Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March
Roger Mortimer | |
---|---|
emasculated | |
Born | 25 April 1287 Wigmore Castle, Wigmore, Herefordshire, England |
Died | 29 November 1330 Tyburn, London | (aged 43)
Buried | Wigmore Abbey |
Noble family | Mortimer |
Spouse(s) | |
Issue | Margaret de Fiennes |
Roger Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, 1st Earl of March (25 April 1287 – 29 November 1330), was an English nobleman and powerful
He later escaped to France, where he was joined by Edward's
Early life
Mortimer, grandson of
Edmund Mortimer was a second son, intended for minor orders and a clerical career. But on the deaths of his elder brother Ralph in 1274, and his father in 1282, Edmund was recalled from
Roger was born on 25 April 1287, the
According to his biographer Ian Mortimer, Roger was possibly sent as a boy to be fostered in the household of his formidable uncle, Roger Mortimer de Chirk. De Chirk had helped Edmund kill Llywelyn ap Gruffudd of Wales in 1282 and had then carried Llywelyn's severed head to King Edward I.[3] Ironically Roger was a cousin of Llywelyn via his great-grandmother, Gwladus Ddu.
Roger attended the coronation of Edward II on 25 February 1308, and carried a table bearing the royal robes in the ceremony's procession.[4]
Marriage
Like many noble children of his time, Mortimer was betrothed at a young age, to
Through his marriage, Mortimer not only acquired numerous possessions in the Welsh Marches, including the important Ludlow Castle, which became the chief stronghold of the Mortimers, but also extensive estates and influence in Ireland.[6] However, Joan de Geneville was not an "heiress" at the time of her marriage. Her grandfather Geoffrey de Geneville, at the age of eighty in 1308, conveyed most, but not all, of his Irish lordships to Mortimer, and then retired: he finally died in 1314, with Joan succeeding as suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville. During his lifetime Geoffrey also conveyed much of the remainder of his legacy, such as Kenlys, to his younger son Simon de Geneville, who had meanwhile become Baron of Culmullin through marriage to Joanna FitzLeon. Mortimer, therefore, succeeded to the eastern part of the Lordship of Meath, centred on Trim and its stronghold of Trim Castle. He did not succeed, however, to the Lordship of Fingal.[7]
Military adventures in Ireland and Wales
Mortimer's childhood came to an abrupt end when his father was mortally wounded in a skirmish near
His adult life began in earnest in 1308, when he went to Ireland in person to enforce his authority. This brought him into conflict with the de Lacys, who turned for support to Edward Bruce, brother of Robert Bruce, King of Scots. Mortimer was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Edward II on 23 November 1316. Shortly afterwards, at the head of a large army, he drove Bruce to Carrickfergus and the de Lacys into Connaught, wreaking vengeance on their adherents whenever they were to be found. He returned to England and Wales in 1318[9] and was then occupied for some years with baronial disputes on the Welsh border.[6]
Opposition to Edward II
Mortimer became disaffected with his king and joined the growing opposition to Edward II and the
In January 1322, Mortimer attacked and burnt
A
In the following year Queen Isabella, anxious to escape from her husband, obtained his consent to her going to France to use her influence with her brother, King Charles IV, in favour of peace. At the French court, the queen found Mortimer, who became her lover soon afterwards. At his instigation, she refused to return to England so long as the Despensers retained power as the king's favourites.[6]
Historians have speculated as to the date at which Mortimer and Isabella actually became lovers.[16] The modern view is that the affair began while both were still in England, and that after a disagreement, Isabella abandoned Mortimer to his fate in the Tower. His subsequent escape became one of medieval England's most colourful episodes. However, almost certainly Isabella risked everything by chancing Mortimer's companionship and emotional support when they first met again at Paris four years later (Christmas 1325). King Charles IV's protection of Isabella at the French court from Despenser's would-be assassins played a large part in developing the relationship.[17]
In 1326, Mortimer moved as Prince Edward's guardian to Hainault, but only after a furious dispute with the queen, demanding she remain in France.[18]
Isabella retired to raise troops in her County of Ponthieu; Mortimer arranged the invasion fleet supplied by the Hainaulters and an army supplied by his supporters back in England, who had been sending him aid and advice since at least March 1326.[19]
Invasion of England and defeat of Edward II
The scandal of Isabella's relations with Mortimer compelled them both to withdraw from the French court to Flanders, where they obtained assistance for an invasion of England from Count William of Hainaut, although Isabella did not arrive from Ponthieu until the fleet was due to sail. Landing in the River Orwell on 24 September 1326, they were accompanied by Prince Edward and Henry, Earl of Lancaster. London rose in support of the queen, and Edward took flight to the west, pursued by Mortimer and Isabella. After wandering helplessly for some weeks in Wales, the king was taken prisoner on 16 November, and was compelled to abdicate in favour of his son. Though the latter was crowned as Edward III of England on 1 February 1327, the country was ruled by Mortimer and Isabella.[6] On 21 September that same year, Edward II died in captivity. The suspicious death of Edward II has been the subject of many conspiracy theories, including that Mortimer's men killed him, but none has been proven.[20]
Powers won and lost
Following the removal of the Despensers, Mortimer set to work in restoring the status of his supporters, primarily in the Marches, and hundreds of pardons and restorations of property were made in the first year of the new king's reign.
