Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 9: Mortimer

MORTIMER or MORTEMER of Wigmore

See also "proposed" section

Volume 9, page 268:
In 1104 he [Ralph de Mortimer] adhered to Henry I against Duke Robert. This is the last mention found of him, and the date of his death is unknown.(f)
Note f:
A Ralph de Mortimer circa 1115 had a fragment of the Lincolnshire fee held in 1086 by Ralph de Mortimer (Lindsey Survey, Lincs Rec. Soc., p. 251; Farrer, Early Yorks Charters, vol. iii, pp. 485-6).

In his article examining the chronology of the early Mortimers, Ian Mortimer cited charter evidence that (1) Ralph's son Hugh had joined with him in a gift to Saint-Victor and (2) a gift by Ralph to Worcester Cathedral Priory was made with the assent of his sons. According to his reconstruction, Hugh was born late in the 11th century or early in the 12th. Mortimer therefore argued that in all probability Ralph did survive beyond 1115 and perhaps into the 1120s in Normandy [Historical Research, vol. 89, p. 627 (2016)].

[Item last updated: 26 August 2018.]

Volume 9, pages 269, 270:
[Hugh de Mortimer, son and heir of Ralph de Mortimer:] The name of his wife is unknown. He seems to have d. in the period 1148-50.(e)

ROGER DE MORTIMER, s. and h. He occurs as a witness before 1137,(f) and in 1139 is found commanding the King's forces at Malmesbury. In 1150 at Winchester he witnessed a charter of King Stephen for Christchurch, Hants.(h) He was dead s.p. in 1153, when his brother Hugh had succeeded him.(i)

HUGH DE MORTIMER, br. and h.(a)

Note e:
Besides his sons Roger and Hugh, who succeeded him in turn, he had a son William (see post, p. 270, note "a").
Note f:
"Rogero de Mortuomari" in a charter of Walter Pasnage making a gift to the abbey of Saint-Victor (Beaurepaire, op. cit., p. 409); this charter is earlier, though not much earlier, than a charter of Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, dated 1137, which confirms this gift (Idem, p. 367).
Note h:
"Testibus, H. Wintoniensi episcopo, Baldwino comite et Ricardo filio ejus, Rogero de Mortuo Mari, Albrico de Ver, Willelmo Peverel, Huberto de Vals" (Cal. Charter Rolls, vol. iii, pp. 233-4). The standing of the witnesses and Roger's position among them indicate that he had succeeded his father, who must therefore have been dead.
Note i:
His position in the pedigree is shown by the following charters: (i) a Hugh de Mortimer, who must be either the first or the second of the name, makes a gift to the nunnery of Kington St. Michael, Wilts, for the soul of his brother Roger (Monasticon, vol. iv, p. 399). (ii) By a charter dated at Rouen in 1175 Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, confirmed to the abbey of Saint-Victor, among other gifts, ex dono vero supradicti Hugonis de Mortuo Mari, pro anima patris sui Radulfi, in unoquoque anno, in anniversario suo, dimidium modium frumenti et x solidos, et similiter, pro anima fratris sui Rogeri, x solidos et dimidium modium frumenti (Beaurepaire, op. cit., p. 400). Hugh's original charter making the gift for his father's soul is printed by Beaurepaire (op. cit., p. 411), and this contains no mention of Roger or of the gift for his soul. Further, the first Hugh de Mortimer issued a general charter of confirmation of the possessions of Saint-Victor (Beaurepaire, op. cit., pp. 370-377); as this charter is witnessed by Richard d'Auffai, whose parents were married in or after 1121 (Orderic - ed. Le Prevost - vol. iii, p. 47), it is apparently of the last years of Hugh's life. In this charter again there is mention of the gift for the soul of the grantor's father, but no reference to a gift for the soul of Roger. Moreover, the language of the charter of 1175 above is consistent with the view that the Archbishop - dealing compendiously with a series of gifts - attributed to Hugh I a gift which was really made by Hugh II for his brother Roger, there being nothing in the donors' names to distinguish one Hugh from the other. From this it is to be inferred that the Roger in question was a brother of the second Hugh, who made these gifts for his soul. The evidence as to Roger's parentage is purely circumstantial, but no view other than the above seems consistent with all the facts. The usual version of the pedigree makes Hugh de Mortimer, son of Ralph, live till 1180/1 and be the father of the Roger who died in 1214; independently of the specific evidence here adduced, since Ralph was already married to a second wife in 1088, this would seem a chronological impossibility.
Page 270, note a:
The witnesses to the first Hugh de Mortimer's great charter of confirmation for Saint-Victor (Beaurepaire, op. cit., p. 376; cf. preceding note) are headed by the grantor's sons Hugh and William. It was clearly executed in Normandy, and the disturbed state of the Welsh border at this period is sufficient to account for the absence of the eldest son, Roger.

In the traditional Mortimer pedigree, the Domesday tenant Ralph de Mortimer was succeeded in the early 12th century by his son and heir Hugh, who survived until the 1180s. The Complete Peerage account above, by L. C. Loyd, proposed a different reconstruction, in which Hugh died around 1148-50, to be succeeded briefly by his elder son Roger, and then by 1153 by his younger son Hugh. In an article published in 2016, Ian Mortimer argued persuasively that Loyd was wrong, that there was only one Hugh, that he was born in the late 11th or early 12th century (when his father would have been in his 40s or 50s), that he survived until 1185, and that Roger was his younger brother. On this interpretation, Hugh de Mortimer married Maud, the widow of Philip de Belmeis, after 1143 (when he would have been in his 40s or 50s), and by this marriage he had sons Hugh, who predeceased him, Roger, his heir, Ralph and William [Historical Research, vol. 89, pp. 613-635 (2016)].

The evidence is discussed fully in Ian Mortimer's article, but in summary:

• The tradition at Wigmore Abbey was that its founder, Hugh de Mortimer, was the son of the Domesday tenant, Ralph. This was stated in a part of the Fundationis et Fundatorum Historia dating from 1262. The earlier Anglo-Norman chronicle of Wigmore also treats the Hugh of the 1140s as the same man who died in the 1180s.
   
• The charter of Walter Pasnage for Saint-Victor, witnessed by Roger de Mortimer, which Loyd dated to beffore 1137, mentions St Thomas the Martyr and therefore cannot be earlier than 1173 (Beaurepaire, the editor of the Saint-Victor charters, dated it to after 1175).
   
• The charter of King Stephen for Christchurch dated 1150, also witnessed by Roger de Mortimer, was rejected as spurious by editors of the Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum because the witnesses were inconsistent with the date given in the document.
   
• The document referred to by Loyd as "Hugh's original charter making the gift for his father's soul" (in which his father is not named) has a witness list consistent with the 1170s.
   
• The document referred to by Loyd as Hugh's "general charter of confirmation" for Saint-Victor, from a consideration of the witnesses, appears also to date from the 1170s. This charter names Hugh's father as Ralph and his grandfather as Roger, and thereby identifies the Hugh de Mortimer of the 1170s as the son of the Domesday tenant, in agreement with the traditional pedigree.
   

[Item last updated: 26 August 2018.]

Volume 9, page 272:
He [Hugh de Mortimer] d. between Mich. 1180 and Mich. 1181.(a)
Note a:
Pipe Roll, 27 Hen. II (Mich. 1180 - Mich. 1181), p. 17, where two debts charged on the previous rolls against Hugh de Mortimer are charged against Roger de Mortimer. A charter of Hugh for Saint-Victor is witnessed by his sons Hugh and Roger (Beaurepaire, op. cit., p. 412).

In his article examining the chronology of the early Mortimers, Ian Mortimer pointed out that the Fundationis et Fundatorum Historia of Wigmore said that Hugh died on 26 February 1185, having become a canon of Wigmore, and that the same year was given for his death by the Wigmore and Worcester Annals. He argued that the language of the pipe roll indicated that Hugh was still alive at Michaelmas 1181 [Historical Research, vol. 89, pp. 618-620 (2016)].

[Item last updated: 26 August 2018.]

Volume 9, page 273:
In 1212 he [Roger de Mortimer (d. 1214)] proffered 3,000 marks for the marriage of the heir of Walter de Beauchamp, to whom he married his daughter Joan.(g)
Note g:
Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), vol. iv, p. 400; Rot. Lit. Claus., vol. i, p. 168.

In fact, both the documents cited refer to Roger de Mortimer having made fine for the lands and marriage of Walter (or Watkin) de Beauchamp, not for the marriage of the heir of Walter.

[Item last updated: 21 February 2005.]

Volume 9, page 283 (as modified by volume 14):
He [Edmund de Mortimer (d. 1304)] m., 1stly, (---) [and 2ndly,] circa 1285, Margaret, da. of Sir William DE FENLES (or DE FIENES), ...
Note m:
... In addition to their son Roger, Edmund and Margaret had four daughters: Maud, ... Joan and Elizabeth ... He also had a da. Isolt by his first wife. See ante, vol. i, p. 347 (above, in present volume). Isolt, m. (1) Walter de Balun, (2) Hugh (AUDLEY), LORD AUDLEY (ante, vol. i, note (e))' [ex. inform. Lord Sandon]

In fact Isolt was not a daughter of Edmund de Mortimer, but was a daughter of Roger le Rus or Rous; see Audley (of Stratton Audley), vol. 1, pp. 347, 348. There is therefore no evidence to suggest that Edmund had an earlier wife before Margaret de Fenles.

However, Edmund and Margaret did have an additional daughter Eleanor , whose marriage to William de Kyme [Lord Kyme] (d. 1338) had been contracted, but not consummated, by 29 November 1307 (see Kyme, volume 7, pages 355, 356).

[Item last updated: 26 August 2018.]