second earl of Stafford (d. 1386); and, secondly (before 20 Feb. 1397), to Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swynford, and widow of Sir Robert Ferrers. She survived him, dying on 13 Nov. 1440 and being buried in Lincoln Cathedral, though her effigy is also on her husband's tomb at Staindrop. The inscription on her monument is quoted by Swallow (p. 137). Joan had some taste for literature. Thomas Hoccleve [q. v.] dedicated a volume of his works to her, and we hear of her lending the ‘Chronicles of Jerusalem’ and the ‘Voyage of Godfrey Bouillon’ to her nephew, Henry V (Fœdera, x. 317).
The Nevilles were a prolific race, but Westmorland surpassed them all. He had no less than twenty-three children by his two wives—nine by the first, and fourteen by the second. The children of the first marriage, seven of whom were females, were thrown into the shade by the offspring of his more splendid second alliance which brought royal blood into the family. Westmorland devoted himself indefatigably to found the fortunes of his second family by a series of great matches, and a good half of the old Neville patrimony, the Yorkshire estates, was ultimately diverted to the younger branch. Thus the later earls of Westmorland had a landed position inferior to that of their ancestors, who were simple barons, and the real headship of the Neville house passed to the eldest son of the second family. Westmorland's children by his first wife were: (1) John, who fought in France and on the Scottish borders, and died before his father (1423); he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent, and their son Ralph succeeded his grandfather as second Earl of Westmorland in 1425 (see below). (2) Ralph of Oversley, near Alcester, in Warwickshire, in right of his wife Mary (b. 1393), daughter and coheiress of Robert, baron Ferrers of Wem in Shropshire. (3) Mathilda married Peter, lord Mauley (d. 1414). (4) Philippa married Thomas, lord Dacre of Gillsland (d. 1457). (5) Alice married, first, Sir Thomas Grey of Heton; and, secondly, Sir Gilbert Lancaster. (6) Elizabeth, who became a nun in the Minories. (7) Anne, who married Sir Gilbert Umfreville of Kyme. (8) Margaret, who married, first, Richard, lord le Scrope of Bolton in Wensleydale (d. 1420), and, secondly, William Cressener, dying in 1463; and (9) Anastasia.
By his second wife Neville had nine sons and five daughters: (1) Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury [q. v.] (2) William, baron Fauconberg [q. v.] (3) George, summoned to parliament as Baron Latimer, 1432–69, his father having transferred to him that barony which he had bought from his childless half-brother John, who inherited it from his mother [see under Neville, John, d. 1388)]. George Neville's male descendants held the barony of Latimer till 1577, when it fell into abeyance [see Neville, John, third Baron Latimer]. (5) Robert [q. v.], bishop successively of Salisbury and Durham. (6) Edward, baron of Bergavenny [q. v.] (7–9) Three sons who died young. (10) Joan, a nun. (11) Catherine, married, first, John Mowbray, second duke of Norfolk [q. v.]; secondly, Thomas Strangways; thirdly, Viscount Beaumont (d. 1460); and, fourthly, John Wydeville, brother-in-law of Edward IV. (12) Anne, married, first, Humphrey, first duke of Buckingham (d. 1460) [q. v.]; and, secondly, Walter Blount, first baron Mountjoy (d. 1474). (13) Eleanor, married, first, Richard, lord le Despenser (d. 1414); and, secondly, Henry Percy, second earl of Northumberland (d. 1455). (14) Cicely, who married Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, and was mother of Edward IV.
Ralph Neville, second Earl of Westmorland (d. 1484), son of John, the eldest son of the first earl by his first wife, married a daughter of Hotspur, and left active Lancastrian partisanship to his younger brothers. He died in 1484. His only son having perished at the battle of St. Albans in 1455, he was succeeded as third Earl of Westmorland by his nephew, Ralph (1456–1523), son of his brother John. This John Neville was a zealous Lancastrian. He took a prominent part in the struggle with the younger branch of the Nevilles for the Yorkshire lands of the first Earl of Westmorland, was summoned to parliament as Lord Neville after the Yorkist collapse in 1459, and was rewarded for his services at Wakefield in December 1460 with the custody of the Yorkshire castles of his uncle and enemy, Salisbury, who was slain there (see under Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury;Nicolas, Historic Peerage, p. 345; Chron. ed. Davies, p. 106). A Yorkist chronicler accuses him of treacherously getting York's permission to raise troops, which he then used against him (ib.) A few months later he was slain at Towton (30 March 1461). When his son Ralph became third Earl of Westmorland, the barony of Neville merged in the earldom of Westmorland, which came to an end with the attainder of Charles Neville, sixth earl [q. v.], in 1571.
[Rotuli Parliamentorum; Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, ed. Nicolas; Rymer's Fœdera, original edition; Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer; Adam of Usk. ed. Maunde Thompson; Annales Ricardi II et Hen-
