Mother Eleanor Holland | Name Anne Mortimer | |
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Born 27 December 1390
New Forest, Westmeath, Ireland ( 1390-12-27 ) Burial Kings Langley, Hertfordshire Issue Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex
Henry of York
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York Father Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March Died September 21, 1411, Kings Langley, United Kingdom Spouse Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (m. 1406) Children Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex Parents Alianore Holland, Countess of March, Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March Siblings Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March Similar People Richard of York - 3rd Duke of Y, Richard of Conisburgh - 3rd Earl o, Edmund Mortimer - 3rd Earl o, Philippa - 5th Countess, Edmund of Langley - 1st Duke | ||
Anne de Mortimer, Countess of Cambridge (27 December 1390 – c. 22 September 1411), was the mother of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and the grandmother of King Edward IV and King Richard III.
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Early life
Anne Mortimer was born at New Forest, Westmeath, one of her family's Irish estates, on 27 December 1390, the eldest of the four children of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and Lady Eleanor Holland. She had two brothers, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, and Roger (born 23 April 1393, died c.1413), and a sister Eleanor, who married Sir Edward de Courtenay (d. 5 December 1419), but had no issue.
Anne Mortimer's mother was the daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, and Lady Alice FitzAlan, the daughter of Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel, and his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, grandson of King Henry III. Thomas Holland was the grandson and senior heir to Joan of Kent.
Anne Mortimer was not only a descendant of King Edward I and earlier English monarchs through her mother, but more importantly, a descendant of King Edward III through her grandparents, Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and Philippa of Clarence, daughter of King Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp. King Richard II, the grandson of Edward III through his eldest son, had no issue, thus Anne's father, Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, was considered Richard's heir presumptive during his lifetime, and at his death in Ireland on 20 July 1398, his claim to the crown passed to his eldest son, Edmund.
On 30 September 1399, the fortunes of Anne Mortimer and her brothers and sister changed entirely. Richard II was deposed by the House of Lancaster led by Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV and had his own son, the future King Henry V, recognised as heir apparent at his first Parliament. Anne's brothers, Edmund and Roger, were kept in custody by the new king at Windsor Castle and Berkhampstead Castle, but were treated honorably, and for part of the time brought up with the king's own children John and Philippa.
According to R. A. Griffiths, Edmund Mortimer's sisters, Anne and Eleanor, who were in the care of their mother until her death in 1405, were not well treated by Henry IV and were described as 'destitute' after her death.
Marriage and issue
In May 1406, Anne married Richard of Conisburgh, the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his first wife Isabel of Castile, the daughter and coheir of Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile and Leon. The marriage took place without parental consent and was validated on 23 May 1408 by papal dispensation.
Anne Mortimer and Richard, Earl of Cambridge, had two sons and a daughter:
Anne Mortimer died soon after the birth of her son Richard on 22 September 1411. She was buried at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, once the site of Kings Langley Palace, perhaps in the conventual church that houses the tombs of her husband's parents Edmund of Langley and Isabella of Castile.
After Anne Mortimer's death, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, married Maud Clifford, divorced wife of John Neville, 6th Baron Latimer, and daughter of Thomas de Clifford, 6th Baron de Clifford, but had no issue by her.