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- Roger Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (25 April 1287 – 29 November 1330), was an English nobleman and powerful Marcher lord who gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville.
In November 1316, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1322 for having led the Marcher lords in a revolt against King Edward II in what became known as the Despenser War. He later escaped to France, where he was joined by Edward's queen consort Isabella, whom he may have taken as his mistress. After he and Isabella led a successful invasion and rebellion, Edward was deposed; Mortimer allegedly arranged his murder at Berkeley Castle. For three years, Mortimer was de facto ruler of England before being himself overthrown by Edward's eldest son, Edward III. Accused of assuming royal power and other crimes, Mortimer was executed by hanging at Tyburn.
Mortimer, grandson of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer and Maud de Braose, Baroness Mortimer, was born at Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire, England, the firstborn of Marcher Lord Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer, and Margaret de Fiennes. He was born on 25 April 1287, the Feast of Saint Mark, a day of bad omen. He shared this birthday with King Edward II, which would be relevant later in life. Edmund Mortimer was a second son, intended for minor orders and a clerical career, but on the sudden death of his elder brother Ralph, Edmund was recalled from Oxford University and installed as heir.
Like many noble children of his time, Roger Mortimer was betrothed at a young age, to Joan de Geneville (born 1286), the daughter of Sir Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow. They were married on 20 September 1301 when he was aged fourteen. Their first child was born in 1302.
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. 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.
Mortimer was conveyed to the Tower. Accused of assuming royal power and of various other high misdemeanours, he was condemned without trial and hanged at Tyburn on 29 November 1330, his vast estates forfeited to the crown. His body hung at the gallows for two days and nights in full view of the populace. Mortimer's widow Joan received a pardon in 1336 and survived until 1356. She was buried beside Mortimer at Wigmore, but the site was later destroyed.
The marriages of Mortimer's children (three sons and eight daughters) cemented Mortimer's strengths in the West.
1. Sir Edmund Mortimer knt (1302–1331), married Elizabeth de Badlesmere; they produced Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, who was restored to his grandfather's title.
2. Margaret Mortimer (1304 – 5 May 1337), married Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley
3. Maud Mortimer (1307 – after 1345), married John de Charlton, Lord of Powys
4. Geoffrey Mortimer (1309–1372/6), 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.
5. John Mortimer (1310–1328)
6. Joan Mortimer (c. 1312 – 1337/51), married James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley
7. Isabella Mortimer (c. 1313 – after 1327)
8. Katherine Mortimer (c. 1314 – 1369), married Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick
9. Agnes Mortimer (c. 1317 – 1368), married Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke
10. Beatrice Mortimer (died 16 October 1383), who married firstly, Edward of Norfolk (died before 9 August 1334), son and heir apparent of 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.
11. Blanche Mortimer (c. 1321 – 1347), married Peter de Grandison, 2nd Baron Grandison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Mortimer,_1st_Earl_of_March
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From The Execution of Roger Mortimer by Kathryn Warner (2006):
"Roger Mortimer was a fascinating man who deserves to be much better known. He was intelligent, competent, and ruthless, and, in the end, proof of the adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power went to his head at least as much as it did to Hugh Despenser's, and he repeated the avaricious and tyrannical mistakes of the previous favorite, and added a few of his own."
"Thanks to Edward III's lack of vindictiveness, however, Roger's descendants thrived in the later fourteenth century. His grandson Roger was restored to the earldom of March in 1354, his great-grandson Edmund married Edward III's granddaughter Philippa of Clarence, and his great-great-grandson Roger was heir to the throne of England in the late 1390s."
Family
Father: Sir Edmund Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore (1251 - 17 Jul 1304)
Mother: Margaret de Fiennes (Aft 1269 - 7 Feb 1333/1334)
Married:
Roger married Joane de Geneville (2 Feb 1285-9 Oct 1356) on the September 1301. She was the daughter of Sir Piers de Geneville and Joan of Lusignan. It was an arrranged marriage and he was only 14 at the time.
Their 12 children (four sons, eight daughters):
Margaret Mortimer (1304 - 5 May 1337). Married Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley.
Sir Edmund Mortimer (Abt 1306 - 17 Dec 1331). Married Elizabeth de Badlesmere.
Sir Roger Mortimer ( - ). Married Joan Le Botiller.
Maud Mortimer (1307 - Aft 1345). Married John de Charlton, Lord of Powys.
Geoffrey Mortimer, Lord of Towyth (1309 - Abt 1372/1376). Married Jeanne de Lezay.
John Mortimer (1310 - 1328). He was killed in a tournament at Shrewsbury sometime after 1328.
Joan Mortimer (Abt 1311/1313 - Abt 1337/1351). Married James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley.
Isabella Mortimer (Abt 1311/1313 - Aft 1327)
Catherine Mortimer (1314 - 4 Aug 1369/6 September 1369). Married Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick.
Blanche Mortimer (Abt 1314/1322 - 1347). Married Peter de Grandison, 2nd Baron Grandison.
Agnes Mortimer (Abt 1315/1321 - 25 Jul 1368). Married Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
Beatrice Mortimer (Abt 1315/1321 - 16 Oct 1383). Married 1) Edward of Norfolk 2) Thomas de Braose, 1st Baron Braose.
Liaison with: Isabelle de France (Abt 1292 - 22 Aug 1358). No issue
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1287 - 1330 (43 years)
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