Roger de Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, 4th Baron Mortimer of Wigmore,KG(11 November 1328 – 26 February 1360) was anEnglishnobleman and military commander during theHundred Years' War.
Roger Mortimer | |
|---|---|
| Earl of March Baron Mortimer of Wigmore | |
 Conte de la Marsche, Roger,illustration from theBruges Garter Book,c.1450. He displays the arms of Mortimer on histabard. | |
| Born | 11 November 1328 Ludlow Castle,Shropshire |
| Died | 26 February 1360(aged 31) Rouvray |
| Buried | Wigmore Abbey |
| Noble family | Mortimer |
| Spouse(s) | Philippa Montagu |
| Issue | Roger Mortimer Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March Margery Mortimer Janet Mortimer Thomas Mortimer(illegitimate) |
| Father | Sir Edmund Mortimer |
| Mother | Elizabeth de Badlesmere |
He was the son ofSir Edmund Mortimer(d. 1331) andElizabeth de Badlesmere,and grandson ofRoger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.
Inheritance
editThe Mortimer family lands and titles were lost after the firstEarl of March's revolt and death by hanging in 1330, which was followed the next year by the death of Roger's father. Roger thus grew up with uncertain prospects, and re-acquired the family honours only gradually.
Around 1342, he received backRadnor,and the next year the old family baronial seat atWigmore, Herefordshire.
Military career
editAs a young man he distinguished himself in the wars inFrance,fighting atCrécyand elsewhere in the campaign of 1347. Afterwards, he was given livery of the rest of his lands, was one of the knights admitted at the foundation of theOrder of the Garter,[1][2]and was summoned to parliament as abaronboth in 1348. He wasknightedon 12 July 1346 at La Hogue byEdward the Black Prince.[3][4]
Earldom
editIn 1354, the sentence passed against Mortimer's treacherous grandfather, the first earl, was reversed, and the next year he was summoned to parliament as Earl of March. Also in 1355, he received a number of important appointments, including Constable ofDover Castleand Warden of theCinque Ports,and he accompanied an expedition ofEdward IIIto France.
Other honours
editOn 19 October 1356, his grandmotherJoan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville,widow of the first earl, died, and Roger inherited her vast estates, includingLudlow Castle,which was thereafter the Mortimer family seat and power base.
In the following years, he became a member of the Royal Council and was appointed Constable at the castles ofMontgomery,Bridgnorthin Shropshire, andCorfein Dorset.
In 1359, and continuing into 1360, he was Constable of Edward III's invasion of France. He fought in the failed siege ofReimsand capturedAuxerre.The English forces then moved intoBurgundy,where Roger died suddenly atRouvray,nearAvallon.
Marriage and children
editRoger married Philippa de Montagu (1332–1381), daughter ofWilliam Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury,andCatherine Grandisonand had by her at least four children:
- Roger Mortimer, who died young;
- Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March;
- Margery Mortimer.[5]
- Janet Mortimer, who married Andrew Gray, father ofAndrew Gray, 1st Lord Gray.
Mortimer also had at least one illegitimate child:[6]
- SirThomas Mortimer,who acted as deputy for his nephewRoger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March,in Ireland (1382–1383) and stood trial for the slaying of Richard II's commander, Sir Thomas Molineux after theBattle of Radcot Bridge(1387).
Arms
editHeraldic Coat of Arms: Barry Or and azure, on a chief of the first three pallets between two gyronnies based on the second, over all an inescutcheon argent.
Ancestry
edit| Ancestors of Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March |
|---|
Footnotes
edit- ^Beltz 1841,p. cxlix.
- ^Shaw, Wm. A. (1971).The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors.Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 1.OCLC247620448.
- ^R. R. Davies, 'Mortimer, Roger (VI), second earl of March (1328–1360)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2005accessed 14 Dec 2006
- ^Shaw, Wm. A. (1971).The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors.Vol. 2. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 6.OCLC247620448.
- ^Browning, Charles Henry.The Magna Charta Barons and Their American Descendants, Together with the Pedigrees of the Founders of the Order of Runnemede Deduced from the Sureties for the Enforcement of the Statutes of the Magna Charta of King John.Baltimore: Genealogical Pub., 1969. Print. page 250
- ^Dunn, AlistairThe Politics of Magnate Power in England and Wales 1389-1413Oxford Historical Monographs 2003 p.56
References
edit- Beltz, George Frederick (1841).Memorials of the Order of the Garter.London: William Pickering.Retrieved27 October2013.
- Tout, Thomas Frederick(1894)..Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 39. pp. 144–145.
- R. R. Davies, 'Mortimer, Roger (VI), second earl of March (1328–1360)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008.
- Shaw, Wm. A. (1971).The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors.Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company.OCLC247620448.