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

Catesby’s world was changed with the death of Edward IV. In his early forties, Catesby saw the main chance for advancement and took it. He was well acquainted with many of the individuals whose influence now came to the fore. Not only was he a trusted advisor to Lord Hastings, he had dealings with Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, who was taking the emerging opportunity to flex his political muscle. It is most probable that Catesby also knew and interacted with Francis, Lord Lovell, who was arguably the closest friend and advisor of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, having known the duke since childhood.
    It was such connections that now brought Catesby to the fore in the tumultuous times of that summer. Ten days after Richard had accompanied his nephew Edward V into London, Catesby was appointed Chancellor of the Earldom of March on 14 May 1483 with an annual fee of forty pounds. This may have been the result of his association with Buckingham, since the earldom was put under the latter’s control the next day, although Roskell attributes this appointment as Richard continuing to curry favour with Hastings by appointing one of his affinity to this advanced office. 33 The next day Catesby was made a Justice of the Peace for the first time in his home county of Northamptonshire. One gets the sense of the Protector dispensing offices and asking individuals who they would like their administrators to be. Clearly, an able individual and lawyer such as Catesby rose to the forefront here. In respect of the specific events of Friday 13 June 1483, again our most detailed account comes from More, and it is worth examining his observations on Catesby’s actions around that time. They form the basis for what I shall refer to as the ‘traditional’ account of motivations and events and Catesby’s role in them.
Catesby and the Tradition of Friday 13th
     
    Sir Thomas More, from whom we derive our most detailed account of the critical meeting of the Council on Friday 13 June 1483, is rather complimentary in his initial observations on William Catesby. Whether this is in the nature of a professional courtesy of one lawyer to another or whether More’s opinion is framed rather by the impressions of Morton we shall have to leave largely in abeyance at this point. What we can evaluate are More’s specific words and phrases. With respect to Catesby he notes that:
    besides his excellent knowledge of the law (of this land) he was a man of dignified bearing, handsomely featured, and of excellent appearance, not only suitable for carrying out assignments, but capable also of handling matters of grave consequence.” 35
     
    In general, this would seem to be approval for Catesby’s skills, capabilities and actions prior to the critical events of that Friday. I think it is fair to take this initial assessment as the general persuasion at that time of a talented, useful but also self-serving administrator. Catesby’s record of appointments by various influential individuals very much seems to confirm that this was the collective opinion.
    However, now we come to the events of that fateful Friday and Catesby’s pivotal role in Hastings’s demise. The traditional story has it that Catesby was considered to be almost exclusively of Hastings’s affinity. However, as Roskell pointed out, Catebsy should not be considered solely as Hastings’s servant, given his associations with other highly placed persons. The traditional version relies extensively on More’s account, so let us first proceed on that basis. The circumstance of the split Council does not seem to have worried Hastings especially, because of his reported confidence in Catesby:
    Thus many things coming together, partly by chance, partly of purpose, caused at length not common people only, that wave with the wind, but wise men also, and some lords eke, to mark the matter and muse thereon; so far forth that the lord Stanley, that was after earl of Derby, wisely mistrusted it, and