Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland.

About Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland

Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Earl Marshal, was an English nobleman of the House of Neville. Elevated to the earldom by King Richard II, he later supported his brother-in-law Henry Bolingbroke in deposing the king and became a key supporter of the Lancastrian dynasty. As a royal kinsman through his second marriage to Henry's half-sister Joan Beaufort, he was rewarded with high offices, including Earl Marshal, and played a central role in northern politics and border warfare with Scotland. He was the father of 22 children, and several of his children and grandchildren married into the English elite and royalty. Through his youngest daughter Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, he became an ancestor of every English and later British monarch following Edward IV.