The
Percy-Neville feud was a series of skirmishes, raids and vandalism between two prominent northern English families the
House of PercyThe House of Percy were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages, having gained the title Baron Percy already in 1066. The name derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy, the initial home of the family prior to the Norman Conquest...
, the
House of NevilleThe House of Neville is a noble house founded during the Middle Ages, which became prominent when Ralph de Neville was created Earl of Westmorland by Plantagenet monarch Richard II of England. After rising in prominence during the 14th century, the family was one of the two major powers in...
and their followers that helped provoke the
Wars of the RosesThe Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1487...
.
The first outbreaks of violence were in the 1450s prior to the Wars of the Roses. The antagonists would later meet in battle several times during the war.
The original reason for this long dispute is unknown.
The Neville and Percy families were the two most important families in the north of England.
The
Percy-Neville feud was a series of skirmishes, raids and vandalism between two prominent northern English families the
House of PercyThe House of Percy were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages, having gained the title Baron Percy already in 1066. The name derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy, the initial home of the family prior to the Norman Conquest...
, the
House of NevilleThe House of Neville is a noble house founded during the Middle Ages, which became prominent when Ralph de Neville was created Earl of Westmorland by Plantagenet monarch Richard II of England. After rising in prominence during the 14th century, the family was one of the two major powers in...
and their followers that helped provoke the
Wars of the RosesThe Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1487...
.
Beginnings
The first outbreaks of violence were in the 1450s prior to the Wars of the Roses. The antagonists would later meet in battle several times during the war.
The original reason for this long dispute is unknown.
The Neville and Percy families were the two most important families in the north of England. In the early 1450s, both families were led by men in their fifties, who both had violent and hotheaded sons.
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of SalisburyRichard Neville, jure uxoris 5th Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was a Yorkist leader during the early parts of the Wars of the Roses.-Neville and Neville:Richard Neville was born in 1400 at Raby Castle in County Durham...
, was the brother-in-law of
Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, was the son of Harry "Hotspur" Percy and his wife Elizabeth de Mortimer, daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and Philippa Plantagenet....
, son of Henry 'Hotspur' Percy.
In 1452 William Percy was made
Bishop of CarlisleThe Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York.The diocese covers the County of Cumbria except for Alston Moor...
; a title long held by the Nevilles. The obvious displeasure of the Nevilles at this act induced many people who were anti-Neville to look to the Percys as their leader, especially the eldest son,
Thomas, Lord EgremontThomas Percy, 1st Baron Egremont Thomas Percy was the son of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland and Lady Eleanor Neville. He was made Lord Egremont in 1449....
.
When Lord Egremont started to issue his red and black
liveryA livery is a uniform or other insignia or symbol worn in a non-military context on a person or object to denote a relationship with a person or corporate body, often by using elements of the heraldry relating to that person or body, or a personal emblem, and normally given by them. It derives...
to more and more supporters, Earl Salisbury informed King
Henry VIHenry VI was King of England 1422–1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realms were governed by regents. Contemporaneously, he was described as a peaceful and pious man, not suited for the harsh nature of the struggles facing him...
that trouble was afoot. The King in turn summoned Egremont to London three times, but he never came. Part of the reason was fear of moving from his hiding place as John Neville, Salisbury’s third son and an experienced soldier had been hunting him for nearly a month. The two had fought skirmishes back and forth across their northern estates that in places came perilously close. Each sides' retainers did their best to wreck their opponents property; smashing windows, writing on walls, evicting tenants and breaking and entering each other's houses.
In
Topcliffe, North YorkshireTopcliffe is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated on the River Swale, close to the A168 and about five miles south-west of Thirsk. 2,690 people live in Topcliffe, ranging from toddlers to elders. There is a primary school at...
only a few miles from Neville estates, John Neville arrived three days after having received an official warning from the King to desist, and threatened to hang all the tenants if they didn’t tell him where Egremont was hiding.
Henry VIHenry VI was King of England 1422–1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realms were governed by regents. Contemporaneously, he was described as a peaceful and pious man, not suited for the harsh nature of the struggles facing him...
then sent several letters telling the Earls of Salisbury and Northumberland to stop their sons' illegal actions, to no avail.
