Henry Wyatt

Throughout history, with their quirky nature and well-known ability to stare at you with evil eyes, cats have found themselves embroiled in superstitious practises. While dogs had been kept as pets for centuries, cats didn’t really receive the same treatment in the early Middle Ages.

Sir Henry Wyatt was born in Yorkshire about the year 1460, the fourth son of Richard Wiat of Southange. It’s hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to Sir Henry’s life story; many claim embellishments, and others claim it’s all fact.

What is known for sure is that his skill as a soldier and reliability as a financier made him one of the longest-serving courtiers of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

What is known as a fact is that he was imprisoned for his support of Henry Tudor, later Henry VII. According to the Wyatt family papers, held in the British Library, he was captured by Scots loyal to the Yorkists while currying favour for Henry Tudor. He was turned over to the English and held in a cold and "most dark tower" and is said to have suffered numerous tortures, including the rack and an instrument called barnacles; vinegar and mustard were forced down his throat. Legend has it that he was even interrogated by Richard III himself. He was given nothing to sleep on and very little food; his clothes became tatters.

Sir Henry later insisted he survived this terrible treatment by befriending a cat who walked around the dungeons unfettered, and this cat would bring him a pigeon every day.

Cats at the time were tolerated; a lot of people viewed them with mistrust, but their value in hunting rodents was acknowledged. After his release from prison and elevation during the reigns of Henry VII and his son Henry VIII, Sir Henry was an outspoken advocate for cats; one recorded statement is that he "would ever make much of cats, as other men will of their spaniels or hounds."

Whether his life was saved by a cat or not, by Elizabethan times, cats had become beloved household pets.

Source:

The Questionable Legend of Henry Wyatt, Annette Carson.