Elizabeth Mortimer

Elizabeth Mortimer, Lady Percy and Baroness Camoys (12 February 1371 – 20 April 1417), was a medieval English noblewoman, the granddaughter of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, and great-granddaughter of King Edward III. Her first husband was Sir Henry Percy, known to history as 'Hotspur'. She married secondly Thomas Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys. She is represented as 'Kate, Lady Percy,' in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, and briefly again as 'Widow Percy' in Henry IV, Part 2.

Elizabeth Mortimer
Lady Percy Baroness Camoys
The tomb at St. George's Church, Trotton of Elizabeth and her husband, Thomas de Camoys
Born	12 February 1371 Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales
Died	20 April 1417 Trotton, Sussex, England
Noble family	Mortimer
Spouse(s)	Henry 'Hotspur' Percy Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys
Issue Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland Elizabeth Percy, Countess of Westmorland Sir Roger Camoys
Father	Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March
Mother	Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster

Family, marriages, and issue

Elizabeth Mortimer was born at Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales, on 12 or 13 February 1371, the eldest daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and his wife, Philippa, the only child of Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster. Elizabeth Mortimer had two brothers, Sir Roger (1374–1398) and Sir Edmund (1376–1409), and a younger sister, Philippa (1375–1401), who married firstly John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (d.1389), secondly Richard de Arundel, 11th Earl of Arundel (1346–1397), and thirdly, Sir Thomas Poynings.[1]

A romanticised painting of Elizabeth Mortimer and her first husband Henry "Hotspur" Percy

It is unknown when Elizabeth was married to her first husband, Henry Percy, nicknamed 'Hotspur' (1364–1403), eldest son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, who was already acquiring a reputation as a great soldier and warrior and responsible administrator in the early 1390s, when they were first together. They had two children:

• Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (3 February 1393 – 22 May 1455), who married Eleanor Neville, by whom he had issue. He was slain at the First Battle of St Albans.[2]
• Lady Elizabeth Percy (c.1395-26 October 1436), who married firstly John Clifford, 7th Baron de Clifford, slain at the Siege of Meaux on 13 March 1422, by whom she had issue, and secondly Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland (d. 3 November 1484), by whom she had a son, Sir John Neville.[3]

On 21 July 1403, Elizabeth's husband was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury[4] while commanding a rebel army that fought against the superior forces of King Henry IV. He was buried in Whitchurch, Shropshire; however, when rumours circulated that he was still alive, 'Henry IV had the corpse exhumed and displayed it, propped upright between two millstones, in the market place at Shrewsbury'.[5] This done, the king dispatched Percy's head to York, where it was impaled on one of the city's gates; his four-quarters were first sent to London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol, and Chester before they were finally delivered to Elizabeth. She had him buried in York Minster in November of that year.[6] In January 1404, Percy was posthumously declared a traitor and his lands were forfeited to the Crown. The king ordered Elizabeth herself arrested on 8 October 1403.[4]

Sometime after 3 June 1406, Elizabeth Mortimer was married to her second husband, Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys. Although Camoys was in his mid-sixties, she may have had a son by him, Sir Roger Camoys.[7] Like her first husband, Camoys was a renowned soldier who commanded the left wing of the English army at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415.[8]

Death

Elizabeth died on 20 April 1417 at the age of 46 years. She was buried in St. George's Church at Trotton, Sussex. Her second husband was buried beside her.[9] Their table-tomb with its fine monumental brass depicting the couple slightly less than life size and holding hands can be viewed in the middle of the chancel inside the church.

King Henry VIII's Queen consort Jane Seymour was one of Elizabeth Mortimer's many descendants through her daughter Elizabeth Percy.

In fiction

Lady Elizabeth is represented as Kate, Lady Percy, in William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV, Part 1[10] and Henry IV, Part 2. She is also the main character in Anne O’Brien’s novel Queen of the North published in 2018.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Elizabeth Mortimer

16. Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March 8. Sir Edmund Mortimer 17. Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville 4. Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March 18. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere 9. Elizabeth de Badlesmere 19. Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere 2. Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March [1] 20. William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu 10. William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury 21. Elizabeth de Montfort 5. Philippa Montagu 22. William de Grandison, 1st Baron Grandison 11. Catherine Grandison 23. Sibilla Tregoz 1. Lady Elizabeth Mortimer 24. Edward II of England 12. Edward III of England 25. Isabella of France 6. Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence [1] 26. William I, Count of Hainaut 13. Philippa of Hainault 27. Joan of Valois 3. Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster [1] 28. John de Burgh 14. William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster 29. Elizabeth de Clare 7. Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster [1] 30. Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster 15. Maud of Lancaster 31. Maud Chaworth

Notes

1. Cokayne 1932, p. 448; Richardson II 2011, pp. 190–1; Richardson III 2011, pp. 193–5, 307, 335, 341; Holmes 2004; Tout 2004.
2. Richardson III 2011, pp. 343–4.
3. Richardson I 2011, p. 507; Richardson III 2011, p. 250.
4. Richardson III 2011, p. 341.
5. Walker 2004.
6. Cokayne 1936, p. 714.
7. Cokayne 1912, p. 508; Richardson I 2011, pp. 398–9.
8. Leland 2004.
9. Richardson III 2011, p. 342.
10. "Lady Kate Percy character analysis". Shmoop.

References

• Cokayne, George Edward (1912). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. II. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 506–10.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1932). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. VIII. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 445–53.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1936). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. IX. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 713–14.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Davies, R.R. (2004). "Mortimer, Roger (VII), fourth earl of March and sixth earl of Ulster (1374–1398)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19356. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Holmes, George (2004). "Mortimer, Edmund (III), third earl of March and earl of Ulster (1352–1381)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19342. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Leland, John L. (2004). "Camoys, Thomas, Baron Camoys (c.1350-1420/21)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4461. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 1449966373.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 1449966381.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 144996639X.
• Tout, T.F., rev. R.R. Davies (2004). "Mortimer, Sir Edmund (IV) (1376-1408/9)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19343. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Walker, Simon (2004). "Percy, Sir Henry (1364–1403)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21931. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands, Earls of March