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NEVILLE, or NEVILL

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 458 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NEVILLE, or NEVILL , the See also:family name of a famous See also:English See also:noble See also:house, descended from Dolfin son of Uchtred, who had a See also:grant from the See also:prior of See also:Durham in 1131 of " Staindropshire," co. Durham, a territory which remained in the hands of his descendants for over four centuries, and in which stood Raby See also:castle, their See also:chief seat. His See also:grandson, See also:Robert, son of Meldred, married the heiress of See also:Geoffrey de Neville (d. 1192-1193), who inherited from her See also:mother the Bulmer lordship of Brancepeth near Durham. Henceforth Brancepeth castle became the other seat of the house, of which the See also:bull's See also:head See also:crest commemorates the Bulmers; but it adopted the See also:Norman surname of Neville (See also:Neuville). Robert's grandson, another Robert, (d. 1282) held high position in See also:Northumbria, and sided with See also:Henry III. in the Barons' See also:War, as did his younger See also:brother Geoffrey (d. 1285), ancestor of the Nevills of See also:Hornby. This Robert's son Robert (d. 1271) extended the See also:great possessions of the family into See also:Yorkshire by his See also:marriage with the heiress of See also:Middle-See also:ham, of which the powerful Norman castle still stands. The See also:summons of their son Ranulf (d. 1331) to See also:parliament as a See also:baron (1294) did but recognize the position of the Nevills as mighty in the See also:north See also:country.

See also:

Ralph (d. 1367) the second baron—whose See also:elder brother " the See also:Peacock of the North " was slain by the See also:Douglas in 13x8—was employed by See also:Edward III. as a See also:commander against the Scots and had a leading See also:part in the victory of Nevill's See also:Cross (1346), where See also:David See also:Bruce was captured, and by which Durham was saved. His active career as head of his house (1331-1367) did much to advance its fortunes and to make the name of Nevill a See also:power on the Scottish See also:march. Of his younger sons, See also:Alexander became See also:archbishop of See also:York (1374-1388) and was a prominent supporter of See also:Richard II., attending him closelyand encouraging his absolutist policy; in consequence of which he was one of those " appealed of See also:treason " by the opposition in 1388 and being found guilty was outlawed, and died abroad in 1392. His younger brother See also:William, a See also:naval commander, took the opposite See also:side, was a leading Lollard and a friend of Wiclif, and in 1388-1389 acted with the lords appellant. See also:John, the 3rd baron (d. 1388), a See also:warden of the Scottish See also:marches and See also:lieutenant of See also:Aquitaine, a follower of John of Gaunt and a famous soldier in the See also:French See also:wars of Edward III., continued the policy of strengthening the family's position by marriage; his sisters and daughters became the wives of great See also:northern lords; his first wife was a See also:Percy, and his second See also:Lord See also:Latimer's heiress; and his younger son, See also:Thomas, became Lord Furnival in right of his wife, while his son by his second wife became Lord Latimer. His eldest son Ralph (1364-1425), 1st See also:earl of See also:Westmorland (see WESTMORLAND, EARLS OF), carried the policy further, marrying for his second wife a daughter . of John of Gaunt and securing heiresses for five of his sons, four of the younger ones becoming peers, while a fifth, Robert, was made See also:bishop of Durham (1438-1457). Among his daughters were the duchesses of See also:Norfolk, See also:Buckingham and York (mother of Edward IV. and Richard III.) and an See also:abbess of See also:Barking. The Nevills were thus closely connected with the houses of See also:Lancaster and York, and had themselves become the most important family in the See also:realm. Of the earl's sons by his second marriage, Richard, earl of See also:Salisbury (and three of his sons) and William, earl of See also:Kent, are the subjects of See also:separate notices. The greatness of the Nevills centred in the "kingmaker" (Richard's son) and the heads of his house, after the 1st earl,. were of small See also:account in See also:history, till See also:Charles, the 6th earl, at the instigation of his wife, See also:Surrey's daughter, joined See also:Northumberland in the fatal northern rising of 1569 to the ruin of his house.

