Robert fitz Robert

• Preferred Name: Robert fitz Robert^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}
  
• Gender: M
  
• Christening: 1223 in Raby, Durham, England at LATI: N4.5833 LONG: E1.7833
  
• Death: 20 AUG 1282 in Sheriff Hutton, North Yorkshire, England at LATI: N4.0833 LONG: E1 with note: GEDCOM data
  
• FSID: LDWP-41C
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: 2nd Baron Neville
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: 2nd Baron Neville of Raby1249 with note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Neville
  
• Occupation: Governor of Pickering Castle in Yorkshire
  
• Birth: 1223 in Raby with Keverstone, Durham, England at LATI: N4.5833 LONG: E1.7833 with note: GEDCOM data Standard
  
• Occupation: Sheriff1263 in Yorkshire, England with note: Wikipedia
  
• Burial: in Greyfriars Abbey Church, York, North Yorkshire, England at LATI: N3.9619 LONG: E1.0742 with note: GEDCOM data. Find A Grave.
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Robert de Neville, 2nd Baron Neville of Raby (c. 1223–1282), was a medieval English nobleman.
  
  Background
  The Neville family in England go back to at least the 11th century, and the historian Horace Round speculated that they were part of the pre-Norman aristocracy of Northumbria.[1] By the 13th century, the Nevilles had become, through shrewd marriages and royal patronage, major landholders, and concomitantly rose to a position of regional hegemony regularly being appointed to the important royal offices.[2] By the time Neville reached adulthood, and for the rest of his life, English politics was in a state of partisanship; the King, Henry III was increasingly unpopular with his nobility and the tension between them, never resolved, erupted in constitutional crisis and eventually civil war.[3][4] Simon de Montfort, previously a favourite of Henry's, who had married his sister Eleanor, led the opposition.[5]
  
  Early life
  Robert de Neville was the eldest son of Geoffrey fitz Robert (later Geoffrey de Neville, d. c. 1242), and the grandson of Robert fitz Meldred, Lord of Raby.[6] The identity of Robert de Neville's mother, however, is disputed among scholars. A. F. Pollard, for example, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography in 1894 suggested that she was Margaret, daughter of Sir John de Longvillers. However, this Margaret was married until 1285, and there is evidence from a Lincolnshire fine of 1247 which refers to one Robert de Neville, knight, and his mother, Joan.[6][note 1] Robert had younger brothers, Geoffrey—who was to start a cadet branch of the family in Hornby, Lancashire[6]—John,[6] and Hugh.[8]
  
  Inheritance and estates
  Robert possessed estates in Burreth, Lincolnshire by 1242 and on his father's death in 1254 he succeeded to his patrimony, including the Lordship of Raby[6] and Brancepeth[9] in Durham; he performed fealty to the king on 7 May that year following the deaths of his grandmother and grandfather, from whom he received further lands.[10] They probably included the manors of Ulnaby and Carlbury.[11] However, notes Young, the nature of the surviving evidence—mostly existing in the form of the inquisition post mortem taken after his death—is not sufficient for scholars to make anything other than "an approximate estimate of their wealth".[12][14] The medievalist Matthew Holford described de Neville as having "united the inheritances of Bulmer and Meldred".[9]
  
  Northern and national politics
  De Neville became increasingly important in the politics and society of northeastern England during the mid-1250s, and by 1258 he had been appointed Sheriff of Northumberland. The strategic proximity of Northumberland to the border with Scotland made this an important post for pushing the boundaries of English influence into Scottish affairs,[note 2] as well as escorting and receiving embassies;[6] accompanied by William de Latimer, then Sheriff of York, he travelled to Scotland on royal business in April 1258[10] with orders to assist the Scottish king in crushing a revolt by his own nobles.[16] De Neville attended a large assembly in York between the 7th and 26 September 1268 with the King. This was the official setting for a meeting between Henry III and his son-in-law, the King of Scotland; with the latter came Henry's daughter, Margaret, Queen of Scotland. During this meeting, de Neville witnessed a large number of both royal and private charters.[17][note 3] De Neville played a leading role in the administration of border society, including the organisation of truces, resolution of disputes and collecting protection money.[18] He was also close to the Bishops of Duham, Robert and Antony, for whom de Neville witnessed many charters over the years,[19] and with whose steward, Guichard de Charron, de Neville was an itinerant justice[20] in 1278–1279, although this was the only time he held the office.[6][note 4]
  
