Anne de Mortimer (27 December 1390 – c. 21 September 1411) was an English noblewoman in line of succession for the throne of England. She was the mother of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and through him she was the grandmother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III

Birth and lineage

Lady Anne was born on 27 December 1390 in New Forest, Westmeath, Ireland, the daughter of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1373-1398) and Lady Alianore Holland. She had two younger brothers, Edmund and Roger.Her paternal grandparents were Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and Philippa Plantagenet. Her maternal grandparents were Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Lady Alice Fitzalan. Alice was a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Her paternal grandmother Philippa was the daughter of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence and Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster.

Claim to the throne

Anne's paternal great-grandfather Lionel of Antwerp was the second (surviving) son of Edward III of Windsor, King of England which placed Anne in line of succession for the throne of England. It was through her that her son Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and the House of York claimed the throne.

*Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (1338–1368) [Second son of Edward III of Windsor, King of England (1312-1377)]

:*Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster (1355–1382)

::*Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1374–1398)

:::*Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (1391–1425)

:::*Roger Mortimer (died young c. 1409)

:::*Anne Mortimer (1390–1411)

::::*Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (1411–1460)

Marriage and issue

In May 1406, she married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, who was also descended from Edward III through a younger son Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York.

They had two children:

• Isabel Plantagenet (1409 - 2 October 1484), married Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, by whom she had eleven children.
• Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), married in 1429 Cecily Neville, by whom he had thirteen children.

Death in childbirth

It is believed that Anne died giving birth to her son Richard on 21 September 1411 or shortly after. She was buried in Kings Langley Church, Hertfordshire.

The Southampton Plot

In 1415 Anne's husband Cambridge plotted with Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham to depose Henry V, Anne's cousin and the reigning king of England, and place her brother, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March on the throne. (The Earl of March had been the heir presumptive of Richard II. In 1399 Richard was forced to abdicate in favour of Henry IV, and for the next few decades Mortimer served as a focal point for conspiracies aimed at removing Henry IV and his heirs from the throne). The plot failed and Cambridge was duly executed in August 1415. His then four-year old son, Richard Plantagenet, ultimately championed his father's cause, which evolved into the Wars of the Roses and the Yorkist claimants achieving the throne.

The Earl of March was not involved in the Southampton Plot which, despite its failure, successfully promoted the claim of Anne's descendants, especially the Yorkists, to the throne of England.

Ancestry

References

1. Leo van de Pas www.Worldroots.com
2. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, ENGLAND, KINGS (1066-1603)