General Notes

REFN: 6867AN
5th Lord of Wigmore
Captain-General Lord
Captain-General of the king's forces against the Welsh; Governor of Herefo
rd Castle.
Son and heir; Attained his majority in 1247
Cokayne's Complete Peerage in Dave's Database.
Dave's Database. Utzinger, Dave, Rootsweb's WorldConnect, World Wide We
b: Available: [Online]: (http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?
db=utzing) [30 August 2002].
ROGER DE MORTIMER, son and heir, a minor at his father's death, is sa
id to have been born at his father's castle of Cwmaron. He had livery of h
is inheritance 26 February 1246/7; and at Whitsuntide 1253 was made a knig
ht by the King at Winchester. He was serving in Gascony in 1253, and 125
4, and from 1255 to 1264 was chiefly occupied with his duties on the Marc
h, opposing the successes of his cousin Llewelyn ap Griffith, who was grad
ually uniting all the Welsh chieftains under his leadership. In the disput
es between the King and the Barons in 1258, Mortimer at first took the Bar
ons' side, and was one of the twelve chosen by them to act with twelve cho
sen by the King, and one of the twenty-four appointed to treat about an a
id for the King. In October 1258 he attested the King's proclamation for t
he observance of the Provisions of Oxford, and in Apr. 1259 was sworn of t
he King's Council. The "Provisions" drawn up by the Barons in that year di
rected that Roger de Mortimer and Philip Basset should accompany the justi
ciar. On 11 June of that year he was appointed one of the commissione
rs to demand satisfaction from Llewelyn for breaches of the truce, whi
ch on 25 June was prolonged for one year. He was present at the confirmati
on of the treaty with France, 21 July 1259. On 19 May 1260 the Counc
il of Magnates appointed him constable of Hereford Castle. On 17 July foll
owing he arrived in London to attend a Council, and on that day Llewelyn
's men took Builth Castle, of which Mortimer had custody for Prince Edwar
d. In December 1260 he had a licence to take game and to fish along the Th
ames and its tributaries. In December 1261 he was commanded to send his se
al, if he were unable to come in person, to have it affixed to the writi
ng made of peace between the King and the Barons. The whole of the years 1
262 and 1263 he spent in fighting Llewelyn with varying success. On 3 Dece
mber 1263 he was one of the armed nobles with the King when Henry demande
d, and was refused, entry to Dover Castle; and in January following attest
ed, on the King's side, the submission of the quarrel between Henry and t
he Barons to Louis, King of France. On 6 April 1264 he was with the Ki
ng at the taking of Northampton, and captured a number of prisoners; a
nd in May was with the King at Lewes, but fled from the field to Pevense
y. He and others who had fled were allowed to return home, giving hostag
es that they would come to Parliament, when summoned, and stand trial by t
heir peers. Mortimer and the other Lords Marchers did not attend Montfort
's "Parliament" at Midsummer 1264, but were constrained to make peace wi
th him in August. In September Mortimer, as constable of Cardigan, was ord
ered to give up the castle to Guy de Brien, Montfort's nominee. The Marche
rs again broke the truce, but before Christmas Montfort and Llewelyn final
ly reduced them to submission. Soon afterwards Roger and the others were b
anished to Ireland for a year, but did not go; and in December he had sa
fe conduct to see the King and Prince Edward, who was at Kenilworth. In Ju
ne 1265 he was among the "rebels holding certain towns and castles through
out the land, and raising new wars." Later in the same month he contriv
ed the plan, and furnished the swift horse, by means of which Prince Edwa
rd escaped from Hereford Castle and came to Wigmore, where he and Rog
er de Clifford rode out to meet him and drove off his pursuers. At Evesha
m, on 4 August 1265, Mortimer commanded the rearguard; and after Mon