John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, was born at Raby Castle Raby, to Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby and Alice de Audley. He married married Maud Percy, daughter of Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy and Idoine de Clifford, In July 1357 at Alnwick Castle Northumberland.
He fought in the Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346 as a Captain in his father's division. He was Knighted in 1360 and after his father's death in 1367 he succeeded to the title of 3rd Baron Neville of Raby. In 1368 he served as the English ambassdor to France. He was Admiral of the King's fleet and served in the wars against the Scots and French. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1369. He died in 1388 and is entombed at Durham Cathedral.
Sir Knight, 2nd Lord Neville of Raby, Knight of Raby, Durham and Middleham. Sheriff of Hutton, Snape, Sutton in the Forest, Well and Yorkshire. Warden of the Scottish Marches, Justice of the Forests North of the Trent.
Second but eldest surviving son of Sir Ranulph de Neville, 1st Lord Neville of Raby by Eupheme FitzRoger de Clavering, daughter of Lord Robert FitzRoger.
Second husband of Alice de Audley, daughter of Hugh de Audley, descendant of King Henry II, and Iseult de Mortimer, descendant of King John. They married by licence dated 14 Jan 1327, and were the parents of six sons and four daughters:
* Sir John, 3rd Lord Neville, married Maud Percy & Elizabeth Latimer
* Sir Robert, married Clara Pinckney
* Alexander, Bishop of York
* Thomas, Canon of York
* Sir William, married Elizabeth Waleys & Alice St Philbert
* Sir Ralph, married Elizabeth de Ledes
* Margaret, wife of William de Ros & Henry Percy
* Katherine, wife of Lord William Dacre
* Eleanor, wife of Geoffrey le Scrope & Abbess at Minories London
* Eupheme, wife of Robert de Clifford, Reynold de Lucy and Sir Walter de Heslarton
Some sources list three additional children: Elizabeth, Isabel and Alice.
Ralph fought in Scotland 1311 to 1335, supported King Edward II against Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and was ordered to join the King and his forces at Coventry 14 Feb 1322 during another rebel campaign. He commanded the English Army against the Scots at Neville's Cross 17 Oct 1346, where they defeated a larger number of Scots and King David was captured.
For the next twenty years, Ralph was employed in Scottish affairs, as a Commissioner or as a Warden of the Marches.
Ralph and Alice were buried at Durham Cathedral, their tomb being utterly destroyed by Scots imprisoned inside the cathedral in 1651.
1st Lord Neville. He was also known as Randolph. On 11 January 1283/84 he had livery under writ. He was created 1st Lord Neville, of Raby [England] on 24 June 1295. In 1303 he was chief of the delegation summoned by the King to set forth the grievances of the people against the Bishop of Durham. In 1313 he was found guilty of incest with his daughter, Lady de Faucomberge. He held the office of Keeper of the Peace in 1325.
Knight of Raby and Brancepth, Durham. Constable of Warkworth Castle, benefactor of Marton and Kirkham Priory. Keeper of the Peace.
Son and heir to Robert de Neville and Mary FitzRanulph, grandson of Sir Robert de Neville and his first unknown wife, Sir Ralph FitzRanulph and Anastacia de Percy.
Ranulph married Eupheme de Clavering, the daughter of Robert FitzRoger and Margery la Zouche, the daughter of Sir Alan. They had five sons and four daughters:
Sir Robert, murdered at Berwick Castle
Ralph, 2nd Lord Neville,
Sir Alexander
John
Thomas, Archdeacon of Durham
Anastasia, wife of Sir Walter de Fauconberg
Mary
Ida
Eupheme
Secondly, he married Margery de Thweng, daughter of John, son of Marmaduke de Thweng. They had no issue.
His sons would be warriors, captured by the Scots and heavily ransomed by a 'crippling sum.'
Sir Ranulph was summoned to Parliament in 1295 as Ranulpho de Neville, and became Lord Neville, and signed the barons' letter to the Pope as Lord of Raby. In 1303 he was chief of the delegation summoned by the King to set forth the grievances of the people against the Bishop of Durham.
Ranulph was excommunicated in 1313 for the crime of incest and adultery with his daughter, Anastasia, was was commanded by the Bishop Kellawe of Durham to do penance.
Ranulph was buried in the choir at Coverham Abby, Yorkshire.
