Alan de Neville (forester)

Alan de Neville
Chief Forester
In office 1166–1176
Monarch	King Henry II of England
Personal details
Died	c. 1176

Alan de Neville (sometimes Alan de Neuville; died c. 1176) was an English nobleman and administrator who held the office of chief forester under King Henry II of England. Before serving the king, Neville was an official of Waleran, Count of Meulan. In 1166 Neville was named chief forester, an office he held until his death. Besides his forest duties, Neville also supported the king during the Becket controversy, and was excommunicated twice by Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Neville was known for the harshness he displayed in carrying out his forest office, and at least one monastic chronicle claimed that he "most evilly vexed the various provinces throughout England".

Alan was a descendant of Gilbert de Neville, a minor landholder in Lincolnshire after the Norman Conquest of England. Domesday Book records Gilbert as holding Walcot in Lincolnshire from Peterborough Abbey. Gilbert was recorded as holding other lands from the Abbey in 1115 and 1125, still in Lincolnshire. Alan had a brother named Gilbert, who witnessed some of his brother's charters.

Neville first appears in the historical record as the butler of Count Waleran of Meulan in 1138. Neville may have been in Waleran's service prior to this, but this is the first secure appearance. For serving as butler, Neville received rents from the market dues at Pont-Audemer worth 100 shillings annually. He appears as a witness to a charter of Waleran's to the Abbey of Tiron, which is dated sometime before 1141. Neville witnessed ten other of Waleran's charters, ending in the 1150s.

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