Read Online Richard III and the Murder in the Tower by Peter A. Hancock - Free Book Online
Authors: Peter A. Hancock
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Margaret, my wife.’ However, a more detailed source, the Dictionary of National Biography 5 is emphatic that, although he was an esquire of the royal body, William, unlike his father, was not a knight. 6 As a result of this established difference in status, in what follows I shall refer to the father as Sir William, while I shall call his son ‘the Cat’ 7 just William.
Our knowledge about the latter part of William’s life is much more extensive than that of his earliest years. It will help set the context for his childhood and early youth by understanding the career of his father, Sir William, and the strides that he had made in his own life by the time William was born. Sir William’s grandfather, John Catesby, had acquired what was to become the family home at Ashby St Ledgers through marriage to Emma Cranford. It was at this time that the Catesbys moved the short distance from their former home of Ladbroke 8 in Warwickshire and took up residence in their new home ( see Figure 13). 9 Much of our contemporary information about the family comes from their actions in and around the village of Ashby St Ledgers and their memorial brasses in the local church 10 ( see Figure 15).
The Father of ‘the Cat’
The legal profession certainly appears to have run in the Catesby family. Emma Cranford’s husband, John Catesby, was apparently a lawyer, as was his son (also John). Sir William himself, the latter’s son, was also a lawyer, and we know from Thomas More’s essay on Richard III that William ‘the Cat’ Catesby also followed this family tradition. 11 Sir William’s own father died in 1437 when, according to a family tradition, Sir William himself was just short of the age of majority. Like the lawyer that he was, Sir William’s father John had, just before his death, placed a portion of his lands in feoffment in order to avoid Sir William being adjudged a royal ward and having the spoilage of his inheritance that often accompanied this latter status. In this, he was not successful. However, for Sir William, the status of ward turned out to be a very profitable turn of events. He was committed to the keeping of a relative by marriage, a courtier named John Norris, who Payling 12 speculates helped find the young Sir William a very advantageous marriage. If he was yet to reach his majority in 1437 and we know that he was married by May of 1442 and, further, we know that his first wife died in 1446, having already produced three children, 13 then some time around 1440 seems a reasonable estimate for the birth date of his son, William ‘the Cat’ ( see Figure 14).
John Norris seems to have been a good mentor to his young ward. Sir William followed the family tradition and spent time at the Inner Temple, but also established a link with the royal court and was given an annuity of ten pounds in 1442. Around this same time he and his new wife received a papal indult for a portable altar. 14 This was clearly a young man now making his way in the world. From a series of records we know that Sir William began to assume a significant position in his now-home county of Northamptonshire. However, there also exist records to show that he was active on the wider stage of events and it is here that a number of the crucial linkages in respect of the present story begin to become evident. As well as giving gifts to leading local personages, in 1447–1448 Sir William is recorded as having sent gifts of fish from his fishpond at Ashby to Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and, even more importantly, John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. 15 In respect of our present search for the truth of Richard III, we should be aware that Humphrey Stafford was succeeded as Duke of Buckingham by his grandson Henry Stafford, and, critically, Eleanor Butler (née Talbot) was the daughter of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. Thus, we have direct evidence that these respective families were in some degree of contact. At this time, Eleanor herself
Our knowledge about the latter part of William’s life is much more extensive than that of his earliest years. It will help set the context for his childhood and early youth by understanding the career of his father, Sir William, and the strides that he had made in his own life by the time William was born. Sir William’s grandfather, John Catesby, had acquired what was to become the family home at Ashby St Ledgers through marriage to Emma Cranford. It was at this time that the Catesbys moved the short distance from their former home of Ladbroke 8 in Warwickshire and took up residence in their new home ( see Figure 13). 9 Much of our contemporary information about the family comes from their actions in and around the village of Ashby St Ledgers and their memorial brasses in the local church 10 ( see Figure 15).
The Father of ‘the Cat’
The legal profession certainly appears to have run in the Catesby family. Emma Cranford’s husband, John Catesby, was apparently a lawyer, as was his son (also John). Sir William himself, the latter’s son, was also a lawyer, and we know from Thomas More’s essay on Richard III that William ‘the Cat’ Catesby also followed this family tradition. 11 Sir William’s own father died in 1437 when, according to a family tradition, Sir William himself was just short of the age of majority. Like the lawyer that he was, Sir William’s father John had, just before his death, placed a portion of his lands in feoffment in order to avoid Sir William being adjudged a royal ward and having the spoilage of his inheritance that often accompanied this latter status. In this, he was not successful. However, for Sir William, the status of ward turned out to be a very profitable turn of events. He was committed to the keeping of a relative by marriage, a courtier named John Norris, who Payling 12 speculates helped find the young Sir William a very advantageous marriage. If he was yet to reach his majority in 1437 and we know that he was married by May of 1442 and, further, we know that his first wife died in 1446, having already produced three children, 13 then some time around 1440 seems a reasonable estimate for the birth date of his son, William ‘the Cat’ ( see Figure 14).
John Norris seems to have been a good mentor to his young ward. Sir William followed the family tradition and spent time at the Inner Temple, but also established a link with the royal court and was given an annuity of ten pounds in 1442. Around this same time he and his new wife received a papal indult for a portable altar. 14 This was clearly a young man now making his way in the world. From a series of records we know that Sir William began to assume a significant position in his now-home county of Northamptonshire. However, there also exist records to show that he was active on the wider stage of events and it is here that a number of the crucial linkages in respect of the present story begin to become evident. As well as giving gifts to leading local personages, in 1447–1448 Sir William is recorded as having sent gifts of fish from his fishpond at Ashby to Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and, even more importantly, John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. 15 In respect of our present search for the truth of Richard III, we should be aware that Humphrey Stafford was succeeded as Duke of Buckingham by his grandson Henry Stafford, and, critically, Eleanor Butler (née Talbot) was the daughter of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. Thus, we have direct evidence that these respective families were in some degree of contact. At this time, Eleanor herself
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