THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Letter& 
 
 1422-1509. A.D. 
 
 A NEW EDITION : " 
 
 CONTAINING UPWARDS OF FOUR HUNDRED LETTER^ 
 HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 JAMES GAIRONKR. 
 
 Of tJie Public Record Office. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 r/_[ 4 22-r46l. A.D 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 - SOfARK. ni.OOMSBURV, \V ( 
 
 AMKOTAT.D R1PKIBTS.
 
 Ex tenebris, lux. 
 
 ANNOTATED REPRINTS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY, AND UNDER THE GENERAL SUPERVISION OF 
 
 EDWARD ARBER. Assoc. KING'S COLL., LONDON, F.S.A., F.R.G.S 
 
 Some texts require tJu amplest elucidation at the hand of skilled 
 masters in special branches of knowledge, in order that their great intrinsic 
 importance may be made manifest and generally understood. SucA 
 information won back, it may be, -with painful effort is, -when illu- 
 minated by research, of the utmost value and interest, as recovering for 
 us and all future generations, authentic materials for a minute and true 
 knowledge of the Past. 
 
 I think it a cause for great congratulation that this Series opens with a 
 work of such national importance as THE PASTON LETTERS ; and that this 
 celebrated Correspondence will now have the advantage of the affluent and 
 exact historic learning as to this particular period of England 's Story, for 
 which the present Editor is so distinguished. E. A.
 
 PA 
 
 v.s 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REVEREND JOHN S. BREWER, M.A., 
 
 PREACHER AT THE ROLLS, 
 
 HONORARY FELLOW OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 AND PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 
 
 IN KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. BREWER, 
 
 There was a time when dedications 
 were written to secure patronage ; this of mine shall 
 be to confess a debt. It has been my privilege for 
 many years to be brought into close official relations 
 with you at the Record Office ; and by having to assist, 
 in a humble way, in some of your labours there an 
 honour I esteem more highly than any credit I hope 
 to gain for work of my own, I feel that I have 
 learned nearly all I know of the value of historical 
 documents, or how to use them. Certain I am that, 
 whoever is familiar with your " Letters and Papers of 
 
 1225402
 
 IV 
 
 the Reign of Henry VIII." will have little difficulty 
 in perceiving how much this work is indebted to yours 
 in respect of its plan and system. I only trust that, 
 in its execution, it may not be found unworthy of the 
 teaching from which I have so much profited, and in 
 gratitude for which I remain, 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 JAMES GAIRDNER.
 
 P RE FA C E. 
 
 UBLIC attention was first drawn to the 
 Paston Letters in the year 1787, when there 
 issued from the press two quarto volumes 
 -with a very lengthy title, setting forth that 
 the contents were original letters written " by various 
 persons of rank and consequence" during First publication 
 the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and of the Letters. 
 Richard III. The materials were derived from auto- 
 graphs in the possession of the Editor, a Mr. Fenn, 
 of East Dereham, in Norfolk, who seems to have been 
 known in society as a gentleman of literary and anti- 
 quarian tastes, but who had not at that time attained 
 any degree of celebrity. Horace Walpole had de- 
 scribed him, thirteen years before, as " a smatterer in 
 antiquity, but a very good sort of man." What the 
 great literary magnate afterwards thought of him we 
 are not informed, but we know that he took a lively 
 interest in the Paston Letters the moment they were 
 published. He appears, indeed, to have given some 
 assistance in the progress of the work through the 
 press. On its appearance he expressed himself with 
 characteristic enthusiasm : " The letters of Henry 
 VI. 's reign, &c., are come out, and to me make all 
 other letters not worth reading. I have gone through 
 one volume, and cannot bear to be writing when 
 I am so eager to be reading. . . . There are 
 letters from all my acquaintance, Lord Rivers, Lord 
 Hastings, the Earl of Warwick, whom I remember still 
 better than Mrs. Strawbridge, though she died within 
 these fifty years. What antiquary would be answering 
 a letter from a living countess, when he may read one 
 from Eleanor Mowbray, Duchess of Norfolk?" 1 
 
 So wrote the great literary exquisite and virtuoso, 
 the man whose opinion in those days was life or death 
 
 1 Walpole's Letters (Cunningham's ed.}, ix. 92.
 
 vi PREFA CE. 
 
 to a young author or a new publication. And in spite 
 of all that was artificial and affected in his character, 
 in spite even of the affectation of pretending a 
 snobbish interest in ancient duchesses, Walpole 
 was one of trie fittest men of that day to appreciate 
 such a publication. Miss Hannah More 
 
 What was . r . . 
 
 thought of them was less easily pleased, and she no doubt 
 was the type of many other readers. The 
 letters, she declared, were quite barbarous in style, 
 with none of the elegance of their supposed con- 
 temporary Rowley. They might perhaps be of some 
 use to correct history, but as letters and fine reading, 
 nothing was to be said for them. 1 It was natural 
 enough that an age which took this view of the matter 
 should have preferred the forgeries of Chatterton to 
 the most genuine productions of the fifteenth century. 
 The style of the Paston Letters, even if it had been 
 the most polished imaginable, of course could not 
 have exhibited the polish of the eighteenth century, 
 unless a Chatterton had had some hand in their 
 composition. 
 
 Yet the interest excited by the work was such that 
 General interest the editor had no reason to complain of 
 in the work. its reception. The Paston Letters were 
 soon in everybody's hands. The work, indeed, appeared 
 under royal patronage, for Fenn had got leave before- 
 hand to dedicate it to the King as " the avowed patron " 
 of antiquarian knowledge. This alone had doubtless 
 some influence upon the sale ; but the novel character 
 of the publication itself must have excited curiosity 
 still more. A whole edition was disposed of in a week, 
 and a second edition called for, which, after under- 
 going some little revision, with the assistance of Mr. 
 George Steevens,the Shakspearian editor, was published 
 the same year. Meanwhile, to gratify the curious, the 
 original MS. letters were deposited for a time in the 
 Library of the Society of Antiquaries ; but the King 
 having expressed a wish to see them, Fenn sent them 
 
 1 Robertson's " Memoirs of Hannah More," ii. 50.
 
 PREFA CE. VU 
 
 to the palace, requesting that, if they were thought 
 worthy of a place in the Royal Collection, His Majesty 
 would be pleased to accept them. They were accord- 
 ingly added to the Royal Library; and as an acknow- 
 ledgment of the value of the gift, Fenn was summoned 
 to Court, and received the honour of knighthood. 
 
 But the two volumes hitherto published by Fenn 
 contained only a small selection out of a pretty con- 
 siderable number of original letters of the same period 
 in his possession. The reception these two volumes 
 had met with now encouraged him to make a further 
 selection, and he announced with his second edition 
 that another series of the Letters was in preparation, 
 which was to cover the same period as the first two 
 volumes, and to include also the reign of Henry VII. 
 Accordingly a third and fourth volume of the work were 
 issued together in the year 1789, containing the new 
 letters down to the middle of Edward IV. 's reign. A 
 fifth and concluding volume, bringing the work down 
 to the end of Henry VI I. 's reign, was left ready for 
 publication at Sir John Fenn's death in 1794, and was 
 published by his nephew, Mr. Serjeant Frere, in 1823. 
 
 Of the original MSS. of these letters and their de- 
 scent, Fenn gives but a brief account in the 
 preface to his first volume, which we will en- 
 deavour to supplement with additional facts to the best 
 of our ability. The letters, it will be seen, were for 
 the most part written by or to particular members of 
 the family of Paston in Norfolk. Here and there, it 
 is true, are to be found among them State papers and 
 other letters of great interest, which must have come 
 to the hands of the family through some indirect 
 channel ; but the great majority are letters distinctly 
 addressed to persons of the name of Paston, and in 
 the possession of the Pastons they remained for several 
 generations. In the days of Charles II. the head of 
 the family, Sir Robert Paston, was created Earl of 
 Yarmouth; but his son William, the second bearer 
 of the title, having got into debt and encumbered
 
 Vill PREFACE. 
 
 his inheritance, finally died without male issue, so that 
 his title became extinct. While living in reduced cir- 
 cumstances, he appears to have parted with his family 
 papers, which were purchased by the great antiquary 
 Owned by Peter an d collector, Peter Le Neve, Esq., Norroy 
 Le Neve. King of Arms. Le Neve was a Norfolk 
 man, possessed of considerable estates at Witching- 
 ham and elsewhere in the county ; and he made it a 
 special object to collect MSS. and records relating to 
 both Norfolk and Suffolk. What intentions he may 
 have had as to their ultimate disposal I have not been 
 able to ascertain, but on his death in 1729 his library 
 was sold by auction, and the MSS., which he had 
 brought together with so much industry, were dis- 
 persed. 
 
 A large part of them, however, came to the hands 
 of his brother antiquary, Thomas Martin, whose name 
 By Martin of has been handed down to antiquaries of 
 Paigrave. fag present day with the epithet by which 
 he himself wished it to be distinguished, as Honest 
 Tom Martin of Paigrave. Shortly after Le Neve's 
 death, Martin found himself a widower, and married the 
 widow of his friend. He thus came into the posses- 
 sion of a valuable collection of pictures, antiquities, 
 and other articles, besides a considerable remainder 
 of the books and MSS. not yet submitted to the 
 hammer; so that, having already bought a good number 
 of those which had been sold, he for a time secured 
 against further dispersion the treasures which it had cost 
 Le Neve forty years of labour to bring together. The 
 collection was still spoken of as Le Neve's collection, 
 and Francis Blomefield, who was at this time engaged 
 in composing his invaluable "History of Norfolk," 1 
 alludes to it under that name. Blomefield had the 
 free use of all Le Neve's MSS., and appears to have 
 made some collections of his own, though doubtless 
 on a smaller scale. In the preface to his " History of 
 
 1 The first volume of this work was published in 1739, ten years after Le 
 Neve's death.
 
 PREFA CE. IX 
 
 Norfolk," he tells the reader that he has made distinct 
 reference to the several authors and originals he had 
 made use of in all cases, " except," says he, " where the 
 originals are either in Mr. Le Neve's or my own col- 
 lections, ivhich at present I design to join to his, so that, 
 being together, they may be consulted at all times." It 
 would appear from these words that it was at this time 
 Martin's intention, and may have been that of Le 
 Neve before him, to bequeath or sell the whole collec- 
 tion to some public body for the use of literary in- 
 quirers in after times. But if so, he failed to carry out 
 his project. He lived, indeed, for nearly forty years 
 after his marriage with Le Neve's widow, but his 
 necessities compelled him to part with some of his 
 treasures. Still, as he grew old, he did not altogether 
 drop the project : he frequently formed resolutions 
 that he would, nyxt year, arrange what remained of 
 them, and make a selection for public use. But at 
 last, at the age of seventy-four, he suddenly died in 
 his chair, without having carried out his intention. 1 
 
 His executors seem to have done what they could 
 to preserve the integrity of his collections. A cata- 
 logue of Martin's library was printed at Lynn in 1771, 
 in the hope that some purchaser would be found to 
 take the whole. Such a purchaser did present himself, 
 but not in the interest of the public. A certain Mr. John 
 Worth, a chemist at Diss, bought both the 
 
 ,., j .. ,, ' . ' By Mr. Worth. 
 
 library and the other collections, as a specu- ' 
 lation, for ^630. The printed books he immediately 
 sold to a firm at Norwich, who disposed of them by 
 auction ; the pictures and smaller curiosities he sold 
 by auction at Diss, and certain portions of the MSS. 
 were sent, at different times, to the London market. 
 But before he had completed the sale of all the collec- 
 tions, Mr. Worth died suddenly in December 1774. 
 That portion of the MSS. which contained the Paston 
 
 1 Fenn speaks of him, without mentioning his name, in the preface to his 
 first volume, p. x. That Martin is the " great collector" here referred to will 
 be seen by a comparison with the account given of him a little further on 
 at p. xxi.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 Letters he had up to that time reserved. Mr. Fenn 
 immediately purchased them of his executors, and they 
 had been twelve years in his possession when he pub- 
 lished his first two volumes of selections from them. 
 
 Up to this point, the history of the MSS. is toler- 
 ably free of obscurity ; the only question that arises 
 Francis Biome- being as to their having been owned in 
 field. part by Francis Blomefield. If it be true 
 
 that Le Neve was the first purchaser of the Earl 
 of Yarmouth's MSS., it seems scarcely probable 
 that any part of them could have been bought by 
 a country clergyman like the incumbent of Fersfield. 
 Indeed, there is no reason to believe that the Paston 
 family papers were not at this time kept together in 
 their integrity. Yet Blomefield not only saw them all, 
 but wrote his initials on several, and marked a good 
 many others with a mark by which he was in the habit 
 of distinguishing original documents that he had exa- 
 mined and noted. These liberties he may perhaps 
 have taken by permission of Mr. Martin; but in one 
 case, at least, I find that he exercised full right of 
 ownership himself by giving away to a friend the ori- 
 ginal of a letter which must certainly have been once 
 in the Paston family archives. The truth of the matter 
 probably is that Le Neve had bequeathed some of 
 these documents to Blomefield. 
 
 But from the days of Sir John Fenn the history of 
 the Paston MSS. is mysterious. On the 23d May 
 1787, Fenn received his knighthood at St. James's, 
 having then and there presented to the king three 
 bound volumes of MSS. which were the originals of his 
 first two printed volumes. Since that time they have 
 Disappearance disappeared, and no one can tell what has 
 of the MSS. become of them. There is a tradition that 
 they were last seen in the hands of Queen Charlotte, 
 who, it is supposed, must have lent them to one of her 
 ladies in attendance. If so, it is' strange that they should 
 have been altogether lost sight of. All that can be said 
 upon the matter is that they have since been sought
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 for in vain. They are not in the library of King 
 George III., which is now in the British Museum, nor 
 do they appear to be in any of the Royal Palaces. 
 The late Prince Consort, just before his death, insti- 
 tuted a search which he had great hope would at last 
 bring them to light. I have been informed that it has 
 since been completed, but the missing originals remain 
 still unaccounted for. 
 
 Nor is this all. The originals of the other three 
 volumes were all for a long time equally undiscoverable. 
 Those of the third and fourth volumes, with the excep- 
 tion of one single document, have not been found to 
 this day ; and Mr. Serjeant Frere, when he published 
 the fifth volume after Sir John Fenn's death, declared 
 that he had not been able to find the originals of that 
 volume either. Strange to say, however, they were in 
 his house all the time, and were discovered by his son, 
 Mr. Philip Frere, in the year 1865, just after an ingeni- 
 ous litterateur had made the complete disappearance 
 of all the MSS. a ground for casting doubt on the 
 authenticity of the published letters. It is certainly a 
 misfortune for historical literature that the owners of 
 ancient documents commonly take so little pains to 
 ascertain what it is that they have got. 1 
 
 Thus we have the following strange occurrences in the 
 history of these MSS. The originals of the first two 
 volumes are missing, though they were presented to the 
 King in 1787, bound in three volumes, and no doubt 
 the binding was a handsome one. The originals of the 
 third and fourth volumes are missing, but they were 
 not presented to the King, and apparently were not 
 bound up; for it happens that the first document in 
 vol. iii. has been actually found, and is now in the 
 British Museum. Finally, the originals of vol. v. 
 were for a long time missing like the others, but were 
 discovered six years ago at the house of the late Mr. 
 Philip Frere at Dungate, in Cambridgeshire, along with 
 
 1 The proceedings of the Historical MSS. Commission are, however, at 
 length bringing to light a vast quantity of unsuspected materials for history 
 in the hands of private owners.
 
 xil PREFACE. 
 
 a large mass of additional MSS. belonging to the same 
 collection. Among these was the document just 
 alluded to the one single paper that has been re- 
 covered of the originals of vol. iii. 
 
 The late Mr. Philip Frere, after he had discovered 
 the originals of vol. v., was strongly urged -by myself 
 and others to make a thorough search in his house for 
 those of vols. iii. and iv. He did so, and the examina- 
 tion brought to light a vast quantity of papers of 
 different ages, many of them very curious, but not a 
 single other document was discovered belonging to 
 those two volumes. All that he could find mani- 
 festly belonging to the Paston Collection, he sold 
 to the British Museum. The rest he disposed of by 
 auction. It would seem, therefore, that the originals 
 of vols. iii. and iv. must have somehow got into 
 different hands from the other Paston papers. 
 Dispersion of Indeed, there are but too many evi- 
 the Letters. dences that the importance of preserving 
 this interesting correspondence in its integrity has 
 never been sufficiently appreciated. Single letters 
 which once formed part of it occasionally turn up at 
 auctions, and some have been sold to foreign pur- 
 chasers. No less than twenty came to the hands of 
 the late Mr. Francis Douce, and are now among his 
 MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Two separate volumes 
 of Fastolf and Paston papers have also been in the 
 market, and are now in the library of the late Sir Thomas 
 Phillipps at Cheltenham. Nor is it possible to say how 
 many other letters have been lost along with the printed 
 originals how many important links are missing to 
 enable us to understand fully the correspondence that 
 remains. 
 
 Nevertheless, the recovery of the originals of the 
 fifth volume, and of such a large number of unprinted 
 Need of a new letters along with them, suggested to me 
 edition. strongly the desirability of a new edition, 
 
 as complete as it could possibly be made. The errors 
 in Fenn's chronology are numerous, and so exceedingly
 
 PREFACE. -xiil 
 
 misleading that, indispensable as these Letters now are 
 to the historian, there is not a single historian who has 
 made use of them but has misdated some event or 
 other, owing to their inaccurate arrangement. Even 
 writers who have been most on their guard in some 
 places have suffered themselves to be misled in others. 
 This is no reproach to the former Editor, whose work 
 is indeed a perfect model of care and accuracy for the 
 days in which he lived; but historical criticism has 
 advanced since that time, and facilities abound which 
 did not then exist for comparing one set of documents 
 with another, and testing the accuracy of dates by 
 public records. The completion of Blomefield's His- 
 tory of Norfolk, and the admirable index added to that 
 work of late years by Mr. Chadwick, have also been of 
 eminent service in verifying minute facts. Moreover, 
 the comprehensive study of the whole correspondence, 
 with the advantage of having a part already published 
 to refer to, has enabled me in many cases to see the 
 exact bearing of particular letters, which before seemed 
 to have no certain place in the chronology, not only 
 upon public events, but upon the private affairs of the 
 Paston family. I trust therefore, when this edition is 
 completed, it will be found not only more full, but 
 more accurate and even more interesting than the 
 former one. 
 
 Still, it is certainly produced under a disadvantage 
 in the absence of so many of the original MSS., and 
 were there any reasonable hope of their being recovered 
 within a definite and not very remote period of time, 
 it might perhaps have been a question whether a new 
 edition should not be delayed till then. But there is 
 no apparent reason why MSS. which have been undis- 
 covered for more than eighty years should not remain 
 so eighty years longer, if the indifference or the -acci- 
 dent, whatever it may be, which has caused them to 
 be overlooked, be made an argument against turning 
 to the best account those which we now actually 
 possess. And there is the less reason for hesitating,
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 because we have very satisfactory evidence that in 
 reprinting from Fenn's edition those letters of which 
 the originals are lost, we are not likely to reproduce 
 Accuracy of an }' ver y serious blunders. The care taken 
 Fenn's text. by sir John Fenn to secure the accuracy 
 of his text can be proved by many tests. It might, 
 indeed, be inferred from the elaborate plan of editing 
 that he adopted, exhibiting in every case two tran- 
 scripts of the same letter, the one to show the precise 
 spelling and punctuation of the original, the other to 
 facilitate the perusal by modern orthography. A work 
 on which so much pains were bestowed, and which 
 was illustrated besides by numerous fac-similes of the 
 original handwritings, signatures, paper-marks, and 
 seals of the letters, was not likely to have been exe- 
 cuted in a slovenly manner, in so far as the text is con- 
 cerned. But we are not left in this case to mere pre- 
 sumptive evidence. The originals of the fifth volume 
 have been minutely examined by a committee of the 
 Society of Antiquaries, and compared all through with 
 the printed text, and the general result of this exami- 
 nation was that the errors are very few, and for the 
 most part trivial. Now, if tH's was the case with 
 regard to that volume, which it must be remembered 
 was published after Fenn's death from transcripts 
 prepared for the press, and had not the benefit of a 
 final revision of the proof sheets by the editor, we have 
 surely every reason to suppose that the preceding 
 volumes were at least not less accurate. 
 
 At all events, any inaccuracies that may exist in 
 them were certainly not the result of negligence. I 
 have been favoured by Mr. Almack, of Melford, near 
 Sudbury, in Suffolk, with the loan of several sheets of 
 MS. notes bequeathed to him by the late Mr. Dalton, 
 of Bury St. Edmund's, who transcribed a number of 
 the original MSS. for Sir John Fenn. These papers 
 contain a host of minute queries and criticisms, which 
 were the result of a close examination of the first four 
 volumes, undertaken at Fenn's request. Those on the
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 first two volumes are dated on the 3d and 7th of May 
 1788, more than a year after the book was published. 
 But on vols. iii. and iv. there are two separate sets of 
 observations, the first of which were made on the 
 transcripts before they were sent to press, the other, 
 like those on the two first volumes, on the published 
 letters. From an examination of these criticisms, and 
 also from the results of the examination of the fifth 
 volume by the committee of the Society of Antiquaries, 1 
 I have been led to the opinion that the manner in 
 which Sir John Fenn prepared his mate- Mode in which 
 rials for the press was as follows : Two ISk^to* 
 copies were first made of every letter, the publication. 
 one in the exact spelling and punctuation of the ori- 
 ginal, the other in modern orthography. Both these 
 copies were taken direct from the original, and possibly 
 in the case of the first two volumes they were both 
 made by Fenn himself. In vols. iii. and iv., however, 
 it is stated that many of the transcripts were made by 
 Mr. Dalton, while those of vol. v. were found to be 
 almost all in his handwriting when that volume was 
 sent to press in 1823. 2 But this statement probably 
 refers only to the copies in the antique spelling. 
 Those in modern spelling I believe to have been made 
 for the most part, if not altogether, by Fenn himself. 
 When completed, the two copies were placed side by 
 side, and given to Mr. Dalton to take home with him. 
 Mr. Dalton then made a close comparison of the two 
 versions, and pointed out every instance in which he 
 found the slightest disagreement between them, or 
 where he thought an explanation might be usefully 
 bracketed into the modern version. These comments 
 in the case of vol. iii. are upwards of 400 in number, 
 and extend over eighteen closely written pages quarto. 
 It is clear that they one and all received the fullest 
 consideration from Sir John Fenn before the work was 
 published. Every one of the discrepancies pointed 
 
 1 Archseol. vol. xli. p. 39. 
 
 8 See Advertisement in the beginning of the volume, p. vii.
 
 xvi PREFACE. 
 
 out between the two versions is rectified in the printed 
 volume, and there cannot be a doubt that in every 
 such case the original MS. was again referred to, to 
 settle the disputed reading. 
 
 One or two illustrations of this may not be unac- 
 ceptable to the reader. The following are among the 
 observations made by Mr. Dalton on the transcripts 
 of vol. iii. as prepared for press. In 
 
 Examples. T . L- i_ 
 
 Letter via. was a passage in which oc- 
 curred the words, " that had of your father certain lands 
 one seven years or eight years agone." Mr. Dalton's 
 experience as a transcriber appears to have suggested 
 to him that " one " was a very common misreading of 
 the word " over " in ancient MSS., and he accordingly 
 suggested that word as making better sense. His 
 surmise turned out to be the true reading, and the 
 passage stands corrected accordingly in the printed 
 volume. In Letter xxiv. there was a discrepancy in 
 the date between the transcript in ancient spelling and 
 the modern version. In the latter it was " the 4th day 
 of December," whereas the former gave it as the 3d. 
 On examination, it appears that the modern version 
 was found to be correct, a Roman " iiij." having been 
 misread in the other as "iij." Thus we have very 
 sufficient evidence that the modern copy could not 
 have been taken from the ancient, but was made 
 independently from the original MS. Another in- 
 stance of the same thing occurs in the beginning of 
 Letter xli., where the words " to my power " had been 
 omitted in the literal transcript, but were found in the 
 modem copy. 
 
 Mr. Dalton's part in the work of transcription appears 
 clearly in several of his observations. One of the tran- 
 scripts is frequently referred to as " my copy ;" and an 
 observation made on Letter Ixxxvi. shows pretty clearly 
 that the copy so referred to was the literal one. At 
 the bottom of that letter is the following brief post- 
 script : " Utinam iste mundus malignus transiret et 
 concupiscentia ejus;" on which Mr. Dalton remarks
 
 PREFACE, xvn 
 
 as follows : " I have added this on your copy as sup- 
 posing it an oversight, and hope it is properly inserted." 
 Thus it appears that Mr. Dalton's own transcript had 
 the words which were deficient in the other, and that, 
 being tolerably certain they existed in the original, he 
 transferred them to the copy made by Fenn. Now 
 when it is considered that these words are written in 
 the original MS. with peculiarly crabbed contractions, 
 which had to be preserved in the literal version as 
 exactly as they could be represented in type, 1 it will, 
 I think, appear evident that Mr. Dalton could never 
 have ventured to supply them in such a form without 
 the original before him. It is clear, therefore, that 
 his copy was the literal transcript, and that of Fenn 
 the modern version. 
 
 Again, in Letter xxxi. of the same volume, on the 
 second last line of page 137 occur the words, " that he 
 obey not the certiorari." On this passage occurs the 
 following query "The word for 'obey' seems unintelli- 
 gible. Have I not erred from the original in my copy ? " 
 Another case will show how by this examination the 
 errors of the original transcripts were eliminated. In 
 Letter xxxiv., at the bottom of pp. 144-5, occurs the 
 name of Will or William Staunton. It appears this 
 name was first transcribed as " Robert Fraunton " in 
 the right or modern version ; on which Mr. Dalton 
 remarks, " It is William in orig." (Mr. Dalton con- 
 stantly speaks of the transcript in ancient spelling as 
 the " original " in these notes, though it is clear he had 
 not the real original before him at the time he made 
 them). Strangely enough, Mr. Dalton does not sus- 
 pect the surname as well as the Christian name, but it 
 is clear that both were wrong, and that they were set 
 right in consequence of this query directing the editor's 
 attention once more to the original MS. 
 
 These instances, we trust, will be sufficient to con- 
 vince the reader of the scrupulous care and accuracy 
 
 1 The following is the exact form in which they stand in the literal or left- 
 hand version : " Utia'z iste mu'd maligu' t'nsir* & c'up'ia e." 
 
 b
 
 xvni PREFACE. 
 
 with which Sir John Fenn prepared his materials for 
 the press. 
 
 It has, therefore, been our principle in this publica- 
 tion to reprint from Fenn's edition all those letters of 
 which the originals have not yet been recovered, and 
 to print carefully from the MSS. in all cases where the 
 MSS. are accessible. In following the text given by 
 Fenn, the only liberty we have allowed ourselves has 
 been to extend the contracted words, so as to make 
 them intelligible to the ordinary reader ; and even in 
 this we have always been guided by the interpretation 
 Plan of this given by Fenn himself in his modern ver- 
 Edition. s i on . The public has. therefore, in this 
 
 edition a complete transcript of all the important letters 
 of this collection, of which the text could be in any 
 way obtained. At the same time we have not thought 
 fit to omit all notice whatever even of those letters 
 that seemed to be of too little interest to merit publica- 
 tion. Of every such letter an abstract will be found 
 inserted in what is believed to be its true place in the 
 series. Abstracts are also given of documents that are 
 too lengthy and formal to be printed, and, in one case, 
 of a letter sold at a public sale, of which a transcript 
 is not now procurable. In the same manner, wherever 
 I have found the slightest note or reference, whether 
 in Fenn's footnotes or in Blomefield's Norfolk where 
 a few such references may be met with to any letter 
 that appears originally to have belonged to the Paston 
 correspondence, even though the original be now inac- 
 cessible, and our information about the contents the 
 most scanty, the reader will find a notice of all that is 
 known about the missing document in the present pub- 
 lication.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 HE little village of Paston, in Norfolk, lies not far from 
 the sea, where the line of the shore, pro- 
 ceeding eastward from Cromer, begins ixTlsforfolk 
 to tend a little towards the south. It 
 is about twenty miles north of Norwich. The country around 
 is flat, but not without interest ; the coast is dangerous to mariners ; 
 and as no railways have yet approached the neighbourhood, the 
 district is almost unvisited by strangers. Here, however, lived 
 for several centuries a family which took its surname from the 
 place, and whose private correspondence at one particular epoch 
 sheds no inconsiderable light on the annals of their country. 
 
 Of the early history of this family our notices are scanty and 
 uncertain. A Norman descent is claimed for them by Blome- 
 field, the Norfolk historian, on the evidence of certain docu- 
 ments which have been since dispersed. But at the time when 
 they and their doings become best known to us, 
 their social position was merely that of small fomii 
 gentry. One of these, however, was a justice 
 of the Common Pleas in the reign of Henry VI., whose upright- 
 ness of conduct caused him to be commonly spoken of by the 
 name of the Good Judge. He had a son, John, brought 
 up to the law, who became executor to the old soldier and 
 statesman, Sir John Fastolf. This John Paston had a con- 
 siderable family, of whom the two eldest sons, strange to say, 
 both bore the same Christian name as their father. They 
 were also both of them soldiers, and each, in his time, attained 
 the dignity of knighthood. But of them and their father, and 
 their grandfather^the judge, we shall have more to say presently. 
 After them came Sir William Paston, a lawyer, one of whose 
 daughters, Eleanor, married Thomas Manners, first Earl of 
 Rutland. He had also two sons, of whom the first, Erasmus, 
 died before him. The second, whose name was 
 Clement, was perhaps the most illustrious of the Jem ent Pas ' 
 whole line. Born at Paston Hall, in the im- 
 mediate neighbourhood of the sea, he had an early love for 
 ships, was admitted when young into the naval service of 
 Henry VIII., and became a great commander. In an engage-
 
 xx Introduction. 
 
 ment with the French lie captured their admiral, the Baron 
 de St Blankheare or Blankard, and kept him prisoner at 
 Caister near Yarmouth till he had paid 7000 crowns for his 
 ransom, besides giving up a number of valuables contained in 
 his ship. Of this event Clement Paston preserved till his death 
 a curious memorial among his household utensils, and we read 
 in his will that he bequeathed to his nephew his "standing bowl 
 called the Baron St Blankheare." He served also by land as 
 well as by sea, and was with the -Protector Somerset in Scot- 
 land at the battle of Pinkie. In Mary's reign he is said to have 
 been the person to whom the rebel Sir Thomas Wyat sur- 
 rendered. In his later years he was more peacefully occupied in 
 building a fine family seat at Oxnead. He lived till near the 
 close of the reign of Elizabeth, having earned golden opinions from 
 each of the sovereigns under whom he served. " Henry VII!.," 
 we are told, "called him his champion ; the Duke of Somerset, 
 Protector in King Edward's reign, called him his soldier ; 
 Queen Mary, her seaman ; and Queen Elizabeth, her father." l 
 
 Clement Paston died childless, and was succeeded by his 
 nephew, another Sir William, whose name is well-known in 
 Norfolk as the founder of North Walsham School, and whose 
 effigy in armour is visible in North Walsham Church, with a 
 Latin epitaph recording acts of munificence on his part, not only 
 to the grammar school, but also to the cathedrals of Bath and 
 Norwich, to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and to the 
 poor at Yarmouth. 
 
 From Sir William the line descended through Christopher 
 
 Paston (who, on succeeding his father, was found to be an idiot, 
 
 incapable of managing his affairs), Sir Edmund and Sir William 
 
 Paston, Baronet, to Sir Robert Paston, who, in the reign of 
 
 Charles II., was created first viscount, and after- 
 
 The Earl of wards earl, of Yarmouth. He is described as a 
 Yarmouth. , ' , , .. , 
 
 person of good learning, and a traveller who 
 
 brought home a number of curiosities collected in foreign coun- 
 tries. Before he was raised to the peerage he sat in Parlia- 
 ment for Castle Rising. It was he who, in the year 1664, 
 was bold enough to propose to the House of Commons the 
 unprecedented grant of two and a half millions to the King for a 
 war against the Dutch. This act not unnaturally brought him 
 into favour with the Court, and paved the way for his advance- 
 ment. Another incident in his life is too remarkable to be 
 passed over. On the 9th of August 1676 he was waylaid while 
 travelling in the night-time by a band of ruffians, who shot five 
 bullets into his coach, one of which entered his body. The 
 wound, however, was not mortal, and he lived six years longer. 
 
 His relations with the Court were not altogether of good omen 
 for his family. We are told that he once entertained the King 
 
 1 Blomefield's History of Norfolk, vi. 487, 488. 
 
 2 Clarendon's Life, ii. 440.
 
 Introduction. xxi 
 
 and Queen, and the King's brother, James, Duke of York, with 
 a number of the nobility, at his family seat at Oxnead. His son, 
 William, who became second Earl of Yarmouth, married the 
 Lady Charlotte Boyle, one of King Charles's natural daughters. 
 This great alliance, and all the magnificence it involved, was 
 too much for his slender fortunes. Earl William was led into a 
 profuse expenditure which involved him in pecuniary difficulties. 
 He soon deeply encumbered his inheritance ; the library and the 
 curiosities collected by his accomplished father had to be sold. 
 The magnificent seat at Oxnead was allowed to fall into ruin ; 
 and, on the death of this second earl, it was pulled down, and 
 the materials turned into money to satisfy his creditors. The 
 family line itself came to an end, for Earl William had survived 
 all his male issue, and the title became extinct. 
 
 From this brief summary of the family history we must now 
 turn to a more specific account of William Paston, the old judge 
 in the days of Henry VI., and of his children. Of them, and 
 of their more immediate ancestor Clement, we 
 
 have a description drawn by an unfriendly hand Thrifty 
 
 .. . , , J , , , } .. . ancestors, 
 
 some time after the judge s death ; and as it is, 
 
 notwithstanding its bias, our sole authority for some facts which 
 should engage our attention at the outset, we cannot do better 
 than quote the paper at length : 
 
 " A remembrance of the worshipful kin and ancestry of Paston, born in 
 Paston in Gemyngham Soken. 
 
 " First, There was one Clement Paston dwelling in Paston, and he was a 
 good, plain husband (i.e. husbandman), and lived upon his land that he had 
 in Paston, and kept thereon a plough all times in the year, and sometimes in 
 barlysell two ploughs. The said Clement yede (i.e. went) at one plough 
 both winter and summer, and he rode to mill on the bare horseback with 
 his corn under him and brought home meal again under him, and also drove 
 his cart with divers corns to Wynterton to sell, as a good husband [man] 
 ought to do. Also, he had in Paston a five score or a six score acres of land 
 at the most, and much thereof bond land to Gemyngham Hall, with a little 
 poor water-mill running by a little river there, as it appeareth there of old 
 time. Othar livelode nor manors had he none there, nor in none other 
 place. 
 
 "And he wedded Geoffrey of Somerton (whose true surname is Goneld)'s 
 sister, which was a bondwoman, to whom it is not unknown (to the prior of 
 Bromholm and Bakton also, as it is said) if that men will inquire. 
 
 "And as for Geoffrey Somerton, he was bond also, to whom, &c., he was 
 both a pardoner and an attorney ; and then was a good world, for he 
 gathered many pence and halfpence, and therewith he made a fair chapel at 
 bomerton, as it appeareth, &c. 
 
 " Also, the said Clement had a son William, which that he set to school, 
 and often he borrowed money to find him to school ; and after that he yede 
 (went) to court with the help of Geoffrey Somerton, his uncle, and learned 
 the law, and there begat he much good ; and then he was made a Serjeant, 
 ard afterwards made a justice, and a right cunning man in the law. And he 
 purchased much land in Paston, and also he purchased the moiety of the 
 fifth part of the manor of Bakton, called either Latymer's, or Styward's, or 
 Huntingfield, which moiety stretched into Paston ; and so with it, and with 
 another part of the said five parts he hath seignory in Paston, but no manor 
 place; and thereby would John Paston, son to the said William, make him- 
 self a lordship there, to the Duke (qu. Duchy?) of Lancaster's great hurt.
 
 xxii Introduction. 
 
 " And the said John would and hath untruly increased him by one tenant; 
 as where that the prior of Bromholm borrowed money of the said William for 
 to pay withal his dismes, the said William would not lend it him unless the 
 said prior would mortgage to the said William one John Albon, the said 
 prior's bondsman, dwelling in Paston, which was a stiff churl and a thrifty 
 man, and would not obey him unto the said William ; and for that cause, and 
 for evil will that the said William had unto him, he desired him of the prior. 
 And now after the death of the said William, the said John Albon died ; and 
 now John Paston, son to the said William, by force of the mortgage sent for 
 the son of the said John Albon to Norwich." 
 
 The reader will probably be of opinion that several of the 
 facts here recorded are by no means so discreditable to the 
 Fastens as the writer certainly intended that they should appear. 
 The object of the whole paper is to cast a stigma on the family 
 in general, as a crafty, money getting race who had risen above 
 their natural rank and station. It is insinuated that they were 
 originally mere adscripts gleba ; that Clement Paston was only a 
 thrifty husbandman (note the original signification of the word 
 " housebondman"), that he married a bondwoman, and trans- 
 mitted to his son and grandson lands held by a servile tenure ; 
 and the writer further contends that they had no manorial rights 
 in Paston, although William Paston the justice had purchased 
 land in the neighbourhood, and his son John was endeavouring 
 to " make himself a lordship " there to the prejudice of the 
 rights of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is altogether a singular 
 statement, very interesting in its bearing upon the obscure ques- 
 tion of the origin of copyholds, and the gradual emancipation of 
 villeins. Whether it be true or false is another question ; if 
 true, it appears to discredit entirely the supposed Norman 
 ancestry of the Pastons ; but the remarkable thing is that an 
 imputation of this kind could have been preferred against a 
 family who, whatever may have been their origin, had certainly 
 long before obtained a recognised position in the county. 
 
 It would appear, however, from the accuser's own statement, 
 that Clement Paston, the father of the justice, was an industrious 
 peasant, who tilled his own land, and who set so high a value 
 on a good education, that he borrowed money to keep his son 
 at school. With the help of his brother-in-law, he also sent 
 the young man to London to learn the law, a profession which 
 in that day, as in the present, was considered to afford an ex- 
 cellent education for a gentleman. 1 The good edu- 
 
 ^e'-'usTic^ 151011 cation was not thrown awa > r - ^"illiam Paston 
 rose in the profession and became one of its orna- 
 ments. He improved his fortunes by marrying Agnes, daughter 
 and heiress of Sir Edmund Berry of Harlingbury Hall, in Hertford - 
 
 1 "Here everything good and virtuous is to he learned; all vice is dis- 
 couraged and banished. So that knights, barons, and the greatest nobility 
 of the kingdom, often place their children in those Inns of Court; not so 
 much to make the law their study, much less to live by the profession (having 
 large patrimonies of their own), but to form their manners, and to preserve 
 them from the contagion of vice." Fortescue de Laudibus Legum Angliae 
 (ed. Amos), 185.
 
 Introduction. xxiii 
 
 shire. Some years before his father's death, Richard Courtenay, 
 bishop of Norwich, appointed him his steward. In 1414 he was 
 called in, along with two others, to mediate in a dispute which 
 had for some time prevailed in the city of Norwich, as to the 
 mode in which the mayors should be elected ; and he had the 
 good fortune with his coadjutors to adjust the matter satisfac- 
 torily. 1 In 1421 he was made a serjeant, and in 14293 judge 
 of the Common Pleas. 2 Before that time we find him acting as 
 trustee for various properties, as of the Appleyard family in 
 Dunston, 3 of Sir Richard Carbonel, 4 Sir Simon Felbrigg, 5 John 
 Berney, 6 Sir John Rothenhale, 7 Sir John Gyney of Dilham, 8 
 Lord Cobham, 9 and Ralph Lord Cromwell. 10 He was also 
 executor to Sir William Calthorp. 11 The "Confidence reposed in 
 him by so many different persons is a remarkable testimony to 
 the esteem in which he was held. He was, moreover, appointed 
 one of the king's council for the duchy of Lancaster, and on his 
 elevation to the judicial bench the king gave him a salary of 
 no marks (^73, 6s. 8d.), with two robes more than the ordi- 
 nary allowance of the judges. 
 
 In addition to all this he is supposed to have been a knight, 
 and is called Sir William Paston in Fenn's publication. But this 
 dignity was never conferred upon him in his own day. There is 
 indeed one paper among the MSS. which are 
 missing that speaks of him in the heading as " Sir ?j *, 
 
 William Paston, Knight;" but I have no doubt 
 when the original MS. is found, the heading so printed will 
 prove to be an endorsement of a more modern date. That there 
 were a number of such endorsements on the original MSS. we 
 know for certain. Fenn himself mentions them occasionally, 
 and many similar ones will be found on the originals which are 
 now in the British Museum. Nor is this the only case in which 
 I have found reason to suspect that Fenn has printed a later en- 
 dorsement as a convenient title for a paper which had no original 
 address or heading. My reasons for believing so in the present 
 instance, are simply that I can find no other evidence that 
 William Paston was ever knighted. His name occurs over and 
 over again on the patent rolls. He is named in at least one 
 commission of the peace every year to his death, and in a good 
 many other commissions besides, as justices invariably were. 
 He is named also in many of the other papers of the same col- 
 lection, simply as William Paston of Paston Esquire ; and even 
 in the body of the petition so inaccurately headed, he is simply 
 styled William Paston, one of the justices. Nor does there ap- 
 pear to be any other foundation for the error than that single 
 
 1 Blomefield's Norfolk, iii. 126. 
 
 * Dugdale's Origines. 3 Blomefield, v. 56. 
 
 4 Ib. ii. 257, 285, vii. 217. 6 Ib. viii. 109. ' Ib. x. 67. 
 
 1 See Letter 9. 8 Blomefield, vi. 353. Ib. x. 176. 
 
 Ib. v. 27. u Ib. vi. 517.
 
 xxiv Introduction. 
 
 heading. He left a name behind him of so great repute, that 
 Fuller could not help giving him a place among his " Worthies 
 of England," although, as he remarks, it did not fall strictly 
 within the plan of his work to notice a lawyer who was neither 
 a chief justice nor an author. 
 
 Of his personal character we are entitled to form a favourable 
 estimate, not only from the honourable name conferred on him 
 
 as a judge, but also from the evidences already 
 His character, alluded to of the general confidence felt in his 
 
 integrity. True it is that among these papers we 
 have a complaint against him for accepting fees and pensions 
 when he was justice, from various persons in the counties of 
 Norfolk and Suffolk ; l but this only proves, what we might have 
 expected, that he had enemies and cavillers as well as friends. 
 Of the justice of the charges in themselves we have no means of 
 forming an independent judgment ; but in days when all Eng- 
 land, and not least so the county of Norfolk, was full of party 
 spirit and contention, it was not likely that a man in the position 
 of William Paston should escape imputations of partiality and 
 one-sidedness. Before his elevation to the bench, he had already 
 suffered for doing his duty to more than one client. Having 
 defended the prior of Norwich in an action brought against him 
 by a certain Walter Aslak, touching the advowson of the church 
 of Sprouston, the latter appears to have pursued him with unre- 
 lenting hatred. The county of Norfolk was at the time ringing 
 with the news of an outrage committed by a band of unknown 
 rioters at Wighton. On the last day of the year 1423, one John 
 Grys of W T ighton had been entertaining company, and was heated 
 with "wassail," when he was suddenly attacked in his own 
 
 house. He and his son and a servant were carried 
 WaiT S Asf k a n '^ e fr m home and led to a pair of gallows, 
 
 where it was intended to hang them ; but as ropes 
 were not at once to be had, they were murdered in another fashion, 
 and their bodies horribly mutilated before death.* For nearly three 
 years the murderers went unpunished, while the country stood 
 aghast at the crime. But while it was still recent, at a county 
 court holden at Norwich, Aslak caused a number of bills, partly 
 in rhyme, to be posted on the gates of Norwich priory, and of 
 the Grey Friars, and some of the city gates, distinctly threaten- 
 ing W r illiam Paston with the fate of John Grys, and insinuating 
 that even worse things were in store for him. 
 
 Against open threats like these W T illiam Paston of course ap- 
 pealed to the law ; but law in those days was but a feeble 
 protector. Aslak had the powerful support of Sir Thomas 
 Erpingham, by which he was enabled not only to evade the 
 
 1 No. 19. 
 
 * See No. 4. Compare J. Amundesham Annales, 16. In the latter Grys's 
 Christian name is given as William, and the outrage is said to have taken 
 place on Christmas day instead of New Year's eve.
 
 Introduction. xxv 
 
 execution of sentence passed against him, but even to continue 
 his persecution. He found means to deprive Fasten of the 
 favour of the duke of Norfolk ; got bills introduced in Parliament 
 to his prejudice, and made it unsafe for him to stir abroad. The 
 whole country appears to have been disorganized by faction ; 
 quarrels at that very time were rife in the King's council cham- 
 ber itself, between Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, the Protector, 
 and Bishop Beaufort ; nor was anything so firmly established by 
 authority but that hopes might be entertained of setting it aside 
 by favour. 
 
 William Paston had two other enemies at this time. " I pray 
 the Holy Trinity," he writes in one place, "deliver me of my three 
 adversaries, this cursed Bishop forBromholm, AslakforSprouston, 
 and Julian Herberd forThornham." Of the last named person, 
 \ve know nothing but the name. The bishop whom he men- 
 tions with so much vehemence, claimed to be a kinsman of his 
 own, and named himself John Paston, but William Paston denied 
 the relationship, maintaining that his true name T h w 
 was John W r ortes. He appears to have been in the 
 first place a monk of Bromholm, the prior of which monastery 
 having brought an action against him as an apostate from his 
 order, engaged William Paston as his counsel in the prosecution. 
 Wortes, however, escaped abroad, and brought the matter before 
 the spiritual jurisdiction of the court of Rome, bringing actions 
 against both the prior and William Paston, the latter of whom 
 he got condemned in a penalty of ^205. On this William 
 Paston was advised by friends at Rome to come at once to an 
 arrangement with him ; but he determined to contest the validity 
 of the sentence, the result of which appears to have been that he 
 was excommunicated. His adversary, meanwhile, found interest 
 to get himself appointed and consecrated Bishop of Cork ; 
 though, it is remarkable, his name does not appear in any list of 
 the bishops of that see. 1 
 
 Scanty and disconnected as are the notices we possess of 
 William Paston, we must not pass by without comment his 
 letter to the vicar of the abbot of Clugny, in behalf of Bromholm 
 Priory.* It was not, indeed, the only occasion 3 on which we find 
 that he exerted himself in behalf of this ancient 
 monastery, within a mile of which, he tells us, he Bromholm 
 
 n 11 T> Priory, 
 
 was born. Bromholm Priory was, in fact, about 
 
 that distance from Paston hall, and must have been regarded 
 with special interest by the family. It was there that John 
 Paston, the son of the judge, was sumptuously buried in the 
 reign of Edward IV. It was a monastery of some celebrity. 
 Though not, at least in its latter days, one of the most wealthy 
 religious houses, for it fell among the smaller monasteries at the 
 first suppression in the reign of Henry VIII., its ruins still attest 
 
 i Nos. 5, 6, 7. 3 No. 14. 8 See No. 36, p. 48.
 
 xxvi Introduction. 
 
 that it was by no means insignificant. Situated by the seashore, 
 with a flat, unbroken country round about, they are conspicuous 
 from a distance both by sea and land. Among the numerous 
 monasteries of Norfolk, none but Walsingham was more visited 
 by strangers, and many of the pilgrims to Walsingham turned 
 aside on their way homeward to visit the Rood of Bromholm. 
 For this was a very special treasure brought from Constantinople 
 two hundred years before, and composed of a portion of the 
 wood of the true Cross. Many were the miracles recorded to 
 have been wrought in the monastery since that precious relic was 
 set up ; the blind had received their sight, the lame had walked, 
 and lepers had been cleansed ; even the dead had been restored 
 to life. It was impossible that a native of Paston could be unin- 
 terested in a place so renowned throughout all England. 
 
 Yet about this time the priory must have been less prosperous 
 than it had once been. Its government and constitution were 
 in a transition state. It was one of the twenty-eight monas- 
 teries in England which belonged to the Cluniac orders, and 
 were originally subject to the visitation of the Abbot of Clugny 
 in France. Subjection to a foreign head did not tend at any 
 time to make them popular in this country, and in the reign 
 of Henry V. that connection was suddenly broken off. An act 
 was passed suppressing at once all the alien priories, or religious 
 houses that acknowledged foreign superiors. The priors of 
 several of the Cluniac monasteries took out new foundation 
 charters, and attached themselves to other orders. Those that 
 continued signed deeds of surrender, and their monasteries were 
 taken into the king's hands. About nine or ten years later, 
 however, it would seem that a vicar of the Abbot of Clugny 
 was allowed to visit England, and to him William Paston made 
 an appeal to profess in due form a number of virtuous young 
 men who had joined the priory in the interval. 
 
 From the statement already quoted as to the history of the 
 
 Paston family, it appears that William Paston pur- 
 I j* n<1 P" r " chased a good deal of land in Paston besides 
 
 Judge Paston. what had originally belonged to them. It was 
 
 evidently his intention to make a family residence, 
 and transmit to his sons a more absolute ownership in the land 
 from which they derived their name. Much of his father's 
 land in Paston had been copyhold belonging to the manor of 
 Gimingham Hall; but William Paston bought "a moiety of 
 the fifth part " of the adjacent manor of Bacton, with free land 
 extending into Paston. He thus established himself as undoubted 
 lord of the greater part of the soil, and must have felt a pardon- 
 able pride in the improved position he thereby bequeathed to 
 his descendants. To carry out the improvements he proposed 
 
 to make on that and other parts of his property, 
 d! cdT* ^ e ODta ' nec l licence from the king a year before his 
 
 death to divert two public highways, the one at
 
 Introduction. xxvii 
 
 Paston and the other at Oxnead, a little from their course. 1 
 The alterations do not appear to have been of a nature that any 
 one had a right to complain of. Full inquiry was made before- 
 hand by an inquisition ad quod damnum 2 whether they would be 
 to the prejudice of neighbours. At Paston the extent of road- 
 way which he obtained leave to enclose was only 32^ perches in 
 length by one perch in breadth. It ran on the south side of his 
 mansion, and he agreed to make a new highway of the same 
 dimensions on the north side. The vicar of Paston seems to 
 have been the neighbour principally concerned in the course that 
 the new thoroughfare was to take, and all particulars had been 
 arranged with him a few months before William Paston died. 
 
 But it would seem that upon the judge's death his great designs 
 were for some time interrupted. The family were 
 looked upon by many as upstarts, and young John John Paston 
 Paston, who was only four and twenty, though ^it^his"'" 
 bred to the law like his father, could not expect to neighbours, 
 possess the same weight and influence with his 
 neighbours. A claim was revived by the lord of Gimingham 
 Hall to a rent of eight shillings from one of Paston's tenants, 
 which had never been demanded so long as the judge was alive. 
 The vicar of Paston pulled up the "doles" which were set to 
 mark the new highway, and various other disturbances were 
 committed by the neighbours. It seems to have required all the 
 energies not only of John Paston upon the spot, but also of his 
 brother Edmund, who was in London at Clifford's Inn, to secure 
 the rights of the family ; insomuch that their mother, in writing 
 to the latter of the opposition to which they had been exposed, 
 expresses a fear lest she should make him weary of Paston. 3 
 And, indeed, if Edmund Paston was not weary of the dispute, 
 his mother herself had cause to be ; for it not only lasted years 
 after this, but for some years after Edmund Paston was dead 
 the stopping of the king's highway was a fruitful theme of 
 remonstrance. When Agnes Paston built a wall it was thrown 
 down before it was half completed ; threats of heavy amerce- 
 ments were flung at her from behind fences, and the men of 
 Paston spoke of showing their displeasure when they went in 
 public procession on St Mark's day. 1 
 
 The Manor of Oxnead, which in later times became the prin- 
 cipal seat of the family, was also among the pos- 
 sessions purchased by Judge Paston. He bought Oxnead, John 
 it of William Clopton of Long Melford, and settled 
 it upon Agnes, his wife. But after his death her right to it was 
 disputed. It had formerly belonged to a family of the name of 
 Hauteyn, and there suddenly started up a claimant in the person 
 
 1 Patent 6 July, 21 Henry VI., p. i, rn. 10. 
 
 * Inquis. a. q. d. (arranged with Inquisitions poit-mcrtem), 21 Henry VI., 
 
 setter 46. * Nos. 160, 161, 162.
 
 xxviii Introduction, 
 
 of one John Hauteyn, whose right to hold property of any kind 
 was supposed to have been entirely annulled by the fact of his 
 having entered the Order of Carmelite Friars. It seems, how- 
 ever, he had succeeded in getting from the Pope a dispensation 
 to renounce the Order on the plea that he had been forced into 
 it against his will when he was under age, and being thus restored 
 by the ecclesiastical power to the condition of a layman, he next 
 appealed to the civil courts to get back his inheritance. This 
 danger must have been seen by William Paston before his death, 
 and a paper was drawn up (Xo. 35) to show that Hauteyn had 
 been released from his vows on false pretences. Nevertheless he 
 pursued his claim at law, and although he complained of the 
 difficulty of getting counsel (owing, as he himself intimated, to 
 the respect in which the bar held the memory of Judge Paston, 
 and the fact that his son John was one of their own members) he 
 seems to have had hopes of succeeding through the influence of 
 the Duke of Suffolk. His suit, however, had not been brought 
 to a successful determination at the date of Suffolk's fall. It 
 was still going on in the succeeding summer, but as we hear no 
 more of it after that, we may presume that the altered state of 
 the political world induced him to abandon it. According to 
 Blomefield, he and others of the Hauteyn family released their 
 rights to Agnes Paston "about 1449 ;" but this date is certainly 
 at least a year too early. 1 
 
 William Paston also purchased various other lands in the 
 county of Norfolk. Among others, he purchased from Thomas 
 Chaucer, a son of the famous poet, the manor of Gresham, 1 
 of which we shall have something more to say a little later. We 
 also find that in the fourth year of Henry VI. he obtained, in 
 conjunction with one Thomas Poye, a grant of a market, fair and 
 free-warren in his manor of Shipden which had belonged to his 
 father Clement before him. 3 
 
 The notices of John Paston begin when he was on the eve of 
 marrying, a few years before his father's death. The match was 
 evidently one that was arranged by the parents, 
 John PMtort a f ter t h e fashion of the times. The lady was of 
 a good family daughter and heiress of John 
 Mauteby, Esq., of Mauteby in Norfolk. The friends on both 
 sides must have been satisfied that the union was a good one ; 
 for it had the one great merit which was then considered every- 
 thing it was no disparagement to the fortunes or the rank of 
 either family. Beyond this hard business view, indeed, might 
 have been found better arguments to recommend it ; but English 
 men and women in those days did not read novels, and had no 
 great notion of cultivating sentiment for its own sake. Agnes 
 Paston writes to her husband to intimate "the bringing home of 
 the gentlewoman from Reedham, " according to the arrangement 
 
 1 Nos. 47, 66, 70, 100 : Blomefield, vi. 479. z Blomefield, viii. 127. 
 
 3 Patent roll, 4 Hen. VI., p. 2, m. 13 ; Blomefield, viii. 103.
 
 Ititroduciion. xxix 
 
 he had made about it. It was, in her words, " the first acquain- 
 tance between John Fasten and the said gentlewoman " (one 
 would think Dame Agnes must have learned from her husband 
 to express herself with something of the formality of a lawyer) ; 
 and we are glad to find that the young lady's sense of propriety 
 did not spoil her natural affability. "She made him gentle 
 cheer in gentle wise, and said he was verily your son ; and so I 
 hope there shall need no great treaty between them. " Finally 
 the judge is requested by his wife to buy a gown for his future 
 daughter-in-law, to which her mother would add a goodly fur. 
 " The gown," says Dame Agnes, " needeth for to be had ; and 
 of colour it would be a goodly blue, or else a bright sanguine." 
 
 " The gentlewoman " thus introduced to John Paston and the 
 reader proved to the former a most devoted wife during about 
 six and twenty years of married life. Her letters 
 
 to her husband form no inconsiderable portion of c j iaract . e . r 
 , ., 5 .. . . of lus wife, 
 
 the correspondence in these volumes, and it is im- 
 possible to peruse them without being convinced that the writer 
 was a woman not only of great force of character, but of truly 
 affectionate nature. It is true the ordinary style of these epistles 
 is very different from that of wives addressing their husbands 
 novv-a-days. There are no conventional expressions of tender- 
 ness the conventionality of the age seems to have required not 
 tenderness but humility on the part of women towards the head 
 of a family ; the subjects of the letters, too, are for the most part 
 matters of pure business ; yet the genuine womanly nature is 
 seen bursting out whenever there is occasion to call it forth. 
 Very early in the correspondence we meet with a letter of hers 
 (No. 36) which in itself is pretty sufficient evidence that women, 
 at least, were human in the fifteenth century. Her husband was 
 at the time in London just beginning to recover from an illness 
 which seems to have been occasioned by some injury he had met 
 with. His mother had vowed to give an image of wax the 
 weight of himself to Our Lady of Walsingham on his recovery, 
 and Margaret to go on a pilgrimage thither, and also to St 
 Leonard's at Norwich. That she did not undertake a journey 
 of a hundred miles to do him more efficient service was certainly 
 not owing to any want of will on her part. The difficulties of 
 travelling in those days, and the care of a young child, sufficiently 
 account for her remaining in Norfolk ; but apparently even these 
 considerations would not have deterred her from the journey had 
 she not been dissuaded from it by others. " If I might have 
 had my will," she writes, " I should have seen you ere this 
 time. I would ye were at home, if it were for your ease (and 
 your sore might be as well looked to here as it is there ye be), 
 now liever than a gown, though it were of scarlet." Could the 
 sincerity of a woman's wishes be more artlessly expressed? 
 
 Let not the reader suppose, however, that Margaret Paston 's 
 acknowledged love of a scarlet gown indicates anything like
 
 xxx Introduction. 
 
 frivolity of character or inordinate love of display. We have little 
 reason to believe from her correspondence that dress was a ruling 
 passion. The chief aim discernible in all she writes the chief 
 motive that influenced everything she did was simply the desire 
 to give her husband satisfaction. And her will to do him ser- 
 vice was, in general, only equalled by her ability. During term 
 time, when John Paston was in London, she was his agent at 
 home. It was she who negociated with farmers, receiving over- 
 tures for leases and threats of lawsuits, and reported to her hus- 
 band everything that might affect his interests, with the news of 
 the country generally. Nor were threats always the worst thing 
 she had to encounter on his account. For even domestic life, in 
 those days, was not always exempt from violence ; and there 
 were at least two occasions when Margaret had to endure, in her 
 husband's absence, things that a woman ought to have been 
 spared. 
 
 One of these occasions we proceed to notice. The manor of 
 
 Gresham, which William Paston had purchased from the son of 
 
 the poet Chaucer, had been in the days of Ed- 
 
 T f h ?, Ma " or war( i H- the property of one Edmund Bacon, 
 of Greshara. . , . . , r * . , ' , . ,. , .., 
 
 who obtained from that king a licence to embattle 
 
 the manor-house. It descended from him to his two daughters, 
 Margaret and Margery. The former became the wife of Sir Wil- 
 liam de Kerdeston, and her rights were inherited by a daughter 
 named Maud, who married Sir John Burghersh. 1 This moiety 
 came to Thomas Chaucer by his marriage with Maud Burghersh, 
 the daughter of the Maud just mentioned. The other became 
 at first the property of Sir William Molynes, who married Bacon's 
 second daughter Margery. But this Margery having survived 
 her husband, made a settlement of it by will, according to which 
 the reversion of it after the decease of one Philip Vache and of 
 Elizabeth his wife, was to be sold ; and William, son of Robert 
 Molynes, was to have the first option of purchase. This Wil- 
 liam Molynes at first declined to buy it, being apparently in want 
 of funds ; but he afterwards got one Thomas Fauconer, a Lon- 
 don merchant, to advance the purchase money, on an agreement 
 that his son should marry Fauconer's daughter. The marriage, 
 however, never took effect ; the Molynes family lost all claim 
 upon the manor, and the same Thomas Chaucer who acquired 
 the other moiety by his wife, purchased this moiety also, and 
 conveyed both to William Paston. 3 
 
 1 Inquisitions post mortem, 27 Edw. III., No. 28, and 30 Edw. III., No. 
 42. Blomefield innacurately makes Maud, whom Sir John Burghersh mar- 
 ried, the daughter of Edmund Bacon instead of his granddaughter. {Hist, 
 of Norf. viii. 127). 
 
 2 No. 10. Blomefield gives a somewhat different account, founded doubt- 
 less on documents to which I have not had access. He says that Margery, 
 widow of Sir William Molynes, settled her portion of the manor on one 
 Thomas de la Lynde, with the consent of her son Sir William Molynes, who 
 resigned all claim to it.
 
 Introduction. xxxi 
 
 The whole manor of Gresham thus descended to John Paston, 
 as his father's heir. But a few years after his father's death, he 
 was troubled in the possession of it by Robert Hungerford, son 
 of Lord Hungerford, who, having married Eleanor Molynes, a 
 descendant of the Sir William Molynes above referred to, had 
 been raised to the peerage as Lord Molynes, and 
 laid claim to the whole inheritance of the Molynes ?l a T^fe' t 
 
 , 1 Tr .-11 i . i i_ ijOiu ivioiynes. 
 
 family. He was still but a young man, 1 heir- 
 apparent to another barony ; and, with the prospect of a great 
 inheritance both from his father and from his mother, who was 
 the daughter and sole heir of William Lord Botraux, he certainly 
 had little occasion to covet lands that were not his own. Never- 
 theless he listened to the counsels of John Heydon of Bacons- 
 thorpe, a lawyer who had been sheriff and also recorder of Nor- 
 wich, and whom the gentry of Norfolk looked upon with anything 
 but good will, regarding him as the ready tool of every powerful 
 oppressor. His chief patron, with whom his name was con- 
 stantly coupled, was Sir Thomas Tuddenham ; and the two 
 together, especially during the unpopular ministry of the Duke 
 of Suffolk, exercised an ascendancy in the county, of which we 
 hear very numerous complaints. Heydon persuaded Lord 
 Molynes that he had a good claim to the manor of Gresham ; 
 and Lord Molynes, without more ado, went in and took posses- 
 sion on the 1 7th of February 1448. 2 
 
 To recover his rights against a powerful young nobleman con- 
 nected with various wealthy and influential families, required, as 
 John Paston knew, the exercise of great discretion. Instead of 
 resorting at once to an action at law, he made representations to 
 Lord Molynes and his legal advisers, to show how indefensible 
 was the title they had set up for him. He secured some atten- 
 tion for his remonstrances by the intercession of Waynflete, 
 bishop of Winchester. 3 Conferences took place between the 
 counsel of both parties during the following summer, and the 
 weakness of Lord Molynes' case was practically confessed by his 
 solicitors, who in the end told Paston to apply to his lordship 
 personally. Paston accordingly, at no small expense to himself, 
 went and waited upon him at. Salisbury and elsewhere, but was 
 continually put off. At last, on the 6th of October, not, as I 
 believe, the same year but the year following, he succeeded in 
 doing to Lord Molynes to some extent what Lord Molynes had 
 already done to him. He took possession of "a mansion 
 within the said town," and occupied it himself, having doubtless 
 a sufficiency of servants to guard against any sudden surprise. 
 After this fashion, he maintained his rights for a period of over 
 
 1 According to the inquisition taken on his father's death (Inq. p. m., 37 
 Hen. VI., No. 17), he was over thirty in June 1459. If we are to under- 
 stand that he was then only in his thirty-first year, he could not have been 
 twenty when he first dispossessed John Paston of Gresham. 
 
 2 No. 77. * No. 61.
 
 xxxii Introduction. 
 
 three months. The usual residence of Lord Molynes was in Wilt- 
 shire, and his agents probably did not like the responsibility of 
 attempting to remove John Paston without express orders from 
 their master. But on the 28th of January 1450, while John 
 Paston was away in London on business, there came before the 
 mansion at Gresham a company of a thousand persons, sent to 
 recover possession for Lord Molynes. They were armed with 
 cuirasses and brigandines, with guns, bows, and arrows, and 
 with every kind of offensive and defensive armour. They had 
 also mining instruments, long poles with hooks, called cromes, 
 used for pulling down houses, ladders, pick-axes, and pans with 
 fire burning in them. With these formidable implements they 
 beset the house, at that time occupied only by Margaret Paston 
 and twelve other persons ; and having broken open the outer 
 
 fates, they set to work undermining the very chamber in which 
 largaret was. Resistance under the circumstances was impos- 
 sible. Margaret was forcibly carried out. The house was then 
 thoroughly rifled of all that it contained property estimated by 
 John Paston at ,2<x> 1 the door-posts were cut asunder, and 
 the place was left little better than a ruin. Further, that 
 there might be no mistake about the spirit in which the outrage 
 was perpetrated, the rioters declared openly, that if they had 
 found John Paston, or his friend John Damme, who had aided 
 him with his counsel about these matters, neither of them should 
 have escaped alive. 2 
 
 John Paston drew up a petition for redress to Parliament, and 
 another to the Lord Chancellor ; but it was some months before 
 his case could be attended to, for that year was one of confusion 
 and disorder unparalleled. It was that year, in fact, which may 
 be said to have witnessed the first outbreak of a long intermittent 
 civil war. History has not passed over in silence 
 Troubled the troubles of 1450. The rebellion of Jack Cade, 
 
 ^'"p 65 ' and the murder of two bishops in different parts of 
 
 the country, were facts which no historian could 
 treat as wholly insignificant. Many writers have even repeated 
 the old slander, which there is not the slightest reason to believe, 
 that Jack Cade's insurrection was promoted by the intrigues of 
 the Duke of York ; but no one appears to me to have realised 
 the precise nature of the crisis that necessarily followed the re- 
 moval of the Duke of Suffolk. And as we have now arrived at 
 the point where the Paston Letters begin to have a most direct 
 bearing on English history, we must endeavour in a few words of 
 historical retrospect to make the matter as clear as possible. 
 
 As to the causes of Suffolk's fall we are not left 
 
 Fall of j n ignorance. Not only do we possess the full text 
 
 of e SuffoUc of the long indictment drawn up against him this 
 
 year in Parliament, but a number of political ballads 
 
 1 A value probably equal to about .3000 of our money. 2 Nos. 77, 107.
 
 Introduction. xxxiii 
 
 and satires, in which he is continually spoken of by the name 
 of Jack Napes, help us to realise the feeling with which he was 
 generally regarded. Of his real merits as a statesman, it is hard 
 to pronounce an opinion ; for though, obviously enough, his 
 whole policy was a failure, he himself seems to have been aware 
 from the first that it was not likely to be popular. Two great 
 difficulties he had to contend with, each sufficient to give serious 
 anxiety to any minister whatever ; the first being the utter weak- 
 ness of the king's character ; the second, the practical impos- 
 sibility of maintaining the English conquests in France. To 
 secure both himself and the nation against the uncertainties 
 which might arise from the vacillating counsels of one who 
 seems hardly ever to have been able to judge for himself in state 
 affairs, he may have thought it politic to ally the king with a 
 woman of stronger will than his own. At all events, if this 
 was his intention, lie certainly achieved it. The marriage of 
 Henry with Margaret of Anjou was his work ; and from Mar- 
 garet he afterwards obtained a protection which he would cer- 
 tainly not have received from her well-intentioned but feeble- 
 minded husband. 
 
 This marriage undoubtedly recommended itself to Henry 
 himself, as a great means of promoting peace with 
 France. The pious, humane, and Christian char- King s 
 
 r t i i- i jL-r LI marriage, 
 
 acter of the king, disposed him favourably towards 
 
 all pacific counsels, and gave him a high opinion of the states- 
 man whose policy most obviously had in view the termination 
 of the disastrous war between France and England. King Rene, 
 the father of Margaret of Anjou, was the brother of the French 
 king's consort ; so it was conceived that by his and Margaret's 
 intercession, a permanent peace might be obtained, honourable 
 to both countries. For this end, Henry was willing to relin- 
 quish his barren title to the kingdom of France, if he could have 
 been secured in the possession of those lands only, such as 
 Guienne and Normandy, which he held irrespective of that 
 title. 1 He was willing to relinquish even the duchies of Anjou 
 and Maine, King Rene's patrimony, though the latter had long 
 been in the possession of the English. It was of course out of 
 the question that Henry should continue to keep the father of 
 his bride by force out of his own dominions. Suffolk therefore 
 promised to give them up to the French king, for the use of 
 Rene and his brother, Charles of Anjou ; so that instead of the 
 former giving his daughter a dower, England was called upon to 
 part with some of her conquests. But how would the English 
 nation reconcile itself to such a condition ? Suffolk knew well 
 he was treading in a dangerous path, and took every possible 
 precaution to secure himself. He pleaded beforehand his own 
 incompetency for the charge that was committed to him. He 
 
 1 Stevenson's Wars of the English in France, i. 132. 
 C
 
 xxxiv Introduction. 
 
 urged that his familiarity with the Duke of Orletms and other 
 French prisoners lately detained in England, brought him under 
 suspicion at home, and rendered him a less fitting ambassador 
 for arranging matters with France. Finally he obtained from 
 the King and Council an instrument under the Great Seal, par- 
 doning him beforehand any error of judgment he might possibly 
 commit in conducting so critical a negotiation. 1 
 
 His success, if judged by the immediate result, seemed to show 
 that so much diffidence was unnecessary. The people at large 
 rejoiced in the marriage of their king ; the bride, if poor, was 
 beautiful and attractive ; the negotiator received the thanks of 
 Parliament, and there was not a man in all the kingdom, at 
 least in all the legislature, durst wag his tongue in censure. 
 The Duke of Gloucester, his chief rival and opponent in the senate, 
 was the first to rise from his seat and recommend Suffolk, for his 
 services, to the favour of the Crown. 2 If he had really com- 
 mitted any mistakes, they were as yet unknown, or at all events 
 uncriticised. Even the cession of Maine and Anjou at this time 
 does not seem to have been spoken of. 
 
 (folk s Happy in the confidence of his sovereign, Suf- 
 
 folk was promoted to more distinguished honour. 
 From an earl he was raised to the dignity of a marquis ; from a 
 marquisate, a few years later, to a dukedom. He had already 
 supplanted older statesmen with far greater advantage of birth, 
 and pre-eminence of rank. The two great rivals, Humphrey, 
 Duke of Gloucester, and Cardinal Beaufort, were both eclipsed, 
 and both died within six weeks of each other, two years after 
 the king's marriage, leaving Suffolk the only minister of mark. 
 But his position was not improved by this undisputed ascendancy. 
 The death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 
 aroused suspicions in the public mind that were 
 probably due merely to time and circumstance. Duke Humphrey, 
 with many defects in his character, had always been a popular 
 favourite, and just before his death he had been arrested on a 
 charge of treason. That he could not possibly have remained 
 quiet under the new regime, is a fact that we might presume as 
 a matter of course, but there is no reason to suppose he was 
 guilty of intrigue or conspiracy. The king, indeed, appears to 
 
 1 Rymer, xi. 53. 
 
 2 Rolls of Parl. v. 73. That Gloucester secretly disliked Suffolk's policy, and 
 thought the peace with France too dearly bought, is more than probable. 
 At the reception of the French ambassadors in 1445, we learn from their 
 report that Henry looked exceedingly pleased, especially when his uncle the 
 French King was mentioned. " And on his left hand were my Lord of 
 Glo'ster, at whom he looked at the time, and then he turned round to the 
 right to the chancellor, and the Earl of Suffolk, and the Cardinal of York, 
 who were there, smiling to them, and it was very obvious that he made some 
 
 signal. And it was afterwards mentioned by (blank in orig.), that 
 
 he pressed his Chancellor's hand and said to him in English, ' I am very 
 much rejoiced that some who are present should hear these words. They 
 are not at their ease.' " Stevenson's Wars of the English in France, i. no-i.
 
 Introduction. xxxv 
 
 have thought otherwise, but his opinions were formed by those 
 of Suffolk and the Queen ; and both Suffolk and the Queen were 
 such enemies of Duke Humphrey, that they were vehemently 
 suspected of having procured his death. 
 
 Complaints against the minister now began to be made more 
 openly, and his conduct touching the surrender of Anjou and 
 Maine was so generally censured, that he petitioned the King 
 that a day might be appointed on which he should have an 
 opportunity of clearing himself before the council. On the 251)1 
 of May 1447 his wish was granted, and in the presence of a full 
 council, including the Duke of York, and others who might have 
 been expected to be no very favourable critics, he gave a detailed 
 account of all that he had done. How far he made a really 
 favourable impression upon his hearers we do not know ; but in 
 the end he was declared to have vindicated his integrity, and 
 a proclamation was issued forbidding the circulation of such 
 slanders against him in future, under penalty of the king's dis- 
 pleasure. 1 
 
 The nature of the defence that he set up can only be a matter 
 of speculation ; but it may be observed that as yet no formal 
 delivery of Anjou or Maine had really taken place at all. The 
 former province, though it had been before this overrun and 
 laid waste by the English, does not appear ever to have been 
 permanently occupied by them. Delivery of Anjou would there- 
 fore have been an idle form ; all that was required was that the 
 English should forbear to invade it. But with Maine the case 
 was different. It had been for a long time in the hands of the 
 English, and pledges had certainly been given by Suffolk for its 
 delivery. As yet, however, nothing had been concluded by way 
 of positive treaty. No definite peace had been made with 
 France. Difficulties had always started up in the negotiations, 
 and the ambassadors appointed on either side had been unable 
 to do more than prolong from time to time the existing truce, 
 leaving the matter in dispute to be adjusted at a personal inter- 
 view between the two kings, for which express provision was 
 made at the time of each new arrangement. But the personal 
 interview never took place. In August 1445 it was arranged for 
 the following summer. In January 1446 it was fixed to be before 
 November. In February 1447 it was again to be in the summer 
 following. In July it was settled to be before May 1448 ; but 
 in October the time was again lengthened further. 2 There can 
 be little doubt that these perpetual delays were due merely to 
 hesitation on the part of England to carry out a policy to which 
 she was already pledged. Charles, of course, could not allow 
 them to go on for ever. In the treaty of July 1447, an express 
 provision was for the first time inserted, that the town and castle 
 of Le Mans, and other places within the county of Maine, should 
 
 1 Rymer, xi, 173. 2 Rymer, xi. 97, 108, 151, r82, 189, &c.
 
 xxxvi Litrodudion. 
 
 be delivered up to the French. It seems also to have been 
 privately arranged that this should be done before the 1st of 
 November ; and that the further treaty made at Bourges on the 
 1 5th of October, should not be published until the surrender was 
 accomplished. 1 But the year 1447 had very nearly expired 
 before even the first steps were taken to give effect to this 
 arrangement. At length, on the 3Oth of December, an agree- 
 ment was made by Matthew Gough, who had the keeping of Le 
 Mans, that the place should be surrendered by the I5th of 
 January, on receipt of letters patent from the King of France, 
 for compensation to be made to grantees of the English crown. 
 
 Even this arrangement, however, was not adhered to. Matthew 
 Gough still found reasons for refusing or delaying the surrender, 
 although the English government protested the sincerity of its 
 Siege of Le intentions. But Charles now began to take the 
 Mans. matter into his own hands. Count Dunois and 
 
 A.D. 1448. others were sent to besiege the place, with a force 
 
 raised suddenly oat of various towns ; for France had been 
 carefully maturing during those years of truce, a system of 
 conscription which was now becoming serviceable. At the first 
 rumour of these musters the English government was alarmed, 
 and Sir Thomas Hoo, Lord Hastings, Henry's Chancellor of 
 France, wrote urgently to Pierre de Bre'ze, seneschal of Poitou, who 
 had been the chief negociator of the existing truce, deprecating the 
 use of force against a town which it was the full intention of his 
 government to yield up honourably. 4 Such protests, however, 
 availed nothing in the face of the obvious fact that the surrender 
 had not taken place at the time agreed on. The French con- 
 tinued to muster forces. In great haste an embassy was de- 
 spatched from England, consisting of Adam de Moleyns, bishop 
 of Chichester and Sir Thomas Roos ; but the conduct of the 
 garrison itself rendered further negociation nugatory. By no 
 means could they be induced, even in obedience to their own 
 king, to surrender the city peacefully. Dunois and his army 
 accordingly drew nearer. Three sharp skirmishes took place 
 before the siege could be formed ; but at length the garrison 
 were fully closed in. All that they could now do was to make a 
 composition with the enemy ; yet even this they would not have 
 attempted of themselves. The efforts of the English envoys, 
 however, secured for the besieged most favourable terms of 
 surrender. Not only were they permitted to march out with 
 bag and baggage, but a sum of money was delivered to each of 
 the captains, by the French King's orders ; with which, and 
 with a safe conduct from Charles, they departed into Normandy. 3 
 
 It was on Friday, the ifth of March 1448, the day on which 
 
 1 Stevenson's Wars, ii. [714, 715!. 
 
 1 Stevenson's Wars, i. 198. See also a letter of the i8th Feb. 1448, of 
 which an abstract is given in vol. ii. of the same work, p. 576. 
 * Chron de Mat. de Coussy (in Buchon's collection), p. 34.
 
 Introduction. xxxvii 
 
 the truce between the two countries was to have expired, that 
 the brave Matthew Gough, along with his colleague, Fulk Eton, 
 formally delivered up to the French, not only the town and 
 castle of Le Mans, but also the whole county of 
 Maine except the lordship of Fresnay. Standing Jend"!-" 
 
 on the outer bridge, they made a public protest be- 
 fore their soldiers, and caused a notary to witness it by a formal 
 document, that what they did was only in obedience to their own 
 king's commands, and that thekinghimself, in givingup possession 
 of the county of Maine by no means parted with his sovereign 
 rights therein ; that he only gave up actual possession in order 
 that King Rene and his brother, Charles of Anjou, might enjoy 
 the fruits of their own lands, and in the hope that a firm peace 
 might be established between England and France. Four days 
 before this was done, the truce had been prolonged for two 
 years more. 1 
 
 The reluctant cession of such a valuable province as Maine, 
 boded ill for the security of the neighbouring duchy of Nor- 
 mandy. The government of Normandy was at this time com- 
 mitted to Edmund Beaufort, Marquis of Dorset, who had just 
 been created Duke of Somerset. His appointment to the post 
 had been due rather to favour than to merit. The Duke of 
 York was then Regent of France, and had given good proof of 
 his competence to take charge of the entire kingdom. But 
 Somerset, who was head of the house of Beaufort, nearly allied 
 in blood to the Crown, and who had come into possession of 
 immense wealth by the death of his uncle, the Cardinal of Win- 
 chester, had the ambition of an Englishman to show his talent 
 for governing. His influence with the King and Suffolk ob- 
 tained for him the government of Normandy, and that he might 
 exercise it undisturbed, York was recalled from France. The 
 change was ill advised ; for the times demanded the best of 
 generalship, and the utmost political discretion. Somerset, 
 though not without experience in war, had given no evidence of 
 the possession of such qualities ; and they had been notoriously 
 wanting in his brother John, who was Duke of Somerset before 
 him, when his ambition, too, had been gratified by a command 
 in France. Duke John, we are told, absolutely refused to give 
 any one his confidence as to what he was going to do at any 
 period of the campaign. He used to say that if his shirt knew 
 his plans he would burn it ; and so, with a great deal of 
 manoeuvring and mystery, he captured, a small place in Brittany 
 called La Guerche, made a vain attempt to reduce another 
 fortress, and then returned to England. 2 It may have been 
 owing to public discontent at the small result of his great pre- 
 parations, that he was accused of treason on his return ; when, 
 
 1 Rymer, xi. 199, 204. Stevenson's Wars, i. 207. 
 ' Basin. Histoire de Charles VII., &c., i. 150-1.
 
 xxxviii Introduction. 
 
 unable to endure so great a reproach, he was believed to have 
 put an end to his own life. 1 
 
 With a full recollection of the indiscretions of his brother 
 John, the King's Council must have hesitated to confide to Duke 
 Edmund such an important trust as the government of Nor- 
 mandy. They must have hesitated all the more, as the appoint- 
 ment of Somerset involved the recall of the Duke of York. And 
 we are told that their acts at the time betrayed symptoms of 
 such irresolution ; insomuch that one day a new governor of 
 Normandy was proclaimed at Kouen, and the next his commis- 
 sion was revoked and another named in his stead.' 2 But at last the 
 influence of Somerset prevailed. He was not, however, per- 
 mitted to go abroad without warning of the dangers against 
 which he had to provide. The veteran Sir John Fastolf drew 
 up a paper for his guidance, pointing out that it was now pecu- 
 liarly important to strengthen the fortifications on the new 
 frontier, to protect the sea-ports, to preserve free communication 
 with England, and (what was quite as politic a suggestion as 
 any) to appoint a wise chancellor and council for the impartial 
 administration of justice so as to protect the inhabitants from 
 oppression, s From the comment made upon these suggestions, 
 either by Fastolf himself or by his secretary William Worcester, 
 it would seem that they were not acted upon ; and to this cause 
 he attributed the disasters which soon followed in quick succes- 
 sion, and brought upon the Duke of Somerset the indignation 
 and contempt of a large number of his countrymen. These 
 feelings, probably, were not altogether just. The Duke had 
 done good service before in France, and part of the blame of 
 what occurred may perhaps be attributed to divided manage- 
 ment more especially to the unruly feelings of a number of the 
 English soldiers. 
 
 The garrison which had been compelled against its will to 
 give up Le Mans found it hard to obtain quarters in Normandy. 
 It was doubtful whether they were not labouring under their 
 own king's displeasure, and the captains of fortified towns were 
 afraid to take them in. At last they took possession of Pont- 
 orson and St. James de Beuvron, two towns situated near the 
 confines of Britanny which had been laid waste during the pre- 
 vious wars, and had since been abandoned. They began to 
 victual and fortify themselves in these positions to the alarm of 
 their neighbours, until the Duke of Britanny felt it necessary to 
 complain to the Duke of Somerset, requesting that they might 
 be dislodged. Somerset, in reply, promised to caution them not 
 to do anything in violation of the truce, but declined to bid them 
 evacuate their positions. Diplomatic intercourse went on be- 
 tween one side and the other, always in the most courteous 
 
 1 Contin. of Chronicle of Croyland, 519. 3 Basin, i. 192. 
 
 8 Stevenson's Wars, ii. [592].
 
 Introduction. xxxix 
 
 terms, but every day it was becoming more apparent that all 
 confidence was gone. 
 
 At last, in March 1449, the English justified the suspicions 
 that had long been entertained of them. A de- 
 tachment of about 600 men, under Fran9ois de A ' D ' I449- 
 Surienne, popularly named L'Arragonois, a leader in the pay of 
 England, 1 who had, not long before, been knighted by Henry, 
 crossed the frontier southwards into Britanny, 
 took by assault the town and castle of Fougeres, Fou'Tr 6 f 
 and made dreadful havoc and slaughter among the 
 unsuspecting inhabitants. The place was full of wealthy mer- 
 chants, for it was the centre of a considerable woollen manu- 
 facture, and the booty found in it was estimated at no less than 
 two millions of gold. 2 Such a prize in legitimate warfare would 
 undoubtedly have been well worth the taking ; but under the 
 actual circumstances the deed was a glaring, perfidious violation 
 of the truce. Somerset had been only a few days before protest- 
 ing to the King of France that, even if all his towns were open 
 and undefended, they would be perfectly secure from any assault 
 by the English ; 3 yet here was a town belonging to the Duke of 
 Britanny, a vassal of the King of France, who had been expressly 
 included in the truce, assaulted and taken by fraud. Somerset 
 disavowed the deed, but refused to make restitution. He pro- 
 fessed to write to the King for instructions how to act ; but he 
 xuterly destroyed his flimsy pretence of neutrality by writing to 
 the King of France, desiring him not to give assistance to the 
 Duke of Britanny. 4 
 
 The truth is that the expedition had been fully authorised, not 
 only by Somerset in Normandy, but by the King and the Duke 
 of Suffolk in England. It was suggested to L'Arragonois when 
 he was in England by Suffolk himself, who assured him that he 
 would do the King a most excellent service by taking a place of 
 so much consequence. He was further given to understand that 
 he incurred no danger or responsibility ; for even if he were 
 besieged by the Duke of Britanny, ample succours would be 
 despatched to relieve him. Unfortunately, during the next few 
 months, the English had too much to do to keep their word, 
 and L'Arragonois was compelled to surrender the place again to 
 the Duke of Britanny after a five weeks' siege. Feeling himself 
 then absolved from eveiy engagement to England he next year 
 sent back the Order of the Garter to Henry, declaring himself 
 from that time a subject of his natural lord the King of Arragon, 
 in whose country he proposed to spend the remainder of his 
 days. 5 
 
 Notwithstanding the richness of the booty won by the capture 
 
 1 Stevenson's Wars, i. 473 ; ii. 573. 
 
 2 Stevenson's Reductio Normanniae, 406. * Ib. 402. 
 * Reductio Normanniae, 406. 
 
 8 Stevenson's Wars, i. 275, 278, &c.
 
 xl Introduction. 
 
 of Fougeres, the English ought to have been aware that they 
 would have a heavy price to pay for it. The alienation of a 
 friend in the Duke of Britanny evidently did not grieve them, 
 although that in itself should have been a matter of some con- 
 cern ; for the Duke, though nearly related to the French King, 
 had studied to keep himself neutral hitherto. To his and his 
 father's pacific policy it was owing that the commerce of Brittany 
 had prospered, and Fougeres itself became rich, while neigh- 
 bouring districts were exposed to the ravages of war. But the 
 resentment of the Duke of Britanny was not a cause of much 
 apprehension. The effect of the outrage upon the French people 
 was a much more serious matter, and this was felt immediately. 
 The King of France, when he heard the news, was at Montils 
 by Tours on the point of starting for Bourges. He immediately 
 changed his purpose and turned back to Chinon that he might 
 be nearer Britanny. A secret treaty was made between the 
 King and the Duke to aid each other on the recommencement 
 of hostilities with the English. A plot was also laid to surprise 
 the town of Pont-de-1'Arche on the Seine, just as Fougeres had 
 been surprised by the English. It was completely 
 Pont-de-1'Arche success f u l and Pont-de-1' Arche was captured by 
 taken by the , . , . , , ,f , ., ' 
 
 French. stratagem early in the morning of the loth of May, 
 
 by a body of adventurers professedly in the service 
 of Britanny. There could be no mistake about the significance 
 of the retribution. To the Duke of Britanny the capture of 
 Pont-de-1'Arche was of no value, except in the way of retaliation, 
 for it was at a great distance from his borders ; while to France 
 it was a most important gain if used with a view to the recovery 
 of Normandy. But France was quite as free to disavow the 
 deed as the English government had been to disavow the taking 
 of Fougeres. 
 
 Charles had, in fact, gained, in a strategic point of view, quite 
 as great an advantage as the English had gained in point of 
 material wealth. But morally his advantage was greater still, 
 for he showed himself perfectly open to treat for the redress of 
 outrages on both sides, and was willing to put Pont-de-1'Arche 
 again into the hands of the English if they would have restored 
 Fougeres. All conferences, however, were ineffectual, and the 
 French followed up their advantage by taking Gerberoy and 
 Conches. In the south they also won from the English two 
 places in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux. 1 Still, Charles had 
 not yet declared war, and these things were avowedly no more 
 than the acts of desultory marauders. His ambassadors still 
 demanded the restitution of Fougeres, which possibly the English 
 might now have been willing to accord if they could have had 
 the French captures restored to them, but that in the surrender 
 of the place they would have had to acknowledge Britanny as a 
 
 1 Rcductio Normanniae, 251.
 
 Introduction. xli 
 
 feudal dependency of Charles. 1 Negotiations were accordingly 
 broken off, and Charles having besides received particulars of a 
 breach of the truce with Scotland in the preceding year, which 
 even an English writer does not venture to defend, 2 at length 
 made a formal declaration of hostilities. 3 
 
 Never, it must be owned, did England incur the grave responsi- 
 bilities of war with a greater degree of foolhardiness. Somerset 
 himself seemed only now to have wakened up to the defenceless 
 state of Normandy. He had just sent over Lord Hastings and 
 the Abbot of Gloucester with a message to the English Parlia- 
 ment desiring immediate aid. The French, he said, were daily 
 reinforcing their garrisons upon the frontier, and committing 
 outrages against the truce. General musters were proclaimed 
 throughout the kingdom, and every thirty men of the whole 
 population were required to find a horseman fully equipped for 
 war. Meanwhile, the English garrisons in Normandy were too 
 feeble to resist attack. Not a single place was furnished with 
 sufficient artillery, and the fortifications, almost everywhere, had 
 fallen into such decay that even if filled with men and guns 
 they could not possibly be defended. Besides this, the whole 
 province was in such extreme poverty that it could no longer 
 endure further imposts for the charges of its own defence. 4 
 
 No marvel, therefore, that the progress of the French arms 
 was, from this time, uninterrupted. On the iQth July the town 
 of Verneuil was taken by the aid of a miller who 
 
 had been maltreated by some of the garrison ; and, Progress of 
 , {-I the French, 
 
 sometime afterwards, the castle also surrendered. 
 
 In August operations were carried on in several parts of the 
 Duchy at once. Towns near the sea and towns near the French 
 frontier were attacked at the same time ; and Pont-Audemer, 
 Lisieux, Mantes, Vernon, and other places were recovered from 
 the English. Then followed in quick succession the capture 
 of Essay, Fecamp, Harcourt, Chambrois, Roche-Guyon, and 
 Coutances. In October Rouen, the capital of the province, was 
 invested. On the igth the inhabitants with one accord rose in 
 arms against the English, who found it necessary to retreat into 
 the castle. In this stronghold Somerset himself was assailed by 
 the King of France, and, after a vain attempt to secure better 
 
 1 /*. 503. 
 
 2 " Eodem anno [26 Hen. VI.] Rex visitans bpreales partes Anglias 
 usque Donelmense monasterium, quasi omnes domini et alii plebei illius 
 patriae in magna multitudine quutidie ei in obviam ostendebant, quare, 
 concilio habito, minus formidabant interrumpere trugas inter ipsum et Regem 
 Scotia; prins suis sigillis iidelitatis confirmatas ; sed posterius hujus trugarum 
 interruptio vertebatur Anglicis multo magis in dispendium quam honorem, 
 quia recedente Rege Scoti magnam pattern Northumbrian bina vice absque 
 repulsu destruxerunt, et juxta Carlele erant ex Anglicis capti et interfecti ad 
 numerum duortim millium ; et sic tandem Rex Angliae cum ejus concilio pro 
 saniori deliberatione cum damnis ad pacem inclinare reducitur." Incerti 
 Scriptoris Chronicum (Ed. Giles), Hen. VI., p. 36. 
 
 3 Reductio Norm., 254. * Rolls of Parl., v. 147.
 
 xlii Introdiiction. 
 
 terms, agreed to surrender not only ; t but the fortresses of 
 Arques, Caudebec, and several other places, leaving the gallant 
 Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, as a hostage until they were de- 
 livered up. Meanwhile, the Duke of Britanny overran Lower 
 Normandy and recovered his own Fougeres after a siege of little 
 more than a month. Francois L'Arragonois, finding no hope of 
 succours, surrendered the place and afterwards went over to the 
 French. 
 
 In short, before the end of the year, the English had lost 
 nearly everything in the North of France. The inhabitants 
 everywhere conspired to betray towns and garrisons, and every 
 man not English born took part against the English. Even 
 King Rene, Henry's father-in-law, assisted Charles at the siege 
 of Rouen, and shared the honours of his triumphal entry. At 
 the end of the year 1449 the English held nothing in Normandy 
 except a few towns upon the sea-coast or a little way inland the 
 chief of these being Honfleur, Bayeux, Caen, and Cherbourg. 
 The last named fortress remained untaken till the 12th of August 
 in the following year. When it surrendered, the whole of Nor- 
 mandy was finally lost. 
 
 The news of these reverses so rapidly following each other of 
 course produced in England the most profound dissatisfaction. 
 The Parliament to which Somerset had applied for aid had been 
 removed after Whitsunday to Winchester on account of the 
 insalubrity of the air in London and Westminster, and had been 
 finally dissolved on the i6th of July. A new Parliament was 
 then called for a winter session to provide for the defence of 
 Normandy, when, in fact, it was too late. 1 By the time it had 
 assembled Rouen was already lost. The secret 
 
 Unpop|a"ty o dium with which the policy of Suffolk had been 
 of Suffolk. , , 7, . 
 
 viewed for years past could now no longer be 
 
 restrained. It was difficult to persuade the many that the dis- 
 grace which had befallen the English arms was not due to 
 treachery as much as to incompetence. The cession of Maine 
 and Anjou was more loudly blamed than ever, and Suffolk was 
 considered to have negotiated the King's marriage mainly with a 
 view to his own advantage. It was remembered how he had once 
 imprudently boasted that he possessed no less weight in the 
 counsels of the King of France than in those of his own sove- 
 reign ; it was again murmured that he had been the cause of 
 Gloucester's death. And notwithstanding the protection of the 
 court, these feelings found expression in Parliament. 
 
 At the beginning of the New Year, an incident 
 A.D. 1450. occurred which served still further to precipitate 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl., v. 143, 171. Even when the new Parliament met at West- 
 minster on the 6th November it was obliged to adjourn to the City of London 
 on account of the unhealthiness of the air. We must remember that West- 
 minster was then little better than a flat muddy island, with a vast extent of 
 marshy land and stagnant pools between Pimlico and the Thames.
 
 Introduction. xliii 
 
 his ruin. Adam de Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, keeper of 
 the Privy Seal, who, as we have seen, had been 
 sent over to France in the beginning of 1448, to JBishopVf 
 arrange the peaceful cession of Le Mans, was at Chichester. 
 this time sent to Portsmouth to pay the wages of 
 certain soldiers and sailors. He was a scholar as well as a 
 statesman, and corresponded occasionally with the celebrated 
 ./Eneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II. 1 But, like Suffolk, he 
 was believed to make his own advantage out of public affairs. 
 He had the reputation of being very covetous ; the king's treasury 
 was ill supplied with money, and he endeavoured to force the 
 men to be satisfied with less than their due. On this they broke 
 out into open mutiny, cried out that he was one of those who 
 had sold Normandy, and thereupon put him to death. 2 This 
 was on the gth day of January 1450. During the altercation he 
 let fall some words, probably in justification of his own conduct, 
 which were considered to reflect most seriously upon that of the 
 Duke of Suffolk, 3 and a cry arose for the Duke's impeachment 
 in Parliament. 
 
 It must certainly be acknowledged by any candid student of 
 history, that the state of the English Constitution in early times 
 did not admit of true and impartial justice being done to an 
 accused minister. So long as a man in Suffolk's position was 
 upheld by the power of the Crown, it was to the last degree 
 dangerous to say anything against him ; but when the voice of 
 complaint could no longer be restrained, the protection he had 
 before received ceased to be of any use to him. It became then 
 quite as dangerous to say anything in his favour as it had been 
 formerly to accuse him. The Crown could not make common, 
 cause with one whose conduct was under suspicion ; for the King 
 could do no wrong, and the minister must be the scapegoat. 
 The party, therefore, which would insist on any inquiry into the 
 conduct of a minister, knew well that they must succeed in get- 
 ting him condemned, or be branded as traitors themselves. 
 Such proceedings accordingly began inevitably with intrigue. 
 Lord Cromwell was Suffolk's enemy at the council table, and 
 used his influence secretly with members of the House of Com- 
 mons, to get them to bring forward an impeachment in that 
 chamber. That he was a dangerous opponent Suffolk himself 
 was very well aware. A little before Christmas, William Tail- 
 boys, one of the Duke's principal supporters, had set a number 
 of armed men in wait for him at the door of the Star Chamber, 
 where the council met, and Lord Cromwell narrowly escaped 
 being killed. The attempt, however, failed, and Tailboys was 
 committed to the Tower ; from which it would seem that he 
 
 1 jEneae Sylvii Epp. 80, 186. 
 
 2 According to his friend, .(Eneas Sylvius, the mode of death inflicted on 
 him was decapitation. (Opera, 443.) 
 
 Rolls of Parl., v. 176.
 
 xliv Introduction. 
 
 must soon afterwards have been released. Cromwell then 
 brought an action against him, in the Court of Exchequer, to 
 recover damages for the assault, and was awarded 3000 ; on 
 which Tailboys was committed to the Sheriffof London's prison; 
 and this was all the redress obtained by Cromwell till, by a 
 special act in the ensuing Parliament, Tailboys was removed 
 from that place of confinement, and lodged in the Tower once 
 more, for a period of twelve months. Owing to the King's 
 protection he was not brought to trial. 1 
 
 An evil day, nevertheless, had arrived for the Duke of Suffolk, 
 which not all the influence of the King, nor the still greater in- 
 fluence of Margaret of Anjou, who owed to him her proud posi- 
 tion as Henry's consort, was able to avert. On the 22d of 
 January the Duke presented a petition to the King that he might 
 be allowed to clear himself before Parliament, of the imputations 
 which had been cast on him in consequence of the dying words 
 of Bishop Moleyns. He begged the King to remember how 
 his father had died in the service of King Henry V. at Harfleur, 
 how his elder brother had been with that King at Agincourt, 
 how two other brothers had fallen in the King's own days at 
 Jargeau, when he himself was taken prisoner, and had to pay 
 20,000 for his ransom, how his fourth brother had been a 
 hostage for him in the enemies' hands and died there. He also 
 reminded the King that he had borne arms for four and thirty 
 years, had been thirty years a Knight of the Garter, and had 
 served in the wars abroad for seventeen years at a time, without 
 ever coming home. Since then he had been fifteen years in 
 England about the King's person, and he prayed God that if 
 ever he died otherwise than in his bed, it might be in maintain- 
 ing the quarrel that he had been at all times true to Henry. 2 
 
 Four days after this a deputation from the Commons waited 
 on the Lord Chancellor, desiring that as Suffolk had confessed 
 the prevalence of injurious reports against him, he might be 
 committed to custody. This request was laid by the Chancellor 
 before the King and Council on the following day, and the 
 opinion of the judges being taken as to the legality of the pro- 
 posed arrest, he was allowed to remain at liberty until a definite 
 charge should be brought against him. Such a charge was 
 accordingly declared two days later by the Speaker, who did not 
 hesitate to tell the Lord Chancellor, in the name of the Com- 
 mons, that Suffolk was believed to be in league with the French 
 King to promote an invasion of England, and had fortified the 
 castle of Wallingford with a view of assisting the invaders. The 
 Duke, on this, was committed to the Tower. 
 
 1 W. Wore. Rolls of Parl., v. 200. I find by an entry in the Control- 
 ment Roll, 30 Hen. VI., that on St. Bartholomew's day 1451, William Tail- 
 boys and nineteen other persons belonging to South Kyme, in Lincolnshire, 
 were outlawed at the suit of Elizabeth, widow of John Saunderson, for the 
 murder of her husband. 2 Rolls of Parl., v. 176.
 
 Introduction. xlv 
 
 On the 7th of February he was formally impeached by the 
 Commons. A copy of the articles of impeachment will be found 
 in the Paston Letters (No. 76). Nothing was said 
 
 in them of the fortification of Wallingford Castle, Suffolk 
 
 . , .,. , impeached, 
 
 but a number of specific charges were made, many 
 
 of them authenticated by the exact day and place when the 
 alleged treasonable acts were committed, tending to show that 
 in his communications with the French he had been invariably 
 opposed to the interests of his own country. It was alleged 
 that he had been bribed to deliver Anjou and Maine, and that 
 as long ago as the year 1440 he was influenced by corrupt 
 motives to promote the liberation of the Duke of Orleans ; that 
 he had disclosed the secrets of the English council chamber to 
 the French King's ambassadors ; that he had even given infor- 
 mation by which France had profited in the war, and that he 
 had rendered peace negotiations nugatory by letting the French 
 know beforehand the instructions given to the English envoys. 
 Further, in the midst of invasion and national disgrace, he had 
 hoped to gratify his own ambition. The King, who was still 
 childless, was to be deposed ; and the Duke had actually hoped 
 to make his own son king in his place. It seems that he had 
 obtained some time before a grant of the wardship of Margaret 
 Beaufort, daughter of the late Duke of Somerset, who was the 
 nearest heir to the crown in the Lancastrian line, and since his 
 arrest he had caused her to be married to his own son, Lord 
 John De la Pole. 1 Such was the foundation on which the worst 
 charge rested. 
 
 A month passed before he was heard in his own defence. The 
 Commons impeached, but it was for the Lords to try him. 
 Meanwhile, another bill of indictment had been prepared by the 
 malice of his enemies, in which all the failures of his policy 
 were visited upon him as crimes, and attributed to the worst and 
 most selfish motives. For his own private gain, he had caused 
 the crown to be prodigal of grants to other persons, till it was so 
 impoverished that the wages of the household were unpaid, and 
 the royal manors left to fall into decay. He had granted the 
 earldom of Kendal, with large possessions both in England and 
 in Guienne to a Gascon, who ultimately sided with the French, 
 but had happened to marry his niece. He had weakened the 
 king's power in Guienne, alienated the Count of Armagnac, and 
 caused a band of English to attack the king's German allies ; he 
 had disposed of offices to unworthy persons without consulting 
 the Council, granted important possessions in Normandy to the 
 French king's councillors, given to the French queen ^13,000 of 
 
 1 So it is stated in the impeachment. According to the inquisition on Suf- 
 folk's death, his son was born on the 27th September 1442, and was therefore 
 at this time only in his eighth year. Napier's Historical Notices of Swyn- 
 combe and Ewelme, 108.
 
 xlvi Introduction, 
 
 the revenues of England, appropriated and misapplied the king's 
 treasure, and the subsidies granted by Parliament for the keep- 
 ing of the sea. These and some minor charges formed the con- 
 tents of the second bill of indictment. 1 
 
 He was brought from the Tower on the Qth day of March, and 
 required to make answer before the Lords to the contents of 
 both bills. He requested of the king that he might have copies, 
 which were allowed him ; and that he might prepare his answer 
 more at ease, he was removed for a few days to a tower within 
 jr. , , the king's palace at Westminster. On the I3thhe 
 
 was sent for to make his answer before the king 
 and lords. Kneeling before the throne he replied to each of the 
 eight articles in the first bill separately. He denied their truth 
 entirely, and offered to prove them false in whatever manner 
 the king would direct. He declared it absurd to consider Mar- 
 garet Beaufort as heir-presumptive to the Crown, and used other 
 arguments to show the improbability of his designs on the suc- 
 cession. In all else he shewed that the other lords of the 
 Council were quite as much committed as he ; and as to the de- 
 livery of Anjou and Maine, he laid the responsibility entirely 
 upon the murdered Bishop of Chichester. 2 
 
 Next day, the Chief Justice, by the King's command, asked 
 the Lords what advice they would give the King in the matter. 
 It was a Saturday, and the Lords deferred their answer till the 
 following Monday ; but on the Monday nothing was done. On 
 the Tuesday the King sent for all the Lords then in London to 
 attend him in his own palace, where they met in an inner 
 chamber. When they were assembled, Suffolk was sent for, and 
 kneeling down, was addressed briefly by the Lord Chancellor. 
 He was reminded that he had made answer to the first bill cf 
 the Commons without claiming the right of being tried by his 
 Peers ; and he was asked if he had anything further to say upon 
 the subject. He replied that the accusations were too horrible 
 to be further spoken of, and he hoped he had sufficiently 
 answered all that touched the King's person, and the state of his 
 kingdom. Nevertheless, he submitted himself entirely to the 
 King, to do with him whatever he thought good. 3 
 
 On this an answer was returned to him in the King's name 
 by the Lord Chancellor. A miserably weak and evasive answer 
 it was, shewing clearly that the King desired to protect his 
 favourite, but had not the manliness to avow he thought him 
 worthy of protection. The Lord Chancellor was commissioned 
 to say, that as to the very serious charges contained in the first 
 bill, the King regarded Suffolk as not having been proved either 
 guilty or innocent ; but touching those contained in the second 
 bill, which amounted only to misprisions, as Suffolk did not put 
 himself upon his peerage, but submitted entirely to the King, 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl., v. 179-182. * Ib. 182. * Ib.
 
 Introduction. xlvii 
 
 the latter had determined, without consulting the Lords, and not 
 in the way of judgment (for he was not sitting in jj e ; s or a e red 
 tribunal), but merely in virtue of the Duke's own to leave 
 submission, to bid him absent himself from Eng- England, 
 land for five years, from the first day of May ensuing. 1 
 
 It is clear upon the face of the matter, that although the 
 King was made to take the sole responsibility of this decision, 
 it was really a thing arranged, and not arranged without diff - 
 culty, between the friends of Suffolk and some of the leading 
 members of the House of Lords. Immediately after it was pro- 
 nounced, Viscount Beaumont, who was one of Suffolk's principal 
 allies, made a protest on behalf of the Lords, that what the 
 King had just done, he had done by his own authority, without 
 their advice and counsel. He accordingly besought the King 
 that their protest might be recorded in the Rolls of Parliament, 
 for their protection, so that the case might not henceforth be 
 made a precedent in derogation of the privileges of the peerage.* 
 Thus it was clearly hoped on all sides, a great crisis had been 
 averted. Suffolk was got rid of, but not condemned. A victim 
 was given over to popular resentment, but the rights of the Peers 
 for the future were to be maintained. And though the Crown 
 lowered itself by an avowed dereliction of duty, it was not 
 severely censured for preferring expediency to justice. 
 
 On the following night the Duke left Westminster for Suffolk. 
 The people of London were intensely excited, and about two 
 thousand persons sallied out to St. Giles' hoping to intercept 
 his departure, but they succeeded only in capturing his horse 
 and some of his servants, whom they maltreated, as might have 
 been expected. Even after this the excitement was scarcely 
 diminished. Seditious manifestoes were thrown about in public 
 and secretly posted on church doors. 3 The Duke had more 
 than a month to prepare for leaving England, and seems 
 to have spent the time in the county of Suffolk. On Thurs- 
 day the 3Oth of April he embarked at Ipswich for Flanders ; 
 but before going he assembled the gentlemen of 
 the country, and, taking the sacrament, swore he for Flanders- 
 was innocent of the sale of Normandy and of the 
 other treasons imputed to him. 4 He also wrote an interesting 
 letter of general admonitions for the use of his young son, at 
 that time not eight years old, whom he was not to see again for 
 at least five years, and too probably not at all. This letter, 
 which is known to us only by a copy preserved in the Paston 
 correspondence (No. 91), can hardly fail to awaken sympathy 
 with the writer. As an evidence of unaffected piety to God and 
 sincere loyalty to his king, it will probably outweigh with most 
 readers all the aspersions cast by Parliament on the purity of 
 his intentions. 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 183. 2 Jb. * Rymer, xi. 268. 
 
 * W. Wore. 468, 469.
 
 xlviii Introduction. 
 
 Two ships and a little pinnace conveyed him from the Suffolk 
 coast southwards till he stood off Dover, when he despatched 
 the small vessel with letters to certain persons in Calais to ascer- 
 tain how he should be received if he landed there. The pinnace 
 was intercepted by some ships which seem to have been lying in 
 wait for his passage ; and when it was ascertained where the 
 Duke actually was, they immediately bore down upon him. 
 Foremost among the pursuers was a ship called the Nicholas of 
 the Tower, the master of which, on nearing Suffolk's vessel, sent 
 out a boat to ask who they were. Suffolk made answer in per- 
 son, and said that he was going by the King's command to 
 Calais ; on which they told him he must speak with their master. 
 They accordingly conveyed him and two or three others in their 
 boat to the Nicholas. When he came on board the master 
 saluted him with the words, "Welcome, traitor!" and sent to 
 know if the shipmen meant to take part with the Duke, which 
 they at once disowned all intention of doing. The Duke was 
 then informed that he must die, but was allowed the whole of 
 the next day and night to confess himself and prepare for the 
 event. 1 On Monday the 2d of May the rovers consummated 
 their design. In sight of all his men Suffolk was drawn out of 
 the Nicholas into a boat in which an axe and block 
 
 Wefe P re P ared - One of tne crew > an Irish churl, 
 then bade him lay down his head, telling him in 
 cruel mockery that he should be fairly dealt with and die upon a 
 sword. A rusty sword was brought out accordingly, and with 
 nearly half-a-dozen strokes the fellow clumsily cut off his head. 
 He was then stripped of his russet gown and velvet doublet. 
 His body was brought to land and thrown upon the sands at 
 Dover ; and his men were at the same time allowed to dis- 
 embark. 2 
 
 The source from which we leam most of these particulars is a 
 letter of William Lomner to John Paston written when the news 
 was fresh. The writer seems to have been quite overpowered 
 by the tragic character of the event, and declares he had so 
 blurred the writing with tears that he fears it would not be easy 
 to decipher. Indications of genuine human feeling like this are 
 so rare in letters of an early date that we are in danger of attri- 
 buting to the men of those days a coldness and brutality which 
 was by no means so universal as we are apt to suppose. The 
 truth is that when men related facts they regarded their own 
 feelings as an impertinence having nothing whatever to do with 
 the matter in hand. 3 The art of letter writing, besides, had not 
 
 1 English Chronicle, ed. Davies, p. 69. 
 
 3 Paston Letters, Nos. 93, 94. 
 
 * Even the passage above referred to would probably be an illustration of 
 this if the original letter were recovered. As we have reprinted it from 
 Fenn, it stands thus : " Right worshipful Sir, I recommend me to you, and 
 am right sorry of that I shall say, and have so wesshe this little bill with 
 torrowful tears that uneathtf yc ihall read it." The words in italics would
 
 Introduction. xlix 
 
 yet acquired the freedom of later days. It was used, in the 
 main, for business purposes only. We shall meet, it is true, in 
 this very correspondence, with one or two early specimens of 
 jesting epistles ; but, on the whole, I suspect paper was too 
 valuable a commodity and writing too great a labour to be 
 wasted on things irrelevant. 
 
 But whatever feeling may have been excited by the news of 
 Suil'clk's murder in men like William Lomner, who possibly may 
 have known the Duke personally, we may well believe that the 
 nation at large was neither afflicted nor very greatly shocked at 
 the event. Even the prior of Croyland, the head of a great 
 religious community in Lincolnshire, speaks of it as the just 
 punishment of a traitor, and has not a word to say in repro- 
 bation. 1 Mocking dirges were composed and spread abroad in 
 which his partisans were represented as chanting his funeral ser- 
 vice, and a blessing was invoked on the heads of his murderers. 
 These were but the last of a host of satires in which the public 
 indignation had for months past found a vent. 2 Suffolk had 
 been represented on his imprisonment as a fox driven into his 
 hole, who must on no account be let out again. He had been 
 rhymed at as the Ape with his Clog who had tied Talbot our 
 good dog, in allusion to the fact of Talbot, Earl of Shrews- 
 bury, having been given up as a hostage to the French after the 
 surrender of Rouen .3 He had been reviled as an upstart who 
 had usurped the place of better men, and who systematically 
 thwarted and neutralised all that better men could do. If 
 any one wept for the fall of such a man, it was not on public 
 grounds. 
 
 As a specimen of these political satires we cannot resist the 
 temptation to quote a short poem which must have been com- 
 posed towards the close of the year 1449, after the surrender of 
 Rouen and before Suffolk's fall. It is far less personal than the 
 others, being not so much an invective against Suffolk as a wail 
 over the loss of England's great men, and the decay of her 
 fortunes. The leading statesmen and warriors of that and the 
 former age are here spoken of by their badges which the reader 
 will find interpreted in the margin : 
 
 " The Root a is dead, the Swan 6 is gone, Bedford"' 
 
 The fiery Cresset " hath lost his light. & Humphrey, 
 
 Therefore England may make great moan DukeofGlo'ster. 
 
 Were not the help of God Almight'. ' 5a^^" 
 
 The Castle d is won where care begun, * Rouen Castle. 
 
 The Porte-cullis * is laid adown ; ' The Duke of 
 
 Somerset. 
 
 probably be found to be an interlineation in the original, for though they 
 stand at the beginning of the letter, they were clearly written after it was 
 penned, and the only reason why they were inserted was to excuse the 
 illegibility of the writing. 
 
 1 Contin. of Croyland Chronicle, p. 525. 
 
 3 Wright's Political Poems (in Rolls series,) ii. 232. 8 II. 222, 224. 
 
 d
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Yclosed we have our Velvet Hat/ /Th e Cardinal 
 
 That covered us from many stormes brown. , 
 
 . The Duke of 
 
 Ine White Lion' is laid to sleep, Norfolk who had 
 
 Thorough the envy of th' Ape * Clog ; gone on pilgrim- 
 
 * age to Rome in 
 
 And he is bounden that our door should keep ; 1447. (Dugdale) 
 
 That is Talbot, our good dog. The Duke of 
 
 The Fisher < has lost his angle hook ; Suffolk. 
 
 .-, , . , . ... , <Lord Faucon- 
 
 Get them again when it will be. berg, who was 
 
 Our Mille-Sail* will not about, taken prisoner 
 
 ... , by the French at 
 
 It hath so long gone empty. thc capture of 
 
 The Bear' is bound that was so wild, Pont-de-l'Arche. 
 
 For he hath lost his Ragged Staff! k , 
 
 , Willoughby. 
 
 The Carte-name m is spoke-less j The ^^ of 
 
 For the counsel that he gaf. Warwick. 
 
 The Lily" is both fair and green ; "The Duke of 
 
 The Conduit" runneth not, I wean. 
 
 _,. ~ .,/-, !/ i , * Thomas Daniel. 
 
 The Cornish Chough p oft with his tram H C ^^ t h e two 
 
 Hath made our Eagle 9 blind. next are courtien 
 
 The White Hart T is put out of mind ' John Morris. 
 
 Because he will not to them consent ; PDanielTrevilian 
 
 Therefore, the Commons saith, is both true and * The King - 
 
 \,\ n A r Earl of Arundel. 
 
 Both in Sussex and in Kent. ' ^ Bourchier - 
 
 The Water Bouge ' and the Wine Botell ' j"^.f St 
 
 With the Fetterlock's ' chain bene fast. Th e D U ^ C ^ 
 The Wheat Ear" will them sustain Exeter. 
 
 As Ions? as he may endure and last. "The Earl of 
 
 ~, T, _ . , : .1 -iir . Devonsnire. 
 
 The Boar * is far into the \\ est. 
 
 _ , ,. ,, ..i-i i *lhe Duke of 
 
 That should us help with shield and spear. York, who had 
 
 The Falcon * fleeth and hath no rest been 'sent into 
 
 Ireland to be out 
 Till he wit where to bigg his nest. of the way. 
 
 Almost concurrently with the news of Suffolk's murder came 
 tidings, mentioned by William Lomner in the very same letter, 
 of another disaster in France, more gloomy, if possible, than 
 any that had occurred before. A force under Sir 
 T C KirieL S ' r Thomas Kiriel had been sent to the aid of the 
 Duke of Somerset in Normandy after the loss of 
 Rouen. It disembarked at Cherbourg, and proceeding towards 
 Caen, where the Duke had now taken up his position, besieged 
 and took Valognes. They were now in full communication 
 with the garrisons of Caen and Bayeux, when they were suddenly 
 attacked at the village of Fourmigni, and routed with great
 
 Introduction. H 
 
 slaughter. Between three and four thousand Englishmen were 
 left dead upon the field ; Kiriel himself was taken prisoner ; 
 even the brave Matthew Gough (well known to Frenchmen of 
 that day as Matago) found it needful to fall back with his 
 company of 1500 men for the safeguard of Bayeux, which a month 
 afterwards he was compelled after all to give up to the enemy. 1 
 
 Meanwhile the Parliament, which had been prorogued over 
 Easter, was ordered to meet again at Leicester instead of West- 
 minster. The reason given for the change of place was still, as 
 before, the unhealthiness of the air about Westminster ; and 
 doubtless it was a very true reason. It is possible, however, 
 that the political atmosphere of London was quite as oppressive 
 to the Court as the physical atmosphere could be to the Parlia- 
 ment. During their sitting at Leicester a much needed subsidy 
 was voted to the King, and an Act passed for the application of 
 certain revenues to the expenses of the Royal Household in 
 order to stop the exactions of purveyors. But they had hardly 
 sat a month when the session was suddenly put an end to from 
 a cause which we proceed to notice. 
 
 The murder of the Duke of Suffolk had not made things better 
 than they had been before. The ablest of the ministers, who 
 had hitherto guided the King's counsels, was now removed, but 
 his place was left for a time altogether unsupplied. The men of 
 Suffolk's party, such as Lord Say, Viscount Beaumont, and 
 Thomas Daniel, still remained about the King, and were nearly 
 as unpopular as he had been. The offices formerly held by Suf- 
 folk were divided among them and their particular friends. 3 
 Even if the Court had desired to call in men of greater weight, 
 they were not then at hand. The Duke of Somerset was in 
 France, and the Duke of York in Ireland ; so that some time 
 must have elapsed before either of them could have taken part in 
 public affairs at home. Meanwhile it was said that the resent- 
 ment of the Court for Suffolk's murder would be visited upon the 
 county of Kent ; and the county of Kent was of opinion that it 
 suffered abuses enough already. The exactions of the King's 
 officers, both in the way of taxation and purveyance, were felt to 
 be extortionate and capricious. The collectors of the revenue 
 were appointed by the knights of the shire, and these, instead of 
 being freely chosen by the people, were but the nominees of a 
 few great men who compelled their tenants to vote according to 
 their pleasure. There were, besides, grave cases of injustice in 
 which people were accused of treason, and kept in prison with- 
 out trial, on the information of persons about the Court who had 
 influence to obtain grants of their lands from the Crown. 
 
 1 Berry's narrative in Stevenson's Expulsion of the English from Nor- 
 mandy, 336. Wars of the Engl., ii. [360.] Paston Letters, No. 93. 
 
 2 See No. 96. William Worcester says Lord Beauchamp was made trea- 
 surer, and Lord Cromwell the king's chamberlain. Lord Beauchamp's ap- 
 pointment is on the Patent Rolls. See Calendarium Rot. Patent., p. 294.
 
 Hi Introduction. 
 
 Hence arose Jack Cade's rebellion, a movement which we 
 
 must not permit ourselves to look upon as a vulgar outbreak of 
 
 the rabble. Whole districts of Kent, Surrey, and 
 
 Sussex, rose in arms, clamouring for redress of 
 .Rebellion. . . . . . . . . 
 
 grievances ; and it is certain that the insurgents met 
 
 with a large amount of sympathy, even from those who did not 
 actually take part with them. 1 As their leader, they selected a 
 man who called himself Mortimer, and who, besides some expe- 
 rience in war, was evidently possessed of no small talent for 
 generalship. It afterwards turned out that his real name was 
 Cade, that he was a native of Ireland, and that he had been 
 living a year before in the household of Sir Thomas Dacre in 
 Sussex, when he was obliged to abjure the kingdom for killing a 
 woman who was with child. He then betook himself to France 
 and served in the French war against England. What induced 
 him to return does not appear, unless we may suppose, which is 
 not unlikely, that some misdemeanour when in the service of 
 France made the French soil fully as dangerous to him as the 
 English. In England he seems to have assumed the name of 
 Aylmer, and passed himself off as a physician. He married a 
 squire's daughter, and dressed in scarlet ; and when the rebellion 
 broke out in Kent he called himself John Mortimer, a cousin of 
 the Duke of York. 
 
 The first disturbances took place at Whitsuntide in the latter 
 end of May. On the first of June a considerable army from the 
 counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, encamped upon Black- 
 heath. The King, who, on receiving news of the rising, had 
 dissolved the parliament then sitting at Leicester, arrived in 
 London on Saturday the 6th, and took up his quarters at the 
 priory of St. John's, near Smithfield. He had with him 20,000 
 men under arms, but for some reason or other did not set out 
 against the rebels till the following Thursday, the nth. They, 
 meanwhile, had withdrawn in the night time, 2 and the King and 
 his host occupied their position on Blackheath. The royal 
 forces, however, proceeded no further. Only a detachment, 
 under Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother William, was sent 
 to pursue the insurgents. An encounter took place at Sevenoaks 
 on the 1 8th, 3 in which both the Staffords were killed. Their 
 
 1 Mr. Durrani Cooper, in an interesting paper read before a meeting: of the 
 Kent Archaeological Society, has examined the long list of names given on 
 the patent roll of 28 Henry VI., and proves from them thai the insurrection 
 was by no means of a very plebeian or disorderly character. "In several 
 hundreds," he says, " the constables duly, and as if legally, summoned the 
 men ; and many parishes, particularly Marden, Penshurst, Hawkhurst, 
 NorthPeet, Boughton-Malherbe, Smarden, and Pluckley, furnished as many 
 men as could be found in our day fit for arms." 
 
 2 According to No. 92 of our collection this retreat would appear to have 
 been on the 22d June, but that date is certainly an error. 
 
 3 The i8th June is given as the date of Sir Humphrey Stafford's death in 
 Inquis. post mortem 28 Henry VI. No. 7.
 
 Introduction. liii 
 
 defeat spread dismay and disaffection in the royal camp. The 
 noblemen who had accompanied the King to Blackheath could 
 no longer keep their men together, the latter protesting that un- 
 less justice were done on certain traitors who had misled the 
 King, they would go over to the captain of Kent. To satisfy 
 them, Lord Say was arrested and sent to the Tower ; but even 
 with this concession the King did not dare presume upon their 
 loyalty. He withdrew to Greenwich, and the whole of his army 
 dispersed. The King himself returned to London by water, and 
 made preparations during the next two or three days to remove 
 to Kenilworth. The mayor and commons of the city went to 
 him to beseech him to remain, offering to live and die with him, 
 and pay half a year's cost of his household. But all was to no 
 purpose. The King had not even the manliness of Richard II. 
 at Smithfield, and he took his departure to Kenilworth. 1 
 
 The city, thus deserted by its sovereign, knew not for a time 
 what to do. A party within the Common Council itself ventured 
 to open negotiations with the insurgents, and Alderman Cooke 
 passed to and fro under the safe conduct of the Captain. 2 To 
 many it may have seemed doubtful loyalty to support the govern- 
 ment of Lord Say and his friends against an oppressed popula- 
 tion. On the ist day of July the insurgents entered Southwark. 
 On the 2d a Common Council was called by the Lord Mayor to 
 provide means for resisting their entry into the city ; but the ma- 
 jority voted for their free admission, and Alderman Robert 
 Home, who was the leading speaker against them, was com- 
 mitted to prison for his boldness. That same afternoon the so- 
 called Mortimer and his followers passed over xhe rebels 
 London Bridge into the city. The Captain, after enter 
 passing the drawbridge, hewed the ropes asunder London, 
 with his sword. His first proceedings were marked by order 
 and discipline. He issued proclamations in the King's name 
 against robbery and forced requisitions, but he rode through the 
 different streets as if to place the capital under military govern- 
 ment, and when he came to London Stone he struck it with his 
 sword, saying "Now is Mortimer lord of this city." Finally, 
 he gave instructions to the Lord Mayor about the order to be 
 kept within his jurisdiction, and returned for the night to his 
 quarters in Southwark. On the following morning, Friday the 
 3d, he again entered the city, when he caused Lord Say to be 
 sent for from the Tower. No resistance seems to have been 
 made to this demand by Lord Scales, who had the keeping of 
 the fortress, and Lord Say was formally arraigned at the Guild- 
 hall before the Lord Mayor and other justices who were then 
 holding sessions. But when the unfortunate nobleman claimed 
 
 i\V. Wore. Chronicle in Lambeth MS. 306. Chronicle in MS. Cott. 
 Vitell. A. xvi. 
 
 8 Holinshed, UL 632.
 
 liv Introdiiction. 
 
 the constitutional privilege of being tried by his peers, the pre- 
 tence of law was finally laid aside. A company of the insurgents 
 took him from the officers and hurried him off to the Standard 
 in Cheap, where, before he was half shriven, his head was cut off 
 and stuck upon a long pole. A son-in-law of his named Crow- 
 mer, who was then very unpopular as sheriff of Kent, met with a 
 similar fate. He was beheaded in Cade's presence at Mile End. 
 Barbarity now followed violence. The lifeless heads of Say and 
 Crowmer were carried through the streets, and made to kiss each 
 other. At the same time one Bailey was beheaded at White- 
 chapel on a charge of necromancy, the real cause of his death 
 being, as it was reported, that he was an old acquaintance of 
 Cade's who might have revealed something of his past history. 
 
 It may have been the expectation of inevitable exposure that 
 induced Cade now to relax discipline, and set an example of 
 spoliation himself. He entered and pillaged the house of Philip 
 Malpas, an alderman known as a friend of the Court, and there- 
 fore unpopular in the city. Next day he dined at a house in the 
 parish of St. Margaret Pattens, and then robbed his host. At 
 each of these acts of robbery the rabble were sharers of the spoil. 
 But, of course, such proceedings completely alienated all who 
 had anything to lose, and the Mayor and Aldermen began to 
 devise measures for expelling Cade and his followers from the 
 city. For this end they negotiated with Lord Scales and Mat- 
 thew Gough, who had then the keeping of the Tower. 
 
 For three days successively Cade had entered the city with 
 his men, and retired in the evening to Southwark. But on Sun- 
 day, the 5th of July, he for some reason remained in Southwark 
 all day. In the evening the mayor and citizens, with a force 
 under Matthew Gough, came and occupied London Bridge to 
 prevent the Kentish men again entering the city. The captain 
 called his men to arms, and attacked the citizens 
 Battle on Lon- with such impetuosity, that he drove them back 
 don Bridge. from the Southwark end of the bridge to the draw- 
 bridge in the centre. This the insurgents set on 
 fire, after inflicting great losses on the citizens, many of whom 
 were slain or drowned in defending it. Matthew Gough himself 
 was among those who perished. Still, the fight was obstinately 
 contested, the advantage being for the moment now with one 
 party and now with the other. It continued all through the 
 night till nine on the following morning ; when at last the Kent- 
 ish men began to give way, an J a truce was made for a certain 
 number of hours. 
 
 A favourable opportunity now presented itself for mediation. 
 Although the King had retired to Kenilworth he had left behind 
 him in London some leading members of his council, among 
 whom were Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of York, 1 then Lord 
 
 1 Inaccurately called Archbishop of Canterbury by Fabyan and others. 
 He was not translated to Canterbury till 1452.
 
 Introduction. Iv 
 
 Chancellor, and Waynflete, bishop of Winchester. The former 
 had taken refuge in the Tower, under the protection of Lord 
 Scales ; and he called to him the latter, who lay concealed at 
 Holy well. 1 A conference was arranged between them and the 
 insurgents, and bishop Waynflete 2 and some others crossed the 
 river and met with Cade in St. Margaret's Church in Southwark. 
 In the end matters were satisfactorily arranged, and the bishop 
 produced two generil pardons sent by the Chancellor, the first 
 for the captain himself, and the second for his followers. The 
 offer was embraced with eagerness. The men were by this time 
 disgusted with their leader, and alarmed at the result of their 
 own acts. By thousands they accepted the amnesty and began 
 to return homewards. But Cade, who knew that his pardon 
 would avail him little when the history of his past life came to be 
 investigated, wisely made friends to himself after the fashion of 
 the Unjust Steward. He broke open the gaols of the King's 
 Bench and Marshalsea, and formed a new company out of the 
 liberated prisoners. 3 He then despatched to Rochester a barge 
 laden with the goods he had taken from Malpas and others in 
 London, and prepared to go thither himself by land. He and 
 his new following appear to have been still in Southwark on the 
 8th of July, but to have passed through Dartford to Rochester 
 on the gth, where they continued still in arms against the King 
 on the loth and nth. 4 An attempt they made upon the castle 
 of Queenborough was resisted by Sir Roger Chamberlain, to 
 whom a reward was given in the following year in acknowledg- 
 ment of his services. 5 Meanwhile a proclamation was issued 
 offering a reward of a thousand marks for Cade's apprehension, 
 and ten marks for that of any of his followers; "for," says a 
 contemporary chronicler, " it was openly known that his name 
 was not Mortimer ; his name was John Cade ; and therefore his 
 charter stood in no strength." 8 
 
 The feeble remains of the rebellion were already quarrelling 
 about the booty Cade had conveyed out of London. Their leader 
 now took horse and escaped in disguise towards the woody 
 country about Lewes. He was pursued by Alexander Iden, a 
 
 1 Hall's Chronicle. Holy Well was a mineral spring to the north of Lon- 
 don, much frequented before the Reformation, when it was stopped up as 
 being considered a place of superstitious resort. A century afterwards it was 
 discovered anew by a Mr. Sadler, from whom the locality is named to this 
 day Sadlers Wells. 
 
 * According to Hall both prelates crossed the river ; but as earlier authori- 
 ties say that the Chancellor sent pardons under the Great Seal, it is more 
 probable that he stayed behind. William Worcester makes no mention of 
 the Archbishop, but says that the Bishop of Winchester and others of the 
 King's Council spoke with the captain of Kent. 
 
 3 Hall's Chronicle. 
 
 * See Act of Attainder, 29 Hen. VI. Rolls of Par!., vi. 224. 
 
 * Devon's Issue Rolls, 471. Davies' English Chron. 67. 
 MS. Lambeth, 306.
 
