by Ian Mortimer
5. Geoffrey, the third son, was probably born in 1308 or 1309. He was his mother’s mother’s heir, and thus inherited a number of de Lusignan estates in France, notably the lordships of Couhé (his seat), Peyrat, Pontarion, Salles and Genté on her death in 1323. As he was in France at the time of Roger’s arrest, and yet was able to inherit in 1323 without having to prove his age (and therefore, under the Lusignan rule, at least fourteen) one can suggest that he was serving as a yeoman in the household of a French relation, most probably that of the de Fiennes family in Picardy, to which Roger went on his escape in 1323. This guaranteed Roger an income in exile. He returned with Roger in 1326, was knighted at the coronation in 1327, and became a firm supporter of his father, taking an active role at court by August 1329, and being trusted with witnessing royal charters in 1330. He was arrested with his father in October 1330, but allowed to go free and enjoy his French inheritance. He there married Joan de Lezay and had a family, and died between 1372 and 1376. See G.W. Watson, ‘Geoffrey de Mortimer and His Descendants’, Genealogist, NS 22 (1906), p. 1.
6. John, the fourth son. The fact that he was knighted by his father in Ireland in 1317, a full ten years before his three elder brothers, might suggest that John should be placed earlier in the list of Mortimer children. However, the explanation is probably that he was the only one of the Mortimer boys to travel with Roger to Ireland, and the only one available when Roger received the right to make knights as the king’s representative there in 1317–18. The reason he was with Roger and Joan was that he was young enough not to have been placed in another household, and thus no older than about seven. He seems to have come of age in the period during which his father was in exile, as at first only his two eldest brothers were imprisoned at Windsor, but in 1324 he joined them in captivity, being imprisoned in Odiham Castle. On 1 October 1326 he and his brothers were transferred to the Tower. He was probably born in or about 1310. In August 1328 he was granted castles in Ireland, and seems shortly afterwards to have had the Irish estates of his brother Roger settled on him. He did not live to enjoy his inheritance, being killed shortly afterwards in a tournament at Shrewsbury.
7. Joan. The reason for placing Joan at this point in the order of children is that she is named as one of the girls arrested in 1324 and imprisoned at Sempringham Priory. At this time only the elder daughters of Roger and Joan were imprisoned, with the exception of Maud, whose husband had been accepted back into the king’s favour. Joan is the second named of the three girls mentioned, the eldest being Margaret, and it is thus suspected she was the second or third eldest, and was born at some point between 1308 and 1313. According to the Complete Peerage she was married before June 1330 to James Audley, who was born in January 1313. However their eldest surviving son, Nicholas, was betrothed in the period March 1329–March 1331, so the wedding probably took place before July 1328. Although Murimuth states that the double Mortimer wedding at Hereford in 1328 was between Roger’s daughters and the heirs of the earldoms of Norfolk and Pembroke, it is more likely that these latter marriages took place after Roger’s elevation to the earldom of March, and after his other, older heirs in wardship had been married to his daughters. In addition, both the Audley and Beauchamp wards received their lands in the first half of 1329. Thus it is suggested that Murimuth (writing in 1337) has confused the Mortimer double wedding at Hereford with another Mortimer wedding, namely that of Joan and Lord Audley, probably at Hereford on or about 31 May 1328, which was possibly also a double wedding with Catherine and Thomas de Beauchamp, a bridegroom of a similar age. Since Roger had been Audley’s guardian since December 1316 (according to the CPR), this right being renewed in 1326, the marriage was only delayed by the hiatus in his career which suspended the marriage fortunes of all his unmarried children. In view of her sister Isabella also being old enough to be imprisoned in 1324, Joan was probably slightly older than her husband, being born in 1311 or 1312, when Roger and Joan were in Ireland. She died between 1337 and 1351.
