10 HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF 



her late husband, built a religious house at Lechlade, and bestowed 

 on it lands, for the good of his soul. 



Hugh de Mortimer, on the accession of Henry IH., adhered to that 

 monarch, as afterwards did his brother Ralph, during his short survi- 

 vorship. This Ralph espoused Gwladys,* the daughter of Llewelyn 

 ab lerwerth. Prince of Wales, and Isabella his wife, daughter of 

 King John, married in 1203. By her he had four sons — Roger, 

 fifth Lord of Wigmore, called, by the Welsh, Roger cwta, i. e 

 short Roger ; Peter ; John, who became a friar, at Coventry, of 

 the order of Friars minor ; and Hugh, Lord of Chalmarsh, near 

 Wigmore. 



Dugdale observest — " In the seventeenth of Henry III. the king 

 requiring hostages of the barons marchers for their fidelity (the 

 times being then troublesome), this Ralph delivered unto him 

 Henry, the son and heir of Brian de Brampton, who was, therefore, 

 committed to the custody of William de Stutevil." 



Roger was born in the year 1231, and, as Dugdale observes, was 

 firmly attached to Henry III., in opposition to his rebellious barons, 

 being a great instrument in their subjection and establishing him 

 upon the throne. It was, probably, he who raised the exterior 

 vrall, or, at any rate, made some of the additions to the castle of 

 Wigmore ; for having rescued Prince Edward from his imprison^ 

 ment in Hereford castle, to which he had been consigned by Simon 

 de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, commander-in-chief of the barons, 

 after his surrender at the battle of Lewes in 1264, he was conveyed 

 for safety to that fortress. The plan of his escape was well con- 

 trived. It is said that the prince was desired to request the indul- 

 gence of horse-exercise, and that, on one occasion, outstripping his 

 attendants, he was met by one of the Croft family, from Croft cas- 

 tle, near Wigmore, who held a fresh horse, by previous arrange- 

 ment, which, Edward mounting, galloped off to the strong-hold of 

 Roger Mortimer. The prince's gratitude was evinced after his 

 accession, as, by a statute passed in the 18th year of his reign, he 

 granted, to Wigmore lordship, privileges which almost amounted to 

 jura regalia, the power of life and death being included ; and tra- 

 dition asserts that to the arms of the Croft family he added one of 

 the lions of England, in commemoration of the event, which is still 

 borne by the descendants. 



• This young lady could not have been above twelve years old when 

 Henry III. succeeded to the throne, and twenty-six at her marriage. 

 •f- BarotUj voL i., p. 140, c 2. 