The Skirmish at Heworth Moor
On 24 August 1453, two years before the
First Battle of St AlbansThe First Battle of St Albans was the first battle of the Wars of the Roses and was fought on 22 May 1455 in the town of St Albans, 22 miles north of London. Richard, Duke of York and his ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeated the Lancastrians under Edmund, Duke of Somerset, who was...
, the forces of the Nevilles and the Percys met for the first time. The attack was led by Lord Egremont against the bridal party of Thomas Neville (John’s brother). It appears that Lord
Cromwell- People :* Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, English statesman in the reign of Henry VIII of England* Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland , great-great nephew of the above, and his sons:...
had obtained some Percy estates some years ago, and now Thomas Neville was going to marry Cromwell’s heir, Maude Stanhope. The prospect of Percy manors passing to the Neville family was too much for Lord Egremont, who spent days fiercely recruiting in York and ambushed the Nevilles on their way home to
Sheriff HuttonSheriff Hutton is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies about ten miles north by north-east of York...
. He no doubt intended to assassinate the Nevilles, but all the family was there with their own retinues, so they probably had a larger force than Egremont expected (as earls, Salisbury and Warwick were entitled to at least a hundred soldiers each in their retinues).
Still, the Percy force was almost certainly larger in size (though 710 names have been preserved, they probably numbered over a thousand). Mutual fear of fighting a pitched battle meant there was little if any bloodshed and the Nevilles were able to retreat swiftly to their stronghold in Sheriff Hutton. There is an alternative view; the evidence for this is found on legal rolls and nowhere else. As not a soul is recorded as being injured in the skirmish, it is possible that the Nevilles used this incitation of violence as an excuse, an early example of a
legal fictionLegal fictions are facts or situations assumed or created by courts which are then used to resolve matters before them. Legal fictions are mostly encountered under common law systems....
, to take the matter to the royal courts, resolving the legal case and thereby stating whose land this 'skirmish' took place on. There were no courts for dealing with land disputes, despite the excess of land law. This view has been suggested after studying the Kings Bench lists (now withdrawn from the public), where a number of skirmishes such as this are recorded but the only injuries or casualties found are a hen and occasionally a dog.
Open warfare
In retaliation, Sir John Neville raided the absent
Earl of NorthumberlandThe title of Earl of Northumberland was created several times in the Peerages of England and Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders were the House of Percy , who were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages...
’s house at Catton, in Yorkshire and all but ruined it. The next day, Richard Percy attacked a house on Neville property.
The danger of civil war was intensified when both sides began summoning their retainers to strongholds in the north. On 20 October, the Percy clan had gathered 10,000 men at Topcliffe. Only four miles away, the Neville force was stationed at Sheriff Hutton. After several threats from the king, both sides reached a truce and disbanded their men. However, one chronicler said, "There was no reconciliation, the day of reckoning had merely been postponed."
Despite these precautions, it is probable that a few hundred men clashed at
Stamford BridgeStamford Bridge is a village and civil parish on the River Derwent in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, approximately east of York.-Location and history:The village sits astride an ancient 'ford' crossing point of the River Derwent....
on 31 October or 1 November 1454, resulting in a few hundred dead and more wounded. Lord Egremont was then captured and imprisoned by John Neville.
In a great diplomatic move, the Nevilles joined forces with their relation
Richard, Duke of YorkRichard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was a leading English magnate, descended from King Edward III. He inherited great estates, and served in various offices of state in France at the end of the Hundred Years' War, and in England, ultimately governing the country as Lord Protector during Henry...
. They were to help him against his enemy, Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and in return he would aid them in their own feud. When the king became ill, they quickly outmaneuvered Somerset and appointed the Duke of York as Protector of England.
During York’s Protectorate, Somerset was imprisoned and the Percys suffered greatly at the hands of the Nevilles. When the king recovered from his illness, York was relieved of power, Somerset was released and was quick to ally himself with the Percys.
Six months later, Henry VI, Somerset and the Percys (the
LancastriansThe House of Lancaster was a branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century...
) met the Duke of York and the Nevilles (the Yorkists) in
the first battle at St AlbansThe First Battle of St Albans was the first battle of the Wars of the Roses and was fought on 22 May 1455 in the town of St Albans, 22 miles north of London. Richard, Duke of York and his ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeated the Lancastrians under Edmund, Duke of Somerset, who was...
, where the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Northumberland were slain.
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