 Ivi Introduction, 
 
 gentleman who had just been appointed sheriff of Kent in 
 place of the murdered Crowmer. Iden over- 
 
 ? ap l ure r?"j took him in a garden at Heathfield, and made 
 death of Cade. ,. . . , m _i_- j_ * j 
 
 him prisoner, not without a scuffle, m which Cade 
 
 was mortally wounded, so that on being conveyed to London he 
 died on the way. It only remained to use his carcase as a 
 terror to evil-doers. His head was cut off and placed upon Lon- 
 don Bridge, with the face looking towards Kent. His body was 
 drawn through the streets of London, then quartered, and the 
 quarters sent to four different places very widely apart, one of 
 them to Blackheath, one to Norwich, one to Salisbury, and one 
 to Gloucester. 1 
 
 If the dispersion of traitors' limbs for exhibition in many places 
 could have effectually repressed disloyalty, the whole realm ought 
 now to have been at rest. The quarters of another Kentish 
 rebel, who, under the name of Bluebeard, had raised disturb- 
 ances in the preceding February, were at that moment under- 
 going public exhibition in London, Norwich, and the Cinque 
 Ports. Those of two others were about this time despatched by 
 the sheriffs of London to Chichester, Rochester, Portsmouth, 
 Colchester, Stamford, Coventry, Newbury, and Winchester. 
 The heads of all these wretches were set upon London Bridge, 
 which in the course of this miserable year bore no less than 
 twenty-three such horrid ornaments. 1 
 
 But with all this, sedition was not put down, even in the 
 county of Kent ; for I find by the evidence of authentic records 
 that a new rising took place in August at Fevers- 
 ham, under one William Parminter, who, undeter- 
 red by the fate of Cade, gathered about him 400 
 men, and called himself the second Captain of Kent. This affair 
 is quite unnoticed by historians, and all I know of it is derived 
 from a pardon to one of those engaged in it. 3 But even Par- 
 minter was not the last "Captain of Kent" that made his appear- 
 ance this year; for the very same title was immediately afterwards 
 assumed by one John Smyth, for whose capture a reward of ,40 
 was ordered to be paid to the Duke of Somerset on the 3d of 
 October. 4 And the chroniclers, though they do not mention 
 these disturbances, tell us that such things were general over all 
 the kingdom. In Wiltshire, at the time that Cade was at Black- 
 heath, William Ayscough, bishop of Salisbury, had one day said 
 mass at Edington, when he was dragged from the altar by a band 
 of his own tenants and murdered in his alb and stole at the top 
 
 1 W. Wore. Fabyan. Davies' English Chronicle (Camden Soc.), 67. 
 Ellis' Letters, ad Ser. i. 115. 
 
 f Ellis, ib. MS. Vitell. A. xvi. 
 
 " See document in Appendix to this Introduction. See also Devon's Issue 
 Rolls, p. 472. It would seem as if the entry there dated sth August ought 
 to have been 5th September, as Parminter does not seem to have been taken 
 even on the last day of August. 
 
 1 Nicolas' Proceedings of the Privy Council, vi. 101.
 
 Introduction. Ivii 
 
 of a neighbouring hill. He was the second bishop who had been 
 murdered that year by the populace. Another insurrection in 
 the same county in August is mentioned in a letter of James 
 Gresham's, the number of the insurgents being reported at nine 
 or ten thousand men. 1 These instances may suffice as evidence 
 of the widespread troubles of the time. 
 
 Of the degree of private suffering and misery inflicted in par- 
 ticular cases by these commotions we have a lively . . , _ 
 picture in Letter 99. At the time when Cade and f 'if. 
 his followers were encamped upon Blackheath, 
 Sir John Fastolf, a noted warrior of the time, of whom we shall 
 have much to say hereafter, was residing at his house in South- 
 wark. He was a man who had not succeeded in standing well 
 with his contemporaries, and the fact may have contributed not 
 a little to the sensitiveness of a naturally irascible character. In 
 one engagement with the French 2 he was actually accused of 
 cowardice, a charge which he seems afterwards satisfactorily to 
 have disproved. For some years, however, he had given up 
 soldiering and returned to his native country, where he served the 
 King in a different manner as a member of his Privy Council. 
 But in this capacity too he was unpopular. His advice should 
 have been valuable at least in reference to the affairs of France ; 
 but it does not seem to have been taken. The warnings and 
 counsels which he gave with reference to the maintenance of the 
 English conquests in France he caused his secretary, William 
 Worcester, to put in writing for his justification; but though his 
 admonitions were neglected by those to whom they were ad- 
 dressed, popular rumour held him partly accountable for the loss 
 of Normandy. Of this opinion some evidence was given in the 
 course of Cade's insurrection. 
 
 As a member of the King's Council Fastolf thought it right to 
 send a messenger to ascertain what were the demands of the 
 insurgents. He therefore commanded one John 
 Payn, who was in his service, to take a man with John Payn 
 him and two of the best horses in his stable, and rebels * 
 ride to Blackheath. When he arrived there Cade 
 ordered him to be taken prisoner. To save his master's horses 
 from being stolen, Payn gave them to the attendant, who gal- 
 loped away with them as fast as he could, while he himself was 
 brought before the captain. Cade then asked him what he had 
 come for, and why he had caused his fellow to run away with 
 the horses. He answered that he had come to join some 
 brothers of his wife, and other companions who were among the 
 insurgents. On this some one called out to the captain that he 
 was a man of Sir John Fastolf's, and that the two horses were 
 Sir John's. The captain raised a cry of "Treason!" and sent 
 him through the camp with a herald of the Duke of Exeter before 
 
 1 See No. 103. * The Battle of Patay.
 
 Iviii Introduction. 
 
 him, in the Duke's coat of arms. At four quarters of the field 
 the herald proclaimed with an Oyez that Payn had been sent as 
 a spy upon them by the greatest traitor in England or France, 
 namely, by one Sir John Fastolf, who had diminished all the 
 garrisons of Normandy, Le Mans, and Maine, and thereby caused 
 the loss of all the King's inheritance beyond sea. It was added 
 that Sir John had garrisoned his place with the old soldiers of 
 Normandy, to oppose the commons when they came to South- 
 wark ; and, as the emissary of such a traitor, Payn was informed 
 that he should lose his head. 
 
 He was brought to the captain's tent, where an axe and block 
 were produced. But fortunately he had friends among the host ; 
 and Robert Poynings, Cade's swordbearer and carver, who after- 
 wards married John Paston's sister Elizabeth, declared plainly 
 that there should die a hundred or two others if Payn were put 
 to death. He was therefore allowed to live on taking an oath 
 that he would go to Southwark and arm himself, and return to 
 join the Commons. He accordingly carried to Fastolf a state- 
 ment of their demands, advising him at the same time to put 
 away his old soldiers and withdraw himself into the Tower. The 
 old warrior felt that the advice was prudent ; he left but two of 
 his servants in the place, and but for Payn the insurgents would 
 have burned it to the ground. The faithful dependant, however, 
 had to pay the full penalty of his master's unpopularity. He 
 seems to have entertained the rioters for some time at his own 
 cost. Afterwards the captain took from him some valuable 
 clothes and armour, and sent men to ransack his chamber of 
 bonds, money, and other stores. The insurgents also robbed his 
 house in Kent, and threatened to hang his wife and children. 
 Finally, on the night of the battle on London Bridge, Cade 
 thrust him into the thickest of the combat, where he continued 
 six hours unable to extricate himself, and was dangerously 
 wounded. 
 
 To have passed through all this was surely a severe enough 
 trial ; yet after that commotion he had further trouble to endure. 
 He was impeached by the Bishop of Rochester, and thrown into 
 the Marshalsea by command of the Queen. He was also threat- 
 ened to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, in order that he might 
 accuse his master Fastolf of treason; but in the end his friends 
 succeeded in procuring for him a charter of pardon. To earn 
 this, however, as we find from the document itself, he had to ap- 
 pear before the King in person, during a progress which he made 
 in Kent the year after the rebellion, and, amid a crowd of other 
 supplicants whose bodies were stripped naked down to their legs, 
 humbly to beg for mercy. 1 
 
 Cade's rebellion was attributed by the Court to the machina- 
 tions of the Duke of York. The disturbances that had prevailed 
 
 1 See Appendix to Introduction.
 
 Introduction, lix 
 
 for some months previously, seem to have been partly associated 
 with his name. When Adam de Moleyns, Bishop 
 of Chichester, was murdered in the beginning of Yoric 
 the year, the malcontents talked of inviting York 
 over from Ireland to redress the wrongs of the people. The 
 exclusion of York and other Lords of royal blood from the King's 
 Councils was also made an express ground of complaint by the 
 Kentish insurgents. The repetition of his name in the mouths 
 of the disaffected was anything but grateful to the party then in 
 power. It was construed as being in itself an evidence of his 
 disloyalty. But the popular complaints as to his treatment were 
 both just and reasonable, for it was a matter that concerned the 
 public weal. The rank, wealth, and lineage of the Duke of 
 York, his connection with the blood royal, his large possessions, 
 and finally his well proved ability both as a general and an ad- 
 ministrator, all marked him out as one who ought to have been 
 invited to take a leading part in the government of the realm ; 
 but a faction about the King had taken care to keep him as much 
 as possible at a distance from the Court. Moreover, it had 
 maligned and aspersed him in his absence, so that it would have 
 been positively insecure for himself to allow the charges to 
 accumulate. A time had clearly come when it was no longer 
 his duty to obey the orders of others. His enemies were becoming 
 more and more unpopular every day, and the only hope of im- 
 proving the administration of affairs depended upon his taking 
 the initiative. 
 
 He accordingly determined to avail himself of the privilege 
 due to his rank, and lay his requests at the foot of 
 the throne. A little before Michaelmas he came Comes over 
 over from Ireland, collected 4000 of his retainers j anc j 
 upon the Welsh Marches, and with them pro- 
 ceeded to London. His coming, although unsolicited by the 
 King and without leave asked, was nevertheless not altogether 
 unexpected. Attempts were made to stop his landing at Beau- 
 maris, and bodies of men lay in wait for him in various places 
 to interrupt his progress. For this, however, he could not have 
 been unprepared. He knew well the hatred entertained towards 
 him at the Court, for he had experienced pretty much the same 
 thing years before in going to Ireland, as now in coming from it. 
 Although he was sent to that country in the King's service, and 
 as the King's lieutenant, there were persons commissioned to 
 apprehend him at several points in his journey thither ; and now 
 on his return similar efforts were made to prevent his advance to 
 London. As regards himself they were altogether fruitless ; but 
 it is not improbable that they succeeded in deterring many of his 
 followers from joining him. William Tresham, the Speaker of 
 the last Parliament, having received a summons from the Duke 
 to meet him, was waylaid and murdered in Northamptonshire 
 by a body of the retainers of Lord Grey of Ruthin. For two
 
 Ix Introduction. 
 
 months the murderers went at large. The sheriff of the county 
 durst not arrest them, and it was only on the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment that a special act was passed for their punishment. 1 
 
 York, however, pursued his way, in spite of all opposition, to 
 the royal presence, and great was the dismay of those then about 
 the King. According to an act passed against him nine years 
 later, his approach was not unaccompanied by violence. He and 
 his followers, it is said, came in warlike array to Westminster 
 Palace, and "beat down the spears and walls" in the King's 
 chamber. If so, we should infer that his access to the King was 
 opposed even at the last moment. But the opposition was 
 ineffectual, and the reception he met with from Henry himself 
 did not indicate that the King at all resented his conduct. 
 
 It must have been on his first interview with Henry that he 
 presented a petition and received a reply from him, which are 
 printed in Holinshed as follows: 
 
 Richard Duke of York, his letter to King Henry* 
 
 Please it your Highness to conceive that since my departing out of this 
 your realm by your commandment, and being in your service in your land of 
 Ireland, I have been informed that divers language hath been said of me to 
 your most excellent estate which should sound to my dishonour and reproach 
 and charge of my person ; howbeit that I have been, and ever will be, your 
 true liegeman and servant, and if there be any man that will or dare say the 
 contrary or charge me otherwise, I beseech your rightwiseness to call him 
 before your high presence, and I will declare me for my discharge as a true 
 knight ought to do. And if I do not, as I doubt not but I shall, I beseech 
 you to punish me as the poorest man of your land. And if he be found un- 
 true in his suggestion and information, I beseech you of your highness that 
 he be punished after his desert in example of all other. 
 
 Please it your Excellency to know that as well before my departing out of 
 this your realm for to go into your land of Ireland in your full noble service, 
 as since, certain persons have lain in wait for to hearken upon me, as Sir 
 John Talbot, knight, at the castle of Holt, Sir Thomas Stanley, knight, in 
 Cheshire, Pulford at Chester, Klton at Worcester, Brooke at Gloucester, and 
 Richard, groom of your chamber, at Beaumaris ; which had in charge, as I am 
 informed, to take me, and put me into your castle of Conway, and to strike 
 off the head of Sir William Oldhall, knight, and to have put in prison Sir 
 William Devereux, knight ; and Sir Edmund Malso (Mulso), knight, with- 
 outen enlarging until the time that your Highness had appointed their de- 
 liverance. 
 
 Item, at such time as I was purposed for to have arrived at your haven of 
 Beaumaris, for to have come to your noble presence to declare me your true 
 man and subject, as my duty is, my landing was stopped and forebarred by 
 Henry Norris, Thomas Norris, William Buckley, William Grust, and Bar- 
 tholomew Bould, your officers in North Wales, that I should not land there, 
 nor have victuals nor refreshing for me and my fellowship, as I have written 
 to your Excellency here before; so far forth, that Henry Norris, deputy to 
 the chamberlain of North Wales, said unto me that he had in commandment 
 that I should in no wise have landing, refreshing, nor lodging, for men nor 
 horse, nor other thing that might turn to my worship or ease ; putting the 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl., v. 211-12. 
 
 a The whole ot this correspondence is attributed by Holinshed and Stow 
 to the year 1452 ; but it appears to me clearly to belong to the year 1450, 
 when the Duke had just returned from Ireland. See Chronicle of London, 
 136; though internal evidence alone will, I think, satisfy the careful student.
 
 Introduction. Ixi 
 
 blame upon Sir William Say, usher of your chamber, saying and affirming 
 that I am against your intent and [held] as a traitor, as I am informed. And, 
 moreover, certain letters were made and delivered unto Chester, Shrewsbury, 
 and to other places, for to let mine entry into the same. 
 
 Item, above all wrongs and injuries above said, done unto me of malice 
 without any cause, I being in your land of Ireland in your honorable service, 
 certain commissions were made and directed unto divers persons, which for 
 the execution of the same sat in certain places, and the juries impanelled and 
 charged. Unto the which juries certain persons labored instantly to have 
 me indicted of treason, to the intent for to have undone me and mine issue, 
 and corrupted my blood, as it is openly published. Beseeching your Majesty 
 royal of your righteousness to do examine these matters, and thereupon to do 
 such justice in this behalf as the cause requireth ; for mine intent is fully to 
 pursue to your Highness for the conclusion of these matters. 
 
 The Answer of King Henry to the Duke of York. 
 
 Cousin, we have seen the bill that ye took us late, and also understand the 
 good humble obedience that ye in yourself show unto us, as well in word as 
 in deed ; wherefore our intent is the more hastily to ease you of such things 
 as were in your said bill. Howbeit that at our more leisure we might answer 
 you to your said bill, yet we let you wit that, for the causes aforesaid, we 
 will declare you now our intent in these matters. Sith it is that a long time 
 among the people hath been upon you many strange language, and in espe- 
 cial anon after your [qu. their?] 1 disordinate and unlawful slaying of the 
 bishop of Chichester, 2 divers and many of the untrue shipmen and other said, 
 in their manner, words against our estate, making menace to our own person 
 by your sayings, that ye should be fetched with many thousands, and ye 
 should take upon you that which ye neither ought, nor, as we doubt not, ye 
 will not attempt ; so far forth that it was said to our person by divers, and 
 especially, we remember, of one Wasnes which had like words unto us. And 
 also there were divers of such false people that went on and had like language 
 in divers of our towns of our land, which by our subjects were taken and duly 
 executed. Wherefore we sent to divers of our courts and places to hearken 
 and to take heed if any such manner coming were, and if there had been, for 
 to resist it; but coming into our land our true subject as ye did, our intent 
 was not that ye, nor less of estate of our subjects, nor none of your servants 
 should not have been letted nor warned, but in goodly wise received ; how- 
 beit that peradventure your sudden coming, without certain warning, caused 
 our servants to do as they did, considering the causes abovesaid. And as to 
 the indictment that ye spoke of, we think verily and hold for certain, that 
 there was none such. And if ye may truly prove that any person was there- 
 abouts, the matter shall be demeaned as the case shall require, so that he 
 shall know it is to our great displeasure. Upon this, for the easing of your 
 heart in all such matters, we declare, repute and admit you as our true and 
 faithful subject, and as our faithful cousin. 
 
 So far, York had gained his object. The charges against him 
 were repudiated by the highest authority in the kingdom. But 
 it was impossible that the matter could rest there. His own in- 
 terests and those of the public alike compelled him to demand a 
 full inquiry into the machinations of his adversaries, and when 
 admitted to freer intercourse with Henry he was able to support 
 this request by most inconvenient arguments. Town and country 
 
 1 I have no doubt this is a misreading of the contracted form " v r " which 
 was intended for " their." To accuse York of the murder of the bishop of 
 Chichester, and apparently as a principal, not an accessory in that murder, 
 wl.en he was at the time in Ireland, would have been absurd. Bcades, the 
 tenor of the whole of this reply is to exculpate York of all charges. 
 
 2 Misprinted Chester in Holiushed.
 
 Ixii Introduction. 
 
 now listened with eagerness for news of a long looked for crisis, 
 while, as it seemed, the old regime was being quietly laid aside 
 at Westminster. " Sir, and it please," writes one 
 government newsmonger, William Wayte, the clerk of Justice 
 Yelverton, "Sir, and it please, I was in my lord 
 of York's house, and I heard much thing more than my master 
 writeth unto you of. I heard much thing in Fleet Street. But, 
 sir, my lord was with the King, and he visaged so the matter 
 that all the King's household was and is afraid right sore. And 
 my said lord hath put a bill to the King and desired much thing 
 which is much after the Commons' desire ; and all is upon justice, 
 and to put all those that be indicted under arrest without surety 
 or mainprise, and to be tried by law as law will ; insomuch that 
 on Monday Sir William Oldhall was with the King at West- 
 minster more than two hours, and had of the King good cheer." 1 
 Sir William Oldhall, a friend and companion in arms of the 
 Duke of York in France, had been summoned to the King's 
 councils more than once before. 8 But the last occasion was 
 eleven years before this, at a time when it was doubtless felt to 
 be necessary to obtain the sanction beforehand of all parties in 
 the State to the proposed negotiations for peace at Calais. From 
 that day till now we do not hear of him, and we may presume 
 that he was not invited to Court. But now the old exclusiveness 
 was defeated. Men whose patriotism and generalship, it was 
 believed, would have averted the loss of France, were at length 
 allowed free access to their sovereign ; while men who were be- 
 lieved to have culpably misdirected the King, and by their 
 favoritism and partiality to have perverted the course of justice 
 throughout the kingdom, stood in fear of a strict inquiry being 
 made into their misdeeds. For such was the sole purport of the 
 "bill" or petition presented by the Duke of York as mentioned 
 by William Wayte, the exact text of which will be seen in No. 
 114. The King's answer to this is preserved in Holinshed as 
 follows : 
 
 TJie Answer of King Henry to the Duke of York. 
 
 Cousin, as touching your bill last put up to us, we understand well that 
 ye, of good heart, counsel and advertise us to the setting up of justice and 
 to the speedy punishing of some persons indicted or noised, offering your 
 service to be ready at commandment in the same ; sith it is, that for many 
 causes moving us to have determined in our soul to stablish a sad and sub- 
 stantial Council, giving them more ample authority and power than ever we 
 did before this, in the which we have appointed you to be one. But sith it 
 is not accustomed, sure, nor expedient, to take a conclusion and conduct by 
 advice or counsel of one person by himself, for the conservation (?) it is ob- 
 served that the greatest and the best, the rich and the poor, in liberty, virtue 
 and effect of their 3 voices be equal; we have therefore determined within 
 ourself to send for our Chancellor of England and for other Lords of our 
 
 See No. 113. 
 
 * Nicolas' Proceedings of the Privy Council, iv. 212, v. 108. 
 
 * Misprinted "your" in Holinshed.
 
 Introduction. Ixiii 
 
 Council, yea and all other, together within short time, ripely to common of 
 these and other our great matters. In the which communication such con- 
 clusions, by the grace of God, shall be taken, as shall sound to his pleasure, 
 the \veal of us and our land, as well in these matters as in any other. 
 
 The time was favourable to men like John Paston, who had 
 been wronged by a powerful neighbour such as Lord Molynes, 
 and had been hitherto denied redress. There . . 
 
 seemed also a hope of destroying, once for all, jyfc. 
 the influence of Tuddenham and Heydon in the 
 county of Norfolk. It was proposed that on the Duke of York 
 visiting Norfolk, which he intended to do, the mayor and alder- 
 men of Norwich should ride to meet him, and that complaints 
 should be preferred against the party of Tuddenham and Heydon 
 in the name of the whole city. " And let that be done," adds 
 William Wayte, "in the most lamentable wise; for, Sir, but if 
 (i.e. unless) my Lord hear some foul tales of them, and some 
 hideous noise and cry, by my faith they are else like to come to 
 grace." Owing to the influence of the Duke of York, a new 
 Parliament was summoned to meet in November, and John 
 Paston was urged by some friends to get himself returned as a 
 member. But it t was still more strongly recommended that the 
 Earl of Oxford should meet the Duke, apparently with the view 
 of arranging the list of candidates ; a responsibility which the 
 Earl, for his part, seems to have declined. The Duke of Nor- 
 folk met with the Duke of York at Bury St. Edmunds, and these 
 two Dukes settled that matter between them. The Earl of Ox- 
 ford modestly contented himself with reporting their decision, 
 and advising that their wishes should be carried into effect. 1 
 
 The Parliament met on the 6th November, and Sir William 
 Oldhall was chosen Speaker. About the same time a commis- 
 sion of Oyer and Terminer which had been issued as early as the 
 first of August, 2 began its labours at Norwich, and the Earl of 
 Oxford stayed away from Parliament to attend it. Mr. Justice 
 Yelverton was sent down from Westminster to sit on that 
 tribunal along with him. There seemed hope at last of redress 
 being had for the wrongs and violence that had prevailed in the 
 county of Norfolk ; but the course of justice was not yet an easy 
 one. Great pressure had been put upon the King, even at the 
 last moment, that Yelverton should be countermanded, and Lord 
 Molynes had spoken of his own dispute with Paston in the 
 
 1 Nos. 113, 116, 119, and 120- The influence of a powerful nobleman on 
 the elections was evidently quite a matter of course. What use York made 
 of it, or even attempted to make of it cannot so easily be determined. Of 
 the two candidates proposed by him for the county of Norfolk, only one was 
 returned, the name of .Sir Miles Stapleton being substituted for that of Sir 
 William Chamberlain (see p. 161, note). It appears from two of the above 
 cited letters that Stapleton was a favourite candidate with the Pastons and 
 their friends, and that he was urged to wait on the Duke of York on his 
 coming to Norwich. 
 
 * See No. 92.
 
 Ixiv Introduction. 
 
 King's presence, in a manner that made the friends of the latter 
 wish he had been then at Westminster to see after his own 
 interests. The Lords of the Council, however, determined that 
 Yelverton should keep his day for going into Norfolk. When 
 he arrived there, he had occasion to report that there were many 
 persons ill disposed towards Tuddenham and Heydon, but that 
 it was most important they should be encouraged by a good 
 sheriff and under-sheriff being appointed, else there would be a 
 total miscarriage of justice. For the annual election of sheriffs 
 had been delayed this year, apparently owing to the state of 
 parties. Until the Duke of York arrived in London for the 
 Parliament, his friends would not allow them to be nominated ; 
 and it would seem that further causes of delay must have arisen, 
 as the arrival ' of the new sheriff in Norfolk, and his holding 
 sessions along with Yelverton, were only reported by Margaret 
 Paston to her husband in the close of December. 1 
 
 The truth is, the Duke of York had not yet succeeded in 
 establishing the government upon anything like a firm or satis- 
 factory basis. In times like our own there is little difficulty in 
 determining the responsibility of ministers ; but in the rough 
 judgment of the " Commons " of those days an error in policy 
 was nothing short of treason. Who ever took upon him to 
 guide the King's counsels knew very well the danger of the task ; 
 and York (if I understand his character aright) was anxious 
 throughout his whole career never to assume more authority than 
 he was distinctly warranted in doing. He could not but remem- 
 ber that his father had suffered death for conspiring to depose 
 Henry V., and that his own high birth and descent from Edward 
 III. caused his acts to be all the more jealously watched by those 
 who sought to estrange him from his sovereign. He therefore 
 made it by no means his aim to establish for himself a marked 
 ascendancy. He rather sought to show his moderation. I find, 
 indeed, that at this particular period he not only removed two 
 members of the Council, Lord Dudley and the Abbot of St. 
 Peter's at Gloucester, but sent them prisoners to his own castle 
 of Ludlow. 2 This, however, he could hardly have done without 
 permission from the King, as it was the express object of his 
 petition above referred to, that persons accused of misconducting 
 themselves in high places should be committed for trial ; and 
 judging from the terms of the King's answer, I should say that it 
 must have been done by the authority of the new Council, which 
 Henry therein declared it to be his intention to constitute. 
 
 This new Council was probably what we should call in these 
 _, _ f days a. coalition ministry. York's great rival, the 
 Somerset. 60 Duke of Somerset, had come over from Nor- 
 mandy a little before York himself came over from 
 Ireland. On the nth of September, while the Cardinal Kemp, 
 
 1 Nos. 122-126, 134. * Stow's Chronicle, p. ?<.
 
 Introduction. Ixv 
 
 who was then Lord Chancellor, was sitting at Rochester on a 
 commission of Oyer and Terminer to try the Kentish rebels, 1 he 
 affixed the Great Seal to a patent appointing Somerset Constable 
 of England. 2 In that capacity, as we have already seen, the Duke 
 arrested one of the new Kentish leaders that started up after Cade's 
 rebellion had been quelled. There is no doubt that he stood high 
 in the King's confidence, and that he was particularly acceptable 
 to Queen Margaret. He was, nevertheless, one of the most un- 
 popular men in England, on account of his surrender of Caen, 
 and total loss of Normandy in the preceding year ; and as the 
 Parliament was now called, among other reasons, expressly to 
 provide for the defence of the kingdom, and for speedy succours 
 being sent to preserve the king's other dominions in France, 3 it 
 was impossible that his conduct should not be inquired into. 
 The short sitting of Parliament before Christmas was greatly 
 occupied by controversy between York and Somerset. 4 On the 
 1st of December the latter was placed under arrest. His lodg- 
 ings at the Black Friars were broken into and pillaged by the 
 populace, and he himself was nearly killed, but was rescued from 
 their violence by a barge of his brother-in-law the Earl of Devon. 
 Next clay the Dukes of York and Norfolk caused proclamation 
 to be made through the city that no man should commit robbery 
 on pain of death, and a man was actually beheaded in Cheap for 
 disobeying this order. As a farther demonstration against law- 
 lessness, the King and his Lords, on Thursday the 3d December, 
 rode through the city in armour, either side ' of the way being 
 kept by a line of armed citizens throughout the route of the pro- 
 cession. It was the most brilliant display of the kind the Lon- 
 doners of that day had ever seen. 8 
 
 The Duke of Somerset did not long remain in prison. Very 
 soon after Christmas the King made him captain of Calais, and 
 gave him the entire control of the royal household. 6 The court 
 was evidently bent on the restoration of the old order of things, 
 so far as it dared to do so. The chief obstacle to this undoubtedly 
 was the Parliament, which was, 'on the whole, so favourable to the 
 Duke of York, that one member, Young of Bristol, had even ven- 
 tured to move that he should be declared heir to the crown. 7 
 Parliament, however, could be prorogued ; and, as Young found 
 shortly afterwards, its members could be committed to the Tower. 
 The speech of the Lord Chancellor on the meeting of Parliament 
 had declared that it was summoned for three important causes : 
 first to provide for the defence of the kingdom, and especially the 
 safeguard of the sea ; secondly, for the speedy relief of the King's 
 subjects in the south of France, and aid against the French; thirdly, 
 
 1 See p. 139. 2 Rymer, xi. 276. 3 Rolls of Parl., v. 210. 4 W. Wore. 
 
 6 MS. Cott. Vitell. A. xvi. Stow in his Chronicle dates this procession a 
 day later. 6 W. Wore. 
 
 7 The Chronicle of London (p. 137) says that "all the Commons" agreed 
 to this proposition, and stood out for some time against the Lords on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 e
 
 Ixvi Introduction. 
 
 for pacifying the King's subjects at home, and punishing the dis- 
 turbances which had lately been so frequent. But practically 
 nothing was done about any of these matters before Christmas. 
 An act was passed for the more speedy levying of a subsidy 
 granted in the last Parliament, and also an act of attainder 
 against the murderers of William Tresham. The Lord Chan- 
 cellor then, in the King's name and in his presence, prorogued 
 the Parliament till the 2Oth of January, declaring that the mat- 
 ters touching the defence of the kingdom were too great and 
 difficult to be adequately discussed at that time. The same 
 excuse, however, was again used for further prorogations until 
 the 5th of May ; and meanwhile fears began to be entertained 
 in the country that all that had been done hitherto for a more 
 impartial administration of justice was about to be upset. At a 
 county court held at Norwich on Childermas day (the 28th 
 December), a regular uproar took place in consequence of a 
 rumour that the under-sheriff had a writ to make a new election. 
 It was also looked upon as a bad sign by those who knew the 
 circumstances, that John Paston, who had hastened up to Lon- 
 don on hearing that Lord Molynes had spoken of him before the 
 King in Council, found himself unable to return to Norwich 
 before Christmas. 1 
 
 All these matters seemed to show that the good beginning 
 already made was not likely to be maintained. Yet a good be- 
 ginning certainly had been effected. Notwithstanding the delay 
 that had occurred in the appointment of sheriffs, 
 , ne >X. the first appearance of John Jermyn, the new 
 
 Sheriff. , -a- -,\ r n i j -u 
 
 sheriff, in .Norfolk, had been in every way encour- 
 aging. He had come, indeed, rather unexpectedly at the last ; 
 but on holding sessions along with Yelverton, both he and Yel- 
 verton distinctly intimated a message from the King, which must 
 have been delivered to them both by Henry himself. The King, 
 they said, had been greatly displeased to hear of a "riotous fel- 
 lowship" in the county of Norfolk, which was maintained at the 
 instigation of one or two evil-disposed persons. The King had 
 expressly mentioned Sir Thomas Tuddenham and Heydon. He 
 desired a full investigation of the complaints against those who had 
 hitherto borne the rule in the county, and the sheriff urged every 
 one who had a grievance not to be afraid to make it known. 4 
 
 Such was the language held by the King's own officers, speak- 
 ing in his name, in December 1450. But unfortunately during 
 the whole course of the succeeding year the antici- 
 pations which such language was calculated to en- 
 courage were continually disappointed. Even at the very open- 
 ing of the year we hear complaints that the new sheriff, Jermyn, 
 had not shown himself so impartial as he had promised to be, 
 but was endeavouring to suppress complaints against certain per- 
 
 i Nos. 134, 135. Rolls of Parliament, v. 210-4. * No. 134.
 
 Introduction. Ixvii 
 
 sons at the coming sessions at Lynn. From London, too, men 
 wrote in a manner that was anything but encouraging. The 
 government was getting paralysed alike by debt and by indeci- 
 sion. "As for tidings here," writes John Bocking, "I certify 
 you that all that is nought, or will be nought. The King borroweth 
 bis expenses for Christmas. The King of Arragon, the Duke of 
 Milan, the Duke of Austria, the Duke of Burgundy, would be 
 assistant to us to make a conquest, and nothing is answered nor 
 agreed in manner save abiding the great deliberation that at the 
 last shall spill all together." Chief Justice Fortescue had been 
 for a week expecting every night to be assaulted, probably for no 
 other reason than his high impartiality. The only symptom of 
 vigour at headquarters was the despatch of a commission of oyer 
 and ter miner into Kent, for the trial of those who had raised dis- 
 turbances during the preceding summer. As for the county of 
 Norfolk, the only hope lay in a strong clamour being raised 
 against oppressors. Sir John Fastolf showed himself anxious 
 about the prosecution of certain indictments against Heydon, 
 and his servant Bocking urged that strong representations should 
 be made to Lord Scales against showing any favour to that un- 
 popular lawyer. 1 
 
 By and by it was seen what good reason the friends of justice 
 had for their apprehensions. It had been ar- 
 ranged that Tuddenham and Heydon should be Tuddenham 
 . , .... ,,, . J . , , and Heydon. 
 
 indicted at a sitting of the commission of oyer and 
 
 terminer at Norwich in the ensuing spring. Rumours, however, 
 began to prevail in Norwich that they who had promoted this 
 commission in the county of Norfolk, the Earl of Oxford and 
 Justice Yelverton, as well as John Paston and John Damme, 
 were to be indicted in Kent by way of revenge. John Damme 
 had before this caused Heydon to be indicted of treason for tak- 
 ing down one of those hideous memorials of a savage justice 
 the quarter of a man exposed in public. The man was doubtless 
 a political victim belonging to Heydon's own party ; but Heydon 
 was now looking to recover his influence, and he contrived to 
 get the charge of treason retorted against Damme. Symptoms 
 were observed in Norwich that the unpopular party were becom- 
 ing bolder again. " Heydon's men," wrote James Gloys to John 
 Paston, "brought his own horse and his saddle through Ayles- 
 ham on Monday, and they came in at the Bishop's Gates at 
 Norwich, and came over Tombland and into the Abbey ; and 
 sithen they said they should go to London for Heydon. Item, 
 some say that Heydon should be made a knight, and much other 
 language there is which causeth men to be afeared, meaning that 
 he should have a rule again." 2 
 
 Full well might Sir John Fastolf and others apprehend that if 
 Heydon or Tuddenham appeared in answer to the indictment it 
 
 1 Nos. 138, 140-142. Nos. 147 and 148.
 
 Ixviii Introduction. 
 
 would be with such a following at his back as would overawe the 
 court. No appearance was put in for them at all at several of 
 the sessions of oyer and terminer. One sitting was held at Nor- 
 wich on the 2d of March. Another was held just after Easter 
 on the 29th of April, and Justice Prisot, not the most impartial 
 of judges, was sent down to Norwich to hold it. Strong com- 
 plaints were put in against Tuddenham and Heydon on the part 
 of the city of Norwich, and also by the town of Swaffham, by 
 Sir John Fastolf, Sir Harry Inglos, John Paston, and many 
 others ; but, as Fastolf s chaplain afterwards informed his master, 
 " the judges, by their wilfulness, might not find in their heart to 
 give not so much as a beck nor a twinkling of their eye toward, 
 but took it to derision, God reform such partiality ! " The one- 
 sidedness of Prisot, indeed, was such as to bring down upon him 
 a rebuke from his colleague Yelverton. " Ah, Sir Mayor and 
 your brethren," said the former, " as to the process of your com- 
 plaints we will put them in continuance, but in all other we will 
 proceed." Yelverton felt bound to protest against such unfair- 
 ness. Yet even this was not the worst ; for Prisot, seeing that, 
 p ... . with all he could do, the result of the proceedings 
 
 at Norwich would scarcely be satisfactory to Tud- 
 denham and Heydon, took it upon him, apparently by his own 
 authority, to remove them to Walsingham, where they had most 
 supporters. And there accordingly another session was opened 
 on Tuesday the 4th of May. 1 
 
 It was, according to Sir Thomas Howys, " the most partial 
 place of all the shire." All the friends and allies of Tuddenham 
 and Heydon, knights and squires, and gentlemen who had always 
 been devoted to their pleasure, received due warning to attend. 
 A body of 400 horse also accompanied the accused, and not one 
 of the numerous complainants ventured to open his mouth ex- 
 cept John Paston. Even he had received a friendly message 
 only two days before that he had better consider well whether it 
 was advisable to come himself, as there was "great press of 
 people and few friends ;" and, moreover, the sheriff was "not 
 so whole" as he had been. What this expression meant re- 
 quired but little explanation. As Sheriff of Norfolk, John Jer- 
 myn was willing to do Paston all the service in his power, but 
 simple justice he did not dare to do. 1 
 
 He had but too good an excuse for his timidity. Of John 
 Paston's complaint against Tuddenham and Heydon we hear 
 
 no more ; we can easily imagine what became of 
 Jojj" Paston ft. B u t we know precisely what became of an 
 Molynes action brought by Paston at this sessions against 
 
 his old adversary Lord Molynes, for his forcible 
 expulsion from Gresham in the preceding year. John Paston, 
 to be sure, was now peaceably reinstated in the possession of 
 
 i Nos. 32, 151, 152, 158. * Nos. 155, 158.
 
 Introduction. Ixix 
 
 that manor ;i but he had the boldness to conceive that under- 
 mining his wife's chamber, turning her forcibly out of doors, and 
 then pillaging the whole mansion, were acts for which he might 
 fairly expect redress against both Lord Molynes and his agents. 
 He had accordingly procured two indictments to be framed, the 
 first against his Lordship, and the second against his men. But 
 before the case came on at Walsingham, Sheriff Jermyn gave 
 notice to Paston's friends thad he had received a distinct injunc- 
 tion from the King to make up a panel to acquit Lord Molynes. 3 
 Royal letters of such a tenor do not seem to have been at all 
 incompatible with the usages of Henry VI. 's reign. John Paston 
 himself said the document was one that could be procured for 
 six and eightpence. 
 
 There was no hop* therefore of making Lord Molynes himself 
 responsible for the attack on Gresham. The only question was 
 whether the men who had done his bidding could not be made 
 to suffer for it. After the acquittal of their master, John Osbern 
 reports a remarkable conversation that he had with Sheriff Jermyn 
 in which he did his best to induce him to accept a bribe in Pas- 
 ton's interest. The gift had been left with the under sheriff for 
 his acceptance. Jermyn declined to take it until he had seen 
 Paston himself, but Osbern was fully under the impression that 
 he would be glad to have it. Osbern, however, appealed also 
 to other arguments. " I remembered him," he tells Paston, "of 
 his promises made before to you at London, when he took his 
 oath and charge, and that ye were with him when he took his 
 oath and other divers times ; and for those promises made by 
 him to you at that time, and other times at the oyer and terminer 
 at Lynn, ye proposed you by the trust that ye have in him to 
 attempt and rear actions that should be to the avail of him and 
 of his office." The prospect of Paston being valuable to him as 
 a litigant had its weight with the sheriff, and he promised to do 
 him all the good in his power except in the action against Lord 
 Molynes' men ; for not only Lord Molynes himself but the Duke 
 of Norfolk had written to him to show them favour, and if they 
 were not acquitted he expected to incur both their displeasure 
 and the King's. In vain did Osbern urge that Paston would 
 find sufficient surety to save the sheriff harmless. Jermyn said 
 he could take no surety over ;ioo, and Lord Molynes was a 
 great Lord who could do him more injury than that. 3 
 
 The diplomacy on either side seems to have been conducted 
 with considerable finesse. Jermyn declared that he had been 
 offered twenty nobles at Walsingham in behalf of the Lord 
 Molynes, but that he had never received a penny either from him 
 or from any of Paston's adversaries. Osbern then offered if he 
 would promise to be sincere towards Paston, that the latter would 
 give him a sum in hand, as much as he could desire, or would 
 
 * No. 146. a No. 165. No. 159.
 
 Ixx Introduction, 
 
 place it in the hands of a middle man whom Jermyn could trust. 
 In the end, however, he was obliged to be satisfied with Jermyn's 
 assuring him that if he found it lay within his power to do any- 
 thing for Paston, he would take his money with good will. The 
 negotiator's impression was that he was fully pledged to get 
 Lord Molynes' men acquitted, but that in all other actions he 
 would be found favourable to Paston. 1 
 
 About this time Parliament, which had now been prorogued 
 p .. for nearly five months, met again at Westminster. 
 
 The King's necessities were doubtless the all-suffi- 
 cient cause why its meeting could no longer be dispensed with. 
 The crown was already in debt to the sum of ,372,000, and was 
 daily becoming more so. The expenses of the royal household 
 amounted to 24,000 a year, while the yearly revenue out of 
 which they should have been paid was only 5000. Nor was it 
 by any means advisable to remedy the matter by imposing fresh 
 taxation ; for the people were so impoverished by the payment 
 of subsidies, the exactions of the King's purveyors, and the gene- 
 ral maladministration of justice, that the experiment could hardly 
 have been made with safety. An act of resumption was the only 
 expedient by which it seemed possible to meet the difficulty ; 
 and all grants of crown lands made to any persons since the first 
 day of the reign were accordingly recalled by statute. 2 In return 
 for this the Commons preferred a petition to the King that he 
 would forever remove from his presence and counsels a number 
 of persons to whom they alleged it was owing both that his 
 possessions had been diminished, and that the laws had not been 
 carried into execution. Foremost on the list was the Duke of 
 Somerset ; and with him were named Alice, widow of the la'e 
 Duke of Suffolk, William Booth, Bishop of Chester (that is to 
 say, of Coventry and Lichfield 3 ), Lord Dudley, Thomas Daniel, 
 and twenty-five others. It was petitioned that they should never 
 again be permitted to come within twelve miles of the royal 
 presence, on pain of forfeiture of lands and goods. But the days 
 had not yet come when a petition against Ministers by the Com- 
 mons was tantamount to their dismissal. The King indeed felt 
 it best on this occasion to yield somewhat ; but he yielded on no 
 principle whatever. He declared in reply that he himself saw 
 no cause for their removal ; but he was content to dismiss the 
 most of them for a year, during which period accusations brought 
 against any of them might be inquired into. Those who were 
 Peers of the realm, however, he refused to send away ; and he 
 insisted in retaining the services of one or two others who had 
 been accustomed continually to wait upon him. 4 
 
 Parliament seems shortly after this to have been dissolved, and 
 no parliament met again till two years later. Of course the in- 
 
 1 Ib. * Rolls of Parl., v. 217. 
 
 3 The modern See of Chester was separated from this diocese in the time 
 of Henry VIII. * Rolls of Parl., v. 216.
 
 Introduction. Ixxi 
 
 fluence of Somerset increased when both Lords and Commons 
 were dismissed into the country ; and we perceive that by the 
 end of the year Thomas Daniel, one of the old, unpopular 
 adherents of the Duke of Suffolk, who, nevertheless, had not 
 always been acceptable to the Court, was expecting to recover 
 favour by means' of Somerset. 1 He is represented as having 
 cultivated the Duke's friendship for a quarter of a year ; so that 
 we may conclude Somerset's ascendancy was at this time unmis- 
 takeable. With what degree of discretion he made use of it 
 there is little evidence to show. One advantage that Daniel 
 hoped to gain through his influence was the friendship of 
 Tuddenham and Heydon, by whose means, and by the good 
 offices of Lord Scales, he expected to be allowed to re-enter the 
 manor of Bradeston, of which he had already dispossessed one 
 Osbert Munford last year, but had subsequently been dispossessed 
 himself. The value of a disputed title in any part of England 
 probably depended very much upon who was supreme at 
 Court . 
 
 But high as Somerset stood in the King's favour, the course of 
 events did not tend to make him more acceptable to the people. 
 The loss of Normandy, in the preceding year, was itself a thing 
 not likely to be readily forgotten ; but the misfortunes of the 
 English arms did not end with the loss of Normandy. So great, 
 indeed, was the despondency occasioned by that event that, in 
 the opinion of French writers, Calais itself would not have been 
 able to hold out if the French had immediately proceeded to at- 
 tack it. But Charles was afraid he might have been deserted by 
 the Duke of Burgundy, whose interests would hardly have been 
 promoted by the French king strengthening himself in that quar- 
 ter, and he declined to attempt it. 2 Relieved, however, of the 
 necessity of maintaining a large force in Normandy, he found 
 new occupation for his troops in completing the conquest of 
 Guienne, of which a beginning had already been made by the 
 capture of Cognac and of some places near Bayonne and the 
 Pyrenees. In November 1450 the French laid siege to Bourg 
 and Blaye on the Garonne, both which places capitulated in 
 the spring of the following year. They were the keys of the 
 more important city of Bordeaux, which, now perceiving that 
 there was no hope of succour from England, was obliged to fol- 
 low their example. This was in June 1451. Two months after- 
 wards. Bayonne, too, was obliged to capitulate ; 
 and with it the whole of Gascony and Guienne Lf ofGascony 
 
 ... .. < ,., , and Guienne. 
 
 was as completely lost to the English as Normandy 
 
 had been in the preceding year. Calais was now all that re- 
 mained to them of their conquests and possessions in France ; 
 
 1 No. 172. Daniel had been out of favour at one time during Suffolk's 
 ascendancy. See No. 66. 
 * Basin, i. 247-8.
 
 Ixxii Introduction. 
 
 nor were they without considerable apprehension that they might 
 be expelled from Calais too. 
 
 These disasters, which were but the natural sequel to the loss 
 of Normandy, only served to make more bitter the reflection 
 how the government of that duchy had been taken out of the able 
 hands of the Duke of York and given to the incompetent Somer- 
 set. The jealousy with which the latter regarded his rival was 
 heightened by the consciousness of his own unpopularity. The 
 Duke of York was living in seclusion at his castle of Lud- 
 low, but Somerset seems to have regarded him with daily in- 
 creasing apprehension. He was continually instilling into the 
 King distrust of York's fidelity as a subject ; until at last the 
 , . latter thought it expedient to make a public de- 
 festo S mam " elation of his loyalty. He accordingly issued 
 the following manifesto : 
 
 Forasmuch as I, Richard Duke of York, am informed that the King, my 
 sovereign lord, is my heavy lord, greatly displeased with 
 A.D. 1452. me, and hath me in distrust by sinister information of mine 
 
 enemies, adversaries, and evil-willers, where[as] God 
 knoweth, from whom nothing is hid, I am, and have been, and ever will be, 
 his true liege-man, and so have I before this, divers times, as well by mouth 
 as by writing, notified and declared to my said sovereign lord : And for that 
 this notice so comen unto me of the displeasure of my said Sovereign Lord is 
 to me so grievous, I have prayed the reverend father in God, the bishop of 
 Hereford, and my cousin the Earl of Shrewsbury, to come hither and hear my 
 declaration in this matter; wherein I have said to them that I am true liege- 
 man to the King my sovereign lord, ever have been, and shall be to my dying 
 day. And to the very proof that it is so, I offer myself to swear that on the 
 blessed Sacrament, and receive it, the which I hope shall be my salvation at 
 the day of doom. And so for my special comfort and consolation I have 
 prayed the said lords to report and declare unto the King's highness my said 
 offer ; and to the end and intent that I will be ready to do the same oath in 
 presence of two or three lords, such as shall please the King's highness to 
 send hither to accept it. In witness whereof 1 have signed this schedule with 
 my sign manual, and set thereunto my signet of arms. Written in my castle 
 of Ludlow, the gth of January, the 3Oth year of the reign of my sovereign 
 lord, King Henry the Sixth. 1 
 
 He appears to have waited nearly a month to learn the effect 
 of this remonstrance. Meanwhile reports came that the French 
 were advancing to lay siege to Calais. At such a juncture it 
 was peculiarly intolerable that the administration of affairs 
 should still be entrusted to hands so notoriously incompetent as 
 those of Somerset ; and York, as being the only man who could 
 stir in such a matter with effect, now made up his mind to take 
 active steps for Somerset's removal. Nothing, however, could 
 be done for such an object without a considerable force of armed 
 men to support him. York accordingly issued the following ad- 
 dress to the burgesses of Shrewsbury : 
 
 Right worshipful friends, I recommend me unto you; and I suppose it is 
 well known unto you, as well by experience as by common language said and 
 reported throughout all Christendom, what laud, what worship, honour and 
 manhood, was ascribed of all nations unto the people of this realm whilst the 
 
 1 Stow's Chronicle, p. 393.
 
 Introduction. Ixxiii 
 
 kingdom's sovereign lord stood possessed of his lordship in the realm of 
 France and duchy of Normandy ; and what derogation, loss of merchandize, 
 lesion of honour, and villany, is said and reported generally unto the English 
 nation for loss of the same ; namely (i.e. especially) unto the Duke o( Somer- 
 set, when he had the commandance and charge thereof: the which loss hath 
 caused and encouraged the King's enemies for to conquer and get Gascony 
 and Guienne, and now daily they make their advance for to lay siege unto 
 Calais, and to other places in the marches there, for to apply them to their 
 obeisance, and so for to come into the land with great puissance, to the final 
 destruction thereof, if they might prevail, and to put the land in their subjec- 
 tion, which God defend. And on the other part it is to be supposed it is not 
 unknown to you how that, after my coming out of Ireland I, as the King's 
 true liegeman and servant (and ever shall be to my life's end) and for my true 
 acquittal, perceiving the inconvenience before rehearsed, advised his Royal 
 Majesty of certain articles concerning the weal and safeguard, as well of his 
 most royal person, as the tranquility and conservation of all this his realm : 
 the which advertisements, howbeit that it was thought that they were full 
 necessary, were laid apart, and to be of none effect, through the envy, malice, 
 and untruth of the said Duke of Somerset; which for my truth, faith, and 
 allegiance that I owe unto the King, and the good will and favour that I have 
 to all the realm, laboreth continually about the King's highness for my un- 
 doing, and to corrupt my blood, and to disinherit me and my heirs, and such 
 persons as be about me, without any desert or cause done or attempted, on 
 my part or theirs, I make our Lord Judge. Wherefore, worshipful friends, 
 to the intent that every man shall knpw my purpose and desire for to declare 
 me such as I am, I signify unto you that, with the help and supportation of 
 Almighty God, and of Our Lady, and of all the Company of Heaven, I, after 
 long sufferance and delays, [though it is] not my will or intent to displease 
 my sovereign lord, seeing that the said Duke ever prevaileth and ruleth 
 about the King's person, [and] that by this means the land is likely to be de- 
 stroyed, am fully concluded to proceed in all haste against him with the help 
 of my kinsmen and friends ; in such wise that it shall prove to promote ease, 
 peace, tranquillity, and safeguard of all this land : and more, keeping me 
 within the bounds of my liegeance, as it pertaineth to my duty, praying and 
 exhorting you to fortify, enforce, and assist me, and to come to me with all 
 diligence, wheresoever I shall be, or draw, with as many goodly and likely 
 men as ye may, to execute the intent abovesaid. Written under my signet at 
 my castle of Ludlow, the 3d day of February. 
 
 Furthermore I pray you that such strait appointment and ordinance be 
 made that the people which shall come in your fellowship, or be sent unto me 
 by your agreement, be demeaned in such wise by the way, that they do no 
 offence, nor robbery, nor oppression upon the people, in lesion of justice. 
 Written as above, &c., 
 
 Your good friend, 
 
 R. YORK. 1 
 
 To my right worshipful friends, the bailiffs, burgesses, 
 and commons of the good town of Shrewsbury. 
 
 Having thus collected a sufficient body of followers, the Duke 
 began his march to London. The Earl of Devonshire, Lord 
 Cobham, and other noblemen also collected 
 people and joined him. 2 The King and Somer- York marches to 
 
 J i f j r !_ i. . i. wards London, 
 
 set, however, being informed of his intentions, set 
 
 out from the Capital to meet him, issuing, at the same time, an 
 imperative summons to Lord Cobham, and probably to the 
 Duke's other adherents, to repair immediately to the royal pre- 
 
 1 Ellis' Letters, First Series, i. 11-13. 
 * English Chronicle (ed. Davies), 69.
 
 Ixxiv Introduction. 
 
 sence. 1 But the Duke, who had no desire to engage the King's 
 forces, turned aside and hoped to reach London unmolested. He 
 sent a herald before him to desire liberty for himself and his 
 allies to enter the city ; but strict injunctions to the contrary had 
 been left by the King, and his request was refused. Dis- 
 appointed in this quarter, it was natural that he should look for 
 greater sympathy in Kent, where, doubtless, smouldered still the 
 remains of past disaffection. He accordingly crossed the Thames 
 at Kingston Bridge, and proceeded with his host to Dartford. 
 The King's army followed and pitched their camp upon Black- 
 heath. And so, on the 1st of March 1452, there lay, within 
 eight miles of each other, two formidable hosts, which any 
 further movement must apparently bring into collision. 
 
 To judge from one contemporaiy account, 8 the Duke's posi- 
 tion must have been a strong one. He had a body of ordnance 
 in the field, with no less than 3000 gunners. He himself had 
 8000 men in the centre of his position ; while the Earl of 
 Devonshire lay to the south with another detachment of 6000, 
 and Lord Cobham by the river side commanded an equal force. 
 Seven ships lay on the water filled with the baggage of the 
 troops. But the strength of the King's army appears to have 
 largely exceeded these numbers ; 3 and even if the Duke had 
 wished to provoke a conflict, it was evidently more prudent to 
 remain simply on the defensive. He accordingly left the respon- 
 sibility of further action to those of the King's party. 
 
 In this crisis the Lords who were with the King took counsel 
 together, and determined, if possible, to labour for a com- 
 promise. 4 An embassy was appointed to go to the Duke of 
 York, and hear what he had to say. It consisted of the wise 
 and good prelate Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, and 
 Bourchier, Bishop of Ely (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), 
 the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, Lord Beauchamp, Lord 
 Sudeley, and some others. The answer made by York was, 
 that no ill was intended against either the King or any of 
 his Council ; that the Duke and his followers were lovers of the 
 common weal ; but that it was their intention to remove from 
 the King certain evil disposed persons, through whose means the 
 common people had been grievously oppressed. Of these the 
 Duke of Somerset was declared to be the chief ; and indeed, 
 his unpopularity was such that even those on the King's side 
 
 1 Nicolas' Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 116. According to Fabyan, the 
 King and Somerset set out in the i6th of February. The summons to Lord 
 Cobham, though dated Westminster, was issued on the J7th. 
 
 * Cottonian Roll, ii. 23. See Appendix to this Introduction. 
 
 3 Rolls of Parl. v. 346. The statement in the Act of Attainder passed 
 against the Duke of York seven years afterwards, that he was " of no power 
 to withstand " the King on this occasion, is liable to suspicion, but it is con- 
 firmed by the testimony of Whethamstede, 348. 
 
 * " The Lords, both spiritual and temporal, took the matter in hand." 
 MS. Chronicle, Lambeth, 306. So also Chronicle of London, 137.
 
 Introduction. Ixxv 
 
 would seem to have seconded the Duke of York's demand. 
 After a consultation the King consented that Somerset should be 
 committed to custody until he should make answer to such 
 charges as York would bring against him. l 
 
 Nothing more seemed necessary to avert civil war. On a 
 simple pledge given by the King that Somerset should be placed 
 in confinement, and afterwards put on his trial, the 
 Duke of York at once broke up his camp and York. l * en ~ 
 ordered his men home. He then repaired himself 
 to the King's tent to express his loyalty. But no sooner had he 
 arrived there than he found he was deceived. The King, in 
 violation of his promise, kept the Duke of Somerset attending 
 upon him as his chief adviser, and York was virtually a prisoner. 
 He was sent on to London in advance of the King, in a kind of 
 honourable custody, attended by two bishops, who conducted 
 him to his own residence ; but what to do with him when he 
 got there was a difficulty. His enemies feared to send him to 
 the Tower. There were 10,000 men yet remaining in the Welsh 
 Marches, who, on such a rumour, would have come up to Lon- 
 don ; and it was not very long before they were reported to be 
 all under arms, and actually on the march, with the Duke's 
 young son at their head, Edward, Earl of March, boy as he was, 
 not yet quite ten years old. 2 
 
 York had distinctly accused the Duke of Somerset as a 
 traitor. He was now in Somerset's power, but the latter did 
 not dare to retort the charge upon him. Yet if Somerset was 
 not a traitor, the course pursued by York was utterly indefensible. 
 He had actually taken up arms against the Crown, to remove by 
 force the minister in whom the King had placed his confidence. 
 But unfortunately Somerset knew too well that if he made this 
 a ground of accusation against his rival, recrimination would be 
 sure to follow, and he himself would incur a weight of public 
 odium which might possibly lead to the same result as in the 
 case of Suffolk. The wisest and most politic course for himself 
 was not to impeach the Duke of York, but, if possible, to shut 
 his mouth, and let him go free. No accusation, 
 therefore, was drawn up. An oath of allegiance, and compelled 
 binding him over to keep the peace in time coming, gj^gf r ' 
 was all that was required. It was on the ist of 
 March that York had repaired to the King's tent and found 
 himself in his rival's power. On the roth he was brought to 
 St. Paul's, and there publicly made oath as follows : 
 
 I, Richard, Duke of York, confess and beknow that I am and ought to be 
 humble subject and liegeman to you, my sovereign Lord, King Henry the 
 Sixth, and owe therefore to bear you faith and truth as to my sovereign lord 
 and shall do all the days unto my life's end ; and shall not at any time will 
 or assent, that anything be attempted or done against your noble person, but 
 
 1 Fabyan. 
 
 Fabvan, and the MS. Chronicles, Vitell. A. xvi., and Lambeth, 306.
 
 Ixxvi Introduction. 
 
 wheresoever I shall have knowledge of any such thine: imagined or purposed 
 I shall, with all the speed and diligence possible to me, make that your High- 
 ness shall have knowledge thereof and even do all that shall be possible to 
 me to the withstanding thereof, to the utterest of my life. I shall not in no 
 wise any thing take upon me against your royal estate or the obeisance that 
 is due thereto, nor suffer any other man to do, as far forth as it shall lie in 
 my power to let it; and also I shall come at your commandment, whensoever 
 I shall be called by the same, in humble and obeisant wise, but if [i.e. un- 
 less] I be letted by any sickness or impotency of my person or by such other 
 causes as shall be thought reasonable to you, my sovereign lord. I shall 
 never hereafter take upon me to gather any routs, or make any assembly of 
 your people, without your commandment or licence, or in my lawful defence. 
 In the interpretation of which my lawful defence, and declaration thereof, I 
 shall report me at all times to your Highness, and, if the case require, unto 
 my peers ; nor anything attempt by way of faite against any of your subjects, 
 of what estate, degree, or condition that they be. But whensoever I find 
 myself wronged or aggrieved, I shall sue humbly for remedy to your High- 
 ness, and proceed after the course of your laws, and in none other wise, 
 saving in mine own lawful defence in manner above said ; and shall in all 
 things abovesaid and other have me unto your Highness as an humble and 
 true subject ought to have him to his Sovereign Lord. 
 
 All these things above said I promise truly to observe and keep, by the 
 Holy Evangelists contained in this book that I lay my hand upon, and by 
 the Holy Cross that I here touch, and by the blessed Sacrament of our Lord's 
 body that I shall now with His mercy receive. And over this I agree me 
 and will that if I any time hereafter, as with the grace of our Lord I never 
 shall, anything attempt by way of feat or otherwise against your royal 
 majesty and obeisance that I owe thereto, or anything I take upon me 
 otherwise than is above expressed, I from that time forth be unabled, [held 
 and taken as an untrue and openly forsworn man, and unable] * to all manner 
 of worship, estate and degree, be it such as I now occupy, or any other that 
 might grow unto me in any wise. 
 
 And this I here have promised and sworn proceedeth of mine own desire 
 and free voluntee and by no constraining or coercion. In witness of all the 
 which things above written I, Richard duke of York above named, subscribe 
 me with mine own hand and seal, with this mine own seal, &c. 2 
 
 With this guarantee for his future loyalty, the Duke was per- 
 mitted to return into his own country. 
 
 Somerset might well be pleased that the matter should be 
 settled thus ; for if the charges York brought, or at least was 
 prepared to have brought against him were only one-half true 
 (and some of them certainly were true altogether), his adminis- 
 tration of the Duchy of Normandy was a mixture of indiscretidn 
 and dishonesty, at which the nation had good right to be indig- 
 nant. We have already seen how in concert with the Duke of 
 Suffolk he had authorized a perfidious breach of the truce with 
 France in the capture of Fougeres. We have also seen how ill 
 prepared he was for the consequences ; how he discovered too 
 late the weakness of all the garrisons ; how the French King 
 recovered town after town, and the English were finally expelled 
 from Normandy in less than a year and a half after 
 York's charges t ] ie unjustifiable outrage. But if any credit may 
 against Somer- , ,, f ., , . ' . . ' 
 
 set. be given to the further charges brought against him 
 
 by the Duke of York, charges which agree only 
 too well with the character attributed to him by the most impar- 
 1 These words are not in the copy in the Rolls of Parliament, but they occur 
 in that given in Holinshed's Chronicle. * Rolls of Parl. v. 346
 
 Introduction. Ixxvii 
 
 tial authorities, 1 Somerset had himself to blame in great 
 measure for the defenceless condition of the country committed 
 to his protection. On his first going into Normandy he had 
 jobbed the offices under his control. For the sake of private 
 emolument he had removed a number of trusty and experienced 
 captains, filling their places with creatures of his own, or men 
 who had paid douceurs for their posts ; and only on receipt of 
 still greater bribes would he consent to restore any of those that 
 had been put out. He had, however, actually reduced many 
 garrisons, while he had taxed the inhabitants of the Duchy 
 beyond all reason for the means of defence. His administration 
 of justice, too, had been such as to excite the most vehe- 
 ment dissatisfaction, and had made the whole native population 
 impatient of English government. He had, moreover, pocketed 
 the compensation given by France to the dispossessed Englishmen 
 of Anjou and Maine. Worse still, after all his malad- 
 ministration and ill success, he had prevailed on the King to 
 make him captain of Calais, which it seemed as if he was on 
 the point of losing also in as careless and culpable a manner as 
 he had already lost Normandy. 
 
 Here, however, is the full text of the accusation, 2 as prepared 
 by York himself : 
 
 Thies articles and pointes folowyng yeve, shewe and ministre I, Richard 
 Due of York youre true liegman and servaunt unto youre highnesse, summar- 
 ily purposyng and declaryng thaym ayeinst Edmond Due of Somerset for the 
 grete welfare and the comen availle and interesse of youre mageste Roiall 
 and of this youre noble roialme, aswell to bryng to knawlege and under- 
 stand yng the meanes and causes of the grete myscheyes and inconvenientz 
 which late befe[l] unto this youre said noble roiame, as in losse of youre lyve- 
 lode by yonde thee see and otherwyse in ponisshment of deservitours and 
 excuse of innocencie, and also in puttyng aside and eschuyng of the grete 
 and importable hurte and prejudice which ben like withouten that purvi- 
 aunce be had of remedie to succede in shorte tyme. To the which articles 
 and every of theym I, the seid Due of York, desire of youre egall and indif- 
 ferent rightwesnesse that the seid Edmond answere by his feith and trouth 
 the sacrement of his othe thereuppon made, duly and truly as lawe and con- 
 science requireth ; I also desiryng for the veraly examinacion and knowlech 
 of trouth theruppon to be had, and for the grete and singuler weel of this 
 youre said Roiame to be admytted to the prefe, and to yeve evidence in the 
 said articles that folowyn in such as he woll denye, after the equite and consi- 
 deracion of lawe in such case, and processe had, and also of good feith and 
 conscience justice thereafter to be don and executid. 
 
 1 The character given of the Duke of Somerset by the contemporary 
 historian Basin, is on the whole favourable, and may be supposed to be im- 
 partial. He describes him as handsome in person, gentle and urbane in 
 manner, and well incjined towards justice ; but all these graces were marred 
 by an insatiable avarice which would not let him rest content with the im- 
 mense wealth he had inherited from Cardinal Beaufort; and by continually 
 coveting the riches of others he brought ruin upon himself. Basin, i. 193. 
 
 2 Now printed for the first time from the original in the Cottonian MS., 
 Vesp. C. xiv. f. 40. The first paragraph of this document is quoted by Stowe 
 in his Chronicle, p. 397, and the charges are referred by him to the thirty- 
 third year of the King's reign, i.e., the latter part of A.D. 1454, which is 
 certainly erroneous. The date, however, which he intended was the latter 
 part of the year 1433, when the Duke of Somerset was arrested and sent 
 to the Tower; but this date also is quite impossible.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 knowen and understonde, and furthermore also by his inordinate negligence, 
 lacchesse and wilfull rechelessnes and insaciate covetyse, of the losse and 
 amission of youre Duchie of Normandie, rejoissed and possessed at this tyme, 
 for the defence of his negligent kepyng and otherwyse before reherced, by 
 youte enemyes. Which may clerly by understonde by the meanes and 
 causes that folowen ; of the which and fur such one he is openly called, 
 reputed and had by the comen fame and voice. Of the which oon cause is 
 that the seid Due of Somersett. at his first comyng into Normandie, chaunged 
 and putt out of theire occupacion and youre service, withoute skyll, cause or 
 reason, all the true and feithfull officers, for the most partie, of all Nor- 
 mandie, and put in such as hym liked for his owne singuler availe and 
 covetyse, as it apperith well, inasmoch as ther coude noon of theym that 
 were so put out be restored agayn withoute grete giftes and rewardes, which 
 was full unfittyng. And furthermore did put in prison many diverse and 
 notable persones of youre seid Duchie, wuhou te cause, j ustice or any ordinarie 
 processe made agayn theym or due examinacion, and by that meane did 
 grete extorcions and rered unlawfully grete sommes undre colour of amendes 
 and composicions, wherby the cuntre for such wrong and faute of justice 
 grucched sore agayn hym and his governaunce and caused the people to arise 
 in theire conseytes and to take grete displeasir ; and that was a grete occasion 
 and cause of the losse of youre said Duchie of Normandie. 
 
 Item, the seid Edmond Due of Somerset was cause and consenter voluntarie 
 of the brekyng of the trues and pais for a tyme had betwene youre highnes 
 and youre uncle of Fraunce, which was well understond at the taking of Fogiers 
 in Britaigne by Sir Fraunceys Larragonneys thurgh his avise consentenier.t 
 and counseile ; and also duryng the said trues made more strong and 
 fortified diverse places disopered by youre commaundement, asMorteynand 
 Seint Jakes deBeveron.ageyn the appointementof the seidtrues; uppon which 
 youre uncle did sommon hym to make a-seeth [satisfaction] and for to dis- 
 impaire the seid fortifyng and wrong don agayn the trues, and in asmoch as 
 non aseeth by hym was don, nor [he] lefte not of his seid fortifiyng, caused 
 youre seid uncle to have, as he pretende, cause to breke the said trues on his 
 partie ; which brekyng of trues was oon of the verray cause of losse of Nor- 
 mandie. And thus he brake the seide trues ayeinst his promysse and true 
 feith made to youre highnes, which was to kepe and entretyn the said trues, 
 and so did ayen the la we in this behalve and youre statutes of the roiame. 
 
 Item, he put away and diminisshed diverse garnisons and other strong 
 places of youre seid Duchie of Normandie of soudiours and of men of werre 
 which were accustumed to abide uppon the suerte and saufgarde of the 
 same, howe be hit he had verrayly knowlege that youre ennmyes were full 
 determined] for to ley seges to put the same places in theire subjeccion, not 
 paiyng duely nor contentyng such soudiours as abode uppon the defences of 
 the same places; he reryng at that tyme in youre said Duchie as grete 
 tallies and aides as were in long tyme before duryng the werre : and that 
 caused the soudiours in diverse strong places for poverte, not havyng hors 
 nor harneys, and also the nombre diminisshed to be of non poiaire to make 
 resistence, and that was a grete cause of the IOFSC of Normandie. The losse 
 of which caused the perdicion of Gascoigne and Guyen. 
 
 Item, the Due of Somersett wold yeve noo counseile, aide ne helpe unto 
 the capitanis of diverse stronge places and garnisons which at that tyme, 
 constreyned by nede, desired of hym provision and relief for abillement of 
 werre to resiste the malice of theire enemyes daily makyng fressh feetes of 
 werre uppon theym ; he gevyng theym noone aide nor help, but lete theym 
 contynue in theire malice, howe be it that diverse places were lost be- 
 fore : and what tyme that the said places were beseged and sent for 
 help and socour unto hym he wold graunte no maner of comiorte, but 
 suffred hem appoint and compounde with here enemyes as well as they 
 myght for theire ease and suertee, makyng no maner of provision for the 
 kepyng of the places which remayned ; insomuch that he made non ordin-
 
 Introduction. Ixxix 
 
 aunce nor provision for the toun, castell, and places of Rouen, neither of 
 men, stuffe ne vitaile, the knowlage that he had of youre enemyes comyng 
 thereunto notwithstondyng, yevyng licence unto the Archiebisshopp, chanons 
 and burgeys of the same toun for to goo or sende to compounde with youre 
 enemyes for the deliveraunce of the same, notwithstondyng that afore that 
 tyme the enemyes which were entred in to the same toun were worshiply put 
 oute and betyn of by the Erie of Shrowesbury and other notable persones, 
 and withdrawen to Pontlarge and Loviers, and at that tyme, they beyng so 
 withdrawen, licenced to appointe as it is aforesaid. Which was plainly 
 ayeinst his promys, feith and iiegeaunce that he of right oweth unto you, 
 and ayeinst the tenure of the endentures made betwix youre highnes and 
 hym of the charge of that londe, the which licence, and it had not ben don, 
 the seid toun had abiden undre youre obeisaunce, the losse of whiche was a 
 verray ope . . . . l cause of the perdicion of Normandie. 
 
 Item, the said Due of Somerset!, for to colour his defautes and wilfull pur- 
 p[o]s in the premisses, entred in to youre palaice of Rouen not vitailed nor 
 fo[rnisshed] l for defence, where he myght savely absentid hym, and yeldid up 
 the said Palaice and Castell, and moreover other good tounes, castels and 
 [fortresses], 1 as Caudebek, and other diverse, as Tancarville, Moustervillers, 
 Arques, key of all, Caulx not beseged nor in perell of losse at that tyme, for 
 the enlargisshynfg] and deliveraunce of hym, his childre and goodes ; which 
 myght not, nor hath not, be done nor seen by lawe resoun or cronikel, or by 
 
 cours or a any leftenant, all though that he had be prisoner: 
 
 Witnesse the Due of Orliaunce, the Due of Burbon, the Due of Alansum 
 
 and other for whom was none delyvered, al though they had 
 
 many strong places of theire owen. And furthermore fore the suertee of 
 
 delyveraunce of tounes, castell and forteresses which were wel 
 
 furnysshed for to have resisted youre enemyes, and to have biden within 
 youre obeisaunce, delyvered in ostage the Erie of Shrowesbury, that tyme 
 Marescall of Frauuce, and other notable persones which shuld have de- 
 fended youre lande there ayens the malice of youre enemyes ; and in like- 
 wyse apointed to delyver Honflu, which was in noo gret perell, ne had be 
 that it was retardyd by youre lettres and so by that fraudelent and inordinat 
 meane all was lost and yoldon up as hereafter, by more evident declaracions 
 it shalbe clerely [proved]. 2 
 
 Item, the said Due of Somerset hath contrived and ymagined, helped or 
 consented to the grete and importable losse of Gales to be undre the obei- 
 saunce of the Due of Burgoyn, as it apperith openly by diverse skilles, evi- 
 dencez, and resons ; that is to sey, in asmuch as he desired and made 
 laboures, or at the lest toke uppon hym, for to be capiten of the seid Toun of 
 Cales, knowyng and understondyng well the grete murmur and sclaunder 
 which daily rennyth agayn hym for the losse and sale, as it is surmyttid, of 
 Normandie, to the grete discoragyng of the soudiours of the said Toun ; 
 where as the comen fame is that he will bylike sotill meanes contrive and 
 ymagyn the losse and amission of youre said Toun of Cales, like as he hath 
 afore causid the perdicion of youre Duchie of Normandie ; which apperith 
 well, in asmoch as he hath desirid the terme of a monyth without more, that, 
 in case that the said Toun were besegid and not rescuyd within the said 
 monyth, that than he shuld stond discharged though it were delyvered to 
 youre enemyes ; within which tyme it were impossible or at the lest full un- 
 likly that never myght be assembled for the rescu therof, where as it may 
 and hath be here-before kept ayens the force of youre enemyes moche lenger 
 tyme in grete jupardy ; which is so grete an hevynesse and trouble to youre 
 said soudiours that by theire langage, demenyng and communicacion it may 
 be understond that they will not be so herty nor feithfull to the welfare and 
 defence of the said Toun as they shuld be in case they had a captayn more 
 agreable unto theym. And also this premisse apperith well in asmoch as the 
 comen voyce, langage, and fame is, and also grete prefe and evidence shalbe 
 made theruppon, that the seid Due of Somerset, in hope of mariage to be 
 doon and had be twix the Due son of Burgoyn and one of his doughters, had 
 
 1 MS. mutilated. 
 
 * A line seems here to be cut off in the MS. at the bottom of the leaf.
 
 Ixxx Introduction. 
 
 made a promysse and behest to the said Due of Burgoyne, or Duchesse by 
 his meane, concent and massangers, of the delyverey of the Tonn of Cales, to 
 be done by such sotill meanes as shuld not be understood neither of youre 
 highenes nor of youre subgettz. 
 
 Item, the baid Due of Somerset is cause of grete hurte, robbery, manslauter 
 and other myscheves daily done and contynued in this youre roialrae, inasmoch 
 
 as he resceyved and had at the delyverey of Anjoy and Mayn iij. xij. (72,000) 
 frankes or there aboutes, which were graunted and ordeyned to the Englissh- 
 men havyng theire [there] lyvelode for theire recompense and asyth for the 
 ly verey up of theire seid lyvelode at the said dely veraunce, and wold not dispose 
 the same money nor departe therfrom, bot kepith it still to his pwne use and 
 singuler availe, notwithstondyng that he was recompensid for his lyvelode in 
 that cuntrey in youre Duchie of Normandie of a more value than the gift 
 therof was worth, which causith the said Englisshmen to be here in grete 
 povertee ; of which povertee no doute commyth grete myscheve daily wilhin 
 your said roiame. And also in so muche as many diverse soudiours of Nor- 
 mandye were not paied theire wages, where he rerid grete and notable 
 sommes of youre Duchie of Normandie for ther agrement, which non paie- 
 ment and poverte causith also daily grete inconvenientz within this your 
 lande. 
 
 Item, that these forsaid articles and poyntz be just and true it may well 
 appere by many grete presumpcions beside evident prefes that shalbe made 
 thereuppon with open and notarie fame and voice of the people, and also in- 
 asmoch as the said Due of Somerset hath be double and untrue in many and 
 diverse pointes, and in especiall that he hath desirid a recompense of youre 
 highnes for the counte of Mayn for the delyverance therof, where it was spe- 
 cified in youre lettres patentes of your graunte therof to hym made that ye 
 shuld be at your libertee to dispose it at your pleasere in case that ye for the 
 meane of the pease wold do make a lyverey thereof unto youre uncle of 
 Fraunce; and yit at the tyme of dely veraunce thereof he wold not agree 
 therto unto tyme that he were recompensid, as it is aforesaid, in youre Duchie 
 of Normandie to a more value than his said graunte drue to. 
 
 Item, thees forsaid articles, everyche of theym and every parte of theym, 
 purppsyth and ministre I, Richard, Due of York, ayens the said Due of Somer- 
 sett joyntly and severally not atteigne to a more strate nor chargeable prefe 
 than your lawe in such case and prpcesse will require ; desiryng of youre high- 
 nesse and rightuous justice that in asmoche as lawfully may ayenst hym be 
 foundon or previd, that jugement in that partie be had and executid unto 
 youre highnes for yours and youre roialmes prosperite and welfare, indende 
 not elles bot the salvacion and indempnite of youre most roiale persone, and 
 also alle youre feithfull subgettz, in which y reporte me to God and all the 
 word \wor ld\. 
 
 I imagine this paper must have been really handed in by York 
 to the lords of the King's council. It is preserved among the 
 MSS. in the Cottonian Library, a large number of which were 
 undoubtedly at one time part of the public records of the realm. 
 But in any case we can hardly doubt that Somerset understood 
 quite sufficiently the grounds on which he was so generally hated; 
 nor is it by any means improbable that the armed remonstrance 
 of the Duke of York produced some real effect, if only for a 
 time. This at least we know that, only four days after the oath 
 taken by York at St. Paul's, active and energetic measures began 
 
 to be taken for the defence of Calais. Historians, 
 Cakis" f as ^' r Harris Nicolas truly remarks, do not seem 
 
 hitherto to have been aware of the imminent danger 
 in which even Calais at this time stood of being lost, like the 
 other English conquests a full century before it was actually re-
 
 Introduction. Ixxxi 
 
 covered by the French. Rumours that Calais would be besieged 
 reached England in the beginning of May 1450, along with the 
 news of the Duke of Suffolk's murder. 1 In August 1451 a rein- 
 forcement of 1150 men was sent thither in twelve vessels, under 
 the Lords Beauchamp and Sudeley. In the February following, 
 as we have seen, York wrote of the success of the French in 
 Gascony having emboldened them to lay siege to Calais again. 
 And now, on the 141)1 of March, when Charles was advancing 
 towards the last English stronghold, with the most formidable 
 army that had been seen for years, and when men had begun to 
 fear that he would be able not only to gain possession of Calais 
 with ease, but even to invade and ravage England, steps were at 
 last taken for the immediate formation of a fleet. 
 
 A royal navy had undoubtedly existed for a long time before 
 the days of Henry VI., but it never amounted in itself to a very 
 formidable force, and in time of war recourse was always had to 
 impressment on the large scale. But the neglect of the sea was 
 during this reign the constant complaint of Englishmen. For 
 want of an efficient fleet the mercantile interest continually suf- 
 fered, the fisheries could not safely be visited, and even the 
 dwellers at home were insecure. The fact was confessed by the 
 greatest eulogists of Henry VI., who had not a thought of im- 
 pugning his government. " Our enemies," says Capgrave in his 
 Illustrious Henries, "Our enemies laugh at us. They say, 
 4 Take off the ship from your precious money, and stamp a sheep 
 upon it to signify your sheepish minds.' We who used to be 
 conquerors of all nations are now conquered by all. The men 
 of old used to say that the sea was England's wall, and now our 
 enemies have got upon the wall ; what think you they will do to 
 the defenceless inhabitants? Because this business has been 
 neglected for so many years it now happens that ships are scanty, 
 and sailors also few, and such as we have unskilled for want of 
 exercise. May God take away our reproach and raise up a 
 spirit of bravery in our nation * ! " 
 
 There were already available for the King's service a certain 
 number of ships in the Thames, and at Winchelsea and Sand- 
 wich. The chief of these vessels was called the Grace Dieu, a 
 name which was perhaps traditional, for it was handed down to 
 Tudor times when, with the King's own Christian name prefixed, 
 it was always given to the largest of the fleet. 3 The Earl of 
 Shrewsbury * was appointed to take the command of the whole 
 
 1 Letter 94. 2 Capgrave de Illust. Henricis, 135. 
 
 3 The Henry Grace Dieu of Henry VlII.'s time is, however, better known 
 by its popular epithet of the Great Harry. 
 
 * The Earl of Shrewsbury, as already mentioned, had been given up to the 
 French in 1449 as a hostage for the delivery of certain towns in Normandy. 
 It is said that he only recovered his liberty on taking oath never to bear arms 
 again against the French, but that on visiting Rome in the year of Jubilee, 
 1450, he obtained an absolution from this engagement. jQLnece Sylvii Opera, 
 44.
 
 Ixxxii Introduction, 
 
 army at sea, and efforts were made to augment the squadron with 
 as large a force as possible. On the I4th of March 1452 a com- 
 mission was given to Lord Clifford, which was doubtless one of 
 a number given to various noblemen, to negotiate for this pur- 
 pose with shipowners, knights, and gentlemen, in the district 
 where he commonly resided ; and he was instructed to take the 
 command of all such vessels as he could raise, and bring them 
 into the Downs to join with Shrewsbury. The appeal to patriot- 
 ism was not made in vain. Many shipowners came forward, 
 offering not only to lend but to victual their own ships for the 
 service. But full powers were also given to arrest ships, ship- 
 masters, and mariners, to make up a sufficient number. To 
 every man not furnished with victuals by the benevolence of 
 others, twelve pence a week was offered on the King's behalf, 
 with a customary share in any booty that he might help to cap- 
 ture at sea. Captains of ships were to have in addition a reward 
 of ten marks, or .10, at the discretion of Lord Clifford. Alto- 
 gether we may presume that the defensive measures taken at this 
 time were sufficient, for we hear no more during the next few 
 years of any attempt to lay siege to Calais. 
 
 As to internal dissensions at home it was quite in accordance 
 with the weakness of the King's character to believe that he had 
 now stilled the chief elements of danger. His piety 
 General par- suggested to him to complete the good work by a 
 general political amnesty. The year 1450, as 
 being the concluding year of a half century, had been celebrated 
 as a jubilee at Rome, during which a general indulgence and 
 pardon were granted to all who visited the Imperial City. There 
 was also, according to precedent, a bull issued at the close 
 of the year to extend these benefits still further. Taking his 
 example from the great Spiritual Ruler, the King, on Good 
 Friday, the 7th of April 1452, offered publicly a general pardon 
 to all who had been guilty of acts of disloyalty to himself, and 
 who would apply to his Chancery for letters patent. 1 The offer 
 was, undoubtedly, both gracious and humane. It sprang from a 
 genuine love of peace on the King's part, and probably went far 
 to make the government of Somerset endurable for some months 
 longer. Amid the confusion and troubles of the times, thousands 
 must have felt that they needed the royal clemency to protect 
 them against the severity of the laws. One hundred and forty- 
 four persons, among whom was Thomas Young of Bristol he 
 who had proposed in Parliament that York should be proclaimed 
 heir to the Crown, obtained sealed pardons on that very Good 
 Friday. Some two or three thousand others laid claim to the 
 like indulgence, and had patents granted to them at a later date.* 
 
 1 V/hethamstede, 317. 
 
 2 The names are all entered on the Pardon Roll of 30 & 31 Henry VI. 
 Among the hosts of less interesting names we find that the Duke of York 
 took out a pardon on the 3d of June ; the Duke of Norfolk and the young
 
 Introduction, Ixxxiii 
 
 Only a very few persons were excepted on account of the enor- 
 mity of their offences. 
 
 One part of his kingdom, however, Henry himself did not 
 expect to pacify by such means only. The state of the county of 
 Norfolk had been so represented to him that he felt it necessary 
 to send thither the Duke of Norfolk. " Great riots, extortions, 
 horrible wrongs and hurts," were the subject of complaint, and 
 nothing but an impartial inquiry would give satisfaction. The 
 Duke on coming into the country issued a proclamation, urging 
 all who had any complaints to make, to lay them freely and 
 fearlessly before him. But free and fearless evidence was not 
 likely to be had without a strong guarantee for the protection of 
 witnesses. Already the news of the Duke's coming had got wind, 
 and some of the dependants of Lord Scales, who had been 
 amongst the principal offenders, had given notice that any com- 
 plaints against them would be redressed in another fashion after 
 the Duke's departure. In the absence of the Duke Lord Scales 
 had been always hitherto the natural ruler of the county, and it 
 was under his protection that Sir Thomas Tuddenham, Sir Miles 
 Stapleton, John Heydon, and others had dared to make them- 
 selves unpopular. Norfolk accordingly declared in the same 
 proclamation that he intended henceforth to vindicate for himself 
 so long as he lived the chief power and authority in the county 
 which bore his name, subject only to that of the king himself. 
 And to give still greater encouragement to the 
 well-disposed, he announced that the King himself Intended 
 
 would shortly visit the county, before whom all v?sit to 
 
 who desired it should have their grievances Norfolk. 
 
 redressed. 1 
 
 That the King actually visited Norfolk at this time I do not 
 find from any other evidence. A letter written on St. George's 
 Day says that he had been expected at Norwich or Claxton for 
 ten days past. Encouraged by the Duke's proclamation several 
 gentlemen of the county had drawn up a complaint against 
 Charles Novvell, and were waiting to know in Q om j a ; nt 
 what manner they should present it. This Charles against 
 and a number of others appear to have been keep- Charles 
 ing the country east of Norwich at the time in Nowell. 
 continual alarm and confusion. They held their rendezvous at 
 the house of one Robert Ledeham, from which they would issue 
 out in bands of six, or twelve, or sometimes thirty and more, 
 
 Duke of Suffolk on the 23d of the same month; Thomas Percy, Lord 
 Egremont, on the ist ; Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon, on the 2oth, and 
 Sir William Oldhall, who is called of Hunsdon, on the 26th. Ralph, Lord 
 Cromwell, had one on the 2sd May, and Robert Wynnyns;ton of Dartmouth 
 (the writer of Letter 68) on the 281(1 July. On the i2th July a joint pardon 
 was given to Sir Henry Percy, Lord Ponynges, and Eleanor, his wife, kins- 
 woman, and heir of Sir Robert Ponynges. At later dates we have also 
 pardons to Henry, Viscount Bourchier, and Sir John Talbot, son and heir of 
 the Earl of Shrewsbury. l No. 173.
 
 Ixxxiv Introduction. 
 
 fully armed with bows and arrows, spears and bills, jacks and 
 sallets. 1 No place was sacred from their outrages. On Mid-I^ent 
 Sunday they had attacked two servants of the Bishop of Norwich 
 inside the church at Burlingham, and would have killed them 
 behind the priest's back while they were kneeling at the mass. 
 On the 6th of April they had endeavoured to break into the 
 White Friars at Norwich on pretence of wishing to hear even- 
 song ; but having publicly declared in the town that they intended 
 to get hold of certain citizens, either alive or dead, the doors were 
 shut against them. Happily before they accomplished their 
 purpose the mayor and aldermen came to the spot. A multitude 
 of people had meanwhile assembled in the streets, and the rioters, 
 finding the odds considerably against them, quietly took their 
 departure. 2 
 
 John Paston had a complaint of his own to make against these 
 wrong-doers. Charles Nowell himself, and five others, had 
 John Paston attacked him at the door of Norwich Cathedral, 
 assaulted at He had with him at the time two servants, one of 
 Norwich whom received a blow on the naked head with a 
 
 sword; and he himself was seized and had his 
 arms held behind him, while one of the company struck at him. 
 But for a timely rescue his death would seem to have been 
 certain. On the very day on which this occurred his wife's 
 uncle, Philip Berney, was waylaid by some of the same fellow- 
 ship, in the highway under Thorpe Wood. Berney was riding, 
 accompanied by a single servant, when their two horses first 
 were wounded by a discharge of arrows. They were then 
 speedily overtaken by their assailants, who broke a bow over 
 Philip Berney's head, and took him prisoner, declaring him to 
 be a traitor. To give a further colour to their proceedings, they 
 led him prisoner to the Bishop of Norwich, demanding surety of 
 him to keep the peace, and when they had obtained it, let him 
 go. Philip Beiney lived more than a year after the adventure, 
 but he never recovered from the effects of this rough usage. 3 
 
 Outrages like these, it must be remembered, were not the 
 work of lawless brigands and recognised enemies of the whole 
 community. They were merely the effect of party spirit. The 
 men who did them were supported by noblemen and country 
 gentlemen. One, by name Roger Church, probably the most 
 daring, and at the same time the most subtle of the gang, had 
 got himself made bailiff of the hundred of Blofield. 4 Charles 
 Nowell was a friend of Thomas Daniel, who, after being a year 
 and a half out of favour, had recently recovered his influence in 
 Norfolk through the medium of the Duke of Somerset. 5 By 
 this means he seems again to have obtained possession of the 
 manor of Bradeston, the right to which he had disputed in 1450, 
 
 1 Coats of mail and helmets. " Nos. 174, 179, 201. 
 
 Nos. 176, 176, 188, 189, 201. * Nos. 177, 201. * No. 172-
 
 Introduction. Ixxxv 
 
 apparently more by arms than by law, with Osbert Mountford, 
 marshal of Calais. Charles Nowell was appointed by Daniel 
 bailiff of the manor, with the not quite insignificant salary of 
 twopence a-day ; and he and his fellows, Roger Church, Robert 
 Ledeham, John Ratcliff, and Robert Bailing, made it their chief 
 business to maintain Daniel in possession. 
 
 To put an end to such a state of matters as this, the Duke of 
 Norfolk's coming must have been truly welcome. But if any 
 man expected that the power of duke or king could suddenly 
 terminate the reign of anarchy, and initiate an era of plain 
 impartial justice, he must have been a sanguine mortal. As one 
 of the first effects of the Duke's coming, some of the leading 
 oppressors of the country were driven to a course of chicanery 
 
 instead of violence. Roger Church got himself T 
 
 . j i_ r i. j Roger Church, 
 
 arrested by some of his own company, and was 
 
 brought before the Duke as a promoter of sedition. He was 
 accused of having taken part in an unlawful assembly at Post- 
 wick, with the view of stirring up an insurrection. He con- 
 fessed the fact, and offered to turn king's evidence on his accom- 
 plices. He then named a number of thrifty husbandmen, 
 farmers and gentlemen of the neighbourhood, alleging that 
 about three hundred persons were implicated in the intended 
 rising. The truth, as it presently turned out, and as Church 
 himself afterwards confessed, was, that the movement had been 
 got up by himself, at the instigation of Robert Ledham, who 
 promised to procure his pardon through the influence of Daniel. 
 By solicitations addressed to various unsteady characters he had 
 induced some to believe that an insurrection would be well sup- 
 ported. A little company of fifteen men accordingly met him 
 under a wood at Postwick, and he told them he had discovered 
 an excellent name for their captain, who should be called John 
 Amend-all. But beyond this meeting and naming of the captain 
 nothing seems ever to have come of the project. 1 
 
 John Paston was certainly one of those mentioned by Church. 
 The chief persons accused were the friends of Osbert Mountford, 
 and Paston was one of them. But John Falgate, one of the 
 deluded victims who had been present at the meeting at Post- 
 wick, being subjected to examination before the sheriff, exon- 
 erated Paston, and, while acknowledging his own share in the 
 conspiracy, pronounced the tale told by Roger Church in his 
 confession to be altogether an invention. We need not be sur- 
 prised to hear that after this a petition from the county of Norfolk 
 was sent up to the Lord Chancellor, praying that Church should 
 not be allowed the benefit of the general pardon, offered upon 
 Good Friday. 2 But Church persevered in his policy. He 
 
 i Nos. 177, 179, 180, 181, 201. 
 
 8 The petition, I think, must have been effectual, for I do not find Church's 
 name on the Pardon Roll 30 and 31 Henry VI.
 
 Ixxxvi Introduction. 
 
 appears to have been a reckless kind of adventurer. He pro- 
 bably claimed the benefit of clergy, for we find him three months 
 after his arrest in the hands of officers of the Bishop of Norwich. 
 His goods also were seized for a debt that he owed the Bishop. 
 But in spite of the contradictions given by other witnesses, in 
 July he adhered to what he had said in April, and instead of 
 retracting his former accusations, said he meant to impeach 
 some one else whom he could not at that time name, a man 
 wiio, he said, had more money in his purse than all of those 
 whom he had accused before. The coolness with which lie per- 
 sisted in these statements gave an impression that he was even 
 yet relying upon powerful friends to support him. 1 
 
 The conclusion of the affair must be a matter of speculation, 
 for we hear nothing more of it. The political history of Eng- 
 land, too, is, at this point, almost a blank. We know from the 
 Privy Council Proceedings that there was some difficulty in the 
 spring of 1452 in preserving friendly relations with Scotland in 
 consequence of some Border outrages perpetrated by the Earl of 
 Douglas. And this is absolutely all the light we have on the 
 domestic affairs of England for about a twelvemonth after the 
 Duke of York's oath of allegiance at St. Paul's. I have found, 
 however, by an examination of the dates of privy seals, that in 
 July the King began a progress into the west of 
 England, which is not altogether without signi- 
 ficance. He reached Exeter on the l8th, and from 
 thence proceeded by Wells, Gloucester, Monmouth, and Here- 
 ford, to Ludlow, where he arrived on the I2th of August, and 
 from which he returned homewards by Kenilworth and Wood- 
 stock, arriving at Eltham in the beginning of September. In 
 October he made another circuit northwards by St. Albans to 
 Stamford, Peterborough, and Cambridge. There can hardly be 
 a doubt the object of these journeys was mainly to conciliate those 
 who had declared their opposition to the Duke of Somerset, 
 especially when we consider that the visit to Ludlow must have 
 been nothing less than a visit to the Duke of York. York was 
 now more than pardoned. He was honoured by his sovereign. 
 
 Financially, however, we may well suppose that the Duke 
 was not the better of the royal visit. Perhaps also the state of 
 the country did not conduce to the prosperity of great land- 
 owners. At all events we find that at the end of the year York 
 was glad to pledge some pieces of jewellery to Sir John Fastolf 
 for a loan of ^437, to be repaid next Midsummer.* The transac- 
 tion is in every way curious, as illustrating the sort of dealings in 
 money matters which were at that time by no means uncommon 
 among knights and noblemen. It is certainly highly charac- 
 teristic of such a knight as Sir John Fastolf, who, quite unlike 
 the Falstaff of the dramatist, instead of being always needy was 
 
 1 Nos. 177, 178, 180. No. 184.
 
 Introduction. Ixxxvii 
 
 always seeking to increase the wealth that he had amassed by 
 long years of thrift and frugality. 
 
 We have had occasion to mention the historic Fastolf before ; 
 
 and it is time that we should now direct attention c . T , _ .... 
 rl . . vr j i_- Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 to the circumstances of his private hie and his con- 
 nection with thePaston family. John Paston, as the reader has 
 already been informed, was ultimately his executor, and to this 
 circumstance may safely be attributed the preservation of so 
 many of his letters, most of which have certainly been handed 
 down with the papers of the Paston family. Nevertheless, up 
 to the time at which we have now arrived we do not find that he 
 directly corresponded with any of them. We can see, however, 
 that he had a high regard for John Paston's advice in business, 
 and sometimes sent letters and documents of importance by him 
 to his agent in Norfolk, Sir Thomas Howes. He seems to 
 have been related in blood to John Paston's wife, 2 and he 
 acknowledges Paston himself as his cousin in his will. From 
 the general tenor of most of his letters we should certainly no 
 more suspect him of being the old soldier that he actually was 
 than of being Shakspeare's fat, disorderly knight. Every sen- 
 tence in them refers to lawsuits and title-deeds, extortions and 
 injuries received from others, forged processes affecting property, 
 writs of one kind or another to be issued against his adversaries, 
 libels uttered against himself, and matters of the like description. 
 Altogether the perusal is apt to give us an impression that Sir 
 John would have made an acute and able, though perhaps not 
 very highminded, solicitor. If ever his agent, Sir Thomas 
 Howes, was, or seemed to be, a little remiss in regard to some 
 particular interest, he was sure to hear of it, and yet woe to him 
 if he did things on his own responsibility which turned out after- 
 wards to be a failure. 3 Sir John was not the man to pass over 
 lightly injuries done even by inadvertence. 
 
 The familiarity shown even by Fastolf with all the forms and 
 processes of the law is probably due not so much to the pecu- 
 liarity of his personal character as to the fact that a knowledge 
 of legal technicalities was much more widely diffused in that day 
 than it is in ours. Even in the days when Master Shallow first 
 made himself ridiculous to a London audience by claiming to be 
 justice of the peace and coram, custalorum, and ratolorum, there 
 can hardly be a doubt that the knowledge of legal terms and 
 processes was not a thing so entirely professional as it is now. 
 But if we go back to an earlier time, the Paston Letters afford 
 ample evidence that every man who had property to protect, if 
 
 J Nos. 123, 129, 132, 152, 154, 169. 
 
 2 Note the passages in Margaret Paston's letter (No. 183): "Yet I sup- 
 pose Sir John, if he were spoken to, would be gladder to let his kinsmen 
 have part than strangers." And again: "Assay him in my name of such 
 places as ye suppose is most clear." 
 
 ' No. 168.
 
 Ixxxviii Introduction. 
 
 not every well educated woman also, was perfectly well versed 
 in the ordinary forms of legal processes. Sir John Fastolf had 
 a great deal of property to take care of, and consequently had 
 much more occasion to make use of legal phraseology than other 
 people. Had it been otherwise we should hardly have had any 
 letters of his at all ; for the only use of writing to him, and pro- 
 bably to most other people in those days, was to communicate 
 on matters of business. 
 
 There are also parts of his correspondence from which \ve 
 might almost infer that Sir John was a merchant as well as a 
 lawyer. His ships were continually passing between London 
 and Yarmouth, carrying on the outward voyage building mate- 
 rials for his works at Caister, and bringing home malt or other 
 produce from the county of Norfolk. In two of his letters we 
 have references to his little ship The Blythe? which, however, was 
 only one of several ; for, in the year 1443, he obtained a license 
 from the crown to keep no less than six vessels in his service. 
 These are described as of four different kinds ; two being what 
 were called "playtes," a third a "cogship," a fourth a "fare- 
 coft," and the two others "balingers," for the carriage of goods 
 and building materials for the use of his household. These 
 vessels were to be free from all liability to arrest for the service 
 of the King.* 
 
 The object of these building operations was the erection of a 
 stately castle at Caister, not far from Yarmouth, the place of 
 c .... . the old warrior's birth. As early as the reign of 
 Caster Outle. Heni 7 V " Jt seems , he had obtained license to 
 fortify a dwelling there, "so strong as himself 
 could devise;" 3 but his occupation in the French wars had 
 suspended a design which must have been a special object with 
 him all through life. The manor of Caister had come to him by 
 natural descent from his paternal ancestry ; but even during his 
 mother's widowhood, when Sir John was a young man of about 
 six and twenty, we find that she gave up her life tenure of it to 
 vest it entirely in her son. 4 Since that day he had been abroad 
 with Henry V. at Agincourt and at the siege of Rouen. He 
 had afterwards served in France under the Regent Bedford, 
 had taken several strong castles and one illustrious prisoner, 5 
 had held the government of conquered districts, and had fought, 
 generally with success and glory, in almost every great battle of 
 the period. Nor had he been free, even on his return to Eng- 
 land, to go at once and spend the rest of his days on his paternal 
 domains in Norfolk. His counsels were needed by his sovereign. 
 His experience abroad must have qualified him to give important 
 
 Nos. 141, 142. * Rymer xi. 44. 
 
 1 Dawson Turner's Historical Sketch of Caister Castle, p. 31. He doe 
 not state his authority. 
 
 * 5ee " Early Documents " in this volume, p. 6. 
 
 * The Duke of Alengon.
 
 Introduction. Ixxxix 
 
 advice on many subjects of vital interest touching both France 
 and England, and we have evidence that he was, at least occa- 
 sionally, summoned to take part in the proceedings of the Privy 
 Council. But now, when he was upwards of seventy years of 
 age, the dream of his youth was going to be realized. Masons 
 and bricklayers were busy at Caister 1 building up for him a 
 magnificent edifice, of which the ruins are at this day the most 
 interesting feature in the neighbourhood. Sadly imperfect ruins 
 indeed they are, in some places even the foundations would 
 seem to have disappeared, or else the plan of the building is not 
 very intelligible; but a noble tower still rises to a height of 
 ninety feet, its top possessed by jackdaws, and a large extent 
 of mouldered walls, pierced with loopholes and surmounted by 
 remains of battlements, enable the imagination to realize what 
 Caister castle must have been when it was finished four hundred 
 years ago. A detached fragment of these ruins, too, goes by the 
 name of the Bargehouse; and there, beneath a low -browed arch 
 still visible, tradition reports that Sir John Fastolf's barge or 
 barges would issue out on their voyages or enter on their return 
 home. 
 
 According to Mr. Dawson Turner, the foundations of Caister 
 castle must have inclosed a space of more than six acres of 
 ground. 8 The inventory of the furniture contained in it at 
 Fastolf's death 3 enumerates no less than six and twenty cham- 
 bers, besides the public rooms, chapel, and offices. An edifice 
 on such a scale must have been some time in building : many 
 years, we should suppose, passed away before it was completed. 
 And we are not without evidence that such was actually the case ; 
 for a chamber was set apart for the Lady Milicent, Fastolf's 
 wife, who is believed to have died in 1446, and yet the works 
 were still going on in 1453. In this latter year we find that 
 John Paston was allowed to have some control of the building 
 operations, and that chambers were to be built for him and his 
 wife. Meanwhile it appears he had chosen an apartment in 
 which to set up his coffers and his counting-board for the time. 
 Possibly when he was able to visit Caister he may have acted as 
 paymaster of the works. 4 
 
 The great castle, however, was now not far from completion ; 
 and before the end of the following year Sir John Fastolf had 
 removed from London and taken up his residence at Caister, 
 where, with the exception of one single visit to the capital, he 
 seeq^s to have spent all the remainder of his days. 
 
 We have said that very few notices are to be found of the 
 internal affairs of England in the year 1452, subsequent to the 
 Duke of York's swearing allegiance at St. Paul's. But just 
 about that time, or not very long after, the affairs of Guienne 
 
 1 Nos. 185, 186. 2 Historical Sketch, p. 4. 
 
 No. 336. * Nos. 185, 186.
 
 xc Introduction. 
 
 came once more to demand the serious consideration of the 
 Council. It is true that Guienne and Gascony were now no 
 longer English possessions. Bayonne, the last 
 Attempt to stronghold, had been given up in the preceding 
 Guienne. August, and, the English forces being now ex- 
 
 pelled, all hope of recovering the lost provinces 
 might well have been abandoned, but that the inhabitants were 
 desirous to put themselves once more under the protection of the 
 King of England . The fact is that the Gascons, who had been 
 three centuries under English rule, did not at all relish the 
 change of masters. Under the crown of England they had 
 enjoyed a liberty and freedom from taxation which were un- 
 known in the dominions of Charles VII. ; and on the surrender 
 of Bordeaux and Bayonne, the French King had expressly pro- 
 mised to exempt them from a number of impositions levied else- 
 where. But for this promise, indeed, those cities would not so 
 readily have come to terms. 1 Unfortunately, it was not very 
 long before the ministers of Charles sought to evade its fulfil- 
 ment. They represented to the people that for their own pro- 
 tection, and not for the benefit of the royal treasury, the imposi- 
 tion of a taille would enable the King to set a sufficient guard 
 upon the country, and that the money would not in reality be 
 taken from them, as it would all be spent within the province. 
 The English, it was to be feared, would not remain patient under 
 the loss, not only of the provinces themselves, but also of a very 
 valuable commerce that they had hitherto maintained with the 
 south of France ; for Gascony supplied England with wine, and 
 was a large consumer of English wool. Hence there was every 
 reason to fear that some attempt would be made by the enemy 
 to recover the lands from which he had been expelled, and it was 
 the interest of the inhabitants themselves to provide an adequate 
 force to ward off invasion.* 
 
 With arguments like these the French King'sofficers went about 
 among the people endeavouring to compel them to forego a 
 liberty which had been secured to them under the Great Seal of 
 France. In vain were deputations sent from Bordeaux and 
 Gascony beseeching the King to be faithful to his promise. The 
 petitioners were sent back with an answer urging the people to 
 submit to exactions which were required for the defence of the 
 country. The citizens of Bordeaux were greatly discontented, 
 and an embassy, headed by the Sieur de 1'Esparre, was sent 
 over to the King of England to offer him the allegiance of the 
 lost provinces once more, on his sending a sufficient fleet and 
 army to their rescue. The proposal being laid before a meeting 
 of the English Council, was of course most readily agreed to ; 
 and it was arranged that a fleet, under the command of the Earl 
 of Shrewsbury, should sail for the Garonne in October. On the 
 
 1 Basin, i. 251. * Ib. 237.
 
 Introduction. xci 
 
 i8th of that month the Earl accordingly embarked with a body 
 of 4,000 or 5,000 soldiers. The French army having with- 
 drawn, he easily obtained possession of Bordeaux, and sent its 
 captain, Oliver de Coetivy, a prisoner into England. Other 
 towns then readily opened their gates to the invaders, of which 
 one of the principal was Castillon in Perigord ; and very soon, 
 in spite of the opposition of their French governors, the greater 
 part of the lost provinces had put themselves again under the 
 protection of the English. 1 
 
 The suddenness with which these things were done seems for 
 a time to have disconcerted the French King. Winter was now 
 coming on, and probably nothing effective could be done for 
 some time, so Charles lay maturing his plans in silence. As he 
 surveyed the position at leisure, he probably found that any 
 further efforts of the invaders could be checked with tolerable 
 facility. France still retained possession of the two little towns 
 of Bourg and Blaye, which we have already mentioned as being 
 the keys of Bordeaux, and also of various other strong places in 
 which he had been careful to leave considerable garrisons. It 
 was therefore the beginningof June in the following D 
 
 year before he took any active steps to expel the 
 enemy from their conquests. He then marched southwards from 
 Lusignan near Poitiers, and laid siege to Chalais in Perigord, on 
 the borders of Saintonge. In the space of five days it was taken 
 by assault. Out of a garrison of 160 men no less than half were 
 cut to pieces. The other half took refuge in a tower where they 
 still held out for a time in the vain hope of succours, till at last 
 they were compelled to surrender unconditionally. Ol the prisoners 
 taken such as were of English birth were ransomed ; but as for 
 those who were Gascons, as they had sworn fealty to Charles and 
 departed from their allegiance, they were all beheaded. After 
 this, one or two other ill-defended places fell into the hands of the 
 French. On the I4th July siege was laid to Castillon on the Dor- 
 dogne, a position which when won gave the French free naviga- 
 tion into the Gironde. Thebesieging army was furnished with the 
 most perfect mechanism of war that the skill or science of that age 
 could supply. It had a train of artillery, with no less than 700 
 gunners, under the conduct of two able engineers of Paris, the 
 brothers Bureau. The place was thoroughly closed in when 
 Shrewsbury, hearing of the danger in which it stood, came with 
 haste out of Bordeaux with a body of 800 or 1,000 horse, followed 
 uhortly after by 4,000 or 5,000 foot. 2 
 
 At daybreak on the I7th, the Earl came suddenly upon the 
 besiegers, and succeeded without difficulty in thoroughly defeat- 
 ing a body of archers, who had been posted at an abbey outside 
 the town. This detachment being completely taken by surprise, 
 
 1 Basin, i. 258261. Lcclerq, (in Petitot's Collection.) 37 &. 
 * Basin, i. 261 4. Leclercq, 39 41. Matt, de Coussy, 121.
 
 xcii Introduction. 
 
 was obliged to save itself by flight, and after a little skirmishing, 
 in which some 80 or 100 men were slain on both sides, the 
 greater number of the Frenchmen succeeded in gaining a park 
 in which the main body of the besiegers had entrenched them- 
 selves. Further pursuit being now unnecessary, the English 
 returned to the abbey, where they were able to refresh them- 
 selves with a quantity of victuals which the French had left 
 behind them. "And because the said skirmish," writes the 
 French chronicler De Coussy, "had been begun and was done 
 so early that as yet Talbot had not heard mass, his chaplain 
 prepared himself to sing it there; and for this purpose the altar and 
 ornaments were got ready." But this devout intention the Earl 
 presently abandoned ; for a cloud of dust was seen in the dis- 
 tance, and it was reported to him that even the main body of 
 the French were rapidly retreating. Immediately the Earl was 
 again on horseback, and as he left the abbey he was heard to 
 say, " I will hear no mass to-day until I have overthrown the 
 company of Frenchmen in the park before me." l 
 
 Unfortunately, it turned out that the report of the retreat of 
 the French was utterly unfounded. The cloud of dust had been 
 raised by a body of horses which they had sent out of the camp 
 to graze. The French army remained in its position, with artil- 
 lery drawn up, ready to meet the Earl on his advance. The 
 English, nevertheless, came on with their usual shout, "A 
 Talbot! A Talbot ! St. George!" and while their foremost men 
 just succeeded for an instant in planting their standard on the 
 barrier of the French lines, they were mowed down behind by 
 the formidable fire of the French artillery. Against this all 
 valour was fruitless ; about 500 or 600 English lay dead in 
 front ; and the French, opening the barrier of their park, rushed 
 out and fought with their opponents hand to hand. For a while 
 the conflict was still maintained, with great valour on both 
 sides ; but the superior numbers of the French, and the advan- 
 tage they had already gained by their artillery, left very little 
 doubt about the issue. After about 4,000 Englishmen had been 
 slain in the hand to hand encounter, the remainder fled or were 
 made prisoners. Some were able to withdraw into the town and 
 join themselves to the besieged garrison ; others fled through the 
 
 woods and across the river, in which a number of 
 teltjfofTalbot the fu gi tives were drowned. In the end the body 
 
 of the veteran Talbot was found dead upon the 
 field, covered with wounds upon the limbs, and a great gash 
 across the face.* 
 
 So fell the aged warrior, whose mere name had long been a 
 terror to England's enemies. By the confession of a French 
 historian, who hardly seems to feel it a disgrace to his country- 
 men, the archers, when they closed around him, distinctly refused 
 
 1 Basin, i. 2645. De Coussy, 122. * De Coussft 124.
 
 Introduction. xciii 
 
 to spare his life, so vindictively eager were they to dispatch him 
 with a multitude of wounds. 1 Yet it must be owned that in this 
 action he courted his own death, and risked the destruction of a 
 gallant army. For though he was led to the combat by a false 
 report, he was certainly under no necessity of engaging the 
 enemy when he had discovered his mistake, and he was strongly 
 dissuaded from doing so by Thomas Everingham. 2 But his own 
 natural impetuosity, inflamed probably still more by the unrea- 
 sonable taunts of the men of Bordeaux, who, it seems, were dis- 
 satisfied that no earlier attempt had been made to resist the 
 advance of the French King into Guienne, 3 induced him to 
 stake everything on the issue of a most desperate and unequal 
 conflict. 
 
 With him there also died upon the field his eldest son, Lord 
 Lisle, his illegitimate son Henry Talbot, Sir Edward Hull, and 
 thirty other knights of England. About double that number 
 were taken prisoners, the most notable of whom was John 
 Paston's old persecutor, the Lord Moleyns. 4 Never had the 
 English arms experienced such a disastrous overthrow. 
 
 The Gascons now gave up their cause as altogether hopeless. 
 A fresh army had lately marched into their country, and was 
 laying siege to several places at once towards the East of Bor- 
 deaux, so that it was manifest that city could soon be shut in by 
 the royal forces. Castillon was no longer able to hold out. It 
 surrendered on the second day after Talbot's death. About the 
 same time Charles in person laid siege to Cadillac, one of the 
 most important places in the neighbourhood, protected by a strong 
 castle. The town was speedily carried by assault, and a few 
 weeks later the castle was also taken. Other places in like 
 manner came once more into the power of the French King. 
 At Fronsac an English garrison capitulated and was allowed to 
 leave the country, each soldier bearing in his hand a baton till 
 he reached the seaside. Very soon Bordeaux was the only place 
 that held out ; nor was the defence even of this last stronghold 
 very long protracted. Its surrender was delayed for a time only 
 in consequence of the seventy of the conditions on which Charles 
 at first insisted ; but a sickness which began to ravage his camp 
 at length inclined him to clemency. On the lyth of October 
 the city submitted to Charles, the inhabitants engaging to renew 
 their oaths of allegiance, and the English having leave to return 
 in their own ships to England. To secure himself against their 
 future return, or any fresh rebellion of the citizens, Charles 
 caused to be built and garrisoned, at the expense of the latter, 
 two strong towers, which were still standing at the beginning of 
 this present century. Thus was Gascony finally lost to the 
 crown of England. 
 
 1 Basin, i. 2678. 5 Ib. 265. 8 D e Coussy, 122. 
 
 * J. Chartier, 265; Berry, 469.
 
 xciv Introduction. 
 
 We must now return to the domestic affairs of the kingdom. 
 Matters had been hung up, as it were, in a state of unstable 
 equilibrium ever since Good Friday, 1452. The political 
 amnesty, proceeding, as it did, from the King's own heart, and 
 removing every stain of disloyalty from those who had laboured 
 most to change his policy, helped, in all probability, to keep up 
 a precarious state of tranquillity much longer than it could other- 
 wise have been preserved. The danger of Calais, too, had passed 
 away for the time, although it was always recurring at intervals 
 so long as Henry VI. was King. So that, perhaps, during the 
 latter part of the year 1452, the country was in as quiet a state 
 as could reasonably have been expected. At least, the absence 
 of information to the contrary may be our warrant for so believ- 
 ing. But the new year had no sooner opened than evidences of 
 A.D 1453. disaffection began to be perceived. On the 2d of 
 
 January Robert Poynings the same who had 
 taken a leading part in Cade's rebellion, and had, 
 it will be remembered, saved the life of one of Sir 
 John Fastolf's servants from the violence of the insurgents 
 called together an assembly of people at Southwark, many of 
 whom were outlaws. What his object was we have no distinct 
 evidence to show. He had received the King's general pardon 
 for the part he took in the movement under Cade ; but he had 
 been obliged to enter into a recognizance of 2,000, and find six 
 sureties of 200 each, for his good behaviour; so that he, of all 
 men, had best cause to beware of laying himself open to any new 
 suspicion of disloyalty. Yet it appears he not only did so by 
 this meeting at Southwark, but that immediately afterwards he 
 confederated with one Thomas Bigg of Lambeth, who had been 
 one of Cade's petty captains, and having met with him and 
 about thirty others at Westerham in Kent, tried to stir up a new 
 rising in the former seat of rebellion. From Kent he further 
 proceeded into Sussex, and sent letters to two persons who had 
 been indicted of treason, urging them to come and meet him at 
 Southwark on the last day of February; "at which time and 
 place," says the Parliament Roll, "the same Robert Poynings 
 gave them money, thanking them heartily of their good will and 
 disposition that they were of unto him in time past, praying 
 them to continue their good will, and to be ready and come to 
 him at such time as he should give them warning." 1 Altogether 
 it would appear from the record of the charge itself that nothing 
 very serious came of this display of disaffection on the part of 
 Poynings ; but it must at least be noted as a symptom of the 
 times. 
 
 Soon after this a parliament was called. The Crown was in 
 need of money ; but Somerset did not dare to convoke the legis- 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 396. Sec also the pardon granted to him five yean 
 later. Patent Roll, 36 Hen. VI. m. 12.
 
 Introduction. xcv 
 
 lature at Westminster. It met in the refectory of the abbey of 
 Reading on the 6th of March. In the absence of p . 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Kemp, 
 who was Chancellor, the bishop of Lincoln l opened the pro- 
 ceedings by a speech on behalf of the King, declaring the causes 
 of their being summoned; which were merely stated to be, in 
 general terms, for the good government of the kingdom and for 
 its outward defence. The necessity of sending reinforcements 
 into Gascony was not mentioned, and apparently was not thought 
 of; for up to this time the success of Shrewsbury had been unin- 
 terrupted, and the French King had not yet begun his south- 
 ward march. The Commons elected one Thomas Thorpe as 
 their Speaker, and presented him to the King on the 8th. 
 Within three weeks they voted a tenth and fifteenth, a subsidy 
 of tonnage and poundage, a subsidy on wools, hides, and wool- 
 fells, and a capitation tax on aliens, all these, except the tenth 
 and fifteenth, to be levied for the term of the King's natural life. 
 They also ordained that every county, city, and town, should be 
 charged to raise its quota towards the levying of a body of 20,000 
 archers within four months. For these important services they 
 received the thanks of the King, communicated to them by the 
 Chancellor, and were immediately prorogued over Easter, to sit 
 at Westminster on the 25th of April.* 
 
 On their reassembling there, they proceeded to arrange the 
 proportion of the number of archers which should be raised in 
 each county, and the means by which they were to be levied. 
 The commons, however, were relieved of the charge of providing 
 7000 men of the number formerly agreed to, as 3000 were to 
 be charged upon the Lords and 3000 more on Wales and the 
 county palatine of Cheshire, while an additional thousand was 
 remitted by the king, probably as the just proportion to be 
 levied out of his own household. For the remaining 13,000, 
 the quota of each county was then determined. But soon after- 
 wards it was found that the need of such a levy was not so urgent 
 as had at first been supposed, and the actual raising of the men 
 was respited for two years, provided that no emergency arose 
 requiring earlier need of their services. 3 
 
 The possibility of their being required in Gascony after the 
 success of the Earl of Shrewsbury in the preceding year, seems 
 no more to have occurred to the Government, than the thought 
 of sending them to Constantinople, where possibly, had the fact 
 been known, they might at this very time have done something to 
 prevent that ancient city from falling into the hands of the 
 Turks. For it was in this very year, and while these things 
 occupied the attention of the English parliament, that the long 
 
 1 Called William, bishop of Lincoln, on the Rolls of Parliament, but his 
 name was John Chedworth. 
 * Rolls of Parl. v. 227 31. * Rolls of Parl. v. 231 3.
 
 xcvi Introduction. 
 
 decaying Eastern Empire was finally extinguished by the fall of 
 its metropolis. 
 
 , After this, some new acts were passed touching the pay of the 
 garrison at Calais, and for the making of jetties and oilier much 
 needed repairs there. For these purposes large sums of money 
 were required, and the mode in which they were to he provided, 
 gives us a remarkable insight into the state of the exchequer. 
 To the Duke of Somerset, as Captain of Calais, there was 
 owing a sum of ^21,648, ios., for the wages of himself and his 
 suite, since the date of his appointment ; and on the Duke's own 
 petition, an Act was passed enabling him to be paid, not 
 immediately, but after his predecessor, Humphrey, Duke of 
 Buckingham, should have received all that was due to him in a 
 like capacity. 1 The pay of the officers of Calais, it would thus 
 appear, but that it seems to have been discharged by the captain 
 for the time being out of his own resources, must at this time 
 have been more than two years in arrear. If such was the 
 state of matters, we gain some light on the causes which 
 induced Somerset, after his loss of Normandy, to add to his 
 unpopularity by accepting a post of so much responsibility as the 
 Captainship of Calais. He was one of the few men in England 
 whose wealth was such that he could afford to wait for his 
 money ; and he was too responsible for the rotten government 
 which had led to such financial results, to give any other man a 
 post in which he would certainly have found cause of dissatis- 
 faction. 
 
 It was necessary, however, to provide ready money for the 
 repairs and the wages of the garrison from this time, and it was 
 accordingly enacted that a half of the fifteenth and tenth already 
 voted should be immediately applied to the one object, and a 
 certain proportion of the subsidy on wools to the other. At the 
 same time a new vote of half a fifteenth and tenth additional was 
 found necessary to meet the extraordinary expenditure, and was 
 granted on the 2d of July. 8 
 
 This grant being announced by the Speaker to the King who 
 was then sitting in parliament, Henry thanked the Commons 
 with his own mouth, and then commissioned the Chancellor, 
 Cardinal Kemp, to prorogue the assembly ; alleging as his 
 reasons the consideration due to the zeal and attendance of the 
 Commons, and the King's own intention of visiting different 
 parts of his kingdom for the suppression of various malpractices. 
 "The King, also," he added, "understood that there were 
 divers petitions exhibited in the present parliament to which no 
 answer had yet been returned, and which would require greater 
 deliberation and leisure than could now conveniently be afforded, 
 seeing that the autumn season was at hand, in which the Lords 
 were at liberty to devote themselves to hunting and sport, and 
 
 1 Ib. 333. * Ib. 2346.
 
 Introdtiction. xcvii 
 
 the Commons to the gathering in of their harvests." As these 
 weighty matters, whatever they were, required too much con- 
 sideration to be disposed of before harvest time, we might 
 perhaps have expected an earlier day to be fixed for the re- 
 assembling of the legislature than that which was actually then 
 announced. Perhaps, also, we might have expected that as the 
 parliament had returned to Westminster, it would have been 
 ordered to meet there again when it renewed its sittings. But 
 the King, or his counsellors, were of a different opinion ; and the 
 parliament was ordered to meet again on the I2th of November 
 at Reading. 
 
 Long before that day came, calamities of no ordinary kind had 
 overtaken both King and nation. About the beginning of 
 August, 1 news must have come to England of the defeat and 
 death of the Earl of Shrewsbury ; and Somerset at last was 
 quickened into action when it was too late. Great preparations 
 were made for sending an army into Guienne, when Guienne 
 was already all but entirely lost. It is true the Government 
 were aware of the danger in which Talbot stood for want of 
 succours, at least as early as the I4th of July ; even then they 
 were endeavouring to raise money by way of loan, and to arrest 
 ships and sailors. But it is evident that they had slept too long 
 in false security, and when they were for the first time thoroughly 
 awake to the clanger, the disaster was so near at hand, that it 
 could not possibly have been averted. 2 
 
 Whether it was in any degree owing to this national calamity, 
 in which case, the impression made by the event may well have 
 been deepened by the knowledge that it was attributed to the 
 remissness of Somerset, or whether it was due entirely to physical 
 or other causes quite unconnected with public affairs, in 
 August the King fell ill at Clarendon, and began The King 
 to exhibit symptoms of mental derangement. 3 falls ill. 
 
 Two months later an event occurred in which, under other 
 circumstances, he could not but have felt a lively interest. 
 After eight years of married life, the Queen for the first time 
 bore him a child. It was a son and received the name of 
 Edward ; but for a long time afterwards the father knew nothing 
 of the event. So entirely were his mental faculties in abeyance, 
 that it was found impossible to communicate to him the news. 
 The affairs of his kingdom and those of his family were for the 
 time equally beyond his comprehension. 
 
 The failure of royalty to perform any of its functions, however 
 
 1 It appears not to have been known on the 4th of August. Stevenson's 
 Wars, ii. 4878. 
 
 2 Nicolas' Piivy Council Proceedings, vi. 151 4, 155 7. Stevenson's 
 Wars, ii. 481 492. 
 
 a W. Wore. In an almanac of that time, I find the following note which 
 dates the beginning of the King's illness on the loth of August : " In nocte 
 S. Laurentii Rex mfirrr.atur et continuavit usque ad Circumcisionen Aniii 
 1455, in p " (?) (a word unintelligible at the end). MS. Reg. 13, C. i. 
 
 S
 
 xcviii Introduction. 
 
 weakly they might have been performed before, was a crisis that 
 had not occurred till now. A heavier responsibility lay with 
 Somerset and the Council, who could not expect that acts done 
 by their own authority would meet with the same respect and 
 recognition as those for which they had been able to plead the 
 direct sanction of their Sovereign. And now they had to deal 
 with a factious world in which feuds between powerful families 
 had already begun to kindle a dangerous conflagration. In the 
 month of August, probably of the year before this, Lord Thomas 
 Nevill, a son of the Earl of Salisbury, married a niece of Lord 
 Cromwell at Tattersall in Lincolnshire. After the wedding the 
 Earl returned into Yorkshire, when, having reached the neigh- 
 bourhood of York, some disturbance arose between his retainers 
 and those of Lord Egremont, son of the Earl of Northumber- 
 land. 1 As to the cause of the dispute we are left entirely 
 ignorant ; but it grew into a serious quarrel between the Nevills 
 and the Percys. The chief maintainers of the feud were, on the 
 one side, Sir John Nevill, a younger son of the Earl of Salisbury, 
 and on the other Lord Egremont. Both parties were repeatedly 
 summoned to lay their grievances before the Council ; but the 
 most peremptory letters and mandates had hitherto been ineffec- 
 tual. Illegal gatherings of people on either side continued in 
 spite of every prohibition; and the whole north of England 
 seems to have been kept in continual disorder. 8 
 
 The case was not likely to be improved when the source of all 
 legal authority was paralyzed. And yet so bad was the state of 
 matters before, that the King's illness, instead of being an aggra- 
 vation of the evil, positively brought with it some perceptible 
 relief. The Council were no longer able to avoid calling in the 
 aid of one whose capacity to rule was as indisputable as his birth 
 and rank. A Great Council was summoned for the express 
 purpose of promoting "rest and union betwixt the lords of this 
 land ;" and according to the usage in such cases, every peer of 
 the realm had notice to attend. Gladly, no doubt, would 
 Somerset have omitted to send such notice to his rival ; and it 
 seems actually to have been the case that no summons was at 
 first sent to the Duke of York. But afterwards the error was 
 rectified, and York being duly summoned, came up to West- 
 minster and took his seat at the Council table 3 on the aist of 
 November. Before taking part in the proceedings, however, he 
 addressed himself to the lords then assembled, declaring how he 
 had come up in obedience to a writ of privy seal, and was ready 
 to offer his best services to the King ; but as a previous order 
 had been issued, by what authority he could not say, to certain 
 old councillors to forbear from attending the King's councils in 
 
 \V. Wore. 
 
 * Nicolas' Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 140 a, 147 9, 154 5. 
 
 Ib. vi. 1635.
 
 Introduction. xcix 
 
 future, he required that any such prohibition might be removed. 
 This was unanimously agreed to, and the government of England 
 was at once restored to a free and healthy condition. 1 
 
 The Duke of Somerset was not present at this meeting of the 
 Council. He doubtless saw too clearly the storm gathering 
 against himself. To his former responsibility for the loss of 
 Normandy was now added further responsibility for the loss of 
 Guienne. The accusations against him were accordingly re- 
 newed ; but they were taken up this time, not by York but by 
 the Duke of Norfolk. A set of articles of impeach- 
 ment was drawn up by the latter, to which Somer- 
 set made some reply, and was answered again by Somerset 
 Norfolk. The accuser then pressed the matter 
 further, urging that the loss of Normandy and of Guienne should 
 be made a subject of criminal inquiry according to the laws of 
 France ; and that other misdemeanours charged upon him should 
 be investigated according to the modes of procedure in England. 
 Finally, lest his petition should be refused by the Council, Nor- 
 folk desired that it might be exemplified under the King's Great 
 Seal, protesting that he felt it necessary, for his own credit, that 
 what he had done in the matter should be known as widely as 
 possible. 2 
 
 In the end it was determined that the Duke of Somerset 
 should be arrested and committed to the Tower. This resolu- 
 tion was carried into effect a little before Christmas, and the dif- 
 ferent lords retired during the festive season to their own country 
 quarters. But all who had given their votes against Somerset 
 knew well that they stood in considerable danger. The battle 
 that he had lost would have to be fought over again with the 
 Queen, who now put in a claim to be entrusted with the entire 
 government of the kingdom. Every man of Somerset's party 
 got his retainers in readiness, and while other lords were out of 
 town, the harbinger of the Duke of Somerset secured for his 
 company all the lodgings that were to be got in Thames Street, 
 Mark Lane, St. Katherine's, and the neighbourhood of the 
 Tower. The Duke of Norfolk was warned by a faithful servant 
 to beware of parties in ambush on his way to London. Everything 
 clearly showed that the faction which had been dispossessed of 
 power had sanguine hopes of reinstating themselves at an early 
 opportunity. 3 
 
 And this, it is probable, they might have done with the 
 greatest possible ease, were it not that the King's loss of his 
 faculties was so complete and absolute that it was impossible, by 
 any means whatever, to obtain a semblance of acting upon his 
 authority. About New Year's day, when the 
 new-born prince was conveyed to Windsor, the 
 Duke of Buckingham took the child in his arms and presented 
 
 1 Patent Roll, 32 Hen. VI. m. 20. See Appendix to Introduction. 
 a No. 191. s No. 195.
 
 c Introduction. 
 
 him to the King, beseeching Henry to give him a father's 
 blessing. Henry returned no answer. TheDukere- 
 Jis child 2 3 mained some time with the child in the King's pre- 
 sence, but could not extract from him the slightest 
 sign of intelligence. The Queen then came in, and taking the 
 infant in her arms, presented him to his father, with the same 
 request that the Duke had made before her. But all their efforts 
 were in vain ; the King continued dumb, and showed not the 
 slightest perception of what they were doing, except that for one 
 moment only he looked upon the babe, and then cast down his 
 eyes again. 1 
 
 There were no hopes, therefore, that the King himself would 
 interfere in any way to protect his favourites in the Council. 
 Every man felt it necessary to see to his own secu- 
 tokTto"" rit y- The L 1 Chance } lor himself, Cardinal 
 himself. Kemp, "commanded all his servants to be ready, 
 
 with bow and arrows, sword and buckler, cross- 
 bows, and all other habiliments of war, to await upon the safe- 
 guard of his person." The Duke of Buckingham caused to be 
 made "2,00x3 bends with knots, to what intent," said a 
 cautious observer, "men may construe as their wits will give 
 them." Further from the court, of course, the old disturbances 
 were increased. "The Duke of Exeter, in his own person, hath 
 been at Tuxforth beside Doncaster, in the north country, and 
 there the Lord Egremont met him, and the two be sworn 
 together, and the Duke is come home again." The Earl of 
 Wiltshire and the Lord Bonvile made proclamations in Somer- 
 setshire, offering sixpence a-day to -every man that would serve 
 them ; and these two noblemen, along with the Lords Beaumont, 
 Poynings, Clifford, and Egremont, were preparing to come up 
 to London each with as strong a body of followers as he could 
 possibly muster. 2 
 
 The Duke of York and his friends on their side did the same; 
 and it was high time they should, otherwise the machinations of 
 Somerset would certainly have been their ruin. The latter had 
 spies in every great household, who reported to him everything 
 that could be construed to the disadvantage of his opponents. 
 Among York's private enemies, moreover, was 
 The Duke of Thomas Thorpe, Speaker of the House of Com- 
 Thonfe" mons, who was also a Baron of the Exchequer. 
 
 In the former capacity his functions had been for 
 some time suspended ; for Parliament, which had been prorogued 
 to the 1 2th November at Reading, only met on that day to be 
 prorogued again to the nth February, in consequence of the 
 mortality which prevailed in the town. Meanwhile, in Michael- 
 mas term, the Duke of York took an action of trespass against 
 him in his own Court of Exchequer, and a jury had awarded 
 
 No. 195. Ib.
 
