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Authors: Peter A. Hancock
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schooled William in the notion of the expediency of switching allegiances as the times and the conditions changed? We have some very tentative evidence that the son, William Catesby, attended the University of Oxford as a student at what would then have been recognised as Gloucester College. This college was founded in 1283 and later in 1560 became Gloucester Hall, which was administered through St John’s College. Eventually, the institution became Worcester College after benefiting from the will of Sir Thomas Cookes. 19 At exactly what age William would have been a student at Oxford we do not know but perhaps this was part of his preparation as a lawyer in looking to continue the family tradition?
The swaying vicissitudes of the times eventually seem to have caught up with Sir William, especially around the time of Henry VI’s readeption, which should have been of advantage to him as a previous Lancastrian supporter. However, although well treated, Sir William’s mind seems then to have been more on things spiritual than events temporal. In early January 1471 he was involved with the arrangements for a ceremonial at Ashby St Ledgers to take place on 26 July, which may well have been his birthday. The record of the respective arrangements noted his service to the Talbot family in the late 1440s and early 1450s and especially notes his link to the now deceased John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. Significantly, it also notes Sir William’s link to Talbot’s second wife, Countess Margaret, and most intriguingly two of their children, John, Viscount Lisle and, most especially, Eleanor Butler, 20 the so-called ‘uncrowned queen’ of Edward IV. 21
William and his Father
It was at about this time, when William 22 was around twenty-one years of age that, probably with the guidance of Sir William, he made a strong marriage in the sense of its important familial linkages. The young lady was Margaret Zouch and she was the daughter of William, Lord Zouche of Harringworth and his second wife, Elizabeth St John. Elizabeth herself was the maternal half-sister of Margaret Beaufort and this may help account for a later conundrum associated with William and his appeal to Margaret Beaufort’s son, Henry VII, in the city of Leicester in late August 1485. Elizabeth, it seems, went on to marry her second husband, Lord Scrope of Bolton, and it was through this association that William received her life interest in some of the Zouche lands in Leicestershire. At the same time (most probably associated with the marriage also), William was the recipient from his father of the Bishopston lands that had come as part of his own mother’s inheritance. It is very possible that this was the essential beginnings of William’s search to build up a territorial hegemony of his own. It might also have been this acquisitiveness that was one of his fundamental motivations for his later recorded actions.
Despite the continuing disputation between the Houses of York and Lancaster, this seems to have been a good time for the Catesbys, pere et fils . Sir William, it seems, had a connection with George, Duke of Clarence, and it was also around this time that the Catesby connection to William, Lord Hastings grew in magnitude and importance. It was perhaps this latter association that saw Sir William again avoid the fall-out from Clarence’s demise and he returned for a final time as the Sheriff of the County of Northamptonshire. Indeed, Sir William died in office in the autumn of 1479 and despite his adaptation to the Yorkist administration, his memorial brass reads, ‘ quondam unus trencheatorum Regis Henrici sexti .’ Apparently, his persuasion was Lancastrian to the end. 23 ( See Figure 15) 24
The Rise of ‘the Cat’
To understand the events of the summer of 1483, we need to delve further into the career and aspirations of young William Catesby. While we are still uncertain about his attendance at Oxford, we do know with a degree of certainty
The swaying vicissitudes of the times eventually seem to have caught up with Sir William, especially around the time of Henry VI’s readeption, which should have been of advantage to him as a previous Lancastrian supporter. However, although well treated, Sir William’s mind seems then to have been more on things spiritual than events temporal. In early January 1471 he was involved with the arrangements for a ceremonial at Ashby St Ledgers to take place on 26 July, which may well have been his birthday. The record of the respective arrangements noted his service to the Talbot family in the late 1440s and early 1450s and especially notes his link to the now deceased John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. Significantly, it also notes Sir William’s link to Talbot’s second wife, Countess Margaret, and most intriguingly two of their children, John, Viscount Lisle and, most especially, Eleanor Butler, 20 the so-called ‘uncrowned queen’ of Edward IV. 21
William and his Father
It was at about this time, when William 22 was around twenty-one years of age that, probably with the guidance of Sir William, he made a strong marriage in the sense of its important familial linkages. The young lady was Margaret Zouch and she was the daughter of William, Lord Zouche of Harringworth and his second wife, Elizabeth St John. Elizabeth herself was the maternal half-sister of Margaret Beaufort and this may help account for a later conundrum associated with William and his appeal to Margaret Beaufort’s son, Henry VII, in the city of Leicester in late August 1485. Elizabeth, it seems, went on to marry her second husband, Lord Scrope of Bolton, and it was through this association that William received her life interest in some of the Zouche lands in Leicestershire. At the same time (most probably associated with the marriage also), William was the recipient from his father of the Bishopston lands that had come as part of his own mother’s inheritance. It is very possible that this was the essential beginnings of William’s search to build up a territorial hegemony of his own. It might also have been this acquisitiveness that was one of his fundamental motivations for his later recorded actions.
Despite the continuing disputation between the Houses of York and Lancaster, this seems to have been a good time for the Catesbys, pere et fils . Sir William, it seems, had a connection with George, Duke of Clarence, and it was also around this time that the Catesby connection to William, Lord Hastings grew in magnitude and importance. It was perhaps this latter association that saw Sir William again avoid the fall-out from Clarence’s demise and he returned for a final time as the Sheriff of the County of Northamptonshire. Indeed, Sir William died in office in the autumn of 1479 and despite his adaptation to the Yorkist administration, his memorial brass reads, ‘ quondam unus trencheatorum Regis Henrici sexti .’ Apparently, his persuasion was Lancastrian to the end. 23 ( See Figure 15) 24
The Rise of ‘the Cat’
To understand the events of the summer of 1483, we need to delve further into the career and aspirations of young William Catesby. While we are still uncertain about his attendance at Oxford, we do know with a degree of certainty
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