Biography of John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer 1330-1389

Around 1320 [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury (age 19) and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury (age 16) were married. She by marriage Baroness Montagu.

Around 1330 John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer was born to [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury (age 29) and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury (age 26).

Around November 1340 [his brother] William Montagu 2nd Earl Salisbury (age 12) and [his sister-in-law] Joan "Fair Maid of Kent" Princess Wales (age 12) were married. She was already married albeit secretly to Thomas Holland 1st Earl Kent (age 26). The subsequent investigation found her marriage to Thomas Holland 1st Earl Kent to be valid. She the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock 1st Earl Kent and Margaret Wake Countess Kent (age 43). He the son of [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury (age 39) and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury (age 36).

Before 27th April 1341 [his brother-in-law] Hugh Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 33) and [his sister] Elizabeth Montagu Baroness Badlesmere and Despencer (age 17) were married. She by marriage Baroness Despencer. She the daughter of [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury (age 40) and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury (age 37).

On 11th June 1349 [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury (age 48) died. His son [his brother] William (age 20) succeeded 2nd Earl Salisbury, 4th Baron Montagu. [his sister-in-law] Joan "Fair Maid of Kent" Princess Wales (age 20) by marriage Countess Salisbury.

On 23rd November 1349 [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury (age 45) died at Bisham Abbey [Map].

Before 1350 John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (age 19) and Margaret Monthermer Baroness Montagu 3rd Baroness Monthermer were married. She by marriage Baroness Montagu. He by marriage Baron Monthermer. He the son of William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury and Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury.

Around 1350 [his son] Simon Montagu was born to John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (age 20) and [his wife] Margaret Monthermer Baroness Montagu 3rd Baroness Monthermer at Salisbury. He a great x 2 grandson of King Edward I of England. He married Elizabeth Broughton and had issue.

Around 1350 [his son] John Montagu 3rd Earl Salisbury was born to John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (age 20) and [his wife] Margaret Monthermer Baroness Montagu 3rd Baroness Monthermer. He a great x 2 grandson of King Edward I of England. He married before 13th June 1388 Maud Francis Countess of Salisbury, daughter of Adam Francis, and had issue.

Before 10th July 1350 [his brother-in-law] Guy de Bryan (age 31) and [his sister] Elizabeth Montagu Baroness Badlesmere and Despencer (age 26) were married. She the daughter of [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury.

Before 1352 [his brother-in-law] Roger Mortimer 2nd Earl March (age 23) and [his sister] Philippa Montagu Countess March (age 19) were married. She by marriage Countess March. She the daughter of [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury. He the son of Edmund Mortimer and Elizabeth Badlesmere Countess Northampton (age 38).

In 1357 John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (age 27) was created 1st Baron Montagu.

Around 1358 [his daughter] Eleanor Montagu was born to John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (age 28) and [his wife] Margaret Monthermer Baroness Montagu 3rd Baroness Monthermer at Warblington Havant, Hampshire. She a great x 2 granddaughter of King Edward I of England. She married before 3rd February 1380 her half sixth cousin John Dynham and had issue.

On 31st May 1359 [his sister] Elizabeth Montagu Baroness Badlesmere and Despencer (age 35) died. Monument in Tewkesbury Abbey [Map].

Before 3rd February 1380 [his son-in-law] John Dynham (age 21) and [his daughter] Eleanor Montagu (age 22) were married. They were half sixth cousins. She a great x 2 granddaughter of King Edward I of England.

In 1381 [his sister] Philippa Montagu Countess March (age 49) died.

After 7th August 1385 [his brother] William Montagu 2nd Earl Salisbury (age 57) and [his sister-in-law] Elizabeth Mohun Countess of Salisbury were married. She by marriage Countess Salisbury. He the son of [his father] William Montagu 1st Earl Salisbury and [his mother] Catherine Grandison Countess of Salisbury. They were half fifth cousin once removed.

On 22nd September 1387 [his daughter] Eleanor Montagu (age 29) died at Hartland Quay Bideford, Devon. She was buried at Kingswear, Devon.