 Introduction. ci 
 
 damages to the amount of 1,000. On this judgment was given 
 that he should be committed to the Fleet till the damages were 
 paid, and in the P'leet the Speaker ace rdingly remained till the 
 next meeting of Parliament. 1 In his confinement he was now 
 busily employed in drawing up a bill of articles against the Duke 
 of York, which doubtless, with the aid of a little favour at Court, 
 would have been highly serviceable to the cause of Somerset. 2 
 
 About the 25th of January the Duke of York was expected in 
 London, accompanied by a select body of men of his household 
 retinue. With him came his son, the Earl of March, at this 
 time not quite twelve years old ; to whom, nevertheless, a sepa- 
 rate household had already been assigned by his father, and con- 
 sequently another company marched in the name of the Earl of 
 March. These, however, were sent forward a little in advance. 
 Along with the Duke of York there also came up, or was 
 expected to come, his powerful friend the Earl of Warwick, 
 who, besides the retinue by which he was attended, was to have 
 a thousand men awaiting his arrival in London. Even these 
 noblemen and their companies formed a most powerful con- 
 federacy. But there were two other great personages besides 
 who travelled with them on the same road, whose sympathy and 
 co-operation with York at this time no reader would have con- 
 jectured. The King's two half brothers, the Earls of Richmond 
 and Pembroke, were expected to reach London in the Duke's 
 company; and they, too, had wisely taken with them a good 
 number of followers, for, notwithstanding their relation to the 
 Crown, it was thought not unlikely that they would be arrested 
 on their arrival. 3 
 
 In short, the continuance of the King's infirmity had now 
 rendered it clear to every man that unless the Council were willing 
 to comply with the Queen's demands, and yield up to her the' 
 uncontrolled management of public affairs, the government of 
 the kingdom must be placed in the hands of the Duke of York. 
 And yet some little time was necessarily allowed to pass before 
 any special powers could be entrusted to him. Parliament was 
 not to sit again till the nth February, and Reading was still 
 the place where it was appointed to assemble. The Earl of 
 Worcester, who filled the office of Lord Treasurer, was commis- 
 sioned to go down to Reading, and cause it to adjourn from the 
 nth to the I4th of the month, to meet that day at Westminster. 
 Meanwhile a commission was granted to the Duke of York to 
 act as the King's lieutenant on its reassembling. 4 
 
 On the 1 4th, accordingly, the Houses met in the royal palace 
 of Westminster; but the Commons were without a Speaker, and 
 another of their members, by name Walter Rayle, 
 was also undergoing imprisonment, from what cause ? a r '' ame " t an( i 
 does not appear. The Commons, therefore, before 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 2189. * No. 195. 3 Ib. Rolls, of Parl. v. 2389.
 
 cii Introduction. 
 
 proceeding to business, demanded of the King and the Lords 
 Spiritual and Temporal, that their ancient privileges should be 
 respected, and their Speaker and the other member liberated. 
 The case was taken into consideration by the Peers on the fol- 
 lowing day, when it was explained by the Duke of York's 
 counsel that the Speaker had a few months before gone to the 
 house of Robert Nevill, Bishop of Durham, and there taken 
 away certain goods and chattels belonging to the Duke against 
 his will ; that for this he had been prosecuted in the Court of 
 Exchequer, as it was a privilege of that court that its officers in 
 such cases should not be sued before any other tribunal ; that a 
 jury had found him guilty of trespass, and awarded to the Duke 
 damages of ,1,000 and 10 costs. Speaker Thorpe had accord- 
 ingly been committed to the Fleet for the fine due to the King. 
 The proceedings against him had not been taken during the 
 sitting of Parliament, and it was urged that if he should be 
 released by privilege of parliament a great wrong would be done 
 to the Duke. It was a delicate question of constitutional law, 
 and the Lords desired to have the opinion of the judges. Bui 
 the chief justices, after consultation with their brethren, answered, 
 in the name of the whole body, that it was beyond their province 
 to determine matters concerning the privilege of parliament; 
 "for this high court of parliament," they said, "is so high and 
 mighty in his nature that it may make law, and that that is law 
 it may make no law ; and the determination and knowledge of 
 that privilege belongeth to the Lords of the Parliament, and not 
 to the Justices." Nevertheless, as to the accustomed mode of 
 procedure in the lower courts, the Judges remarked that in ordi- 
 nary cases of arrest a prisoner was frequently liberated on a writ 
 of superseded* to enable him to attend the parliament ; but no 
 general writ of superseded!, to surcease all processes, could be 
 allowed ; "for if there should be, it should seem that this high 
 Court of Parliament, that ministereth all justice and equity, 
 should let the process of the common law, and so it should put 
 the party complainant without remedy, for so much as actions at 
 the common law be not determined in this high Court of Parlia- 
 ment." 1 
 
 P'rom this carefully considered reply it was clear to the Lords 
 that they were at least nowise bound to interfere in behalf of the 
 imprisoned Speaker, unless they considered the liberties of par- 
 liament likely to be prejudiced by the circumstances of his 
 particular case. It was accordingly decided that he should 
 remain in prison, and that the Commons should be directed to 
 choose another Speaker. This they did on the following day, 
 and presented Sir Thomas Charleton to the Lord Chancellor as 
 their new representative ; who being accepted by that functionary 
 in the name of the King, both Houses at once proceeded to business. * 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 239240. * Ib. 240.
 
 Introduction. ciii 
 
 A month later the Commons came before the Duke of York, 
 as the King's lieutenant, with two very urgent petitions. The 
 first related to the defence of Calais and the safe- 
 guard of the sea. Notwithstanding the very liberal Calais'* f 
 grants which had already been voted by this par- 
 liament, Calais was still in danger, and the sea was still very 
 insufficiently protected ; insomuch that the Lord Chancellor had 
 told the House of Commons 40,000 would be required to 
 obviate very serious perils. The Commons were very naturally 
 alarmed ; a modern House of Commons would have been indig- 
 nant also. They had in the preceding year voted no less than 
 ,9,300 for Calais, partly for repairs and partly for making*jetties, 
 besides all the sums voted for the pay of the garrison and the 
 tonnage and poundage dues, which ought to have been applied 
 to general purposes of defence. They therefore humbly peti- 
 tioned to be excused from making any further grants; "for they 
 cannot, may not, ne dare not make any mo grants, considered 
 the great poverty and penury that be among the Commons of 
 this land, for whom they be comen at this time ; and that this 
 their excuse might be enacted in this high Court of Parliament." 
 The money already voted was evidently conceived to be some- 
 where, and was considered to be quite sufficient to do the work 
 required ; so the Commons were told in reply by my Lord 
 Chancellor the Cardinal, " that they should have good and com- 
 fortable answer, without any great delay or tarrying." 1 
 
 The second petition was that " a sad and wise Council " might 
 be established, "of the right discreet and wise lords A council re- 
 and other of this land, to whom all people might quired, 
 have recourse for ministering justice, equity and righteousness ; 
 whereof they have no knowledge as yet." The Duke of York 
 was only the king's lieutenant in Parliament. With the assent 
 of the great council he could prorogue or dissolve it and give the 
 royal assent to any of its acts. But the business of the nation 
 imperatively required that some smaller body of statesmen should 
 be entrusted with more general powers. Even before the King's 
 illness the constitution of some such body had been promised to 
 the Parliament at Reading as a thing contemplated by the King 
 himself; 2 and it was now more necessary than ever. The only 
 problem was how to confer upon it an authority that could not 
 be disputed. 
 
 But while the Lords are taking this point into consideration, 
 we invite the reader's attention to a piece of private history. 
 
 A few years before the date at which we have now arrived, one 
 Thomas Denyes, a trusted servant of the Earl of Thomas 
 
 Oxford, seems to have caused his master some Denyes. 
 
 little inconvenience by falling in love with a lady who resided in 
 the neighbourhood of Norwich. We regret that we cannot in- 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 240. * Ib. 241.
 
 civ Introduction. 
 
 form the reader who she was. All that we know is that her 
 Christian name was Agnes, which was at that time popularly 
 corrupted into Anneys and frequently confounded with Anne, 
 and that she was an acquaintance of John Paston's. With John 
 Paston, accordingly, the Earl thought it best to communicate, 
 and in doing so earned for himself the heartfelt gratitude of 
 Denyes by one of those small but truly gracious acts which reveal 
 to us better than anything else the secret of the power of English 
 aristocracy. The lady seems not to have given her admirer any 
 great encouragement in his suit. She had property of her own 
 worth 500 marks, and could have had a husband in Norfolk with 
 land of 100 marks value, which was more than Denyes could 
 offer her. But the Earl of Oxford requested John Paston to inter- 
 cede with her in behalf of her wooer, promising her that if the 
 marriage took effect the Earl would show himself liberal to them 
 both. He further offered, if it would be any satisfaction to her, 
 to go himself into Norfolk and visit her." 
 
 This intercession was effectual, and the lady became the wife 
 of Thomas Denyes. It was a triumph both of love and ambition 
 to a poor dependent on a great P^arl. But with increase of wealth, 
 as others have found in all ages, Denyes experienced an increase 
 of anxieties and of business also. A suit in Chancery was com- 
 menced against him and his wife by a gentleman of the name of 
 Ingham, who considered himself to have a claim on the lady's 
 property for a considerable sum of money. Ingham's son Walter 
 was active in procuring the subptEna. But Denyes, strong, as he 
 believed, in a great lord's favour, conceived a plan by which he 
 might either interrupt the suit or revenge it on the person of 
 Walter Ingham. On the nth of January 1454 just about the 
 time the Queen and Buckingham were making those vain at- 
 tempts to introduce his child to the notice of the unhappy king 
 when, consequently, it was still uncertain whether York or 
 Somerset would have the rule, and when lawless persons all over 
 the country must have felt that there was more than usual im- 
 munity for bad deeds to be hoped for, Thomas Denyes wrote a 
 letter in the name of the Earl of Oxford, to Walter Ingham, re- 
 quiring his presence at the Earl's mansion at Wivenhoe, in Essex, 
 on the 1 3th. This letter reached Ingham at Dunston in Norfolk, 
 and he at once set out in obedience to the summons. But as he 
 
 was nearing his destination on the I2th he was 
 hamwaykud wa yl a id U 7 a party in ambush hired by Denyes, 
 
 who beat him so severely upon the head, legs, and 
 back that he was maimed for life, and compelled to go on 
 crutches for the rest of his days. Ingham complained of the 
 outrage to the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Kemp, who sent a 
 sergeant-at-arms to arrest Denyes at Lincoln's Inn ; but he at 
 first refused to obey the arrest. Shortly afterwards, however, he 
 
 1 Nos. 97, 200.
 
 Introduction. cv 
 
 was committed to the Fleet prison ; and Ingham, with the favour 
 of the Cardinal and the Earl of Oxford, who utterly repudiated 
 the act of his dependent, presented a petition to Parliament that 
 he should not be admitted to bail or mainprise until he had been 
 tried for the outrage and all actions between him and Ingham 
 had been fully discussed and settled. 1 
 
 The Earl of Oxford seems to have been thoroughly incensed, 
 and not without reason, against a servant who had so abused his 
 trust. Cardinal Kemp, as Chancellor, was not less righteously 
 indignant ; and a bill was actually passed through the House of 
 Peers in accordance with the prayer of Ingham's petition. Yet 
 it is difficult to understand why the punishment of the wrong 
 committed was not left to the operation of ordinary criminal law. 
 The case, perhaps, affected too seriously the honour of a noble- 
 man, and the discretion to be allowed to a retainer. But what- 
 ever may have been the cause, poor Denyes now becomes posi- 
 tively an object for compassion all the more so because his chief 
 feeling in the matter was not a selfish one. Besides imprisoning 
 Denyes himself in the Fleet, the Cardinal and the 
 Earl of Oxford threw his wife into the Counter, Denyes and his 
 / -1 , i XT ' wile in prison, 
 
 and afterwards sent her to Newgate, where she 
 
 suffered the discomforts of a gaol apart from her husband, although 
 she was then with child. " Which standeth too nigh mine heart," 
 is the brief expression in which he conveys his feelings to John 
 Paston, while apparently he was expecting to hear that his wife 
 was either dead or prematurely delivered ; for the treatment she 
 had met with brought on the pains of labour long before the right 
 time had come. Denyes, however, made friends with the war- 
 den of Fleet prison, who contrived in some manner to make 
 interest for her with her jailor, so that afterwards she was rather 
 better treated, and at last admitted to bail. 2 
 
 Poor Denyes was in dread of still further evils arising out of 
 the case when he wrote these facts to John Paston. The bill 
 against him had already passed through the Lords, and he was in 
 fear that it might pass through the Commons also, which we after- 
 wards learn that it did not. 3 His adversary, moreover, was bent 
 upon revenge; "for Ingham," he said, "lieth, beside that, to 
 take away my wife's daughter out of Westminster, 4 to make an 
 end of my wife if he can, and also to arrest my servants, that I 
 dread that she nor I shall have no creature to attend us ne help 
 us ; and such malice have I never heard of here before. And it 
 is told me that beside that they will despoil, if any good they can 
 find of mine in Norwich or Norfolk, and imprison my servants 
 there." All this he urgently implored Paston to prevent to the 
 best of his ability. And it must be said that John Paston, al- 
 
 i Nos. 198, 199. * No. 199. * No. 204. 
 
 4 Apparently Agnes Denyes had taken sanctuary at Westminster before 
 her imprisonment. The manner in which Denyes here speaks of her daughter 
 gives us reason to believe that she was a widow before he married her.
 
 cvi Introduction. 
 
 though he considered himself little bound to Denyes, except in 
 so far as he had promoted his marriage at the Earl of Oxford's 
 solicitation, on this occasion stood his friend. He wrote a letter to 
 the Earl urgently interceding for the unhappy wife ; and though 
 it seems probable, the letter that he first wrote was not actually 
 sent, we may fairly presume that he either devised a second to 
 the same effect, or used his influence otherwise to the same end. 
 Certain it is that he made some effort for which Denys was be- 
 yond measure grateful. x 
 
 " The Cardinal is dead and the King is relieved." Such were 
 the last words of a postscript which Denyes appended to his first 
 melancholy letter, complaining of his own and his wife's im- 
 prisonment. A rumour apparently had been spread that the 
 King's health was beginning to improve ; for which, as we 
 shall see, there was very little foundation. But it was perfectly 
 Death of * rue ^ a * Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canter- 
 
 Cardinal bury and Chancellor of England, was dead. 
 
 Kemp. Little as we know, beyond a few broad facts of 
 
 his career, whereby to judge his real character and aims, it is 
 certain that he was an accomplished statesman. A follower 
 originally of Cardinal Beaufort, the man who of all others could 
 serve two masters, Rome and England, with the least degree of 
 repugnance, and of whom the best that can be said, is, that he 
 never scnipled to betray the former in what appeared to be the 
 interest of the latter, Kemp was, perhaps, as honest a specimen 
 of the political churchman as an essentially bad system could 
 produce. The clergy, however, were really needed as statesmen : 
 few laymen had the ability, learning or education to enable them 
 to do the essential work of the nation ; and Kemp was one who 
 had gained for himself, by his own talents, the highest position 
 to which a subject could aspire in England, not only in the 
 realm but in the Church. 
 
 Thus, at a time when the functions of royalty itself were 
 suspended, the Chancellor, the official keeper of the King's 
 conscience, was suddenly taken away ; and in him England also 
 lost her primate, always one of the most important members of 
 the Council. The formation of a governing Council was now 
 more important than ever ; but the most pressing questions 
 of all were the appointment of a new Chancellor and of 
 a new Archbishop. Who was to take upon himself to nomi- 
 nate either the one or the other ? The Queen's modest claim 
 to be invested with the functions of her husband had not 
 been listened to by the Lords ; but the powers as yet con- 
 ferred upon the Duke of York, were only to represent the King 
 in Parliament. 
 
 It was upon the igth of March that the Commons had pressed 
 their petition for the establishment of a Council. Cardinal 
 
 > Nos. 200, 204.
 
 Introduction, cvii 
 
 Kemp died on the 22d. On the 23d the Lords appointed twelve 
 of their number as a deputation, headed by Deputation of 
 Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, to ride to Lords to the 
 Windsor and endeavour, if possible, to lay the state King, 
 of matters before the King. Their instructions were drawn up 
 in six articles, but only two were to be communicated to the 
 King if they found him unable to pay attention to what was 
 said. These two were a mere assurance of anxiety to hear of his 
 recovery, and that the Lords, under the presidency of the Duke 
 as his lieutenant, were using their best discretion in the affairs of 
 the nation. If any response were made to these two articles, the 
 deputation was then to tell him of the death of Cardinal Kemp, 
 and ask to know his pleasure who should be the new Archbishop 
 and who should be appointed Chancellor. They were to say 
 that for the security of the Great Seals, (there were at this time 
 no less than three Great Seals used in the Chancery) 1 the Lords 
 had caused them to be produced in Parliament, and after being 
 seen by all the Lords, they were enclosed in a coffer sealed by a 
 number of the Peers present, and then laid up in the Treasury. 
 Finally, they were to ask the King's mind touching the establish- 
 ment of a Council, telling him how much it was desired by the 
 Commons, and suggesting the names of certain Lords and 
 persons whom it was thought desirable to appoint as Councillors. 
 All these matters, however, were to be communicated only to 
 the King in the strictest privacy. 8 
 
 The deputation returned two days after with a report of the 
 total failure of their mission. They had waited on the King at 
 Windsor just after he had dined, but could get The King's 
 from him no answer nor sign that he understood imbecility. 
 their message. The bishop of Winchester then told the King 
 that the Lords had not dined, and that after they had they would 
 wait on him again. After dinner accordingly they were again 
 with him, and tried all they could to elicit an answer ; but the 
 King was speechless. They then proposed that he should go 
 into another room, and he was led between two men into his 
 bedchamber. A third and last effort was then made to rouse 
 him by every expedient that could be imagined, and when all 
 else failed, a question was put to him which involved no more 
 than a simple yes or no. Was it his Highness's pleasure that 
 they should wait on him any longer ? A long pause was allowed 
 in the hope that any mere physical difficulty might be overcome. 
 A faint nod, even a shake of the head would have been regarded 
 with some degree of satisfaction. But it was all in vain. 
 " They could have no answer, word ne sign ; and therefore with 
 sorrowful hearts, came their way." 3 
 
 It was now clear that the highest constitutional authority 
 resided for the time in the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. The 
 
 1 Nicolas Privy Council Proceedings, vol. vi., preface, pp. clxxviii.-ix. 
 Rolls of Parl. 2401. * Ib. 241.
 
 cviii Introduction. 
 
 reader, imbued with modern notions of the power and prestige 
 of the House of Commons, may possibly think that their votes, 
 too, should have been consulted in the formation of a govern- 
 ment. Such a view, however, would be radically erroneous. 
 The influence which the House of Commons has in later times 
 acquired an influence so great, that, unfortunately for the 
 nation, we not long ago saw an act passed by the Peers 1 
 notoriously against their own consciences as a body, in deference 
 to the will of the Lower Chamber, is a thing not directly re- 
 cognised by the constitution, but only due to the control of the 
 national purse strings. Strictly speaking, the House of Commons 
 is not a legislative body at all, but only an engine for voting 
 supplies. The Peers of the realm, in parliament or out of parlia- 
 ment, are, according to the constitution, the Sovereign's privi- 
 leged advisers. A king may, no doubt, at any time call to him 
 what other councillors he pleases, and the prerogative of the 
 Lords may lie dormant for a very long period of time ; but the 
 Peers of the realm have, individually or in a body, a right to 
 tender their advice upon affairs of state, which belongs to no 
 other members of the community. 
 
 On the ajth of March therefore two days after the report of 
 the deputation that had seen the King at Windsor the Lords 
 The Duke took the first step towards the establishment of 
 
 of York order and government, by electing Richard, Duke 
 
 Protector. o f York as Protector and Defender of the realm . 
 
 The title of Protector essentially implied an interim administra- 
 tor during a period when the King, by legal or physical incapa- 
 city, was unable to exercise his regal functions in person. A 
 Protector's tenure of power was therefore always limited by the 
 clause quamdin Regi placeret. It was terminable by the King 
 himself the moment he found himself able to resume the actual 
 duties of royalty. Even a protectorship like that of Humphrey, 
 Duke of Gloucester, instituted in consequence of the King being an 
 infant, was terminated before the royal child was eight years old 
 by the act of his coronation. The crowned and anointed infant 
 became a king indeed, and therefore no longer required the 
 services of a Protector ; so from that day, Duke Humphrey had 
 ceased to wield any authority except that of an ordinary member 
 of the Council. But indeed, even during his Protectorship, his 
 powers were greatly circumscribed ; and it had been expressly 
 decided by the Council that he was not competent to perform an 
 act of state without the consent of a majority of the other 
 Lords. Richard, therefore, knowing that his powers would be 
 limited, was most anxious that his responsibility should be 
 accurately denned, that no one might accuse him thereafter of 
 having exceeded the just limits of his authority. He delivered 
 in a paper containing certain articles, of which the first was as 
 follows : 
 
 1 The Irish Church Act, 1869.
 
 Introduction. cix 
 
 " Howbeit that I am not sufficient of myself, of wisdom, cunning, nor 
 ability, to take upon me that worthy name of Protector and Defender of this 
 land, nor the charge thereto appertaining, whereunto it hath liked you, my 
 Lords, to call, name, and desire me unworthy thereunto ; under protestation, 
 if I shall apply me to the performing of your said desire, and at your instance 
 take upon me, with your supportation, the said name and charge, I desire 
 and pray you that in this present Parliament and by authority thereof it be en- 
 acted, that of your self and of your free and mere disposition, ye desire, name 
 and call me to the said name and charge, and that of any presumption of myself, 
 I take them not upon me, but only of the due and humble obeisance that I 
 owe to do unto the King, our most dread and Sovereign Lord, and to you 
 the Peerage of this land, in whom by the occasion of the infirmity of our 
 said Sovereign Lord, resteth the exercise of his authority, whose noble com- 
 mandments I am as ready to perform and obey as any his liege man alive ; 
 and at such time as it shall please our blessed Creator to restore his noble 
 
 Eerson to healthful disposition, it shall like you so to declare and notify to 
 is good grace." 1 
 
 In reply to this, it was put on record that it was " thought by 
 the Lords that the said Duke desireth that of his great wisdom 
 for his discharge." And they, too, for their own justification, 
 resolved that an Act should be made according to a precedent 
 during the King's minority, setting forth that they themselves, 
 from the sheer necessity of the case, had been compelled to take 
 upon themselves the power of nominating a Protector. So 
 jealous were the Lords of anything like an invasion of the royal 
 prerogative ! 
 
 Further, the Duke required that the Lords would aid him 
 cordially in the execution of his duties and would exactly define 
 such powers and liberties as they meant him to -exercise ; that 
 they would arrange what salary he should receive ; and that all 
 the Lords Spiritual and Temporal belonging to the King's 
 Council would agree to act in the Councils of the Protector. 
 These matters being at length satisfactorily adjusted, the Duke 
 was formally created Protector by patent on the 3d of April. 
 It was, however, at the same time provided by another patent 
 that the office should devolve on the King's son as soon as he 
 came of age. 2 After this, five Lords were appointed to have the 
 keeping of the sea against the King's enemies, and in addition to 
 the subsidies already voted by Parliament for that object, a loan, 
 amounting in all to ^1000, was levied upon the different sea- 
 ports. 3 This was but light taxation and was no doubt cheerfully 
 submitted to. The good town of Bristol, we know, did more 
 than it was asked ; for Sturmyn, the Mayor, fitted out a stately 
 vessel expressly for the war.* Evidently there wer~ zeal and 
 patriotism in the country whenever there was a government that 
 could make good use of them. 
 
 And there was real need of that patriotism ; for the French 
 were again threatening Calais. They also made Calais again 
 a descent in great force on the isles of Jersey and in danger. 
 Guernsey, but were defeated by the valour and loyalty of the 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 242. Ib. 243. 
 
 a Ib. 244-5. * No. 208.
 
 ex Introduction, 
 
 inhabitants, who killed or took prisoners no less than 500 of 
 their assailants. 1 A Council was called to meet at Westminster 
 on the 6th of May, to take measures for the defence of Calais,* 
 the result of which and of further deliberations on the subject 
 was seen in the appointment of the Duke of York as captain or 
 governor of the town, castle, and marches. This office was 
 granted to him by patent on the i8th of July, 3 but he only 
 agreed to undertake it, as he had done the Protectorship, subject 
 to certain express conditions to which he obtained the assent of 
 the Lords in Parliament. Among these was one stipulation 
 touching his remuneration, in which he affirms that he had 
 served the King formerly at his own cost in the important offices 
 he had filled in France and in Ireland, so that owing to non-pay- 
 ment of his salary, he had been obliged to sell part of his 
 inheritance and pawn plate and jewels which were still unre- 
 deemed. 4 A very different sort of governor this from the 
 avaricious Somerset ! 
 
 Meanwhile other changes had been made in the administration. 
 On the ad of April, the day before the Duke's appointment as 
 Protector the Great Seal had been given to 
 S'the North* Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury, as Chancellor ; 
 and to prevent any renewal of disturbances in the 
 north by the Earl's former opponent Lord Egremont, his father, 
 the Earl of Northumberland, was summoned before the Council. 
 But before the day came which was given him to make his 
 appearance, news arrived that Lord Egremont had already been 
 making large assemblies and issuing proclamations of rebellion, 
 in concert with the Duke of Exeter. To restore tranquillity, it 
 was thought proper that the Duke of York should go down into 
 Yorkshire, where he no sooner made his appearance than his 
 presence seems to have put an end to all disturbances. The 
 Duke of Exeter disappeared from the scene and was reported to 
 have gone up secretly to London ; but the adherents of Lord 
 Egremont continued to give some trouble in Westmoreland. 
 Thither the Duke of York accordingly received orders from the 
 Council to proceed ; but he probably found it unnecessary, for 
 on the 8th of June it is stated that he intended remaining about 
 York till after the 2oth. Every appearance of disturbance seems 
 to have been quelled with ease ; and a number of the Justices 
 having been sent into Yorkshire for the punishment of past 
 offences, the Protector was able to return to London in the 
 beginning of July. 5 
 
 It was at this time that the two eldest sons of the Duke of 
 York, Edward, Earl of March, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, who 
 were of the ages of twelve and eleven respectively, addressed the 
 following interesting letter to their father : G 
 
 1 No. 206. 2 Nicolas' Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 174. 
 
 1 Carte's Gascon and French Rolls. * Rolls of Parl. v. 752. 
 
 * Nicolas' Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 178, 193 7. Nps. 206, 208. 
 
 Printed from the original in MS. Colt. Vespasian, F. xiii. fol. 35.
 
 Introduction. cxi 
 
 " To the ryght hiegh and myghty Prince, cure most warschipfull and 
 gretely redoubted lorde and fader, the Duke of Yorke, Protector and 
 Defensor of Englonde. 
 
 "Ryght hiegh and myghty Prince, oure most worschipfull and gretely 
 redoubted lorde and Fader, in as lowely wyse as any sonnes con or may we 
 recomaunde us un to youre good lordeschip. And plaese hit youre hiegh- 
 nesse to witte that we have receyved youre worschipful lettres yesturday by 
 your servaunt William Cleton, beryng date at Yorke the xxix day of Maij, 
 by the whiche William and by the relacion of John Milewatier we conceyve 
 your worschipfull and victorius spede ageinest your enemyse, to ther grete 
 shame, and to us the most comfortable tydinges that we desired to here. 
 Where of we thonke Almyghty God of his yeftes, beseching Hym hertely to 
 geve yowe that grace and cotidian fortune here aftur to knowe your enemyse 
 and to have the victory of them. And yef hit plaese your hieghnesse to 
 knowe of oure wilfare, at the makyng of this lettre we were in good helith of 
 bodis, thonked be God ; beseching your good and graciouse Faderhode of 
 youre daily blessing. And where ye comaunde us by your said lettres to 
 attende specialy to oure lernyng in our yong age that schulde cause us to grpwe 
 to honour and worschip in our olde age, Please hit youre hieghnesse to witte 
 that we have attended owre lernyng sith we come heder, and schall here 
 aftur ; by the whiche we trust to God youre graciouse lordeschip and good 
 Fadurhode schall be plaesid. Also we beseche your good lordeschip that hit 
 may plaese yowe to sende us Harry Lovedeyne, grome of your kechyn, 
 whos service is to us ryght agreable ; and we will sende yow John Boyes to 
 wayte on youre good Lordeschip. Ryght hiegh and myghty Prince, our 
 most worschipfull and gretely redoubted lorde and Fader, We beseche 
 Almyghty God yeve yowe as good lyfe and long as youre owne Princely here 
 con best desire. Writen at your Castill of Lodelowe the iij day of June. 
 
 Youre humble sonnes, 
 E. MARCHK. 
 E. RUTLOND." 
 
 Soon after the Duke had returned to London his presence was 
 required at a great council summoned for the i8th of July, to 
 consider the expediency of liberating on bail his great rival and 
 personal enemy, the Duke of Somerset, who had 
 
 been now seven months in prison. On this point P 16 Dulce { 
 ,,,,,, . c r i . ff i-i Somerset. 
 
 York had only one piece of advice to offer, which 
 
 was, that as he had been committed to custody upon suspicion of 
 treason, the opinion of the judges should be taken before he was 
 released from confinement. That he had remained so long 
 without a trial was not unnatural, considering the nature of the 
 times. It was a bold step indeed to try him at all, while there 
 was a chance of the weak-minded King's recovery ; but this 
 step was certainly resolved on. The 28th of October was the 
 day appointed for his trial ; and the Duke of Norfolk, who, 
 as we have seen, had been the first to move the capital charge 
 against him, was ordered by that day to be ready to produce his 
 proofs. Meanwhile the lords concurred that it was clearly inex- 
 pedient to let him go, especially as the number of lords assembled 
 was not so great as it should have been on the occasion ; and 
 the opinion of the Duke of York was not only agreed to, but at 
 his request was put on record. 1 
 
 Six days later it was agreed at another meeting of the Council 
 1 Nicolas Privy Council Proceedings, vL 207.
 
 cxii Introduction. 
 
 that the Duke of York should return into the north with the 
 Duke of Exeter in his custody, whom he was to confine in the 
 castle of Pomfret as a state prisoner. 1 
 
 By these decisive steps the authority of the Duke of York was 
 at length secured on something like a stable footing. During 
 the remainder of his protectorate there could no longer be a 
 doubt to whose hands power was committed ; and England, at 
 last, had the blessing of real government, able and vigorous, but 
 at the same time moderate. The resolutions of the Council soon 
 became known to the public. "As for tidings," wrote William 
 Paston to his brother in Norfolk, " my lord of York hath taken 
 my lord of Exeter into his award. The Duke of Somerset is still 
 in prison, in worse case than he was." William Paston wrote 
 in haste, but these were two matters of public importance to be 
 mentioned before all private affairs whatever. 3 And yet the 
 private affairs of which he wrote in the same letter will not be 
 without interest even to the readers of this introduction. William 
 Paston now reported to his brother that Sir John 
 S :f tcf^side Fast lf was auout to take his journey into Norfolk 
 in Norfolk. within a few days, and proposed to take up his 
 residence at Caister. His going thither must have 
 been regarded as an event not only in the neighbourhood of 
 Yarmouth but even in the city of Norwich. At all events it was 
 highly important to John Paston, whose advice the old knight 
 valued in many matters. " He saith," wrote William Paston 
 to his brother, "ye are the heartiest kinsman and friend that he 
 knoweth. He would have you at Mauteby 3 dwelling.' 1 This 
 must have been written in the latter part of July. Sir John did 
 not actually go into Norfolk quite so soon as he intended; but 
 he appears to have been there by the beginning of September. 4 
 
 There in his completed castle of Caister he had at length taken 
 up his abode, to spend the evening of his days in the place of his 
 birth, and on the inheritance of his ancestors. There during the 
 next five years he spent his time, counting over the items of a 
 number of unsettled claims he had against the crown, 5 and 
 meditating also, it would seem, on another account he had with 
 Heaven. For the latter the foundation of a college 6 or religious 
 endowment, in which were to be maintained " seven priests and 
 seven poor folk" at Caister, might possibly liquidate his debts. 
 But in his transactions with his fellowmen he was certainly for 
 the most part a creditor, and by no means one of the most 
 generous. Instances will be found in his letters in abundance 
 
 Nicolas Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 217, 218. 
 No. 211. 
 
 The manor of Mauteby, which came to John Paston by his marriage, 
 was only three miles distant from Caister. 
 No. 216. 
 Nos. 263, 264. 
 Nos. 290, 300, 301, 332, 333, 334.
 
 Introduction. cxiii 
 
 showing with what vehemence (testy old soldier that he was !) 
 he perpetually insisted on what was due to himself; how he 
 desired to know the names of those who would presume to resist 
 his agent, Sir Thomas Howes, how thay should be requited 
 " by Blackbeard or Whitebeard, that is to say, by God or the 
 Devil;" 1 how he noted that Sir John Buck had fished his 
 stanks and helped to break his dam;s how he had been 
 informed that at a dinner at Norwich certain gentlemen had used 
 scornful language about him, and desired to know who they 
 were. 3 In this perpetual self-assertion he seems neither to have 
 been over-indulgent towards adversaries nor even sufficiently 
 considerate of friends and dependents. " Cruel and vengeable 
 he hath been ever," says his own servant Henry Windsor, " and 
 for the most part without pity and mercy." 4 So also on the part 
 of his faithful secretary, William Worcester, we find a complaint 
 of shabby treatment, apparently at this very time when the 
 household was removed to Caister. To a letter in which John 
 Paston had addressed him as "Master Worcester," the latter 
 replied with a request that he would " forget that name of mas- 
 tership," for his position was by no means so greatly improved 
 as to entitle him to such respect. His salary was not increased 
 by one farthing in certainty, only "wages of household in 
 common, entaunt come nows plaira" which apparently means, 
 assured to him only during his masters pleasure. When he 
 complained to his master of this, all the satisfaction he obtained 
 was that Sir John expressed a wish he had been a priest, when 
 he could have rewarded him with a living. 5 
 
 There are, indeed, in more than one of Worcester's letters in 
 this collection symptoms of ill-concealed chagrin and disappoint- 
 ment. Nor were such feelings unnatural in one who, probably 
 out of regard for an ill-appreciated hero, had devoted the best 
 energies of his life to the services of such a master as Fastolf. 
 A native of Bristol, the son of one William Wor- 
 cester, who lived in St. James's Bee in that town, ^y llliam t 
 he was descended by the mother's side from a 
 wealthy family of Coventry, and often called himself, instead of 
 Worcester, by his mother's maiden name of Botoner. Born in 
 the year 1415, he had entered the university of Oxford in 1432, 
 and been four years a student at Hart Hall, now Balliol College ; 
 after which he had gone into Falstolf *s service. For many years 
 he had been steward of Sir John's manor of Castle Combe in 
 Wiltshire, and MSS. still exist in his handwriting relating to the 
 holding of manorial courts there. 6 He had also been Fastolf s 
 secretary in drawing up various statements regarding the wars in 
 France in vindication of his master's policy. 7 He was a man of 
 literary tastes, who had already presented some compositions to 
 
 i No. 98. a Nos. 130, 131. 8 No. 228. * No. 283. 
 
 Nos. 214, 215. Add. MS. 28208, B.M. 
 
 ' Stephenson's Wars, ii. [519] sg, 
 
 h
 
 cxiv Introduction. 
 
 his patron. 1 Later in life he wrote a book of annals, which is an 
 important historical authority for the period. It seems to have 
 been about a year before his master's death that he set himself 
 assiduously to learn French, under the tuition of a Lombard 
 named Caroll Giles. 1 From this instructor he had purchased 
 several books, and Henry Windsor suspected he had run himself 
 into debt in consequence. He had fairly owned to Windsor "he 
 would be as glad and as fain of a good book of French or of 
 poetry, as my master Fastolf would be to purchase a fair manor." 
 This French zeal appears to have excited the contempt of some 
 of his acquaintances among others of Friar Brackley, who nick- 
 named him Colinus Gallicus. 3 But he had a special object in 
 view in which a knowledge of this language was important ; for 
 he had begun translating, at Fastolf's request, from a French ver- 
 sion, Cicero's treatise de Senectute. This work appears to have 
 been left on his hands at Sir John Fastolf's death, and on the 
 loth of August 1743 he presented it to his patron's old friend, 
 Bishop Waynflete, at Esher. " Sed nullum regardum recepi de 
 episcopo " (but I received no reward from the bishop), is his 
 melancholy comment on the occasion. 4 The work was ultimately 
 printed by Caxton in 1481. Worcester was an assiduous col- 
 lector of information on topics of every description, and a number 
 of his commonplace books remain at this day. But like many 
 men of letters after him, he found that industry of this sort may 
 look in vain for any reward beyond the satisfaction of gratified 
 curiosity. 5 
 
 Along with the announcement that Sir John Fastolf was about 
 to go into Norfolk, William Paston informed his brother that the 
 old knight's step-son, Stephen Scrope, would reside at Caister 
 along with him. Of this Stephen Scrope our 
 Letters make not unfrequent mention ; but the 
 leading facts of his history are obtained from other 
 sources. He was the son of Sir Stephen Scrope, by his wife 
 Lady Milicent, who married Fastolf after her husband's death. 
 At the time of this second marriage of his mother, young Scrope 
 was about ten or twelve years of age, and being heir to a con- 
 siderable property, his stepfather had the management of his 
 affairs during his minority. Bitterly did he complain in after 
 years of the manner in which Sir John had discharged the trust. 
 According to the unfeeling, mercenary fashion in which such 
 matters were then managed, Fastolf sold his wardship to Chief- 
 Justice Gascoigne for 500 marks; "through the which sale," 
 wrote Scrope at a later date, " I took sickness that kept me a 
 13 or 14 years [enjsuing; whereby I am disfigured in my person 
 
 ^" Stella versificatse pro anno 1440 ad instantiam J. Fastolfe militis." 
 MS. Laud., B. 23 (according to the old pressmark.) 
 
 1 Letter 318. * Letter 331. 4 Itin. 368. 
 
 5 Tanner's Bibliotheca, See also a notice of William Worcester in Retro- 
 tpcctivc Review, Second Series, ii. 451 4.
 
 Introduction. cxv 
 
 and shall be whilst I live." Gascoigne held this wardship for 
 three years, and by right of it intended to marry Scrope to one 
 of his own daughters ; but as the young lad's friends thought the 
 match unequal to his fortune, Fastolf bought the wardship back 
 again. 1 Stephen Scrope, however, when he grew up, was not 
 more grateful for the redemption than for the original sale of 
 his person. " He bought me and sold me as a beast," (so he 
 writes of Sir John Fastolf,) "against all right and law, to mine 
 hurt more than 1,000 marks." In consequence of the stinginess 
 of his stepfather he was obliged, on coming of age, to sell a 
 manor which was part of his inheritance and take service with 
 Humphrey Duke of Gloucester in France ; by whom, according to 
 his own account, he had some hope of obtaining restitution of 
 the lordship of the Isle of Man, which had belonged to his uncle 
 the Earl of Wiltshire in the days of Richard II. But Sir John 
 Fastolf got him to give up his engagement with the Duke and 
 serve with himself, which he did for several years, to the satis- 
 faction of both parties. Afterwards, however, on some dispute 
 arising, Scrope returned to England, when Sir John sent home 
 word that he must pay for his meat and drink. To do this he 
 was driven to contract a marriage which, by his own account, 
 was not the most advantageous for himself; and his stepfather, 
 instead of showing him any compassion, brought an action 
 against him by which he was deprived of all the little property 
 that his wife had brought him. 8 
 
 Of this first wife of Stephen Scrope we know nothing, 3 except 
 that she died and left him a daughter some years before we find 
 any mention of him in the Paston correspondence. His necessi- 
 ties now compelled him to resort to the same evil system of bar- 
 gaining in flesh and blood of which he had complained in his 
 own case. " For very need," he writes, " I was fain to sell a 
 little daughter I have for much less than I should have done by 
 possibility," a considerable point in his complaint being evi- 
 dently the lowness of the price he got for his own child. It 
 seems that he disposed of her wardship to a knight 4 whose 
 name does not appear ; but the terms of the contract became 
 matter of interest some time afterwards to John Paston and his 
 mother, when Scrope who, besides being disfigured in person, 
 was probably not far from fifty years of age, made an offer 
 
 No. 72. 
 
 2 Scrope's History of the Manor of Castle Combe, pp. 264283. The 
 MSS. formerly at Castle Combe, to which Mr. Scrope refers in this work, 
 have since been presented by him and Mr. Lowndes, the present lord of the 
 manor, to the British Museum. One of them we have reprinted in No. 72. 
 
 3 She is not unlikely to have been the lady mentioned in No. 72, " Fau- 
 coner's daughter of London, that Sir Reynold Cobham had wedded." This 
 I find need not have been, as I have stated in a footnote, the widow of Sir 
 Reginald Cobham of Sterborough, who died in 1446 : for there was an earlier 
 Sir Reginald Cobham whose widow Elizabeth was married to William Clif- 
 ford as early as 1438. (Inquisitions post mortem, 16 Hen. VI. No. 31.) 
 Thus there is the less difficulty in attributing Letter 72 to a much earlier 
 date than that assigned to it by the endorsement. * Letter 71.
 
 cxvi Introduction. 
 
 for the hand of Paston's sister Elizabeth, a girl of about 
 twenty. The proposed match did not take effect ; but it was 
 for some time seriously entertained. Agnes Paston writes that 
 she found the young lady herself "never so willing to none as 
 she is to him, if it be so that his land stand clear." 1 The reader 
 will perhaps think from this expression that the young lady had 
 been pretty early taught the importance of considering worldly 
 prospects ; but there were other motives which not improbably 
 helped to influence her judgment. " She was never in so great 
 sorrow as she is now-a-days," wrote Elizabeth Clere to John 
 Paston, as a reason for concluding the matter at once with Scrope 
 if no more desirable suitor presented himself. Her mother 
 would not allow her to see any visitor, and was suspicious even 
 of her intercourse with the servants of her own house. "And 
 she hath since Easter the most part been beaten once in the week 
 or twice, and sometimes twice in one day, and her head broken in 
 two or three places."* Such was the rough domestic discipline 
 to which even girls in those days were occasionally subjected ! 
 
 Some years certainly elapsed after this before either Stephen 
 Scrope found a wife or Elizabeth Paston a husband. The former 
 ultimately married Joan, the daughter of Richard Bingham, 
 judge of the King's Bench ; the latter was married to Robert 
 Poynings, whom we have already had occasion to notice as an 
 ally of Jack Cade in 1450, and a ringleader in other movements 
 a few years later. This second marriage appears to have taken 
 place about New Year's day 1459 ; 3 before which time we find 
 various other proposals for her hand besides that of Scrope. 4 
 Among these it may be noted that Edmund Lord Grey of Hast- 
 ings wrote to her brother to say that he knew a gentleman with 
 property worth 300 marks (200) a-year to whom she might be 
 disposed of. No doubt, as in similar cases, this gentleman was 
 a ward in Chancery, whose own opinion was the very last that 
 was consulted as to the lady to whom he should be united. 
 But it is time that we return to the current of public affairs. 5 
 
 At Christmas, to the great joy of the nation, the King began 
 The King's to recover from his painful illness. He woke up, 
 recovery. as it were, from a long sleep, So decidedly had 
 
 he" regained his faculties, that on St. John's day, (ayth December) 
 he commanded his almoner to ride to Canterbury with an offer- 
 ing, and his secretary to present another at the shrine of St. 
 Edward. On the following Monday, the 3Oth, the Queen came 
 to him and brought with her the infant prince, for whom nearly 
 
 1 No. 70. 2 No. 71. 3 See No. 322. * Nos. 196, 209, 210. 
 
 8 We ought not to leave unnoticed one fact in the relations of Scrope and 
 Fastolf which is much more creditable to both of them than the disputes 
 above mentioned. In the year 1450, Scrope translated from the French and 
 
 dedicated to Sir John, "for his contemplation and solace," a work entitled 
 ''Ditz de Philosophies" (Sayings of Philosophers), of which the original MS. 
 is^now in the Harleian Collection, No. 2266. That Fastolf was a real lover 
 
 of literature, and encouraged literary tastes in those about him, there can be 
 no question.
 
 Introduction. cxvii 
 
 twelve months before she had in vain endeavoured to bespeak 
 his notice. What occurred at that touching interview we know 
 from a letter of Edmund Clere to John Paston, and it would be 
 impossible to wish it recorded in other words. " And then he 
 asked what the Prince's name was, and the Queen told him 
 4 Edward ; ' and then he held up his hands and thanked God 
 thereof. And he said he never knew till that time, nor wist 
 what was said to him, nor wist not where he had been whilst he 
 hath been sick, till now. And he asked who was godfathers, 
 and the Queen told him ; and he was well apaid. And she 
 told him that the Cardinal (Kemp) was dead ; and he said he 
 knew never thereof till that time ; and he said one of the wisest 
 lords in this land was dead." 1 
 
 On the 7th of January, Bishop Waynflete and 
 the Prior of St John's were admitted to speak 
 with him, and, finding his discourse as clear and coherent as 
 they had ever known it, on coming out of the audience 
 chamber they wept for joy. 3 
 
 Joy was doubtless the prevailing sentiment among all ranks 
 and classes of people ; but there was one to whom the news of 
 the King's recovery must have afforded a delight and satisfaction 
 beyond what any one else unless it were Queen Margaret 
 could possibly derive from it. The Duke of Somerset had now 
 lain in prison more than a year. The day appointed for his 
 trial had passed away and nothing had been done. It certainly 
 casts some suspicion upon the even-handed justice of the Duke 
 of York, that his adversary was thus denied a hearing ; but the 
 fault may have been due, after all, to weakness more than 
 malice. In cases of treason, when once a trial was instituted 
 against a leading nobleman, a conviction was, in those days, an 
 absolutely invariable result ; but this made it a thing all the 
 more dangerous to attempt where it was hopeless to expect the 
 positive sanction of the King. The real cause, however, why 
 Somerset was not brought to trial can only be a matter of 
 conjecture. His continued confinement, however harsh, was, 
 according to the practice of those days, legal ; nor was it till 
 six weeks after the King's recovery that he was restored to 
 liberty. A new day, meanwhile, and not a very early one, was 
 fixed for the hearing of charges against him. On the morrow of 
 All Souls the 3d of November following, he was to appear 
 before the Council. This was determined on the 5th of February. 
 Four lords undertook to give surety in their own proper persons, 
 that he would make his appearance on the day named ; and 
 orders were immediately issued to release him from confinement. 8 
 
 On the 4th day of March, he presented himself at a Council 
 held before the King in his palace at Greenwich. The Duke of 
 York was present, with ten bishops and twenty temporal peers, 
 
 No. 226. * Ib. * Rymer, xL 361.
 
 cxviii Introduction. 
 
 among whom were the Protector's friend, the Earl of Salisbury, 
 Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Worcester, Treasurer of England, 
 and the King's half-brother, the Earl of Pembroke. His 
 accuser, the Duke of Norfolk, was absent, probably not without 
 a reason. In presence of the assembled lords, Somerset then 
 declared that he had been imprisoned without a cause and 
 confined in the Tower of London one whole year and more than 
 ten weeks over, and had only been liberated on bail on the 7th 
 of February. So, as he declared there was no charge made 
 against him for which he deserved to be confined, he besought 
 the King that his sureties might be discharged ; offering, if any 
 one would accuse him of anything contrary to his allegiance, that 
 he would be ready at all times to answer according to law and 
 like a true knight. His protestations of loyalty were at once 
 accepted by the King, who thereupon declared that he knew 
 Somerset the Duke to be his true and faithful liegeman, 
 
 released. and wished it to be understood that he so reputed 
 
 him. After this, the mouths of all adversaries were of course 
 sealed up. The Duke's bail were discharged. His character 
 was cleared from every insinuation of disloyalty ; and whatever 
 questions might remain between him and the Duke of York 
 were referred to the arbitration of eight other lords, whose 
 judgment both parties were bound over in recognizances of 
 20,000 marks, that they would abide.i 
 
 The significance of all this could not be doubtful. The King's 
 recovery had put an end to the Duke of York's power as Pro- 
 tector, and he was determined to be guided once more by the 
 counsels of the Queen and Somerset. On the 6th March, York 
 was deprived of the government of Calais which he had under- 
 taken by indenture for seven years. 2 On the 7th, the Great Seal 
 was taken from the Earl of Salisbury and given to Thomas 
 Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. These changes, or at 
 least the former, promised little good to the country ; and in 
 the beginning of May we not only find that Calais stood again 
 in imminent danger of siege, 3 but that considerable fears were 
 entertained of an invasion of England. 4 But to the Duke of 
 York they gave cause for personal apprehension. Notwithstand- 
 ing the specious appointment of a tribunal to settle the controversy 
 between him and Somerset, it was utterly impossible for him to 
 expect anything like an equitable adjustment. A council was 
 called at Westminster in the old exclusive spirit, neither York 
 nor any of his friends being summoned to attend it. A great 
 council was then arranged to meet at Leicester long before the 
 day on which judgment was to be given by the arbitrators ; and 
 it was feared both by York and his friends, the Earls of Salisbury 
 
 1 Rymer, xi. 362, 363. * Ib., 363. 
 
 8 Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 234 8. 
 
 1 On the Patent Roll, 33 Hen. VI., p. 2, m. 19 d., is a commission dated 
 5th May, for keeping watch on the coast of Kent against invasion.
 
 Introduction. cxix 
 
 and Warwick, that if they ventured to appear there they would 
 find themselves entrapped. The ostensible ground of the calling 
 of that council was to provide for the surety of the King's 
 person ; from which it was fairly to be conjectured that a 
 suspicion of treason was to be insinuated against persons who 
 were too deservedly popular to be arrested in London with 
 safety to the Government. 1 
 
 York had by this time retired into the north, and uniting with 
 Salisbury and Warwick, it was determined by all 
 three that the cause assigned for the calling of the fiends" take 
 Council justified them in seeking the King's pre- arms, 
 sence with a strong body of followers. On the 
 aoth May they arrived at Royston, and from thence addressed 
 a letter to Archbishop Bourchier, as Chancellor, in which they 
 not only repudiated all intention of disloyalty, but declared that, 
 as the Council was summoned for the surety of the King's person, 
 they had brought with them a company of armed followers ex- 
 pressly for his protection. If any real danger was to be appre- 
 hended they were come to do him service; but if their own 
 personal enemies were abusing their influence with the King to 
 inspire him with causeless distrust, they were determined to re- 
 move unjust suspicions, and relied on their armed companies for 
 protection to themselves. Meanwhile they requested the arch- 
 bishop's intercession to explain to Henry the true motives of their 
 conduct. 2 
 
 Next day they marched on to Ware, and there penned an ad- 
 dress to the King himself, of which copies seem to have been 
 diffused, either at the time or very shortly afterwards, in justifica- 
 tion of their proceedings. One of these came to the hands of 
 John Paston, and the reader may consequently peruse the memo- 
 rial for himself in this volume. 3 In it, as will be seen, York and 
 his friends again made the most urgent protest of their good in- 
 tent, and complained grievously of the unfair proceedings of their 
 enemies in excluding them from the royal presence and poisoning 
 the King's mind with doubts of their allegiance. They declared 
 that they had no other intent in seeking the King's presence than 
 to prove themselves his true liegemen by doing him all the ser- 
 vice in their power ; and they referred him further to a copy of 
 their letter to the archbishop, which they thought it well to for- 
 ward along with their memorial, as they had not been informed 
 that he had shown its contents to the King. 
 
 In point of fact, neither the letter to the archbishop nor the 
 memorial to the King himself were allowed to come to Henry's 
 hands. The archbishop, indeed, had done his duty, and 
 on receipt of the letter to himself had sent it on, with all 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl., v. 2801. 2 Ib. 
 
 3 No. 238. The expression " Vadatur J. P.," printed in italics at the be- 
 ginning of the letter, and which Fenn speaks of in a footnote as " the direc- 
 tion," I suspect to be an endorsement, perhaps referring to some other matter.
 
 cxx Introduction. 
 
 haste, to Kilburn, where his messenger overtook the King on 
 his way northwards from London. But the man was not ad- 
 mitted into the royal presence ; for the Duke of Somerset and 
 his friends were determined the Yorkists should not be heard, 
 that their advance might wear as much as possible the aspect 
 of a rebellion. York and his allies accordingly marched on 
 from Ware to St. Albans, where they arrived at an early hour 
 on the morning of the 22cl. Meanwhile the King, who had left 
 London the day before, accompanied by the Dukes of Bucking- 
 ham and Somerset, his half-brother, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pem- 
 broke, the Earls of Northumberland, Devonshire, Stafford, 
 Dorset, and Wiltshire, and a number of other lords, knights, and 
 gentlemen, amounting in all to upwards of 2000, arrived at the 
 very same place just before them, having rested at Watford the 
 previous night. Anticipating the approach of the Duke of York, 
 the King and his friends occupied the suburb of St. Peter's, 
 which lay on that side of the town by which the Duke must 
 necessarily come. The latter accordingly, with the Earls of 
 Salisbury and Warwick, drew up their forces in the Keyfield, 
 outside the barriers of the town. From seven in the morning 
 till near ten o'clock the two hosts remained facing each other 
 without a blow being struck ; during which time the Duke and 
 the two Earls, still endeavouring to obtain a peaceful interview 
 with the King, petitioned to have an answer to their memorial of 
 the preceding day. They were told in reply that it had not been 
 received by the King, on which they made new and more urgent 
 representations. At first, it would seem, they demanded access 
 to the royal presence to declare and justify their true intentions ; 
 but when this could not be obtained, they made a still more ob- 
 noxious request. They insisted that certain persons whom they 
 would accuse of treason should be delivered into their hands, re- 
 minding the King, as respectfully as the fact could be alluded to, 
 that past experience would not permit them to trust to a mere 
 promise on his part that a traitor should be kept in confinement. 1 
 For the answer made to this demand, and for the details of the 
 battle which ensued, we may as well refer the reader to the very 
 curious paper (No. 239) from which we have already derived 
 most of the above particulars. We are not here writing the his- 
 tory of the times, and it may be sufficient for us to say that York 
 
 and his friends were completely victorious. The 
 A?ban's fSt ' action lasted on 'y half-an-hour. The Duke of 
 
 Somerset was slain, and with him the Earl of 
 Northumberland, Lords Clifford and Clinton, with about 400 
 persons of inferior rank, as the numbers were at first reported. 
 This, however, seems to have been an over-estimate. 2 The King 
 himself was wounded by an arrow in the neck, and, after the 
 
 1 No. 239. Rolls of Parl. v. 281-2. 
 
 5 John Crane, writing from Lambeth on Whitsunday, three days after the 
 battle, says, "at most six score." No. 241. Another authority says "60 
 persons of gentlemen and other." English Chronicle, ed. Davies, p. 72.
 
 Introduction. cxxi 
 
 engagement, was taken prisoner ; while the Earl of Wiltshire, and 
 the Duke of York's old enemy, Thorpe, fled disgracefully. When 
 all was over, the Duke with the two earls came humbly and knelt 
 before the King, beseeching his forgiveness for what they had 
 done in his presence, and requesting him to acknowledge them 
 as his true liegemen, seeing that they had never intended to do 
 him personal injury. To this Henry at once agreed, and took 
 them once more into favour. 1 
 
 Thus again was effected "a change of ministry" by sharper 
 and more violent means than had formerly been employed, but 
 certainly by the only means which had now become at all prac- 
 ticable. The government of Somerset was distinctly unconstitu- 
 tional. The deliberate and systematic exclusion from the King's 
 councils of a leading peer of the realm of one who, by mere 
 hereditary right, quite apart from natural capacity and fitness, 
 was entitled at any time to give his advice to royalty, was a 
 crime that could not be justified. For conduct very similar the 
 two Spensers had been banished by parliament in the days of 
 Edward II.; nor, if it had been suffered to remain unpunished, 
 would there have existed the smallest check upon arbitrary 
 government and intolerable maladministration. 
 
 Such, we may be well assured, was the feeling of the city of 
 London, which, on the day following the battle received the 
 victors in triumph with a general procession. 3 The Duke of 
 York conducted the King to the Bishop of London's palace, and 
 a council being assembled, writs were sent out for a parliament 
 to meet on the 9th of July following. 3 Meanwhile the Duke 
 was made Constable of England, and Lord Bourchier, Treasurer. 
 The defence of Calais was committed to the Earl of Warwick. 4 
 There was, however, no entire and sweeping change made in 
 the officers of state. The Great Seal was allowed to continue in 
 the hands of Archbishop Bourchier. 
 
 It remained, however, for Parliament to ratify what had been 
 done. However justifiable in a moral point of view, the con- 
 duct of York and his allies wore an aspect of violence towards 
 the Sovereign, which made it necessary that its legality should 
 be investigated by the highest court in the realm. Inquiry was 
 made both in Parliament and by the King's Council which of the 
 Lords about the King had been responsible for provoking the 
 collision. Angry and unpleasant feelings, as might be expected, 
 burst out in consequence. The Earl of Warwick accused Lord 
 Cromwell to the King, and when the latter attempted to vindi- 
 cate himself, swore that what he stated was untrue. So greatly 
 was Lord Cromwell intimidated, that the Earl of Shrewsbury, at 
 his request, took up his lodging at St. James's, beside the Mews, 
 for his protection. The retainers of York, Warwick, and Salis- 
 bury, went about fully armed, and kept their lords' barges on 
 
 * Nos. 239, 240, 241. 2 No. 240. 8 No. 239. * No. 24L
 
 cxxii Introduction. 
 
 the river amply furnished with weapons. Proclamations, how- 
 ever, were presently issued against bearing arms. The parlia- 
 ment, at last, laid the whole blame of the encounter upon the 
 deceased Duke of Somerset, and the courtiers Thorpe and 
 Joseph ; and by an act which received the royal assent, it was 
 declared that the Duke of York and his friends had acted the 
 part of good and faithful subjects. " To the which bill," said 
 Henry Windsor in a letter to his friends Bocking and Wor- 
 cester, "many a man grudged full sore now it is past;" but he 
 requested them to burn a communication full of such uncom- 
 fortable matter to comment upon as the quarrels and heartburn- 
 ings of Lords. l 
 
 But with whatever grudge it may have been that Parliament 
 condoned the acts of the Yorkists, it seems not 
 nentairv to nave been without some degree of pressure that 
 
 elections. the Duke and his allies obtained a parliament so 
 
 much after their o%vn minds. Here, for instance, 
 we have the Duchess of Norfolk writing to John Paston, just 
 before the election, that it was thought necessary "that my lord 
 have at this time in the parliament such persons as long unto 
 him and be of his menial servants (!);" on which account she 
 requests his vote and influence in favour of John Howard and 
 Sir Roger Chamberlain. 2 The application could scarcely have 
 been agreeable to the person to whom it was addressed ; for it 
 seems that John Paston himself had on this occasion some 
 thought of coming forward as a candidate for Norfolk. Excep- 
 tion was taken to John Howard, one of the Duke's nominees, 
 (who, about eight and twenty years later, was created Duke of 
 Norfolk himself, and was the ancestor of the present ducal 
 family), on the ground that he possessed no lands within the 
 county; 3 and at the nomination the names of Berney, Grey, and 
 Paston, were received with greater favour. 4 John Jenney thought 
 it "an evil precedent for the shire that a strange man should be 
 chosen, and no worship to my lord of York nor to my lord of 
 Norfolk to write for him ; for if the gentlemen of the shire will 
 suffer such inconvenience, in good faith the shire shall not be 
 called of such worship as it hath been." So unpopular, in fact, 
 was Howard's candidature that the Duke of Norfolk was half 
 persuaded to give him up, declaring, that since his return was 
 objected to he would write to the under sheriff that the shire 
 should have free election, provided they did not choose Sir 
 Thomas Tuddenham or any of the old adherents of the Duke of 
 Suffolk. And so, for a time it seemed as if free election would 
 be allowed. The under sheriff even ventured to write to John 
 Paston that he meant to return his name and that of Master 
 Grey; "nevertheless," he added significantly, "I have a 
 master." Howard appeared to be savage with disappointment. 
 
 1 No. 253. * No. 244. Nos. 249, 250. * No. 247.
 
 Introduction. cxxiii 
 
 He was "as wode" (i.e. mad), wrote John Jenney, "as a wild 
 bullock." But in the end it appeared he had no need to be ex- 
 asperated, for when the poll came to be taken, he and the other 
 nominee of the Duke of Norfolk were found to have gained the 
 day. 1 
 
 Besides the act of indemnity for the Duke of York and his 
 partisans, and a new oath of allegiance being sworn to by the 
 Lords, little was done at this meeting of the Parliament. On 
 the 3ist July it was prorogued, to meet again upon the I2th 
 November. But in the interval another complication had arisen. 
 The King, who seems to have suffered in health from the severe 
 shock that he must have received by the battle of St. Albans," 
 had felt the necessity of retirement to recover his composure, and 
 had withdrawn before the meeting of Parliament to Hertford ; at 
 which time the Duke of York, in order to be near him, took up 
 his quarters at the Friars at Ware. 3 He was well, or at all 
 events well enough to open Parliament in person on the gth 
 July ; but shortly afterwards he retired to Hertford again, where 
 according to the dates of his Privy Seals, I find that he remained 
 during August and September. In the month of 
 October following he was still there, and it was 
 reported that he had fallen sick of his old infirmity ; 
 which proved to be too true.* 
 
 Altogether matters looked gloomy enough. Change of 
 ministry by force of arms, whatever might be said for it, was 
 not a thing to win the confidence either of King or people. 
 There were prophecies bruited about that another battle would 
 take place before St. Andrew's day the greatest that had 
 been since the battle of Shrewsbury in the days of Henry 
 IV. One Dr. Green ventured to predict it in detail. The' 
 scene of the conflict was to be between the Bishop of Salis- 
 bury's Inn and Westminster Bars, and three bishops and four 
 temporal lords were to be among the slain. The Londoners 
 were spared this excitement ; but from the country there came 
 news of a party outrage committed by the eldest 
 son of the Earl of Devonshire, on a dependent of P'sturbances 
 i T j T> M L r T- i j ln tne West, 
 
 the Lord Bonvile, and the west of England seems 
 
 to have been disturbed for some time afterwards. 5 From a local 
 MS. chronicle cited by Holinshed, it appears that a regular 
 pitched battle took place between the two noblemen on Clist 
 Heath, about two miles from Exeter, in which Lord Bonvile, 
 having gained the victory, entered triumphantly into the city. 
 A modern historian of Exeter, however, seems to have read the 
 MS. differently, and tells us that Lord Bonvile was driven into 
 the city by defeat. 8 However this may be, the Earl of Devon- 
 
 i No. 250. 2 See Rymer, xi. 366. No. 243. 4 No. 257. 
 6 No. 257. See also a brief account of the same affair, in W. Worcester's 
 Itinerary, p. 114. 
 ' Jenkins' History of Exeter, p. 78.
 
 cxxiv Introduction. 
 
 shire did not allow the matter to rest Accompanied by a large 
 body of retainers, no less, it is stated, than 800 horse and 4,000 
 foot, he attacked the Dean and Canons of Exeter, made several 
 of the latter prisoners, and robbed the cathedral. 1 
 
 That one out of the number of those great lords who had been 
 attached to the government of the Queen and the Duke of 
 Somerset should thus have abused his local influence, was pretty 
 much what might have been expected at such a juncture. But 
 the effect was only to strengthen the hands of York when parlia- 
 ment met again in November. The situation was now once 
 more what it had been in the beginning of the previous year. 
 The day before parliament met, the Duke of York obtained a 
 commission to act as the King's lieutenant on its assembling,! 
 The warrant for the issuing of this commission was signed by no 
 less than thirty-nine Lords of the Council. The Houses then 
 met under the presidency of the Duke.* The Commons sent a 
 deputation to the Upper House, to petition the Lords that they 
 would " be good means to the King's Highness" for the appoint- 
 ment of some person to undertake the defence of the realm and 
 the repressing of disorders. But for some days this request re- 
 mained unanswered. The appeal was renewed by the Commons 
 a second time, and again a third time, with an intimation that 
 no other business would be attended to till it was answered. On 
 the second occasion the Lords named the Duke of York Protec- . 
 tor, but he desired that they would excuse him, and elect some 
 other. The Lords, however, declined to alter their choice, and 
 the Duke at last agreed to accept the office, on 
 
 York again certain specific conditions which experience had 
 Protector. , . . . r , .... , ,- . ' /. , . 
 
 taught him to make still more definite for his own 
 
 protection than those on which he had before insisted. Among 
 other things it was now agreed that the Protectorship should not 
 again be terminated by the mere fact of the King's recovery ; but 
 that when the King should be in a position to exercise his func- 
 tions, the Protector should be discharged of his office in Parlia- 
 ment, by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. 4 
 
 On the I gth of November, accordingly, York was formally 
 appointed Protector for the second time. Three days afterwards 
 the King, at Westminster, whose infirmity on this occasion could 
 scarcely have amounted to absolute loss of his faculties, com- 
 mitted the entire government of the kingdom to his council, 
 merely desiring that they would inform him of anything they 
 might think fit to determine touching the honour and surety of 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl., v. 285. It may be observed that the bishopric was at this 
 time vacant, and the dean, whose name was John Hals, had received a papal 
 provision to be the new bishop, but was forced to relinquish it in favour of 
 George Nevill, son of the Earl of Salisbury, a young man of only three and 
 twenty years of age. Godwin de Praesulibus. Le Neve's Fasti. Nicolas' 
 Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 265. * Rolls of Pail., v. 285. 
 
 3 Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 262. 
 
 Rolls of ParL, v. 2857.
 
 Introduction. cxxv 
 
 his person. 1 The business of the nation was again placed on 
 something like a stable and satisfactory footing ; and Parliament, 
 after sitting till the I3th December, was prorogued to the I4th 
 January, in order that the Duke of York might go down into 
 the West for the repressing of those disorders of which we have 
 already spoken. 2 
 
 Unluckily, things did not remain long in a condition so hope- 
 ful for the restoration of order. Early in the fol- . 
 lowing year the King recovered his health, and 
 notwithstanding the support of which he had been assured in 
 Parliament, York knew that his authority as Protector would be 
 taken from him. On the gth of February, as we learn from a 
 letter of John Bocking, it had been anticipated that he would 
 have received his discharge in Parliament ; but he was allowed 
 to retain office for a fortnight longer. On that day he and War- 
 wick thought fit to come to the Parliament with a company of 
 300 armed men, alleging that they stood in danger of being way- 
 laid upon the road. The pretence does not seem to have been 
 generally credited ; but the practical result of this demonstration 
 was simply to prevent any other lords from going to the Parlia- 
 ment at all. 3 
 
 The real question, however, which had to be considered was 
 the kind of government that should prevail when York was no 
 more Protector. The Queen was again making anxious efforts 
 to get the management of affairs into her own hands ; but the 
 battle of St. Alban's had deprived her of her great ally the Duke 
 of Somerset, and there was no one now to fill his place. It is 
 true he had left a son who was now Duke of Somerset in his 
 stead, and quite as much attached to her interests. There were, 
 moreover, the Duke of Buckingham and others who were by no 
 means friendly to the Duke of York. But no man possessed 
 anything like the degree of power, experience, and political 
 ability to enable the King to dispense entirely with the services 
 of his present Protector. The King himself, it was said, desired 
 that he should be named his Chief Councillor and Lieutenant, 
 and that powers should be conferred upon him by patent inferior 
 only to those given him by the Parliament. But this was not 
 thought a likely settlement, and no one really knew what was 
 to be the new regime. The attention of the Lords was occupied 
 with "a great gleaming star " which had just made its appear- 
 ance, and which really offered as much help to the solution of 
 the enigma as any appearances purely mundane and political. 4 
 
 At length on the 25th of February the Lords exonerated York 
 from his duties as Protector ; soon after which, if not on the 
 same day, Parliament must have been dissolved. 5 
 
 An act of resumption, rendered necessary by the ^- ga !" j 
 r ,, ,, , , J .. J f .. discharged, 
 
 state ot the revenue, was the principal fruit of its 
 
 1 Rolls of Parl. v. 288-290. * Ib. 321. No. 275 * Ik 
 * Rolls of Parl. v. 321.
 
 cxxvi Introduction. 
 
 deliberations. 1 The finances of the kingdom were placed, if not 
 in a sound, at least in a more hopeful condition than before ; and 
 Parliament and the Protector were both dismissed, without, 
 apparently, the slightest provision being made for the future con- 
 duct of affairs. Government in fact seems almost to have fallen 
 into abeyance. There is a most striking blank in the records 
 of the Privy Council from the end of January 1456, to the end of 
 November 1457. That some councils were held during this 
 period we know from other evidences ; * but with the exception 
 of one single occasion, when it was necessary to issue a commis- 
 sion for the trial of insurgents in Kent, 3 there is not a single 
 record left to tell us what was done at them. 
 
 Yet the machine of state still moved, no one could tell exactly 
 how. Acts were done in the King's name if not really and truly 
 by the King, and by the sheer necessity of the case York appears 
 to have had the ordering of all things. But his authority hung 
 by a thread. His acts were without the slightest legal validity 
 except in so far as they might be considered as having the sanc- 
 tion of the King ; and in whatever way that sanction may or 
 may not have been expressed, there was no security that it 
 would not afterwards be withdrawn and disavowed. 
 
 And so indeed it happened at this time in a matter that con- 
 cerned deeply the honour of the whole country. The out- 
 break of civil war had provoked the interference of an enemy 
 of whom Englishmen were always peculiarly intolerant. The 
 Duke of Somerset slain at St. Alban's was uncle 
 ?* *ois S to J ames U- tne reigning King of Scotland, who 
 
 is said to have resented his death, on the ground 
 of consanguinity. In less than six weeks after the battle, "the 
 King of Scots with the red face," as he is called in a contempor- 
 ary chronicle, laid siege to Berwick both by water and land. 
 But the Bishop of Durham, the Earl of Northumberland, and 
 other Lords of the Marches, took prompt measures for the relief 
 of the town, and soon assembled such a force as to compel James 
 not only to quit the siege but to leave all his ordnance and 
 victuals behind him. 4 How matters stood between the two 
 countries during the next ten months we have no precise 
 information ; but it is clear that England, although the 
 injured party, could not have been anxious to turn the 
 occasion into one of open rupture. Peace still continued to be 
 preserved till, on the loth of May 1456, James wrote to the King 
 of England by Lyon herald, declaring that the truce of 1453 was 
 
 1 Ib. 300. A more sweeping bill for this purpose, which was rejected by 
 the Lords, states that the revenue was so encumbered "that the charge of 
 every sheriff in substance exceedeth so far the receipt of the revenues thereof 
 due and leviable to you (i.e. the king), that no person of goodwill dare take 
 upon him to be sheriff in any shire, for the most party, in this land." Ib. 328. 
 Additional illustrations of this fact will be found in Nicolas' Privy Council 
 Proceedings vi. 263-4, 272-3, and Preface Ixxv-vi. 
 
 * Nos. 285, 295, 298. * Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 287. 
 
 * Chronicle in Lambeth MS. 309 : Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 248-0,
 
 Introduction. cxxvii 
 
 injurious to his kingdom, and that unless more favourable con- 
 ditions were conceded to him, he would have recourse to arms. 1 
 A message more calculated to fire the spirit of the English nation 
 it would have been impossible for James to write ; nevertheless, 
 owing either to Henry s love of peace, or to his lack of advisers 
 after his own mind, it was not till the 26th of July, that any 
 answer was returned to it. On that day the Duke of York 
 obtained, or took, the liberty of replying in Henry's name. To 
 the insolence of the King of Scots, he opposed all the haughti- 
 ness that might have been expected from the most warlike of 
 Henry's ancestors. Insisting to the fullest extent on those claims 
 of feudal superiority which England never had abandoned and 
 Scotland never had acknowledged, he told James that his conduct 
 was mere insolence and treason in a vassal against his lord ; that 
 it inspired not the slightest dread but only contempt on the part 
 of England ; and that measures would be speedily taken to punish 
 his presumption. 2 
 
 A month later the Duke of York addressed a letter to James 
 in his own name, declaring that as he understood the Scotch 
 King had entered England, he purposed to go and meet him. 
 He at the same time reproached James with conduct unworthy of 
 one who was "called a mighty Prince and a courageous knight" 
 in making daily forays and suddenly retiring again. 3 The end of 
 this expedition we do not know ; but we know that not long 
 afterwards Henry changed his policy. The letter written by the 
 Duke of York in the King's name was regularly enrolled on the 
 Scotch Roll among the records of Chancery ; but to it was pre- 
 fixed a note on the King's behalf, disclaiming responsibility for 
 its tenor, and attributing to the Duke the usurpation of authority, 
 and the disturbance of all government since the time of Jack 
 Cade's insurrection. 4 
 
 The glimpses of light which we have on the political situation 
 during this period are far from satisfactory. Repeated notice, 
 however, is taken in these letters of a fact which seems signifi- 
 cant of general distrust and mutual suspicion among the leading 
 persons in the land. The King, Queen, and lords were all sepa- 
 rated and kept carefully at a distance from each other. Thus, 
 while the King was at Sheen, the Queen and her infant Prince 
 were staying at Tutbury, the Duke of York at Sandal, and the 
 Earl of Warwick at Warwick. 5 Afterwards we find the Queen 
 removed to Chester, while the Duke of Buckingham was at 
 Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex. The only lord with the 
 King at Sheen was his half-brother the Earl of Pembroke. His 
 other brother the Earl of Richmond, who died in the course of 
 this year, was in Wales making war upon some chieftain of the 
 country whose name seems rather ambiguous. "My Lord [of] 
 York," it is said, "is at Sendall still, and waiteth on the Queen, 
 
 1 Lambeth MS. 211, f. 146 b. * Ib. 147, Rymer, xi. 383. 
 
 * Lambeth MS. 211, f. 148. This letter is dated 24th August 1456. 
 Rymer, xi. 383. 8 Nos. 281, 282.
 
 cxxviii Introduction. 
 
 and she on him." l The state of matters was evidently such that it 
 was apprehended serious outrages might break out ; and reports 
 were even spread abroad of a battle in which Lord Beaumont 
 had been slain and the Earl of Warwick severely wounded. 2 
 
 The separation of the King and Queen is espe- 
 cially remarkable. During May and June they 
 v ueen - were more tnan a hundred miles apart ; and in 
 the latter month the Queen had increased the distance by remov- 
 ing from Tutbury in Staffordshire to Chester. It was then that 
 she was said to be waiting on my Lord of York and he on her. 
 The exact interpretation of the position must be partly matter of 
 conjecture, but I take it to be as follows. The Duke of York, 
 as we find stated only a few months later, was in very good 
 favour with the King but not with the Queen ; 3 and we know 
 from Fabyan that the latter was at this time doing all she could 
 to put an end to his authority. It appears to me that by her 
 influence the Duke must have been ordered to withdraw from the 
 Court, and that to prevent his again seeking access to the King's 
 presence, she pursued him into the North. At Tutbury 4 she 
 would block his way from Sandal up to London ; and though 
 for some reason or other she removed further off to Chester, she 
 still kept an anxious watch upon the Duke, and he did the same 
 on her. Very probably her removal did give him the opportunity 
 she dreaded of moving southwards ; for he must have been with 
 the King at Windsor on the 26th of July when he wrote in 
 Henry's name that answer to the King of Scots of which we 
 have already spoken. 
 
 However this may be, Margaret soon after had recourse to 
 other means to effect her object. In consequence of the Duke 
 of York's popularity in London, it was expedient to remove the 
 King some distance from the capital. 5 He appears to have 
 been staying at Windsor during July and the beginning of 
 August. In the middle of the latter month he took his depar- 
 ture northwards. By the dates of his Privy Seals we find 
 him to have been at Wycombe on the 1 8th, at Kenilworth 
 on the 24th, and at Lichfield on the 2(;th. In September he 
 moved about between Lichfield, Coventry and Leicester; 
 but by the beginning of October the Court seems to have 
 settled itself at Coventry, where a council was assembled on the 
 7th. 6 To this Council the Duke of York and his friends were 
 regularly summoned, as well as the Lords whom the Queen 
 intended to honour ; but even before it met, changes had begun 
 to be made in the principal officers of State. On the 5th Vis-' 
 count Bourchier, the brother of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 was dismissed from his office of Lord Treasurer, and the Earl of 
 Shrewsbury was appointed in his room. On the nth the Arch- 
 bishop himself was called upon to surrender the Great Seal, and 
 
 1 No. 285. 2 No. 282. 8 No. 298. 
 
 4 Tutbury was one of the possessions given to her for her dower. Rolls 
 of Par), vi. 118. * Fabyan. No. 295.
 
 Introduction. cxxix 
 
 Waynflete Bishop of Winchester was made Chancellor in his 
 stead. Laurence Booth, afterwards Bishop of Durham, was 
 made Lord Privy Seal. 
 
 The new appointments seem to have been on their own merits 
 unexceptionable, that of Waynflete more especially. Whether 
 the superiority of the new men was such as to make it advisable 
 to supersede the old is another question, on which we would not 
 attempt to pronounce an opinion, either one way or other. One 
 thing, however, we may believe on the evidence of James 
 Gresham, whose letters frequently give us very interesting poli- 
 tical intelligence ; the changes created dissatisfaction in some of 
 the Queen's own friends, particularly in the Duke of Buckingham, 
 who was half-brother to two of the discharged functionaries, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and Viscount Bourchier. Either 
 from this cause or from a mere English love of fair-play, it would 
 appear that Buckingham now supported the Duke of York, who, 
 it is said, though at this time he had some interviews with the 
 King and found Henry still as friendly as he could desire, would 
 certainly have been troubled at his departure if Buckingham 
 had not befriended him. About the court there was a general 
 atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. On the nth October, the 
 very day on which Waynflete was appointed Chancellor, an 
 encounter took place between the Duke of Somerset's men and 
 the watchmen of the city of Coventry, in which two or three of 
 the citizens were killed. And probably it would have gone hard 
 with the Duke's retainers, had not Buckingham used his good 
 offices here too as peacemaker ; for the alarm-bell rang and the 
 citizens rose in arms. But by the interposition of Buckingham 
 the tumult was appeased. 1 
 
 For about a twelvemonth from this time we find that the Court 
 continued generally at Coventry, occasionally mov- 
 ing about to Stafford, Coleshill, Chester, Shrews- 
 bury, Kenilworth, Hereford and Leicester. 2 The Queen evi- 
 dently feared all the while to bring her husband nearer London, 
 lest he should fall once more under the power of the Duke of 
 York. Meanwhile the want of a vigorous ruler became every 
 day more apparent. Not only was Calais again in danger of 
 siege, 3 but the coast of Kent was attacked by enemies, and 
 within the kingdom a dangerous spirit of disaffection had shewn 
 itself in various places. On the Patent Rolls we meet with numer- 
 ous commissions for keeping watch upon the coasts, 4 for arraying 
 the country against invasion, 5 and for assembling the posse comi- 
 latus in various counties, against treasonable attempts to stir up 
 the people. 6 During April the Court had removed to Hereford, 7 
 apparently in consequence of some disturbances which had taken 
 
 1 No. 298. 2 Privy Seals in Public Record Office. No. 305. 
 
 * Patent Roll, 35 Hen. VI. p. i in 16 d. (26 Nov.) ; m. 7 d. (19 May). 
 
 * Ib. p. 2. m. 5 d. (29 Autj.). 
 
 8 Patent Roll, 35 Henry VI. p. 2, m. 5 d. (18 July). 
 
 7 No. 305. There are Privy Seals dated at Hereford between the ist and 
 the 23d of April.
 
 cxxx Introduction. 
 
 place in Wales under Sir William Herbert. Its sojourn upon 
 the Welsh borders had an excellent effect, the burgesses and 
 gentlemen about Hereford all declaring themselves ready to take 
 the King's part unless a peace were made. On the ist of May 
 it was reported in London that Herbert had offered, on being 
 granted his life and goods, to return to his allegiance and appear 
 before the King and Lords at Leicester ; so we may conclude the 
 insurrection did not last long after. 1 
 
 But though the personal influence of the King was doubtless 
 great and beneficial within his own immediate vicinity, it could 
 do little for the good order and protection of the country gene- 
 rally. Distrust, exclusiveness, and a bankrupt exchequer were 
 not likely to obtain for the King willing and hearty service. 
 Notwithstanding the commissions issued to keep watch upon the 
 coasts, the French managed to surprise and plunder 
 Jttackl^d- Sandwich. On Sunday, the 2oth August, a large 
 w ich. force under the command of Pierre de Breze, 
 
 seneschal of Normandy, landed not far from the 
 town, which they took and kept possession of during the en- 
 tire day. A number of the inhabitants, on the first alarm, re- 
 treated on board some ships lying in the harbour, from whence 
 they began presently to shoot at the enemy. But De Breze 
 having warned them that if they continued he would burn their 
 ships, they found it prudent to leave off. Having killed the 
 bailiffs and principal officers, the Frenchmen carried off a number 
 of wealthy persons as prisoners, and returned to their ships in the 
 evening, laden with valuable spoils from the town and neigh- 
 bourhood. 2 
 
 The disaster must have been keenly felt; but if Englishmen 
 had known the whole truth, it would have been felt more keenly 
 still. Our own old historians were not aware of the fact, but an 
 early French chronicler who lived at the time assures us that the 
 attack had been purposely invited by Margaret of Anjou out of 
 hatred to the Duke of York, in order to make a diversion, while 
 the Scots should ravage England ! 3 It was well for her that the 
 truth was not suspected. 
 
 At length, it would seem, the Court found it no longer pos- 
 sible to remain at a distance from the metropolis. In October 
 the King had removed to Chertsey,* and soon after we find him 
 presiding at a great Council, which had been summoned to meet 
 in his palace at Westminster in consequence of the urgent state 
 of affairs. Though attended not only by the Duke of York, but 
 by a large number of the principal lords on both sides, the meeting 
 does not appear to have led to any very satisfactory results. All that 
 we know of its proceedings is that some of them, at least, were 
 
 1 No 305. By the 4th of May the King had left Hereford and gone to 
 Worcester, from which he proceeded to Winchcombe on the loth and Keml- 
 worth on the 1310. (Privy Seal dates.) 
 
 - English Chronicle (Davies), 74. MS. Lambeth, 448, f. 144 b. ; also Eng- 
 lish Chronicle in MS. Lambeth, 306. Contin. of Monstrelet, 70, 71. 
 
 3 De Coussy, 209. * Privy Seal dates.
 
 Introduction. cxxxi 
 
 of a stormy character, one point on which all parties were 
 agreed being the exclusion from the council chamber of Pecock, 
 bishop of Chichester, an ardent and honest-minded 
 prelate, who, having laboured hard to reconcile ;r op 
 
 the Lollards to the authority of the Church by ar- 
 guments of common sense instead of persecution, was at this time 
 stigmatized as a heretic and sedition- monger, and very soon after 
 was deprived of his bishopric. It augured little good for that 
 union of parties which was now felt to be necessary for the public 
 weal, that the first act on which men generally could be got to 
 agree was the persecution of sense and reason. There were other 
 matters before the Council on which they were unable to come to 
 a conclusion, and they broke up on the 2gth November, with a 
 resolution to meet again on the 27th January ; for which meeting 
 summonses were at once sent out, notifying that on that day not 
 one of the Lords would be excused attendance. 1 
 
 It was, indeed, particularly important that this meeting should 
 be a full one, and that every lord should be compelled to take 
 his share of the responsibility for its decisions. The principal 
 aim was' expressly stated to be a general reconciliation and adjust- 
 ment of private controversies, 2 an object to which it was impos- 
 sible to offer direct opposition. But whether it was really dis- 
 tasteful to a number of the Peers, or obstacles started up in 
 individual cases, there were certainly several who had not arrived 
 in town by the day appointed for the meeting. 
 The Earl of Salisbury's excuse, dated at Sheriff 
 Hutton on the 24th of January, 3 is probably of a different year. 
 At all events, if on that day he intended not to obey the sum- 
 mons, he very soon changed his mind, ; for before the month was 
 out he made his appearance in London at the head of 400 horse, 
 with 80 knights and squires in his company. The Duke of York 
 also came, "with his own household only, to the number of 140 
 horse." But the Duke of Somerset only arrived on the last day 
 of the month with 200 horse ; the Duke of Exeter delayed his 
 coming till the first week of February ; and the Earl of Warwick, 
 who had to come from Calais, was detained by contrary winds. 
 Thus, although the King had come up to Westminster by the time 
 prefixed, afull Council could not be had forat least some days after ; 
 and even on the I4th of February there was one absentee, the Earl 
 of Arundel, who had to be written to by letters of Privy Seal. 4 
 
 But by the I4th Warwick had arrived in London with a body 
 of 600 men, "all apparelled in red jackets, with white ragged 
 staves." 5 The town was now full of the retinues 
 of the different noblemen, and the mayor and gre ^ 
 
 i_-.i i i i i /-i J . Council in 
 
 sheriffs trembled for the peace of the city. A very London. 
 
 special watch was instituted. " The mayor," says 
 
 Fabyan, " for so long as the King and the Lords lay thus in the 
 
 1 Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 290-1. 8 Ib. 393. * No. 310. 
 
 4 No. 313. Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 293. 
 * Chronicle in MS. Cott, Vitell. A. xvi.
 
 ex \.\ii Introduction. 
 
 city, had daily in harness 5000 citizens, and rode daily about 
 the city and suburbs of the same, to see that the King's peace 
 were kept ; and nightly he provided for 3000 men in harness to 
 give attendance upon three aldermen, and they to keep the night- 
 watch till 7 of the clock upon the morrow, till the day-watch were 
 assembled." If peace was to be the result of all this concourse, 
 the settlement evidently could not bear to be protracted. The 
 Duke of York and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick had taken 
 up their quarters within the city itself; but the young Lords whose 
 fathers had been slain at St. Alban's the Duke of Somerset, the 
 Earl of Northumberland and his brother, Lord Egremont, and 
 the Lord Clifford, were believed to be bent upon revenge, and 
 the civic authorities refused them entrance within their bounds. 1 
 Thus the Lords within the town and those without belonged to 
 the two opposite parties respectively ; and in consequence of their 
 mutual jealousies, conferences had to be arranged between them 
 in the morning at the Black Friars, and in the afternoon at the 
 White Friars, in Fleet Street. 2 The King, for his part, having 
 opened the proceedings with some very earnest exhortations ad- 
 dressed to both parties, withdrew himself and retired to Berk- 
 hampstead . 3 The Duke of Somerset and others went to and fro 
 to consult with him during the deliberations. Meanwhile the 
 necessity of some practical arrangement for government must 
 have been felt more urgent every day. Sixty sail of Frenchmen 
 were seen off the coast of Sussex, and though Lord Falconbridge 
 was at Southampton in command of some vessels (probably on 
 his own responsibility), there was a general feeling of insecurity 
 among the merchants and among dwellers by the sea-coast. 
 Botoner had heard privately from Calais that the French medi- 
 tated a descent upon Norfolk at Cromer and Blakeney. 4 And 
 the news shortly afterwards received from the district shewed that 
 his information was not far wrong. 5 
 
 At last it was agreed on both sides that old animosities should 
 be laid aside, and that some reparation should be 
 
 menT S fagree " made by the Yorkists to the sons and widows of 
 
 the Lords who had fallen on the King's side at St. 
 Alban's. The exact amount of this reparation was left to the 
 award of Henry, who decided that it should consist of an endow- 
 ment of ;4<; a-year to the Monastery of St. Alban's, to be em- 
 ployed in masses for the slain, and in certain money payments, 
 or assignments out of moneys due to them by the Crown, to be 
 made by York, Warwick and Salisbury, to Eleanor, Duchess 
 Dowager of Somerset and to her son, Duke Henry, to Lord 
 Clifford, and others, in lieu of all claims and actions which the 
 latter parties might have against the former. 6 With what cordi- 
 ality this arrangement was accepted on either side we do not pre- 
 
 l English Chronicle (ed. Daviesi, p. 77. Hall. Letter 315. 
 
 3 Whethamstede, 417-8. Letter 314. 
 
 * Letter 314. * Letter 315. 
 
 c \Vhethainstede, 422 sq. Engl. Chron. 'Davies), 77, 78.
 
 Introduction. cxxxiii 
 
 surne to say. Historians universally speak of it as a hollow con- 
 cord, unreal from the first. But it at least preserved the kingdom 
 in something like peace for about a twelvemonth. It was cele- 
 brated by a great procession to St. Paul's on Lady Day, which 
 must have been an imposing spectacle. The King marched in 
 royal habit with the crown upon his head, York and the Queen 
 followed, arm in arm, and the principal rivals led the way, walk- 
 ing hand in hand. 1 
 
 The keeping of the sea was now entrusted to the Earl of War- 
 wick, and it was not long before he distinguished himself by an 
 action which probably relieved the English coasts . fi 
 for some time from any immediate danger of being 
 attacked by the enemy. On the morning of Trinity Sunday 
 word was brought to him at Calais of a fleet of 28 Spaniards, of 
 which 16 were described as "great ships of forecastle." Imme- 
 diately he manned such vessels as he had in readiness, and went 
 out to seek the enemy. The force at his command was only five 
 ships of forecastle, three carvels and four pinnaces; but with these 
 he did not hesitate to come to an engagement. At four o'clock 
 on Monday morning the battle began, and it continued till ten, 
 when the English obtained a hard-won victory. "As men say," 
 wrote one of the combatants, "there was not so great a battle 
 upon the sea this forty winter ; and forsooth, we were well and 
 truly beat." Nevertheless, six of the enemy's ships were taken, 
 and the rest were put to flight, not without very considerable 
 slaughter on either side. 2 
 
 In the year following, the fire thathadfor some time smouldered, 
 burst once more into a flame. About Candlemas, 
 according to Fabyan, but an older authority says 
 specifically on the Qth November preceding, 3 a fray occurred 
 between one of the King's servants and one of the Earl of 
 .Warwick's, as the Earl, who had laeen attending the Council at 
 Westminster, was proceeding to his barge. The King's servant 
 being wounded, the other made his escape; but a host of 
 retainers attached to the royal household rushed out upon the 
 Earl and his attendants, and wounded several of them before 
 
 1 Hall. 
 
 2 Letter 317. Compare Fabyan. Whethamstede, who writes with some 
 confusion in this part of his narrative, speaks of a great naval victory won by 
 Warwick on St. Alban's day, the 'aad June 1459, over a fleet of Genoese and 
 Spanish vessels, in which booty was taken to the value of ;io,ooc, and up- 
 wards of a thousand prisoners, for whom it was difficult to find room in all 
 the prisons of Calais. It is not impossible that this may have been a different 
 action which took place on the very day, month, and year to which Whet- 
 hamstede refers it ; but the silence of other authorities about a second naval 
 victory would lead us to suppose he is simply wrong in the matter of date. 
 It must be observed that Whethamstede immediately goes on to speak of the 
 Legate Coppini's arrival in England, which took place in June 1460, as having 
 happened circa idem tempns, and as if it had been in the same month of 
 June, only a few days earlier. This shows great inaccuracy. 
 
 Engl. Chron. (Davies), 78.
 
 cxxxiv Introduction. 
 
 they could embark. With hard rowing they got beyond the 
 power of their assailants and made their way into the city ; but 
 the Queen and her friends insisted on imputing the outrage to 
 the Earl himself, and demanded his arrest. The latter found it 
 politic to retire to Warwick, and afterwards to his former post 
 at Calais. On this the Queen and her council turned their 
 machinations against his father the Earl of Salisbury, whom 
 Lord Audley was commissioned to arrest and bring prisoner to 
 London. Audley accordingly took with him a large body of 
 men, and hearing that the Earl was on his way from Middleham 
 in Yorkshire, journeying either towards Salisbury or London, he 
 hastened to intercept him. The Earl, however, had received 
 notice of what was intended, and having gathered 
 
 newe(T ar **" about him a sufficient band of followers, defeated 
 Lord Audley in a regular pitched battle at Blore- 
 heath in Staffordshire, where he attempted to stop his way, on 
 Sunday the 23d of September. 1 
 
 The old elements of confusion were now again let loose. 
 Commissions to raise men were issued in the King's name, and 
 the Duke of York and all his friends were denounced as a con- 
 federacy of traitors. They, for their parts, gathered together the 
 men of the Marches in self-defence. At Ludlow, the Duke was 
 joined by the Earl of Salisbury, and also by the Earl of Warwick, 
 who had come over again from Calais. On the other hand, the 
 King himself entered into the strife in a way he 
 
 3* K' n g had not done hitherto. He not only took the field 
 
 takes the field. . . . in- T j i_ . u-t j 
 
 in person against the rebellious Lords, but exhibited 
 
 a spirit in the endurance of fatigue and discomfort which seems to 
 have commanded general admiration. Even at the time of Lord 
 Audley's overthrow, it would appear that he was leading forward a 
 reserve. For about a month hekept continuallycamping out, never 
 resting at night, except on Sundays, in the same place he had 
 occupied the night before, and sometimes, in spite of cold, rough 
 weather, bivouacking for two nights successively on the bare field. 
 After the battle of Jjloreheath, he could only regard Salisbury as 
 an overt enemy of his crown. At the same time he despatched 
 heralds to the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, with 
 proclamations of free and perfect pardon to themselves and all 
 but a few of the leaders at Bloreheath, on condition of their 
 submitting to him within six days." 
 
 To Garter King of Arms, one of the messengers by whom 
 these offers were conveyed, the confederate lords made answer, 
 and also delivered a written reply to be conveved to the King, 
 declaring the perfect loyalty of their intentions, which they 
 would have been glad to prove in the King's presence if it were 
 only possible for them to go to him with safety. They had 
 already endeavoured to testify their unshaken fidelity to Henry 
 
 1 Fabyan. Engl. Chron. (Davies), 80. Parl. Rolls, vi. 348. 
 Rolls of Parl. vi. 348.
 
 Introduction. cxxxv 
 
 by an indenture drawn up and signed by them in Worcester 
 Cathedral. This instrument they had forwarded to the King by 
 a deputation of churchmen, headed by the prior of that cathedral, 
 and including among others Dr. William Lynwoode, 1 who ad- 
 ministered to them the Sacrament on the occasion. Again, 
 after Garter left, they wrote from Ludlow 'on the loth of 
 October, protesting that their actions had been misconstrued, 
 and their tenants subjected to wrong and violence, while they 
 themselves lay under unjust suspicion. Their enemies, they 
 said, thirsted for the possession of their lands, and hoped to 
 obtain them by their influence with the King. For their own 
 part they had hitherto avoided a conflict, not from any fear of 
 the power of their enemies, but only for dread of God and of his 
 Highness, and they meant to persevere in this peaceful course, 
 until driven by necessity to self-defence. 2 
 
 These earnest, solemn, and repeated expressions of loyalty 
 have scarcely, I think, received from historians the attention to 
 which they are entitled. Of their sincerity, of course, men may 
 form different opinions ; but it is right to note that the confeder- 
 ate Lords had done all that was in their power by three several 
 and distinct protests to induce the King to think more favourably 
 of their intentions. It is, moreover, to be observed that they 
 remained at this time in an attitude strictly defensive. But the 
 King and his forces still approaching, they drew themselves up 
 in battle array at Ludford, in the immediate vicinity of the 
 town of Ludlow. Here, as they were posted on Friday the 1 2th 
 October, it would almost seem that the Lords were not without 
 apprehension of the defection of some of their followers. A 
 report was spread through the camp that the King was suddenly 
 deceased, witnesses were brought in who swore to the fact, and 
 mass was said for the repose of his soul. But that very evening, 
 Henry, at the head of his army, arrived within half a mile of 
 their position. The state of the country, flooded by recent 
 rains, had alone prevented him from coming upon them sooner. 
 Before nightfall a few volleys of artillery were discharged against 
 the royal army, and a regular engagement was expected next 
 day. But, meanwhile, the royal proclamation of pardon seems 
 to have had its effect. One Andrew Trollope, who had come 
 over with the Earl of Warwick from Calais, withdrew at dead 
 of night and carried over a considerable body of men to the 
 service of the King, to whom he communicated the secrets of 
 the camp. The blow was absolutely fatal. The 
 Lords at once abandoned all thought of further re- The York- 
 sistance. Leaving their banners in the field they perse *"" 
 withdrew at midnight. York and his second son, 
 
 1 Not, as Stow supposes, the author of a book on the Constitutions of the 
 Church of England, but probably a nephew or other relation of his. The 
 William Lynwoode who wrote upon the Church Constitutions was bishop of 
 St. David's, and died in 1446. 
 
 * Engl. Chron. (Davies), 81, 82.
 
 cxxxvi Introduction. 
 
 Edmund, Earl of Rutland, fled into Wales, from whence they 
 sailed into Ireland. His eldest, Edward, Earl of March, accom- 
 panied by the two other Earls, Warwick and Salisbury, and by 
 Sir John Wenlock, made his way into Devonshire. There by 
 the friendly aid of one John Dynham, afterwards Lord Dynham, 
 and Lord High Treasurer to Henry VII., they bought a ship 
 at Exmouth and sailed to Guernsey. At last, on Friday the 
 2d of November, they landed at Calais, where they met with a 
 most cordial reception from the inhabitants. 1 
 
 Then followed in November the Parliament of Coventry, and 
 the attainder of the Duke of York and all his party. 
 
 The Queen and her friends at last had it all their 
 attainted. * , , n < i > i 
 
 own way, at least in England. It was otherwise 
 
 doubtless in Ireland, where the Duke of York remained for 
 nearly a twelvemonth after his flight from Ludlow. It was 
 otherwise too at Calais, where Warwick was all powerful, and 
 whither discontented Yorkists began to flock from England. 
 It was otherwise, moreover, at sea, where the same War- 
 wick still retained the command of the fleet, and could not be 
 dispossessed, except on parchment. On parchment, however, 
 he was presently superseded in both of his important offices. 
 The Duke of Exeter was entrusted with the keeping of the sea, 
 which even at the time of the great reconciliation of parties he 
 had been displeased that Warwick was allowed to retain. 2 The 
 young Duke of Somerset was appointed Captain of Calais, but 
 was unable to take possession of his post. Accompanied by 
 Lord Roos and Lord Audley, and fortified by the King's letters 
 patent, he crossed the sea, but was refused admittance into the 
 town. Apparently he had put off too long before going over, * 
 and he found the three Earls in possession of the place before 
 him ; so that he was obliged to land at a place called Scales' Cliff 
 and go to Guisnes.* But a worse humiliation still awaited him 
 on landing ; for of the very sailors that had brought him over, a 
 number conveyed their ships into Calais harbour, offered their 
 services to the Earl of Warwick, and placed in his hands as 
 prisoners certain persons who had taken part against him. They 
 were shortly after beheaded in Calais. 5 
 
 It would seem, in short, that ever since his great naval victory 
 in 1458, Warwick was so highly popular with all the sailors of 
 England, that it was quite as hopeless for the Duke of Exeter 
 to contest his supremacy at sea as for Somerset to think of win- 
 
 1 Rolls of Parliament, vi 348-9 Whethamstede, 450-62 ; Fabyan. 
 
 W. Wore., 479. 
 
 3 He received his appointment on the gth October, three days before the 
 dispersion of the Yorkists at Ludlow (Rymer, xi. 436), and according to one 
 authority (Engl. Chron., ed. Davies, 84) he went over in the same month ; 
 but as all authorities agree that Warwick was there before him, it was more 
 probably in the beginning of November. 
 
 Chronicle in MS. Cott., VitelL A. xvi 
 
 5 Fabyan.
 
 Introduction. cxxxvii 
 
 ning Calais out of his hands. Friends still came flocking over 
 from England to join the three Earls at Calais; and though in 
 London in the February following nine men were . _ 
 hanged, drawn, and beheaded for attempting to do 
 so, 1 the cause of the Yorkists remained as popular as ever. In 
 vain were letters written to foreign parts, ' ' that no relief be 
 ministered to the traitor who kept Calais." 2 In vain the Duke of 
 Somerset at Guisnes endeavoured to contest his right to the 
 government of that important town. All that Somerset could 
 do was to waste his strength in fruitless skirmishes, until on St. 
 George's Day he suffered such a severe defeat and loss of men 
 at Newnham Bridge, that he was at length forced to abandon all 
 idea of dispossessing the Earl of Warwick. 8 
 
 Not only were the three Earls secure in their position at 
 Calais, but there was every reason to believe that they had a 
 large amount of sympathy in Kent, and would meet with a very 
 cordial reception whenever they crossed the sea. To avert the 
 danger of any such attempt, and also, it would appear, with some 
 design of reinforcing the Duke of Somerset at Guisnes, Lord 
 Rivers and his son Sir Anthony Wydevile were sent to Sand- 
 wich about the beginning of the year, with a body of 400 men. 
 Besides the command of the town, they were com- 
 missioned to take possession of certain ships which ^^ ?'^ e l? 
 a a. -v * _i _r imi i 11 *i at Sandwich, 
 
 belonged to the Earl of Warwick, and lay quietly 
 
 at anchor in the harbour. 4 But the issue of their exploit was 
 such as to provoke universal ridicule. "As to tidings here," 
 wrote Botoner from London to John Berney at Caister, " I send 
 some offhand, written to you and others, how the Lord Rivers, Sir 
 Anthony his son, and others have won Calais by a feeble assault at 
 Sandwich made by John Denham, Esq., with the number of 800 
 men, on Tuesday between four and five o'clock in the morning." 6 
 The exact mode in which Rivers and his son " won Calais " 
 seems to have been described in a separate paper. The truth 
 was that a small force under the command of John Denham (or 
 Dynham) was despatched across the sea by Warwick, and land- 
 ing at Sandwich during the night, contrived not only to seize the 
 ships in the harbour, but even to surprise the Earl and his son 
 in their beds, and bring them over as prisoners to the other side 
 of the Channel. 6 The victors did not fail to turn the incident to 
 account by exhibiting as much contempt as possible for their 
 unfortunate prisoners. "My Lord Rivers," writes William Pas- 
 ton, " was brought to Calais, and before the Lords with eight 
 score torches, and there my Lord of Salisbury rated him, calling 
 
 1 W. Wore., 478 ; Chron. in Lambeth MS. 306. One of them was named 
 Roger Nevile, a lawyer of the Temple, and probably a relation of the Earl of 
 Warwick. 
 
 2 Speed. 3 W. Wore. 
 
 * Engl. Chron. (Davies), 84. 85 ; Chronicle in Lambeth MS. 306. 
 5 Letter 345. 6 W. Wore. Engl. Chron. (Davies) 8s.
 
 cxxxviii Introduction. 
 
 him knave's son, that he should be so rude to call him and those 
 other Lords traitors ; for they should be found the King's true 
 liegemen when he should be found a traitor. And my Lord of 
 Warwick rated him and said that his father was but a squire, 
 and brought up with King Henry V., and since made himself by 
 marriage, and also made a Lord ; and that it was not his part to 
 have such language of Lords, being of the King's blood. And 
 my Lord of March rated him in likewise. And Sir Anthony 
 was rated for his language of ail the three Lords in likewise." 1 
 It must have been a curious reflection to the Earl of March when 
 in after years, as King Edward IV., he married the daughter of 
 this same Lord Rivers, that he had taken part in this vitupera- 
 tion of his future father-in-law ! 
 
 By and bye it became sufficiently evident that unless he was 
 considerably reinforced, the Duke of Somerset could do no good at 
 Guisnes. Instead of attempting to maintain a footing beside Calais, 
 the Queen's government would have enough to do to keep the rebels 
 out of England. The capture of Rivers had excited the most 
 serious alarm, and the landing of Warwick himself upon the eas- 
 tern coast was looked upon as not improbable. 2 A new force of 
 500 men was accordingly sent to Sandwich under the command of 
 one Osbert Mountford or Mundeford, 3 an old officer of Calais. 
 His instructions were to go from Sandwich to Guisnes, either in 
 aid of the Duke of Somerset, as intimated in Worcester's Annals, 
 or, according to another contemporary authority, * to bring him 
 over to England. But while he waited for a wind to sail, John 
 Dynham again crossed the sea, attacked the force under the com- 
 mand of Mundeford, and after a little skirmishing, in which he him- 
 self was wounded, succeeded in carrying him off to Calais, as he 
 had before done Lord Rivers. Mundeford's treatment, however, 
 was not so lenient as that of the more noble captive On the 25th 
 of June he was beheaded at the Tower of Rysebank, which stood 
 near the town, on the opposite side of the harbour. 6 
 
 Meanwhile the Earl of Warwick did not remain at Calais. He 
 scoured the seas with his fleet and sailed into Ireland. Sir Bald- 
 win Fulford, a knight of Devonshire, promised the King, on pain 
 of losing his head, to destroy Warwick's fleet ; but having ex- 
 hausted the sum of 1000 marks which was allowed him for his 
 expenses, he returned home without having attained his object.* 
 On the 1 6th of March Warwick having met with the Duke of 
 York in Ireland, the two noblemen entered the harbour of Water- 
 
 1 Letter 346. 5 See Appendix to Introduction. 
 
 3 The writer of Letter 326. He was a connection of the Fasten family, 
 having married Elizabeth, daughter of John Berney, Esq., another of whose 
 daughters, Margaret, was the mother of Margaret Paston Hlomefield, ii. 182). 
 He had been much engaged in the King's service in France, and had been 
 treasurer of Normandy before it was lost a fact which may account for his 
 writing French in preference to English. See Stevenson's Wars of the Eng 
 lish in France, index. 
 
 4 Engl. Chron. (Davies), 85. B W. Wore. 479 ; Fabyan ; Stowe, 406-7.
 
 Introduction. cxxxix 
 
 ford with a fleet of six and twenty ships well manned ; and on 
 the following day, being St Patrick's Day, they landed and were 
 ceremoniously received by the mayor and burgesses. 1 Warwick 
 seems to have remained in Ireland more than two months, con- 
 certing with the Duke of York plans for future action. About 
 Whitsunday, which in this year fell on the 1st of June, his fleet 
 was observed by the Duke of Exeter off the coast of Cornwall, 
 on its return to Calais. Exeter's squadron was superior in strength, 
 and an engagement might have been expected ; but the Duke was 
 not sure that he could trust his own sailors, and he allowed the 
 Earl to pass unmolested. 2 
 
 About this time there arrived at Calais a papal nuncio, by name 
 Francesco Coppini, bishop of Teramo, returning 
 from England to Rome. He had been sent by ^ e ^; gate 
 the new Pope, Pius II., the ablest that had for 
 a long time filled the pontifical chair, to urge Henry to send 
 an ambassador to a congress at Mantua, in which measures 
 were to be concerted for the union and defence of Christen- 
 dom against the Turks. This was in the beginning of the pre- 
 ceding year, 3 and, as he himself states, he remained nearly a year 
 and a half in England. 4 But the incapacity of the King, and the 
 dissensions that prevailed among the Lords, rendered his mission 
 a total failure. Henry, indeed, who was never wanting in reve- 
 rence for the Holy See, named a certain number of Bishops and 
 Lords to go upon this mission, but they one and all refused. He 
 accordingly sent two priests of little name, with an informal com- 
 mission to excuse a greater embassy. England was thus discredited 
 at the papal court, and the nuncio, finding his mission fruitless, at 
 last crossed the sea to return home. At Calais, however, he was 
 persuaded by Warwick to remain. The Earl himself was about 
 to return to England, and if the legate would come back in his 
 company he might use the influence of his sacred office to heal 
 the wounds of a divided kingdom. 5 
 
 The nuncio had doubtless seen enough of the deplorable con- 
 dition of England to be convinced that peace was impossible, so 
 long as the Lords most fit to govern were banished and pro- 
 claimed rebels by the Queen and her favourites. 6 He was, 
 moreover, furnished with powers, by which the main object of 
 
 1 Lambeth MS. 632, f. 255. 
 
 2 Chron. (Davies), 85 ; W. Wore. 
 
 * His commission from the Pope is dated 7th January i458[g]. Rymer, 
 xi. 419. 
 
 4 Brown's Venetian Calendar, i. p. 91. 
 
 ' Gobellinus, 161. 
 
 6 The Yorkists apparently were not sparing of insinuations against the 
 Queen. It had been rumoured, according to Fabyan, that the Prince of 
 Wales was not really the King's son ; but the worst that was insinuated was 
 that he was a changeling. But Warwick himself, according to Gobellinus, 
 described the situation to the nuncio as follows : " Rex noster stupidus est, 
 et mente captus ; regitur, non regit ; apud uxorem et qui regis thalamum 
 fu.-d.uit, imperium est."
 
 cxl Introduction. 
 
 his mission being the union of Christendom he was authorized 
 to make some efforts to compose the dissensions of England. 1 
 lint he certainly overstrained them, and allowed himself to be- 
 come a partizan. Flattered by the attentions shown him by 
 "NVarwick, he acceded to his suggestion, and when, on the 26th 
 of June, 2 the day after Munford was beheaded at Calais, the 
 confederate Lords crossed the Channel, the nuncio was in their 
 company, bearing the standard of the Church. Archbishop 
 Bourchier, too, met them at Sandwich, where they landed, 
 with a great multitude of people ; and with his cross borne 
 before him, the Primate of England conducted the three Earls 
 and their followers, who increased in number as they went 
 along, until they reached the capital. After a very brief opposi- 
 tion on the part of some of the citizens, the city opened its gates 
 to them. They entered London on the ad of July. 8 
 
 Before they crossed the sea, the three Earls had sent over a 
 The Earls of set f articles addressed to the Archbishop and 
 March, Warwick, the Commons of England in the name of them- 
 and Salisbury, selves and the Duke of York, declaring how they 
 had sued in vain to be admitted to the King's presence to 
 set forth certain matters that concerned the common weal 
 of all the land. Foremost among these was the oppression 
 , of the Church, a charge based, seemingly, on facts with which 
 we are unacquainted, and which, if known, might shed a clearer 
 light upon the conduct of the legate and Archbishop Bourchier. 
 Secondly, they complained of the crying evil that the King had 
 given away to favourites all the revenues of his Crown, so that 
 his household was supported by acts of rapine and extortion on 
 the part of his purveyors. Thirdly, the laws were administered 
 with great partiality, and justice was not to be obtained. Griev- 
 ous taxes, moreover, were levied upon the Commons, while the 
 destroyers of the land were living upon the patrimony of the 
 Crown. And now a worse charge than ever was imposed 
 upon the inhabitants ; for the King, borrowing an idea from the 
 new system of military service in France, had commanded every 
 township to furnish at its own cost a certain number of men for 
 the royal army, " which imposition and talliage," wrote the 
 Lords in this manifesto, " if it be continued to their heirs and 
 successors, will be the heaviest charge and worst example that 
 ever grew in England, and the foresaid subjects and the said 
 heirs and successors in such bondage as their ancestors were 
 never charged with." * 
 
 1 See the Pope's letter to him in Theiner, 423-4. 
 
 * " The Lords crossed the sea on Thursday," writes Coppini from London 
 on the 4th July. Brown's Venetian Calendar, i. 90. 
 
 3 Engl. Chron. (Davies), 94. 
 
 4 It appears by Letter 325 that privy seals were issued in 1459 addressed 
 on the back to certain persons, requiring them to be with the King at Lei- 
 cester on the loth of May, each with a body of men sufficiently armed, and 
 with provision for their own expenses for two months. One of these privy
 
 Introdtiction. cxli 
 
 Besides these evils, the infatuated policy into which the King 
 had been led by his ill-advisers, threatened to lose Ireland and 
 Calais to the Crown, as France had been lost already ; for in the 
 former country letters had been sent under the Privy Seal to the 
 chieftains who had hitherto resisted the King's authority, actually 
 encouraging them to attempt the conquest of the land, while 
 in regard to Calais the King had been induced to write letters to 
 his enemies not to show that town any favour, and thus had given 
 them the greatest possible inducement to attempt its capture. 
 Meanwhile the Earls of Shrewsbury and Wiltshire and Viscount 
 Beaumont, who directed everything, kept the King himself, in 
 some things, from the exercise of his own free will, and had 
 caused him to assemble the Parliament of Coventry for the 
 express purpose of ruining the Duke of York and his friends, 
 whose domains they had everywhere pillaged and taken to their 
 own use. 1 
 
 It was impossible, in the nature of things, that evils such as 
 these could be allowed to continue long, and the day of reckon- 
 ing was now at hand. Of the great events that followed, it will be 
 sufficient here to note the sequence in the briefest possible words. 
 On the loth July the King was taken prisoner 
 
 at the battle of Northampton, and was brought J he ,{f ttle of 
 T j u 1.1 r i i T i T-I. f Northampton, 
 
 to London by the confederate Lords. T. he Gov- 
 ernment, of course, came thus entirely into their hands. 
 Young George Nevill, Bishop of Exeter, was made Chan- 
 cellor of England, Lord Bourchier was appointed Lord 
 Treasurer, and a Parliament was summoned to meet at West- 
 minster for the purpose of reversing the attainders passed in the 
 Parliament of Coventry. Of the elections for this Parliament 
 we have some interesting notices in Letter 355, from which we 
 may see how the new turn in affairs had affected the politics of 
 the county of Norfolk. From the first it was feared that after 
 the three Earls had got the King into their hands, the old 
 intriguers, Tuddenham and Heydon, would be busy to secure 
 favour, or at all events indulgence, from the party now in the 
 ascendant. But letters missive were obtained from the three 
 Earls, directed to all mayors and other officers in Norfolk, com- 
 manding in the King's name that no one should do them injury, 
 and intimating that the Earls did not mean to show them any 
 favour if any person proposed to sue them at law. * Heydon, 
 however, did not choose to remain in Norfolk. He was presently 
 
 seals, signed by the King himself, was addressed specially to John Paston's 
 eldest son, John, who at this time could not have been more than nineteen 
 years of age. On its arrival, his mother consulted with neighbours whether 
 it was indispensable to obey such an injunction, and on their opinion that it 
 was, wrote to her husband for instructions. 
 
 1 The articles will be found in Holinshed, iii. 652-3 ; and in Davies' Chron- 
 icle. 86-00. 
 
 * No. 353.
 
 cxlii Introduction. 
 
 heard of from Berkshire, for which county he had found interest 
 to get himself returned in the new Parliament. 
 
 John Paston also was returned to this Parliament as one of the 
 representatives of his own county of Norfolk. His 
 Pr" | tonm sympathies were entirely with the newstateof things, 
 and his friend and correspondent, Friar Brackley, 
 who felt with him that the wellbeing of the whole land depended 
 entirely on the Earl of Warwick, sent him exhortations out of 
 Scripture to encourage him in the performance of his political 
 duties. 1 But what would be the effect of the coming over from 
 Ireland of the Duke of York, who had by this time landed at 
 Chester, and would now take the chief direction of affairs ? 2 
 Perhaps the chief fear was that he would be too indulgent to 
 political antagonists. Moreover, the Dowager Duchess of Suf- 
 folk had contrived to marry her son to one of York's daughters, 
 and it was apprehended her influence would be considerable. 
 " The Lady of Suffolk," wrote Friar Brackley to Paston, " hath 
 sent up her son and his wife to my Lord of York to ask grace 
 for a sheriff the next year, Stapleton, Boleyn, orTyrell, qui absit ! 
 God send you Poynings, W. Paston, W. Rokewood, or Arblaster. 
 Ye have much to do, Jesus speed you ! Ye have many good 
 prayers, what of the convent, city, and country." 3 
 
 Such was the state of hope, fear, and expectation which the 
 new turn of affairs awakened in some, and particularly in the 
 friends of John Paston. The next great move in the political 
 game perhaps exceeded the anticipations even of Friar Brackley. 
 York Yet though the step was undoubtedly a bold one, 
 
 challenges the never, perhaps, was a high course of action 
 Crown. more strongly suggested by the results of past 
 
 experience. After ten miserable years of fluctuating policy, 
 the attainted Yorkists were now for the fourth time in possession 
 of power ; but who could tell that they would not be a fourth 
 time set aside and proclaimed as traitors ? For yet a fourth time 
 since the fall of Suffolk, England might be subjected to the odious 
 rule of favourites under a well-intentioned King, whose word was 
 not to be relied on. To the common weal the prospect was 
 serious enough ; to the Duke of York and his friends it was 
 absolute and hopeless ruin. But York had now determined what 
 to do. On the loth of October, the third day of the Parliament, 
 he came to Westminster with a body of 500 armed men, and 
 took up quarters for himself within the royal palace. On the 
 1 6th, he entered the House of Lords, and having sat down in 
 the King's throne, he delivered to the Lord Chancellor a writing 
 in which he distinctly claimed that he, and not Henry, was by 
 inheritance rightful King of England.* 
 
 The reader is of course aware of the fact on which this claim 
 was based, viz. that York, through the female line, was descended 
 
 1 Utter 355. 2 Letter 357. Letter 355. 
 
 * W. Wore., 483 ; Fabyan; Rolls of Part., v. 375.
 
 Introduction. cxliii 
 
 from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III., while 
 King Henry, his father, and his grandfather had all derived their 
 rights from John of Gaunt, who was Lionel's younger brother. 
 Henry IV. indeed was an undoubted usurper ; but to set aside 
 his family after they had been in possession of the throne for three 
 generations must have seemed a very questionable proceeding. 
 Very few of the Lords at first appeared to regard it with favour. 
 The greater number stayed away from the House. 1 But the 
 Duke's counsel insisting upon an answer, the House represented 
 the matter to the King, desiring to know what he could allege in 
 opposition to the claim of York. The King, however, left the 
 Lords to inquire into it themselves, and as it was one of the 
 gravest questions of law, the Lords consulted the justices. But 
 the justices declined the responsibility of advising in a matter of 
 so high a nature. They were the King's justices, and could not 
 be of counsel where the King himself was a party. The King's 
 Serjeants and attorney were then applied to, . but were equally 
 unwilling to commit themselves ; so that the Lords themselves 
 brought forward and discussed of their own accord a number of 
 objections to the Duke of York's claim. At length it was declared 
 as the opinion of the whole body of the Peers that his title could 
 not be defeated, but a compromise was suggested and mutually 
 agreed to that the King should be allowed to retain his crown for 
 life, the succession reverting to the Duke and his heirs imme- 
 diately after Henry's death. 2 
 
 So the matter was settled by a great and solemn act of state. 
 Nor does it appear that the King was in any manner coerced, 3 still 
 less that the Peers were intimidated, or insensible of the respon- 
 sibility they incurred in a grave constitutional crisis. But no Act of 
 Parliament in the world, no settlement of this kind, even though 
 agreed to by the King himself, could be expected to bind the 
 spirit of his stubborn consort. Since the battle of Northampton, 
 she had been separated from her husband. She fled at first into 
 Cheshire, or, according to Stow, into Lancashire, where she was 
 robbed of all her goods to the value of 10,000 marks, and after- 
 wards to the Castle of Harlech in Wales. From thence she took 
 ship and sailed into Scotland, where enemies of the Duke of 
 York were specially welcome. For James II. .profiting, as usual, 
 by the dissensions of England, a month after the battle of North- 
 ampton laid siege to Roxburgh, where he was killed by the 
 bursting of a cannon. Margaret, however, did not remain long 
 in Scotland. On hearing of her husband's tame surrender 
 of the rights of his son, she took care at once to show that 
 she did not recognize the act as possessing the smallest validity. 
 
 1 W. Wore., 484. 
 
 2 Rolls of Parl. , y. 375-9. 
 
 3 Though the King was taken prisoner at the battle of Northampton, and 
 had ever since been in the power of the victors, no restraint appears to have 
 been placed upon his liberty. In October, before the Parliament met, he was 
 spending the time in hunting at Greenwich and Eltham. No. 357.
 
 cxliv Introduction. 
 
 Assembling the Northern Barons and their people at York, there 
 repaired to her standard the Earl of Northumberland, Lords 
 Clifford and Dacres, and with them the Dukes of Somerset 
 and Exeter, and the Earl of Devonshire. To meet this new danger, 
 the Duke of York hastened northwards, and for a time secured 
 himself in his own Castle of Sandal ; but on the 3Oth day of 
 December was fought the disastrous battle of Wake- 
 
 S"l * ,A field, when the whole army of York was defeated, 
 Wakeneld. , . ' ...... . .. . . } . , . 
 
 himself slain in the field, and his young son, the Earl 
 
 of Rutland, ruthlessly murdered by Lord Clifford after the battle. 
 The story of poor young Rutland's butchery is graphically 
 described by a historian of the succeeding age, who, thougli 
 perhaps with some inaccuracies of detail as to fact, is a witness 
 to the strong impression left by this beginning of barbarities. 
 The account of it given by Hall, the chronicler, is as follows : 
 
 "While this battle was in fighting, a priest called Sir Robert Aspall, chap- 
 lain and schoolmaster to the young Earl of Rutland, second son to the above- 
 named Duke of York, scarce of the age of twelve years [he was really in his 
 eighteenth year], a fair gentleman and a maiden-like person, perceiving that 
 flight was more safeguard than tarrying, both for hton and his master, secretly 
 conveyed the Earl out of the field by the Lord Clifford's band towards the 
 town. But or he could enter into a house, he was by the said Lord Clifford 
 espied, followed, and taken, and, by reason of his apparel, demanded what he 
 was. The young gentleman, dismayed, had not a word to speak, but kneeled 
 on his knees, imploring mercy and desiring grace, both with holding up his 
 hands and making dolorous countenance, for his speech was gone for fear. 
 ' Save him,' said his chaplain, * for he is a prince's son, and peradventure may 
 do you good hereafter.' With that word, the Lord Clifford marked him and 
 said ' By God's blood, thy father slew mine ; and so will I do thee and all 
 thy kin;' and with that word stack the Earl to the heart with his dagger, 
 and bade his chaplain bear the Earl's mother word what he had done and 
 said." 
 
 In the same bloodthirsty spirit Clifford also cut off the head 
 from the dead body of the Duke of York, crowned it in mockery 
 with a paper crown, and carried it to Queen Margaret upon a 
 pole. " Madam," he said to her, "your war is done ; here is your 
 King's ransom." A most unhappy prophecy surely, yet worthy 
 to be had in everlasting remembrance, if only as a conspicuous 
 example how little the violent and sanguinary can see into the 
 future. Instead of the war being ended, or the King being 
 ransomed, there cannot be a doubt these deeds of wickedness 
 imparted a new ferocity to the strife and hastened on the termi- 
 nation of Henry's imbecile, unhappy reign. Within little more 
 than two months after the battle of Wakefield the son of the 
 murdered Duke of York was proclaimed King in London, by 
 the title of Edward IV., and at the end of the third month the 
 bloody victory of Towton almost destroyed, for a long time, 
 the hopes of the House of Lancaster. From that day Henry led 
 a wretched existence, now as an exile, now as a prisoner, for 
 eleven unhappy years, saving only a few months' interval, during 
 which he was made King again by the Earl of Warwick, without
 
 Introduction. cxlv 
 
 the reality of power, and finally fell a victim, as was generally 
 believed, to political assassination. As for Margaret, she survived 
 her husband, but she also survived her son, and the cause for 
 which she had fought with so much pertinacity was lost to her 
 for ever. 
 
 And now we must halt in our political survey. Henceforward, 
 perhaps, we shall not require to follow public affairs with quite 
 so great minuteness. We must also leave the Pastons and their do- 
 ings to the reader, who may now examine them for himself, so 
 far as the reign of Henry VI. is concerned, by the light of their 
 own correspondence. But one event which affected greatly their 
 domestic history in the succeeding reign, we must in this place 
 simply mention. It was not long after the commencement of 
 those later troubles, more precisely, it was on the 5th November 
 1459, six weeks after the battle of Bloreheath, and little more 
 than three after the dispersion of the Yorkists at Ludlow, that 
 the aged Sir John Fastolf breathed his last, within 
 
 the walls of that castle which it had been his ? e 1 f th F of ^ i < r 
 , . .1 i c i John rastolr. 
 
 pride to rear and to occupy in the place of his 
 
 birth. By his will, of which, as will be seen, no less than three 
 different instruments were drawn up, he bequeathed to John 
 Paston and his chaplain, Sir Thomas Howes, all his lands in 
 the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, for the purpose of found- 
 ing that college or religious community at Caister, on the erec- 
 tion of which he had bestowed latterly so much thought. The 
 manner in which this bequest affected the fortunes of the Paston 
 family will be seen in our next volume.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TO 
 
 PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION. 
 
 i. FRANCIS BLOMEPIELD. See p. x. 
 
 JINCE the foregoing Preface was printed, I have met 
 with a small tract entitled " Cursory Notices of the 
 Reverend Francis Blomefield," by S. Wilton Rix, 
 Esq., from which it appears that in 1735 Blomefield 
 was allowed to examine the deceased Earl of Yarmouth's 
 papers at Oxnead, with a view to his county history of Norfolk. 
 There he boarded for a fortnight, and was employed in looking 
 over thirty or forty chests of documents, among which were a 
 number of interesting letters. It is evident, therefore, that the 
 Earl had only parted with a portion of his family papers to Le 
 Neve, and Blomefield must have obtained those, of which he was 
 afterwards the owner, by purchase from the Earl's executors. 
 
 2. PARMINTER'S INSURRECTION. See p. Ivi. 
 
 In the bundle of Privy Seals for the year 29 Henry VI. is a 
 pardon to James God, dated on the 4th March, and delivered to 
 the Chancellor for execution on the 5th. Attached to it is the 
 following record of his indictment : 
 
 " Kent sc. Jur" dicunt quod Jacobus God miperde Feversham in com' prse- 
 dicto, plummer, et alii, ac quamplures alii proditores, rebelles et inimici illustris- 
 simis Principis Henrici Regis Angliae Sexti post Conquestum ignoti et nuper 
 complices et de societate falsi proditoris Will'i Parmynter, smyth, qui se ipsum 
 nominavit Secundum Capitaneum Kanciae, eidemque adhserentes et de ejus 
 covina et assensu in omnibus proditionibus suis mortem dicti Regis et de- 
 structionem regni sui Angliae confoederantes, machinantes, compassentes et 
 proponentes, ultimo die August! anno regni dicti Regis vicesimo nono J apud 
 
 1 So in the record, but evidently an error. It should have been vicesimo 
 octavo.
 
 Appendix to Preface and Introaitctton. cxlvii 
 
 Feversham et alibi in com. Kancise se adinvicem congregaverunt ad numerum 
 quadringentorum honiinum et amplius, dicentes et confidentes quod ipsi 
 essent de eorum covina et assensu ad eorum libitum et voluntatem xl. milia 
 hominum armatorum et modo guerrino arraiatorum ad praebendum et per- 
 cussiendum bellum contra dictum Regem seu quoscumque alios in proditioni- 
 bus suis praedictis eis contravenientes et falso et proditorie insurrexerunt et 
 mortem dicti Regis imaginaverunt et compassi fuerunt, ac guerram adtunc 
 et ibidem et alibi per vices infra dictum com. Kane, falso et proditorie contra 
 dictum Regem, supremum dominum suum, levaverunt, in destructionem ipsius 
 Regis et Regni prxdicti. BENET." 
 
 There is a note of the trial of Parmynter in Hilary term, 29 Hen. VI., 
 on the Controlment Roll of that year, rot. 9. 
 
 3. PARDON TO JOHN PAYN. -See p. Iviii. 
 
 On the Patent Roll 30 Henry VI., p. I, m. 23, occurs the 
 following entry : 
 
 De Pardonacione. Rex omnibus ballivis et fidelibus suis ad quos, &c., 
 salutem. Sciatis quod cum nonnulli rebelles nostri in comitatu nostro 
 Kancias, paucis ante diebus contra pacem nostram insurrectionem gravem 
 concitantes, quasdam factiones proditorias contra nostram personam detesta- 
 biliter machinati fuerint, nonnullaque proditiones, murdra, felonias et faci- 
 nora, aliasque transgressiones perpetraverint.; quia tamen, cum nuper per 
 civitates oppida atque villas in eodem comitatu nostro ad eorum hujusmodi 
 insolencias et rebelliones coercendos iter faceremus, plurimi ex eisdem, spiritu 
 sanioris consilii duett, plurimum humiliati, etiam usque femoralia nudi, suorum 
 immanitates criminum coram nobis confitentes, veniam a nobis effusis lachry- 
 mis anxie postularunt ; Nos, ad singulorum hujusmodi ligeorum nostrorum 
 submissiones humillimas nostros misericordes oculos dirigentes, ac firmiter 
 tenentes quod de castero in nostra obedientia stabiles permanebunt, fidem 
 ligeancias suas erga nos inantea inviolabiliter servaturi, ad laudem, gloriam et 
 honorem Omnipotentis et misericordis Dei ac gloriosissimse Virginis matris 
 Christi, de gratia nostra speciali pardonavimus, remisimus et relaxavimus 
 Johanni Payn de Pecham in comitatu pra;dicto, yoman, alias dicto Johanni 
 Payn, nuper de Estpekham in comitatu prsedicto, smyth, qui inter casteros 
 se submisit nostrse gratias, quocumque nomine censeatur, sectam pacis nostrae 
 quae ad nos versus eum pertinet, seu poterit pertinere, pro quibuscumque prodi- 
 tionibus, feloniis murdris et transgressionibus per ipsum a septimo die Julii anno 
 regni nostri vicesimo octavo usque decimum diem Junii ultimo praeteritum factis 
 sive perpetratis ; acetiam utlagarias, si quae in ipsum Johannem occasionibus 
 praedictis seu earum aliqua fuerint promulgate ; necnon omnimodas forisfac- 
 turas terrarum, tenementorum, reddituum, possessionum, bonorum et catal- 
 lorum, quae idem Johannes nobis occasionibus praedictis seu earum aliqua 
 forisfecit aut fonsfacere debuit, et firmam pacem nostram ei inde concedimus: 
 Ita tamen quod stet recto in curia nostra si quis versus eum loqui voluerit de 
 praemissis seu aliquo praemissorum. Proviso semper quod ista nostra pardon- 
 acio, remissio sive relaxacio'se non extendat ad aliqua malefacta supra mare 
 et aquas aliquo modo facta sive perpetrata. In cujus, &C. Teste Rege apud 
 Westmonasterium secundo die Novembris. 
 
