Odin (or Woden) was a great chief in Asgaard, Asaland, or Asia, with two brothers, Ve, the other Vilje. Odin waged war against Vanalanders (in Asia) unsuccessfully. After years of mutual ravaging, both countries sent their best men to settle a truce and come to peace in Vanaheim, . Aagaard sent Hone, a chief and Mime, a man of great understanding. Vanaland sent Njord the Rich, and his son Frey and Kvase, a wise man. The Vanalanders thought Hone had deceived them, beheaded Mime and snet his head to Odin, who preserved it with herbs and it became powerful. Njord and Frey became priests and Diar of the Asian people. Njord's daighter, Freya, became the first priestess of sacrifice who taught magic to the Asians. Odin appropriated to himself the whole of that district, and called it Sigtun. To the temple priests he gave also domains. Njord dwelt in Noatun, Frey in Upsal, Heimdal in the Himinbergs, Thor in Thrudvang, Balder in Breidablik; to all of them he gave good estates.
Odin moved to the lands in the north, and taight the people there (Swedes?)
. After Odin's death, Njord was the high king of all the
Swedes.
Heimskringla, Ynglinga Saga, Section 1-11
1420 - Invested as a Knight
1420 - 1434 Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland
1424 - Keeper of the Forests beyond the Trent
1429 - Constable of England
1432 - Constable of Pontefract Castle
1434 - Warden of the East and West Marches towards Scotland
1436 - Commissioner to treat for peace with France in the Hundred Years War
1436 - Invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.)
1437 - invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.)
1443 -
In 1380 he took part in the Earl of Buckingham's expedition to Brittany. He was invested as a Knight in July 1380, held the office of Joint Keeper of the castle and city of Carlisle on 26 October 1385, and held the office of Joint Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland on 27 March 1386. He succeeded to the title of 4th Lord Neville, of Raby [E., 1295] on 17 October 1388, held the office of Joint Surveyor of the Fortifications in the Marches on 25 October 1388, the office of Joint Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland in 1389 and the office of Keeper of the Forests beyond the Trent between 1389 and 1425. He was Chief Commissioner to perform the duties of the Constable of England in 1391. He held the office of Keeper of Wark Castle between February 1396/97 and September 1398. He held the office of Constable of the Tower of London between 21 September 1397 and 30 October 1397. He gained the title of 1st Earl of Westmorland [England] on 29 September 1397, for loyalty to King Richard II when the later struck back at the Lords Appellant who in 1387 had engineered convictions for treason against King Richard's friends. He held the office of Guardian of the truce in the East March on 28 November 1398. He held the office of Marshal of England between 1399 and 1413.2 In July 1399 when he sided with his brother-in-law, the banished Duke of Hereford, against King Richard II, after the Duke (later King Henry IV) returned to England. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) before 4 December 1399. He was Commissioner to treat with the Romans for the marriage of Princess Blanche on 13 February 1400/1. He held the office of Keeper of Roxburghe Castle between March 1401/2 and 1408. He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) circa 1403. He held the office of Warden of Berwick and the Eastern March in 1403. He held the office of Warden of Carlisle and the Western March between 1403 and 1414. On 29 May 1405 at Shipton Moor, Yorkshire, England, he intercepted the rebellious Archbishop Scrope and the young Lord Mowbray, where, after a friendly conference, he arrested them in an unscrupulous manner. He was a member of the Council of Regency in 1415, during King Henry V's absence abroad. He was a member of the Council of Regency in 1422, during the minority of King Henry VI.
He was survived by most of his 23 children! He was a great church builder, 'curious flat headed windows being peculiar to the churches on the Nevill manors'. When he died, he left money to complete the College of Staindrop which he founded near Raby, and was buried at Staindrop, where his alabaster effigy in armour between his two wives 'remains the finest sepulchral monument in the north of England.' www.thepeerage.com
Legally changed his name to his mother's name of Neville because of the vast fortune her family brought to her marriage. He was born Geoffrey FitzRobert at birth.
Eldest daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1364–1425), and Joan Beaufort (c. 1379-1440), daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by his mistress (later, 3rd wife) Katherine Swynford.
On 12 January 1412, Katherine was married at the age of 12 to John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1392–1432). Their only known child was John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1415–1461).
Katherine married for a second time to Thomas Strangeways (c. 1395-before 1442) - they had 2 daughters:
Joan Strangeways, who married Sir William Willoughby. Their daugher Cecily married Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley.
Catherine Strangeways
She married for a third time to John, Viscount Beaumont, who was killed in 1460.
Her fourth and last marriage was infamous, known by contemporaries as the "diabolical marriage" - she married John Woodville, brother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV. He was 19 years old at the time of their marriage - she was 65. Nonetheless, she survived even him; he was executed in 1469 during the brief period of time that her nephew Richard, Earl of Warwick, usurped the authority of the crown. Whether or not she was forced into this final marriage against her will is unclear. She was still alive in 1483, having survived all the descendents of her first marriage.