Anglican bishop, scholar, and theological polemicist whose attempt to seek a middle road between Roman Catholic and Calvinist extremes brought a threat of impeachment from his bishopric by Parliament. Chaplain to King James I, he became archdeacon of Hereford in 1617.

About 1619 Montagu came into conflict with Roman Catholics in his parish. Exchanging polemical repartee with Matthew Kellison, who attacked him in the pamphlet The Gagge of the Reformed Gospell (1623), he replied with A Gagg for the New Gospell? No. A New Gagg for an Old Goose (1624). The same year his Immediate Addresse unto God Alone antagonized the Puritans, who appealed to the House of Commons. Protected by James I, he issued Appello Caesarem (1625; “I Appeal to Caesar”), a defense against the divergent charges against him of popery and of Arminianism, a system of Protestant belief that departed from strict Calvinist doctrines.

Although Montagu was frequently called before Parliament and conferences of bishops, he was saved from retribution by his influence at court and with Archbishop William Laud, whose views about the catholicity of the English church he shared. Despite opposition, Montagu was appointed bishop of Chichester in 1628 and of Norwich in 1638. His works include The Acts and Monuments of the Church Before Christ Incarnate (1642).