 Two similar patents were granted on the same date to Richard Doke, 
 yeoman, and William Souter, labourer, both of Peckham.
 
 cxlviii Appendix to Preface and Introduction. 
 
 4. THE DUKE OF YORK AT DARTFORD. See p. Ixxiv.] 
 
 The most minute account of the encampment of the Duke of 
 York at Dartmouth is contained in the following extract from 
 the Cottonian Roll, ii. 23. 
 
 At Cray/ford, myle from DertflTord. 
 
 Primo die mensis Marcii anno regni Regis Henrici Sexti xxx ther was my 
 Lord of Yorkes ordynaunce, iijmill. gownner, and hym selff in the middell 
 ward with viij mi1 -. my Lord of Devynsher by the southe side with vj">il'-. 
 and my Lord Cobham with vj ml1 - at the water side, and vij. shippus with 
 ther stuff. And sith that tyme, and sith was poyntment made and taken at 
 Dertfford by embassetours, my Lord the B. of Wynchester, my Lord B. of 
 Ely, my Lord the Erie of Salusbury, my Lorde of Warrewik, my Lord Bew- 
 cham, and my Lord of Sydeley, &c., whiche poyntment was, &c. And soon 
 after was Chatterley, yeman of the Crown, maymed, not withstondyng he 
 was takyn at Derby with money making and ladde to London. Then after 
 the Kynges yeman of his chambur, namyd Fazakerley, with letteris was sent 
 to Luddelowe to my Lord of Yorke chargyng to do forth a certeyn of his 
 mayny, Arthern, squier, Sharpe, sqier, &c. ; the whiche Fazakerley hyld in 
 avowtry Sharpes wiff, the which Sharpe slewe Fitzacurley, and a baker of 
 Ludlow roos and the Commyns, &c., the whych baker is at Kyllyngworth 
 Castell, &c. After this my Lord of Shrousbury, &c., rode in to Kent, and 
 set up v. peyre of galowes and dede execucion upon John Wylkyns, taken 
 and brought to the towne as for capteyn, and with other mony mo, of the 
 whiche xxviij. were honged and be heded, the whiche hedes were sent to 
 London ; and London said ther shuld no mo hedes be set upon there ; and 
 that tyme Eton was robbyd, and the Kyng beyng at Wynsor on Lowe Son- 
 day, &c. 
 
 5. THE DUKE OF YORK AND THE COUNCIL. See pp. xcviii-ix. 
 
 The following document is enrolled on the Patent Roll 32 
 Henry VI., membrane 20 : 
 
 Pro Ricfirdo Duce Ebor, Rex omnibus ad quos, &c., salutem. Inspexi- 
 mus tenorem cujusdam actus in consilio nostro apud Westmonasterium tento 
 facti, venerabili patri Johanni Cardinal! et Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, totius 
 Angjise primati, Cancellario nostro, per Thomam Kent clericum ejusdem 
 consilii nostri ad exemplificationem tenoris praedicti sub Magno Sigillo nostro 
 in forma debita fiendam nuper deliberatum et in filaciis Cancellarise nostrum 
 residentem, in hsec verba : 
 
 The xxj. day of Novembre, the yere of the regne of oure Souverain Lorde 
 King Henry the VJth xxxijti. at Westmynstre, in the Sterred Chambre, being 
 there present the Lordes, the Cardinal Archebisshop of Canterbury and 
 Chaunceller of England, th'Archebisshop of Yorke, the Bisshops of London, 
 Winchestre, Ely, Norwich, Saint Davides, Chestre, Lincoln, and Carlisle, 
 the Due of Buckingham, th'Erles of Salisbury, Pembroke, Warrewik, Wilt- 
 shire, Shrovesbury, and Worcestre, Tresourer of England, the Viscount 
 Bourchier, the Priour of Seint Johns, the Lordes Cromwell, Suddeley, 
 Duddeley, Stourton, and Berners. The Due of York reherced unto the seid 
 Lordes that he, as the Kinges true liegman and subgit, was by commaunde- 
 ment directed unto him undre the Kinges Prive Seal, come hidre to the 
 Kinges greet Counsail, and wolde with all diligence to his power entende to 
 the same, and to all that that sholde or might be to the welfare of the King 
 and of his subgettes ; but for asmoche as it soo was that divers persones, suche 
 as of longe tyme have been of his Counsail, have be commaunded afore this 
 tyme, by what meanes he watte never, not to entende upon him, but to with- 

 
 Afpendix to Preface and Introduction. cxlix 
 
 drawe thaim of any counsail to be yeven unto him ; the which is to his greet 
 hurte and causeth that he can not precede with suche matiers as he hath to 
 doo in the Kinges courtes and ellus where, desired the Lordes of the coun- 
 sail abovesaid that they wolde sop assente and agree that suche as have been 
 of his counsail afore this tyme might frely, without any impediment, resorte 
 unto him and withoute any charge to be leide unto theim, yeve him counsail 
 from tyme to tyme in suche matiers as he hath or shal have to doo. To the 
 which desire alle the Lordes abovesaide condescended and agreed, as to that 
 thing that was thought unto them juste and resounable, and fully licenced all 
 suche persones as he wolde calle to his counsail frely withoute any impediment 
 to entende unto him ; and commaunded this to be enacted amonge th'actes of 
 the Counsaill. Actum anno, mense, die et loco ut supra, prsesentibus domlnis 
 supradictis. T. Kent. 
 
 Nos autem tenorem actus prsedicti ad requisicionem carissimi consanguine! 
 nostri praedicti Ricardi Ducis Ebaracensis duximus exemplificandum per 
 praesentes. In cujus, &c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium, vj. die 
 Decembris. 
 
 / 
 
 6. DEFENCE AGAINST THE EARL OF WARWICK. See 
 p. cxxxviii. 
 
 The following commissions are found on the Patent Roll 38 
 Henry VI., p. 2, m. 21. They afford remarkable evidence of 
 the terror inspired in the Queen's Government by the capture of 
 Lord Rivers at Sandwich. 
 
 De advocando et debellando. Rex carissimo consanguineo suo Johanni 
 Duci Norff' ac dilecto et fideli suo Philippo Wentworth militi, necnon dilectis 
 sibi Roberto Willoughby, Johanni Hopton, Willelmo Tyrell, Thomas Bre- 
 wes, Gilberto Debenham, Johanni Clopton, Willelmo Jenney, et Reginaldo 
 Rous, salutem. Quia satis manifestum est quod quidam rebelles nostri 
 Ricardo nuper Comiti Warr' proditori et inimico nostro adha:rentes, villam 
 nostram Sandewici jam tarde intrarunt et ibidem mala quamplurhna nobis et 
 fidelibus ligeis nostris fecerunt et perpetrarunt, et alia mala prioribus pejora 
 in diversis partibus comitatus nostri Suff', si eas ingredi poterint, facere et 
 perpetrare proponunt, ut veraciter informamur, nisi eorum malicia? citius et 
 celerius resistatur : Nos tarn maliciae ipsius inimici nostri ac complicum suo- 
 rum praedictorum (sic), quam pro defensione partium ibidem providere 
 volentes, ut tenemur, assignavimus vos, conjunctim et divisim, ac vpbis et 
 vestrum cuilibet plenam potestatem et auctpritatem damus et committimus 
 ad advocandum coram vobis [omnes] et singulos ligeos nostros comitatus 
 praedicti, cujuscunque status, gradus seu condicionis fuerint, de quibus vobis 
 melius videbitur expedire, ad proficiscendum vobiscum contra praefatum 
 inimicum nostrum ac complices suos prsedictos, ac ad assistenciam et auxilium 
 suum vobis seu vestrum cuilibet in eorum resistenciam dandum et impenden- 
 dum in casu quo idem inimicus noster ac complices sui prxdicti dictum comi- 
 tatum vel partes adjacentes ingredi prsesumant, ac ad eos et secum comitantes 
 ut hostes et rebelles nostros debellandum, expugnandum, et destruendum, ac 
 ad omnia alia et singula quse juxta sanas discretiones vestras in hac parte in 
 repressionem prsedictorum inimicorum nostrorum ac complicum suorum et 
 eorum maledicti propositi fore videritis necessaria et oportuna, faciendum, 
 exercendum et exequendum. Et insuper assignavimus vos conjunctim et 
 divisim ad omnes personas partem praedicti nuper Comitis Warr' seu aliorum 
 rebellium nostrorum et complicum suorum verbis vel operibus defendentes et 
 tenentes, vel aliqua verba contra majestatem nostram regiam habentes et 
 dicentes, similiter capiendum et arestandum, et in prisonis nostris in forma 
 praedicta custodiendum, et custodiri faciendum. Et ideo vobis et vestrum 
 cuilibet mandamus quod circa premissa diligenter intendatis et ea faciatis et
 
 d 
 
 Appendix to Preface and Introduction. 
 
 exequamini in forma praedicta. Damus autem universis et singulis vice- 
 comitibus, majoribus, ballivis, constabulariis, ac aliis officiariis, ministris, 
 fidelibus legiis et subditis nostris quibuscunque, tarn infra libertates quam 
 extra, tenore praesentium, firmiter in mandatis quod vohis et vestruni cuilibet 
 in executione praemissorum intendentes sint, assistentes et auxiliantes in 
 omnibus diligenter. In cujus &c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium, x. 
 die Februarii. Per Consilium. 
 
 Consimiles literac Regis patentes diriguntur carissimo consanguineo suo 
 Johanni Duci Norff ' ac dilectis et fidelibus suis Thomae Tudenham militi, 
 Willielmo Chamberleyn militi, Miloni Stapulton militi, et Philippo Wentworth 
 militi ; necnon dilectis sibi Willelmo Calthorp, Johanni Heydon, Henrico 
 Inglose, Johanni Wymondham, et Thomae Claymond in comitatu Norff'. 
 Teste ut supra. 
 
 Consimiles literae Regis patentes diriguntur dilectis et fidelibus suis majori 
 et aldermannis ac vicecomitibus villae suae de Kyngeston super Hull, et 
 eorum cuilibet in villa praedicta. Teste Rege apud Westmonaiterium, xvj. 
 die Februarii.
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. 
 Early Documents. 
 
 |EFORE entering upon the correspondence of 
 the Paston family, in the reign of Henry VI., 
 we have thought it well to give the reader 
 a brief note of such deeds and charters of 
 an earlier date as appear either to have been preserved 
 in the family, or to have any bearing on its history. 
 The following is a list of those we have been able to 
 meet with either in the originals or in other quarters, 
 such as Blomefield's History of Norfolk, where notices 
 are given of several documents, which appear now to 
 have got into unknown hands. The documents seen 
 by Blomefield, and those from the Paston and Dawson- 
 Turner collections, now in the British Museum, were 
 probably all at one time part of the Paston family 
 muniments. The three Harleian charters seem to 
 have been derived from a different source. 
 
 A Deed is cited by Blomefield (Hist. Norf. vi. 480;, by which 
 Anselm, Abbot of St. Benet's, Hulme, and the Convent there, gave 
 to Osbern, the priest (said by Blomefield to have been a son of 
 Griffin de Thwait, the founder of the Paston family), the land of 
 St. Benet's of Paston (terram Sancti Benedicti de Paston), in fee, 
 for half the farm of one caruca, as his ancestors used to pay for 
 the same. 
 
 Also a Deed of William the Abbot (who lived in King Stephen's 
 reign), granting to Richer de Pastun, son of Osbern, son of 
 Griffin de Thwete, all the land that the Convent held in Pastun, 
 with their men, and other pertinencies. 
 
 Also a Deed of Covenant between Richer de Paston and Regi- 
 nald the Abbot, and Convent of St. Benet's, Holme, that when 
 peace should be settled in England, and pleas held in the Court 
 of our Lord the King, the said Richer would, at the request and
 
 4 T II EPASTON LETTERS. 
 
 at the expense of the Abbot, give him every security in Court to 
 release the lands in Pastun. 
 
 " Ralph de Paston was son, as I take it " (says Blomefield), 
 "of this Richer, and appears to have had two sons, Richard and 
 Nicholas. 
 
 " Richard, son of Ralph de Paston, by his deed, sans date, 
 granted to Geoffrey, son of Roger de Tweyt, lands in this town 
 (Oxnead), paying gd. per ann. for his homage and service, 405. 
 for a fine (in gersumam], and paying to him and his heirs on the 
 feasts of St. Andrew, Candlemas, Pentecost, and St. Michael, on 
 each feast, 2s. ob. He sealed with one Its. Laurence de Reppes, 
 William and John, his brother, William de Bradfield, &c., were 
 witnesses." Blomefield, vi. 4801. 
 
 "There was also another branch of this family, of which 
 was Wystan, or Wolstan, de Paston, whom I take to be the lineal 
 ancestor of Sir William Paston, the Judge, and the Earls of 
 Yarmouth. This Wolstan lived in the reign of Henry II. and 
 Richard I., and married, as is probable, a daughter of the Glan- 
 villes, as appeared from an impalement of Paston and Glanville 
 in the windows of Paston Hall in Paston. His son and heir 
 styled himself Robert de Wyston and Robert de Paston ; who, 
 dying in or about 1242, was buried at Bromholm, and left 
 Edmund de Paston. To this Edmund, son of Robert, son of 
 Wolstan de Paston, Sir Richard de Paston gave the land in 
 Paston which Robert, his father, held of him and Nicholas, his 
 brother, by deed sans date." Blomefield, vi. 481. 
 
 Undated Deed of Nicholaus filius Radulfi Diaconi de Paston, 
 granting to Robert, son of Wistan de Paston, two parcels of lands 
 one of them abutting on the lands of Eudo de Paston. Wit- 
 nesses Richard de Trunch; Will. Esprygy; Ralph de Reppes; 
 Roger de Reppes ; Richard, s. of Ralph de Baketon ; John de 
 Reppes ; Roger, s. of Warin de Paston ; Hugh, s. of Will, de 
 Paston, &c. Add. Charter 17,217, B.M. (Paston MSS.) 
 
 Undated Deed of Richard, son of Ralph de Pastime, granting 
 to Edmund, son of Robert Wistan de Pastune, lands in Pastime, 
 &c. (Seal attached, in fine condition. ) Add. Charter 17,218, 
 B.M. (Paston MSS.) 
 
 Blomefield also mentions (vi. 481) that Nicholas, son of Ralph 
 de Paston, gave lands to Robert, son of Wystan de Paston, by 
 deed sans date. Witness, Roger de Repps. 
 
 Undated Deed Poll, by which Richard, the son of Ralph, Deacon 
 of Paston, grants to Edmund, the son of Robert Wiston of 
 Paston, certain lands at Paston. Add. Charter 14,810, B.M. 
 (D. Turner's Collection of Deeds relating to Norfolk.) 
 
 Richard, son of Ralphde Paston, according to Blomefield (xi. 24), 
 gave I2</. a year rent in Paston to the Priory of Bromholm. This 
 gift is also mentioned by Richard Taylor in his Index Monasticus 
 of the Diocese of Norwich, p. 1 5, where the purpose of the en- 
 dowment is said to be "to keep their books in repair."
 
 EARLY DOCUMENTS. 5 
 
 Deed, cited by Blomefield (vi. 481), by Richard, son of John, 
 son of Richard de Paston, granting to Richer Alunday and his 
 heirs his native Alan de Tilney, with all his family, &c. (cum tota 
 sequela), and 7 acres of land in Paston and Knapton, with mes- 
 suages, &c., for 4 marks of silver in gersumam, and a rent of 
 22d. a year. 
 
 Undated Deed Poll, whereby William, the son of Robert Barrett, 
 grants to Edmund, the son of Robert Whiston of Paston, certain 
 lands in the Common Field of Paston. Add. Charter 14,813, 
 B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.) 
 
 Undated Indenture between Clement Parcerit of Gimmingham, 
 and Cecil, his wife, and Edmund, the son of Robert de Paston, 
 concerning lands in Paston Field. Add. Charter 14,814, B.M. 
 (D. Turner's Coll.) 
 
 Undated Deed Poll, by which Richard de Lessingham grants 
 to William, son of Robert de Paston, certain lands in the Com- 
 mon Field of Paston. Add. Charter 14,812. (D. Turner's Coll. ) 
 
 Ancient Deed of Nich. Chancehose of Baketun granting to 
 Edmund, fil. Roberti Wistan de Pastun, and his heirs, for 3CW., 
 a" tresroda of land in Pastun. Add. Charter 17,219, B.M. 
 ( Paston MSS.) 
 
 Undated Deed Poll, by which Richard, son of John de Paston, 
 grants to Roger, his brother, certain lands in Paston Field. 
 Add. Charter 14,811, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.) 
 
 Undated Deed Poll, whereby Hugh, son of William de Pastun, 
 grants to Walter, son of Edmund de Pastun, and his heirs, a 
 tresroda of land in the fields of Pastun, " inter terram quae fuit 
 Osberti Salr. (?), ex parte Austri, et terram quse fuit Ricardi 
 Chaumpeneys ex parte Aquilonis, et abuttal super forreram qua; 
 fuit Roberti Carpentar' versus Orientem, et super liberam et 
 terram ecclesiae de Past' versus Occidentem." Add. Charter 
 2004, B.M. 
 
 A.D. 1313, 1 6 Oct. " William de Paston obtains a pardon as 
 an adherent of the Earl of Lancaster for his participation in the 
 death of Gavaston, and the disturbances occasioned thereby." 
 16 Oct., 7 Edw. II. Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii, 
 div. iii, p. 1262. 
 
 A.D. 1324, 22 Jan. Deed Poll, dated on Sunday after the 
 Feast of St. Agnes, 17 Edward II, whereby Henry de Mundham, 
 parson of Oxnead, and another, grant to William Hautayne and 
 Alice, his wife, a certain messuage and premises in Oxnead. 
 Add. Charter 14,804, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.) 
 
 A.D. 1324, 19 Feb. Quit-Claim by Edmund, son of Robert 
 de Neketone, to Robert de Paston, Tabernarius, of lands in the 
 fields without the West Gate of Bury St. Edmund's. Sunday 
 after St. Valentine's Day, 17 Edw. II. Seal attached. Harl. 
 Charter 54 A. 31, B.M. 
 
 A.D. 1329, 24 Dec. Deed Poll of Margery, daughter of 
 Robert de Neketon, granting to Robert de Paston lands in the
 
 6 THE PASTON LETTERS. 
 
 fields of St. Edmund's. St. Edmund's Bury, Sunday, Christmas 
 Eve, 3 Edw. III. Harl. Charter 54 A. 32, B.M. 
 
 A.D. 1330. Petition to Parliament 4 Edw. III. of John de 
 Claveryng, complaining that John Payne of Dunwich, Constantine 
 de Paston, Austin Fitzwilliam, and others of Dunwich, took by 
 force and arms five ships and a boat belonging to him, at Wal- 
 lerswyke, and goods to the value of ^300, after having beat, 
 shipwrecked, and imprisoned (baterent, naufrcrent, et enprisone- 
 rent) the said John's servants. The king's answer: " Eyt en 
 Chauncellerie oyer et terminer pur le horibilite du trespas, devant 
 covenables justices. " Rolls of Parl. ii. 33. 
 
 A.D. 1333, 29 April. Deed Poll, dated Thursday next before 
 the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 7 Edward III, 
 whereby Alice, widow of William Hautayne, grants to Henry de 
 Colby and others a messuage, with the appurtenances in Oxnead. 
 Add. Charter 14,805, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.) 
 
 A.D. 1341, 28 Aug. Deed Poll of Robert de Paston granting 
 to William de Bradeleghe and William Child, Chaplains, lands 
 in the fields of St. Edmund's Bury, without the West Gate at 
 Stanywerp, &c. St. Edmund's Bury, Tuesday after St. Bartho- 
 lomew, 15 Edw. III. Harl. Charter 54 F. 37, B.M. 
 
 A.D. 1341. Indenture of 15 Edw. III. between John de 
 Knapeton, rector of Freugges, and Clement de Paston and Will, 
 his son. Add. Charter 17,221, B.M. (Paston MSS.) 
 
 A.D. 1361. Charter of Sir Rob. de Mauteby to the Prior of 
 St. Olave's, Herlyngflet, 35 Edw. III. Add. Charter 17,222, 
 (Paston MSS.) B.M. 
 
 Notes of Proceedings in Outlawry of the time of Edward III. 
 Judgment by Sir John Hody, mentioned in a more modern hand. 
 Paston MSS., B.M. 
 
 A.D. 1382, 5 Oct. Deed Poll, dated on Sunday next after 
 the Feast of St. Michael, 6 Richard II., by which Robert de 
 Paston grants to John Gant certain lands in Paston field. Add. 
 Charter 14,817, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.) 
 
 A.D. 1404, I Oct. Deed by which Mary, Lady Mortimer, 
 mother of Sir John Fastolf, grants to her said son her manors of 
 Caister and Caister Hall, together with her manor of Repps and 
 the advowson of the free Chapel of St. John, within the said 
 manor of Caister, to hold to him and his heirs for ever, i Oct. , 
 6 Henry IV. Add. Charter 14,597, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.)
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. 
 
 Henry V. 
 
 i. 
 
 A.D. 1417-9. HENRY V.'s CONQUESTS IN FRANCE. 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 HESE be the names of Townes, Castell, Citees, 
 and Abbeys that the [King did] 1 gete in his 
 secund viage: 
 
 The Town of Cane and the Castjell. 
 
 The Town of Valeis \Falaise\ and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Argenton and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Bayeux and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Alawnsom and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Frezsne le Vicont and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Seint Savers de Vive and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Seint Jakes de Beueron and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Seint Jakes de Burvam and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Seint Low and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Valence and the Castell. 
 
 The Cytee of Averense and the Castell. 
 
 The Cytee of Sees. 
 
 The Cytee of Leseaux. 
 
 The Cytee of Everose. 
 
 The Town of Louerse. 
 
 The Town of Counsheux. 
 
 The Town ofVire. 
 
 The Town of Karentine. 
 
 1 Parchment mutilated.
 
 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1417-9. 
 
 The Town of Chyrbourgh and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Vernoile and ij. Castell. 
 
 The Town of Morteyn and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Powntlarche and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Esey and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Dounfrount and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Pountedomer and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Turve and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Costaunce and the Castell. 
 
 The Cytee of Roon and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Gallon and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Galdebek \Caudebec\. 
 
 The Town of Mustirvilers. 
 
 The Town of Depe. 
 
 The Town of Ve and the Castell. 
 
 The Town of Vernoile suz Seyne and the CastelL 
 
 The Town of Mawnt and the Castell. 
 
 The Castell of Towk. 
 
 The Castell of Morvile. 
 
 The Castell of Overs in Awge. 
 
 The Abbey of Seint Savers suz Deve. 
 
 The Abbey of Seint Peers suz Dive. 
 
 The Abbey of Seint Stevenis of Cane. 
 
 The Bole Abbey of Cane. 
 
 The Castell of Cursy. 
 
 The Castell of Gundy. 
 
 The Castell of Nevylebeke. 
 
 The Castell of Vermus. 
 
 The Castell of Garcy. 
 
 The Castell of Oo \Eu\ 
 
 The Castell of Vileine. 
 
 The Castell of Egyll. 
 
 The Castell of RegylL 
 
 The Castell of Curton. 
 
 The Castell of Fagernon. 
 
 The Castell of Chamberexs. 
 
 The Castell of Ryveers. 
 
 The Castell of Bewmanill. 
 
 The Castell of Bewmalyn.
 
 -9-] HENR Y V. 
 
 The Castell of Harecourt 
 
 The Abbey of Behelwyn. 
 
 The Castell of Parlevesque. 
 
 The Castell of Semper. 
 
 The Castell of Tracy. 
 
 The Castell of Tylly. 
 
 The Castell of Groby. 
 
 The Castell of Carsell. 
 
 The Castell of Hommbe. 
 
 The Castell of Seynt Denise. 
 
 The Castell of Bonvile. 
 
 The Castell of Grennevile. 
 
 The Castell of Perers. 
 
 The Castell of Seint Gilerinz. 
 
 The Castell of Bewmound. 
 
 The Castell of Asse la Rebole. 
 
 The Castell of Tanny. 
 
 The Castell of Antony. 
 
 The Castell of Balon. 
 
 The Castell of Mountfort. 
 
 The Castell of Tovey. 
 
 The Castell of Lowdon. 
 
 The Castell of Noaus. 
 
 The Castell of Seynt Remains in Plaiue. 
 
 The Castell of Daungell. 
 
 The Castell of Peschere. 
 
 The Castell of Bolore. 
 
 The Castell of Keshank. 
 
 The Castell of Turre. 
 
 The Castell of Seint Imains. 
 
 The Castell of Seint Germains. 
 
 The Castell of BomstapylL 
 
 The Castell of Croile. 
 
 The Castell of Bakuile. 
 
 The Castell of Bellacombyr. 
 
 The Castell of Douyle. 
 
 The Castell of Likone. 
 
 The Castell of Ankyrvile. 
 
 The Abbey of Seint Katerinz.
 
 io THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1417-9. 
 
 These er the gates names of Roon, and how the 
 lordys lay in sege, and to fore what gate, and also the 
 derth of vitailes withyn the forseyd Cytee of Roon. 
 
 Le Port Causches. To fore thys gate, lay my Lord of 
 Clarense 1 vnto riversyde of Seyne with mykyl of hys 
 howsold and a grete market ; and then fro that gate 
 upward lay my Lord of Urmound, 2 my maistre Corwayle 3 
 with the Lord Talbotts meyne. Le Port de Castell, 
 At thys gate my Lord Marchall, 4 the Lord of Haryngton. 
 Le Port de Bewvoisyn. At thys gate lay my Lord of 
 Excester. Le Port de Vowdelagate. To fore thys gate 
 lay the Lord Roos, the Lord Wylleby, the Lord Fyhew, 5 
 Sir John Gray, and Sir William Porter. Le Port Seint 
 Yllare. To fore thys gate lay the kyng and my Lord 
 of Glowcestyr. Le Port de Martynvile. To fore thys 
 lay my Lord of Warwyk and Sir Phelip Leche. Le Port 
 debut de Pount. To fore thys gate lay my Lord of 
 Huntyngdon, my Lord of Sawlisbyry, my maistre Nevile, 
 and my mayster Umphirvile. Le Port de Vicount. Thys 
 ys the chefe Watergate of the town, and at thys gate 
 cometh in al maner marchawndys and vitailes. 
 
 Furthyrmore as towchyng to the derth of vytayles 
 withyn thys forseyd Cytee, j. [one] Buschell of Whete 
 was worth v. scutys, j. lofe j. frank, j. dog j. frank, j. kat 
 ijs. sterlinges, j. rat \}d. sterlinges. And as towch- 
 yng all other vitailes, it was spendit or that we com in 
 to the Cytee. 
 
 Urbis Rotomagi Wulstano captio claret, 
 Quam Rex Henricus Quintus sexto capit anno. 
 
 1 Thomas, Duke of Clarence, the King's brother. 
 
 2 James Butler, Earl of Ormond. 
 
 3 Sir John Cornwall, afterwards Lord Fanhope. 
 
 4 John Mowbray, Earl Marshal, afterwards Duke of Norfolk. 
 * Flu-Hugh.
 
 A.D. 1420-2.] HENRY V. II 
 
 2. 
 
 A.D. 1420, 24 March. ABSTRACT. 
 [Add. Charter 17,225, B.M.] 
 
 Marriage Settlement of William Paston, dated the Eve of the 
 Annunciation of the Virgin, 8 Henry V. It is agreed between Sir 
 Edmund Berre, Kt, on the one part, and William Paston of Paston 
 on the other, that the latter shall marry Agnes, daughter of the 
 said Sir Edmund, and that his trustees of the manor of Oxenede, 
 Norf. , shall demise the same to the said William and Agnes, and 
 the heirs of their bodies, &c. Also Sir Edmund's trustees, either 
 of the manor of Estodenham, co. Norf., or of the manor of Holle- 
 wellebury, Herts, at the option of William Paston, shall deliver 
 one or other manor to the said William and Agnes, and the heirs of 
 their bodies, &c. If Estodenham be chosen, Paston is to make 
 to Sir Edm. and his wife Alice an estate for life, either in the 
 manors of Marlingford, Norf., and Stanstede, Suff., or in the 
 manors of Elghe and Willyngham, Suff., &c. 
 
 3. 
 
 A.D. 1422. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,243.] 
 
 Inspeximus of a Deed of Thos. Pecke, elk., dated 10 Hen. V., 
 granting the reversion of the manors of Breydeston, Caston, &c. , 
 then held by Sir John Carbonell and Margery, his wife, to Sir 
 Rob. Brewys, John Fitz-Rauff, and others. (See Blomefield's 
 Norfolk, ii. 285.)
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. 
 Henry 
 
 4. 
 
 A.D. 1424. INFORMATION AGAINST WALTER ASLAK. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This paper refers to proceedings as late as the fourth year of Henry VI., 
 and therefore cannot be earlier than 1426 ; but as it mainly relates to outrages 
 committed in the second year of Henry VI., i.e. 1424, we have arranged it 
 under that year. 
 
 E it remembred that where, on the nyght next 
 biforne the feste of the Circumcision of owre 
 Lord Jesu, the [second] 1 yeer of the regne of 
 Kyng Henry the Sexte, certeyns maffaisours, 
 felons, and brekeres of the kynges peas vnknowyn, to the 
 noumbre of iiij xx \_four score] and more by estimacion, of 
 malice and imaginacion forne thowght felonowsly, the 
 dwellyng place of John Grys of Wyghton,in Wyghton, in 
 the shyre of Norffolk, brokyn, and with carpenteres axes 
 the yates and the dores of the seyd place hewen, and 
 the seyd John Grys, and hys sone, and a servaunt man 
 of hese by here bodyes tokyn, and fro the seyd dwel- 
 lyng place by the space of a myle to a payre galwes 
 ledden, there hem for to have hangyd ; and by cause 
 hem fayled ropes convenient to here felonowse purpos, 
 the seyd John Grys, hese sone, and hys man there felon- 
 owsely slowen and mordered in the most orrible wyse 
 that ever was herd spoken of in that cuntre. Wher 
 up on Walter Aslak, purposyng and imaginyng to putte 
 William Paston in drede and intolerable fere to be 
 
 1 This word is omitted in the MS.
 
 A.D. 1424.] HENRY VI. 13 
 
 slayn and mordered in the seyd forme with force and 
 ageyn the kinges peas, on the shyre day of Norffolk, 
 halden at Norwiche, the xxviij. day of August, in the 
 seyd secunde yeer, beyng there thanne a grete con- 
 gregacion of poeple by cause of the seyd shyre, in hese 
 owne persone, and by Richard Kyllynworth, that tyme 
 hese servaunt, to the seyd William Paston swiche and 
 so many manaces of deth and dismembryng maden and 
 puttyn by certeyns Englische billes rymed in partye, 
 and up on the yates of the Priorie of the Trinite 
 chirche of Norwiche, and on the yates of the chyrche 
 of the Freres Menures of Norwiche, and the yates of 
 the same Cite called Nedeham yates and Westewyk 
 yates, and in othre places wyth inne the seyd Cite by 
 the seyd Walter and Richard sette, makyng mension 
 and beryng this undyrstondyng that the seyd William, 
 and hese clerkes, and servauntes schuld be slayn and 
 mordered in lyke forme as the seyd John Grys in the 
 seyd forme was slayne and mordered : conteyning also 
 these too wordes in Latyn, et cetera, by which wordes 
 communely it was undyrstandyn that the forgeers and 
 makers of the seyd billes imagyned to the seyd William, 
 hese clerkes and servauntes, more malice and harm than 
 in the seyd billes was expressed. Wherfore the seyd 
 William, hese seyd clerkes and servauntz, by longe tyme 
 aftyr were in gret and intollerable drede and fere by the 
 sayd maffaisours and felons to be slayn and mordered. 
 Wherfore the seyd William, hese clerkes and servauntes, 
 ne durst not at here fredom nothyr goon ne ryde. 
 
 Wher up on the seyd William, for hese owyn persone, 
 affermyd a pleynt of trespas ageyn the seyd Walter and 
 Richard, processe contynued ther up on til the seyd 
 Walter and Richard were founden gilty of the seyd tres- 
 pas by an iniquisicion ther of takyn in dwe and lawefull 
 forme, by whiche inquisicion the damages of the seyd 
 William for the seyd trespas were taxed to cxx u - [;i 20]. 
 Aftyr which pleynte affermyd, and to fore ony plee up 
 on the seyd pleynt pleded, the seyd Walter and William, 
 by Thomas Erpyngham, Knyght, a myghty and a gret
 
 14 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1424. 
 
 supportour of the seyd Walter in alle these matiers and 
 circumstaunces ther of ageyn the seyd William, were 
 induced to trete in the same matier in the forme that 
 folwith : That is to seyne, that the seyd William schuld 
 sue forth the seyd pleynt and the execucion ther of at 
 hese owne will, and the seyd Walter schuld defende 
 hym self in the seyd pleynt at hese owne will, except 
 that he schuld no benefice take by noon proteccion, ne 
 wrytte of corpus aim cartsa, ne of no lordes lettres up on 
 the seyd sute. And what so ever fortunyd in the seyd 
 pleynt, the proces, execucion, or the sute ther of, the seyd 
 Walter and William schuld stonde and obeye to the 
 ordinaunce of certeyns persones by the seyd William 
 and Walter arbitratores that tyme named, if thei myghten 
 accordyn, and ellys of anoonpier also that same tyme 
 named, of alle the seyd trespas, pleynt, and sute, and 
 alle the circumstaunces ther of, so that the seyd arbitre- 
 ment and ordinaunce of the seyd arbitratores, or ellys of 
 the seyd nounpier, were made withinne xl. dayes next 
 folwyng aftyr the jugement geven in the seyd pleynt. 
 
 And aftyrward, the Thursday next biforn Pentecost, 
 the thrydde yeer of the regne of the seyd kyng, at 
 London, in the presence of the right excellent, high 
 and myghty prynce, the Due de Gloucestre, 1 and 
 by hese commaundement, atte sute and instaunce 
 of the seyd Thomas Erpyngham, it was accordyd 
 bytwen the seyd William and Walter that thei 
 schuld stande and obeye to the ordinaunce and award 
 of alle the seyd matiers of tweyne of these iiij. persones, 
 William Phelip, Knyght, Henry Inglose, Knyght, Oliver 
 Groos, and Thomas Derham, chosen on the partye 
 of the seyd William Paston, and tweyne of those iiij. 
 persones, Symond Felbrygge, Knyght, Bryan Stapilton, 
 Knyght, Roberd Clyfton, Knyght, and John of Berneye 
 of Redeham, chosen on the partie of the seyd Water, 
 and elles the decree and jugement of a nounpier to be 
 chosen by the same arbitrores. The whiche William 
 Phelip, Bryan Stapilton, Roberd Clyfton, Oliver Groos, 
 
 1 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Protector of England.
 
 A.D. 1424.] HENRY VI. 15 
 
 John of Berneye, and Thomas Derham, takyng up on 
 hem the charge of the makyng of the seyd award and 
 ordinaunce by the assent of the seyd Thomas Erpyng- 
 ham, the Frydaynext aftyr the feste of the Assumpcion of 
 Ovvre Lady, in the seyd thrydde yeer, atNorwiche, tokyn 
 ensurans of the seyd William and Walter by here fayth 
 and here trowthez to stande and obeye to here ordi- 
 naunce of alle the seyd matiers, and the same day biforne 
 noon, maden here full ordinaunce and arbitrement of 
 alle the same matiers in the chyrche of the Greye 
 Freyrys at Norwich ; and aftyrward, up on the same 
 award and ordinaunce mad, hadden a communicacion 
 ther of with the seyd Thomas Erpyngham; and aftyr the 
 same communicacion, the same dayaftyr noon, the same 
 ordinaunce and award wretyn was red byforn the seyd ar- 
 bitrores and the seyd Walter and William, and examyned, 
 agreed, and assented, and by the scales of the same vj. 
 arbitrores and the seyd Walter and William, was affer- 
 med and ensealed and left in the handes of the seyd 
 Sir Bryan, saveliche to be kept in playne remembraunce 
 of the seyd award and ordinaunce ; the whiche award 
 and ordinaunce the seyd William was at all tymes redy 
 to obeye and performe, on to the seyd feste of Michel- 
 messe, that the seyd Walter to holde or performe the 
 seyd award pleynly refused. 
 
 And where the seyd Walter, by jugement of the Chaun- 
 celler of Inglond, the xvj . day of J ull' the seyd thrydde yeer, 
 was remytted to the kynges prison at Norwich by cause 
 of the seyd sute, the seyd Walter yede at large owt of 
 warde fro the seyd xvj. day of Jull' to the seyd day of the 
 makyng of the seyd arbitrement and award, and fro that 
 day in to Michelmesse thanne next aftyr; the seyd Wil- 
 liam that meene tyme evermore supposyng that the seyd 
 Walter wolde have holde and performyd the sayd ordi- 
 naunce, arbitrement, and award. And at the comyng of 
 the right high and myghty prynce the Due of Norfolk fro 
 his Castell of Framyngham to the Cetie of Norwyche, 
 aftyr the seyd day of the makyng of this arbitrement 
 and ordinaunce, and to fore the feste of Michelmesse
 
 i6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1424. 
 
 than next folwyng, the seyd Walter by hese sotill and 
 ungoodly enformacion caused the seyd Duke to be 
 hevy lord to the seyd William. Where the seyd Wil- 
 liam the tyme of the seyd enformacion was with Sir 
 John Jermy, Knyght, and othre of the counseill of the 
 seyd Duk of Norffolk in hys lordshipes in Norffolk and 
 Suffolk, thanne to hym falle \^fallen\ by the deth of the 
 right worthy and noble lady hys modyr, occupied abovvte 
 the dwe service of wryttes oidiem clausit extremum^afty* 
 the deth of the seyd lady. And where as the seyd 
 William Paston, by assignement and commaundement 
 of the seyd Duk of Norffolk, at hese fyrst passage over 
 the see in to Normandye, in the kynges tyme Henry 
 the Fyfte, was the Styward of the seyd Due of Norffolk, 
 of all hese lordshipes in Norffolk and Suffolk fro hys 
 seyd passage un to the seyd feste of Michelmesse ; 
 [And 2 over that as sergeaunt of lawe, thow he be un- 
 worthy, withholdyn with the seyd Due of Norffolk alle the 
 tyme that he was sergeaunt bifore the same feste of Michel- 
 messe. And all be it that the fees and the wages of the 
 seyd William for hys seyd service unpayed drawetha gret 
 some to hys pouere degree, if the seyd Duk of Norffolk 
 lyked, of hys noble and plentifous grace, to graunte to 
 the seyd William, in right, ony part of the favour of hese 
 good lordship, the seyd William wolde evere be hys 
 pouere and trewe bedeman, and evere in hys herte 
 thenke alle hys seyd service, and alle the service that 
 ever he dede to the seyd [Duke] of Norfolk, plentefousely 
 weell rewardyd. 3 ] 
 
 And where the seyd Walter, the tyme of the seyd 
 trespas and of the seyd bylles makyng ne long 
 to fore, ne never aftyr biforn the seyd comyng of 
 the seyd Due of Norffolk to Norwich, ne no tyme 
 hangyng the seyd sute, ne the tyme of makyng of the 
 said arbitrement and qrdinaunce, never was servaunt to 
 
 1 These were writs issued on the death of a tenant in capitc of the Crown, 
 and directed to the escheators in the different counties in which his lands lay, 
 directing them to inquire by jury what lands he held, and of what value, and 
 who was his nearest heir, and what was the heir's age. 
 
 2 Over this word is written " va," the first syllable of vaceit, showing that 
 the passage is cancelled. 
 
 3 Here is written " cat" See Note 2.
 
 A.D. 1424.] HENRY VL 17 
 
 the seyd Due of Norffolk at fees, ne at wages, ne wyth- 
 haldyn in hese service, ne to hym sued to be supported 
 by hese high Lordship in this seyd matier, to the know- 
 leche of the seyd William, ne to no commune knowleche, 
 in the shyres of Norffolk, Suffolk, ne Norwiche ; the 
 sute that the seyd Walter made for supportacion in this 
 seyd matier was be the meene of the seyd Thomas 
 Erpyngham to the seyd Duk of Gloucestre, by whose 
 reule and commaundemente the seyd arbitrement and 
 award was mad in the forme aforn seyd. And not 
 with stondyng the seyd trespas and grevaunce by the 
 seyd Walter doon the seyd William, ne that the seyd 
 William ne is not satisfied of the seyd cxxli-, ne no peny 
 therof, and hath absteyned hym of al maner of execu- 
 tion, sewyng of godes or catelles, that by force of the 
 seyd processe, or ony othyr, he myght have had ageyn 
 the seyd Walter or hese borwes [sureties], ne that the seyd 
 William hath suffred the seyd Walter to gon at large by 
 long tyme whan he myght have had hys body in warde 
 in lawfull forme : The seyd Walter, be billes in the too 
 last parlementz hold en at Westminster and at Leycestre, 
 and at divers tymes in divers other maneres hath noysed 
 and skaundered the seyd William ungoodly and othyr 
 wyse than othyr [either] gentilnesse or trowthe wolde ; 
 and, evermore, caused the seyd William orribly tobeman- 
 assed of hys deth, betyng and dismembryng of hys per- 
 sone by certeyns servauntz of the Lordes Fitz Wauter 
 and othre persones, and by ferefull and overe felle lettres 
 and sondes. Wherfore the seyd William, nothyr hese 
 frendes, ne hese servauntz in hys companye, at here 
 fredam sithen the seyd parlement at Leycestre durft 
 not, ne yet ne dar not rydyn ne goo abowte swyche 
 occupacion as he arn used and disposed, to here grete 
 and unportable drede and vexation in here spirites, and 
 gret harme and damage and losse of here pouere goodes. 
 [Overmore, 1 the seyd Walter hath sued, and yet rigor- 
 ously suethe a wry tte oidedes tantum 2 agey ns x. persones of 
 
 1 Here is written " vs." See p. 16, Note 2. 
 
 2 A writ against a juror who had been bribed, by which the prosecutor 
 could recover from him ten times the amount of the bribe, dividing the pro- 
 ceeds with the King. ,-.
 
 i8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1424. 
 
 the seyd Inquisicion and ij. of the servauntz of the seyd 
 William and iiij. othre persones; supposyng byhese seyd 
 sute hem to have taken of the seyd William in hys seyd 
 syte Ixij 11 - [^62] and more of moneye. The whiche sute 
 of dedcs tantnm the seyd Walter, betwyx God and hym, 
 knowith verraly is untrewe. And also the seyd Walter 
 hath sued, and yet persuyth Adam Aubre, on of the 
 seyd Inquisicion in the court of the seyd Due of Nor- 
 ffolk of hys manoir of Fornsete, by cause and occasion of 
 the seyd matiers, in whiche sute in the seyd court it is 
 preceded ageyn the seyd Adam in other rnaner thanne 
 othyr lawe, conscience, or good fayth wolde. 1 ] 
 
 Overmore the seyd William, atte commaundement of 
 the seyd Due of Norffolk, hath submytted hym to stonde 
 to the ordinaunce of divers persones of alle the seyd 
 matiers : ones at Leycestre, the Wednesday next biforn 
 Palm Soneday, the iiij. yeer of the regne of the seyd 
 kyng; anothyr tyme atte Reed clyf in Aprill the same iiij. 
 yeer, aftyr the forme of certeyns biiles endented ther of 
 made. The whiche submission, with alle the circum- 
 staunces ther of, the seyd William hath be at alle tymes 
 redy to obeye. The cause why the seyd Walter, by the 
 seyd Englishe bylles, and in otnyr forme, putte and sette 
 the seyd William, and hese seyd clerkes and servauntz, 
 in drede and fere intollerable to be slayn and mordered, 
 and to hem trespaced in the forme aforn seyd, was 
 onely for as moche as the seyd William was with the 
 prior of Nonviche of counseille in hese trewe defence 
 ageyn the entent of the seyd Walter in a sute that he 
 made ageyn the seyd priour of a voweson of the chyrche 
 of Sprouston in the counte of Norffolk, wher to the seyd 
 Walter hath nothyr title suffisaunt ne right in no maner 
 wyse by ony matier by hym declared byforn thys tyme. 
 
 This scrowe is mad only for the informacion of the 
 worthy and worshipfull lordes the arbitrores ; savyng 
 evere to the maker the benefice resonably to adde and 
 amenuse, his ignoraunce in swiche occupacion and 
 defaute of leyser also tendrely considered. 
 
 1 Here is written " cat." See p. 16, Notes 2 and 3.
 
 A.D. 1425.] HENR Y VI. 19 
 
 5. 
 
 A.D. 1425, 5 Nov. WILLIAM PASTON TO . 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter, being dated in November, was probably written before Nos. 6 
 and 7, which follow, though evidently very near them in point of date. The 
 chief evidence of the time when they must all have been written will be seen 
 in No. 7. 
 
 HJIGHT worthy and worshepefull Sir, I recom- 
 maunde me to yow, and thank yow for the 
 JH good, trew, and diligent labour ye have 
 hadde for the matier betwen the Priour of 
 Bromholme 1 and his commoigne apostata, Johne 
 Wortes, that namythe hym self Paston, and affermith 
 hym untrewely to be my cousyn. [I have many pouere 
 men of my kyn, but so fals, and so pouere,- but he 
 was nevere of my kyn.] 2 God defende that any of my 
 saide kyn shuld be of swyche governaunce as he is of ! 
 Maister John Ixworthe told me that he hadde lettres 
 fro a frende of yowres in the courtt of Rome, that is of 
 the seyd prioures counseill in this mater as ye be, whos 
 name I knowe nought, specifyeng that the seyd John 
 Wortes adversarius prioris desperat in causa et concor- 
 diam quserit. It is told me sithen that the seyd John 
 Wortes is in the cite of Rome, sacred a bysshop of 
 Irland, videlicet episcopus Corcagensis, wherby it is 
 seyd here that his pretense of his title to the priourie 
 of Bromholme is adnulled, and voide in your lawe. 
 The seyd John Wortes, and a contreman of myne in 
 the seyd court, Maister John Urry, have sent me lettres, 
 wherof I sende yow copies and a trewe instruccion of 
 the seyd matier closed with this bille, the whiche lettres 
 and the matier ther of me semyth mervaillous and 
 straunge. A prest of Norffolk, that spak with yow in 
 
 1 Who this Prior was we cannot say, the list of the Priors of Bromholm. 
 being very defective. Blomefield says, that a Prior John has been met with 
 in the nth of dward_ III., and Robert, in the 141)1 of Henry VI. that is to 
 say, in 1435 or 1436, just ninty-nine years later. Nothing is known of the 
 Priors between these dates, sven by the latest editors of Dugdale. 
 
 8 Theie words occur in the draft, but are crossed out.
 
 20 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1425. 
 
 Julie or August last passed, told me that he yede with 
 yow to the cardinales hous, Trikaricensis, 1 to espie if 
 any swyche processe were sued ageyn me as the seyd 
 lettres specifien, and that ye told the same prest at alle 
 tymes ther was than no swiche processe sued, ne had ; 
 the whiche relacion I trust and beleve bettre than the 
 seyd lettres. I have, by advys of counseill, in makyng 
 a procuracie ad agendum, defendendum, provocandum, 
 et appellandum to yow and the seyd Maister John 
 Urry and the Wynsalaw (?) de Swysto ; and also a 
 general appelle, the engrossyng of wyche the messager 
 of this bill myght nought abide ; the whiche procu- 
 racie and appelle I shal sende to yowr persone, tantum- 
 modo [cum pecuniis 2 ], with moneye onward, on trust. 
 My will is, ye have the chief governaunce of this 
 matier, and that this article be counseille [i.e., secret]; 
 wher upon I prey yow hertily to be saddely avysed in 
 these matiers, and, as nede is, so to governe hem by 
 your wysdom, that the seyd prioures estat and honeste, 
 and myn also, to yowr worshepe be saved ; and that, in 
 alle haste resonable, ye lyke to sende me redes lettres 
 of alle the seyd matier, and the circumstances ther of, 
 and who ye wil I be governed in this mater. I was 
 nevere somouned, ne never hadde tydynges of this 
 matier but by seyd lettres and other fleyng tales that I 
 heve herd sithen, ne nevere hadde to do more with the 
 seyd John Wortes than is specified in the seyd instruc- 
 cion. Al myghty God have yow in His governaunce. 
 Writen at London, the v. day of Novembre. 
 
 Yowre frend unknowen. 3 
 
 1 Thomas Brancaccio, Cardinal Bishop of Tricarico. He was made a 
 Cardinal by his uncle. Pope Jolm XXIII, and is said to have been a man of 
 very bad morals. 
 
 2 Interlined, and afterwards erased. 
 
 3 Above these words, and in the place where the signature might have been 
 expected, occur these names, one above another 
 
 " Thomas Abbas de Leyston, in Com' Suff. 
 
 " Ricardus Fremelyngham, concanonichus ibidem." 
 
 They do not, however, appear to be connected with the letter. The fol- 
 lowing words are also scrawled between this letter and the next : " N. per- 
 sona ecclesise de Testerton in Com' Norflf. Gees Cuttyng. Joh' persona 
 ecclesiae de Vermuth (.?), Alicia Gosloth(?)."
 
 A.D. 1425.] HENRY VI. 21 
 
 A Instruction and Information of the verray trewe 
 matter bctwen the Priour and the Covent of JBrom- 
 holm and the seyd John and me, as I am enformed^ 
 and as I knowe touchant my persone and the^ . 
 
 IGHT worthy and worshepefull Sir, I 
 recomaunde to yow, preyeng yow to 
 wite that I have rescey ved yowr goodly 
 lettres makyng mencion that Sir John 
 Paston, 2 ut asserit, hath optyned me condempnyd to 
 hym in CCC[vij.] 3 marcz and C.s. ; and that the same 
 John, atte reverence of your right worthy persone, 
 hathe cesed of his sute of certeins processes ageyns me 
 up on the seyd condempnacion, takyng continuance 4 
 of the same matier unto Cristemasse next comyng ; by 
 which lettres ye conseille me to make ende with the 
 seyd John, ne deterius inde contingat. I [s]end yow, 
 closed with this bille, [the] 5 copie of un frendly lettre 
 that the seyd John hathe sent to me late, touchant the 
 same matier. The seyd priour hath sent also to yow, 
 and to Mayster William Swan, whiche longe hathe be his 
 procurator, a procuracie for my person, and v. marcz 
 of moneye onward. Wher up, in the seyd prioures 
 name, and in myn own also, I prey yow hertily to sette 
 al these matieres in continuaunce un to yowr comyng 
 in to Ingeland ; and because ye arn here beneficed, owr 
 cuntreman, and of worshepe and cunnyng worthyly en- 
 dowed, the seyd priour and his brether, and I also, willen 
 gladdely in these matieres be treted by yow ; and if this 
 mesure be accepted, and we may have knowyng here 
 ther of, it shall cause the attemptacion of diverses 
 matieres a geyn summe frendes of the seyd John to 
 cese. And if this continuance be refused, I prey yow, 
 with al my power, that of your wysdom and good dis- 
 crecion ye wille, in the seyd prioures name, and myn, 
 defenden the seyd sutes, and alle other that the seyd 
 
 iSic. 
 
 1 The title " Sir" was at this time commonly prefixed to a priest's name. 
 
 3 The " vij." is struck out. 4 Contiauce, MS. here and after. 
 
 5 Struck out.
 
 22 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1425. 
 
 Johne sueth ageyn the seyd priour and me, in your 
 best maner, and to be of owr counseill in these matieres; 
 and as ye lyke resonablely to write to us, so we wil be 
 governed in yowre rewarde, and al other circumstaunces 
 of the same matieres. 1 I conceyve by your seyd lettres 
 that the grece of the matier conteigned in the same 
 ye have of the informacion and assercion of the seyd 
 John, and as he hath enformed yow, I wot weel ye 
 trewely writen ; but I hope and trust verrayly the 
 matier of his informacion is untrewe [for he hathe no 
 cause to swe to me, ne I was nevre somouned ne cited 2 ]. 
 The priour of Bromholm sued ageyn the seyd John and 
 other in Ingeland a wryt of pramunire /adas, and I 
 was therin of the same prioures counseill as the lawe of 
 Ingelond and myn office willen, and more I have 
 nought hadde to do with the seyd Johne, and I can 
 nought beleve that in this cas the same Johne myght 
 by your lawe any swich sute have ageyn me as your let- 
 tre specifieth. Also William, the prest specified in yowr 
 [letter], 3 told me that he, after that ye told hym of this 
 matier, lyke as yewrce(P), he comuned with Maister 
 William Swan, and he told the seyd prest ther no pro- 
 cesse in the courte ageyn me in no maner . 4 
 
 The above two documents are from a corrected draft, written 
 on one side of a broad sheet of paper. On the other side is a 
 long Latin pleading, also much corrected, relative to the Abbey 
 of Bermondsey ; prefixed to which are the following words, in the 
 same hand as the preceding letters : 
 
 " Sir, do writen ij. copies of this note in papier, wyde writen, 
 and gete a copie of the writte in the Eschekyr ageyn." 
 
 The pleading referred to is in a different hand, and begins as 
 follows : 
 
 " Et prsedictus abbas dicit quod ipse de prsemissis domino Regi 
 compotum reddere non debet ; quia dicit quod diu ante erectio- 
 nem, fundationem sive erectionem prioratus de Bermundeseye qur 
 nunc erectus est in praxlictam Abbatiam, Willielmus Rufus films. 
 "Willelmi Conquestoris nuper Rex Angliae fuit seisitus de manerio 
 de Bermundeseye," &c. 
 
 1 Here occur the following words, crossed out : " Ferthermore, touchanf 
 
 my persone, I mervaille that the seyd Ferthermore." 
 
 "Struck out 3 Omitted in MS. 
 
 * The driift here ends abruptly.
 
 A.D. 1426.] HENRY VI. 23 
 
 6. 
 
 A.D. 1426. JOHN PASTON alias WORTES. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 William Paston, who is here spoken of as a Serjeant, attained that degree 
 in 1421, and was made Judge of the Common Pleas in 1429. But a closer 
 approximation to the date of this letter may be made by comparing it with 
 that which follows, which is certainly much about the same time. 
 
 Venerabks et discretes persones les courtesans demorans 
 en rosteldu Templebar en la cite de Londres, Mes treschiers 
 et treshonnoures seigneurs et amis. 
 
 IUJJRESCHIERS et treshonnoures seigneurs et 
 grans amis, toutte recommendation premise, 
 plaisir vous soit de scavoir que je vous noti- 
 fie et avertich pour le present que Wilhel- 
 mus Paston le Sergant est denuncies escommunies, que 
 plus plainement poes perchevoir per Instrument que 
 vous envoye. Et pour tant, mez treschiers seigneurs, 
 que je disire moult le salut de votre ames et 1'onneur 
 de cascun de vous, ccmme faire le doy, affin que vous 
 u [<?//] aucunde vous n'ayes aucune conversation u parti- 
 cipation auvecquels le dit Wilhelmus, car il est aggreves 
 a cloquettes sonans, et tant que pour faire cesser en 
 touttes eglises leur il voldroit aler. Mais jou qui suy 
 homme d'eglise et sur touttes choses desire et convoite 
 1'onneur et le bien dou Royaulme, car gy suy tenus, je 
 ne envoye point pour le present les dittes aggravances, 
 ne ossi voillans faire si grand mal que poroye jusquels 
 a che que j'aray certaines novelles et responses com- 
 ment li dis Wilhelmes se voldra ordonner en mes 
 affaires, car nous avons en le loy que mils os 
 excumenies ne puet et ne doit estre admis devant 
 juge quelcunque. Mes treschiers seigneurs, se aucune 
 chose vo plaise que faire puisse, mande le me et 
 le feray de bon cuer. E le sancte Dieuls qui vous 
 ait tons et cascun de vous en sa sancte garde. Et osy, 
 mes treschiers et treshonoures seigneurs, plaise vous
 
 24 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1426. 
 
 scavoir que encelle meyme cause li dis Wilhelmes est 
 redevaules et enquews envers moy, par sentence dif- 
 fmitive que j'ay obtenu pour moy, en mille deuls cens 
 et trente ducas, et que li dis Wilhelmes ne puet yestre 
 jamays absols sy non qu'il soit d'acort auvecquels moy. 
 Escript a en la ville de Bruges le xxiij e jour de Jenvier. 
 
 JOHANNES PASTON/ en temps passd Priour 
 de Broholm, et pour le present evesquels 
 de Corkagen, le tout vostre. 
 
 7. 
 
 A.D. 1426, i March. 
 WILLIAM PASTON TO WILLIAM WORSTED AND OTHERS. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 About the year 1425 the question of the validity of the Duke of Gloucester's 
 marriage with Jacqueline of Hainault was before the Court of Rome. This 
 letter must have been written in the spring of the year following, when Par- 
 liament was sitting at Leicester. The original is slightly mutilated at the 
 edge in one place. 
 
 A mez treshonnotires Mcistres Will'm Worstede, John 
 Longham, et Meistre Piers Shclton, soit donne. 
 
 |IGHT worthy and worshepefull sires and 
 maistres, I recomand me to yow, and thank 
 yow with al my herte, of the gret tendre- 
 nesse ye lyke to have of the salvacion of my 
 symple honeste, preying yow evermore of your good 
 continuance. I have, after the advys of your lettre, 
 doon dewely examyned the instrument by the wysest I 
 coude fynde here, and in especial by on Maister 
 Robert Sutton, 2 a courtezane of the Court of Rome, the 
 which is the chief and most chier man with my 
 Lord of Gloucestre, and his matier in the said court 
 
 1 William Paston, as appears in Letter 7 following, disputed this writer's 
 right to call himself Paston, and asserted that his real name was Wortes. It 
 is curious that neither in the list of the Bishops of Cork, nor in that of the 
 Priors of Bromholm, is the name either of Paston or Wortes to be met with. 
 
 2 Prebendary of Lincoln, 1433-9. Died 1439.
 
 A.D. 1426.] HENR Y VI. 25 
 
 for my lady, his wyff 1 ; and here aunswere is that al 
 this processe, though it were in dede preceded as the 
 instrument specifieth,is not suffisant in the lawe of Holy 
 Cherche, and that hem semyth, by the sight of the 
 instrument and by the defautes [that] ye espied in the 
 same and other, and in maner by the knowelech of the 
 notarie, that the processe, in gret part ther of, is fal[se 
 and unjtrewe. I have taken advys of Maister Robert 
 Bruus, chauncellor with my Lord of Cantirbury, 2 and 
 Maister Nicholl Billesdon, 3 cha[uncellor] of my Lord of 
 Wynchestre, 4 and Maister John Blodwelle, 5 a weel 
 lerned man holden, and a suffisant courtezan of the 
 seyd court, and all these acorden to the seyd Maister 
 Robert Sutton. Nought with stondyng that I herde 
 nevere of this matier no maner lykly ne credible evi- 
 dence unto that I sey your lettre and the instrument, 
 yet I made an appell and a procuracie, and also a 
 provocacion, at London, longe biforn Cristemasse, by 
 the a[dvys] of Maister David Aprys, Maister Symond 
 Kempston, and Maister James Cole, and sent al this, 
 with an instruccion of al the matier, w[ith] my procura- 
 tours to Rome by your frere, my Maister Suppriour, 
 and geffhym gold that he was content : and, overmore, 
 nowe here by advys I make this day a newe apelle 
 and a newe procuracion, and upon this alle the seyd 
 worthy men here seyn and informe me pleynly I have 
 no maner cause in lawe ne in conscience to drede 
 aught in this matier. Myn adversarie 6 is become 
 Bysshop of Cork in Irland, and ther arn ij. other per- 
 sones provided to the same bysshopriche yet lyvyng, be- 
 forn my seyd adversarie; and by this acceptacion of this 
 bysshopriche, he hath pryved hym self of the title that 
 he claymed in Bromholm, and so adnulled the ground 
 
 ' Jacqueline of Hainault, whom Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, married, 
 pretending that her former marriage with John, Duke of Brabant, was void 
 by consanguinity. The question which of the two marriages was valid, was 
 at this time before the Pope. 
 
 2 Archbishop Chicheley. 3 Dean of Salisbury, 1435-41. Died 1441. 
 
 * Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, afterwards Cardinal. 
 
 8 LL.D. Prebendary of Hereford about 1433, and of Lichfield, 1432-43. 
 
 * John Paston or Wortes, the writer of the preceding letter.
 
 26 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1426. 
 
 of his processe ageyn me, and also the tyme of his 
 grevaunce pretendid, and the tyme of his sute he 
 was apostata, and I trowe is yet, and so unable to sue 
 any swich processe. I purpose me to come homward 
 be London, to lerne more in this matier, if I may. I 
 prey the Holy Trinite, lord of your cherche and of alle 
 the werld, delyvere me of my iij. adversaries, of this 
 cursed bysshop for Bromholm, Aslak for Sprouston, 1 
 and Julian Herberd for Thornham. I have nought 
 trespassed ageyn noon of these iij., God knowing, and 
 yet I am foule and noysyngly vexed with hem, to my gret 
 unease, and al for my lordes and frendes matieres, and 
 nought for myn owyn. I wot not whether it were best 
 in any sermon or other audience, in your cherche or 
 elles where, to declare aught of this matier in stoppyng 
 of the noyse that renneth in this case. I submitte me 
 and alle this matier to your good discrecion; and evere 
 gremercy God, and ye, who ever have yow and me in 
 His gracious governance. I suppose to see yow on 
 Palm Sunday. Writen at Leycestre, the Friday the 
 thredde wyke of Lente. 
 
 Alle the seyd lerned men telle me trewely ther is 
 nother perill ne doubte in the takyng doun of the 
 instrument and the bille to no creature. Which instru- 
 ment and bille I send yow ageyn by the berare of 
 this, which I prey you to kepe as pryve as ye may. 
 Yowr man, W. PASTON. 
 
 I have preyed my Maister Hammond to write yow 
 tydyngges, and smale(?) lesynges among. 
 
 1 A lordship in Sprouston was acquired by John Aslake of Eromholm in 14 
 Richard II., and seems to have continued some time in that family. Blome- 
 field notes that a Walter Aslake, Esq. of Sprouston, had a protection in the 
 loth of Henry VI., being in France in the retinue of John, Duke of Bedlord 
 (Blomefield's Norfolk, x. ',62). Probably this was the same Walter Aslak 
 mentioned in No. 4 preceding. See p. 18.
 
 A.D. 1426.] HENRY VI. 27 
 
 8. 
 
 A.D. 1426. ABSTRACTS. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 (l.) Capias against William Stayard of Great Yarmouth, late 
 lieutenant of Thomas Chaucer, 1 chief butler of Henry V., for 
 debts to the Crown. 
 
 (2.) Release by William Steyard of Great Yarmouth, to 
 Elizabeth, widow of John Rothenhale, Knight, of all personal 
 actions against her as her husband's executor. 7 April, 4 Hen. 
 VI. 
 
 9. 
 
 About A.D. 1426. (?) ABSTRACT. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 to WILLIAM PASTON. 
 
 " Dear and well-beloved Cousin." Is in good health, but ill 
 at ease, being informed that she is in debt to Steyard for my lord's 
 debt, whose soul Go:! assoil, 7 and a pipe of wine. Knew 
 nothing of it in my lord's life, except of 2 pipes for herself, and one 
 for her mother-in-law, of which she has paid 2os. Since my Lord's 
 death, Steyard has never asked her for it. " For which time, as 
 I was at Jernemouth abiding in the Frere Carmes the time of the 
 pestilence, his wife came unto me," asking the writer to be good 
 lady to him ; and he asked no more then than the above 3 pipes. 
 He asked no more last harvest when he was sick and like to die, 
 when John of Berneye was present. Thinks, therefore, his asking 
 is untrue. My Lord would have made me or some of his council 
 privy to such a debt. Hopes Paston, whom my Lord made one 
 of his feoffees, will see "that ye and I be discharged anemps the 
 King as for the debt of Steyard. " Dated Castre, the day after 
 the Conversion of St. Paul. Addressed, "A mon tres cher 
 et bien ame cousin, Will'm Paston soit donne." 
 
 [This letter is endorsed in another hand, "W. Paston, j. feoffatorum et 
 executorum Johannis Rothnale per lit' Cz.(?)" It seems, therefore, to have 
 been written by the Lady Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Rothenhale, whose 
 name occurs in No 8 in connection with William Steyard of Great Yarmouth. 
 She was the daughter of Sir Philip Branch, Kt., and had been previously 
 
 married to John Clere of Ormesby. She died at Caister, the place from 
 which this letter is dated, in 1440 ; and by her will, which was dated at 
 Caister, i6th October 1438, she bequeathed all her goods at Ormesby to her 
 son Robert Clere, and all her goods at Horning Hall, in Caister, to her son 
 Edmund. See Blomefield's Norfolk, iv. 35, vi. 392, xi. 210.] 
 
 1 He wns son of Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous poet, and his daughter Alice 
 married William De la Pole, at this time Earl, afterwards Duke, of Suffolk.
 
 28 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1426-43. 
 
 10. 
 A.D. 1426-7. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Depositions on the day of , 5 Hen. VI., by Richard 
 
 Wyoth, executor of Margery, daughter and heir of Edmund 
 Kakon, touching the manor of Gressam which Bakon pur- 
 chased, temp. Edw. III. After the death of two brothers, 
 Margery became sole possessor, and gave it to Wyoth and 
 other executors to perform her will, with proviso that Philip 
 Vache and Eliz., his wife, should have it during their lives, but 
 that the reversion of it should be sold, giving William, son of 
 Robert Moleyns, the first option of purchase. It was accordingly 
 offered to him, but he refused to buy. On the death of said Eliz., 
 however, he bought the manor for 420 marks, and held it two 
 years, when Wyoth re-entered because part of the purchase-money 
 was unpaid. W. Moleyns's wife, however, induced him to accept 
 security from Thos. Fawkoner, merchant of London, whose 
 daughter the said William agreed that his son should marry, when 
 he came of age ; and it was arranged that meanwhile Fawkoner 
 and Wyoth should be jointly enfeoffed of the manor, which was to 
 be given in jointure, if the marriage took effect. The marriage 
 did not take effect, and Fawkoner re-entered upon the manor 
 according to the enfeoffment, but paid Wyoth nothing, till Thos. 
 Chawsers, 1 Esq., a kinsman of the said Margery, made him under- 
 stand that Wyoth might enter on his own portion, and had even 
 a prior right to himself. At length Fawkoner sold his right to 
 Chaucers and Wyoth, and released the manor on security for the 
 payment. Wyoth then said he should have little advantage by the 
 bargain, except in having easy days of payment ; " et quod dictus 
 Thomas Chaucers, pro bona voluntate quod (sic} erga dictum 
 Willelmum Paston gessit, episcopum Londoni de emptione ejus- 
 dem manerii per longum tempus dilatavit, intentione ut idem 
 Willelmus illud emeret si voluerit." 
 
 11. 
 
 A.D. 1427-43. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 RAUF, Parson of Cressyngham, to WILLIAM PASTON, Justice. 
 
 Is he to deliver to John Halleman Paston's evidences belonging 
 to the manor of Wodhalle in Pagrave, and under what form ? 
 Hopes to see him at Norwich, on Tuesday or Wednesday after 
 Michaelmas day. Cressingham, 20 Sept. 
 
 1 See Note i on preceding page. See also Blomefield, viii. 127.
 
 A.D. 1429-30-! HENR Y VT. 29 
 
 On the back are written, in William Paston's hand, some notes 
 of a case touching "Frater Kensale." 
 
 [Ralph Wolman alias Harple was incumbent of Cressingham from 1427 to 
 1460 : but this letter could not have been written later than 14431 as William 
 Fasten died in August of the following year.] 
 
 12. 
 
 Before A.D. 1429. ABSTRACT. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Mutilated Letter in French, from JOHN VAUX, Parson of Edy- 
 
 thorp to . 
 
 Only the right-hand half of the letter remains. Names men- 
 tioned -Richard de Causton, William Coule. Date lost. 
 
 [John Vaux was Rector of Edingthorp in Norfolk, in 1388. His successor 
 was John Prentys, who was presented to the living in 1429 by the feoffees of 
 the duchy of Lancaster. Blomefield, xL 29.] 
 
 13. 
 A.D. 1429, 7 Dec. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,226, B.M.] 
 
 " A Grant of the Monastery of Bury to make William Paston, 
 justice, brother of the Chapter- House." Day of St. Ambrose, 
 1429. 
 
 [The description is taken from an endorsement. The document itself is 
 printed in Yates's, Bury St. Edmund's, p. 156.] 
 
 14. 
 
 A.D. 1430. (?) 
 WILLIAM PASTON TO THE VICAR OF THE ABBOT OF 
 
 CLUGNY. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is printed from a rough draft written on paper, corrected in 
 William Paston's own hand, and scribbled over, after his fashion, with nume- 
 rous other drafts and jottings on both sides. Some of these occur upside 
 down between the lines of this letter. At the head of the memoranda on 
 the back are the words, "In parliamento, anno H. vj. viijo." from which 
 we may infer the date to be at least as early. 
 
 jY ryghte worthy and worshopeful lord, I reco- 
 maunde me to yow. And for as meche [as I] 
 conseyve verrayly that ye arn Vicar general 
 in Inggelond of the worthy Prelate, the Abbot
 
 30 THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1430. 
 
 of Clunie, and have hys power in many grete articles, 
 and mong other in profession of monkes in Inggelond 
 of the seyd ordere. And in my cuntre, but a myle fro 
 the place where I was born, is the poure hous of Brom- 
 holm of the same ordre, in wheche arn divers vertuous 
 yongge men, monkes clad and unprofessyd, that have 
 abedyn there. . . . Abbyte ix. or x. yeer ; and be 
 lenger delaye of here profession, many inconvenientez 
 arne lyke to falle. And also the priour of ... 
 hath resigned in to your worthy handes by certeins 
 notables and resonables causes, as it apperyth by an 
 instrument, and a symple lettre under the comune seal 
 of the seyd hous of Bromholm, which the berare of this 
 hath redy to shewe yow, wher up on I prey yow wyt 
 al my herte, and as I evere may do yow service, that it 
 lyke to your grace to graunte of your charite, by yowr 
 worthy lettres to the priour of Thetford in Norfolk, of 
 the seyde ordre of Clunye, autorite and power as your 
 ministre and depute to professe in dwe forme the seyd 
 monkes of Bromholm unprofessed. And that it lyke 
 yow evermore to accepte and admitte the seyd resygna- 
 cion by your seyd autoritie and power, wyth the favour 
 of your good lordshepe in comfort and consolacion of 
 your pouere prestes, the monkes of the seyd hous of 
 Bromholm, and there up to graunte your worthy lettres, 
 wittenessyng the same acceptacionandadmyssion of the 
 seyd resignacion, and al your seyd lettres to delyvere to 
 my clerke, to wham I prey yow to gyve feith and 
 credence touchant this matier, and to delivere it hym in 
 alle the hast resonable. And I am your man, and evere 
 will be by the grace of God, which evere have yow in 
 his kepyng. Writen at Norwich the ' of 
 
 AprilL 
 
 Yowres, WILL. PASTON. 
 
 1 Blank in MS.
 
 A. D. 1429-32.] HENRY VI. 3 1 
 
 15. 
 
 A.D. 1429-30. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 A Memorandum, dated 8 Henry VI., that Sir Simon Felbrigge, 
 William Paston, &c., recovered certain land in Edithorp, Bakton, 
 and Northwalsham, against Richard, Abbot of St.Benet's, Hulme, 
 John Roys, and others. 
 
 16. 
 A.D. 1431, 8 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,227, B.M.] 
 
 ROBERT, LORD OF WILLUGHEY AND BEAUMESNIL, TO 
 
 WILLIAM PASTON, ESQ. 
 
 Notifying that he has granted to Sir William Oldhall and 
 Margaret, our sister, his wife, for moneys which Oldhall has 
 lent and paid for him at need, an annuity of 120 marks on lands 
 in Norfolk and Suffolk, in which ye (William Paston, Esq.) stand 
 enfeoffcd, to our behoof. Pont de 1'Arche,- 8 Jan. 1430, 9 Hen. 
 VI. Signed. Fine seal, mutilated. 
 
 17. 
 
 A.D. 1432, i May. ABSTRACT. 
 [Add. Charter 14,313, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.)] 
 
 Deed Poll, whereby Robert York, Prior of the church of St. 
 Andrew of Broomholme, and the Convent of the same place, grant 
 to Sir Simon Felbrygg, Knt, William Paston of Paston, and 
 others, certain lands in Bacton Wood, &c., I May, 10 Henry VI. 
 {Fragment of seal. ) 
 
 18. 
 A.D. 1432, 9 Nov. EDUCATION OF HENRY VI. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,228, B.M.] 
 
 Articles de Monsr. de Warrewyk*- touchant le bon 
 regime du Roy, etc? 
 
 OR the goode reule, demesnyng and seuretee of 
 the Kynges persone, and draught of him to 
 vertue and connyng, and eschuyng of eny 
 thing that mighte yeve empeschement or let 
 
 1 Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who died in 1439. 
 a This title is taken from a contemporary endorsement.
 
 32 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1432. 
 
 therto, or cause eny charge, defaulte, or blame to be 
 leyd upon the Erie of Warrewyk at eny tyme withouten 
 his desert, he, considering that perill and besinesse of 
 his charge aboute the Kinges persone grovveth so that 
 that auctoritee and power yeven to him before suffiseth 
 him nought without more therto, desireth therfore thees 
 thinges that folowen. 
 
 Furst, that considering that the charge of the reule, 
 demesnyng, and governance, and also of nourture of 
 the Kinges persone resteth upon the said Erie whiles it 
 shal like the king, and the perille, daunger, and blame 
 if eny lak or defaulte were in eny of thees, the whiche 
 lak or defaulte mighte be caused by ungodely or 
 unvertuous men, if eny suche were aboute his persone; 
 he desireth therfore, for the goode of the King, and for 
 his owne seuretee, to have power and auctoritee to 
 name, ordeigne, and assigne, and for cause that shal be 
 thought to him resonable to remoeve thoo that [shal] 
 be aboute the Kinges persone, of what estate or con- 
 dicion that thei be, not entending to comprehende in 
 this desir the Stuard, Chamberlein, Tresoror, Contre- 
 rollor, ne Sergeantz of offices, save suche as serve aboute 
 the Kinges persone and for his mouth. 
 
 Rcsponsio. As toward the namyng, ordeignance, and 
 assignacion beforesaid, it is agreed, so that he take in 
 noon of the iiij. knightes ne squyers for the body without 
 th'advis of my Lord of Bedford, 1 him being in Eng- 
 land, and him being out, of my Lord of Gloucestre 2 and 
 of the remenant of the Kinges Counsail. 
 
 Item, the said Erie desireth that where he shal have 
 eny persone in his discrecion suspect of mysgovern- 
 ance, and not behoveful nor expedient to be aboute 
 the King, except th'estates of the hous, that he may 
 putte hem from excercise and occupacion of the Kinges 
 
 1 John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, the King's uncle, brother of 
 the late King Henry V. 
 
 2 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Protector of Engl.ind, another uncle of 
 the King, being the youngest brother of Henry V. He was called " the 
 Good Duke Humphrey."
 
 A.D. 1432.] HENRY VI. 33 
 
 service till that he shal mowe have speche with my 
 Lordes of Bedford or of Gloucestre, and with the other 
 Lordes of the Kinges Counsaile, to that ende that, the 
 defaulte of eny suche persone knowen unto him, shal 
 mowe ordeigne therupon as theim shel thenke expe- 
 dient and behovefull. 
 
 Responsio. It is agreed as it is desired. 
 
 Item, the said Erie desireth that, for sikenesse and 
 other causes necessaries and resonables, he may, by 
 warnyng to my Lordes of Bedford or Gloucestre and 
 the Kinges Counsail, be and stande freely descharged 
 of the saide occupacion and besinesse about the Kinges 
 persone, under the favour and goode grace of the King, 
 my Lordes of Bedford and Gloucestre, and other Lordes 
 of the Kinges Counsail. 
 
 Responsio. It is agreed as it is desired. 
 
 Item, that considering howe, blessed be God, the 
 King is growen in yeers, in stature of his persone, and 
 also in conceite and knouleche of his hiegh and royalle 
 auctoritee and estat, the whiche naturelly causen him, 
 and from day to day as he groweth shul causen him, 
 more and more to grucche with chastising, and to 
 lothe it, so that it may resonably be doubted leste he 
 wol conceive ayeins the said Erie, or eny other that 
 wol take upon him to chastise him for his defaultes, 
 displesir, or indignacion therfore, the whiche, without 
 due assistence, is not easy to be born : It like, therfore, 
 to my Lord of Gloucestre, and to alle the Lordes of the 
 Kinges Counsail, to promitte to the said Erie, and 
 assure him, that thei shul fermely and trewely assisten 
 him in the excercise of the charge and occupacion that 
 he hathe aboute the Kinges persone, namely in chastis- 
 ing of him for his defaultes, and supporte the said Erie 
 therinne ; and if the King at eny tyme wol conceyve for 
 that cause indignacion ayeins the said Erie, my said Lord 
 of Gloucestre, and Lordes, shul do alle her [i.e. their] 
 trewe diligence and power to remoeve the King therfro. 
 
 Responsio. It is agreed as it is desired.
 
 34 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1432. 
 
 Item, the said Erie desireth that for asmuche as it 
 shal be necessarie to remoeve the Kinges persone at 
 diverse tymes into sundry places, as the cases mowe 
 require, that he may have power and auctoritee to re- 
 moeve the King, by his discrecion, into what place him 
 thenketh necessarie for the helthe of his body and 
 seuretee of his persone. 
 
 Responsio. It is agreed as it is desired. 
 
 Item, sith the said Erie hath take upon him the 
 governance of the Kinges persone, he desireth that alle 
 th'estates, officers, and servantz of the Kinges hous, 
 of what estate and condicion thei be, have special com- 
 mandement and charge yeven by my Lordes of Bed- 
 ford and Gloucestre, and by the Lordes of the Kinges 
 Counsail, that in alle manere thinges seyn and advised 
 by the said Erles descrecion, that is, for the Kinges 
 estate, worship, helthe, and profit, by his commande- 
 ment and ordeignance, thei be attendant and obeissant 
 in accomplisshing therof. 
 
 Responsio. It is agreed as it is desired. 
 
 Item, for asmuche as the said Erie hath knouleche 
 that in speche that hath be had unto the King at part 
 and in prive, not hering the said Erie nor eny of the 
 knightes set aboute his persone, nor assigned by the said 
 Erie, he hath be stured by summe from his lernyng, 
 and spoken to of diverse materes not behovefull, the 
 seid Erie doubting the harme that mighte falle to the 
 King, and the inconvenientz that mighte ensue of suche 
 speche at part if it were suffred, desireth that in al 
 speche to be had with the King, he or oon of the iiij. 
 knightes, or sum persone to be assigned by the said 
 Erie, be present and prive to it. 
 
 Responsio. This article is agreed, excepting suche 
 persones as for nieghnesse of blood, and for their 
 estate, owe of reson to be suffred to speke with the King. 
 
 Item, to th'entent that it may be knowen to the 
 King that it procedeth of th'assent, advis, and agree-
 
 A.D. I432-] HENR Y VL 35 
 
 ment of my Lord of Gloucestre, and alle my Lordes of 
 the Kinges Counsail, that the King be chastised for his 
 defaultes or trespasses, and that for awe therof he for- 
 bere the more to do mys, and entende the more 
 besily to vertu and to lernyng, the said Erie desireth 
 that my Lord of Gloucestre, and my said other Lords 
 of the Counsail, or great part of hem, that is to say, the 
 Chanceller and Tresorer, and of everych estate in the 
 Counsail, spirituell and temporell, summe come to the 
 Kinges presence, and there to make to be declared 
 to him theire agreement in that behalve. 
 
 Responsio. Whan the King cometh next to London, 
 all his Counsail shal come to his presence, and there 
 this shal be declared to him. 
 
 Item, the said Erie, that all his dayes hath, aboven 
 alle other erthely thinges, desired, and ever shal, to 
 kepe his trouthe and worship unblemysshed and unhurt, 
 and maye not for all that lette malicious and untrewe 
 men to make informacions of his persone, suche as thei 
 may not, ne dare not, stand by, ne be not trewe, be- 
 secheth therfore my Lord of Gloucestre, and alle my 
 said Lords of the Counsail, that if thei, or eny of hem, 
 have be enformed of eny thing that may be or soune 
 to his charge or defaulte, and namely in his occupa- 
 cion and reule aboute the Kinges persone, that the said 
 Erie may have knowleche therof, to th'entent that he 
 may answer therto, and not dwelle in hevy or synistre 
 conceit or opinion, withoute his desert and without 
 answere. 
 
 Responsio. It is agreed. 
 
 CROMWELL. 
 H. GLOUCESTRE. 
 
 J. EBOR. P. ELIEN. 
 
 W. LINCOLN. J. BATHON., Cane. J. ROFFEN. 
 SUFFOLK. H. STAFFORD. 
 
 J. HUNTYNGTON. 
 
 The foregoing document is written on a skin of parchment, 
 docqueted with the words printed in italics at the head. The
 
 36 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1434. 
 
 following memorandum is also endorsed "xxix die Novembris 
 anno undecimo apud Westm. lecti fuerunt praesentes articuli 
 coramdominis infra et subscribentibus et ad eosdem Responsiones 
 dabantur secundum quod infra patet, pnesentibus dominis infra- 
 scriptis." There are also other endorsements, but of a later date. 
 
 19. 
 
 A.D. 1434. (?) BALLING'S PETITION. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 14.] 
 
 Prefixed to this document in Fenn is the following title : " A Petition to 
 the Commons of England against Sir William Pastqn, Knight, a Judge of 
 the Common Pleas, by William Dalling." This heading, however, has very 
 much the look of having been taken from a more modern endorsement. No 
 contemporaneous document, so far as I am aware, gives Judge Paston the 
 designation of knight, or speaks of him as Sir William. In this petition 
 itself he is called simply William Paston, one of the Justices ; and although 
 hij name occurs frequently on the Patent Rolls, in commissions of the peace, 
 of gaol delivery, and the like, down to the year of his death, the word 
 "miles" is never appended to it. 
 
 On the back of the original document, according to Fenn, is written, in a 
 hand of the time, "Falsa billa Will'i Dalling tra' [?tradita] Parliamento 
 tempore pr Henr. Grey fciodecimo Regis Hen' vjti." There seems, how- 
 ever to be some error here also, as no Parliament appears to have met in the 
 i3th year of Henry VI.; but we cannot feel certain what the true date should 
 have been. 
 
 LESIT to the righte sage and wyse Communes 
 of this present Parlement, that wher every 
 Justice of the Kyng is sworne that he shulde 
 not take no fees ne reward for to be of 
 councell with noo man, but oonly wyth our Soverayne 
 Lorde the Kyng, and therto thei be swore : 
 
 Plese it to Commines of the present Parlement, 
 that William Paston, on of the Justice of oure Sove- 
 rayne Lorde Kyng, takyth diverse fees and rewardes of 
 diverses persones withinne the shir of Norffolk and 
 Suffolk, and is with holde with every mater in the sayde 
 contrees, that is for to sey : Of the Toune of Yerne- 
 muth, Lr. yerly; of the Abot of Seyn Benetys, xxvjs. 
 \\\}d. ; of the Prior of Seyn Feithes, xxs. ; " and of my 
 
 Lady Rothenhale, 1 xxs.;" and of the Prior of Norwich, 
 
 
 
 1 This sentence in the original has a line drawn over it. She was a widow 
 of Sir John Rothenhale, Knightj and dyirg at Caistcr, by Yarmouth, in 1440, 
 was buried in Norwich Cathedral. F. See Nos. 8 and 9, ante.
 
 A.D. 1435-1 HENRY VI. 37 
 
 \s. ; and of the Prior of Penteney, xxj. ; and of the 
 Toun of Lenn, xb. ; and of the Prior of Walsyngham, 
 X.KS. ; and of Katharine Shelton, 1 x. mrc. ayeins the 
 Kyng for to be of hir councell for to destroye the 
 right of the King and of his warde, that is for to sey, 
 Raf, 2 soon and eyer of John Shelton. 
 
 20. 
 
 A.D. 1435, 26 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 [Fhillipps MS., 9,735, No. 264.] 
 
 Lease made at Castre, on Monday before Michaelmas 14 Henry 
 VI., by Geoffrey Walle, surveyor of the manors of Sir John Fas- 
 tolf, to John Rakesond, son of Geoffrey Rakesond of Ormesby, 
 of a messuage of Fastolf 's in Ormesby, called Reppes Place, c. 
 
 21. 
 
 A.D. 1435, 3 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,237, B.M.] 
 
 A vidimus or official attestation of two indentures relative to 
 the custody of the castle of Le Mans between Sir John Fastolf, 
 governor of Anjou and Maine, and captain of Le Mans under the 
 Duke of Bedford, and Matthew Goth [Gough] and Thomas 
 Gower as his lieutenants. The first indenture is for the quarter 
 from 1st October to 3 1st December 1434, the second for the three 
 quarters following, to 3Oth September 1435. A retinue is to be 
 maintained of twenty-four lances and the " archiers de la personne 
 dudit Mathieu," viz., sixty mounted and fourteen on foot, and 
 222 archers besides. Mounted archers to have 1 2d. a day, &c. 
 
 The document is authenticated by the garde du seel des obliga- 
 tions dc la Viconte de Rouen, on the 8th March 1448 (i.e. 1449). 
 
 1 Catharine, widow of William Shelton, Esq., and daughter of Simon 
 Barret, was grandmother to Ralph, and died in 1456. F. 
 
 2 Sir Ralph Shelton, Knight, son and heir of John Shelton, Esq., was born 
 in 1430. He married Margaret, daughter of Robert Clere, Esq. of Ormesby, 
 and was High Sheriff of Norfolk. F.
 
 38 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1435. 
 
 22. 
 
 A.D. 1432-5. NOTE. 
 
 [Add. Charters 17,229-31, B.M.] 
 
 Building accounts of William Granere, master of the works at 
 Caistre in n, 12, and 13 Hemy VI. 
 
 23. 
 
 A.D. 1436, 19 May. NOTE. 
 
 Fenn mentions an indenture, dated igth May 1436, 14 Henry 
 VI., and signed by the Earl (afterwards Duke) of Suffolk, from 
 which he has given a fac-sirr.ile of Suffolk's signature. See vol. i. 
 p. 36. The original of this indenture I have not met with, 
 
 24. 
 
 A.D. 1438, 18 Aug. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,232, B.M.] 
 
 Sir H. Inglose notifies his agreement with John Topy of Wynd- 
 ham, jun., in an action for trespass done to him at Stalham. Dil- 
 hams, Monday after the Assumption of Our Lady, 1 6 Henry VI. 
 
 . 25. 
 
 About A.D. 1440. 
 AGNES PASTON TO WILLIAM PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 2.] 
 
 This letter must have fo;en written some little time before the marriage of 
 John Paston and Margar;t Mauteby, which seems to have been about 1440. 
 
 To my worshefirfull housbond, W. Paston, be this 
 letter takyn. 
 
 ERE housbond, I recomaunde me to yow, &c. 
 Blessyd be God I sende yow gode tydynggs 
 of the comyng, and the brynggyn hoom, of 
 the gentyhvomman 1 that ye wetyn of fro 
 
 1 Margaret, daughter and heir of John Mauteby, shortly afterwards mar- 
 ried to John Paston, Esq.
 
 AD. 1440.] HENRY VI. 39 
 
 Redham, this same nyght, acordyng to poyntmen 
 [appointment] that ye made ther for yowr self. 
 
 And as for the furste aqweyntaunce be twhen John 
 Paston 1 and the seyde gentylwomman, she made hym 
 gentil cher in gyntyl wise, and seyde, he was verrayly 
 your son. And so I hope ther shall nede no gret 
 trete be twyxe hym. 
 
 The parson of Stocton 2 toold me, yif ye wolde byin 
 her a goune, here moder wolde yeve ther to a godely 
 furre. The goune nedyth for to be had ; and of colour 
 it wolde be a godely blew, or erlys a bryghte sangueyn. 
 
 I prey yow do by en for me ij. pypys of gold. 3 
 Your stewes 4 do weel. 
 
 The Holy Trinite have you in governaunce. 
 
 Wretyn at Paston, in hast, the Wednesday next 
 after Dens qui errantibus? for defaute of a good 
 secretarye. Yowres, AGN. PASTON. 
 
 26. 
 
 About A.D. 1440. ABSTRACT. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Draft Lease by Sir Simon Felbrygge ; Oliver Groos, Esq.; John 
 Berney of Redham, Esq.; William Paston of Paston; Thomas 
 Stodhagh; Roger Taillour of Stafford Bernyngham; and Thomas 
 Newport of Runham, executors of Robert Mawteby and John 
 his son, to Margery, widow of the said John, of "two parts 
 of manors, &c. ," and the reversion, &c., which they lately held 
 along with Sir Miles Stapleton, Sir William Argenten, Sir John 
 Hevenyngham, Sir John Carbonell, Sir William Calthorpe, John 
 Boys, Esq., and William Caston, Esq., now deceased, by deed 
 of Robert Mawteby. The remainder, after Margery's death, is 
 to go to Margaret, daughter of the said John and Margery, and 
 the heirs of her body ; then to Peter Mauteby, son of Robert and 
 uncle of Margaret ; then to Alianora, widow of Robert ; then to 
 Alianora, widow of William Calthorp and sister of Robert 
 Mawteby, with reversion to the trustees to fulfil the wiM. 
 
 1 Son of William and Agnes Paston. 
 
 2 Laurence Baldware was rector of Stockton " about 1440." Blomefield, 
 viii. 49. 
 
 3 Gold thread on pipes or rolls, for needlework or embroidery. F. 
 
 4 Ponds to keep fish alive for present use. F. 
 
 5 The Collect for the third Sunday after Easter.
 
 40 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1440. 
 
 [This paper is addressed to Sir John Berney of Reedham, and appears, by 
 an endorsement, to have been transmitted along with a letter of William 
 Paston. The date is fixed by the contents within pretty narrow limits, for it 
 is after the death of John Boys, Esq., which was in August 1439 (Inquis. post 
 mortem, 18 Hen. VI., No. 2), and before that of Sir Simon Felbrigg in 1442 
 (Inquis. /. m., 21 Hen. VI., No. 33). It is easy to see, in fcct. that the 
 document had something to do with the marriage settlement of John Paston 
 and Margaret Mauteby, which was about 1440.] 
 
 27. 
 A.D. 1440, i Nov. ROBERT REPPS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 4.] 
 
 This letter was written in 1440, the year of the release of the Duke of 
 Orleans. 
 
 4 mon tresreverent et treshonerable Maister John 
 Paston soit done. 
 
 ^ALVETE, &c. Tytyngs, the Duk of Orly- 
 awnce 1 hath made his oath upon the Sacre- 
 ment, and usyd it, never for to here armes 
 ayenst Englond, in the presence of the 
 Kyng and all the Lordes, except my Lord of Glou- 
 cestre. 2 And proving my seyde Lord of Gloucestre 
 agreyd never to hys delyveraunce, qwan the masse be- 
 gan he toke his barge, &c. 
 
 God yef grace the seide Lord of Orlyaunce be trewe, 
 for this same weke shall he to ward Fraunce. 
 
 Also Freynchmen and Pykardes, a gret nowmbre, 
 kome to Arfleet, 3 for to arescuyd \fiave rescued} it ; and 
 our Lordes wyth here smal pusaunce manly bytte \beat\ 
 them, and pytte hem to flyte, and, blyssyd be our Lord, 
 have take the seide cite of Arflet ; the qwych is a great 
 juell to all Englond, and in especiall to our cuntre. 
 
 Moreover there is j. [i.e. one] kome in to Englond, a 
 Knyght out of Spayne, wyth a kercheff of plesaunce i 
 wrapped aboute hys arme ; the qwych Knyght wyl 
 
 1 Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Agin- 
 court in 1415, and had never since been released. 
 
 a Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, uncle of the King, and before this time 
 Protector. 
 
 8 Harfleur.
 
 A. D. 1440.] HENRY VI. 41 
 
 renne a cours wyth a sharpe spere for his sovereyn lady 
 sake ; qwom other \either\ Sir Richard Wodvyle 1 or Sir 
 Christofore Talbot 2 shall delyver, to the wyrchip of 
 Englond and of hem selff, be Goddes grace. 
 
 Ferthermore, ye be remembryd that an esquyer of 
 Suffolk, callyd John Lyston, recoveryd in assisa noice 
 disseisins^ vij c [700] marc in damages ayenst Sir Robert 
 Wyngfeld, &c. In avoydyng of the payement of the 
 seid vij. c. marc, the seide Sir Robert Wyngfeld sotylly 
 hath outlaywed the seide John Lyston in Notyngham 
 shir, be trie vertue of qwch outlagare, all maner of 
 chattell to the seide John Lyston apperteynyng, arn 
 acruwyd on to the Kyng, &c. And anon as the seide 
 utlagare was certyfyed, my Lord Tresorer 4 graunted the 
 seid vij. c. marc to my Lord of Norffolk, for the arre- 
 rag of hys sowde {pay\ qwyl he was in Scotland ; and, 
 acordyng to this assignment forseide, taylles \tallies\ 
 delyvered. And my Lord of Norffolk hath relesyd the 
 same vij. c. marc to Sir Robert Wyngfeld. And here 
 is greet hevyng an shovyng be my Lord of Suffolk and 
 all his counsell for to aspye hough this mater kam 
 aboute, &c. 
 
 Sir, I beseche recomende me on to my mastres your 
 modyr, to my mastres your wyff, and to my mastres 
 your suster, et omnibus alijs quorum interest, &c. 
 
 Sir, I pray you, wyth all myn hert, hold me excusyd 
 that I wryte thus homly and briefly on to you, for 
 truly convenable space suffycyd me nowt. 
 
 No more atte this tyme, butte the Trynyte have you 
 in proteccion, &c. ; and qwan your leysyr is, resorte 
 ageyn on to your college, the Inner Temple, for ther 
 ben many qwych sor desyr your presence, Welles 
 and othyr, &c. 
 
 Wretyn in le fest de touts Seynts, entre Messe et 
 Mateyns, calamo festinante, &c. 
 
 Yours, ROB. REPPES. 
 
 1 Afterwards Earl Rivers, father of Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV. 
 
 2 Third son of John, the famous Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 
 3 i.e., in an assize of novel disseisin an ancient law process. 
 
 4 Ralph, Lord Cromwell.
 
 42 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A. D. 1440 
 
 28. 
 
 About A. D. i44o.(?) ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 to FRIAR BRACKLEY.{?) 
 
 Touching a suit of Reynold Rowse against William Burgeys. 
 This suit was instituted originally for 5^. 4^. of rent ; but when 
 Rouse found he could not prevail by right, he maliciously sued 
 the other for trespass in having fished his wa'er, and driven 
 him away by force. He afterwards got him arrested for treachery 
 upon an obligation (i.e., a bond). Burgeys complained to Justice 
 Paston, who counselled him not to plead; "For zyf thu do, he 
 seyd, thu xalte hafe the werse, be thi case never so trewe, for he 
 is feid with my Lord of [NJorthfolke, and mech he is of he (sic) 
 counsel ; and also, thu canste no man of lawe in Northfolke ne 
 in Sowthfolke to be with the azens hym ; and, for [s]othe no more 
 myth I qwan I had a pie azens hym ; and therfor myn counsel is, 
 that thu make an end qwat so ever the pay, for he xal elles on 
 do the and brynge the to nowte." 
 
 [This letter is mutilated, and in part defaced. It is addressed on the 
 back " Be this take to Mayster Brele (?) of the Greye Freres." Although the 
 name seems to be written Brele, it was probably intended for Friar Brackley 
 of Norwich, of whom we have several letters of a later period. The date must 
 be between the year 1429, when William Paston was made a judge, and 1444, 
 when he died ; and as the name of Reginald Rows occurs in Blomeneld 
 (Hist, of Norfolk, ix. 441) "about 1440," this letter will probably not be far 
 out of its true place if inserted in that year.] 
 
 29. 
 
 After A.D. i44o.(?) 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 18.] 
 
 The date of this letter is uncertain. From the fact of John Paston's re- 
 sidence at Peter House in Cambridge, it would appear, as Fenn remarks, to 
 have been written early in his married life, and we know that he was married 
 as early as 1440. 
 
 To my worshepfull husband, John Paston, abidyng at 
 Pdyrhous in Cambrigg. 
 
 YTH reverent and worsepful husbon, I re- 
 comawnde me to zow with alle myn sympyl 
 herte, and prey zow to wete that there come 
 up xi. hundyr Flemyns at Waxham, quere-
 
 A.D. 1440. HENR Y VI. 43 
 
 of wer takyn, and kylte, and dronchyn \drowned~\ viij. 
 hundryte. And thei had nowte a be, ze xul a be atte 
 home this Qwesontyde, and I suppose that ze xul be 
 atte home er owte long be. 
 
 I thanke yow hertely for my lettyr, for I hadde none 
 of zow syn I spooke with zow last of for the matyr of 
 Jon Mariot ; the qwest passyd nowte of that day, for 
 my Lorde of Norfolke was in towne for Wedyrbys 
 matyr, 1 qwer for he wolde nowt latyd pase off, for fur- 
 ther^) of I kowe \know ?] Fynch ne Bylbys makethe 
 no purwyans for hys gode. 
 
 No mor I wryte to zow atte this tyme, but the Holy 
 Trenyte hawe zow in kepyng. Wretyn in Norweche, 
 on Trenyte Sune day. 
 
 Yowr, MARKARYTE PASTON. 
 
 30. 
 
 A.D. 1441, 7 May. ABSTRACT. 
 [Add. Charter 14,598, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.)] 
 
 Letters Patent, dated yth May 19 Henry VI., by which 
 Richard, Duke of York, Earl of March, &c., lieutenant and 
 governor of France, grants to his beloved councillor, Sir John 
 Fastolf, an annuity of 20. 
 
 31. 
 
 A.D. 1441, 14 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,233, B.M.] 
 
 Sir Thomas Keryell, lieutenant of Calais, notifies that his 
 servant, John a Bekkes, mariner, master of his ship Bonaventure, 
 has sold it to Sir John Fastolf, and that he agrees to the sale. 
 Calais, I4th October 1441. Signed " R. Wenlok." (Fine 
 seal, mutilated.) 
 
 1 Probably Thomas Wetherby, who was Mayor of Norwich in 1432-3, is 
 referred to. He took offence at the Aldermen and Commons of the ci y for 
 not naming the person he wished as his successor, and for some years after- 
 wards showed his hostility by instigating prosecutions against the city, caus- 
 ing their attorneys to abandon their pleas, and so forth.
 
 44 THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1442. 
 
 32. 
 
 A.D. 1442. NOTE. 
 
 A proviso occurs for William Paston and Robert and Esmond 
 Clere in an Act of Parliament 20 Henry VI., securing to them 
 certain copyhold lands with two mansions thereon in Paston and 
 Edithorp, Norfolk, held by the feoffees of the duchy of Lan- 
 caster, in exchange for other lands, called Charterhold, with two 
 mansions thereon, in the same places. Rolls of Parliament, v. 59. 
 
 33. 
 
 A.D. 1442, 20 April. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,234, B.M.] 
 
 Grant by John, Duke of Norfolk, to William Berdewell, Esq., 
 of an annuity of 10 marks out of Stonham, Suffolk. Framling- 
 ham, 2Oth April 20 Henry VI. 
 
 34. 
 
 About A.D. 1442. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 ELEANOR CHAMBRE TO WILLIAM PASTON. 
 
 Thanks him for what he did for her at Sparham at their last 
 interview. He then expected to have more leisure to attend to 
 her affairs at London after this Hallowmass, when he would 
 ordain that she should have lawful estate for life in the partition 
 made " betwixt you and me, to for such that was there for my 
 husband and for me at that time." Begs him to do it now, and 
 deliver it to her brother, John Chambre, or her servant, John 
 Coke, the bearer. Sends the deed of annuity under her husband's 
 signet and hers, which she must pay to Paston's children. 
 
 Welouby, Sunday after St. Martin. 
 
 [Alianore, widow of Robert Mauteby, Esq., remarried Thowias Chambers, 
 Esq., lord of Sparham in her right, in 20 Henry VI. Her son, John 
 Mauteby, was the father of Margaret, wife of John Paston. See Blomefield, 
 xi. 228.]
 
 A.D. I443-] HENR Y VI. 45 
 
 35. 
 
 A.D. 1443, 8 Sept. 
 
 DEPOSITION AGAINST JOHN HAWTEYN. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 RIMO suggessit Sanctissimo Papse mentiendo 
 quod coactus et constrictus [fuisset] metu 
 parentum ordinem 1 intrare ; secundo quod 
 in insufficient! et prohibita setate et in eodera 
 ordine invite esset professus ; Et tertio, quod ita fuerat 
 invallatus et inclusus in ordinis arctitudine ut sibi 
 tempus opportunum exeundi acquirere nequiret. Con- 
 tra quae sic depono, non per ficta et fantastice yma- 
 ginata, sed per visa et audita a fide dignis denunciata. 
 Et primo, contra primum articulum, viz., quod metu 
 parentum etc. quia, ut asserunt fide media quam plures 
 fide digni quorum nomina perlongum esset enarrare, 
 quod alter parentum, suple pater, neci submersionis 
 suffocatus fuerat in Themisia diu antequam ordinem 
 ingressus est praenotatus Johannes; ergo, dissonum 
 videtur quod metu parentum ingressus est, sed tantum 
 alterius parentis. Secundo, contra secundum articu- 
 lum, scilicet quod ex insufficient! etc., quia per vere visa 
 et audita a fide dignis personis contra illud testimonium 
 perhibere volentibus verum est asserere quod xiiij c;nx 
 annorum fuerat aetatis antequam indutus esset ; quod 
 sic evidet, quia natus erat in Swapham Markett, in loco 
 qui Delgate dicitur, ubi parentes ejus commorabantur, 
 quando primo intraverant villam antedictam pro annu- 
 ali stipendio dato Thomse Delgate, cujus erat ipsa man- 
 sio, et istud ad testimonium Adas Ram, Roberti 
 Sergaunte,Agnetis Ymaycommatris 2 saepedicti Johannis 
 Hawteyn et KaterinaeGannok, uxoris compatris 2 Johan- 
 nis Hawteyn prsedicti, viz. Johannis Gannok qui obiit 
 anno Domini mccccxxxiiij - Istis transactis, parentes 
 dicti Johannis, viz. Haymundus Hawteyn, pater ejus, 
 et Claricia Hawteyn mater ejus, conjunctim emerun 
 
 1 The Order of Carmelites. Seo Note i on next page. 
 
 2 Coinpaier and commater (in French compere and fommere) correspond 
 in meaning to the old English word gossip, i.e. god-sib, or related in baptism, 
 generally applied to godfathers and godmothers.
 
 46 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1443. 
 
 mansionem in eadem villa, viz. Swapham Markett, a 
 Martino Waron anno regni Regis Ricardi Secundi post 
 conquestum xxij, quod datum, suple Regis Ricardi, 
 prsecessit nati vitas Johannis Hawteyn in Delgate per 
 testimonia prseallegata. De facili ergo, probatur quod 
 sit setatis annorum xliiij or ad minus, enumerando a 
 xxij anno regni Regis Ricardi Secundi post con- 
 questum usque ad annum xxj m Henrici Sexti. 
 
 Omnia in hac cedula quo ad Hawteyn dicta fuerunt 
 Jacobo Gresham viij die Septembris anno Regis 
 Henrici vj li xxij, prout scribuntur. Frater Johannes 
 Alburugh dicit quod hoc medio intravit Johannes 
 Hawteyn in ordinem. Circa xij. annum setatis suse 
 missus fuit London' essend' cum quodam Thoma 
 Brown rnodo apprenticii; quod actum fuit, quodque sibi 
 non bene complacuit, et cucurrit ad Fratres et dixit 
 quod fuit nepos Alburugh, et ea de causa Reverendus 
 Magister Walden 1 interrogavit eum si vellet esse frater, 
 et dixit quod vellet et humiliter rogavit ex caritate. Et 
 veraciter scit quod fuit setatis xiiij. annorum et amplius 
 tempore professionis suse et moram traxit ibidem per 
 iij. vel iiij. annos. Et postea fuit apud Maldon per duos 
 annos, et ab illo loco exiit. Deinde captus et Norwico 
 incarceratus per dimidium annum. Et postea in domo 
 de Blakney per iiij or annos mansit, et ibidem fuit termi- 
 narius et hospes; et cucurrit ab inde cum vestibus 
 officii de domo hospicii furtive et cepit librum (?) 
 Alburugh avunculi sui et canciavit ilium apud Aylesham 
 pro iiij. marcis et dimidia, quas dictus Alburugh solvit 
 pro libro rehabendo. 
 
 Et addidit idem Johannes Hawteyn vel Alburugh 
 frater et avunculus dicti Johannis Hawteyn quod 
 Johannes Hawteyn apostata fuit natus apud Swafham 
 Market circa iiij. annum post transitum patris sui a 
 Scheryngton usque Swafham. Et dicit quod Robertus 
 frater ejus fuit pluris setatis quam Johannes fuit per iiij or 
 annos, et dictus Robertus fuit natus apud Scherynton. 
 
 1 The celebrated Thomas Netter ot" Walden, provincial of the Carmelite 
 order in England ; a great opponent of Wyclifie.
 
 
 A.D. 1443- ] HENR Y VI. 47 
 
 Et serviens Daubeney dicit quod Hamond Hawteyn 
 transivit a Scheryngton usque Swafham tempore quo 
 Thomas Erpyngham custodivit Regem R. in Turre 
 London. 1 
 
 Stephanus Plattyng de Aylesham pro vero dicit quod 
 ad Festum Purificationis Beatse Marias anno regni 
 Regis Henrici vj li xxj elapsi fuerunt xxviij anni post- 
 quam ipse primo habitavit in dicta villa de Aylesham ; 
 quo tempore Claricia quge fuit uxor Hamonis Hawteyn 
 fuit vidua et commorans in messuagium nunc Johannis 
 Draper de Aylesham, et postea nupta fuit Petro Fysch, 
 casco, qui insimul vixerunt vj. vel vij. annos, et post 
 obitum dicti Petri dicta Claricia cepit in virum Wil- 
 lelmum Punyant de Aylesham. Et ad dictum festum 
 Purificationis Beatas Marise dicto anno xxj dicti Pon- 
 yant et Claricia insimul in matrimonio cohabitaverunt 
 per xxij. annos. Hoc de Pounyant cum Claricia afifir- 
 mant. Et dicit idem Ponyant quod frater Johannes 
 Hawteyn professus fuit post matrimonium inter ipsum 
 et prsefatam Clariciam et quod ipse ad ultimum exitum 
 suum de ordine prsedicto dimisit capam suam in domo 
 dicti Ponyant apud Aylesham. 
 
 Willelmus Barbour dicit quod quo ad nativitatem 
 Johannis Hawteyn penitus ignorat, sed dicit quod habet 
 quendam (sic) filiam setatis xliiij or annorum, et ultra vel 
 circa, et dicit quod Johannes Hawteyn est talis setatis. 
 Et dicit quod Tiphania soror Hawteyn est manens in 
 villa ultra London vocata Hawehunte, sed in quo 
 comitatu ignorat. 
 
 This paper is endorsed, " Hauteyn, Oxened." 
 
 36. 
 
 A.D. 1443, 28 Sept. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 20.] 
 
 This letter was written after the birth of John Paston's eldest son, who was 
 born in 1442, and cannot be later than 1443, as William Paston, who is 
 mentioned, died in August of the year following. 
 
 1 Richard II. was committed to the Tower in 1399, just before his formaj 
 resignation of the Crown.
 
 48 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1443. 
 
 To tny rygth worchepful husband, John Paston, dwcl- 
 lyng in the Inner Temple at London, in hast. 
 
 JYTH worchipful hosbon, I recomande me to 
 Hi vow > desyryng hertcly to her of yowr wilfar, 
 thanckyng God of yowr a mendyng of the 
 grete dysese that ye have hade; and I thancke 
 yow for the letter that ye sent me, for be my trowthe 
 my moder and I wer nowth in hertys es fro the tyme 
 that we woste of yowr sekenesse, tyl we woste verely 
 of your a mendyng. My moder be hestyd a nodyr 
 ymmage of wax of the weytte of yow to oyer Lady of 
 Walsyngham, and sche sent iiij. nobelys to the iiij. 
 Orderys of Frerys at Norweche to pray for yow, and I 
 have be hestyd to gon on pylgreymmays to Walsingham, 
 and to Sent Levenardys * for yow ; be my trowth I had 
 never so hevy a sesyn as I had from the tyme that I 
 woste of yowr sekenesse tyl I woste of yowr a mendyng, 
 and zyth myn hert is in no grete esse, ne nowth xal 
 be, tyl I wott that e ben very hal. Your fader 2 and 
 myn was dysday sevenyth \this day snni%ht\ at Beke- 
 lys for a matyr of the Pryor of Bromholme, and he lay 
 at Gerlyston that nyth, and was ther tyl it was ix. of the 
 cloke, and the toder day. And I sentfe thedyr for a 
 goune, and my moder seyde that I xulde have dan 
 \theri\i tyl I had be ther a non, and so thei cowde non 
 gete. 
 
 My fader Garneyss 3 senttee me worde that he xulde 
 ben her the nexch weke, and my emme \imc!e\ also, and 
 pleyn hem her with herr hawkys, and thei xulde have me 
 horn with hem; and so God help me, I xal exscusse 
 me of myn goyng dedyr yf I may, for I sopose that I 
 xal redelyer have tydyngys from yow herr dan I xulde 
 have ther. I xal sende my modyr a tokyn that sche 
 toke me, for I sopose the time is cum that I xulde 
 sendeth her, yf I kepe the be hest that I have made ; 
 I sopose I have tolde yow wat it was. I pray yow 
 
 1 St. Leonard's Priory, Norwich. 2 William Paston. 
 
 3 Perhaps her godfather. The family of Garneys were Lords of Gclder- 
 stone, the place called by Margaret Paston Gerlyston, a few lines above.
 
 A.D. I443-] HENRY VI. 49 
 
 hertely that [yc] wol wochesaf to sende me a letter as 
 hastely as ze may, yf wryhyn be non dysesse to yow, 
 and that ye wollen wochesaf to sende me worde quowe 
 your sor dott. Yf I mythe have had my wylle, I xulde 
 a seyne yow er dystyme ; I wolde ye wern at horn, yf 
 it wer your ese, and your sor myth ben as wyl lokyth 
 to her as it tys ther ze ben, now lever dan a goune zow 
 \thongJi\ it wer of scarlette. I pray yow yf your sor be 
 hoi, and so that ze may indur to ryde, wan my fader com 
 to London, that ze wol askyn leve. and com horn wan 
 the hors xul be sentte horn a zeyn, for I hope ze xulde 
 be kepte as tenderly herr as ze ben at London. I may 
 non leyser have to do wrytyn half a quarter so meche as 
 I xulde sey [say] to yow yf I myth speke with yow. I 
 xall sende yow a nothyr letter as hastely as I may. 
 I thanke yow that ze wolde wochesaffe to remember 
 my gyrdyl, and that ze wolde wryte to me at the tyme, 
 for I sopose that wrytyng was non esse to yow. All 
 myth God have yow in his kepyn, and sende yow helth. 
 Wretyn at Oxenede, in ryth grete hast, on Sent Mi- 
 kyllys Evyn. 
 
 Yorys, M. PASTON. 
 
 My modyr grette yow wel, and sendyth yow Goddys 
 blyssyng and hers ; and sche prayeth yow, and I pray 
 yow also, that ye be wel dyetyd of mete and drynke, 
 for that is the grettest helpe that ye may have now to 
 your helthe ward. Your sone x fary th wel, blyssyd be 
 God. 
 
 37. 
 
 A.D. 1444. 29 Jan. 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO WILLIAM PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 26.] 
 
 " From a memorandum," says Fenn, " on the back of this letter, dated in 
 April 1444, it is probable that it was written on the soth of January 1443." Did 
 Fenn mean the 3oth of January 1443-4? ^ n tne side-note immediately below 
 
 1 Almost certainly his eldest son, John, afterwards Sir John Paston. 

 
 50 THE P ASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1444. 
 
 the letter, he dates it in his usual exact manner, "Wednesday, 3oth of 
 January 1443, 22 H. VI." But unfortunately there is an error here. January 
 in the 22d year of Henry VI., means January 1444 according to the modern 
 computation, or 1443 in the style formerly in use, by which the year was 
 reckoned from the 25th of March. But the 3oth of January was a Wednes- 
 day in 1443, only according to the modern computation of the year, that is 
 to say, it was a Wednesday in the year 1442-3, not in 1443-4. I imagine, 
 however, that the " 3Oth of January " should have been ''29111 of January," 
 and that Fenn really meant 1443-4, corresponding with the 22d year of Henry 
 VI. It is unfortunate that he did not quote the words of the memorandum 
 he refers to on the back of the letter, which would not only have cleared up 
 this point, but enabled us to estimate for ourselves the degree of certainty 
 attaching to the date. 
 
 To my right worthy and ivorshepfull Lord, IVilliam 
 Paston, Justice, in hast. 
 
 PLEASE it your good Lordship to wete that 
 the Chief Justice of the Kynggs Benche 1 
 recomaundeth hym to yow, and is right sory 
 of the matier that is cause of your noun com- 
 yng hedir, but he wole do al that he can or may for 
 yow. He hath hadde a cyetica \sdaticd\ that hath letted 
 hym a gret while to ride, and dar not yet come on non 
 horses bak, and ther for he hath spoke to the Lordes of 
 the Conseill, and enformed hem of your sekenesse and 
 his also, that he may not ride at these next assizes to 
 Estgrynsted ; and though thoe assizes discontynue 
 puer noun venue dcz Justicez, he hopeth to be ex- 
 cused and ye also. And as for the remenant of the 
 assizes, he shall purvey to be ther by water. And 
 Almyghty Jesu make yow heyle and strong. 
 
 Wretyn right simply the Wednesday next to fore ye 
 Fest of the Purificacion of Our Lady at London. 
 By your most symple servaunt, 
 
 JAMYS GRESHAM. 
 
 38. 
 
 Not later than A.D. 1444. 
 JOHN GYNEY TO WILLIAM PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 28.] 
 
 There is nothing to be said of the date of this letter, except that it is not 
 later than 1444, when William Paston died. 
 
 To the worthy and uorshipfull Sir and good Lord 
 
 1 The celebrated Sir John Fortescue,
 
 A.D. I444-] HENRY VI. 51 
 
 and Maistcr, William Pas fan, on of the Justices of our e 
 Sovereign Lord, of his Commone Benche at Westminster. 
 
 pGHT worthy and worshipfull Sir, and my 
 good Lord and Maister, I recomaund me to 
 yow. And where as ye, by your lettre direct 
 to my Lady, your wyf, wold that my seid 
 Lady shuld have Robert Tebald and me to geder, as 
 sone as she myght, and the evidences which the seid 
 Robert receyved of yow at your last beyng at Norwich, 
 and that I shuld amende the defautes therinne, and 
 that that doon there shuld of Baxteres Place of Hon- 
 yng be taken estate to yow and to other, as your seid 
 lettre requireth : Prey and beseche yow to witte that, 
 on the Friday next after your departyng fro Paston, 
 Thomas Walysh and William Burgh, in his owen per- 
 sone, and the seid Thomas by William Inges and Wil- 
 liam Walsyngham, his attornies, by his lettre under his 
 seal, where [were] at Honyng, and delyvrcd to my Lady 
 Scarlet seson [seising in the seid place, and Colbyes and 
 DonnyngesinWalsham. And the seid Thomas Walyssh, 
 as the seid Tebald told me, wold not enseale the seid 
 lettre of attornie til the parson of Ingeworth come to 
 hym therfore, and required hym to don it. Wych- 
 yngham in his owen persone in the nyght next beforn 
 the seid Friday, as the seid Tebald infourmeth me, 
 come to the same Tebaldes hows, and desired hym to 
 enseale acquytaunce, as he seid, and the same Robert 
 refused to don it. 
 
 Nertheless, whether it were acquytaunce or were 
 not, the same Robert kan not seye, for he myght noo 
 sight have there of. And the seid Wychyngham the 
 same nyght rood to John Willyot, and desired of hym 
 the same, and refused also to don it. What is the 
 best to be don in this matier my seid Lady, your wyf, 
 kan not thynke with owt your advis and counseile. 
 Wherfore as touchyng the takyng of th'estate to yow 
 and other, as in your seid lettre is conteigned, is yet 
 right nought doon.
 
 52 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [^0.1444. 
 
 The Holy Trinite have yow in his blissed kepyng. 
 Wretyn at North Walsham, the Thursday next after 
 the Purificacion of oure Lady. 
 
 My seid Lady, your wyf, preyeth yow to be re- 
 membred of here grene gynger of almondes for Lente, 
 and of the leche of Orwelde, for here seknes encreseth 
 dayly upon here, whereof she is sore a ferd. 
 
 By youre servunt, JOHN GYNEY. 
 
 39. 
 
 A.D. 1444, 15 March. ABSTRACT. 
 [Add. Charter 14,571, B.M. (D. Turner's ColL)] 
 
 Indenture between the Prior and Convent of the Monastery of 
 St. Andrew, Bromholme, impropriators of the Church of St. 
 Margaret, Paston, and John Partrik, vicar of the said church, 
 of the first part, William Paston of Paston, of the second part, 
 and Edmund Palmer of YVytton, of the third part, relative to 
 lands in Baketon and Wytton, and containing amongst other 
 things a grant by the Prior and Convent to the said John Partrik, 
 at the instance of the said William Paston, in consideration of 
 which masses, called certeynes, are to be performed every Friday 
 for the souls of William Paston and Agnes his wife, and the obit 
 of Clement Paston, William's father, is to kept yearly on St. 
 Botolph's day (ijth June). Dated I5th March 22 Henry VI. 
 Confirmed by Walter, Bishop of Norwich, and John, the Prior of 
 the Cathedral of Norwich, and the chapter of that church, nth 
 and 2 1st March 
 
 40. 
 Before A.D. 1444. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This and the following letter are quite uncertain in point of date, except 
 that they were of course written before the death of William Paston, to 
 whom they are addressed. 
 
 JOHN MARYOT TO WILLIAM PASTOX, JUSTICE. 
 
 Is ready to fulfil the indentures of Becham made by W. P. with 
 his late mother, if W. P. will send "the indenture of our part," 
 that Maryotmay know the terms and his own title. Will make 
 no bargain else. Crowmer, Monday after Our Lady's Nativity.
 
 A.D. I444-] IIENR Y VI. 53 
 
 41. 
 Before A.D. 1444. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 WILLIAM WOTTON DE PAGRAVE TO JUSTICE PASTON. 
 
 Sends his wife to him to explain some business about lands in 
 Lytyl Pagrave, of which a woman of Sporle has already spoken 
 to him ; also touching some land at Castleacre. On parchment. 
 
 42. 
 A.D. 1444. TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is without a signature or address, and who the writer was does 
 not appear. It was evidently written soon after the taking of the inquisition 
 on the death of William Paston, the Judge, the date of which is given in the 
 extract as 2d November 23 Henry VI., i.e. 1444. 
 
 , rj ,_ aj IGHTE reverent and my most worshipful 
 maister, I recomaund me to yow. Please it 
 
 Ulal yow to wite that I sende yow a copie of a 
 verdite take before my maister Roberd Clere 
 by vertu of a writ diem clausit extremum?- whiche writ 1 
 sende yow also with this, of whiche verdite the wordis 
 arn as it folwith : 
 
 Inquisitio capta apud Wynterton, secundodieNovembris 
 anno regni Regis Henrici vj ti post conquestum vicesimo 
 tertio, coram Roberto Clere escaetore domini Regis in com. 
 Norfolk et Suffolk, virtute brevis domini Regis sibi directi 
 ct presenti Inquisitioni consult, per sacramentum Johan- 
 nis Berkyng, Nicholai Pikeryng, Johannis Chapell, 
 Johannis Jekkys, Willelmi Stiwardson, Roberti Hosele, 
 Johannis Topy, Johannis Wacy, Johannis Rychers, 
 TJioma Broun, Walteri Heylok, Willelmi Stotcvyle, 
 Thomce Mason, Roberti Marche, Johannis Kechon, Itga- 
 
 1 See p. 1 6, Note i.
 
 54 THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1444. 
 
 Hum et proborum hominum in hoc parte pro domino 
 Rege juratorum : Qui dicunt super sacramentum suum 
 quod Willelmus Paston nominatus in dicto brevi nulla 
 terras et tenementa tcnuit de domino Rcge in capite die 
 quo obiit in comitatu predicto. Et quod obiit quarto 
 dedmo die mensis Augusti, anno regni do mini Regis 
 predicti xxij. Et quod Johannes Paston filius ipsius 
 Willelmi est hares ejus propinquior, et cstatis xxiij 
 annorum. 
 
 Ther is founde more of other thyngges be the same 
 verdite touchyng other matieris, whiche he will not 
 certifie yet. And for as moehe as my maister Clere 
 wetyth well that the seid verdite touchyng my maister 
 your fader, hoes soule God assoyle, must have other 
 maner of makyng thanne he kan make, he recom- 
 aundith hym to my maistres your moder, and yow also ; 
 and prey yow that ye will do it make as effectuel and 
 availeabill for the wel of my maister your fader and 
 yow as ye kan, and sele it with your seall, or what seall 
 ellys ye will, in his name, and sealle it also with as 
 many of other scales as ther be jerores, and delyvere it 
 to William Bondes, his depute, to delyvere into the 
 Chauncelre. And if William Bondes be fro London 
 or this may be redy, thanne purveye ye for the 
 speed of this matier in youre best wise ; and what 
 so ever ye do, or sey, or write, or scale, or avouche 
 in this matier in my maister Cleris name, he shall 
 avowe it, and [i.e. if] it shulde coste hym gret parte of 
 his good. 
 
 Sir, ther is noon enquerre take in Suffolk, for as 
 moche as my maister your fader helde no londe ther 
 but be my maistres your moder ; but if ye will that he 
 shall inquere ther as sone as he may wete it, it shall be 
 doo ; and if this forseide verdite may serve for bothe, 
 he is right glad therof. He tolde me that he seide to 
 the jurores, whiche have sealed her verdite : " Seris, 
 I wot well this verdite after my makyng is not effectuel 
 in lawe, and therfore may happe it shall be makid 
 newe at London, and ellys peraventure I shulde be
 
 A.D. I444-] IIENR Y VI. 55 
 
 amercied in the Kyngges Courte; and therfore I 
 truste yovv, and [i.e. if J it be newe mad and newe sealed, 
 ye will avowe it." And thei seide with a good herte 
 ya ; these wordes wern seide in secreta confessione to 
 v. or vj. of the reuleris of the seide jurre which e he kan 
 truste righte well. He preyith yow to holde hym ex- 
 cused that he writyth not to yow for this matier, for he 
 is ocupied in other wise. He badde me write in this 
 fourme to yow which he supposith ye will beleve, and 
 he knoweth alle this writyng, and is well concented and 
 agreed therto. Sir, ther arn xv. jurores abowe to certi- 
 fie ye, as many as ye will : but lete these men that be 
 tottid be certified, for thei be the rewleris and t . . . . 
 he spk (?) &c. Sir, atte reverence of God, if I shall 
 make ony purvyaunce in this cuntre for my maistres 
 comyng horn, lete me have reson[able] warnyng, and 
 so God me helpe, and I shall do my dever. I here 
 no tydyngges of Thorn' yet. My maistres Garneys, 
 your moder, .:.... l Berney, and my maisteris 
 your sonys and my maister your brother arn heyle and 
 mery, and recommend hem to yow. And I beseche 
 your [mastership] : that this sympil skrowe may 
 recomaund me to my reverant and worshipful 
 maistres your moder. And I prey our Lord of his 
 
 l bothe moche worship and wilfare, and 
 
 graunte me to do and labour that is to your bothenerys 
 pleaser. 2 
 
 Writen the Saterday next 3 
 
 This letter appears to have been used as a wrapper for others. 
 It is endorsed, " Literse diversorum directse J. Paston receptoe 
 apud London per diversos annos ante festum Michaelis anno 
 xxxiiij Hen. VI. Literse Fastolff pro Costid (?). Literse W. Wayt 
 pro tempore suce tribulationis. Literas "Windham." 
 
 1 Mutilated. 
 
 a i.e., that which is to the pleasure of you both 
 3 A little mutilated at bottom.
 
 56 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1444. 
 
 43. 
 
 Before A.D. 1444 (?). 
 THE DUKE OF NORFOLK TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 10.] 
 
 Fenn thinks this letter must have been written before 1444, when Yelverton 
 was made a judge. This is, doubtless, most probable. There is, however, 
 an Edmund Swathing, Esq., mentioned by Blomefield (Hist, of Norfolk, 
 viii. 42) as alive in 1446, and if it be his executors who are referred to, the 
 date would appear to be later. 
 
 To our right trusti and ivelbelovid John Paston, Squicr. 
 The Due ofNorff. 
 
 JjjRUSTI and right welbelovid, we grete you 
 weel, lating you witte that for the trust that 
 as weel we, as the heires of Edmund Swath- 
 yng, have unto you, we have appointed you 
 to be one of the makeres up indifferently of the evy- 
 dences betwix us and the seide heires. Wherfor we pray 
 you hertily, that ye wil yeve attendaunce at such day 
 and place as ye and our right trusti and welbelovid 
 frende William Yelverton, with oure welbelovid ser- 
 vaunt Jenney, shal mow attende to the making up of 
 the seide evidencez ; and we shal send summe of our 
 servauntz to awayte upon you for your reward and 
 costis, that ye shal be pleasid with by the grace of God, 
 who have you ever in his keping. 
 
 Wreten undir our signet in oure Castel of Fram- 
 lyngham, the xviij. day of - . 
 
 1 The name "John Mowbray" is represented by a curious monogram, in 
 which every letter both of the Christian and the surname cau be traced.
 
 A.D. I444-] HENRY VI. 57 
 
 44. 
 
 After A.D. 1444 (?). 
 CATHERINE, DUCHESS OF NORFOLK, TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 16.] 
 
 The writer of this letter was the widow of John Mowbray, second Duke of 
 Norfolk, who died in 1432. After the Duke's death, she married again no 
 less than three times ; and Fenn thinks this letter, which is dated from 
 Epworth in Lincolnshire, a seat of the Duke of Norfolk's, was probably 
 written during her first widowhood. It must be remarked, however, that in 
 1432 John Paston was only twelve years old at the utmost, so that this letter 
 could hardly have been written till at least ten years after. It is, besides, 
 hardly probable that John Paston would have been addressed as the owner 
 of a " place" in London, before his father's death in 1444. The exact year, 
 however, is quite uncertain. 
 
 To our right trusty and hertily welbelovcd John Paston, 
 
 Squier. 
 
 Kateryn, Duchesse ) 
 ofNorff. ] 
 
 IGHT trusty and entierly welbeloved, we grete 
 you wel hertily as we kan. And for as 
 moche as we purpose with grace of Jesu to 
 be at London within bryff tyme, we pray 
 you that your place ther may be redy for us, for we 
 wole sende our stuff thedir to for \tofore, i.e. before] 
 our comyng ; and siche agrement as we toke with you 
 for the same, we shall duely performe yt with the myght 
 of Jesu, who haff you in his blissed keping. 
 Wretyn at Eppeworth, ij de day of Octobre. 
 
 45. 
 Between A.D. 1444 and 1451. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 ROBERT, LORD WYLUGHBY [of Eresby], TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Desires him to favour Reginald Balden who "hath ado with 
 you for certain lyflode which was his father's, wherein your father 
 was enfeoffed." Boston, i6th December. 
 
 [The date of this letter is probably after the death of William Paston in 
 1444, and cannot be later than 1451, as the writer died on St. James's day 
 (251.11 July) 1452.]
 
 58 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1445. 
 
 46. 
 
 A.D. 1445, 4 Feb. 
 AGNES PASTON TO EDMUND PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 32.] 
 
 This tetter must have been written in February 1445, as it appears from the 
 contents that William Paston was dead, but had been alive in the preced- 
 ing Lent. 
 
 To Edmond Paston of Clyffordis Inn, in London, be 
 this Lettre take. 
 
 O myn welbelovid sone, I grete yow wel, and 
 avyse yow to thynkk onis of the daie of youre 
 fadris counseyle to lerne the lawe, for he 
 seyde manie tymis that ho so ever schuld 
 dwelle at Paston, schulde have nede to conne defende 
 hym selfe. 
 
 The Vikare T of Paston and yowre fadre, 2 in 
 Lenttyn last was, wher [were] thonve and acordidde, and 
 doolis 3 sette howe broode the weye schulde ben, 4 and 
 nowe he hath pullid uppe the doolis, and seithe he 
 wolle makyn a dyche fro the corner of his walle, ryght 
 over the weye to the newe diche of the grete cloose. 
 And there is a man in Truntche, hyzht Palmer to, that 
 hadde of yowre fadre certein londe in Truntche over 
 vij. yere or viij. yere agoone for corn, and trewli hathe 
 paide all the yers ; and now he hathe suffrid the 
 corne to ben with sette for viijj. of rentte to Gym- 
 myngham, wich yowre fadre paide nevere. Geffreie 
 axid Palmere why the rentte was notte axid in myn 
 husbonddis tyme ; and Palmere seyde, for he was a 
 grete man, and a wyse man of the law, and that was 
 the cawse men wolde not axe hym the rentte. 
 
