Ranulph de Mortimer
Ranulph I de Mortimer (Ralf, Ralph, Raoul de Mortemer) (born before
Background
Allegiance to England
After
Allegiance to Normandy
Throughout the power struggle between Normandy and England in the early 1090s, Ranulph ended up switching sides and submitting to the Duke of Normandy.
Family
Ranulph de Mortemer was born in Normandy before 1070 and died in 1104 or after, at an unknown date.[7] He was the son of the Norman baron Roger de Mortemer and Hawise. His father assumed the name Mortemer after being given the possession of the castle and village of Mortemer in the Pays de Bray, called sometimes Morte-mer sur Eaulne or en Brai. However, after the Battle of Mortemer of 1054, Roger lost the land and was banned from Normandy for his failure to capture an enemy of the Duke William. Decades later, the property was granted back to the Mortemer family, namely by Ranulph, who acquired it. They were related to William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, and descendants of a sister of Gunnor, the wife of Richard I of Normandy.
Ranulph married Millicent, whose parentage is currently unknown. Their daughter Hawise de Mortemer (d. 1127), married Earl Stephen of Aumale before 1100.[8] Ranulph supported the cause to have his son-in-law replace Henry I of England; however, Henry had control of both England and Normandy until 1135.
Wigmore Castle remained the Mortimer dynasty's family home in England. Ralph had two sons, Roger (fl. 1137) and Hugh de Mortimer, who married Maud (Matilda) de Meschines.
References
- ^ Ranulph de Mortimer on The National Library of Wales :: Dictionary of Welsh Biography
- ^ Barlow, F. William Rufus, (1983), p. 273-4
- ^ Hollister & Frost. Henry I, 2001, p. 69, 70
- ^ Barlow, p. 324
- ISBN 0195134427), 1999, p. 281
- ^ a b British Archaeology, no 34, May 1998 (ISSN 1357-4442): Paul Remfry. Discovering the lost kingdom of Radnor
- ^ C. P. Lewis, 'Mortimer, Ralph (I) de (fl. c.1080–1104)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
- ^ Barlow, note p. 278.
Sources
- Tout, T.F. "Ralph (I) de Mortimer". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. pp. 130–131.
- Weis, Frederick Lewis Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonist Who Came To America Before 1700 (8th ed.), line 136-24