SALISBURY, THOMAS DE MONTACUTE, 4th Earl of (1388–1428), was son of John, the third earl, who was executed in 1400 as a supporter of Richard II. Thomas was granted part of his father’s estates and summoned to parliament in 1409, though not fully restored till 1421. He was present throughout the campaign of Agincourt in 1415, and at the naval engagement before Harfleur in 1416. In the expedition of 1417–18 he served with increasing distinction, and especially at the siege of Rouen. During the spring of 1419 he held an independent command, capturing Fécamp, Honfleur and other towns, was appointed lieutenant-general of Normandy, and created earl of Perche. In 1420 he was in chief command in Maine, and defeated the Maréchal de Rieux near Le Mans. When Henry V. went home next year Salisbury remained in France as the chief lieutenant of Thomas, duke of Clarence. The duke, through his own rashness, was defeated at Baugé on the 21st of March 1421. Salisbury came up with the archers too late to retrieve the day, but recovered the bodies of the dead, and by a skilful retreat averted further disaster. He soon gathered a fresh force, and in June was able to report to the king “ this part of your land stood in good plight never so well as now.” (Foedera, x. 131). Salisbury’s success in Maine marked him out as John of Bedford’s chief lieutenant in the war after Henry’s death. In 1423 he was appointed governor of Champagne, and by his dash and vigour secured one of the chief victories of the war at Cravant on the 3oth of July. Subsequent operations completed the conquest of Champagne, and left Salisbury free to join Bedford at Verneuil. There on the 17th of August, 1424, it was his “judgment and valour ” that won the day. During the next three years Salisbury was employed on the Norman border and in Maine. After a year’s visit to England he returned to the chief command in the field in July, 1428. Against the judgment of Bedford he determined to make Orleans his principal objective, and began the siege on the 12th of October. Prosecuting it with his wonted vigour he stormed Tourelles, the castle which protected the southern end of the bridge across the Loire, on the 24th of October. Three days later whilst surveying the city from a window in Tourelles he was wounded by a cannon-shot, and died on the 3rd of November 1428. Salisbury was the most skilful soldier on the English side after the death of Henry V. Though employed on diplomatic missions both by Henry V. and Bedford, he took no part in politics save for a momentary support of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, during his visit to England in 1427–1428. He was a patron of John Lydgate, who presented to him his book The Pilgrim (now Harley MS. 4826, with a miniature of Salisbury, engraved in Strutt’s Regal Antiquities). By his first wife Eleanor Holand, daughter of Thomas, earl of Kent, Salisbury had an only daughter Alice, in her right earl of Salisbury, who married Richard Neville, and was mother of Warwick the Kingmaker. His second wife Alice was grand-daughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, and after his death married William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk.
The chief accounts of Salisbury’s campaigns are to be found in the Gesta Henrici Quinti, edited by B. Williams for the Eng. Hist. Soc. (London, 1850) in the Vita Henrici Guinti (erroneously attributed to Thomas of Elmham), edited by T. Hearne (Oxford, 1727); the Chronique of E. de Monstrelet, edited by L. D. d’Arcq (Paris, 1857–1862); the Chroniques of Jehan de Waurin, edited by W. and E. L. C. P. Hardy (London, 1864–1891); and the Chronique de la Pucelle of G. Cousinot, edited by Va let de Viriville (Paris, 1859). For modern accounts see Sir J. H. Ramsay, Lancaster and York (Oxford, 1892); and C. Oman, Political History of England, 1377–1485 (London, 1906). (C. L. K.)
SALISBURY, WILLIAM LONGSWORD (or Longespée), Earl of (d. 1226), was an illegitimate son of Henry II. In 1198 he received from King Richard I. the hand of Isabella, or Ela (d. 1261), daughter and heiress of William, earl of Salisbury,
and was granted this title with the lands of the earldom. He held many high offices under John, and commanded a section of the English forces at Bouvines (1214), when he was made a prisoner. He remained faithful to the royal house except for a few months in 1216, when John’s cause seemed hopelessly
lost. He was also a supporter of Hubert de Burgh. In 1225 he went on an expedition to Gascony, being wrecked on the Isle of Ré on the return voyage. The hardships of this adventure undermined his health, and he died at Salisbury on the 7th of March 1226, and was buried in the cathedral there. The eldest of Longsword’s four sons, William (c. 1212–1250) did not receive his father’s earldom, although he is often called earl of Salisbury.
In 1247 he led the English crusaders to join the French at Damietta and was killed in battle with the Saracens in February 1250.
SALISBURY, a township of Litchfield county, in the north-western corner of Connecticut, U.S.A. Pop. (1910) 3522. Area, about 58 sq. m. Salisbury is served by the Central New England, and the New York, New Haven & Hartford railways. In the
township are several villages, including Salisbury, Lakeville,
Lime Rock, Chapinville and Ore Hill. Much of the township is
hilly, and Bear Mountain (2355 ft.), near the Massachusetts
line, is the highest elevation in the state. The Housatonic
river forms the eastern boundary. The township is a summer
resort. In it are the Scoville Memorial Library (about 8000
volumes in 1910); the Hotchkiss preparatory school (opened in
1892, for boys); the Salisbury School (Protestant Episcopal,
for boys), removed to Salisbury from Staten Island in 1901 and
formerly St Austin’s school; the Taconic School (1896, for girls);
and the Connecticut School for Imbeciles (established as a private
institution in 1858). Among the manufactures are charcoal,
pig-iron, car wheels and general casting sat Lime Rock, cutlery
at Lakeville, and knife-handles and rubber brushes at Salisbury.
The iron mines are among the oldest in the country; mining
began probably as early as 1731.
The first settlement within the township was made in 1720 by Dutchmen and Englishmen, who in 1719 had bought from the Indians a tract of land along the Housatonic, called “Weatogue”—an Indian word said to mean “the wigwam place.” In 1732 the township was surveyed with its present boundaries, and in 1738 the land (exclusive of that held under previous grants) was auctioned by the state at Hartford. In that year the present name was adopted, and in 1741 the township was incorporated.
See Malcolm D. Rudd, An historical Sketch of Salisbury, Connecticut (New York, 1899); and Ellen S. Bartlett, “Salisbury,” in The Connecticut Quarterly, vol. iv. No. 4, pp. 345 sqq. (Hartford, Conn., 1898).
SALISBURY, a city and municipal and parliamentary borough,
and the county town of Wiltshire, England, 8314 m. W. by S.
of London, on the London and South-Western and Great Western
railways. Pop. (1901) 17,117. Its situation is beautiful.
Viewed from the hills which surround it the city is seen to lie
among flat meadows mainly on the north bank of the river
Avon, which is here joined by four tributaries. The magnificent
cathedral stands close to the river, on the south side of the city,
the streets of which are in part laid out in squares called the
“Chequers.” To the north rises the bare upland of Salisbury
Plain.
