Margaret Mortimer, Baroness Berkeley

Margaret Mortimer was the eldest of the twelve children of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville. Her paternal grandparents were Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer and Margaret de Fiennes. Her maternal grandparents were Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow, and Jeanne of Lusignan.

Her father Roger proposed the marriage of his eldest daughter Margaret to Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley's son and heir Thomas. From Roger's point of view, the marriage was meant to secure an earlier alliance with an important lord of the Welsh Marshes.{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=95}} Margaret was duly married to Thomas de Berkeley (d. 1361) in May 1319.{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=320}} He succeeded his father as 3rd Baron Berkeley in 1326.{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=95}} The couple had three sons and one daughter who survived childhood.{{cite book|title=A Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Berkeley Castle|publisher=Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society|volume=17|first=Bridget|last=Wells-Furby|date=2004|page=lv}} Their eldest son Maurice married Elizabeth le Despenser, despite the fact that it had been his grandfather Roger Mortimer that was largely responsible for the execution of Elizabeth's father Hugh le Despenser in 1326.

After her father's fall from power in 1322, Margaret was arrested.{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=320}} In 1324, she was sent to Shouldham Priory. Her marriage to Berkeley was confirmed, and her offspring declared legitimate by Pope John XXII in 1329.{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=320}}

Margaret died on 5 May 1337. She was buried at St. Augustine's Abbey, Bristol, Gloucestershire.{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=320}} After her death, her husband married again to Catherine born Clivedon.{{cite book|title=Lives of the Berkeleys|first=John|last=Smyth|volume=1|date=1883|page=346}}

{{ahnentafel

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| 1 = Margaret Mortimer

| 2 = Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 3 = Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 4 = Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Wigmore{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 5 = Margaret de Fiennes{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 6 = Peter de Geneville{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=339}}

| 7 = Joan of Lusignan{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=341}}

| 8 = Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 9 = Maud de Braose{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 10= William de Fiennes{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=340}}

| 11= Blanche de Brienne{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=340}}

| 12= Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=341}}

| 13= Maud de Lacy{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=341}}

| 14= Hugh XIII, Count of La Marche{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=339}}

| 15= Jeanne de Fougères

| 16= Ralph de Mortimer{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 17= Gladys the Dark{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=338}}

| 18= William de Braose{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=339}}

| 19= Eva Marshal{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=339}}

| 20= Infelram de Fiennes{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=340}}

| 21= Isabelle Conde{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=340}}

| 22= Jean de Brienne, Grand Butler of France

| 23= Jeanne, Dame de Chateaudun

| 24= Simon of Joinville

| 25= Beatrix of Auxonne

| 26= Gilbert de Lacy, of Ewyas Lacy{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=341}}

| 27= Isabel Bigod{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=341}}

| 28= Hugh XI of Lusignan, Count of La Marche{{sfn|Mortimer|2003|p=339}}

| 29= Yolande de Dreux, Countess of Penthièvre and of Porhoet

| 30= Raoul III, Sire de Fougères

| 31= Isabelle de Craon

}}

{{reflist|30em}}

;Works cited

• {{cite book |first=Ian |last=Mortimer |authorlink=Ian Mortimer (historian) |title=The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England 1327–1330 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |year=2003 |isbn=0-312-34941-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatesttraitorl00mort }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, Margaret Mortimer, Baroness}}

Category:1304 births

Category:1337 deaths

Category:Daughters of British earls

Margaret

Margaret

Berkeley

Category:14th-century English nobility

Category:14th-century English women