One thought on “View of Ludlow from the Mortimer Trail”

1. I suppose that the Mortimer Trail is named after Roger Mortimer. He had been thrown into the Tower of London after surrendering to King Edward II at Shrewsbury during a rebellion against the king. He was able to escape from the Tower and went to France. The king’s wife was Isabelle, the daughter of King Philip IV of France, who had managed to return to France to see her brother, King Charles IV. She became Mortimer’s lover and they raised an army against Edward with the intention of putting Isabelle’s young son, Edward, on the English throne.
   It was rather hypocritical of Isabelle to have taken a lover after she had denounced the wives of her brothers for doing the same thing. The wives were imprisoned, and while there, Marguerite, who would have been the queen of Louis X, was murdered. The story of Philip IV and his family was told in the French television series, ‘The Accursed Kings’. The title came from the curse put on the family by the Grand Master of the Knights Templar while he was being burnt at the stake by Philip IV. Coincidentally, the men that he had cursed, Pope Clement V, King Philip IV and his first Minister, de Marigny, had died not long after the Templar. Philip’s sons, Louis, Philip and Charles, each in turn became king but died soon after. This meant that the Capetian dynasty had finished.
   Philip’s daughter, Isabelle, whose son, Edward in later years would claim the French throne because of his mother’s relationship to Philip IV. However, the throne went to his cousin, Philip of Valois, who became King Philip VI and established the Valois dynasty. Edward’s attemts to gain the French throne would lead to the Hundred Years War between England and France.
   The army gathered by Mortimer and Isabelle in Flanders enabled them to return to England and defeat her husband, King Edward. He was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, who because he was still a boy, required a regent, and that position was filled by Isabelle. Her lover, Mortimer, was then the most powerful man in England and acquired more land and titles, including that of Earl of March. It is thought that Mortimer had Edward II murdered while he was confined in Berkeley Castle. When young Edward, now King Edward III came of age, he led a coup against Mortimer who was arrested and hanged because he was said to have assumed royal power.

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