court to Flanders, where they obtained assistance for an invasion of
England. Landing in England in September 1326, they were joined by
Henry, earl of Lancaster; London rose in support of the queen; and
Edward took flight to the west, whither he was pursued by Mortimer and
Isabella. After wandering helplessly for some weeks in Wales, the king
was taken on the 16th of November, and was compelled to abdicate in
favour of his son. But though the latter was crowned as Edward III. in
January 1327, the country was ruled by Mortimer and Isabella, who
procured the murder of Edward II. in the following September. Rich
estates and offices of profit and power were now heaped on Mortimer, and
in September 1328 he was created earl of March. Greedy and grasping, he
was no more competent than the Despensers to conduct the government of
the country. The jealousy and anger of Lancaster having been excited by
March's arrogance, Lancaster prevailed upon the young king, Edward III.,
to throw off the yoke of his mother's paramour. At a parliament held at
Nottingham in October 1330 a plot was successfully carried out by which
March was arrested in the castle, and, in spite of Isabella's entreaty
to her son to "have pity on the gentle Mortimer," was conveyed to the
Tower. Accused of assuming royal power and of various other high
misdemeanours, he was condemned without trial and hanged at Tyburn on
the 29th of November 1330, his vast estates being forfeited to the
crown. March's wife, by whom he had four sons and eleven daughters,
survived till 1356. The daughters all married into powerful families,
chiefly of Marcher houses. His eldest son, Edmund, was father of Roger
Mortimer (c. 1328-1360), who was knighted by Edward III. in 1346, and
restored to his grandfather's title as 2nd earl of March.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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