In the hellraising history of Devon, one aristocrat stands supreme. John Fitz had all the hallmarks of an Elizabethan gentleman, but ended his short life a desperate and wicked killer.
His riotous ways have echoed down the centuries. Leading his unruly, riotous mob of friends into violence and debauchery he terrorised the good people of Tavistock.
By the time this nasty piece of posh work had finished three men were dead, his wife and child abandoned and his family's good name in tatters. But it wasn't all bad. Along the way to ruin he somehow managed to drink himself half crazy and pick up a knighthood.
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They even wrote a book about him. His deeds are recorded in the Bloudie Booke, or The Tragical and Desperate End of Sit John Fites (Fitz).
The date is June 1599. Fitz, by all accounts a handsome chap, was dining with his friends in Tavistock. It was only morning but already the group was tanked up.
The trouble started when he began boasting about the amount of land that belonged to him. Another member of the group, Nicholas Slanning of Bickleigh, pointed out that actually a small portion of it was his and he should probably be paid some rent.
Outraged, Fitz got to his feet and accused Slanning of lying. In a wild fury he drew his dagger and tried to stab the other man. But Slanning had a knife of his own and the pair were separated.
Off went Slanning on horseback back to Bickleigh. He didn't get far before Fitz and four of his men caught up. All five attacked poor Slanning. Fitz, egged on by a friend, landed the fatal blows and Slanning, according to a later account, was "foully killed".
Even in Elizabethan time murder was frowned upon, especially when committed against a person of rank. Fitz fled the country to France where he stayed for several months, waiting for the heat to die down.
It was Courtenay family - Earls of Devon and based at Powderham near Exeter - who successfully petitioned for a pardon from the Queen.
Pretty soon John was back in his old haunts stirring up the same sort of trouble. He lived at Fitzford House, a huge estate left to him by his father, also John, a wealthy lawyer and respected pillar of the Tavistock community.
By all accounts John Jnr had started out in life as a polite young boy with little sign of what today might be called homicidal antisocial tendencies. As a young man he married Bridget, the sixth daughter of the Earl of Devon.
But he was not suited to marital bliss or domestic pleasures and chose to spent most of his time being cruel to his and in sustained drinking bouts with his mates. In fact, he seems to have had a complete personality change after marriage. He banished poor Bridget and set about causing as much drunken mayhem in the town as he could.
Accounts from the time say Tavistock was subjected to "beastly corruption of drunkenness".
One account says: "Sir John, of his own inclination apte, and by his retained copesmates urged, persevered evermore to run headlong into such enormities as their sensuality and pleasures inclined unto, spending their time in riotous surfettinge and in all abominable drunkenness, plucking men by night out of their beddes, violently breaking windows, quarrelling with ale-conners, fighting in private brabbles amongst themselves."
Fitz, by now haughty, arrogant and dangerous, committed his second murder at this time. A town constable is said to have been murdered or, at the very least, battered to an inch of death.
When James I came to the throne in 1603 Fitz was knighted. He had not done anything particularly deserving but James was eager to win favour with as many members of the nobility as he could.
But it was now that things started to go wrong. The children of Slanning sued for compensation. Fitz was summoned to London to explain himself.
He had a pardon for the killing but his reputation was blackened. Many men feared him, his temper was notorious, friends melted away and, in his own mind, he was starting to lose the plot.
Even the Coutenays were turning against him. Fitzford was in a bit of a state and their daughter not best pleased at being turfed out.
His end was not far away. But he managed one more deranged killing before meeting his fate. Thinking he would be kidnapped by his enemies he grew delusional and fearful of every footstep.
While on his way to London he galloped off to a inn, woke the owner in the middle of the night, kicked him and his wife out of bed and went to sleep.
During his slumber his paranoia grew worse. The next morning the innkeeper, Daniel Alley, was chatting with a neighbour at the front door when Fitz, convinced they were about to harm him, rushed down in his nightgown and killed him with a sword.
He wasn't finished there and turned the sword against the innkeeper's wife, wounding her. His final act, on finally coming to his senses, was to stab himself twice.
His wounds were bandaged and he lingered for 48 hours before finally dying.
You'll find two monuments to Fitz in Tavistock today. The old gatehouse is all that remains of his former estate. It can be found close to the statue of Sir Francis Drake - the town's most famous son gazing towards the horizon, the world at his feet.
While the Fitz and Drake families had close links, they took different paths to fame. One terrorised Spanish ships while the other terrorised the good people of Tavistock, In Tavistock's Parish Church is a smaller monument of John as a child, kneeling piously, asking for forgiveness before he ever sinned.
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