Name Simon Montagu, | ||
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Simon de Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu (died 1316) (alias de Montagu, de Montacute, Latinized to de Monte Acuto ("from the sharp mountain"), from the French mont aigu, with identical meaning,) was summoned to Parliament by writ and thereby became the 1st Baron Montagu. He was the ancestor of the great Montagu family, Earls of Salisbury.
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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 children. 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. 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. 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.
Marriages and children
Montagu married twice: firstly to Hawise de St Amand (died 1287), daughter of Amaury de St Amand; and secondly to Isabel, whose parentage is unknown.
He had three sons, by which wife is unknown. His eldest son and heir was William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu (c. 1285 – 18 October 1319). His other sons were named John and Simon.