In the first instalment of our new occasional Library Blog, Ethan Shanks, a Newcastle University placement student, tells us about his fascination with Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Northumberland..
A Short History of Ralph Neville
As part of my Placement Year from Newcastle University, I have been working at the Great North Museum: Hancock library recording the SANT Collection for their Maps in Books Project. This involves looking in SANT’s collection of books for maps, images, letters, marginalia, etc. that are not recorded in the books’ title or contents lists, to enrich our knowledge of the contents of the books.
I was especially interested in M A Richardson’s 1846 multi-volume Local Historian’s Table Book (on the Antiquaries’ shelves at AI 28 to AI 34). In these volumes, Richardson brought together ballads, prose, poetry, traditions, and historical facts connected to North East England. I became quite engrossed in a piece on the local Neville family, and in particular, a key member who I was previously unaware of, whose political manoeuvring and military skill was pivotal to the family’s rise into major Medieval English politics.
Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, was granted this title by Richard II. Despite this and his military service to Richard he, alongside the head of the Percy family, Henry “Hotspur” Percy whose well-known statue is at Alnwick Castle, supported Richard’s rival claimant, Henry Bolingbroke. Upon Henry’s landing in England, Ralph’s support proved crucial to his succession as Henry IV of England. Reasons for his betrayal included Richard’s problematic reign and Ralph’s second marriage to Joan Beaufort, Henry’s half-sister, making Ralph the new king’s brother-in-law. Ralph was rewarded by Henry IV for this support and his later effectiveness in quelling rebellions, including two by the Percy family, one of which saw the death of Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury.
Posthumously, Ralph’s influence and connection to the Lancastrian kings extended to his inclusion in Shakespeare’s plays about Henry IV and Henry V. Interestingly, Shakespeare includes Ralph in the Battle of Agincourt with his own retinue. In reality, Ralph remained in England on the regency council during Henry’s French campaigns, with the duty of protecting the Scottish border.
Upon Ralph’s death, his holdings were divided between the two families of his first and second marriages. Descendants of his second marriage were close relatives to the royal Plantagenet line, directly involved in the Wars of the Roses, notably his grandson, Richard Neville, ‘The Kingmaker.’
As someone local, finding out the deep political involvement of a family I knew of, but had never investigated, really captivated me. While a historical interest can be as broad as social history in general, or the history of a place or time anywhere in the world, local histories have a personal appeal to local individuals.
Ethan Shanks
picture; a photo of the pages of the Table Book relating to Ralph Neville