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Sir Edward Neville (died 8 December 1538) was an English courtier. He was perhaps born in Kent. He was the son ofGeorge Neville, 4th Baron Bergavenny and his wife Margaret, daughter ofHugh Fenn. He married Eleanor Windsor, daughter ofAndrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor and Elizabeth Blount, before 6 April 1529. He was the brother ofGeorge Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny and the two of them became close toKing Henry VIII (their distant cousin) and the Queen,Catherine of Aragon.[1]
Edward Neville wasEsquire of the Body, and Sewer Keeper (official overseeing service to Henry VIII's household[a]). He lived atAddington Park,Surrey, England. On 25 September 1513 he was invested as a Knight and in 1516 held the offices of Master of the Hounds and Gentleman of the Privy Chamber.
The Nevilles and their cousins the Courtenays supported Catherine of Aragon's marriage and for the Pope's authority in England, which alienated King Henry. But Edward seems to have kept the King's favour as late as 1535.[3] He was Henry's Standard Bearer in 1531, and in 1534 he was Constable ofLeeds Castle in Kent.
But a few years later Henry turned against him. Early in 1538, Henry's chief ministerThomas Cromwell was warned that Edward Neville was secretly trying to obtain the estates ofMoatenden Priory, which had beenrecently dissolved. However, Cromwell had already marked these lands as his own and made a payment of £3,500.
Cromwell, after the death of theEarl of Northumberland in 1537, had marked its property for his own. After thePilgrimage of Grace, many conservative nobles were accused of treason.[4] Neville was arrested on 3 November 1538, for conspiracy, along with his cousinHenry Pole. They were charged with high treason for conspiracy with Henry's exiled brother, CardinalReginald Pole: "devising to maintain, promote, and advance [Cardinal Pole], late Dean of Exeter, enemy of the King, beyond the sea, and to deprive the King." Neville was sent to the Tower, tried at Westminster, and beheaded on 8 December atTower Hill.
A patent was issued to Cromwell confirming his estate, possession and interest in the site of the late priory, of Mottenden, and the manors of Mottenden, Plushenden, Plomford, and Delmynden in Kent; the rectory of Lancing, Sussex, and all tithes thereto belonging; the advowson of the parish church of Lancing and the vicarage of the same church; a saltmarsh in Canwynden alias Derwishop, Essex; and all lands, &c., in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Essex, late of John Gregory alias John Harietsham, late minister of the Trinitarian priory of Mottenden. While it looked as if Cromwell had planned to end Neville for the lands, payments for the area predate any conspiracy theory.
Children of Sir Edward Neville and Eleanor.