witness, between 1449 and 1451. He was also one of three men who were instructed, in a letter of 3 February 1449, to not attend the forthcoming parliament and remain in the north guarding the border. He was knighted by King Henry VI at Greenwich on 5 January 1453, alongside Edmund and Jasper Tudor, his brother Thomas Neville, William Herbert, Roger Lewknor, and William Catesby. Feud with the Percys Sir John Neville was from the branch of the Neville family based at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire, rather than that of Westmorland. It has been claimed that he, as a "landless younger son" was partially to blame for his family's long-running feud with the Lancastrian Percy family of Northumberland. The first outburst of violence that took place was a result of the 1 May 1453 royal licence for John Neville's brother, Thomas Neville to marry Maud Stanhope being issued. News of this must have reached the north within the fortnight, for by the twelfth, one of the Earl of Northumberland's younger sons, Thomas Percy, Lord Egremont, began recruiting men. In August 1453, John Neville raided the Percy castle of Topcliffe, possibly with the intention of seizing Egremont. Failing to find him, Neville resorted to threatening the Percy tenantry who were in residence. He and Egremont were subsequently summoned to appear before the Royal Council, a summons which was ignored by both. Feuding continued through summer 1453, and even though they had been instructed to keep the peace, by 27 July, the council was issuing letters to Northumberland and Salisbury regarding their sons. This was followed by more letters to the sons. In Knaresborough, the locals generally aligned themselves with John Neville due to the unpopularity of Sir William Plumpton (the king's man), from whom they began stealing with impunity, which resulted in severe injuries when the Neville brothers demonstrated a "show of force" in January 1454. John Neville was with his brother's wedding party when Egremont ambushed them on the return from Tattershall Castle. This took place on Heworth Moor on 24 August 1453. The next month, John took a raiding party and ransacked Egremont's Catton manor, "breaking windows and shattering tiles." With his brothers, Thomas and Richard, as well as the Earl of Salisbury, they faced the Earl of Northumberland and his sons at Topcliffe on 20 October 1453, although a peace was then negotiated. The feud continued for much