The House of Neville or Nevill family (originally FitzMaldred) is an English noble house of early medieval origin, which was a leading force in English politics in the Late Middle Ages. The family became one of the two major powers in northern England and played a central role in the Wars of the Roses along with their rival, the House of Percy.
Origins The great Neville family traces its origins to Geoffrey "de Neville" (died ), the son of Robert FitzMaldred and Isabel de Neville, who adopted the family name of his mother.
Male line of Robert FitzMaldred The male line of the Nevilles was of native origin, and the family may well have been part of the pre-Conquest aristocracy of Northumbria. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066 most of the existing Anglo-Saxon aristocracy of England were dispossessed and replaced by a new Norman ruling elite, and although such survivals are very rare, continued landholding by native families was more common in the far north of England, including in County Durham, the area of their earliest recorded landholdings.
The male-line of the family can be traced back to a certain Uhtred, whose identity is unclear, since the ancestors of Robert FitzMaldred first appear in surviving records only decades after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and the compiling of the Domesday Book in 1086, which did not cover County Durham. In the 16th century, the Nevilles claimed that their ancestor Uhtred was descended from Crinan of Dunkeld, ancestor of the Scottish royal House of Dunkeld.Wagner, English Ancestry, 16-17 As well as prestigious ancient connections with the royal families of both England and Scotland, this claim entailed a line of descent from the Bamburgh dynasty of Earls of Northumbria, attaching the Nevilles' later power in the north to a pedigree of pre-eminence in the region stretching back at least as far as the early 10th century. Modern genealogists have speculated about theories to connect Uhtred with his purported forebears, but none of these is supported by any direct evidence.It has been noted, however, that "this Dolfin, when doing homage to the Prior of Durham for Staindrop, reserved his homage to the kings of England and of Scotland, as well as the Bishop of Durham" implying that he was "no doubt, a man of consequence" and "probably of high Northumbrian birth". Round, Feudal England, 370-2; Offler, 'FitzMeldred, Neville and Hansard', 2-3; Wagner, English Ancestry, 16-17; Wagner, Pedigree and Progress, 51, 210 Meanwhile, Horace Round (1895) suggests that Uhtred may have been identical with the man of that name who was a son of Ligulf, a great Northumbrian thegn killed at Durham in 1080.Round, Origin of the Nevilles, p.490
Dolfin, called in the records "son of Uhtred", is first attested in 1129, as holding the manor of Staindrop (formerly Stainthorp) in County Durham, from the Prior of Durham. It shared with a vast church estate some limited common land of .Offler, Charters, 122 (no. 29) This locality remained the principal seat of the family until 1569, their chief residence being at Raby in the north of the parish of Staindrop, where in the 14th century they built the present Raby Castle.
Dolfin was succeeded by his son Meldred. He in turn was succeeded by his son Robert FitzMeldred.
Already before the Neville marriage, the FitzMeldred family was a major power in the area: "In the extent of their landed possessions this family, holding on obdurately to native names for a full hundred years after 1066, was pre-eminent among the lay proprietors within the bishopric of Durham during the twelfth century".Offler, 'FitzMeldred, Neville and Hansard', 3
Female line of de Nevilles The Anglo-Norman Ancient House of de Nevilles traces back to Odo, Count of Penthièvre and his son Ribald.
In 1069, William the Conqueror granted the Lordship of Middleham to his Breton cousin Alan Rufus, son of Odo, who built a wooden motte-and-bailey castle above the town. It has been dubbed the "Windsor of the North". By the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, Alan had passed the castle to his brother Ribald.
Middleham Castle eventually passed to Ribald's descendant Geoffrey de Neville (died 1193), 2nd feudal baron of Ashby in Lincolnshire.Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.3 At some time before 1176 he married Emma de Bulmer (died 1208), who brought to her husband several estates, including Brancepeth Castle in County Durham and Sheriff Hutton Castle near Bulmer,Davison, p.35 Raskelf and Sutton-in-the-Forest, all in Yorkshire.
His second child and heiress was Isabel de Neville (died 1248/54),Sanders, p.3 who married Robert FitzMaldred (1170/4-1242/8).
Geoffrey "de Neville" Geoffrey "de Neville" (died ) inherited the estates of his mother's family as well as his father's, and adopted his mother's surname, but retained his paternal arms of Gules, a saltire argent.Planché: The Pursuivant of Arms: "in consequence of the great possessions of his mother, assumed the name of her family, but retained the arms of his own" In Norman-ruled England, a Norman surname was more prestigious and socially advantageousRound, Feudal England, 370-2 than his original English surname FitzRobert.
