Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mortimer, Roger de (1327-1360)
MORTIMER, ROGER (V) de, second Earl of March (1327?–1360), was the son of Edmund Mortimer (d. 1331), and of his wife Elizabeth Badlesmere, and was born about 1327 (Doyle, Official Baronage, ii. 467). This was during the lifetime of his famous grandfather Roger Mortimer IV, first earl of March [q. v.] But the fall and execution of his grandfather, quickly followed by the death of his father, left the infant Roger to incur the penalties of the treason of which he himself was innocent. But he was from the first dealt with very leniently, and as he grew up he was gradually restored to the family estates and honours. About 1342 he was granted the castle of Radnor, with the lands of Gwrthvyrion, Presteign, Knighton, and Norton, in Wales, though Knucklas and other castles of his were put under the care of William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton (d. 1360) [q. v.], who had married his mother (Dugdale, Baronage, i. 147). Next year he received livery of Wigmore, the original centre of his race. On 12 Sept. 1344 he distinguished himself at the age of seventeen at a tournament at Hereford (Murimuth, p. 159, Rolls Ser.) He took a conspicuous part in the famous invasion of France in 1346 (Froissart, iii. 130, ed. Luce). Immediately on the landing of the expedition at La Hogue on 12 July Edward III dubbed his son Edward, prince of Wales, a knight, and immediately afterwards the young prince knighted Roger Mortimer and others of his youthful companions (G. le Baker, p. 79 ; cf. Murimuth, p. 199, and Eulogium Hist. iii. 207). He fought in the third and rearmost line of battle at Crecy along with the king. For his services against the French he received the livery of the rest of his lands on 6 Sept. 1346. He was one of the original knights of the Garter (G. le Baker, p. 109, cf. Mr. Thompson's note on pp. 278-9; cf. Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter, pp. 40-1), and on 20 Nov. 1348 was first summoned to parliament, though only as Baron Roger de Mortimer (Lords' Report on Dignity of a Peer, iv. 579). He was conspicuous in 1349 by his co-operation with the Black Prince in resisting the plot of the French to win back Calais (G. le Baker, p. 104). In 1354 he obtained a reversal of the sentence passed against his grandfather, and received the restoration of the remaining portions of the Mortimer inheritance, which had been forfeited to the crown (Rot. Parl. ii. 255 ; Knighton, c. 2607, apud Twysden, Decem Scriptores; Dugdale, i. 147). Unable to wrest the lordship of Chirk from Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, he contracted with him that his son Edmund should marry Richard's daughter, Alice (ib.) This marriage, however, never took place. He was already popularly described as Earl of March. At last, on 20 Sept. 1355 (Lords' Report, iv. 604), he was formally summoned to parliament under that title. Various offices were conferred on him in 1355, including the wardenship of Clarendon, the stewardship of Roos and Hamlake, and the constableship of Dover Castle, with the lord wardenship of the Cinque ports (Doyle, ii. 467). In 1355 he started on the expedition of the Duke of Lancaster to France, which was delayed on the English coast by contrary winds and ultimately abandoned (Avesbury, p. 425-6, Rolls Ser.) Later in the same year he accompanied the expedition led by Edward III himself (ib. p. 428). His estates were now much increased by his inheriting the large property of his grandmother, Joan de Genville, the widow of the first earl, who died about this time. These included the castle of Ludlow, now finally and definitively annexed to the possessions of the house of Mortimer, and henceforth the chief seat of its power (Dugdale, Baronage, i. 148). He became a member of the royal council. In 1359 he was made constable of Montgomery, Bridgnorth, and Corfe castles, and keeper of Purbeck Chase. He also accompanied Edward III on his great invasion of France, which began in October 1359. In this he acted as constable, riding in the van at the head of five hundred men at arms and a thousand archers Froissart, v. 199, ed. Luce. Froissart, with characteristic inaccuracy, always calls him 'John'). He took part in the abortive siege of Rheims. He was then sent on to besiege Saint-Florentin, near Auxerre. He captured the town and was joined by Edward (ib. v. 223, but cf. Luce's note, p. lxix). Mortimer then accompanied Edward on his invasion of Burgundy. But on 26 Feb. 1360 he died suddenly at Rouvray, near Avalon (Monasticon, vi. 353). His bones were taken to England and buried with those of his ancestors in Wigmore Abbey (ib.; cf. however 'Chronicon Brevius' in Eulogium Hist. iii. 312, which says that he was buried in France). His obsequies were also solemnly performed in the king's chapel at Windsor.
The family panegyrist describes Mortimer as 'stout and strenuous in war, provident in counsel, and praiseworthy in his morals' (Monasticon, vi. 352). He married Philippa daughter of William de Montacute, second earl of Salisbury [q. v.] Their only son was Edmund de Mortimer II, third earl of March [q. v.] Philippa survived her husband, and died on 5 Jan. 1382, and was buried in the Austin priory of Bisham, near Marlow. Her will is printed in Nichols's 'Roval Wills,' pp. 98-103.
[Galfridus le Baker, ed. Thompson; Murimuth and Avesbury (Rolls Ser.); Eulogium Historiarum (Rolls Ser.); Froissart's Chroniques, ed. Luce (Soc. de l'Histoire de France); Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 352-3; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 147-8; Doyle's Official Baronage, ii. 469; Barnes's History of Edward III; Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer, vol. iv.]