Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as ‘the Kingmaker’, was one of the most significant figures in medieval English political and military history. The last of the great barons whose wealth and influence outdid even the sovereigns they were supposed to serve, Warwick was born (in 1428) to wield power, and increased his birthright by judicious marital alliances and his own gift for intrigue.
A member of the ancient Neville family – who divided overlordship of the far north with their dynastic rivals, the Percies – Warwick, along with his ally the Duke of York, was one of the kingdom’s richest magnates during the early reign of Henry VI. Henry’s fragile mental health periodically tipped into actual catatonic insanity, at which times the kingdom descended into near-anarchy. During these troubled periods, York struggled to restore good government as Protector, and fought for power against a Lancastrian court party led by Henry’s forceful French queen, Margaret of Anjou, and her favourite, the Duke of Somerset.
Having quarrelled with Somerset over an inheritance issue, Warwick joined forces with York, who appointed him Captain of Calais – England’s last possession in France, which became the Earl’s refuge and power base.