Odin (or Woden) was a great chief in Asgaard, Asaland, or Asia, with two brothers, Ve, the other Vilje. Odin waged war against Vanalanders (in Asia) unsuccessfully. After years of mutual ravaging, both countries sent their best men to settle a truce and come to peace in Vanaheim, . Aagaard sent Hone, a chief and Mime, a man of great understanding. Vanaland sent Njord the Rich, and his son Frey and Kvase, a wise man. The Vanalanders thought Hone had deceived them, beheaded Mime and snet his head to Odin, who preserved it with herbs and it became powerful. Njord and Frey became priests and Diar of the Asian people. Njord's daighter, Freya, became the first priestess of sacrifice who taught magic to the Asians. Odin appropriated to himself the whole of that district, and called it Sigtun. To the temple priests he gave also domains. Njord dwelt in Noatun, Frey in Upsal, Heimdal in the Himinbergs, Thor in Thrudvang, Balder in Breidablik; to all of them he gave good estates.
Odin moved to the lands in the north, and taight the people there (Swedes?)
. After Odin's death, Njord was the high king of all the
Swedes.
Heimskringla, Ynglinga Saga, Section 1-11
Richard Neville 1428-1471
Knight of the Garter, Earl of Salisbury, Privy Councillor, Captain of Calias, Governor of the channel Islands, Great Chamberlain of England, Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitane, Chief Justice in Eyre of the Forests beyond Trent, Chief Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster.
In right of his wife, Earl of Warwick, Lord Bergavenny, Lord of Glamorgan and Morgannwg, hereditary Sheriff of Worcestershire, hereditary Chamberlain of the Exchequer.
One of the wealthiest and powerful men of his time, influential beyond his country. As a Yorrkists, he helped to dispose of two kings. Henry VI and the Yorkist king, Edward IV. Richard was salin at the Battle of Barnet and buried at Bisham Priory.
Richard de Neville 1400-1460
1420 - Invested as a Knight
1420 - 1434 Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland
1424 - Keeper of the Forests beyond the Trent
1429 - Constable of England
1432 - Constable of Pontefract Castle
1434 - Warden of the East and West Marches towards Scotland
1436 - Commissioner to treat for peace with France in the Hundred Years War
1436 - Invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.)
1437 - invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.)
1443 -
Knight of the Garter, 4th Lord Neville of Raby. Knight of Raby, Brancepeth and Staindrop, Durham, of Middleham Yorkshire. Joint Keeper of the castle and city of Carlisle, Joint Warden of the West March towards Scotland, Joint Surveyor of Fortifications in the Marches, Keeper of the Forest beyond Trent, Constable of the Tower of London, Marshal of England, Privy Councillor, Keeper of Roxburgh Castle, Warden of Berwick and the East March, Warden of Carlisle and the West March, founder of the collegiate church at Staindrop, Durham.
Son and heir to Sir John de Neville and Maude de Percy, grandson of Sir Ralph de Neville and Alice de Audley.
Husband of Margaret Stafford, daughter of Sir Hugh de Stafford, descendant of King Henry II and Philippe Beauchamp, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Warwick. They married by papal dispensation dated 19 June 1382, being related in the 3rd degree. They had two sons and six daughters; Sir John, Sir Ralph, Maud, wife of Peter de Mauley VIII, Alice, Philippe, Elizabeth, Minoress nun, Anne, wife of Sir Gilbert Umfreville, Margaret.
Secondly, husband of Joan de Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Roet, widow of Sir Robert de Ferrers. They married before 29 Nov 1396 and had nine sons and five daughters; Richard, Henry, Thomas, Cuthbert, Robert, Bishop of Salisbury, Sir William Lord Fauconberge, John, Sir George Lord Latimer, Sir Edward Lord Bergavenny, Joan, Katherine, Eleanor, Anne and Cecily.
Ralph was summoned to Parliament from 1389 to 1396, and was continually employed on the borders negotiating peace with Scotland until 1424. Ralph played a prominent part King Richard II's abdication and the installation of the exiled Duke of Hereford, his wife's brother, to the throne as King Henry IV, and carried the sceptre at Henry's coronation.
