William Collingbourne
(1435-1484)
William Collingborne (c. 1435 – December 1484) was an English landowner and administrator. He was an opponent of King Richard III – corresponding with his enemies and penning a famous lampoon – and was eventually executed for treason.
Quotes
edit- The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell our Dog,
Ruleth all England under a Hog.- Cited in Robert Fabyan, The New Chronicles of England and France (Pynson, 1516), ed. Sir Henry Ellis (London, 1811), p. 672
- According to Fabyan, Collingbourne pinned this lampoon to the door of St. Paul's Cathedral in July 1484. The rhyme attacked King Richard and his three principal aides by referring to their names and heraldic emblems: the "hog" referred to King Richard, whose badge was a white boar, the "Lovell our dog" to Francis, Viscount Lovell, who was Richard's closest associate and had a silver wolf as emblem. The "cat" and the "rat" made fun of the names of William Catesby, who furthermore had a white cat as his badge, and Richard Ratcliffe. The two-liner was later embellished, amended with an explanation, supposedly by the author himself, and included in The Mirror for Magistrates (ed. 1563) — Kenneth Hillier, Peter Normark, Peter W. Hammond, "Colyngbourne's Rhyme", in Richard III: Crown and People, ed. J. Petre (Richard III Society, 1985), pp. 107–8
