MONTFORT, SIMON DE, son of a French count; came to England in 1230, where he inherited from his grandmother the earldom of Leicester; attached to Henry III., and married to the king’s sister, he was sent to govern Gascony in 1248; returned in 1253, and passed over to the side of the barons, whom he ultimately led in the struggle against the king; after repeated unsuccessful attempts to make Henry observe the Provisions of Oxford, Simon took arms against him in 1263; the war was indecisive, and appeal being made to the arbitration of Louis the Good, Simon, dissatisfied with his award, renewed hostilities, defeated the king at Lewes, and taking him and his son prisoner, governed England for a year (1264-65); he sketched a constitution for the country, and summoned the most representative parliament that had yet met, but as he aimed at the welfare of not the barons only, but the common people as well, the barons began to distrust him, when Prince Edward, having escaped from captivity, joined them, and overthrew Simon at Evesham, where he was slain (1206?-1265).

MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS, inventors of the balloon, who made their first ascent in Paris in 1783 in “their paper dome, filled with smoke of burnt wood, amid the shouts of congregated men”; JOSEPH (1740-1810), and ETIENNE (1745-1799).

MONTGOMERIE, ALEXANDER, Scottish poet, born, it is alleged, in Ayrshire, from a branch of the Eglinton family; wrote sonnets and some short poems, but his best-known piece is an allegorical poem, “The Cherry and the Slae” (1556-1610).

MONTGOMERY, COMTE DE, a French knight of Scottish descent, captain of the Scottish Guard under Henry II. of France; having in 1559 mortally wounded the king in a tourney, he fled to England, but returned to fight in the ranks of the Huguenots, and having had to surrender, he was taken to Paris and beheaded, in violation of the terms of surrender, which assured him of his life (1530-1574).

MONTGOMERY, JAMES, poet and hymn-writer, born at Irvine, son of a Moravian minister; studied for the same profession, but was not licensed; after some years of various occupation he started journalism, and eventually produced a journal of his own, Sheffield Iris, 1794-1825; he was twice fined and imprisoned for seditious publications, but became a Conservative in 1832, a pensioner 1835, and died at Sheffield; of his poetry most is forgotten, but “For ever with the Lord,” and some dozen other hymns are still remembered (1771-1854).

MONTGOMERY, ROBERT, author of “The Omnipresence of Deity” and “Satan,” born at Bath, son of a clown; passed undistinguished through Oxford, and was minister of Percy Street Chapel, London; all his many works are forgotten save the above, which lives in Macaulay’s famous review (1807-1855).

MONTGOMERYSHIRE (58), a North Wales inland county, surrounded by Merioneth, Cardigan, Radnor, Salop, and Denbigh; is chiefly a stretch of mountain pasture land, which rises to 2500 ft. at Plinlimmon, and in which the Severn rises; but in the E. are well wooded and fertile valleys.  There are lead and zinc mines, and slate and limestone quarries.  There is some flannel manufacture at Newtown.  The county town is Montgomery (1).