Roger Mortimer Earl Of March I ¹

  General Notes:

An English nobleman and powerful Marcher lord, who had gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville. In November 1316, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1322 for having led the Marcher lords in a revolt against King Edward II in what became known as the Despenser War. He later escaped to France, where he was joined by Edward's queen consort Isabella, whom he took as his mistress.

After he and Isabella led a successful invasion and rebellion against Edward, who was subsequently deposed, Mortimer allegedly arranged his murder at Berkeley Castle. For three years, Mortimer was de facto ruler of England before being himself overthrown by Edward's eldest son, Edward III. Accused of assuming royal power and other crimes, Mortimer was executed by hanging at Tyburn. His was the first execution to take place at the notorious gallows.

Plantagenet ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families
By Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham

Page 21

King Edward's reliance on the Despensers aroused the resentment of his queen, Isabel, by inducing him to deprive her of her estates in 1324. While on a diplomatic mission in 1325 to Paris involving the dispute over Edward's French lands, Quern lsabel formed a close political connection with Roger de Mortimcr, 1^st Earl of March, an exiled baronial opponent of Edward.
Isabel and Mortimer raised an army in Germany and the Low Countries and, in 1326, they invaded England, captured and executed the Despensers, and deposed her husband, Edward 20 Jan 1326/7, in favor of their son, Edward.
All real power, however was in the hands of the Queen and Mortimer.
EDWARD II OF ENGLAND, late King of England, was murdered in Berkeley Castle 21 Sept. 1327, apparently in an attempt to escape the castle, and was buried at St. Peter's, Abbey at Gloucester, now the cathedral.
In 1327 Robert de Mohaut and Emme, his wife, conveyed the castles and manors of Mold (or Mohaut) and Hawarden, Cheshire to Queen Isabel, for 10,000 marks subject to a life estate.
On the death of Robert de Mohaut in 1329, these estates came into the possession of the Queen.
In Oct. 1330 Isabel and Mortimer, who now lived almost openly together, were arrested at Nottingham by orders of her son, Edward, who speedily had Mortimer executed.
Isabel subsequently retired to Castle Rising, Norfolk (a Mohaut estate) where she lived a comfortable and somewhat luxurious life.

(Note: Isabel is my 23rd great grandmother, Roger de Mortimer my 22nd great grandfather and Robert Mohaut is my 3rd cousin 23 times removed)

  Death Notes:

Executed for his part in the death of Edward the 2nd

Roger married Baroness Joan de Geneville 2nd on 20 Sep 1301. (Baroness Joan de Geneville 2nd was born on 2 Feb 1286 and died on 19 Oct 1356.)