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Birth:          1400 Raby Castle, Durham, England
Death:          31 Dec 1460 Wakefield, Yorkshire, England
Cause of Death: beheaded by mob
Burial:         15 Jan 1461 

Notes
familysearch.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville,_5th_Earl_of_Salisbury
Richard Neville, jure uxoris 5th Earl of Salisbury and 7th and 4th Baron Montacute KG 
PC (1400 – 31 December 1460) was a Yorkist leader during the early parts of the Wars 
of the Roses.[1]
Background[edit]

Richard Neville was born in 1400 at Raby Castle in County Durham. Although he was 
the third son (and tenth child) of Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, Richard 
Neville was the first son to be born to Ralph's second wife, Joan Beaufort, Countess 
of Westmoreland. The Neville lands were primarily in Durham and Yorkshire, but both 
Richard II and Henry IV found the family useful to counterbalance the strength of the 
Percys on the Scottish Borders – hence Earl Ralph's title, granted in 1397, and his 
appointment as Warden of the West March in 1403. Ralph's marriage to Joan 
Beaufort, at a time when the distinction between royalty and nobility was becoming 
more important, can be seen as another reward; as a granddaughter of Edward III, she 
was a member of the royal family.

The children of Earl Ralph's first wife had made good marriages to local nobility, but 
his Beaufort children married into even greater families. Three of Richard's sisters 
married dukes (the youngest Cecily, marrying Richard, Duke of York), and Richard 
himself married Alice Montacute, daughter and heiress of Thomas Montacute, the Earl 
of Salisbury.

The date of Richard and Alice's marriage is not known, but it must have been before 
February 1421, when as a married couple they appeared at the coronation of Queen 
Catherine of Valois. At the time of the marriage, the Salisbury inheritance was not 
guaranteed, as not only was Earl Thomas still alive, but in 1424 he remarried (to Alice 
Chaucer, granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer). However, this second 
marriage was without issue and when the Earl Thomas Montacute died in 1428, 
Richard Neville and Alice were confirmed as the Earl and Countess of Salisbury. From 
this point on, Richard Neville will be referred to as Salisbury.

Salisbury came into possession of greater estates than, as a younger son, he could 
reasonably have expected. Strangely, his elder half-brother John apparently agreed to 
many of the rights to the Neville inheritance being transferred to Joan Beaufort – 
Salisbury would inherit these on her death in 1440. He also gained possession of the 
lands and grants made jointly to Ralph and Joan. Ralph's heir (his grandson, also 
called Ralph) disputed the loss of his inheritance, and although the younger Ralph 
agreed to a settlement in 1443, it was on unequal terms – Salisbury kept the great 
Neville possessions of Middleham and Sheriff Hutton, as well as the more recent grant 
of Penrith. Only Raby Castle returned to the senior branch. The Neville–Neville feud 
was later to become absorbed into the destructive Percy-Neville feud. Salisbury's 
marriage gained him his wife's quarter share of the Holland inheritance. Ironically, his 
Salisbury title came with comparatively little in terms of wealth, though he did gain a 
more southerly residence at Bisham Manor in Berkshire.

The Warden of the West March[edit]

The defence of the Scottish Border was carried out by two Wardens– that of the East 
March (based at Berwick-upon-Tweed) and that of the West March at Carlisle. Both 
offices had been held by the Percy family in the fourteenth century, and their support 
of King Henry IV seemed to have paid off in 1399, when Henry Percy was appointed 
Warden of the West March and his son Hotspur as Warden of the East March. But 
Hotspur rebelled, and his father was held to be complicit in his treason. After Hotspur 
was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury, Ralph Neville was employed by King Henry V to 
capture the elder Percy. His reward was to succeed the Percys as Warden of both 
Marches. Under Henry V, the Percys were restored to their lands, and eventually, in 
1417, to the East March. The West March, however, was to become an almost 
hereditary Neville appointment.

Salisbury became Warden of the West March in 1420. It was one of the most valuable 
appointments in England, worth £1,500 in peacetime and four times that if war broke 
out with Scotland. Although, unlike Calais, it did not require a permanent garrison, the 
incessant raiding and border skirmishes meant that there would always be a ready 
supply of trained and experienced soldiers at the Warden's command. Salisbury must 
have been high in Henry V's estimation, as he was also appointed Justice of the 
Peace in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham. In 1431 he accompanied the 
young King Henry VI to France for his coronation, and on his return was made Warden 
of the East March.

