SEAL OF SIGNET OF CAPTAIN (LATER l\1AJOR-GENERAL) YouNGER HousE }AMES DAVID MoNTG0:\1ERY, 1641 IN SWEDEN Original at Krigsarkivct, Stockholn1 Original at Scgcrsjo }AMES DAVID MONTGOMERY'S SEAL As reconstructed by the College of Arms, London ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE Comtes de Montgomery, Ponthieu, Alencon; and La Marche Earls of Arundel, Chichester, Shrewsbury, Montgomery, Pembroke, Lancaster, Mercia, Eglinton and Mountalexander Princes de Belleme Marquis de Montgomery de Lorges By B. G. DE MONTGOMERY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS LTD. EDINBURGH AND LONDON 1948 Printed in Great Britain by T. and A. CONSTABLE LTD., Hopetoun Street, Printers to the University of Edinburgh CONTENTS PAGE ORIGIN OF THE NORDIC RACE • I THE SUEVIC DYNASTIES 12 lNGVAR's LINB OF YLVINGS . 24 RoLLo's AND GoRMERic's DESCENDANTS 30 MONTGOMERYS OF NORMANDY • 34 MoNTGOMERYS, CouNTs OF PoNTHIEU 78 MoNTGOMERYS, CouNTs OF ALEN<;ON 80 MoNTGOMERYs, CouNTs OF LA MARCHE 81 SETTLEMENTS OF ENTAIL AND THE NAME OF MONTGOMERY . 82 ENGLISH MoNTGOMERYs 84 ANCIENT !RISH BRANCH . JOO MoNTGOMERYS, EARLS OF EGLINTON . IOI MoNTGOMERYS OF SWEDEN, ELDER HousE . 119 MoNTGOMERYS oF GREENFIELD, MEIKLE DREGHORN AND STANE . 129 MONTGOMERYS OF LAINSHAW . 130 AMERICAN BRANCHES . 132 MoNTGOMERYS OF FRANCE . 1 34 MoNTGOMERYS, BARONETS OF THE HALL • 135 MONTGOMERYS OF BRIGEND AND OF SMITHTOUN . 1 37 MoNTGOMERYS, LAIRDS OF BRAIDSTONE 138 VISCOUNTS MONTGOMERY OF GREAT ARDES . 140 EARLS OF M0UNTALEXANDER 150 MoNTGOMERYS OF BLESSINGB0URNE . 1 57 MoNTGOMERYS OF GREYABBEY 175 MONTGOMERYS OF BLACKHOUSE AND CREBOY 177 MONTGOMERYS OF HESSILHEID Ij9 V vi HISTORY OF THE MONTGOMERYS PAGE MoNTGOMERYS OF MovrLLE MoNTGOMERYS OF BEAULIEU 208 BARONETS MoNTGOlVIERY OF SKELMORLY MoNTGOMERYS OF GIFFEN . BARONETS GRAHAM-MONTGOMERY OF STANHOPE 230 COMTES AND MARQUIS DE MONTGOMERY · DE LORGES 232 MoNTGOMERYS OF ScoTSTOUN 278 MoNTGOMERY-CEDERHIELMS, YouNGER HousE OF SWEDEN . 280 INDEX 284 LISrI' OF ILLUSTRATI()NS JAMES DAVID MONTGOMERY'S SEAL . Frontispiece FACING PAGE ROGER, EARL OF MONTGOMERY, ARUNDEL, SHREWSBURY AND MERCIA 44 EARL ROGER'S TOWER, ARUNDEL CASTLE 55 SHREWSBURY CASTLE • PEMBROKE CASTLE . CHATEAU D,ALEN<;!ON EGLINTON CASTLE • . 109 CARL GUSTAF MONTGOMERY . 119 GUSTAF MONTGOMERY . 128 FIELD-MARSHAL SIR ARCHIBALD MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD . 1 57 FIELD-MARSHAL LORD MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN . • . 181 MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY'S DEATH AT QUEBEC IN 1775 216 GABRIEL DE MONTGOMERY KILLS HENRY II AT THE JOUST IN 1559 . 232 GABRIEL, COMTE DE MONTGOMERY ET SEIGNEUR DE LORGES . 244 CHATEAU DE DUCEY • . 258 JACQUES, MARQUIS DE MONTGOMERY . 268 MARIE-ANNE-ROSE DE MONTGOMERY, MARQUISE DE THIBOUTOT • 276 .. vn PREFACE ISTORY begins where archaeology leaves off. Separating these two fields of human knowledge, however, is a wide borderland-the land of sagas and folklore. Here the historian never feels on really safe ground and is inclined to reject everything that is not absolutely palpable, while the archaeologist is all too prone to let the sagas get the better of his imagination and wanders off into fantastic speculation. And yet, it is just in this borderland-while prudently dealing with sagas and folk­ lore, chronicles and annals-that archaeology has to be linked up with historical research. Only by doing this is it possible to carry. the history of a nation or of a royal house back to its remotest or1g1n. The period of the sagas in Scandinavia is shrouded in mystery. Here we can only grope our way along by comparing the Edda poetry, Beowulf, Lang/edgetal, the Icelandic sagas and Snorre with the Danish, Icelandic, Saxon, French and German chronicles and with the works of French and German historians of the time. All these sources, however, must be treated with the utmost caution. They are generally a mixture of fact and fancy and the borderline between the two is hard to distinguish. But at the same time we must be grateful for all the facts of real value they do give us. To be critical of these sources to the point of com­ pletely refusing to acknowledge their value in historical research would be a grave mistake. Such a hypercritical attitude would not only display a questionable sense of judgment but also disclose the fact that the critic himself is uncritical of his own criticism. Generally speaking, it is not difficult to criticize. But to reconstruct, to infuse life into the little one knows of those ancient days, when memorials were carved in stone and history handed down by word of mouth from father to son, is quite another matter. To do this one has to sift carefully the written material, separating the wheat from the chaff. lX x HISTORY OF THE MONTGOMERYS When deducing the truth from the sagas and from the in­ complete and often obscure chronicles of the monks one must tread warily, and it is by no 1neans an easy task to reassemble the true and probable facts so that they form a complete picture of the historical development. In England and France the saga period was shorter and also better