Dr Alastair Ayton – Friends in High Places: Roger Mortimer (d. 1282), lord of Wigmore, and the Lord Edward in the reign of Henry III
Despite the academic attention afforded certain members of his family, Roger Mortimer (d. 1282) has very rarely been (with few notable exceptions) the subject of detailed study. This is all the more surprising given Roger’s centrality in the making of his family’s fortunes; from prominent regional powerbrokers to figures of much wider territorial and political significance. This paper looks afresh at the career of Roger Mortimer, lord of Wigmore, drawing especial attention to the nature and development of his association with Lord Edward, the future Edward I, and to his rise in the estimations of the English crown. It will focus upon Roger’s royal service, whereby he fulfilled vital roles both within the Welsh March and beyond, at a time of noticeable conflict and change. Roger’s sustained good service resulted in him and other prominent Mortimers repeatedly receiving and benefitting greatly from royal patronage. These awards are reconsidered here, with particular attention given to Lord Edward’s and Henry III’s policy of land grants to the Mortimers in both England and the March, which, it will be argued, formed part of a wider royal strategy towards the region and its lords in the second half of the thirteenth century.

Dr Shaun McGuiness – ‘Betrayal in the Belfry – Bishop Anian and the demise of Llywelyn the Last.’
An intriguing entry in the Welsh ‘Chronicle of the Princes’, Brut y Tywysogion, for the year 1282, reads:
‘And then was effected the betrayal of Llywelyn in the belfry at Bangor by his own men.’
The Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, was killed on 11 December 1282, and there has been much speculation as to who might have been involved in bringing about his death.
The bishop of Bangor at the time was Anian, and he was not only a member of Llywelyn’s council, he was also the prince’s confessor. However, original letters of his now in the National Archives at Kew reveal an intense animosity towards to Llywelyn in the years and months leading up to the prince’s murder.
By analysing Anian’s extant letters and other contemporary evidence, this talk will consider if the bishop of Bangor had a role to play in the betrayal, and ultimate death, of the Prince of Wales.

Kathryn Warner – The Mysterious Fate of Edward II
Edward II’s death by red-hot poker at Berkeley Castle in 1327, a few months after Roger Mortimer of Wigmore played a vital role in his abdication, is one of the most famously lurid tales of English history. For centuries, people rarely questioned the notion that Edward died at Berkeley, but since the discovery of two remarkable letters, an alternative narrative has presented itself: that the former king escaped from captivity and ended up in an Italian hermitage. In 1329/30, it is beyond doubt that a number of influential people, including Edward’s half-brother the earl of Kent, the archbishop of York, and the bishop of London, believed that he was alive and tried to free him. This talk presents the evidence that Edward II did die in 1327 and the evidence that he did not, and reveals that the ultimate fate of this most unsuccessful of kings is far more intriguing than usually supposed.

Matt Lewis – The Mortimer Solution to the Princes in the Tower
Matt Lewis explores the lives of two young boys in the aftermath of a dynastic change that removed them from the line of succession. The boys were Edmund and Roger Mortimer, and their story began in 1399. Their fates offer a new perspective on the strikingly similar events of 1483. Can two Mortimer boys help to come closer to resolving one of history’s greatest cold cases: the Princes in the Tower?

Dr J L Laynesmith – Anne Mortimer’s Arthurian Legacy to the House of York
The House of York owed their place on the English throne to their descent through the Mortimer family to Edward III. But the Mortimers also claimed descent from much earlier ‘British’ kings. This paper will explore the complex, and sometimes problematic, role that this tradition played in political propaganda supporting Edward IV’s claim to the throne. It will focus especially on a number of beautifully illustrated manuscripts including a 14th century Mortimer family history, a genealogy inspired by the prophecy of the red dragon, and Edward IV’s ‘coronation roll’.