8. Isabella. Of the twelve children Isabella is the only one not recorded in the Complete Peerage. This is because she was not noticed by Dugdale in his Baronage, having been ignored by the fourteenth-century Wigmore chronicler. The reason for her being ignored is that she did not make a noteworthy marriage. She is only certainly known through the entries relating to her imprisonment in the Close Rolls, in which she was ordered to be sent to Chicksands Priory. The fact she was old enough to be imprisoned in 1324, and yet of an age comparable with her sister Joan, suggests that she was born in the period 1310–13, and if born separately from her siblings, probably towards the end of this period. It is doubtful that she was the Isabella de Mortimer who is recorded in the Patent Rolls as holding the manor of Wychbold for life on 2 September 1327, and who was pardoned a £10 fine at Roger’s request. This pardon being made to her in conjunction with Richard Talbot suggests she was Isabella de Mortimer of Richard’s Castle. A similar fine was imposed on Blanche and her husband.
9. Catherine. In an early edition of Notes and Queries she was described as the eldest daughter, but the fact of her neither being married nor arrested in 1324 suggests she was too young at the time. She was married after October 1326 to Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Roger had sought and received papal permission for one of his daughters to marry the Earl of Warwick’s heir, in 1319. Since her husband was born in 1314, this permission was probably only being sought on account of the consanguinity between the two families, and no actual marriage at this stage was planned. It is suspected that she was born in about 1314. If there were two Mortimer double weddings at Hereford, one in 1328 and another in 1329, Catherine would have been in the first pair. Like Joan she married a ward of Roger’s, and both prospective bridegrooms were about the same age, born in 1313 and 1314 respectively. However, Roger granted these two wards their lands at different times in the first half of 1329, and this might more closely reflect their wedding dates. Thus there is reason to suppose that Catherine was married before February 1329, possibly as part of a double wedding on 31 May 1328. Catherine’s second surviving son was born before March 1339. She wrote a will on 4 August 1369 and died shortly afterwards, being buried in St Mary’s Warwick in an alabaster tomb, which still bears her effigy and that of her husband.
10 and 11. Agnes and Beatrice. Agnes is said in the Complete Peerage to have been the third daughter, but there seems to be no sound evidence for this. Both she and Beatrice were said by Murimuth to have been married in late May or early June 1328 in the presence of Roger, Isabella and the king at Hereford. However, it is unlikely that they were married to two such eminent heirs before Roger himself was an earl. It has been suggested by Doherty in his thesis on Isabella (p. 285) that the double wedding of Agnes to Laurence de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, and Beatrice to Edward, son and heir of Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, took place at Hereford in the summer of 1329, and, as he points out, the privy seal was indeed at Hereford from 8 to 13 September 1329. This was just after a royal visit to Wigmore, to which the court had gone from Gloucester. According to his theory, the court accompanied Roger to Wigmore on 5–7 September 1329 to fetch his two brides, and to take them to Hereford for the wedding. This is unlikely. Avesbury suggests the Round Table tournament which almost certainly accompanied their nuptials was at Wigmore, and this is a more likely venue. Agnes bore her only surviving son in August 1347, but lost her husband the following year, and was married secondly to John Hakelut. Her will is dated 10 October 1367 and she died 25 July 1368, being buried in London at the Minoresses without Aldgate (since destroyed). Beatrice married Thomas, Lord Braose, after her first husband’s death, in or before 1334. Her eldest surviving son was by her second marriage, born in 1339, and she died in 1383, the last surviving of Roger’s children. It is likely that Agnes and Beatrice were born some time in the period 1315–21.
12. Blanche. She is presumed to be the youngest of the Mortimer daughters, but as with Catherine, Agnes and Beatrice, she could have been born at any p
oint between 1314 and 1322. The name was a de Geneville family name, Blanche being the name of one of Joan’s sisters. Blanche Mortimer married Piers de Grandison before 10 June 1320 and died in 1347. Her husband must have been born between 1286 and 1291, about the same age as Roger, and because the de Grandisons were not particularly powerful, being minor Herefordshire lords by comparison with the Mortimers, it is possible that she was married before Roger’s fall from grace in 1321. However she bore no children, although her husband was clearly of age. The earliest certain date is that she was married before 10 June 1330, before which they had received the manor of Much Marcle from Margaret Mortimer, Roger’s mother. If this was a dowry, it is likely that they were married not long before this. We have no evidence as to when Blanche was born; it was probably after 1315 as she was not arrested in 1322, although de Grandison was a contrariant. She died in 1347, and was buried in the church at Much Marcle, Herefordshire, where her tomb with its effigy is still extant.
