Who's Who > William Botiller
William Botiller lived from about 1380 till 1455 and performed the functions of a civil servant, literally, to his dying day. He was employed for years on the administration and financial control of the King's and Nobles' estates throughout the Marcher Lordships in southern Wales in Carmarthen, Monmouth, Brecon and Qwent. It was all in the time of Owen Glyn Dower.
Botiller started his work for the King or Prince, in 1403, by being in charge of the delivery of a ship load of ordnance from Bristol to Cardiff castle, when he was only about twenty. We see him at this task as an inexperienced young officer glad of the help of a senior N.C.O but he completed the delivery safely. On another occasion he was responsible for escorting and delivering the coin to pay the army setting off for Agincourt, and would have ridden with armed men and loaded pack-horses to the embarkation port. Besides being trustworthy he must have been accomplished at his administrative tasks for he was much sought after by powerful Nobles.
At this distance in time, the thought occurs to us cynics that the noble Lords might have been influenced towards him by the idea that a lay administrator would likely serve their interests better and more wholeheartedly than the usual priest / clerk. However competent such as a one might be, he would always be expected to consider the interests and advantages of the church, of himself and often of some greedy and ambitious prelate, before those of his employer.
William Botiller spent eleven years as receiver for Glamorgan and as Constable of Cardiff castle. He spent fifteen years in Brecon. Among his rewards for faithful service to the king was a life maintenance in St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester in 1424, and a life grant of profits and fees from Talybon Estate in Anglesey for good service to Henry V and the king for thirty - five years'. When over 70 years of age, William Botiller accompanied the King on a journey from London to Leicester in May 1455, riding through St Albans the Kings party was set upon by the duke of York and his supporters. After the clash the King was found to be slightly wounded but William Botiller was dead. His wife, Rose, had died shortly before him, partly from his effects of shock after arrest and imprisonment, due to a misunderstanding, and from which she was released by the intervention of Sir Ralph. William Botiller's Will is not to be known to us.