Catherine Grandison

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Catherine Grandison (also Katharine Grandison , married Katharine Montagu, Countess of Salisbury ) (* around 1304 in Ashford , Kent , † April 23, 1349 in Cassington , Oxfordshire ) was an English noblewoman.

origin

Catherine came from the Grandson family , originally from Vaud in what is now western Switzerland. She was the youngest daughter of William de Grandison, 1st Baron Grandison and his wife Sibylle de Thoire-Villars , who was also from Burgundy . Her father and uncle Otton de Grandson had come to England around the middle of the 13th century. In the service of King Edward I , they had become barons .

Marriage to William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury

In 1327 at the latest, Catherine was married to William Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu , the eldest son of William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu and Elizabeth Montfort. Her husband became one of the closest friends and supporters of the young King Edward III. In 1337 he was raised to Earl of Salisbury , whereby Catherine rose to Countess of Salisbury . She had six children with Montagu:

  • Elizabeth († 1359)
  1. ⚭ 1327 Giles de Badlesmere, 2nd Baron Badlesmere (1314–1338)
  2. ⚭ 1341 Hugh le Despenser, 1st Baron le Despenser (1308–1349)
  3. ⚭ 1350 Guy Brian, 1st Baron Brian (around 1309-1390)
  1. ⚭ Joan of Kent
  2. ⚭ Elizabeth de Mohun

After Montagu's death in early 1344, she took a vow of chastity and did not remarry. She was buried next to her husband in the Augustinian Priory of Bisham , which he founded .

Edward III. picks up his dance partner's garter. After a painting by Albert Chevallier Tayler , 1901

Alleged mistress of Edward III.

Catherine is often equated with the historically incorrect Alice, Countess of Salisbury , who was named by Edward III. She was raped in 1342 while her husband was in French captivity. In his Anglica historia at the beginning of the 16th century, the Italian scholar Polydor Virgil equates her with a lover of the king who, according to the French chronicler Froissart , would have lost her garter while dancing. The king eased the embarrassing situation by lifting the ribbon and tying himself to his own leg. He is said to have exclaimed: Honi soit qui mal y pense (old French ; literally: "Shame on those who think badly about it"). This garter affair to the King took the opportunity, the Order of the Garter to set up, and his words became the motto of the Order. The garter affair is not reported in any contemporary English source. The alleged rape of the Countess of Salisbury is considered a French attempt to defame the warring English king. The oldest known report is by Jean Le Bel and was written before 1360.

literature

  • George Edward Cokayne , Vicary Gibbs, HA Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England , Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed ., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 373.
  • Antonia Gransden: The alleged rape by Edward III of the countess of Salisbury. In: The English Historical Review, 87 (1972), pp. 333-344

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WM Ormrod: Montagu, William [William de Montacute], first earl of Salisbury (1301-1344). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  2. ^ Antonia Gransden: The alleged rape by Edward III of the countess of Salisbury . In: The English Historical Review 87 (1972), p. 333
personal data
SURNAME Grandison, Catherine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobles
DATE OF BIRTH around 1304
PLACE OF BIRTH Ashford , Kent
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1349
Place of death Cassington , Oxfordshire