Geoffrey de Neville's eldest son and heir was Robert de Neville, Sheriff of Yorkshire and Sheriff of Northumberland (1258). Other children include Geoffrey—who was to start a cadet branch of the family in Hornby, Lancashire—John, and Hugh. The identity of the mother, however, is disputed among scholars. A. F. Pollard, for example, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography in 1894 suggested that she was Margaret, daughter of Sir John de Longvillers. However, this Margaret was married until 1285, and there is evidence from a Lincolnshire fine of 1247 which refers to one Robert de Neville, knight, and his mother, Joan.
Rise to power The family's wealth and power grew steadily over the following centuries. Their regional power benefited greatly from frequent appointment to such royal offices as sheriff, castellan, justice of the forest, and justice of the peace in various parts of northern England. This prominent office-holding began with Geoffrey de Neville's son Robert, in the reign of Henry III, whom Robert supported against the barons under Simon de Montfort.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 82-6 The Nevilles also held administrative office under the prince-bishops of Durham.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 100 Robert's grandson Ralph Neville was one of the founding members of the Peerage of England, being summoned to sit in the House of Lords at its establishment in 1295, and thus initiating the line of Barons Neville de Raby.
Service in the wars of the late 13th and 14th centuries against Scotland, and later in the Hundred Years' War in France was of key importance in further enhancing the family's standing.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 100-2, 112-24 In 1334 Ralph Neville, Lord of Raby was appointed one of the wardens of the marches, the chief officers for frontier defence, and the Nevilles were habitually appointed to these posts thereafter.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 114 Ralph commanded the force that crushed an invading Scottish army at the Battle of Neville's Cross outside Durham and captured King David II in 1346. In the mid-14th century, the Nevilles became involved in naval defence as well, holding the post of Admiral of the North.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 119-24 During this period they also began to be appointed to high office at court and in the Church: the victor of Neville's Cross served as Steward of the Royal Household, and on his death was succeeded in the office by his eldest son John. John's brother Alexander Neville became Archbishop of York and was a close advisor of Richard II. As such, he was prosecuted, along with Richard's other leading adherents, when the disgruntled Lords Appellant seized power in 1386–9. He suffered the confiscation of his property but, as a clergyman, he escaped the death sentences imposed on his colleagues.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 125-35
By the late 14th century, the family had acquired an extensive array of estates across northern England. Besides their original powerbase in County Durham, they possessed a large block of lands in northern and central Yorkshire and significant holdings in Cumberland and Northumberland. They also held scattered estates in Lancashire and further south in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Essex. In addition to Raby, they acquired or built important castles at Brancepeth near Durham and at Middleham, Sheriff Hutton and Snape in Yorkshire.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 130, 137. Middleham Castle was acquired in 1270, while those at Brancepeth and Sheriff Hutton were built by the Nevilles in the late 14th century, and Snape Castle around 1430. Although geographically concentrated, their main estates were organised into three different administrative units (receiverships), based at Raby, Middleham and Sheriff Hutton. These were respectively responsible for the holdings in County Durham, in north-western Yorkshire, and in central Yorkshire. Towards the end of the 14th century, Middleham became a second habitual residence of the head of the family.Given-Wilson, English Nobility, pp. xii-xiii, 105-106
Earls of Westmorland The Nevilles' emergence into the highest echelon of the aristocracy received formal recognition in 1397, when the Lord of Raby Ralph Neville was created Earl of Westmorland by Richard II. By this time the Nevilles' power in the north was matched only by the Percy Earls of Northumberland, with whom they developed an acrimonious rivalry. These competing northern magnates enjoyed an exceptional degree of autonomy from royal authority, owing to the remoteness and insecurity of the region where they were established. The king, whose court was based in the south, had to rely on powerful lords from both houses to protect the border from Scottish invasion, counterbalance each other's influence, and help with general governance.
Although the family had previously been close to Richard II, Earl Ralph was quick to join Henry Bolingbroke when he landed in England to overthrow Richard in 1399. Shortly after Bolingbroke's successful usurpation, taking the throne as Henry IV, Westmorland was rewarded with marriage to the new king's half-sister Joan Beaufort, daughter of prince John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Henry extended Richard II's policy of bolstering the strength of the Nevilles as a check to the troublesome Percys. The family gained from the weakening of Percy power as a result of the Crown's suppression of a series of rebellions involving that family in the 1400s.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 137-9
While increasing the political standing of the Nevilles, the royal marriage led to a serious split in the family. Earl Ralph had previously been married to Margaret de Stafford, and the title of Earl of Westmorland descended through his son by this marriage. However, he favoured his sons by his second marriage, who received the bulk of the family lands on his death. This led to bitter disputes over the inheritance and lasting estrangement between the Nevilles of Raby, descended from Margaret Stafford, and the Nevilles of Middleham, descended from Joan Beaufort.Young, Making of the Neville Family, 143, 145-7