Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March
Roger Mortimer | |
---|---|
Earl of March Earl of Ulster | |
Born | Usk, Monmouthshire | 11 April 1374
Died | 20 July 1398 County Carlow, Ireland | (aged 24)
Noble family | Mortimer |
Spouse(s) | Alianore Holland, Countess of March |
Issue | Anne Mortimer Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March Roger Mortimer Eleanor Mortimer |
Father | Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March |
Mother | Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster |
Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, 6th Earl of Ulster (11 April 1374 – 20 July 1398)
Roger Mortimer's father, the
Early life
Roger Mortimer was born 11 April 1374 at
Wardship
According to R. R. Davies, the wardship of such an important heir was an "issue of political moment in the years 1382–4". Eventually, on 16 December 1383, Mortimer's estates in England and Wales were granted for £4000 per annum to a consortium consisting of Mortimer himself, the Earls of
King Richard had no issue. Mortimer, a lineal descendant of Edward III, was next in line to the throne and married to his half-niece. G. E. Cokayne states that in October 1385 Mortimer was proclaimed by the king as heir presumptive to the crown.[7] However, according to R. R. Davies, the story that Richard publicly proclaimed Mortimer as heir presumptive in Parliament in October 1385 is baseless, although contemporary records indicate that his claim was openly discussed at the time.[5] He was knighted by King Richard II on 23 April 1390.[7]
Career
After he came of age, Mortimer spent much of his time in Ireland. King Richard had first made Mortimer his Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on 24 January 1382 when he was a child of seven, with his uncle, Sir Thomas Mortimer,[8] acting as his deputy.[9][10] The king reappointed Roger Mortimer as his lieutenant in Ireland on 23 July 1392, and in September 1394,[11] Although he was nominally the king's lieutenant, he made little headway against the native Irish chieftains.[10] On 25 April 1396,[12] the king appointed him lieutenant in Ulster, Connacht, and Meath, and Mortimer was in Ireland for most of the following three years. In April 1397, the king reappointed him as lieutenant for a further three years.[13]
Mortimer's residence in Ireland ensured that his political role in England was a minor one. His closest relationships in England appear to have been with family members, including his brother,
As Davies points out, Mortimer's "wealth and lineage meant that, sooner or later, he would be caught up in the political turmoil of Richard II's last years." On 4 September 1397, he was ordered to arrest his uncle, Sir
Death
On 20 July 1398, at the age of 24, Mortimer was slain in a skirmish at either Kells, County Meath, or Kellistown, County Carlow. The Wigmore chronicler says that he was riding in front of his army, unattended and wearing Irish garb, possibly illegally,[10] and that those who slew him did not know who he was. He was interred at Wigmore Abbey.[14] The King went to Ireland in the following year to avenge Mortimer's death.[6]
Mortimer's young son, Edmund, succeeded him in the title and claim to the throne. The Wigmore chronicler, while criticising Mortimer for lust and remissness in his duty to God, extols him as 'of approved honesty, active in knightly exercises, glorious in pleasantry, affable and merry in conversation, excelling his contemporaries in the beauty of appearance, sumptuous in his feasting, and liberal in his gifts'.[15]
Marriage and children
By his wife
- Anne Mortimer (1388–1411) (born when her father was aged 14) who married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (1385–1415), of the House of York (her paternal grandmother's first cousin[17]), a grandson of King Edward III (Anne herself being a great-great-grand-daughter of King Edward III). Anne Mortimer's grandsons were King Edward IV and King Richard III.
- Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (1391–1425)
- Roger Mortimer (23 April 1393 – c. 1413)[18]
- Eleanor Mortimer (born 1395–1422), who married Sir Edward de Courtenay (died 1418), and had no issue. Married secondly John Harpeden.
In June 1399, Roger Mortimer's widow, Alianor, married
- Joan, who married Sir Thomas Grey, executed for his part in the Southampton Plot which aimed to replace King Henry Vwith Eleanor's son, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March. Joan was co-heiress in 1425 to her half-brother, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
- Joyce, who married John Tiptoft, 1st Baron Tiptoft.
Alianor died on 6 or 18 October 1405.[14]
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ Some sources give the date of his death as 15 August.
- ^ a b Richardson III 2011, p. 195.
- ^ Cokayne 1932, p. 448; Richardson II 2011, pp. 190–1; Richardson III 2011, pp. 193–5, 307, 335, 341; Holmes 2004; Tout & Davies 2004.
- ^ Pugh 1988, p. 171.
- ^ a b c Davies 2004.
- ^ a b Cokayne 1932, p. 449.
- ^ a b Cokayne 1932, p. 448
- ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 103–4; Richardson III 2011, pp. 192–3.
- ^ According to Davies, Sir Thomas Mortimer was illegitimate; however, Richardson includes him among the three legitimate sons of Roger Mortimer's grandfather, Roger de Mortimer (1328–1360).
- ^ a b c McNeill 1911, p. 687.
- ^ Davies dates the expedition to the summer of 1394.
- ^ Davies dates the appointment to 28 April 1396.
- ^ a b Cokayne 1932, p. 449; Davies 2004.
- ^ a b Cokayne 1932, p. 449; Richardson III 2011, p. 195
- ^ Cokayne 1932, pp. 449–50.
- ^ Cokayne 1932, p. 450; Richardson III 2011, p. 195
- ^ Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge was the first cousin of Philippa of Clarence, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence
- ^ Pugh 1988, p. 61; Although some sources state that Roger died c. 1409, Pugh states that he was made a Knight of the Bath by Henry V on the eve of his coronation on 9 April 1413.
- ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 427–428.
- ^ a b Davies 2004.
- ^ a b c Holmes 2004.
- ^ a b c d Weir 2008, p. 96.
- ^ a b c d e Mortimer 2003, p. 319.
- ^ a b Weir 2008, pp. 95–6.
- ^ Mortimer 2003, p. 113.
- ^ a b Weir 2008, p. 92.
- ^ a b Weir 2008, p. 93.
- ^ a b Weir 2008, pp. 75–9.
References
- Cokayne, George Edward (1932). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. Vol. VIII. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 445–53.
- Davies, R.R. (2004). "Mortimer, Roger (VII), fourth earl of March and sixth earl of Ulster (1374–1398)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19356. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource: Tout, Thomas Frederick (1894). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 145–146.
- Holmes, George (2004). "Mortimer, Edmund (III), third earl of March and earl of Ulster (1352–1381)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19342. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- McNeill, Ronald John (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 685–688.
- ISBN 0-312-34941-6.
- Pugh, T.B. (1988). Henry V and the Southampton Plot of 1415. Alan Sutton. ISBN 0-86299-541-8.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966379.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966386.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966393.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Tout, T.F.; Davies, R.R. (reviewer) (2004). "Mortimer, Sir Edmund (IV) (1376–1408/9)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19343. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5.
External links
- Wigmore Chronicle [1]