The Mortimer Connection

Among the Queen's Beasts, meant to display the various noble families and royal dynasties from whom the modern monarchy descends, is a White Lion, the heraldic badge of the Mortimer family.  Sometimes, though not always, the lion holds on its chest a sun in splendor emblem, which was used by several generations of Yorkist kings, including both Edward IV and Richard III.  So how did this powerful family of Marcher lords become so deeply entwined with the Plantagenets that they're still remembered today?


Roger Mortimer, 1287-1330, 1st Earl of March, came from a family with connections along the Welsh Marches, or the borderland between Wales and England.  They owned a great deal of land and several castles and were instrumental in keeping the lawless border badlands in check.  Roger married Joan, 2nd Baroness Geneville, a wealthy heiress, and the two had many children.  The Mortimers rose in rebellion against King Edward II and Roger found himself in exile in France.  Queen Isabella, Edward's wife, also traveled to France, seeking a respite from her marriage and perhaps funding or backing from her family for a revolt that would put her young son on the throne.  She and Roger became lovers and co-conspirators.  After their successful invasion of England and deposition of Edward II, Edward III created his mother's lover 1st Earl of March.  Unfortunately, Mortimer didn't last long in his new role.  His behavior towards other nobles and members of the royal family soon backfired and he was accused of treason, tried and hanged at Tyburn.  All his titles were forfeit.

Roger's son Edmund, 1303-1331, set about trying to recoup the family fortune.  Despite his loyalty to the Crown, he wasn't permitted to resume his father's title of Earl of March.  That fell to his son Roger, 1328-1360, who distinguished himself during the early phases of the Hundred Years War.  He married Philippa de Montagu, daughter of the Earl of Salisbury and his wife Katherine Grandison, a reputed mistress of Edward III.  Their son Edmund, 1352-1381, became 3rd Earl of March.  Edmund married Philippa of Clarence, a Plantagenet and daughter of Lionel of Antwerp, a son of Edward III..  Their son Roger, 1374-1398, had a daughter Anne, who married yet another Plantagenet, Richard of Cambridge.

Richard was executed for plotting rebellion against King Henry V and his titles were forfeit.  His son, Richard, 1411-1460, became 3rd Duke of York and married wealthy heiress Cecily Neville.  Among their children were two Plantagenet Kings, Edward IV and Richard III.   Incidentally, before he became King Edward IV, Edward bore the title of 7th Earl of March, inherited from his Mortimer forbears.  Edward's daughter, Elizabeth of York married Henry VII Tudor, carrying her Mortimer and Plantagenet blood to her children.  Thus, though he probably wouldn't have guessed it while on the gallows at Tyburn, old Roger Mortimer is a descendant of every King or Queen of England from Edward IV on to the present day.