The murder of Sir William de Cantilupe, who was born around 1345, by members of his
household
A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...
, took place in
Scotton, Lincolnshire, in March 1375. The family was a long-established and influential one in the county; de Cantilupes traditionally provided officials to the Crown both in central government and at the local level. Among William de Cantilupe's ancestors were royal councillors, bodyguards and, distantly,
Saint Thomas de Cantilupe.
De Cantilupe's death by multiple stab wounds was a . The chief suspects were two neighbours—a local
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, Ralph Paynel; and the
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
,
Sir Thomas Kydale—as well as de Cantilupe's entire household, particularly his wife Maud, the cook and a
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
. The staff were probably paid either to carry out or to cover up the crime, while Paynel had been in dispute with the de Cantilupes for many years; it is possible that Maud was conducting an affair with Kydale, during her husband's frequent absences on service in France during the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
.
The
Treason Act 1351
The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has b ...
laid down that the murder of a husband by his wife or servants was to be deemed
petty treason
Petty treason or petit treason was an offence under the common law of England in which a person killed or otherwise violated the authority of a social superior, other than the king. In England and Wales, petty treason ceased to be a distinct offen ...
. De Cantilupe's murder was the first to come within the purview of the Act, as were the subsequent trials of Maud and several members of her staff. Many people were indicted for the crime, although only two were convicted and, in the end, executed for it. Others were also
summoned but, as they never appeared, were
outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...
ed instead. Other influential local figures, such as the sheriff, were accused of
aiding and abetting
Aiding and abetting is a legal doctrine related to the guilt of someone who aids or abets (encourages, incites) another person in the commission of a crime (or in another's suicide). It exists in a number of different countries and generally allo ...
the criminals. The last trial and acquittal was in 1378, although the case had long-term consequences. No motive has been established for de Cantilupe's killing; historians consider it most likely that responsibility rested with de Cantilupe's wife, her lover, the cook and their neighbour, with a mix of motives including love and revenge.
Background
The de Cantilupes were a long-established
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
family based at
Scotton in the northeast of the county. They were also major landholders in the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
, with estates in
Greasley
Greasley is a civil parish north west of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. Although it is thought there was once a village called Greasley, there is no settlement of that name today as it was destroyed by the Earl of Rutland. The built up ...
,
Ilkeston
Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...
and
Withcall
Withcall is a small farming village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies within the Lincolnshire Wolds, and south-west from Louth .
The village was served by Withcall railway station, a small stat ...
. The family had traditionally played an important role in both local society and central government with a history of loyal and diligent service to the crown. Not only were they
lords of the realm
''Lords of the Realm'' is a turn-based strategy computer game published and developed by Impressions Games. It was first released on June 15, 1994, and is the first game in the ''Lords of the Realm'' series.
Summary
The game takes place in a medi ...
—"one of the richest and most influential families in fourteenth-century England", suggests the scholar
Frederik Pedersen—but the family possessed
Saint Thomas de Cantilupe in its ancestry, and considered themselves to be under his special protection. William de Cantilupe, 30 years old at the time of his death, was a "knight of some stature" in the region, notes the historian
J. G. Bellamy, and by then had been
retained
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to em ...
by
John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...
.
Family tree
The relationships between de Cantilupe, Paynel and Kydale were:
Household
Although the de Cantilupe family's main residence was Greasley Castle,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
, in the spring of 1375 William was staying at the manor of Scotton. This estate had come to him through his marriage to Maud Nevil, daughter of
Sir Philip Nevil of Scotton.
The household, as named in later indictments, comprised: William de Cantilupe and his wife Maud; Maud's maid, Agatha Lovel; Richard Gyse,
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
; Roger Cooke, the cook (who may also have been the butler or "botiller"); Robert de Cletham, the
seneschal
The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...
