From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Roger Mortimer (1374-1398), 4th Earl of March and 2nd Earl of Ulster, was the son of the 3rd earl, and was descended through his mother from King Edward III, and for this reason was named by the childless King Richard II of England as his heir. He held enormous estates in Wales, but was killed at the Battle of Kells. He was the father of Anne Mortimer and Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
He succeeded to the titles and estates of his family when a child of seven, and a month afterwards he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, his uncle Sir Thomas Mortimer acting as his deputy. Being a ward of the Crown, his guardian was the earl of Kent, half-brother to Richard II; and in 1388 he married Kent’s daughter, Eleanor. The importance which he owed to his hereditary influence and possessions, and especially to his descent from Edward III, was immensely increased when Richard II publicly acknowledged him as heir presumptive to the crown in 1385. In 1394 he accompanied Richard to Ireland, but notwithstanding a commission from the king as lieutenant of the districts over which he exercised nominal authority by hereditary right, he made little headway against the native Irish chieftains. March enjoyed great popularity in England though he took no active part in opposing the despotic measures of the king; in Ireland he illegally assumed the native Irish costume. In August 1398 he was killed in fight with an Irish clan, and was buried in Wigmore Abbey.
{| border="2" align="center"
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
Edmund Mortimer
|width="40%" align="center"|Earl of March
|width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Edmund Mortimer
|}

