Mortimer
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2008-07-02T16:38:51Z
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:''For Mortimer in Berkshire, see [[Stratfield Mortimer]]. For the town in Shropshire, see [[Cleobury Mortimer]].''
'''Mortimer''' is a popular [[English language|English]] name, used both as a [[surname]] and a [[given name]].
==Noble family==
=== Norman origins ===
The name almost certainly derives from "Mortemer", site of the [[Cistercian]] [[Abbaye de Mortemer]] between [[Les Andelys]] and [[Évreux]] in [[Normandy]]. The land was gifted to the [[Cistercians]] by [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] in the 1180s. Finding the land to be marsh-land (in old french, 'dead water' or "Morte Mer"), the monks dug out a large drainage lake and built the [[Abbaye de Mortemer]]. The ruins and lake can still be visited, and the later XVIth century Abbey hosts tours.
The village of Mortemer-sur-Eaulne further north in the [[Seine-Maritime]] area is almost certainly later and named after the site of the abbey.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
=== Medieval magnates ===
In the Middle Ages, the Mortimers were a powerful magnate family or dynasty of [[Marcher Lords]] in the [[Welsh Marches]], centered around [[Wigmore Castle]] in [[Herefordshire]], and from the 14th century holding the title of [[Earl of March]].
=== Close to the throne of England ===
Through marriage, the Mortimers came during the reign of [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] to be close to the English throne, but when Richard II was deposed in 1399, the claims of the Mortimers were ignored and the throne vested in the [[usurper]] [[Henry IV of England|Henry of Lancaster]] instead. The Mortimer claims were later (1425) transmitted to the [[House of York]], which ultimately claimed them in the [[Wars of the Roses]].
=== Successive Mortimers ===
Members of the noble Mortimer family included:
*[[Ranulph de Mortimer]], Lord of [[Wigmore Castle]] in [[Herefordshire]] and Seigneur of [[St. Victor-en-Caux]] in Normandy
*[[Hugh de Mortimer]], Lord of [[Wigmore Castle]]
*[[Roger Mortimer of Wigmore]]
*[[Ralph de Mortimer]]
*[[Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer]]
*[[Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer]]
*[[Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March]]
*[[Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March]]
*[[Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March]]
*[[Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March]]
*[[Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March]]
*[[Thomas Mortimer, of Toton]]
*[[Edmund Mortimer]], second son of the 3rd [[Earl of March]], fought with [[Owain Glyndŵr]] and plotted with [[Henry Percy]], "Hotspur," to depose King [[Henry IV of England]] and divide the Kingdom of [[England]] and [[Wales]] in three.
==Other persons==
*[[Bob Mortimer]], English comedian
*[[Carole Mortimer]], English novelist
*[[Emily Mortimer]], English actress
*[[Favell Lee Mortimer]], cynical author of [[Reading Without Tears]] and [[Far Away (book)|Far Away]]. Despite having left [[England]] no more than 2 times, Favell scrutinizes nearly every country in the known (at that time) world. [[The Clumsiest People in Europe]] by [[Todd Pruzan]] accounts her life and writings.
*[[John Mortimer]], English barrister, dramatist and author
*[[Gary Mortimer]], English aeronaut, hot air balloon pilot
[[Category:Surnames]]
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