Llewelyn Bren, and on the submission of the Welsh was one of the commissioners to take fines from Llewelyn's followers. In July 1316 he was in Bristol, on a mission to settle the disputes between Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere and the burgesses.

In recognition of Willaim's good services, he was granted, in August 1316, the marriage of Joan. Joan was the daughter and heir of Theobald de Verdun, and on 15 January 1316/7, as steward of the King's household, he was awarded 200 marks per annum until the King should provide him with lands or rents of that value. This was done in June, when the manors of Gravesend, Kent, and Kingsbury, Somerset, &c., were granted to him, as the King's bachelor, for life. On 26 September he had a grant of free warren in Saxlingham, Norfolk, and other of his manors, and license to crenellate his house at Cassington, Oxon.

He was summoned to Parliament 20 Nov 1317 and later, and was one of the majores barones of the King's party. In August 1318 he was made keeper of Abingdon Abbey, which was voluntarily under the King's protection on account of its debts, and on 20 November was appointed Seneschal of Gascony, where he died in the following year.

He married, circa 1292, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Piers de Montfort, of Beaudesert, co. Warwick, by Maud, his wife, daughter and heir of Matthew de la Mare. He died 18 October 1319, in Gascony. In May 1320 his widow renounced her dower in certain lands. She married, 8 June 1322, Sir Thomas de Furnivalle, of Sheffield, Worksop, &c., who died shortly before 18 April 1332. She died in August 1354, and was buried in the Prior of St. Frideswide (now Christ Church), Oxford, where her tomb is still to be seen in the Latin Chapel.

~Cockayne's Complete Peerage, (Montagu), Vol. IX, p. 80-82, and Vol. XIV p. 482

William married Elizabeth de Montfort, daughter of Sir Piers de Montfort and Maud de la Mare, about 1292 in England.¹⁴¹ (Elizabeth de Montfort was born about 1275 in Beaudesert, Warwickshire, England, died in Aug 1354 in England ¹⁴¹ and was buried in Aug 1354 in Prior of St. Frideswide, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England ¹⁴¹.)