; Augustine Morpath; John Barneby de Beckingham; John de Barnaby, the household
chamberlain
Chamberlain may refer to:
Profession
*Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure
People
*Chamberlain (surname)
**Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
; William Chaumberleyn; John Chaumberleyn; Walter de Hole; Henry Taskare; Augustine Forster; Augustine Warner and John Astyn. Gyse and Cooke may have been impoverished, suggests Pedersen, and so ripe for recruitment as de Cantilupe's killers.
Death of de Cantilupe
A later jury established that de Cantilupe was "at peace with God and the lord king", and Pedersen has taken this to indicate that he had prayed, and, therefore, was about to retire for the night. In a premeditated and minutely planned attack, de Cantilupe was stabbed to death with many blows. The precise date of the crime is unknown; the juries that heard the indictments offered dates varying from 13 February to 11 April 1375. Pedersen has suggested the evening of Friday, 23 March or the following Friday, as most probable. Five of the seven
quarter sessions
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...
juries which subsequently sat suggested the latter, the other two decided it was the former date.
It was probably the maid, Lovel, who gave Cooke and Gyse access to de Cantilupe's room. Having killed him, according to the later court records, they washed his corpse "with heated-up water so that they not be discredited by the effusion of the blood of his wounds". The hot water cauterised de Cantilupe's wounds and (it has been suggested) made his body easier to transport; it also, suggests Pedersen, implies that they had assistance from the house's domestic staff, and, by extension, that the "entire household was involved in aiding and abetting the murder". He argues that
The corpse was placed in a sack, and the killers transported it to the east, dumping it near
Grayingham
Grayingham is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 123 It is situated south from Kirton in Lindsey, north-east from Gainsborough and 8 miles ...
. Here they dressed the corpse in "fine garments", including a belt and
spur
A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to back ...
s. Pedersen speculates that this was to present the appearance of an attack by
highwaymen
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to fo ...
or
footpad
In archaic terminology, a footpad is a robber or thief specialising in pedestrian victims. The term was used widely from the 16th century until the 19th century, but gradually fell out of common use. A footpad was considered a low criminal, as opp ...
s. The body was discovered by passers-by, who reported that, in their view, he had been killed on the road. The discovery may not have occurred for some time though, or at least not have been reported, argues Bellamy, which may account for the number of possible dates on which the crime could have been committed.
Escape
Immediately after the murder, it appears that the entire house was closed up and its staff dispersed. Pedersen suggests this was what originally indicated to the authorities that something was amiss. Four members of the household were later alleged to have sought refuge with
Sir Ralph Paynel, whose manor was north of Scotton. Those who apparently escaped to Paynel's house were Maud, Lovel, Gyse and Cooke. Paynel was an important figure in Lincolnshire society, and had been a retainer of
King Edward III, although Pedersen describes him as something of a "loose cannon", due to Paynel's having been summoned several times to answer allegations of excess.
Indictments, trials and convictions
Although most of the household were later indicted for de Cantilupe's killing, it is not known who was in charge of the operation. The
medievalist
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
Rosamund Sillem
The name Rosamund (, also spelled Rosamond and Rosamunde) is a feminine given name and can also be a family name (surname). Originally it combined the Germanic elements ''hros'', meaning ''horse'', and ''mund'', meaning "protection". Later, it ...
has identified Paynel as the conspiracy's mastermind, for example, while Pedersen has argued that "there is a strong circumstantial case to be made that they were acting under the direction of William's wife, Maud Nevil".
Sessions of the Peace
The case came before the
commission of county
coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
s, headed by the sheriff, Thomas Kydale of
South Ferriby
South Ferriby is a village in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary and west from the Humber Bridge. North Ferriby is directly opposite on the Estuary's north bank. Village population was 651 in ...
