Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland

Who was Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland?

Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, was the son of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, and Lady Eleanor Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and his second wife, Joan Beaufort. Eldest son and heir to the earldom of Northumberland, one of the greatest fifteenth-century landholdings in northern England, he also became Lord Poynings on his marriage. This title would bring him into direct conflict with the Poyninngs family themselves, and indeed, feuds with neighbouring nobles, both lay and ecclesiastical would be a key occupancy of his youth. He was a leading Lancastrian during the Wars of the Roses, from which he managed to personally benefit. He was not, however, to live long to enjoy these gains, being killed at the Battle of Towton in 1461 on the losing Lancastrian side.