William Catesby
William Catesby (1450
The son of Sir William Catesby of
In July 1484,
The Catte, the Ratte and Lovell our dogge rulyth all Englande under a hogge.
(The dog here refers to Lovell's heraldic symbol, a wolf.)[4][5] The poem was interpolated into Laurence Olivier's film Richard III, a screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. Collingbourne was hanged, drawn and quartered for this and other alleged treasonable activities.
William Catesby was one of the two councillors (the other being Richard Ratcliffe) who are reputed to have told the king that marrying Elizabeth of York would cause rebellions in the north.[6] He fought alongside Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field and was captured. Alone of those of importance, he was executed three days later at Leicester. The suggestion that he might have made a deal with the Stanleys before the battle comes from his will when he asked them "to pray for my soul as ye have not for my body, as I trusted in you."[7]
After his death, his estates were largely confiscated by Henry VII. Catesby was succeeded by his eldest son, George, to whom the family seat of Ashby St Legers was later restored. Robert Catesby, leader of the Gunpowder Plot, was a descendant.[8]
Notes
- ^ Entry in War of the Roses website Archived 9 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine; see also John A. Wagner, Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2001), 49-50.
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography, 63 vols., (New York: Macmillan, 1887) 9:284 sub loco
- ^ Ross, p. 156.
- ^ Robert Fabyan, The New Chronicles of England and France in to Parts (London, 1811), p. 672.
- ^ Fields, Bertram. Royal Blood: Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes. 2000
- ^ Weir The Princes in the Tower p. 211-212.
- ^ Gairdner, p. 284
- ^ "gunpowder-plot.org". www.gunpowder-plot.org.
References
- Gairdner, James (1887). "William Catesby (d. 1485)". Dictionary of National Biography. 9: 284–285.
- Ross, Charles (1981). Richard III. ISBN 9780520045897.
- ISBN 1-85326-691-4.