The jealousy and anger of many nobles were aroused by Mortimer's use of power, which in many ways was tenuous. In 1328
In 2002, the actor John Challis, the owner of the remaining buildings of Wigmore Abbey, invited the BBC programme House Detectives at Large to investigate his property. During the investigation, a document was discovered in which Mortimer's widow Joan petitioned Edward III for the return of her husband's body so she could bury it at Wigmore Abbey. Mortimer's lover Isabella had buried his body at Greyfriars in Coventry following his hanging. Edward III replied, "Let his body rest in peace". The king later relented, and Mortimer's body was transferred to Wigmore Abbey, where Joan was later buried beside him.[citation needed]
Children
The marriages of Mortimer's children (three sons and eight daughters) cemented Mortimer's strengths in the West.
- Elizabeth de Badlesmere; they produced Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, who was restored to his grandfather's title.[6]
- Margaret Mortimer (1304 – 5 May 1337), married Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley
- Roger Mortimer (1305 – 1328), married Joan Butler
- Maud Mortimer (1307 – after 1345), married John de Charlton, Lord of Powys[25]
- Geoffrey Mortimer (1308/1309 – 1372/1376), who inherited the French seigneurie of Couhé as the assigned heir of his grandmother Joan of Lusignan, and founded a branch of the family based in France.[26]
- John Mortimer (c. 1310 – 1328)
- Joan Mortimer (c. 1311/1312 – 1337/1351), married James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley
- Isabel Mortimer (c. 1313 – after 1327)
- Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick
- Agnes Mortimer (c. 1317 – 25 July 1368), married Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke
- Beatrice Mortimer (c. 1319 – 16 October 1383), who married firstly, Thomas of Brotherton, by whom she had no issue, and secondly, before 13 September 1337, Thomas de Brewes (died 9 or 16 June 1361), by whom she had three sons and three daughters.[27]
- Blanche Mortimer (c. 1321 – 1347), married Peter de Grandison, 2nd Baron Grandison
Descendants
Through his son
On the British television series Who Do You Think You Are, which traces the ancestry of famous celebrities, it was revealed that Courteney Cox is the nineteenth great-granddaughter of Roger Mortimer.
Ancestry
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In fiction
Mortimer appears in
Mortimer is also a character in Les Rois maudits (
Mortimer is also a character in World Without End played by Hannes Jaenicke.
Notes
- ^ "Blanch Mortimer: 'Remains' of medieval traitor's daughter found". BBC News. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ "Mortimer". Edward II. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
- ^ Mortimer 2003, pp. 12–13.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Parl Writs II Digest 1834.
- ^ Mortimer 2003, p. 14.
- ^ a b c d e f g h McNeill 1911
- Viscounts Gormanston.
- ^ Davies 2004.
- ^ Mortimer 2003, pp. 91–93.
- ^ Costain 1958, p. 191.
- ^ Wilson 2014, p. 92.
- ^ Strickland 1893, p. 156.
