Philippa Nevill, who married Thomas Dacre from the lineage in my previous post, was the daughter of Ralph de Nevill and Margaret Stafford. She was born at Raby Castle in Co. Durham, England, and is said to be buried at Lanercost Priory in Carlisle, Cumbria.
Ralph de Nevill (or Neville) was the Earl of Westmoreland and the 4th Baron of Raby. He was Marshal of England, Constable of the Tower of London, and the grandfather of two English kings. His wife, Lady Margaret Stafford, was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Stafford and the granddaughter of the Earl of Warwick Thomas de Beauchamp. There was a lot of nobility in this joining, as would be expected for a family whose records are still available.
The full lineages and references are available in My Lineage from the Roots Up, vol. 1, available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
Stafford Lineage - Kidnapping and Coercion
Margaret Stafford’s grandparents were Earl Ralph de Stafford and Margaret d’Audley, the only child of the 1st Baron of Audley and Lady Margaret de Clare. The 1st Earl of Stafford kidnapped Margaret d’Audley and married her as his second wife in 1336. When Hugh d’Audley complained to the king, King Edward III sided with his friend (Stafford was a member of the Knights of the Garter and part of the King’s envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury) but awarded Hugh the title 1st Earl of Gloucestershire (the third such granting despite the “1st”) as compensation.
Ralph’s father was the 1st Baron Stafford, summoned to Parliament in 1299. His father Nicholas fought against the Welsh under Edward I and grandfather Robert was a feudal lord under Henry III. The name de Stafford came from Robert’s grandmother Milicent.
Milicent’s husband-to-be sold the lordship of Drayton to afford her marriage price and took her name. She was the daughter and granddaughter of Sheriffs of Staffordshire. It is thought that her great-grandfather Robert, the first known to carry the Stafford name, did so because of Stafford Castle built by William the Conqueror. According to John Burke, the family name prior to that may have been de Tonnei.
Nevill Lineage
Ralph de Nevill was married twice and had numerous children. He was the son of John, 3rd Baron of Raby, who built Raby Castle between 1367 and 1390. The estate was lost by the 6th Earl of Westmoreland in the failed “Raising of the North” for Queen Mary of Scots in 1569.
John’s father was Ralph Nevill, 2nd Baron of Raby, and Alice Audley, sister of Sir Hugh d’Audley (the Pope had to issue dispensation for cosanguinity in the Nevill-Stafford marriage because of 3rd-4th degree relations in the family).
The 1st Baron of Raby was also named Ralph, and he was summoned to Parliament in 1295. It’s a feudal barony. His maternal grandfather was Lord of Middleham. 1st Baron of Raby Ralph de Nevill was the grandson of Robert de Neville, Sheriff of Yorkshire, Governor of the castles of Norham and Werke, who marched to relieve the King of Scotland in 1258.
Robert’s father was the first Nevill of Raby, having assumed his mother’s name. Isabel Nevill married Robert Fitz Maldred, the Saxon Lord of Raby. He was said to have been the grandson of Dolfin, son of Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland. A 13th century effigy of Isabel is in St. Mary Churchyard, Staindrop, Durham, where Dolfin was granted the manor of Stainthorpe in 1129.
Subscribe to GenTales
Lineage and genealogy research