Sir Ralph Percy (11 August 1425 – 25 April 1464) was an English nobleman of the

House of Percy The Percy family is an old English nobility, English noble family. They were among the oldest and most powerful noble families in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The noble family is known for its long rivalry with the House of Nev ...

, a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

, a Governor of

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle, on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland, is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Britons, Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have ...

and a supporter of the Lancastrian faction in the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

. Percy was the son of

Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (3 February 139322 May 1455) was an English nobleman and military commander in the lead up to the Wars of the Roses. He was the son of Henry "Hotspur" Percy, and the grandson of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of No ...

and Lady Eleanor Neville, and the grandson of Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy.

Family

Percy married, firstly, Eleanor Acton and they had six children: # Sir Ralph PercyClay, John William; The Extinct and Dormant Peerages of the Northern Counties of England; 1913 # Peter Percy # Sir Henry Percy # George Percy # John Percy # Margaret Percy Sir Ralph married, secondly Jane Teye. They had a child, Catherine Percy.

Career

Ralph was born on 11 August 1425 to

and Eleanor Neville, Countess of Northumberland. He had three brothers,

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and Richard. Ralph, Thomas and Richard participated in the Percy-Neville feud, fighting at Stamford Bridge, where he and Thomas were taken prisoner in 1454. He was freed after Henry VI regained his sanity and the Duke of York dismissed as protector. His father was killed at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, and four years later the Yorkists were charged with treason, and they fled, following the Rout of Ludford Bridge. However, when they returned, Thomas was killed at the Battle of Northampton. Queen Margaret raised an army in the north, and the Percies joined her. Following victories at the Battle of Worksop and the Battle of Wakefield, where York was killed, and a victory at the

Second Battle of St Albans The Second Battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February 1461 during the Wars of the Roses in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England (the First Battle of St Albans had been fought in 1455). The army of the Yorkist faction, under the Earl of War ...

, the Lancastrian cause was on the rise, but, at the disastrous

Battle of Towton The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between a ...

, his brothers were killed and he went into exile During 1462 and 1463, the Lancastrians attempted to destabilise the kingdom, ruled by their

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, th ...

enemy,

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

. These attempts were concentrated in the north of England and directed by the Lancastrian Queen,

Margaret of Anjou Margaret of Anjou (; 23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Through marriage, she was also nominally Queen of France from 1445 to 1453. Born in the ...

( Henry VI's wife). The

Earl of Warwick Earl of Warwick is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which has been created four times in English history. The name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick. Overview The first creation came in 1088, and the title was held b ...

led campaigns to neutralise the Lancastrians in the north in the early 1460s. As a result, Sir Ralph Percy surrendered Bamburgh Castle to Edward IV, on Christmas Eve 1462 in return for a free pardon. Sir Ralph swore allegiance to Edward IV and, as part of Edward IV's policy of conciliation, Percy's lands were then returned to him. Sir Ralph took control of both Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh Castles, under his surrender agreement with Edward. Fighting in the north continued, exacerbated by a Scottish invasion led by James III,

and Henry VI in 1463. When the Scots sued for peace, Lord Montague was sent to arrange terms. On 25 April 1464, Montague was on his way to Norham. The

Duke of Somerset Duke of Somerset, from the county of Somerset, is a title that has been created five times in the peerage of England. It is particularly associated with two families: the Beauforts, who held the title from the creation of 1448, and the Seymours ...

(who had surrendered and sworn allegiance with Percy) and Percy, forswearing their oaths, attacked Montague with 5,000 men. The site of that battle was Hedgeley Moor, seven miles south of Wooler. Percy led Somerset's vanguard and was killed.

Ancestry

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, Ralph 1425 births 1464 deaths English military personnel killed in action People of the Wars of the Roses Ralph Percy Younger sons of earls