  In 1263, de Neville was entrusted with the defence of York and all of England north of the River Trent, as well as being appointed Sheriff of Yorkshire.[6] and was also appointed governor of Norham and Werk castles, which had previously been held by Robert de Ros and the Bishops of Durham respectively.[16]
  
  Royal service
  Even before his father's death, Robert was performing minor services for King Henry III in the North of England; in 1251, for example, he was dispatched to gather buck deer from the royal forest of Galtres for Henry's Christmas feast at Westminster Palace.[6][note 5] In return, the following year de Neville was granted the right to enclose land for his own harvesting at nearby Sutton in Galtres.[6] This was followed by further grants over the next few years, which included deer for his park and a license to hunt hares, foxes and cats with his dogs.[6] In August 1257 he fought on campaign in Wales.[10] At various points in his career de Neville was custodian of royal castles in the north, including Bamburgh, Newcastle, Scarborough and York;[6] de Neville calculated that the constableship of Bamburgh cost him 1,200 marks alone, although the historian Charles Young calls this figure "somewhat inflated".[22][note 6] De Neville's primary use to the King at this time was diplomatic, however, rather than military.[24] With conflict looming, as constable of York and Bamburgh Castles, de Neville promised to "surrender it to the king and his heirs and to no other, and this by the council of the king and not otherwise".[16] In 1261 de Neville was appointed Chief Justice of forests beyond the Trent, with responsibility for hearing forest pleas replacing John d'Eyvill.[24][note 7]
  
  Civil War
  Main article: Second Barons' War
  With the decline in relations between King Henry and a number of his barons, led by Simon de Montfort, de Neville's role was to become a military one.[24]
  
  De Neville, as constable of Bamburgh Castle, is mentioned "incidentally" on the rebel barons' Provisions of Oxford, which they promulgated in 1258, as an acceptable royalist whom they could trust with custody of royal castles;[note 8] the rebels also appointed him Sheriff of Northumberland, where they were strongest in the north.[26] In 1263—at the time, constable of Devizes Castle[27]—de Neville was part of the group of barons sympathetic to the King in his struggle with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester over political reform. Neville sought the intervention of King Louis IX of France to arbitrate[6] in December 1263.[10] The first violence took place in June 1263 when de Montfort and his men led a chevauchée through the lands of the King's favourites, collectively nicknamed the Savoyards on account of where they had come from. King Henry—"belatedly", comments the historian Fergus Oakes[27]—organised his military response, making de Neville responsible for the royal lands in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Durham,[27] whom Young notes had "remained a King's man".[16] He was personally instructed to deal vigorously with those who "devastate the lands of the king's faithful men by fire, plunder and other means". Oakes calls de Neville's prospects of doing so "daunting", not least on account of the sheer extent of the region he was now responsible for—around one-third of the Kingdom. This led to de Neville writing to the Chancellor, William of Merton, protesting that his task "not possible without great expense" and that he had "been led...to beg your counsel and help...in order to signify to me where and from whence...I shall be able to acquire the money for the custody of the aforementioned county and castle of York".[27] De Neville also wrote to King Henry personally, complaining that "many I meet with are tepid in their responses to the conservation of the peace of your majesty's dignity", and he implored Henry to send his nobility "in these parts your letters...that they may be appointed to aid my person...to resist the evils of the before said rebels".[27]
  
  The civil war had impacted substantially upon de Neville's ability to perform his royal duties, he claimed in 1269,[6] and he had been unable to regularly collect—and so could not be held responsible for —the royal farm[24] thanks to the criminal activities of John d'Eyville.[6] D'Eyville, a firm and energetic supporter of de Montfort,[28] with other barons,[24] had severely disrupted local society, said de Neville, from Michaelmas 1263 until the Battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264, after which de Montfort appointed another person sheriff.[6][note 9] Following de Montfort's victory at Lewes, de Neville was summoned to meet in London with the earl on 3 June 1264 to provide the new regime with counsel; he was back in London the next month, having been summoned with a force of men to repel an expected French invasion which did not, in the event, occur.[29] King Henry had been captured at Lewes,[30] and was now effectively a puppet King for de Montfort,[31] but de Neville appears to have remained openly defiant to de Montfort's rule and refused to surrender Bamburgh or York Castles to the new regime, reflecting his earlier promise to the crown.[24] De Neville's position, says Young, "is especially noteworthy in that other barons in the north, including John d'Eyvill, who had preceded Robert as Chief Justice of the
  
