Family of Ralph +* of NEVILLE and Joan + of BEAUFORT

Husband: Ralph +* of NEVILLE

Wife: Joan + of BEAUFORT

Child 1: Eleanor of NEVILLE

Child 2: Katherine of NEVILLE

Child 3: Richard of NEVILLE

Child 4: Anne of NEVILLE

Child 5: William of NEVILLE

Child 6: George + NEVILLE

Child 7: Edward of NEVILLE

Child 8: Cecile of NEVILLE

Spouse: Richard

Note on Husband: Ralph +* of NEVILLE

Sir Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, 4th Baron Neville de Raby, Lord of Richmond, Earl Marshal, KG, PC (ca. 1364 – 21 October 1425), was an English nobleman of the House of Neville. He was born in Raby Castle, County Durham, England, the son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby and Lady Maud Percy.[1]

He was knighted by Thomas of Woodstock, during the French expedition of 1380. In 1388, following the death of his father, he became the fourth Baron Neville de Raby. In 1391, Neville was put on the commission that undertook the duties of Constable in place of Gloucester and was repeatedly engaged in negotiations with the Scots. On 29 September 1397, due to his support towards Richard II, against the Lords Appellant, Neville was created the 1st Earl of Westmorland. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor before 4 December 1399.[2] In 1403, he was made a Knight of the Garter, taking the place left vacant by the death of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York. Neville was a supporter of King Henry IV who endowed him with the honour and lordship of Richmond for life. Like the first lords of Richmond and Peter II of Savoy before him, Ralph was endowed with Richmond, but without the title.[1]

The Neville family were natural rivals of the Percy family. In 1403, the power of the Percy's had fallen at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Both marches had been in their hands, but the west marches was now assigned to Neville, who's influence in the east was also paramount. Neville had prevented Northumberland from marching to reinforce Hotspur before embarking on a new revolt to secure his enemy, Northumberland. In May 1403, while the Percy's were in revolt with Thomas de Mowbray, 4th Earl of Norfolk, and Archbishop Scrope, Neville met them at Skipton Moor, near York, and suggested a parley between the leaders. Scrope and Mowbray were seized after Mowbray let his followers disperse and handed over to Northumberland at Pontefract Castle. It is believed by some historians that the two had voluntarily surrendered. If Neville had betrayed them, he certainly shared no part in their execution.[1]

In the later part of his career, Neville was mainly engaged with defense of the northern border in his capacity as warden of the west march. In 1415, for example, he decisively defeated an invading Scottish army at the Battle of Yeavering.[1] In 1422, he was a member of the Council of Regency during the minority of King Henry VI.[2]

Neville was a great church builder, 'curious flat headed windows being peculiar to the churches on the Neville manors'. Neville died on the 21st of October 1425, and a fine alabaster tomb was erected to his memory in St. Mary's Staindrop Church, close by Raby Castle, where his effigy in armour between his two wives remains the finest sepulchral monument in the north of England.[1][2] When he died, he left money to complete the College of Staindrop which he founded near Raby.[2] His first wife, Lady Margaret de Stafford was buried at Brancepeth Castle.[3] His second wife, Lady Joan Beaufort, was buried with her mother, Katherine Roet, under a carved-stone canopy in the sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral.[4] Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates — full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides and on the top — which were damaged or destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War. He was survived by most of his 23 children. As his eldest son, Sir John de Neville by Margaret de Stafford pre-deceased him, he was succeeded in his titles by his grandson, Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland.[5]

[edit] ShakespeareThe character of Westmorland in William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V is based on Neville. Neville did not play the part that was assigned to him in Shakespeare's Henry V. During Henry V's absence he remained in charge of the north and was a member of the Council of Regency in 1415, during King Henry V's absence.[1] It has been claimed by Brenda James and Professor William Rubinstein that Neville's great-great-grandson, Sir Henry Neville wrote the works of William Shakespeare.

[edit] Marriages1.Lady Margaret de Stafford, c.1382, daughter of Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford and Philippa de Beauchamp.

2.Lady Joan Beaufort, before 29 November 1396, at Château de Beaufort, Maine-et-Loire, Anjou, France.[6] Lady Joan was the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his third wife, Katherine Roet, and half-sister of Henry IV of England.

[edit] Family and childrenHe had nine children by Lady Margaret de Stafford:

Lady Maud Neville (d. October 1438), married Piers de Mauley, 5th Baron Mauley

Lady Alice Neville, married first Sir Thomas Grey of Heton; married second Sir Gilbert Lancaster

Lady Philippa de Neville, married Thomas Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre

Sir John Neville, Baron Neville of Raby (c.1387-c.1420), married Lady Elizabeth de Holland, daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Lady Alice FitzAlan. They were parents to Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland and John Neville, 1st Baron Neville de Raby.[7]

Sir Ralph Neville (c.1392-25 Feb 1458), married Mary Ferrers, daughter of Sir Robert Ferrers and had issue.

Lady Elizabeth Neville, a nun at Minories, London, England.

Lady Anne Neville (b. circa 1384), married Sir Gilbert Umfraville.

Lady Margaret Neville (d. ca. 1465), married first Richard Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Bolton; married second William Cressoner.

