Catherine Grandison, Countess of Salisbury

Catherine Grandison, Countess of Salisbury (c. 1304 – 23 November 1349) was an English noblewoman, remembered for her relationship with King Edward III of England and possibly the woman in whose honour the Order of the Garter was originated.[1] She was the daughter of William de Grandison, 1st Baron Grandison, and Sibylla de Tregoz. Her mother was one of two daughters of John de Tregoz, Baron Tregoz (whose arms were blazoned Gules two bars gemels in chief a lion passant guardant or),[2] maternal granddaughter of Fulk IV, Baron FitzWarin).[3] Catherine married William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury in about 1320.

Their children were:

Elizabeth Montacute, b. before 1325, married Hugh le Despencer, Baron le Despencer (1338) before 27 April 1341.
William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury (1328–1397)
Sibyl Montacute, born 1329, died after 1371, married Sir Edmund FitzAlan, Knt. before 1347.
John de Montacute, 1st Baron Montacute, (1330–1390), father of John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury.
Philippa Montagu, born 1332, died 1381, married Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March.
Agnes Montagu, contracted to marry John, eldest son of Roger Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Ruthyn.
Alice Montagu, married Ralph Daubeney, son of Helias Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney. (This may be an error see William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu)

According to rumour, King Edward III was so enamoured of the countess that in 1341 he raped her and according to The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel 'left her there unconscious, bleeding from her nose, mouth, and elsewhere',[4] after having relieved a Scottish siege on Wark Castle, where she lived, while her husband was out of the country. An Elizabethan play, Edward III, deals with this incident. In the play, the Earl of Warwick is the unnamed Countess's father, though he was not her father in real life.

In around 1348, the Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III and it is recorded [5] that he did so after an incident at a ball when the "Countess of Salisbury" dropped a garter and the king picked it up. It is assumed that Froissart is referring either to Catherine or to his daughter-in-law, Joan of Kent.

References

Fisher, Deborah (2005). Princesses of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7083-1936-9.
John Burke (1831). A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England. H. Colburn & R. Bentley. pp. 521–.
Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, English earls, retrieved 5-11-10
le Bel, Jean (2011). The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel. The Boydell Press. p. 155-6.
Jean Froissart, Chronicles

Sources

Gransden, Antonia (April 1972). "The Alleged Rape by Edward III of the Countess of Salisbury". The English Historical Review. 87 (343): 333–344. doi:10.1093/ehr/lxxxvii.cccxliii.333. JSTOR 563289.

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[1] Fisher, Deborah (2005). Princesses of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7083-1936-9.

[Burke1831-2] John Burke (1831). A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England. H. Colburn & R. Bentley. pp. 521–.

[3] Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, English earls, retrieved 5-11-10

[4] Bel, Jean (2011). The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel. The Boydell Press. p. 155-6.

[5] Jean Froissart, Chronicles