, on 25 June 1375. Several charges were presented and many suspects arraigned. Maud was named as a party, although in these early proceedings there was some uncertainty as to the role she had played, some juries naming her as an
instigator and others as an
accessory. Her seneschal, Robert de Cletham, was charged with
aiding and abetting
Aiding and abetting is a legal doctrine related to the guilt of someone who aids or abets (encourages, incites) another person in the commission of a crime (or in another's suicide). It exists in a number of different countries and generally allo ...
her. Ten juries investigated over a period of some weeks. This may indicate a greater than usual effort by the Crown to establish the facts, and perhaps reflects the degree of complexity investigators encountered. The juries presenting to the justices believed the crime was committed around the Feast of the Annunciation. They established few details of the crime, but were the first juries to level charges against the whole household.
Maud accuses
![Court of King's Bench](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Court_of_King%27s_Bench.JPG)
As well as being named a suspect, Maud also lodged her own accusations against 16 men and women. Pedersen argues that, "given her almost certain complicity in the murder it must have come as a surprise to the two assassins, William’s squire, Richard Gyse, and Roger Cooke, that Maud named them as the murderers". Bellamy suggests that an accusation of this nature would have been expected of any woman who was in the house and on the scene when her husband was killed. It would not necessarily have implied complicity to her contemporaries, although it may also have been, says Pedersen, an attempt at diverting suspicion. The historian
Paul Strohm has argued that, "like other women raising a
hue
In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called Color appearance model#Color appearance parameters, color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a Stimulus (physiology ...
... she then found herself under suspicion and indictment for complicity".
King's Bench sessions
The
Court of King's Bench
The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions.
* Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...
convened in Lincoln on 29 September 1375. Once more Kydale presided. Usually in medieval indictments the accused ranged from "unknown felons
onotorious robbers"; the accusations against 15 members of de Cantilupe's household, Maud herself and an important local figure such as Sir Ralph Paynel were exceptional. Both the indictments of the peace sessions and Maud's June allegations were presented to the bench, and Gyse and Cooke were arraigned. Whereas the juries which presented their conclusions to the peace commission believed the crime was committed around the Feast of the Annunciation, it is with the juries presenting to the bench that a dating disparity is introduced. The King's Bench juries suggested, between them, 10 different dates spread over two months. Sillem suggests that this may be explained by the fact that, by the time they came to consider the evidence, they could only rely on memories to an event which occurred at least six months previously.
When the case was eventually heard, it was not as murder, but as
petty treason
Petty treason or petit treason was an offence under the common law of England in which a person killed or otherwise violated the authority of a social superior, other than the king. In England and Wales, petty treason ceased to be a distinct offen ...
, since it involved either household servants rebelling against their master, or a wife against her husband, and was the first time the 1351 Treason Act had been used against members of a household in the death of their master. The King's Bench juries deliberately used the language of treason rather than felony: : treason, lies and sedition, seditious aforethought. All of which, argues Sillem, suggested to observers this "conveyed that most heinous of crimes, treachery to the lord".
Maud withdrew her allegations—paying a fine (having made them) for doing so—and Gyse and Cooke were therefore acquitted on her charges. The jury indictments remained, however. Most of those she had accused in June had never presented themselves to court—they seem to have disappeared—and apart from Cooke and Gyse, only she and her husband's seneschal stood trial. De Cletham had been charged only with aiding and abetting by the peace sessions juries but, at the bench, he was also charged with murder, as Maud had been. They were acquitted on both that charge and one of aiding and abetting Gyse and Cooke. Maud and de Cletham were released on a
bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
of
mainprise
Mainprise is a concept in English law regarding the release of a prisoner from custody upon sureties pending trial. It is nearly identical to the concept of bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensu ...
on the charges of aiding and abetting those other
principals who had failed to appear. Paynel was charged with
harbouring Maud, Lovel, Gyse and Cooke on his
Caythorpe manor, and also released on mainprise until
Michaelmas
Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, a ...
the following year. The only accused to be found guilty before the bench were Gyse and Cooke.
Westminster sessions
The case moved to the King's Bench at Westminster in September 1376. Members of the de Cantilupe household who had failed to appear in court were
outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...
ed as
felon
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
s. Maud and the seneschal, though, were acquitted on the charge of having aided and abetted them. Paynel was again indicted for harbouring criminals.
