Edmund Mortimer | |
|---|---|
| 3rdEarl of March Earl of Ulster | |
 Arms of Mortimer:Barry or and azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two gyrons of the second over all an inescutcheon argent | |
| Born | (1352-02-01)1 February 1352 Llangoed inLlyswen,Brecknockshire,Wales |
| Died | 27 December 1381(1381-12-27) (aged 29) Cork,Ireland |
| Noble family | Mortimer |
| Spouse | |
| Issue more... | |
| Father | Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March |
| Mother | Philippa Montagu |
Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and Earl of Ulster (1 February 1352 – 27 December 1381) was an English magnate who was appointedLieutenant of Ireland, but died after only two years in the post.
He was the son ofRoger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, and his wife Philippa, daughter ofWilliam Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and his wifeCatherine Grandison.
An infant at the death of his father, Edmund, as award of the crown, was placed byEdward III of England under the care ofWilliam of Wykeham andRichard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel. The position of the young earl, powerful on account of his possessions and hereditary influence in the Welshmarches, was rendered still more important by his marriage on 24 August 1369 at the age of 17 to the 14-year-oldPhilippa, the only child of the lateLionel of Antwerp,Duke of Clarence, the second son of Edward III.[1]
Lionel's late wife, Elizabeth, had been daughter and heiress ofWilliam 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 chiefAnglo-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, afterEdward, the Black Prince and his son, KingRichard II of England.[1]John of Gaunt, younger brother of Prince Edward, had become the 1stDuke of Lancaster and thus the source of theHouse of Lancaster's claim to the throne.
This marriage had, therefore, far-reaching consequences in English history, ultimately giving rise to the claim of theHouse of York to the crown of England contested in theWars of the Roses between the Yorks and the Lancasters;Edward IV being descended from the second adult son of Edward III as the great-great-grandson of Philippa, countess of March, and in the male line fromEdmund of Langley, the first Duke of York and the fourth adult son of Edward III. Edmund Mortimer's sonRoger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, would becomeheir presumptive to the English crown during the reign ofRichard II.[1]
Mortimer, now styled Earl of March and Ulster, becameMarshal 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 thePeers 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 forJohn of Gaunt's war in France.[1]
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 theGood Parliament of 1376 among the lords who supported the Prince of Wales and opposed the Court Party and John of Gaunt. TheSpeaker of theHouse of Commons in this parliament was March's steward,Peter de la Mare, (1294-1387 of Little Hereford, Hereford), 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 ofEdward, the Black Prince to attend the king and advise him in all public affairs.[1]
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 inspectCalais and other remote royal castles as part of his duty as Marshal of England. March chose instead to resign from the post.[2]
On the accession of Richard II, aminor, in 1377, the Earl became a member of the standing council of government; though as the husband of the heir-presumptive to the crown he wisely refrained from claiming any actual administrative office. The richest and most powerful person in the realm was, however, the king's uncleJohn of Gaunt, whose jealousy led March to accept the office ofLord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1379.
March succeeded in asserting his authority in eastern Ulster, but failed to subdue theO'Neills farther west. Proceeding toMunster to put down the turbulent southern chieftains, March was killed atCork on 27 December 1381.[2] He was buried inWigmore Abbey, of which he had been a benefactor, and where his wife Philippa was also interred.[1]
The earl had two sons and two daughters:[2]
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Earl of March 1360–1381 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas sole holder | Earl of Ulster jure uxoris byPhilippa Plantagenet 1369–1381 | |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "March, Earls of".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.