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DE MORTIMER Edmund "the Good"
Birth: 1 Feb 1352 Llangoed, Llyswen, Breconshire, Wales
Christening: 1 Feb 1352 Llyswen, Breconshire, Wales
Death: 27 Dec 1381 Dominican Friary, Cork, Ireland
Burial: Wigmore, Herefordshire, England
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Mortimer,_3rd_Earl_of_March
Edmund de Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and jure uxoris Earl of Ulster (1 February 1352
– 27 December 1381) was son of Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, by his wife
Philippa, daughter of William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Catherine Grandison.
Early life[edit]
An infant at the death of his father, Edmund, as a ward of the crown, was placed by
Edward III of England under the care of William of Wykeham and Richard Fitzalan,
10th Earl of Arundel.
The position of the young earl, powerful on account of his possessions and hereditary
influence in the Welsh marches, was rendered still more important by his marriage on
24 August 1369 at the age of 17 to the 14-year-old Philippa, the only child of the late
Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, the second son of Edward III.
Lionel's late wife, Elizabeth, had been daughter and heiress of William Donn de Burgh,
3rd Earl of Ulster, and Lionel had himself been created Earl of Ulster before his
marriage. Edmund inherited the title Earl of Ulster on Lionel's death.
Therefore, the Earl of March not only represented one of the chief Anglo-Norman
lordships in Ireland in right of his wife Philippa, but Philippa's line was also the second
most senior line of descent in the succession to the crown, after Edward, the Black
Prince and his son, King Richard II of England. John of Gaunt, younger brother of
Prince Edward, had become the 1st Duke of Lancaster and thus the source of the
House of Lancaster's claim to the throne.
This marriage had, therefore, far-reaching consequences in English history, ultimately
giving rise to the claim of the House of York to the crown of England contested in the
Wars of the Roses between the Yorks and the Lancasters; Edward IV being
descended from the second adult son of Edward III as great-great-grandson of
Philippa, countess of March, and in the male line from Edmund of Langley, the first
Duke of York and the fourth adult son of Edward III.
Edmund Mortimer's son Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March would become heir
presumptive to the English crown during the reign of Richard II.
Political advancement[edit]
Mortimer, now styled Earl of March and Ulster, became Marshal of England in 1369,
and was employed in various diplomatic missions during the next following years. He
was a member of the committee appointed by the Peers to confer with the Commons in
1373 - the first instance of such a joint conference since the institution of
representative parliaments on the question of granting supplies for John of Gaunt's
war in France.
He participated in the opposition to Edward III and the court party, which grew in
strength towards the end of the reign, taking the popular side and being prominent in
the Good Parliament of 1376 among the lords who supported the Prince of Wales and
opposed the Court Party and John of Gaunt. The Speaker of the House of Commons in
this parliament was March's steward, Peter de la Mare, who firmly withstood John of
Gaunt in stating the grievances of the Commons, in supporting the impeachment of
several high court officials, and in procuring the banishment of the king's mistress,
Alice Perrers. March was a member of the administrative council appointed by the
same parliament after the death of Edward, the Black Prince to attend the king and
advise him in all public affairs.
Following the end of the Good Parliament its acts were reversed by John of Gaunt,
March's steward was jailed, and March himself was ordered to inspect Calais and
other remote royal castles as part of his duty as Marshall of England. March chose
instead to resign the post.[1]
Sent to govern Ireland[edit]
On the accession of Richard II, a minor, in 1377, the Earl became a member of the
standing council of government; though as husband of the heir-presumptive to the
crown he wisely abstained from claiming any actually administrative office. The richest
and most powerful person in the realm was, however, the king's uncle John of Gaunt,
whose jealousy led March to accept the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1379.
March succeeded in asserting his authority in eastern Ulster, but failed to subdue the
O'Neills farther west. Proceeding to Munster to put down the turbulent southern
chieftains, March was killed at Cork on 27 December 1381.[1] He was buried in
Wigmore Abbey, of which he had been a benefactor, and where his wife Philippa was
also interred.
Children[edit]
The earl had two sons and two daughters:[1]
Lady Elizabeth married Henry Hotspur Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland. She
may have later married Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys.[2]
His elder son, Sir Roger, succeeded him as 4th Earl of March and Ulster.
His second son, Sir Edmund played an important part, in conjunction with his brother-
in-law Hotspur, in the fortunes of Owain Glyndwr.
Lady Philippa married firstly John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke; after his death in
1389 she became the second wife of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel; she
married thirdly Sir Thomas de Poynings (, 5th Baron St John of Basing?).[3]
Parents
DE MORTIMER Roger (11 Nov 1328 - 26 Feb 1360)
DE MONTAGU Philippe (ABT 1332 - 5 Jan 1382)
Siblings
DE MORTIMER Margery (ABT 1352 - )
DE MORTIMER Edmund "the Good" (1 Feb 1352 - 27 Dec 1381)
Marriage To PLANTAGENET Philippa (16 Aug 1355 - 5 Jan 1382)
m. 1368 Reading Abbey, Reading, England
Notes
Parents
PLANTAGENET Lionel of Antwerp (29 Nov 1338 - 17 Oct 1368)
DE BURGH Elizabeth (6 Jul 1332 - 10 Dec 1363)
Children by PLANTAGENET Philippa 16 Aug 1355 - 5 Jan 1382
MORTIMER Elizabeth (12 Feb 1371 - 20 Apr 1417)
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