Roger Mortimer, Earl of March

Also known as: Roger Mortimer earle of March / Roger earle of March / Roger lord Mortimer / sir Roger Mortimer the first earle of March · Family: Scotland · Role: earl · First appears: Richard II 6

In Richard II 6, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, was in Scotland when Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland asked whether he would approve the taking of a castle by his countrymen. Their connection was allied with fealty to Richard II, as Northumberland proposed recovering it for the king’s use: “he would come himselfe, and helpe to recouer it to the K. of Englands vse, out or those Scotishmens hands.”

By c. 1385, Roger was the son and heir of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and Philippa Plantagenet, Countess of March, and was established and proclaimed heir apparent to England’s crown. While in Ireland pacifying rebellions, he was killed along with most of his company. He had issue Edmund Mortimer (son), Roger Mortimer (son), Anne Mortimer, Alice Mortimer, and Eleanor Mortimer; later records also describe Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March as his son.

In c. 1398, Roger was among the nobles named by Richard II to whom broad authority over both parliamentary houses was granted. By c. 1460, after a “pitious death, and execrable murther,” the right and title of the crown and superiority of the realm were said to have reverted to Roger, whose descent was traced through Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence and Philippa Mortimer, Countess of March.