Mortimer was the name of a noble English family prominent in English history from the 1100’s to the early 1400’s. They became important landowners in the Welsh Marches. The territorial and military power of the Mortimers made them a powerful force in the recurring clashes between the English kings and their barons. The Yorkist claim to the English throne in the Wars of the Roses was acquired from the Mortimers by marriage.
Roger de Mortimer
(1231?-1282), Sixth Baron of Wigmore, led the group of lords of the Marches who supported King Henry III against Simon de Montfort during the Barons’ War.
Roger de Mortimer
(1287?-1330), First Earl of March, rebelled against King Edward II, whose wife Isabella became Roger’s mistress. Roger and Isabella invaded England in 1326, defeated Edward, and imprisoned him in Berkeley Castle, where he was murdered. King Edward III seized power in 1330 and executed Roger de Mortimer.
Edmund de Mortimer
(1351-1381), Third Earl of March, married Philippa, the daughter of Edward III’s son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence. Their son Roger Mortimer, Fourth Earl of March, was next in line of succession to King Richard II, but died in 1398.
Edmund de Mortimer
(1391-1425), Fifth Earl of March, inherited his father’s claim to the English throne. King Henry IV imprisoned him after seizing the throne from Richard II. His uncle Edmund Mortimer and Sir Henry Percy intended to make him king, but were defeated at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. He died childless.