In 1380 he took part in the Earl of Buckingham's expedition to Brittany. He was invested as a Knight in July 1380. He held the office of Joint Keeper of the castle and city of Carlisle on 26 October 1385. He held the office of Joint Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland on 27 March 1386. He succeeded to the title of 4th Lord Neville, of Raby on 17 October 1388. He held the office of Joint Surveyor of the Fortifications in the Marches on 25 October 1388. He held the office of Joint Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland in 1389. He held the office of Keeper of the Forests beyond the Trent between 1389 and 1425. He was Chief Commissioner to perform the duties of the Constable of England in 1391. He held the office of Keeper of Wark Castle between February 1396/97 and September 1398.8 He held the office of Constable of the Tower of London between 21 September 1397 and 30 October 1397. He gained the title of 1st Earl of Westmorland [England] on 29 September 1397, for loyalty to King Richard II when the later struck back at the Lords Appellant who in 1387 had engineered convictions for treason against King Richard's friends. He held the office of Guardian of the truce in the East March on 28 November 1398. He held the office of Marshal of England between 1399 and 1413. In July 1399 when he sided with his brother-in-law, the banished Duke of Hereford, against King Richard II, after the Duke (later King Henry IV) returned to England.2 He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) before 4 December 1399. He was Commissioner to treat with the Romans for the marriage of Princess Blanche on 13 February 1400/1. He held the office of Keeper of Roxburghe Castle between March 1401/2 and 1408. He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) circa 1403. He held the office of Warden of Berwick and the Eastern March in 1403. He held the office of Warden of Carlisle and the Western March between 1403 and 1414. On 29 May 1405 at Shipton Moor, Yorkshire, England, he intercepted the rebellious Archbishop Scrope and the young Lord Mowbray, where, after a friendly conference, he arrested them in an unscrupulous manner. He was a member of the Council of Regency in 1415, during King Henry V's absence abroad. He was a member of the Council of Regency in 1422, during the minority of King Henry VI. He was survived by most of his 23 children! He was a great church builder, 'curious flat headed windows being peculiar to the churches on the Nevill manors'. When he died, he left money to complete the College of Staindrop which he founded near Raby, and was buried at Staindrop, where his alabaster effigy in armour between his two wives 'remains the finest sepulchral monument in the north of England.' From Daryl Lundy's the peerage.
As per a letter from the Brancepeth Archives received August 2014:
Now to Lady Margaret - daughter of Hugh, 2nd Earl of Stafford, who married, as his first wife, Sir Ralph Neville in 1382 (for this marriage a dispensation had to be obtained from the Pope, as they were within the 3rd and 4th degree of consanguinity). She died 9th June 1396 and was buried at Brancepeth. In the fourteen years of their marriage she gave him eight (or 9) children.
Sir Ralph was later to marry again (November 1396). He succeeded to the title of Baron Raby (1388) and in 1397 was created 1st Earl of Westmorland by Richard II. He was later to become under Henry IV, one of the most powerful men in England and is the Earl of Westmorland who appears in Shakespeare's Henry V. He was buried in 1425 in St Mary's Church, Staindrop and his tomb has effigies of himself and his two wives, although neither of his wives were buried with him. (attachment A82)
So much for the known facts, and now for the speculation:-
Until the middle of the nineteenth century a large wooden tomb stood in the centre of the chancel of St. Brandon's Church, Brancepeth (attachment A80) with the effigies of a knight and his lady. In the 1860's this tomb was cut down and only the upper portion, with the effigies, remained in the church (attachment IMG208a). There has always been some dispute as to who these effigies represent; some scholars have supposed that they are Ralph Neville (1st Earl) and his first wife Margaret, and others are of the opinion that they represent Ralph (2nd Earl) and his second wife, Margaret (daughter of Lord Cobham)
My own opinion, for what it is worth, is that this was the tomb of Lady Margaret the wife of Sir Ralph Neville (1st Earl) for the following reasons:-
It seems inconceivable that a lady of the importance of Lady Margaret would be buried without there being any indication as to where she lay, and she would almost certainly have been buried in the most important part of the church i.e. in the chancel in front of the altar. I think that the wooden tomb would have been erected over her grave, later, on the death of her husband, to commemorate them both, this in the reign of Edward IV (a grandson of the 1st Earl). This is born out by the fact that both figures are wearing collars of Yorkist white roses, which was assumed as a badge by Edward IV (it would certainly be strange to find a Yorkist badge, so fatal to the Nevilles at the battle of Barnet, on the monument of the second earl).
However the case is not proven either way.
Unfortunately, St. Brandon's Church suffered a severe fire in 1998 and was almost completely destroyed. It has now been rebuilt, but of course all the monuments have been lost.
Legally changed his name to his mother's name of Neville because of the vast fortune her family brought to her marriage. He was born Geoffrey FitzRobert at birth.
Eldest daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1364–1425), and Joan Beaufort (c. 1379-1440), daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by his mistress (later, 3rd wife) Katherine Swynford.
On 12 January 1412, Katherine was married at the age of 12 to John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1392–1432). Their only known child was John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1415–1461).
Katherine married for a second time to Thomas Strangeways (c. 1395-before 1442) - they had 2 daughters:
Joan Strangeways, who married Sir William Willoughby. Their daugher Cecily married Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley.
Catherine Strangeways
She married for a third time to John, Viscount Beaumont, who was killed in 1460.
Her fourth and last marriage was infamous, known by contemporaries as the "diabolical marriage" - she married John Woodville, brother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV. He was 19 years old at the time of their marriage - she was 65. Nonetheless, she survived even him; he was executed in 1469 during the brief period of time that her nephew Richard, Earl of Warwick, usurped the authority of the crown. Whether or not she was forced into this final marriage against her will is unclear. She was still alive in 1483, having survived all the descendents of her first marriage.