Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/213

 his death (Annales, p. 326 ; the stories, in the Traïson, p. 88, that he fell fighting, and in, iii. 363, that he was beheaded by knights and esquires sent against the rebels by the king, are merely attempts to provide him with a more honourable end). His head was sent to the king at Oxford, and was set on London Bridge ; his body was buried at Cirencester Abbey, but his widow was allowed by Henry V to remove it to Bisham Priory, Berkshire, of which he was the hereditary patron.

Salisbury's lollardism and his attachment to Richard II account for the bitterness with which the English clerical chroniclers speak of him. He was brave, courteous, and loyal, a munificent patron of poets, and a poet himself, being the author of many 'beautiful ballads, songs, roundels, and lays.' None of his poems, which were doubtless written in French, are now known to be extant. They are noticed by Christine de Pisan and by Creton, who was a member of his household, and who writes of him in terms of the highest praise (, Vie de Christine de Pisan ; Metrical History ap. Archæologia, vol. xx.) It is evident that he loved French culture and manners, and his French sympathies made him one of Richard's most trusted counsellors during the latter part of that king's reign, led him to abet the king's attempt to establish an absolute sovereignty, and exposed him to the hatred of his own countrymen. He is represented in Shakespeare's play of 'Richard II.' His portrait is engraved in Doyle's 'Official Baronage,' from Harl. MS. 1719.

Salisbury married Maud, daughter of Sir Adam Francis, a citizen of London, and already widow successively of John Aubrey, a citizen of London, and of Sir Alan Buxhull, K.G. (d. 1372). After Salisbury's death, his lands being forfeited by reason of attainder in 1400, his widow received from the crown a grant for life of the manors of Stokenham and Polehampton, Devonshire, for her maintenance. By her Salisbury had two sons Thomas de Montacute, fourth earl of Salisbury of his house (1388-1428) [q. v.], and Richard, who left no issue and three daughters: Anne, married, first Sir Richard Hankford, secondly Sir John Fitzlewes, and thirdly John Holland, duke of Exeter and earl of Huntingdon (1395-1447) [q. v.], and died in 1457 ; Margaret, married William, lord Ferrers of Groby (d. 1445); and Elizabeth, married Robert, lord Willoughby of Eresby (d. 1452) (, Baronage, p. 651). Salisbury's attainder was reversed on the accession of Edward IV in 1461 (Rolls of Parliament, v. 484).  MONTACUTE, NICHOLAS (fl. 1466), historian, had, according to Bale, a great reputation for learning. He was not eloquent, says Bale, but lucid, and less credulous than his contemporaries. From the fact that his writings were in the sixteenth century preserved in the library of Eton College, Pits rashly conjectured that he had been a teacher in the school. His works, which seem to have disappeared from the Eton library by Tanner's time, are : 1. 'De Romanis pontificibus a S. Petro ad Eugenium III.' Pits and Tanner mention a manuscript of this book in the Lumley library, which does not appear with the rest of the collection incorporated with the Royal Library in the British Museum ; a copy in the Cottonian Library bears the title 'Nicolai Manuacutii versus ad incorrupta nomina pontificum conservanda in quibus series illorum continetur,' Domit. A. xiii. f. 96 b. 2. 'De regibus Anglorum,' 3. 'De episcopis Anglorum,' also in the Lumley library. 4. 'Scala temporum a Christo nato.' 5. 'Epigrammata.' These appear to have been all written in verse, but Bale says that he wrote other works, both in prose and verse, whose titles he could not learn.  MONTACUTE, SIMON, first (d. 1317), descended from Drogo de Montacute, who came across with the Conqueror, and received grants in Somerset, was son of William de Montacute (fl. 1257) and Bertha, his wife. William had constantly served in the Welsh wars, and Simon 