| Lady Elizabeth Mortimer | |
|---|---|
| Lady Percy Baroness Camoys |
|
| A romanticised painting of Elizabeth Mortimer and her first husband, Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy | |
| Spouse(s) | Sir Henry Hotspur Percy Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys |
| Issue | |
| Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland Lady Elizabeth Percy Matilda Percy Roger Camoys Alice Camoys |
|
| Noble family | Mortimer Plantagenet |
| Father | Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March |
| Mother | Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster |
| Born | 12 February 1371 Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales |
| Died | 20 April 1417 Trotton, Sussex |
Elizabeth Mortimer, Baroness Camoys (12 February 1371[1] – 20 April 1417)[2] was an English noblewoman, who, as the granddaughter of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, was in the line of succession to the English throne. Her first husband was Sir Henry Percy, known to history as "Hotspur". She married secondly Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys.
She is represented as Kate, Lady Percy in William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 and briefly again as "Widow Percy" in Henry IV, Part 2.
Contents |
Lady Elizabeth was born in Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales the eldest daughter and child of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster.[3] Her mother Philippa was the only child of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster. Lionel was the second eldest son of King Edward III of England, therefore Lady Elizabeth, through her mother, was in the second senior line of succession to the English throne. Her younger brother, Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March was in point of fact, King Richard II's heir presumptive.
Besides Roger, she had two other brothers, Sir Edmund Mortimer and John; she had also one younger sister, Philippa, who married firstly John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, secondly, Sir Thomas Poynings, and thirdly as his second wife, Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel.
On an unknown date, sometime before 10 December 1379, when she was still a child, she married her first husband, Henry Percy, eldest son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. He was about five or seven years her senior, and would later acquire the reputation as a great soldier and warrior, known to history by the nickname of "Hotspur". Together the couple resided at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, and they had three children:
On 21 July 1403, her husband was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury, while commanding the rebel army which fought against the royalist forces of King Henry IV. He was buried in Whitchurch, Shropshire; however when rumours circulated throughout the kingdom that he was still alive, King Henry ordered that his body be exhumed. This done, the King dispatched Percy's head to York where it was impaled on the city's gate; his four quarters were first sent to London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol, and Chester before they were finally delivered to Elizabeth.[4] She had him buried in York Minster in November of that same year. In January 1404, her husband was posthumously declared a traitor and his lands were forfeited to the Crown.[5]
Sometime after 1403, she married her second husband Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys, by whom she had two additional children:
Upon her marriage to Camoys, Elizabeth was styled Baroness Camoys. Like her first husband, Baron Camoys was a renowned soldier who commanded the left wing of the English Army at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415.
Lady Elizabeth is represented as Kate, Lady Percy in William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1.
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; and their table-tomb with its fine monumental brass depicting the couple holding hands, can be viewed in the middle of the chancel inside the church.
Through her eldest daughter, Elizabeth Percy, Queen consort Jane Seymour was among her many descendants.