Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          1224 Bramber Castle, Breconshire, Wales
Death:          BEF 23 Mar 1301 

Notes
many sites and the IGI conflate her with wife of de Beauchamp who lived 100 years 
earlier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_de_Braose,_Baroness_Mortimer
Maud de Braose, Baroness Mortimer (1224 – shortly before 23 March 1301)[1] was a 
noble heiress, and one of the most important,[2] being a member of the powerful de 
Braose family which held many lordships and domains in the Welsh Marches. She was 
the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer, a celebrated soldier and Marcher 
baron.

A staunch Royalist during the Second Barons' War, she devised the plan to rescue 
Prince Edward (the future King Edward I of England) from the custody of Simon de 
Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester.[3]

She is sometimes referred to as Matilda de Braose.
Family[edit]

Maud was born in Wales in 1224, the second eldest daughter and co-heiress of 
Marcher lord William de Braose and Eva Marshal. She was also a co-heiress to a 
portion of the Brewer estates, through her paternal grandmother Gracia, daughter of 
the prominent Angevin curialis William Brewer.

Maud had three sisters, Isabella, wife of Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn; Eva, wife of 
William de Cantilupe; and Eleanor, wife of Humphrey de Bohun.

Her paternal grandparents were Reginald de Braose and Grecia de Briwere, and her 
maternal grandparents were William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Isabel de 
Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Strongbow and Aoife of Leinster.

On 2 May 1230, when Maud was just six years old, her father was hanged by orders of 
Llewelyn the Great, Prince of Wales for alleged adultery with the latter's wife, Joan, 
Lady of Wales.

Marriage and inheritance[edit]

In 1247[4] Maud married Roger Mortimer of Wigmore. An old manuscript (written in 
Latin) describing the foundation of Wigmore Abbey recorded that Rog 
(secundus)...Radulphi et Gwladusae filius wed Matildem de Brewys, filiam domini 
Willielmi de Brewys domini de Breghnoc.[5] As the eldest son of Ralph de Mortimer 
and his Welsh wife, Princess Gwladys Ddu, Roger was himself a scion of another 
important Marcher family, and had succeeded his father in 1246, upon the latter's 
death. He was created 1st Baron Mortimer (of Wigmore) on an unknown date. Maud 
was seven years his senior, and they had been betrothed since childhood. He was the 
grandson of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, the man who had ordered the execution of her 
father.

Maud's inheritance was one quarter of one third of the barony of Miles of Gloucester 
and the lordship of Radnor, Wales.[6] On the occasion of their marriage, the honour of 
Radnor passed from the de Braose to the Mortimer family,[7] and her marriage portion 
was some land at Tetbury which she inherited from her grandfather, Reginald de 
Braose.[8] She also had inherited the Manor of Charlton sometime before her 
marriage,[9] as well as four knight's fees in Ireland, which passed to Roger. Roger and 
Maud's principal residence was the Mortimers' family seat, Wigmore Castle in 
Herefordshire.

Issue[edit]

Roger and Maud together had at least six children:[10]
Ralph Mortimer (died 10 August 1274), Sheriff of Shropshire and Staffordshire (1273).
Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer (1251 – 17 July 1304), married Margaret de 
Fiennes, daughter of William II de Fiennes and Blanche de Brienne, by whom he had 
issue, including Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.
Margaret Mortimer (died September 1297), married Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, 
by whom she had one son.
Isabella Mortimer (died after 1300), married firstly, John Fitzalan, baron of Clun and 
Oswestry and de jure earl of Arundel, by whom she had issue;[10] she married 
secondly, Robert de Hastang.[4] She did not, as is incorrectly stated in Complete 
Peerage, marry Ralph d'Arderne.
Roger Mortimer de Chirk (died 3 August 1326 Tower of London), married Lucy de 
Wafre, by whom he had one son. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for having 
participated in the Marcher rebellion (known as the Despenser War) in 1321–1322, 
along with his nephew, Roger, who led the revolt.
William Mortimer (died before June 1297), married as her first husband, Hawise de 
Muscegros, daughter and heir of Robert de Muscegros.

