Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March

Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, 7th Earl of Ulster ( 6 November 1391 - 18 January 1425 ) was the son of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March , and Eleanor de Holland. His older sister was Anne Mortimer .

Edmund was through his father and his mother Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster, a great-grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence , the second eldest son of Edward III. At the time of his birth, the representative of the oldest line of the House of Plantagenet , King Richard II had no heirs, so that Edmund's father, as a representative of the second oldest line since 1385, was appointed heir to the throne. On the death of his father in 1398, Edmund was designated heir to the throne of England at the age of seven.

In the course of the events surrounding the Lords Appellant and the irreversible rift between Richard II and the representative of the third oldest line of the family, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford and Lancaster, on September 30, 1399, Richard II Bolingbroke was deposed in turn, ascended the throne as Henry IV , bypassing his cousin's older inheritance claims. Edmund and his younger brother Roger were given honorable custody. In 1405 insurgents led by their uncle, Sir Edmund Mortimer , and Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland , freed the two boys. Edmund and Roger were later captured again and in 1409 came into the care of the Prince of Wales, Henry of Lancaster . When he ascended the throne under the name of Henry V in 1413 after the death of his father, Edmund was confirmed as Earl of March and Earl of Ulster , and his possessions were given to him. Roger had died shortly before.

In the meantime, Edmund's sister Anne Richard of Conisburgh, 1st Earl of Cambridge , had married the second eldest son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York , and died in 1411, presumably giving birth to Richard Plantagenet . She thus married the second oldest lineage of the Plantagenets with the fourth oldest. When Henry V was preparing his French campaign in 1415, Cambridge planned an overthrow in favor of his brother-in-law. However, it was only very late that the conspirators took Edmund into their confidence. After days of deliberation, he decided to be loyal to the king and betrayed his brother-in-law to the king. Cambridge was executed in Southampton shortly before the British Army embarked . Edmund and also the brother of Richards of Conisburgh, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York remained in the king's favor and accompanied him on the campaign. After the death of Henry V in 1422, Edmund became a member of the Regency Council for the one-year-old new King Henry VI.

Edmund died on January 18, 1425, leaving no direct heir from his marriage to Anne Stafford, daughter of Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford , and his wife Anne of Gloucester . His possessions went to his nephew Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York , who was now the representative of the second oldest lineage of the Plantagenets and who claimed the throne in 1460.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ H. Vollrath & N. Fryde (eds.): The English Kings in the Middle Ages; From William the Conqueror to Richard III. Beck, 2004, ISBN 3-406-49463-3 , p. 171
2. ^ ^{A b} Powicke & Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 437
3. ^ ^{A b} Powicke & Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 464
4. ↑ Lady Anne de Mortimer on thepeerage.com , accessed July 26, 2015.
5. ↑ H. Vollrath & N. Fryde (eds.): The English Kings in the Middle Ages; From William the Conqueror to Richard III. Beck, 2004, ISBN 3-406-49463-3 , p. 176

Web link

• Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March on thepeerage.com , accessed July 26, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
Roger Mortimer	Earl of March Earl of Ulster 1398-1425	Richard Plantagenet