Katherine Mortimer | |
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Countess of Warwick | |
Tomb effigies of Katherine Mortimer and Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, St. Mary's Church, Warwick
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Spouse(s) | Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick KG |
Issue | |
Noble family | Mortimer |
Father | Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March |
Mother | Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville |
Born | 1314 Ludlow Castle, Shropshire, England |
Died | 4 August 1369 (aged 55) |
Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick (1314 – 4 August 1369) was the wife of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick KG, an English peer, and military commander during the Hundred Years War. She was a daughter and co-heiress of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville.
Sometime before 1355, she became an important figure at the royal court of King Edward III.
Katherine Mortimer was born at Ludlow Castle, Shropshire, England, in 1314, one of the twelve children and a co-heiress 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, and her maternal grandparents were Sir Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow, and Jeanne of Lusignan.
Her father was de facto ruler of England together with his mistress Isabella of France, Queen consort of King Edward II, until his eventual capture and execution by the orders of King Edward III, eldest son of Isabella and King Edward II. The latter had been deposed in November 1326, and afterwards cruelly murdered by assassins acting under the orders of Mortimer and Queen Isabella. Katherine was sixteen years old when her father was hanged, Tyburn, London on 29 November 1330.