In 1436 however, he resigned both posts, although this may have originally intended 
as a means of forcing the crown to make good its arrears of payment. When his 
resignation was accepted, he accompanied his brother-in-law Richard, Duke of York, 
to France, taking 1,300 men-at-arms and archers with him. He returned the following 
year, and in November became a member of the King's Council. He did not resume 
either of the Wardenships, as the Percy-Neville dispute took up most of his time, but 
when this was resolved in 1443 he resumed the Wardenship of the West March. 
Although this was at a reduced fee of just under £1,000, the money was secured on 
specific sources of Crown income, not on the frequently uncollectable tallies. This may 
reflect his experiences of 1436.

Neville and Percy[edit]

Main article: Percy-Neville feud

At the end of 1443, from his principal seat at Middleham Castle in Wensleydale, 
Salisbury could look with some satisfaction at his position. He was a member of the 
King's Council and Warden of the West March. His brother Robert was the Bishop of 
Durham, and another of his brothers, William, had the custody of Roxburgh castle. He 
had seven children, four boys and three girls. In 1436 the two oldest children, Cicely 
and Richard, made excellent marriages to the son and daughter of Richard de 
Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick.

However, it was becoming apparent that the rise of the Nevilles was coming to an 
end. The king, who during the late 1430s had started to exercise personal rule, was 
more concerned to promote the fortunes of his closest relatives – and Salisbury was 
only related by a junior, illegitimate and female line. In this context, the local rivalry 
between the Nevilles and the Percys in the north of England was likely to take on 
greater importance. A strong and capable ruler would be able to control such feuds, or 
even profit by them. A weak king could find the disputes spreading from local to 
regional or national conflict.

The Percys had lands throughout northern England, while the Nevilles northern lands 
were concentrated in north Yorkshire and in Durham. However, as Warden of the 
West March, Salisbury was in a position to exert great power in the north-west, in 
spite of holding only Kendal and Penrith. The Percys resented the fact that their 
tenants in Cumberland and Westmorland were being recruited by Salisbury, who even 
with the reduced grant of 1443 still had great spending power in the region. The 
senior Neville line (now related by marriage to the Percys) still resented the inequitable 
settlement of their inheritance dispute.

The fifteenth century could be regarded as the peak of "bastard feudalism" – when 
every subject needed a "good lord". In return for a commitment by the retained man to 
provide (usually) military support, the lord would give his retainer a small annual fee, a 
badge or item of clothing to mark his loyalty (livery) and provide help for him in his 
disputes with his neighbours (maintenance). Northern England was a long way from 
Westminster, and rapid legal redress for wrongs was impossible.[2] With his economic 
power as warden, Salisbury could provide better support for Percy tenants than 
Northumberland, unpaid for the East March for years, could hope to.

In 1448, during the renewal of the war with Scotland, Northumberland took his forces 
through Salisbury's West March – a grave breach of etiquette. Northumberland was 
defeated at the Battle of Sark, and his son Lord Poynings was captured. The fact that 
Salisbury lost 2,000 horses trying to respond to this attack, and was then excluded 
(along with Northumberland) from the subsequent peace negotiations, can only have 
inflamed relations between the two families. Over time, the ill will might have receded, 
but Northumberland's second son, Lord Egremont, spent the next few years stirring up 
trouble in Yorkshire – particularly York, situated between the Percy estates of 
Spofforth and Healaugh, and Neville's castle at Sheriff Hutton.

