Noble family House of Neville Mother Edith Sandys | Name Ralph 4th | |
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Father Ralph Neville, Lord Neville Born 21 February 1498 ( 1498-02-21 ) Died April 24, 1549, Holywell House, Hertfordshire Spouse Lady Catherine Stafford (m. 1520–1549) Parents Ralph Neville, Lord Neville Children Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland, Dorothy Neville Grandchildren Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke Similar People Edward Manners - 3rd Earl o, Edward Stafford - 3rd Duke, Fulke Greville - 1st Baron | ||
Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland , (21 February 1498 – 24 April 1549) was an English peer and soldier. He was the grandson of Ralph Neville, 3rd Earl of Westmorland, and the father of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland.
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Family
Ralph Neville, born 21 February 1498, was the son of Ralph Neville (d.1498) and Edith Sandys (d. 22 August 1529), daughter of Sir William Sandys of the Vyne by Edith Cheyney, daughter of Sir John Cheyney. He was the grandson of Ralph Neville, 3rd Earl of Westmorland, and Isabel Booth.
Neville had a brother who died young, and a sister, Isabel, who married firstly, Sir Robert Plumpton, and secondly, Lawrence Kighley, Esq.
After his father's death in 1498, Neville's mother, Edith, married Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Darcy, who was beheaded on Tower Hill 30 June 1537 for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace. She died at Stepney on 22 August 1529, and was buried at the Friars Observant, Greenwich.
Career
Neville inherited the earldom of Westmorland as an infant at the death of his grandfather on 6 February 1499. On 9 July 1510, at about the age of twelve, his wardship was granted to Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.
As a young man, Westmorland was among those who attended King Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in June 1520 and at his meeting with Emperor Charles V at Gravelines in July. On 7 November 1520 he had livery of his lands. He was present at the reception for the Emperor near Dover in May 1522. In 1522-3 Westmorland saw military service on the Scottish border, where he was knighted in the latter year by Thomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey. He was installed as a member of the Order of the Garter on 25 June 1525, and before 5 February 1526 was a member of the King's Privy Council. He continued to serve on the northern border, being appointed Deputy Captain of Berwick and Vice Warden of the East and Middle Marches from October 1525 to September 1526 under the King's illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond. In January 1526 he was the chief envoy charged with concluding a truce with Scotland.
On 13 July 1530 Westmorland was among those who signed the letter to Pope Clement VII urging the annulment of the King's marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In May 1534 he was a member of a commission directed to inquire into alleged treasonous activities by William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland. He again saw military service in the north when in June and July 1535 he was among those charged with suppressing disorders in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland. On 15 May 1536 he was one of the peers who took part in the trial of the King's second wife, Anne Boleyn. During the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536-7 Westmorland remained loyal to the King, which Archbold notes is 'surprising, considering his family connections'. He refused an appointment as Warden of the East and Middle Marches at this time, allegedly because his men supported the rising. At the time Norfolk described him as 'a man of such heat and hastiness of nature' as to be 'unmeet' for the appointment. However, as Dockwray notes, Norfolk may have been disparaging a potential rival. On 14 January 1537 he was made a member of the Council of the North.
On 12 November 1537 Westmorland attended the funeral of the King's third wife, Jane Seymour. In 1538 he was again disparaged, on this occasion being described by an anonymous writer as a man 'of great power without wit or knowledge'. In May 1544 he was in command of the East and Middle Marches during the invasion of Scotland under Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford.
Westmorland died on 24 April 1549, aged 51, and was buried at Staindrop, Durham. His widow, Katherine, died 14 May 1555 at Holywell in Shoreditch, the house of her son-in-law, Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, and was buried 17 May 1555 at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch.
Marriage and issue
Westmorland was first betrothed to Elizabeth Stafford (c.1497 – 30 November 1558), the eldest daughter of his guardian, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, and Eleanor Percy, with whom he is said to have been in love, and whom he was to have married before Christmas 1512. However about that time Thomas Howard made suit for her, and Elizabeth married Howard, as his second wife, before 8 January 1513. Westmorland married instead, before June 1520, Stafford's second daughter, Katherine (d. 14 May 1555). They had eighteen children, including: