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EDMUND DE MORTIMER (1351-1381)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 686 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDMUND DE See also:MORTIMER (1351-1381)  , 3rd See also:earl of See also:March, was son of See also:Roger, 2nd earl of March, by his wife Philippa, daughter of See also:William Montacute, 1st earl of See also:Salisbury . Being an See also:infant at the See also:death of his See also:father, See also:Edmund, as a See also:ward of the See also:crown, was placed by See also:Edward III. under the care of William of Wykeham and See also:Richard Fitzalan, earl of See also:Arundel . The position of the See also:young earl, powerful on See also:account of his possessions and hereditary See also:influence in the Welsh See also:marches, was rendered still more important by his See also:marriage in 1368 to Philippa, only daughter of Lionel, See also:duke of See also:Clarence, third son of Edward III . Lionel's wife was See also:Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William de See also:Burgh, 6th See also:Lord of See also:Connaught and 3rd earl of See also:Ulster, and Lionel had himself been created earl of Ulster before his marriage . The earl of March, therefore, not only became the representative of one of the See also:chief Anglo-See also:Norman lordships in See also:Ireland in right of his 'wife Philippa, but the latter, on the death of her father shortly after her marriage, stood next in See also:succession to the crown after the See also:Black See also:Prince and his sickly son Richard, after-wards See also:king Richard II . This marriage had, therefore, far-reaching consequences in the See also:history of See also:England, giving rise to the claim of the See also:house of See also:York to the crown of England, contested in the See also:War of the See also:Roses; Edward IV. being descended from the third son of Edward III. as See also:great-great-See also:grandson of Philippa,countess of March, and in the male See also:line from Edmund, duke of York, fifth son of Edward III . See also:Mortimer, now styled earl of March and Ulster, became See also:marshal of England in 1369, and was employed in various See also:diplomatic See also:missions during the next following years . He was a member of the See also:committee appointed by the Peers to confer with the See also:Commons in 1373—the first instance of such a See also:joint See also:conference since the institution of representative parliaments—on the question of granting supplies for See also:John of Gaunt's war in See also:France; and in the opposition to Edward III. and the See also:court party, which See also:grew in strength towards the end of the reign, March took the popular See also:side, being prominent in the See also:Good See also:Parliament of 1376 among the lords who, encouraged by the Prince of See also:Wales, concerted an attack upon the court party led by John of Gaunt . The See also:Speaker of the Commons in this parliament was March's steward, See also:Peter de la See also:Mare; he firmly withstood John of Gaunt in stating the grievances of the Commons, in supporting the See also:impeachment of several high court officials, and in procuring the banishment of the king's See also:mistress, Alice See also:Perrers . March was a member of the administrative See also:council appointed by the same parliament after the death of the Black Prince to attend the king and advise him in all public affairs . On the See also:accession of Richard II., a See also:minor, in 1377, the earl became a member of the See also:standing council of See also:government; though as father of the See also:heir-presumptive to the crown he wisely abstained from claiming any actually administrative See also:office . The most powerful See also:person in the See also:realm was, however, John of Gaunt, duke of See also:Lancaster, whose See also:jealousy of March led to the See also:acceptance by the latter of the lieutenancy of Ireland in 1379 .

March succeeded in asserting his authority in eastern Ulster, but failed to subdue the O'Neills farther See also:

west . Proceeding to See also:Munster to put down the turbulency of the chieftains of the See also:south, March died at See also:Cork on the 27th of See also:December 1381 . He was buried in Wigmore See also:Abbey, of which he had been a benefactor, and where his wife Philippa who died about the same See also:time was also interred . The earl had two sons and two daughters, the See also:elder of whom, Elizabeth, married See also:Henry See also:Percy (Hotspur), son of the earl of See also:Northumberland . His eldest son Roger succeeded him as 4th earl of March and Ulster . His second son Edmund (1376-1409) played an important See also:part in See also:conjunction with his See also:brother-in-See also:law Hotspur against See also:Owen See also:Glendower; but afterwards joined the latter, whose daughter he married about 1402 .

End of Article: EDMUND DE MORTIMER (1351-1381)
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