WESTMORLAND, EARLS OF. Ralph Neville, 4th Baron Neville of Raby, and ist earl of Westmorland (1364-1425), eldest son of John, 3rd Baron Neville, and his wife Maud Percy (see NEVILLE : Family), was knighted by Thomas of Woodstock, after wards duke of Gloucester, during the French expedition of 1380, and succeeded to his father's barony in 1388.
He was repeatedly engaged in negotiations with the Scots, and his assistance to the court party against the lords appellant was rewarded in 1397 by the earldom of Westmorland. He married as his second wife Joan Beaufort, half-sister of Henry of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV., whom he joined on his landing in York shire in 1399. He already held the castles of Brancepeth, Raby, Middleham and Sheriff Hutton when he received from Henry IV. the honour and lordship of Richmond for life. The only rivals of the Nevilles in the north were the Percies, whose power was broken at Shrewsbury in 1403 ; and the wardenship of the west marches was now assigned to Westmorland, whose influence was also paramount in the east, which was under the nominal warden ship of the young Prince John, afterwards duke of Bedford. In May the Percies were in revolt, with Thomas Mowbray, earl marshal, and Archbishop Scrope. Westmorland met them on Shipton Moor, near York, on May 29, 1405, and suggested a parley between the leaders. By pretending accord with the archbishop, the earl induced him to allow his followers to disperse. Scrope
and Mowbray were then seized and handed over to Henry at Pontefract on Jan. 3. The improbabilities of this narrative have led some writers to think, in face of contemporary authorities, that Scrope and Mowbray must have surrendered voluntarily. If West morland betrayed them he at least had no share in their execu tion. Thenceforward he was busily engaged in negotiating with the Scots and keeping the peace on the borders. He did not play the part assigned to him by Shakespeare in Henry V., for during Henry's absence he remained in charge of the north, and was a member of Bedford's council. Of his daughters, Catherine mar ried in 1412 John Mowbray, second duke of Norfolk, brother and heir of the earl marshal, who had been executed after Ship ton Moor; Anne married Humphrey, first duke of Buckingham; Eleanor married, after the death of her first husband, Richard le Despenser, Henry Percy, 2nd earl of Northumberland; Cicely married Richard, duke of York, and was the mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. The earl died on Oct. 21, 1425, and a fine alabaster tomb was erected to his memory in Staindrop church close by Raby castle.
See J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry IV. (4 vols., 1884-98) .