 I sende yow the namis of the men that kaste down 
 
 1 John Partrick of Swathfield was Vicar of Paston, from 1442 to 1447. F. 
 
 2 William Paston, the Judge. 
 
 3 Landmarks. " Dolestones" are still spoken of in Norfolk in this sense. 
 See Latham's Edition of Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 * On the 6th July 1443, a licence was granted to William Paston to enclose 
 a portion of the highway at Paston, and another at Oxnead, on his making 
 two other highways in place thereof Patent Roll, 21 Henry VI., p. i, m. 10.
 
 A.D. I44S-] HENR Y VI. 59 
 
 the pittis, that was Gynnis Close, wretyn in a bille 
 closid in this lettre. 
 
 I sendde yow not this lettre to make yow wery ot 
 Paston ; for I leve in hoope, and ye wolle lern that they 
 schulle be made werye of her werke, for in good feyth 
 I dar welseyne it was yowr fadris laste wille to have do 
 ryzht wel to that plase, and that can I schewe of good 
 profe, thowe men wolde seye naye. God make yow 
 ryzht a good man, and sende Goddis blessyng and myn. 
 
 Wrettyn in haste, at Norwich, the Thorsdaie aftir 
 Candelmasse daie. 
 
 Wetith of yowre brothere John how manie gystis 
 \_joist s\ wolle serve the parler and the chapelle at Paston, 
 and what lenghthe they moste be, and what brede and 
 thykknesse thei moste be ; for yowre fadris wille was, 
 as I weene veryli, that thei schuld be ix. enchis on wey, 
 and vij. another weye. And porveythe therfor that 
 thei mow be squarid there, and sentte hedre, for here 
 can non soche be hadde in this conttre. And seye to 
 yowre brothir John it weer wel don to thinkke on 
 Stansted Chirche ; l and I praye yow to sende me 
 tydynggs 2 from be yond see, for here thei arn a ferde 
 to telle soche as be reportid. 
 
 By yowr Modre, 
 
 AUGNES PASTON. 
 
 47. 
 
 A.D. 1444-9. 
 JOHN HAWTEYN TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 36.] 
 
 This is a petition addressed to John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury, as 
 Chancellor, after the death of William Paston in 1444. Stafford was made 
 Archbishop in 1443. His appointment as Chancellor was even earlier, and 
 he held the office till the 3ist of January 1430. 
 
 1 Stansted Church in Suffolk. Dame Agnes had possessions in that 
 parish. F. 
 
 2 These tidings relate to our foreign transactions, the giving Tip of Maine, 
 Truces, &c. &c. on the King's marriage, which had taken place in Nov- 
 ember. F.
 
 60 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1444. 
 
 To the most reverent Fader in God the Archcbisshop of 
 Gaunter bury, Chanceler of England. 
 
 ESECHETH mekely'zour gracious Lordship, 
 zour owne servant and oratour John Hauteyn, 
 chapeleyn, that wher he hath dyvers seutees 
 and accions in lawe to be sewed a zent A., 
 that was the wife of W. Paston, of the maner of Oxe- 
 nedes, in the countee of Northfolk ; and for as meche 
 as zour seid besecher can gete no counsell of men of 
 court to be with hym in the seid matiers, by cause that 
 the seid W. P. was one of the Kynges Justices, and John 
 P., son and heir to the seid W. P., is al so a mon of 
 court; that hit plese zour good Lordship to assigne, 
 and most streytly to comaund John Heydon, 1 Thomas 
 Lyttylton, 2 and John Oelston to be of counsell with 
 zour seid besecher in the seid matiers, and oder that 
 he hath to do azenst the seid Anneys and oder ; and 
 zour said besecher shal contente hem well for their 
 labour. And that this be doo in the reverence of God, 
 and wey of charite. JOHN HAUTEYN, Chapeleyn. 
 
 48. 
 
 After A.D. 1444. 
 SIR ROGER CHAMBERLAIN TO AGNES PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 38.] 
 
 Nothing can be said as to the date of this letter, except that it is evidently 
 after the death of William Paston. 
 
 To my right worchepfull Ccsyn, Agnes Paston. 
 
 jfTV|IGHT worchepfull cosyn, I comand me to you. 
 And as for the mater that ye sent to me fore, 
 touchyng the maner callid Walshams, in Wai- 
 sham, the trouth is, youre husbond soldyt to 
 
 1 A lawyer and recorder of Norwich. F. 
 
 2 Afterwards the famous Judge Lyttelton. F.
 
 A.D. 1442-55.] HENRY VI. 6l 
 
 my moder upon condition that she shuld never sel it 
 but to youre sones, John or William ; and for the suerte 
 of the seid condition, youre seid husbond, as I conseyve, 
 ded the seid maner be charged with a gret annuyte 
 upon the same condition, or the tyme that my seid 
 moder toke estate, of the whech I suppose ye shall 
 fynde sufficiant evydens, if ye serge youre evydences 
 therfor. And I be seche almyty God kepe you. 
 Wretyn at Geddyng, the xv. day of September. 
 Your Cosyn, 
 
 SIR ROGER CHAMBERLEYN. 
 
 49. 
 
 Between A.D. 1442 and 1455. THE DUKE OF BUCK- 
 INGHAM TO THE VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 16.] 
 
 There appear to be no means of ascertaining the exact year when this letter 
 was written ; but as the writer was created Duke of Buckingham on the 141(1 
 September 1441, and his son, the Earl of Stafford, was killed at the battle of 
 St. Albans on the 22d May 1455, the date must lie between these two limits. 
 
 To the right worshipful, and with all myn herte right 
 entirely belovid brother, the Viscotmte Beaumont, 
 
 IGHT worshipful, and with all myn herte right 
 entierly beloved brother, I recomaunde me 
 to you, thenking right hertili youre good 
 brotherhode for your gode and gentill letters, 
 the whiche it hath liked you to sende unto me nowe 
 late ; and like it you to knovve I perseeve by the 
 tenor of the seid lettre, your gode desire of certein 
 dubete that I owe unto you. In gode faith, brother, 
 it is so with me at this tyme, I have but easy stuffe 
 of money withinne me, for so roeche as the seison of 
 the yer is not yet growen, so that I may not plese 
 youre seid gode brotherhode, as God knoweth my will 
 and entent were to do, and I had it 
 
 Nevertheless, and it like you, I sende you, bi my
 
 62 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A.D. 1444-60. 
 
 sonne Stafford, 1 an obligacion wherof, of late tyme, I 
 have rescevid part of the dubete therinne comprisid; 
 the residue of whiche I prai you to resceve bi the seid 
 obligacion, and that I may have an acquitance therof, 
 and to yeve credence unto my seid sonne in such 
 thing as he shall say unto your gode brotherhode on 
 my behalve. 
 
 Right worshipfull, and with all myn herte right 
 entirely belovid brother, I beseche the blissed Trinite, 
 preserve you in honor and prosperite. 
 
 Writen at my Castell of Makestok, 2 the xvij. day of 
 Marche. 
 
 Yowre trew and fethfull broder, 
 
 H. BUKINGHAM. 
 
 50. 
 
 Between A.D. 1444 and 1460. 
 WILLIAM YELVERTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 20.] 
 
 The date of this letter is not earlier than 1444, when William Yelverton was 
 appointed a Justice of the King's Bench ; and, as Fenn remarks, it is pro- 
 bably not later than 1460, when he was made a Knight of the Bath, otherwise 
 he would have signed himself Knight as well as Justice. 
 
 To my ryght wurchepfull cosyn, John Paston, Esquier, 
 
 IGHT worchepful cosyn, I recomaunde me to 
 yow, thankyng yow as hertyly as I kan for 
 my selff, &c, and specially for that ye do 
 so moclie for Oure Ladyes hous at Walsyng- 
 ham, which 1 trust veryly ye do the rather for the 
 grete love that ye deme I have therto ; for trewly if 
 I be drawe to any worchep or wellfare, and discharge 
 of myn enmyes daunger, I ascryve it unto Our Lady. 
 
 Preyng yow therfore that ye woln ben as frendly 
 to Our Ladyes hous as I wote well ye have ahvey ben, 
 
 1 Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, the Duke's eldest son, who was slain at St. 
 Alban's in 1455. a In Warwickshire.
 
 A.D. 1446-47.] HENRY VI. 63 
 
 and in especyall now, that I myght have of yow the 
 report certeynly be your letter of that, that Naunton 
 your cosyn informyd yow, and told yow be mouth of 
 all maters towchyng Oure Laclyes hous of Walsyngham. 
 
 For me thynkyth be that I have herde be Oure Ladys 
 prest of Walsyngham, if I' understode weel that mater, 
 that it shuld do moch to the gode spede of the mater ; 
 and dought yow not our Lady shall quyte it yow and 
 here poer priour here aftyr, as he may, &c. 
 
 Preying yow also, cosyn, and avysyng for the ease 
 of us both, and of our frendes, and of many other, that 
 ye be at London be tymes this terme, and if we spede 
 well now, all well all this yere aftir ; for I knowe veryly 
 ther was nevyr made gretter labour thanne shall be 
 made now, and therfore I pray to Our Lady, help us, 
 and her blissid Sone, which have you in His holy 
 kepyng. 
 
 Wreten at your poer place of Bayfeld, on Sent 
 Fraunces day, 1 in hast. 
 
 Your cosyn, 
 WILLIAM YELVERTON, Justis. 
 
 51. 
 
 A.D. 1446, 30 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 [Add. Charter 14,819, B.M. (D. Turner's Coll.)] 
 
 Indenture, dated 30 Oct. 25 Henry VI., by which Agnes 
 Fasten grants a lease to John Downing, miller, and others, of the 
 mill called Woodmill, in Paston. 
 
 52. 
 
 A.D. 1447. THE BAILIFF AND JURATS OF JERSEY TO 
 VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 The custody of the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, &c., during the mino- 
 
 1 St. Francis' day is the 4th of October.
 
 64 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1447. 
 
 rity of Ann, daughter and heir of Henry de Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, 
 was granted in 25 Henry VI. to John, Viscount Beaumont, and Sir Ralph 
 Butler, Lord Sudley. See Dugdalc's Baronage, ii. 54. 
 
 A nos treshonores et nobles Signonrs Visconte Beaumont, 
 Connestablc d'Engleterre et Seigneur de Sudcle, grant 
 incstre de hostel de nostre Souverayn Seigneur le Roy 
 d'Engleterre et France. 
 
 RESHONORABLEZ et noblez seigneurs, 
 nous nous recommandous tant que faire le 
 povons a voz honnorablez seignouriez. Et 
 vous plese savoir que le samedy xv me jour 
 du moys de Aprille nous avons receu unez lettrez 
 patentes de nostre Souverain Seigneur le Roy d'Eng- 
 leterre et de France, contenant comme il vous a donne 
 la guarde dez islez de Jersey et Guernesey durant le 
 non aage de 1'er de mon Seigneur de Warwyk, et unez 
 aultrez lettrez a nous directes de par vous, presentees 
 de par voz servitours John Morin et Robert Haxby. 
 Et pour cause que eulx n'avoyent point de procura- 
 cions, ou feisions difficultey, et non obstant a voz ditz 
 servitours a estey delivree et baillie la pocession de la 
 dicte isle de Jersey, et ont jure et promis par lours 
 serementz de guarder le loys et coustumez et anciens 
 usagez de la dicte isle, et nous envoier lettrez soubz 
 lez seaulx de voz arniez, comme voz promettez tenir en 
 fermete ce que eulx ont promis, et de ce nous ont 
 bailly plege Sire John Bernard, cappitaine desdictez 
 islez, quer aultrement nous ne lez eussons point receus, 
 comme il apparest par le certificat a eulx par nous 
 donne', quer tons lez seigneurs, guardes, cappitaines, 
 juges, et aultrez officers de audevant de cez hourez ont 
 estey jure'z a nous lois, coustumez et anciens usagez, lez 
 queilz ont estey guardez et seront en tempz advenir 
 avecquez 1'aide de Dieu, qui vous ayt en sa sainte guarde. 
 Escript en Jersey le xvij me jour du moys de Aprill. 
 De par lez vostrez lez Bailiff [et] 
 Jures de 1'Isle de Gersy.
 
 A.D. I447-] HENRY VI. 65. 
 
 53. 
 
 A.D. 1447 ? EDMUND PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 From the conversation here reported touching the anticipated ascendancy 
 of Daniel and the Marquis, afterwards Duke, of Suffolk, this letter may be 
 referred to the year 1447. In April of the year following, the influence of 
 Suffolk was paramount, and Daniel was said to be out of favour, as will be 
 seen by Letter 56 following. 
 
 Tradatur Johanni Paston, of the Inner In in the 
 Temple, att London. 
 
 YTH worschipfull brothir, I recomaund me to 
 yow, &c. I preye write to myn modre of 
 your owne hed as for to consell her howh 
 that sche kepe her prevye, and tell no body 
 ryth nowth of her counsell ; for sche vvoll tell persones 
 many of her counsell this day, and to morwe sche woll 
 seybe Goddis faste that the same men ben false. I have 
 seen parte of the evydence, and the maner 1 hath be 
 pourchasid be parcell, and certeyn feffement mad of 
 the avowson, and certeyn pecis of lond enterlessant the 
 maner ; and I wote well ye have on collaterall rellesse 
 wyth a warente of on of the wyffys of Hauteyn 2 of all 
 the holl maner. 
 
 Steward, the chiffe constable, told me he was en- 
 panellyd up on the assise be twex yow and Frauncesse ; 
 he axyd me counsell what he myght do ther inne, for 
 he told me it was take in Sir Thomas Tudham name. 
 He wold fayne be chalengyd. I concellyd him swere 
 the trewthe of the issue that he shall be swore to, and 
 thanne he nedyd never to drede hym of noon atteynte. 
 I yave him this counsell, and noon othir. He enque- 
 ryd me of the rewle of myn master Danyell 3 and myn 
 Lord of SufTolke, 4 and askyd wheche I thowte schuld 
 rewle in this schere ; and I seyd bothe, as I trowh, 
 
 1 The manor of Oxnead. See Blomefield, vi. 478. 
 
 2 Probably Robert, father of John Hauteyn, the friar. 
 
 3 Thomas Daniel. 
 
 4 William de la Pole, at this time Marquis, afterwards Duke, of Suffolk. 
 
 F
 
 66 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A. D. 1447. 
 
 and he that survyvyth to hold be the vertue of the 
 survyvyr, and he to thanke his frendes, and to aquite 
 his enmyys. So I fele by him he wold forsake his 
 master, and gette him a newh yf he wyste he schuld 
 rewle ; and so wene I meche of all the contre is so 
 disposyd. The holy Trenyte kepe yow. 
 
 Wrete at Norwiche, on the Wednysday after Seynt 
 Peter 1 in hast Your Brother, E. PASTON. 
 
 54. 
 
 A.D. 1447, 3 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,235, B.M. (Paston MSS.)] 
 
 Deed by which William Pope, perpetual Vicar of Paston, con- 
 firms to Agnes, widow of William Paston, and John Bakton, their 
 estate in a piece of land, particularly described ; and also binds 
 himself to celebrate mass every Friday for the souls of said Wil- 
 liam and Agnes, &c. &c., exhort his parishioners to put up prayers 
 for them every Sunday, called " certeynys," and celebrate Wil- 
 liam Paston's obit on the I3th August. 
 
 Dated at Paston, 3d Septemler 26 Henry VI. 
 
 55. 
 
 A.D. 1447, 29 Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 [Add. Charter 17,236, B.M. (Paston MSS.)] 
 
 Indenture, dated St. Andrew's Eve, 26 Henry VI., between 
 Agnes Paston and Waryn Baxter, the former agreeing that Baxter 
 shall have, at the will of the lord of the manor of Knapton, the 
 lands, c. that were Richard Redys [Rede's], with reservations. 
 
 56. 
 
 A.D. 1448, April. 
 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHX PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, iii. 54.] 
 
 The date of this letter is fixed by an endorsement in these words, " Literse 
 termino Paschae anno xxvj.," showing that it was written in Easter term, in 
 
 1 St. Peter's day is the zgth June.
 
 A.D. 1448.] HENR Y VI. 67 
 
 the 26th year of Henry VI. Easter term in that year lasted from the loth of 
 April to the 6th of May. 
 
 To my ryth wyrchypful hwsbond, Jon Paston, be this 
 Icttyr ddyvcryd in hast. 
 
 JIJYTH wyrchypful hwsbond, I recomawnd me 
 to zw, desyryng hertyly to heryn of zour wel 
 fare, praying zw to wete that I was with my 
 Lady Morley 1 on the Satyrday next after that 
 ze departyd from hens, and told here qhat answer that 
 ze had of Jon Butt, and sche toke it ryth straw[n]gely, 
 and seyd that sche had told zw, and schewyd zw i now 
 \enougn\i qher byze myth have knowleche that the releve 
 owt \pughf\ to ben payd to her. And sche seyd sche wyst 
 wel that ze delay it forthe, that sche xuld nowth have 
 that longyth to her ryth. And sche told me hw it was 
 payd in Thomas Chawmbers tym, qhan her dowther 
 Hastyngs 2 was weddyd ; and sche seyd sythyn that ze 
 wyl make none end with her, sche wyl sew therfore as 
 law wyl. 
 
 I conseyvyd be here that sche had cwnsel to labore 
 azens zw therm withyn ryth schort tym. And than I 
 prayd her that sche wuld vwche save nowth to labowr 
 azens zw in this mater tyl ze kom horn; and sche 
 seyd nay, be her feyth, sche wuld no more days zeve 
 \_give\ zw therin. Sche seyd sche had sett zw so many 
 days to a kord with her, and ze had broke them, that 
 sche was ryth wery therof ; and sche seyd sche was but 
 a woman, sche must don be her cownseyl, and her 
 cwnseyle had avysyd her, so sche seyd sche wyld do. 
 Than I prayd her azyn that sche wuld teryn \tarry\ tyl ze 
 kom horn, and I seyd I trostyd veryly that ze wuld don 
 qhan ze kom horn, as itt longeth to zw to don ; and 
 if ze myth have very knowleche that sche awyth of ryth 
 
 1 Isabel, widow of Thomas, Lord Morley, who died in 1435. She was the 
 daughter of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Fenn confounds her with 
 the widow of the Lord Morley who died in 1417, who was a daughter of 
 Edward, Lord Dispencer, and had previously married Sir Hugh Hastings. 
 But this lady died about 1426 (Blomefield, ii. 440), and cannot be the lady 
 mentioned in the text. 
 
 2 Ann, married to John Hastyngs. See Blomefield, ii. 430.
 
 68 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 144.8. 
 
 for to have itt, I seyd I wyst wel that ze wuld pay it 
 with ryth gode wyl, and told her that ze had sergyd to a 
 fownd wrytyng therof, and ze kwd non fynd in non 
 wyse. And sche sayd sche wyst wele there was wryt- 
 yng therof inow, and sche hath wrytyng therof hw Syr 
 Robert of Mawthby, and Sir Jon, and my grawnsyre, 
 and dyverse other of myn awncesterys payd it, and seyd 
 nevyre nay therto. And in no wyse I kwd not geyn 
 no grawnth of her to sesyn tyl ze kom horn ; and sche 
 bad me that I xuld don an erand to my moder, and 
 qhan I kam hom, I dede myn erand to her. And 
 sche axyd me if I had spokyn to my lady of this for- 
 seyd mater, and I told her hw I had do, and qhat 
 answer I had ; and sche seyd sche xuld gon to my Lady 
 Morles on the nexst day, and sche xuld speken to her 
 therof, and a say to getyn grawnt of her to sesyn of the 
 forsayd mater tyl that ze kom hom. And truly my 
 moder dede her dever ryth feythfully therin, as my 
 cosyn Clare 1 xal tellyn zw qhan that he speketh with 
 zow ; and sche gete grawnt of my seyd lady that there 
 xuld nowth ben don azens zw therin, and ze wold 
 acordyn with her, and don as ze owyn to do be twyx 
 this tym and Trinyte Sunday. 
 
 Laueraw[n]ce Rede of Mawthhy recommawndeth 
 hym to zu, and prayt zw that ze wyl vwchesave to leten 
 hym byn \buy\ of zw the ferm barly that ze xuld have of 
 hym, and if ze wyl laten hym have it to a resonabyl 
 pris, he wyl have it with ryth a gode wyl; and he 
 prayit zw if ze wyl that he have it, that ze wyl owche 
 save \youchsafe\ to send hym word at qhat pris he xuld 
 have the kowmb as hastyly as ze may, and ellys he 
 must be purvayd in other plase. 
 
 As twchyng other tydyngs, I sopose Jon of Dam xal 
 send zw word in a letter. As it is told me veryly, 
 Heydon xal not kom at London this term. 
 
 It is seyd in this centre that Danyell 2 is owth of the 
 Kyngs gode grase, and he xal dwn and all hys mene, 
 
 I Probably William, eldest son of Robert Clere of Ormesby, who died in 
 1446. See Blomefield, vi. 336. 
 * Thomas Daniel.
 
 A. D. 1448.] HENRY VI. 69 
 
 and all that ben hys wele wyllers ; there xal no man 
 ben so hardy to don nether seyn azens my Lord of 
 Sowthfolk, 1 nere non that longeth to hym ; and all that 
 have don and seyd azens hym, they xul sore repent 
 hem. Kateryn Walsam xal be weddyd on the Mun- 
 day nexst after Trinyte Sonday, as it is told me, to the 
 galaunte with the grete chene ; and there is purvayd for 
 her meche gode aray of gwnys, gyrdelys, and atyrys, and 
 meche other gode aray, and he hathe purcheysyd a gret 
 purcheys of v. mark be zer to zevyn her to her joynture. 
 
 I am aferd that Jon of Sparham is so schyttyl wyttyd, 
 that he wyl sett hys gode to morgage to Heydon, or to 
 sum other of ywre gode frendys, but if [i.e. unless] I can 
 hold hym inne the better, ere ze kom horn. He hath ben 
 arestyd sythyn that ye went, and hath had moche sorw 
 at the sewte of mayster Joh Stoks of London for x. mark 
 that Sparham owt to hym ; and in godefeyth he hath had 
 so moche sorow and hevynesse that he wyst nowth qhat 
 he myth don. I fell hym so disposyd that he wold 
 asold and asett to morgage all that he hath, he had 
 nowth rowth to qhom, so that he myth an had mony to 
 an holpyn hym self wyth ; and I entretyd hym so, thatt 
 I sopose he wyll nother sellyn ner sett to morgage, 
 nother catel ner other gode of hese, tyl he speke with 
 zw. He soposeth that al that. is don to hym is att the 
 request 'of the Parson of Sparham and Knatylsale. 
 I sopose it is almas to comfort hym, for in gode feyth 
 he is ryth hevy, and hys wyf al so. He is nowth nw 
 under arest, he hath payd hys feys, and goth at large ; 
 he was arestyd att Sparham, of on of Knatysales men. 
 
 Hodge Feke told me thatt Sym Schepherd is styl 
 with Wylly, 2 and if ze wyl I xal purvey that he xal be 
 browth horn er ze kom horn. It is told me that he 
 that kept zour schep was owth lawyd on Munday at the 
 swth of Sir Thomas Todynham, and if it be so, ze arn 
 nowth lyk to kepe hym longe. And as twchyng that 
 that ze badeyn me spekyn for to Bakton, he seyth he 
 is wel avysyd that sche seyd sche wuld never have to 
 
 1 See p. 65, note 3. 2 William Paston, son of the Judge ?
 
 70 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1448. 
 
 don with all, ner he kan not pek that sche seyd sche 
 hath non ryth to have it, and he wyl say lyche as he 
 hath herd her seyd ; and if sche speke to hyra therof, 
 he wyll rather hold with zw than with her. I pray ye 
 that ze wyl vwche save to send me word hw ze spede 
 in zour matter twchyng Gressam, and hw Danyel is in 
 grace. Harry Goneld hath browth to me \\s. of Gres- 
 sam syn ze zede, and he seyth I xal have more or 
 Qhythson tyd, if he may pyk it up. 
 
 I sopose Jamys Gressam hath told zw of other 
 thyngs that I have sped syn ze zedyn hens. If I her 
 any strawnge tydyngs in this centre, I xall send zw 
 word. I pray zw that I may ben recommawndyd to 
 my Lord Danyel. 
 
 The Holy Trynyte have zw in hys kepyng, and 
 send zw helth and gode spede in al zour maters 
 twchyng zour ryth. 
 
 Wretyn at Norwyche, on the Wedenys day nexst 
 after thatt ze partyd hens. 
 
 Yors, MARGARETE PASTON. 
 
 57. 
 
 Date uncertain. 
 LORD SCALES TO THOMAS GNATESHALE. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The person to whom this is addressed is probably the same " Knatysale " 
 mentioned in the preceding letter, and as it contains no evidence of any defi- 
 nite date, we think best to insert it here. 
 
 To Thomas Gnateshale. 
 
 Thomas Gnateshale, I \vul ze wite it was oute of my remem- 
 brance that Paston hade pout in my determinacion the discort 
 betwene you and hym. I was the more favourable to your entent, 
 but in so mych as I had forgete that beforesaid, I praye you that 
 ye suffre the cornes in mene hand til that I have determined the 
 matier betwene you too be the advis of lerned men whech hart 
 knowelich in such causses, the which thing I wul do in as short 
 tyme as may, wherof ze shal have knowelich. 
 
 Writen at Myddelton, the xiiij. day of August. 
 
 THE LORD SCALES.
 
 A.D. 1448.] HENRY VI. 71 
 
 58. 
 
 Not after A.D. 1448. 
 EDMUND PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 426.] 
 
 Edmund Paston seems to have died in the spring of 1449, as we have a 
 record of his nuncupative will, dated on the 2ist of March. This letter, 
 therefore, cannot be later than 1448. 
 
 To John Paston, Esquyer. 
 
 , I recummawnd me to zow. Please yt zow 
 * we ^ e that my modyr hathe causyd me to 
 putte Gregory owte of my servyse, as, God 
 help, I wrythe to zow the very cause why. 
 Yt happyd hym to have a knavys loste, in pleyn termes 
 to swhyve a quene, and so dyd in the Konyneclosse. 
 Yt fortunyd hym to be a spyed be ij. plowemen of my 
 modyrs, whyche werne as fayne as he of that mater, and 
 desyerd hym to have parte, and as kompany requeryd, 
 seyd not nay ; in so myche that the plowemen had her 
 alle a nythe in ther stabylle, and Gregory was clere 
 delyvered of her, and as he swherys had not a do with 
 her within my modyrs place. Not with standdyng my 
 modyr thynkks that he was grownd of that matier; 
 wherfor ther is no remedy but he moste a voyde. And 
 in so myche that at the laste tyme that ze wer her, [ye] 
 desyerd hym of me, yf that he schuld departe from me, 
 I send zow the very cawse of hys departyng, as my 
 modyr sethe ; but I am in serteyn the contrary is true. 
 Yt is nomor but that he can not plese all partys. But 
 that jantylman 1 is hys woords Lord, he hathe seyd that 
 he woold lyfte them whom that hym plese, and as that 
 schewey t welle, he lyftyd on \pne\ xiiij . myle in a mornyng, 
 and nowe he hath ben caw sar of hys lyfte, I wot not 
 how far, but yf that ze be hys better master ; but and 
 we a mong us geve not hym a lyfte, I pray God that 
 we never thryve. And that is hys intente, I trowe, to 
 
 1 Fenn supposes the person alluded to to be the priest, James Gloys.
 
 72 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1448. 
 
 bryng us to ; wherfor I requer zow, yf that yt plese zow 
 to have hym, that ze wylle be the better master to hym 
 for my sake, for I am he that is as sory to departe from 
 hym as any man on lyve from hys servant, and be my 
 trowthe, as farforthe as I knowe, he is as true as any on 
 lyve. 
 
 I troste my fortune schale be better than ever to leve 
 thus her ; but yf 1 wer hens wards, I ensuer zow I 
 wold not schange for none that I knowe. He is 
 profytabylle on dyvers thynggs as ze knowe welle. 
 
 Ther has ben a gret breke be twyx Calle and me, as 
 I schal enforme zow at my coming, wyche schalle be 
 on Wedynsday next be the grace of God, who preserve 
 zow. 
 
 Wretyn at Mawteby, on Wyteson eve. 
 
 EDMOXD PASTOX. 
 
 59. 
 A.D. 1448, 19 May. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Phillipps MS. 9735, No. 256.] 
 MARGARET PASTOX TO HER HUSBAND (not addressed). 
 
 On Friday last, the Parson of Oxened " being at messe in one 
 Parossh Chirche, evyn at levacion of the sakeryng, Jamys Gloys 
 had been in the town, and come homeward by Wymondam's 
 gate," when he was attacked by Wymondham who had two of his 
 men with him, and driven into " my mother's place " for refuge. 
 With the noise of this, my mother and I came out of the church 
 from the sakeryng, and Wymondham " called my mother and me 
 strong whores, and said, ye Pastons and all her kin were .... 
 yngham said he lied, knave and churl as he was. " After noon 
 my mother and I reported this to the Prior of Norwich, who sent 
 for Wymondham ; and Pagrave came with us. While Wymond- 
 ham was with the Prior, and we at home, Gloys was assaulted 
 again in the street, "as he stood in the Lady Hastyngs' chamber," 
 by Thomas Hawys, one of Wymondham's men. This last assault 
 the Parson of Oxened saw. Sends Gloys to her husband for fear 
 of further trouble. The Lady Morle "would have the benefice 
 of her obligacion," as her counsel tells her it is forfeit, and she
 
 A.D. 1448.] HENRY VI. 73 
 
 would not have the relief till she have your homage. The Lord 
 Moleyns' man is collecting the rent at Gresham M a great pace," 
 as James Gresham will report to you. 
 Trinity Sunday, at even. 
 
 Further statement about the assault added in a different hand 
 (qu. Agnes Paston's?). 
 
 [From the fact of Lord Molyns being in possession of Gresham, and collect- 
 ing rents there, it is clear that the date of this letter is 1448. This date also 
 agrees with what is said in Letter 56 about a relief claimed by Lady Morley.] 
 
 60. 
 
 A.D. 1448, 28 May. 
 JOHN NORTHWOOD TO JOHN, VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 12.] 
 The date of this letter will appear by a foot-note. 
 
 To my worschypful and reverent Lord, John, Vicont 
 Beaumont. 
 
 HJYGTH worschypfull, and my reverent and most 
 spesiall Lord, y recomaund me un to yowr 
 good grace in the most humble and lowly 
 wyse that y canne or may, desyryng to her 
 of your prosperite and well fare [as to my] x most syn- 
 geler joy and spesiall comfort. 
 
 And gyf hyt plees your Hygnes, as towchyng the 
 soden aventuer that fell latly at Coventre, plees hyt 
 your Lordshyp to her that, on Corpus Christi Even 2 
 last passed, be twene viij. and ix. of the clok at a[fter- 
 non], 1 Syr Umfrey Stafford 3 had browth my mayster 
 Syr James of Urmond 4 towa[r]d hys yn \inn~\ from my 
 Lady of Shrewesb[ery, 5 and] 1 reterned from hym toward 
 
 1 The bracketed words are noted by Fenn as " imperfect in the original, 
 the paper being chafed." 
 " 22d May. 
 
 3 Killed in an engagement with Jack Cade in June 1450. 
 
 4 Probably Sir James Butler, son and heir apparent of James, fourth Earl 
 of Ormond, who in 1449 was created Earl of Wiltshire. 
 
 8 Wife of John Talbot, the famous Earl of Shrewsbury.
 
 74 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1448. 
 
 hys yn, he met with Syr Robert Harcourt 1 comyng 
 from hys moder towards hys yn, and pass[ed Syr] 2 
 Umfrey; and Richard, hys son, came somewhat be 
 hynd, and when they met to gyder, they fell in handes 
 togyder, and [Sir Robert] 2 smot hym a grette st[r]oke 
 on the hed with hys sord, and Richard with hys dagger 
 hastely went toward hym. And as he stombled, on of 
 Harcourts men smot hym in the bak with a knyfe ; 
 men wotte not ho hyt was reddely. Hys fader hard 
 noys, and rode toward hem, and hys men ronne befor 
 hym thyder ward ; and in the goyng downe of hys 
 hors, on, he wotte not ho, be hynd hym smot hym on 
 the hede with a nege tole, men know not with us with 
 what wepone, that he fell downe ; and hys son fell 
 downe be fore hym as good as dede. And all thys was 
 don, as men sey, in a Pater Noster wyle. And forth 
 with Syr Umfrey Stafford men foloed after, and slew ij. 
 men of Harcowrttus, on Swynerton, and Bradshawe, 
 and mo ben hurt; sum ben gonne, and sum be in pryson 
 in the jayll at Coventre. 
 
 And before the coroner of Coventre, up on the sygth 
 of the bodyes, ther ben endited, as prynsipall for the 
 deth of Richard Stafford, Syr Robert Harcourt and the 
 ij. men that ben dede. And for the ij. men of Har- 
 courts that ben dede, ther ben endited ij. men of Syr 
 Umfrey as prynsipall. And as gytte ther hath ben 
 no thyng fownden before the Justice of the Pees of 
 Coventre of thys riot, be caws the shreffe of Warwyk 
 shyre is dede, 3 and they may not sytt in to the tyme 
 ther be a new shreve. 
 
 And all thys myschef fell be cawse of a nold debate 
 that was be twene heme for takyng of a dystres, as hyt 
 is told. 
 
 1 He signalized himself in the wars of Henry VI. and Edward IV., was a 
 Knigtyt of the Garter, and in November 1470, 10 Edward IV., was slain by 
 the Staflfbrds, perhaps in revenge for this murder of Richard Stafford. F. 
 
 2 See Note i, p. 73. 
 
 3 Thomas Porter was sheriff of the counties of Warwick and Leicester in 
 26 Henry VI., and died in his year of office on Monday after Corpus Chrisii 
 day (27th May 1448^, the day before this letter was written. lnquisition/<w* 
 tHoriem, 27 Henry VI., No. 13.
 
 A. D. 1448.] HENRY VI. 75 
 
 And All mygthty Jesu preserve yowr hye astat, my 
 spesiall Lord, and send yow long lyve and good hele. 
 Wryten at Coventre on Tewusday next after Corpus 
 Christ! day, &c. 
 
 Be yowr own pore Servant, 
 
 JOHN NORTHWOD. 
 
 61. 
 
 A.D. 1448, 13 June. 
 LORD MOLYNS TO THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 190.] 
 
 It appears, by John Paston's petition presented to Parliament two years 
 later, that after he had been dispossessed of Gresham by Lord Molyns in 
 February 1448, communications passed between his counsel and that of Lord 
 Molyns on the subject until Michaelmas following. This letter must refer to 
 the first overtures. 
 
 To the worschypful Fader yn God, and my ryth gode 
 Lord, the By s shop of Wynchestyr}- 
 
 ORSCHYPFUL Fader yn God, and my rythe 
 gode Lord, as hertely as y canne, y reco- 
 maund me to your gode Lordschyp ; to the 
 wyche plese hyt to wyt that y have resayvyd 
 your lettre, by the wyche y oundyrstond the dayely 
 sute to your Lordschyp as of Pastun, as for the mater 
 betwyx hym and me, wer yn also y fele that he ys 
 wyllyd that comynycasyon and trete schold be had 
 betwyxt hys counsayle and myne, now at Mydsomer ; 
 to the wyche, my Lord, y am at the reverens of your 
 Lordschyp wel agreyd, and have send to my counsayle 
 at Loundon, aftyr the seyng of thys your last letter, as 
 for the trete by twyxt hym and me, and that they schold 
 yeve ful attendauns to the end of the mater by twne 
 the sayde Pastun and me, as thow y were present 
 with hem. 
 
 And, my Lord, hyt were to grete a thyng, and hyte 
 laye yn my power, but y wold do at the reverens of 
 
 1 The celebrated William of Waynflete.
 
 76 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A. D. 1449. 
 
 your Lordschyp, yn las than hyt schold hurt me to 
 gretly, wyche y wote wel your Lordschyp wol nevyr 
 desyr. 
 
 And God for hys mercy have you, rythe worschypful 
 Fadyr yn God, and my rythe gode Lord, yn hys blessyd 
 kepyng. 
 
 Wrytyn with my noune chaunsery hand, yn hast, the 
 xiij. daye of June, at Teffaunt. 
 
 Vere hartely your, MOLYNS. 
 
 62. 
 
 A.D. i449(?) 31 Jan. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 408.] 
 
 Fenn thinks this was written about 1460, but I do not see on what evidence. 
 From the reference to Gresham, I should rather suppose it belongs to 1449. 
 By the subscription, it would appear that the writer was very near the time 
 of lying in ; but we cannot tell the exact date of the birth of any of her chil- 
 dren. Lord Molyns dispossessed John Paston of the lordship of Gresham on 
 the i yth of February 1448. After repeated remonstrances <~*n the subject to no 
 purpose, Paston went and took up his quarters there again on the 6th October 
 1449, and succeeded in keeping possession till the 28th January 1450, when 
 the place was attacked, in his absence, by Lord Molyns' men, who undermined 
 the walls, and drove out Paston's wife. The ' errands about Gresham " pro- 
 bably refer to the time of Lord Molyns' first occupation. 
 
 To my ry^ht ivorchippfull hosbond, John Paston, be this 
 delyveryd in hast. 
 
 IGHT worchipfull hosbond, I recommand me 
 to yo\v, praying yow to wete that I have 
 receyved your letter this day that ye sent 
 me be Yelvertonys man. As for your sig- 
 nette, I fond itt uppon your bord the same day that ye 
 went hens, and I send it yow be Richard Heberd, 
 bringer herof. As for your eronds that ye wrete to me 
 fore, Richard Charles is owte abough your eronds 
 abowte Gresham, and for his awyn maters also, and I 
 suppose he komyth not horn tyll it be Tesday or Wed- 
 denesday next komyng; and alssone as he komyth 
 horn, he shall go abowte your eronds that ye wrete 
 to me fore.
 
 A.D. I449-] HENRY VL 77 
 
 I sent yow a letter wreten on Tesday last past, 
 whiche, as I suppose, Roger Ormesby delyveryd yow. 
 I toke it to Alson Pertryche. She rod with Clyppys- 
 bys wyff to London. 
 
 I pray yow if ye have an other sone that you woll 
 lete it be named Kerry, in remembrans of your brother 
 Kerry ; l also I pray yow that ye woll send me dats 
 and synamun as hastyly as ye may. I have speke with 
 John Damme of that ye bad me sey to hem to sey to 
 Thomas Note, and he sey he was wel payd that ye 
 seyd and thowgh therin as ye dede. Ner'les I bad 
 hym that he shuld sey to the seyd Thomas therin as it 
 wer of hymself with owte your avys or any others ; and 
 he seyd he shuld so, and that it shuld be purveyd for 
 this next weke at the ferthest. The blyssed Trinyte 
 have yow in his kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn att Norwyche, in hast, the Fryday next befor 
 Candelmesse day. 
 
 Be your gronyng wyff, 
 
 M. P 
 
 63. 
 
 A.D. 1449 (?) 5 March. 
 ROBERT, PRIOR OF BROMHOLM, TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 80.] 
 
 There is no distinct clue to the date of this letter ; but Fenn throws out a 
 conjecture which, in default of any better guide, may be accepted as not im- 
 
 Srobable, that " the Bishop of the other side of the sea " was Walter Lyhert, 
 ishop of Norwich, who in the beginning of 1449 must have been in Savoy, 
 having been sent thither by the King to persuade the anti-pope Felix V. to 
 renounce his claim to Nicholas V. for the peace of the Church. This Felix 
 actually did in the beginning of this year, and Wharton considers Bishop 
 Lyhert to have been the cause of his doing so (Angl. Sac. i. 418). Fenn, 
 however, dates this letter 1450, on the supposition that the Bishop would have 
 been still abroad in the beginning of that year, which is a mistake, as his 
 name appears in the Rolls of Parliament as a trier of petitions as early as 
 February. 
 
 1 No notice is taken elsewhere of John Paston having a brother named 
 Harry.
 
 73 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1449. 
 
 To my Sovereyn, John Faston. 
 
 Recomend me hertily, thankyng yow for the 
 tydings, and the good awysse that ze sent 
 me be the Parson of Thorpe ; 1 latyng zow 
 wittin that the Byschope of the todir syde of 
 the see sent laate to me a man, the qwych \vuld abydin 
 uppon my leyser, for to an had me ovyr wyt hym to 
 the seyd Byschope, and so forth to the Courte. 2 So the 
 seyd man and I arryn a poynted that he schal comyn 
 ageyn a purpose fro the Byschope, to be my gyde ovyr 
 the see, and so I purpose me fully forthe a noon aftir 
 this Estryn. I mak me evyre day fulli redy as privyli 
 as I can, be sekyng zow, as I trost on zow, and as I 
 am zour trow bede man, as labor for me her that I 
 mythe haf a wyrte of passagche directid un[to] swyche 
 men as zow thyng that schyd best yife me my schargche. 
 
 The best takyng of schepynge is at Yernemuthe er 
 Kyrley, or som othir place in Norfolk syde. I schal haf 
 favour he now \_enangh~] wyt ther seergiours [searchers] ; 
 bod all my goode spede and all my wel lythe in you 
 heer, for ther on I trost fully. 
 
 Som covvnsel me to haf a letter of exschawnge, thow 
 it wer bode of x\s. er lees, bod I comitte all my best in 
 this matir to zour wysdam, and qwat at evyr ze pay in 
 this matir, I schal truly at owr metyng repay ageyn to 
 zow. Bod for Godds love purvey for my sped her, for ell 
 \else\ I lees all my purvyans, and ther too I schyd jaape 3 
 the Byschope man, and caus hym to com in to Yngland, 
 and lees all his labor. For Goddis love, send me 
 down this wyrte, er ell bryng it wyt zow, that I mythe 
 haf fro zow a letter of tydings and comforthe ; for I 
 had nevyr verray need of zour labor til now, bod my 
 hert hangithe in gret langor. 
 
 All my brethir wenyth that I schyd no forthir goo 
 than to the Byschope, and undir that colour schal I 
 weel go forthe to the Courte. I haf gret stody til I 
 
 1 Robert Rogers was parson of Thorpe from 1445 to 1476. 
 2 Court of Rome. a Deceive.
 
 A.D. 1449-3 HENRY VI. 79 
 
 haf tydings fro zow. Avyr mor All mythi Good haf 
 zow in kepyng, bodi and soule. 
 
 Writtin in hast, the Wednesday in the fyrst week of 
 clen Lenton. 1 Your Orator, 
 
 ROBT., P. of B. 
 
 I sent zow a letter, bod I hade non answer ageyn. 
 
 64. 
 
 A.D. 1449, 21 March. 
 NUNCUPATIVE WILL OF EDMUND PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 MNIBUS Christi fidelibus ad quos prsesens 
 scriptum pervenerit, Nos, Willelmus May, 
 Magister Novi Templi, London', Johannes 
 Bakton gentilman, Thomas Parker, civis 
 et cissor Londoni, et Johannes Osbern, salutem in 
 Domino sempiternam. Sciatis quod xxj. die Marti j 
 Anno Domini mccccxlviij. 2 Edmundus Paston de 
 comitatu Norff., armiger, in bona memoria ac sana 
 mente existens, languens in extremis, in nostra prse- 
 sentia, condidit et declaravit testamentum suum nun- 
 cupativum in hunc modum: In primis, legavit animam 
 suam Deo Omnipotent}, Beatse Marise Virgini et omni- 
 bus Sanctis, corpusque suum ad sepeliendum in 
 ecclesia Templi prsedicti, sive in ecclesia Fratrum 
 Carmelitarum London' [ad electionem sui confessoris 3 ]. 
 Item dictus Edmundus, pro eo quod noluit circa bona 
 sive negocia temporalia mentem sive animam suam 
 affligere seu occupare, set ad seternam felicitatem se 
 prseparare, dedit, legavit ac commisit omnia bona et 
 catalla sua prsedilecto fratri suo Johanni Paston, ex 
 magna confidencia in ipso habita ut ea disponeret 
 
 1 The first week in Clean Lent means the first entire week in Lent begin- 
 ning on a Sunday. 
 
 2 This is 1449 according to the modern computation, which begins the year 
 on the ist of January instead of the 25th March. 
 
 3 These words are erased.
 
 So THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1449. 
 
 pro bono animse suse, promt melius videret Deo placere 
 ac animse suae prodesse. Et dictum Johannem Paston 
 ordinavit et constituit executorem suum. In cujus rei 
 testimonum prssentibus sigilla nostra apposuimus. 
 
 Endorsed Copia ultimse voluntatis Edmund! Paston. 
 
 Endorsed in a later hand Testamentum Edmundi Paston secundi filii 
 Willclmi Paston Justiciarii. 
 
 65. 
 
 A.D. 1449, 24 March. 
 LORD MOLYNS TO THE TENANTS OF GRESHAM. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 192.] 
 
 Lord Molyns took possession of Gresham, as already stated see prelimi- 
 nary note to Letter 62, on the lyth of February 1448 ; but the reference to 
 
 Parliament as s 
 1449 or 1450. 
 
 , 
 
 sitting at the date of this letter proves it to belong either to 
 The latter date, however, is not very probable. 
 
 To my trusty and wel belovyd, the Vycary and 
 Tcnaunts of my Lordschepe of Gressham. 
 
 RUSTY and welbeloved frendys, I grete yowe 
 well, and putte yowe all owte of doute for 
 all that ye have doon for me ; and the 
 money that ye pay to my welbeloved ser- 
 vaunt, John Partrich, I will be your warant as for 
 your discharge, and save yowe harmeles ayenst all 
 thoo that wold greve yowe, to my power. And, as 
 hertly as I can, I thanke yow of the gud wyl ye have 
 had, and have, toward me. And as to the tytyll of 
 rigth that I have to the Lordship of Gressam schal 
 with in short tyme be knovveyn, and be the lawe so 
 determynyd, that ye schall all be glad that hathe ought 
 me youre gud wyll therin. 
 
 And All Myghty God kepe yow ; and, be His grace, 
 I schall be with yowe son aftyr the Parlement es 
 endyd. 
 
 Wrytten atte London, on Oure Lady evyn last past. 
 R. H., LORD MOLYNS.
 
 A.D.I449-] HENRY VI. 8 1 
 
 66. 
 
 A.D. 1449, 2 April. 
 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is evidently both after Pastcn's expulsion from Gres- 
 ham by Lord Molyns in February 1448, and after the death of Edmund 
 Paston in 1449. It cannot, however, be so late as 1450, else Hauteyn would 
 not have expected to obtain possession of Oxnead through the Duke of 
 Suffolk's influence. 
 
 To my rytz wurschipful Mayster, Jon Paston, be this 
 delyverid in hast, divelling in the Inner Tempill. 
 
 YTZ wurschipful hosbond, I recommawnd me to 
 zu, praying zu to wete that my kosyn Cler x 
 dynyd with me this day ; and sche told me 
 that Heydon was with her yister evyn late, 
 and he told her that he had a letter from the Lord 
 Moleynys, and schewyd her the same letter, praying 
 hym that he wold seyn to his frends and wele willerres 
 in this centre that he thanketh hem of hergodewill, and 
 for that thei have done for hym ; and also praying Hey- 
 don that he wold sey to Rychard Ernold of Crowmer 
 that he was sory and evyl payd that his men maden 
 the afray up on hym, for he seyd it was not be his will 
 that his men xuld make afray on noman in this centre 
 with owth rytz grett cause. And as for that was don to 
 zu if it mytz ben prevyd that he had don otherwise to zu 
 than rytz wold as for the mevabyl godis, ze xuld ben 
 content, so that ze xuld have cawse to kon hym thank ; 
 and he prayd Heydon in the letter that it xuld ben 
 reportid in this kontre that he wold don so, if he had 
 don otherwyse than he owth to don. 
 
 The frere 2 that cleymyth Oxned was in this town 
 zastyrday and this day, and was ledgid att Beris, and 
 this afternon he rod, but qhedder I wote not. He 
 seyd pleynly in this town that he xal have Oxnede, 
 and that he hath my lord of Suffolkes 3 good lordschip, 
 and he wol ben his good lord in that mater. There 
 
 1 Elizabeth, widow of Robert Clere of Ormesby. 
 
 2 John Hawteyn. See Nos. 35 and 47. 
 8 William De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. 
 
 G
 
 82 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1449. 
 
 was a persona warnyd my moder with in this to days 
 that sche xuld ben ware, for thei seyd pleynly sche was 
 lyk to ben servyd as ze were servyd at Gressam with 
 in rytz schort tyme. Also the Lord Moleyns wrott in 
 his forseyd letter that he wold mytyly, with his body 
 and with his godis, stand be all tho that had ben his 
 frends and his wel willers in the mater towching 
 Gressam, and preyd Heydon that he wold sey to them 
 that thei xuld not ben aferd in non wyse, for that was 
 don it xuld ben abedyn by. 
 
 My moder prayith zu that ze wil send my brother 
 Willyam to Kawmbrege anomynale 1 and abok of 
 sofystre of my brother Emundes, 2 the qheche my 
 seyd brother be hestid my moder the last tyme he spak 
 with her, that he xuld asent \should have scnt\ to my 
 brother Willyam. The blisseful Trinyte have zu in 
 his keping. 
 
 Wretyn at Norwyche in hast, on the Wodenysday 
 next be for Palm Sonday. Zowres, 
 
 M. P. 
 67. 
 A.D. 1449? [MARGARET PASTON] TO [JOHN PASTON]. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 314.] 
 
 "The direction of this curious letter," says Fenn, "is obliterated, but it is 
 plainly from Margaret Paston to her husband ; and the paper is likewise so 
 completely filled with writing, that she has not even either subscribed or 
 dated it, but by the mentioning of Sir John Fastolf it must have been written 
 before 1459." It appears to us most probably to belong to the year 1449, 
 when Paston was making preparations to re-enter Greshara, which he actu- 
 ally did in October of that year. 
 
 YT wurchipful hwsbond, I recomawnd me to 
 zu, and prey z\v to gete som crosse bowis, 
 and wyndacs 3 to bynd them with, and quar- 
 rels ; 4 for zour hwsis her ben so low that ther 
 
 may non man schet owt with no long bowe, thow we 
 
 hadde never so moche nede. 
 
 1 A nominate. 
 
 8 Edmund Paston, who must have died very shortly after declaring his will 
 on the 2ist of March 1449. 
 
 3 Windacs are what we now call grappling irons, with which the bow-string 
 is drawn home. -F. 
 
 4 Properly gitarreaux. They were square pyramids of iron shot out of 
 cross-bows. Grose's Milit. Antiq. L 149.
 
 A.D. I449-] HENR Y VI. 83 
 
 I sopose ze xuld have seche thyngs of Ser Jon Fastolf, 
 if ze wold send to hym ; and also I wold ze xuld gete 
 ij. or iij. schort pelleaxis to kepe with doris, and als 
 many jakkys, and ye may. 
 
 Partryche 1 and his felaschep arn sor aferyd that ze 
 wold entren azen up on them, and they have made 
 grete ordynaw[n]ce with inne the hwse, as it is told 
 me. They have made barris to barre the dorys crosse 
 weyse, and they have made wykets on every quarter 
 of the hwse to schote owte atte, bothe with bowys and 
 with hand gunnys ; and the holys that ben made forr 
 hand gunnys, they ben scarse kne hey fro the plawncher 
 [floor], and of soche holis ben made fyve. There can 
 non man schete owt at them with no hand bowys. 
 
 Purry felle in felaschepe with Willyum Hasard at 
 Queries, and told hym that he wold com and drynk 
 with Partryche ajid with hym, and he seyd he xuld ben 
 welcome, and after none he went thedder for to aspye 
 qhat they dedyn, and qhat felaschep they hadde with 
 them ; and qhan he com thedder, the dors were fast 
 sperid \_fastened\ and there wer non folks with hem but 
 Maryoth, and Capron and hys wyf, and Queries wyf, 
 a[n]d another man in ablac (?) zede sum qhate haltyng, 
 I sopose be his words that it was Norfolk of Gemyng- 
 ham; and the seyd Purry aspyde alle this forseyd thyngs. 
 And Marioth and his felaschep had meche grette lang- 
 age that xall ben told zw qhen ze kom horn. 
 
 I pray zw that ze wyl vowche save to don bye for me 
 j. li. [i/&] of almands and j. li. of sugyr, and that zewille 
 do byen sume frese to maken of zour child is gwnys ; 
 ze xall have best chepe and best choyse of Hayis wyf, 
 as it is told me. And that ze wyld bye a zerd of brode 
 clothe of blac for an hode fore me of xliiij rf - or iiij*- a 
 zerd, for ther is nether gode cloth ner god fryse in this 
 twn. As for the child is gwnys, and I have them, I 
 wel do hem maken. 
 
 The Trynyte have zw in his keping, and send z\v 
 gode spede i[n] alle zour materis. 
 
 1 John Partrich, one of Lord Molyns's retainers.
 
 84 THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1449. 
 
 68. 
 
 A.D. 1449, 25 May. 
 ROBERT WENYNGTON TO THOMAS DANIEL. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 208.] 
 
 On the 3d April 1449 royal letters were issued in favour of Robert Wyn- 
 nyngtone of Devonshire, who was bound by indenture to do the King service 
 on the sea " for the cleansing of the same, and rebuking of the robbers and 
 pirates thereof, which daily do all the noisance they can." Stevenson's Let- 
 ters and Papers illustrative of the Wars of the English in France, i. 489. 
 
 To my Rmerend Mayster, Thomas Danyell, Squier for 
 the Kyngs Body, be thys letter dclyverd in haste. 
 
 wm 
 
 mm 
 
 IJOST reverend mayster, I recomaund me on to 
 yowr graceus maystreschup, ever deseryng to 
 her of yowr wurschupfull ustate, the whyche 
 All myghte God mayntayne hyt, and encrese 
 hyt on to hys plesans : Plesyng yow to know of my 
 wellfare, and of all yowr men, at the makyng of thys 
 letter, we wer in gode hele of body i blessyd be God. 
 
 Mo over, mayster, I send yow word, by Rauly 
 Pykeryng, of all maters, the whyche I be seche yow 
 yeve hym credens, as he wyll enforme yow of all ; so, 
 sur, I beseche yow, in the reverens of God, that ye wyll 
 enforme owr Soverayn Lord the Kyng of all maters 
 that I send yow in thys letter, lyke as I have send a 
 letter to my Lord Chaunseler and to all my Lordys by 
 the sayd Pykeryng ; the whyche letter I beseche yow 
 that ye take and delyver to my Lord and all my Lordys 
 by yowr awne handys, and lete the sayd Pykeryng 
 declare all thyngs as he hath sayn and knoweth. 
 
 Furst, I send yow word that when we went to see, 
 we toke ij. schyppys of Brast comyng owte of Flaun- 
 drys ; and then after, ther ys made a grete armyng in 
 Brytayne to mete with me and my felyschyp, that ys to 
 say, the grete schyp of Brast, the grete schyp of the Mor- 
 leys, the grete schyp of Vanng, with other viij. schyppis, 
 bargys, and balyngers, to the number of iij. m 1 '- [3000] 
 men ; and so we lay in the see to mef te] with them. 
 
 And then we mette with a flotte of a c. \a hundred]
 
 A.D. I449-] HENRY VI. 85 
 
 grete schyppys of Pruse, Lubycke, Campe, Rastocke, 
 Holond,Selond,and Flandres, betwyte Garnyse [Guern- 
 sey] and Portland; and then I cam abord the Admirall, 
 and bade them stryke in the Kyngys name of Englond, 
 and they bade me skyte in the Kyngs name of Englond ; 
 and then I and my feleschyp sayd, but \iinless] he wyll 
 streke don the sayle, that I wyld over sayle ham by the 
 grace of God, and God wyll send me wynd and wether ; 
 and dey bade me do my wurst, by cause I had so fewe 
 schyppys and so smale, that they scornyd with me. 
 And as God wuld, on Fryday last was, we had a gode 
 wynd, and then we armyd to the number of ij. m 1 - [2000] 
 men in my felyschyp, and made us redy for to over 
 sayle them; and then they lonchyd a bote, and sette up 
 a stondert of truesse, and com and spake with me. And 
 ther they were yolded all the hundret schyppys to go 
 with me in what port that me lust and my felawys; but 
 they faothe with me the day before, and schotte atte us 
 a j. m 1 [1000] gonnys, and quarell 1 owte of number, and 
 have slayn meny of my felyschyp, and meymyd all soo. 
 Wherfor me thyngkyt that they haye forfeit bothe 
 schypps and godys at our Soverayn Lord the Kyngys 
 wyll. Besechyng yow that ye do yowr parte in thys 
 mater, for thys I have wrytyn to my Lord Chaunseler 2 
 and all my Lordys of the Kyngys Counsell ; and so I 
 have brofte them, all the c. [hundred] shyppys, within 
 Wyght, in spyte of them all. 
 
 And ye myght gete leve of owr Soverayn Lord the 
 Kyng to com hydder, hyt schall turne yow to grete 
 wurschup and profett, to helpe make owr a poyntement 
 in the Kyngs name, for ye sawe never suche a syght of 
 schyppys take in to Englond thys c. wynter ; for we ly 
 armyd nyght and day to kepe them, in to the tyme that 
 we have tydengs of our Soverayn and hys counsell. 
 Fortruly they have do harme to me, and to my feleschyp, 
 and to yowr schyppys more [than] ij.m 1 - li. 3 worth harme; 
 
 1 See p. 82, Note 4. 
 
 2 John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 8 Fenn says the reading of the original is indistinct, and he could not de- 
 termine whether 2000 or ,3000 was meant.
 
 86 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1449. 
 
 and therfor I am avesyd, and all my feleschyp, to 
 droune them and slee them, withoute that we hafe 
 tydyngs from owr Soverayn the Kyng and hys counsell. 
 And therfor, in the reverens of God, come ye yowr self, 
 and ye schall have a grete avayle and wurschup of 
 yowr comyng to see a suche syght, for I der well sey 
 that I have her at this tyme all the cheff schyppys of 
 Duchelond, Holond, Selond, and Flaundrys, and now 
 hyt wer tyme for to trete for a fynell pese as for that 
 partyes. 
 
 I writ no more to yow at this tyme, but All myghty 
 Jesus have yow in hys kepyng. I writ in hast, within 
 Wyght, on Soneday at nyght after the Ascencion of 
 owr Lord. By yowr owne Servant, 
 
 ROBT. WENYNGTON. 
 
 69. 
 
 About A.D. 1449. WILLIAM PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 As it appears from Margaret Paston's letter of the 2d April 1449 that Wil- 
 liam Paston was a student at Cambridge in that year, the date of this must 
 be about the same period. 
 
 To myn most reverent and \jti\urchcpful broder, Jon 
 Paston. 
 
 
 
 O myn most reverent and wurchepful brodur, I 
 recummend me hartely to zow, desiryng 
 speciali to hare of zowre wellefare and pros- 
 perite, qweche Almyty God contenu to zowre 
 gosteli hele and bodili welfare. And if it plase zowre 
 goode broderod to here of myn wellefare, at the makyng 
 of this bylle I was in good hele. And if it leke zowre 
 good broderod to remembre the letter that I sent to 
 zcw of the noyse that was telde of zow, that ze schuld 
 a be on of the capetayns of the ryserse in Norfolk, 
 and how that j. scholere of Cambryg, qweche is parsone 
 of Welle, schuld an utteryd ferthere to zowr grete 
 schalndyr \slander\ ; besechyng zow to unclyrstond that
 
 
 A.D. I449-] HENRY VI. 87 
 
 the seyde parsone of Welle was sone [after ?] x that 
 tyme at Lundon, were he harde sey of j. swyr of ij. c. 
 marc be zere \pf one squire 0/200 marks by year\ 
 that ze and Master Thomas Wellys wolde sewe the 
 seyd Parsone Welle for zowre schalndyr; and the seyde 
 parsone come to Cambryg sothyn, and hathe pekyd 
 a qwarell to on Mastyr Recheforthe, a knythys sone 
 of Norforfolke, 2 and seyd to Rychechefor 2 that he 
 had because that ze schuld sewe hym ; and the seyd 
 Parsone Welle thretyd Rycheferthe that wat some 
 ever that ze causyd Parson Welle to lese be zowre 
 sewtes, that Rycheferthe schul lese the same to the 
 Parson of Welle. Werefor this jeltylmon Rycheforthe 
 taketh grete thowt, and pray me to wrythe to zow that 
 ze wulde sese zowre suthe tylle the tyme that ze wulde 
 asyne that I mythe speke wythe zow, and odyr sundry 
 have speke with zow of the same mater ; for yt ware 
 pithe that Rycheforthe chuld have ony hurthe thereby. 
 I beseche zow holde me excusyd, thow I wryt no better 
 to zow at thys tyme, for in good feyth I had no leysere. 
 The brynggar of thys letter can telle zow the same. 
 God have zow in hys kepyng. Wretyn at Cambryg, 
 on Fryday [sajnyth 3 nexste before Mydsommer Evyn. 
 In case ze come ba come [back home f\ be Cambryg, 
 I schal telle zow mo of it. I am sory I may wrythe 
 no bettyr at this tyme, but I trust ze wylle [have] 
 paciens. Be zowre pore Broder, 
 
 W. PASTON. 
 
 70. 
 
 Not after A.D. 1449. 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 202.] 
 
 This letter is dated by Fenn 1454, with some others relating to matches 
 proposed for Elizabeth Paston ; but the date of this cannot be later than 1451, 
 
 1 Word omitted. 2 So in MS. 
 
 8 This is written "sanyth," but there is a stroke through the a, which was 
 perhaps intended to have been carried through the i also.
 
 88 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1449. 
 
 as Sir Harry Inglos died that year. Moreover, it cannot be either 1451 or 
 1450, as " the Saturday next after Midsummer," when this letter is dated, 
 preceded " the Wednesday next after Midsummer day" in both these years. 
 Thus 1449 is tne latest possible date. 
 
 To John Paston be this letter dclyveryd. 
 
 I grete zow wel with Goddis blyssyng 
 and myn, and I latte zow wette that my 
 cosyn Cler 1 wrytted to me that sche spake 
 with Schrowpe 2 after that he had byen with 
 me at Norwyche, and tolde her what cher that I had 
 made hym, and he seyde to her he lyked wel by the 
 cher I made hym. 
 
 He had swyche wordys to my cosyn Cler that lesse 
 than ze made hym good cher, and zaf hym wordys of 
 conforth at London, he wolde no mor speke of the 
 matyr. 
 
 My cosyn Cler thynkyth that it were a foly to forsake 
 hym lesse than ze knew of on owdyr as good or better; 
 and I have assayde zowr suster, 3 and I fonde her never 
 so wylly to noon as sche is to hym, zyf it be so that 
 his londe stande cleer. 
 
 I sent zow a letter by Brawnton for sylke, and for 
 this matyr befor my cosyn Cler wrote to me, the 
 qwyche was wrytten on the Wednysday nexzt aftyr 
 Mydsomer day. 
 
 Sir Harry Ynglows is ryzth besy a bowt Schrowpe 
 for one of his dozthers. 
 
 I prey zow, for zette nozth to brynge me my mony 
 fro Horwelbery, as ze com fro London, edyr all or a 
 grete parte. The dew dette was at Crystemesse last 
 paste, no thynge a lowyd, vij//. xiiijj. viij^/., and at this 
 Mydsomer it is \li. more ; and thow I a low hym all 
 his askyng, it is but XXVJ.T. \]d. less, but I am nozth so 
 avysyth zytt. As for the Frer, 4 he hath byen at Sent 
 Benetts, and at Norwyche, and made grete bowste of 
 the sewte that he hath azens me, and bowzthe many 
 
 1 Elizabeth, widow of Robert Clere of Ormesby, Esq. 
 
 * Stephe Scrope, a son of Sir John Fastolf 's wife by a former husband. 
 8 Elizabeth Paston. 
 
 * John Hawteyn. See Nos. 35 and 47.
 
 A.D. I449-] HENRY VI. 89 
 
 boxes, to what intent I wett never. It is wel doen to 
 be war at London, in drede gyf he bryng ony syse at 
 Sent Margarets tyme. 
 
 I kan no more, but Almyzty God be owr good lorde, 
 who have zow ever in kepyng. Wryten at Oxnede in 
 grete hast, on the Satyr next aftyr Mydsomer. 
 
 By yowr Modyr, A. P. 
 
 71. 
 
 Not after A.D. 1449. 
 ELIZABETH CLERE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 204.] 
 This letter appears from the contents to be of the same year as the preceding. 
 
 To my Cosyn, John Paston, be thys letter delyvered. 
 
 RUSTY and weel be loved cosyn, I comaunde 
 me to zow, desyryng to here of zowre weel- 
 fare and good spede in zowre matere, the 
 qwech I prey God send zow to his plesaunce 
 and to zoure hertys ease. 
 
 Cosyn, I lete zow wete that Scrope a hath be in this 
 cuntre to se my cosyn zoure sustyr, and he hath spoken 
 with my cosyn zoure moder, and sche desyreth of hym 
 that he schuld schewe zow the endentures mad be 
 twen the knyght that hath his dowter and hym, whethir 
 that Skrop, if he were maried and fortuned to have 
 children, if tho children schuld enheryte his lond, or 
 his dowter, the wheche is maried. 
 
 Cosyn, for this cause take gode hede to his enden- 
 tures, for he is glad to schewe zow hem, or whom ze 
 wol a sygne with zow ; and he seith to me he is the 
 last in the tayle of his lyflode, the qweche is CCCL. 
 marke and better, as Watkyn Shipdam seith, for he 
 hath take a compt of his liflode dyvers tymes ; and 
 Scrop seith to me if he be maried, and have a sone an 
 eyre, his dowter that is maried schal have of his liflode 
 
 1 Stephen Scrope. See p. 88, Note 2.
 
 90 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1449. 
 
 L. marke and no more ; and therfore, cosyn, me semeth 
 he were good for my cosyn zowre sustyr, with[out] that 
 ye myght gete her a bettyr. And if ze can gete a better, 
 I wold avyse zow to labour it in as schort tyme as ze 
 may goodly, for sche was never in so gret sorow as sche 
 is now a dayes, for sche may not speke with no man, 
 ho so ever come, ne not may se ne speke with my man, 
 ne with servauntes of hir moderys but that sche bereth 
 hire an hand l otherwyse than she menyth. And sche 
 hath sen Esterne the most part be betyn onys in the 
 weke or twyes, and som tyme twyes on o day, and hir 
 hed broken in to or thre places. Wherfor, cosyn, sche 
 hath sent to me by Frere Newton in gret counsell, and 
 preyeth me that I wold send to zow a letter of hir 
 hevynes, and prey yow to be hir good brothyr, as hir 
 trost is in zow ; and sche seith, if ze may se be his 
 evydences that his childern and hire may enheryten, 
 and sche to have resonable joynture, sche hath herd 
 so mech of his birth and his condicions, that and ze 
 will sche will have hym, whethyr that hir moder wil or 
 wil not, not withstandyng it is tolde hir his persone is 
 symple, for sche seyth men shull have the more deyute 
 of hire if sche rewle hire to hym as sche awte to do. 
 
 Cosyn, it is told me ther is a goodly man in yowre 
 Inne, of the qweche the fadyr deyed litte, and if ze 
 thynk that he were better for hir than Scroop, it wold 
 be laboured, and yif Scroop a goodly ansvvere that he be 
 not put of tyl ze be sure of a bettyr; for he seid whan he 
 was with me, but if [/.^.unless] he have som counfortable 
 answer of zow, he wil no more laboure in this mater, 
 be cause he myght not se my cosyn zoure sustyr, and 
 he seyth he myght a see hire and sche had be bettyr 
 than she is ; and that causeth hym to demyr that hir 
 moder was not weel willyng, and so have I sent my 
 cosyn zowre moder word. Wherfore, cosyn, thynk on 
 this mateer, for sorow oftyn tyme causeth women to 
 be set hem othenvyse than thei schuld do, and if sche 
 where in that case, I wot wee! ze wold be sory. Cosyn, 
 
 1 To bear one on hand, means to assert or insinuate something to a person.
 
 A.D. I449-] HENRY VI. 91 
 
 I prey zow brenne this letter, that zoure men ne non 
 other man se it ; for and my cosyn zowre moder knew 
 that I had sent yow this letter, sche shuld never love 
 me. No more 1 wrighte to zow at this tyme, but Holy 
 Cost have zow in kepyng. Wretyn in hast, on Seynt 
 Peterys day, 1 be candel lyght. 
 
 Be youre Cosyn, ELIZABETH CLERE. 
 
 72. 
 
 .D. 1449 (?) 31 Oct. SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN 
 FASTOLF AND JOHN KIRTELING. 
 
 [From the Castlecombe MSS. in the B.M., Add. MS. 28,212', 
 No. 21.] 
 
 According to the endorsement, this letter should have been written in the 
 year 1449 ; but the reader will see by the foot-notes that there are grounds 
 for doubting the accuracy of this date. 
 
 To my ryght tristy and welbelovede Cosin and Frende, 
 John Fastolf, and Sir John Kirtdinge, Parson of 
 Arkesay. 
 
 RUSTY and welbeloved frendz, y grete yow 
 wel. And for as moche as y have appointed 
 with my sone, Stephen Scrope, lyke as y 
 sende yow the appointement writen hereafter 
 in this letter, the whiche appointement y woll ye fulfylle 
 be the avys of my counsel in that at longeth to my 
 party, like as hit ys writen. 
 
 Thys ys the appointement made be twene Sir John 
 Fastolf, Knight, and Stephen Scrope, Squier, in the 
 maner as here after hit ys writen : 
 
 Fyrst, for as moche as the mariage of the saide 
 Stephen Scrope was solde 2 to Sir William Gascoyng, 
 
 1 June 29. 
 
 2 The marriage of wards in Chancery used to be sold to men of property, 
 who would compel them to marry their own sons or daughters, or whatever 
 other persons suited them. The only restriction to this right was, that the 
 ward might, on coming of age, have an action against his guardian in case of 
 disparagement, that is to say, if he was married beneath his station.
 
 92 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1449. 
 
 the Chefe Justice of Englonde, for v - [500] marke, with 
 the whiche manage was deliverd in hande to the sayde 
 Gascoyng the maner of Wyghton on the Wolde, in 
 Yorke schyre, with the apertenance of the saide maner; 
 and whan the sayde Gascoyng hade hym, he wolde 
 have solde hym agayn, or maried the saide Stephen 
 Scrope ther \wliere\ he schulde have byn despareiged i 1 
 wherefore, at the request of the sayde Scrope and hys 
 frendes, the saide Fastolf boght the ma[ri]age of the 
 saide Scrope of the saide Sir William Gascoyng for 
 v - marke, wherby the saide Fastolf hath mariage of the 
 saide Stephen Scrope, or elles to have the saide somme 
 of v c marke that he payde for hym, like as hit ys 
 above sayde. 
 
 Item, for as moche as the sayde Stephen Scrope ys 
 comyn to the saide Fastolf, sayinge that he hath fownde 
 wey to be maried at his lyst, and also for his worschippe 
 and profyt, so that the saide Fastolf woll consent therto, 
 that ys to say, to Fauconeris doughter of London, that 
 Sir Reynalde Cobham 2 had weddid. 
 
 Item, for as hit ys the saide Fastolf ys wille to forther 
 and helpe the saide Scrope in any wize ther he may be 
 fortherede, the sayde Fastolf consenteth that the sayde 
 Scrope marie hym to the Fauconeris doughter, with that 
 that the sayde Fauconer gyf to the sayde Fastolf the 
 saide somme of v a marke, the whiche he payde for 
 the saide Scrope. 
 
 Item, yf that the sayde Stephen Scrope pay or do 
 pay the somme afore sayde of v a marke sterling, than 
 the sayde Sir John Fastolf and Dame Mylicent, 3 his 
 wyf, schall make astate of the said maner of Wyghton 
 on the Wolde in Yorke schyre, with the apertenaunce 
 
 1 See Note 2, previous page. 
 
 2 Sir Reginald Cobham of Sterborough, in Surrey, who died in 1446. He 
 was the father of the notorious Eleanor Cobham, the mistress, and afterwards 
 wife, of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Brayley's Hist, of Surrey, iv. 159. 
 
 3 Milicent, wife of Sir John Fastolf, is known to have been alive in the 24th 
 year of Henry VI. (1446). William Worcester says, the allowance for her 
 chamber was paid until that date ; but as he says nothing more, it has been 
 supposed she did not live longer. Mr. Poulett Scrope also believes her to 
 have died in 1446, on the authority of a contemporary MS., which says she 
 and Fastolf lived together thirty-eight years. Hist Castlecombe, 263.
 
 A.D. 1449- ] HENR Y VI. 93 
 
 of the sayde maner, to the saide Stephen Scrope and 
 to the woman, the whiche schalbe his wyf, and to here 
 eyres of here bodyes begete be twix hem two. 
 
 Item, yef the sayde Stephen dye with oute eyre of 
 his body begeten, than the sayde maner of Wyghton, 
 after the descece of the saide hys wyf, schall retourne 
 agayne to the sayde Fastolf and Dame Mylicent, his 
 wyf, and to the eyres of the sayde Mylicent. 
 
 Item, yf so be that the sayde Fauconer wilnot pay 
 the sayde somme of v c - marke, bot peraventure wolde 
 gyf a lesse somme, then the sayde Fastolf wyl deliver 
 to the mariage of the saide Scrope certayn londe, hav- 
 ynge rewarde to the somme that the sayde Fauconer 
 wil gyf, havyng rewarde to the afferrant of xl. pounde 
 worthe land and v c - mark of golde. 
 
 Item, if that the sayde Fauconer wilnot gyf no 
 somme of golde for the sayde mariage, the sayde 
 Fastolf wyl take the mariage of the childe that ys eyre 
 to the forsaide Sir Reynolde Cobham, and that the 
 sayde Scrope forto conferme the astat hys moder has 
 made to the saide Fastolf, yf so be that the consel of 
 the saide Fastolf se by thaire avys that hit be for to do, 
 and that the said mariage may be [as] moche worth to 
 the said Fastolf as v c - mark. 
 
 Item, ze sende me be Raufm[an an] answare o[f ] 
 the letters that y sende yow, that I may have ve[ray] 
 knolage how that hit standys with me ther in al maner 
 of thynges, and that I [h]ave an answare of every article 
 that y wrote to yow. 
 
 Item, for as moche as that I am bonden for my 
 Lord Scales l to my Lord Cardnale 2 in v c - mark, the 
 qu[ech] somme he kan not fynd no way to pay hit, on 
 lese then that he sel a parcel of his land ; quer fore he 
 sendis ower a man of his called Pessemerche, with 
 whom I wil that ze spek, and se be zore avis whech 
 of the places of my said Lord Scales that .standis most 
 
 1 Thomas de Scales, 8th Lord. 
 
 2 John Kemp, Archbishop of York, afterwards of Canterbury ; or, if this 
 document be some years earlier, Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester.
 
 94 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1449. 
 
 cler t be solde ; and if the place that is beside W[a]l- 
 syngham stand cler, I have hit lever then the tother ; 
 and therfore I pray [z]ow that ze make apointement 
 with the said Pesemerche in the best wise that ze may, 
 athir of the ton place or the tother, and or ze let take 
 hit after xx. zere, havyn[g] rewarde t the verray val[u] 
 therof, and as ze don send me worde be the next 
 messager. 
 
 Item, my Lord of Hungerford l has writen to me for 
 to have the warde of Robert Monpyns[on]is sone, 
 wher of I am agreed that he schal [have] hit like as I 
 has wretyn to hym in a letter, of the whech I send zow 
 a cope closed here in : wher fore I pray zow to enquere 
 of the verray valu of the land that Monpynson haldis of 
 me, and sendis me word in hast ; for my said Lord 
 Hungerford sais in his letter that hit is worth bot xb. 
 a zere aboufe the rentis, as ze may se the letter that he 
 sent me, the q[uec]h I send zow be my son Scrope. 
 And I pray zow to demene zow to my said Lord as 
 eesely as ze may in this mater and al other that I have 
 to do with hym, as ze may se be the cope aforesaid. 
 And or (sit:} have zow in his kepyng. Wretyn at 
 Roan (?) 2 the last day of October. 
 
 J. FASTOLFE. 
 
 Endorsed Appunctuamentum factura pro Stephano Scroope anno xxviijo 
 Regis H. vj. ad maritaiidum. 
 
 73. 
 
 A.D. 1449(7) z Nov. RICHARD, EARL OF WARWICK, 
 
 TO SIR THOMAS TODENHAM. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 84.] 
 
 Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, afterwards famous as the " King-maker," 
 succeeded to the title in 1449, and this letter is not unlikely to have been 
 
 1 Walter, ist Lord Hungerford, died in August 1449, and was succeeded in 
 the title by his son Robert. 
 
 2 The name is a little indistinct from the decay of the paper, but the first 
 and last letters are clear, and it is scarcely possible to doubt that Rouen was 
 the place here intended. Yet if this be so, the letter must be much earlier 
 than the date assigned to it in the endorsement.
 
 A.D. 1449-1 HENR Y VI. 95 
 
 written in that very year. Certainly it is not many years later. In 1449 and 
 and 450 Warwick was probably in London to attend the Parliament 
 
 To owr ryght trusty and welbelovyd frend, Ser 
 Thomas Todenham. 
 
 |YGHT trusty and welbelovyd frend, we grete 
 i|fj you well, hertely desyryng to here of yowr 
 welfare, which we pray God preserve to yowr 
 herts desyr ; and yf yt please you to here of 
 owr welfare, we wer in goud hale atte the makyng of 
 this lettre, praying you hertely that ye wyll con ider 
 owr message, which owr Chapleyn Mayster Robert 
 Hoppton shall enforme you of. For as God knowyth 
 we have gret besynesse dayly, and has had here by for 
 Ihis tyme. Wherfor we pray you to consyder the pur- 
 chas that we have made wyth one John Swyffhcotte, 
 Squier of Lyncolnshyr, of Ixxx. and viij//. by yer, 
 whereuppon we must pay the last payment the Mone- 
 day nexte after Seynt Martyn' day, which sum ys 
 CCCC. and Iviij//. : wherfor we pray you wyth all owr 
 herte that ye wyll lend us x//., or twenty, or whet the 
 seyd Maister Robert wants of hys payment, as we may 
 do for you in tym for to com; and we shall send yt 
 you ageyn afor Newyers day wyth the grace of God, 
 as we ar trew knyght. For there is nonne in your 
 cuntre that we myght wryght to for trust so well as unto 
 you ; for, as we be enformyd, ye be owr well wyller, 
 and so we pray you of goud contynuaunce. 
 
 Wherfore we pray you that ye consyder our entent 
 of this mony, as ye wyll that we do for you in tym to 
 com, as God knowyth, who have you in hys kepyng. 
 
 Wreten atte London, on All Salwyn [All Souls'} day, 
 wyth inne owr loggyng in the Grey Freys [friars] 
 wyth inne Newgate. 
 
 Ric., ERLE 
 
 " The seal of this letter," says Fenn, " is of red wax, on which is the Bear 
 and Ragged Staff, the badge of this nobleman, with his motto, the whole 
 very fair and curious, and around it is a braid of twine."
 
 96 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1449. 
 
 74. 
 
 A.D. 1449, ll Dec. ABSTRACT. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Copy of a Grant from the Crown to John Bray for services 
 against the King's enemies. Caen, nth December I4[4]9, 28 
 Henry VI. 
 
 [This document is very mutilated and decayed. It is written in French, 
 the spelling of which is very peculiar, and is probably a bad copy by some 
 one who did not know the language.] 
 
 75. 
 
 Before A.D. 1450. 
 WILLIAM TAILBOYS TO VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 282.] 
 
 This letter is dated by Fenn between 1455 and 1460, but cannot be later 
 than the former of these years, as Lord Cromwell died in the beginning of 
 1456. It seems, further, beyond a doubt that the Lord Willoughby, mentioned 
 along with him, was Robert, Lord Willoughby of Eresby, who was connected 
 by marriage both with Lord Cromwell and with Lord Welles ; and if so the 
 date cannot be later than 1451, as thus Lord Willoughby died in Jfly 1452. 
 Indeed, I have very little doubt it is before 1450, as both Tailboys and Beau- 
 mont were of the Duke of Suffolk's party, and it is not likely that the former 
 would have ventured to complain of his powerful neighbours, Lords Wil- 
 loughby, Cromwell, and Welles after the Duke's fall, especially as we know 
 that in the beginning of 1450 he was in prison for an attempt to murder Lord 
 CromwelL 
 
 To my right honorabull and right umrshipful Lord, 
 my Lord Viscont Beaument. 
 
 honorabull and my right wurshipfull 
 Lord, I recomaund me unto your gode Lord- 
 ship with all my service, evermore desireng 
 to here of your prosperitie and welfare, the 
 which I pray God encres and contynue to his plesur, 
 and after your oone herts desire; thankyng you of 
 the gode Lordship that ye have shewed me at all 
 tymes, beseching you alway of gode contynuance. 
 
 Plesid your gode Lordship to be remembred how 
 afore this tyme Hugh Wythom hath said he wold be in 
 rest and peese with me, and not to maligne agayn me
 
 A. D. 1450.: HENRY VL 97 
 
 otherwise than lawe and right wold ; that notwith- 
 standyng, upon Munday last past, he and iij. men with 
 him come unto a servaunt hous of myn in Boston, cald 
 William Shirref, and there, as he sete at his werke, 
 stroke him upon the hede and in the body with a dag- 
 ger, and wondet him sore, and pulled him out of his 
 hous, and set him in prison without any cause reson- 
 fibull, or without writ, or any other processe shewid 
 unto him ; and that me semes longs not for him to do, 
 bot as he says he is endited, and as your gode Lordship 
 knawes wele, I and all my servaunts are in like wise ; 
 bot and any man shuld have done hit, it longs either 
 to the shirref or to your baliff as I conceyve, and other 
 cause he had non to him as fer as I kan knawe, bot 
 awnly for the malissiousness that he hath unto me, ne 
 I kan think non other bot it is so. And now yistre 
 nyght my Lord Welles 1 come to Boston with iiij xx [four 
 score] horses, and in the mornyng foloyng toke hym out 
 of prison, saying afore all peepll, "Fals thefe, you shall 
 be hanged, and as mony of thy maistre men as may be 
 goten " as your servaunt John Abbot kan report unto 
 your gode Lordship, and hath taken him away with 
 him to Tatessall, what to do with him I kan not say, bot 
 as I suppose to have him to Lincoln Castell : wherfore I 
 besech your gode Lordship in this matier to be my 
 gode Lord, and it please your gode Lordship to write 
 letter to the kepere of the Castell of Lincoln, that it 
 liked him to deliver him out of prison undre a sufficient 
 seurety had for him, for and thai may kepe him still be 
 this meyne, thai may take all the servaunts that I have, 
 and so I may do agayn in like wise. 
 
 And also, as I am enformed, without he be had out of 
 prison in hast, it will be right gravewis to him to heile 
 of his hurt, he is so sore streken ; and if there be any 
 service that your gode Lordship will comaund me to 
 do in any cuntre, plesid you to send me word, and it 
 shal be done to my power with the grace of God, which 
 have you, my right honorabull and wurshipfull Lord, 
 
 1 Leo, Lord Welles. 
 H
 
 98 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 ahvay in his blessid kepyng. Writen at Kyme, 1 upon 
 Wednesday next after our Ladi day the Assumpcion. 2 
 Also plesid your gode Lordship to wit, after this 
 letter was made, there come a man fro Tatessall into 
 my fenne, which owght me gode will, and be cause he 
 wold not be holden suspect, he speke with wemen 
 which were mylkand kyne, and bad theme goo to a 
 preest of myn to Dokdike, and bid him fast goo gif 
 me warnyng how that my Lord Wilughby, 3 my Lord 
 Cromwell, 4 and my Lord Welles 5 proposid theme to 
 set a sessions, and hang the said William Shirref, and 
 thai myght bryng ther entent abowte ; and so, as I and 
 your servaunt John Abbot stode to geder, the prest 
 come and gaf me warnyng herof, which I trust for my 
 worship your gode Lordship wold not shuld happen, 
 for it wer to me the grettest shame that myght falle ; 
 bot and it plese your gode Lordship to write to all 
 your servaunts in this cuntre, that thai will be redy upon 
 a day warnyng to come when I send theme word, 
 I trust to God thai shal not hang him agayn the lawe, 
 bot I, with help of your gode Lordship, shall be abull 
 to let hit. 
 
 By your Servaunt, 
 
 WILLIAM TAiLBOYS. 6 
 
 1 In Lincolnshire, between Tattershall and Sleaford. 
 
 * 1 5th August. 
 
 3 Robert, Lord Willoughby of Eresby, who married Maud Stephen, a niece 
 of Lord CromwelL 
 
 * Ralph, Lord CromwelL 
 
 3 Leo, Lord Welles, whose son Richard married Joan, a daughter of 
 Robert, Lord Willoughby of Eresby. 
 
 6 William, afterwards Sir William, Tailboys of South Kyme, in Lincoln- 
 shire, who was attainted under Edv 3rd IV. as an adherent of the House of 
 Lancaster. His family was afterwards ennobled as Barons Talboys. He is 
 most unfavourably mentioned in the impeachment of the Duke of Suffolk, of 
 whom he appears to have been a great adherent, and is accused of having 
 made an attempt to murder Lord Cromwell in the Star Chamber at West- 
 minster, on the z8th November 1449 Set Rolls of Parliament, v. 181-200.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENR Y VI. 99 
 
 76. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 7 Feb. 
 IMPEACHMENT OF THE DUKE OF SUFFOLK. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 62.] 
 
 These are the articles of impeachment exhibited against the Duke of Suf- 
 folk, as printed by Fenn from a contemporaneous copy among the Paston 
 MSS., endorsed " Coumpleyntys ayens the Dewke of Suffolk." Another 
 copy will be found in the Rolls of Parliament, v. 177. The day of the 
 Duke's impeachment was the 7th February 1450. 
 
 Tc the King onre Soverayn Lord. 
 
 HEWETH and piteuously compleyneth youre 
 humble trevve obeisantes Comunes of this 
 youre nobile reaume, in this youre present 
 Parlement, by your high autorite assembled 
 for the seurte of your moste high and royall persone, 
 and the welfar of this your nobile reaume, and of your 
 trewe liege peple of the same, that William de la Pole, 
 Duke of Suffolk, late of Ewelme, in the counte of Oxen- 
 ford, falsly and treyterously hath ymagined, compassed, 
 purposid, forethought, done, and commytted divers 
 high, grete, heynous, and horrible treasons ayenst your 
 most roiale persone, youre corones of your raumes of 
 England and Fraunce, your duchiee of Guyan and 
 Normandie, and youre holde enheritaunce of your 
 countee of Anjoye and Mayne, the estate and dignite 
 of the same, and the universall wele and prosperite of 
 all your trewe subgettes of raumes, [duchies] and counte 
 in maner and in forme ensewyng. 
 
 First, the seid Duke the xx li day of Juy 11 the xxv. 
 yere 1 of youre blissid regne, in youre citee of London, 
 in the parich of Sepulcr, in the ward of Faringdon 
 infra, ymagynyng and purposing falsly and treyterously 
 to distroy your moste roiall persone, and this your seid 
 realme, thenne and ther trayterously excited, councelled, 
 provoked, and comforted the Erie of Donas 2 [bastard] 3 
 
 1 A.D. 1447. 
 
 2 John, Count of Dunois, one of the most renowned warriors of the times. 
 He was a grandson of Charles V. of France, a natural son of Louis, Duke of 
 Orleans, and half-brother of Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was prisoner in 
 England. 
 
 3 Blark in Fenn.
 
 100 THE P ASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1450. 
 
 of Orliaunce, Bertrande, Lord Pressigny, Maister Wil- 
 liam Cusinet, 1 enemys to you Soverayne Lord, and other 
 your enemeys, subgettes and ambassiators to Charles, 2 
 calling hem selfe king of Fraunce, your grettys adver- 
 sarie and enemey, to meve, councell, ster, and provoke 
 the same Charles to come in to this your realme, to 
 ieve, reise, and make open werr ayenst you, Soverayne 
 Lord, and alle this your reaume with a grete puissaunce 
 and arme to distroy your most roiall persone, and your 
 trewe subgettes of the same realme, to the entente to 
 make John, sone of the same Duke, [King] of this your 
 seid realme, and to depose you of your heigh regalie 
 therof ; the same Duke of Suffolk havyng thenne of your 
 graunte the ward and manage of Margarete, doughter 
 and heire to John, the late Duke of Somerset, purposing 
 here to marey to heis said sonne, presuming and pre- 
 tendyng her to be nexte enheritable to the Corone of 
 this your realme, for lak of issue of you Soverayn Lord, 
 in accomplishement of heis seid traytours purpose and 
 entent, wheroppon the same Duke of Suffolk, sith the 
 tyme of heis areste, Iiath do the seid Margarete to be 
 maried to heis seid sonne. 
 
 Item, the seid Duke of Suffolk being most trostid 
 with you, and prevyest of your councell of fullong tyme, 
 prepensing that your seid grete enemeye and adversarie 
 Charles schuld conquerr and gete be power and myght 
 your seid realme of Fraunce, duchies, and countee, the 
 xx li day of January the xvij. yer 3 of your regne, at West- 
 minster, in the shir of Middlesex, and divers othir 
 tymes and places within your seid realme of Engeland, 
 falsly, trayterously, by sotel menes and ymaginacyons, 
 for grete corrupcion of good, taking of money, and 
 other excessyf promises to him made by Charles, Duke 
 of Orliaunce, 4 your enemye, councelled and stered of 
 hym selfe only, your heighnesse to enlarge and deliver 
 out of prison the same Duke of Orliaunce, enemye to 
 you Soveren Lord, and to the most victorious noble 
 prince of blyssid memory, the king youre fadir, whom 
 
 1 CousinoL Charles VI I. 
 
 * A.D. 1439. * Charles, Duke ol Orleans See p. to.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI 101 
 
 God assoile ! takyn be hem prisonere, to th'entent 
 that the seid Charles, calling hym self king of Fraunce, 
 schuld recover, gete, and have be false conqueste, and 
 other desayvabile menes ayenst you, your heirz and 
 successors, your seid realme of Fraunce, duches, and 
 counte, be the wyle, subtill councell, might, and ayde 
 of the seid Duke of Orliaunce. 
 
 Notwithstanding that be the late wylle and ordi- 
 naunce of your seid fadir, for divers thingis moveyng 
 his grete wysdome, contrary ther of was avysed and 
 declared, by wiche councell and stering only of the seid 
 Duke of Suffolk the seid Duke of Orliaunce was soverd 
 \suffered\ at his liberte to departe of this youre realme 
 to the partee of Fraunce. 
 
 Afore wich departer the first day of May the seid 
 xvij. yerr l of your regne, at London, in the parich of 
 Sent Martyne, in the ward of Farindon infra, the same 
 Duke of Suffolk, trayterously adherent to the seid 
 Charles, calling hym selfe kyng of Fraunce, then and 
 ther falsly and trayterously counseiled, coumforted, 
 stered, and provoked the seid Duke of Orlyaunce to 
 excite and moeve the same Charles, calling hym selfe 
 kyng of Fraunce, your grete enemeye and adversarie, 
 to make and reyse open werr ayenst you in your 
 seid realme of Fraunce and duchie of Normandy, to 
 conquer, and to opteyn falsly be force, myght, and 
 other menes ayenst you, your heiriz and successours, 
 your seid realme of Fraunce and duche of Normandy, 
 Uppon wich adherence, councell, and counfort of the 
 seid Duke of Suffolk, the seid Charles calling hym selfe 
 kyng, hath made open werr a yenst you in your seid 
 realme of Fraunce, and hath it attrochid unto hym, 
 and the most party of your duchie of Normandy, and 
 takyn prisonyrs the ful nobile Lordys and coragyouse 
 Knytys, the Erie of Schrouesbery 2 and the Lord 
 Faconberge, 3 with many othir nobles and people of 
 
 l A.D. 1439. 
 
 8 John Taibot, first Earl of Shrewsbury, the great hero of the French 
 wais, slain at Castillon in 1453. 
 a William Nevill, Lord Fauconberg.
 
 102 THE P ASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1450. 
 
 your trewe leiges, to ther likly fynall ondoing, your 
 gretest disheritaunce, and oure grete lamentable losse 
 that ever comen a fore this to you, or ony of your ful 
 noble progenitors, or to your trewe subgettes. 
 
 Item, wher the seid Duke of Suffolk late was on of 
 your ambassitours with othir to youre seid adversarie 
 Charles, calling hem self kyng of Fraunce, he, above 
 heis instruccion and power to hym be you committyng, 
 promised to Reyner, 1 King of Cesile, and Charles 
 Daungers, 2 heis brothir, your grete enemeys, the de- 
 liveraunce of Maunce and Mayne, without the assent 
 andvyse or knowyng of other your seid ambassitours 
 with him thenne accompanyd ; and theroppon after 
 heis comyng in to this realme from the same ambas- 
 siate, in performing of heis seid promyse, he falsly and 
 trayterously, for grette rewardes and lucre of good to 
 hym yeven by your enemes, caused the said Reyner 
 and Charles Daungers to have deliveraunce of Maunce 
 and Mayne aforeseid, to your over grete disheritaunce 
 and loss irreparable, enforsing and enrychyng of your 
 seid enemes, and grettest mene of the losse of your 
 seid duche of Normandye ; and so was the seid Duke 
 of Suffolk falsly and trayterously adherent, aidant, and 
 confortant to your grete enemeys and adversaries. 
 
 Item, the seid Duke of Suffolk being reteyned with 
 you in your wages of werr in your seid realme of 
 Fraunche and duchie of Normandye, and therby stros- 
 tid be you and alle your councellers to knowe the 
 privite of your councell ther, and the purviaunce of 
 your armes, the defence and keping of your townes, 
 fbrteresses, and places, sieges, purveaunce, and ordi- 
 naunce of werr in the same parties for you to be mad, 
 knowyng all [such] privite, and being adherent to your 
 seid grete enemeye, calling hem self kyng of Fraunce, 
 hath eften and many divers tymes falsly and trayter- 
 ously discoverd and openned to hym, and to heis 
 capytaynes and conductors of heis werr, your enemes, 
 
 1 Rn, Duke of Anjou, father of Queen Margaret. 
 * Charles of Anjou, Count of Maine.
 
 A.u. 1450.] HENRY VL 103 
 
 the privite, ordinaunce, and provision of your seid 
 councell, purveaunces of armes, defence keping, town- 
 nes, forteresses, places, syeges, and ordinaunce, werby 
 your grete adversarie and enemeys have geton and 
 takyn, be the menes of this is treason and falshode, ful 
 manylordchepes, townnes, casteles, fortesses, and places 
 within your seid realme of Fraunce and duchie of Nor- 
 mandie, and letted your capitaynes of your werres to 
 conquer, keppe, and acheve your rithfull enheritaunce 
 ther. 
 
 Item, the seid Duke of Suffolk beyng of your grete 
 Privey Councell, and with you best trostid, knowyng the 
 secrenesse therof and of this your realme, the xvj. day of 
 Juyll the xxv li yerr x of your regne, at London, in the 
 parich of Sent Laueraunce Pulteney, in the ward of 
 Sandewyke \Candewyke\ Strette, and at othir divers 
 tymes and places, falsly and trayterously beyng adherent 
 and aidant to the seid Charles, calling hem selfe king 
 of Fraunce, your grete enemeys, the seid xvj. day, and 
 in the parich of Sent Laurence aforeseid, openned, de- 
 clarid, and discovered to the seid Erie of Danas, bastard 
 ofOrlyaunce, Bertrand, Lord Presigni, Maister William 
 Cosinet, your enemeys, subgettes, ambassiatours and 
 conncellours to the seid Charles, calling hem self king 
 of Fraunce, the privitees of your councell, aswell of this 
 your realme for the comyn wele of the same, as for the 
 governauns and ordinaunce for the conquest, conserva- 
 cion, saufgard, tuycyon of your seid realme of Fraunche 
 and duchie of Normandy ; [whereby the great part of 
 your said realm of France and duchy of Normandy] 2 
 at that tyme being in your in handys, as \should be, is] 
 be the seid Charles, calling hem selfe kyng of Fraunce, 
 and [his] armes goton and takyn out of your handes. 
 
 Item, suth the matier first moeved of the convencyon 
 of trewes and pees by twenne you and your seid grette 
 enemeye Charlys, callyng hem selfe kyng of Fraunche, 
 wheroppon by grete diberacyon ye, by the advyse of 
 
 1 A.D. 1447. 
 
 1 These words are omitted in Fenn, and are supplied from the Roll<= of 
 Parliament.
 
 104 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 your Councell, have send many solempne ambassatours 
 to the same Charles for the god of pees to be hadde 
 be twyn you and this your realme, and your subjettes 
 in your realme of Fraunche, duchie of Normandye, and 
 othir places under your obeysauns, and the same Char- 
 les and heis subgettes, the seid Duke of Suffolk being 
 next and grettest of your Councell, havyng knowlach 
 of the power and auctorite comytted to alle your 
 ambassiatours send in this be half, hath deseyvabely 
 and trayterously by heis lettres and messages discovered 
 and opened to your seid grete enemeye Charlys, calling 
 hym self kyng of Fraunce, alle ynstrucciouns and infor- 
 maciouns yeven to your seid ambassatours afore their 
 comyng in to Fraunce, werby the effectuale concord 
 and tre\ves that schuld have folo\ved of suche ambassiat 
 by tywnne both the seid realmes and subgettes, have 
 take non effectualle conclusyon, but by his fals, frau- 
 delent, traiterous werkes, dedes, and deceyvable yma 
 gynacyons, your grete enheritaunce, seygnyouries, lord- 
 shippis, townes, castell, forteresses, and possessions in 
 your seid realme of Fraunche and duchie of Xormandye, 
 by cause of heis false messages, sendyngs, and wryl- 
 yngys have be takyn by reft, and gotten fro you be 
 your seid enemeys. 
 
 In proof of the wich treson the seid Duke of Suffolk, 
 sittyng in your Councell in the Stere Chambre, in your 
 pales of Westminster, seid and declarid openly be for 
 the Lordis of your Councell ther being, that he had his 
 place in the councell hows of the French kyng as he 
 had ther, and was ther as wel strostid as he was here, 
 and couth remeve from the seid I ench kynge the 
 prevyest man of heis Councell yf he .void. 
 
 Item, whan in this your roialme ful oftyn tymes provi- 
 cyon hath be mad for divers armes to be sent in to your 
 seid realme of Fraunche, duches of Normandy and 
 Gyand, the seid Duke of Suffolk, by the instaunce and 
 meenes mad to hym be your seid enemeys and adversa- 
 reys for grette outeragyous yeftes and rewardes of them 
 takyn, trayterously hath restrayned, and utterly lettyd
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 105 
 
 the passage of such armees in favour and supporte of 
 your seid enemeys. 
 
 Item, the seid Duke of Suffolk, as your'ambassatours 
 by twene you and Charles, callyng hym self kyng of 
 Fraunche, in fortefyeng of hem and enchresing of his 
 myght, hath not comprised in trewes, taken in your 
 party the Kyng of Arregon, 1 your old allye and frend, 
 nother the Duke of Breten, 2 but sufferd and causid the 
 seid Duke of Bretayne to be compremysid of the party 
 of the seid Charles as his subget, frende, and allye, 
 wherby ye have ben estraunged from the god loffe and 
 assistence of the seid King of Arregon, and therby and 
 be othir on trewe and falce conjectours of the seid 
 Duke of Suffolk, the seid Duke of Breteyn is become 
 your enemeye ; and Gyles 3 of Breten, his brothir, the 
 wiche is, and of long tyme hath ben, your trewe and 
 welvylled man and servaunt, put in gret dures of pricon, 
 and likely to be potte to the dethe or distroid for his 
 trewe feith and welle that he hath to you. 
 
 And of alle tresons and offensys in alle theis seid 
 arteculys specyfied and eonteyned, we your seid Co- 
 mens accuse and empeche the seid William de la Pole, 
 Duke of Suffolk, and pray that this be enacte in this 
 your High Courte of Parlement, and theroppon to 
 precede in this your High Courte of Parlement, as the 
 mater and caas aforseid requireth for the surete and 
 welfar of your most roiale person, and savacyon of this 
 your realme, &c. 
 
 77. 
 A.D. 1450. JOHN PASTON'S PETITION. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,240, B.M.] 
 
 The date of this petition must be during the sitting of Parliament, in the be- 
 ginning of the year 1450. The first expulsion of John Paston from Gresham 
 is here clearly dated in February 1448. The "October last" in which he 
 re-entered might, so far as appears in this petition, have been in the same 
 year, but the letters referring to this dispute in 1449 compel us to put it a 
 twelvemonth later. 
 
 1 Alfonso V., King of Arragon. 
 
 2 Francis I., Duke of Britanny. 
 
 3 Giles of Britanny, the duke's brother, who was murdered in April 1450, 
 after having been kept four years in prison by the duke.
 
 lo6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 14501 
 
 To the Kyng, cure Soverayn Lord, and to the right wyse 
 and discrete Lor dis, assembly d in this present Parlement. 
 
 \ ESECHITH mekly your horrible liege man, John 
 Paston, that where he, and oder enfeffed to his 
 use, have be pecybilyposcessydof the manerof 
 Gresham, within the counte of Norffolk, xx. yere 
 and more, til the xvij. day of Februarij, the yere of your 
 nobill regne xxvi.^that Robert Hungerford, Knyght,the 
 Lord Molyns, entred in to the seyd maner ; and how 
 be it that the seyd John Paston, after the seid entre, 
 sued to the seid Lord Molyns and his councell, in the 
 most louly maner that he cowde, dayly fro tyme of the 
 seid entre on to the fest of Mihelmes than next fol- 
 wyng, duryng which tyme divers communicasyons were 
 had betwix the councell of the seid Lord and the coun- 
 cell of your besecher. And for asmych as in the seid 
 communicasions no titill of right at any tyme was 
 shewed for the seid Lord but that was fully and clerly 
 answeryd, so that the seid Lords councell remitted your 
 seid besecher to sewe to the seid Lord for hi? finall and 
 rightfull answer. And after sute mad to the seid Lord 
 be your seid besecher, as well at Salysbery as in other 
 places to his gret coust, and non answer had but 
 delays, which causyd your seid besecher the vj. day of 
 Octobre last past to inhabite hym in a mansion with 
 in the seid town, kepyng stille there his poscession, on 
 tille the xxviij. day of Januarij last past, the seid Lord 
 sent to the seid mansion a riotous peple, to the 
 nombre of a thowsand persones, with blanket bendes 2 
 of a sute as riseres ageyn your pees, arrayd in maner 
 of werre, with curesse, brigaunders, jakks, salettes, 
 gleyfes, bowes, arows, pavyse, 3 gonnes, pannys with 
 fier and teynes brennyng therein, long cromes 4 to drawe 
 doun howsis, ladders, pikoys, with which thei myned 
 down the walles, and long trees with which thei broke 
 up yates and dores, and so came in to the seid man- 
 
 1 A.D. 1448. 8 Bands of white wooller. cloth? 
 
 8 Pavises were large shields. 
 
 * Crome is a Norfolk word, signifyng a staff with a crook at the end of it.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 107 
 
 sion, the wiff of your besecher at that tyme beyng ther 
 in, and xij. persones with her; the which persones 
 thei dreve oute of the seide mansion, and myned 
 down the walle of the chambre wher in the wiff of 
 your seid besecher was, and bare here oute at the yates, 
 and cutte a sondre the postes of the howses and lete 
 them falle, and broke up all the chambres and coferes 
 within the seid mansion, and rifelyd, and in maner of 
 robery bare awey all the stuffe, aray, and money that 
 your seyd besecher and his servauntes had ther, on to 
 the valew of ccli. [^200], and part therof sold, and part 
 ther of yaffe, and the remenaunt thei departed among 
 them, to the grete and outrageous hurt of your seid 
 besecher, sayng openly, that if thei myght have found 
 ther yowr seid besecher and on John Damme, 1 which 
 is of councell with hym, and divers oder of the servaun- 
 tes of your seid besecher, thei shuld have died. And 
 yet divers of the seid mysdoeres and ryotous peple 
 onknowyn, contrary to your lawes, dayly kepe the seid 
 maner with force, and lyne [i.e. lien, lie] in wayte of 
 divers of the frendis, tenauntes, and servauntes of your 
 seid besecher, and grevously vexe and trobill hem in 
 divers wise, and seke hem in her howsis, ransakyng 
 and serchyng her shevys and strawe in her bernes and 
 other places with bore speris, swerdis, and gesernys, 2 
 as it semyth, to sle hem if thei myght have found hem; 
 and summe have bete and left for ded, so that thei, for 
 doute of here lyves, dare not go home to here houses, 
 ner occupy here husbondry, to the gret hurte, fere, and 
 drede, aswele of your seid besechere as of his seid 
 frendis, tenauntes, and servauntes. And also, thei 
 compelle pore tenauntes of the seid maner, now within 
 ther daunger, ageyn ther wille, to take feyned pleyntes 
 in the courtes of the hundred ther ageyn the seid 
 frendis, tenauntes, and servauntes of your seid besecher, 
 whiche dare not apere to answere for fere of bodily 
 harme, ne can gete no copiis of the seid pleyntes to 
 
 1 This person was returned to Parliament for Norwich in October 1450. 
 z Battle-axes.
 
 loS THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 remedi them be the lawe, because he that kepyth the 
 seid courtis is of covyn with the seid misdoers, and 
 was on of the seid ryseres, which be coloure of the 
 seid pleyntes grevously amercy the seid frendes, ten- 
 auntes, and servauntes of your seid besecher, to the[ir] 
 outrageous and importabille hurte. 
 
 Please it your hynesse, considering that if this gret 
 insurreccyon, ryottis, and wrongis, and dayly continuans 
 ther of so heynosly don a geyn your crowne, dignite and 
 peas, shuld not be your hye myght be duly punysshed, 
 it shall gefe grett boldnesse to them, and alle other 
 mysdoers to make congregacyons and conventicles 
 riottously, on abille to be seysed, to the subversyon 
 and finall distruccyon of your liege peple and lawes : 
 And also, how that your seid besecher is not abille to 
 sue the commone lawe in redressyng of this heynos 
 wrong, for the gret myght and alyaunce of the seid 
 Lord : And also, that your seid besecher canne have 
 non accyon be your lawe ageyn the seid riotous peple 
 for the godis and catellis be hem so riottously and 
 wrongfully take and bore awey, because' the seid peple 
 be onknowe, aswelle here names as here persones, on 
 to hym ; To purvey, be the avyse of the Lordi? 
 spiritual! and temporall assembled in this present Po/- 
 lement, that your seid besechere may be restoryd to 
 the seid godis and catellis thus riottously take away ; 
 and that the seid Lord Molyns have suche comaund- 
 ment that your seid besecher be not thus with force, 
 in maner of werre, hold oute of his seide maner, con- 
 trary to alle your statutes mad ageyn suych forcibille 
 entrees and holdyngs ; and that the seid Lord Molyns 
 and his servauntes be sette in suche a rewle, that your 
 seid besechere, his frendis, tenauntes, and servauntes, 
 may be sure and saffe from hurt of here persones, and 
 pesibly ocupy here londs and tenements under your 
 lawes with oute oppressyoun or onrightfull vexasioun of 
 any of hem ; and that the seid riseres and causeres 
 therof may be punysshed, that other may eschewe to 
 make any suche rysyng in this your lond of peas in 
 tyme comyng. And he shalle pray to God for yowe.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 109 
 
 78. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 21 Feb. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 From an allusion in the latter part of this letter, it is evident that it woi 
 written in 1450, after Margaret had been driven out of Gresham, as mentioned 
 ui John Paston's petition, No. 77 preceding. 
 
 To my rytz wurchipfid mayster, Jon Paston, be this 
 ddyvered in hast. 
 
 wurchipful hosband, I recommawnd me to 
 zu, desyryng hertyly to heryn of zour wele 
 fare, preying zu to weten that I com- 
 mawndyd Herry Goneld to gon to Gunnore 
 to have copys of the pleyntes in the hundrede, and 
 Gunnore was not at home ; but the seyd Herry spake 
 with his clerk, and he told hym pleynly he wost wele 
 his mayster wuld not late hym have no copys, thow he 
 wcr at home, tyl the nexst hundred ; qher for I send zou 
 that byl that was wownd abowt the relefys. Custans, 
 Mak, and Kentyng wold adysavowyd here swtes rytz fayn 
 the last hundred, as I herd sayn of rytz thryfty men ; but 
 the Lord Moleynys men thrett hem that bothe they 
 xuld ben betyn and lesen here hows and lond and 
 alle here goods, but if [unless] they wold avow it ; and 
 after that Osborn was gon, Hasard 1 intretyd Kentyng 
 and Mak to avow the swtys after that they hadde 
 disavowyd itt, and zave hem mony to zef to the clerkes 
 to entren azen the pleyntes. But if 2 ze seke a remedy 
 in hast for to remeve itt, I soppose they >vyl distreyn 
 for the mersymentes er the nexst hundred. 
 
 As for Mak, he gate respyt that he xuld not sew tyl 
 the nexst nundred. As for Herry Goneld, he was dys- 
 treynyd zysterday for rent and ferm, and he must pay 
 it to morue, xxijj., or elles lesyn his dystresse. They 
 gadder mony fast of all the tenawntes. All the ten- 
 awntes ben chargyd to pay al her rent and ferm be 
 
 1 William Hasard. See Letter No. 67. * But if, i.e., unless.
 
 no THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 Fastyngong Sonday.- It ys told me that the Lord Mo- 
 leynys xuld kepe his Fastyngong att Jon Wynters plase. 
 
 The seid Lordes men haddyn a letter on Thursday 
 last past ; qhat tydyngs they hadde I wote nott ; but 
 on the nexst moruenyng be tymys Thomas Bampton, 
 a man of the Lord Moleynys, rod with a letter to his 
 lord, and they that ben at Gressam waytyn after an 
 answer of the letter in hast. Barow, and Hegon, and 
 all the Lord Moleynys men that wer at Gressam qhan 
 ze departyd hens bene there styll, save Bampton, and in 
 his stede is kom another ; and I here sey thei xul abyd 
 here styll tyl her lord kom . . . . 2 to Barow as ze 
 komawnclyd me to weten quhatt the cawse was that 
 thei thrett men . . . . 2 Goneld and other of 
 zour servawnts and wele willers to zow, the qheche 
 
 wer namyd to hym that were thrett 2 
 
 [s]wore pleynly that they were never thrett; but I 
 know veryly the contrary, for of his owyn felaschep 
 lay[d] in awayt sondery dayis and nytis abowtGunnelds, 
 Purrys, and Bekks plasis, and som of them zedyn in 
 to Bekks and Purrys [hojusys, bothen in the hallys 
 and the bernys, and askyd qher thei were, and thei 
 were answeryd that they were owth ; and thei seydyn 
 azen that they xuld meten with hem another tyme. 
 And be dyvers other thyngs I know, if thei mytz aben 
 kawt, other \either\ they xuld aben slayn or sor hurt. 
 
 I sent Kateryn on this forseyd masage, for I kowd 
 geten no man to do it. and sent with her Jamys Hal- 
 man and Herry Holt ; and sche desyryd of Barow to 
 have an answer of her masage, and if these forseyd 
 men mytz levyn in pese for hem, and seyd ther xuld 
 elles ben purveyd other remedy for hem. And he 
 made her grett chere, and hem that wer ther with her, 
 and seyd that he desyryd for to spekyn with me, if it 
 xuld ben non displesans to me ; and Kateryn seyd to 
 hym that sche supposyd that I desyryd not to speken 
 
 1 Fastyngong was a popular name for Shrovetide. Fastingong Sunday 
 I believe to have been the Sunday after Shrove Tuesday, which would be 
 the 22d of February in 1450. 
 
 2 Mutilated.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. Ill 
 
 with hym. And he seyd he xuld com forby this plase 
 on huntyng after non, and ther xuld no mor com with 
 hym but Hegon and on of his owyn men ; and than he 
 wold bryng seche an answere as xuld plese me. And 
 after none they come hydder, and sent in to me to 
 weten if thei mytz speken with me, and praying that 
 thei mytz speken with me, and they abedyn styl with 
 owtz the zatys ; and I kam owth to hem, and spak 
 with hem with owt, and prayid hem that thei wold hold 
 me exkusyd that I browth hem not in to the plase. I 
 seyd in as meche as thei wer nott wele wyllyng to the 
 gode man of the plase, I wold not take it up on me 
 to bryng hem in to the jantylwoman. They seyd I 
 dede the best, and than we welk forthe, and desyryd 
 an answer of hem for that I hadde sent to hem for. Thei 
 sayd to me thei had browtz me seche an answer as 
 thei hopyd xuld plese me, and told me how thei had 
 comownd with all her felaschep of soche materis as I 
 had sent to hem fore, and that thei durst under take 
 that ther xud no man ben hurt of hern thatt wer reher- 
 syd, ner no man that longeth to zu, nother for hem 
 ner non of her felaschep, and that they answeryd me 
 be her trowthis. Never lese I trest not to her promese, 
 in as meche as I fend hem ontrew in other thyngs. 
 
 I conseyvyd wele be hem that they wer wery of that 
 thei haden don. Barow swor to me be his trowth that 
 he had lever than xb., and xl. that his lord had not 
 comawndyd hym to com to Gressam ; and he seyd he 
 was rytz sory hidderward, in as meche as he had know- 
 leche of zw before, he was rytz sory of that that was 
 don. I seyd to hym that he xuld have compascioh on 
 zu and other that wer disseysyd of her lyvelode, in 
 as meche as he had ben dissesyd hym self; and he 
 seyd he was so, and told me that he had sewyd to my 
 Lord of Suffolk dyvers tymys, and wold don tyl he 
 may gete his gode azen. I seyd to hym that ze had 
 sewyd to my Lord Moleynys dyvers tymys for the 
 maner of Gressam syth ze wer dissesyd, and ze cowd 
 never gete no resonabyl answer of hym ; and ther lore 
 7,e entred azen, as ye hopid that was for the best. And
 
 112 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 he seyd he xuld rever blame my Lord of Suffolk for 
 the entre in his lyvelode, for he seyd my seyd lord was 
 sett ther up on be the informacion of a fals schrew ; 
 and I seyd to hym in lyke wyse is the matier be twyx 
 the Lord Moleynys and zu. I told hym I wost wele 
 he sett never ther upon be no tytyl of rytz that he hadde 
 to the maner of Gressam, but only be the informacion 
 of a fals schrew. 1 I rehersyd no name, but me thowt 
 be hem that thei wost ho I ment. Meche other lang- 
 age we hadde, qhyche xuld taken long leysyr in wrytyng. 
 I rehersyd to hem that it xuld abe seyd thatt I xuld 
 not longe dwell so ner hem as I dewe and they for 
 swer it, as thei do other thyngs more that it was never 
 seyd, and meche thyngs that I know veryly was seyd. 
 I here seyn that ze and Jon of Damme ben sore 
 thrett alway, and seyn thow ze ben at London, ze xul 
 ben met with ther as wele as thow ze were her; and ther 
 for I pray zu hertyly be ware how ze walk ther, and 
 have a gode felaschep with zu qhan ze xul walk owt 
 The Lord Moleynys hathe a cumpany of brothell 
 with hym that rekk not qhat they don, and seche ar 
 most for to drede. Thei that ben at Gressam seyn 
 that they have not don so moche hurte to zu as thei 
 were commawndyd to don. Rabert Lauerawns is wele 
 amendyd, and I hope xall recure. He seyth pleynly 
 he wyl compleyn of his hurt, and I soppose Bek wyl 
 compleyn also, as he hath cause. Bek and Puny dare 
 not abyd att horn tyl thei here other tydyngs. I wold 
 not Jon of Damme xuld com horn tyl the cuntre be 
 storyd otherwyse than it is. I pray Godde grawnt that 
 it mot sone ben otherwyse than it is. I pray zu 
 hertyly that ze wil send me word how ze don, and how 
 ze spede .in zour materis. for be my trowth I kan not 
 ben wel att ese in my her*:, ner not xal ben tyl I here 
 tydynges how ze don. 7"he most part of zour stuff 
 that was at Gressam is sold, ind zovyn away. Barow and 
 his felaw spak to me in the most plesawnt wyse, and me 
 semyth be hem thei wold fayn plese me. Thei seyd 
 
 1 John Heydon. Esq. of Baconsthorpe, appears to have been the person 
 referred to See No. 107, folipv.vig.
 
 A.TX 1450.] HENRY VI. 113 
 
 thei wold do me servyse and plesans, if it lay in her 
 powres to don owth for me, save only in that that lon- 
 geth to her lordes rytz. I seyd to hem, as for seche 
 servys as they had do to zw and to me, I desyr no 
 mor that thei xuld do nother to zw ner to me. Thei 
 seyd I myt an had of them att Gressham qhat I hadde 
 desyryd of hem, and had as moche as I desyryd. I 
 seyd, nay ; if I mytz an had my desyr, I xuld nother 
 a departid owth of the place, ner from the stuff that was 
 ther in. Thei seyd, as for the stuff it was but esy. I 
 seyd ze wold not a zoven the stuff that was in the place 
 qhan thei com in, not for C/z. Thei seyd the stuff that 
 thei sey \saw~\ ther was skars worth xx/z. As for 
 zour moder and myn, sche faryth wel, blissid be God, 
 and she had no tydynges but gode zett, blissid be God. 
 The blissyd Trynyte have zou in his kepyng, and send 
 zou hele, and gode spede in al your maters. Wretyn 
 at Sustede, 1 on the Satyrday next after Seynt Valen- 
 tynys day. 
 
 Here dare no man seyn a gode wurd for zu in this 
 cuntre, Godde amend it. 
 
 Yovvres, M. P. 
 
 79. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 7 March. ABSTRACT. 
 [MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 225.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS, Clerk, WILLIAM 
 COLE, AND WATKYN SHIPDAM. 
 
 The beginning of this letter, which is more than half lost by 
 mutilation, speaks of "a bill in the Parliament of the extortions 
 done [to me]" from the lyth year [of Henry VI.] hitherto. The 
 rest seems to be partly memoranda of things to be entered in this 
 " bill," viz. of sheep distrained at Drayton, of a matter of trespass 
 between Lady Bardolf and Fastolf, of " Chevers mater in Blyc- 
 lyng," of an unpaid annuity at Hiklyng, of decays at Tiche- 
 well, &c. They are to learn from Nich. Bokkyng, to whom the 
 
 1 Sustead was John Dammc's place (see Blomefield, viii. 168). It is in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Ciresham.
 
 H4 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 .100 for Busshop was paid. Thinks two men should occupy 
 Castre and Wynterton which Broun holds alone. It is too much 
 for one to occupy well ; " and in the same wise at Heylesden and 
 Drayton." Let me know what Lampet has done in my matter, 
 and if you find him friendly. Both my ships have arrived in 
 safety, thank God. 
 
 London, 7 March 28 Henry VI. Signed. 
 
 80. 
 
 / 
 
 A.D. 1450, ii March. 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 304.] 
 
 Fenn assigns this letter to the year 1458, but not very confidently. The 
 similarity of its contents, in part, to those of the letter immediately following, 
 appears to me to render the year 1450 the more probable date. 
 
 To John Paston, dwellyn in the Inder In of the Tempyll, 
 att London, be thys letter delyverd in hast. 
 
 ON, I grete yow, and send yow Godds blyssyng 
 and myn ; and as for my doughtyr your wyfe, 
 che faryt well, blyssyd be God, as a woman 
 in hyr plyte may do, and all your sonys and 
 dough trys. 
 
 And for as meche as ye will send me no tydyngs, I 
 send yow seche as ben in thys centre. Rychard 
 Lynsted cam thys day fro Paston, and letyt me wete 
 that on Saturday last past Dravale, halfe brother to 
 Waryn Harman, was takyn with enemy is, walkyn be 
 the se syde, and have hym forthe with hem ; and they 
 tokyn ij. pylgremys, a man and a woman, and they 
 robbyd the woman, and lete hyr gon, and ledde the 
 man to the see, and whan they knew he was a pylgreme, 
 they geffe hym monei, and sett hym ageyn on the lond. 
 And they have thys weke takyn iiij. vesselys of \i.e. off] 
 Wyntyrton ; and Happysborough and Ecles men ben 
 sore aferd for takyn of me \<ju. of mo, i.e. more (?)], for 
 ther ben x. grete vesselys of the enemyis; God yeue 
 grace that the see may be better kepte than it is now, or 
 ellys it chall ben a perlyous dwellyng be the se cost
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 115 
 
 I pray yow grete well your brethyrne, and sey hem 
 that I send hem Goddis blyssyn and myn ; and sey 
 William that if Jenett Lauton be not payd for the 
 krymson cort wheche Alson Crane wrote to hyr for in 
 hyr owyn name, that than he pay hyr, and see Alson 
 Cranys name strekyn owt of hyr boke, for che seithe 
 che wyll aske no man the money butt Alson Crane. 
 And I pray yow that ye wyll remembr the letter that I 
 sent yow last, and God be with yow. 
 
 Wretyn att Norwyche, the Wedenesday next before 
 Sent Gregory. 
 
 AUGNES PASTON. 
 
 81. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 12 March. 
 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 28.] 
 
 The reference to the Duke of Suffolk's pardon proves this letter to have 
 been written in the year 1450. 
 
 To my rytz worchypful may sty r, Jon Paston, be this 
 delyveryd in hast. 
 
 YTZ worchipful hosbond, I recomawnd me to 
 yow, desyring hertyly to her of zour well- 
 far, &C. 1 .... Wyllyam Rutt, the 
 whiche is with Sir Jon Hevenyngham, kom 
 horn from London zesterday, and he seyd pleynly to 
 his master, and to many other folks, that the Duke of 
 Suffolk is pardonyd, and hath his men azen waytyng 
 up on hym, and is rytz wel at ese and mery, and is in 
 the Kyngs gode grase, and in the gode conseyt of all 
 the Lords, as well as ever he was. 
 
 Ther ben many enemys azens Yermowth and Crow- 
 mer, and have don moche harm, and taken many 
 Englysch men, and put hem in grett distresse, and 
 
 1 Here Fenn has omitted a passage, relating, as he says, to some common 
 business about Paston's farms and tenants.
 
 Il6 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 grettely rawnsommyd hem ; and the seyd enmys been 
 so bold that they kom up to the lond, and pleyn hem 
 on Caster Sonds, and in other plases, as homely as 
 they were Englysch men. Folks ben rytz sore aired 
 that they wel don moche harm this somer, but if 
 \i.e. unless] ther be made rytz grett punyans azens 
 hem. 
 
 Other tydyngs know I non at this tym. The blys- 
 seful Trinyte have zow in his kepyng. 
 
 Wryten at Norwyche, on Seynt Gregorys day. 
 
 Yowrs, M. P. 
 
 82. 
 A.D. 1450, 16 April. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From a modern copy by Blomefield on the fly-leaf of a Letter addressed 
 to him. Headed, " Gave this original letter of Sir John's to Sir Andrew 
 Fountain " MS, Phillipps, 9735, No. 229.] 
 
 SIR Jo. FASTOLF TO SIR THOS. HOWYS, Parson of Castlcombe, 
 WILL. COKE, AND WATKIX SHYPDAM. 
 
 Bids " Sir Parson " send in all haste " the utmost knowledge 
 of all grievances " done to him by John Heydon this thirteen 
 years. You have sent me the costs of the pleas, but not declared 
 particularly how often I have been wrongfully distrained by the 
 enforcing of the said Heydon. " I took never plea in the matter 
 because the world was alway set after his rule, and as I would 
 have engrossed up [upon] my bill." 
 
 London, 16 April 28 Henry VI. 
 
 Search the accounts of Drayton Heylesdon, &c., these thirteen 
 years. 
 
 83. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 22 April. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [Douce MSS. 393, f. 100.] 
 
 It appears by a paper, which will be found further on (No. 92), that Daniel 
 entered the manor of Braydeston or Brayston during the Parliament which 
 was held at Leicester in the spring of 1450. This letter must have been 
 written at that time.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. H7 
 
 To my right trusty and right enter iy weibeloved frend, 
 John Paston, Squier. 
 
 IGHT t[r]usty and enterly weibeloved frend, 
 jijji I grete you welle, and wyll ze wite that a man 
 of Osberd Monford hath declared me how 
 the said Osberd is infourmed that Danyelle 
 shuld be pourposed to enter in the place of Braystone. 
 And as fer as I can undirstande, Danyelle is come in 
 to this cuntre. for none other cause but for to have 
 suche as the Kyng hath gifen hym in Rysyng, which 
 lieth not in me ner in none of the Kynges subgectes 
 to go ageyns hise graunte and plesaunce. And in cas 
 the said Danyelle wold enter upon the said Osberd 
 otherwise than lawe wold, seyng the said Osberd is 
 my tenaunt and homager, it is my part to holde with 
 hym rather than with Danyelle in hise right, which I 
 wylle do to my pouer. And as zet I can not apper- 
 ceyve that Danyelle wylle labore in any maters in this 
 cuntre ; and if he wylle be of good governance, I am 
 wel paied. And in cas that he wold do wrong to the 
 lesse gentilman in the chirre, it shal not lye in hise 
 pouer be the grace of God. He letethe me wite that 
 he wylle be wel governed in tyme commyng. 
 
 Right trusty and enterly wel beloved frend, I pray 
 God have you in hise governance. Writen at Midel- 
 ton, the xxij. day of Aprille. 
 
 SCALES. 
 
 84. 
 
 Year uncertain. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 364.] 
 
 This and the six letters following, all but one of which are, like the last, 
 'ritten by Lord Scales to John Paston, are placed here merely for conveni- 
 nce, the years in which they were written being quite uncertain, though 
 obably not very far apart. The one letter among them of which Lord 
 ales is not the writer, is inserted in abstract on account of its bearing on 
 which immediately precedes it.
 
 Il8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 To my right trusty and welbeloved frende, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 Right trusty and welbeloved frend, I grete you hertly wel, 
 and wul ye wite that Wotton is ever creyng and callyng upon me 
 to write un to you for hise londe ; wherfore at the reverence of 
 Good, consideryng the symplenesse of hem all, I pray you that ye 
 put hem at a certen, and lete hem all that they aught to have of 
 right, for thaire creyng cause men to thinke ye do hem grete 
 wrong, which I wote wel ye wold be soiy to do. 
 
 Oure Lord have you in hise governance. Writen at Midelton, 
 the xvj. day of October. 
 
 Youre frende, SCALES. 
 
 85. 
 
 Year uncertain. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 99.] 
 
 To my right trusty and enterly ivelbeloved frend, John Paston, 
 Squier. 
 
 Right trusty and enterly welbeloved frend, I grete you welle ; 
 and for as mych as there is vareaunce betwene William Wotton 
 and hise moder and the fermour there, wherfore I pray you that 
 ze wyll [fynde] x a weye accordyng to right for to put hem in rest 
 and pees. For in as mych as they be yo[ur] tenantes, ze aught to 
 have the reule of them before any other, praying you to do youre 
 part to put hem oute of trouble. 
 
 I pray God have you in hise governance. Writen at Midelton, 
 the xiij. day of Aprille. 
 
 Youre frend, THE LORD SCALES. 
 
 86. 
 
 Year uncertain. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [Douce MS., f. ioi.] 
 To \niy\ right trusty and welbeloved frend, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 Right trusty and welbeloved frend, I grete you welle ; and as 
 touchyng the mater that Elyngham and ze comuned to giders of 
 the last tyme he was with you, I pray you that ze wylle assigne 
 
 1 Mutilated.
 
 A.D. 1450.] 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 119 
 
 such a day as you liketh best, so that it be with inne this viij. 
 dayes, and sende me worde what day ze wylle be here be the 
 bringer herof. 
 
 I pray God have you in governance. Writen at Midelton, the 
 iij. day of August. 
 
 Youre frend, SCALES. 
 
 87. 
 
 Year uncertain. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 102.] 
 To my right trusty and -welbeloved frend, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 Right trusty and welbeloved frend, I grete you wel ; and for as 
 myche as there is certayn vareaunce betwene Elizabeth Clere and a 
 servaunt of myne, called William Stiwa[r]desson, prayng you feith- 
 fully that ze wylle labore and intrete the said Elizabeth to such 
 appointement as the brynger of this letter shal informe you of, and 
 do your trewe dilligence in this mater, as ze wyll I do for you in 
 any thyng ze may have ado in this cuntre, whiche I will do with 
 al my herte. 
 
 Oure Lord have yow in hise keping. Writen at Myddelton, 
 the last day of August. 
 
 SCALES. 
 
 88. 
 
 Year uncertain. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 ELIZABETH CLERE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Stywardesson came to her on Easter even to church, and made 
 a very humble submission. He at first denied having slandered 
 her, or said that he was beaten, only that he was sore afraid ; 
 but at last acknowledged he had untruly charged her men with 
 coming into his place with force and arms, and that he was beaten, 
 for which his master took an action against her. Called her 
 tenants to bear witness to his recantation. Said she would give 
 him no answer now but by advice of her friends, and his master 
 must leave his maintenance. Promised him an answer on Satur- 
 day in Easter week. He told another man that Heiclon promised 
 his master it should be put in award by Palm Sunday; " for he
 
 120 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 is double both to him and to me, and so is William Geney and 
 mo of my counsel." He is willing to make a release. His bam 
 which his men entered to distrain, he says, is frank, and he may 
 give the rent when he pleases. Wishes Paston's advice what 
 answer to make. Easter Monday. 
 
