Margaret de Neville, also Margaret de Longvillers and domina Margareta de Nevill (c. 1252 – February 1318/1319) was an English landowner in Yorkshire and Lancashire during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Her inheritance helped to consolidate the power and influence of the House of Neville.
Biography Margaret de Longvillers (also spelt Lungvilliers) was born in Farnley, Yorkshire, either in or prior to 1252.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd (1999), vol. 1, p.13. She was the daughter and heir of John de Lungvilliers and inherited land in Hornby as well as other property in Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, upon his death in 1255. This included estates at Hornby, Cononley, Farnhill, Gargrave, Cleckheaton, Farnley and Armley. Margaret married Geoffrey de Neville (son of Geoffrey de Neville and Joan of Monmouth) prior to 1267. It was their marriage that consolidated the wealth and position of the House of Neville.
Margaret and Geoffrey had six surviving children. After the death of her husband c.1285, Margaret worked vigorously to keep control of her estates. However this control was on the condition of being granted a licence by the crown should she remarry. In 1285 she "had writ for livery" at Hornby Castle.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IX, page 488. In 1288/9 she settled the manor of Hutton Magna on herself for life.'Parishes: Hutton Magna or Hutton Longvilliers', in A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1, ed. William Page (London, 1914), pp. 84–86. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol1/pp84-86 [accessed 29 October 2021]. In 1293 a licence was granted to her so it is likely she remarried. In 1294 she was obliged to provide military service in Gascony, and in 1300 against the Scots.
The Coucher Book of Bolton Abbey has some of her charitable giving recorded in it. When leaving her name there instead of describing herself as 'wife of ...' or 'daughter of ...' Margaret de Neville used her own names, both "domina Margareta de Longvl" and "domina Margareta de Nevill".Legg, Katrina Jane (2002) An edition of the Coucher Book and charters of Bolton Priory (Yorkshire). PhD thesis, University of Sheffield. 174.
Margaret de Neville died in 1318 or 1319 and was possibly buried at Bolton Abbey. At her funeral 1440 gallons of ale were distributed to the poor. The prior of Bolton Priory was an executor of her will. After her death there was a dispute over who would inherit the manor of Farnley.
Marriage and issue Margaret and Geoffrey had: John I de Neville of Hornby married Pernel Geoffrey Neville Robert I de Neville of Hornby married Isabel, daughter of Robert de Byron Edmund de Neville married Isolda, daughter of Robert of Flamborough William Margaret married Robert de Northmilford
References
Sources