of Ireland, constable of the town and castle of Athlone, and constable of the castles of Roscommon and Rawdon (Doyle, ii. 466). He instituted a searching examination as to who had abetted Edward Bruce, and rewarded those who had remained faithful to the English crown by grants of confiscated estates. But English politics now demanded Mortimer's full attention. In 1321 he lost his position in Ireland altogether, and his successor's displacement of the officials he had appointed, on the ground of their incompetence, suggests that his removal involved a change in the policy of the Irish government corresponding to the changes which were brought about in England at the same time.
The circumstances of Wales and Ireland were during this period very similar, and Mortimer was able to apply the experience gained in Ireland to the government of his possessions in Wales and its marches. His uncle, Roger Mortimer of Chirk (with whom he is often confused), was justice of Wales, and he seems to have helped his uncle to establish the independent position of the house of Mortimer on a solid and satisfactory basis. The result was that uncle and nephew ruled North Wales almost as independent princes, though the younger Roger had no official position therein apart from his constableship of the king's castle of Builth, conferred in 1310 (ib.), and not held by him later than 1315 (Cal. Close Rolls, 1313-18, p. 153). But in 1312 the younger Mortimer took a decisive part in protectingthe marcher lord, John Charlton of Powys [q. v.], who was besieged with his Welsh wife Hawyse in Pool Castle by her uncle GruiFydd, and after a good deal of fighting secured Charlton's position as lord of Powys, though for many years Gruffydd continued to assail it. This alliance with one of the strongest neighbours of the Mortimers was further strengthened by the marriage of John, the son of Charlton, with Matilda, daughter of the lord of Wigmore. It was part of a general scheme of binding together the lords marchers in a solid confederacy and with a common policy, such as had In earlier crises of English history, and notably during the barons' wars, made those turbulent chieftains a real power in English politics. The full effect of Mortimer's family connections came out after his quarrel with Edward II in 1321. In 1315 Mortimer took a conspicuous part in repressing the revolt of Llywelyn Bren [q. v.] On 18 March 1316 Llywelyn surrendered to the king's authority in Mortimer's presence (Flor. Hist. iii. 340). Shrewdly and ardently pursuing his self-interest in Ireland and Wales, Mortimer had had no great leisure to take a prominent part in the early troubles of the reign of Edward II. He was one of the barons who signed the letter denouncing papal abuses, addressed to Clement Y, on 6 Aug. 1309, at Stanford (Ann. Londin. in Stubbs, Chron. of Edw. I and Edw. II, i. 162). He does not seem to have taken a definite side, though in some ways his sympathies were with the king against the lords ordainers, who were active enemies of his ally John Charlton. Early in 1313 Mortimer was sent to Gascony 'on the king's service,' and on 2 April the sheriff's of Shropshire and Herefordshire and the bailiff" of Builth were ordered to pay sums amounting in all to l00l. to him for his expenses (Cal. Close Rolls, 1307-13, p. 522). In 1316 he joined the Earl of Pembroke in putting down the revolt of Bristol (Monk of Malmesbury, p. 222). In 1318 Mortimer began to stand out more prominently in English politics. He seems to have attached himself to the middle party, which, under the Earl of Pembroke, himself the greatest of the lords marchers, strove to hold the balance between the Despensers and the courtiers and the regular opposition under Thomas of Lancaster. In 1318, when Pembroke strove to mediate between Edward and Lancaster, Mortimer appears as one of the king's sureties who accepted the treaty of Leek on 9 Aug. A little later he was one of those nominated to sit on the new council of the king, some members of which were to be in perpetual attendance, and without whose consent Edward was suffered to do nothing. He was also put by parliament on the commission appointed to reform the royal household (Cole, Records, p. 12). This is the first clear evidence of his acting even indirectly against the king.
Local rivalries now complicated general politics, and the danger threatened to his Welsh position first made Mortimer a violent opponent of Edward and the Despensers. William de Braose, the lord of Gower, was in embarrassed circumstances, and about 1320 offered Gower for sale to the highest bidder (Trokelowe, p. 107). Humphrey VIII de Bohun, fourth earl of Hereford [q. v.], agreed to purchase it, thinking that it would round oft' conveniently his neighbouring lordship of Brecon. William de Braose died, but his son-in-law, John de Mowbray, who succeeded to his possessions by right of his wife, was willing to complete the arrangement, and entered into possession of the Braose lands. But the younger Hugh le Despenser [q. v.], who with the hand of Eleanor de Clare, the elder of the coheiresses of the Gloucester inheritance, had acquired the adjacent lordship
