John Neville, Baron Neville
John was a beneficiary of the spoils of war after the Yorkists fled England in 1459, being awarded many of his rival Neville cousins' confiscated lands and offices, and was also raised to the rank of baron.
When Richard of York returned in 1460 and claimed the throne, Lord Neville initially posed as an ally, but went back to the Lancastrian side just before the Battle of Wakefield.
[11] The dispute was an uneven one, for the Earl of Salisbury was wealthier and better connected with powerful members of the nobility and clergy, aside from also being a blood relation of the English royal family.
[16] Sir John Neville was summoned as a knight of the shire for the West Riding of Yorkshire to a great council which was to meet at Leicester on 21 May 1455.
After the queen wrested back control over the government, she encouraged John Neville and his family to renew their rivalry in the north with York's ally, the Earl of Salisbury.
In 1457, with the death of Salisbury's brother Robert, bishop of Durham, the queen secured the appointment of her man, Laurence Booth, to the vacant see.
[16] After the rout and flight of the Yorkist lords at Ludford in October 1459, Sir John Neville received substantial rewards comprising largely the forfeited estates and offices of the Earl of Salisbury.
On 18 March 1460, he received another grant from Salisbury's empire: a yearly rent of 100 marks from the manors of Worton and Banbridge and the forest of Wensleydale.
[18] Neville was absent from the Parliament in October at which Richard, Duke of York claimed the throne,[1] but was given a commission to proceed against the Lancastrian "rebels" assembling in the north.
Under pretence of being an ally, Lord Neville visited him and received a commission to raise men on the duke's behalf, but joined the enemy with his recruits.
[21][23] On the 20th, at York, John, his brother the Earl of Westmorland and other lords declared their approval of an agreement which entailed the cession of Berwick to the Scots in exchange for their support.
