History and genealogy of Peter Montague, of Nansemond and ...

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INTRODUCTION.
X. William Montacute, eldest surviving son of William lord
Montague (No. IX.), was made a banneret in the end of the reign of
Edward II. In the first of Edward III. (1327) he was present at the
expedition then made into Scotland, and in the 3d of same reign
attended the King when he was summoned to do homage to the King
of France for his duchy of Aquitaine. In the 4th year of same reign
he again attended the King to France, and had also the honor to
wait on his holiness the Pope with Bartholomew de Burgherth, as
Edward's ambassador, to thank him for confirming a bull of his
predecessor Honorius, in favor of the Monks of Westminster^ But
the best service, perhaps, which this brave man ever performed for
his master, was his bringing the famous Mortimer Earl of March the
Queen's gallant, to punishment* A parliament being held the same
year it was enacted that William lord Montacute and all others with
him, at the apprehension of the Earl of March and others, since what
they did was authorized by the King's command, should be— "wholly
acquitted thereof and of all murders and felonies they have done."
This act of indemnity was not only passed in his behalf, but many
manors and lands forfeited, by the attainder of the Earl of March
and others, were bestowed upon him.
In the same year (1330) he was also appointed governor of Sher-
bourne Castle in the County of Dorset, and of the Castle of Corffe
with the Chace of Purbeck.
In the 5th of Edward III. he had a charter of free warren in all
his lordships of Cookham in County of Berkshire, Swyneston in
County of Southampton, Fulmere in County of Bucks and of Cat-
sound and Lewisham in Kent. Likewise wreck, waif, stray goods of
felons and fugitives, with fines and forfeitures of his tenants in his
manors of Christ-church, Twyneham, Ringwood, and Swyneston, in.
the Isle of Wight and County of Southampton. Next year he
* The lord Montacute, having laid before the young King the infamy which the course of
the life of the Queen, his mother, had brought upon his family, and the dangers which Mortimer's
greatness threatened to the Crown, met with a favorable hearing from his Majesty,
who ordered him to associate himself with such of the nobility as he could trust, and then
apply to Sir William Eland, Constable of the Castle of Nottingham, in which the Queen and
Mortimer had shut themselves up for defence. As the Keys of the Castle were brought every
night to the Queen and nobody permitted to come in or go out without her knowledge, Sir
William Eland directed Montacute and his associates to a private passage, by which they
entered the Castle and marched directly to Mortimer's apartment, where the lord Montacute
before he could seize his prisoner, was forced to kill Sir Hugh Turplington, steward of the
household, and Sir John Monmouth. Mortimer was then made prisoner and carried before
the King, and a short time after he was with his chief friends and abettors put to death.