Simon de Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu

Arms of Montagu: Argent, three fusils conjoined in fess gules

Simon de Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu (d.1316) (alias de Montagu, de Montacute, Latinized to de Monte Acuto ("from the sharp mountain"), from the French mont aigu, with identical meaning,^[1]) was summoned to Parliament by writ and thereby became the 1st Baron Montagu.^[2] He was the ancestor of the great Montagu family, Earls of Salisbury.

Origins

His family originated in Normandy, at the manor of Montaigu-les-Bois, in the arrondissement of Coutances, which remained in the possession of the family until the death of Sebastien de Montaigu in 1715, without progeny.^[3] Two persons named Montagu or similar appear in the Domesday Book of 1086: Ansger and Drogo de Montaigu, both richly endowed with lands, but Ansger died leaving no heir.^[4] Drogo's lands were in Somerset, where two of the manors he held in 1086, namely Sutton Montagu and Shipton Montagu, his seat, still retain his name.^[5] According to the Duchess of Cleveland (1889): "He had come to England in the train of the Earl of Mortain, and received from him large grants of lands, with the custody of the castle, built either by the Earl or his son William, in the manor of Bishopston, and styled, from its position on a sharp-topped hill, Monte Acuto". (This latter statement seems to forget that the family name derived from the manor of Montaigu-les-Bois in Normandy, not from the shape of the supposed hill in Bishopston, England) In 1211 Drogo's grandson Drogo II de Montagu certified that he held ten and a half knight's fees in the Western counties.^[6]

Marriages

He married twice:^[7]

• Firstly to Hawise de St Amand (died 1287), daughter of Amaury de St Amand.
• Secondly to Isabel, whose parentage is unknown.

Progeny

He had progeny, by which wife is unknown, as follows:

• William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu (c. 1285 – 18 October 1319), eldest son and heir.
• John Montagu.^[8]
• Simon Montagu.^[9]

See also

• Aufrica de Connoght, noblewoman connected with Simon

Sources

• Duchess of Cleveland, The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages, 3 volumes, London, 1889

References

1. Collins Robert French Dictionary
2. Duchess of Cleveland
3. Duchess of Cleveland, The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages, 3 volumes, London, 1889, quoting: "Recherches sur le Domesday"
4. Duchess of Cleveland
5. Duchess of Cleveland
6. Duchess of Cleveland
7. Cokayne, George Edward, Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday and Lord Howard de Walden, Vol. IX, London, 1936, p.80
8. Mentioned in his father's inquisition post mortem (Cokayne, 1936, p.80)
9. Mentioned in his father's inquisition post mortem (Cokayne, 1936, p.80)