 Richard
"the King-Maker" Neville,
Earl of Warwick
(1428-1471)
Earl of Warwick
Earl of Salisbury
Born: 22nd November
1428, traditionally at Bisham, Berkshire
Died: 14th April 1471 at the Battle of Barnet, Essex
Commonly
known as the “King-Maker,” Richard Neville was the eldest son of his
namesake, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, by Alice daughter and heiress
of Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury. He is said to have been born at the
family manor of Bisham in Berkshire on 22nd November 1428. Richard’s Earldom
of Warwick came from his marriage, at the age of six, to the sister of the last
of the Beauchamp family who held that title and was, at that time, the richest
and most powerful Earldom in England. His greatest castles were Warwick (Warks),
Cardiff (Glams), Abergavenny (Monmouths) and Barnard (Durham), but he also
favoured Caversham (Oxon) and others.
The
Earl of Salisbury’s sister was married to the Royal claimant, the Earl of
York. Her brother and nephew therefore became the greatest supporters of the
Yorkist cause against Margaret of Anjou and the Beauforts, who swayed the mind
of the unworldly Henry
VI. In this capacity, the Earl of Warwick won for the Yorkists the first
battle of the civil wars, at St. Albans, in 1455. After this victory, poor Henry
was obliged to make his enemy 'Captain of Calais', a position which gave Richard
command of the only real standing force in the English dominions. It also gave
him command of a considerable fleet with which, in 1458-9, he did good service
against Spanish fleets in the Channel. In the same year, Warwick joined his
uncle, the Duke of York, in the West of England, was defeated with him by the
Lancastrians at Ludford and fled back to Calais by way of Guernsey. Thence in
1460 to Ireland and then again to Calais. In the summer of that year, he was
back in England and helped to win, for the Yorkists, the Battle of Northampton.
While York and Warwick's father, Salisbury, went northwards to meet the forces
which Queen Margaret had raised in Scotland and Yorkshire, Warwick remained in
London in charge of Henry, whom he still professed to regard as King. His
father's death at the Battle of Wakefield left Warwick head of the Neville
family and added to his castles the great Yorkshire strongholds of Middleham and
Sheriff Hutton. While York's death - though it left the nominal headship of the
party to his son, the young Earl of March - gave Warwick undisputed command of
the policy of that party.
In
February 1461, the Earl marched out, with poor Henry in his train, to meet the
great Lancastrian army at St. Albans. He was beaten by it and fled to join
March, who in the West had won the Battle of Mortimer's Cross. Edward
IV, as March now claimed to be, entered London as a victor, with Warwick
as his “King-Maker” by his side. It was not, however, Warwick but Edward
himself whose generalship was responsible for the final Yorkist victory at
Towton on Palm Sunday 1461. Edward rewarded his great subject with the
wardenships of the Cinque Ports and of the Scottish Marches and the office of
Chamberlain; and Warwick's riches must have been enormous.
Warwick
seems to have had some skill in diplomacy and, for the first few years of the
reign, Edward left most things in his hands. But he was anxious that the King
should marry either one of his own daughters or a French princess chosen by
himself. Wherefore Edward's marriage with Elizabeth Woodville and, still more,
the favours which he showered on her relations, soon roused the jealousy of the
Earl. By the year 1468, he seems to have determined to upset Edward's throne by
some means or another. However, as too deep a stream of blood which he himself
had spilt seemed to run between him and the Lancastrians, he turned to Edward's
second brother, the Duke of Clarence. He married the young duke to his eldest
daughter and raised an insurrection which he allowed Clarence to think would
ultimately put him upon the throne. Edward, a lazy man, was caught napping and
allowed Warwick to take him prisoner; but then Warwick altogether belied his
reputation for craft and reconciled himself to Edward, who, as soon as he was
free, drove him from the Kingdom.
There
was now but one thing for the Earl to do. He must throw himself at the feet of
the haughty Queen Margaret, whom he had slandered and vilified in every possible
way, and by her agency raise the flag of King Henry. Louis XI of France,
Warwick's steady friend, was able to mediate this astonishing alliance. The
Nevilles rose for Warwick and the Western Lancastrians for Henry. Edward was
driven from his Kingdom to the Burgundian Court, where his sister was queen, and
the Kingmaker landed in England in October 1470. He thus 'remade,' as he had
previously unmade, Henry VI as King of England; but Queen Margaret delayed her
return. The restored government was profoundly unpopular in London and Clarence,
nominally Warwick's ally, became discontented when Warwick married his other
daughter to Prince Edward of Lancaster. This situation enabled King Edward to
return in March 1471. He caught Warwick in a trap at Barnet, slew him and then
advanced to meet and destroy the true Lancastrian army at Tewkesbury. He was
laid to rest in his mother’s family mausoleum of Bisham Abbey (Berks).
Warwick,
in spite of his great reputation, was merely a selfish baron of the worst type
of the bastard-feudal age of the fifteenth century. His enormous riches bought
him a following, which he was able to reward from the goods and lands of his
enemies.
Edited from Emery Walker's "Historical
Portraits" (1909).
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