Life

He was brother of Thomas Neville, dean of Canterbury, and son of Richard Neville of South Leverton

South Leverton

South Leverton is a village and civil parish in Bassetlaw, north Nottinghamshire, England, four miles from Retford. According to the 2001 census it has a population of 478.-Geography:...

, Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, by Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Mantell of Heyford

Heyford

-Places:* Lower Heyford, Oxfordshire, England* Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire, England* Upper Heyford, Northamptonshire, England* Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England...

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

. His mother's sister Margaret was mother of Barnabe Googe

Barnabe Googe

Barnabe Googe or Gooche was a poet and translator, one of the earliest English pastoral poets.-Early life:...

Alexander was educated at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, where he graduated M.A. in 1581, at the same time as Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...

. On leaving the university he seems to have studied law in London, where he became acquainted with George Gascoigne

George Gascoigne

George Gascoigne was an English poet, soldier, artist, and unsuccessful courtier. He is considered the most important poet of the early Elizabethan era, following Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and leading to the emergence of Philip Sidney...

. He is one of the five friends whom Gascoigne describes as challenging him to write poems on Latin mottoes proposed by themselves. Neville soon entered the service of Archbishop Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....

 apparently as a secretary, and edited for him Tabula Heptarchiae Saxonicae.

He attended Parker's funeral on 6 June 1575, and wrote an elegy in Latin heroics. He remained in the service of Parker's successors, Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...

 and John Whitgift

John Whitgift

John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...

. Possibly he is identical with the Alexander Neville who sat in parliament as M.P. for Christchurch, Hampshire, in 1585, and for Saltash

Saltash

Saltash is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a population of 14,964. It lies in the south east of Cornwall, facing Plymouth over the River Tamar. It was in the Caradon district until March 2009 and is known as "the gateway to Cornwall". Saltash means ash tree by...

 in 1601. He died on 4 October 1614, and was buried on 9 October in Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....

, where the dean erected a monument to commemorate both his brother and himself. He married Jane, daughter of Richard Buncombe of Morton, Buckinghamshire, and widow of Sir Gilbert Dethick, but left no issue.

Works

His major work was an account in Latin of Kett's rebellion

Kett's Rebellion

Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in Norfolk, England during the reign of Edward VI. The rebellion was in response to the enclosure of land. It began in July 1549 but was eventually crushed by forces loyal to the English crown....

 of 1549, to which he appended a description of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

 and its antiquities. The work, which was undertaken under Parker's guidance, was entitled A. Nevylii ... de Furoribus Norfolcensium Ketto Duce. Eiusdem Norvicus, London (by Henry Binneman), 1575. A list of the mayors and sheriffs of Norwich was added. The dedication was addressed to Parker, and Thomas Drant

Thomas Drant

Thomas Drant was an English clergyman and poet. Work of his on prosody was known to Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. He was in the intellectual court circle known as the 'Areopagus', and including, as well as Sidney, Edward Dyer, Gabriel Harvey, and Daniel Rogers...

 prefixed verses. A passage in it spoke of the laziness of the Welsh levies who had taken part in the suppression of Kett's rebellion, and compared the Welsh soldiers to sheep. Offence was taken by the government at this sneer, and a new edition was at once issued with the offensive sentences omitted and an additional dedication to Archbishop Grindal, the successor of Parker. Neville also published in 1576 'A. Nevylii ad Walliae proceres apologia' (London, by Henry Binneman), in which he acknowledged his error of judgment. The account of Kett was appended under the title 'Kettus' to Christopher Ocland's Anglorum Praelia, 1582, and in 1615 an English translation by the Rev. Richard Woods of Norwich appeared with the title Norfolk Furies their Foyle under Kett and their Accursed Captaine: with a description of the famous Citye of Norwich; another edition is dated 1623.

Neville was also a writer of Latin verse and prose. His earliest publication was a translation of Seneca

Seneca the Younger

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...

's Oedipus, into a rough ballad metre in 1560, and dedicated to Henry Wotton

Henry Wotton

Sir Henry Wotton was an English author and diplomat. He is often quoted as saying, "An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." -Life:The son of Thomas Wotton , brother of Edward Wotton, 1st Baron Wotton, and grandnephew of the diplomat...

. Thomas Newton

Thomas Newton (poet)

Thomas Newton was an English physician, clergyman, poet, author and translator.-Life:The eldest son of Edward Newton of Park House, in Butley, a part of the parish of Prestbury, Cheshire, he was educated first at the Macclesfield grammar school by John Brownsword, a much-praised schoolmaster...

 included it in his 'Seneca his Tenne Tragedies, London, 1581. In 1587 appeared Neville's Academiae Cantabrigiensis lacrymse tumulo ... P. Sidneij sacratae per A. Nevillum, Cambridge, 1587, with a dedication to the Earl of Leicester

Earl of Leicester

The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England , and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837.-Early creations:...

. Sir John Harington commended this poem in his annotations on Ariosto's Orlando Furioso

Orlando Furioso

Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...

(bk. 37).

Neville also contributed English verses to Barnabe Googe's Eglogs and Sonettes, 1563.