Lady Anastasia Neville

He had fourteen children by Lady Joan Beaufort:

Lady Katherine Neville, married first on 12 January 1411 John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk; married second Sir Thomas Strangways; married third John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont; married fourth Sir John Woodville (d. 12 August 1469).

Lady Eleanor Neville (1398–1472), married first Richard le Despencer, 4th Baron Burghersh, married second Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland.

Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400–1460), married Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury. Had issue. Their descendants include Queen Consort to Henry VIII, Catherine Parr and Richard Neville, the "Kingmaker".

Robert Neville (d. 1457), Bishop of Durham.

William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent (d. 1463).

Edward Nevill, 3rd Baron Bergavenny (d. 1476).

Lady Anne Neville (1414–1480), married Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

Lady Cecily Neville (1415–1495) ("Proud Cis"), married Richard, 3rd Duke of York; mother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England.

George Neville, 1st Baron Latymer (d. 1469)

John Neville (1407 - 20 March 1420).

Cuthbert Neville, died young.

Thomas Neville, died young.

Henry Neville, died young.

Lady Joan Neville, a nun.

Note on Wife: Joan + of BEAUFORT

Lady Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (c. 1379 – 13 November 1440) was the third or fourth child (and only daughter) of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford.

She was likely born at the Swynford manor of Kettlethorpe in Lincoln. Her surname probably reflects his father's lordship of Beaufort in Champagne, France, where she might also have born.[2] In 1391, at the age of twelve, Joan married at Beaufort-en-Vallée, Anjou, Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem, and they had two daughters before he died about 1395.

[edit] LegitimationAlong with her three brothers, Joan had been privately declared legitimate by their cousin Richard II of England in 1390, but for various reasons their father secured another such declaration from Parliament in January 1397. Joan was already an adult when she was legitimized by the marriage of her mother and father with papal approval. The Beauforts were later barred from inheriting the throne by a clause inserted into the legitimation act by their half-brother, Henry IV of England, although it is not clear that Henry IV possessed sufficient authority to alter an existing parliamentary statute. Soon after this declaration, on 3 February 1397, when she was eighteen, Joan married Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, who had also been married once before.

[edit] InheritanceWhen Ralph de Neville died in 1425, his lands and titles should, by law of rights, have passed on to his eldest surviving son from his first marriage, another Ralph Neville. Instead, while the title of Earl of Westmorland and several manors were passed to Ralph, the bulk of his rich estate went to his wife, Joan Beaufort. Although this may have been done to ensure that his widow was well provided for; by doing this, Ralph essentially split his family into two, and the result was years of bitter conflict between Joan and her stepchildren, who fiercely contested her acquisition of their father's lands. Joan however, with her royal blood and connections, was far too powerful to be called to account, and the senior branch of the Nevilles received little redress for their grievances. Inevitably, when Joan died, the lands would be inherited by her own children.

[edit] DeathJoan died on 13 November 1440 at Howden in Yorkshire. Rather than be buried with her husband Ralph (who was not buried with his first wife, though his monument has effigies of himself and his two wives) she was entombed next to her mother in the magnificent sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral. Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates — full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides — but those were damaged or destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War. A 1640 drawing of them survives, showing what the tombs looked like when they were intact, and side-by-side instead of end-to-end, as they are now.

[edit] DescendantsJoan Beaufort was the grandmother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, whom Henry VII defeated to take the throne. (Henry then married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and their son became Henry VIII of England). King Henry's sixth wife, Catherine Parr was also a descendant through Joan and Ralph's son, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury making the couple third cousins. Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, 'the Kingmaker', was also a descendant.

[edit] Children of Joan Beaufort and Robert FerrersIn 1391, at the age of twelve, Joan married Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem. Robert De Ferrers married Joan Beaufort in 1391 at Beaufort-en-Vallée, Anjou. They had 2 children:

Elizabeth Ferrers, 6th Baroness Boteler of Wem (1393–1434). She is buried at Black Friars Church, York. She married John de Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke (1389–1436) on 28 October 1407 in Greystoke Castle, Greystoke, Cumberland, and had issue.

Mary Ferrers (1394 – 25 January 1457/1458). She married her stepbrother, Sir Ralph Neville, son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland, c. 1413 in Oversley, Warwickshire and had issue

[edit] Children of Joan Beaufort and Ralph NevilleThey had fourteen children:

Lady Katherine Neville, married first on 12 January 1411 John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk; married second Sir Thomas Strangways; married third John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont; married fourth Sir John Woodville (d. 12 August 1469).

Lady Eleanor Neville (d. 1472), married first Richard le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh, married second Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland

Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400–1460), married Alice Montacute. Had issue. Their descendants include Queen Consort Catherine Parr.

Robert Neville (d. 1457), Bishop of Durham

William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent (c.1410–1463)

Edward Nevill, 3rd Baron Bergavenny (d. 1476)

Lady Anne Neville (?1411–20 September 1480), married Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Lady Cecily Neville (1415–1495) ("Proud Cis"), married Richard, 3rd Duke of York and mothered Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England

George Nevill, 1st Baron Latymer (d. 1469)

John Neville, died young

Cuthbert Neville, died young

Thomas Neville, died young

Henry Neville, died young

Joan Neville

Sources