Catherine Grandison, Countess of Salisbury (c. 1304 – 23 November 1349) was an English noblewoman, remembered for being raped by King Edward III of England and possibly the woman in whose honour the Order of the Garter was originated.
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).
[citation needed] Catherine married William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury in about 1320.
Their children were: According to Jean Le Bel, King Edward III raped Catherine in 1341, according to the True Chronicles of Jean le Bel he "left her there unconscious, bleeding from her nose, mouth, and elsewhere",[3] after having relieved a Scottish siege on Wark Castle, where she lived, while her husband was out of the country.
In 1836 Alexandre Dumas's first serialised novel The Countess of Salisbury was based on her life.