Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Sir Edmund Mortimer IV (10 December 1376 – January 1409) was an English nobleman and landowner who played a part in the rebellions of the Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr and of the Percy family against King Henry IV, at the beginning of the 15th century. [3] He perished at the siege of Harlech as part of these conflicts.
Edmund Mortimer's claim to the throne was the basis of rebellions and plots against Henry IV and his son Henry V, and was later taken up by the House of York in the Wars of the Roses, though Mortimer himself was an important and loyal vassal of Henry V and Henry VI.
Henry initially announced that he intended to reclaim his rights as Duke of Lancaster, though he quickly gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV, imprison Richard (who died in prison, most probably forcibly starved to death, [15]) and bypass Richard's heir-presumptive, Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
The motivations for the rebellion – the king's refusal to ransom Edmund Mortimer and the discontent of the Percys with Henry IV's regime – are left intentionally vague. Prince Henry, later ascending the throne as Henry V, begins his reign with a policy of conciliation, with one of his first stated acts being the ransoming of Mortimer.
Glyndŵr offered to release Mortimer for a large ransom, but Henry IV refused to pay. Mortimer could be said to have had a greater claim to the English throne than himself, so his speedy release was not an option. In response, Sir Edmund negotiated an alliance with Owain and married one of Owain's daughters, Catrin. [24]
The Tripartite Indenture was an agreement made in February 1405 among Owain Glyndŵr, Edmund Mortimer, and Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, agreeing to divide England and Wales up among them at the expense of Henry IV.
The king's failure to ransom Henry Percy's brother-in-law, Sir Edmund Mortimer, whom the Welsh had captured in June 1402 [5] Spurred by these grievances, the Percys rebelled in the summer of 1403 and took up arms against the king. According to J. M. W. Bean, it is clear that the Percys were in collusion with Glyndŵr.
Richard II abdicated in favour of Henry Bolingbroke on 29 September 1399. However, Henry was not next in the line to the throne; the heir presumptive was Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, [1] [2] who descended from Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp, whereas Henry's father, John of Gaunt, was Edward's third surviving son.