Neville was known for the harshness he displayed in carrying out his forest office, and at least one monastic chronicle claimed that he "most evilly vexed the various provinces throughout England".
[2] Alan was a descendant of Gilbert de Neville, a minor landholder in Lincolnshire after the Norman Conquest of England.
[6] For serving as butler, Neville received rents from the market dues at Pont-Audemer worth 100 shillings annually.
[4] By 1163, Neville was in charge of hearing the pleas of the forest in Oxfordshire, and possibly also Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire.
Any offences against the forest law were subject to monetary fines, which were an important source of royal revenue.
Becket was angered by the bishop's action, even though Foliot made the absolution contingent on Neville getting a penance from the pope on his way to the Holy Land.
[16] During 1166, Neville was in charge of Staffordshire for the general eyre undertaken in that year and also tried the pleas of the forest for Devonshire and Worcestershire, and perhaps elsewhere.
[5] The Chronicle of Battle Abbey claimed that Neville "most evilly vexed the various provinces throughout England with countless and unaccustomed persecutions".
[25] According to the historian Robert Bartlett, Neville's exactions earned him a "reputation for harshness verging on extortion".