The Second Barons' War[edit]

Rescue of Prince Edward[edit]

Maud was described as beautiful and nimble-witted.[11] She, like all medieval women, 
was expected to govern her husband's estates, manage his business affairs, arbitrate 
in tenants' disputes, and defend the family property during the times he was absent. 
These tasks Maud performed with great skill and efficiency.[12]

During the Second Barons' War, she also proved to be a staunch Royalist and was 
instrumental in rallying the other Marcher lords to the side of King Henry III. It was 
Maud herself who devised a plan for the escape of Prince Edward after he had been 
taken hostage by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester following the Battle of 
Lewes.[3] On 28 May 1265, when the Prince was held in custody at Hereford Castle, 
Maud sent a party of horsemen to carry him away to Wigmore Castle while he was out 
in the open fields, some distance from the castle, taking exercise by racing horses 
with his unsuspecting guardians as she had instructed him to do in the messages she 
had smuggled to him previously. At a signal from one of the horsemen, Edward 
galloped off to join the party of his liberators, and they escorted him to Wigmore 
Castle, twenty miles away, where Maud was waiting. She supplied the Prince with food 
and drink before sending him on to Ludlow Castle where he met up with the Earl of 
Gloucester who had defected to the side of the King.[3]

Simon de Montfort[edit]

At the Battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265, Maud's husband Roger fought on the side 
of Prince Edward, and personally killed Simon de Montfort. As a reward, Roger was 
given de Montfort's severed head and other parts of his anatomy, including his 
genitals. Roger sent these gruesome trophies home to Wigmore Castle as a gift to 
Maud.[13] The noted medieval historian Robert of Gloucester confirmed this by 
recording, To dam Maud the Mortimer that wel foule it ssende.[14] She held a great 
feast that very night to celebrate the victory, and de Montfort's head was elevated in 
the Great Hall, still attached to the point of the lance.[15]

Legacy[edit]

In 1300, Maud is recorded as having presented to a vacant benefice in the Stoke 
Bliss parish church in Herefordshire, its advowson having originally belonged to the 
Mortimers, but was bequeathed to Limebrook Priory by Roger.[16] Maud died on an 
unknown date shortly before 23 March 1301, and she was buried in Wigmore Abbey. 
Her husband Roger had died on 30 October 1282.

All the monarchs of England from 1413, as well as Mary, Queen of Scots, were directly 
descended from Maud, as is the current British Royal Family. Queen consorts Anne 
Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr were also notable 
descendants of Maud de Braose through the latter's daughter Isabella, Countess of 
Arundel. Queen consorts Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr also descended from 
Maud's son, Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer.

Maud de Braose was described by author Linda E. Mitchell as the "perfect example of 
a woman who obviated the restrictions her sex placed upon her and succeeded in 
placing herself squarely at the centre of the political milieu in the areas under her 
domestic control".[12] Mitchell goes on to eulogise her as "one of the great architects 
of the late medieval March", which were the words used by Welsh historian R. R. 
Davies to sum up Maud's husband.[2]

Parents
DE BRAOSE William (ABT 1197 - 2 May 1230)
MARSHALL Eve (1203 - 1246)

Siblings
DE BRAOSE Eva (ABT 1220 - BEF 28 Jul 1255)
DE BRAOSE Maud (1224 - BEF 23 Mar 1301)
DE BRAOSE Eleanor (ABT 1228 - 1251)

Marriage To DE MORTIMER Roger (1231 - 30 Oct 1282)
    m. 1247 

Notes

Parents
DE MORTIMER Ralph (1190 - 6 Aug 1246)
VERCH LLEWELYN Gwladys "Ddu" (ABT 1205 - 1251)

Children by DE MORTIMER Roger 1231 - 30 Oct 1282
DE MORTIMER Isabella (ABT 1248 - BEF 1 Apr 1292)
DE MORTIMER Margaret (ABT 1250 - ABT 1296)
DE MORTIMER Edmund (1251 - 17 Jul 1304)
DE MORTIMER Isolde (Iseude) (Iswolde) (ABT 1260 - AFT 1335)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017