George Neville, Duke of Bedford

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox noble George Neville, Duke of Bedford (22 February 1465 – 4 May 1483)<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was an English nobleman, a scion of the House of Neville. At birth, he was likely heir to great wealth, but due to the political failure of his father and uncle,Template:Citation needed he inherited very little.

He was the son of John Neville, Earl of Northumberland and a nephew of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. George's mother was Isabel Ingoldisthorpe, daughter and heiress of Sir Edmund Ingoldsthorpe and Joan Tiptoft.<ref name=":0" />

At birth, George was the likely or possible heir to considerable property. Most definite were the property of his father's earldom, his mother's Ingoldsthorpe estates, and the more modest jointure of his parents. The latter two were by themselves sufficient to support a baron.<ref name=":0" /> He was also heir presumptive (after his father) to the Neville estates of his uncle Warwick. These were entailed to heirs male and the earl had only daughters. Finally, George was likely to inherit (after his mother and grandmother) a third share of the Tiptoft property held by his childless grand-uncle, John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, whose sister and heiress Joan was George's maternal grandmother. These inheritances altogether would yield over 4,000 pounds a year, comparable to the 4,500 pounds annual income of the Duke of Clarence.<ref name=":0" /> When George was born, it was proposed that he should be betrothed to Anne Holland,<ref name=":0" /> the Duchess of Exeter's daughter.<ref name=":0" /> Had this happened, it is argued that he would have become the greatest nobleman of his generation.<ref name=":0" />

George Neville was made Duke of Bedford in 1470, as the intended husband of Elizabeth of York, to whom he had been betrothed since 1469 as part of Edward IV's strategy to control Warwick and Clarence.<ref name=":0" /> The title had lain unused since John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford died on 14 September 1435, leaving no legitimate children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, his father and his uncle Warwick rebelled against King Edward IV the following year and were slain in battle,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> causing the proposed marriage to be scrapped.<ref name=":0" /> An act of attainder was never passed against them, but George received no inheritance from them or from his maternal ancestors. An act of Parliament in 1475 gave the Neville inheritance in the north of England to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, husband of one of Warwick's daughters.<ref name="Ross 30">Ross 30</ref> George had a half-interest in the estates of his maternal grandfather, Sir Edmund Ingoldsthorpe, and his maternal grandmother, Joan Tiptoft.<ref>Ross 30 footnote</ref>

Shortly before he came of age in 1478 he was denied the title of duke by act of Parliament, ostensibly for lack of money to "support the name, estate or dignity" of a duke.<ref name="Ross 30"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The title was subsequently given to the infant George of York, the third son of Edward IV.<ref name=":0" /> He died in 1483 of natural causes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

• Template:Cite journal reprinted in his book Richard III and his Rivals.
• Template:Cite book