Robert de Neville
The Neville family in England go back to at least the 11th century, and the historian Horace Round speculated that they were part of the pre-Norman aristocracy of Northumbria.
[2] By the time Neville reached adulthood, and for the rest of his life, English politics was in a state of partisanship; the King, Henry III was increasingly unpopular with his nobility and the tension between them, never resolved, erupted in constitutional crisis and eventually civil war.
[11] However, notes Young, the nature of the surviving evidence—mostly existing in the form of the inquisition post mortem taken after his death—is not sufficient for scholars to make anything other than "an approximate estimate of their wealth".
The strategic proximity of Northumberland to the border with Scotland made this an important post for pushing the boundaries of English influence into Scottish affairs,[note 2] as well as escorting and receiving embassies;[6] accompanied by William de Latimer, then Sheriff of York, he travelled to Scotland on royal business in April 1258[10] with orders to assist the Scottish king in crushing a revolt by his own nobles.
[17][note 3] De Neville played a leading role in the administration of border society, including the organisation of truces, resolution of disputes and collecting protection money.
[6][note 4] In 1263, de Neville was entrusted with the defence of York and all of England north of the River Trent, as well as being appointed Sheriff of Yorkshire.
[26] In 1263—at the time, constable of Devizes Castle[27]—de Neville was part of the group of barons sympathetic to the King in his struggle with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester over political reform.
[10] The first violence took place in June 1263 when de Montfort and his men led a chevauchée through the lands of the King's favourites, collectively nicknamed the Savoyards on account of where they had come from.
Oakes calls de Neville's prospects of doing so "daunting", not least on account of the sheer extent of the region he was now responsible for—around one-third of the Kingdom.
[24] De Neville's position, says Young, "is especially noteworthy in that other barons in the north, including John d'Eyvill, who had preceded Robert as Chief Justice of the Forest and had been associated with him in other royal service, now gave their allegiance to the Montfort government".
Hugh and John were pardoned for their parts in the rebellion...family ties and a tradition of royal service helped to restore unity among the Nevilles.
[6] He was reappointed Chief Justice of the Northern Forests[note 11] and also made a Keeper of the peace for Cumberland, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire.
[41][note 13] De Neville continued to perform administrative duties, however, sitting on various commissions of Oyer and terminer[33] and responsible for the collection of the fifteenth and tenth tax in Northumberland and Westmorland in 1275.
His first marriage, to Isabel de Byron,[44] took an active part in her husband's legal affairs[45] and provided him with children, all sons, although his heir, also a Robert, predeceased his father in 1271.
Robert the younger had married Mary fitz Ranulf (or Fitzrandolph),[29] who inherited Middleham Castle from her father and so brought it to the Neville family.
