Neville Family

   One of the most important magnate families in fifteenth-century England, the Nevilles supplied Richard PLANTAGENET, duke of York, with the political and military resources that allowed him to contend for the English Crown.

   The family’s preeminent position in the local government and society of northern England was established by Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland (1354–1425). A series of fortunate family marriages in the fourteenth century brought Neville an extensive landed inheritance, including castles at Raby, Brancepeth, Middleham, and Sheriff Hutton. A RETAINER of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (1340–1399), Neville was created earl of Westmorland in 1397 after marrying Joan Beaufort (d. 1440), Gaunt’s legitimated daughter, as his second wife. In 1399, Westmorland tied his family’s fortunes to the house of LANCASTER by supporting Joan’s half brother, Henry of Bolingbroke, when he assumed the throne as Henry IV (r. 1399–1413) (see Richard II, Deposition of). Westmorland backed Henry throughout all the rebellions of his reign, including those raised by the Percy family, the Nevilles’ main rivals for political predominance in northern England.

   As a favored councilor of both Henry IV and Henry V (r. 1413–1422), Westmorland established a family claim to the wardenship of the West March (i.e., border) with SCOTLAND. He also acquired a lifetime grant as marshal of England, the wealthy lordship of Richmond, and a series of wardships that allowed him to make prominent and profitable marriages for many of his twenty-three children. Of his thirteen children by Joan Beaufort, the eldest son, Richard NEVILLE, became earl of Salisbury through his marriage, while second son William NEVILLE became Lord Fauconberg through his. Three daughters became duchesses, including the youngest, Cecily NEVILLE, who became duchess of York and mother of two kings of England. By the 1450s, the Nevilles were related to most of the noble families of the kingdom. At his death in 1425,Westmorland left the bulk of his lands to Salisbury, Joan’s eldest son, thereby initiating a violent feud between the earls of Westmorland, the descendants of his first marriage, and the sons of his second marriage. This quarrel was later absorbed by the WARS OF THE ROSES, with the Westmorland branch of the family remaining loyal Lancastrians while their cousins became prominent Yorkists. In the mid-1450s, Salisbury, his brothers, and his sons supported York in his quarrel with Edmund BEAUFORT, duke of Somerset, the favorite of HENRY VI. Although related to both York and Somerset, the Nevilles backed the former because he was in the best position to support them in their escalating feud with the Percy family (see Neville-Percy Feud). Thus, even though the Nevilles rose to national prominence through loyalty to the house of Lancaster, Neville support was vital in allowing the house of YORK to seize the throne in 1461. Although Salisbury was killed with York at the Battle of WAKEFIELD in 1460, the earl’s eldest son, Richard NEVILLE, earl of Warwick, became the chief support of York’s son EDWARD IV until 1469, when Edward’s favoring of the WOODVILLE FAMILY, his wife’s relatives, alienated Warwick and caused him to place the extensive Neville AFFINITY in the service of Henry VI. In 1470,Warwick earned his appellation of kingmaker by overthrowing the house of York and restoring the house of Lancaster (see Edward IV, Overthrow of). After Warwick’s death at the Battle of BARNET in 1471, the Neville estates and affinity were absorbed into the house of York though the marriages of Warwick’s daughters to the brothers of Edward IV.

   See also North of England and the Wars of the Roses; all entries under Neville and Percy

   Further Reading: Hicks, Michael,Warwick the Kingmaker (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998); Kendall, Paul Murray,Warwick the Kingmaker (New York:W.W. Norton, 1987);Young, Charles R., The Making of the Neville Family in England, 1166-1400 (Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 1997).