Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, 6th Earl of Ulster(11 April 1374 – 20 July 1398)[1]was an English nobleman. He was considered theheir presumptivetoKing Richard II,his mother's first cousin, which made him a great-grandson ofKing Edward III.
Roger Mortimer | |
|---|---|
| Earl of March Earl of Ulster | |
 Arms of Mortimer:Barry of six or and azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two gyrons of the second over all an inescutcheon argent | |
| Born | 11 April 1374 Usk,Monmouthshire |
| Died | 20 July 1398(aged 24) County Carlow,Ireland |
| 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 Mortimer's father, the3rd Earl of March,died in 1381, leaving the six-year-old Roger to succeed to his father's title. Thewardshipand marriage of Roger was acquired byThomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent,who married him off to his daughterAlianore.During his lifetime, Mortimer spent much time inIreland;he served several tenures asLord Lieutenant of Irelandand died during a battle at Kellistown,County Carlow.He was succeeded by his young son,Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
Early life
editRoger Mortimer was born 11 April 1374 atUskinMonmouthshire.[2]He was the eldest son ofEdmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March,by his wifePhilippa of Clarence,the daughter ofLionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence(the second surviving son of King Edward III) by his wifeElizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster.Philippa passed on a strong claim to the English crown to her children. Roger had a younger brother,Edmund Mortimer,and two sisters,Elizabeth,who marriedHenry 'Hotspur' Percy,andPhilippa,who first marriedJohn Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke,secondlyRichard de Arundel, 11th Earl of Arundel,and thirdly Sir Thomas Poynings.[3]
Wardship
editAccording 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 ofArundel,Northumberland,andWarwick,andJohn, Lord Neville.The guardianship of Mortimer's person was initially granted to Arundel, but in August 1384, at the behest ofJoan of Kent,the mother of King Richard II, Mortimer's wardship and marriage were granted for 6000 marks[4]toThomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent,Joan's son and Richard's half-brother. On or about 7 October 1388,[2]at the age of 14, Mortimer was married off to his warder's 18-year-old daughterEleanor Holland,King Richard II's half-niece.[5]Mortimer didhomageand was granted livery of his lands in Ireland on 18 June 1393, and of those in England and Wales on 25 February 1394.[6]
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 wasknightedbyKing Richard IIon 23 April 1390.[7]
Career
editAfter he came of age, Mortimer spent much of his time in Ireland. King Richard had first made Mortimer hisLord Lieutenant of Irelandon 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 inUlster,Connacht,andMeath,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,Edmund,to whom he granted lands and annuities; the Percy family, into which his elder sisterElizabethhad married; and theEarl of Arundel,who had married his younger sister, Philippa.[5]
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, SirThomas Mortimer,for treason regarding his actions at theBattle of Radcot Bridge,but made no real attempt to do so. Even more inauspiciously, when summoned to a Parliament atShrewsburyin January 1398, he was 'rapturously received', according toAdam Uskand the Wigmore chronicler, by a vast crowd of supporters wearing his colours. These events excited the king's suspicions, and on Mortimer's return to Ireland after the Parliament in January 1398, 'his enemy,the Duke of Surrey,his brother-in-law, was ordered to follow and capture him'.[13]
Death
edit
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 atWigmore 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
editBy his wifeAlianore Hollandhe had two sons and two daughters:[16]
- Anne Mortimer(1388–1411) (born when her father was aged 14) who marriedRichard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge(1385–1415), of theHouse 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. 1409)
- Eleanor Mortimer (born 1395–1422), who marriedSir Edward de Courtenay(died 1418), and had no issue. Married secondlyJohn Harpeden.
In June 1399, Roger Mortimer's widow, Alianor, marriedEdward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton,by whom she had two daughters:[18]
- Joan, who marriedJohn Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville,brother ofSir Thomas Grey,executed for his part in theSouthampton Plotwhich aimed to replace KingHenry 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 marriedJohn Tiptoft, 1st Baron Tiptoft.
Alianor died on 6 or 18 October 1405.[14]
Ancestry
edit| Ancestors of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March |
|---|
Notes
edit- ^Some sources give the date of his death as 15 August.
- ^abRichardson 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.
- ^abcDavies 2004.
- ^abCokayne 1932,p. 449.
- ^abCokayne 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).
- ^abcMcNeill 1911,p. 687.
- ^Davies dates the expedition to the summer of 1394.
- ^Davies dates the appointment to 28 April 1396.
- ^abCokayne 1932,p. 449;Davies 2004.
- ^abCokayne 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
- ^Richardson I 2011,pp. 427–428.
- ^abDavies 2004.
- ^abcHolmes 2004.
- ^abcdWeir 2008,p. 96.
- ^abMortimer 2003,p. 319.
- ^abWeir 2008,pp. 95–6.
References
edit- 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)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19356.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource:Tout, Thomas Frederick (1894)..InLee, 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)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19342.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- McNeill, Ronald John(1911)..InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp.685–688.
- Mortimer, Ian(2003).The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England 1327–1330.New York: St. Martin's Press.ISBN0-312-34941-6.
- Pugh, T.B. (1988).Henry V and the Southampton Plot of 1415.Alan Sutton.ISBN0-86299-541-8.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.).Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families.Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.ISBN978-1449966379.
{{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.ISBN978-1449966386.
{{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.ISBN978-1449966393.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Tout, T.F.; Davies, R.R. (reviewer) (2004). "Mortimer, Sir Edmund (IV) (1376–1408/9)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19343.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- Weir, Alison(2008).Britain's Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy.London: Vintage Books.ISBN978-0-09-953973-5.
External links
edit- Wigmore Chronicle[1]Archived10 October 2012 at theWayback Machine