Maliverey Catilyn (or Maliverny Caitlyn, Malevery Catlin, Malivery Kattelyne, or other variations) was an English spy in Elizabethan England.
Early life
Little is known of Catilyn's family or early life, except that he had older brothers, which would normally have meant that he occupied a subordinate financial position. In around 1570, he joined the English army in the Netherlands under Colonel Thomas Morgan, but was forced to leave in 1585 or 1586 after a dispute with his superior.
Government spy
After leaving the army, Catilyn travelled to
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
, where he was still living in the spring of 1586, gathering information on English Catholics in exile for the benefit of the English government, particularly the spymaster and principal secretary
Sir Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".
Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...
. By the end of June 1586, Catilyn was in Portsmouth, acting as a prison spy, and he also spent some time in the
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...
for the same purpose. At around the same time, he worked with other spies, such as
Gilbert Gifford and
Thomas Phelippes
Thomas Phelippes (1556–1625), also known as Thomas Phillips was a linguist, who was employed as a forger and intelligence gatherer. He served mainly under Sir Francis Walsingham, in the time of Elizabeth I, and most notably deciphered the code ...
, to monitor the
Babington Plot
The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary (who had been impris ...
, an attempt to assassinate the queen. Catilyn served as an anti-Catholic spy partly out of conviction: he was inclined towards
puritanism
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
and once wrote to Walsingham complaining about the popularity of stage plays in London. There are numerous alternative spellings of Catilyn's unusual name, which was possibly a spy pseudonym.
Booke of the Traytors
When the Babington conspiracy was quashed by the government, Catilyn wrote a narrative account of the subsequent treason trials, which is now held by the
Derbyshire Record Office
The Derbyshire Record Office, established in 1962, is the county record office for Derbyshire, England. It holds archives and local studies material for the County of Derbyshire and the City of Derby and Diocese of Derby. It is situated in Matl ...
, entitled "Booke of the Traytors" (''c''. 1586).
Death
Catilyn died sometime prior to 25 June 1589, and was survived by his wife, whose name is unknown.
Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House: Volume 13, Addenda, p. 414. ("Warrant, unsigned, granting to the widow of Malivery Kattelyne")
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Notes
References
* Stephen Alford, "Some Elizabethan Spies in the Office of Sir Francis Walsingham", in R. Adams and R. Cox (eds), ''Diplomacy and Early Modern Culture'' (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2011).
* Jonathan McGovern, "Maliverey Catilyn’s 'Booke of the Traytors': A Narrative of the Treason Trials of Anthony Babington and his Confederates", ''Derbyshire Archaeological Journal'' 140 (2020), 139-176.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catilyn, Maliverey
Year of birth unknown
Year of death uncertain
English spies
16th-century spies
Place of birth unknown