Capture of Mortimer at Nottingham Castle (1330)
Who Fought
History & Significance
Roger Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, 1st Earl of March (25 April 1287 – 29 November 1330), was an English nobleman and powerful marcher lord who gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville. Her mother was of the royal House of Lusignan. 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, where they had an affair. After he and Isabella led a successful invasion and rebellion, Edward was 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.
Mortimer, grandson of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, and Maud de Braose, was born at Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire, England, the firstborn of marcher lord Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, and Margaret de Fiennes. Through his mother Margaret, he was a great-grandson of John of Brienne, Emperor of Constantinople and King of Jerusalem. Through his father he was descended from John, King of England.
Edmund Mortimer was a second son, intended for minor orders and a clerical career. But on the deaths of his elder brother Ralph in 1274, and his father in 1304, Edmund was recalled from Oxford University and succeeded to the title. He married in 1301.
Roger was born on 25 April 1287, the Feast of Saint Mark, a day of bad omen. He shared this birthday with King Edward II, which would be relevant later in life.
According to his biographer Ian Mortimer, Roger was possibly sent as a boy to be fostered in the household of his formidable uncle, Roger Mortimer de Chirk. De Chirk had helped Edmund kill Llywelyn ap Gruffudd of Wales in 1282 and had then carried Llywelyn's severed head to King Edward I. Ironically, Roger was a cousin of Llywelyn via his great-grandmother, Gwladus Ddu.
Roger attended the coronation of Edward II on 25 February 1308 and carried a table bearing the royal robes in the ceremony's procession.
Like many noble children of his time, Mortimer was betrothed at a young age, to Joan de Geneville (born 1286), the daughter of Sir Peter de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow. They were married on 20 September 1301 when he was aged fourteen. Their first child was born in 1302.
The ground they fought on
The site of Capture of Mortimer at Nottingham Castle (1330) lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.
The most striking detail of the whole episode is the role of William Eland, the castellan of Nottingham Castle, a man appointed by Mortimer himself to oversee the very fortress in which the earl felt secure. It was Eland who guided Edward III's companions through the secret tunnel cut into the living rock of Castle Rock, leading them upward through the darkness to a door that would bring them into the heart of the castle and directly to their target. Mortimer's own trusted appointment thus became the instrument of his downfall, with the man responsible for the security of the castle using his intimate knowledge of its hidden passages to deliver its most powerful occupant, bound and gagged, into the hands of a king who had waited long enough.
- Mortimer's personal guards were killed during the assault; no further figures are recorded
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- Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March · Wikipedia
- Nottingham Castle · Wikipedia