He was the eldest son by the second wife of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland,[1] from whom he inherited vast estates in Yorkshire[2] and the North West of England.
[3] He was a loyal Lancastrian for most of his life, serving the king, Henry VI, in France, on the border with Scotland, and in many of the periodic crises of the reign.
[10] They would often join Salisbury on royal commissions, such as in 1440 when William FitzHugh, Christopher Conyers and Robert Danby sat with the earl on an enquiry into a petition from the burgesses of Richmond, North Yorkshire.
Firstly, men who were both geographically close to the nexus of earl's power at Middleham Castle and of social importance in the area—Conyers, FitzRandolph, Metcalfe, Mountford, Routh and Wandesford.
For example, even though it was little over a month before the Percy–Neville feud broke out into outright violence, in July 1453[14] James Strangways, Salisbury's man, was sheriff and oversaw the election of two Percy retainers to parliament, and the attestors contained a mix of sympathisers to both.
Much of Salisbury's power came from his official position as warden of the west March: this effectively allowed him to raise and maintain a private army among the local gentry[17]—"the best natural source of fighting men in the country"[18]—at the crown's expense.
[17] Comments Dockray that the earl[19] Could confidently expect backing from an impressive line-up of fellow northerners, ranging from baronial houses such as the Greystokes of Greystoke, the Fitzhughs of Ravensworth and the Scropes of Bolton to greater gentry families such as the Strangeways of West Harlsey, the Pickerings of Ellerton, the Haryngtons of Hornby (in Lancashire) and the Conyers of Hornby (in Richmondshire).
[19]Salisbury, for their part, was not just a good opposition to them because of his great wealth, attractive though that must have been in terms of his ability to pay fees,[note 2] but also for his direct contacts with the king's council and the royal family.
[22] Also, William Fitzhugh's son and heir married Salisbury's daughter Alice,[23] and Sir John Langton, Sheriff of Yorkshire 1424, "had family connections with the Nevilles and Harringtons".
[27] Hicks also notes the difficulties in ascertaining precise relationships, even though it is known they must have existed in great number; after all, he comments, a fragment of the Middleham receiver's roll of 1458–1459 indicates that the massive sum of 20% of income from the honour was spent on fees and retaining.
[30][note 3] Another scholar has commented that, although Salisbury "virtually monopolised" the major Duchy of Lancaster offices in the area, "yet evidence to connect any of the West Riding gentry with these lords is embarrassingly slight".
This rather strange clause shows above all else that Salisbury was seen as a man of honour, since there would have been little point in insisting on its inclusion if there had been no expectation of it being kept, but the language also reveals his contempt for his impertinent vassal.