Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March
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Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March and 6th Earl of Ulster (11 April 1374 – 20 July 1398)² was the heir presumptive to Richard II of England between 1385 and 1398.

Mortimer was son of the powerful Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and Philippa, Countess of March and Ulster.¹ His mother was the only issue of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, the second surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault³. Thus, Mortimer was (after his father's death) Richard II's heir if succession is allowed through a female line.

Mortimer's mother died quite early and his father on December 27, 1381, so Mortimer succeeded to his title and estates when only seven years old.¹ His hereditary influence and position caused him to be appointed to the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland on January 24, 1382.¹ His uncle Sir Thomas Mortimer acted as his deputy.¹ This experiment did not work well and Mortimer was replaced by Philip de Courtenay the next year.¹

Being a ward of the Crown, his guardian was Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, half-brother to Richard II. The earl of Kent also purchased the rights to choose Mortimer's bride, and 1387 or early 1388 married him to his daughter Alianor (Eleanor).⁴

The importance which he owed to his hereditary influence and possessions, and especially to his descent from Edward III, was immensely increased when Richard II publicly acknowledged him as heir presumptive to the crown in 1385⁵.

Conflict in Ireland

In 1394 he accompanied Richard II to Ireland, but notwithstanding a commission from the king as lieutenant of the districts over which he exercised nominal authority by hereditary right, he made little headway against the native Irish chieftains. Nevertheless the following year Mortimer was given broader authority as lieutenant of Ireland.

March enjoyed great popularity in England though he took no active part in opposing the despotic measures of the King.

On July 20, 1398 he was killed at the Battle of Kells in a fight with an Irish clan, and was buried in Wigmore Abbey.

His titles and the designation of heir presumptive passed to his young son, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.

Children

By his wife Alianore Holland he had four children⁶:

• Anne de Mortimer, married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge
• Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March
• Roger Mortimer (died young c. 1409)
• Eleanor (d. 1418), married Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon and had no children

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Stephen and Lee, 1894, p.145.
2. ^ Tout; some primary sources give the date of his death as 15 August
3. ^ Tout
4. ^ Tout
5. ^ Tout
6. ^ Tout p. 146

References

• Michel L. Call. The Royal Ancestry Bible: A 3,400 Pedigree Chart. M.L. Call. ISBN 1-933194-22-7. 
• Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney [1894] (1894). Dictionary of National Biography 39. London: MacMillan and Co.. Retrieved on 2008-03-21. 
• Tout, T. F. (1894). "Roger de Mortimer, fourth earl of March and Ulster". Dictionary of National Biography 39: 145–146. 

External Link/Sources

• Peerage.com on the 4th Earl of March Roger Mortimer