 89. 
 
 Year uncertain. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 103.] 
 To my right trusty and wel be loved frend, Jhon Paston^ Squier. 
 
 Right tmsty and wel beloved frend, I grete you wel, thankyng 
 you hertely for the gentilnes and good wylle I have founde in you 
 at alle tymes. And for as myche as I and other stonde feffed in 
 the landes of Thomas Canon, which is in vareaunce betwene you 
 and hym, if ye wylle do so myche as for your part chese ij. lerned 
 menn and the said Canon shal chese other ij., they to juge this 
 mater as they shal seme of right and resoun. And if so be that 
 the said Canon wylle not do so, I wylle not lete you to suye hym 
 after the forme of the Kynges lawe. And if ze thinke it to many 
 lerned men, take ze one, and he another ; and if they may not 
 accorde, ze and I to be umpere, for we stande bothe in like cas. 
 And we shal make a good ende be the grace of oure Lord, which 
 have you in hise governance. 
 
 Writen at Midelton, the ix. day of Octobre. 
 
 Zowr frend, SCALES. 
 
 90. 
 
 Year uncertain. LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 To my right trusty and ivelbeloved frend, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 Right trusty and welbeloved frende, I grete you hertly well, 
 praying you that ye wyll sende me a coppie of the awarde that 
 was made be you and my cousyn Sir Miles 1 betwex my cousyn 
 Bryan Stapylton and Elizabeth Clere, and that ze wyll sende me 
 the said awarde be the bringer herof. I pray God have you in 
 governance. 
 
 Writen at Midelton, the ix. day of Xovembre. 
 
 SCALES. 
 
 1 Sir Miles Stapleton.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 121 
 
 91. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 30 April. 
 THE DUKE OF SUFFOLK TO HIS SON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 32.] 
 The date of this letter is sufficiently clear from the last words of it. 
 
 TJie copie of a notable Lettre, written by the Duke of 
 Suffolk to his Sonne, 1 giving hym therein very good 
 counseil? 
 
 Y dere and only welbeloved sone, I beseche 
 oure Lord in Heven, the Maker of alle the 
 world, to blesse you, and to sende you ever 
 grace to love hym, and to drede hym ; to the 
 which, as ferre as a fader may charge his child, I both 
 charge you, and prei you to sette alle spirites and wittes 
 to do, and to knowe his holy lawes and comaundments, 
 by the which ye shall with his grete mercy passe alle 
 the grete tempestes and troubles of this wrecched 
 world. And that also, wetyngly, ye do no thyng for love 
 nor drede of any erthely creature that shuld displese 
 hym. And there as any freelte maketh you to falle, 
 be secheth hys mercy soone to calle you to hym agen 
 with repentaunce, satisfaccion, and contricion of youre 
 herte never more in will to offend hym. 
 
 Secondly, next hym, above alle erthely thyng, to be 
 trewe liege man in hert, in wille, in thought, in dede, 
 unto the Kyng oure alder most high and dredde sove- 
 reygne Lord, to whom bothe ye and I been so moche 
 bounde to ; chargyng you, as fader can and may, rather 
 to die than to be the contrarye, or to knowe any thyng 
 that were ayenste the welfare or prosperite of his most 
 riall person, but that as ferre as your body and lyf may 
 strecthe, ye lyve and die to defende it, and to lete his 
 highnesse have knowlache thereof in alle thehasteye can. 
 
 1 John de la Pole, who succeeded him as Duke of Suffolk. 
 
 2 This heading looks as if copied by Feim from an endorsement, which is 
 probably not quite contemporaneous.
 
 122 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 Thirdly, in the same wyse, I charge you, my dere 
 sone, alwey, as ye be bounden by the commaundement 
 of God to do, to love, to worshepe youre lady and 
 moder, and also that ye obey alwey hyr commaunde- 
 ments, and to beleve hyr councelles and advises in alle 
 youre werks, the which dredeth not, but shall be best 
 and trewest to you. And yef any other body wold 
 stere you to the contrarie, to flee the councell in any 
 wyse, for ye shall fynde it nought and evyll. 
 
 Forthefrmore], 1 as ferre as fader may and can, I 
 charge you in any wyse to flee the company and coun- 
 cel of proude men, of coveitowse men. and of flateryng 
 men, the more especially and myghtily to withstonde 
 hem, and not to drawe, ne to medle with hem, with all 
 youre myght and power. And to drawe to you and to 
 your comp[any good] l and vertuowse men, and such 
 as ben of good conversacion, and of trouthe, and be 
 them shal ye never be deseyved, ner repente you off. 
 [Moreover never follow] l youre owne witte in no wyse, 
 but in alle youre werkes, of suche folks as 1 write of 
 above, axeth youre advise a[nd counse]! ; l and doyng 
 thus, with the mercy of God, ye shall do right well, 
 and lyve in right moche worship, and grete herts rest 
 and ease. And I wyll be to you as good lord and fader 
 as my hert can thynke. 
 
 And last of alle, as hertily and as lovyngly as ever 
 fader blessed his child in erthe, I yeve you the blessyng 
 of oure Lord and of me, which of his infynite mercy 
 encrece you in alle vertu and good lyvyng. And that 
 youre blood may by his grace from kynrede to kynrede 
 multeplye in this erthe to hys servise, in such wyse as 
 after the departyng fro this wreched world here, ye and 
 thei may glorefye hym eternally amongs his aungelys 
 in hevyn. 
 
 Wreten of myn hand, 
 
 The day of my departyng fro this land. 2 
 
 Your trewe and lovyng fader, SUFFOLK. 
 
 1 These words in brackets were chafed and illegible in the original MS. 
 8 According to William Worcester, the Duke embarked on Thursday, the 
 30th April
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 123 
 
 92. 
 
 A.D. 1450-2. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 A paper of memoranda in William Worcester's handwriting, 
 of which the principal contents are as follows : - 
 
 A commission of oyer and terminer, dated I August 28 Henry 
 VI. A session at Swaffham, on Thursday after the Exaltation 
 of the Holy Cross, 29 Henry VI. (17 September 1450). A 
 note of six other sessions: I. At Norwich, before the Duke of 
 Norfolk, the Earl of Oxford and Yelverton, Tuesday after St. Mat- 
 thias' day, 29 Henry VI. (2 March 1451) ; 2. At Norwich, before 
 Oxford and Yelverton, Monday after St. Martin in Winter, 29 
 Henry VI. (16 November 1450); 3. At Norwich, before Ox- 
 ford and Yelverton, Wednesday after the Conception of St. Mary 
 ( 1 5 December), continued seven days ; 4. At Lynn, before Ox- 
 ford, Scales, and Yelverton, Tuesday after Epiphany (13 Janu- 
 ary) ; 5- At Norwich, before John Prysot and Yelverton, Thurs- 
 day in Easter week, 29 Henry VI. (29 April 1451); 6. At 
 Walsingham, before Scales and Prysot, Monday in crastino clausi 
 Pasctuz (3 May 1451). 
 
 " Parliamentum apud Leyseter anno xxviij . Durante 
 
 illo Parliamento inlravit T. Daniell manerium de Braydeston. 
 Will'us, Dux Suff ' obiit tertio die Maii anno xxviij Regis Henry 
 Vlti. jak Cade, proditor de Kent, fugit de le Blakheth xxij. die 
 Junii anno xxviij. H. VI., [ ] julii mense decapitatus fuit. 
 Injuria Plumbsted post hoc (?) " Mundford and Heydon entered 
 Braysto[ne] on the eve of the Nativity of St. Mary anno 29 (7 
 September 1450). Thomas Danyell entered Braydeston a second 
 time, 30 Henry VI. 
 
 Between Mich. 30 and 31 Henry VI. (1451 and 1452) Norfolk, 
 Oxford, Scales, and a great number of others were at Norwich 
 holding sessions. The same year " John P." was with John, 
 Earl of Oxford, at Whevenho on the Nativity of St. Mary (8 Sep- 
 tember). The same year, before all these things, Thomas Dan- 
 yell was married at Framlyngham. 
 
 " Testimonium Commissionariorum et cognitio Milonis Stapul- 
 ton quo ad impanellationem juratorum. 
 
 " Item, testimonium concilii quoad mutationem actionum in 
 indictamentis et recordum apparet et declaratio Johannis Geney 
 facta Thomse Gurney. 
 
 " Item, testimonium concilii et Thomas Grene quoad absenciam 
 Johannis Porter. Et testimonium hominum de Bliclyng. Item, 
 missio pro Johanne Porter pro pecunia et placito proprio. (Me- 
 morandum, quando Porter fuit juratus, J. Andru fuit extractus de 
 indictamento.)
 
 124 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 " Item, testimonium jurat orum de non procuratione. Et indie- 
 tamentum Johannis Andrew in Suff. causa fugationis ejus. 
 
 " Item, antiquum debat' supposit' inter Andrews et Porter erat 
 pro districtione capta de Johanne Andrews apud Weston pro 
 debito domini Bardolf ; pro qua causa idem Johannes Andrews 
 implacitare vellet dictum Johannem Porter ad terminum (?) nisi 
 pro dicto domino Bardolf ; sic dictus Andrews continuavit mali- 
 ciam suam erga prsedictum Johannem Porter, et e contra quod et 
 malicia Heydon erat causa conspiracionis per ipsum " 
 
 [As this document is a key to the dates of several of the letters during the 
 years 1450 to 1452, we have thought it best to insert it in the beginning of the 
 period to which it refers, instead of the date at which it may be supposed to 
 have been written.] 
 
 93. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 5 May. 
 WILLIAM LOMNER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 38.] 
 
 The date of this letter is perfectly determined by the events to which it 
 relates. 
 
 To my ryght worchipfull John Paston, at Norwich. 
 
 jlYGHT worchipfull sir, I recomaunde me to 
 !H yow, and am right sory of that I shalle sey, 
 and have soo wesshe this litel bille with sorw- 
 fulle terys, that on ethes ye shalle reede it. 
 As on Monday x nexte after May day there come 
 tydyngs to London, that on Thorsday 2 before the 
 Duke of Suffolk come unto the costes of Kent full 
 nere Dower with his ij. shepes and a litel spynner; the 
 qweche spynner he sente with certeyn letters to certeyn 
 of his trustid men unto Caleys warde, to knowe howe 
 he shuld be resceyvyd ; and with hym mette a shippe 
 callyd Nicolas of the Towre, with other shippis waytyng 
 on hym, and by hern that were in the spyner, the maister 
 of the Nicolas hadde knowlich of the dukes comyng. 
 And whanne he espyed the dukes shepis, he sent forthe 
 his bote to wete what they were, and the duke hym 
 selfe spakke to hem, and seyd, he was be the Kyngs 
 comaundement sent to Caleys ward, &c. 
 
 1 4th May, * joth April
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 125 
 
 And they seyd he most speke with here master. 
 And soo he, with ij. or iij. of his men, wente forth with 
 hem yn here bote to the Nicolas ; and whanne he come, 
 the master badde hym, " Welcom, Traitor," as men sey; 
 and forther the maister desyryd to wete yf the shepmen 
 woldde holde with the duke, and they sent word they 
 wold not yn noo wyse ; and soo he was yn the Nicolas 
 tyl Saturday 1 next folwyng. 
 
 Soom sey he wrotte moche thenke \thing\ to be 
 delyverd to the Kynge, but thet is not verily knowe. 
 He hadde hes confessor with hym, &c. 
 
 And some sey he was arreyned yn the sheppe on here 
 maner upon the appechementes and fonde gylty, &c. 
 
 Also he asked the name of the sheppe, and whanne 
 he knew it, he remembred Stacy that seid, if he myght 
 eschape the daunger of the Towr, he should be saffe; 
 and thanne his herte faylyd hym, for he thowghte he 
 was desseyvyd, and yn the syght of all his men he was 
 drawyn ought of the grete shippe yn to the bote ; and 
 there was an exe, and a stoke, and oon of the lewdeste 
 of the shippe badde hym ley down his hedde, and he 
 should be fair ferd wyth, and dye on a swerd ; and 
 toke a rusty swerd, and smotte of his hedde withyn 
 halfe a doseyn strokes, and toke awey his gown of 
 russet, and his dobelette of velvet mayled, and leyde 
 his body on the sonds of Dover; and some sey his 
 hedde was sette oon a pole by it, and hes men sette 
 on the londe be grette circumstaunce and preye. And 
 the shreve of Kent doth weche the body, and sent his 
 under shreve to the juges to wete what to doo, and also 
 to the Kenge whatte shalbe doo. 
 
 Forther I wotte nott, but this fer (?) is that yf the 
 proces be erroneous, lete his concell reverse it, &c. 
 
 Also for alle your other maters they slepe, and the 
 freer 2 also, &c. 
 
 Sir Thomas Keriel 3 is take prisoner, and alle the 
 legge harneyse, and abowte iij. m 1 - [3000] Englishe 
 men slayn. 
 
 1 zd May. 2 An allusion to Friar Hauteyn's suit for Oxnead. 
 
 3 Sent to France to carry succours to the Uuke of Somerset, but defeated 
 and taker, prisoner at the battle of Fourmigni, isth April 1450
 
 126 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 Mathew Gooth 1 with xv - [1500] fledde, and savyd 
 hym selffe and hem; and Peris Brusy was cheffe capteyn, 
 and hadde x m 1 - Frenshe men and more, &c. 
 
 I prey yow lete my mastras your moder knowe these 
 tydyngis, and God have yow all yn his kepyn. 
 
 I prey yow this bille may recomaunde me to my 
 mastrases your moder and wyfe, &c. 
 
 James Gresham hath wretyn to John of Dam, and 
 recomaundith hym, &c. 
 
 Wretyn yn gret hast at London, the v. day of May, 
 &c. By yowr wyfe. 2 
 
 W. L. 
 
 94. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 6 May. JOHN CRANE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 44.] 
 
 The date of this letter, as of the preceding, is clearly proved by internal 
 evidence. 
 
 To my right ivorsJmpfull cosygne, John Paston of Nor- 
 wyche, Squyer. 
 
 IGHT worshupfull sir, I recomaunde me unto 
 yo\v in the most goodly wyse that y can; and 
 forasmuche as ye desired of me to sende yow 
 worde of dyvers matirs here, whiche been 
 opened in the Parliament openly, I sende yow of them 
 suche as I can. 
 
 First moost especiall, that for verray trowthe upon 
 Saterday 3 that last was, the Duke of Suffolk was taken 
 in the see, and there he was byheded, and his body 
 with the appurtenaunce sette at lande at Dover, and 
 alle the folks that he haad with hym were sette to lande, 
 and haad noon harme. 
 
 1 Matthew Gough, a celebrated captain in the French war. 
 
 2 This singular subscription Fenn believes to have been owing to a momen- 
 tary forgetfulness on the part of the writer, William Lomner, who had been 
 in the habit of acting as Margaret Paston's secretary in writing to her hus- 
 band. 
 
 3 zd May.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VL 127 
 
 Also the Kyng hath sumwhat graanted to have the 
 resumpsion agayne in summe, but nat in alle, &c. 
 
 Also yef ye purpose to come hydre to put up your 
 bylles, ye may come now in a good tyme ; for now 
 every man that hath any, they put theme now inne, 
 and so may ye, yif* ye come with Godds grace to your 
 pleasur. 
 
 Ferthermore, upon the iiij th day of this monthe, the 
 Erie of Devenesshire l come hydre with iij c - [300] 
 men wel byseen, &c. 
 
 And upon the morow after my Lord of Warrewyke 2 
 with iiij c - [400] and moo, &c. 
 
 Also, as hyt ys noysed here Calys shal be byseged 
 withynne this vij. dayes, &c. 
 
 God save the Kyng, and sende us pees, &c. 
 
 Other tithyngs be ther noon here, but Almyghty 
 God have yow in his kepyng. 
 
 Writen at Leycestre, the vj. day of May. 
 Your cosigne, 
 
 JOHN CRANE. 3 
 
 95. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 7 May. ABSTRACT. 
 [MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 223.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOS. HOWYS, Parson of Castle- 
 combe, " being at Castre." 
 
 Begs him to solicit the expedition of the matters of which he 
 wrote since Easter. Debts of Thos. Symmys for rents and sale 
 of wools not yet paid to F. in Dedham. As for the matter of 
 Rydlyngfold and Hykele, " seth it ys soo the world is changed 
 gretely over it was, y pray you, and charge you, parson, labour 
 ye to my frendz Lampet and others " to get a copy of their evi- 
 dences ; for ' ' howbeit the said prioress say that her evidence be 
 in the Duke of Suffolk's keeping or his counsel," she had a book 
 in which all the evidence is copied. The thing would have been 
 
 1 Thomas Courtenay. 
 
 2 Richard Nevill. See Letter 73. 
 
 3 Probably John Crane of Woodnorton, of whom there are some notices in 
 Blomefield (Hist. Norf, viii. 313, 316 ; x. 282).
 
 128 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 sped long ere this, if " my Lord Norwich['s] Chancellor" or Master 
 Pope, had labored as they promised. For God's sake send me a 
 good answer. "If an inordinate book be made, remembering 
 the deliverance" of cloths, &c. into F.'s wardrobe, let the 
 indentures be engrossed. Wonders Howys cannot furnish him 
 with a full account of the damages sustained by F. and his 
 tenants these ten or twelve years past. He has only sent a 
 declaration of costs in defending some of them. Get a letter of 
 Nich. Bokkyng of the ,i<x> to whom it was paid. 
 
 London, 7 May 28 Henry VI. Signed. 
 
 96. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 13 May. 
 THOMAS DENYES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 162.] 
 
 This letter, which Fenn vaguely assigned to the latter part of the reign of 
 H<_nry VI.. may be pretty safely attributed to the year 1450. The mention 
 of Lord Rivers and the Duke of Suffolk could not have been earlier than 1449, 
 as the one was only created lord, and the other duke in 1448, and at a later 
 date than the i3th of May. The reference to the Duke of Suffolk again is 
 not likely to have been long after his decease. Further, there is a strong pre- 
 sumption, from Monday being spoken of as a past date, and Friday as a future, 
 that the letter was written on a Wednesday. Had it been on a Tuesday or 
 Thursday, Monday would have been spoken of as " yesterday," or Friday as 
 " to-morrow." Now, the i3th of May was a Wednesday in 1450. The 
 changes in officers of state mentioned in this letter are, therefore, those con- 
 sequent on the fall of the Duke of Suffolk. There is, besides, as will be seen 
 by a foot-note, an allusion to the Parliament at Leicester. 
 
 To my maistcr Paston. 
 
 Recomaund me unto your good maistership 
 and as for tidings, Arblaster come home to 
 my Lord l on Munday, at sopertyme ; and 
 my Maister Danyell 2 is Sty ward of the Duche 
 of Lancastre by yonde Trent, and Arblastr seith he 
 hath made me his undirstyward. 
 
 And as for the Chamber! eynship of Inglond, the 
 Lord Beamond 3 hath it, and the Lord Rivers 4 Con- 
 stable of Inglond. 
 
 1 John de Vere, i2th Earl of Oxford. 
 - Thomas Daniel. See p. 65. 
 a John, Viscount Beaumont. 
 
 4 Richard Woodville, created Baron Rivers agth May 1448 : afterwards 
 earL
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 129 
 
 As for the Duche on this side Trent, Sir Thomas 
 Tudenham had a joynte patent with the Duke of Suf- 
 folk, 1 which, if it be resumed, Sir Thomas Stanley hath 
 a bille redy endossed therof. 
 
 My lord wole not to Leicestre. 2 My Maister Dan- 
 yell desireth yow thedir. I shall ride thiderward on 
 Friday by tymes. 
 
 Wretyn in hast at Wynche, 3 the xiij. day of May. 
 
 I pray yow to thynk upon my mater to my mastresse 
 your wyf, for my mastresse Anne, for in good feith I 
 haf fully conquered my lady sith ye went, so that I haf 
 hir promisse to be rny good lady, and that she shall 
 help me by the feith of hir body. 
 
 Your servant, DENYES. 
 
 97. 
 
 Year uncertain. 
 THE EARL OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 360.] 
 
 This letter cannot well be of the same year as the last, but is probably not 
 many years earlier, and certainly not many years later. The reasons against 
 its being of the same year are first, that it seems to be implied in the letter 
 preceding that the Earl of Oxford was at Winch, near Lynn, in Norfolk, on 
 the I3th May 1450, which makes it improbable that he would beatWivenhoe 
 in Essex four days after ; and, secondly, that he is not likely to have 
 offered to go into Norfolk (especially after having just come out of Norfolk) 
 on a matter touching the private affairs of one of his own adherents, when he 
 declined to go to the Parliament at Leicester. 
 
 To our right trusty and intierly welbeloved John Paston, 
 Esquyer. 
 
 IJIGHT trusty and right intierly welbeloved, we 
 grete you hertly wele. And it is so, as ye 
 know wele your self, we haf and long tyme haf 
 had the service of Thomas Denyes, by con- 
 tinuance wherof we wend to haf had his attendaunce 
 
 1 William de la Pole. See p. 65, Note 4. 
 
 2 Parliament was sitting at Leicester in May 1450. 
 
 3 A seat of the Karl of Oxford, near King's Lynn, in Norfolk. 
 
 K
 
 130 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 at our lust ; and nevertheless we haf so strictly examy- 
 nid his demenyng that we fele and pleynly conceyve 
 that the love and effeccion which he hath to a gentil- 
 woman not ferre from yow, and which ye be privy to, 
 as we suppose, causith hym alwey to desire toward 
 your cuntre, rather than toward suych ocupacion as is 
 behovefull to us. We write therfore to yow, prayng yow 
 hertly as ye love us, that it like you to do that labour 
 at our instaunce be suych men [mean] as your wisdom 
 can seme, to meve that gentilwoman in our behalf for 
 the wele of this mater, undirtakyng for us that we wole 
 shew our bounte to thaym bothe, if it plese hir that 
 this mater take effect, so that be reason she shall haf 
 cause to take it in gree. And if the comyng thider of 
 our persone self shuld be to plesir of hir, we wole not 
 leve our labour in that : wherfore we pray you that ye 
 wole do your part heryn, as ye wole we do for yow in 
 tyme comyng, and that ye se us in hast. The HoJy 
 Trinite kepe yow. Wretyn at Wevenho, the xvij. day 
 of May. 
 
 The Erie of Oxenford. 
 
 OXEN FORD. 
 
 98. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 27 May. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 52.] 
 
 To my trusty and welbelovyd frende, Sir Thomas 
 Howys, Parson of Castelicombe. 
 
 RUSTY and welbelovyd frende, I grete you 
 well. 1 .... And I pray you sende 
 me word who darre be so hardy to keck agen 
 you in my ryght. And sey hem on my half 
 
 Here, says Fenn, follow some orders respecting his affairs at Caister.
 
 
 A.i>. 1450.] HENRY VI. 131 
 
 that they shall be qwyt as ferre as law and reson wolle. 
 And yff they wolle not dredde, ne obey that, then 
 they shall be quyt by Blackberd or Whyteberd; that ys 
 to sey, by God or the Devyll. And therfor I charge 
 yow, send me word whethyr such as hafe be myne 
 adversaries before thys tyme, contynew still yn her 
 wylfullnesse, &c. 
 
 Item, I hyre oft tymys manye straunge rapports of 
 the gouvernaunce of my place at Castre and othyr 
 plasys, as yn my chatell approvyng, 1 yn my wynys, 
 the kepyng of my wardrobe and clothys, the avaylle 2 
 of my conyes at Haylysdon, &c., and approwement l 
 of my londys ; praying you hertly as my full trust 
 ys yn you to help reforme it, and that ye suffre no 
 vityouse man at my place of Castre abyde, but well 
 gouverned and diligent, as ye woll aunswer to it. 
 
 Allmyghty God kepe you. Wryt at London, xxvij. 
 day of Maij anno xxviij regni Regis Henrici VI. 
 
 JOHN FASTOLF, Kt. 
 
 99. 
 
 A.D. 1 450 (written in 1465). J. PAYN TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, i. 54.] 
 
 This letter was actually written in the year 1465 ; but as the circumstances 
 to which it relates belong to the year 1450, and are connected wilh the 
 memorable insurrection of Jack Cade, we have thought it right, as Fenn did, 
 to place it under the latter year. 
 
 To my ryght honurabyll maister, John Paston. 
 
 YGHT honurabyll and my ryght enterly by- 
 lovyd maister, I recomaunde me un to yow, 
 with al maner of due reverence, in the moste 
 louly wyse as we ought to do, evermor 
 desyryng to here of your worshipfull state, prosperite, 
 and welfar ; the which I beseke God of his aboundant 
 
 1 Approving lands or chattels meant turning them to profit, and in the 
 former case commonly implied increasing the rents. 
 
 2 Use or profit.
 
 132 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 grace encrece and mayntene to his moste plesaunce, 
 and to your hartis dssyre. 
 
 Pleasyth it your gode and gracios maistershipp 
 tendyrly to consedir the grete losses and hurts that 
 your por peticioner haeth, and haeth jhad evyr seth 
 the comons of Kent come to the Blakheth, 1 and that 
 is at xv. yer passed, whereas my maister Syr John 
 Fastolf, Knyght, that is youre testator, 2 commandyt 
 your besecher to take a man, and ij. of the beste orsse 
 that wer in his stabyll, with hym to ryde to the comens 
 of Kent, to gete the articles that they come for. And 
 so I dyd ; and al so sone as I come to the Blakheth, 
 the capteyn 3 made the comens to take me. And for 
 the savacion of my maisters horse, I made my fellowe 
 to ryde a wey with the ij. horses ; and I was brought 
 forth with befor the capteyn of Kent. And the capteyn 
 demaundit me what was my cause of comyng thedyr, 
 and why that I made my fellowe to stele a wey with 
 he horse. And I seyd that I come thedyr to chere 
 with my wyves brethren, and other that were my alys 
 and gossippes of myn that were present there. And 
 than was there oone there, and seid to the capteyn 
 that I was one of Syr John Fastolfes men, and the ij. 
 horse were Syr John Fastolfes ; and then the capteyn 
 lete cry treson upon me thorought all the felde, and 
 brought me at iiij. partes of the feld with a harrawd of 
 the Duke of Exetter 4 before me in the dukes cote of 
 armes, makyng iiij. Oyes at iiij. partes of the feld; pro- 
 claymyng opynly by the seid harrawd that I was sent 
 thedyr for to espy theyre pusaunce, and theyre abyl- 
 lyments of werr, fro the grettyst traytor that was in 
 Yngelond or in Fraunce, as the seyd capteyn made 
 
 1 Jack Cade and his followers encamped on Blackheath on the n h June 
 1450, and again from the zgth of June to the ist July. Payn refeis t the 
 latter occasion. 
 
 * Sir John Fastolf (who is dead at the date of this letter) left Paston his 
 executor, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 3 Jack Cade. 
 
 4 Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. During the civil war which followed, 
 he adhered to the House of Lancaster, though he married Edward" IV.'s 
 sister. His herald had probably been seized by Cade's followers, and pressed 
 into their service.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 133 
 
 proclaymacion at that tyme, fro oone Syr John Fastolf, 
 Knyght, the whech mynnysshed all the garrisons of 
 Normaundy, and Manns, and Mayn, the whech was the 
 cause of the lesyng of all the Kyngs tytyll and ryght 
 of an herytaunce that he had by yonde see. And 
 morovyr he seid that the seid Sir John Fastolf had 
 furnysshyd his plase l with the olde sawdyors of Nor- 
 maundy and abyllyments of werr, to destroy the comens 
 of Kent whan that they come to Southevverk ; and 
 therfor he seyd playnly that I shulde lese my hede. 
 
 And so furthewith I was taken, and led to the cap- 
 teyns tent, and j. ax and j. blok was brought forth to 
 have smetyn of myn hede ; and than my maister 
 Ponyngs, your brodyr, 2 with other of my frendes, come 
 and lettyd the capteyn, and seyd pleynly that there 
 shulde dye a C. or ij. [a hundred or two~\, that in case 
 be that I dyed ; and so by that meane my lyf was 
 savyd at that tyme. And than I was sworen to the 
 capteyn, and to the comens, that I shulde go to Southe- 
 werk, and aray me in the best wyse that I coude, and 
 come ageyn to hem to helpe hem; and so I gote 
 th'articles, and brought hem to my maister, and that 
 cost me more emongs the comens that day than xxvijj. 
 
 Wherupon I come to my maister Fastolf, and 
 brought hym th'articles, and enformed hym of all the 
 mater, and counseyled hym to put a wey all his abyl- 
 lyments of werr and the olde sawdiors ; and so he dyd, 
 and went hymself to the Tour, and all his meyny with 
 hym but Betts and j. [i.e. one] Mathew Brayn ; and 
 had not I ben, the comens wolde have brennyd his 
 plase and all his tennuryes, wher thorough it coste me 
 of my noune propr godes at that tyme more than vj. 
 merks in mate and drynke ; and nought withstondyng 
 the capteyn that same tyme lete take me atte Whyte 
 Harte in Suthewerk, and there comandyt Lovelase to 
 dispoyle me oute of myn aray, and so he dyd. And 
 
 ! Sir John Fastolf had a residence in Southwark. 
 
 2 Robert Poynings, who, some years before this letter was written, had 
 married Elizabeth, the sister of John Paston, was sword-bearer and carver to 
 Cade, and was accused of creating disturbances on more than one occasion 
 afterwards.
 
 134 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 there he toke a fyn gowne of muster dewyllers 1 furryd 
 with fyn bevers, and j. peyr of Bregandyrns 2 kevert 
 with blew fellewet \i!elvcf\ and gylt naile, with leg- 
 harneyse, the vallew of the gown and the bregardyns 
 viij//. 
 
 .' Item, the capteyn sent certeyn of his meyny to my 
 chamber in your rents, and there breke up my chest, 
 and toke awey j. obligacion of myn that was due unto 
 mejof xxxvj//. by a prest of Poules, and j. nother 
 obligation of j. knyght of x//., and my purse with v. 
 ryngs of golde, and xvij^. \]d. of golde and sylver ; and 
 j. herneyse [harness] complete of the touche of Milleyn; 3 
 and j. gowne of fyn perse 4 blewe furryd with martens; 
 and ij. gounes, one furryd with bogey, 5 and j. nother 
 lyned with fryse ; 6 and ther wolde have smetyn of myn 
 hede, whan that they had dyspoyled me atte White 
 Hart. /"And there my Maister Ponyngs and my frends 
 savyd me, and so I was put up tyll at nyght that the 
 batayle was at London Brygge ; 7 and than atte nyght 
 the capteyn put me oute into the batayle atte Bryggg, 
 and there I was woundyt, and hurt nere hand to dethj 
 and there I was vj. cures in the batayle, and myght 
 nevyr come oute therof; and iiij. tymes before that 
 tyme I was caryd abought thorought Kent and Sousex, 
 and ther they wolde have smetyn of my hede. 
 C And in Kent there as my wyfe dwellyd, they toke 
 awey all oure godes mevabyll that we had, and there 
 wolde have hongyd my wyfe and v. of my chyldren, 
 and lefte her no more gode but her kyrtyll and her 
 smooLj And a none aftyr that hurlyng, the Bysshop 
 Roffe 8 apechyd me to the Quene, and so I was arestyd 
 
 1 " A kind of mixed grey woollen cloth, which continued in use to Eliza- 
 beth's reign." Halliwell. 
 
 2 A brigandine was a coat of leather or quilted linen, with small iron plates 
 sewed on. See Grose's Antient Armour. The back and breast of this coat 
 were sometimes made separately, and called a pair. Meyrick. 
 
 a Milan was famous for its manufacture of arms and armour. 
 
 4 " Skye or bluish grey. There was a kind of cloth so called." Halliwell. 
 
 5 Badge fur. 
 
 6 " Frieze. A coarse narrow cloth, formerly much in use." HalliwelL 
 
 7 The battle on London Bridge was on the jth July. 
 
 8 Fenn gives this name " Rosse " with two long s's, but translates it 
 Rochester, from which I presume it was written " Roffe " for Roffensis. 
 The Bishop of Rochester's name was John Lowe.
 
 A .D. 1450.] HENR Y VI. 135 
 
 by the Queries commaundment in to the Marchalsy, 
 and there was in rygt grete durasse, and fere of myn 
 lyf, and was thretenyd to have ben hongyd, drawen, 
 and quarteryd ; and so wold have made me to have 
 pechyd my Maister Fastolf of treson. And by cause 
 that I wolde not, they had me up to Westminster, and 
 there wolde have sent me to the gole house at Wynd- 
 sor; but my wyves and j. coseyn of myn noune that 
 were yomen of the Croune, they went to the Kyng, 
 and got grase and j. chartyr of pardon. 
 
 Per le vostre, J. PAYN. 
 
 100. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 8 July. 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO MASTER WHITE. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter appears to have been written in the year 1430, when Gresham 
 was in London looking after John Paston's interests in various lawsuits. Mr 
 White, to whom it is directed for the purpose of being conveyed to Paston, 
 was a servant of Cardinal Kemp, who had been made Lord Chancellor in the 
 beginning of the year. It is evident from other letters that John Paston took 
 counsel of the Lord Chancellor's servant in his causes. 
 
 To my Maister Whyte, Esquyer, with my Lord Cardy- 
 or to take to John Paston. 
 
 |FTER al due recomendacion, I recomaund me 
 to yow, and do yow wete that this same 
 Wednesseday I receyved your lettre whiche 
 was wretyn on Saterday last passed, wherby 
 ye willed me to send yow worde of your matiers, &c. 
 As touchyng the frere, 2 he abydeth in lawe up on our 
 plee of profession, like as I sent yow word by wrytyng, 
 whiche I sent yow in a box with other stuf by a man 
 of the Archedeken of Rychemond. I endorsed it thus, 
 " To William Plumstede, with my Lord of Winchestre, 3 
 or to John Paston." 
 
 We shuld have amendet our plee of profession, but 
 
 1 Cardinal Kemp. 2 John Hawteyn. See Nos. 35 and 47. 
 
 S William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester.
 
 136 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 thanne your counseyll fereth he wolde take an issue 
 that he is not professed, and that shuld 1 be - tried by 
 the certificat of the Dean of Poulys, sede vacante ; and 
 therfore we abide in lawe, and wole not amende our 
 plee. The day of th'assises in Norffolk is die Veneris 
 proximo post Festum Nativitatis Bcattz Marice apud 
 Norwiaim, and Costards nisi prius is take owt ageynst 
 that day, and Prentis nisi prius ageynst Halman also. 
 
 As touchyng the sute ageyns Osebern and Foke, he 
 hath geve day xv. Johannis with x. tales, as I have 
 wretyn to yow to fore this tyme ; and I suppose that 
 he wole have a nisi prius of the same atte seid assises. 
 As touchynge the fyn in the Kyngs Benche for Osebern 
 and Foke, the fyne were cessed this terme, but I hadde 
 no leyser to talke with Croxton ther of yet, &c. Your 
 bedfelawe seigh bothe my other writynge and this, and 
 he rccomaundeth hym to yow, and shuld have wretyn 
 to yow, if he had not be prevy to my writyng. Ye ar 
 meche hold to hym, for he is diligent for yow, &c. 
 
 As touchyng Drewe Barantyn, I myght not yet 
 speke with hym, &c. Circumspecte agatis, and be war 
 of lordis promysses, for it is tolde me in counseil ther 
 is a writte of forcyble entre 2 in framyng ageynst yow. 
 
 Almyghty God be your gyde. Wretyn in hast with 
 inne an hour after the resceyte of your lettre, at Wes- 
 minster, theWednesseday next after Seint Thomas day. 3 
 
 Yours JAMES GRE. 
 
 101. 
 
 About A.D. 1450. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 JAMES" GRESHAM TO [JOHN PASTON?] 
 
 Inquiry made as to the injury of Sporle wood for lack of hedging. 
 The three years' growth of the wood availeth no man. The far- 
 mers now cannot sell it the better, so it must be either to your 
 hurt or Halrnan's. Hopes the wastes at Cressingham will be 
 amended. Your tenants are treated unfairly about the Sheriff's 
 
 1 The word " it " is interlined in the original after " shuld," but is clearly 
 superfluous. 
 
 2 For Gresham? 
 
 3 The translation of St. Thomas was on the 3d July.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENR Y VI. 137 
 
 turn by those of the Prior of Norwich and John Coo. Can get no 
 money, for Fulchier hopes he is not so far in arrear as you think. 
 Halman can get no money ; his corns are so cheap he will not 
 sell, but he hopes to make purveyance at Michaelmas. 
 
 Calybut says he never asked the Vicar of Sporle to be bound 
 for him. They will meet with me at Gressenhale on St. Bartholo- 
 mew's clay and seal the other part, so that they have notice from 
 you at Swaff ham Market, Saturday next before. 
 
 Accounts of Sneylewell, Cressingham, and Sparham on the back. 
 
 [ We have placed this letter after the preceding as being probably not many 
 years apart from it in date, if not the very same year. The name of Halman 
 occurs in both, and also in a letter of the Vicar of Sporle, which will be found 
 a little further on ] 
 
 102. 
 A.D. 1450, 8 Aug. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [MS. Phillipps, 9735, f. 224.] 
 
 SIR J. FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS, Parson of Castle- 
 combe, at Caister. 
 
 Has sent home letters by John Bedford. Sends by the bearer 
 Thomas Medew eight writs of "green wax " 1 for certain processes 
 he has in Norfolk, with a distringas for Sir John Shypton, which 
 he must get served with the advice of Thomas Grene and other 
 of Fastolf 's trusty friends. The inquest must be certified of the 
 truth and Shypton's falsehood proved. Will give his testimonial, 
 when needful, "that I never sealed none such quittance." Let 
 Greene correct the roll of articles I send by Bedford. I hear you 
 have omitted several of the extortions done to me (in margin, 
 "eyer and determiner"). London, 8 August 28 Henry VI. 
 
 Let Master Doket have a copy of the evidence of Rydlyngfeeld. 
 
 " Item, purvey me at the leest v. doseyn long bowes, with shot 
 longyng thertoo. And purveyeth also quarell" hedys to be made 
 ther, for the price ys derer heer then ther; and let no langage 
 be had of ordenances makyng. " Signed. 
 
 103. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 19 Aug. 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 86.] 
 
 'The date of this letter is ascertained by the news contained in the last para- 
 graph of the fall of Cherbourg, besides other internal evidence. 
 
 1 Writs under the seal of the Court of Exchequer, which was of green wax, 
 directing the sheriff of a county to levy certain fines. 
 
 2 Sec page 82, Note 4.
 
 138 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 To my right espcdall maister, John Paston?- in hast. 
 
 |YGHT worthyworshipfull sir, and myn especiall 
 maister, I recomaund me to yow, and pray 
 yo\v wete that I was [yesterdaye atte] 2 . . . . 2 
 my lord Chauncellers 3 hous,and there I spake 
 with White ; and he tolde me that he hadde the letter 
 
 that ye sewed for from 2 directed to the 
 
 Lord Moleyns of that substance that ye hadde sued to 
 hym for an especiall assise 4 and an oier and deter- 
 miner? [and] 2 2 that he shuld comaunde 
 
 his men beyng at Gresham to departe thens, and 
 that the profitez thereof shuld be receyved by an en- 
 different [person] 2 . . 2 saufly to be kepte til the right 
 were determyned be twen yow and my Lord M., &c., 
 whiche letter White sente forthe [by] 2 a man of my 
 Lord Chaunceller to the Lord Moleyns. And he 
 sent his answer in writyng of this substance, that it 
 shuld not like my Lord Chaunceller to graunte assise, 
 &c., for als moche as the Lord M. hadde sore be 
 laboured in his cuntre to peas and stille the poeple G 
 there to restreyngne them from rysyng, and so he was 
 dayly laboured there abowt in the Kynggs servyce, and 
 that considered, he trustid veryly that there shuld non 
 assise be graunted to your entent. And he seid forther 
 in his answer, if he myght attende to be in Norffolk, 
 and leve the necessary servyce that he dede to the 
 Kyng now in Wyltshire, he wolde be but weel pleased 
 that ye hadde your assise ; for he knewe his title and 
 
 1 " After John Paston had received this letter," says Fenn, " it seems as if 
 he had sent it to my Lord Oxford, for on the back of it, in John Paston's 
 handwriting, is the following direction : ' To the rith worspfull and my rith 
 special! lord, my Lord of Oxenford.' " 
 
 2 These passages, in which the text is broken by brackets or dots, are indi- 
 cated by Fenn as illegible in the original. 
 
 3 John Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of York, afterwards of Canterbury. 
 
 4 A writ directed to the sheriff for recovery of possession of things immove- 
 able, whereof yourself or ancestors have been disseised. F. 
 
 6 Is a commission especially granted to certain persons for the hearing and 
 determining of causes, and was formerly only in use upon some sudden out- 
 rage or insurrection in any place. F. 
 
 <> These disturbances r.mongst the people were the remains of Cade's rebel- 
 lion, which had been lately suppressed. F. 

 
 A.D. H50.] HENR Y VL 139 
 
 his evydence so good for his part, that he durst weel 
 putte it in my Lord Chaunceller, and in what juge he 
 wolde calle to hym. And wher my Lord Chaunceller 
 desired hym to avoyde his men from Gresham, he 
 trustid that my Lord wolde not desire that, by cause 
 he hadde his possession, and that it was his wyfifs ryght, 
 and so hym thought it a geynst reason that he shuld a 
 voide utterly his possession. 
 
 This same Moneday goth my Lord Chaunceller and 
 my Lord of Buk l into Kent to sytte up on an oier and 
 determyner 2 at Rorchestre ; and Whyte told me that 
 there is wretyn an generall oier and determyner to be 
 in Norffolk, and what ther[fore] 3 and for the Lord 
 Moleyns writyng, hym semyth it is not to your avayll 
 to sewe for an especiall assise, ne for an oier and deter- 
 myner. 
 
 Whan I come hiddirward, I mette with my Lord of 
 Norffolk betwen Berkewey and Baburgham homward, 
 and whethir he shall come agayn hiddir or noght I wot 
 not, but I trowe rather yes thanne nay ; for it is seid 
 that alle the Lords be sent for to be here on Moneday 
 or Tuysday next comyng for a counseyll. 
 
 The Chief Justice 4 is not here, ne noon other Justice, 
 except Danvers 5 is now made Juge of the Comune 
 Place, and is forth into Kent with the Lords, &c. 
 
 Al this tofore was wretyn on the Moneday next after 
 our Lady day. And this same Wednesseday was it 
 told that Shirburgh 6 is goon, and we have not now a 
 foote of londe in Normandie, and men arn ferd that 
 Calese wole be beseged hastily, &c. 
 
 Pynchamour shall telle yow by mowthe more thanne 
 I have leyser to write now to yow. I wrot to myn 
 
 1 Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, fell in the battle of North- 
 ampton in July 1460. F. 
 
 2 These commissions of oyer and determiner were to try those who had 
 been concerned in the late rebellion under Cade. F. 
 
 3 See Note 2, p. 138. 
 
 4 John Hody was at this time Chief Justice of the King's Bench. F. 
 1 Rob 
 
 
 'bert Danvers became a Judge of the Common Pleas i4th of August 
 1450. F. 
 
 8 Cherbourg surrendered to the French on the i2th August 1450. See 
 Stevenson's Reductio Normanniae, p. 367.
 
 140 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. r>. 1450. 
 
 em' l that there were ix. or x. m 1 - [nine or ten thousand] 
 men up in Wiltshire, and I hadde it of the report of 
 Whittocks mede ; but I trowe it is not so, for here is 
 now littel speche therof ; ner the lesse, if I here more, 
 I shall sende yow worde her after by sum loders that 
 come to Seynt Bertilmews [fayre]. 2 
 
 Wretyn in hast at London, the Wednesseday next 
 after our Lady day, &c. 
 
 Your own symple servaunt, 
 
 JAMES GR. 
 
 104. 
 
 A.D. 1450(7) 21 Aug. 
 THE EARL OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 88,] 
 
 From the similarity of the contents of this and the two following letters, it 
 is evident that they belong to the same year ; and the mention of Thomas 
 Denyes, from whom the Earl of Oxford was afterwards estranged, proves 
 that it must have been before 1454. In the summer of 1450, there was dis- 
 affection in Norfolk, which led to the issuing of a special commission ofoyer 
 a>uf terminer in September. These three letters may, therefore, have 
 belonged to that year. 
 
 To my right trusty and intierly welbeloved John Paston, 
 Squyer. 
 
 trusty and intierly welbeloved, I grete 
 yow wele, and wole and pray you that ye 
 dispose your self to be with my Lord of Xorf- 
 folk in al hast goodly, to that intent that 
 where it was desired by dyvers gentilmen of this shire 3 
 that I shuld my self a be with his Lordship at Fram- 
 yngham, to excuse me to his Lordship ; for truly I haf 
 suych writyn to my said Lord for myn excuse, which 
 writyng I send to yow by Thomas Denyes, to whome 
 
 1 " Quaere this abbreviated word," says Fenn. It is probably erne, meaning 
 uncle. 
 
 2 See Note 2, p. 138. 
 
 3 " This shire " should be Suffolk, as the Earl dates from Bun- St Edmund's, 
 but T should think Norfolk was intended, which the Earl had probably just 
 left on his way up to London. Compare next number.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HE&RY VI. 141 
 
 I pray you to gif credens. And the Trinite kepe yow. 
 Wretyn at Bury Seynt Edmond, the xxj. day of August. 
 I pray you to speke with Sir Miles Stapilton and 
 Brewes, and to delyver to thaym my lettres, wherof I 
 send you copies, and make Brewes to send over a man 
 to me with th'entent of my Lord of Norffolk, and with 
 th'effect of your deligens, with a more credible message 
 than Brewes ded to my wif ; for I had never a wers 
 jurney for a jape in my lif, ne a lewder, as ye shal wele 
 conceyve. 
 
 OXENFORD. 
 
 105. 
 
 A.D. 1450 (?) 2i Aug. THE EARL OF OXFORD (?) TO 
 SIR MILES STAPLETON AND THOMAS BREWES. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The two letters following are from contemporaneous copies written on the 
 same paper. Being dated the same day as the preceding letter of the Earl of 
 Oxford, and addressed to the two persons named in the postcript, we should 
 have every reason to suppose they are the copies there mentioned, were it not 
 for the circumstance that the Earl of Oxford's seat at Wynche, near Lynn, 
 in Norfolk, must have been a good day's journey from Bury St. Edmund's. 
 The internal evidence, however, is in other respects so strong that we have 
 no doubt at all upon the subject, The difficulty as to the date may be 
 accounted for by supposing that these two letters were really written at 
 Wynche the day before, but that the date 2ist August was filled in by the 
 Earl at Bury St. Edmund's at the time he despatched his letter of the same 
 date to John Paston. 
 
 To my ryght trusti and wyth all myn hert intyerly wel- 
 belovyd Sir Mylys Stapelton, Knyght. 
 
 trusty and wyth all myn hert entierly 
 welbelovyd, I grete yow wele, and wol that 
 ye wete that a gentelman of your ally haghe 
 \JiatJ{\ ben wyth me, at whos instans' and 
 steryng and by hese good avyes I wold ful fayne amet 
 \have mef\ wyth yow at Framyngham; but I may no lenger 
 abyde here for the strayte comaundment that I have 
 to be wyth the Kyng. Wherfore I pray yow to comown 
 wyth Brews and Paston, and to put in artycles be ther
 
 142 THE P ASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1450. 
 
 avyses and be your wysdom the indisposicion of the 
 people of this counte,and what were most necesary to be 
 desierid of the Kyng and of my Lordis of the Councell 
 for the restreynte of ther mourmour and the peas, and 
 to sende it me be the brynger herof, to whom I pray 
 yow gef credens. And the Holy Ternyte kepe yow. 
 Wretyn at Wynche, the xxj. day of August 
 
 To my ryght trusty and entierly wclbdffvyd Thomas 
 Breii'es, Squyer. 
 
 ji YGHT trusty and intyerly welbelovid, I grete 
 yow wele. And for as mouche as ye were 
 with my wyf at Wynche in the name and 
 behalve of the substaunce of the gentelys of 
 this shyer, and cause my wyf to wryte to me for to 
 turne agayn into Norffolk, be wheche wrytyng, and be 
 your report it semyd to me that a gret asemble had be 
 purposid wythin the counte heer. I therfore sayd unto 
 yow, wolyng and mevyng yow aftyr your trowth, and 
 as ye know, that ye do put in artycles the indisposicion 
 of the people, and what your avyce is to be do for the 
 restreynyng of the same ; and this articles I pray yow 
 set to your seal, and cause other gentelmen with wham 
 ye have comonyng set ther scales, for this is neces- 
 sary, and that I may schew it to the Kyng and to my 
 Lordis of hese Councell, and that I fayle not here of 
 for your honeste and myn excuse. And the Ternyte 
 kepe yow. Wreten at Wynche, the xxj. day of August 
 
 106. 
 
 A.D. 1450, [Aug.] 
 [THE EARL OF OXFORD TO THE DUKE OF NORFOLK.] 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This would seem by internal evidence to be the letter of excuse written by 
 Oxford to the Duke of Norfolk, which the Earl mentions in his letter to John 
 Paston of the 2ist August. The original from which it is taken is a copy 
 without signature or address, and mutilated in the margin.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 143 
 
 YGHT high and myghty Prynce and my right 
 good Lord, I recomaunde me un to youre 
 good Lordshep. And for asmouch as I am 
 enformed [that] certeyn notable knyghtis and 
 squyers of this counte dispose thaym self to be with youre 
 Lordshep in hasty tyme at Fram[yngham], theer to have 
 comonyngs with youre good Lordshep for the sad rule 
 and governaunce of this counte, wych standyth ryght 
 
 indisposyd, God amend it ; for qwych sad 
 
 rule and governaunce to be had I wold full fayn a ben 
 with your good [Lordship]. But for asmouch as the 
 Kynge hath geve to me straitly in charge to be with 
 
 hys Highnesse at Westminstre on Saterda[y] 
 
 [I must] departe towards London. Therfore therof 
 I beseche your good Lordship that ye vouch esaf to 
 comon with the seyd k[nyghtes and squyers] as with 
 your feytfull servaunts ; and I trost to God to se youre 
 
 good Lordship at Framyngham as I shall 
 
 And yf your Lordshep seme necessary that I now 
 beynge at Westminster shall any thynge laboure or 
 des[ire for the rule] and governaunce of the counte for- 
 sayd, or for reformacion of suche wronge as the peples 
 
 herts most agrugge as lyke that I 
 
 meve to the Kynge and the Lordes of the Counceyll, 
 
 so wyll I meve, and none otherwyse as 
 
 Wheryn I beseche your grace to know your entente by 
 the brynger her of. And my service is redy to your 
 Lords[hip] mercy who kepe who kepe 1 neb- 
 bey (?) for hese grace. 
 
 107. 
 A.D. 1450(7) JOHN PASTON AND LORD MOLEYNS. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,239, B.M.] 
 
 This is a bill addressed to Cardinal Kemp as Lord Chancellor, to which 
 reference will be found to be made in the succeeding letter. Kemp was 
 appointed Lord Chancellor on the 315! January 1450. The acts here com- 
 plained of were therefore those connected with Paston's second expulsion 
 from Gresham. 
 
 1 So in MS.
 
 144 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 Un to the right rcccrcnt fadir in God and my right 
 gracioux Lord, the Cardinal Archcbisshop of York, 
 Pry mat and Chaunccllcr of Inglond. 
 
 ESECHETH mekely. John Fasten that where 
 Robert Hungerford, Knyght, Lord Molens, 
 and Alianore, his wyff, late with force and 
 strength, and grete multitude of riottous 
 peple, to the noumbre of a thousand persones and mo, 
 gadered by th'excitacion and procuryng of John Hey- 
 don x a yenst the Kynggs pees, in riotous maner entred 
 up on your seid besecher and othir enfeoffed to his 
 use in the manoir of Gresham with th'appurtenauncez 
 in the shire of Norffolk ; whiche riotous peple brake, 
 dispoiled, and drew doun the place of your seid bese- 
 cher in the seid toun, and drafe out his wiff and ser- 
 vauntes there beyng, and ryfled, took, and bare awey 
 alle the goodes and catalx that your seid besecher and 
 his servauntes hadde there to the value of cc//. [^200] 
 and more ; and the seid manoir, after the seid riottous 
 entre, kept with strong hande in manere of werre, as 
 weel ayenst your seid besecher and his feffees, as 
 ayenst oon of the Kyngges justicez of the pees in the 
 seid shire, that come thedir to execute the statutes 
 ordeigned and provyded ayenst suche forcible entrees 
 and kepyng of possessions with force, as it appiereth 
 by recorde of the seid justice certifyed in to the Chaun- 
 cerie ; and yet the seid Lord Molens the same manoir 
 kepith with force and strengthe ayenst the fourme of 
 the seid statutes : Please it your reverent Fadirhood 
 and gracioux Lordship, these premisses considered, to 
 graunte on to your seid besecher for his feffees by 
 hym to be named a special assise - ayenst the seid 
 Lord Molens, Alianore, and John Heidon, and othir 
 to be named by your seid besecher, and also an oyer 
 
 1 John Heydon, Esq. of Baconsthorpe, a lawyer, who was recorder of 
 Norwich from 1431 to 1433, and sheriff in 1431-2. 
 8 See p. 138, Note 4.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 145 
 
 and determyner 1 ayenst the seid Lord Molens, John 
 Heidon, and othir of the seid riotous peple in like 
 fourme to be named, to enquere, here and determyn 
 all trespaces, extorcions, riottes, forcible entrees, 
 mayntenaunces, 2 champerties, 3 embraceries, 4 offenses, 
 and mesprisions 5 by hem or ony of hem doen, als weel 
 atte sute of our sovereign Lord the Kyng, as of your 
 seid besecher and his seid feffees, and every of hem, 
 or of ony othir of the Kyngges lieges : atte reverence 
 of God, and in weye of charite. 
 
 108. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 4 Sept. 
 JOHN PASTON TO JAMES GRESHAM. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 It is evident that this letter was written partly in answer to Gresham's of 
 the igth August 1450. The year is therefore the same. The letter is printed 
 from a copy in Gresham's handwriting. 
 
 TJie Copie of the Letter off. P. 
 
 AMES GRESHAM, I prey yow laboure forth 
 to have answer of my bille for myn especial 
 assise, and the oyer and termyner, 1 accordyng 
 to my seid bille that I delyvered to my Lord 
 Chaunceler, 6 letyng hym wete that his Lordship con- 
 ceyved the graunt of suyche a special matier myght 
 cause a rumour in the cuntre. Owt of dowte the cuntre 
 is not so disposed, for it is desired ageyn suche per- 
 sones as the c[untre] wolde were ponysshid ; and if 
 they be not ponysshid to refourme that they have do 
 amysse, by liklynesse the cuntre wole rise up on 
 th[em]. Men talke that a general oier and termyner is 
 graunted to the Duke of Norfolk, my Lord of Ely, the 
 
 1 Sec p. 138, Note 5. 
 
 8 Unlawful support given to a disputant by one not concerned in the cause. 
 
 3 Bargains made with litigants for a share in what may be gained by the 
 suit 
 
 4 Attempts to corrupt juries. 
 
 6 Treason or felony committed by oversight or wilful neglect of a duty. 
 6 Cardinal Kemp. See last No. 
 
 L.
 
 146 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 Erll of Oxenford, the Lord Scales, Sir John Fastolf, 
 Sir Thomas Fulthorp, and William Yelverton, and men 
 be right glad therof. Yet that notwithstondyng, laboure 
 ye forth for me. F[or] in a general oyer and termyner 
 a superseded* may dassh al, and so shall not in a special. 
 And also if the justicez come at my request, they shall 
 sytte als long as I wole, and so shall thei not by the 
 generall. And as for commyssioners in myn, &c., Sir 
 John Fastolf must be pleyntyf als weel as 1 my self, 
 and so he may not be commyssioner ; and as for alle 
 the remenant, I can thynke them indifferent inow in 
 the matier, except my Lord Scales, whos wyff is aunte 
 to the Lady Moleyns. 
 
 And as for that the Lord Moleyns hath wretyn that 
 he dar put the matier in awarde of my Lord Chaun- 
 celer, and in what juge he wole take to hym, &c. (which 
 offre as I suppose shall be tolde to yow for to make 
 yow to cesse your labour), thanne lete that be answerid, 
 and my Lord Chaunceller enfourmed thus : The matier 
 was in trete by th'assent of the Lord Moleyns a twene 
 his counseil and myn, whiche assembled at London 
 xvj. dyvers dayes, and for the more part there was a 
 sergeant and vj. or vij. thrifty apprentisez; at whiche 
 tyme the Lord Moleyns title was shewed, and clerly 
 answerid, in so meche that his own counseil seide they 
 cowde no forther in the matier, desiryng me to ride to 
 Salesbury to the Lord Moleyns, promyttyng of their 
 part that thei wolde moeve the Lord Moleyns, so that 
 thei trusted I shuld have myn entent or I come thens ; 
 of whiche title and answer I send yow a copie that 
 hath be put in to the Parlement, the Lord Moleyns 
 being there present, whereto he cowde not sey nay. 
 Also by fore this tyme I have agreed to put it in ij. 
 juges, so thei wolde determyne by our evydences the 
 right, moevyng nother partie to yeve other by ony mene, 
 but only the right determyned, he to be fully recom- 
 pensed that hath right. Whereto he wold not agree, 
 but alle tymes wolde that thoe juges shulde entrete the 
 parties as they myght be drawe to by offre and profre
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 147 
 
 to my conceyte as men bye hors. Whiche matiers 
 considerid, my counseil hath alwey conceyved that the 
 tretees he offred hath be to non othir entent but to 
 delaye the matier, or ellis to entrete me to relese my 
 damages, for title hath he non. And he knowith weel 
 the title shall never better be undirstond thanne it hath 
 be by his counseil and myn atte seid comunycacions. 
 And also my Lord Chaunceler undirstond that the Lord 
 Moleyns men toke and bar away more then cc//. 
 [^200] worth of my goodes and catalles. Wherof I 
 delyvered hym a bylle of every parcell, wherto al the 
 world knoweth he canne make no title. And if he 
 were disposed to do right, my counseil thynketh he 
 shuld restore that, for therfor nedith nowthir co- 
 munycacion nor trete. And with owt he wole restore 
 that, I trowe no man can thynk that his trete is to no 
 good purpose. 
 
 I preye yow hertily laboure ye so to my Lord Chaun- 
 celler that owther he wole graunte me my desire, or 
 ellis that he wole denye it. And lete me have answer 
 from yow in wrytyng how ye spede. If my Lord 
 Chaunceler hath lost my bille that I delyvered hym, 
 wherof I sende yow a copie, that thanne ye put up to 
 hym an othir of the same, takyng a copie to your self. 
 
 Recomand me to my cosyn William Whyte, 1 and 
 prey hym to gyf yow his help in this, and lete hym be 
 prevye to this letter. And lete hym w[ete] that my 
 cosyn his suster hath childe, a doughter. Wretyn at 
 Norwich, the iiij. day of Septembre. 
 
 Dyverse men of my freendis avyse me to entre in to 
 the maner of Gresham by force of my writte of resti- 
 tucion, whiche I wole not do by cause the maner is so 
 decayed by the Lord Moleyns occupacion, that where 
 it was worth to me 1. marks clerly by yeer, I cowde not 
 now make it worth xx/z. ; for whiche hurt, and for othir 
 hurtis, by this special assise I trust to have remedye. 
 
 1 Cardinal Kemp's servant. See No. 100.
 
 148 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 109. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 7 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 245.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS, THOMAS GRENE, 
 AND WATKYN SHYPDAM. 
 
 Has no word from them of the correction and engrossing of the 
 damages done to him by divers men in Norfolk, of part of which 
 he sent a roll to them at Castre a month ago. Sends John 
 Bokkyng for an answer. Was often damaged by the Duke of 
 Suffolk's officers in Lodylond, both by undue amerciaments arid 
 distraining cattle at Cotton, and by the officers of Cossey, of 
 which there should be remembrances at Castre. Wrote also that 
 they should see the Bishop of Norwich about the letter left with 
 him concerning the award of Dedham. Is particularly anxious 
 to know what they have done about Rydlyngfeld, &c. 
 
 London, 7 Sept. 29 Hen. VI. Signed. 
 
 110. 
 A.D. 1450, 15 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 253.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS, at Castre, or at 
 Pokethorp in Norwich, or at Haylydon Manor. 
 
 Has received his letter by Thomas Fastolf touching his dili- 
 gence about the recovery of the letter with the Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, and of the evidences of Rydlyngfeld, with a copy of a certain 
 indenture which F. has already sealed. Has no answer of the 
 correction of the articles F. sent home to him two months ago. 
 As my Lord of Norfolk is at Norwich to sit upon the oyer and 
 terminer, you must labor to shew forth my grievances. Nothing 
 can be done till after Michaelmas about the venire facias for the 
 jury of Sybton. Has written this week by the Parson of Esthar- 
 lyng to Berney, who, he hears, has been shewing favor to his 
 adversaries. Refers him further to John Bokkyng, who is now 
 in Norfolk. 
 
 London, 15 Sept. 29 Hen. VI.
 
 A.D. 145.] HENRY VI. 149 
 
 111. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 18 Sept. HENRY VI. TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 362.] 
 
 The bearing of this letter upon the contents of Nos. 107 and 108 proves it 
 to be of the same year. 
 
 To cure trusty and welbeloved John Paston, Squier. 
 By the King. 
 
 RUSTY and welbeloved, for asmuche as cure 
 right trusty and welbeloved the Lord Moleyns 
 is by our special desire and comaundement 
 waitting upon us, and now for divers consi- 
 deracions moeving us, we purpose to sende hym in to 
 certaine places for to execute oure commaundement, 
 for the whiche he ne may be attendant to be in oure 
 countees of Northfolk and Suffolk at the time of oure 
 Commissioners sitting upon oure commission of oier 
 determiner within the same oure counties : We ther- 
 fore desire and praye that considering his attendance 
 upon us, and that he must applie hym to execute oure 
 commaundement, ye wol respite as for any thing at- 
 tempting ayenst hym as for any matiers that ye have 
 to do or seye ayenst hym, or any other of his servants, 
 welwillers, or tenaunts, by cause of hym, unto tyme he 
 shal mowe be present to ansuere there unto ; wherein 
 ye shall ministere unto us cause of pleasure, and over 
 that, deserve of us right good thanke. Yeven under 
 oure signet at oure Palois of Westmynster, the xviij, 
 day of September. 
 
 112. 
 A.D. 1450 (?) 29 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 THE VICAR OF SPORLE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Reports the disposition of " my master," the Provost. Francis 
 Costard brought his evidence to my master's presence, where it 
 was examined. lie wondered what title you would claim to the
 
 150 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 land I said, men said it was once free till it was soiled by a bond- 
 man. He gave more weight to the evidence of John Aleyn and 
 Nicholas Waterman. Aleyn says he was steward of the manor, 
 in Garleke's days, forty years, and never knew it claimed for bond 
 ground ; and the said Nicholas says it was he who moved your 
 father to buy the manor. Many others have set their seals to 
 corroborate this. Asked him to be good unto Henry Halman, 
 who was amerced in his court for chastising a servant of his, a 
 bondman of yours. My master asked mockingly if a man might 
 not beat his own wife. 
 
 Sporle, Michaelmas morning. 
 
 [This letter would seem to belong to the same year as No. 100, in which 
 " Costard's nisi prius " and an action against Halman are referred to. No. 
 101 also mentions Halman and the writer of this letter.] 
 
 113. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 6 Oct 
 WILLIAM WAYTE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 154.] 
 
 This letter must have been written just after the Duke of York came over 
 from Ireland in 1450, when he demanded that justice should be fairly adminis- 
 tered against persons accused. A Parliament was summoned, which met on 
 the 6th November, and Sir William Oldhall was chosen as Speaker. 
 
 To my mayster, John Paston, in ryght gret hast. 
 
 |YR, and it plese, I was in my Lord of Yorks 1 
 howse, and I herde meche thynge more 
 thanne my mayster 2 wrytyth un to yow of; 
 I herde meche thynge in Fletestrede. But, 
 Sir, my Lord was with the Kynge, and he vesaged so 
 the mater that alle the Kynges howshold was and is 
 aferd ryght sore; and my seyd Lord hayth putte a 
 bille to the Kynge, and desyryd meche thynge, qwych 
 is meche after the Comouns desyre, and all is up on 
 justice, and to putte all thos that ben indyted under 
 arest with owte suerte or maynpryce, and to be tryed 
 be lawe as lawe wyll ; in so meche that on Monday 
 Sir William Oldhall was with the Kynge atte West- 
 
 1 Richard, Duke of York, afterwards Protector, the father of King Ed- 
 ward IV. 
 
 2 The writer was clerk to Judge Yelverton.
 
 A.D. I450-] HENRY VI. 151 
 
 minster more thanne to houres, and hadde of the 
 Kynge good cher. And the Kynge desyryd of Sir 
 William Oldhall that he shuld speke to hese cosyn 
 York, that he wold be good Lord to John Penycock, 
 and that my Lord of York shuld wryte un to hese 
 tenance that they wold suffyr Peny Cocks officers go 
 and gader up hys rents fermes with inne the seyd 
 Dukes lordsheps. And Sir William Oldhall answherd 
 ayen to the Kynge, and preyed hym to hold my Lord 
 escusyd, for thow my Lord wrotte under hese scale of 
 hys armes hys tenantez wyll not obeyet ; in someche 
 that whanne Sir Thomas Hoo mette with my Lord of 
 Zork be yon Sent Albons, the Western men felle upon 
 hym, and wold a slayne hym, hadde [not ?] Sir William 
 Oldhall abe \_have beeti\, and therfor wold the Westerne 
 men affalle up on the seyd Sir William, and akyllyd 
 hym. And so he tolde the Kynge. 
 
 Sir Borle Jonge and Josse labour sore for Heydon 
 and Tudenham to Sir Wilem Oldhall, and profyr more 
 thanne to thowsand pownde for to have hese good 
 Lordshep ; and therfor it is noon other remedye but 
 late Swhafham men be warned to mete with my seyd 
 Lord on Fryday nest comyng atte Pykenham on 
 horssebak in the most goodly wyse, and putte sum 
 bylle un to my Lord of Sir Thomas Tudenham, Hey- 
 don, and Prentys, and crye owte on hem, and that all 
 the women of the same town be there also, and crye 
 owte on hem also, and calle hem extorcionners, and 
 pray my Lord that he wyll do sharp execucyons up on 
 hem. And my mayster counceyll yow that ze shuld 
 meve the Meyer and all the Aldermen with all her 
 Comoners to ryde ayens my Lord, and that ther ben 
 madde byllez, and putte them up to my Lord, and late 
 all the towne cry owte on Heydon, Todenham, Wynd- 
 ham, and Prentys, and of all here fals mayntenours, and 
 telle my Lord how meche hurte thei have don to the 
 cetye, and late that be don in the most lamentabyl 
 wyse ; for, Sir, but yf \unless~] my Lord here sum fowle 
 tales of hem, and sum hyddows noys and crye, by
 
 152 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 my feyth thei arne ellys lyke to come to grace. And 
 therfor, Sir, remember yow of all these maters. 
 
 Sir, also I spake with William Nonvych, and asked 
 hym after the Lord Moleyns how he stod to my Lord 
 ward ; and he told me he was sor owte of grace, and 
 that my Lord of York lovyth hym nought. William 
 Nonvych tolde me that he durste undertake for to 
 brynge yow un "to my Lord, and make hym your ryght 
 good Lord ; and, Sir, my mayster counceyllyd yow that 
 ze shuld not spare, but gete yow hese good Lordshep. 
 
 Sir, be war of Heydon, for he wold destroyed yow 
 be my feyth. The Lord Scales and Sir William Old- 
 hall arne made frendys. 
 
 Sir, labour ze for [to] be knyth of the shire, and speke 
 to my Mayster Stapulton l also that he be yt ; Sir, all 
 Swafham, and they be warned, wyll zeve yow here 
 voyses. Sir, speke with Thomas Denys, and take hese 
 good avys therin. Sir, speke to Denys that he avoyde 
 hys garyson atte Rydon, for there is non other remedy 
 but deth for Danyell, and for all thos that arne indyted. 
 Sir, labour ze to the Meyer that John Dam 2 or Will 
 Jenney be burgeys for the cetye of Nonvych, telle 
 them that he may be yt as well as Yonge is of Brystow, 
 or the Recorder is of London, and as the Recordour of 
 Coventre is for the cite of Coventre, and it so in many 
 places in Ingland. Also, Sir, thynk on Yernemouth 
 that ze ordeyne that John Jenney, or Limnour, or sum 
 good man be burgeys for Yernemouth. Ordeyne ze 
 that Jenneys mown ben in the Parlement, for they 
 kun seye well. 
 
 Sir, it wore wysdam that my Lord of Oxenford wayte 
 on my Lord of Yorke. In good feyth, good Sir, thynke 
 on all these maters ; meche more I hadde to wryte on 
 to yow, yf I kowde a remembryd me, but I hadde no 
 leyser be my fyth. Hold me escused of my lewde 
 rude wrytyng. Late John Dam be ware for the Lorde 
 
 1 Sir Miles Stapleton. 
 
 8 John Dam actually was returned to Parliament for the city of Norwich 
 in November 1450.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 153 
 
 Moleyns; and, Sir, late the cetye be ware, for he wyll do 
 hem a velony, but yf he may have hese men ; and, Sir, 
 yf he come to Norwych, look there be redy to wayte 
 up on the Mayer a good fellawshep, for it is seyd her 
 that they arne but bestys. 
 
 Sir, my mayster bad me wryte un to yow that ze 
 shuld store the Mayer and alle the Alderman to crye 
 on my Lord that they mown have justyce of these men 
 that be indyted, and that my Lorde wyll speke un to the 
 Kynge therof. And, Sir, in divers partes in the town 
 there \where\ my Lord comyth, there wolde be ordeyned 
 many porcions of Comeners to crye on my Lord for 
 justice of these men that arne indyted, and telle her 
 nammes, in speciall Todenham, Heydon, Wyndham, 
 Prentys. Sir, I cende yow a copy of the bylle l that 
 my Lord of Yorke putte un to the Kynge ; and, Sir, 
 late copyes go abowte the cetye i now, for the love of 
 God, wy[c]he have yow in hese kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn on Seynt Feyth daye, in hast. 
 Be yowr Servaunt, 
 
 W. WAYTE. 
 
 114. 
 
 A.D. 1450. 
 RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, TO KING HENRY VI. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 64.] 
 
 The MS. from which this was printed by Fenn, was doubtless the copy of 
 my Lord of York's "bill" which William Wayte sent to John Paston, as 
 mentioned in the end of the last letter. 
 
 Richard, Duke of York, his Petition to Kyng Henry for 
 the puny shement of Trey tors, &>c. 
 
 LEASE it your Hyghnes tendirly to consider the 
 grett grutchyng and romer that is universaly 
 in this your reame of that justice is nouth 
 dewly ministred to such as trespas and offende 
 a yens your lawes, and in special of them that ben 
 
 1 See next No.
 
 154 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 endited of treson, and other beyng openly noysed of 
 the same ; wherfore for gret inconveniens that have 
 fallen, and grett is lyke to fallen her after in your seid 
 reame, which God defende,but if[un/ess] be your Hygh- 
 nesse provysion convenable be mad for dew reforma- 
 cion and punyshment in this behalf; Wherfore I, your 
 humble suget and lyge man, Richard, Duke of York, 
 willyng as effectually as I kan, and desiryng suerte and 
 prosperite of your most roiall person, and welfare of 
 this your noble reame, councel and advertyse your 
 excellent, for the conversacion [conservation] of good 
 tranquillite and pesable rewle among all trew sogetts, 
 for to ordeyn and provyde that dewe justice be had a 
 yenst all such that ben so endited or openly so noysed : 
 wher inne I offre, and wol put me in devour for to 
 execute your comaundements in thes premises of such 
 offenders, and redresse of the seid mysrewlers to my 
 myth and power. And for the hasty execucion herof, 
 lyke it your Hyghnes to dresse your letteres of prevy 
 scale and writts to your officers and ministres to do 
 take, and areste all soch persons so noysed or endited, 
 of what astatte, degre, or condicion so ever thei be, 
 and them to comytte to your Tour of London, or to 
 other your prisons, there to abyde with outen bayle or 
 maynprice on to the tyme that they be utterly tryed 
 and declared, after the cours of your la we. 
 
 115. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 15 Oct. SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR 
 THOMAS HOWYS AND WILLIAM BARKER. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 92.] 
 
 To my rys;ht trusty freende, Sir Thomas Howys, Parson of 
 Castellcombe, beyng at Castre, and William Barker, 
 in haste, at Castre Yn } by Jermuth,
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 1 55 
 
 YGHT trusty and welbelovyd freende, I grete 
 you well. And as for Hygham place to be 
 sold, as ye avysen me to bye it at the some 
 of C. mark or wythynne, and reserve yn the 
 said payment myne oune dewtee, and pay the remen- 
 ant in wolle to the said Hygham credytes as your let- 
 tre makyth mencion ; I hafe undrestand that William 
 Jenney shall be her thys wek, and I shall veele hym 
 how neere it may be sold; for yff the wydow wolle sylle 
 it after xiiij. yeer or xv. yeere that it may be leten, 
 sendyth me utterly word, for I wolle not melle of it 
 ellys thus avysed. And sende ye me word how mech 
 more yn value yn a stoon shall I syle my wolle, and 
 how [much ?] anothyr chapman wole gefe me for the 
 place when I hafe bought it ; but after xiiij. yeer I 
 wold by the place. 
 
 Wretyn at London, the xv. day of October anno 
 xxix. regni Regis Henrici VI. 
 
 J. FASTOLF. 
 
 116. 
 
 A.D. 1450, Oct (?) ANONYMOUS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The tone of this letter so closely resembles that of William Wayte of the 
 6th October 1450, especially in its warnings to Paston and John Damme, and 
 in the information it contains as to Lord Moleyns not being in favour with the 
 Duke of York, that it may be safely inferred to have been written about the 
 same period. 
 
 To my cosyn, John Paston. 
 
 Recomawnde me un to yow the best wyse I 
 kan. Whanne I cam to Ware, ther herd I 
 furst tydynges that the Lord Moleyns shuld 
 come in to Norfolk in hast with grette pupyll, 
 and, as on of hys men seyd ther, with the vij xx [seven- 
 score]. Also a man of the Lady Morles l cam thedyr 
 owte of Wyllshire ther thanne, and seyd that the seyd 
 Lord was comyng thedynvard with grette pupyll. 
 
 1 See page 67, Note i.
 
 156 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 And atte London a man of hys hedde large langage, 
 and seyd that my Lord shuld come to Norffolk, and 
 do meche thyng agayns hem that hadde do indite hym 
 and hys men, and also for the presonyng of hys men 
 atte Norwych. This is sopposyd verely to be Hey- 
 dons werke that wyll sette hym verely to do the utterest 
 ayens yow and John Dam in the werst wyse that he 
 can. Ze have both lordshep and frendshep in your 
 countre, and also good inow to reciste hym yf he wyll 
 do yow wronge, and peraventur that shuld brynge thys 
 matier nyer and ende thanne it is now. Whedder it 
 be to done or not, I remitte that to youre counceyll. 
 
 Also, my Lord l shall be atte Walsyngham on Sonday 
 nest comynge, a from thens he shall go to Norwych. 
 For any thynge in the werd \T.vorl(T\ meve my Lord of 
 Oxenford and my cosyn Sir Miles Stapulton that they 
 awayte up on my seyd Lord in the most wurchepfull 
 wyse that they kun, and do hym as good attendaunce 
 and plesaunce as they mown. And ye do the same 
 also ; and that the cyte of Norwych mete with hym in 
 the best wyse also ; and also that they and ze also 
 cherse and wirchep well Sir William Oldhalle. And 
 ther be good informacion made ayens T. T. and H., 2 
 for they wyll spend m L m 1 - li. [^2000] for to come in 
 ther, and that were petye. Spende sum what of your 
 good now, and gette yow lordshep and frendshep ther, 
 quia ibi pcndet tota lex et prophcta. And send som 
 man to aspye of the governaunce, and of the comyng 
 of the Lord Moleyns, and take hed to your self. And 
 byd John Dam be war of hym self. Sum men suppose 
 that my Lord of York cherse not meche the seyd Lord 
 Moleyns. And send sum men hedyr often to London 
 that mown he them here and brynge yow tydynges. 
 And I pray God spede yow in alle youre werkes. 
 Youre Cosyn, 
 
 NAMELES ATTE THIS TYME. 
 
 Endorsed: Literae Fastolff, Yelverton, circa le oyrdeterminer. Memo- 
 randum de billa actus justic' apud Walsingham. 
 
 1 Probably the Duke of York. 2 Thomas Tuddenham and Heydon.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 157 
 
 117. 
 
 A.D. 1450, [Oct]. 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 94.] 
 
 This letter, though it has no date except of the day of the week, must have 
 been written about October 1450, after the Duke of York had come over from 
 Ireland, and before the elections for the Parliament which met in November, 
 and the appointment of sheriffs in the different counties for the ensuing year. 
 The references to the affair of Lord Moleyns and to the indictment of Hey- 
 don cannot belong to a later year. 
 
 To my worshipfiill Maister Paston, at Norwich, in haste, 
 be this delyvered. 
 
 LEASE it yow to wete that I come to London 
 the Wednesseday at even late next after my 
 departyng from yow, and it was told me that 
 my Maister Calthorp hadde writyng fro my 
 Lord of York to awayte on hym at his comyng in to 
 Norffolk to be oon of his men, and that no gentilman 
 of Norffolk had writyng to awayte on hym but he ; 
 and sum folke wene that it is to th'entent that he shuld 
 bo outhir shiref or knyght of the shire, to the forther- 
 yng of othir folks, &c. 
 
 The Kyng is remevid from Westminster, summe 
 men sey to Fysshwick, 1 and summe sey to Bristowe. 
 And it is seid that he hath do wretyn to alle his men 
 that be in the chekroll 2 to awayte on hym atte Parle- 
 ment in their best aray; why, no man can telle. 
 Heydon 3 was with my Maister Yelverton, 4 and desired 
 hym to see the recordes of his endytementz, and axed 
 of hym if he were indited of felonye ; and my Maister 
 Yelverton told hym it was. And thereto H. seide 
 " Sir, ye wole recorde that I was never thef; " and he 
 
 1 In Lancashire, now in the suburbs of Preston. 
 
 2 The check-roll is a roll or book, containing the names of such persons as 
 are attendants, and in pay to the King, or other great men, as their house- 
 hold servants, &c. F. 
 
 3 See page 144, Note i. 
 
 * William Yelverton, a Justice of the King's Bench,
 
 158 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 seid he trowed right weel that he cowde telle why he 
 took Plumpsteds goods, and othir words whiche were 
 long to write. And my Maister Y. seid to hym 
 he cowde not knowe the laborer of th'endytement, 
 and H. seid ageyn he knewe weel the laborer 
 thereof; and my Maister Y. conceyte is H. ment 
 yow. Wherfor he advyseth yow that in onywyse 
 ye make Plumpsted to take apell accordyng; for 
 if he so do, thanne is H. barred of his conspirace, 
 and also ot his damages, though that he be nonnsewed 
 therin, or though it be afterward discontynued, &c., 
 and ellis are ye in jopardy of a conspirace, for H. 
 hopeth to have the world better to his entent thanne 
 it is nowe. For it is told me that rather thanne he 
 shuld fayle of a shiref this yeer comyng for his entent, 
 he wole spende m 1 -/*. [^1000.] 
 
 This communicacion be twene them was on Mone- 
 day last passed, and on Tewisday last passed H. 
 mette with Maister Markham, 1 and he tolde H. his 
 part how that he levid ungoodly in puttyng awey of 
 his wyff, and kept an other, &c. ; and therwith he 
 turned pale colour, and seid he lyved not but as God 
 was pleased with, ne dede no wrong to no person. 
 And therupon Maister Markham reherced how he 
 demened hym a geynst men of Court, and named 
 yow and Genneye ; and H. seid, as touchyng the 
 peple that rifled yow, and the doyng thereof, he 
 was not privy therto, for he was that tyme here at 
 London ; and as touchyng the Lord Moleyns title, H. 
 enforced gretly, and seid his title was better thanne 
 yours. 
 
 Yisterday was my Maister Yelverton at dyner with 
 my Maister Fastolf, 2 and there among other thei were 
 avysed that my Maister F. shall write to my Lord of 
 Norffolk that he certifie the Kyng and his Counseill how 
 the cuntre of N. and S. [Norfolk andSuffolK\ stonde right 
 
 1 John Markham, one of the Judges of the King's Bench, who became 
 Chief Justice in 1461. 
 a Sir John Fastol
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 159 
 
 wildely, withowt a mene may be that justice be hadde, 
 whiche wole not be but if a man of gret byrthe and 
 lyflod there be shiref thes yer comyng, to lede the 
 peple in most peas; and therto thei named Maister 
 Stapilton, 1 if it wole happe, &c. Also that my Lord 
 Norffolk shall certifie the Kyng and his Counseill that 
 but if the day of the oyer and termyner stonde, it wole 
 be full harde, by cause the peple is so wylde. 
 
 Also that alle knyghtes and escuyers of the same 
 cuntre shuld certifie the same, for summe of H. part 
 have boosted that all .... at Norwich shuld 
 not be worth an haughe Jon, &c. 
 
 Item, Prentise is now in the Mydle Inne, and 
 Dynne 
 
 Almyghty God have yow in his kepyng. Wretyn 
 
 the Thursday next after my departyng 
 
 Your, 
 
 J. GRESHAM. 
 
 118. 
 A.D. 1450. JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is anonymous, but is in the handwriting of James Gresham. It 
 must have been written in ihe autumn of the year 1450, while Lord Molyns 
 was in Wiltshire, and when the nomination of John Jermyn as Sheriff of 
 Norfolk was expected, but had not yet been decided on, or at least not known 
 to the writer. It was therefore certainly written after the preceding number, 
 though the latter is probably not the letter to which it was intended to serve 
 as a postscript. 
 
 To my worship/nil maister, John Paston, Escuyr, 
 dwellynge att Norwich, in hast. 
 
 FTER that myn letter was wretyn, I spak with 
 Maister Yelverton, and tolde hym the sub- 
 stance of my letter to yow. And he bad 
 me write to yow that as touchyng the matier 
 of my Lord of Oxeford, he shall lette the awardyng 
 
 1 Sir Miles Stapletoft
 
 160 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 and th'entre therof als long as he may ; and he demyth 
 veryly that H. Wodehous coude never have take up 
 on his knowelage to have called up on the matier with 
 owt counseil and enformacion of Heydon, and it were 
 weel do that my Lord of Oxeford knewe it. 
 
 Item, Maister Yelverton told me that the Lord 
 Moleyns was enfourmed that he and alle his men wern 
 endited of felonye in Norffolk, whiche caused hym and 
 his to be right wroth toward my maister and yow. 
 And Maister Yelverton hath tolde a man of the Kyngges 
 Benche called Styrop, whiche is a man of the Lord 
 Moleyns, the trouth that nothir he ner noon of his is 
 endited, and Stirop is now in to Wiltshire, and shall 
 telle it to the Lord M. ; for that shall squage weel 
 his hete of wrethe. And as touchyng Germyn, 1 if he 
 be Shiref, William Genney wole undirtake for hym 
 that he shall and wole be ruled weel inow, &c. 
 
 119. 
 
 A.D. 1450 (?) 16 Oct. 
 THE DUKE OF NORFOLK TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 92.] 
 
 This letter and that which follows clearly refer to the same matter. The 
 time of year and the part taken by the Duke of York in the election are cir- 
 cumstances which in themselves create a pretty strong presumption in favour 
 of the year 1450. And this presumption almost becomes a certainty, when 
 we observe that the date of this letter i6th October was a Friday in that 
 year ; for the meeting of York and Norfolk is stated in the next letter to have 
 been on a Thursday and Friday, and this letter would doubtless have been 
 written as soon as a decision had been come to between the two Lords. 
 
 To cure trusti and wdbelovid John Pciston, Squier. 
 
 TJie Due of Norffolk. 
 
 rvTIGHT trusti and welbelovid, we grete you well. 
 And forasmoche as oure unkill of York and 
 we have fully appoynted and agreed of such 
 ij. persones for to be knightes of shire of 
 
 1 John Jennyn was actually appointed Sheriff in the end of the year 1450.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 161 
 
 Norffolk as cure said unkill and we thinke convenient 
 and necessarie for the welfare of the said shire, we 
 therfor pray you, in oure said unkill name and cures 
 bothe, as ye list to stonde in the favour of oure good 
 Lordshipp, that ye make no laboure contrarie to oure 
 desire. And God have you in his keping. 
 
 Wreten at Bury Seynt Edmondis, the xvj. day of 
 Octobr. 
 
 120. 
 
 A.D. 1450 (?) 1 8 Oct 
 THE EARL OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 98.] 
 
 For evidence of date, see note to preceding letter. 
 
 To owr welbeloved John Paston. 
 
 IjIGHT welbeloved, I grete yow well. And as 
 d towchyng for tydyngs, I can none, savyng 
 jiyj that my Lord of Norffolk met with my Lord 
 of York at Bury on Thursday, and there were 
 to gedre til Friday, ix. of the clokke, and than they de- 
 parted. And there a gentilman of my Lord of York 
 toke unto a yeman of myn, John Deye, a tokene and 
 a sedell of my Lords entent, whom he wold have 
 knyghtts of the shyre, and I sende you a sedell closed 
 of their names in this same lettre, wherfore me thynkith 
 wel do to performe my Lords entent. 
 
 Wretyn the xviij day of Octobr, at Wynche. 
 
 OXENFORD* 
 
 ( Sir William Chambirlayn. 1 ) 
 , { Henry Grey. } 
 
 1 The names actually returned by the Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk for 
 this Parliament were for Norfolk, Sir Miles Stapleton and Henry Gray; for 
 Suffolk, Sir Roger Chamberleyn and Sir Edmund Mulso. 
 
 M
 
 162 
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 121. 
 
 A.D. 1450 (?) 22 Oct 
 
 THE DUKE OF NORFOLK TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 93.] 
 
 This letter must have been written either in 1449 or in 1450, in both of 
 which years Parliament met on the 6th of November ; and as we have other 
 letters, both of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Oxford, relating to the 
 Parliament of 1450, we are inclined to think this also belongs to the later 
 year. Framlingham, the seat of the Duke of Norfolk, is not more than 
 thirty-two miles from Bury, from which he wrote on the i6th, 
 
 To oure right trusty and we/beloved servaunt, John 
 J } aston, Squier. 
 
 TJie Due of Norfolk. 
 
 trusti and right welbelovid, we grete yo 
 hertily well, prayng you specially that ye will 
 make you redy to awayte upon us at Yippis- 
 wich toward the Parlement the viij. day of 
 Novembre in youre best aray, with as many clenly 
 people as ye may gete for oure worship at this tyme ; 
 for \ve will be there like oure estate in oure best wise 
 without any delay. Yeven under oure signet in oure 
 Castell of Framlyngham, the xxij. day of Octobre. 
 
 122, 
 
 A.D. 1450, ii Nov. 
 JOHN DAMME AND JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 100.] 
 
 The date of this letter is determined by the fact mentioned in the first sen- 
 tence. Sir William Oldhall was chosen Speaker of the Parliament which met
 
 A.D. I450-] HENRY VI. 163 
 
 on the 6th November 1450. John Damme represented Norwich in this 
 Parliament. Moreover, the date at the end of the letter shows that St. Mar- 
 tin's day fell on Wednesday in the year it was written, which was the case in 
 1450. 
 
 To my -worshipfull and good maistcr, John Paston, 
 Escuyer. 
 
 LEASE it yow to wete that Sir William Oldhall 
 is chosyn Speker of the Parlement, and ad- 
 mytted by the Kyng, &c. Item, the day of 
 oier and termyner shall holde at Norwich on 
 Moneday next comyng, and by that cause my Lord of 
 Oxenford shall be disported of his comyng to the 
 Parlement for to attende to the Sessions of oier, &c. 
 
 Item, the Lord Moleyns hadde langage of yow in 
 the Kynggs presence as my Maister Yelverton can 
 telle yow by mouthe. Your presence shuld have do 
 meche ease here in your own matiers and other, as 
 your weel willers thynkyn, and your absence do non 
 ease here ; netheles my Maister Yelverton shall telle 
 you all, &c. 
 
 It is seid here that the Duke of York and the Duke 
 of Norffolk shulln not come here this vii. nyght. 
 
 Item, it is supposed that an oier and determyner 
 shall come hastily into Norwich. William Dynne 
 abydeth therfore. 
 
 As touchyng Shirefs, ther arn none chosyn ne named, 
 and as men suppose, non shall be chosyn til my Lord 
 of Yorks comyng. &c. 
 
 Wretyn in hast at Westminster, Mercur' in Festo 
 Sancti Martini. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. D. and GR. 
 
 It is apoynted that who shall sue any bille in the 
 Parlement, thei must be put into the Commone Hous 
 by for Seint Edmunds day l atte ferthest, &c. 
 
 1 2oth November.
 
 164 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D.I45O. 
 
 123. 
 A.D. 1450, ii Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 226.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS, Parson of 
 Castlecombe. 
 
 " Right trusty and welbeloved friends," I thank you for the 
 quittance of Richard Sellyng you have sent me by Worcestre, 
 with a quittance of Fauconere for the purchase of Davyngton, 
 and another of Roys for the purchase of Tychewell. Ask my 
 cousin Herry Stunner's wife to search for an indenture and other 
 writings between me and Sellyng or Lady Wiltshire. As you 
 inform me that Sir Thomas Todenham has sent to John Clerc to 
 be at London, you must ask him and his wife to go before the 
 bailiffs of Yarmouth, and certify how it was Bysshop's wife did 
 not receive the 100 I was ruled to pay her. John Clerc must 
 not come up till I send for him. (In margin, " eyer and deter- 
 miner.") Special labour has been made that Justice Yelver- 
 ton should not come down this Martinmas, but the King and 
 Lords have determined that he shall keep his day; "and the 
 labour that ye, with my cousin Paston, made late to my Lord 
 Norfolk was right well avised, in case that the Justice should be 
 countermanded." Urge my friends to do their very best for me 
 now in the matters "labored last at the oyer and terminer," that 
 they may take a worshipful end. Thank Nicholas Bokkyng for 
 what he did about the certificate of the jury in the office 1 of Tyche- 
 well, and beg him to get it sealed in time, which will be a great 
 evidence for the recovery of my manor. Sends home some horses 
 " to be occupied in the cart." Commendations to his cousin 
 John Bemey. Signed. 
 
 Send for William Cole about the accounts, and thank the 
 Parson of Haylesdon 8 for the three writings of Wiltshire's will 
 and Gorney he sent me by Worcester; but say I prayed him to 
 search for more. 
 
 London, St. Martin's day. 
 
 [This letter is dated on Martinmas day, at which date in the year 1450 it 
 will be seen by the preceding number that Justice Yelverton was going down 
 into Norfolk, and an oyer and terminer was going to be held at Norwich. 
 The reference to the " office," or inquisition, of Tychewell also proves the year 
 to be 1450. See No. 132, pp. 175-6.] 
 
 1 An inquisition taken by the escheator of a county by virtue of his office 
 was frequently called an " office." Its object was to ascertain the King's 
 title to certain lands. 
 
 2 Thomas Hert was presented to Haylesdon by Sir John Fastolf in 1448.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENR Y VI. 165 
 
 124. 
 
 A.D. 1450, Nov. 
 JUSTICE YELVERTON TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 50.] 
 
 This would appear to have been written in 1450, just after Yelverton's 
 arrival in Norfolk, whither, it will be seen by the last two letters, he was going 
 in November. The nomination of sheriffs had not yet taken place, and was 
 anxiously expected by many, in the hope that it would lessen the influence of 
 Sir Thomas Tuddenham and Heydon, who had hitherto been very powerful 
 in Norfolk. 
 
 A Letlre to Sir John Fastoff from Justice Yelverton. 1 
 
 Y moste worshypfull and best betrusted maister, 
 I recommaund me to yow, thankyng yow for 
 manye grete gentlenesse and kyndnesse that 
 ye hafe showed unto me, and for the grete 
 ease that I had of your man and your horsys also. 
 
 As for tydyngs owte of thys contree, here ys a mar- 
 veyllous disposed contree, and manye evylle wylled 
 peple to Sir Thomas Tuddenham and Heydon, and 
 but yff they been putt in comfort there by the meene of a 
 good shyreve and undreshyreve, they may hafe remedye 
 now by the ordre of lawe, and ellys grete inconvenices 
 arn lyke for to folowe ther off. Therfor, Sir, for the 
 weele of all our gode contree, mewyth the Kyng, my 
 Lord Chaunceller, 2 and all othyr Lordes as ye thynk 
 best for thys matier on thys behalf. 
 
 Also, Sir, yff they noysse me by thee meene of my 
 Lord Scalys, or by anye othyr meene, or by onye bylle 
 sewed by Brygg, or by onye othyr man by her [i.e. their] 
 craft, that it please yow to sey for me yn sava.cion of my 
 pore worshyp, whych I wote well they may not hurt 
 but they doo me wrongs, to the Kyng, my Lord Chaun- 
 celler, my Lord of Wynchester, 3 my Lord Cromewell, 
 and in othyr places, as ye semyth, that no credence be 
 goven to myne hurt yn myne absence. 
 
 1 This is an endorsement on the original MS., which, not being addressed, 
 was probably only a copy. 
 
 2 Cardinal Kemp. 
 
 3 The celebrated William de Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester.
 
 166 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 Also, Sir, that William Geney and Brayn, the clerks 
 of the Sessions, ben hastyed hedreward as well as they 
 may; and, Sir, my cousyn Paston and my brothyr 
 Cleere can tell yow moch more thyng that I shuld 
 wryte off to yow, and I had leyser ; but I shall wyth- 
 ynne short tyme sende yow more tydyngs owte of thys 
 contree, by the grace of God, whych hafe yow yn hys 
 holye kepyng. 
 
 By your old Servaunt, 
 
 WILLIAM YELVERTON, Justice. 
 
 125. 
 
 A.D. 1450, Nov. 
 JUSTICE YELVERTON TO JOHN BOOKING. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The correspondence of this letter with the last is such as to leave no doubt 
 that they were written at the same period. The MS. is a contemporaneous 
 copy. 
 
 To my welbdoved cosyn, John Bockyng. 
 
 ORSHIPFULL and right welbeloved cosyn, I 
 comaunde me to . you, prayng you to reco- 
 maunde me to my Maister Fastolf, and thank 
 hym in my name hertily for his man and his 
 hors. And also for to meve hym for that we may have 
 a good shereve and a good undershereve that neythir 
 for good favore no fere wol returne for the Kyng, ne 
 betwix partie and partie, none othir men but such as ar 
 good and trewe, and in no wyse will be forsworne ; 
 for the pepil here is loth to compleyne til thei here 
 tidynges of a good shereve. And that William Jenney 
 and Brayne, the clerk of the Cessions, and Thomas 
 Denys, ben hastid hydirward as fast as thei may, and 
 than men supposen he nedith not to dowghtyn his 
 materes. And also that my cosyn Paston be so hastily 
 holpen in his maters that he may sone come hedir
 
 A. D. 145.] HENRY VI. 167 
 
 ageyn. And also that my maistir be my sheld and 
 my defense ageyn s all fals noyses and sclaundres meved 
 ayens me by her menes in myn absens. 
 
 At Walsyngham, and in othir places in the duche 
 of Lancastre, men shal be redy to seche Heydon at 
 horn in his own hous, if he come home ; and in lyke 
 wyse standith Sir Thomas Tudenham his neighbors to 
 hymward as the more part of the pepil seth in this 
 cuntre. His men have told here the falsest tales of 
 Sir William Oldhall and of me that evere I herd speke 
 of. It wer ful necessarye and profitable to the Kyng 
 and to his pepil for to have othir officers in his duche. 
 
 Asay how ye can sett hem a werk in the Parlement, 
 for if this maters be sped as it is aforn desired, thei ar 
 lyke to be sett a werk here well inough, by the grace 
 of God, which have you in holy kepyng. 
 By your cosyn, 
 
 WILLIAM YELVERTON, Justice. 
 
 126. 
 A.D. 1450, 23 Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From an original, sold by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson on the ad March 1870.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS, Parson of Castlecombe, 
 JOHN BOKKYNG, and WATKIN SHYPDAM. 
 
 Thanks the Parson for a letter by Robert Botiller, and one by 
 John Clerc, advising that Bokking and William Jenney be "in 
 that parties " betimes for the oyer and terminer. Has received 
 instruction of the first purchase of Haylysdon. Is glad John 
 Clerc is come. Much strange labour has been made to him by 
 Tasborough and Swolle. Complains of the untruth of Appulzerd 
 of Norwich in the Lady Bardolf's matter. A bailly of Hikelyng 
 maintains the Prior in Ms wrong against Fastolf. William Barker 
 had a box of evidences of the farm of Lady Bardolf's lands, and 
 a deed of Norman's feoffment with evidences of Saxthorp, which 
 cannot be found here, and must have been left at Norwich or 
 Castre. Don't forget Norman's matter, and the maintainers of 
 the false inquest of Beyton Bradwell. Wyndham wants to be 
 friends with me about the Lady Bardolf's matter. The master 
 of St. Giles has been with me for the purchase of Mundham
 
 168 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 Maner with appurtenances in Cyselond, and I have agreed with 
 him for 200 marks. Don't forget the bailly of Hykelyng, who 
 said I should forge [i.e. had forged] evidence, &c. 
 
 London, 23 Nov. 29 Hen. VI. Signed. 
 
 [An extract from the latter part of this letter is printed by Blomefield, 
 Hist. Norf. iv. 388-9 (Note 9).] 
 
 127. 
 A.D. 1450, 28 Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Add. Charter 17,238, B.M.] 
 
 Power of attorney by John, Cardinal Archbishop of York, and 
 others, to John Est and others, including William Worcestre and 
 Geoffrey Sperlyng, to deliver seisin to Walter Leyhert, Bishop of 
 Norwich, and others, of and in the manor of Mundharn, &c. 28 
 Nov. 29 Hen, VI. 
 
 20 Seals, of -which three are lost. 
 
 Endorsed by Blomefield " Sir John Fastolff's Feoffees Release, "&c., with 
 a reference to his History of Norfolk, vol. ii. 762 (fol. ed.) 
 
 128. 
 A.D. 1450, 2 Dec. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 235.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS, Parson of Castlecombe, 
 WILLIAM JENNEY, and JOHN BOKKYNG. 
 
 Thanks them for their diligence. Has respited the matter 
 against Wyndham touching the Lady Bardolf till next term, as 
 he offers to come to an agreement. 1 Is ready to agree with all 
 persons who will find sufficient surety, except Sir Thomas Tud- 
 enham, Heydon, and Pykering (underlined}. Master John Bote- 
 wright has sent him a letter of great loss and damage done by 
 Tudenham and Heydon to the "comyn" of Swaffham, "benym- 
 myng (?) 600 acres lond of her comyn." Has written to " my 
 brother Yelverton," and would write also to my Lord of Oxford, 
 but that he is so vexed in spirit " in thys trouble seson," that at 
 times he cannot abide the signing and sealing of a letter. Prays 
 them to see well to the accountants and auditors' charges. 
 
 London, 2 Dec. 29 Hen. VI. 
 
 1 Fastolf 's signature is placed here, near the beginning of the letter, after 
 the first paragraph
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 169 
 
 " And because I might [not] abide till the writing of the mat- 
 ters that I commanded Worcester to write, I signed the letter so 
 near the beginning ; but I will ye tender, nevertheless, my letter 
 and articles for my most profit and avail." 
 
 129. 
 
 A.D. 1450. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 277.] 
 
 Memoranda signed by Sir John Fastolf {mutilated at the head} 
 viz. about the Prior of Hikelyng ; that John Ulveston and John 
 Andrew be indicted for forging the office of Boyton, as well as 
 for Bradwell in Suffolk ; Brayn to deliver copies ; if they sit in 
 Suffolk, to take heed of Sypton's matter. Nicholas Apleyard 
 will doubtless appear to the bill of maintenance ; so the Prior and 
 Sacristan and Sir H. Inglose must be "laboured" to give informa- 
 tion. Process against Dynne, Prentis, &c. Obligation of 200 marks 
 that Brian Stapleton has in keeping. The Parson of Castle- 
 combe to speak with John Emond of Taverham secretly about 
 one 'who pretended title to Dedham, &c. " That ready word 
 come alway atwix Norwich and this of the tidings that are there." 
 Matter of Margaret Brygge, &c. " That Paston conceive the 
 crossed letter, and say therein to my Lady Felbrigg." To speak 
 to Paston and Jenney about various matters. To speak to 
 Reppys " that he feel my Lord Scales and the Prior of Hikelyng 
 jointly if they will yet treat, as my Lord Scales and my master 
 were agreed at London," &c. 
 
 [From the reference to Sypton's matter, it would appear that this paper is 
 a little before the two following in point of date.J 
 
 130. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 4 Dec. SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS 
 HOWYS AND JOHN BOOKING. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 102.] 
 
 To my ryght trusty frende and servaunt, Sir TJwmas, 
 Parson of Castdlcombe, and John Bokkyng, at Prynce 
 Inneyn Norwych, or at JBeklys. 
 
 YGHT trusty and welbelevyd servaunt, I grete 
 you well. And forasmoch as I undrestand 
 that on Monday next the oyer and terminer
 
 /7 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 shall be holden at Beklys, and ye avysen to sende yow 
 a certificat for cause of the forged quytaunce by Sir 
 John Sypton, whych wrytyng I scende you by the 
 berer here of, prayng you that ye solicit to my councell 
 that the said Sir John Sypton be endited thereuppon, 
 and that ye foryete not Ulveston, Andreus, and the 
 othyrs that forged a fals office l to cast my maner of 
 Bradwell yn to the Kyngs hand. 
 
 Item, I sende you a copie of Sibieton pie and quy- 
 taunce forged to grounde your bille by it. 
 
 No more for haste, but God kepe you. Wryt at 
 London, iiij. day of December, anno xxix regni Regis 
 H. VI. 
 
 Item, Sir John Bukk, Parson of Stratford, physshed 
 my stankys at Dedham, and holp brake my damme, 
 destroyed my new mille, and was ayenst me allwey 
 at Dedham, to the damage of 2o/., which may be en- 
 dyted allso. 
 
 Item, he and John Cole hath by force this yeer, and 
 othyr yeers, take out off my waters at Dedham, to the 
 nombre of xxiiij. swannys and signetts, and I pray you 
 thys be not foryeted. J. FASTOLF. 
 
 131. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 5 Dec. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 247.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS, Parson of Castlecombe, 
 
 and JOHN BOKKING, in haste, at Princes Inn, in Norwich. 
 
 As the oyer and terminer in Suffolk is to be on Monday next, 
 desires them to get Sir John Sypton indicted for forging the false 
 acquittance, and Bury his advocate also. Has inquired of his 
 tenants at Dedham who were the chief counsel of breaking his 
 mill-dam, and they say Sir John Squyer was chief, but John 
 Waryn was of counsel and court-holder there ; also Sir John Buk, 
 Parson of Stratton, who fished his stanks, &c. John Cole of 
 Stoke has also taken in years past more than twenty of his swans. 
 Let them be presented. The late Parson of Cotton got F.'s 
 late bailly, Henry Holm (now dead), pledged out by false repre- 
 sentations of the sufficiency of his bail, &c. 
 
 London, 5 Dec. 29 Hen. VI. Signed. 
 
 1 See p. 164, Note i.
 
 A. D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 171 
 
 132. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 20 Dec. 
 
 FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M., and MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 248.] 
 
 The original of this letter has been torn in two, and the first portion is now 
 among the Paston MSS. in the British Museum, while the latter part is in 
 the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps at Cheltenham. 
 
 To my ryght trusty and welbdovyd frendys. Sir Thomas, 
 Parson off Castcllcombe. 
 
 YGHT trusty frendys, I grete you well. And 
 lete you wete that I have resseyved your 
 lettre thys day, which was wryt xv. day of 
 December, and undre[stand] well your ryght 
 gode mocions and causes shewed of inconvenients that 
 niyght fall, yff the shyreve have not a gode undreshyreff ' 
 whyche were not enclynyng to the partie off T. H. 1 
 And there as ye meoffe me to wryte to ij. Lordys for the 
 said cause, they be both forth to theyr contre, and shall 
 therfor wryte unto hem uppon the tenor of your lettrez 
 in that at y can or may, as forre as reson and justice 
 wolle, for such an officer as woll not, for no mede, 
 hate, or losse, execut 2 dewlye his office to the weele 
 of the contre. 
 
 Item, the day of thys lettre wrytyng, John Bokkyng 
 ys com to me, and hath expressley enformyd me by 
 mouth as by wrytynges the greete labour and diligence 
 whych ye have take uppon yow, seth Martismasse, in 
 especiall, abowte the expedition of my processe of oyer 
 andtermimr before the KyngsCommyssioners attained; 
 and I vele ryght well by the avauncement of my pro- 
 cesse your faithfull diligence, for whych y can you ryght 
 gode thank, and trustyng uppon your gode continuance. 
 And seth the Commissioners shall sytt at Lynne after 
 the Epiphanye, such of my maters as have take none 
 ende, but hang yn processe for defiant of aunsuer or 
 apparaunce of my partie, I pray you that the said 
 
 1 Tuddenham and Heydon. 
 
 2 " Forbear to execute " doubtless was intended.
 
 172 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 maters may be called uppon of the new, and dew pro- 
 cesse had as ferre as justice and gode concience wolle. 
 
 Item, it ys so, as I undrestand, that the Lord Scalys 
 woll be at Lynne thys Cristmasse, and at the oyer and 
 terminer halden there, and Sir Thomas Tuddenham 
 and Heydon wolle appere, of which I am well content ; 
 and it ys lyke that grete labour and speciall pursute 
 shall be made to the Lord Scalys that he wolle meyn- 
 teyn the said Tuddenham and Heydon in all he can 
 or may, and thus I have herd sey. Wherfor such per- 
 sones as have founde hem soore greved by extorcion 
 as I have ben, and have processe or wolle hafe pro- 
 cesse before the Commissioners, they most effectuelly 
 labour to my Lord Oxford, and to my brothyr Zelver- 
 ton, Justice, that they wolle as ferre as justice, reson, 
 and concience do that justice may [be] egallie mynistred, 
 and not to wythdrawe theyr couragez well sett from the 
 pore peple ; for and they hald not the hand well and 
 stedfast yn thys mater from hens forth whyle it shall 
 dure, as they have herebefore, the pore peple and all 
 the grete part of both shyres of Norffolk and Suffolk be 
 destroyed. For it shewyth well by what manyfold 
 undewe menys of extorcion they have lyved yn myserie 
 and grete pouverte by manye yeers contynewed that the 
 moste part of the comyners have litill or nought to 
 meynteyn their menage and housold, ne to pay the 
 Kyngs taskys, nothyr theyr rents and servises to the 
 Lordz they be tenants un too, as it shewyth daylie to 
 all the world, whych ys overe a grete pitie to thynk. 
 And when the said pore peple have be by such injuries 
 overladd and so undoon, nedz most the gentlemen 
 that have they pore lyvelode amongs hem be gretely 
 minisshed and hyndered of their encrese and levyng. 
 
 Item, where as I undrestand by a lettre sent to me 
 from my welbelovyd frende Maister John Botewryght, 
 that grete extorcion have be don by the officers of the 
 duchee in takyng awey cxl. acres pasture at Swaffam, 
 whych ys of the Kyngs demeynz and of hys enherit- 
 aunce as of the duchee of Lancaster, for whych pastures,
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. i?3 
 
 yff it com not ynne ayen, it woll be grete disheritaunce 
 to the Kyng, and fynell destruccion of the tenauntes 
 there, for whych the said Maistre John desyryth and 
 prayeth of remedie yn the name of all the toune of 
 Swaffam. As to thys such as wold here the encrese 
 and wellfare of hym, of hys parysshons, and off all 
 thoose mysdon untoo, most by the avice of som lerned 
 man to put theyr oppressions and grevaunces in wryt- 
 yng, well grounded, and as the trouth of the mater ys, 
 and that the said wrytyng or bille may be enseled wyth 
 the seles of such gentlemen that have lyvebode there, 
 and wyth the men that be cowthest knowen, 1 and that 
 wrytyng so enseled to be directed to the Kyng, and to 
 the Lordz of hys Councell. And then it ys and woll 
 be of more credence to the Kyng and the Lordys then 
 a simple lettre. And thys doon wyth the labours that 
 they may make there in shewyng theyr grevaunces to 
 the Commissioners ; and the seid grevaunces shewed 
 also 'here amongs the Kyng and the Lordz, it ys ver- 
 rayly to thynk that they shall be purveyd of a remedie. 
 And foryete not to sende orwryte toMaisterBotewryght 
 in goodly haste of thys article wyth your correccion to 
 be had where the avertisementes of you and my frendz 
 that have more particuler knowlege yn such maters. 
 
 Item, I have grete mervaylle that yong Jenney, whych 
 ys of my Lord Cromewell councell, and Robert Ledam, 
 also off hys councell, and hys man be not spoke with 
 there, that they doo not attaine an accion ayenst Sir 
 Thomas Tudden[ham],Heydon, and John Gent, whyche 
 have and wold dayly labour to disseisse my Lord 
 Cromewell of a knyghten service in Saxthorp, which ye 
 haveryghtsuffisauntevidenses byan endentures of Kyng 
 Edward iij d dayes enseled, as of Kyng Kerry dayes 
 the iiij the ,that the seid maner ys hald by the iiij the part 
 of a knyzt fee 2 of my Lord Cromewell as of the maner 
 of Tateshale. And the seid Tuddenham and Heydon 
 wold after theyr voulente have it hald yn meen of the 
 
 1 Most publicly known. 
 
 2 A knight's fee was an amount of land sufficient to maintain a knight, and 
 held subject to a knight's service.
 
 174 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 maner of Hetersete, whych sufficient evidenses that ye 
 have specifyeth no thyng soo. And I have lost xx 1L 
 yeerly yn approwement l of my chatell, for cause my 
 Lord Cromewell, throw neglicence of hys officers in 
 Norffolk, have not meynteyned hys ryght. And there 
 as John Bokkyng seith that John Jenney hath no com- 
 maundment of my Lord to pursue hys ryght, it shewyth 
 off reson that seth he ys of hys councell in especiall 
 for that shyre, he ought doo hys ryzt to be savyd and 
 kept of hys dewtee. And thertoo he knouyth well 
 that my said Lord hath commaunded hym dyvers 
 tymys to take kepe hys ryzt be savyd in thys mater. 
 Wherfor I pray you requyre hym on my Lord ys 
 behalf 2 to compleyn to Justice at thys oyer \and ter- 
 miner for a] remedie, and that the [bijlle be made 
 yn my Lordys name. And then to. : .... have 
 commaundment ryzt sone of my Lord eftsonys, and 
 \i.e. if] he wolle sende unto hym by suche as goth 
 dayly into that centre to Tateshale. And I had send 
 hym hys speciall [comjmaundment, had he sent me 
 suche word betyme whyle he was heere. I pray you 
 remembre ye so John Jenney and Robert Ledham as 
 I have no cause to [wrijte more, ne to compleyn to my 
 Lord of theyr necligence. 
 
 Item, Sir Parson, where it ys soo that my cosyn 
 Boys ys passed to God, whoos soule God assoyle, ye 
 shall fynde amonges my bokes of accomptes at Castre, 
 or amonges othyr wrytynges, he owed me money for 
 a ferm he heeld of me, as Watkyn Shypdam ys remem- 
 bred ; and also I lent hym xl s - whych 1 shuld have an 
 obligacioun at Castre off, praying you to inquire off 
 thys dewteez, and see recuvere may be made off it. 
 
 Item, I seende a lettre at thys tyme to my cosyn 
 Wychyngham, to hys modre also, for a mater that 
 touchyth my cosyn Robert Fitzrauff ys amercement, 
 and the partie also. Whych letlre I woll ye breke to 
 undrestand my wrytyng and the substaunce off it the 
 more. And y pray you hertly to speke wyth the partie 
 
 1 See p. 131, Note i. 2 Here begins the portion in the Phillipps MS.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 175 
 
 at Norwych as well as with my ryght welbelovyd cosyn 
 Sir Kerry Inglose, and wyth my cosyn Wychyngham 
 assone as ye goodly may. And meoffe ye the said 
 mater yn such wyse as your discrecioun can well con- 
 sider that the rathyr the said mater may take a gode 
 ende, yff it may be yn ony wyse ; yn whych mater ye 
 shall do me ryght singler plesyr, and that thys be not 
 slewthed, for taryeng drawth perell. I wryte but brief- 
 flye, for I * 
 
 Item, where as Brome ys not well wyllyng yn my 
 maters, whych for the wrong takyng and wyth haldyng 
 my shepe I ought take a accioun ayenst hym ; for de- 
 claracioun in whate wyse he dyd it, John Bele my 
 sheperefe can enforme you best, for he laboured about 
 the recuvere of it. My Lady Norfolk sent me a lettre 
 viij. yere goon, whych I shuld hafe, desyryng that the 
 processe I was purposed take ayenst hym shuld be 
 respited, and all that reson wold he shuld obbey. I 
 am avysed therfor let som man about my Lord Nor- 
 folk and my Lady have wetyng, or I begynne. Yhyt 
 I wold ye had declaracioun before of the conduyt and 
 grounde of thys mater. 
 
 Item, where my cosyn Inglose avyse me fully to take 
 a speciall assise on the priorye of Hykelyng for my 
 rent, I have abydden uppon my cosyn Paston that he 
 and I shuld take one to ghedyr, and I vele hym no 
 thyng spede in it. Let me know how he woll doo 
 thys next terme, for elles am I fully avysed to take 
 myne owt, and to traverse all iij. offices 2 for Beyton, 
 Bradwell, and Tychewell, wyth the help of my frendz, 
 Not elles at thys tyme ; but I pray you comfort all 
 thoo that fynde hem greved to abyde by theyr ryzt, 
 and that ye woll contynew forth for my worshup and 
 proffyt as ferre as ryzt wolle. Whych I trust to God 
 shall better have hys cours then it hath beforn ; who 
 have you in hys kepyng. Wryt at London, the xx. 
 day of Decembre anno xxix regni Regis H. VI. 
 
 Item, that thys lettre commaund me to my cosyn 
 John a Berney. J FASTOLF. 
 
 1 Three words indistinct. 2 Sec p. 164, Note i.
 
 176 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 (On the bacJi) Item, I have sende ij. lettres to my 
 Lord Erie of Oxford, the ton by Robson ys man, a 
 squyer of my Lordys. And the grete substaunce of 
 the lettre ys that the issues forfeted may be sent upp 
 be tyme to my Lord Tresorer ; for there shall be none 
 assignment made, ne may not, till it com yn wrytyng ; 
 it be don, had it be sent Grete sute ys made to 
 pardon it, but the Kynges Councell woll not suffre it. 
 The ij. lettre Nicholas Bokkyng beryth for excuse of 
 my cosyn Inglose, because grete labor hath be made 
 to my Lord York ayenst my cosyn Inglose and Segge- 
 ford, that they shuld endyte the Priour of Walsyngham 
 tenaunt yn Salle. Wheruppon my Lord York, unad- 
 vertised of the trouth, sent a lettre to my Lord Oxford 
 to support the Pryor ys tenaunt ayenst Seggeford 
 namely. 
 
 Item, I desyre that and John Berney or onye man 
 can mete wyth Dallyng, that fals undre eschetor, in 
 onye place proviable, that he may by force brought 
 to Castre without damage of hys bodye, and there to 
 be kept yn hold, that he may confesse the trouth of 
 the fals office he forged off my maner of TychewelL 
 
 Item, forasmoche as ye shall have to doon at Lynne 
 for my maters there as for Tychewell and othyr, ther- 
 for I wolle that yee doo purvey of gode frendys as be 
 aboute Flegg that passen yn jureez, that they may wayt 
 uppon yow there at Lynne, and other suche trusty men 
 that ye can ghete to spede my processe. And that ye 
 do hem goode chier and cost uppon hem after that the 
 case shall requyre. I commyt thys mater to be ruled 
 by your wysdom, that it be net forzeten. 
 
 133. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 27 Dec. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 237.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN BERXEY AND SIR THOMAS 
 Howvs. 
 
 Begs them to have heed to his matters to be sped on Tuesday 
 after the Twelfth, especially " to labor the jury that was supposed
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. 177 
 
 to 'a past in the office found for Tychewell, 1 that they may appear 
 at Lynne, and there make a certificate before my Lord of Oxford, 
 and the Justice William Yelverton, that they were never privy 
 nor consenting to such an office-finding." On this an action may 
 be founded against Dallyng, " the false harlot." Would like 
 Berney rewarded for his labor, if it were secretly done, and Dynne 
 also. " Ye wete what I mean. I pray you see well forth, for 
 Mitte sapieittem, &c." 
 
 London, in haste, St. John's day in Christmas ; 2 " for he cam 
 to Castre, and there seye myn evydence, and than made the 
 office therby, and for Suffolk also, the fals offices found there in 
 likewise, &c." You must sue him to the utmost. 
 
 [The date of this letter is determined by the reference made in it to the 
 Sessions held at Lynn, in the January following, before the Earl of Oxford 
 and Justice Yelverton. See No. 138. At the foot of the original MS. is this 
 inscription : " Donum Rev. Fra. Blomefield, 10 Dec. 1735."] 
 
 134. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 29 Dec. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON.' 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter seems clearly to belong to the December of the year 1450, when 
 the new sheriff, whose appointment had been delayed much longer than 
 usual, and was expected with so much anxiety, had at length made his ap- 
 pearance in Norfolk, and entered on office. A few words in the margin of 
 the original letter are illegible, the writing having been injured by damp. 
 
 To my ryth worchepful husband, Jonhn Paston, be thys 
 delyveryd in hast. 
 
 YTH worchepfull husbond, I recomande me to 
 yow. Plesyt yow to wete that I receyvyd 
 the lettyr that ye sent me by a man of Seynt 
 Mychell parysche on Fryday next aftyr the 
 Consepcion of owyr Ladi ; 3 and anon as I had it, I 
 sent my modyr 4 the lettyr because of swyche materys 
 as longyd to hyr in that same lettyr. And sythyn that 
 tyme I kowd gete no massanger to London but if I 
 wold have sent by the Scheryfys men ; and I knew 
 
 1 See No. 123. 
 
 1 This, which is written after the date, would appear to apply to Dallyng. 
 
 1 The Conception of our Lady was on the 8th December. 
 4 Margaret always speaks of Agnes Paston as her mother. 
 N
 
 1 78 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 nowthyr her mastyr nor them, not whedyr they wer 
 well wyllyng to yow or not ; and therfor methowt it 
 had be no sendyAg of no lettyr by hem. 
 
 And as for swyche materys as John Geney and 
 Jamys Greshdm spak to me, I sped hem as well as I 
 kowd ; and they bothe told me that ye schold veryly 
 a ben at home before Crystmas, and that causyd me 
 that I wrot not to yow now non answer. For if I had 
 know that ye schold not have ben at home er thys 
 tyme, I schold a sent some man to yow ; for I thynk 
 ryth longe tyll I have some god tydyngys fro yow. I 
 fer me that it is not well with yow that ye be fro home 
 at thys good tyme. And many of yowyr centre men 
 thynk the same ; but they be hertty inow to yow-ward, 
 and full fayn wold her god tydyngys fro yow. The 
 wer no byllys put to the Scherryf at hys beyng her, 
 
 ner non opyn playnt mad that I of no per- 
 
 sone, be cawse they had so lyttyll knowlage of hys 
 comeyng in to thys centre. He demenyd hym full 
 
 and indeferently, as it was told me, and Yel- 
 
 verton mad a fayir sermone at the Sesschyonys, and 
 
 seyd so that the Kyng was informyd that ther 
 
 was a ryotows felawschep in thys centre, wer for the 
 Kyng was gretly dysplesyd, and that the Kyng undyr- 
 stood well that it was not of ther owne mosyon, boot 
 of cownselyng of one or ij. that ben evyll dysposyd 
 folk. And also he seyd if ony man wold put up ony 
 byllys of compleynts of ony extorcion or brybery don 
 be ony men of thys centre to them, they wer redy 
 to receyve them, and to make a-kord be twyx hem ; 
 and if they cowd not mak the acord, that than the 
 schold tak the byllys to the Kyng, and he schold set 
 hem thorow. And the Scheryfe seyd that he wold he 
 
 them that wold compleyne and dorste not 
 
 for fer put up ther byllys. 
 
 And Yelverton preyid the Scheryfe that if he had 
 for get onythyng that the Kyng seyd to hem at ther 
 departtyng, that he wolde rehersyt [rehearse it~\ ther. 
 And than the Scheryf seyd that he had seyd all that
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. l?9 
 
 he remembryd, save only [that] the Kyng .... to hem 
 
 ij. personys, Syr Thomas Todenham and Heydon. And 
 than Yelverton seyd, " A, that is trowthe, as th .... 
 
 . . . that J[ohn of] Dame told me that he spak with 
 the Scheryf aftyrward, and let hym h ....... the 
 
 rewylle [and] demenyng of thys centre, and what cawsyd 
 the pepyll for to grwge ayens swyche folkys as had the 
 reuyll be fortyme ; and he was pleyne to hym in many 
 thyngys, as he told me ; and he fond the Scheryfe ryth 
 pleyne ayen to hym, and well dysposyd in that that 
 myth growe to the welfar of the schere. The Scheryfe 
 seid he undyrstood by swyche informacion as he had, 
 syns he came into thys contre, that they had not all 
 gydyd hem well that had the rewyill of thys contre be 
 for ; and therfore he seyd feythfully, and swore by gret 
 othys that he wold nowthyr spar for good, nor love, 
 nor fer, but that he wold let the Kynge have knowlage 
 of the trowthe, and that he wold do asmyche for thys 
 contre as he cowd or myth do to the welfare therof, 
 and seyd that he lekyd the contre ryth well. And 
 John of Dame seyd if the contre had had knowlage of 
 hys comyng, he schold have had byllys of compleyntes 
 and knowlage of myche more thyng than he myth have 
 knowlage of that tyme, or myth have because of schort 
 abyng ; and he seyd he wold not be longe owt of thys 
 contre. 
 
 And also Yelverton seyd opynly in the Seschyons 
 they to come downe for the same cause to set a rewyll 
 in the contre. And yet he seyd he woste well that 
 the Kynge myth full evyll have for bor ony of hem 
 bothe ; for as for a knyth ther was none in the Kyngys 
 howse that myth werse a be for bore than the Scheryfe 
 myth at that tyme. I have myche mor to wryt to yow 
 of than I may have leyser at thys tyme ; but I troste 
 to God that ye schall be at home yowyr selfe in hast, 
 and than ye schall knowe all. And but if ye come 
 home in haste, I schall send to yow ; and I pray yow 
 hertly, but if ye come home, send me word in hast 
 how ye do. And the blyssyd Trinyte have yow in hys
 
 180 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1450. 
 
 kepyng. Wretyn in hast on Seynt Thomas day in 
 Crystmas. 1 By yowyr, 
 
 MARGARET PASTON. 
 
 Her was an evyll rewlyd felawschep yestyrday at the 
 schere, and ferd ryth fowle with the Undyr Scheryfe, 
 and onresnably as I herd sey. 
 
 135. 
 
 A.D. 1450, 29 Dec. 
 RICHARD CALLE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 150.] 
 
 The contents of this letter clearly refer to the matter alluded to in the post- 
 script of the preceding letter of Margaret Paston, so that the date must be 
 the same. 
 
 To my right reverent and my moost wurschipful maystre, 
 my Maystre John Paston. 
 
 ijIGHT wurshipfull and my mooste reverent 
 mastre, I recomaunde me unto your goode 
 maystreship. Like you to witte that on Chil- 
 dremasse daye 2 there were moche people at 
 Norwich at the shire, be cauce it was noyced in the 
 shire that the Undresheriff had a writte to make a 
 newe aleccion ; wherfore the people was greved be 
 cauce they had labored so often, seying to the Sheriff that 
 he had the writte, and pleynly he shulde not a wey 
 unto the tyme the writte were redd. The Sheriff 3 
 answerd, and seyd that he had no writte, nor west who 
 had it. Heruppon the people peacyd, and stilled unto 
 the tyme the shire was doone, and after that doone, 
 the people called uppon hym, " Kylle hym ! Heede 
 \bchead\ hym ! " And so John Dam, with helpe of other, 
 gate hym out of the schire-hows, and with moche 
 
 1 The day of St. Thomas of Canterbury (Becket), 2pth December. 
 2 s8th December. 3 John Jermyn.
 
 A.D. 1450.] HENRY VI. l8l 
 
 labour brought hym unto Sporyer Rowe ; l and ther 
 the people mett a yenst hym, and so they a voided 
 hym unto an hows, and kept fast the dore unto the 
 tyme the meyer was sent fore, and the Sherif, to strenght 
 hym, and to convey hem a wey, or ell he had be slayne. 
 Wherfor divers of the thrifty men came to me, desiryng 
 that I shulde writte unto your maistreship to lete you 
 have undrestandyng of the gidyng of the people, for 
 they be full sory of this trowble ; and that it plese you 
 to sende hem your advice how they shal be gided and 
 rwled, for they were purposed to a gathered an c. or 
 cc. of the thriftyest men, and to have come up to the 
 Kyng to lete the Kyng have undrestandyng of ther 
 mokkyng. And also the people fere hem sore of you 
 and Mastre Berney, 2 be cauce ye come not home. 
 
 Plese you that ye remembr the bill I sent you at 
 Hallowmesse for the place and londs at Boyton weche 
 Cheseman had in his ferme for v. mark. Ther wol no 
 man have it above xlvj s - viij d -, for Alblastre and I 
 have do as moche therto as we can, but we can not 
 go a bove that. And yet we can not lete it so for this 
 yere, with owte they have it for v. or vj. yere. I wrote 
 to your mastreship herof, but I had non answre ; wher- 
 for I beseche you that I may have an answere of this 
 be Tlwelthe, for and we have an answre of this be that 
 tyme, we shall enfeffe hem with all, &c. 
 
 My right wurshipfull and my moost reverent maistre, 
 Almyghty Jesu preserve you, and send you the victorye 
 of your elmyes, as I truste to Almyghty Jesu ye shall. 
 Wreten at Norwich on Seyn Thomas daye after Criste- 
 masse daye. 
 
 Your pore servant and bedman, 
 
 R. CALL. 
 
 1 Spurrier Row, as I am informed by Mr. L'Estrange, was what is now 
 called London Street. 
 
 2 Probably Philip Berney, uncle to John Paston's wife.
 
 182 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1450. 
 
 136. 
 
 RICHARD CALLE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is uncertain. Its contents are mere matter of busi- 
 ness, and as relating to the same farm mentioned in the last, might be sup- 
 posed to belong to the same year, especially as in the last Calle mentions 
 having written to Paston on the subject "at Hallowmass." There is. how- 
 ever, a discrepancy in the value assigned for the farm, and, what is still more 
 fatal to the date 1450, it would seem John Paston was at home, and not in 
 London in the beginning of November. 
 
 To my moost reverent and wurshipfful mastre, my Master John 
 Paston of the Enner Temple, this be delyvercd. 
 
 Plesith your maystership to undrestande that as for the ferme 
 that Cheseman had in Boyton, that is to sey, xl. acre lond erable, 
 j. medwe, and other smale parcell, payng yerly for it iiij//., weche 
 I can not lete the xl. acre lond abowe xl. comb barly or xlr., and 
 ye tobere al charges of the reparaucion and fense aboute the place, 
 weche shulde be gret cost. The lond is so out of tylthe that a 
 nedes [uneath, i. e., scarcely] any man wol geve any thyng for it. 
 Ther can no man lete it to the walwe that it was lete before, and 
 that I reporte me to my master, Sir Thomas Howys, not be gret 
 gold. Wherfore I wol not do therin unto the tyme that I have 
 answere from your mastership, weche I beseche you it may be 
 hast. And as for Spitlynges, I have lete som of the lond in smale 
 parcell, because I cowde gete no fermor for it. And as for Sir 
 T. H., in good feythe I fynde [him] weele disposed in all thynges, 
 excepte for Sir W. Chamberleyn for Rees in Stratton. And so 
 the blissid Trinite preserve and kepe you from all adversite. 
 Wrete at Blofeld, the Thorsday next after Hallowmcsday. 
 Your pore servaunt and bedman, 
 
 R. CALLE. 
 
 137. 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This is a mere fragment, containing nothing but the postscript of a letter, 
 the date of which must be either towards the end of the year 1450, or the begin- 
 ning of 1451. A passage to the same effect will be found in a letter of Fas- 
 tolf's, written on the 7th January 1451. 
 
 Item, that Sir John Ingelose and the Meyer be spoke 
 to for here worship that the man weche that herd
 
 A. D. 145 1.] HENRY VI. 183 
 
 Heydon seye the langage upon wheche he is endyted, 
 be sent heder; for that aught not to be kept prevye 
 but oplyshed, seyng any thyng towchyng or sown- 
 yng to treson. And, on the other part, it is to grett 
 necye (?) to noyse any man with ought cause, &c. 
 Hit is not here worship this mater, if hit be trew, is so 
 longe kept prevye with theym, &c. 
 
 J. FASTOLFE. 
 
 138. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 2 Jan. 
 THE EARL OF OXFORD TO JOHN JERMYN. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 106.] 
 
