Who are Westmorland and Warwick?
What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
In the above quote, Henry calls Westmoreland his cousin, and I realized I still had some more side branches of the family to unpack. Besides, there are several Warwicks in Shakespeare’s plays who seem to have little to do with each other besides their common title, so what’s going on?
In order to answer these questions, we need to unpack the family lines of the Nevilles and Beauchamps!
First, let’s talk about the Beauchamps. The Beauchamp line was the hereditary Earls of Warwick all the way back to the Battle of Hastings. In Edward III, the character Warwick was the 11th Earl, Thomas de Beauchamp. By the time we arrive in the first Henriad, we have moved to the 13th Earl of Warwick, Richard de Beauchamp. He’s the one we see in the Henry IV and V plays.
However, the Beauchamp line faded away after Richard. He had one son (Henry de Beauchamp), who died childless. The title was then passed through Richard’s daughter Anne to her husband (a process called jure uxoris, wherein a husband inherits through the wife’s line). Who was her husband? Richard Neville. He becomes the powerful “Kingmaker” Warwick in the Wars of the Roses. We’ll talk about him quite a bit in the second Henriad.
So, who were the Nevilles? Before we get to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, let’s back up to Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. He is the Westmoreland in the first Henriad, and he was made an Earl during the reign of Richard II. He’s not part of the royal family, but he’s royal-adjacent through marriage, close enough for Henry to call him “cousin” in the St. Crispin’s Day speech.
Remember the Beauforts? We talked about them last time. They were the illegitimate/legitimized children of John of Gaunt and Henry IV’s half-siblings. We see Exeter as an important Beaufort in Henry V, and Cardinal Beaufort will be very significant to the action of the Henry VI plays. However, they also had a sister (I failed to mention her, sorry!) named Joan. She married Ralph Neville Westmoreland, making him a half-cousin-in-law to King Henry V. Technically, she was his second marriage; his first marriage to Margaret Stafford produced nine children, and his marriage to Joan produced fourteen more. Whew!
Okay, so Ralph “Westmoreland” Neville, with his two marriages and manifold offspring, helped produce quite a few significant characters for our upcoming plays. Let’s look at a few of them.
First Generation: Ralph Neville as Westmoreland in Henry IV plays and Henry V.
Second Generation:
Richard Neville, as Earl of Salisbury Son of Ralph and Joan, he plays a role in the Henry VI plays as a Yorkist.
Cecily Neville m. Richard Duke of York (the son of Richard of Cambridge who died in Henry V). She plays in Richard III as the Duchess of York and embittered mother, watching her son Richard destroy her family. Her husband and children play key roles in the Wars of the Roses. We’ll have to explore all of them more in depth later.
21 more kids, too many to explore now, but creating some connections to the Buckinghams, the Percys, etc.
Third Generation:
Richard Neville as Warwick “The Kingmaker” in Henry VI plays. A son of Richard of Salisbury above.
John Neville as Marquess of Montague, a Yorkist in 3 Henry VI . A son of Richard of Salisbury above.
George Neville as Archbishop of York, mentioned in 3 Henry VI, helping his brother Warwick take custody of Edward IV. A son of Richard of Salisbury above.
Fourth Generation:
Isabel Neville—Daughter of Richard Neville/Warwick above. Marries George, Duke of Clarence of the House of York. Although Isabel isn’t a character, she’s mentioned, and the connection created between Clarence and Warwick is important in the Henry VI plays.
Anne Neville—Daughter of Richard Neville/Warwick above. Marries Edward, son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. After his death, she marries Richard III (while he’s Duke of Gloucester) in a dramatic scene in Richard III.
That’ll have to do for now! We’ll follow more family lines when we get back from our break week and start into the second Henriad!