On 24 August 1453, Thomas Percy, Lord Egremont, assembled a force of men-at-arms 
and archers perhaps as large as 1,000 strong, intending to waylay Salisbury and his 
family at Heworth Moor, outside York, as he made for Sheriff Hutton. Salisbury had 
been attending the wedding of his son Thomas in Tatteshall Castle, Lincolnshire, and 
although his escort would have been smaller, it would have been better armed than 
Egremont's York craftsmen and tradesmen. Salisbury and his retinue fought them 
back, arriving unscathed at Sheriff Hutton, but the episode marked the beginning of 
what was virtually a private war. The bride, Maud Stanhope was the widow of Lord 
Willoughby of Eresby, his son would become a Yorkist. Another of the Yorkist party, 
John Neville, was later Lord Montagu. Maud was due to inherit the manors of Wressle 
and Burwell from her uncle, Lord Cromwell, who had obtained them from the Percys 
through litigation. Historian John Sadler argues this was the first incident in the 
Yorkist/Lancastrian affinities lawless squabble leading to civil war.[3]

Neville and York[edit]

However Salisbury turned to the cause of Richard, Duke of York, who made him Lord 
Chancellor in 1455. When King Henry tried to assert his independence and dismiss 
Richard as Protector, Salisbury joined him in fighting at the First Battle of St Albans, 
claiming that he was acting in self-defence. After the Battle of Blore Heath, in which 
he was notably successful, Salisbury escaped to Calais, having been specifically 
excluded from a royal pardon. He was slain on 30 December 1460, the day of the 
Battle of Wakefield.

Death and Burial[edit]

After the Yorkist defeat at the Battle of Wakefield, Salisbury himself escaped the 
battlefield but was captured during the night. Upon discover, the battle worn and now 
traitor to the realm was taken to the Lancastrian camp. Although the Lancastrian 
nobles might have been prepared to allow Salisbury to ransom himself, due to his large 
wealth, he was dragged out of Pontefract Castle and beheaded by local commoners, 
to whom he had been a harsh overlord.[4]An alabaster effigy is in Burghfield Church in 
Berkshire. He was buried first at Pontefract, but his sons transferred his body to the 
family mausoleum at Bisham Priory and erected this effigy. It was brought to Burghfield 
after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The effigy of a lady alongside him wears a 
headdress which is not thought to be of the right date to be his wife, but she may be 
one of the earlier Countesses of Salisbury buried at Bisham.

Marriage and children[edit]

He and his wife, Alice Montague, had twelve children:
Cecily Neville (1424–1450), who married Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick, 
had one daughter, Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick. On her death, her 
title passed to her paternal aunt Lady Anne, wife of her maternal uncle, Richard 
Neville.[5]
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428–1471), known as the 'Kingmaker', married 
Lady Anne Beauchamp and had issue.
Alice Neville (c.1430–1503), who married Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh. Their 
daughter, Elizabeth, married William Parr, 1st Baron Parr of Kendal, thus making them 
great-grandparents of Catherine Parr, sixth wife of King Henry VIII.
John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (?1431–1471), married Isabel Ingaldesthorpe, 
had issue.
George Neville (1432–1476), who became Archbishop of York and Chancellor of 
England
Joan Neville (1434–1462), who married William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel, and had 
issue.
Katherine Neville (1442–1503), who married first William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington, 
and second William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, had issue.
Sir Thomas Neville (bf. 1431–1460),[6] who was knighted in 1449 and died at the 
Battle of Wakefield. He was the second husband of Maud Stanhope (30 August 1497, 
who married firstly Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby (d. 25 July 
1452), and thirdly Sir Gervase Clifton, beheaded 6 May 1471 after the Battle of 
Tewkesbury.[7]
Eleanor Neville (1447–<1471),[8] who married Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, and 
had issue.
Margaret Neville (c.1450–1506), who married John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford.
Ralph Neville
Robert Neville

Parents
NEVILLE Ralph (ABT 1364 - 21 Oct 1425)
DE BEAUFORT Joan (ABT 1372 - 13 Nov 1440)

Siblings
NEVILLE Eleanor (ABT 1397 - 1472)
NEVILLE Richard (1400 - 31 Dec 1460)

Marriage To MONTAGU Alice (1407 - BEF 9 Dec 1462)
    m. ABT 1420 Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

Notes

Parents
MONTAGU (MONTACUTE) Thomas (13 Jun 1388 - 2 Nov 1428)
DE HOLAND Eleanor (Alianore) (1386 - AFT 1413)

Children by MONTAGU Alice 1407 - BEF 9 Dec 1462
NEVILLE Alice (ABT 1430 - AFT 22 Nov 1503)

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