William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent

Coat of arms of William Neville as 6th Baron Fauconberg and Knight of the Garter, 1440

William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent KG (* around 1405 ; † January 9, 1463 in Pontelarge, Normandy ) was an English peer and politician.

Life

William Neville was the eighth son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland , and Lady Joan Beaufort . Since his mother was a daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , he was a great-grandson of King Edward III. and nephew of King Henry IV. As his mother came from a morganatic marriage , he himself was excluded from the line of succession.

He married early on April 22, 1422, Joan de Fauconberg, an heir to Thomas de Fauconberg, 5th Baron Fauconberg . On May 19, 1426 he was by the young King Heinrich VI. beaten to the Knight of the Bath . With Writ of Summons of August 3, 1429, he was appointed to the House of Lords as the 6th Baron Fauconberg from the right of his wife ( iure uxoris )  . He fought in the Hundred Years War and took part in the Siege of Orléans (1428-1429). In 1440 Heinrich VI took it. in the Order of the Garter and in 1451 in the Privy Council . In 1458 he was in command of the royal fleet and in 1460 governor of Calais .

During the Wars of the Roses he was initially on the side of his second nephew, Heinrich VI. from the House of Lancaster and took part on its side in 1455 in the First Battle of St Albans . He later switched sides and fought at the Battle of Northampton in 1460 and the Battle of Towton in 1461 on the side of his third degree nephew, Edward IV of the House of York . This raised him on June 30, 1461 Earl of Kent , took him on his Privy Council and gave him the office of Lord Steward of the Household on November 1, 1461 and on July 30, 1462 that of Lord Admiral of England .

Neville died shortly afterwards, on January 9, 1463, in Normandy and was buried in the convent of Guisborough in North Yorkshire .

progeny

From his marriage to Joan de Fauconberg he had three daughters:

• Lady Alice Neville ⚭ John Conyers († 1470), lord of Hornby Castle , parents of 1st Baron Conyers ;
• Lady Elizabeth Neville ⚭ Sir Richard Strangways († 1488);
• Lady Joan Neville ⚭ Edward Bechom.

Since he left no legitimate male heirs, the earliest dignity expired with his death, while the barony of Fauconberg fell between his three daughters when his wife died in Abeyance in 1490 .

literature

• Kent. In: George Edward Cokayne (Ed.): The Complete Peerage . Volume 4, George Bell & Sons, London 1892, p. 353 ( archive.org ).
• Fauconberg. In: George Edward Cokayne (Ed.): The Complete Peerage. Volume 3, George Bell & Sons, London 1890, pp. 320-321 ( archive.org ).
• Barony of Fauconberg. In: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage . Burke's Peerage Ltd., London 1959, p. 2442 ( hathitrust.org ).

Web links

• William de Neville, 1st and last Earl of Kent on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 131.
2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 11.
3. ^ A List of Admirals of England. In: Jacobus Houbraken, Paul de Rapin Thoyras, George Vertue: The History of England. Volume 4, Part 2, John & Paul Knapton, London 1747, pp. 270-274 (271).

predecessor	title	successor
Title abeyant (until 1407: Thomas de Fauconberg )	Baron Fauconberg (de iure uxoris) 1429–1463	Title abeyant (from 1903: Marcia Fox-Lane )
New title created	Earl of Kent 1461-1463	Title expired