- ^ "Roger Mortimer: The Rebel Baron Who Escaped The Tower To Challenge Edward II". HistoryExtra. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ Weir 2005, p. 156.
- ^ Stones 1951 corrected the traditional date of 1324 offered in one uncorroborated source.
- ^ Mortimer 2003, p. 141 as cited by Weir 2005, p. 181; for a countervailing view see Doherty 1977.
- ^ "The Queen has come of her own free will, and may freely return when she so wishes. But if she prefers to remain in these parts, she is my sister, and I refuse to expel her." quoted in Weir 2005, p. 181, from the "Vita Edwardi Secundi".
- ^ Mortimer threatened to "slit her throat" if she returned to Edward and England. A threat he would live to regret when tried by the new King Edward III.
- ^ a b Patent Rolls 1232–1509.
- ^ Doherty 2003, p. 126.
- ^ The Brut, or The Chronicles of England edited from MS Rawlinson B 171, Bod.L, 2 vols, EETS Orig. ser.131, 136, London 1906–8.
- ^ Chronicon Henrici Knighton, ed. J.R.Lumby, vol.1, RS 92, 1889; new ed. 1337–96, H.G. Martin (Oxford, 1995), I, 447.
- ^ Thomas, A.H., ed. (1926). Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls...of the City of London. Cambridge. pp. 77–83, 84–86.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Costain 1958, p. 275.
- ^ Hopkinson & Speight 2002, pp. 84–85.
- ^ Watson 1906, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Richardson II 2011, p. 634.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mortimer 2003, p. 338.
- ^ "Les Rois maudits: Casting de la saison 1" (in French). AlloCiné. 2005. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
References
- Costain, Thomas B. (1958). The Three Edwards. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
- Crump, C. G. (1911). "The Arrest of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabel". The English Historical Review. 26 (102): 331–332. .
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19354. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Doherty, P. C. (1977). Isabella, Queen of England 1296–1330 (D Phil). Exeter College, Oxford.
- Doherty, P. C. (2003). Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II. London: Constable. ISBN 978-1841193014.
- Harding, D. A. (1985). The Regime of Isabella and Mortimer, 1326–1330 (M Phil). University of Durham.
- Hopkinson, Charles; Speight, Martin (2002). The Mortimers: Lords of the March. Almeley: Logaston Press. ISBN 978-1873827536.
- Patent Rolls. Westminster: Parliament of England. 1232–1509.
- Mills, James; McEnery, M. J., eds. (1916). Calendar of the Gormanston Register. Dublin University Press.
- McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "March, Earls of". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 685–686.
- ISBN 978-0224062497.
- Mortimer, Ian (2005). "The Death of Edward II in Berkeley Castle". The English Historical Review. 120 (489): 1175–1214. JSTOR 3491038.
- Pratt, Derrick (1990). "The Marcher Lordship of Chirk, 1329–1330". Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society. 39.
- Parliamentary Writs Alphabetical Digest. Vol. II. London: Public Record Office. 1834.
- ISBN 978-1449966348.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Round, J. H. (1899). "The Landing of Queen Isabella in 1326". The English Historical Review. 14 (53): 104–105. JSTOR 548099.
- Stones, E. L. G. (1951). "The Date of Roger Mortimer's Escape from the Tower of London". English Historical Review. 66 (258): 97–98. JSTOR 556492.
- Strickland, Agnes (1893). Lives of the Queens of England: From the Norman Conquest, Volume 1. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
- Tout, Thomas Frederick (1894). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Watson, G. W. (1906). "Geoffrey de Mortimer and his Descendants". Genealogist. New Series. 22: 1–16.
- Weir, Alison (2005). Isabella: She-wolf of France, Queen of England. London: Jonathan Cape.
- Weis, Frederick Lewis. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700. Lines: 10–31, 29–32, 29–33, 39–31, 47B-33, 71–33, 71A-32, 120–133, 176B-32, 263-231
- Wentworth, Sir Thomas (1636). Preston Genealogy. (MS 10,208, National Library, Dublin)
- Wilson, Derek (2014). The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain. Quercus. ISBN 978-1623655914.