 As this letter 'was written in the year that John Jermyn was Sheriff of Nor- 
 folk, the date must be 1451. 
 
 To my ryght trusty and inticrly welbeloved John Jermyn, 
 Shirreve of Norjfolk. 
 
 IGHT trusty and intierly welbeloved, I grete 
 yow wele. And where late by the Kyngs 
 comaundment in the tyme of his Parliament, 
 holden now last at Westminster, I was in 
 persone at Norwich, holdyng Sessions of oir deter- 
 myner 1 with Yelverton, on of the Kyngs Juges, by greet 
 space and greet attendaunce, which for to a do with 
 suych diligence in the Parliament tyme I wold a be 
 right lothe, but for the pupplyk wele of all the shire. 
 
 It is also not oute of your remembraunce what indis- 
 posicion the Commons of bothe countes in the ende 
 of somer last passed wer of, and how the Kyng, by the 
 hole advyse of all the greet Councell of Ingland, to sese 
 their rumour, send hider his said Commission ; and 
 how I have do my part therynne, I reporte me to all 
 the world. I here a gruggyng, neverthelesse, that 
 trow favour in your office to the pople that hath com- 
 
 1 See page 138, Note 5.
 
 184 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 pleyned by many and grete horible billes agayn certeyn 
 persones shuld not be shewid at this next Sessions at 
 Lenn, ne ferther in the said Comission, which, if it so 
 were, as God defend, myght cause a latter errour wurs 
 than the first. 
 
 I pray yow, therfore, that ye wole write to me your 
 disposicion how ye purpose to be demened, and how 
 I shal take yow for th'execucion of the Kyngs Comis- 
 sion, and the pupplik wele of all the shire ; and aftir 
 that that ye write to me, so wole I take yow, latyng 
 yow wete that I were lothe to labour ferther but if I 
 wist that the Commons shuld be easid as Godds law 
 wold ; and if ony errour grow, the defaute shal not be 
 founde in me. 
 
 I pray yow more over to gif credence to the berer 
 her of, and the Trinite kepe yow. Wretyn at Wynch, 
 the second day of January. 
 
 THE ERLE OF OXENFORD. 
 
 139. 
 
 A.D. 1451 (?) 2 Jan. 
 THE EARL OF OXFORD TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter, which is dated at the same place and on the same day as the 
 preceding, was probably written in the same year also. 
 
 To my right trusty and intierly welbeloved Sir John 
 Fastolff, Knyght. 
 
 trusty and intierly welbeloved, I grete 
 yow wele, and pray yow to be right sadly 
 advysed of the contynue of a bille of instruc- 
 cion closid her ynne; and therupon, as I 
 trust yow, to comon with suych my Lords of the Kyngs 
 Councell as be present now at this tyme, in especiall 
 my Lord Chaunceller, and that ye wole send me in-
 
 A.D. I45I-] HENRY VI. 185 
 
 struccyon agayn of their avise, and how I shal demene 
 me. And the Trinite preserve yow. Wretyn at 
 Wynch, the second day of January. 
 
 THE ERLE OF OXENFORD. 
 
 140. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 2 Jan. 
 JOHN BOOKING TO WILLIAM WAYTE. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 134.] 
 
 The evidence on which this letter has been assigned to the year 1451 will 
 be seen in a foot-note. 
 
 To William Wayte. 
 
 pTH feithful and welbelovyd brother, Wiliam 
 Wayte, I comaunde me to yow as the lord 
 may to his tenant, praying you effectualy to 
 recomaunde me to my singuler gode mayster 
 and yours, excusyng me that I write not to hym, for I 
 dar not envolde me in the same. And as for tydyngs 
 her, I certifye you that all is nowght, or will be nowght. 
 The Kyng borweth hes expense for Cristemesse ; the 
 Kyng of Aragon, 1 the Due of Myleyn, 2 the Due of 
 Ostrich, 3 the Due of Burgoyn 4 wolde ben assistent to 
 us to make a conquest, and nothyng is aunswered, ner 
 agreed in maner, save abydyng the grete deliberacon 
 that at the last zall spill all to goder, &c. 
 
 The Chief Yistice 5 hath waited to ben assauted all 
 this sevenyght nyghtly in hes hous, but nothing come 
 
 1 Alfonso V. 
 
 2 Francis Sforza, one of the most able and successful generals of the time. 
 He was a soldier of fortune, of peasant origin, and succeeded to the Duchy ot 
 Milan by his marriage with Bianca Maria, natural daughter of Philip Maria, 
 the preceding Duke, whose interests he had at one time opposed as general 
 of a league formed by the Pope and the Venetian and Florentine Republics 
 against the Duchy. 
 
 '> Albert, surnamed the Prodigal, brother of the Emperor Frederic III. 
 4 Philip the Good. 
 6 Sir John Fortescue.
 
 186 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 as yett, the more pite, &c. On oyr and determiner l 
 goth in to Kent, and Commissioners my Lord the Due 
 of York, Bouchier, my mayster, 2 that will not come 
 there, de prodicionibus, &c., but Kent praeth hem to 
 hang no men when thei come. 
 
 Other tydyngs as yett can I non tell you, save 
 Ulveston is Styward of the Mydill Inne, and Isley of 
 the Inner Inne, be cause thei wold have officz for 
 excuse for dwellyng this tyme from her wyves, Scc. 
 Sir T. T. 3 lost lies primer at the Tour Hill, and sent 
 his man to seche \_fetch (?)] it, and a good felaw wyshed 
 hit in NorfFolk, so he wold fetch hit there, <S:c. Men 
 ween that Norffolk men wer hardier thanne thei be. 
 
 God graunte, and at the reverence of God help too 
 that an outas 4 and clamour be made upon the Lord 
 Scalez, 5 preying hym for well of the cuntre, neyther 
 susteyn ner help hym ner Heydon in no wyse, and that 
 ye crye upon my mayster and yours that he obeye not 
 the syrcorar \certiorar t\ as yett, as ye may sebe hes lettre 
 from my mayster, rudely and in hast be me endited, of 
 which I pray excuse, &c. And pray Blake to do 
 Swafham men sey sum what to the matier. 
 
 I wote well T. and H." wil not come there at this 
 tyme, as it is verily reported, &c. Mitte sapientcm, 
 &>c. Brayn and I shalbe with you on Saturday nest 
 at evyn, with the grace of Jesu, to whom I be take you. 
 In hast, at London, the ij de day of Januar. 
 
 By J. BOCKYNG. 
 
 1 A commission of ayer and termitier for Kent and Sussex was issued in 
 December 1450 to Richard, Duke of York, Lord Bourchier, Sir John Fastolf, 
 and doers Patent Roll, 29 Hen. VI., p. i, m. 16 indorse. 
 
 * S:. John Fastolf, whose servant Bocking was. 
 
 3 Sir Thomas Tuddenham. 
 
 4 An outcry. 
 
 * See p. 172. 
 
 6 Elsewhere mentioned as bailiff of Swaffham. 
 
 7 Tuddenham and Heydon.
 
 A. D. 145 1.] HENRY VI. 187 
 
 141. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 7 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 246.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN A BERNEY AND SIR THOMAS 
 HOWES. 
 
 Sends John Bokkyng on matters to be sped at the oyer and 
 terminer. They must remember a certiorari is out of the King's 
 Bench, and a procedendo was granted at one time " for certain 
 which had not appeared in the place and pleaded." Has received 
 all the stuff contained in a bill dated 28th November, made by 
 John Davye of Yarmouth, and delivered to one Roger Metsharp, 
 master of the little boat called The Blythe. Wonders they did 
 not send the great ship with malt. Desires provisions for Lent 
 by next ship. Remind my cousin Inglos that the man that "ap- 
 peched " Heydon be sent hither, if he dare stand by his words. 
 All the indictments against Heydon are not worth a halfpenny. 
 Howes must take John a Bemey's advice about this matter. 
 
 London, Thursday after Twelfth, 29 Hen. VI. 
 
 Let all who were on the inquest for Bardolf's matter be in- 
 dicted, whatever it cost. Signed. 
 
 142. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 12 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 230.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO THOMAS HOWYS, Clerk, and JOHN 
 BOKKYNG, in haste. 
 
 Begs them to labour his matters, and forget not " that old 
 shrew, Dallyng, for he is sore at my stomach." Sends by the 
 Parson a procedendo against Tudenham, which he has got out with 
 great labour, with a letter to my brother Yelverton. " And as to 
 an assize for Hikkelyng, I shall be there on in the beginning of 
 this term; and for Tichewell in like wise." Bokkyng must 
 remind my cousin Inglos about the indictments for treason of 
 Heydon, " that the man might be sent up to preve the said 
 matter." Fears it has slept too long. Wishes his ship The 
 Blythe sent to him. 
 
 London, 12 Jan. 29 Hen. VI. Signed. 
 
 Get my Lord [Oxford] and Yelverton to write a letter to Blake of 
 the King's house, thanking him for his friendliness to the country;
 
 i88 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 " and forget not that Dallyng be had before my Lord and Yel- 
 verton, and make his confession before hem, &c. And let the 
 great men that have most matters against [him] help somewhat 
 to this good end. " 
 
 143. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 28 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 236.] 
 
 SIR J. FASTOLF TO SIR THOS. HOWYS AND JOHN BERNEY at 
 Castre, in hast ; or at his place in Pokethorp, at Norwich. 
 
 Master Hue Acton has been with him for the new evidences 
 ensealed for the manor of Mundham, which F. has sold to the 
 use of the Church of St. Giles that he is master of, &c. Thanks 
 them for what they have done for him in his causes before the 
 Commissioners of oyer and terminer at Lynne, &c. Hears 
 Appulzerd's son expects the inquest of Mancroft in Norwich to be 
 reversed. Speak to my cousin Inglose about this. Fastolf's 
 audit books. My cousin John Berney puts me in great comfort by 
 seeing to the safeguard of my place in my absence. Would be 
 sorry he should be injured by having respited his entry into Roke- 
 lond Toffts at my request. 
 
 Make friends in Norwich against Easter when the oyer and 
 terminer is to be held again, for I must proceed in the matter 
 against Appulzerd. 
 
 London, 28 Jan. 29 Hen. VI. Signed. 
 
 Begs them to send his grain and malt in a good vessel, well 
 accompanied, with a good wind, as he has had great losses before. 
 Speak to the Mayor of Norwich about Appulzerd's matter; "for 
 there was no city in England that I loved and trusted most upon, 
 till they did so unkindly to me and against truth in the Lady 
 Bardolf's matter." 
 
 [This letter is referred to by Blomefield (Hist, of Nprf. iv, 388, Note 9), 
 and two short extracts are given from the beginning, relating to the Hospital of 
 St. Giles.] 
 
 144. 
 
 A.D. 1451. MEMORANDA FOR PROSECUTIONS. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This paper must belong to the early part of the year 1451, when it was pro- 
 posed to indict Tuddenham and Heydon at Norwich.
 
 A.D. I45I-] HENRY VI. 189 
 
 Prasentationes facta etfiendcz in audicndo et 
 deter minando}- 
 
 lpWf"^|OR as meche as the oyer and termyner is thus 
 restreynyd, not vythstandyng the wrytyngs 
 Iliilil and all the materis utterid be my Lord of 
 Oxenford, but if ther folow sum what lyke to 
 the perell lyke to be conceyved be maters that so wern 
 utterid and be the seyd wrytyngs, ellis shall it gretly 
 sowndyn ageyns the worchep and the weel of all the 
 personys, lordis, and other that eyther have wreten or 
 utterid owght, and lyke wyse of hem in whos name 
 seche materis hath ben utterid, soo that hereaftyr, 
 whan they have ryght gret nede to be herd, and to be 
 wel spedde, they shul the rather fayle thereof bothen, 
 and here enemyes the heyer up and the more bold, &c. 
 And therfore herein men must hold fote as manhod woll 
 wyth wysdom; and ellis novissimus error pej or priori. 
 
 Item, in the cyte of Norwyche must the falshodys 
 and the fals getyngs of good ther don ben fowndyn, 
 and thow summ maters ben not presentable, or peraven- 
 ture in seche forme not corigyble ther, yet so that the 
 mater in the self be orible and fowle, and so that summe 
 other be sufficient, yet it semyth summe men best that 
 all go forthe and be taken, and namely \especially\ in 
 this werd \world~\ that now is, &c. 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse must it be in the shier, ther me 
 thynkyt it is reson that my Lordys sett bothe the day 
 and the place of the Sessions, and all men kepe that 
 wern the robberis at Gresham and to Plumstede, the 
 shippyng of wolle ageyn the statute, that is felony e, and 
 the lycence than, if ony be, ther shull come to lyght 
 and disputed, and I suppose veryly be other statutes 
 and be lawe fownde voyde, and the leveryes that Hey- 
 don hatht yoven to hem that arn not hese menyall 
 men. 
 
 Item, the presonment of John Porter of Blykelyng. 
 
 1 This title is taken from a contemporaneous endorsement
 
 IQO THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1451. 
 
 Item, the presonment of John Langman of Swafham. 
 
 Item, the presonment of Robert Patgrys of Burnham. 
 
 Item, the extorcions in her \their\ cortes. 
 
 Item, the prisonynge of Dallynge, and of hese obli- 
 gacion mad to Sir Thomas Todenham, and ho\ve he 
 was presonyd at Norwyche, at Thetforthe, at Lynne, 
 and also of many other that ben don soo too. 
 
 Item, to remembreT. Denyes of the tale that Fynche- 
 ham told whan he cam horn for Sir T. Todeham, that 
 he be ware therof, &c. 
 
 Item, for to indyte Pryntys of a voluntary eschete 
 that where on Symond Hamond of Patesle wheche 
 was indyted of felonye, and because of hese goods he 
 lete hym owte of the castell a?mo xi.<j Regis mine. 
 
 Item, for to indyte the same Prentys and William 
 Goodwen of Swafham for the robbynge of Geffrey 
 Sowle. 
 
 Item, the same Prentys and Goodwyn robbed 
 Thomas Irynge of Myleham anno xx Regis nunc. 
 
 Item, the same Prentys toke of Wylliam Dallynge 
 at Norwyche v. mark for smytynge of of hese feteris 
 whan he was there in preson anjio xix Regis mine. 
 
 Item, to indyte the baly of Swaffham, T. Todenham, 
 Heydon, Prentys, of felonye as excercarys [accessaries]. 
 
 Item, to speke to Feraris for hese mater at Thyrn- 
 yng. Item, to indyte a cowper at Geyton wheche 
 slow a tenaunt of Danyell at Geyton. Hese name is 
 Thomas Dowce that was slayn ; and ther kan no man 
 indyte hym, for Sir T. Todenham maynteynyth hym, 
 and therfore he were worthy to be indyted as excercary, 
 anno xxv Regis mine. 
 
 Item, to indyte Heydon, because he rydyth armyd 
 ayens the statute and the commyssion of the peas. 
 
 Item, for takyng awey of John of Berneys habor- 
 joun at Walsyngham. 
 
 Item, to inquere what they dede to Alexaunder 
 Reve of Cokely Clay. 
 
 Item, what they dedyn to Shragger, and to hese 
 sone, for they stokked hym and hese sone at Swafham.
 
 A.D. I45I-] HENRY VI. 191 
 
 Item, what they deden to Gachecroft at Methewold. 
 
 Item, to enquere what they deden to a chanon of 
 Ingham ; he was arestid, and set in prison at Swaf- 
 ham, and [they] dede hym make a obligacioun {forced 
 him to give a bond\ 
 
 Item, how that be her comaundment Emond Wyght- 
 ton was arestid at Hempton, and put in the stokks at 
 Fakenham more than iij. dayis, till he made a fyn of 
 v. marks, and yet he spent and yave xlr. besyde. 
 
 Item, for to endyte Knatesale, John of Woode, 
 Robert of Woode, for Ferers mater. 
 
 Item, that William Kelynge of Castlelaker under 
 eschetor, how that he rydyth armed, and reysith many 
 men ayens the peas; he met wyth the Byschop at 
 West Uereham with x. men of armys. 
 
 Item, of extorcious amerciaments take of the Prior 
 of Westacre at Narforthe and Swafham, and hese man 
 there set openly and shamefully and gret oppression 
 in stokks, and a flok of hoggs taken ; and be whyche 
 appressions and extorcions was the Prior of Westacre 
 compellid to yeven Sir T. Todenham a fee of xLr. a 
 yere, and to make Shuldam her sty ward, and yeven 
 hym a fee of x\s. a yere there. W. Yelverton and all 
 other aforn hym had but xxvjV. viijW. ; but of these and 
 of many mo wers it is a gret foly to laboren in as for 
 any indytements, but if ye be ryght seker of the 
 sherefes office ; for if he lyst, he may returne men i 
 nowe of Swafham, and seche as ye wold have for the 
 enquest of the hunderid, and it is the more to drede 
 of the undyrschereff that they arn asented, and drawe 
 all aftyr her draught. And that they wold that no 
 sessions shuld be because of the massage that he sent 
 to my mayster be Nicholas Dowyldays clerks, and ther- 
 fore ther must be the begynnynge of all these maters, 
 as ye wold save your worchepis, and eschewe shame 
 and the peryll, &c. 
 
 (At the bottom of the page} M dm of \blanJi\ groond 
 and of the extorcions of Sporlle.
 
 192 
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 On the back of this document occur the following further memoranda in two 
 columns : 
 
 Est'. 5 
 
 Est'. 
 
 Est'. 
 
 Est'. 
 
 Est'. 
 
 Maters sterid to hurt of both 
 
 parties. 
 
 Sir John Fastolf, 
 Bisshoppis \\~il. 
 The Priour of Norwich, 
 The Cite. 
 
 The Abbot of Wendlyng, 
 The Cite. 
 
 The Abbot of Leiston, 
 "William Jeney. 
 Gregory Guybon, 
 
 3 Perpoynt. 
 John Tatleshale, 
 Robert Mortymer. 
 The Lady Bardolf, 
 Sir John Fastolf. 
 The Lord Moleyns, 
 John Paston. 
 
 145. 
 
 A.D. 1451. 
 OPPRESSIONS OF TUDDENHAM AND HEVDON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., KM.] 
 This paper no doubt belongs to the same period as the last, 
 
 If | TIHESE be names of men that arne myschevesly 
 oppressed and wronged be Sir T. Tud en- 
 ham and Heydon and here adherentes : 
 
 Ambidexter.^- 
 
 Dux Norff. \ Stockton, 
 Dux Suff. 
 Ed. Wynter, 
 John Mariot. 
 Ferrers, 
 Hobbes Wif. . 
 Prior Walsyngham, 
 Ric. Doget. 
 Mondford, 
 Danyell. 
 
 Sir John Curson, 
 Maister John Selet. 
 Sir John Curson, ) ,- . 
 Thurton. ^ St ' 
 
 Gregorius Gybon. 
 Joh. Maryot. 
 Ferrers. 
 
 Yelverton. 
 
 Fastolf. 
 
 Paston. 
 
 Berney. 
 
 Straunge. 
 
 Framyngham. 
 
 Trenchemer. 
 
 Joh. Jenney, Senior. 
 
 Joh. Damme. 
 
 Nicholaus Grome. 
 
 1 This term is applied to a juror who receives money of both parties in a suit. 
 
 2 This abbreviated word is probably Estreat, indicating that an extract or 
 official copy of the indictment had been made. 3 Blank in MS.
 
 A.D. I4SL] HENRY VI. IQ3 
 
 Joh. Ode. 
 
 Joh. Knevet. 
 
 Robert Clyfton. 
 
 Thomas Hypgame. 
 
 Homines de Swafham. 
 
 Joh. atte Howe of Helloughton. 
 
 Simon Blake. 
 
 Joh. Botwryghe, Clerk. 
 
 Item, many men indyted in Norffolk and Suffolk 
 
 be Tudenham and Heydon, &c. 
 Ric. Wryght of Saham. 
 
 146. 
 
 A.D. 1451, i March. 
 
 JAMES GLOYS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter was written in the spring of 1451, when John Paston had 
 re-entered Gresham. 
 
 To my right reverente and wurchepfull Mayster, John 
 Paston, Esquyer, be this delivered in hast, 
 
 ,_ JIGHT reverent and wurchepfull Sir, I recomand 
 |N^;. me to you, besechyng you to wete that Wharles 
 told me that Partrych seid that his lord 1 knewe 
 wele that ye were entred pesibilly in the maner 
 of Gresham ; where fore, he seid,thowthe tenauntes and 
 fermors pay you the rents and fermes the tyme that ye 
 be in possession, his seid lord, thow he entre ageyn, 
 wuld never aske it them. Item, the seid Partrych seid 
 to Wharles that his lord wull come down hym self and 
 entre in the seid maner within short tyme. Wharles 
 wull not discharge your baly of XXVJ.T. and viij</., which 
 he toke the seid baly enseled in a purs. The seid 
 Wharles told my mayster, John of Berney, at the court, 
 that he repented hym that he payd you any peny till 
 he had be distreyned ; and he seid than pleynly that 
 he wull nomore pay till he were distreyned. I have be 
 
 1 Lord Molyns. 

 
 194 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 there divers tymes for to distreyn hym, and I cowde 
 never do it but if [un/ess] I wuld a distreyned hym in his 
 moders hous, and there I durst not for her cursyng. 
 The baly of the hundred told me that Wharles spake 
 to hym in cas he had be distreyned that he wold have 
 gete hym a replevy; and the baly bad hym kete a 
 replevy of his mayster and he wold serve it. 
 
 Item, the maner londs at Gresham, with othre ten- 
 aunts londs that be fallyn in your hands ben letyn to 
 ferme. I can gete no tenaunte to dwell in the maner 
 hous. And if the rede shuld be caryed thens, the 
 tenaunts shuld thynk that ye fered sum new entre, and 
 it shuld sore discomfort hem, for thei whisshed whan 
 it was caried to the maner that it had be leyd ther 
 thus pesibly ij. yer afore. Asfor the obligacyon that 
 ye shuld have of the parson of Cressyngham, he seth 
 he cam never at Cressyngham syth he spake with you, 
 and that he be heste it you not till Fastyngong. 1 His 
 hors ben stolyn, and therfore he may not ryde. 
 
 Item, Gonnore kept a court at Routon the Thurs- 
 day 2 next after Seynt Mathy 3 the Appostell, and it was 
 told me that Bettes was ther with hym ; wherefore I 
 rode theder. And be cause that it was a fraunchised 
 town and within the Duchye, 4 and also that Gonnor 
 had gret rewle in the seid town, I toke with me the 
 baly of the hundred and set hym with me in my Lord 
 of Norffolks warant, arid than yede in to the court ther 
 as Gonnor and Bettes wern. The seid baly told Gonnor 
 of this warant, and Gonnor rebuked hym so that he 
 durst not a rest the seid Bettes. Than I toke it up 
 on me and arested hym myself as he sate be Gonnor. 
 Gonnor desired than to se my warant, and I shewed 
 it hym, and he seid he wold obey it as the lawe wold. 
 And he proferyd me suerte, men of the seid town of 
 Routon. Than I told hym, and [z..,if] he wold be bownd 
 hym self with othre I would agre ther to, but I wuld have 
 no shipmen that had nought, ner such men that rought 
 
 1 Fastingong, or Shrove Tuesday, fell upon the gth March in 1451. 
 
 2 25th February. 3 St. Matthias, whose day was the 24th February 
 * The Duchy of Lancaster.
 
 A.D. 145 1.] HENR Y VI. 195 
 
 [carcd~\ never, and thei were onys on the see, wheder 
 thei come ageyn or noght. Than Bettes toke Gonnor 
 a supersedias that he had of Wychyngham twelmoneth 
 ago for anothre man that asked suerte of the seid 
 Bettes. I wold have had it, and he wold not lete me 
 have it, ner shewe it me but in his hands. Than I 
 told hym that it was noght, and he seid it was gode 
 i nowe. I bad hym take it me for my discharge, 
 and he seid pleynly I shuld not have it. Than I 
 told hym I wold have my prisoner. The seid Gonnor 
 seid I shuld not have hym, and dede set alle the 
 tenaunts up on me and made a gret noyse, and seydyn 
 alle pleynly I shuld not have hym yf he wold abyde 
 with hem. Than I told Gonnor that I shuld certifie 
 a rescuse, and prayd the baly of the hundred that 
 he wold record the same. Item, the seid Gonnor seid 
 I myght have favoryd the seid Bettes the more be 
 cause the seid Bettes was my mayster Stapylton man, 
 and that his men shuld not be bownd and I shuld go 
 lose. He seid I shuld be tyed or aght longe and alle 
 my feleshep bothyn; but, God yeld hym, he hath 
 yovyn me iiij. days respyte. Than I told hym it shuld 
 never ly in his power to bynde me, ner non of my 
 feleshep so fast but that it shuld be in your power to 
 make hym to losyn us, and if that he abode in Norffolk 
 he shuld be made to seke the skyrts of his sadill or 
 Esterne. And if he had kept his wey that nyght I 
 shuld have kept hym trewe covenaunte, for I lay on 
 wayte up on hym on the heth as he shuld have comen 
 humward, and if I myght have met with hym I shuld 
 have had Bettes from hym; but he had leyd such 
 wetche that he had aspied us or he cam fully at us ; 
 and he remembered Wyndhams manhood, that iiij. 
 swyft fete were better than ij. hands, and he toke his 
 hors with the spores and rode to Felbrygge Hall as fast 
 as he myght rydyn, and I suppose he lay ther all that nyght. 
 Item, the seid Gonnor manased and thret John of 
 Beston for he wuld not warn hym her of; and he decle 
 sease alle his lond in Routon, and warned hym that
 
 196 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 he shuld not occupy his lyme kyll ner no lond that he 
 had in Routon ; and he mad his avaunte whan I was 
 gon, if that I had not brought the baly of the hundred 
 with me I shuld never have go thens ; and yet, not 
 withstandyng that I brought the baly with me, and thei 
 had wust where myn hors had stond I shuld have be 
 wele betyn. All this language had thei whan that I 
 was gon. 
 
 Item, the seid Gonnor seid after that I was gon to 
 the tenaunts of the seid town, that his super scdias was 
 noght, and as for the rescuse, he shuld purvey a 
 mene to excuse it. Where fore and it pleasyd you to 
 send my mastres word how that I shuld be demened 
 with the seid Bettes, and wheder that ye wuld I shuld 
 a rest hym ageyn or nought, and to purvey such a 
 mene for Gonnor that he myght ley his bost, it shuld 
 be gret comfort to all yowr frendes and tenauntes ther 
 abowtyn. 
 
 Item, I have be at my mayster Stapilton with your 
 writtes, and he made it right straunge for to ensele hem. 
 He seid that he knew of nown such inquiscion takyn 
 at Swafham beforn hym ; he seid if it were presented 
 ther, it was presented in his absens, whill that he was 
 in his inne ; wherfore he seid he wold not ensele hem 
 till he sey the bokes. Whan I had answeryd hym ther 
 to, than he seid he wold comown with my mayster 
 Yelverton her of whan he come home, and till he had 
 spok with hym he wold not ensele hem. I told hym 
 my mayster Yelverton had enseled hem. Thann he seid 
 he knew not my mayster Yelverton scale. He shewed 
 it to Gonnor, and asked hym wheder it was his seall 
 or noght. Gonnor seid it was his sealle. Than my 
 mayster Stapilton brake ought of this mater and 
 spake to me of the a restyng of Bettes and makyng of 
 affray up on Gonnor. He seid Gonnor cam to hym 
 to compleyn up on me. I told hym that Gonnor had 
 enformed hym as it plesyd hym, for I had yove hym 
 no cause to compleyn of me, and if it pleased hym to 
 her myn excuse he shuld fynd me in no defaute.
 
 
 A.D. I45L] HENRY VI. 197 
 
 Whan he had herd myn excuse, he cowde not blame 
 me. Meche othre langage we had, for I was with 
 hym ner an ower. Than he asked me wheder the 
 inquisicion was taken be fore the justice of the peas or 
 the justice of the oyer determyner. I told hym be for 
 the justic of the peas, for I seid it was the cessyons of 
 the peas at Swafham. Than he bad me put up my 
 warants, for he seid he wold not ensele hem till he had 
 comowned with my maister Yelverton. I told hym it 
 shuld not nede to comown with my mayster Yelverton, 
 ner labor hym therfore, for I seid it myght not hurt 
 thow he enseled hem not ; for I seid the writts were 
 executed, and that the shereff had mad ought warants 
 of them, and his warants were executed, and so the 
 seid writts shuld stand you in litill avayll, save only, I 
 told hym, ye desiryd his sealle, because it was fownd 
 before othre lords with hym, and that he stode in the 
 teste of the said writts, and that was cause of my comyng 
 theder. Than he wend I had comyn for to assayn 
 hym, for forthwith he enseled hem, but me thynk be his 
 langage he hath be labored of the toder part. 
 
 Item, and it pleased your gode maystershep to gete 
 of my mayster Yelverton a super sedias for John Osborn 
 and an othre for me. We suppose that Gonnor and 
 Bettes wull do us arest, and we wuld the supersedias 
 that we haue ought of the Chauncery were kept till 
 more nede were. My mastres l recomand her to you, 
 and prayth you to hold her excused that she write yow 
 no letter, for myche of the mater that she shuld have 
 wrete to you I had wrete in my letter or she knew ther 
 of ; and also she knew not of so redy a massanger as 
 I had. And it plesyd your gode maystershep to send 
 us a pardon for to assoylyn Gonnor this holy tyme of 
 Lentyn, the rather be cause of this gret bulle, 2 we shuld 
 leve in the more reste and peas, and kepe the more 
 our pacyence than we do. The Holy Trynyte have 
 
 1 Margaret Paston. 
 
 2 Probably a bull of indulgence issued at the close of the year of jubilee, 
 1450, for the benefit of those who had not been able to visit Rome that year.
 
 198 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 you in His kepyng. Wretyn on the Monday next after 
 Seynt Mathie 1 the Appostell, in hast. 
 Your pore servaunte, 
 
 JAMES GLOYS. 
 
 147. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 2 March. 
 JAMES GLOYS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 From what it mentions about Connor, this letter will be seen to be of the 
 same year as the last The fears entertained of Heydon recovering his influ- 
 ence are also indicative of the spring of 1451. The letter is slightly mutilated 
 in the margin at the bottom. 
 
 To my right reverent and wurchepfull mayster, John 
 Paston, Esquycr, be this delivered in hast. 
 
 |FWgl|-JIGHT reverent and wurchepfull Sir, I recomaund 
 me to you, prayng you to wete that I have 
 liJiMal labored divers men that ben enpaneld atwix 
 my mastres, your moder, and Wyndham. 2 
 Ther be many of them woll do her parte, and ther ben 
 summe that wull not passe ther upon, for thei ben aferd 
 that the werd [world] shuld turne. It is noysed in 
 Norwhich that my Lord of Oxenford,mymaysterYelver- 
 ton, and ye, and John Damme shuld be endited in 
 Kent for mayntenaunce of the oyer determyner in Nor- 
 ffolk ; and this, with othre feryth sore men of Norwhich. 
 I trow my mastres writyth to you here of more clerly. 
 Item, Wyndham hath be divers tymes at my mastres 
 Cler, and mad hym erands to her, and told her that he 
 was sued in my mastres, your moclers name but he 
 supposyd that she knew not there of. He thought that 
 ye and James Gresham had do it un malyce, my mastres 
 your moders unknowyng. But whan he knew that I 
 labored the enqueste, than he sent my mastres Clere 
 word how that he knew wele that it was my mastres 
 
 1 St Matthias. His day was the 24th February. 
 
 2 John Wyndham, Esq. of Felbrigg.
 
 
 A.D. I45I-] &ENRY VI. 199 
 
 your moders labore. Item, he told my Lady of Morle 1 of 
 this sute, and he seid that he wend that my seid lady had 
 mad an hend a twix them for the seid sute. Item, Hey- 
 dons men brought his awyn hors and his sadyll thourgh 
 Aylsham on Monday,and thei comyn in at the Busshoppes 
 gates at Norwhich and comyn over Tomelond and in to 
 the Abbey. Thei a bedyn there all that nyght, and ij. 
 days after, wenyng to men of the town that Heydon had 
 go over the fery, and so in to the Abbey ; and sythyn 
 thei seid thei shuld go to London for Heydon. Item, 
 sum seyn that Heydon shuld be mad a knyght, and myche 
 othre langage ther is which causyth men to ben aferd, 
 wenyng that he shuld have a rewle ageyn. Item, there 
 were ij. men at John Betes of Holt ; thei had langage 
 of the Lord Moleyns. If it please yow to enquere of 
 Symond, brynger of this letter, he shall enforme you 
 of her langage. Item, Gonnor was wetched at Fel- 
 brygge Halle with xl. persones of the Lady Felbryggs 2 
 tenaunts and mor that night that I lay on wayte up 
 on hym, and he durst not go home on the next day 
 till they brought hym home. Thei mad a compleynt 
 to my Lady Felbrygge, and my mastres had excused 
 it. Item, the manase Burflet, and wull sease his lond. 
 Symond shall telle yow how thei wer answered. Item, 
 as for the subsidy that Sir Kerry I[nglos] and the Lady 
 Felbrygge shuld payn, the meyr knowe not yet veryly 
 what thei schuld pay, for thei have not cast the valew 
 of her londs. The bill closyd in this letter maketh 
 mensyon of the valew of divers gentelmens londs that 
 [ben] examyned in Norwhich. We can not know what 
 Calthorp payth, for we can not speke with the shereffe, 
 ner the undre [shereffe], ner no man that gadered that 
 hundred ther as Calthorp dwellytht. The Holy Trynyte 
 have you in his kepyng. Wr[etyn] the Tuesday next 
 after Seynt Mathie, 3 in hast. 
 
 Your pore servaunt, 
 
 JAMES GLO[YS]. 
 
 1 See p. 67, Note i. 
 
 2 Catherine, widow of Sir Simon Felbrigg, was lady of the manor of Fel- 
 brigg, of which Wyndham only had the lease at this time, though he after- 
 
 ards became the proprietor. See Blomefield, viiL, 112. 
 * St. Matthias. See p. 198, Note i.
 
 200 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 148. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 3 March. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 288.] 
 
 It will be seen that this letter contains a distinct reference to the last which 
 was written the day before it. Indeed, the information contained in this 
 letter is nearly all anticipated in that of Gloys. 
 
 To my rith wursheffull hosbond, Jon Pasion. 
 
 worchipfull hosbond, I recommawnd me 
 to yow, praying you to wete that ther is a 
 gret noyse in this town, that my Lord of 
 Oxforth and Yelverton and ye ben endytid 
 in Kent for mayntenyng of the oyer determyner; 
 and Jon Dame is endytyd ther also of treson, be cawse 
 that he dede Heydon endytyn 1 of treson for takyng 
 down of the quarter of the man. And the pepyll that 
 ben ayens Ser Thomas Todenham and Heydon ben 
 sore aferd be cawse of this noyse, and of other langage 
 that is had bothe in this town and in the eontre, that 
 these seyd Todenham and Heydon shuld ben as well 
 at ese, and have as grett rewill as ever they hadde. 
 
 Jamys Gloys tellith me that he hath sent yow word 
 of Heydonys hors and of other thyngs, mor of whiche 
 I was purposid to asent yow word of. The Holy 
 Trinyte have yow in kepyng. Wretyn at Nonviche, 
 the Weddenysday next after Seynt Mathy. 2 
 
 Yowris, M. P. 
 
 149. 
 
 A.D. 1451 (?) [22 March]. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 238.] 
 
 The date of this letter is quite uncertain. Fenn assigns it to the year 1454, 
 when Lent began very late, as it is evident the herrings and eels referred to 
 
 i.e., caused Heydon to be indicted. * St. Matthias. See p. 198, Note i.
 
 A.D. 1451.] HENRY VI. 201 
 
 were intended as provision for that season. This conjecture may be correct ; 
 but it must be noted that John Paston was at home at Norwich, if not in the 
 beginning of Lent, at least on the fourth Sunday of Lent in 1454. Moreover, 
 if the date of this letter, " Monday next after St. Edward," means after the 
 i8th March, which was the day of St Edward the King and Martyr, the year 
 1451 would suit rather better than 1454 ; for, in the former year, the Monday 
 after St. Edward's day would be the 22d of March, and Ash Wednesday the 
 loth, while in the latter the Monday after St. Edward would be the 25th, and 
 Ash Wednesday the 6th, so that the provision of herrings would be very late. 
 
 To my right wurchipfull husband, John Paston, be this 
 delyverid in hast. 
 
 IGHT wurchipfull hosbond, I recomawnd me 
 to yow, beseching yow that ye be not dis- 
 pleasid with me, thow my symplenesse cawsed 
 yow for to be displeasid with me. Be my 
 trowth, it is not my will nother to do ne sey that shuld 
 cawse yow for to be displeasid ; and if I have do, I am 
 sory therof, and will amend itt. Wherefor I beseche 
 yow to forgeve me, and that ye bere none hevynesse 
 in your hert ayens me, for your displeasans shuld be to 
 hevy to me to indure with. 
 
 I send yow the roll that ye sent for, in selyd, be the 
 brynger her of; it was fownd in your trussing cofor. 
 As for hering, I have bowt an horslode for iiij s - vj A 
 I can gett none ell [eels] yett; as for bever [i.e. drinkables'], 
 ther is promysid me somme, but I myt not gete it yett. 
 I sent to Jone Petche to have an answer for the wyn- 
 dowis, for she myt not come to me. And she sent me 
 word that she had spoke therof to Thomas Ingham, and 
 he seyd that he shuld speke with yow hymself, and he 
 shuld accord with yow wel jnow, and seyd to her it was 
 not her part to desyr of hym to stop the lyts ; and also 
 he seyd itt was not his parte to do itt, be cawse the 
 place is his but for yeris. 
 
 And as for all other eronds that ye have commandid 
 for to be do, thei shal be do als sone as thei may be 
 do. The blissid Trynyte have yow in his keping. 
 Wretyn at Norwyche, on the Monday next after Seynt 
 Edward. Yowris, 
 
 M. P.
 
 202 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1451. 
 
 150. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 30 March. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter, like several of those preceding, speaks of a juncture in which it 
 was expected that Tuddenhamand Heydon would regain their influence. The 
 adherents of Lord Molyns were also in hopes that he would shortly be in 
 Norfolk and re-enter Gresham. The date must therefore be 1451. 
 
 To my right wurchepfull husband, John Paston, \be\yng 
 in the Inner Tempill, be this delivered in hast, 
 
 SLIGHT wurchepfull husbond, I recomaund me 
 to you, prayng you to wete that myn unkyll 
 iHy Phylyp Berney 1 was at Lynne this lastweke, 
 and he was at inne at the baylyffes hows of 
 Lynne, and Partrych 2 came in to the same place whill 
 myn unkyll was ther. And the seid Partrych was wele 
 aqueyntyd with the balyffe, and the balyffe told hym 
 that he sent a letter to the Lord Molyns, and that the 
 Lord Molyns had sent hym a nother letter, letyng hym 
 wete that he purposyd hym to be at Lynne thes weke. 
 Than Partrych seid that he had word that the seid lord 
 purposyd hym to be ther at that tyme ; but he seid 
 summe men supposyd that he wuld not come here ; and 
 the balyffe seid that he_was right glad that he shuld 
 come in to this countre. On of myn unkyll men herd 
 all this langage, and told it myn unkill. The baly ner 
 Patrych knewe not at that tyme what myn unkyll was 
 to us ward. Also I purposyd me to have sent to 
 Stapylton, as ye sent me word be James Gresham, and 
 it is told me that he is to London. Item, it is noysed 
 abowte Gresham and all that centre that the Lord 
 Molyns shuld be there in hast. Item, Gonnore had 
 right gret langage, and he trostyd that the word \world~\ 
 shall turne sumwhat after ther entent. Othre tydynges 
 have we non, but that Tudenham and Heydon shuld 
 
 1 Philip Berney, Esq. of Caston. He was a brother of Margaret Mauteby, 
 who was Margaret Paston's mother. 
 * See p. 83, Note t.
 
 A.D. 145L] HENRY VI. 203 
 
 have ageyn the rewle in this centre, assmych as ever 
 thei had or more. The Holy Trynyte have you in 
 kepyng. Wretyn at Norwhich un the Tuesday next 
 before Mydlentesonday. 1 
 
 Yowre, M. P. 
 
 151. 
 
 A.D. 1451. 
 PETITION FROM THE TOWN OF SWAFFHAM. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This is a rough draft of a Petition which seems to have been intended for 
 presentation to Parliament in the beginning of the year 1451. Parliament 
 was prorogued on the i8th December 1450 till the soth January following, 
 but it did not actually meet again for despatch of business till the 2gth April. 
 It would appear from this Petition that Sir Thomas Tuddenham and his 
 adherents were indicted before the Earl of Oxford at the sessions of oyer and 
 terminer which sat on the 2d March 1451. 
 
 To the ryght wise, noble, and discrete Comons of this 
 present Parlement. 
 
 |pl|jEKELY besechyn, bewailyn, and shewyn the 
 pouer and simple inhabitaunts in the toun of 
 Swafham, in the counte of Norfolk, that where 
 Sir Thomas Tudenham of Oxburgh, knyght, 
 this xvj. yeeris last passid before the day of the Acte of 
 Resumpcion in the last Parlement before this, 2 hathocu- 
 pied and governed the lordship and maner of Swafham 
 forsaid, with the appertenauncez, as styward and fermer 
 of the same ; in which ocupacion and governaunce the 
 said Sir Thomas, and othre his servauntz and adherentz 
 in a rolle to this peticion annexed named, han petously 
 and synnefullydon andcomitted the trespasez, offencez, 
 wronges, extorcyons, mayntenauncez, 3 imbraceryes, 4 
 oppressions, and perjuryes in the seid rolle conteyned; 
 and of dyverse and many articles ther of, and of many 
 
 1 Mid-Lent Sunday fell on the 4th April in 1451. 
 
 2 This must be the Act of Resumption of 28 Henry VI. See Rolls of 
 Parliament, v., 183. 3 See p. 145, Note 2. * See p. 145, Note 4.
 
 204 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 othre wrongs, and of that that the said Sir Thomas is 
 a comon extorcioner, the same Sir Thomas be fore the 
 ryght noble, true, and pleyn lord, our good and gracious 
 lord the Erie of Oxenford, and othre the Kyngs com- 
 missioners of oire determyner withynne the same shire, 
 the said Sir Thomas Tudenham, and othre his servauntz 
 and adherentz arn indited. 
 
 Please it your noble wisdamis to conceyve that it 
 hath be the comon law of the land of long tyme that 
 if a comon theef were, in ony cuntre, so often indited 
 or detect of so many offencez he shuld not, by the law 
 of the lande, be late to baile ne meynprise, but be kept 
 in prison til he were put to answere of swich crymes as 
 he were so detect of. And also please your greet wis- 
 dams to conceyve that all the Juges of the Kynges 
 Benche, of long and late tyme sittyng in their place, 
 laudablely han usid to comitte to prison, with oute 
 baile or meynprise, for a tyme. al persones that han be 
 detecte before theym of any ryot or greet cruel offence 
 agayn the peas, which offence myght a be subvercyon 
 of the law by ony liklynesse ; and advertisyng the greet 
 mischeves that this noble roialme hath oftyn standyn 
 in for the greet extorcyons and oppressions that hath 
 be don in the same, 1 and how greet a subvercyon of 
 the lawe and of the polityk governaunce of the land 
 suych extorcyon is ; and of your prudent and sage \vis- 
 dams lyke yow to make requisicion to the Kyng our 
 soverain Lord, and to the Lords espirituallx and teni- 
 porelx in this present Parlement assembled, that by 
 the concideracion that the said Sir Thomas wold 
 never apere, in his persone, ne by his atturney, at no 
 sesions ofoirdftermynerholfevi in the said counte; plese 
 the Kyng and Lords forsaid, to comitte the said Sir 
 Thomas Tudenham to preson, ther to abide til in to 
 the tyme that he to the said inditements hath answerid, 
 and to the billes and compleynts of the said inhabi- 
 tauntz in fourme of law. 
 
 1 [Original note here in margin.] Answer neyther to the billes ne inditeing 
 forseid, ne to non of theym.
 
 A.D.I4SI-] HENRY VI. 205 
 
 And more over, where that the said Sir Thomas 
 Tudenham hath, among many othre greet wrongs, ful 
 synnefully causid a writte of assise of novell dissessyn 1 
 to be brought ageyn John Aleyn and xxiij othre of the 
 said toune, in the name of the Abbot of Sawtre, 2 and 
 causid that assise to passe by perjury, as in the first 
 article in the rolle to this peticion annext it is more 
 opinly conteyned, please your greet wisdams, for the 
 reverens of God by that concideracion, that the jurry 
 of the said assise durst not, for drede of the horrible 
 manaces of the said Sir Thomas, othrewise do but be 
 for sworn in gevyng their verdite in the same assise, in 
 which case the said inhabitauntz, for pyte and remorce 
 01 their concyencez, wer lothe to sew a writ of atteynte, 3 
 to pray the Kynge and Lords forsaid to ordeyn, by 
 auctorite of this present Parlement, that the said writ 
 of assisse, verdit, recoverer, and the jugement ther of, 
 with every othre circumstaunce therof,be voide, revokd, 
 and adnulled, for the love of God. 
 
 4 Item, compleyneth John Bladsmyth of Swafham of 
 that that where John, late Pryour of Penteney, 5 prede- 
 cessor of the prior that now is, and the covent of the 
 same place, the Munday next aftir the fest of Seynt 
 Mathew the Evangelist, the xiij. yeer of the kyng, our 
 soverain lord that now is, at Swafham forsaid, lete to 
 ferme to the forsaid John Bladsmyth certeyn lends, 
 rents, tenements, and pasture, 6 
 
 152. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 13 April. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 231.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOS. HOWYS, Parson of Castle- 
 combe, at Castre. 
 
 Received a letter from them, 3d April, with the last account of 
 Sir Jo. Kyrtelyng and Intewod. Understands Rob. Norwych 
 
 1 See p. 41. 2 A Cistercian monastery in Huntingdonshire. 
 
 3 A writ to inquire whether a jury gave a false verdict. 
 
 4 This is written on the back. 
 
 8 John de Tyrington. He was succeeded in 1449 by Richard Pentney, 
 6 The sentence breaks off thus abruptly in the MS.
 
 206 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 will not occupy as undersheriff, because Jenneys had given him. 
 language not to his pleasure, and so Aleyn is to occupy, who is 
 not F.'s wellwiller ; but Howys has provided a remedy with the 
 sheriff. When the venire facias is made out, I will try and get it 
 sent you, and I shall have Paston's advice. Knows well the 
 obstinate will of false Dallyng, but Bokkyng must speak with 
 him, and entreat him in his best manner. Margaret Bryg's 
 matter. 
 
 As to the oyer and terminer, it is certain Heydon and Tudden- 
 ham will be at Norwich with all the maintenance and fellowship 
 they can. It is said Justice Prysot will be there. You must do 
 your best to keep your friends steadfast ; and I in the mean time 
 will labour here, and send you word how the world is set. Men 
 of the city of Norwich have good audience and favour among the 
 Lords, and are waiting an answer of their matte, rs. Has delivered 
 up the shipmen, and left the ship here for causes which he will 
 write ; ' ' for the rayse hath been full costuys, except they came 
 in saufftee." 
 
 London, 13 April 29 Hen. VI. 
 
 153. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 16 April. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 84.] 
 
 The date of this letter depends upon the age of John Paston, who, in Nov- 
 ember 1444, was found to be twenty-three years old. As he is now " upon 
 the age of thirty winters," this letter was probably written in 1451. 
 
 To my right wurchepfull howsbond, John Paston. 
 
 IGHT wurchepfull howsbond, I recomand me 
 Mil to yow, prayng yow to wete that the Parson 
 of Oxened 1 told me that Wyndham told 
 hym that Sweynnysthorp 2 is hold of the 
 Kyng be the therd part or the fourt part of a knyt fye, 
 and ho so ever had the maner of Sweynsthorp, he shuld 
 fynde an armyd man, in tyme of werre in the castell of 
 Norwhic, xl. days to his owyn cost, and that ye shuld 
 
 1 His name was Laurence Baldewar. 
 
 2 In 1444, according to Blomefield (Hist, of Norf. iv. 40), a rent-charge out 
 of the manor of Swainsthorp was settled by John and Agnes Paston, the eldest 
 son and the widow of William Paston, the Justice, to find a priest to sing 
 for the soul of the said William in the chapel of our Lady the Great in 
 Norwich Cathedral.
 
 A.D. 1451.] HENR Y VI. 207 
 
 pay xxx s - to the Kyng yerly owth of the seyd maner; 
 and it is fond also that your fader shuld a died seysyd, 
 and that ye shuld a entyryd ther in as heyr after your 
 fader dysseys, and that ye shuld be now up on the age 
 of xxx. wynter. 
 
 The Trinite have yow in hys kepyng. Wreten at 
 Norwhic, the Friday next a fore Seynt George. 
 
 Yowrs, 
 
 M. PASTON. 
 
 154. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 21 April. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 243.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOS. HOWYS, at Castre in Flegg. 
 
 Sends two venire facias for Beyton in Norfolk and Bradwell in 
 Suffolk, returnable in quindena Paschai, which is a short day. 
 You must deliver them in haste to the Sheriff by Paston's advice, 
 by whom I send them. Labour to the Sheriff for the return of 
 such panels as will speak for me, and not be shamed, for great 
 labour will be make by Wentworth's party. " Entreat the Sheriff 
 as well ye can by reasonable rewards, rather than fail," for they 
 have taken as false an issue as can be with me " by H.[7. e., Hey- 
 don's] advice for cold love." I had traversed the plea in the inquisi- 
 tion that I had disseised Sir Hue Fastolf ; but they put it now that 
 I had only a joint interest in the manor. The names you sent for 
 Bradwell are like to do well, except Hopton, who has married 
 with the Lady Wentworth. I am also in doubt of one Reppes of 
 Heringflete, who is Heydon's man. Had purposed to have been 
 at the oyer and terminer this time, but cannot, &c. 
 
 Horshighdoun, 21 April 29 Hen. VI. Signed. 
 
 155. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 2 May. 
 DEBENHAM,TYMPERLEY, AND WHITE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 As this letter speaks of the indictment and expected acquittal of Lord 
 Molyns, the date must be 1451. This letter is written on parchment.
 
 208 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1451. 
 
 HJAISTER Paston, we comaund us to you, lattyng 
 you witt that the Sheriff is noght so hole as 
 he was, for now he wille shewe but a part of 
 his frendeshippe. And also there is grete 
 prese off pepill, and fewe frendes, as ferr as we can feel 
 yitt. And therfore be ye sadly avised wheder ye seme 
 best to come your self, or send or, &c., for we will 
 assay in as much as in us is to prevaile to your entente. 
 And yett, if it neded, we wolde have a man to giffe us 
 informacion, or shewe evidence after the case requireth. 
 Also the Shereffe enformed us that he hath writyng 
 from the Kyng that he shall make such a panell to 
 aquyte the Lord Moleynes. And also he tolde us, and 
 as ferr as we can conceyve and feel, the Shereff wille 
 panell gentylmen to aquyte the Lorde, and jowroures 
 to a quyte his men ; and we suppose that it is be the 
 mocion and meanes of the othir party. And yif any 
 meanes of tretie be proferd, we know not what meane 
 shukie be to your pleasir. And therfore we wolde 
 fayne have mor knowlege, yiff ye think it were to doo. 
 No more at this tyme, bot the holy Trinite have you 
 in his kepyng. Wretin at Walsyngham, in hast, the 
 secund day of May. 
 
 Be your trewe and feithfull frendes, 
 
 DEBENHAM, TYMPERLEY, AND WHITE. 
 
 And also, Sir, as we conceyve, the Lord Moleynes 
 shall not be quyte before Thurseday; in as muche as 
 he was indyted before the Justice, we undirstand he 
 shall not be quyte but before the Justice. Wherfore 
 we avise you, iff ye think it be to doo, to send your 
 frendes in the meane tyme, and come your self to your 
 place at Sperham, and there abyde unto tyme that we 
 have knowlege how the saide mater will drawe, and 
 till that we may have worde from you, and ye from us, 
 &c.
 
 A. D. 145 1.] HENRY VI. 209 
 
 156. 
 
 A.D. 1451, May? W. LOMNOR TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter has no address, but there can be no doubt from the contents it 
 was intended for John Paston. It was evidently written about the same time 
 as the last, while the Sessions was sitting at Walsingham, and Paston's suit 
 against Lord Molyns was still pending. 
 
 YGHT worchipfulle Sir, yours goode cosynes 
 and frendes avyse yow to come to Walsyng- 
 ham, and that ye be there to morw betymes at 
 vj. on the clok ; for the Lord Moleyns offreth 
 a trete for the goodes, and amendes to be made, or he 
 goth ought of this centre, and if it be not taken, his 
 men shulle justifie; wherupon your title might be hurte. 
 The Lord Skales, the Justis, and other knygtes and 
 squyeres merveyle grettly ye come not, and thovv they 
 that have not so true and evident mater as ye have 
 concelle yow to be absent; yet I wolde ye dede as ye 
 be desyrd be that felaship, for many wolde yow right 
 welle. Whanne ye come, I shalle telle yow more. 
 
 The Lorde Moleyns shulde not have be aquyte of 
 his comaundement, hadde he not sworen on a boke, 
 sweche evidens was ayens hym ; and ther is no jentel- 
 man wolde aquite his men for no goode, &c. 
 
 W. LOMNOR. 
 
 157. 
 
 A.D. 1451 (?) 7 May. 
 SIR JOHN HEVENINGHAM TO MARGARET PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 144.] 
 
 The date of this Utter is doubtful, but it was evidently written at a time 
 when John Paston had been for some considerable time absent from Norwich, 
 which appears to have been the case in the beginning of May 1451. The 
 writer of this letter died in July 1453. 
 P
 
 :io THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 To my ryght worchipffull cosyn, Margarete Paston, be 
 this letter delivered. 
 
 IjYGHT worchipffull and welbeloved cosyn, I 
 commaunde me to you as herteli as I can, 
 thankyng you off your goode chere the last 
 tyme I was with you. And, worchippffull 
 cosyn, please that you to calle un to your remembrauns I 
 wrote un to you for my cosyn Anneys Loveday to have 
 ben in your service, and I resey ved from you a letter that 
 your wyll was goode, but durst not to in to the tyme 
 ye hadde spoke with my cosyn your husbonde. 
 
 Worchippffull cosyn, I have labored for hir in othir 
 placez, but I can not have my entent as yet. Wher- 
 ffor yff that hit please you to have hyr with you to in 
 to the tyme that a mastris may be purveyeid for hir, I 
 pray you ther off, and I shall contente you ffor hir boarde, 
 that ye shal be wel pleased ; for, cosyn, and I hadde 
 a wyff, I wolde not care for hir. And ther as she is, 
 she is not well at hir ease, for she is at Robert Lethum; 
 and therfor I pray you herteli that ye wyll tendre this 
 my writyng, and I beseche you that in cas be that ye 
 wyll fulffylle hit that ye wel sende my cosyn Will 
 Staunton for hir, and I shal kepe you trewe promys, 
 as I have be for wretyn. And I beseche Almyghti Jesu 
 preserve you. Wretyn at Hevenyngham, on the vij. 
 day off May, &c. 
 
 Your oune cosyn, 
 
 JOHN HEVEXYNGHAM, Knyght. 
 
 158. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 9 May. 
 SIR THOMAS HOWYS TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 116.] 
 
 To my reverent and worchepfull maystcr, Sir John 
 fastolf, Kt/yght, be this lettre delyrcrcd.
 
 A.D. I45I-] HENRY VI. 21 1 
 
 pGHT reverent and worchipfull maister, I re- 
 comaunde me louly un to yow. Please you 
 to wete the Sonday next after the Fest of the 
 Invencion of the Cros, 1 the ix. day of May, 
 at Castre, I recey ved a lettre from you by your clerk, W. 
 Barker, the tenure wherof I shall do spede in all hast 
 goodly. But for the more special cause of mywrytyng 
 at this tyme is to gef you relacion of the un true demen- 
 yng of this cure determyner, by the parcialte of the 
 Jugez of it ; for whan the Counsell of the cite of Nor- 
 wich, of the toun of Swafham, youres, my Maister 
 Inglose, 2 Fastens, and many other playntyfs had put 
 in and declared, bothe by writyng and by woord by 
 fore the Jugez, the lawfull excepcions in many wise, the 
 Juges by ther wilfulnesse myght nat fynde in ther hert 
 to gef, not als moche as a bek nor a twynclyng of ther 
 eye toward, but toke it to deriscion, God reforme such 
 parcialte ; and by cause Prisot 3 thought that yf the 
 Sessions of the oyer determyner had be holden at 
 Norwich as they bygonne, he supposed it shuld nat 
 so fast passe to th'entent of Tudenham and Heydon 
 and ther felawes, as it shuld do ell[es] in other 
 place, but enjorned to Walsyngham, wher they have 
 grettist rule, ther to be holden on Tuesday, iiij te day of 
 May. 
 
 This knowing, my Maister Yelverton, 4 Denney, 5 and 
 other myght weel conceyve how the governaunce of 
 the oyer detennyner shuld precede, for it was the 
 most parcial place of alle the shire, and thedre wer 
 cleped alle the frendez, knyghteys, and esquiers, and 
 gentilmen that wolde in nowise do other wise than they 
 wolde. And the seid Tudenham, Heydon, and other op- 
 
 1 The 3 d of May. 
 
 2 Sir Harry Inglos. 
 
 3 John Prisot, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 4 William Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench, afterwards knighted by 
 Edward IV. 
 
 5 The name is given as Jenney by Fenn in his modern version on the 
 right-hand page, and there can be no doubt John Jenney was the person 
 intended. Perhaps " Denney" on the left-hand page is a misprint, but it is 
 not mentioned in Fenn's Errata.
 
 212 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 pressours of ther set come doun theder, as I understand, 
 with iiij - [400] hors and more ; and consideryng how 
 ther wellwillers \ver ther assembled at ther instaunce, it 
 had be right jowpertous and ferefull for any of the pleyn- 
 tyfs to have be present, for ther was nat one of the 
 pleyntyfs ner compleynuantez ther, but your right feith- 
 full and trusty weel wilier John Paston. And mj 
 Maister Yelverton seid full discretly, and countrolled 
 the seid Prisot when he seid, sittyng in the Guyhalle 
 of Norwich, these wordy s to the Meyre and Com- 
 monalte, "A, Sir Meyre and your brethren, as to the 
 processe of youre compleyntez, we wole put them in 
 contynuance, but in all other we wole precede ; " which 
 wordys Yelverton thought right parciall. And by side 
 this the seid Prisot wolde suffre no man that was lerned 
 to speke for the pleyntyfs, but took it as a venom, and 
 took them by the nose at every thred woord whiche 
 myght weel by knowe for open parcialte. 
 
 And as for the Lord Scalys, ye knowe well what he 
 is toward you, and namely for Hikelyng matter. Also 
 to knowe som of your feynt frendes, at that tyme that 
 my Lord Xorffolk sat at Norwich up on the oyer deter- 
 myner, Sir John Hevyngham myht nat fynde it in his 
 hert to go iiij. furlong from his duellyng place to the 
 shirehouse, but now he cowd ryde from Norwich to 
 Walsyngham to syt as one of the Commyssioners. As 
 to the rule of other, that ye wolde have supposed your 
 wellewillers, how they have byhavyd them at Walsyng- 
 ham, I shall sende yow woord in all hast whan Bernay l 
 come horn to Castr, for he is nat yet come from Wals- 
 yngham. But this I knowe well, that they founde none 
 obstacle ner impedyment in ther consciens in all your 
 matter ; but how they have do with Norwich, Swafham, 
 and Paston, I am nat yet clerly informed ; I suppose 
 they am put in respite. I here sey Heydon seweth for 
 an ende to be had with the cite of Norwich, and as to 
 the namys of them that passed on ther acquitaile ayenst 
 yow, Broyn can weell informe yow. I understand that 
 
 1 Probably Philip Berney.
 
 A.D. 1451.] HENRY VI. 213 
 
 Sir Robert Conyers, Calthorp, Mundford wer capteyns, 
 and Maister Ric. Doget also. 
 
 Item, as for the ij. venire facias ye sent to be retorned 
 for your manorz of Bradvvell and Beyton, I have do 
 them to be retorned of suche namys as I have sent 
 vvoord before, savyng sume be take, and except out. 
 Moreover, as for the mater of Sir John Sibton, Geney 
 and Raulyns gef ml counsell that it shuld abyde tyl the 
 mater of Bradwell myght precede, so that bothe maters 
 myght take up on a day, for they sey it wold drawe 
 xx. marc to labour the Jure to London, and yet it wer 
 hard to bryng about. And they gef yow counsell in 
 all wise that ye labour to have Yelverton Juge at thaf 
 tyme, and in all wise bothe in that materz and in all 
 other, that ye be war that Prisot have not to have do 
 in any wise, for than all wole be nought. Of alle other 
 materz I shall send you woord in all hast goodly, foi 
 at thys tyme I had no leyser by cause of the hasty 
 comyng up of Hug Fen, whom I beseche yow to fele 
 of the demenyng of the oyer determyner, for he can 
 telle yow moche and \i.e. if] he wole ; whether he wole 
 or nay, I can nat sey, for I know wele he was at Wal- 
 syngham. And I beseche All myghty Jesu have yow 
 in his mercyfull governaunce. Wrete at Castre, the 
 Sonday, ix. day of May anno xxix Regis Henrici vj li - 
 
 On the back of the letter is written 
 
 I prey yow be nowth displesed thow I have nowt 
 subscribed my name withinne forth, for it is of necly- 
 gens, quoth Howys, Parson of Castlecomb. 
 
 159. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 27 May. JOHN OSBERN TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 308.] 
 
 At the date of this letter Lord Molyns had probably been acquitted, but 
 the action against his men was still pending. The year must therefore be 
 1451. The date " Thursday next after St. Austin" is understood by Fenn to
 
 214 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 be after the Feast of St. Austin, or Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, which was 
 celebrated on the 28th of August ; but the dates of the preceding letters make 
 it more probable that the writer means St. Augustine, the apostle of England, 
 whose day was the 26th of May. 
 
 To my ryght reverent and worchepful Master, John 
 Past on, be this delyverid. 
 
 gjLESE it your masterchep to wete that I have 
 spoke wyth the Shereff * at hese placez, mev- 
 yng to hym, as for that that was left \vyth 
 hese Under shereff, it is your wyl he shuld 
 send a man of hese for it ; for tho\v it were more ye 
 wold gladly he shuld take it ; he thanked yow, and 
 sayde hese Under shereff was at London, and hymselff 
 had non deserved, and if he had he wold a take it. 
 And whan I departyd from hym, I desyerid hym a yen 
 to send therffore, and than he seyde it shuld abycle 
 tyl ye come horn, wherby I conceyve he wold have it, 
 and be gladde to take it Moreover, I remembred 
 hym of hese promyses made before to yow at London, 
 when he took hese oth and charche. and that ye were 
 wyth hym when he toke hese oth, and oder dyvers 
 tymes ; and for tho promyses made be hym to yow at 
 that tyme, and other tymes at the oyer determyner at 
 Lynne, ye proposed yow be the trust that ye have in 
 hym for to atempte and rere accions that shuld be to 
 the avayle of hym and of hese office. He wold a know 
 what the accions shuld be. I sayde I coude not telle 
 hym, and than he seyde he wold do for yow that he 
 may, excepte for the aquitell of the Lord Molyns men, 
 in so meche as the Kyng hath wrete to hym for to 
 shewe favour to the Lord Moleyns and hese men, and 
 as he seyth the indytement longyth to the Kyng, and 
 not to yow, and the Lord Molyns a gret lord. Also, 
 as he seyth, now late the Lord Molyns hath sent hym 
 a letter, and my Lord of Norffolk anoder, for to shew 
 favour in these indytements, he darnot abide the joporte 
 of that, that he shuld offende the Kinges commaund- 
 
 1 John Jermyn. See page 160, Note i.
 
 A.D. 145 1.] HENRY VL 215 
 
 ment. He know not how the Kyng may be informed 
 of hym, and what shal be seyde to hym. 
 
 And than I sayde as for any joporte that he shuld 
 abyde in any thing that he doth for yow, or be your 
 clesyre, you have offered hym, and wol performet, suf- 
 ficient sewerte for to sawe hym harmeles, and therfore 
 I supposid ther wold non resonable man thynk but 
 that he myght do for yow wyth owte any joporte. And 
 then he seyde he myth non sewerte take that passid 
 Cli. ; and the Lord Molyns is a gret lord, he myght 
 soon cause hym to lese that, and meche mo. Than I 
 sayde, be that meane, in defawte of a Shereff, every 
 man may be put from hese lyvelod; and thann he 
 seyde iff it were for the lyvelode, men wold take hem 
 the nerer for to abyde a joporte ; but be hese feyth, as 
 he swore, if the Kyng wryte ayan to hym he wol no 
 lenger abyde the joporte of the Kyngges wrytyng, but 
 he trustyth to Godde to inpanell seche men as shuln 
 to hise knowleche be indeferent, and non comon jurors. 
 As me semyth it wold do goode and [z/"] ye wolde gett 
 a comaundment of the Kyng to the Shereff for to shew 
 yow favour, and to inpanell jantelmen, and not for to 
 favour non seche riotts, &c. ; for he seyde that he sent 
 yow the letter that the Kyng sent hym, and ye seyde 
 a man shuld gete seche on for a noble. 
 
 Item, I remembred hym of the promyses that he 
 hath made to Temperley, and that if he wold make 
 yow very trew promys, ye wold rewarde hym as meche 
 as he wold desire, or any other resonable man for him, 
 and asmoche and mor then any adverserry ye have 
 wold gef hym ; than he seyde he toke never no mony 
 of non of hem alle. There was proferid hym at Wal- 
 syngham for the Lord Molyns xx. nobles, he had not a 
 peny ; moreover, I proferid hym, if he wold make yow 
 promys that ye myght veryly trust upon hym, ye wold 
 geff hym in hande as he wold desire, or to leve a 
 summe if he wold a named it in a mene mannys hand, 
 and seche as he hath trust to. And then he seyde, if 
 he myght do for yow, or if he do any thyng for yow,
 
 2i6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 then he wol take yowre mony \\yth a good wyl ; and 
 other promys I coude not have of hym, but that he 
 wol do for yow all that he may, excepte for the indite- 
 ments. I conceyve veryly he hath made promys to do 
 hese part that they shul be a quytte, but I suppose he 
 hath made non other promys ayens yow for the lyve- 
 lode ; but he lokyth aftyr a gret brybe, but it is not for 
 to trust hym veryly wyth o\vte that he may not chese. 
 I suppose he had no wrytyng fro my Lord of Norffolk 
 as he seyde. 
 
 I was at Framyngham for to a spoke wyth Tymperley, 
 Debnam, or Berry, and they were all ought. My 
 Lord, as he came from London, he was at Yepysweche 
 on Moneday, and when he wythowth the town toward 
 Framyngham, he had all hese men ryde forth afore a 
 gret pase,for he wolde felwe softely; and when hese men 
 were owte of syght, he rode wyth v. men to a squieris 
 place of hese therby, and on Tewsday, rodde my Lady 
 to hym ; and so I dede nought at Framyngham. No 
 more at thys tyme, but All myghty Jesu spede yow, 
 and have yow in hese kepyng. Wrete at Xonviche, 
 the Thursday next aftyr Sent Austyn, &c. 
 
 Be your servunt, JOHN OSBERN. 
 
 160. 
 
 A.D. 1451 or later. AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 As this letter refers to the 28th year of Henry VI. as a past date, it cannot 
 well be earlier than 1451. But probably it is not much, if at all, later. 
 
 To \_Herry^- Barker of Synt Clements Parys, inNorn.>ych, 
 to delyver to my Master John Paston, in haste. 
 
 ~X Thurisday the wall was mad zarde hey, and 
 a good wylle be fore evyn it reyned so sore 
 that they were fayne to helle the wall, and 
 leve werke. And the water is fallyn so sore 
 that it standyt ondyr the wall a fote deppe to Ballys 
 
 1 The Christian name Herry is crossed out, and Mcye ;?; appears to be 
 written over.
 
 A.D. I45I-] HENRY VI. 217 
 
 warde [i.e. towards the land of a neighbour named Ball\ 
 And on Friday after sakeryng, one come fro cherch 
 warde, and schoffe doune all that was thereon, and trad 
 on the wall and brake sum, and wente over ; but I 
 cannot zet wete hoo it was. And Warne Kynges wyfe, 
 as she went over the style, she cursyd Ball, and seyde 
 that he had zevyn aweye the waye. and so it prevyt be 
 JohnPaston is words. And after, Kyngs folke and odyr 
 come and cryid on Annes Ball, seying to her the same. 
 Zystyrnevyn wan I xul goo to my bede, the Vycare x 
 seyde that Warne Kyng and Warne Harman, betwyxte 
 messe and matynsse, toke Sir Roberd 2 in the vestry, 
 and bad hym sey to me, verely the wall xulde doun 
 a gayne. And wan the Vycar tolde me I wyste ther of 
 no worde, nor zet do be Sir Roberde, for he syth he 
 were loth to make any stryfe. And wan I com out of 
 the cherch, Roberd Emundes schowyd me how I was 
 amercyde for seute of corte the laste zer vj</., and seyd 
 it was xij</. tylle Warne Kyng and he gat it awey \]d. 
 
 I send zou word how John Jamys was demenyd at 
 Cromere, to send to Jamys Gressham how he xall be 
 demenyd. Gaffrey Benchard, Alexander Glover, hey- 
 wards, 3 tokyn a dystresse of John Jamys or the bond 
 tenent of A. Paston, calde Reynalds, in Cromer, the 
 xxviij" yer of thys Kyng, and W. Goodwyn, Baly of 
 Cromer, with the seyd J. Jamys, with forsse toke awey 
 the dysstres, wech was ij. horsse and a plowe. And 
 Good be with zou. 
 
 Be ANNES PASTON, your Modur. 
 
 161. 
 
 A.D. 1451, or later. 
 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter has the appearance, to judge from its contents, of being perhaps 
 a few weeks later than the preceding one. It is, however, in a different hand. 
 
 1 William Pope was vicar of Paston from 1447 to 1455. 
 
 2 Probably the Vicar's Curate. 
 
 " Haywards were (originally) persons who guarded a farm and crops in the 
 night, and blew a horn on an alarm of robbers. Halhwell.
 
 2i8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 To John Paston be thys by II deliver d in hast. 
 
 SPACKE thys day with a man of Paston syde, 
 and he told me that a man of Paston told 
 hym that Paston men wold not goo preses- 
 syon ferther than the chyrche yerde on Sent 
 Markys day, 1 for he seyd the presessyon wey was 
 stoppyd in, and seyd with in chort tyme men hopyd 
 that the wall chuld be broke doun ageyn. Item, he 
 seyd that I was amercyid for stoppyng of the seyd 
 [way] 2 at the last generall court, butt he cowd not tell 
 who meche the mercyment was. And he that told it 
 me askyd the man that told it hym if he had the mercy- 
 ment in hys exstrete for to distreyn there fore ; and he 
 seid nay, but seyd he that chuld do it chuld bettyr doe 
 take it up on hym than he chuld. Item, the same man 
 told me that he mett with a man of Blyclyng, hyght 
 Barker, that cam late fro London, and he told hym that 
 I had a sute att London ageyn Wareyn Herman of 
 Paston, and seyd that Roberd Branton was hys attorn- 
 nye, and seyd he seygh hym ryght besy for hym att 
 London. And for yete not yor sustyr; 3 and God have 
 yow in kepyng. Wretyn att Nonvyche the xij. day of 
 May, 
 
 Be yor modyr, 
 
 A. PASTON. 
 
 162. 
 
 A.D. 1451, or later. 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 44.] 
 
 This letter of Agnes Paston's refers to the same subject of dispute as the 
 two preceding, and was probably written after them ; but the exact year is 
 not certain. 
 
 To John Paston, dwettyng in the Tempyll at London, be 
 thys letter delyverd in hast. 
 
 1 April 25. 2 Omitted in MS. 
 
 3 Elizabeth Paston ?
 
 A.D. 145 1-] HENRY VI. 219 
 
 GRETE yow wele, and lete yow wete that on 
 the Sonday befor Sent Edmond, after evyn 
 songe, Augnes Ball com to me to my closett 
 and bad me good evyn, and Clement Spycer 
 with hyr. And I acsyd hym what he wold? And he 
 askyd me why I had stoppyd in the Kyngs wey? 
 And I seyd to hym 1 stoppyd no wey butt myn owyn, 
 and askyd hym why he had sold my lond to John Ball? 
 And he sor [swore] he was nevyr a cordyd with your fadyr ; 
 and I told hym if hys fadyr had do as he dede, he wold 
 a be a chamyd to a seyd as he seyd. And all that tyme 
 Waryn Herman lenyd ovyr the parklos \park close\ and 
 lystynd what we seyd, and seyd that the chaunge was 
 a rewly chaunge, for the towne was un do therby, and 
 is the werse by an C/z. And I told hym it was no 
 curtese to medyll hym in a mater butt if he wer callyd 
 to councell ; and prowdly goyn forthe with me in the 
 cherche, he seyd the stoppyng of the wey xuld coste 
 me xx. nobylls, and zet it shuld downe ageyn. And I 
 lete hym wete he that putte it downe chull pay therfor. 
 Also he seyd that it was well don that I sett men to 
 werke to owle 1 meney whyll I was her, butt in the ende 
 I chale lese my coste. Than he askyd me why I had 
 a wey hys hey at Walsham, seyng to me he wold he 
 had wyst it whan it was karryd, and he chuld a lettyd 
 it ; and I told hym it was myn owyn grownde, and for 
 myn owyn I wold holde it; and he bad me take iiij. 
 acre and go no ferther. And thus churtly he de- 
 partyd from me in the cherche zerde. And syt \since\ 
 I spacke with a serteyn man, and acsyd hym if he herd 
 owt sey why the dyner was mad att Norfolkys howse, 
 and he told me [he] herd sey that serteyn men had sentt 
 to London to gete a commyssyon owt of the chaunstre 
 to putt downe ageyn the wall and the dyk. 
 
 1 " To owl," says Fenn, " may signify to deceive, as an owler is a person 
 who carries contraband goods in the night : though I rather think it means 
 in this place to oil, that is, to smooth to her purpose ; but q. ?" The explana- 
 tion certainly is not very satisfactory. From the definition of "owler" we 
 might perhaps conjecture with more probability that "to owl" was to work 
 in the night time. Did Agnes Paston, to avoid interruption, set men to build 
 the wall by night ?
 
 220 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 I receyvyd yor letter by Robert Reppys thys day after 
 thys letter wretyn thus far. I have red it, butt I conn 
 yeve yow non aunswer mor than I have wretyn, save 
 the wyfe of Harman hathe the name of o\vr Lady, 
 whos blyssyn ye have and myn. Wretyn at Paston, on 
 the day after Sent Edmond, 1 
 
 Be yowyr modyr, 
 
 AUGNES PASTON. 
 
 163. 
 
 A.D: 1451 [3 June]. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 424.] 
 
 Reference is made in this letter to the forcible entry of Daniel into Brayston 
 in 1450, and, from the terms of the allusion, that'event must have been pretty 
 recent. The date of this letter, however, cannot be earlier than 1451, as Lady 
 Boys must have been a widow at the time, and she only became so in Decem- 
 ber 1450. See Letter 132, p. 174. 
 
 To my rygth ivorshipfull hosbond, John Paston, be lids 
 delyverid in hast. 
 
 wurchipfull hosbond, I recommawnd 
 me to yow, desyring hertyly to her of your 
 welfar, preying yow to wete that itt was told 
 me this weke that ther is afayr plase to sell 
 in Seynt Laueransis parysch, and stant ner the chirche, 
 and by the water syde, the whiche place Toppis hath 
 to sell. Pyte alyster [a dyer\ bowgth itt of Toppis, and 
 now, for defawt of payment, Toppis hath enterid ayen 
 therinne, and shall selle itt in hast, as it is told me. The 
 seyd lyster dwellyth therinne at this tym, but he shall 
 owte, for he is hald rygth apore man. I suppose if ye 
 lyke to bye itt when ye com horn, ye shall mowe have 
 itt of Toppis als godechepe or better than another 
 shuld. Als for tydyngs, we have none gode in this 
 contre ; I pray God send us gode. Itt was told me 
 that Rychard Sowthwell hath enterid in the maner of 
 
 1 St. Edmund's day was the i6th November.
 
 A.D. 1451.] HENRY VI. 221 
 
 Hale, 1 the whiche is the Lady Boysys, 2 and kepyth itt 
 with strength with seche another felashep as hath be 
 att Brayston, and wastyth and dispoylyth all that theris; 
 and the Lady Boys, as it is told me, is to London to 
 compleyn to the Kyng and to the Lordys ther of. Itt 
 semyth it was not for nowgth that he held with Charlys 
 and his felashep. I prey yow that ye wol vowchesawf 
 to speke to Jamys Gloys to bye the Ungwentum Album 
 that I spake to hym for; and that ye woll remembr 
 your fayr dowgteris gyrdyl. I hope ye shull be at horn 
 so sone that I woll do wryte nomor tydyngs to yow. 
 The blyssid Trinyte have yow in his keping, and send 
 yow gode- spede in all that ye woll spede well inne. 
 Wretyn at Norwyche on the Asencion day. 
 
 Yours, M. P. 
 
 164. 
 
 A.D. 1451, June? 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO [JOHN PASTON.] 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is anonymous, but it is in James Gresham's handwriting. In 
 Letter 156 we have Lord Molyns offering to treat with Paston for the injury 
 done to his property at Gresham. Apparently Paston has now mentioned 
 what terms he would accept. From what is said of the supersedeas , it would 
 seem that this letter was written not long before the next, which is dated on 
 Trinity Sunday. 
 
 |LEASE it your, maistership to wete that, as 
 touchyng Blake of the Kyngges hous, I spak 
 with hym, and he told me that if the Lord 
 Moleyns wold take suyche appoyntement as 
 ye agreed to, that he shuld lete me wete therof on 
 Satirday after noon, as I tolde yow whanne ye dyd on 
 your botes, &c. And sith that tyme I herd no word 
 of hym. Item, there is laboured a supersedeas for alle 
 
 1 Holm Hale. 
 
 2 Sibilla, daughter and heir of Sir Robert Ylley, and widow of Sir Roger 
 Boys, Knight. She was alive after 1450. F.
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 them that th'exigend 1 is ageyn, that arn convycted by 
 record of my Lord of Oxenford, except ij. men which 
 the Lord M. gyveth.no fors of. Item, I send yow 
 Treshams letter and a copie of the same. Item, I send 
 yow the cerciorari for my maistresse your modir. Item, 
 I send yow the scire facias for Osbern and Foke versus 
 Heydon and Wyndam. Item, I send yow a distringas 
 ageynst Tudenham, &c. Item, I beseche yow if it 
 may be in cas my Lord of Oxenford have not Holt 
 hundred, that ye wole take it to suyche on as yow seme 
 best, for it is told me that Pertriche laboureth therfore. 
 And that is by the setting on of Heydon, &c. As 
 touchyng the capias ageynst Pertrich, and the pros, a 
 geynst Costard, &c., it wole not be hadde, &c. 
 
 165. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 20 June. 
 JOHN BERNEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From PastonMSS., B.M.] 
 
 For the date of this letter see Note prefixed to the last Trinity Sunday fell 
 on the 2oth of June in 1451. 
 
 To the Ryght ivorshpful John Paston, Esquyer. 
 
 YGHT worshipfull, &c. Please zou to comfort 
 and help my pouer tenaunt, Symond Sparre, 
 whech ys a restyd by warant, at the sute of 
 the Lord Scalys, for Sir T. Tudynham shepp. 
 And, Sir, uppon Fryday last passyd, Blake, the Kynges 
 secratory, tolde me that there was delyvered a snper- 
 sedyas for all men in that sute. But, Sir, as my verry 
 trust is in zou for this, lat it be easyd, as I may doo 
 for zou, &c. ; for, Sir, I may not attent, by cause I am 
 ocupyed with my suster, for hir husbond, Sir Rychard 
 
 1 A writ of exigent lies where the defendant in a personal action cannot be 
 found, or anything of his to distrain. The sheriff is therein directed to pro- 
 claim him on five county court days, requiring him to appear on pain of out- 
 lawry.
 
 A.D. 1451.] HENRY VI. 223 
 
 Veuuter, 1 dessessyd upoon Fryday last, &c. Wretyn 
 in gret hast upon Trenyte Sunday, 
 
 Be zoure pouer cousyn, 
 
 JOHN BERNEYE. 
 
 166. 
 A.D. 1451, 28 June. NOTE. 
 
 A letter of Sir John Fastolf to Sir Thomas Howes, dated 28th 
 June 1451, 29 Henry VI., is mentioned by Fenn in vol. iii., p. 133, 
 in a footnote, and the following sentence extracted: "The un- 
 trouthe of the Pryour of Hykelyng draweth away my devotion in 
 such causes." The original of this letter I have not met with. 
 
 167. 
 
 A.D. 1451, i July. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 124.] 
 
 The mention made of the death of Sir Harry Inglos at the end of this letter 
 proves it to have been written in the year 1451. According to the inquisition 
 fast mortem. 29 Hen. VI., No. 9, he died on the ist July 1451, which corre- 
 sponds exactly with " the Thursday next after St. Peter," the day this letter 
 was written. 
 
 To my rygth worshypfull hosbond Jon Paston, be this 
 delyverd in hast. 
 
 ijYGTH worchypfull hosbond, I recommawnd 
 me to yow, desyryng hertyly to her of yowr 
 wellfar, preying yow to wete that I have 
 spoke with my Lady Felbrygg 2 of that ye bad 
 me speke to her of, and she seyd pleynly to me that 
 she wold not, ne nevyr was avysyd. neyther to lete the 
 Lord Moleyns ne non other to have ther intents as for 
 that mater, whyll yet she levyth. And she was rygth 
 evyll payd with Sawtr that he shuld reporte as itt was 
 told yow that he shuld have reportyd ; and she made 
 
 1 Blomefeld mentions a Sir Richard Veutre, who presented to the living 
 of Cockthorp in 1150. Hist. Norf., ix. 218. 
 - See page 199, Note 2.
 
 224 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A. D. 1451. 
 
 rygth moche of vow, and seyd that she wold nowgth 
 that no servaunte of herys shuld reporte no thyng that 
 shuld be ayens yow othenvyse than she wolld that 
 your servawnts shud do or seyn ayens her ; and if 
 other your servawnts dede ayens her, or any of her 
 ayens yow, she wold that itt shuld be reformyd be twyx 
 yow and her, and that ye mygth ben all on ; for she 
 seyd in good feyth she desyryth your frendshep ; and 
 as for the report of Sawtr, she seyd she supposyd that 
 he wold nowgth reporte so ; and if she mygth know 
 that he dede, she wold blame hym therfor. I told her 
 that itt was told me syth that ye reden [? yeden, i.e. 
 went], and that itt grevyd me mor that the seyd Sawtr 
 shuld reporte as he dede than itt had be reportyd of 
 another, in als rnoche as I had awgth hym goodwyll 
 befor ; and she prayid me that I shud not beleve seche 
 reports tyll I knewe the trowth. 
 
 I was att Toppys at dyner on Seynt Petyrs day ; ther my 
 I^dy Felbrygg and other jan tyll women desyryd to have 
 hadde yow ther. They seyd they shuld all abe \Jiave 
 beeti\ the meryer if ye hadde ben ther. My cosyn 
 Toppys hath moche car tyll she her goode tydyngs>f her 
 brotheris mater. Sche told me that they shuld kepte a 
 day on Monday next komyng be twyx her brother and 
 Ser Andrew Hugard and Wyndham. I pray yow send 
 me word how they spede, and how ye spede in yowr 
 owyn materys also. Also I pray yow hertyly that ye 
 woll send me a potte with treacle in hast ; for I have 
 ben rygth evyll att ese, and your dowghter bothe, syth 
 that ye yeden hens, and on of the tallest younge men 
 of this parysch lyth syke and hath a grete myrr'. How 
 he shall do God knowyth. I have sent myn unkyll 
 Berney 1 the potte with treacle that ye dede bey for 
 hym. Myn awnte recommawndeth her to yow, and 
 prayith yow to do for her as the byll maketh mencion 
 of that I send you with this letter, and as ye thenk best 
 for to do therinne. 
 
 Ser Henry Inglose is passyd to God this nygth, hoys 
 
 1 Philip Berney.
 
 A.D. 1451.] HENR Y VI. 225 
 
 sowle God asoyll, and was caryid forthe this day at ix. 
 of the clok to Seynt Feythis, and ther shall be beryid. 
 If ye desyer to bey any of hys stuff, I pray you send 
 me word therof in hast, and I shall speke to Robert 
 Inglose and to Wychyngham therof; I suppose thei 
 ben executors. The blyssyd Trinyte have you in his 
 kepyng. Wretyn at Norwyche in hast on the Thursday 
 next after Seynt Peter. 1 
 
 I pray yow trost nott to the sheryve 2 for no fayr 
 langage. Yours, ' M. P. 
 
 168. 
 
 A.D. 1451 (?) 20 July. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 258.] 
 
 SIR J. FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWYS, Parson of 
 Castlecombe. 
 
 Has received his letter by Herry Hansson. Does not think he 
 authorised Howys to have Andrews and his other adversaries 
 noted and corrected at oyer and determyner ; but if there was any 
 letter to that effect, F. will bear him out. Thinks even if there 
 was any letter to that effect sent by negligence, Howys should 
 have taken counsel, and he would not have been sued for con- 
 spiracy. If Andrews and the others had been sued in Suffolk 
 instead of Norfolk, they could have had no grounds of action. 
 
 London, 20 July. 
 
 [John Andrews was one of Heydon's adherents who gave trouble to Fastolf 
 and his friends on more than one occasion ; but this letter seems to have 
 reference to the proceedings taken against several of that faction in 1451.] 
 
 169. 
 
 A.D. 1451, Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 233.] 
 
 [From the reference to the date of the oyer and termyner mentioned in this 
 letter, it is clear that it was written in the same year as the letter following, 
 and probably a few days earlier.] 
 
 1 St Peter's day was the 2pth June. 
 
 2 John Jermyn was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk this year. 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOI.F TO JOHN BERNEY, SIR THOS. HOWYS, AND 
 WALTER SHIPDAM. 
 
 Begs them to hasten Rob. Boothe to London. Hears that the 
 oyer and termyner is to be at Norwich on Thursday 1 after Holy- 
 rood clay, and that Will. Yelverton, justice, is to be there. As- 
 certain, therefore, how the substantial men of Norwich are 
 inclined in my matter against Appulzerd, and take Paston's 
 advice in proceeding. Is advised to send John Bokkyng or Will. 
 Barker to them before the time. Bids them send an indenture of 
 Cornelys Floryson about wheat and malt. Has arrested the ship. 
 As to the matter against Applierd, if Todenham, Heydon, Wy- 
 mondham, &c., or any of them, will labour for their acquittal 
 against me in the Lady Bardolf's matter, you must oppose it. 
 Trusts the present mayor and his predecessor know what he has 
 done for the town, and Will. Jenney and his brother can testify 
 to Applierd's demeanour. You must get a copy of the indict- 
 ment, lest he deny the presentment. Sends a lease of Lady Ster- 
 burgh's part and Bardolf's, made by Wichingham and Blake, 
 and a confirmation of Sir Reynold Cobham, 2 and the said Lady 
 Sterburgh his wife, &c. Commend me to my Lord of Ely z and 
 my Lord of Oxford if they be there, and my coz. Yelverton, and 
 ask my Lord of Norwich for tidings of Hikelyng. " Item, blessed 
 be God of his visitation ! I have been sore sick and am well 
 amended, and trust to our Lord to see you hastily and other of 
 my friends." 
 
 {Signature not F.'s own.) 
 
 170. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 14 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 251. ] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN A BERNEY, JOHN PASTON, AND 
 SIR THOMAS HOWYS. 
 
 As the oyer and termyner is to be at Norwich on Thursday 
 next, 4 sends John Bokkyng to wait upon his counsel there to see 
 to his matter against Appulzerd. They are to spare no cost to 
 bring it to a good end, especially the bill of maintenance against 
 Appulzerd, who was the greatest cause that the inquest passed 
 against F. so untruly. 
 
 (Signature not F.'s own.) 
 
 London, 14 Sept. 30 Hen. VI. 
 
 1 September i6th, Holyrood day being the i4th. 
 
 2 Sir Reginald Cobham of Sterborough in Surrey, father of the notorious 
 Eleanor Cobham. 
 
 3 Thomas Bourchier, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 * i6th September.
 
 A.D. I45L] HENRY VI. 22^ 
 
 171. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 23 Sept. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO SIR THOMAS HOWES. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 132.] 
 
 To my trusty frendys, Sir Thomas Howys, Parson of 
 Castellcombe, beyng at Castre. 
 
 jjjYGHT trusty frendys, I grete you well. Item 
 where as the Bysshop of Norwych * makyth 
 but delayes in my resonable desyre for an 
 eende to be had in the xxv. marc of Hyke- 
 lyng, y am uppon a appoyntement and throw wyth the 
 heyr of Clyfford, that he shall entree in the hole maner 
 that ys chargeable wyth my xxv. marc rent, which the 
 Pryour and Convent have forfeted the seid hole manor 
 to the heyers undre her Convent seele of record, be- 
 cause of myne nonne payment of xxv. marc; and so then 
 the Pryour shall lese for ever iiij xx [four score] marc of 
 rent, and that wythout onye concience, for they have be 
 fals both to the Clyffordys and to me thys vij. yeere day. 
 And y trust to God to correct hem so by spirituell law 
 and temporell law, that all othyr Relygyoux shall take 
 an example to breke the covenant or wille of anye 
 benefactor that avauncyth hem wyth londs, rents, or 
 gode; and my confessours have exorted me gretely 
 ther too. And Almyghty God kepe you. Wryt at 
 London, the xxiij. day of September anno xxx R. H. 
 VI. 
 
 JOHN FASTOLF, Kt. 
 
 There is one Walsam wold desyre acquitaunce of 
 pardon for the wydow of Hygham, I hafe no cause, for 
 hyr husband left hyr whereof! to pay hyr debts suffi- 
 saunt, and for me he ferre the better. The wydow 
 noysyth you, Sir Thomas, that ye sold a wey salt but 
 
 Walter Lyhart or Hart.
 
 228 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1451. 
 
 for XX.T. that she might hafe had xb. for every wey, I 
 pray you aunsvver that for your acquytaille. 
 
 Item, sende me the value of Cooke ys tenement in 
 Drayton, wyth xx. acres lond therto, what it was worth 
 yeerly when it stode hoole ; for Sellyng seith it was 
 worth but j. noble by yeer. 
 
 172. 
 
 A.D. 1451, 18 Dec. 
 RICHARD SOUTHWELL TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 366.] 
 
 This letter must have been written in 1451. It appears from No. 92 that 
 Daniel entered the manor of Brayston or Braydeston during the sitting of the 
 Parliament at Leicester in the spring of 1450. He was dispossessed by 
 Mundford and Heydpn on the yth September following, but he entered the 
 place a second time in the 3oth year of Henry VI., i.e. some time between 
 the ist September 1451 and the 3ist August 1452. In this letter it is anti- 
 cipated that he will be enabled to enter the place by his influence with Lord 
 Scales and the Duke of Somerset This cannot refer to his first entry, as 
 Somerset was in France for a long time before. 
 
 To my mastir, John Past on } Esquier. 
 
 |IGHT worshippful sir, I recomaunde me unto 
 you. And please it you to witte of oure newe 
 tydinges here ; as this day com writing both 
 to my Lorde l and to my Lady from London, 
 that there be certein lettres directed to my Lorde from 
 my Lady his moder, 2 and diverse other Lordes for to 
 have Danyell 3 in his favour a geyne, and as it is sup- 
 posed by the meanes of the Due of Somersette, 4 for he 
 hath ben right conversaunte with hym all this quarter 
 of this yere. And also thei that sente this writing sayn 
 playnly that the Lorde Skales is gode lorde to hym, and 
 that he hath promysed hym to make Sir Thomas 
 
 1 John Mobray. Duke of Norfolk, married Ellenor, daughter of William 
 Bourchier, Earl of Ewe, in Normandy.- F. 
 
 2 Catharine, daughter of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, and widow of John 
 Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. F. 
 
 3 Thomas Daniel. Esq., was Constable of Rising Castle, and married Mar- 
 garet, sister of John Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk. F. 
 
 * Edmund Beaufort.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENR Y VI. 229 
 
 Tudenham, Heydon, and hym accorded, and other 
 men in the cuntre, and that he shall be suffred to entre 
 in to Brayston, and kepe it to th'entente that the cuntre 
 shall thinke, and my Lord also, that he hathe grete 
 favour amonge the Lordes of the Counsel!, and cause 
 men to fere hym the more. Whethir it be thus or non 
 I can not say ; never the lesse me thinketh ye shall 
 sone knowe if Mounford will agree that he shall entre 
 in to Brayston, and if that be trewe, all the remenant 
 shall seme the more likly. 
 
 I pray you brenne this letter when ye have redde it. 
 My Lorde and my Lady sayn ye shall be right wel- 
 come and ye will se theym this Crisemasse. I reporte 
 me to your wisdom, and God have you in his keping. 
 Writon at Framlyngham, the xviij. day of Decembre. 
 
 Ric. SOUTHWELL. 
 
 173. 
 
 A.D. 1452, [April]. 
 PROCLAMATION BY THE DUKE OF NORFOLK. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 248]. 
 
 The intended royal visit to Norfolk mentioned in the end of this proclama- 
 tion appears to tally best with the date of April 1452, when, it will also be 
 seen from the letters following, the Duke of Norfolk was at Framlingham, 
 hearing complaints from the gentlemen of Norfolk. 
 
 The Due of Norfolk. 
 
 E hit knowen to alle the Kyngs trewe liege 
 peple, the cause of our comynge in to this 
 centre ys, by the comandement of the Kynge 
 our soverayn Lorde, for to enquer of suche 
 gret riotts, extorcyons, oryble wrongis and hurts as his 
 Highnesse ys credybyly enformyd ben don in this 
 centre, and to know in serteyne, by yow that knowe 
 the trow the, by what persone or personys the seyde gret 
 riotts, extorcions. oryble wrongis and hurts be done. 
 Wherfor we charge yow alle, on the Kyngs behalve
 
 230 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1452. 
 
 our soverayne Lorde, that ze spar neyther for love, drede, 
 ne fer that ze have to any persone of what estat, degre, 
 or condicion he be, but that ze sey the soth by whome 
 suche offences de done, and that ze spar no man that 
 ze knowe gilty ; and be the feyth that we owe to our 
 soverayn Lorde, they schal be chastysid after ther 
 desert, and hit reformyd as lawe requyrith. 
 
 Also hit ys opunlypuplysschid that serteyneservaunts 
 of the Lord Scales schulde in his name manasse and 
 put men in feer and drede to compleyne to us at this 
 tyme of the seide hurts and greves, seynge that we 
 wolde abyde but a schort tyme her, and aftir our de- 
 partynge he wolde have the rewle and governaunce as 
 he hath had affore tyme. We lete yow wete that nexst 
 the Kynge our soverayn Lord, be his good grace and 
 lycence, we woll have the princypall rewle and govern- 
 ance throwh all this schir, of whishe we ber our name 
 whyls that we be lyvynge, as ferre as reson and lawe 
 requyrith, hoso ever will grutche or sey the [contrary] ; l 
 for we woll that the Lord Scales, Sir Thomas Tuden- 
 ham, Sir Mylis Stapylton, and John Heydon have in 
 knowleche, thowh our persone be not dayly her, they 
 schal fynde our power her at all tymes to do the Kynge 
 our soverayn Lord servyse, and to support and mayn- 
 tene yow alle in your right that ben the Kyngs trewe 
 lige men. For hit may non ben seyde nay, but that 
 her hath ben the grettest riotts, orryble wrongs and 
 offences done in thise partyes by the seide Lord Scales, 
 Thomas Tudenham, Mylis Stapilton, John Heydon, 
 and suche as ben confedred on to theym that evir was 
 seen in our dayes; and most myschiffe throwh ther 
 maliciouse purpose lyke to have fallyn amonge the 
 Kyngs trewe liege peple now late at Norwiche, ne had 
 we better providid therfor. And also that God for- 
 tunyd us to withstande ther seyde malicious and evill 
 disposid purpose. 
 
 Wherfor makith billiz of your grevance, and come to 
 us, and we schal brynge yow to the Kynges presence 
 
 1 Indicated by Fenn as illegible in MS.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENRY VI. 231 
 
 our selfe, whos presence wyll be her in all the hast 
 with the mercy of God, and see the reformacion ther 
 of his owyn persone. 
 
 174. 
 
 A.D. 1452, 23 April. 
 SOME GENTLEMEN OF NORFOLK TO [THE SHERIFF?]. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 There are two copies of this paper, besides a draft written on the back of 
 that which follows. The date both of this and of the two following letters 
 will be seen by comparing them with No. 179 following. 
 
 [IGHT wurchipfull, we commawnd us to yow. 
 Please it yow to wete that we and other 
 jentilmen of the shyer of Norffolk hath be in 
 purpose assewyd \have sue(f\ to the hygh and 
 myghty Prynce and owr ryght gode Lord the Duke of 
 Norffolk to Framlyngham, to have enformyd his High- 
 nesse of dyvers assaughtes and ryottes made be Charles 
 Nowell and other ageyn the Kyngs lawe and peas, 
 withowte any cause or occacion, up on John Paston 
 and other of owre kynne, frendes and neyghborys, ne 
 had be that dayly this x. days it hath be do us to wete 
 that his Highnesse shuld come in to Norwych or 
 Claxton, we not beyng in certeyn yet whedyr he shall 
 remeve ; praying yow as we trust, that ye woll tender 
 the welfare of this shyer and of the jentylmen ther in, 
 that ye woll lete owr seyd Lord have knowyng of owr 
 entente in this, and after to send us answher wheder it 
 please his Highnesse we shuld come to his presens, and 
 in what place, or to send owr compleynt to hym if mor 
 information be thowth behoffull, trostyng to his gode 
 Lordshep of remedy in this mater; whiche do [i.e. done\, 
 semyth us, shall be to owr seyd Lordys honur and gret 
 rejoyng to all the jentylmen of the shyer, and cause the 
 peas to be kept her after be the grace of God, how 
 have yow in hys blyssed kepyng. Wretyn at Nor- 
 wyche, on Seynt Georgys day.
 
 232 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1452. 
 
 SIR JOHN HEVENYNGHAM. JOHN FERRERS. THO. 
 GURNAY. JOHN GROOS. W. ROKEWODE. JOHN 
 BAKON, Senior. JOHN BAKON, Junior. 1 
 
 J.PAGRAVE. ROBT. MORTIMER. NICHOLAUSAPPILYARD. 
 
 175. 
 
 A.D. 1452, 23 April. 
 JOHN PASTON TO [THE SHERIFF OF NORFOLK ?]. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This is printed from a rough draft in John Paston's handwriting, on the 
 back of which is a draft of the preceding letter. The date of both letters is 
 the same. The reading of particular words in this draft is very uncertain, 
 owing to the cramped handwriting used in corrections and interlineations, and 
 the manner in which several of the words are abbreviated. 
 
 REVERENT and ryth wurshepfull sir, and my 
 god maister, I recommaund me to yow. Plese 
 yovv to wete that Charlis Nowell with odir 
 hath in this cuntre mad many riot and sautes; 
 and, among othir, he and v. of his felachip set upon 
 me and mo (?) of my servants at the Chathedrall chirch 
 of Norwich, he smyting at me, whilis on of his felawis 
 held myn armes at my bak, as the berer herof shall 
 mor playnly inform yow. Whech was to me strawnge 
 cas, thinking in my conseyth that I was my Lords 
 man and his homagier, or Charlis knew hys Lordschipe, 
 ';hat my Lord was my god Lord, and that I had be 
 with my Lord at London within viij. [days?] 2 bey for 
 Lent, at which tyme he grantyd my his god lordship, 
 so lagerly [largely] that it must cause me ever to be 
 his trew servant to myn pow[er]. I thowt also that I 
 had never geff cawse to non of my Lords hous to ow 
 me evill will, ne that ther was non of the hows but I 
 wold have do fore as I cow (sic) desir anioone (?) to do 
 
 1 The names subscribed thus far are in the same handwriting as the docu- 
 ment. Those below may perhaps be autograph signatures, although 'the 
 names of Pagrave and Mortimer are in a hand much like that of John Paston. 
 
 2 Word omitted.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENRY VI. 233 
 
 forme, and yet will except my adversare; and thus I and 
 my frendes naff miusid of this and thowt he was hard to 
 do thus. And this notwithstanding, assone as knolech 
 was had of my Lords coming to Framlingham, I never 
 attemptid to precede ageyns hym as justis and law 
 wuld, but to trust to my seyd Lord that his Hyghnes 
 wold se this punischichid (sic], and desirid my master (?) 
 
 H mi cosin (?) Tymperle, the dene and odir 
 
 to (?) l and dayly hath be redy with such jentilmen as 
 dwelle here abotight that can record the trought to 
 have come (sic) compleyn to my Lord ; but we have 
 had contynually tydynges of my Lordes comyng heder 
 that causid us for to abide ther up un, besechyng your 
 gode maystershep that ye wull lete my Lord have know- 
 lech of my compleynt. And that ye wull tender the 
 gode spede of the entente of the letteris wretyn to you 
 fro jentilmen of this shire. Prayng yow that ye woll 
 yeve credens to the berer herof, and be his gode 
 mayster in cas any man make any qwarell to hym. 
 And what that I may do be your comaundment shall 
 be redi with the grace of God, how have in his blissid 
 kepyng. Wretyn at Norwhich, un Seynt Georges day. 
 
 176. 
 
 A.D. 1452, April. JOHN PASTON TO . 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter, like the preceding, is from a rough draft in Paston's handwriting. 
 It is clearly of the same date as the two last, or perhaps a day or two later. 
 There is nothing to show with certainty who was the person addressed ; but 
 we should think it was probably Sir Jolui Fastolf. 
 
 iH 
 
 TH worchepfull sir and cosyn, I recommaund 
 me to yow, [and] pray yow that ye will in mi 
 behalf inform my Lord of the domag of 
 Charlis Nowell to meward, withow occacion 
 
 1 The preceding words from " and desirid " are a peculiarly illegible inter- 
 lineation, and do not appear to form a consecutive sense along with the pas- 
 sage following. Perhaps the words "and daily hath" should have been 
 erased, which would make the connection intelligible.
 
 234 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1452. 
 
 gef on min part, as the berer herof knoweth (P). 1 I am 
 and was my Lords man and homagier, or the seyd 
 Charlis knew my Lord, and will do my Lord sech 
 servis as I can, and that ye will tendre the god sped 
 of the mater of the letter direct to you from serteyn 
 jentilmen of thes shir, with whech jentilmen or odir -to 
 here recor of this thowt, I have bene dayly toward my 
 Lord to compleyne to his Lorship, but the continuall 
 tydings of my seyd Lords coming heder hath cawsid 
 us to awayt ther opon. Beseching yow, cosine, as my 
 trust is in yow, that ye will help to kepe the god rewll 
 of thes shir, and my por honeste, and geff credens to 
 the berer herof, and be his god master if any querel be 
 mad to him. And what I may do for you, I am and 
 ever shall be redi to do it be the grace of God, hoo 
 
 177. 
 
 A.D. 1452 [30 April]. 
 THE SHERIFF OF NORFOLK TO THE KING AND COUNCIL. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 John Clopton was Sheriff of Norfolk from Michaelmas 1451 to Michaelmas 1452, 
 
 To the Kyng and the Lordes of his Councell. 
 
 John Clopton, Shereffe of Norffolk, certifie 
 that wher oon John Falyate and othre were 
 take within the hundred of Blofeld in the seid 
 shire, and led to the castell of Framlyngham 
 in the counte of Suffolk, I, the forseid Shereffe, be the 
 comaundement of my Lord of Norffolk, the last day of 
 Aprill receyved at the seid castell a bille of divers 
 knowlech and confessyons which were enformyd me 
 shuld have be mad in the presens of my seid Lords 
 Councell be Roger Chirch and othre, which the seid 
 John Falyate, as it was enformed me, shuld have con- 
 
 1 The reading is very uncertain, being partly interlined in a very cramped 
 hand, partly corrected in the text.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENRY VL 235 
 
 fessid to have be trewe. After which bille receyved 
 and be me red and understand, callyng befor me the 
 seid John Falyate and alle othre that where examyned, 
 except the seyd Roger Chirch, in the presens of divers 
 of my Lords Councell there, I red to the seid John 
 Falyate the tale comprised in the seid bille seid be the 
 seid Roger Chirch, demawndyng hym of the trought 
 her of; wherto he answered, and seid that he wust 
 wele ther was no wey with hym but deth, and therfore, 
 as he wuld answer afore God, he wuld sey the trought, 
 and seid that the substaunce of the tale told be the seid 
 Roger Chirch was untrewe, and feyned and imagyned 
 be the same Chirch, and that he never had knowleched 
 that the tale to be trewe. Neverthelesse he seid that 
 he was with a felesshep gadered undre Possewykwode 
 be the prokeryng of the seid Chirch, which feleshep, 
 whan thei were all togeder, passid not the nombre of 
 xv. persones. And that the seid Chirch wast the furst 
 that ever mevid hym for to come theder, seying that he 
 shuld have feleshep i nowe and do goode, for he was 
 balyffe of the hundred, and be colour of his office 
 he shuld send in men i now, and that he knew a gode 
 name for her capteyn, that shuld be John Amend Alle. 
 More over I the seid Shereffe asked the seid Falyate 
 if thei whan thei wer to geder spoke of Paston and 
 othre gentilmen named in the seid bille to have assis- 
 ted hem ; and he seid pleynly nay, but that thei and 
 othre thryfty men were noysid be the seid Chirch and 
 be his councellores sith the tyme of the gaderyng of 
 the seid feleshep, and never was spokyn of ther. In 
 likewyse seid othre that were examyned in the seid bille. 
 
 178. 
 
 A.D. 1452, 4 July. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iv. 14.] 
 
 What is said in this letter about Church of Kurlingham, clearly shows that 
 it belongs to the same year as the last and the letters following.
 
 236 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 To my rygth wirchipfel hosbond, John Pas ton, be this 
 delyverid in hast. 
 
 worshipfull hosbond, I recommawnd me 
 to yow, desyryng hertyly to her of your wel- 
 lykSa far, praying yow that ye woll send me word 
 in hast how ye be agreid with Wychyngham 
 and Inglose x for that mater that ye spake to me of at 
 your departyng ; for if I shuld purvey other wood or 
 hey, it shuld be bowgth best chepe be twixt this and 
 Seynt Margretys messe, 2 as itt is told me. As for 
 Applyard, he com not yett to this town syn he com 
 from London. I have sent to Sir Bryse to lete me 
 have knowleche when he comyth to town, and he hath 
 promysid that I shall have knowleche, and when he 
 comyth I shall do your commawndement. My moder 
 bad me send yow word that Waron Herman hath dayly 
 fyshid hyre water all this yer, and therfor she prayith 
 yow to do therfor while ye be att London as ye thynk 
 best. 
 
 Chyrche 3 of B}Tlyngham was toke and browte to 
 the castell yisterday be the Beshopys men, and all his 
 godys ben seysid for that he owyth to the Boshop. 
 And the seid Chirche seyth as for that he hath seyd of 
 hem that he hath appelyd befor this tyme, he woll 
 awow itt and abyd therby ; and seyth that he woll 
 appele one that hath mor nobelys than they have all 
 that he hath spoke of yett, and that shall avayll the 
 King more than they have all that he hath speke of 
 yett ; but what he is, he woll not name tyll he know 
 mor. I trow but if that be the grett labour made 
 ayens hym, he is lyke to have grett favour of hem that 
 have be his supporters. Men thenk that have spoke 
 with hym that he hopeth to have good helpe. I pray 
 God that the trewth mote be knowyn. 
 
 I pray yow that ye woll vouchesaff to send me an 
 other sugor loff, for my old is do ; and also that ye 
 well do make a gyrdill for your dowgter, for she hath 
 
 1 See p. 225. z 2oth July. 3 Roger Church. See p. 234.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENR Y VI. 237 
 
 nede therof. The blyssid Trinyte have yow in his 
 kepyng. Wretyn at Norwyche in hast, on the Tewys- 
 day next befor Seynt Thomas day. 1 
 
 Paper is deynty. 2 Yours, M. P. 
 
 179. 
 A.D. 1452. INFORMATION OF OUTRAGES. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The misdemeanors of Roger Church, who is here complained of among 
 other malefactors, must refer to the same period as Letter 177. The date is 
 rendered even more certain by a comparison with the letter following. 
 
 HARLYS NOWEL, Otywell Nowell, Robert 
 Ledeham, John the sone of Hogge Ratkleff, 
 Robert Dallyng, Kerry Bangge, Roger 
 Cherche, Nicholas Goldsmyth, Robert Tay- 
 lor, Christofer Grenescheve, 3 Dunmowe, Elis 
 
 Dokworth, Christofer Bradle, Jon Cokkow, assemblyng 
 and gadderyng to hem gret multitude of mysrewled 
 people, kepe a frunture and a forslet at the hows of the 
 seid Robert Ledeham, and issu ought at her pleser, 
 sumtyme vj., smntymexij., sumtyme xxx 11 andmo,armed, 
 jakked, and salattyd with bowis, arwys, speris, and 
 bylles, and over ride the contre and oppresse the 
 people, and do many orible and abhomynable dedis 
 lyke to be distruccion of the shire of Norffolk, wythoute 
 the Kyng owre Sovereyn Lord seth it redressid. 
 
 Un Mydlent Soneday 4 certeyn of the seid felechep 
 in the chirche of Byrlyngham made a fray upon tweyne 
 of the servauntes of the reverent fadyr in Godde, By- 
 schop of Norwiche, 5 the seid servaunts at that tyme 
 knelyng to see the usyng of the Masse ; and there and 
 than the seid felechep wold have kelled the seid two 
 servauntes at the prestis bakke, ne had they be lettyd, as 
 it semed. 
 
 1 Translation of St. Thomas, Apostle, yth July. 
 
 2 Fenn says that the letter is written upon a piece of paper nearly square, 
 out of which a quarter had been cut before the letter was written. 
 
 3 Blank in MS. 
 
 4 Midlent Sunday fell on the ipth March in 1452. 
 6 Walter Lyhai t or Hart.
 
 238 THE: PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 1 [Item, tin the Moneday 2 next before Esterne daye, 
 sex of the seid persones made a saute upon John 
 Paston and hese two servauntes at the dore of the 
 cathedrall cherche of Norweche, \vyth swerdes, bokeler, 
 and dagareis drawe smet at the seid Paston, on of 
 them holdyng the seid Paston be bothe armes at hese 
 bakke, as it semyth purposyng there to have morderid 
 the seid Paston and they had not a be lettyd ; and also 
 smet on of the servaunts of the seid Paston upon the 
 naked hed wyth a swerd, and poluted the seyntewary,] 
 
 Item, on the Monday 2 next before Esterne day, x. 
 of the seid persones lay in awayte in the hey weye undyr 
 Thorp Woode up on Phelep Berney, Esquier, and hese 
 man, and shet at hem and smet her hors wyth arwes, 
 and then over rede hym and brake a bowe on the said 
 Phelippis hed and toke hym presoner, callyng hym 
 traytor. And when they had kepte hym as long as thei 
 lyst, thei led hym to the seyd Byshop of Norwiche and 
 askid of hym swerte cf the peas, and forwyth relessid 
 her suerte and went her way. 
 
 Item, iij. of the seid felechep lay unawayte upon 
 Emond Brome, jentelman, and with nakid swerds 
 fawte wyth hym be the space of a quarter of a owre and 
 toke hym presoner ; and when they had kepte hym as 
 long as they lyst, lete hym goo. 
 
 Item, xl" of the same felechep come rydyng to Nor- 
 wiche jakked, and salettyd, with bowys and arwys, 
 byllys, gleves, un Maundy Thursday, 3 and that day 
 aftyr none, when service was doo, they, in lyke wyse 
 arrayid, wold have brake up the Whyte P'reris dores, 
 where, 4 seying that they came to here evesong; howbeit 
 that they made her avaunt in towne they shuld have 
 sum men owt of town (?), qwhyke or deede ; and there 
 made a gret rumor, where the mayre and the alder- 
 men, with gret multitude of peple, assembled, and 
 therupon the seyd felischep departid. 
 
 1 This paragraph is crossed in the MS. 
 
 2 April 3, Easter day being the gth April in 1452. 3 April 6. 
 
 4 After the word "where" the original text had "the seid Paston dwel- 
 lith," but these words have been struck out, and other alterations made in 
 the paragraph.
 
 A.D. I452-] HENRY VI. 239 
 
 Item, dyvers tymes serteyn of the seid felechep have 
 take fro John Wylton, wythoute any cause, hese net, 
 hese shep, and odyr cattell, and summe there of have 
 saltyd and eten, sume thereof have aloyned, 1 so that 
 the seid Wylton wot not where for to seke hese bestes ; 
 and un the morwe 2 next aftyr Esterne day last past, 
 they toke fro hym xj. bestis, and kepte hem two dayis 
 wythowte any cause. 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse they have do to John Coke and 
 Kateryn Wylton. 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse they have take the goodys and 
 catelles of Thomas Baret and many odyr. 
 
 Item, certeyn of the seid felechep late made a sawte 
 upon John Wylton in Plumsted cherche yerd, and there 
 beete hym so the \thai\ he was [in] dowth of his liff. 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse upon John Coke of Wytton, 
 brekyng up hese dores at xj. of the clok in the nyght, 
 and with her swerdis maymed hym and gaf hym vij. 
 grete woyndis. Item, smet the modyr of the seid 
 Coke, a woman of iiij xx [four score\ yeres of age, 
 upon the crowne of the heed wyth a swerd, wheche 
 wownde was never hoi to the daye of her deth. 
 
 Item, the seyd Dunmowe, on of the seid feleche[p], 
 now lete beet the parson of Hasyngham, and brake 
 hese hed in hese owne chauncell. 
 
 3 [Item iii xx \three score\ of the seid felechep, arayid 
 as men of werre, now late enterd with fors upon Phelep 
 Berney and dissesid hym of the maner of Rokeland- 
 toftys, wheche darnot, for feer of mordyr, reentre hese 
 owne londe ; how be it, he and hese aunseters have 
 be pesibely possessid therof many yeris.] 
 
 Item, Alredis sone of Erll Some, fast be Framyngham, 
 un the Saterday 4 next before Palme Soneday last past 
 was pullid ought of a hows and kyllid. Whedyr any of 
 the seid felechep were there or not men kan not sey, there 
 be of hem so many of wheche many be unknowe people. 
 
 Item, the seid felechep make seche affrayis in the 
 centre abowte the seid Ledehams place, and so frayith 
 
 1 Eloined 'French eloigne), removed to a distance. 2 April 10. 
 
 3 This paragraph is crossed out. * April i.
 
 240 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 the people that dyvers persones for feer of mordyr 
 darnot abyde in her howses, ne ride, ne walke abowte 
 ther ocupacions, wyth owte they take gretter people 
 abowte hem then acordith to her clegre, wheche they 
 wol not do in evel exaumple gevyng. 
 
 Item, the seid felechep of a fer cast maleys and pur- 
 pose now late toke Roger Cherche, on of ther owne 
 felechep, be hese owne assent, wheche Roger Cherche 
 be her assent had movid and and sterid a rising in the 
 hundred of Blofeld, and hath confessed hym self to be 
 at that arysyng, and hath enbylled, as it is seid, divers 
 jentelmen and the most part of the trysty yomen and 
 husbondis and men of good name and fame of the 
 hundred abowte the seid Ledehams place, where the 
 seid felechep is abydyng, and nameth hem wyth odyr 
 suspecious people for risers, to the entent to hide and 
 cover her awn gylt, and to holde them that be trw men 
 and innosent in that mater in a dawnger and feer that 
 they shuld not gader peopell, ner atempte to resiste 
 ther riotows governauns of the seid reotows felechep. 
 
 1 [Item, it is conceyved that if the seyd riotows fele- 
 chep, and they that drawe to them were dewlyexamyned, 
 it shuld be knowe that if there were any seche rysyng, it 
 was conjectyd, don, imagened, and labored be the seid 
 reotows felechep and be ther meanes ; for aswele the 
 seid Cherche, as dyvers of the most suspeciows per- 
 sones be the seid Cherche enbelled for rysers. as it is 
 seid, be and have be of long tyme dayly in compeny 
 wyth the seid reotows felechep. 
 
 Item, on of the seid fclechep of late tyme, as it is 
 seide, to encresse her maliciows purpose, hath proferid 
 rewardis and goocle to anodyr persone for to take upon 
 hym to apele certeyn persones, and afferme the seying 
 of the seid Roger Cherche.] 
 
 In wytnesse of these premesses, dyvers knytes and 
 esquieres, and jentelmen whos names folwen, wheche 
 knowe this mater be seying, heryng, or credible 
 reporte, to this wrytyng have set her seall, besechyng 
 
 1 These paragraphs arc crosse'' through.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENRY VI. 241 
 
 your Lordcheppis to be meanes to the Kyng owre 
 sovereyn Lord for remedy in this behalve. Wrete, &c. 
 
 On the lower margin of this paper, and on the back are scrawled a few 
 additional memoranda, of which the following are the most important. One 
 paragraph, which is in the handwriting of John Paston, is so carelessly writ- 
 ten that the names contained in it are quite uncertain. 
 
 Memorandum, that Jon, sone of Roger Ratkliff, bet T. Baret, 
 and Beston and Robyn Taylor tok and imprysonyd Thomas Byr- 
 don of Ly[n]gwode. Item, Robert Balling bet Nicholas Chirch 
 at Stromsaw Chirch. Memorandum of manassing of the quest at 
 Hengham. Item, Robert Dallyng bete Thomas Dallyng. 
 
 Roger att Chirche, Robert Dallyng and Herry Bang with other 
 went with fors and armys, and fechid William Clippisby oute of 
 his faders hous, and brought hym to the town of Walsham, and 
 kept hym there ij. days and ij. nytys, and fro thens had hym to 
 Romgey (?), and there inpresonyd hym and made hym [give] to 
 Eusdale (?) an oblygacion of C. libr. made after her owyn desyr. 
 
 180. 
 
 A.D. 1452. A PETITION TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,241, B.M.] 
 The date of this petition will be seen by a foot-note. 
 
 To the right reverent fader in God, Cardynale*Arche- 
 busshop of York x and CJiaunceler of Inglond. 
 
 LEASE it yowre gode Lordeshep to know that 
 oon Roger Cherche, other wyse callyd Roger 
 Bylaugh, Roger Wryte, and Roger Baly, late 2 
 was at a gaderyng and assemble of xv. per- 
 sones in a feleshep under a wode in the town of Pos- 
 sewyke, in the counte of Norffolk, which feleshep, as it 
 is seid be hem, was procured and gaderyd be the seid 
 Roger Cherche and be his councelores, the same 
 Roger seyng to summe of the same feleshep, 3 he had 
 remembred a gode name for her capteyn, that shuld be 
 John Amend Alle; and the seyd Roger aftyr the seid 
 gaderyng aggreyd hym self to be take and examyned 
 
 1 Cardinal Kemp. 
 
 2 Here the words "before Crys'.masse last past" originally stood in the 
 text, but are crossed out. 
 
 :1 litre occurs a caret referring to some illegible words in the margin. 
 R
 
 242 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 be persones of his own covyne, and be color of his 
 seid feleshep of xv. persones be hym gaderyd, enbilled 
 divers gentilmen, and many thryfty and substanciall 
 yomen, and thryfty husbondes, and men of gode name 
 and fame, noysyng and diffamyng to the Kyng and 
 his Councell that the seid gentilmen, yomen, and 
 thryfty husbondes, with other, to the nombre of ccc. 
 persones, shuld have mad a gaderyng and a risyng 
 ageyn the Kynges peas under the seid wode, contrary 
 to the trought ; which is veryly conceyved to be don 
 of malyce to put the seid gentilmen and yomen in feer 
 and trobill that thei as wele as alle the contre shuld 
 not be hardy to attempt, ne lette the purposyd malyce 
 of the seid Cherche and his councellores in divers 
 riottes, extorciouns, forsibil entreys and unlawfull dis- 
 herytauns of gentiUnen and other of the Kynges liege 
 peple in the seid shire that thei dayly use, which riottes, 
 extorcions, aswele as the seid untrewe diffamacions, 
 causyth gret grudgyng, trobill, and comocyon in the seid 
 shire. Please it yowre gode grace, these premysses 
 considered, not to suffre the seid Cherche to have no 
 pardon of the comune grace graunted be the Kyng 
 owre soverayn Lord un Gode Fryday last past, 1 un to the 
 tyme that he hath fownde sufficient suerte of wel namyd 
 persones of the seid shire of his gode beryng ; and to 
 direct a comyssion un to such notabill persones in the 
 seid shire as please you, to take and examyn the seid 
 Roger Cherche, as wele as othre that them semyth ne- 
 cessary to examyn in this behalf, so that thei that be 
 giltles in this may be so declared, and that thei that 
 be gilty may be ponysshed acordyng to her demerytes; 
 and to beseche the Kyng owre soverayn Lord in the 
 behalf of the gentilmen of the seid shire that his Hig- 
 nesse wull not take hem, ne any of hem, in conceyt to 
 be of such rewle and disposicion up un enformacion 
 of such a mysse rewled and encredibill man as the seid 
 Roger. And thei shall pray to God for you. 
 
 1 On Good Friday the 7th April 1452, Henry VI. offered general pardons 
 for offences against himself to all who would sue them out of Chancery. See 
 Whethamstede, 317,319.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENR Y VL 243 
 
 181. 
 
 A.D. 1452. PARTIES IN NORFOLK. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This paper bears upon the same matters as the last, and must be attributed 
 to the same date. The MS. is a draft, with corrections in John Paston's 
 handwriting. 
 
 TTT is to remembre under hos rule that the 
 gode lord 1 is at this day, and whiche be of 
 his new cownseyll. 
 
 Item, that Debenham, Lee, Tymperle, and 
 his old cownseyl and attendans, as well as the gode 
 ladijs servavvntys, be avoydyd, and Tymperle of malys 
 apelyd of treson. 
 
 Item, that the sescionys of the pees wyth owte 
 cause was wamyd in the myddys of hervest, to grette 
 trobill of the centre, whiche was never se in Norffolk at 
 seche tym of the yere ; and itt was unlawfully warnyd 
 to appere with inne iiij. or v. days after the warnyng. 
 Howbeitt the centre was before warnyd at the shyer 
 day to have had the sescionys the Tewysday befor 
 Michelmes. 
 
 Item, that at the seid sescionys was non other cawse 
 of settyng thereof declaryd but a commysyon beryng 
 date before Estern, &c., to arest, take, and expungne 
 traytorys and rebellys, of whiche, be Goddis grace, is 
 no nede in this contre at this tyme, &c. 
 
 Item, be the demenyng of the seyd sescionys was 
 verily conseyvid be the jantylmen of the shyer that it 
 was set of purpose to have, be indytements, defowlyd 
 seche personys as wer of the old counseyl with the 
 seid Lord, and seche as kepe Wodhows lond, or seche 
 as help or confort Osbern Munford, marchale of Kalys, 
 in his rygth of the maner of Brayston, of whiche he is 
 now late wrongfully dyssesyd, 2 and generally to have 
 
 1 The Duke of Norfolk. 
 
 2 Mountford was disseised of Brayston by Daniel in the spring of 1450, but 
 recovered possession on the 23d September. I find no note of his having been 
 disseised again, but I should think he must have been, as this paper is cer- 
 tainly two years later.
 
 244 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 hurt all other that wold not folwe the oppynyons of 
 the seyd new cownseyll ; whiche malysiows purposid 
 oppynyon the jantylmen of the seyd shyer that wer 
 sworyn att the seyd sescions kowd not fynde in her 
 conciens to observe, but dede the contrarye as it 
 apperyth be here verdyte if itt be shewyd, Scc. Remem- 
 bre the verdyt of Brayston, &c. 
 
 And where on Roger Chirche, wyth on Robert 
 Ledham, Charlys Nowell, John son of Hodge Rat- 
 cleff, and on Robert Dallyng had the rewle and kepyng 
 of the seid maner of Brayston to the use of Thomas 
 Danyell after the dyssesing of the seyd Osbern Mon- 
 ford, the seyd Roger be the comon ascent of his seyd 
 felashep, be the colowre of xv. personys gadderid be 
 the exitation of the seyd Roger Chyrche and his fela- 
 shep, accusid many notable and thryfty men that were 
 well willid to the seyd Munford for the seid maner of 
 Brayston, to be ryseris, wher as the seyd thrifty men, as 
 well as all that contre, hath at all tymys be pesyble and 
 of no seche disposicion : It was purposid after the seid 
 sescions, whan the intents of the seyd new cownseyl 
 mygth not be executyd be indytements, than to have 
 had the seyd Roger Chirche owte of the Kyngs gayle, 
 seying that he shuld appele for the Kyng, and wold 
 have do the sheryff delyverid hym owt of prison, how- 
 beit he was comyttyd thidder be the justyse of assyse 
 and gayle delyvere be cawse he was indyted of fellonye, 
 and that ther apperid not suffycient inquest to delyver 
 hym. 
 
 Item, day seth thei labour feynid materis to hurt 
 jentilman and odir be soch acusements, &c. 
 
 Memorandum, as itt semyth be the confescion of 
 dyvers of the seid xv. personys that thei were innocent 
 and knew not whi thei assemelyd but only be the excita- 
 cion of the seyd Chirche and his menys, and after the 
 tyme of that they conseyvid itt was do to no good intent, 
 thei never medillid forth er in the mater. Item, to re- 
 membre how suttely the seyd Chirche was, be his owyn 
 assent, led to my Lord of Norffolk be his owyn fe'la-
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENR Y VI. 245 
 
 shep to the entent to accuse and defame seche as they 
 lovyd not. 
 
 Memorandum, of the sescion at Norwich. Memoran- 
 dum, of my Lord of Somerset and of the Blak frers. 
 
 Memorandum, that Charlys Nowell is baly of Brays- 
 ton, and hath ther \]d. on the day, and of that mater 
 growyth his malys. 
 
 Item, memorandum of them that for fer of disclosid 
 of her falsenes acusid odyr that they shuld not be 
 thowth gild hemself, and labour to have the mater 
 handlid be her frends that the trowth shuld not be 
 triid owt. 
 
 182. 
 
 A.D. 1452 (?), 5 Nov. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 168.] 
 
 This letter was written during the life of Philip Berney, most probably in 
 1452, while he lay sick of the wounds, of which he afterwards died. See No. 
 188 further on. 
 
 To my right worchepful /msbond, John Paston, be this 
 delyverid in hast. 
 
 |IGHT worchepful husbond, I comaund me to 
 yow. I pray yow that ye wol do bye ij. 
 doseyn trenchers, for I can none gete in this 
 town. Also I pray yow that ye wol send me 
 a booke wyth chardeqweyns x that I may have of in 
 the monynggs, for the eyeres be nat holsom in this 
 town; therfor I pray yow hertely lete John Suffeld 
 bryng it horn wyth hym. 
 
 No more but the blyssid Ternyte have yow in Hese 
 
 1 A preserve made of quinces. See Index to Furnivall's " Manners and 
 Meals in Olden Times." In the ordinances of the household of George, 
 Duke of Clarence, " charequynses " occur under the head of spices, their 
 price being five shillings " the boke," or 2 : los. for 10 Ibs. See the Society 
 of Antiquaries' Collection of Ordinances for the Royal Household, p. 103. 
 The word also occurs pp. 455, 471 of same volume.
 
 246 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 kepyng, and send yow good sped in all yowre maters. 
 Wrete on Sent Leonard even. 
 
 My uncle Phelyppe 1 commaund hym to yow, and he 
 hath be so seke sith that I come to Redham, that I 
 wend he shuld never a askapid it, nor not is leke to do 
 but if he have redy help ; and therfore he shal into 
 Suffolk this next weke to myn aunt, for there is a good 
 fesician, and he shal loke to hym. 
 
 My Lady Hastyngs 2 told me that Heydon hath 
 spoke to Geffrey Boleyn 3 of London, and is a greid 
 wytht hym that he shuld bargeyn wyth Sir John Fas- 
 tolff to bye the manor of Blyklyng as it were for hym- 
 selff, and if Boleyn byet in trowght Heydon shal 
 have it. Yowr, 
 
 M. P. 
 
 I cam to Norwiche on Sowlemesday. 
 
 183. 
 
 A.D. 1452 (?), 1 6 Nov. 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 162.] 
 
 This letter is certainly not earlier than 1451 or later than 1453 ; for it was 
 written some time after Lady Boys became a widow, which was in December 
 1450 (see p. 174), and before Sir John Fastolf's removal from London into 
 Norfolk, which, as will be seen hereafter, was in the autumn of 1454. Pro- 
 bably the true date is 1452, for in the summer following, owing to Gurney's 
 utter inability to pay his rent, we find Agnes Paston urging her son seriously 
 to look out for another tenant for Orwellbury. 
 
 This lettre be delyvered to John Paston, beynge at London, 
 in the Inner e In of the Temple. 
 