known than in Scandinavia because of the monkish chron­ icles. Offshoots of the higher culture of these countries reached Scandinavia, and an observant investigator, by drawing com­ parisons with conditions in these countries, can arrive at certain conclusions regarding the historical develppment in the North The subject d~alt with in th~ following pages falls partly within this obscure period; for the Montgomerys are sprung from the same roots as the Scandinavian kings, whose history in turn is known to us chiefly through the sagas and folklore. The fortunes of early Scandinavian kings and dynasties are a much favoured subject with Scandinavian historians of the Middle Ages and during the beginning of the modern era. Generally, however, they were far too uncritical in their judgment of historical relationships to be able to draw as true a picture of the period as is desired. Very often sagas were confused with reality; dynasties were established with the help of a lively imagination; often, too, schedules of kings and royal pedigrees were reckoned as one and the same thing, i.e. kings were accepted as sons of their pre­ decessors, even in cases where they had achieved power through conquest or marriage. Patriotism, and particularly local patriot­ ism, often played a decisive role when relating historical incident to certain countries or areas, while the connection between the history of Scandinavia and that of other countries was completely overlooked. The similarities between Scandinavian, Saxon and German heroic sagas were noted, yet no attempts were made to draw any conclusions from this remarkable fact. Even the im­ portant role played by hereditary claims in the history of the Vikings was passed over, and it was never realized that the Ulvunga kings . HISTORY OF THE MONTGOMERYS X.l in Hatuna and Lejre were the principal kings in Scandinavia, to whom not only the minor kings (Fylkes-kings) in Sweden, Denmark and Norway paid homage, but also the Stol-kings ('Chair-kings') of Upsala. In the opening chapters I have sought to make this point clear and to sho~,. how the descendants of the Asar, the powerful Ulvungar or Uffingas, led the historical development of Europe for nearly a thousand years. From the sagas it is possible to follow this family through the Middle Ages right down to the present day. As far as I am aware, only two branches of this family can trace their ancestry on the paternal side back to the Ulvungar­ the Montgomerys and the Harcourts. Not only ancient tradition and statements in the Germanic genealogical records, kept in the Bibliotheque N ationale in Paris, serve to confirm their descent from the Ulvungar, but also clear circumstantial evidence. In studying the history of the Montgomery family, I have not confined myself to the genealogical side, but have also dealt with .. the subject in a wider sense-as a matter of history-many person­ alities of this family having played notable and at times decisive roles in the countries in which they have lived and worked. It is only natural that in such an old tree there are some decayed branches, but the odd thing is that it is still capable of pushing out new shoots. The oldest branch of the family, the Norman line, died out on the paternal side at the beginning ·of the thirteenth century, but the Scottish branch was more resistant. It is still alive and has sent its members to many parts of the world. From Scotland one branch emigrated to France at the beginning of the fifteenth century, where it came into possession of the don1ains and feudal rights of the extinct French line. Later the main Scottish branch spread to Ireland and Sweden during the seventeenth century, ?.nd to America at the beginning of the eighteenth century. A younger branch settled in Sweden about 1720. The second line in France xii HISTORY OF THE MONTGOMERYS died out in 1731, but was replaced at the beginning of the nineteenth century by another branch which emigrated from America. The wide dispersion of the family has naturally increased the difficulties of research, which has been done partly by corre­ spondence, partly by the aid of paid research workers. For my own part, I have concentrated on the most important archives: Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, -British Museum and Record Office in London, Register House in Edinburgh, Riksarkivet and Krigsarkivet in Stockholm. The principal collections examined are: French: Genealogies d'Allemagne, cabinets des titres; Collec­ tion Baluze; ·manuscrits nouveau-latins; manuscrits fran~ais; m.anuscrits du fonds Godefroy; Tresor des Chartes; manuscrits de la Bibliotheque imperiale; Archives de Saone-et-Loire; Archives de la Cote-d'Or; manuscrits Clairambault. English: State Papers, Domestic and Foreign; Close Rolls; Fine Rolls; Hundred Rolls; Patent Roils; Acts of the Privy Council; Feudal Aids; Exchequer Rolls; Rotuli Normanniae; Rymer's Foedera; Patronymica Britannica; Ancient Deeds; Ancient Charters; Chronicles of the White Rose of York; Issue Rolls of the Exchequer; Parliamentary Writs; Papal Petitions; Carew Manuscripts; Harleian Manuscripts; Pepys Collection.