Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ketterich, John
KETTERICH or CATRIK, JOHN (d. 1419), successively bishop of St. Davids, Lichfield and Coventry, and Exeter, was probably educated at one of the universities, since he is described as LL.B., and as a licentiate in decretals (Nicolas, Proc. Privy Council, iii. 5, 20). From his later career it may be conjectured that he became a clerk in the royal service, but the first mention of him is on 1 Jan. 1402, when he obtained the prebend of Brampton at Lincoln. He subsequently received a variety of preferments: the prebends of Croperdy, Lincoln, on 14 July 1402, of Stow Longa, Lincoln, 3 April 1406, and of Osbaldwick, York, 20 Jan. 1407. On 25 March 1406 he was made treasurer of Lincoln, but exchanged this post for the mastership of St. Mary Magdalen's Hospital, Sandown, Surrey, on 14 Nov. following. From 1410 to 1414 he was archdeacon of Surrey. Between 1406 and 1411 he was frequently employed on embassies to the French king and the Duke of Burgundy (Fœdera, viii. 432, 504, 546, 571, 585–6, 599, 636–7, 677, 694). On 22 May 1413 he was appointed king's proctor at the papal court (ib. ix. 12). On 27 April 1414 he was papally provided to the see of St. Davids, was consecrated by John XXIII at Bologna on 29 April, and received possession of the temporalities on 2 June. But on 13 Oct. he received custody of the temporalities of Lichfield and Coventry during a vacancy, and on 1 Feb. 1415 was translated to that see, the spiritualities being restored on 21 June.
Meanwhile, on 20 Oct. 1414, Ketterich was appointed one of the English representatives at the council of Constance, and was apparently present throughout its sittings. He took part in the proceedings which attended the deposition of John XXIII, being one of the commissaries for receiving evidence against that pontiff. He was also one of those appointed to elect the new pope, Martin V, 11 Nov. 1417 (H. von der Hardt, iv. 171, 182, v. 16; Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 318). In 1416 Ketterich was concerned in a variety of negotiations with the Duke of Burgundy, with Alfonso of Arragon, the princes of Germany, the Hanse, and Genoa (Fœdera, ix. 374, 410–15). After the death of Robert Hallam [q. v.] in September 1417, the Cardinal des Ursins wrote to Henry V recommending Ketterich as his successor at Salisbury on account of the judgment and learning he had shown during the council (ib. ix. 489). On the conclusion of the council he accompanied Martin V into Italy at the beginning of 1418, and apparently resumed his old position at the papal court. In April 1419 he had authority to take all Normans at the court of Rome into the king's favour (ib. ix. 730). On 20 Nov. of that year he was postulated to the see of Exeter. But before the translation could be completed he died, on 28 Dec. 1419, at Florence, where the papal court had been since the previous February. In accordance with his will he was buried in the church of Santa Croce, where a marble slab still marks his tomb in the centre of the nave near the choir. His name is variously spelt Catrik, Catryk, Catterich, or Ketterich; the first is the form that appears on his tomb, and is probably the best.
[Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. i. 296, 373, 552, ii. 89, 117, 140, 214, iii. 29, 207, ed. Hardy; Rymer's Fœdera, orig. edit.; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. 452; Godwin, De Præsulibus, pp. 321, 412, 582, ed. Richardson; H. von der Hardt's Concilium Constantiense; Labbé's Concilia, vol. xxvii.]