Article on pages 6 - 11 of Dickon Independent issue 103

Richard Thompson's Query About Richard's Northern Lands

Caroline A. Halsted Richard III volume 1 pages 303 - 304 quotes from Rot parl (Rolls of Parliament) volume vi page 124 for the act dated 23 February 1475 which gave Richard and his heirs the estate of George Neville (son of John Neville) so long as George or a male heir lived. George died childless on 4 May 14831. Annette Carson wonders if “anyone has ever queried the whereabouts and circumstances of the death .... which ..... had an enormously negative impact on Richard’s prospects?”2 The estate (Penrith, Middleham and Sheriff Hutton) then only belonged to Richard for his life ie he couldn’t pass them on to his son3. The lands would then go to Richard Neville, Lord Latimer, born in 14694. George Neville had his title of Duke of Bedford removed by an act of parliament in 14785 on the grounds that he lacked the means to support it. Gloucester was granted custody of George in 1480 with the authority to organise his marriage6. Lord Latimer was in the custody of Thomas Bourchier, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury7.

Richard Duke of Gloucester was granted the northern Neville lands in 1471. (June 29 every year - the Middleham standard to fly at the castle to commemorate the granting to Richard of the Neville strongholds of Middleham, Sheriff Hutton and Penrith in 1471.) These were the lands which the act of 1475 confirmed as Richard’s.

Richard’s ownership of the northern lands did impinge on the Stanleys and Northumberland but he seemed to have made agreements with them to keep to his side of the fence so to speak8. He had upset the Stanleys by his support of the Harringtons9 against Stanley over Hornby Castle10, and I think Northumberland resented his presence and popularity in the north however well he seemed to work with him. Stanley of course was married to Henry Tudor’s mother, and was always putting Stanley first in any dispute. Northumberland seemed to see Bosworth as a chance to pay Richard back. He’d had his title restored by Edward IV after Edward had first given it to John Neville. I think the magnates in those days were either Yorkist or Lancastrian and if they appeared to work with the other side they never gave up their original allegiance and just waited for the chance to show their true colours. Michael Hicks sums up Richard’s presence in the north as “Initially a disturbing influence, he became a source of peace and social cohesion.”11

When George Neville died just after Edward IV, he left Richard between a rock and a hard place. Michael Hicks believes he was in debt and highly unlikely to be granted any more royal property while the king was a minor. The Woodvilles would be against him because of his arrest of Earl Rivers and Lord Richard Grey. Nor could he expect more of the Warwick inheritance as the Marquis of Dorset had the custody of Clarence’s son and would oppose any changes.12

An article in The Ricardian13 about Richard’s ownership of land up to 1470 also brings him into conflict with Stanley as he is given land in Lancashire and Cheshire, Stanley strongholds.14

I haven’t considered the final question about the council meeting. I will see if someone else comes up with an answer to that part.

1 M. A. Hicks Richard III as Duke of Gloucester: A Study In Character, Borthwick Papers no. 70, 1986, page 26.
2 Annette Carson Richard III: The Maligned King, Gloucestershire, 2013, page 28.
3 M. A. Hicks Richard III as Duke of Gloucester: A Study In Character, Borthwick Papers no. 70, 1986, page 29.
4 Ibid, page 27.
5 Ibid, page 27.
6 Ibid, page 27.
7 Ibid, page 28.
8 Ibid, page 19.
9 Ibid, page 16.
10 The Ricardian volume XXVI, 2016, page 67.
11 Hicks, page 19.
12 Ibid, page 30.
13 The Ricardian volume XXVI, 2016, pages 41 - 85.
14 Ibid, pages 60 - 61, 73 - 79.

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