Free Richard III and the Murder in the Tower by Peter A. Hancock

that William followed in his father’s footsteps and pursued the family vocation of law at the Inner Temple. We first hear of him as ‘W. Catysby, lectorem,’ discoursing on the nature of the Magna Carta 25 and there are some formal records that show his progress in the profession. 26 Payling noted that Catesby was most probably unlike the general run of students of the Inner Temple at the time. He had already made a very advantageous marriage and had a considerable income from this source, as well as from the lands his father had given him. Indeed, it is in regard to his wife’s family, the Zouches of Harringworth, and their extended relations, now including Lord Scope of Bolton, that we see William’s penetration into the world of influence. 27 It appears as though he could have settled into a life of quiet, country gentility, and yet the impression we get from the legal records of the time is one of his evident ambition.
    In the present thesis, it is very important to note that the first ever royal appointment of which we have a record for William Catesby was to a commission of inquiry on 18 May 1473. 28 It is not the date per se , but rather the subject of this commission which is particularly important. With others, he was commissioned to make inquiries as to the Warwickshire lands and estates of the late Ralph, Lord Sudeley. 29 As we know from the previous chapter, Ralph, Lord Sudeley was Ralph Butler, the father-inlaw to Eleanor Butler (née Talbot). We should also recall that his son and Eleanor’s husband Thomas had died earlier, perhaps from wounds received at the Battle of Blore Heath, fought on 23 September 1459. His daughterin-law, Eleanor, had herself died on 30 June 1468, so Ralph Butler was in the sad situation of seeing at least one branch of his direct family die out completely. 30 It was perhaps this lack of a direct heir that indeed led to the commission to which William Catesby was appointed. Given the death of his son and daughter-in-law, it is more than likely that some of the lands around Great Dorsett and Fenny Compton reverted to his control. From investigation of the pattern of land acquisition of William Catesby, we can see that these particular properties lay squarely in the path of the quickly expanding Catesby holdings ( see Appendix VI, The Offices and Lands of William Catesby). Thus, the commission represented a pivotal opportunity for William to influence the destiny of some properties that he and his family may well have coveted, perhaps even for decades. For, as we know, the original Catesby family holdings were in Ladbroke, less than five miles from Great Dorsett, and it is likely that their original lands bordered on these manors. The implication is that William must have worked hard to get himself appointed to this commission, potentially with the help of some of his influential relatives. 31 Of course, as a local landowner, it may be that this was seen as ‘natural’ appointment. The property eventually found its way by means of the marriage of Lord Sudeley’s sister into the eventual possession of Sir Edward Belknap, whose draconian action, added to the decimation wreaked by an earlier bout of the Black Death, eventually dispelled the glory of Great Dorsett, which continues only as shadow of its past self today.
    After the death of his father in 1479, William would have been a very rich man indeed, and had more than enough wealth for the rest of his life. Yet there appears to have been continual and unstinted effort. This acquisitiveness and ambition are reflected in his purchases in the later 1470s and early 1480s of various properties. We have information as to his acquisition of the manors of Oxhill, just a short distance from Ashby St Ledgers, and Tilbrook, just across the county border in Bedfordshire. Indeed, the pattern and development of the acquisition of Catesby’s lands may well give us direct insight into his political motivations. 32
    Like everyone else’s,