Ansger de Montaigu

Sherbourne Castle - Photo © John Allan, Oct 2001

From the parish of Montaigu-les-Bois, in the arrondissement of Coutances, commune of Gavray. Ansger de Montaigu, with his brother Dreu, came to England at the conquest in the train of the earl of Mortain. The former held lands in chief in the counties of Devon and Somerset, and as an under-tenant of the count of Mortain in Dorset, and of the bishop of Coutances in the same county. It is apparent that he died without posterity, as there is no record of any in England. Dreu, his brother, held several manors in Somerset; among which were Shipton and Sutton. The first was his seat, which was later called Shepton-Montague, and the latter was designated Sutton-Montague. He was the father of William de Montagu, who succeeded him towards the end of the reign of Henry I. He left much posterity in England, among whom were the earls of Salisbury as well as the dukes of Montagu and Manchester. --(This name appears on the Falaise Roll).

Drogo Mountagu - Drew de Montaigu, Dreu de Montaigu, Drogo de Montacuto, Montacute

The Christian name of the distinguished soldier to whom this entry refers, was Drogo, denominated "de Montagu," from a town in Normandy. In Domesday Book, he is styled Drogo de Montacuto, and appears by the possessions he held under Robert, Earl of Morton, to have come over in the retinue of that great Earl, the half-brother of the Conqueror. This Drogo fixed his chief residence at the castle of Shipton-Montacute, co. Somerset, and hence his descendants continued to be designated. Simon de Montacute, Lord of Shipton-Montacute, gained great distinction as a successful warrior in the martial times of Edward I. "In the 24th of that monarch" (says Hollinshed) "those Englishmen that kept the town of Burg, being compassed about with a siege by Monsieur de Sully, obtained a truce for a certain space; during the which, they sent unto Blaines for some relief of vittels, and where other refused to bring up a ship laden with vittels, which was there prepared, the Lord Simon de Montagew, a right valiant chieftaine, and a wise, took upon him the enterprise, and thro' the middle of the French gallies which were placed in the river to stop, that no ship should passe towards that towne; by help of a prosperous wind, he got into the haven of Burg, and so relieved them within of their want of vittels; by means whereof, Monsieur de Sulley broke up his siege and returned into France." From this renowned soldier descended the illustrious race of Montague, conspicuous in all the great achievements of English history. Thomas de Montacute, last Earl of Salisbury, was concerned in so many military exploits, that to give an account of them all would be to write the annals of the reign of Henry V. Suffice it then to say, that as he lived, so he died, in the service of his country; being mortally wounded when commanding the English army at the siege of Orleans, in 1428. His wife was the Lady Eleanor Holland, a descendant of the royal house of Plantagenet, and by her he had an only daughter and heiress, the Lady Alice, who wedded Richard Nevill, eldest son of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, by his second wife, Joane de Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt. In right of this marriage, Richard Nevill had the Earldom of Salisbury revived in his person, and was succeeded therein by his eldest son, Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, the hero of the Wars of the Roses,

"The setter-up and puller down of Kings."

Though the chief line of the Montacutes thus failed in an heiress, male branches continued to flourish, and from these sprang the Dukes of Montague and the Earls of Halifax, now extinct, the Dukes of Manchester, and the Earls of Sandwich. --(This name appears on the Battle Abbey Roll).

William de Montagu born c.1156, died c.1217. William married Isabel in 1180. William de Montagu became a prominent official. He was custodian of Sherborne Castle, sheriff of Somerset and Dorset from 1204 to 1207 and a justiciar in 1208. William's great grandson was Simon de Montacute, Lord of Shipton-Montacute.