Alan de Neville (sometimes Alan de Neuville;Crouch ''Reign of King Stephen'' p. 153 died ) was an English nobleman and administrator who held the office of chief forester under King

Henry II of England Henry II () was King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...

. Before serving the king, Neville was an official of Waleran, Count of Meulan. In 1166, Neville was named chief forester, an office he held until his death. Besides his forest duties, Neville also supported the king during the

Becket controversy The Becket controversy or Becket dispute was the quarrel between Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England from 1163 to 1170.Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' pp. 401–402 The controversy culminated ...

, and was

excommunicate Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the co ...

d twice by

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. Neville was known for the harshness he displayed in carrying out his forest office, and at least one monastic chronicle claimed that he "most evilly vexed the various provinces throughout England".

Early life

Alan was a descendant of Gilbert de Neville, a minor landholder in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

after the

Norman Conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

records Gilbert as holding Walcot in Lincolnshire from

Peterborough Abbey Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Anglic ...

. Gilbert was recorded as holding other lands from the Abbey in 1115 and 1125, still in Lincolnshire.Young ''Making of the Neville Family'' p. 7 Alan had a brother named Gilbert, who witnessed some of his brother's

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

s. Neville first appears in the historical record as the

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

of Count Waleran of Meulan in 1138. Neville may have been in Waleran's service before this, but this is the first secure appearance.Crouch ''Beaumont Twins'' p. 36 For serving as butler, Neville received rents from the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

dues at Pont-Audemer worth 100

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s annually.Crouch ''Beaumont Twins'' p. 148 He appears as a witness to a charter of Waleran's to the Abbey of Tiron, which is dated sometime before 1141.Crouch ''Beaumont Twins'' p. 32 Neville witnessed ten other of Waleran's charters, ending in the 1150s.Crouch ''Beaumont Twins'' p. 143

Royal service

In 1153, Neville was serving the future King Henry. In 1156, Neville was exempted from paying

danegeld Danegeld (; "Danish tax", literally "Dane yield" or tribute) was a tax raised to pay tribute or Protection racket, protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the ''geld'' or ''gafol'' in eleventh-c ...

on his lands in Lincolnshire, some of which were lands held previously by Gilbert de Neville.Young ''Making of the Neville Family'' p. 8 Henry also granted Neville lands around

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

around this time, and he may have later had custody of Marlborough Castle, as his son Ives was in charge of work done on the castle in 1176. By 1163, Neville was in charge of hearing the pleas of the forest in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, and possibly also

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

, and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

.Warren ''Henry II'' p. 285 and footnote 5 Neville was present at the Council of Clarendon, where he was among the king's followers.Crouch ''Beaumont Twins'' p. 143 note 35 Neville was one of the witnesses to the

Constitutions of Clarendon The Constitutions of Clarendon were a set of legislative procedures enacted by Henry II of England in 1164. The Constitutions were composed of 16 articles and represented an attempt to restrict ecclesiastical privileges and to curb the power of t ...

, which came out of the Council.Young ''Making of the Neville Family'' pp. 12–13 In 1166, he was named chief forester of the

royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

s,Crook "Neville, Alan de" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' an office that was responsible for the royal officials in charge of administrating the forests as well as the system of royal courts that enforced the forest law.Huscroft ''Ruling England'' p. 168 Neville headed the royal efforts to enforce the forest law, which banned cutting down timber, clearing new farm fields, poaching, or the creation of enclosures within the royal forest. Any offences against the forest law were subject to monetary fines, which were an important source of royal revenue. The royal forest included not only the forests owned by the king, but also many forests on lands held by other persons. After Neville was appointed chief forester, he was in charge of hearing offences against the forest law and also imposing punishments. His activities were resented by the people subject to forest law.Carpenter ''Struggle for Mastery'' pp. 197–198 Neville supported the king during the

between the king and

, the

, and was

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

by the archbishop twice. One excommunication occurred when Neville imprisoned one of Becket's chaplains, William of Salisbury, for six months in

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the Corfe Castle (village), village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and ...

in connection with Becket's actions against the king.Barlow ''Thomas Becket'' p. 149 Neville was absolved from this excommunication by

Gilbert Foliot Gilbert Foliot (Wiktionary:circa, c. 1110 – 18 February 1187) was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at C ...

, the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

, after Neville decided to go on

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. Becket was angered by the bishop's action, even though Foliot made the absolution contingent on Neville getting a

penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. The word ''penance'' derive ...

from the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

on his way to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

.Barlow ''Thomas Becket'' p. 160 During 1166, Neville was in charge of Staffordshire for the general eyre undertaken in that year and also tried the pleas of the forest for Devonshire and Worcestershire, and perhaps elsewhere.Richardson and Sayles ''Governance of Mediaeval England'' p. 199 The abbot of

Battle Abbey Battle Abbey is a partially ruined Benedictine abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St Martin of Tours. It is a Scheduled Monument. The Grade I listed site is now o ...

in 1167 sent a monk to plead with Waleran of Meulan to intervene and stop Neville's exactions on the abbot's manors.Crouch ''Beaumont Twins'' p. 92 After the Revolt of 1173–74, Neville was in charge of a forest eyre held from 1176 to 1178 which resulted in fines totaling 12,000 pounds from breaches of the forest law during the revolt.Carpenter ''Struggle for Mastery'' p. 226 It appears that the king intended this eyre to be a punishment, and used the forest law because it was solely dependent on the king's will rather than being based in customary law.Crook "Earliest Exchequer Estreat" ''Records, Administration and Aristocratic Society'' p. 32

Death and legacy

Married to the daughter of the lord of Pont Audemer, Neville died around 1176. After his death, the monks of Battle Abbey petitioned the king to have Neville's body buried at their monastery, perhaps hoping through this action to secure some of Neville's estate. The king is supposed to have replied "I will have his money, you can have his body, the demons of hell his soul.Quoted in Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' p. 170 Neville had at least four sons – Ives, Thomas, Ralph,Cockayne ''Complete Peerage'' IX pp. 478–479 and Geoffrey. Neville may have been the father of Alan de Neville, who was a royal justice.Young ''Making of the Neville Family'' p. 19

Hugh de Neville Hugh de Neville (died 1234) was the Chief Forester (England), Chief Forester under the kings Richard I, John, King of England, John and Henry III of England, Henry III of England; he was the high sheriff, sheriff for a number of Ceremonial c ...

, who was chief forest justice under Kings

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, and Henry III, was probably the grandson of the Chief Forester, the son of Ralph. Neville was succeeded in office by Thomas fitzBernard. The '' Chronicle of Battle Abbey'' claimed that Neville "most evilly vexed the various provinces throughout England with countless and unaccustomed persecutions".Quoted in Warren ''Henry II'' p. 390 The ''Chronicle'' also noted that Neville was equally strict in collecting from either clergy or non-clergy.Young ''Making of the Neville Family'' p. 11 According to the historian Robert Bartlett, Neville's exactions earned him a "reputation for harshness verging on extortion".Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' p. 170

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Alan de 12th-century English nobility

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

1170s deaths English foresters