Astrid Essed

I did a genealogical post recently about Henry of Lancaster’s grandchildren which seemed to go down rather well, and here’s one about some of the grandchildren of Roger Mortimer, lord of Wigmore and first earl of March (25 April 1287 – 29 November 1330) and Joan Geneville (2 February 1286 – 19 October 1356).  The couple married in 1301 and had four sons and eight daughters (see Ian Mortimer’s The Greatest Traitorfor more info): Edmund (the eldest son and Roger’s heir), Roger, Geoffrey, John, Margaret (the eldest daughter), Isabella, Joan, Maud, Agnes, Katherine, Beatrice and Blanche.  Talking of the latter, here andhere are pics of Blanche’s stunning effigy in Much Marcle, Herefordshire.  Please take a moment to have a look.  Isn’t she beautiful?  Look at the way her gown is made to spill over the edge of the tomb, her hands clutching a rosary, her tight-fitting gown and head-dress in the style of the mid-fourteenth century.  Stunning.  And here is the effigy of Blanche’s sister Katherine and her husband the earl of Warwick, in Warwick.