Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland

Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland

Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (18 August 1542 – 16 November 1601) was an English nobleman and one of the leaders of the Rising of the North in 1569.[1][2]

He was the son of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland and Lady Anne Manners, second daughter of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland.

In 1563, he married Jane Howard, daughter of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Frances de Vere, Countess of Surrey. She was the sister of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton.

A Catholic, Westmorland opposed Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant policies and, in November 1569 he joined Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland in the Northern Rebellion against the Queen. The rebels captured Durham, and held a Catholic mass. Forces loyal to the queen mustered and crushed the rebellion, which failed in its attempt to rescue Mary, Queen of Scots from prison.

The two Earls escaped to Scotland. Westmorland found protection and concealment for a long time at Fernyhurst Castle, Lord Kerr's house in Roxburghshire, but meanwhile the Earl's cousin, Robert Constable, was hired by Sir Ralph Sadler to endeavor to track the unfortunate nobleman, and under the guise of friendship to betray him. Constable's correspondence appears among the Sadler State papers — an infamous memorial of treachery and baseness.

After Northumberland had been captured and turned over to Elizabeth in 1572, Westmorland feared a similar betrayal and left for Flanders, where he suffered the extremity of poverty. He would never see his wife, Jane Howard (died 1593) and their son and four daughters again. His vast inheritance was confiscated; Brancepeth, the stronghold of the Nevilles in war, and Raby, their festive Hall in peace, had passed into strangers' hands.

A spy-report sent from Paris to London in August 1585 states that Charles Neville, the fugitive Earl of Westmorland, might, as part of a concerted Catholic invasion of England, land in Cumberland or Lancashire, bringing with him the son or sons of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland. Historians are obliged to wonder which son(s) the report means, as sources indicate that all sons were in England at the time of their father's mysterious death (possibly murder, possibly suicide) in 1585.

In 1588, Westmorland commanded a force of 700 English fugitives in the seaports of Flanders, who with the army of 103 companies of foot and 4000 horse, making together 30,000 men under the Duke of Parma; and besides 12,000 men brought by the Duke of Guise to the coast of Normandy, intended for an attack on the West of England, under cover and protection of the Spanish Armada.

Westmorland fled, to live in exile on the Continent; he was attainted by Parliament in 1571 (Act 13 Eliz. I c. 16). He survived on a small pension from the King of Spain, dying penniless and largely forgotten on 16 November 1601.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Neville,_6th_Earl_of_Westmorland

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• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 40
• Neville, Charles by William Arthur Jobson Archbold
• NEVILLE, CHARLES, sixth Earl of Westmorland (1543–1601), was eldest son of Henry, fifth earl (1525?–1563) [see under Neville, Ralph, fourth Earl], by his first wife, Jane, daughter of Thomas Manners, first earl of Rutland [q. v.] He was born in 1543, and was brought up in all probability as a Roman catholic at Raby Castle, Durham, the family seat. His father certainly was a reactionary, and was one of the supporters of Queen Mary (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. App. p. 610). In August 1563 Charles succeeded as sixth Earl of Westmorland on the death of his father. He did not, however, take his seat in the House of Lords till 30 Sept. 1566. His marriage into the Howard family definitely connected him with the old catholic party, but he was loyal in 1565, when the Earl of Bedford met him at Morpeth. He was doubtless fired to rebellion by the advice of his numerous catholic relatives, especially Christopher Neville [q. v.] (cf. Bowes to Sussex, 15 Nov. 1569, in Memorials of the Rebellion, p. 34), and by that of many family friends in the north. Nevertheless in March 1569 he was on the council for the north, and was made a commissioner for musters. His attitude became known in the autumn of 1569. In September he was required to meet the Earl of Sussex at York. He and the Earl of Northumberland declined (4 Nov.) to go [see Percy, Thomas, d. 1572]. The government, finding that the two earls had been in correspondence with the Spanish ambassador, ordered them to come to London, and their refusal to obey was the formal signal of rebellion. Early in November they assembled their forces, marched from Raby to Durham on 14 Nov., restored the mass, and pushed on south to Darlington, and thence towards York. Their first design was to release Mary Queen of Scots, who was then confined at Tutbury; and, as they wished to avoid a check at the outset, they passed by York without assaulting it. A detachment from their army meanwhile had secured Hartlepool in order to keep open communications with the continent, whence aid was expected. By the time the main body reached Clifford Moor Mary was no longer at Tutbury, having been safely moved to Coventry. Their disappointment entirely changed the plans of the rebels, who now most unwisely resolved to retreat, in the hope of holding the north of England, and there intended to wait to give battle to any force that might be sent against them. The leaders were solemnly proclaimed traitors at Windsor on 26 Nov., and on the 30th the retreating army broke up. Westmorland went to Barnard Castle, which was held by Sir George Bowes, who had to capitulate owing to the treachery of the garrison [see under Bowes, Sir George, (1527–1580)]. Thence he led his men to Raby, which is only a few miles distant.
• At the approach of the main royal army from the south Westmorland fled, with Northumberland, across the border into the country of the Kers, living for a time in the castle of Ferniehurst, Roxburghshire (cf. Memorials, p. 114). Sir Robert Constable, an English spy, was employed to try and induce the earl, who was a connection by marriage (cf. Testamenta Vetusta, p. 705), to come into England, and from Constable's house sue for pardon; but Constable's negotiations were unsuccessful. The account of the transaction will be found in the ‘Sadler State Papers.’ The earl passed over into the Spanish Netherlands. At first he lived at Louvain, and seems to have been provided with money, as he kept twelve or thirteen servants. His pension from the king of Spain was two hundred crowns a month.
• Meanwhile in 1571 he was formally attainted (13 Eliz. cap. 16), his estates in the diocese of Durham going to the crown instead of to the bishop, on the novel plea that the crown had had the trouble of defending them. The famous castle of Raby remained crown property till it was bought by Sir Harry Vane about 1645, and thus it is now held by Lord Barnard, his representative.
• Occasional notices of Westmorland, not always to his credit, are found during the next thirty years. In January 1572 he was one of the deputation of English exiles who asked aid from Philip at Brussels in support of the Ridolfi plot. Philip, however, or at all events Alva, knew the real value of his suggestions, and when in 1573 he urged the landing of a force in Northumberland, Alva remarked that his word was that of a nobleman out of his country. In spite of these transactions Westmorland was continually trying to negotiate for his return to England, but the only result seems to have been unsuccessful plots to kidnap him on the part of the English government in 1575 and 1586. About 1577 he went to live at Maestricht, and is said to have been friendly with Don John of Austria, though apparently he had no official relations with him. In 1580 he was colonel of a regiment composed of English refugees in the Spanish service, and in March 1581 he went on a pilgrimage to Rome, to get money if possible. He stayed at the English College, and returned with some sort of a commission. He is said to have lived viciously in later life, and is described in 1583 as ‘a person utterly wasted by looseness of life and by God's punishment.’ He was at Brussels in 1600, thinking of another marriage, but died, deep in debt, at Nieuport on 16 Nov. 1601.
• Westmorland married before 1564 Jane Howard, eldest daughter of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey [q. v.] His wife, of whom he was evidently fond, was a woman of spirit. Bowes records, in a letter of 15 Nov. 1569, that when Markenfield, Reed, and other rebels left the earl she ‘braste owte agaynste them with great curses, as well for their unhappye counselling as nowe, there cowerd flyghte.’ She had a pension of 300l. from the queen during her husband's exile, died in 1593, and was buried at Kenninghall, Norfolk. By her Westmorland left four daughters: Catherine, married to Sir Thomas Grey of Chillingham, Northumberland; Eleanor, who died unmarried; Margaret, who married Sir Nicholas Pudsey of Yorkshire; Anne, who married David, brother of Sir William Ingleby of Ripley, Yorkshire. Interesting particulars as to Lady Margaret's conversion from Roman catholicism by Mathew Hutton [q. v.] in 1594–5 are to be found in Hutton's ‘Correspondence’ (Surtees Soc.), p. 92, &c.
• [Surtees's Hist. of Durham, vol. iv.; Surtees's Sketch of the Stock of the Neviles, pp. 11, 12; Cal. of State Papers, Dom.; Froude's Hist. of Engl.; Cal. of Hatfield MSS. iii. 136, 147; Rowland's Hist. Family of Nevill; Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569; Doyle's Official Baronage, iii. 635; Stoney's Life and Times of Sir R. Sadler; Sadler State Papers; Norton's Letters, f. iii.; Bishop Percy's Folio MS. ii. 210, &c.]
• From: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Neville,_Charles_(DNB00) _____________________
• Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland
• M, #14163, b. between 18 August 1542 and 28 August 1543, d. 16 November 1601
• Last Edited=18 Jan 2011
• Consanguinity Index=0.34%
• Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland was born between 18 August 1542 and 28 August 1543.1 He was the son of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland and Lady Anne Manners. He married Lady Jane Howard, daughter of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Lady Frances de Vere, between 1563 and 1564.2 He died on 16 November 1601 at Nieuport, Belgium, without surviving male issue.2
• He was styled as Lord Neville between 1549 and 1564.1 He succeeded to the title of 6th Earl of Westmorland [E., 1397] on 10 February 1563/64.1 He succeeded to the title of 9th Lord Neville, of Raby [E., 1295] on 10 February 1563/64. He succeeded to the title of 6th Lord Neville [E., 1459] on 10 February 1563/64. He was Commissioner of Musters, County Durham in 1569.1 In November 1569 he joined the Earl of Northumberland in an effort to set free Mary, Queen of Scots, and to re-establish the old faith. They captured Barnard Castle and seixed Hartlepool, but on the advance of of the Earl of Sussex, fled to the border via Hexham. The two Earls, who had been proclaimed rebels, sought refuge at Liddesbale, where Northumblerland was handed over to the Regent Moray, although Westmorland was protected by the Lairdof Ferniehirst.1 In September 1570 he sailed from Aberdeen for the Spanish Netherlands, never to return to England.1 In 1571 he was attainted, and all his honours forfeited.2 In 1572 For many years he was involved in plots involving Mary, Queen of Scots, and for the invasion of England, and was granted a monthly pension of 100 crowns by the King of Spain.2 He was Captain of the all the English under Parma in December 1583.2 He fought in the Battle of Terneuzen in July 1584, where he was nearly captured.2 In 1588 he again joined Parma in connection with the Spanish Armada.2
• Children of Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland and Lady Jane Howard
  • Margaret Neville
  • Catherine Neville
  • Anne Neville+
  • Eleanor Neville d. b 25 Jun 1604
  • unknown Neville, Lord Neville3 b. 1569, d. 21 Apr 1571
• Citations
• [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XII/2, page 558. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume XII/2, page 559.
• [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume XII/2, page 560.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p1417.htm#i14163 ______________________
• Charles NEVILLE (6º E. Westmoreland)
• Born: 18 Aug 1542 / 28 Aug 1543
• Died: 16 Nov 1601, Nieuwpoort, Flanders
• Notes: See his Bigraphy. http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/CharlesNeville(6EWestmoreland).htm
• Father: Henry NEVILLE (5° E. Westmoreland)
• Mother: Anne MANNERS
• Married: Jane HOWARD (C. Westmoreland) ABT 1563
• Children:
  • 1. Margaret NEVILLE
  • 2. Anne NEVILLE
  • 3. Thomas NEVILLE WESTMORELAND
  • 4. Catherine NEVILLE
  • 5. Eleanor NEVILLE
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/NEVILLE2.htm#Charles NEVILLE (6º E. Westmoreland) ___________

Charles Neville was appointed the 6th Earl of Westmorland after the death of his father, Henry, the 5th Earl of Westmorland, in 1563, by Queen Elizabeth-d aughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Charles at the age of 11 married ?(name unknown) by whoom he had a son, Thomas Edward Neville. This marriage e nded in divorce and 1566 Charles married Jame Howard of Surrey.

IN 1570 C harles fled England to Nieuport, Flanders, having been involved with the Earl of Northumberland and Mary, Queen of Scots, in a plan to overthrow Queen Eli zabeth of England. In 1571 the Honors of Charles Neville were forfeited, incl uding Raby Castle in Durham, Yorkshire. Charles and his son Thomas, both known as Lord Westmorland, assumed the name Westmoreland and dropped the Neville completely after it fell in disgrace.

In 1587, Queen Elizabeth had Mary, Q ueen of Scots kidnapped and held prisoner. She then had her beheaded. (See the book "The Rebellion of the Rebels" by Reid.

In 1645 Raby Castle in Durha m, England was sold to Harry Fane, a descendant of Thomas Fane who had married Mary Neville.

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• Links
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Neville,_5th_Earl_of_Westmorland
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Manners,_1st_Earl_of_Rutland
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Neville
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Howard,_Earl_of_Surrey
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Howard,_Countess_of_Surrey
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Westmorland

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