Mortimer
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Mortimer is an English surname.
Norman origins
The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; one 11th century figure associated with the castle was Roger, lord of Mortemer, who fought in the Battle of Mortemer in 1054.[1] The name derives from the latin words "mort" meaning die and "mer" meaning sea, and presumably related to the stagnant water of the marshland that existed in the Pays de Bray region of Normandy in the Early Middle Ages.[2] The 12th century abbey of Mortemer at Lisors near Lyons-la-Forêt is assumed to share the same etymological origin, and was granted to the Cistercian order by Henry II in the 1180s. According to the 17th century writer François de Beaurepaire, there were two possible explanations for such a place name:
"First, a small pond must have already existed before the land was given to the monks and have already been called Mortemer like the two other Mortemers, because the word mer 'pond' was not used anymore beyond the Xth century. This word is only attested in North-Western France and of Frankish or Saxon origin mari / meri 'mere', 'lake' (in Cambremer, Blingemer, etc..); mort(e) 'dead' is also quite common to mean 'stagnant' (in Port-Mort 'the port with stagnant water', Morteau 'dead water', etc.).[3] Second, the monks could have given the name Mortemer to their drainage lake to remember the other Mortemer for any kind of reason we don't know, making a pun at the same time with Mer Morte 'Dead Sea'."
A later myth dating to the Elizabethan era attributed the name to a Norman knight who fought in the Crusades and was distinguished in battle by the shores of the Dead Sea (Mer Morte in French), as suggested in Edward II by Christopher Marlowe (Scene 7 Line 21ff).
Medieval magnates
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Arms_of_the_House_of_Mortimer.svg/200px-Arms_of_the_House_of_Mortimer.svg.png)
In the Middle Ages, the Mortimers became a powerful dynasty of Marcher Lords in the Welsh Marches, first as barons of Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire and later as Earl of March from 1328-1425. Through marriage, the Mortimers came close to the English throne during the reign of Richard II, though their royal claim was ignored after Richard II's deposition by his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke in 1399. The Mortimer claims were later inherited by the House of York, which claimed the throne upon the Earl of March Edward IV's victory in the Battle of Towton, 1461.
Members of the noble Mortimer family included:
- Ranulph de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, Herefordshire and Seigneur of St Victor-en-Caux, Seine-Maritime, Normandy.
- Hugh de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore
- Roger Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore
- Ralph de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore
- Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer (1231–1282)
- Isabella Mortimer, Countess of Arundel (after 1247–before 1 April 1292/after 1300)
- Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer (1251–1304)
- Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (1287-1330)
- Edmund Mortimer (1302–1331)
- Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick (1314–1369)
- Agnes Mortimer, Countess of Pembroke (1317–1368)
- Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March (1328-1360)
- Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1352-1381)
- Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1374-1398)
- Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (1391-1425)
Other people
- Amanda Jay Mortimer (born 1944), American urban planner and consultant
- Bob Mortimer (born 1959), English comedian and actor
- Carole Mortimer (born 1960), English romance novelist
- Chris Mortimer (born 1958), Australian rugby league footballer
- Conor Mortimer, Irish Gaelic football player
- Daniel Mortimer (born 1989), Australian rugby league footballer
- Debra Mortimer, Australian judge
- Edmund Mortimer (actor) (1874–1944), American actor and film director
- Emily Mortimer (born 1971), English actress
- Favell Lee Mortimer (1802-1878), English Evangelical author of educational books for children
- Frank Mortimer (1932-2009), English rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s
- Gary Mortimer (born 1967), English aeronaut
- George Ferris Whidborne Mortimer (1805–1871), English schoolmaster and divine
- Harvey Walklate Mortimer Senior (1753-1819) and Junior (1776-1850), English gunmakers on Fleet Street in London
- Ian Mortimer (born 1983), Canadian sprint canoeist
- Ian Mortimer (historian) (born 1967), British writer
- James Mortimer (1833–1911), American chess player, journalist and playwright
- James Mortimer (hurdler) (born 1983), New Zealand hurdler
- John Mortimer (c. 1656 – 1736), Agriculturalist
- John Mortimer (1923-2009), British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author
- John B. Mortimer, Hong Kong judge
- John Hamilton Mortimer (1740–1779), British painter
- John Robert Mortimer (1825–1911), Yorkshire corn merchant and archaeologist
- Kenneth Mortimer (president), President Emeritus of Western Washington University, eleventh president of the University of Hawai`i system and Chancellor of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa from 1993-2001
- Mary Mortimer (1816–1877), British-born American educator
- Minnie Mortimer (born 1980), fashion designer and socialite
- Robert Bowles Mortimer Jr (born 1980), Mississippi - Mortician, Singer/Songwriter, Musician
- Roger Mortimer (racing) (1909–1991), racing correspondent
- Richard Mortimer (1852–1918), American real estate investor and society leader.
- Steve Mortimer (born 1956), Australian rugby league footballer
- Tinsley Mortimer (born 1976), American socialite
- Tony Mortimer (born 1970), British songwriter, composer, singer and rapper; member of British 1990s pop group East 17
Fictional characters
- Colonel Douglas Mortimer, played by Lee Van Cleef in the film For a Few Dollars More
- Dr. Mortimer, a character in the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Lord Mortimer, played by Billy House in the 1946 film Bedlam
- Philip Mortimer, a protagonist in Blake and Mortimer, a Belgian comics series created by Edgar P. Jacobs
- Mortimer Brewster, a protagonist in Arsenic and Old Lace and its film adaptation
- Mortimer Crane, the protagonist of the novel Summer Never Ends by Waldo Frank
- Mortimer Delvile, a character in the novel Cecilia by Frances Burney
- Mortimer Duke, a character in the movie Trading Places, played by Don Ameche
- Mortimer Goth, a character in the life simulation games The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4
- Mortimer Harren, a male crewman in Star Trek: Voyager, appearing in the episode 'Good Shepherd'
- Mortimer Scharff, the driver of the hearse Shadow in the popular destruction derby franchise Twisted Metal.
- Mortimer Snerd, a ventriloquist's dummy employed by Edgar Bergen.
- Mortimer McMire, the primary antagonist of the Commander Keen series
- Mortimer Mouse, a Disney character and rival of Mickey Mouse
- Mortimer "Morte" Rictusgrin, a character and companion in the video game Planescape: Torment
- Mortimer "Morty" Smith, one of the two lead characters in Rick and Morty
- Mortimer Toynbee (Toad), a mutant in the X-Men comics
- Mortimer, the lead character in Mortimer, written by Robert Munsch
- Mortimer, one of the four dancers in his band, and importantly the black one, in Harvey Street Kids
See also
References
- ^ C.P Lewis, Mortimer Roger (I) de (fl. 1054-c.1080) in Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography, Oxford University Press 2004.
- ^ "Mortimer History".
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ François de Beaurepaire, Les noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Seine-Maritime, éditions Picard 1979. ISBN 2-7084-0040-1.