Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March
Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March and 6th Earl of Ulster (11 April, 1374 – 20 July, 1398)[1] was between 1385 and 1398 the heir presumptive to Richard II of England.
Family
His father was the powerful Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and his mother was Philippa, Countess of March and Ulster, the only issue of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, the second surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault[2].
Thus Mortimer was (after his father's death) Richard II's heir if succession is allowed through a female line.
Family wealth
Mortimer held enormous estates in Wales and Ireland, and succeeded to the titles and estates of his father when a child of seven (in 1381). One month later he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his uncle Sir Thomas Mortimer acted as his deputy. This experiment did not work well and the Mortimers were replaced the next year.
Being a ward of the Crown, his guardian was Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, half-brother to Richard II. The earl of Kent also purchased the rights to choose Mortimer's bride, and 1387 or early 1388 married him to his daughter Alianor (Eleanor).[3]
The importance which he owed to his hereditary influence and possessions, and especially to his descent from Edward III, was immensely increased when Richard II publicly acknowledged him as heir presumptive to the crown in 1385[4].
Conflict in Ireland
In 1394 he accompanied Richard II to Ireland, but notwithstanding a commission from the king as lieutenant of the districts over which he exercised nominal authority by hereditary right, he made little headway against the native Irish chieftains. Nevertheless the following year (1395) Mortimer was given broader authority as lieutenant of Ireland.
March enjoyed great popularity in England though he took no active part in opposing the despotic measures of the King.
On July 20, 1398 he was killed at the Battle of Kells in a fight with an Irish clan, and was buried in Wigmore Abbey.
His titles and the designation of heir presumptive passed to his young son, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
Children
By his wife he had four children[5]:
Anne de Mortimer , marriedRichard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge - Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March
- Roger Mortimer (died young c. 1409)
- Eleanor (d. 1418), married Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon and had no children
Notes
- ^ Tout; some primary sources give the date of his death as 15 August
- ^ Tout
- ^ Tout
- ^ Tout
- ^ Tout p. 146
References
- The Royal Ancestry Bible Royal Ancestors of 300 Colonial American Families by Michel L. Call (chart 19) ISBN 1-933194-22-7
- Tout, T. F. (1894). "Roger de Mortimer, fourth earl of March and Ulster". Dictionary of National Biography 39: 145-146.
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edmund Mortimer |
Earl of March 1381–1398 |
Succeeded by Edmund Mortimer |
| Preceded by Philippa Plantagenet |
Earl of Ulster 1382–1398 |
|
External Link/Sources
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