Sir William De Montagu

  General Notes:

In 1348, he was one of the founders of the Order and the sixth Knight of the Garter. He was a commander of the English forces in France in many of the following years, serving as commander of the rear guard of the army of Edward the Black Prince's army in 1355, and again at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, and further serving in 1357, 1359 and 1360. Later in 1360 he was one of the commissioners that negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny.

During the quieter years that followed the treaty, Montacute served on the king's council. But in 1369 he returned the field, serving in John of Gaunt's expedition to northern France, and then in other raids and expeditions, and on some commissions that attempted to negotiate truces with the French. Montacute helped Richard II put down the rebellion of Wat Tyler. In 1385 he accompanied Richard on his Scottish expedition.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Marriage: to Joan of Kent, 1341, Salisbury, Wiltshire.

• Marriage: to Elizabeth de Mohun, 1355, Salisbury, Wiltshire.