Katherine Neville, Duchess of Norfolk Facts
Known for: figure in the Wars of the Roses
Occupation: member of the English nobility
Dates: about 1400 - after 1483
Also known as: Catherine de Neville
Background, Family:
- Mother: Joan Beaufort
- Father: Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland
- Siblings:
- Eleanor Neville (married (1) Richard Le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh; (2) Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland)
- Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (married Alice Montacute, Countess of Salisbury; among his sons was Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, "the Kingmaker," father of Anne Neville, Queen of England)
- Robert Neville, Bishop of Durham
- William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent
- Cecily Neville (married Richard, 3rd Duke of York; their children included Edward IV, Richard III,
- George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer
- Joan Neville, a nun
- John Neville (died in childhood)
- Cuthbert Neville (died in childhood)
- Thomas Neville (died in childhood)
- Henry Neville (died in childhood)
Marriage, Children:
- husband: John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1392 - 1432; married January 12, 1412)
children:- John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1415 - 1461)
- husband: Thomas Strangways (died before 1442; married about 1432)
children:- Joan Strangways
- Catherine Strangways
- husband: John, Viscount Beaumont (died 1460; married about 1442)
- husband: John Woodville (executed 1469; married about 1465)
Katherine Neville, Duchess of Norfolk Biography:
Not much is known of Katherine Neville, eldest daughter of the marriage of Joan Beaufort and Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland.
She was first married at age 12 to the 20-year-old John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. She retained her title as the dowager duchess after her first husband's death. They had one son, John, in about 20 years of marriage; the son succeeded his father.
After Mowbray's death, Katherine then married another noble, Thomas Strangways, with whom she had two daughters who both married into the nobility. He died about 10 years after the marriage. Katherine's third husband, whom she married about 1442, was John Beaumont. They had no children before he died in 1460.
Katherine's final marriage was scandalous. After about 5 years of widowhood, she was married to the 19-year-old brother of the new wife of her nephew, the new king Edward IV. The term used at the time was "the diabolical marriage" and it is not clear whether Katherine wanted the marriage or not. Presumably it was a way to give the young John Woodville some worldly wealth, as Katherine had dower rights and a fair amount of wealth to bring to the marriage.
But even with the 46-year difference in their ages, Katherine outlived yet another husband. In 1469, in the back-and-forth of the houses of York and Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses, Katherine's nephew, Richard Neville, known as the Kingmaker, had briefly thrown Edward IV off the throne, and had John Woodville executed.
The last record of Katherine had her still alive in 1483.
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