Richard Neville, 1st Earl of Warwick

Richard Neville, 1st Earl of Warwick was an English noble who became known as “the Kingmaker”, in reference to his role as arbiter of royal power during the first half of the Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York. Neville obtained the crown for the Yorkist king Edward IV (r. 1461-1470, 1471-1483) in 1461 and later restored to power (1470–71) the deposed Lancastrian monarch Henry VI. As a reward King Edward gave him many confiscated estates and offices of profit such as Great Chamberlain and Admiral of England, as well as Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Out of greed Warwick rebelled and tried to replace Edward, but Edward’s troops killed Warwick at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471. His estates were worth £50,000, about 1.42% of net national income, which would make him worth £15.7bn in 2010.