Kydale, Paynel and Lovel
The sheriff, Kydale, was also suspected of complicity in the crime due to his standing
surety
In finance, a surety , surety bond or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a surety or guarantor to pay ...
for Maud during her appearances. He was already associated with Paynel, and this may have hardened suspicions against him. One of Kydale's duties as sheriff was to
select the juries that sat on the case, and by extension, that would decide Maud's guilt or innocence.
![Diagram of common-law courts in England and Wales before the Judicature Acts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Diagram_of_common-law_courts_in_England_and_Wales_before_the_Judicature_Acts.svg)
The longest trial to take place was that of Paynel. Indicted at Lincoln in 1375, he was released on mainprise until September. He was then not tried for another six months. At the
Easter term
Easter term is the summer term at the University of Cambridge, University of Wales, Lampeter, University of Durham, and formerly University of Newcastle upon Tyne (before 2004Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
in 1376 he was released ''
nisi prius
''Nisi prius'' () (Latin: "unless before") is a historical term in English law. In the 19th century, it came to be used to denote generally all legal actions tried before judges of the King's Bench Division and in the early twentieth century for ac ...
''. Kydale was the sheriff who appointed the jury that released Paynel on mainprise, but Kydale's term ended in September 1375. As Paynel had been appointed sheriff in September 1376, he was in charge of overseeing the transfer of his own case to London. In the event, Paynel was acquitted in the last few months of his shrieval term, which expired in October. Paynel was replaced as sheriff by Kydale, whose second term of office lasted until 1378.
![Lincoln Castle, Lincoln - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Lincoln_Castle%2C_Lincoln_-_geograph.org.uk_-_862925.jpg)
Sillem says that "a certain amount of mystery surrounds Agatha" the maid. Both she and Maud had been accused as both principals and accomplices—court records describe her as "notoriously suspect" in the crime—but "like so many of the accused, she failed to appear in court". Nothing is known of her as a person outside the de Cantilupe case, and her surname alternates in the documents between Lovel and Frere. In her case, though—unlike so many of her comrades—her reason for not appearing has been established. On Monday 27 August 1375 she escaped the immediate dispensing of justice by bribing her gaolers in
Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Castle is a major medieval castle constructed in Lincoln, England, during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is one of only ...
, where she had been imprisoned awaiting trial. The castle
bailiff
A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...
s, Thomas Thornhaugh and John Bate, were later arrested and tried for allowing Agatha to escape justice. Thornhaugh produced witnesses who swore he was innocent of the offence; he was acquitted of felony but fined for dereliction of duty. Pedersen reports that Bate "provided a somewhat more unusual defence". Accused in July 1377 of accepting £10 to allow Agatha to flee, he produced a
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
from the new king,
Richard II, absolving Bate from any
malfeasance of office, and a second pardon, dated the 8th of the same month, from the late king Edward III.
Cooke and Gyse
Cooke and Gyse were charged of having with ("sedition aforethought ... killed and murdered") their master. As such, they were tried and subsequently convicted of petty treason. No motive was ever established for their role in the killings. The
archivist
An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...
Graham Platts notes that "the affair was so complicated that no convictions for murder were made". Although they had disappeared following their escape to Paynel's, in 1377 they were apprehended for the murder and executed for the crime (by being
drawn and hanged). It is possible that they expected protection that never came. Pedersen suggests they may have been promised a form of insurance by their social betters against capture and conviction, or that if that occurred, they would be treated leniently and their families "looked after in case
yse and Cookewere not able to flee the country".
Motive
Although no motive was established by the courts for the killing, historians have generally considered that Maud was romantically involved with Kydale and that they had de Cantilupe killed to facilitate their marriage. Sillem noted the close connection between Kydale and Paynel—between 1375 and 1378, she says, they "must have practically controlled the affairs of Lincolnshire"
—and argues that they both had a motive for de Cantilupe's death. Kydale's, she suggests, was that he wanted to marry Maud while Paynel wanted revenge for his perceived previous ill-treatment at the hands of the de Cantilupe family. De Cantilupe had been serving abroad in the years before his death, and it is possible that Maud and Kydale had begun a relationship in his absence. But the others' motives are more obscure, argues Pedersen. Regarding Ralph Paynel, for example:
Paynel "was no doubt acutely aware of the multitude of insults he had received at the hands of the de Cantilupes", which went back to at least 1368. In that year de Cantilupe's elder brother, Nicholas, accused Paynel and his chamberlain of leading an armed force and attacking the de Cantilupe ''
caput baroniae
In the customs of the kingdom of England, the ''caput baroniae'' (Latin, 'head of the barony') was the ancient, or chief seat or castle of a nobleman, which was not to be divided among the daughters upon his death, in case there be no son to inhe ...
'' at Greasley Castle. He further accused Paynel of raping Nicholas's wife, Katherine. She, however, was Paynel's daughter, and far from ravishing her, notes Pedersen, Paynel was rescuing her: de Cantilupe had imprisoned his wife in the castle after she launched an
annulment suit against him. This was on the grounds of
impotence
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...
, and was heard before the
Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
. Nicholas died in
Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
a few months later while lobbying
Pope Urban V to annul his wife's case and William inherited his brother's property. Nicholas's death was deemed suspicious, and William was arrested on suspicion of poisoning his brother with
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
. William was on royal service in
Aquitaine
Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January ...
at the time, and Pedersen notes that "the suspicion had clearly been strong enough for the King to provide an expensive armed guard to ensure that William answered for his alleged crime in London". He was held in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
during the
council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
's investigation, which seems to have concluded that Nicholas's death was from natural causes. William
took livery of his lands in September 1370. In December he also successfully claimed three
manors from Paynel that had originally been Katherine's
dower
Dower is a provision accorded traditionally by a husband or his family, to a wife for her support should she become widowed. It was settled on the bride (being gifted into trust) by agreement at the time of the wedding, or as provided by law.
...
. This, combined with the insult to his daughter, may have been sufficient cause for Paynel to plot against William as he had his brother.
Later events
![SC_8-222-11086](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/SC_8-222-11086.png)
Cooke and Gyse have been described as "remorseless" in the planning of the killing and its execution. They were the only individuals to suffer punishment in connection with de Cantilupe's murder. Others escaped, either through complicated manipulation of the law and
jury rigging
In maritime transport terms, and most commonly in sailing, jury-rigged is an adjective, a noun, and a verb. It can describe the actions of temporary makeshift running repairs made with only the tools and materials on board; and the subseque ...
—for example Maud, Kydale and Ralph—or simpler, more traditional methods, such as Agatha's prison break. In the case of most of the household, no information survives on their fate or sentence. William de Hole, for example, is never mentioned on any subsequent extant court or legal document. For most of those outlawed, it is unknown whether they ever appealed their outlawry, were captured or subsequently pardoned. Although they probably remained outlawed for their absence from court, all—including Paynel—were acquitted in 1377 of harbouring criminals. Bellamy suggests that the reason the household workers ran away in the first place was probably down to the infamy the case had engendered, as a direct result of which, he says, "juries were more likely than usual to find the accused guilty". Paynel eventually joined John of Gaunt's retinue and became a valued servant to Richard II.
The case was a of its day. Not only had it effectively ended a family which, in Sillem's words, had "played a considerable part in English history", but the killing of a man by either his servants or his wife—or both—"was regarded as particularly heinous by all ranks of society". On his death de Cantilupe was the last of his line, and the family died out.
There being no remaining
male heirs, the de Cantilupe estates were broken up between two senior branches of the family, represented by the de Cantilupe brothers' cousins,
William, Lord de la Zouche and
John Hastings, who was then a
minor
Minor may refer to:
* Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities.