His estates, with the noble castles of Brancepeth and Raby, were forfeited; Middleham, with the Yorkshire lands, had been settled by the 1st earl on the heirs of his second marriage. Although the See also:

senior See also:line became See also:extinct on the earl's See also:death abroad (16o1), there were male descendants of the 1st earl remaining, sprung from See also:George and Edward, sons of his second marriage. George, who was Lord Latimer, was See also:father of See also:Sir Henry, slain at Edgcote fight, and grandfather of Richard, 2nd lord (1469-1530), a soldier who distinguished himself in the north, especially at See also:Flodden See also:Field. His grandson (d. 1577) was the last lord, but there were male descendants of his younger sons, one of whom, See also:Edmund, claimed the See also:barony, and after 16o1 the earldom of Westmorland, but vainly, owing to its See also:attainder. In this line may still exist a male See also:heir of this mighty house. The heirs male of Edward, Lord "Bergavenny " (now " See also:Abergavenny" co. See also:Monmouth), who died in 1476, have retained their See also:place in the See also:peerage under that See also:style to the See also:present See also:day by a See also:special and anomalous See also:devolution. His wife, the only See also:child of Richard (See also:Beauchamp), earl of See also:Worcester (d. 1422), brought him the great estates which had come to her line with Fitz Alan and Despencer heiresses, and in 1450 he was summoned as Lord Bergavenny, though not seized of that castle. Their grandson, George (c. 1471-1535) the 3rd lord, was in favour with Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and recovered from the latter in 1512 the castle and lands of Abergavenny.

He was prominent in the French See also:

campaigns of 1513-14 and 1523. On the death of his son, Henry, the 4th lord, in 1587, a See also:long-famous contest ensued between his daughter, See also:Lady Fane, and his heir-male, Edward Nevill, which was eventually ended by See also:James I., in 1604, assigning the barony of Abergavenny to Edward's son and that of Despencer to Lady Fane. The former subsequently descended (on uncertain grounds) to the heirs-male with the old Beauchamp estates under special entails. In 1784 the then Lord Abergavenny received an earldom, and the next lord erected at Eridge, See also:Sussex, the present seat of the family, on which the marquisate of Abergavenny and earldom of See also:Lewes were conferred in 1876. Its Sussex estates are mainly derived through the Beauchamps, from the Fitz Alans, heirs of the Warennes. The Nevills of Billingbear, Berks, were a junior line, of whom was Sir Henry See also:Nevin (d. 1615), courtier and diplomatist, who became a leading figure in parliament under James I. His grandson, another Sir Hemy (d. 1694), was an author of some See also:note and a Republican opponent of See also:Cromwell, by whom he was banished from See also:London in 1654. The family became extinct in 1740, and in 1762 Richard Aldworth (1717-1793), on inheriting Billingbear, took the name of Nevill. From him descend the Lords Braybrooke. Neuville is a See also:common French name, and it is not clear whether all the Nevills who occur in the 12th and 13th centuries were of the same stock as the lords of Raby.

The baronial line of Nevill of " See also:

Essex " was founded by the marriage, temp. Richard I., of a See also:Hugh de Nevill to the heiress of Henry de Cornhill, a wealthy Londoner. He went on crusade with Richard I. and was after-wards an active supporter of John, who names him in the Great See also:Charter (1215). His descendant, Hugh de Nevill, was summoned as a baron in 1311, as was his son John, who served in the French and Flemish campaigns, and died, the last of his line, in 1358. See See also:Rowland's See also:Historical and Genealogical Account of the Family of Nevill (183o) ; See also:Drummond's Noble See also:British Families (1846); See also:Swallow's De Nova See also:Villa (1885); and Barron's See also:sketch in The Ancestor, No. 6 (1903). Also See also:Dugdale's Baronage; G. E. C[okayne]'s See also:Complete Peerage; J. H. See also:Round's Feudal See also:England; and for the Nevill castles See also:Mackenzie's Castles of England. For the Kingmaker, see See also:Oman's monograph (1891).

Q. H.

End of Article: NEVILLE, or NEVILL

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