Tiptoft, John, 1st Earl of Worcester (c. 1427–1470)

English statesman, created Earl of Worcester in 1449, Constable of England 1462–67. During the civil strife of the 1450s, Tiptoft was absent from England: he went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and then travelled round Italy. Recalled in 1461 by Edward IV, he was made constable with the task of meting out justice to traitors. His success at this gained him the sobriquet ‘the butcher of England’; he displayed similar severity when appointed deputy lieutenant in Ireland in 1467. During the readeption of Henry VI, Tiptoft was captured and executed.

Tiptoft was not only a man of ruthless action; he also contemplated scholarly matters. He studied at Padua University (from where his critics claimed he learned his summary justice) as well as visiting Guarino at Ferrara. Humanists including John Free and Francesco Griffolini presented works to him; he amassed a large library, buying manuscripts from Vespasiano, but of this little survives (although what does suggests that, unusually, he was a conscientious reader of his books).

Tiptoft was not, however, an author. William Caxton printed English translations of Cicero's De Amicitia and Buonaccorso's De Nobilitate claiming they were by Tiptoft but it seems unlikely that he actually wrote them.