Ralph Percy

Who was Ralph Percy?

Sir Ralph Percy was a knight, a Governor of Bamburgh Castle and a supporter of the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses. Percy was the grandson of Sir Harry Percy.

Percy married, firstly, Eleanor Acton and they had six children:

Sir Ralph Percy

Peter Percy

Sir Henry Percy

George Percy

John Percy

Margaret Percy

Sir Ralph married, secondly Jane Teye. They had a child, Catherine Percy.

During 1462 and 1463, the Lancastrians attempted to destabilise the kingdom, ruled by their Yorkist enemy, Edward IV. These attempts were concentrated in the north of England and directed by the Lancastrian Queen, Margaret of Anjou.

The Earl of Warwick led campaigns to neutralise the Lancastrians in the north in the early 1460s. As a result Sir Ralph Percy surrendered Bamburgh Castle to Edward IV, on Christmas Eve 1462 in return for a free pardon. Sir Ralph swore allegiance to Edward IV and, as part of Edward IV’s policy of conciliation, Percy’s lands were then returned to him. Sir Ralph took control of both Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh Castles, under his surrender agreement with Edward.

Fighting in the north continued, exacerbated by a Scottish invasion.