Ralph de Mortimer

  General Notes:

~Weis' Ancestral Roots . . ., 8th Edition 136:24, Ralph de Mortimer, living 1104, lord of Wigmore, Herefordshire, Seigneur of St. Victor-en-Caux in Normandy, by his first wife, Millicent, daughter Hawise de Mortimer who married Stephen, count of Aumale. ¹⁶⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Dates & Events. ⁴⁸⁹
His paternity is proved by his son's charter to Saint-Victor-en-Caux 35, and his mother known from their joint grant to Amiens abbey 30. He succeeded his father as Lord of Wigmore, and of other land in Herefordshire and Shropshire.

He married first Melisende (-before 30 Mar 1088). She is named as Ralph's deceased wife in the (1100) charter of his son-in-law Etienne Comte d'Aumâle. He married second (before 30 Mar 1088) Mabel. She is named as Ralph's wife in her attestation of a charter for the abbey of Jumièges 30 Mar 1088 for Ralph FitzAnsered, also attested by her husband.

• Background Information. ⁸⁷⁵
Ralph de Mortemer, to whom William the Conqueror gave the manor of Clebury, was son of Roger de Mortemer of Castle Mortemer in Pays de Caux. Roger was a cousin in the second degree of affinity to Robert of Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror. Ralph's brother was Hue who was present at the battle of Hastings.

Ralph was a Domesday baron. He succeeded to his father's estates in Normandy, and upon the forfeiture of Earl Roger de Britolio, he acquired an extensive fief in Shropshire and Herefordshire, which he held in capite of the king. Ralph was related to Earl Roger de Montgomery in much the same way as he was to the king. All three descended from Gunnora,* wife of Richard I, count of the Normans, and her two sisters. Mortemer held the office of seneschal to the Norman earls, yet he shared neither in the rebellion nor the subsequent forfeiture of Roger de Bellême.
* More likely, they descended from a sister of Gunnora, the mistress of Richard I

~Shropshire: Its Early History and Antiquity, pp. 277-278

Ralph married Mabel or Melisende. (Mabel or Melisende was born about 1065.)⁴⁸⁹