Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (born November 22, 1428 , † April 14, 1471 at Barnet ), was an English nobleman . He was also known among his contemporaries as "Warwick the Kingmaker". As the richest man in England outside of the royal family, he used his wealth and power to promote King Henry VI , who came from the House of Lancaster . depose and the House of York belonging to Edward IV. to use and then later, after a falling out with King Edward, once Henry VI. bring back to the throne.

Neville was the eldest son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montagu , Countess of Salisbury. His younger brother was John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu , and for a short time Earl of Northumberland . Neville married Anne de Beauchamp , sister of Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick . When he died, although the title of Duke of Warwick lapsed , the title of Earl was transferred to his daughter Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick , who was still a 2-year-old child. Lady Warwick died at the age of five, and Richard Neville was given the title by his wife (who bore the same name as her niece, the late Countess). So he was able to bring two large counties with lands in the English Midlands and in the Welsh Marches under his control.

As the nephew by marriage of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York , Neville played a key role in the Wars of the Roses . He used his influence and notoriety to test the influence of the Duke of York under Henry VI. to increase, although he temporarily suspended his support when he claimed the throne in front of parliament in 1460. Neville became the largest and most influential landowner in England after his father's death at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. With the support of his military, especially at the Battle of Towton , which ended in an overwhelming victory for the Yorkists, he put Edward IV on the throne. The two had a very close relationship during Edward's early reign, when Neville put down the Lancastrian Rebellions in the northern counties for him . Neville held the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1460 .

The two separated in the late 1460s. The breakdown of their relationship had a variety of reasons, but the main one was Edward's secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 while Neville was negotiating a French marriage option for his king. This insult was soon joined by bitterness over the preference given to the Woodvilles at court. Other factors also contributed to Neville's anger, such as Edward's sympathies for an alliance with Burgundy , while Warwick favored France , and Edward's reluctance to marry Warwick's daughters Isabella , his brothers George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence , and Richard, Duke of Gloucester and to allow Anne .

In 1469 Warwick had formed an alliance with Edward's jealous brother George, with whom he married his eldest daughter, Isabella, in the same year. They defeated Edward's troops at the Battle of Edgecote Moor , captured the king, and ruled in his name for several months. However, in addition to a large number of English nobles, Warwick's brother John Neville remained loyal to the king. Edward IV was soon liberated by an army led by his youngest brother Richard. Warwick was indicted as a traitor in 1470 and was forced to flee to France, where he formed an alliance with his old enemy Margaret of Anjou , wife of Henry VI. As a result, he married his younger daughter Anne to Margaret's son, Edward , the Prince of Wales.

Margarete distrusted Neville's intentions and insisted that he prove his honesty by returning to England with an army. In 1470 Neville led a newly formed army to the island and this time also found support from his brother John from the north. Edward IV had to flee, while Neville Heinrich VI. brought back to the throne on October 30th.

Warwick now planned his alliance with Louis XI. of France by helping France to invade Burgundy, for which Ludwig promised him the previously Burgundian lands of Zeeland and Holland as a reward . This news reached Charles the Bold , Duke of Burgundy, who, in turn, helped Edward with an army when he returned to England in 1471. Neville received support from Margaret, who also translated to England with her son. Neville was defeated along with his brother John and killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. His daughter Isabella remained married to the Duke of Clarence. Anne, whose husband, the Prince of Wales, was later killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury , later married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III. from England.

After the death of his widow in 1492, his grandson Edward Plantagenet inherited the title of Earl of Warwick ; the title of Earl of Salisbury was suspended from his death and was reassigned to George Plantagenet in 1472 .

literature

• Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets. The English kings in Europe in the Middle Ages (1100–1500) . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-17-014488-X (Kohlhammer-Urban-Taschenbücher; Vol. 476).
• Frederick M. Powicke, Edmund B. Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology . 2nd edition Royal Historical Society, London 1961.
• John A. Wagner: Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Rose. ABC-CLIO Publ., Santa Barbara 2001, ISBN 1-85109-358-3 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Frederick M. Powicke, Edmund B. Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology , p. 448.
2. ^ ^{A b} Frederick M. Powicke, Edmund B. Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology , p. 454.
3. ↑ Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets. The English Kings in Medieval Europe (1100–1500) , p. 206.
4. ↑ Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets. The English Kings in Medieval Europe (1100–1500) , p. 207.
5. ↑ Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets. The English Kings in Medieval Europe (1100–1500) , p. 199.

Web links

Commons : Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, on thepeerage.com , accessed July 21, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
Anne Beauchamp	Earl of Warwick (de iure uxoris ) 1449-1471	Anne Neville
Richard Neville (de iure uxoris)	Earl of Salisbury 1460-1471	Title dormant
Richard Neville (de iure uxoris)	Baron Monthermer 1460-1471	Title abeyant