* * *
GENEALOGICAL TABLES
* * *
1. The Mortimer family, c. 1200–1330, showing Roger’s connections with the royal family, the Princes of Wales, and the Earls of Arundel
2. The Earls of Pembroke and the Counts of La Marche, showing Roger’s connections with Robert Bruce and the Earls of Pembroke and Gloucester, and his wife’s connections with the royal family, the Earls of Pembroke and Warwick and the Counts of La Marche
3. The de Fiennes family, showing Roger’s connections with the royal family, the Counts of Hainault and the Earls of Hereford through his mother
4. The de Braose and de Lacy families, showing Roger’s and his wife’s connections with these families and the Earls of Warwick and the de Verdon family
5. The English royal family
6. The French royal family
Table 1:THE MORTIMER FAMILY, c. 1200–1330
showing Roger’s connections with the royal family, the Princes of Wales, and the Earls of Arundel
Table 2: THE EARLS OF PEMBROKE AND THE COUNTS OF LA MARCHE
showing Roger’s connections with Robert Bruce and the Earls of Pembroke and Gloucester
and his wife’s connections with the royal family, the Earls of Pembroke and Warwick and the Counts of La Marche
Table 3: THE DE FIENNES FAMILY
showing Roger’s connections with the royal family, the Counts of Hainault and the Earls of Hereford through his mother
Table 4: THE DE BRAOSE AND DE LACY FAMILIES
showing Roger’s and his wife’s connections with these families and the Earls of Warwick and the de Verdon family.
(N.B. Walter and Hugh de Lacy of Rathwire, Roger’s tenants and enemies in 1315–7, were probably
descended from Robert, a younger brother of Hugh de Lacy, the lord of Meath, who died in 1186)
Table 5: THE ENGLISH ROYAL FAMILY
Table 6: THE FRENCH ROYAL FAMILY
Index
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
Aberconway: see Conway
Aberdeenshire, Scotland: 27
Abergavenny, Wales: 157, 187, 312
Abingdon, Berkshire: 206
Aconbury Priory, Herefordshire: 13, 172, 211
Acqui, Bishop of: 261
Acton, Middlesex: 154
Adam of Northampton (d. 1346), Bishop of Ferns (1312): 87, 279 (n. 31)
Adam of Orleton (d. 1345), Bishop of Hereford (1317), Bishop of Worcester (1327), Treasurer (1327): 98
– early career and relations with Roger: 93–94
– participation in 1321 rebellion: 105
– role in Roger’s escape: 282 (n. 16)
– persecuted by Edward and Despenser: 122, 130, 134–135, 137
– role in facilitating invasion: 153, 155, 161
– role in deposition and abdication of Edward II: 166–167, 169
– at coronation: 171
– position on regency council: 288 (n. 21)
– supposed role in Berkeley Castle plot: 192
– candidature for See of Worcester: 200
– appointed Treasurer: 202
Adforton, William de: 44
Agen, France: 137–138
Airmyn, Richard, Keeper of the Privy Seal (1327–28): 203
Albret, Amanieu d’: 53
Aldenham, Francis (d. 1322): 125
Alspaye, Gerard d’: 2, 129–130, 201, 282 (n. 16)
Amiens, France: 221
Anglesey, Wales: 187, 197, 203
Annales Paulini: 188–189, 194, 235, 246
Annaly, Ireland: 45
Anonimalle Chronicle: 189, 235
Antwerp, Belgium: 260–263, 303 (n. 50)
Aquitaine, France, Duchy of (see also Gascony): 23, 34
Ardee, Ireland: 49, 68
Ardingel, James d’, of Florence: 87
Ardrossan, Fergus d’: 67
Ardscull, Battle of (1316): 81
Argentein, Giles d’ (d. 1314), knight: 61–64, 272 (n. 13), 275 (n. 11)
Argyle, King of: 93
Arlegh, Staffordshire: 79
Armour, descriptions of: 117–118, 151, 208–209
Arthurian legend: 9–10, 16, 22, 43, 226, 267, 297 (n. 20), 298 (n. 25)
Arundel, Earl of: see FitzAlan, Edmund
Ashburnham, Bartholomew (d. 1322): 125
Ashby de la Zouche, Leics: 79
Athboy, Ireland: 97, 309
Athlone, Ireland: 68, 96, 98, 233, 309
Atholl, Earl of: see Strathbogie, John de
Athy, John de, naval commander: 83
Audley, Hugh (d. 1326), Lord Audley of Stratton (1321): 79, 110, 122, 161
Audley, Hugh (d. 1347), Lord Audley (1317): 33, 75, 90–92, 94–95, 97, 99–102, 104, 105, 110, 161, 220
Audley, James (1313–1386), Lord Audley of Heleigh (1329): 172, 206, 321–322
Audley, Joan (fl. 1324–1327), Lady Audley of Heleigh (1329): 136, 206, 294 (n. 22), 321–322
Audley, Nicholas (1328–1391), Lord Audley of Heleigh (1386):
Avignon, France: 42, 94, 192, 225, 227, 252
Avon, River: 7–8
Ayrmin, William (d. 1336), Bishop of Norwich (1325), Chancellor (1326–27): 153, 161, 171
Ayr Castle, Scotland: 31
Ayte, William de: 201
Badlesmere, de, family: 78
Badlesmere, Bartholomew de, ‘the Rich’ (1275?–1322), Lord Badlesmere (1301): 23, 33, 36, 74, 77–80, 91–92, 94, 108, 110–113, 115, 125–126, 266, 277 (n. 9), 319
Badlesmere, Elizabeth de, daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere: see Mortimer, Elizabeth
Badlesmere, Margaret de (1287–1333), Lady Badlesmere (1308?): 111–113, 121
Baily, Walter le: 228
Baker, Geoffrey le, chronicler: 173, 187, 191–194, 244, 254
Baldock, Hertfordshire: 154, 310
Baldock, Robert (d. 1327), Chancellor (1323–26): 143, 155, 157, 159–160, 162–163, 251
Balliol, John (c. 1240–1314?), King of Scotland (1292–1296): 24
Balscot, Nicholas de: 87, 90
Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland: 47
Bann, River, Ireland: 68–69
Bannockburn, Battle of (1314): 58–65, 67, 69, 72–73, 82, 275 (n. 11), 305
Barbour, John (1316?–1395), author of The Bruce: 63, 70, 175, 181–182, 289 (n. 28)
Bardi of Florence (banking house): 78, 82, 297 (n. 21)
Baret, Lady: 161
Barlings Abbey, Lincolnshire: 211–213
Barnwell Priory, Cambridgeshire: 310
Barre, Thomas atte: 281 (n. 6)
Basset, Ralph (d. 1322), lord of Sapcote: 92
Basset, Ralph (d. 1343), Lord Basset of Drayton (1299): 134
Bath and Wells, Bishop of: see Droxford, John
Bayeux, Bogo de: 229–230
Bayonne, France: 249
Beaukaire, William: 185–1
87, 193, 197, 245, 249
Beauchamp, Catherine de (d. 1369), Countess of Warwick (1328): 206, 280 (n. 12), 294 (n. 20–22), 322–323
Beauchamp, Guy de (d. 1315), Earl of Warwick (1298): 38–39, 43–44, 50, 56, 64, 94, 109–110
Beauchamp, Thomas de (1314–1369), Earl of Warwick (1315): 94, 172, 206, 294 (n. 20), 322
Beaumont, Henry de (d. 1340), Lord Beaumont: 142, 158, 218, 220, 225, 231–232
Beaumont, Louis de (d. 1333), Bishop of Durham (1318): 153, 161
Beauvois, France: 140
Becket, Thomas (1118?–1170), Archbishop of Canterbury: 24
Bedford: 218, 294 (n. 22), 297 (n. 20)
Bedfordshire: 21
Bek, Anthony (d. 1311), Bishop of Durham (1283): 35
Bel, Jean le (fl. 1327), chronicler: 150, 175–180, 183
Benedetti, Anna, Italian professor of English: 253
Bengeworth, Worcestershire: 7–8
Benstead, John (fl. 1304–5), Controller of the Household: 18
Bereford, Simon (d. 1330): 197, 234, 237, 239, 247, 249, 251
Berengar, Ingelram de: 73, 231
Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire: 174, 176, 185–194, 196–197, 203, 237, 239, 243–245, 249–250, 255–256, 260–261–262
