Ralph de Mortimer

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1104

Notes:

From Complete Peerage IX:267-8:

Ralph de Mortimer, son and heir [of Roger by Hawise], succeeded his father before 1086, when he appears in Domesday Book as tenant in chief in twelve counties. His possessions lay largely in Herefordshire and Shropshire, Wigmore in the former county being the caput of the honour. Both Wigmore and Cleobury, in Shropshire, had belonged to William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford, and the grant must therefore have been later than the forfeiture of William's son Roger in 1074. He attested a notification by William I between 1078 and 1087. On 30 March 1088 he witnessed a grant made by his man Ralph FitzAnsere to the abbey of Jumieges. In that year he, Bernard de Neufmarche, and Roger de Lacy, at the head of a large body of English, Norman and Welsh fighting men, attacked Worcester with the avowed intention of burning the town and pillaging the church. The Bishop's men marched out and defeated them on the other side of the Severn. In 1089 he was one of the barons of Eastern Normandy who sided with William Rufus against Robert Curthose, but between 1091 and 1095 he is found (at Lisieux) witnessing with Duke Robert a charter for Jumieges. He made a grant to the monks of Worcester with the assent of his sons (unnamed) and his men. In 1104. he adhered to Henry I against Duke Robert. This is the last mention found of him, and the date of death is unknown. He married, 1stly, Melisande, who was dead before 30 March 1088, and, 2ndly, Mabel. (g)

(g) Stephen, Count of Aumale, by a charter circa 1100, with the consent of Hawise his wife and of Ralph de Mortimer her father, granted the church of Airaines (Somme) of the inheritance of Ralph and Hawise to the priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, Paris, mentioning Melisande, Ralph's deceased wife. The charter of 30 Mar 1088 referred to above is subscribed 'Signum Radulfi Filii Rogeri Morte maris Signum Mabilie uxoris eius'. Hawise was clearly the daughter of Melisande; and as she must have been born before 1088, Melisande would be Ralph's first wife. William, brother of Hugh, witnesses his charter for Saint-Victor, but he occurs low in the list of witnesses and was probably illegitimate. There is no evidence as to which wife was mother of Hugh.

Family/Spouse: Melisende. Melisende died before 30 Mar 1088. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Hugh de Mortimer was born in of Wigmore, Herefordshire, England; died between 1148 and 1150.
2. Hawise de Mortimer died in 1189.

Notes:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Mortimer, Roger (I) de (fl. 1054 - c. 1080), magnate, may never have set foot in England but was the progenitor of the Mortimer family whose importance in English history lasted until the male line died out in the early fifteenth century. His parentage is not certain, and different theories have been put forward to account for the evidence, in particular a charter attestation by a 'Roger, son of Ralph de Warenne', and the statements of the earliest genealogist of the family, Robert de Torigny, in the early twelfth century. Most plausibly Roger was the son of Ralph (I) de Warenne and his wife, Béatrice, who is shown to have been a niece of Duke Richard of Normandy by the later statement of Archbishop Anselm that the Warennes and the dukes then shared an ancestor four generations back on one side and six on the other. That parentage would make Roger (I) de Mortimer a second cousin once removed of Duke William, the conqueror of England. In any case he was certainly related in some way to the ducal house.

From Complete Peerage IX:266-7:

Roger de Mortemer, Seigneur of Mortemer-sur-Eaulne in Normandy, was one of the leaders of the Norman forces at the battle of Mortemer in 1054, but having assisted the escape of one of the French prisoner, Ralph, Count of Montdidier, to whom he had done homage, he was exiled and his lands confiscated. He was afterwards reconciled to Duke William and some of his lands were restored to him, though not Moretmer, which had been given to his consanguineus William de Warrene; Saint-Victor-en-Caux thereupon became the caput of the Norman honour of the family. He is said to have founded the abbey of Saint-Victor-en-Caux. He was living in 1078 or later, but was dead in 1086, when his son Ralph appears in Domesday Book. He married Hawise (c).

(c) Hawise and Ralph her son gave land in Mers in the diocese of Amiens to the abbey; in 1192 Theobald, Bishop of Amiens, confirmed this gift at Mers. The fact that Hawise held land at Mers in Le Vimeu explains the homage done by Roger de Mortimer to Ralph, Count of Montdider, and suggests that the marriage was earlier than 1054, the date of the battle of Mortemer. Since Hawise and her son join in this gift, she appears to have survived her husband.

Roger married Hawise. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Eyton says she was possibly a daughter of Ranulf de Montdidier.