  Robert de Neville was the eldest son of Geoffrey fitz Robert (later Geoffrey de Neville, d. c. 1242), and the grandson of Robert fitz Meldred, Lord of Raby.[6] The identity of Robert de Neville's mother, however, is disputed among scholars. A. F. Pollard, for example, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography in 1894 suggested that she was Margaret, daughter of Sir John de Longvillers. However, this Margaret was married until 1285, and there is evidence from a Lincolnshire fine of 1247 which refers to one Robert de Neville, knight, and his mother, Joan.[6][note 1] Robert had younger brothers, Geoffrey—who was to start a cadet branch of the family in Hornby, Lancashire[6]—John,[6] and Hugh.[8]
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Neville
  
  === Sources: ===
  Eng Pub P 34; Complete Peerage Vol 9, p. 494, 506, Vol 6, Vol 7; Eng Pub G-28, The Genealogist Vol 27, p. 5; Burke's Peerage 1938.
  
  [From submitted family group records in Archive Records in Salt Lake City, Utah.]
  
  === Reference 2 ===
  Robert de Nevill, Lord of Raby, Governor of Norham, Werke and Bamborough Castles 1258; Warden of Forrests, north of Trent, 1261; Sheriff of Workshire, Governor of York Castle 1263, of Piekering Castle 1266 and Bamborough 1270; died 1282. He had livery in the 30th of Henry III (1246) upon doing his fealty of all the lands, which he inherited from his grandfather, Robert Fitz-Maldred. In 42 of same reign (1265) he had a military summons to march to the relief of the King of Scotland, and was then constituted Governor of Castles of Norham and Werke. In 1258 he was one of the Barons who undertook for the Ordinances of Oxford. (The Provisions of Oxford were articles constituting a preliminary scheme of Reform enacted by a Parliament which met at Oxford, England, June 11, 1258. King Henry III had promised on May 2, 1258, that the state of his realm should be rectified and reformed by 24 counsellors who were to meet at Oxford for this purpose 12 weeks later. Twelve of the Counsellors were chosen by the King and 12 by the Earls and Barons.)
  
  === !Eng Pub AD v16 Vioz of York p 220-2 ===
  !Eng Pub AD v16 Vioz of York p 220-2
  
  === Reference 1 ===
  Robert shared in the earlier tradition of royal service through his grandmother, who was a Neville, rather than through his grandfather Robert fitz Meldred, only because the son born of that marriage, Geoffrey, adopted the Neville surname.

• m. ABT 1240 in Raby, Durham, England

1. Robert de Neville, b. 1240 in Raby Castle, Durham, England     d. 6 JUN 1271 in Raby, Durham, England

1. Title: Art, Identity & Devotion in 14th Century England
   
2. Title: Robert de Neville at Wikipedia
   Author: Wikipedia
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Neville;
   Note: Biography of Robert De Neville.
   
3. Title: Ralph Neville and Euphemia de Clavering in Chase and Allied Families, pg. 237-238 [See document in the Memories section]
   Author: Chase and Allied Families, pg. 237-238
   Note: Ralph Neville and Euphemia de Clavering in Chase and Allied Families, pg. 237-238 [See document in the Memories section]
   Page: Ralph Neville and Euphemia de Clavering in Chase and Allied Families, pg. 237-238 [See document in the Memories section]
   
4. Title: Robert FitzMaldred, Isabel de Neville and Geoffrey FitzRobert de Neville in the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy ~http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3L-O.htm#GeoffreyFitzRobertdied1242B [See document in the Memories section]
   Publication: Name: http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3L-O.htm#GeoffreyFitzRobertdied1242B;
   Note: Robert FitzMaldred, Isabel de Neville and Geoffrey FitzRobert de Neville in the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy ~http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3L-O.htm#GeoffreyFitzRobertdied1242B [See document in the Memories section]
   Page: Robert FitzMaldred, Isabel de Neville and Geoffrey FitzRobert de Neville in the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy ~http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3L-O.htm#GeoffreyFitzRobertdied1242B [See document in the Memories section]
   
5. Title: Robert Neville, 2nd Baron Neville of Raby, in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 40, pg. 299-300 [See document in the Memories section]
   Author: Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 40, pg. 299-300
   Note: Robert Neville, 2nd Baron Neville of Raby, in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 40, pg. 299-300 [See document in the Memories section]
   Page: Robert Neville, 2nd Baron Neville of Raby, in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 40, pg. 299-300 [See document in the Memories section]