Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March

Roger de Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, 4th Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, KG (11 November 1328 – 26 February 1360) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War.

Roger Mortimer
Earl of March Baron Mortimer of Wigmore
Conte de la Marsche, Roger, illustration from the Bruges Garter Book, c.1450. He displays the arms of Mortimer on his tabard.
Born	11 November 1328 Ludlow Castle, Shropshire
Died	26 February 1360(1360-02-26) (aged 31) Rouvray
Buried	Wigmore Abbey
Noble family	Mortimer
Spouse(s)	Philippa Montagu
Issue	Roger Mortimer Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March Margery Mortimer Janet Mortimer Thomas Mortimer (illegitimate)
Father	Sir Edmund Mortimer
Mother	Elizabeth de Badlesmere

Arms of Sir Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, KG -- Barry or and azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two base esquires of the second over all an inescutcheon argent

He was the son of Sir Edmund Mortimer (d. 1331) and Elizabeth de Badlesmere, and grandson of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.

Inheritance

The Mortimer family lands and titles were lost after the first Earl of March's revolt and death by hanging in 1330, which was followed the next year by the death of Roger's father. Roger thus grew up with uncertain prospects, and re-acquired the family honours only gradually.

Around 1342, he received back Radnor, and the next year the old family baronial seat at Wigmore, Herefordshire.

Military career

As a young man he distinguished himself in the wars in France, fighting at Crécy and elsewhere in the campaign of 1347. Afterwards, he was given livery of the rest of his lands, was one of the knights admitted at the foundation of the Order of the Garter, and was summoned to parliament as a baron both in 1348. He was knighted on 12 July 1346 at La Hogue by Edward the Black Prince.

Earldom

In 1354, the sentence passed against Mortimer's treacherous grandfather, the first earl, was reversed, and the next year he was summoned to parliament as Earl of March. Also in 1355, he received a number of important appointments, including Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, and he accompanied an expedition of Edward III to France.

Other honours

On 19 October 1356, his grandmother Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville, widow of the first earl, died, and Roger inherited her vast estates, including Ludlow Castle, which was thereafter the Mortimer family seat and power base.

In the following years, he became a member of the Royal Council and was appointed Constable at the castles of Montgomery, Bridgnorth in Shropshire, and Corfe in Dorset.

In 1359, and continuing into 1360, he was Constable of Edward III's invasion of France. He fought in the failed siege of Reims and captured Auxerre. The English forces then moved into Burgundy, where Roger died suddenly at Rouvray, near Avallon.

Marriage and children

Roger married Philippa de Montagu (1332–1381), daughter of William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and Catherine Grandison and had by her at least four children:

• Roger Mortimer, who died young;
• Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March;
• Margery Mortimer.
• Janet Mortimer, who married Andrew Gray, father of Andrew Gray, 1st Lord Gray.

Mortimer also had at least one illegitimate child:

• Sir Thomas Mortimer, who acted as deputy for his nephew Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, in Ireland (1382–1383) and stood trial for the slaying of Richard II's commander, Sir Thomas Molineux after the Battle of Radcot Bridge (1387).

Arms

Heraldic Coat of Arms: Barry Or and azure, on a chief of the first three pallets between two gyronnies based on the second, over all an inescutcheon argent.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March

8. Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore 4. Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March 9. Margaret Mortimer, Baroness Wigmore 2. Sir Edmund Mortimer 10. Sir Piers de Geneville 5. Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville 11. Jeanne of Lusignan 1. Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March 12. Gunselm de Badlesmere 6. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere 13. Joan FitzBernard 3. Elizabeth de Badlesmere, Countess of Northampton 14. Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond 7. Margaret de Clare, Lady Badlesmere 15. Juliana FitzGerald, Lady of Thomond

References

• Beltz, George Frederick (1841). Memorials of the Order of the Garter. London: William Pickering. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
• Tout, Thomas Frederick (1894). "Mortimer, Roger de (1327-1360)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. pp. 144–145.
• R. R. Davies, 'Mortimer, Roger (VI), second earl of March (1328–1360)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008.
• Shaw, Wm. A. (1971). The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. OCLC 247620448.