Neville–Neville feud

Neville family feud
Part of fifteenth-century England
Neville family coat of arms; this was worn by the senior branch, whilst Salisbury's—as a younger son—would have been differenced.
Date c. 1428–1443 Location Northern England Result Political, dynastic, and financial victory for the Earl of Salisbury
Belligerents
Senior branch of the House of Neville	Cadet branch of the House of Neville
Commanders and leaders
Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland	Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury

The Neville–Neville feud was an inheritance dispute which took place in the North of England during the early fifteenth century between two branches of the Neville family. The Earl of Westmorland disinherited his first wife's eldest son to the advantage of that by his second wife, and although this was later disputed by his dispossessed grandchild—legally and by force of arms—his "younger" eldest son, the Earl of Salisbury, beat him decisively, partly due to his greater political connections.

Disputes over divided inheritances were not uncommon in later medieval England; apart from the dispute between branches of the Neville family, there were also violent feuds between the baronial families of Lisle and Talbot for similar reasons, and within the Mountford family, all of which, says Michael Hicks, were "large scale and high profile". This was because inheritance by a second-wife's children was seen to be against the natural course of descent, and raised a question over the lower family's title which could be challenged.

Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (c. 1364–1425) was married twice. His first wife, Margaret Stafford (daughter of the Earl of Stafford) died in 1396; with her, Ralph had two sons (the eldest John, and a namesake, Ralph). His next marriage (only five months after Margaret's death) was of far greater political significance: it was to Joan Beaufort, the legitimized daughter of John of Gaunt, and a cousin of the King, Richard II. In the words of Anthony Tuck, this marriage "was to have major consequences both for the Neville family and for the English nobility" in general, through the next century. With Joan he was to have nine sons and five daughters.

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