Roger de Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (25 April 1287 – 29 November 1330), was an English nobleman and powerful Marcher lord, who had gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville. In November 1316, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1322, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for having led the Marcher lords in a revolt against King Edward II in what became known as the Despenser War. He later escaped to France, where he was joined by Edward's queen consort Isabella, whom he took as his mistress.
After he and Isabella led a successful invasion and rebellion against Edward, who was subsequently deposed, Mortimer allegedly arranged his murder at Berkeley Castle. For three years, Mortimer was de facto ruler of England before being himself overthrown by Edward's eldest son, Edward III. Accused of assuming royal power and other crimes, Mortimer was executed by hanging, drawing and quartering at Tyburn. His was the first execution to take place at the notorious gallows.

3Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville, Countess of March, Baroness Mortimer (2 February 1286 – 19 October 1356) was one of the wealthiest heiresses in the Welsh Marches and County Meath, Ireland. She was the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, lover of Isabella of France, Queen consort of King Edward II of England. She succeeded to the title of suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville on 21 October 1314 upon the death of her grandfather, Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville.[1]
She is also known as Jeanne de Joinville.


Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, the birthplace of Joan de Geneville

Family and inheritance
Joan was born on 2 February 1286 at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire.[2] She was the eldest child of Sir Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow, and Jeanne of Lusignan. She had two younger sisters, Matilda and Beatrice who both became nuns at Aconbury Priory.[3] She also had two half-sisters from her mother's first marriage to Bernard Ezi III, Lord of Albret. They were Mathe, Dame d'Albret (died 1283), and Isabelle, Dame d'Albret (died 1 December 1294), wife of Bernard VI, Count of Armagnac.
Her paternal grandparents were Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, Seigneur de Vaucouleurs, 1st Baron Geneville, Justiciar of Ireland (c.1226- 21 October 1314) and Maud de Lacy (1230- 11 April 1304), daughter of Gilbert de Lacy (c.1202- 25 December 1230) and Isabel Bigod (c.1212- 1250). Her maternal grandparents were Hugh XII of Lusignan, Seigneur de Lusignan, Couhe, et de Peyrat, Count of La Marche and of Angoulême, and Jeanne de Fougères, Dame de Fougères. Joan's eldest maternal aunt was Yolanda of Lusignan, the suo jure Countess of La Marche.
When her father died in Ireland shortly before June 1292, Joan became one of the wealthiest and most eligible heiresses in the Welsh Marches, with estates that included the town and castle of Ludlow, and much land in Shropshire,as well as a sizeable portion of County Meath in Ireland.[4]. She was due to inherit these upon the death of her grandfather, but in 1308, Baron Geneville conveyed most of his Irish estates to Joan and her husband Roger Mortimer. They both went to Ireland where they took seizen of Meath on 28 October of that same year. The baron died on 21 October 1314 at the House of the Friars Preachers at Trim, and Joan subsequently succeeded him, becoming the suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville.