John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (b. 1431)
John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (c. 1431 – 14 April 1471) was a major magnate of fifteenth-century England. He was a younger son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and the younger brother of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker".
From an early age he was involved in fighting for his House, particularly in the feud that sprang up in the 1450s with the Neville family's major regional rivals, the Percy family. John Neville was personally responsible for much of the violence until, with his brothers, they defeated and imprisoned their enemies. This was taking place against the backdrop of a crisis in central government. The king, Henry VI, already known to be a weak ruler, suffered a mental collapse which led to a protectorate headed by John's uncle, Richard, Duke of York. Within two years an armed conflict had broken out, with York openly in rebellion against the king, and his Neville cousins supporting him. John fought with his father and Warwick against the king at the first Battle of St Albans, at which they had the victory.
Following a few years of uneasy peace, the Yorkists' rebellion erupted once again, and John Neville fought alongside his father and elder brother Thomas at the Battle of Blore Heath in September 1459. Although the Earl of Salisbury fought off the Lancastrians, both his sons were captured, and John, with Thomas, spent the next year imprisoned. Following his release in 1460, he took part in the Yorkist government. His father and brother died in battle just after Christmas 1460, and in February the next year, John – now promoted to the peerage as Lord Montagu – and Warwick fought the Lancastrians again at St Albans. John was once again captured and not released until his cousin Edward, York's son, won a decisive victory at Towton in March 1461, and became King Edward IV.
John Neville soon emerged, with Warwick, as representatives of the king's power in the north, which was still politically turbulent, as there were still a large number of Lancastrians on the loose attempting to raise rebellion against the new regime. As his brother Warwick became more involved in national politics and central government, it devolved to John to finally defeat the last remnants of Lancastrians in 1464. Following these victories, Montagu, in what has been described as a high point for his House, was created Earl of Northumberland. At around the same time, however, his brother Warwick became increasingly dissatisfied with his relationship with the king, and began instigating rebellions against Edward IV in the north, finally capturing him in July 1469. At first, Montagu helped suppress this discontent, and also encouraged Warwick to release Edward. Eventually, however, his brother went into French exile with the king's brother George, Duke of Clarence, in March 1470.
During Warwick's exile, King Edward stripped Montagu of the Earldom of Northumberland, making him Marquis of Montagu instead. John Neville appears to have seen this as a reduction in rank, and accepted it with poor grace. He seems particularly to have complained about the lack of landed estate that his new marquisate brought with it, calling it a "pie's nest". When the Earl of Warwick and Clarence returned, they distracted Edward with a rebellion in the north, which the king ordered Montagu to raise troops to repress in the king's name. Montagu, however, having raised a small army, turned against Edward, almost capturing him at Olney, Buckinghamshire; the king, with his other brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, fled into exile in Burgundy.
While in exile, Warwick had allied with the old king, Henry VI and his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, Henry was restored to the throne, and Warwick now effectively ruled the kingdom, This return to Lancastrianism did not, however, last long; within the year, Edward and Gloucester had returned. Landing only a few miles from Montagu in Yorkshire – who did nothing to stop them – the Yorkists marched south, raising an army. Montagu followed them, and, meeting up with his brother at Coventry, they confronted Edward over a battlefield at Barnet. John Neville was cut down in the fighting, Warwick died soon after, and within a month Edward had reclaimed his throne and Henry VI and his line was extinguished.