** A person who has not reached the age of majority
* Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education
Music theory
*Minor chord
** Barb ...
.
Kydale married Maud—by now "notorious"—after her acquittal. Their marriage was to be short-lived, as he was dead by November 1381. The following year Maud married
Sir John Bussy
Sir John Bussy (also Bushy; died 29 July 1399) of Hougham in Lincolnshire was a member of parliament representing Lincolnshire or Rutland eleven times from 1383 to 1398 as a Knight of the Shire. He was also Speaker of the House of Commons at t ...
. She was now a wealthy woman, bringing both large estates in her own right as well as dowers from her previous husbands. The medievalist
Carol Rawcliffe suggests that "whatever apprehensions Bussy may have felt in following the short-lived Kydale as her third husband were clearly overcome by the prospect of a greatly increased rent-roll".
Maud—whom Rawcliffe described as "in her own way, as colourful a character as Bussy himself"—died in 1386. The murder cast a long shadow for her and William's staff. In what Sillem calls a "curious exception" to the unknown fates of most of those who had been outlawed, at the supplication of
Queen Anne in 1387, King Richard
pardoned
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
John Tailour of Barneby, Cantilupe's steward. Sillem believes that this pardon, "so many years after the event and to apparently only one of the outlaws adds yet another element of mystery".
Historiography
Sillem's analysis of the Lincolnshire
plea rolls
Plea rolls are parchment rolls recording details of legal suits or actions in a court of law in England.
Courts began recording their proceedings in plea rolls and filing writs from their foundation at the end of the 12th century. Most files were ...
in 1936 was the first major study of de Cantilupe's murder. She highlighted how the case not only demonstrated contemporary approaches to crime and petty treason but also provided a wealth of information on the more mundane aspects of society, such as the organisation of a late-14th century magnatial household. Her conclusion—that the murder was planned by Maud and Kydale with Paynel's assistance—led her to propose a pre-existing romantic connection between the first two, but she was unable to establish a motive for Paynel's involvement. Sillem's analysis has mostly been followed by historians of the later-20th century, although the lack of evidence as to most of the individuals' roles means that there are variations upon the theme. Rawcliffe, for example, suggests that Maud's lover was within the household—and so not Kydale—and that:
The case was "notorious", says Bellamy, as an example of carefully planned premeditated murder, planned with sufficient subtlety to thoroughly hinder the crown's ability to investigate. Platts has compared the killing of de Cantilupe to the "kind of plotting in which Shakespeare's audiences revelled" two and a half centuries later, while Bellamy suggests it "contained elements of the modern murder drama". Not least, argues Bellamy, because of the transporting of the corpse and the attempt at blaming highwaymen, elements of crime which "are rarely found in medieval records". Strohm has highlighted the role of Maud in public perception, noting how it fed into the popular perception of women generally and Maud specifically being "schemers and unworthy daughters of
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
working through gullible male accomplices seem to underlie many of the household treason narratives".
He also notes that of the numerous cases in which women are executed for killing their husbands in the latter half of the 14th century, there is only one surviving example of a wife acting on her own, without the assistance of either neighbours, family or household.
Pedersen has described the manipulation of the legal machinery as near "virtuosic", and wondered whether Maud—assuming she was a guilty party—
double crossed her accomplices. Perhaps, he queries, Gyse and Cooke being "neither wealthy nor influential had something to do with it". Pedersen suggests that not only was de Cantilupe's murder cleverly planned over a long period, "it also bears all the hallmarks of ... having been put on hold until everybody was in positions of power where they could cover for each other." Apart from Gyse and Cooke, he comments, everybody else involved "got away with murder".
Notes
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Further reading
* Julian-Jones, Melissa (2020) ''Murder During the Hundred Year War: The Curious Case of Sir William Cantilupe''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantilupe, William de
1375 deaths
1375 in England
14th-century English people
14th-century murder
Crime in Lincolnshire
De Cantilupe family
Deaths by person in England
Deaths by stabbing in England
People murdered in England