The World  Drogo de Monte-acuto's Coat of Arms
Montagues and the Crusades, ~1095-~1588


The Montague family had a long crusading tradition. Cristopher Tyerman, in England and the Crusades, 1095-1588, notes the following:

"M.H. Keen has demonstrated the lively and persistent interest in crusading of a number of noble families, including the Beauchamps, Uffords, Bohuns, Percies, Despensers, FitzWalters, Beaumonts, Scropes, Courtenays, and Montagues." (Tyerman, pp. 268)

Tyerman is apparently referring to M.H. Keen, Chivalry, New Haven, Conn., 1984; England in the Later Middle Ages, London, 1973, and "Chaucer's Knight, the English Aristocracy, and the Crusade", in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, V.J. Scattergood and W. Sherbourne, eds., London, 1983.


Some signs of Montague crusading tradition can apparently still be found in Turkey, where one of the seven ancient wonders of the world was dismantled to construct a last-ditch defense, the Castle of St. Peter at Bodrum .

"... the Knights (these would be the Hospitallers   [1]   [2] , ed.), having lost their stronghold ... to Timur the Lame   [1] ("Tamurlane", ed.) in 1402, were establishing a new base at Bodrum, the site of the ancient Halicarnassus and its famous Mausoleum, stone from which was used in the construction of the Christian fortress dedicated to St. Peter. This fortress was to act not simply as a military post, but also as a refuge for fugitive Christians from the Ottoman Empire. ...

The castle of St. Peter itself provides more striking witness to English participation. Over the gateway to one of its towers, known as the English Tower, twenty-six coats of arms were set up in stone, including those of Henry IV, the Prince of Wales, the dukes of Clarence, Bedford, and Gloucester (the kings sons), the duke of York, and the families of Grey, Zouche, de la Pole, Neville, Percy, Holland, Beauchamp, Burleigh, Strange, Arundel, Montague, Stafford, de Vere, Courtenay, FitzHugh, Cresson, Woolfe, and Fairfax, many of who could boast of both long and recent crusading traditions." (Tyerman, pp. 313-314)

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus   [1]   [2] was one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.


Sources:
England and the Crusades, 1095-1588, Cristopher Tyerman.


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