Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/128

 He was born at Ludlow on Monday, 9 Nov. 1376. Portents attended his birth. At the very moment he came into the world it was believed that the horses in his father's stables were found standing up to their knees in blood (, p. 179 ; Ann. Hen. IV, apud, p. 349). These stories are very generally but erroneously transferred to Owen Glendower [q. v.] His baptism was put off on the expectation of the arrival of John Swaff ham, bishop of Bangor, who had been asked to be his godfather, but took place on 18 Nov., despite the bishop's absence, the Abbots of Evesham and Wigmore and the Lady Audley acting as his sponsors. Next day, however, the bishop arrived and administered to him the rite of confirmation (Monasticon, vi. 354). His father died when he was only five years old, but left him well provided for, bequeathing him land of the yearly value of three hundred marks (NICHOLS, Royal Wills, p. 113). On the death of his eldest brother, Roger Mortimer VI, fourth earl of March [q. v.], on 15 Aug. 1398, Edmund became, by reason of the minority of his nephew, Edmund Mortimer IV [q. v.], the most prominent representative of the family interests in the Welsh marches. When Henry of Lancaster passed through the marches on his way to his final triumph over Richard II, in North Wales, Mortimer at once adhered to his rising fortunes, and on 2 Aug. 1399 went with the Bishop of Hereford to make his submission to Henry at Hereford (, p. 153). This may account for his not being involved in the suspicions which Richard II's patronage of the Mortimer claims to the succession might reasonably have excited. He resided on his estates, and when the revolt of Owen Glendower [q. v.] broke out was closely associated with his brother-in-law, Henry Percy [q. v.], the famous Hotspur, in the measures taken for putting down the Welsh rebel. At last, in June 1402, Glendower made a vigorous attack on Melenydd, a Welsh marchland district, including much of the modern Radnorshire, an ancient possession of the house of Mortimer. He took up a position on a hill called Brynglas, between Pilleth and Knighton, not very far from Ludlow ('juxta Pylale', p. 178; 'Knighton' , p. 75 ; Monasticon, vi. 354). Edmund Mortimer was at the time at 'his own town' of Ludlow, and at once raised the men of Herefordshire and marched against Glendower (, Baronage, i. 151, here confuses Edmund with his nephew the Earl of March). His Welsh tenants of Melenydd obeyed his summons and joined his forces. On 22 June Mortimer attacked Glendower on his hill. He gallantly climbed up the mountainside, but his Welsh followers, no doubt from sympathy with Glendower, ran away after a poor show of resistance, while some of the Welsh archers actually turned their weapons against Mortimer and his faithful adherents (Ann. Hen. IV, p. 341). The English fought better, but after losing largely, two hundred men (, pp. 178, 1100 ; Ann. Hen. IV, p. 341), the victory declared against them, and Edmund, with many others, fell into the hands of Owen. This disaster was looked upon as fulfilling the grim portent that had attended his birth.

Owen took his captive to the 'mountains and caves of Snowdon,' but he treated him not only kindly but considerately, hoping to get political profit from his prisoner, and professing to regard him as a possible future king of England. But his powerful kinsfolk, foremost among whom were the Percies, busied themselves about procuring his ransom. But sinister rumours were abroad that Mortimer had himself sought the captivity into which he had fallen (Ann. Hen. IV, p. 341), and Henry now forbade 'the Percies to seek for their kinsman's liberation (Cont. Eulog. Hist. iii. 396 ;, i pp. 360-1, ed. 1812). On 19 Oct. the king took the decisive step of seizing Mortimer's plate and jewels and taking them to the treasury (, Issues of the Exchequer, p. 295). Mortimer's fidelity, already perhaps wavering, was altogether shaken by the king's : vigorous action. The weariness of captivity, or fear of death, or some more recondite and unknown cause {Ann. Hen. IV. p. 349), now led him to make common cause with his captor. About 30 Nov. (, p. 182) he married Glendower's daughter, with great pomp and solemnity (ib. p. 182 ; Ann. Hen. IV, p. 349: ' Nuptias satis humiles et suss generositati impares,' cf. , p. 75). Early in December Mortimer was back in Melenydd as the ally of Owen, and on 13 Dec. he issued a circular to 'all the gentles and commons of Radnor and Presteign,' in which he declared that he had joined Owen in his efforts either to restore the crown to King Richard, should the king prove to be still alive, or should Richard be dead, to confer the throne on his honoured nephew (the Earl of March), 'who is the right heir to the said Crown' (, Original Letters, 2nd ser. i. 24-6). Most of the Mortimer lands in Wales, Melenydd, Gwrthrenion, Rhaiadr, Cwmteuddwr, Arwystli, Cyveiliog, and Caereineon were already in his hands.

The revolt of the Percies rapidly followed these transactions, but not even the defeat at