Before 13th June 1388 [his son] John Montagu 3rd Earl Salisbury (age 38) and [his daughter-in-law] Maud Francis Countess of Salisbury (age 24) were married.

In 1389 John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (age 59) died. His son John (age 39) succeeded 2nd Baron Montagu.

After 1389. Monument to John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer (deceased). Camail and Jupon Period. Salisbury Cathedral [Map].

Effigy of John de Montacute. SIR JoHN DE MoNTACUTE, or Montagu, (Mons acutus and Mont aigu are synonymous appellatives,) was the son of [his father] William first Earl of Salisbury, to which title his elder brother William (age 61) succeeded. He served in the wars in France under Edward the Third, and was at the battle of Crecy in 1346. In 1372 he is mentioned as in the King's fleet at sea in the retinue of his brother the Earl of Salisbury. He was present in the expedition into Scotland undertaken by Richard the Second (age 22), A. D. 1385. He was then a Knight Banneret, and was retained to serve the King in person, attended by another banneret, five knights, and their esquires, sixty men-at-arms, and sixty archers. As Steward of the King's Household, he was sent to conduct into England Ann of Bohemia (age 23), with whom Richard the Second had contracted marriage. He married Margaret, daughter and inheretrix of Thomas de Monthermer, in whose right he held divers lordships and manors, and was summoned to Parliament as a Baron of the Realm from the 31st of Edward III. to the 13th Richard II. 1389, in which year he died. His will was dated the 20th March, 1388, and directed that he should he buried in the cathedral church of Salisbury [Map], between two pillars, or, in case he should die in London, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, where he was baptized. He ordered that a black woollen cloth should be laid over his body, covering it and the hearse on which it rested, the ground underneath to be spread with cloth of russet and white, of which every poor man attending his funeral should have enough to make himself a coat and a hood. That on the day of his funeral the lights should consist of hve tapers, each weighing twenty pounds, four mortaries, each of ten pounds weight, and twenty-four torches, to be borne by as many poor men in russet and white. That the emblazonments about his herse should consist only of one banner of the arms of England, two of the arms of Montacute^a, and two of Monthermer; by the last the hve tapers were to be placed^b. That there should be a plain tomb made for him, with the image of a knight thereon, bearing the arms of Montagu, or Montacute, and having a helmet under his head. He was interred in the Lady Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral [Map], and his tomb still remaining shows that the directions of his will were pretty closely followed. Under his head is his helmet, having a griffin for crest. His surcoat quarters. Argent, three lozenges in fess Gules, for Montacute; Or, an eagle displayed Vert, for Monthermer.

Details. Plate I. 1. Ornament on the girdle. 2. Figure as originally painted. Plate II. Profile. 1. Part of the wing of the grifhn, &c. 2. Lace of the caniail, passing through loops on the basinet. 3. Gauntlet enlarged. 4. Hilt and part of the scabbard of the sword, round which is twisted the belt.

Note a. The shield of Montacute may to this day be observed on a buttress of one of the buildings in the Court of Carisbrooke Castle [Map], Isle of Wight. The gateway, and many other parts of that fortress, are evidently of the time of Richard the Second, and William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, in the 9th of that King's reign, had a grant of the Isle of Wight, Carisbrook Castle, and the royalties on them dependent.

Note b. Of the disposition of these tapers and mortars, or mortuary lights, at funeral solemnities, an excellent idea will be acquired from the print of the funeral of Abbot Islip, published by the Society of Antiquaries, in their Vetusta Monumenta.

In 1395 [his former wife] Margaret Monthermer Baroness Montagu 3rd Baroness Monthermer died. In 1395 Her son John (age 45) succeeded 4th Baron Monthermer. Maud Francis Countess of Salisbury (age 31) by marriage Baroness Monthermer.

[his son] Thomas Montagu was born to John Montagu 1st Baron Montagu, Baron Monthermer and Margaret Monthermer Baroness Montagu 3rd Baroness Monthermer. He a great x 2 grandson of King Edward I of England.