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The Making of the Neville Family in England, 1166-1400

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Though they liked to claim in later centuries that the first Neville in England had been steward to William the Conqueror and had fought at Hastings, Domesday Book shows that Gilbert de Neville was actually a very small landholder in Lincolnshire in 1086. The family began its climb with the career of Alan de Neville, appointed justice of the forest by Henry II, a position in which he became somewhat notorious for his money-raising efforts on behalf of his king. He also sided with Henry against Thomas Beckett. Hugh Neville became chief forester under King John, to whom he was likewise loyal (most of the time) and for whom he likewise raised vast sums of money. Hugh was listed among those supporting the king in the preamble to Magna Carta. By this time, the Nevilles had established themselves in a number of counties and its members weren't always united as a family, but as a group their influence continued to grow. By the 14th century, the Nevilles were second only to the Percys in ruling the north of England, their power and influence culminating in Ralph de Neville, earl of Warwick, known as "the Kingmaker" for his shifting allegiance of one side or the other during the Wars of the Roses. This Ralph was the grandson of Ralph, lord of Raby and earl of Westmoreland, and Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt, which gave him a connection to the throne himself. It all came to an end, though, at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, in which both the overmighty earl and his brother were killed and Edward IV was relieved of the Neville influence. Still, Ralph's aunt, Cicely Neville, was even Queen of England a decade later as the wife of Richard III. Young is more interested in the family's collective rise through royal service than in tracing exact lineages, which may frustrate genealogists, but this is a first-rate dynastic study and it includes an excellent bibliography.