Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March

Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March and 7th Earl of Ulster (6 November 1391 – 18 January 1425) was, while a young child, briefly heir presumptive to King Richard II of England.

Family

Edmund was son of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March by Alianore de Holland, daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, and Alice Fitzalan. Alice was the daughter of Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel, and Eleanor of Lancaster.

On his father's side, Edmund was a direct descendant of King Edward III of England through his grandmother, Philippa Plantagenet, daughter of Edward's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp. On his mother's side, he was a descendent of Henry III. Because the senior line of succession through King Richard II had no issue, Edmund's father Roger Mortimer was next in line for the throne and was accordingly named heir presumptive in 1385.

Edmund's elder sister Anne Mortimer married their cousin Richard, Earl of Cambridge, another descendant of Edward III, through a younger son, Edmund of Langley.

Heir presumptive

Edmund Mortimer's father died in Ireland on 20 July 1398. Mortimer, then six years old, succeeded his father's title and estates and became (under the nomination of 1385) the new heir to the throne.

On 30 September 1399 Richard was deposed and the crown usurped by Henry of Lancaster. The young Earl of March and his brother Roger were then kept in custody by Henry IV, who nonetheless treated them honourably.

Revolt against Bolingbroke

Their captivity briefly ended in March 1405, when Edmund and his brother Roger were carried off from Windsor Castle by the opponents of the House of Lancaster on the orders of Constance of York. Their uncle, Sir Edmund Mortimer, and his brother-in-law Henry Percy (Hotspur) were leaders in league with Owain Glyndŵr. The boys were soon recaptured, and in 1409 were committed to the care of Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales.

Reign of Henry V

On the accession of Henry as King Henry V of England in 1413, the Earl of March was set at liberty and restored to his estates, his brother Roger having died some years previously.

Edmund continued to enjoy the favour of the King in spite of the Southampton Plot in 1415 to place Mortimer on the throne, a rebellion in which his brother-in-law and cousin, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, played the leading role. Mortimer was reportedly approached by the conspirators at a very late stage in the preparations, and after a period of about ten days informed the King of the threat against him. Cambridge was attainted as a result and executed for treason.

Thereafter, March accompanied Henry V to France in several campaigns of the Hundred Years' War. He did not fight at Agincourt, being ill at the time, but did participate in the conquest of Normandy and the other campaigns that led up to the signing of the Treaty of Troyes. When Henry V died on 31 August 1422 and was succeeded by his one-year-old son Henry VI of England, Mortimer became a member of the Council of Regency.

Final years

March was appointed lieutenant of Ireland in May 1423 (a post also held by his father and grandfather). He worked through a deputy at first, but in February 1424 he took ship for Ireland.

Mortimer died in Ireland of the plague in 1425 and was buried at Clare Priory, Suffolk. He married Anne Stafford, daughter of Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, but left no issue. The Earldom of March, the Earldom of Ulster and his estates therefore passed to his nephew, Anne Mortimer's son, Richard Plantagenet (later restored as 3rd Duke of York, who was nevertheless styled "Earl of March", as was his son).

References

• Tout, T. F. (1894). "Edmund de Mortimer, fifth earl of March and third earl of Ulster". Dictionary of National Biography 39. 
• Doyle, James William Edmund. (1886) The Official Baronage of England, Showing the Succession, Dignities, and Offices of Every Peer from 1066 to 1885, with Sixteen Hundred Illustrations. Vol. II, London: Longmans, Green, and Company.

Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March House of Plantagenet Born: 6 November 1391 Died: 18 January 1425
English royalty
Preceded by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March	Heir to the English Throne as heir presumptive 20 July 1398 – 30 September 1399	Succeeded by Henry, Prince of Wales
Peerage of England
Preceded by Roger Mortimer	Earl of March 1398–1425	Succeeded by Richard Plantagenet
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Roger Mortimer	Earl of Ulster 1398–1425	Succeeded by Richard Plantagenet