 CRETE you well, and sende you Goddes blis- 
 syng and myn. And as touchyng the mater 
 wheche ye desyryd my cosyn Clere shulde 
 
 1 Philip Berney. 
 
 2 Margery, widow of Sir Edward Hastings of Elsing, Norfolk, who styled 
 himself Lord Hastings and Stutvill. See Blomefield, viiL 112, and ix. 513, 
 
 SI 3" 
 
 3 An ancestor of Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth. He was Mayor of 
 
 London in 1457.
 
 A.D. 1452.] HENRY VI. 247 
 
 write fore, she hath doo, and I sende you the copy 
 closed in this lettre. As for the' enquerre I have 
 sent by Pynchemore to enquere and sent myn owen 
 men to William Bakton, and don hem enquered in 
 dyverse placs, and I can here no woord of noon suych 
 enquerans ; I wot not what it menyth. Roberd Hill 
 was at Paston thys wyke, and the man that dwelled in 
 Bowres place is oute ther of, and seid to Roberd he 
 durst no lenger abyde ther in, for Waryn Herman 
 seyth to him it is his place. As for Cokets mater, my 
 doughter your wyf told me yester even the man that 
 suyth him will not stonde to your awarde. 
 
 Bertilmow White is condemnyd in Forrenecet Court 
 in xl. marc, as it is seid. 
 
 Item, as for Talfas, the Sherevis hav be hest to do 
 all the favour thei may. I sente the Parson of Seynt 
 Edmundes to Gilberd, and he seide ther was come a 
 newe writ for to have him up by the xv. day of Seynt 
 Martyn, and how Caly hadde ben at hem, 1 and desired 
 to carye up Talfas on his owen cost, and yeve hem 
 goode wages. 
 
 Item, John Osbern seide to me this day that he 
 supposed thei will not have him up be forn Estern, 
 and Margerete Talfas seide to me the same day that 
 men tolde hire that he shulde never have ende till he 
 wer at London, and asked me counsell wheder she 
 myte yeve the Sherevys sylver or non ; and I tolde 
 hire if she dede, I supposed she shulde fynde hem 
 the more frendly. 
 
 Item, as for Horwelbur, I sende you a bill of all the 
 rescyts syn the deth of your fader, and a copy wrete 
 on the bak how your fader lete it to ferme to the seide 
 Gurnay. I wulde ye shulde write Gurnay, and charge 
 him to mete with you fro London warde, and at the lest 
 weye lete him purvey e x//. for [he] owyth be myreknyng 
 at Myhelmesse last passed, be syde your faddes dette, 
 xviij//. xiiijj. viijV. If ye wolde write to him to brynge 
 suerte for your fadyrs dette and myn, and pay be dayes, 
 
 1 The modernised version in Fenn reads "at home."
 
 248 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1452. 
 
 so that the man myte leven and paye us, I wolde for 
 yeve him of the olde arrerags x//. ; and he myte be mad 
 to paye xx. marc be yer, on that condicion I wolde for 
 yeve him x//., and so thynketh me he shulde hav cause 
 to praye for your fader and me, and was it leten in my 
 fadres tyme. I fele by Roberd, his wif is right loth to 
 gon thens, she seide that sche had lever I shulde have 
 all her gode after her day, than thei schulde go out 
 ther of. 
 
 Item, John Dam teld me that the Lady Boys l will 
 selle a place called Halys, 2 but he seith sehe speketh it 
 privyly, and seith it is not tayled, as John Dam kno, 
 wech will she hath seide as largely of other thyngs that 
 hath not be so. 
 
 Item, he tolde me, as he herd seyn, Ser John Fastolf 
 hath sold Heylysdon to Boleyn 3 of London ; and yf it 
 be so, it semeth he will selle more. Wherfor I praye 
 you, as ye will have my love and my blissyng, that ye 
 will helpe and do your devoir that sumthyng were pur- 
 chased for your ij. bretheren. I suppose Ser John 
 Fastolf, and he wer spake to, wold be glader to lete his 
 kensemen have parte than straunge men. Asay him 
 in my name of suych placs as ye suppose is most cler. 
 
 It is seid in this centre that my Lord of Norfolk 
 seith Ser John Fastolf hath yoven him Castr, and he 
 will hav [it] pleynly. I sende you a bill of Osbern hand, 
 whech was the ansuer of the Sheref and John of Dam. 
 
 Jon, brynge me my lettre horn with you, and my 
 cosyn Cler is copy of her lettre, and the copy of the 
 reseyth of Horwelbury ; and recomaunde me to Lom- 
 nor, and tell him his best be loved fareth well, but sche 
 is not yet come to Norwich, for thei deye yet, but not 
 so sor as thei dede. And God be wyth you. Wreten 
 at Norwych, in right gret hast, the xvj. day of Novembr. 
 By your moder, 
 
 ANNEYS PASTON. 
 
 1 See p. 221, Note 2. - Holm Hale. Sec p. 221. 
 
 a Geoffrey Boleyn. See p 246, Note 3.
 
 A. D. 1452.] HENRY VI.* 249 
 
 184. 
 
 A.D. 1452, 1 8 Dec. 
 THE DUKE OF YORK AND SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,242, B.M.] 
 
 HIS endenture vvitnesseth that where Richard, 
 Due of York, by his lettre of saal \sale\ bering 
 date the xv. day of the monneth of Decembre, 
 the xxxj li yere of the regne of oure soverain 
 Lord Kyng Henry the Sext, hath bargaigned, aliened, 
 solde, graunted, and confermed unto John Fastolf, 
 Knyght, the jowelles undrewriten : That is to wite, a 
 nowche of gold with a greet poynted diamand sette up 
 on a roose enameled white; a nowche of gold in facion of 
 a ragged staf, with ij. ymages of man and woman garnys- 
 shed with a ruby, a diamande, and a greet peerle; 
 and a floure of gold, garnysshed with ij. rubyes, a dia- 
 mande, and iij. hanging peerles. To have, holde, and 
 rejoyce the same jowelles to the saide John, his execu- 
 tors and assignees, frely, quietly, and pesibly for evere 
 more, like as in the saide lettre of saal more openly is 
 conteened. Nevertheles the saide John wolle and 
 graunteth herby that yif the saide Due paie or doo paie 
 to the same John or to his attornee, his heires or to 
 his executors, in the Fest of the Nativitee of Sainte 
 John Baptist next commyng, iiij c xxxvij/z. [^437] ster- 
 linges withouten delay, that than the saide letter of saal 
 to bee hold for notht ; but he to delivere ayein unto 
 the saide Due, or to his attornee paieng the saide 
 iiij c xxxvij/z. sterlinges in the saide Fest, the saide jowei- 
 les. And yif defaulte bee made in the paiement of the 
 saide iiij c xxxvij/z'. in partie or in all ayenst the fourme 
 aforesaide, than wolle and graunteth the saide Due 
 herby that the forsaide lettre of saal, by him as is 
 abouve saide made, stande in ful strengh and vertu. 
 this endenture notwithstanding. In witnesse wherof, to 
 the parte of this saide endenture remaynyng towards
 
 250 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1453. 
 
 the saide John the saide Due hath sette his seel. 
 Yeven at Fodringey, the xviij 6 day of the saide mon- 
 neth of Decembre, the xxxj" yere of the regne of oure 
 saide souverain Lord King Henry the Sext. 
 
 R. YORK. 
 
 Seal attached mutilated. 
 
 185. 
 
 A.D. 1453, 30 Jan. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 324.] 
 
 The beginning of this letter refers to building operations, which I presume 
 to be the same as those to which the next letter relates, and therefore of the 
 same date. They were probably at Caister Castle. 
 
 To my right worchippfull hosbond, John Paston, be thys 
 delyveryd in hast. 
 
 jjIGHT worchipfull hosbond, I recommand me 
 to yow, desyring to here of your welfar; 
 praying yow to wete that Sir Thomas Howes 
 hath purveyed iiij. dormants 1 for the drawte 
 chamer, 2 and the malthouse, and the browere, wherof 
 he hath bought iij., and the forte, that shall be the 
 lengest and grettest of all, he shall have from Heyles- 
 don, whiche he seyth my Mayster Fastolf shall geve 
 me, be cause my chamer shall be made ther with. 
 As for the laying of the seyd dormants, they shall be 
 leyd this next weke, be cause of the malthous, and as 
 for the remenant. I trow it shall abyde tyll ye come 
 horn, be cause I can nother be purveyed of pysts 
 {posts ?], ne of bords not yette. 
 
 I have take the mesure in the draute chamer, ther 
 as ye wold your cofors and cowntewery 3 shuld be sette 
 
 1 Large beams. 
 
 2 Draught chamber. A withdrawing-room. Halliwell. 
 
 3 Cowntewery must mean his counter, desk, or board to sit and write. &c. 
 at F.
 
 A.D. I453-] HENRY VI. 251 
 
 for the whyle ; and ther is no space besyde the bedd, 
 thow the bedd wer remevyd to the dore, for to sette 
 bothe your bord and your kofors ther, and to have 
 space to go and sitte be syde. Wherfor I have pur- 
 veyd that ye shall have the same drawte chamer 
 that ye had befor ther, as ye shall ly to your self; and 
 whan your gerr is remevod owte of your lytil hous, the 
 dore shall be lokkyd, and your baggs leyd in on of the 
 grete koforis, so that they shall be sauff, I trost. 
 
 Richard Charles and John Dow have fetched horn 
 the chyld 1 from Rokelond Toftes, and it is apraty boy; 
 and it is told me that Wyll is att Blyklyng with a pore 
 man of this town. A yonge woman that was sometyme 
 with Burton of this town sent me word therof ; I pray 
 yow send me word if ye woll that any thyng that ye 
 woll be do to hym or ye com horn. Richard Charles 
 sendeth yow word that Wylles hath be at hym here, 
 and offerd hym to make hym astate in all thyngs 
 according to ther in dentur, and if he do the contrary 
 ye shall sone have word. 
 
 My moder prayith yow to remembr my suster, and 
 to do your parte feythfully or ye com horn to help to 
 gette her agode mariage. It semyth be my moders 
 langage that she wold never so fayn to have be dely- 
 veryd of her as she woll now. 
 
 It was told here that Knyvet the heyer is for to 
 mary ; bothe his wyff and child be dede, as it was told 
 here. Wherfor she wold that ye shuld inquyr whedder 
 it be so or no, and what hys lyvelode is, and if ye thynke 
 that it be for to do, to lete hym be spoke with therof. 
 
 I pray yow that ye be not strange of wryting of 
 letters to me be twix this and that ye come horn. If I 
 myght I wold have every day on from yow. The 
 blyssed Trinyte have yow in his kepyng. Wrete att 
 Norwyche, on the Tesday next after the Convercion 
 [of] Seynt Poull. 
 
 Be yours, M. P. 
 
 1 Probably a member of the Berney family (see Sir John Fastolf "s letter of 
 the zSth January 1451). Philip Berney, as will be seen by No. 179, was dis- 
 seised of the manor of Rockland Tofts during the year 1452.
 
 252 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1453. 
 
 186. 
 
 A.D. 1453. JOHN PASTON TO JOHN NORWODE. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 From the memoranda on the hack of this letter, it would appear to belong to 
 
 the 3ist year of Henry VI. 
 \ 
 
 To John Norwode. 
 
 LETE you wete that Hache hath do no werk of 
 myn wherfore he aught to have receyvid any 
 mony, savyng only for the makyng of the 
 litill hous above the halle wyndownes, for the 
 remenaunte was that fell down in his diffaute. And as 
 for the makyng of that litill hous, he toke that in a 
 comenaunte \covenant\ with makyng of too chymnyes, 
 of Sir Thomas Howys for x\s., which comenaunte may 
 not hold, be cause that I must have thre chymnyes and 
 in a nother place. 
 
 Item, the seid litill hows drawyth not v. thowsand 
 tyle,which after xv]d. the thowsand shuld drawevjj. viijd. 
 Notwithstandyng, if Sir Thomas thynk that he shuld 
 be alowyd mo, he shall be. And ye must remembre 
 how that he hath receyvid vjs. \\\}d. of you, and of 
 Robert Tolle before Halwemesse, as apperith in his 
 accompt, viijj. And he hath receyvid of Tolle sith 
 Halwemesse vs. \\\}d. And than be this rekenyng he 
 shuld be xiijj. \\\}d. a fore hand, which I wold ye shuld 
 gader up in this newe werk aswele as ye myght, for I 
 am be hold to do hym but litill favour. 
 
 Item, be war ther leve no firsis in the deke that ye 
 reparre, and that the wode be mad of fagot and leyd 
 up forthwoth as it is fellid for taking away. I wold 
 ye wer her on Satirday at evyn thow ye yed ageyn on 
 Moneday. 
 
 JON PASTON. 
 
 TJie following memoranda occur on the back of this 
 letter:
 
 A.D. I453-] HENRY VI. 253 
 
 Rec' W. Hach. 
 
 Rec' de Joh'e Fasten, anno xxx, \\s. viij< 
 
 Item, de Roberto Telte, xii\s. iiij i 
 
 De Thoma Howis, xxd. 
 
 Item, de Joh'e Norwod, anno xxxj. pro camino If. 
 Summa, Ixxjj. viijrf. 
 
 Will' Hach fecit quandam kaminam v. mark, et pro le closet xs. 
 Summa, Ixxvjj. viijrf. 
 
 Sic debentur dicto Hach, per Joh'em Paston, vs. ; et dedit ei xvj. in recom- 
 pensationem cujusdam billas ibe (?) et omne jus ipsum et Mo (?) Unde tradidi 
 ei xiiij*'. iiijrt'. per plegios Thomas Howis qui manusepit (sic) quod dictus 
 Will perimplot \pcritnlerett\ barganium suum et in fine operis haberet de 
 me VJ.T. viij< residuum. 
 
 187. 
 
 A.D. 1453, 20 April. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 68.] 
 
 According to Blomefield(Hist. of Norf., iii. 158), Margaret of Anjou, Queen 
 of Henry VI. , visited Norwich in the spring of 1452 ; but by the same authority, 
 it would appear that she had returned to Westminster before the 171)1 of 
 March in that year, which would not suit the date of this letter. Besides, 
 John Paston was at Norwich in April 1452, and dates a letter at Norwich on 
 St. George's day, complaining of the assault made upon him at the door of 
 Norwich Cathedral on Monday before Easter. It is impossible, therefore, 
 that Margaret Paston could have written to him from Norwich two days be- 
 fore St. George's day in that year. From an undated entry in the Norwich 
 city records, which bears internal evidence of having been made in the year 
 1453, it would appear that the King's half brothers, Edmund, Earl of Rich- 
 mond, and Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, visited Norwich in that year. (See fol. 
 19 of a volume, entitled "An Old Free Book," in the Norwich city archives.) 
 As to the Queen's visit I find no direct evidence, but I think it possible she 
 may have come with one of the King's brothers, and that the other may have 
 come a little later. 
 
 To my right wurshipfull Mayster, John Paston, be 
 this delyveryd in hast. 
 
 IGHT wurshipfull hosband, I recommand me 
 to yow, preying yow to wete, &C. 1 - . 
 
 As for tydyngs, the Quene 2 come in to 
 this town on Tewysday last past after none, 
 and abode here tyll itt was Thursday, iij. after none ; 
 and she sent after my cos. Elysabeth Clere 3 by 
 Sharynborn, to come to her ; and she durst not dysabey 
 
 1 Here (says Fenn) follows some account of money received, &c. 
 
 2 Margaret of Anjou. 
 
 3 Widow of Robert Clere, Esq. of Ormesby, who died in 1446. Fenn says 
 his daughter, but no notice is found of a daughter of that name, while the 
 widow occurs frequently in this correspondence.
 
 254 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1453. 
 
 her commandment, and come to her. And when she 
 come in the Quenys presens, the Quene made ryght 
 meche of her, and desyrid here to have an hosbond, 
 the which ye shall know of here after. But as for 
 that, he is never nerrer than he was befor. 
 
 The Quene was right well pleasid with her answer, 
 and reportyht of her in the best wyse, and seyth, be 
 her trowth, she sey no jantylwoman syn she come into 
 Norffolk that she lykit better than she doth her. 
 
 Blake, the bayle 1 of Swaffham, was here with the 
 Kyngs brother, 2 and he come to me, wenyng that ye 
 had be at horn, and seyd that the Kyngs brother de- 
 syrid hym that he shuld pray yow in his name to come 
 to hym, for he wold right fayn that ye had come to 
 hym, if ye had ben at home ; and he told me that he 
 west wele that he shuld send for yow when he come 
 to London, bothe for Cossey and other thyngs. 
 
 I pray yow that ye woll do your cost on me ayens 
 Witsontyd, that I may have somme thyng for my 
 nekke. When the Quene was here, I borowd my 
 coseyn Elysabeth Cleris devys, for I durst not for 
 shame go with my beds among so many fresch jantyl- 
 women as here were at that tym. The blissid Trinyte 
 have yow in his kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn at Norwych on the Fryday next befor Seynt 
 George. Be yowrs, 
 
 M. PASTON. 
 
 188. 
 
 A.D. 1453, 6 July. 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 182.] 
 
 Sir John Heveningham, whose death is mentioned in this letter, was found, 
 by an inquisition taken on the zgth September 32 Henry VI., to have died on 
 
 1 Bailiff. 
 
 5 Either Edmund Tudor, who was created Earl of Richmond about No- 
 vember 1452, or Jasper, who was created Earl of Pembroke at the same time. 
 They were half brothers to the King, being sons of his mother, Catherine, 
 Queen of Henry V., by her subsequent marriage to Sir Owen Tudur.
 
 A.D. I4S3-] HENRY VI. 255 
 
 the 3d of July preceding, which was in the year 1453. (Inquis. post mortem, 
 31 Hen. VI., No. 7.) He left; 
 who was afterwards knighted. 
 
 31 Hen. VI., No. 7.) He left a son named John, over twenty-three years old, 
 
 ds knis ' 
 
 To my welbelovyd Son, John Fasten. 
 
 |jp|ONE I grete yow well and send you Godys 
 ~|jp blessyng and myn, and lete you wete that 
 Robert Hyll cam homward by Horwelle bery, 
 and Gurney tellyd hym he had byn at London 
 for mony and kowd nat spedyng, and behestyd Robert 
 that he shuld send me mony be you. I pray for getyt 
 not as ze com homward, and speke sadly for i. nothyr 
 fermor. 
 
 And as for tydyngs, Phylyppe Berney 1 is passyd to 
 God on Munday a last past wyt the grettes peyn that 
 evyr I sey man ; and on Tuysday Ser Jon Henyngham 
 zede to hys chyrche and herd iij. massys, and cam horn 
 agayn nevyr meryer, and seyd to hese wyf that he wuld 
 go sey a lytyll devocion in hese gardeyn and than he 
 wuld dyne ; and forthwyth he felt a feyntyng in hese 
 legge and syyd don. This was at ix. of the clok, and 
 he was ded or none. 
 
 Myn cosyn Cler 3 preyt you that ze lete no man se 
 her letter, wheche is in selyd undir my selle. I pray 
 you that ze wyl pay your brothir William for iiij. unces 
 and j. half of sylke as he payd, wheche he sende me 
 by William Tavyrner, and bryng wyt yow j. quarter ot 
 j. unce evyn leke of the same that I send you closyd 
 in thys letter ; and sey your brothyr William that hese 
 hors hath j. farseyn and grete rennyng sorys in hese 
 leggis. God have you in kepyng. Wretyn at Nor- 
 wyche on Sent Thomas evyn in grete hast. 4 
 
 Be your modyr, 
 
 A. PASTON. 
 
 1 Third son of John Berney, Esq. of Reedham, who was the father of 
 Margaret Paston's mother. 
 
 2 July 2. 
 
 3 Elizabeth, widow of Robert Clere, Esq. of Ormesby. 
 
 4 The Translation of St. Thomas the Martyr (Becket) was celebrated on the 
 7th July.
 
 256 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1453. 
 
 189. 
 
 A.D. 1453, 6 July. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 186.] 
 
 This letter chronicles the same two deaths as the preceding, and is there- 
 fore of the same date. 
 
 To my ritht 'worchipfull Mayster John Paston, be this 
 ddyveryd in hast. 
 
 f|jYTHT worchipfull hosbond, I recommawnd 
 me to yo\v, praying yow to wete that I have 
 spoke with Newman for his place, and I am 
 thorow with hym therfor, but he wold not 
 lete it in no wyse lesse than v. marc. I told hym that 
 sekyrly ye shuld not know but that I hyrid it of hym for 
 iij//. I seyd as for the noble, 1 1 shuld payt of myn owyn 
 purse, that ye shuld no knowlech have therof. And 
 this day I have had inne ij. cartfull of hey, and your 
 stabyl shall be made I hope this next weke. I kowd 
 not gette no grawnt of hym to have the warehows ; he 
 seyth if he may in any wyse forber itt her after, ye shall 
 have itt, but he wull not grawnt itt in no convawt 
 [covenant]. He hath grawntyd me the hows be twix 
 the vowte and the warehows, and that he seyd he 
 grawntyd not yow. 
 
 And as for the chamer that ye assygnyd to myn 
 unkyl, 2 God hath purveyd for hym as hys will is ; he 
 passyd to God on Monday last past, at xj. of the clok 
 befor none, and Sir John Hevenyngham passyd to God 
 on Tewysday last past; hois sowlys both God assoyle. 
 His sekenesse toke hym on Tewysday, at ix. of the clok 
 befor none, and be too after none he was dedd. 
 
 I have begonne your inventare that shuld have be 
 
 1 A noble was a coin of the value of 6s. 8d. A mark was 135. 4d. Five 
 marks therefore were equal to .3:6:8; but Margaret said she would pay 
 the odd noble, or 6s. 8d., out of her own purse, and not let Paston know but 
 that he had the place for 3. A little artifice for accepting terms which she 
 had doubtless told Newman her husband could never agree to. 
 
 * Philip Berney. See p. 225, Note i.
 
 A.D. 1453-1 HENRY VL 257 
 
 made or this tym, if I had ben well at ease. I hope 
 to make an ende therof, and of other thyngs both this 
 next weke, and ben in that other place, if God send me 
 helth. I must do purvey for meche stuff or I come 
 ther, for ther is nother bords ne other stuff that must 
 neds be had or we come there. And Richard hath 
 gadderid butt lytill mony syth he come from yow. I 
 have sent John Norwod this day to Gresham, Besig- 
 ham, and Matelask to gete als meche mony as he may. 
 The blissid Trinyte have yow in his keping. Wretyn 
 at Norwych, on the Utas day of Peter and Powll. 1 
 
 Yowrs, M. P. 
 
 190. 
 
 A.D. 1453, Sept. (?) 
 MARGARET P ASTON TO JOHN P ASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 There is neither signature nor address to this letter, but it is undoubtedly 
 from Margaret Paston to her husband. The handwriting is the same as that 
 of her other letters. The date seems to be after the death of Sir John Heven- 
 ingham in 1453, and is not likely to have been a later year, as the Duchess of 
 Suffolk's influence must have been diminished when the Duke of York came 
 into power, though it may possibly have been powerful again in 1456. 
 
 jj|YTH worchepfull howsbonde, I recomende me 
 on to yow. Plesyt yow to wete that I sent 
 Tomas Bon to Edwarde Coteler to have one 
 ansuer of the mater that ye spak to hym of, 
 and he sent me worde that he hade spok to hys man 
 therof, and he tolde hym that he hade no wrytynge nor 
 evidens of no swyche thyng as ye spak to hym of, ner 
 not wyst were he scholde have cnowlage of no swyche 
 thyng, save that he tolde hym that he receyvydonys j.c.s. 
 [iooj-.] of the same rent; but and he may have enowlage 
 of ony man that havy th ony wry tyng or ony thyng that may 
 out prevayle, he schal late yow have cnoulage therof. 
 
 As for Wylliam Yellverton, he come here never 
 syn ye yede. As for my Lady Stapullton, att the 
 
 1 The day of St. Peter and Paul is the 2pth of June. The utas or octave 
 of a feast is the eighth day of the feast that is to say, the seventh day alter, 
 which in this case is the 6th of July. 
 
 S
 
 258 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1453. 
 
 wrytyng of thys letter sche was not come home. Wynd- 
 hamys 1 erand to my Lady of Southefolk 2 was to 
 desiyr hyr gode Ladychep and to beseche hyr that 
 sche wold spek to my cosyn Evenyngham 3 that he 
 myt have hys gode wyll, for he levith in hope to have 
 hys modyr, and he hath made menys to have her by 
 John Gros and hys wyf, and by Bokynham and by odyr 
 dyvers, and profuryth hyr to find suerte to aquitt hyr 
 housbondys dettes, the qwyche is CCC. marc, and to 
 payit doune on j. day. And by thys mene, as he seyth, 
 he hathe bargeynid with j. marchande of London, and 
 hath solde to hym the mariage of hys son, for the 
 qwyche he seal have vij. C. [700] marc, and of that 
 the iij. C. [300] marc schoulde be payd for the forseyd 
 dettes ; and also he proforyth to yeve hyr the maner of 
 Felbrygto hyr joyntour, and odyr la[r]ge profors as ye 
 schal here eraffter. As for the good wyll of my cosyn 
 Hevenyngham, he seyth Wyndh[am] 4 he schall never 
 have hytt, nott for to have hyr gode konyth he [abydy th] 5 
 hys soull hevy therof, for he is aferde that and if the 
 large profors may be perfor[m]yd, that sche wyll havehym. 
 My seyd cosyn preyith yow, att the reverens of Gode, 
 that ye wyll do yowyr [devoir] 6 therin to brec it and ye 
 can. He schall be here ayen on Mychaell mas evyn. He 
 was full sory that ye wer outt att this tyme, for he hopyd 
 that ye schoulde have do myche goode att this tyme. 
 He hathe seyde as myche ther ageyns as he dar do to 
 have hyr gode modyrchep. My Lady of Southfolce 
 sent j. letter to hyr yesterday by Stanle, the qwyche 
 is callyd j. well cherysyd man with my seyd Lady, 
 and desyiryng hyr in the letter that sche wolde owe 
 hyr godde wyll and favor to Wyndham in that that he 
 desyiryd of hyr, and of more matterys that ye schall 
 here er after, for I suppose sche wyll schew yow the 
 
 1 John Wyndham, Esq. of Felbrigg. 
 
 2 Alice, widow of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. 
 
 3 John, son of Sir John Heveningham. See No. 188, preliminary Note. 
 
 4 Mutilated. 
 
 6 Erased in MS. Apparently some further correction should have been 
 made. 
 
 6 Omitted in MS. " Do your devoir," i.e. endeavour, seems to have been 
 the phrase intended.
 
 A.D. I453-] HENR Y VI. 259 
 
 same letter and mak yow of hyr counsel in many 
 thyngys, and I schall do my part as feythfully as I can 
 to lett Wyndhamys porpose tyl ye come home. I 
 pray yow sende me a copy of hys petygre, that I may 
 schew to hyr how worchepphull it is. for in goode feythe 
 sche is informyd bi hyr gentyll son Gros and Boken- 
 ham that he is mor worcheppfull in berthe and in 
 lyvelode therto than they or ony odyr can preve, as I 
 suppose. I pray yow lett nott thys mater be discuyryd 
 tyl ye her more therof or after, for my cosyn Heven- 
 yngham tolde myche here of in secret wyse, and of 
 odyr thyngis qwyche ye schall have cnoulage of qwan 
 ye come home, &c. 
 
 In hast, all in hast. 
 
 191. 
 A.D. 1453. THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S PETITION. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 108.] 
 
 This paper is headed by Fenn, " The Speech of John Mowbray, Duke of 
 Norfolk, against Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, in the House of 
 Lords." This title, however, is clearly no part of the original document, 
 which has much more the character of a petition to the Privy Council than 
 of a speech in Parliament. The paper itself professes to be a " bill " signed 
 by its author, who demands that the conduct of the Duke of Somerset in 
 France and in England should be made the subject of investigation by sepa- 
 rate tribunals according to the laws of either country. Now the House of 
 Lords, being only a branch of the English Legislature, would have had no 
 right to authorise a judicial investigation in France. The date of this peti- 
 tion must have been in the end of the year 1453, after the loss of Guienne. 
 The Duke of Somerset appears to have been committed to the Tower a little 
 before Christmas in that year ; for, after his liberation on the 4th March 1455, 
 he declared before the Council that he had been confined there " one whole 
 year, ten weeks, and more." See Rymer, xi. 362. 
 
 ' Lordes, ye know well ynough the grete peynes, 
 labours, and diligences that before thys tyme 
 y have doon, to th'entent that the over greete 
 dishonneurs and losses that ben come to thys 
 full noble royaume of England by the fals menes of 
 som persones that have take on theym over grete 
 autoritee in thys royaume shulde be knowen, and 
 that the persones lyvyng that have doon theym shulde 
 be corrected aftyr the merites of her desertes. And
 
 260 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1453. 
 
 to that entent y have denounced and delyverd to you 
 in wrytyng certeyn articles ayenst the Due of Somerset, 
 whych ys one of theym that ys gylty thereoff, whertoo 
 the Due of Somerset have aunsuerd ; and to that that 
 he hath aunsuerd y have replyed yn such wyse that y 
 trowe to be sure ynough that there shall no vayllable 
 thyng be seyd to the contrarie of my seyd replicacion, 
 and asmoch as he woold sey shall be but falsnesse and 
 lesyngs, as be the probacions that shall be made there- 
 uppon shall mow appiere ; how be it that to alle 
 people of gode entendement, knowyng how justice 
 owyth to be ministred, it ys full apparaunt that the 
 denunciacions ayenst hym made ben sufficiently preved 
 by the dedes that have folowed thereoff; whereuppon 
 y have requyred to have ouverture of justice by yow, 
 whych ye have not yhyt doon to me, whereoff y am so 
 hevy that y may no lenger beere it, speciallie seth the 
 mater by me pursued ys so worshipfull for all the 
 royaume, and for you, and so greable to God, and to 
 alle the subgettys of thys royaume, that it may be no 
 gretter. And it ys such that for anye favour of lignage, 
 ne for anye othyr cause there shulde be no dissimulacion, 
 for doubt lest that othyr yn tyme comyng take example 
 thereoff, and lest that the full noble vertue of justice, 
 that of God ys so greetly recommaunded, be extinct 
 or quenched by the fals oppinions of som, that for the 
 grete bribes that the seyd Due of Somerset hath pro- 
 mysed and yoven them, have turned theyr hertys from 
 the wey of trouth and of justice ; some seyeng that the 
 cases by hym committed ben but cases of trespasse, 
 and othyr takyng a colour to make an universell peas. 
 Whereoff every man that ys trewe to the seyd Coroune 
 auyth gretely to marveylle, that anye man wold sey 
 that the losse of ij. so noble duchees as Normandie 
 and Guyen, that ben well worth a greet royaume, com- 
 yng by successions of fadres and modres to the seyd 
 Coroune, ys but trespasse ; where as it hath be seen 
 in manye royaumes and lordshyps that, for the losse of 
 tounes or castells wythoute sege, the capitaynes that
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 261 
 
 hav lost theym han be deede and beheded, and her 
 godes lost ; as in Fraunce one that lost Chyrborough ; 
 and also a knyght that fledd for dred of bataille shulde 
 be byheded, soo that alle these thyngs may be founden 
 in the lawes wryten, and also yn the boke cleped L'arbre 
 de Bataille. Wherfor, for to abbregge my langage, y 
 requyre you that forasmech as the more partie of the 
 dedes committed by the seyd Due of Somerset ben 
 committed yn the royaume of Fraunce, that by the 
 lawes of Fraunce processe be made thereuppon ; and 
 that all thyng that y have delyvered and shall delyvere 
 be seen and understand by people havyng knoulige 
 theroff, and that the dedes committed by hym in thys 
 royaume bee yn lyke wyse seen and understand by 
 people lerned yn the lawes of thys land ; and for preffe 
 thereotf to graunt commissions to inquere thereoff, as 
 by reason and of custom it owyth to be doon, callyng 
 God and you all my Lordes to wytnesse of the devoirs 
 by me doon in thys seyd matere ; and requyeyng you 
 that thys my bille and alle othyr my devoirs may be 
 enacted before you. And that y may have it exempli- 
 fied undre the Kyngs grete seele for my discharge and 
 acquytaiile of my trouth, makyng protestacion that in 
 case ye make not to me ouverture of justice upon the 
 seyd caas, y shall for my discharge do my peyn that 
 my seyd devoirs and the seyd lak of justice shall be 
 knowen through all the royaume. 
 
 Einsi signe, J. M. NORFF. 
 
 192. 
 
 * 
 
 About A.D. 1454. 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 At the bottom of the letter is a contemporary note which appears to show 
 that it was filed along with others of various dates before Michaelmas 1454 : 
 -" Liters de diversis annis ante Michaelem xxxiij." More precise evidence 
 of its date does not seem to be attainable. 
 
 \To my] right trusty and wdbeloved Jon Paston, Esquicr.
 
 262 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 trusty and intierly welbelovyd, I grete 
 you wele. Prayng you as I specially trust 
 you that ye wole be good frend to James 
 Arblaster in his mater touchyng the maner 
 of Smalbergh, as I wote wele ye haf ever be to hym 
 ryght especiall frend ; and thogh it so be that the sayd 
 James had gret trebles, losses, and adversite herbeforn, 
 neverthelesse he shall not be so bare of frendys ner 
 goodes but that I wole se hym holpyn with the mercy 
 of God. In performmyng wherof the berer of this shal 
 enforme you of myn inten and disposicion more 
 largely than I wole put in wrytyng. And the Trinite 
 have you in hys kepyng. Wretyn at Wefnow, 1 the vij. 
 day of August. 
 
 ELIZABETH VER, Countes of Oxenford. 
 
 193. 
 
 Year uncertain. 
 THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This and the letter immediately following are inserted here merely on 
 account of their similarity to the last. Their dates are quite uncertain. 
 
 To John Paston, Sqwyer, dwellyng in Norwich. 
 
 jjYGHT entierly welbeloved, I grete yow well, 
 and pray yow that ye woll be good frende un 
 to Arblaster in suche matiers as he shal 
 enfo[rme] yow, and I thanke yow for the 
 good frendship that ye have shewed to hym. And I 
 sent a letter to Margaret Gurnay byfore Cristemesse 
 of certeyn langage that I herd, wich plesed me nowght, 
 and so I prayed my Lord to gif me leve to wrytte to 
 hir; and therfore and ye here any thyng, answere, as 
 my trust is in yow. Right entierly welbeloved, the 
 Holy Gost have yow in his kepyng. Wretyn in hast 
 the -first day of February. OXENFORD, ) 
 
 ELYZABETH DE VEER. J 
 
 1 Wivenhoe, near Colchester, in Essex.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 263 
 
 194. 
 
 Year uncertain. 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [Douce MS. 393, f. 82.] 
 
 To my right entierly welbeloved John Paston of Norwich, Sqwyer. 
 
 Right entierly welbeloved, I grete yow well, thankyng yow 
 of the gret jentylnesse that ye have shewed un to my right wel- 
 beloved James Arblaster, prayng yow of contynuaunse ; and if 
 ther be any thyng that I may doo for yow or any of yowres, here 
 or in any other place, I pray yow let me wete and I shall be 
 redy to do it, with the grace of God, ho have yow in his kepyng. 
 And I pray yow to be frendly unto my right welbeloved Agneys 
 Arblaster, wich is to me gret plesier and hertes ease and ye so be. 
 Wretyn at Wevenho the xiije day of Aprill. 
 
 OXENFORD. 
 
 ELYZABETH. 
 
 195. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 19 Jan. 
 NEWS LETTER OF JOHN STODELEY. 
 
 [Egerton MS. 914, B.M.] 
 
 There is no evidence that this letter had anything to do with the Paston 
 correspondence, but as a very interesting political letter of the period, we 
 have thought it right to give it a place in the collection. The date is quite 
 certain, being after the birth of Prince Edward in October 1453, and before 
 the death of Cardinal Kemp in March 1454. 
 
 S touchyng tythynges, please it you to wite that 
 at the Princes 1 comyng to Wyndesore, the 
 Due of Buk' toke hym in his armes and pre- 
 sented hym to the Kyng in godely wise, 
 besechyng the Kyng to blisse hym ; and the Kyng 
 yave no maner answere. Natheless the Duk abode 
 stille with the Prince by the Kyng ; and whan he 
 coude no maner answere have, the Queene come in, 
 and toke the Prince in hir armes and presented hym 
 
 1 Edward, only son of Henry VI., born I3th October 1453.
 
 264 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 in like forme as the Duke had done, desiryng that he 
 shuld blisse it ; but alle their labour was in veyne, for 
 they departed thens without any answere or counten- 
 aunce savyng only that ones he loked on the Prince 
 and caste doune his eyene ayen, without any more. 
 
 Item, the Cardinalle 1 hathe charged and com- 
 maunded alle his servauntz to be redy with bowe and 
 arwes, swerd and bokeler, crossebowes, and alle other 
 habillementes of werre, suche as thei kun medle with 
 to awaite upon the saufgarde of his persone. 
 
 Item, th'erle of Wiltshire 2 and the Lord Bon vile 
 have done to be cryed at Taunton in Somerset shire, 
 that every man that is likly and wole go with theym 
 and serve theym, shalle have \}d. every day as long as 
 he abidethe with theym. 
 
 Item, the Duk of Excestre 3 in his owne persone hathe 
 ben at Tuxforthe beside Dancastre, in the north 
 contree, and there the Lord Egremond 4 mette hym, 
 and thei ij. ben sworne togider, and the Duke is come 
 home agein. 
 
 Item, th'erle of Wiltshire, the Lord Beaumont, 
 Ponynges, Clyfford, Egremond, and Bonvyle, maken 
 all the puissance they kan and may to come hider 
 with theym. 
 
 Item, Thorpe 5 of th'escheker articuleth fast ayenst 
 the Duke of York, but what his articles ben it is yit 
 unknowen. 
 
 Item, Tresham, 6 Josep, 7 Danyelle, 8 and Trevilian 9 
 
 * John Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 * James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. 
 3 Henry Holland. 
 
 * Thomas Percy, third son of Henry, Earl of Northumberland. 
 
 5 Thomas Thorpe, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, who was also Speaker 
 of the House of Commons, but was at this time imprisoned in the Fleet in 
 consequence of an action brought against him by the Duke of York. (See 
 Rolls of Part, v., 239.) 
 
 6 Thomas Tresham, who as " Sir Thomas Tresham, Knight." was attainted 
 under Edward IV. for fighting on the Lancastrian side at Towton, but his 
 attainder was afterwards reversed in Parliament 7 and 8 Edw. IV., on the 
 ground that he was a household servant of Henry VI. and had been brought 
 up in his service from a child. Rolls of Parliament, v., 616-17. 
 
 7 William Joseph, who, with Thorpe, was frequently accused by the York- 
 ists of misleading the King. Rolls of Parliament, v., 280, 282, 332, 342. 
 
 " Thomas Daniel, Esq. See p. 228, Note 3. 
 9 John Trevilian.
 
 A.D. I4S4-] HENRY VI. 265 
 
 have made a bille to the Lordes, desiryng to have a 
 garisone kept at Wyndesore for the saufgarde of the 
 Kyng and of the Prince, and that they may have 
 money for wages of theym and other that shulle kepe 
 the garyson. 
 
 Item, the Due of Buk' hathe do to be made M 1 . M 1 . 
 [2000] bendes with knottes, to what entent men may 
 construe as their wittes wole yeve theym. 
 
 Item, the Duke of Somersetes herbergeour hath 
 taken up all the loggyng that may be goten nere the 
 Toure, in Thamystrete, Martlane, Seint Katerines, 
 Tourehille, and there aboute. 
 
 Item, the Queene hathe made a bille of five articles, 
 desiryng those articles to be graunted; wherof the first 
 is that she desireth to have the hole reule of this land; 
 the second is that she may make the Chaunceller, the 
 Tresorere, the Prive Seelle, and alle other officers of 
 this land, with shireves and alle other officers that the 
 Kyng shuld make ; the third is, that she may yeve alle 
 the bisshopriches of this land, and alle other benefices 
 longyng to the Kynges yift; the iiij th is that she may 
 have suffisant lyvelode assigned hir for the Kyng and 
 the Prince and hir self. But as for the v th article, I 
 kan nat yit knowe what it is. 
 
 Item, the Duke of York wole be at Londone justly 
 on Fryday next comyng 1 at night, as his owne men 
 tellen for certain, and he wole come with his houshold 
 meynee, clenly beseen and likly men. And th'erle of 
 Marche 2 cometh with hym, but he will have a nother 
 feliship of gode men that shall be at Londone before 
 hym . . . that he is come ; and suche jakkes, 
 salettes, and other h'erneys as his meyne shulle have, 
 shalle come to Londone with hem, or before hem in 
 cartes. The Erie of Salesbury 3 wille be at Lon[don] 
 on Monday 4 or Tywesday next comyng with seven 
 score knyghtes and squyers, beside other meynee. 
 
 1 25th January. 
 
 2 Afterwards Edward IV., the Dnke of York's eldest son. 
 
 Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury, father of Warwick the King-maker. 
 * 2ist January.
 
 266 THE PASTON LETTERS. [,\.D. 1454. 
 
 The Erles of Wanvyk, 1 Richemond, 2 and Pembroke 3 
 comen with the Duke of Yorke, as it is seide, everych 
 of theym with a godely feliship. And natheles th'erle 
 of Wanvyk wole have M 1 . men awaityng on hym 
 beside the feliship that cometh with hym, as ferre as 
 I can knowe. And as Geffrey Poole seithe, the Kynges 
 bretherne ben like to be arrested at their comyng to 
 Londone, yf thei come. Wherfore it is thought by my 
 Lordes 4 servauntz and welwillers here that my Lord, at 
 his comyng hider, shalle come with a gode and clenly 
 feliship, suche as is likly and accordyng to his estate 
 to have aboute hym ; and their harneys to come in 
 cartes, as my Lord of Yorkes mennes harneys did the 
 last terme, and shalle at this tyme also. And over 
 that, that my Lord have a nother gode feliship to 
 awaite on hym and to be here afore hym, or els sone 
 after hym, in like wise as other Lordes of his blode 
 wole have. 
 
 And for the more redynesse of suche feliship to be 
 hade redy, that my Lord send sadde and wise messa- 
 gers to his servauntz and tenauntz in Sussex and els- 
 where, that they be redy at London ayenst his comyng, 
 to awaite on my Lord ; but lete my Lord beware of 
 writyng of lettres for theym, lest the lettres be delivered 
 to the Cardynalle and Lordes, as one of my Lordes 
 lettres was nowe late, for perill that myght falle, for 
 that lettre hathe done moche harme and no gode. 
 
 And as for suche tydynges as ben contened in the 
 lettre sent home by John Sumpterman, I can nat 
 hiderto here the contrarie of any of theym, but that 
 every man that is of th'opynion of the Duke of 
 Somerset 5 makethe hym redy to-be as stronge as he 
 kan make hym. Wherfore it is necessarie that my 
 Lord loke wele to hym self and kepe hym amonge his 
 meyne, and departe nat from theym, for it is to drede 
 
 1 Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, afterwards known as " the King-maker." 
 
 2 Edmund Tudor, the King's half-brother. He was the father of King 
 Henry VII. 
 
 3 Jasper Tudor, brother of the Earl of Richmond, and half-brother to the 
 King. 
 
 * Probably the Duke of Norfolk. 6 See p. 228, Note 4.
 
 A.D. 1454.] HENRY VI. 267 
 
 lest busshementes shuld be leide for hym. And yf 
 that happed, and my Lord came hiderward, as he hathe 
 ben used for to come, he myght lightly be deceyved 
 and betrapped, that God defende. And therfore lete 
 my Lord make gode wacche and be sure. 
 
 The Duke of Somerset hathe espies goyng in every 
 Lordes hous of this land ; some gone as freres, som as 
 shipmen taken on the sea, and som in other wise; 
 whiche reporte unto hym all that thei kun see or here 
 touchyng the seid Duke. And therfore make gode 
 wacche, and beware of suche espies. 
 
 And as touchyng the privee seale and my Lordes 
 seurtee, it is necessarie that my Lord be advertised 
 that yf the Chaunceller, 1 or any other, make any ques- 
 tion to my Lord of his comyng contrarie to the teneur 
 of the seid privee seall, that my Lord by his grete 
 wisdom make answere that he was credibly enformed 
 that aswele the Duke of Somerset beyng prisoner, as 
 other beyng at large, holdyng his opynyon ayenst the 
 wele of the Kyng and of the land, made grete assem- 
 blees and gaderyngs of people, to mayntene th'opinion 
 of the seid Duke of Somerset and to distrusse my 
 Lord; and that the comyng of my Lord in suche 
 forme as he shalle come is onely for the saufgarde of 
 his owne persone, and to none other entent, as my 
 Lord hym self can sey moche better than any that is 
 here kan advertise hym. 
 
 Thise thinges aforseid ben espied and gadred by 
 my Lord Chaun , 2 John Leventhorpe, Laurence 
 Leventhorpe, Maister Adam, William Medwe, Robert 
 Alman, John Colvyle, Richard of Warderobe, and me, 
 John Stodeley. And as sone as we kun knowe any 
 more in substance we shull send home word. Writen 
 at London, the xix. day of Janyvere. 
 
 The meire and merchauntz of London, and the 
 mair and merchauntz of the staple of Caleys, were with 
 
 1 Cardinal Kemp was at this time Chancellor. See p. 264, Note i. 
 
 2 So in MS.
 
 268 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D..I454. 
 
 the Chaunceller on Monday last passed 1 at Lamhithe, 
 and compleyned on the Lord Bonvile for takyng of 
 the shippes and godes of the Flemmynges and other of 
 the Duke of Burgoynes Lordships, and the Chaun- 
 celler yave theym none answere to their plesyng ; 
 wherfore the substaunce of theym with one voys cryed 
 alowde, "Justice, justice, justice !" wherof the Chaun- 
 celler was so dismayed that he coude ne myght no more 
 sey to theym for fere. 
 
 196. 
 
 A.D. 1454 (?), 29 Jan. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 170.] 
 
 The request made at the end of this letter that John Paston would procure 
 his wife an ornament for her neck, is noted by Fenn as one that she had made 
 in April 1452, and of which this was probably a repetition nine months after- 
 wards. There seems no better evidence of date to go by, so we follow the 
 same mode of inference ; but as we have placed the letter containing the 
 first petition for the necklace in 1453 instead of 1452, we must attribute this 
 letter to the year 1454. 
 
 To my right wurshipfull hosbond, John Paston, be this 
 ddyveryd in hast. 
 
 |IGHT worshipfull hosbond, I recommawnd me 
 to yow, praying yow to wete that I spak 
 yistirday with my suster, 2 and she told me 
 that she was sory that she myght not speke 
 with yow or ye yede ; and she desyritlj if itt pleased 
 yow, that ye shuld yeve the jantylman, that ye know 
 of, seche langage as he myght fele by yow that ye wull 
 be wele willyng to the mater that ye know of; for she 
 told me that he hath seyd befor this tym that he con- 
 seyvid that ye have sett but lytil therby, wherefor she 
 prayth yow that ye woll be here gode brother, and that 
 ye myght have a full answer at this tym whedder it 
 
 1 I4th January. 2 Elizabeth Paston.
 
 A.I). I454-] HENR Y VI. 269 
 
 shall be ya or nay. For her moder hath seyd to her 
 syth that ye redyn hens, that she hath no fantesy ther- 
 inne, but that it shall com to a jape ; and seyth to her 
 that ther is gode crafte in dawbyng ; and hath seche 
 langage to her that she thynkyt right strange, and so 
 that she is right wery therof, wherefor she desyrith the 
 rather to have a full conclusyon therinne. She seyth 
 her full trost is in yow, and as ye do therinne, she woll 
 agre her therto. 
 
 Mayster Braklee 1 be her yisterday to have spoke with 
 yow ; I spak with hym, but he wold not tell me what 
 his erond was. 
 
 It is seyd her that the cescions shall be at Thetford 
 on Saterday next komyng, and ther shall be my Lord 
 of Norffolk and other with grette pupill \_people\, as it 
 is seyd. 
 
 Other tydyngs have we none yett The blissefull 
 Trynyte have yow in his kepyng. Wretyn at Nor- 
 wyche, on the Tewysday next befor Candelmasse. 
 
 I pray yow that ye woll vowchesawf to remembr to 
 purvey a thing for my nekke, and to do make my 
 gyrdill. 
 
 Yowris, M. P. 
 
 My cosyn Crane recommawndeth her to yow, and 
 praytth yow to remembr her mater, &c., for she may 
 not slepe on nyghtys for hym. 
 
 197. 
 About A.D. 1454. AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 188.] 
 
 1 John 
 or Friars 
 
 Bracklee or Brackley was a brother of the Convent of Grey Friars, 
 rs Minors in Norwich. He took a Doctor of Divinity's degree, and 
 was a famous preacher. F.
 
 270 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 Thys letter be delyverd to John Paston, dwellyn in the 
 Inder In of the Tempyll att London, in hast. 
 
 Crete yow well, and lete yow wete that thys 
 day I was with my doughtyr yor wyfe, and 
 che was in good hele att the makyn of thys 
 letter, thankyd be God ! and sche lete yor 
 sustyr and me wete of a letter wheche ye sent hyr, that 
 ye have be laboryd to for Ser William Oldhall to have 
 your sustyr, and desyryng in the seyd letter to have 
 an answer in schort tyme, who \how\ sche wyll be de- 
 menyd in thys mater. 
 
 Yor suster recomaundyt hyr to yow, and thankyt 
 yow hertyly that ye wyll remembyr hyr, and lete hyr 
 have knowleche ther of, and prayt yow that ye wyll do 
 your dever to bryng it to a good conclusyon ; for sche 
 scythe to me that sche trystyt that ye wyll do so, that 
 it xall be bothe for hyr worchup and profyt. And as 
 for me, if ye can thynke that hys lond standyt cler, in 
 as meche as I fele your sustyr well wyllyd ther to, I 
 hold me well content. 
 
 And as for the oblygacyon of the persen of Marlyn- 
 ferthe, wheche I sent yow by John Newman, I pray 
 yow lete it be suyd ; and as for the Parson and Lyn- 
 desey, they be a cordyd. And God have yow in 
 kepyn, and send yow hys blyssyn and myn. Wretyn 
 at Norwyche on Pulver Wedenesday. 1 
 
 Be yor moder, 
 
 AUGNES PASTON. 
 
 198. 
 A.D. 1454. INGHAM'S PETITION. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This is a petition to the King in Parliament which, supported by the influ- 
 ence of Cardinal Kemp, appears to have met with a favourable hearing from 
 the House of Lords. The date will appear by the letter following. 
 
 1 If in 1454, Ash- Wednesday was the 6th of March.
 
 A.D. 1454-1 HENRY VI. 271 
 
 |UL mekely bisecheth your humble liege man, 
 -Walter Ingham of youre schire of Norffolk, 
 gentylman, that where the seide Walter was 
 in Goddes pees and youres at Dunston in the 
 seid shire the xj. daye of the monthe of January, the 
 yere of youre rengne the xxxij., oone Thomas Denyes, 1 
 of ful grete malice, prepensed ungodely score agaynste 
 gode feithe and concience, imagynyng utterly to de- 
 stroye youre seyde besecher, contryved a lettre in the 
 name of my Lord of Oxenforde, he not knowyng of 
 ony soch lettre comaundyng youre seide besecher to 
 be with the seide Lorde at Wevenho, in your shire of 
 Essex, the xiij. day of the seide monthe of January, for 
 divers grete maters towchyng my seide Lorde. The 
 seide Thomas, thenkyng in his conceite that youre 
 seid besechere wolde in noo wyse disobeye the seide 
 wrytyng, but that he wolde putte hym in his devoyre 
 to fulfill my seide Lords desyre, layde dyvers folks 
 arraied in maner of werre with jakkes, saletts, langede- 
 biefs, 2 and boore speres in ij. busshementsfor youre seide 
 besecher in ij. places, knowyng wele that youre seide 
 besecher must come oone of thes ij. weyes for, tho \there\ 
 were no moo, to thatintent that they [might] murdre your 
 seide besecher be cause he had laboured for his fadir 
 in a wryte sub pena agaynst the seide Thomas Denys 
 and Anneys his wyf for a notable somme of money that 
 the seide Anneys shulde have payede to the fadir of 
 your seide besecher ; the seide Thomas comaundyng 
 the seide mysdoers in any wyse whech of theym that 
 mette first with youre seide besecher shulde sle hym, 
 and they shol be nota[b]ly rewardet for ther laboure, 
 and the seide Thomas shulde kepe and save theyme 
 harmeles. Bicause of whech comaundement oone of 
 the seide busshements mette with the forsaide bese- 
 chere the xij. day of the seide month, as he came to- 
 ward my seide Lorde of Oxenforde acordyng to his 
 
 1 See Nos. 96 and 97. 
 
 8 The langue-de-boeuf was a kind of glaive with a double edge half down 
 the blade.
 
 272 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 lettre at Dunstone afore seide, and hym than and there 
 grevosly bette and woundet, aswell upon his hede 
 as uppon his leggs, and other ful grevous strokes and 
 many gaf hym upon his bakke, so that youre seide 
 besecher is mahaymed upon his ryght legg, and feyne 
 to goo on crucches, and so must do al dayes of his lif 
 to his utter undoyng ; notwithstandyng the seide mys- 
 doers and riotous peple in this conceite [lef]te youre 
 seide besecher for dede. Uppon the whech ryot it 
 was complayned to my Lord Chauncelere l by the 
 frends of yowre besecher, desyryng of hym by ca[use 
 of th]e grete ryote doone by the seide Thomas, and 
 also for the sauf garde of youre seyde besechere, 
 that oone of your serjantes of armes myght be 
 comaundement [go] 2 and areste the seide Thomas to 
 appere before you in your Chauncerie for the seide 
 ryot, because the seide Thomas was at that tyme at 
 London; bi force of [whech com]aundement oone of 
 voure serjants of armes went to Lyncolne Inne to 
 arreste the sayde Thomas. The whech areste the 
 seide Thomas utterly diso[beyed in] grete contempte 
 of your highnesse ; nevertheles he is now in the warde 
 of the Wardeyne of the Flete by the comaundement of 
 my Lorde Chaunceler. [Wher]fore plese it your high- 
 nes of youre most noble and habundante grace, by the 
 assente of your Lordes Spirituel and Temporel, and of 
 your Comons in this your present Par[lement assem]- 
 bled, and by auctorite of the same, to ordeyne and 
 estabelessche that the seide Thomas Denys may abide 
 in the seide prisone of the Flete, and not to be [ad- 
 mitted to bayl] nor meynprise in noo wyse in to soch 
 tyme that the seide Thomas have answered to soch 
 action or accions as youre seide besecher schal take 
 agaynst hym for the seide mahayme and betyng, and 
 also unto soch tyme as the same accions ben folly dis- 
 cussed and determyned bi twene your seide besecher 
 and the seide Thomas Denys, consideryng that if the 
 
 1 John Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal. 
 
 2 Mutilated.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 273 
 
 same Thomas scholde go at large, he wolde never 
 answere your seide besecher but hym delay by protec- 
 tions and other weies, so that the same besecher 
 schulde never be content nor agreed, for the exhor- 
 bitant offence done to hym ; and also un to the tyme 
 the seide Thomas fynde sofficient suerte of his gode 
 beryng fro this tyme forthe. And he shal pray to God 
 for youre moste noble astate. 
 
 199. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 20 March. 
 THOMAS DENYES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 174.] 
 
 This letter is without a signature, and the writer was unknown to Fenn ; 
 but a comparison with the letter which follows (now printed for the first time) 
 leaves no doubt that it was written by Thomas Denyes, whom we have 
 already met with as a dependent of the Earl of Oxford (see Letters 96, 97, and 
 104). The date is fixed by the reference to the death of Cardinal Kemp 
 in the postscript. 
 
 To my right wurshipfull maister, John Paston. 
 
 IGHT wurshipfull and myn especiall good 
 maister, I recomaund me to you with all 
 service and prayer to my power. And like it 
 you to wete that how be a full straunge acte 
 is passid agayn me in the Higher House before the 
 Lords, wherof I send you a copie. Neverthelesse I 
 hope to God that it shal not passe in the Comon 
 House ; but me is be falle the most sorwfull infortune' 
 that ever por man had, standyng in suych case as I do, 
 for my Lordis the Cardenale and of Oxenford haf im- 
 prisoned my wif in the countour, and how thei shal 
 guyde hir forth, God knoweth. Which standith. to 
 nygh myn hert, if Godds will were ; but wel I know 
 that by thes vengeable malics don to hir and me thei 
 wole [not?] be content, for Ingham lithe beside that to 
 takeaweymy wyves doughterout of Westminster to make 
 an end of my wif if he can, and also to arest my ser- 
 vauntz, that I drede that she nor I shal haf no crea- 
 T
 
 274 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1454. 
 
 ture to attend us ne help us ; and suych malice haf I 
 never herd of herbeforne. And it is told me that 
 beside that thei wole dispoil, if any good thei can fynde 
 of myn in Norwich or Norffolk, and imprisone my ser- 
 vauntz there. Wherfore I lowly beseche your maister- 
 ship, for our Lords mercy, that ye vouchsauff to socour 
 theym in this necessite ; and if ony entree be made or 
 shuld be made upon myn wifes place in Norwich, that 
 ye vouchsauff to socour my servauntz, and do ther inne 
 after your wisdam for Grists love and seynt charite. 
 
 Beside this, a frend and kynnesman of myn, oon 
 Robert Clement of Betele, hath writen to me that he 
 is arestid, and like to be imprisoned bi a writte of dette, 
 take agayn hym upon an obligacion of C//. [^100] in 
 which he and I and other wer bounde to my Lorde of 
 Oxenford xiiij. yeer agone, wherof 1 haf many acquit- 
 aunces. Wherfore I pray your good maistership to 
 send to the Shirreve that my said kynnesman may ben 
 easid, and no retourne made ageyn hym, but that he 
 may answer the next tyme bi attourney ; for truly that 
 writte was take oute in the end of the terme aftir I was 
 arestid, and aftir it was aperid to. 
 
 I pray your maistership, for Godds sake, to be not 
 displesid, ne wery to do for me in these materes of 
 your charite, for I had lever gif the said Robert suych 
 good, litell if it be, as I haf, than he wer undone for 
 me, or ony man ellis that ever ded for me. And I 
 hope, if God vouchsaf that the mater may come to 
 reson, to sauf hym harmles, and all other with Godds 
 mercy, ever prayng you of your maistership and socour 
 for Godds love, who ever kepe for his mercy. 
 
 Wretyn in Flete, the Wednesday the second weke 
 of Lent. 
 
 Mor over, in augmentyng of my sorwe, I wend my wif 
 shuld a dyed sith, for aftir she was arestid she laboured of 
 hir child, that she is with all, waityng either to dye or be 
 delyvered, and she hath not gon viij. weks quykke. 
 What shal be falle Almighti God knoweth, and shull 
 dispose mercifully. 
 
 Aftirward my wif was sum dele easid bi the labour
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 275 
 
 of the Wardeyn of Flete, for the cursed Cardenale had 
 sent hir to Newgate. God forgif his sowle. Now she 
 is take to baile til Tuesday. The Cardenale is dede, 
 and the Kyng is relevid. 1 
 
 200. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 31 March. 
 JOHN PASTON TO [THE EARL OF OXFORD]. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter was so manifestly written on the receipt of the last, that there 
 can be no question about the date. It bears no address upon the back, so 
 that it is probably only a copy, or, if an original, it certainly was not sent ; 
 but the person for whom it was intended was evidently the Earl of Oxford. 
 
 IjIGHT wurchepfull and my right especiall Lord, 
 IrecomaundmetoyourgodeLordshep,besech- 
 yng your Lordshep that ye take not to disple- 
 sauns thow I write you, as I here say that Agnes 
 Denyes,bethe meanesof your Lordshep and of my Lord 
 the Cardynall, 2 hos sowle God assoyle and forgeve, was 
 set in preson, beyng with child which, and the sorough 
 and shame there of, was nygh her deth and yet dayly is 
 vexed and trobled, and her servauntes in like wyse, to 
 the uttermest distruccion of her person and godes. In 
 which, my Lord, at the reverens of God, remembre 
 sche was maried be you and be my meanes, be your 
 comaundement and writyng, and draw therto full sore 
 ageyn her entent in the begynnynge ; and was worth 
 v. c - [500] marc and better, and shuld have had a 
 gentilman of this contre of an C. marc of lond and 
 wele born, ne had be your gode Lordshep and writyng 
 to her and me. And this considered in your wise 
 discrecion, I trost, my Lord, thow her prisonyng were 
 of oderes labore, ye wuld helpe her; and if she be 
 destroyd be this mariage, my conscyens thynketh I 
 am bownd to recompense her after my pore and sym- 
 
 1 This last sentence must have been added a few days after the date of the 
 letter, for Cardinal Kemp died on the 2ad of March 1454. Wednesday in 
 the second week of Lent was the zoth March. 
 
 2 Cardinal Kemp.
 
 276 THE P ASTON LETTERS. |A.D. 1454. 
 
 pill power. My Lord, ye know I had litill cause to 
 do for Thomas Denyes, savyng only for your gode 
 Lordshep. Also, my Lord, I know wele that Water 
 Ingham was bete, the mater hangyng in myn award, 
 right fowle and shamefully; andalso how the seid Thomas 
 Denyes hath, this last terme, ageyn your nobill estat, 
 right unwysely demened hym to his shame and grettest 
 rebuke that ever he had in his lyve. Where fore it is 
 right wele do his person be ponysshed as it pleaseth 
 you. But this not withstondyng for Godds love, my 
 Lord, remembre how the gentilwoman is accombred 
 only for yowr sake, and help her ; and if aught lyth in 
 my power to do that that myght please yowr Lord- 
 shep, or cowde fynde any way for Water Ingham 
 avayll and wurchep, I wull do it to my power ; and 
 the rather if your Lordshep support the jentilwoman, 
 for I know the mater and that longe plee is litill avayll, 
 and every thyng must have an ende. I have told my 
 brother Mathew Drury more to enforme yowre Lord- 
 shep than I may have leyser to write for his hasty 
 departyng. Right wurchepfull and my right especiall 
 Lord, I besech All myghty God send you asmych joy 
 and wurchep as ever had any of my Lords yowr aun- 
 ceters, and kepe you and all yowres. Wretyn at 
 Norwich the iiij. Sonday of Lent. 
 
 Yowre servaunte to his powr, 
 
 JOHN PASTON. 
 
 201. 
 A.D. 1454. INFORMATION AGAINST ROBERT LEDHAM. 
 
 [From Add. Charter 16,545, B.M.] 
 
 This paper refers mainly to events of 1452 and 1453, but was probably 
 drawn up in 1454, after the Duke of York had come into power. 
 
 HEES be the persons that enformyd the Justicez 
 of the Kyngis Benche the last terme of suche 
 ryottis as hath be done be Robert Ledham : 
 The Lord Skales, Sir Thomas Todenham,
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VL 277 
 
 Sir John Chalers, Edmond Clere, Water George, John 
 Alyngton, Gilbert Debenham, John Denston, William 
 Whit, William Alyngton, Reynald Rows, John Berney, 
 Richard Suthwell, John Paston, John Henyngham, 
 Raff Shelton, Henry Grey. 
 
 These be the names of the knyghtes and esquyers 
 that endittyd Robert Ledham : Thomas Todenham, 
 knyght, Andrew Ogard, knyght, John Henygham, 
 knyght, William Calthorp, esquyer, Bryan Stapelton, 
 esquyer,Osbert Mondford, esquyer, JohnGroos, esquyer, 
 William Rokwod, esquyer, Thomas Morle, esquyer, 
 Thomas Scholdham, esquyer, John Wyndham, esquyer, 
 John Berney, esquyer, William Narbow, esquyer, John 
 Chippysby, esquyer, William White, esquyer, John 
 Bryston. esquyer, John Paston, esquyer. 
 
 These be dyvers of the ryottis and offensis done in 
 the hundred of Blofeld in the counte of Norffolk, and 
 in other townys be Robert Lethum, otherwyse callyd 
 Robert Ledham of Wytton, be Blofeld in the counte 
 of Norffolk, and by his ryottys men and by other of 
 his affinitez and knowleche, whos names folowyn, 
 and that they contynually folow and resorte unto his 
 hous, and ther be supported and maynteynet and 
 confortid. 
 
 These be the principall menealle men of the sayd 
 Robert Ledham ys hous be the whiche the sayd ryottys 
 have be done, that use in substaunce non other occu- 
 pacion but ryottys : In primis, John Cokett, Thomas 
 Bury, Thomas Cokowe, Cristofer Bradlee, Elys Duk- 
 worth, William Donmowe, Cristofer Grenesheve, Roger 
 Chirche. Notwythstondyng the sayd Robert Ledham 
 kypith dayly many mo in his house and chaungeth 
 such as have be oppenly knowyn for riottis and takith 
 other for hem as evill as they. And these be the most 
 principale persons comyng and resortyng unto the 
 house of the sayd Robert Ledham, and ther be sup- 
 portid and mayntened in ryottes be whom the sayd 
 ryottes have be don, that ys to sey : In primis, Robert 
 Taillor, Henry Bang, Robert Dallyng, John Beston,
 
 278 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 Charles Navell, John, the sone of Roger Ratclyff, 
 Robert Berton ; notwythstondyng ther be money 
 moo whos names ben unknowyn. With the which 
 persons, and many moo unknowyn, the sayd Robert 
 Ledham kept atte his hous in maner of a forcelet and 
 issith ouute atte here pleaysour and atte -his lust, the 
 sayd Ledham to assigne, somtyme vj. and sometyme 
 xij., somtyme xxx li and moo, armyd, jakkid, and 
 salettyd, with bowys and arrowys, speris, billys, and 
 over ryde the countrey and oppressid the Kyngs 
 peple, and didde mony oryble and abhomynable 
 dedes, like to have be destruccion of the enhabi- 
 tantes in the sayd hundred, in the forme that folowyth, 
 and warse. 
 
 In primis, on the Monday 1 next before Ester day 
 and the shire daye, the xxx. yere of oure soverayne 
 Lord the Kyng, x. persons of the sayd riottors, with a 
 brother of the wyff of the sayd Robert Lethum, laye 
 in awayte in the hyght way under Thorpe Wode upon 
 Phillip Berney, esquyer, and his man comyng from 
 the shire, and shette atte hym and smote the hors of 
 the sayd Phillipp with arowes, and than over rode hym, 
 and toke hym and bette hym and spoillid hym. And 
 for thayr excuse of this ryot, they ledde hym to the 
 Bysshopp of Norwiche, axyng seuerte of the peas vvher 
 they hadde never waraunt hym to areste. Which 
 affray shorttyd the lyffdayes of the sayd Phillippe, 
 whiche dyed withynne shorte tyme after the said 
 affray. 2 
 
 Item, iij. of the sayd riottys feloshippe the same day, 
 yere, and place, laye on awayte uppon Edmond 
 Broune, gentilman, and with naked swerdes and other 
 wepyng faght wyth hym be the space of on qaurte (sic) 
 of an houre, and toke and spoillyd hym, and kepte hym 
 as long as them lyst, and after that lette hym goo. 
 
 Item, xl" of the sayd riottys felowshipp, be the 
 comaundement of the same Robert Lethum, jakket 
 
 1 3d April 1452. 
 
 s Philip Berney died, as we have seen, on the 2d July 1453, fifteen months 
 after the date assigned to the outrage.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 279 
 
 and saletted, with bowes, arowys, billys, and gleyves, 
 oppon Mauyndy Thursday, 1 atte iiij. of the clokke atfe 
 alter nonne, the same yere, comyn to the White Freres 
 in Norwyche, and wold have brokyn theyr yates and 
 dorys, feynyng thaym that they wold hire thayre eve- 
 song. Where they ware aunswered suche service was 
 non used to be there, nor withyn the sayd citee atte 
 that tyme of the daye, and prayd them to departe ; 
 and they aunswered and sayd that affore thayre de- 
 partyng they wold have somme persons ouute of that 
 place, qwykke or dede. insomuch the sayd freris were 
 fayn to kype thaire place with forsse. And the mayr 
 and the sheriffs of the sayd cite were fayn to arere a 
 power to resyst the sayd riotts, which to hem on that 
 holy tyme was tediose and heynous, consedryng the 
 losse and lettyng of the holy service of that holy nyght. 
 And theroppon the sayd ryotors departid. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Lethum, on the Monday 2 
 nest after Esterne day, the same yere, toke from on 
 John Wilton iiij. neet for rent arere, as he said, and 
 killed hem and layd them in salte, and afterward etc 
 hem. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Lethum, with vj. of his sayd 
 ryottes, the same yere made assaute uppon John 
 Wilton in Plumstede churche yerde, and theer so bete 
 hym that he was in doute of his lyff ; and also dede to 
 hym many grete wronggys and oppressioun, unto the 
 undoyng of the sayd John Wilton. 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse the sayd Robert Lethum and his 
 men assauted on John Coke of Witton, in brekyng uppe 
 his dorys atte a xi. of the cloke in the nyght, and wyth 
 thaire swerdys maymed hym and gaff hym vij. grete 
 wondys, and toke from hym certayn goodys and catalls, 
 of the whiche he hadde, nor yitte hath, no remedy nor 
 restitution. 
 
 Item, the same day and yere they bete the moder 
 of the same John Coke, she beyng iiij xx - [fmtr score} 
 vere of age and more, and smote hure uppon the crowne 
 
 1 6th April 1452. 2 ioth April 1452.
 
 280 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 of here bed with a swerd ; of the whiche hurte she 
 myght never be helyd into the day of hure deth. 
 
 Item, John, the sone of Hodge Ratleffe, and other 
 of the sayd felowshipp, toke on Thomas Baret of Byr- 
 lygham out of his house, and bete hym and wondid 
 hym that he kept his bedde a month, and toke from 
 hym certayn goodes and catells. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Taillor, because the sayd 
 Thomas Baret complayned of the same betyng, lay in 
 awayte oppon hym, with other of his feloushippe, and 
 bete hym agayn. 
 
 Item, John Beston and the sayd Robert Taillor, 
 and other of the sayd riottes felowshipp, toke on 
 Thomas Byrden of Lyngewod and bete hym and 
 prisoned hym till unto such tyme that he was delyvered 
 by the mene of my Lord of Xorwych ; and for that 
 sorow, distres, and grete payne and betyng. the sayd 
 Thomas Byrden toke suche kynesse that he dyed. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Dallyng and Kerry Bange, 
 and other of the sayd felowshippe, toke and bete on 
 Nicholas Chirche atte Strumpeshawe, beyng in the 
 church of the same towne, that he was [in] dout of 
 his lyff. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Dallyng lay on awayt uppon 
 on Thomas Dallyng, and hym grevously bete. 
 
 Item, on Middleynt Sunday, 1 the xxx :i yere of oure 
 soveraigne Lorde the Kynge that now ys, Robert 
 Dallyng, Robert Churche, Robert Taillor, Kerry 
 Bang, Adam atte More, with other unknowyn, be the 
 comaundement and assent of the sayd Robert Led- 
 ham, made affray uppon Kerry Smyth and Thomas 
 Chambre atte Suthbirlyngham, the sayd Kerry and 
 Thomas and that tyme knelyng to see the usyng of 
 the masse, and than and ther wold have kyllyd the 
 sayd Kerry and Thomas atte the prestys bakke, ne 
 had they be lettyd. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Lethum, with his sayd ryottis 
 felawshipp, the same yere dide and made so many 
 
 1 igth March 1452.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 281 
 
 ryottes in the" hundred where he dwellyth that dyvers 
 and many gentilmen, frankeleyns, and good men, durst 
 not abyde in here mansyon place, ne ryde, nother walke 
 aboute thaire occupacions without mo persons, arrayd 
 in maner and forme of werre attendyng and waytyng 
 uppon them than thayr lyvelode wold extende to 
 fynde hem. And so, for savacion of thaire lyves, and in 
 eschewyng of suche inordinat costys as never was seen 
 in that countrey befor, many of them forsoke and 
 leffte thaire owyn habitacion, wyff and childe, and 
 drewe to fortresses and good townes as for that tyme. 
 
 Inprimis, Phillipp Berney, esquyer, Edmond Broom 
 to Castre; Thomas Holler, John Wylton to Norwych; 
 Oliver Kubyte to Seynt Benetts; Robert Spany to 
 Aylesham ; Thomas Baret, with many others, to Meche 
 Vermouth and to other placys of strenght. 
 
 Item, the sayd Robert Ledham, contynuyng in this 
 wyse, callyd unto hym his sayd mysgoverned felow- 
 shipp, consydryng the absence of many of the well- 
 rewlyd people of the sayd hundred of afifere cast 
 malice, and congected, purposed and labored to the 
 sheriff of the shire that the sayd Roger Chirche, on of 
 the sayd riottous felawshipp, was made bailly of the 
 hundred ; and after causid the same Roger to be be- 
 gynner of arysyng and to take oppon hym to be a 
 captayn and to excite the peple of the countrey therto. 
 And ther oppon, be covyne of the sayd Robert Led- 
 haum, to appeche all these sayd well rewlyd persones, and 
 as well other divers substanciall men of good fame and 
 good governaunce that were hated be the sayd Robert 
 Ledhaum, and promittyng the sayd Roger harmeles 
 and to sew his pardon be the mene of Danyell ; to the 
 which promyse the sayd Rogger aggreed, and was 
 arested and take be the sayd Ledham be covyne be- 
 twixt hem, and appeched suche persons as they lust, 
 to the entente that the sayd substanciall men of the 
 countre shuld be by that mene so trowblyd and indaun- 
 gered that they shuld not be of power to lette and 
 resist the mys rewle of the sayd Ledham and his mys-
 
 282 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 governed felawshipp, the whiche mater ys confessid by 
 the sayd Roger Chirch. 
 
 Item, William Breton and John Berton, and other 
 of the sayd ryottes, come into the place of on Robert 
 Spany of Poswyke and serched his housez,hous be hous, 
 for to have bete hym yf they myght have founde hym. 
 
 Item, William Donmowe, servaunt of the sayd 
 Robert Ledham, and by his comaundement, the same 
 yere bete the parson of Hashyngham, and brake his 
 hede in his owyn chauncell. 
 
 Item, the sayd Thomas Bery, Elys Dukworth, Tho- 
 mas Cokowe, George of Chamer, the v. day of Novembre 
 last past, with divers other onknowyn men, onto the 
 nombre of xx. persons, and noman of reputacion 
 among hem, comen, under color of huntyng, and brake 
 uppe gatys and closys of Osburne Monford atte 
 Brayston ; and xij. persons of the same felowshipp, 
 with bowys bent and arowys redy in thair handys, 
 abode alone betwixt the maner of Brayston and the 
 chirche, and there kept hem from vij. of the clokke 
 on the mornyng unto iij. of the clokk after none, lyyng 
 in awayte oppon the servauntez of the sayd Osburne 
 Monford, lorde of the sayd maner, so that nonne durst 
 comen ouut for doute of thair lyves. 
 
 Item, viij. of the sayd felowshipp, on the Wennesday 
 next after, prevely in an hole layn in awayte oppon 
 William Edworth and Robert Camplyon, servauntz to 
 the sayd Osburn Montford, comyng from Okill 1 market, 
 till that tyme that the said William Owell and Robert 
 come uppon hem onwarre, and theruppon chasid hem 
 so that yf they had not be well horssyd and well 
 askapped, they had ben dede and slayne. 
 
 Item, vj. or vij. of the sayd Ledamys men dayly, 
 boyth werkeday and haly day, use to goo aboute in 
 the countrey with bowys and arowys, shotyng and 
 playng in mennys closis among men catall, goyng 
 from alhous to alhousez and manassyng suche as they 
 hated, and soght occasion and quarels and debate. 
 
 Item, notwithstandyng that all the lyvelod that the 
 
 1 Acle.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 283 
 
 sayd Ledham hath passith not xx/z. [,20], be sydes 
 the reparacion and outcharges, and that he hath no 
 connyng ne trew mene of getyng of any good in this 
 countre, as for as any man may conceyve, and yette 
 kypith in his house dayly xx. men, besydes women 
 and gret multitude of such mysgoverned peple as ben 
 resortyng to hym, as ys above sayd, to the whiche he 
 yevith clothyng, and yitte bysyde that he yevith to 
 other men that be not dwellyng in his household ; and 
 of the sayd xx. men ther passith not viij. that use 
 occupacion of husbondrye ; and all they that use hus- 
 bondrye, as well as other, be jakked and salettid redy 
 for to werre. which yn this countrey ys thoght ryght 
 straunge, and ys verely so conceyved that he may not 
 kepe this countenance be no good menes. 
 
 Item, the sayd Ledham hath a supersedias oute of 
 the chauncerie for hym and divers of hys men, that no ' 
 warant of justice of pees may be served agayn hem. 
 
 Item, please unto your Lordshipp to remembre that 
 the sayd Ledham and his sayd mysgoverned feloushipp 
 be endited of many of these articles and of many moo 
 not comprehendit here, and in especiall of the sayd 
 rysyng agayn the Kyng. Wherfore, though the sayd 
 Ledham can prove* the sayd enditement of treson 
 voyde in the lawe for symplenesse of them that gaffe 
 the verdit, that it lyke you, for the Kyngs availl, not 
 redely to suffre the sayd Ledham to departe atte large 
 unto the tyme that the mater of the sayd enditement be 
 better enquered of for the Kyngsavayll, andthatthe sayd 
 Ledham fynde surte of his good aberyng; andtheinhabi- 
 tauntz of the sayd hundred of Blofeld shall pray for you. 
 And els they be lyke to be destruyd for ever. 
 
 202. 
 
 About A.D. 1454. 
 JOHN CLOPTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 192.] 
 The exact year of this letter is uncertain, but from what John Paston writes
 
 284 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 to Lord Grey on the isth of July 1434 about proposals having been recently 
 made for his sister, it is not unlikely to be that year. 
 
 Un to ryth reverent Sir, and my good mayster, John 
 Paston. 
 
 wurthy and wurchypfull Sir, and my ryth 
 good mayster, I recomaunde me on to you, 
 thankyng you evermore of your gret jentyl- 
 ness and good maystyrhod shewyd on to me 
 at all tymys, and specyally now to my herthys ease, 
 qwyche on my part can nowt be rewardyd, but my 
 sympyll service is eve* redy at your comaundement. 
 Ferthemor, as for the mater that ye wete of, I have 
 laboryd so to my feydr that your entent as for the 
 jointoure xal be fulfellyd ; and, Sir, I besheche you 
 sethyn that I do my part to fullefelle your wyll, that 
 ye wolle shew me your good maystyrhod in here 
 chambyr, as my full trust is, in so moche that it xall 
 nowth hurthe you nor non of youris, and the profite 
 ther of xal be on to the avayle of my maystress your 
 suster, and to me, and to non odyr creature. 
 
 And also my maystress, your modyr, xall nouth be 
 charchyd the with her bourd aftyr the day of the mari- 
 age, but I to discharge her of here persone, and to 
 ease me that hat here chambyr may be non contra- 
 diccion. 
 
 And, Sir, I am redy, and alwey wolle to performe 
 that I have seyd on to you, &c. 
 
 Ferthemor, lykyd you to wete I was a Thursday last 
 passyd at Cavendyshe, to dylyver an astate to Went- 
 worth in the londe that was my brothyr Cavendyche, 
 as I tolde you wan I was last with you. And ther I spak 
 with Crane ; and he be sowthe me that I wolde sende 
 over to my maystress your modyr for his excuse, for 
 he myth nowth be with here at this tyme, but on the 
 Saterday in Esterne wyke he wolle nouth fayll to be 
 with her. So he counsellyd me that I and my brothyr 
 Denston xulde mete with hym there ; and so, withoute 
 your better avyse, I and my brothyr purpose us to be 

 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 285 
 
 with you ther at that tyme ; for the sonner the levyr 
 me, for, as to my conceythe, the dayys be waxyn 
 wondyrly longe in a scorte tyme. Qwerfor I besheche 
 you sende me your avyse how ye wolle have me 
 rewlyd, &c. 
 
 No more I wrythe to you at this present tyme, but 
 be schechyng you to recomaunde in the lowlyest wyse. 
 And the Trinite preserve you body and sowle. 
 
 Wretyn with my chauncery hand, in ryth gret haste, 
 on the Fryday be forn Palmesoneday. 
 
 Your, 
 
 JOHN CLOPTON. 
 
 203. 
 
 JOHN CLOPTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 196.] 
 
 The date of this draft settlement is no doubt about the same period as that 
 of the preceding letter, whatever may have been the exact time that it was 
 written. 
 
 Mary age Artycles betwix Anneys Paston, &>c. on the one 
 partie, and William Clopton, Squyer, on the other 
 partie. 
 
 pITHIS indenture, made betwix Anneys that was 
 the wyfe of William Paston, John Paston 
 hir sone, and John Dam on the one partie, 
 and William Clopton, Squyer, on the other 
 partie, witnesseth that accord is take attwyn the seid 
 parties that John Clopton, sone and heir of the seid 
 William Clopton, by the grace of God, shall wedde 
 Elizabeth, the doughter of the seid Anneys. For which 
 rnareage the seid Anneys, &c. shall paye to the seid 
 John Clopton CCCC th marc in hand of lawfull mony 
 of England ; and over that, yf the seid mareage be 
 holdyn with the seid Anneys, the seid Anneys shall
 
 236 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 bere the costages therof the day of the weddyng, with 
 swech chaumbeyr as shall be to the plesir of the seid 
 Anneys ; and the seid William Clopton shall do his 
 feffees make a lawfull estate to the seid William of 
 londs, tenementz, rentz, and servysez to the yerly value 
 of xl//. over all chargez born, to have and to hold to 
 hym terme of his lyfe, withoutyn empechement of wast, 
 the remaindr therof to the seid John and Elizabeth, 
 and to his heirs male of hir body lawfully begotyn, 
 withoute impechement of wast, withynne xij. dayes 
 after the seid weddyng. 
 
 And over that, withynne the seid xij. dayes the seid 
 John shall do lawfull estate to be made to the seid 
 William of londs, tenementz, rentz, and servysez to the 
 yerly value of xl. marc over all charges born ; to have 
 and hold to the seid William terme of his lyfe, withoute 
 empechement of wast ; the remayndre therof to the 
 seid Elizabeth, to have and hold to hir terme of hir lyfe 
 withoute empechement of wast. 
 
 Also it is accorded that the seid William shall make 
 estate of all the residue of his londs which he is sesid 
 of, or any other man to his use, to swech personys as 
 the seid John shall name, to the use of the seid John. 
 
 Also the seid John Clopton shall do lawfull estate 
 to be made to the seid Elizabeth of londs, tenementz, 
 rentz, and servysez to the yerly value of xxx//. over all 
 chargez born, to have and hold to hir duryng the lyfe 
 of the seid William. 
 
 And moreover the seid John permytteth and ensu- 
 reth be the feith of his body that he shall leve, over the 
 xl//'. worth lond aboveseid to his heirs and issue male 
 of the body of the seid Elizabeth begotyn, londes in 
 fee symple or in taill to the yerly value of xl. marc, in 
 cas the same issue male be governyd to the seid John 
 as the sone oweth to be to the fadir. And, &c.
 
 A.D. I4S4-] HENR Y VI. 287 
 
 204. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 3 May. 
 THOMAS DENYES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 For the date of this letter it may be sufficient to refer the reader to Letters 
 198 and 199 preceding. Both Denyes and his wife are here still in prison, 
 but he expresses himself grateful to Paston for efforts made in his behalf. 
 
 To my Maister Paston. 
 
 IGHT reverent and wurshipfull Sir, and myn 
 especiall good maister, I recomaund me to 
 you. And for as moche as oon Lord above 
 giffeth and takith as hym plesith, I thank His 
 grace of every thyng ; and for the bounte that ye shew 
 to me in this treble, I haf no spirite to thank you as I 
 shuld. Sir, as for certeyn evidence of myn touchyng 
 your place in Seint Andrues Parissh, my wif tellith me 
 that she lefft thaym in a chest at Ovyes shette ; the 
 key ther of she hath sent now to Ovy also. And as 
 for more evidence, sum is in the kepyng of Frere John 
 Mendham, wherto I beseche your maistership that ye 
 wole se for the sauf and secreet kepyng therof. God 
 wote my wif delyvered all, myn unwetyng ; ever ther- 
 fore I doute, trustyng with such hope as is be lefft me 
 to the best, with Godds grace. 
 
 Othre evidence of myn is at Folsham, I wote not with 
 whome. I thank God of my conyng ; but as sone as I may 
 know, I shal write to you. Wherfore, sith it is thus, I 
 beseche your maistershep disdeigne not, but for our 
 Lords love ye vouchsauf to take it to you, or to se that 
 it be sauf, if it plese you. And that ye wole send for 
 John Maile, for I conceyve hym right feithfull to me, 
 and I am enfourmed that he is gretly manasid for me. 
 And that ye vouchsauf to do put hym in comfort that 
 I lese not his good wille, and that ye shew hym your 
 good maistership and favor, that he be holpen and not
 
 288 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 hurt for me. Ferthermore, I wrote to you for such 
 smal thynges as I had leid "to plegge to you for such 
 good as that I borwid of you. Wheryn I beseche your 
 maistership that if my frends pay you accordyng to my 
 writyng, that ye than vouchsaf to do the said plegges 
 be sent hider to me by such conduyte as your wisdani 
 like to avise, and that they myght be here by the 
 iiij to die of the xv cim l of Ester, for than is my grettest 
 jouparte touchyng myn imprisonement ; for sith myn 
 enmyes coude not avail to send me to the castel of 
 Bristow (which was their purpose, whan thei undirstood 
 the disposicion of the Comons Hous agayn their billes). 
 ever sith they make a privy labor to haf me remevid, 
 and I wote not whedir, ne wethir that tyme I shal be 
 sent to the Kynges Bench, and abide ther, or remittyd 
 hider agayn. 
 
 Neverthelesse, if I haf releve of such pouer godes 
 as shuld be myn by reson, than I hope to do better, 
 and sumwhat to aquyte, wherby I hope to put my 
 frends in gretter corage to do for me. And if I haf no 
 releve, than can I nomore, but all refere to God as I 
 do daily. Wherefore, if ye be not paied, I pray you 
 to councell my said frendes to send me suche mony as 
 thei may gete of myn agayn that day, ever your maister- 
 ship and wisdam seyng to the conduyte therof. More 
 over, I doute lest that Richard Davy of his untrouth 
 enfourme myn enmys wher such pouer thyng as I haf 
 is, to that intent that thei may riffel and dispoil all. 
 Wherof, if such case hapne, lean no ferthre, but I besech 
 your help in every thyng. It is yours all, ther is a 
 dede of gifft therof to you among myn evidence, as ye 
 vouchsauff to do or do to be don in every thyng I holde 
 me content. And Al myghti God preserve you. 
 
 Wretyn in non herds ease at Flete, the iij. day 
 of Maii. 
 
 WOFUL DENYES. 
 
 1 The fourth day of the quinzaine of Easter.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENR Y VI, 289 
 
 205. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 17 May. 
 LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 200.] 
 
 This letter is dated by a contemporary note at the bottom of the original 
 which is given thus in Fenn : "Li't.5ii mich. xxxiijo." But for "ai." accor- 
 ding to the Errata in vol. iii., we should read " ae," i.e. " Litterse ante Mich. 
 [Festum S. Michaelis] xxxiij." {i.e. anno Regis xxxiiij 
 
 To my right and wdbdoved frend, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 IGHT trusty and welbeloved frend, I grete you 
 wel ; and for as mych as I have understande 
 that ze have do take a distresse of certayn 
 bestes upon certayn land, which I stande 
 inferred in, in the town of Pagrave, for what cause I 
 knovve not ; wherfor I pray you that ze wyll make 
 deliverance ageyn of the said bestes, and if any thing 
 ze can axe be dute of right, setteth a day, and lete 
 your evydences and right be shewed, and I shall assigne 
 conceill of myn to be there to se it ; and all that reson 
 or lawe wyll, I wyll be right glad ze have, and other- 
 wise I trowe ze wold not desire. And if ze wyll do 
 this, I wyll be wel paied, and elles ze constreyn me to 
 pourveye other wise, as lawe may gyde me. Oure 
 Lord have you in governance. Writen at Walsyng- 
 ham, the xvij. day of May. 
 
 Youre frend, THE LORD SCALES. 
 
 206. 
 A.D. 1454, 8 June. BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 76.] 
 To my Maister Paston. 
 
 ORSHYPFULL Syr, and my gode maister, 
 after dewe recomendacion, wyth alle my 
 trewe servyce precedyng, lyke you wete that 
 u
 
 290 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 as to nouveltees, &c., the Prince shall be create at 
 Wyndesour, uppon Pentecost Sonday, 1 the Chaunceller. 2 
 the Due of Bokyngham, and manye othyre Lordys off 
 astate, present wyth the Quene. 
 
 As to my Lord Yorke, he abydyth aboute Yorke 
 tille Corpus Crist Feste 3 be passyd, and wyth grete 
 worship ys there resseyved. 
 
 And certeyn Justices, Prysot, 4 Byngham, 5 Portyng- 
 ton, 6 and &c., be thedre for execucion of justice uppon 
 such as hafe offendended yn cause creminall. 
 
 It ys seyd the Due of Exceter 7 ys here coverdtlye. 
 God send hym gode councell hereafter. 
 
 And the Pryvee Sele 8 ys examynyd how, and yn 
 whate maner, and be whate autorite prevye selys were 
 passed forthe in that behalf, whych ys full innocent 
 and ryght clere yn that mater, as it ys welle knowen. 
 
 The Frenshmen hafe be afore the Isles of Gersey 
 and Gernessey, and a grete navey of hem, and v - 
 [500] be taken and slayn of hem by men of the seyd 
 trew Isles, &c. 
 
 Syr Edmond Mulso ys come from the Due of Bur- 
 goyne; 9 and he seyth, by hys servaunts rapport, that 
 he wolle not discharge the godes of the mrchaunts of 
 thys land, but so be that justice be don uppon the 
 Lord Bonevyle, or els that he be sent to hym to do 
 justice by hym self, as he hath deserved, or satisfaccion 
 be made to the value. 
 
 Yowr mater 10 is enseled as of the thyng ye wote of. 
 
 I can no more for haste and lak of leyser, but our 
 Lord kepe you. Wryt hastly viij. of June. 
 
 1 June 9 in 1454. 
 
 2 Richard Iscvill, Earl of Salisbury, was appointed Chancellor on the 2d 
 April 1454. 
 
 3 June to in 1454. 
 
 4 John Prisot, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 5 Richard Bingham, a Justice of the King's Bench, 
 e John Portington, a Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 
 7 Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. On the nth May this year, he was 
 ordered to appear before the Council on the following Thursday (16 May). 
 See Nicolas's Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 180. 
 
 8 His name was Thomas Lyseux. See Patent Roll, 32 Hen. VI., M. 14. 
 
 9 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 10 Doubtless the grant of the wardship of Thomas Fastolf of Cowhawe. 
 See preliminary Note to next letter.
 
 A.D. I4S4-] HENRY VI. 291 
 
 I sende a lettre to Maister Berney to lete you see for 
 the gouvernaunce yn Yorkshyr. 
 
 BOTO-H.R.-NER. 1 
 
 207. 
 A.D. 1454, 29 June. R. DOLLAY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 210.] 
 
 This letter gives an account of certain proceedings for taking possession of 
 the person of a minor in opposition to the claims of Paston and Sir John 
 Fastolf as guardians. Fenn supposes the ward in question to have been 
 Thomas Fastolf of Ipswich ; but it appears, by a petition afterwards presented 
 to Parliament (sec Rolls of Parliament, v. 371), that he was another Thomas 
 Fastolf, viz., the son of John Fastolf, Esq. of Cowhawe, Suffolk, whose ward- 
 ship was granted on the 6th June 1454 to John Paston, Esq , and Thomas 
 Howes, clerk. The St. John's. day mentioned in this letter is therefore St. 
 John the Baptist's day, 24th June, not St. John the Evangelist's, 2/th 
 December. 
 
 Un to my ryght worshypfuQ Mastyr Paston, be thys 
 by II delyveryd in haste. 
 
 trusty and well belovyd master, I re- 
 comande me un to yow, desyryng to her of 
 your good prosperite and wellfar. And as 
 towchyng for Ser Phylyp Wentforde, he rood 
 on to London ward up on Seynt Jon ys day, and on the 
 evyn afor he sent to my master for to have sura of hys 
 men for to ryd with hym to Colchester; and for be cavvse 
 he shulde not have no suspesion to me, I rod myself 
 and a felaw with me ; and he rood with an C. \Jiund- 
 red\ hors with jakks 2 and saletts, 3 and rusty habyrjons; 4 
 
 1 William Worcester, or Botoner, as he called himself indifferently, secre- 
 tary to -Sir John Fastolf. He frequently introduces the letters ' H. R." into 
 or above his signature, and sometimes at the top of his letter. Fenn reads 
 the name " Botcner," which is certainly wrong according to the fac-simile 
 given of the signature in this place. 
 
 2 The jack or jacket was a military vestment, calculated for the defence of 
 the body, composed of linen stuffed with cotton, wool, or hair quilted, ami 
 commonly covered with leather. - F. 
 
 3 A salet was a light helmet of various construction. F. 
 
 4 The haubergeon was a coat composed either of plate or chain-mail with- 
 out sleeves. For a fuller account and view of these, the reader is referred to 
 Mr. Grose's accurate " Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons," 410, 
 1785. F.
 
 292 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. n. 1454. 
 
 and ther rood with hym Gybotm of Debnem, and 
 Tympyrle, and all the felashyp that they cowd make. 
 And Gyboun seyde that he wolde endyte as many as 
 he cowde understonde that wer of the toder party ; 
 and longe Bernard was ther also ; and he mad Ser 
 Phylyp Wentforde to tome ageyn, and maad every 
 men to beende her bowys, and lyth down of her hors 
 for to wyte and ony man wolde come ageynstem, and 
 he seyde how he shulde not let hys wey nor for Ser 
 John Fastolf nor for Paston, nor for noon of hem all. 
 
 And as for the ward, 1 he was not ther, but ther was 
 had anoder chyld lyk hym, and he rood next hym, and 
 whan that he was ij. myle be zonde Colchester, he 
 sent hym hoomageyn with a cer tey[n] meyny. And 
 Ser Phylyp Wentforde, and Gyboun of Debnem, and 
 Tymperle, and Bernard, tHey took a man of Stratford, 
 a sowter, 2 and hys name ys Persoun ; and they en- 
 queryd hym of every manys name of the toder party, 
 and he tolde hem as many as he cowde ; and they 
 bad hym enquer ferther for to knowe all, for they 
 desyryd of hym for to enquer as fer as he cowde, and 
 he shulde have well for hys labor. 
 
 No mor to yow at thys tyme, but the Holy Gost 
 have yow in hys kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn at Hadley, the Saturday after Seynt John ys 
 day. And I beseeche yow hertyly recomande me to 
 my Master Alblaster. By yowr man, 
 
 R. DOLLAY. 
 
 208. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 5 July. 
 WILLIAM BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 140.] 
 
 The year in which this letter was written must be that of the mayoralty of 
 Robert Sturmy at Bristol, as shown in Note 2. It certainly could not be 
 1457, Fenn's date, as Lord Cromwell died in January 1456. 
 
 J Thomas, son of John Fastolf, Esq. of Cowhawe. 2 A shoemaker.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 293 
 
 To my gode maister, John Paston, Escuier, in Norwich, 
 andyn hys absence, to John Berney, at Caister, Squyer. 
 
 ORSHYPFULL Sirs, I recomaund me to yow. 
 Lyke yow wete that as to the waraunts and 
 copes that ye remembred to be gheten owt, 
 it ys laboured for, &c. 
 
 And as to the assisse, it shall hald at Norwych, the 
 Monday next com fortendayes. 
 
 The Due of York, the Lord Cromewell, and othyr 
 Lordys of the North that were wyth my seyd Lord 
 York, comen hedre by Monday next, as it ys credybly 
 seyd. The Lordys that be appoynted to kepe the 
 see maken hem redye yn all haste ; and the Tre- 
 sourer also, the Lord Wyltshyre l for the west coost. 
 And a stately vessell, only for the warre, ys made new 
 at Brystow by the Mayr, called Sturmyn. 2 And the 
 seyd toune with the west coosts wolle do her part, 
 and [i.e. if\ they may be supported or favoured. 3 
 
 1 James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. He was appointed Lord 
 Treasurer of England on the i^th March 1455 (Patent,33HenryVI.,p. 2,m. 20), 
 but on the 291)1 May following, the office was taken from him, and given to 
 Henry, Viscount Bourchier (fb. m. 12). But this letter, which is dated in 
 July, cannot be in 1455 ; indeed we have positive evidence that it is in 1454. 
 How, then, are we to explain the manner in which Wiltshire is referred to 
 above ? It is just possible though not likely, as Wiltshire was a Lancastrian 
 that his appointment may have been enrolled in the wrong year, and that 
 he was really made Lord Treasurer on the isth March 1454. A difference 
 in punctuation will perhaps solve the difficulty best : " The Lords that be 
 appointed to keep the see maken hem ready yn all haste, and the Treasourer 
 also : the Lord Wyltshyre for the west coast." John Tiptoft, Earl of Wor- 
 cester, is mentioned as Lord Treasurer on the nth February 1454. See 
 Rolls of Parliament, v. 238. 
 
 2 The name was printed by Fenn " St'myn'," and in the modern version 
 -)n the opposite page, " St. Myn." Robert Sturmy was Mayor of Bristol in 
 the year 1453-4. It was probably this very ship that was captured by the 
 Genoese in 1457, of which disaster there is the following notice in the MS. 
 Calendars of Bristol : " Mr. Robert Sturney [alias Sturmey], who was 
 Mayor in 1453, had this year a ship spoiled in the Medditerranean Sea by 
 the Genoese, which ship had gotten much wealth as having been long forth. 
 She had spices fit to be planted here in England, as was reported, but the 
 men of Genoa in envy spoiled her. Which wrong, when King Henry under- 
 stood, he arrested the Genoa merchants in London, seized their goods, and 
 imprisoned their persons, until they gave security to make good the loss; 
 so that they were charged with 6000 indebted to Mr. Sturney." Seyer's 
 Memoirs of Bristol, ii. 189. 
 
 3 " '1 he said town." it would appear, did "do her part " on the occasion; 
 for besides this ship fitted out by the Mayor, Bristol subscribed ,150 to a loan 
 raised by the Duke of York from the seaports for the protection of trade. 
 This sum may appear insignificant for a flourishing seaport ; but London itself
 
 294 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.:D. 1454. 
 
 Mastere Pownyngs 1 hath day tille the next terme 
 by a remayner. Manye a gode man ys hert he hath. 2 
 God comfort hym in ryght ! 
 
 And justice ys don dayly uppon thevys and male- 
 factours, and people be glad that justice may precede. 
 
 The Lord Bourchier hath a gode renomee of hys 
 wyse demenyng at Calis, but he ys not yhyt comen. 
 
 The Soudeours be more temperat then they were. 
 Not ell[es] for lak of leyser, but our Lord kepe you. 
 
 Wryt at L. [London], the v. day of Juliet. 
 
 Gressam qwyts hym well yn your erandys doyng 
 to me. Your, 
 
 W. BOTONER. 
 
 209. 
 
 A.D. 1454, ii July. 
 EDMUND LORD GREY OF HASTINGS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 214.] 
 
 This letter is dated by a memorandum at the bottom of the original, in the 
 handwriting of John Paston "Liberal, per WilL Alcyn, valetum dicti 
 domini xiiij. die Julii anno xxxij . H. vL" 
 
 To my trusty and ivcle belovid John Paston, Squyer, be 
 this let ire 'delivered. 
 
 ."RUSTY and welebelovid frend, I comaund me 
 to zow, certifying zow that and zour sustyr be 
 not zit marled, y trust to God y know that 
 where she may be maried to a gentylman of 
 iii. C. [30o]marcoflyvelod,thewhichisagretegentylman 
 born, and of gode blode ; and yf ze think that y shall 
 
 only subscribed .300, and Southampton, which was the next largest contri- 
 butor, only .100, while Norwich and Yarmouth contributed the latter amount 
 between them. Seyer's Bristol, ii. 188 ; see (lisa Rolls of Parliament, v. 243. 
 We must remember, however, that these sums probably represent about fifteen 
 times their value in modern currency At al! events, by comparison with other 
 places. Botoner had no cause '.o be ashamed of his native town. 
 
 1 Robert Poynings. See p. 133, Note 2. 
 
 2 " Many a good man's heart he hath." We should have thought this 
 explanation unnecessary, but that Fenn, in his modern version, gives the 
 following most extraordinary rendering : " Many a good man is hurt (that) 
 he hath."
 
 A.D. 1454.] HENR Y VI. 295 
 
 labore ony ferder therynne, y pray zow send me word 
 by the bringer of this lettre, for y have spoke with the 
 parties, and they have granted me that they wolle 
 precede no ferder therynne tyll y speke with hem azen ; 
 and therefore, y pray zow, send me word in hast how 
 that ze wylle be desposed therynne ; and God have 
 zow in hys kepyng. W[r]ettin at Ampthill, the xj. 
 day of July last past. 
 
 By EDMOND GREY, LORD OF HASTYNGES, 
 WAIFFORD, AND OF RUTHYN. 
 
 210. 
 A.D. 1454, 15 July. JOHN PASTON TO LORD GREY. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 216.] 
 
 This letter is the answer to the preceding, originally printed from a copy 
 in Paston's own handwriting, without signature. 
 
 Dominus de Grey. 
 
 ijIGHT worshipfull and my ryght gode Lord, I 
 recomand me to yowr gode Lordship. And 
 where as it pleasyd yowr Lordship to dyrecte 
 yowr letter to me for amaryage for my por 
 suster to a jantylman of yowr knowleth of CCC. 
 marc lyflod, in cas she wer not maryd ; wherfor I am 
 bownd to do your Lordship servyse ; forsothe, my 
 Lord, she is not maryd, ne insurid to noman ; ther is 
 and hath be, dyvers tymys and late, comunycacion of 
 seche maryages wyth dyvers jantylmen not determynyd 
 as yett, and wheclder the jantylman that yowr Lord- 
 chip menith of be on of hem or nay I dowth. And 
 wher as your seyd letter specyfyith that I shall send 
 yow word whedder I thowght ye shuld labour ferther 
 in the mater or nay, in that, my Lord, I dare not 
 preswme to wryte so to yow wythowte I knew the 
 gentylmans name, notvvythstandyng, my Lord, I shall 
 take uppe on me, wyth the avyse of other of here 
 frendys, that she shall nother be maryd ner inswryd to
 
 296 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 no creatwr, ne forther prosede in no seche mater 
 befor the fest of the Assumpcion of owr Lady next 
 comyng, dwryng whyche tyme yowr Lordship may 
 send me, if itt please yow, certeyn informacion of the 
 seyd gentylmanys name, and -of the place and contrey 
 where hys lyfflod lyth, and whedder he hath any 
 chylder. and, after, 1 shall demene me in the mater as 
 yowr Lordship shall be pleasyd ; for in gode feyth, my 
 Lord, it were to me grette joy that my seyd pore suster 
 were, according to hier pore degre, marijd be yowr 
 avyse, trustyng thanne that ye wold be here gode Lord. 
 , Ryght wurchipfull and my ryght gode Lord, I 
 beseche Almyghty God to have yow in His kepyng. 
 Wrete att Nonvych, the xv. day of Jull. 
 
 211. 
 
 A.D. 1454 [July]. 
 WILLIAM PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 72.] 
 
 The elate of this letter is fixed by the fact referred to in Note i, and by Sir 
 John Fastolf's going into Norfolk, which, though delayed a little later than 
 is here projected, certainly did take place in 1454. See another letter of 
 William Paston further on, dated 6th September. 
 
 To his wvrchypfuU Brodyr, John Paston. 
 
 iYTH wurchypfull broder, I recomande to yow; 
 and as for tedyng, my Lord of Yorke hathe 
 take my Lord of Exsater 1 in to hys awarde. 
 The Duke of Somerset 2 is styll in prison, in 
 warse case than he was. Syr Jon Fastolf recomande 
 hym to yow, &c. He wyll ryde in to Norfolke ward 
 as on Trusday, and he wyll dwelle at Caster, and 
 Skrop 3 wyth hym. He saythe ye ar the hartyest 
 
 1 Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. On the 24th July the Duke of York 
 was charged by the Privy Council to convey him to Pomfret Castle. Set 
 Nicolas's Privy Council Proceedings, vi. 217. 
 
 2 Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, who was committed to the Tower 
 in the end of the year 1453. See No. 191, prefatory note. 
 
 3 Stephen Scroope, Sir John Fastolf's ward, son of Lady Fastolf, by her 
 former husband.
 
 A.D. I4S4-] HENRY VI. 297 
 
 kynysman and frynd that he knowyts. He wolde 
 have yow at Mawdeby dwellyng. 
 
 I had gret cher of Byllyng be the way, and he told 
 me in cownsayle wathe he sayd to Ledam. 
 
 Ledam wulde a do hys wyse to a mad a complent 
 to Pryothe 1 in the scher-howse of yow, and Byllyng 
 consallyd hym to leve, and tolde Ledam ye and he 
 wer no felawys, and sayd to Ledam, " That is the 
 gyse of yowr centre men, to spend alle the good they 
 have on men and lewery gownys, and hors and harnes, 
 and so beryt owth for j wylle [bear it out for a while], 
 and at the laste they arn but beggars ; and so wyll ye 
 do. I wylde ye schull do wyll, be cause ye ar a felaw 
 in Grays In, wer I was a felaw. As for Paston, he ys 
 a swyr [squire] of wurchyp, and of gret ly velode, and 
 I wothe he wyll not spend alle hys good as \at ?] onys, 
 but he sparyt yerly C. mark, or j. C. li. [jioo]; he 
 may do his ennemy a scherewd turne and never far 
 the warse in hys howsholde, ner the lesse men abowthe 
 hym. Ye may not do so, but if yt be for j. \pne\ sesun. 
 I consayll yow not to contenu long as ye do. I wulle 
 consalle yow to seke reste wyth Paston." 
 
 And I thankkyd Byllyng on yowr behalfe. 
 
 God have yow in hys kepyng. 
 
 Be yowr por Brodyr, WYLL YAM PASTON. 
 
 Meche odyr thyng I can telle an I had lesur. Re- 
 comande me to my suster Margeth [and] my cosyn 
 Elizabeth Clyr, I pray yow. 
 
 212. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 19 Aug. 
 RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fcnn, i. 92.] 
 
 This and the following letter could hardly have been written in any year 
 except 1454 or 1455, when the Duke of York was in power. In the former 
 
 1 John Prisot, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
 
 298 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 year he is very likely to have been at his own castle of Sandal on the igth 
 August, seeing that on the 24th July he was commissioned to convey the 
 Duke of Exeter to Pomfret Castle. 
 
 To our right trusty and welbeloved John Paston, Esquire. 
 
 TJie Due of York. 
 
 [IGHT trusty and welbeloved, we grete yow 
 hertily wet And of your benivolence, aide, 
 and tendre love by yow, at th'instance and 
 at the reverence of us, to our right trusty 
 and welbeloved in God, the prior and convent of the 
 hows of Our Lady of Walsingham, of our patronage, in 
 suche matres as they had adoo for certain lyvelood by 
 tham claymed to belonge unto the seid hows, favor- 
 ably and tendrely shewed, as hertily as we can we 
 thank yow, and desire and pray yow of your good 
 continuance ; and as far as right, lawe, and good con- 
 science wol, to have in favorable recommendacion 
 suche personnes as been or shal bee committed to 
 take possession and saison, in the name and to the 
 use of our ful worshipful nepveu. th'erl of Warrewic, 
 in and of the manoirs and Lordeships of Boules and 
 Walcots, 1 with th'appertenauntes in Litel Snoring in 
 the countee of Norffolk, as our grete trust is unto yow. 
 And God have yow in His keping. 
 
 Yeven undre our signet at our castel of Sandhall 
 the xix. day of August i 
 
 R. YORK. 
 
 1 According to Blomefield (vii. 186), Catherine, widow of John Cokerell of 
 Albergh Wykes in Suffolk, died seised of the manors of Walcotes and Boles 
 in 6 Henry VI.. which she left, with others, to Catherine, daughter of John 
 Cokerell, junior, her son, who died before his father. This younger Cathe- 
 rine died a minor in 10 Henry VI., and the jury knew not who was her heir. 
 In 29 Henry VI. George Heath of Mildenhall released to Humphrey, Duke 
 of Buckingham, all his rights in Walcotes and Boles ; but in the iSth of 
 Henry VII. Christopher Conyers and Alice his wife conveyed it to the Hey- 
 dons. Of its having been purchased by the Earl of Warwick or having be- 
 longed to the Prior of Walsinghnm, as stated in the next letter, Blomefield 
 tells us nothing except that Richard Earl of Warwick presented to the rectory 
 of Snoring Parva in 1460 and 1466.
 
 A.D. 1454.] HENRY VI. 299 
 
 213. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 23 Aug. 
 THE EARL OF WARWICK TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 88.] 
 See preliminary note to the last letter. 
 
 To the worship/till and my right trusty frende John 
 Pasion, Squyer. 
 
 ORSHIPFULL and my right trusty and wel- 
 beloved frende, I grete you well, and foras- 
 much as I have purchased of the worshipfull 
 and my welbeloved frende, Priour of Walsyng- 
 ham, ij. maners in Lityl Snoryng, with thappurtenants, 
 in the Counte of Norffolk, which maners be cleped 
 Bowles and Walcotes, I desir and hertily praye yow, 
 that ye woll shewe to me, and my feoffes in my name, 
 your good will and favour, so that I may by your 
 frendship the more peasably rejoy my forsaid purchase. 
 And more over I praye you to yeve credens in this 
 mater to my welbeloved chapellayn, Syr John Suthwell, 
 berer of this my lettre, and in the same mater to be 
 my feithfull frende, as my gret trust is in you, wherin 
 ye shall do to me a singular pleasir, and cause me to 
 bee to yow right good lord, which sumtyme shall be 
 to you available by the grace of God, who preserve 
 you and sende you welfare. 
 
 Yeven under my signet at Midilham, the xxiij. day 
 of August. 
 
 RICHARD, ERL OF 
 WARREWIK. 
 
 214. 
 
 A.D. i454(?), 2 Sept. 
 WILLIAM WORCESTER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 318.] 
 
 This and the next letter were certainly written on the same day, but the 
 precise year may be questioned. From ?. comparison of the two together,
 
 300 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 and of No. 221 following, 1 am inclined to think all three belong to the year 
 1454, when Sir John Fastolf had just come to settle for the rest of his days in 
 Norfolk. Sir John Fenn, I think rightly, considers this first letter to have 
 been written between jest and earnest ; and this tone may be very well ex- 
 plained by the supposition, that on Fastolf 's settlement at Caister, Worcester 
 expected to have had some position of importance assigned to him in his 
 master's household. That such would be his fortune was probably the expec- 
 tation of others as well as himself, and apparently John Paston had written 
 to him in the belief that Worcester's influence with Sir John might occasion- 
 al. y be of value to him. 
 
 To my Maister Paston, 
 H. R. 
 
 dewe recomendacion wyth my simple 
 service precedyng, please your maistershyp to 
 wete, that as to such remembraunce that ye 
 desyre me to contynew forth to the uttermost, 
 I shall wyth gode wille, so as my maister wille licence 
 me, as oft as I can, th'officer to hafe leysure to be 
 wyth me, for ye know well I can not do it alone, &c. 
 
 And where as ye of your pleasure wryte me or 
 calle me Maister Worcestr, I pray and requyre. yow 
 foryete that name of maistershyp, for I am not amended 
 by my maister of a ferthyng yn certeynte, but of wages 
 of housold in comune entaunt come nows plaira. By 
 Worcestr or Botoner I hafe vs. yerly, all costs born, to 
 help pay for bonetts that I lose. I told so my maister 
 thys weke, and he seyd me yerstenday he wyshed me 
 to hafe be a preest, so I had be disposed, to hafe gofe 
 me a lyvyng by reson of a benefice, that anothyr most 
 gefe it, as the Byshop, but he wold ; and so I endure 
 inter egenos nt servus ad aratrnm. 
 
 Forgefe me, I wryte to make yow laugh ; and our 
 Ix>rd bryng my maister yn a better mode for othyrs as 
 for me. 
 
 At Caistr, ij d day of September. 
 
 I pray yow displeser not your servaunt be so long, 
 for my maister lettet hym. 
 
 Your, 
 
 W. WVRCESTYR.
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 301 
 
 215. 
 
 A.D. 1454 (?), 2 Sept. 
 THOMAS HOWES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 320.] 
 With regard to the date of this letter,see the preliminary note to the last 
 
 To my maister, John Paston, Squier, be this delyvered. 
 
 worshypfull Sir, I recommaund me to 
 yow. And my maister hertly thankyth yow 
 for the venyson that ye sent hym from my 
 Lord of Oxford, and prayeth yow that he 
 may be recommaunded to hys noble Lordshyp. And 
 God thank yow for your speciall remembraunce of my 
 mater that ye hafe it so tendyrly to hert, for ye may 
 know weel the gode spede of that ys my wellfare and 
 the contrarye ys my utter undoyngs. I hafe sent to 
 John Porter to wete verrayly how it standyth with 
 hym, as ye shall wete the certeynte thys weke. As for 
 the mater wryt to Bokkyng he hath rad ys lettre, 
 and wille remember your desyre, and also of William 
 Geney comyng, yn case he know of it rathyr then ye. 
 And my maistre herd the substaunce of your lettre 
 red, and lyked it ritz well. And as for the mater of 
 Worcester remembraunce, he shall geve hys attend- 
 aunce therto yn that he can. And where ye calle hym 
 maister, he ys displesed wyth that name, for he may 
 spend vs. yerly more by the name of Worcestr or 
 Botoner, and by hys maister not a ferthyng yn cer- 
 teynte. He prayth yow foryete it. 
 
 I pray God kepe yow. Wryt at Castr hastly ijd 
 day of September. Your oune, 
 
 T. HOWES. 
 
 Item, yn case Jankyn 1 be hole, my Lord of Norffolk 
 
 1 This appears to be the John or Jankyn Porter above named, who will be 
 found mentioned hereafter,
 
 302 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 hath graunted [him] by moyen of Robert Wyngfeld, to 
 be yn my seyd Lord ys houshold, as my maister hath 
 it by lettre from Wyngfeld. 
 
 216. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 6 Sept. 
 WILLIAM PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 220.] 
 
 There is abundant evidence that the year in which this letter was written 
 was 1454. The references to Lord Grey's offer of a husband for Elizabeth 
 Paston, and to Sir John Fnstolf's going into Norfolk, of which William 
 Paston had before written by anticipation, though a little prematurely, in No. 
 an. are in themselves sufficient to fix the chronology ; but the mention of 
 fealty having been done by a new Archbishop of Canterbury and a new Bishop 
 of Ely removes any possible doubt on the subject. 
 
 To my rith umrchiffull brodir, Jon Paston, be this 
 dclyveryd. 
 
 YTH wurchyfull brodyr, I recomande me to 
 zow. desiryng to her of zowr willefar. Byl- 
 lyng 1 the serjant hathe byn in his contre, and 
 he come to Lundon this weke ; he sent for 
 me and ast me how I fared ; I tolde hym her is peste- 
 lens, and sayd I fard the better he was in good hele, 
 for it was noysyd that he was ded. A toke me to 
 him and ast how my suster dede, and I answeryd wyll, 
 never better. He seyd he was with the Lord Gray, 2 
 and they talkyd of j. jantilman qweche is ward to my 
 Lord I remember he sayd it was Harry Gray that thei 
 talkyd of; and my Lord sayd, " I was besy with j n this fewe 
 days to a maryd hym to a jantyllwoman jn Norfolke 
 that schall have iiij. C. marc to hyr manage, and now 
 a wyll not be me, for iiij. C. marc wulde do me 
 hese ; and now he wulde have his mariage mony hym- 
 self, and therefore (quoth he) he schall mary hym self 
 for me." 
 
 This wurds had my Lorde to Byllyng, as he tollde 
 
 1 Thomas Billing was made a Serjeant in 1453, and about 1469 was ap- 
 pointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 
 * Edmund Lord Grey of Ruthyn. See Letter 209.
 
 A.D. 1454-1 HENR Y VL 303 
 
 me, he understod that my Lord laboryd for his owne 
 a vayle, and consaylyd to byd her be wyse ; and I 
 thanlkeyd hym for hys good consayll. 
 
 I sent zo\v an answer of zowr letter of Sir Jon 
 Fastolf comyng horn, as he told me hem self; neverthe 
 lesse he bode longer than he sayd hymself he schull 
 a do. 
 
 He tolde me he schulde make j. \pne\ ende be twix 
 Skroop l and my suster wulle he is in Norfolke. 
 Many wulde it schulde not prove, for thei say it is an 
 onlykkely mariage. 
 
 In casse Cressener be talkyd of ony mor, he is 
 countyd a jantyilmanly man and a wurshepfull. Ze 
 knowe he is most wurchipfull better than I. At the 
 reverens of Good, drawe to sume conclusyn ; it is 
 time. 
 
 My Lord Chanseler 2 come not her sone I come to 
 Lundon, nether my Lord of Yorke. 3 . 
 
 My Lord of Canterbury 4 hathe received hys crosse, 
 and I was with hym in the kynggs chamber qwan he 
 mad hys homage. I tolde Harry Wylton the demean- 
 yng betwix the kyng and hym ; it war to long to 
 wrythe. 
 
 As for the prist that dede areste me, I can not 
 understand that it is the pryste that ze mene. 
 
 Her is gret pestelens. I purpose to fle in to the 
 contre. My Lord of Oxforthe is come azen fro the 
 se, and he hath geth hym lytyll thank in this countre. 
 Much more thyng I wulde wrythe to zow, but I lak 
 lysore. 
 
 Harry Wylton sey the Kyng. My Lord of Ely 5 
 hathe do hys fewthe \Jiis fealty\. God have zow in his 
 blyssyd kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn at Lundon on the Fryday be for owr Ladys 
 
 1 Stephen Scroppe. See p. 88, Note 2. 
 
 2 Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, was appointed chancellor in April 1454. 
 
 3 Richard Duke of York, at this time Protector. 
 
 * Thomas Bourchicr, who was translated from the Bishropic of Ely to 
 Canterbury in April 1454. 
 
 5 William Grey. He received his temporalities by a patent of the date of 
 this letter, 6th September 1454, which shews that he had by that time done 
 feilty.
 
 304 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 day, the Natyvite, in gret hast. I pray recomand me 
 to my suster, and cosyn Cler. 
 
 Be yowr broder, 
 
 WM. PASTON. 
 
 217. 
 A.D. 1454-9, 19 Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 227.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Has searched among his evidence, and found a release of 
 Nycolas Bockyng of his messuage and lands in Castre, "some- 
 time Fraunceys and afterward John Barboures, and Cassandre 
 his wife," which is enrolled in Banco, Rotu'.o primo de cartis 
 scriptis, de termino Sc. Trin. anno r. R. Henr. Sexli, 23. Send 
 me the copy of it. (Signature not in his own hand.) 
 
 Castre, 19 Sept. 
 
 [The year in which this letter was written is uncertain, but it cannot be 
 earlier than 1454, when Fastolf came to Caister, nor later than 1459, as he 
 died in November of that year.] 
 
 218. 
 
 A.D. i454(?), 6 Oct. 
 RICHARD SOUTHWELL TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 376.] 
 
 This letter must have been written during one of the periods of the Duke 
 of York's ascendancy, and on a comparison of possible years, I am inclined 
 to assign it to 1454- The date 1460, to which Fenn ascribes it would have 
 been highly probable but for the fact that John Paston, who was returned to 
 Parliament in that year, does not appear to have arrived in London even on 
 the lath October, so that probably he had not lelt Norwich on the 6th. 
 
 To the right reverent and worshippfull John Paston, 
 in haste. 
 
 ^tflGHT reverent and worshippfull Sir, and my 
 rig nt trusti and welbelovid cosin, I reco- 
 maund me unto you, praiyng you hertily to 
 remembr me unto my Master Radclyff, so 
 that by your gode meanes J shall roowe have his gode
 
 A.D. 1454-1 HENR Y VI. 305 
 
 mastershipp, the whiche I have effectually to [m]y 
 power sewed fore iij. yer, and never deserved the 
 contrarye to my knowlegge, by my trouth ; and if it 
 can or may be founden that I have, I will obeye me, 
 and offre me to abyde the rewle of you and my cosin 
 your brothir, &c. 
 
 Also my Lord of Caunterbury l Master Waltier Bl[a]- 
 kette will help forthe, if nede be; and as to the remen- 
 ant of the Lordes, if the case requir that ye may under- 
 stand by your wysdum thei be displeased with me as 
 I trust to God thei be not, Pbeseche you to remembr 
 that I have aforetyme b[en] accused unto the Kings 
 Highnesse and the Quenes for owyng my pore gode 
 will and service unto my Lord of York and other, &c. 
 Wherof I suppose that Thomas Bagham is remembred 
 that I brought hym oones from my Lady a purs and v. 
 marc therin, and to Sir Phelipp Wenteworth an other 
 and a Cs. [iooj.] therin for their gode will and advise 
 therin to my Lady and all us that were appelled for 
 that cause, notwithstanding the King wrote to my Lord 
 by the meanes of the Due of Somersette, 2 that we 
 shuld be avoyded from hym, &c. And within this ij. 
 yer we wer in like wise laboured ageyns to the Quene, 
 so that she wrote to my Lord 3 to avoyde us, saiyng 
 that the King and she coude nor myght in no wyse be 
 assured of hym and my Lady as long as we wer aboute 
 hym, with much other thing, as may be sufficiently 
 proved by the Quenes writing under herr own signett 
 and signe manuell, the whiche I shewd to my Lord of 
 Caunterbury and other Lordes, &c. 
 
 I prey you have me excused that I encombr you 
 with thees matiers at this tyme, for me thinketh ye 
 shuld will and desire me to do any thing to your honour 
 and pleaser at any tyme, wherto I shal be redy and 
 
 1 Thomas Bourchier. 
 8 Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. 
 
 3 John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in whose household R. Southwell had 
 an appointment. F.
 
 306 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1454. 
 
 welwilled to my power by the grace of God, who have 
 you ever in his keping, and all youres. 
 
 Writon at Norwiche, on Seint Feithes day, in haste. 
 Youres, Ric. SUTHWELL. 
 
 219. 
 
 A.D. 1454, Oct. or Nov. 
 THOMAS HOWES TO [JOHN PASTON ?] 
 
 [From Pastpn MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is anonymous, but appears to be in the handwriting of Thomas 
 Howes. It must belong to the year 1454, when the wardship of Thomas 
 Fastolf of Cowhaw was granted to Howes and John Paston. 
 
 |LEASE your maistreship to wete, for as mych 
 as the wryt directed to the exchetor cam not 
 tyl in the Vigil of Symond and Jude, 1 at viij. 
 of the clocke at evyn, whiche coude in no wyse 
 profit us that day ; notwithstondynge we had a yoman 
 of my Lords chamber, and were at Cowhaw, havyng 
 Bertylmeu Elys with us, and ther was Long Bernard 
 sytting to kepe a court. And we at the furst Noy come 
 in the court, and Bertylmeu havynge this termys to 
 Bernard, seying, " Sir, forasmych as the Kyng hathe 
 grauntyd be hese lettres patent the wardship with 
 the profites of the londes of T. Fastolf duryng hese 
 nun age to you 2 and T. H., wherfor I am comyn 
 as ther styward, be ther comaundement, upon ther 
 pocession to kep court and lete, whiche is of old custum 
 usyd upon thys day; wherfor I charge you, be the 
 vertu herof, to seas and kepe nouthir court nor lete, 
 for ye have non autoryte." Quod Bernard, "Iwyll 
 kepe bothe court and lete, and ye shal non kepe here ; 
 for there is no man hath so gret autoryte." Than quod 
 Bertylmeu, " I shal sytte by you, and take a recony- 
 saunce as ye do." " Nay," quod Bernard, " I wyl 
 suffre you to sytte, but not to wryte." " Well," quod 
 
 1 St Simon and Jude's day is the 28th October. The Vigil is the zyth. 
 
 2 So in MS. The writer seems to be confusing the direct and indirect 
 mode of reporting a speech.
 
 A.D. 1454.] I1ENR Y VL 307 
 
 Bertylmeu, " thanne forsybly ye put us from our poces- 
 sion, whiche I doute not but shalbe remembryd you 
 anothir day," &c. " But, Seres," quod he, " ye that be 
 tenaunts to this manoyr, we charge you that ye do 
 nowthir seute nor servise, no[r] paye ony rents or 
 fermys but to the use of John Paston and T. ; fo[r] 
 and ye do, ye shal paye it ageyn ; and as for on yeer 
 past, we have sewyrte of Skylly, whiche hath resevid 
 it of you to ther use." And thus we departid, and 
 Bernard kept court and lete. 
 
 And ther was Ser P. Wentworth and hise brothir, 
 yong Hopton, yong Brewse, yong Calthorp, with 
 xxiiij. horse ; and we spoke with non of hem, nor they 
 with non of us, for we wold not seke upon hem. And 
 we have enteryd in all othir plasis undir this forme. 
 I wold we had had the wryte betymes lever than xxs. 
 of myn owne, but it farith thus in many othir maters, 
 God amende hem. 
 
 Memorandum. To sende horn wyn and ij. quart 
 botelys. 
 
 220. 
 
 A.D. 1454-7, 30 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 273.] 
 
 Sir JOHN FASTOLF to his right well-beloved Brother, RICHARD 
 WALLER. 
 
 My Lord is and hath been always my good lord, especially 
 now that he is chief officer under the King. Commend me to 
 his grace, and beg him to favor my matters ' ' as far as conscience 
 
 will, now in mine old age." Desires his favor and 
 
 credence for Henry Fylongley and John [Pajston, whom he has 
 desired to wait on Waller. 
 
 Castre, 3oth Oct. 
 
 Endorsed. "A John Paston et John Bokkyng ou William Barker." 
 
 [This letter is written in Botoner's hand. The date is probably between 
 1454 and 1457, as in 1458 Botoner appears to have been in London, at least 
 he was so in November, and in the summer also he was away from Norfolk ; 
 and in 1459 the 3oth October would have been within a week of Fastolfs 
 death, when he must have been ill inclined, even if capable, to dictate letters, 
 unless of very special urgency.]
 
 308 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 221. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 3 Nov. 
 WILLIAM BARKER TO SIR J. FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 For the date of this letter, see preliminary Note to No. 214. John Porter, 
 who was at this time in Fastolf's service, seems to have gone immediately 
 after into that of the Duke of Norfolk. See Nos. 224, 234. 
 
 To myn ryght worshipfull mayster, Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 LEASE youre maystership, the cause of myn 
 terying is that I must ben at Norwyche on 
 Monday at the shyre to stoppe the ought- 
 lawrye of John Porter, wheche but if be 
 holpen, he shalben dowble oughtlawed bothe atte the 
 sewt of the Kyng for a reskuse, as for serteyn money 
 he oweth to on Hewghe, a man of court. And also 
 the next day I shuld ben, if it please yow, at Saxthorp 
 with a certeyn person, as I shal telle youre maystership 
 here after, of whom I shuld have certeyn evydences of 
 the maner of Saxthorp, and rentall, and fyrmall as I 
 am promysed. And, Sire, as for alle the maters that I 
 went fore in to Essex and Suffolk, I have spedde theym, 
 as I shal declare to youre maystership at myn comyng, 
 and brought wryghtyng from theym. And as for myn 
 Lord of Norffolk, towchyng your money, he seyth ye 
 shal have hit with inne this xiiij. dayes. Hit was his 
 fyrst mater to me after I hadde delyvered his rynge. 
 The money is redye, but he seyd that he must have 
 stoor with inne hym, for he loked dayly whan the 
 Kyng wold send for hym. But as sone as Barette, his 
 tresorer, come home whom he hath sent for money, 
 ye shall in contynent after have your C/z. [^100], 
 I made to his Lordship as I hadde no thyng know ir_ 
 the mater for onely for the excuse of Sir Thomas, &c. 
 And I beseche the blessed Trinyte preserve yow. myn 
 ryght wurshipfull mayster, after his pleasaunce and 
 youre herts desyre, &c. 
 
 Wreten in hast at Wroxham, the Sonday after Alle- 
 hallwen day. Youre bedeman and servaunt, 
 
 WILLIAM BARKER.
 
 A.D. 1454-] HENRY VI. 309 
 
 222. 
 
 A.D. 1454, ii Nov. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 224.] 
 
 To the worshypfuli and my ryght welbelovyd cosyn, John 
 Paston. 
 
 ORSHYPFULL and ryght welbelovyd cosyn, 
 I comaund me to yow. Lyke you to wete 
 that I have resseyved a lettre at thys tyme 
 from John Bokkyng, wyth a copie of the 
 patent concernyng the wardeshyp that ye wote off, by 
 whych y understand that ye have both wrought and 
 holpen by your grete wysdom to bryng thys matier 
 aboute, whych y desyred your frendshyp and gode 
 avice for the suertee of the seyd waarde ; J and for 
 expedicion of whych y thank you ryzt hertlye, and pray 
 you to contynew foorth your gode labours in the same 
 yn such wyse as it may be made sure ynall wyse, 
 thoy it cost me the more of my gode. 
 
 And where as it ys remembred me by the seyd 
 lettres that y shuld labour to ghete the seyd ward yn 
 to my gouvernance, truely y can not see how y coude 
 do it to be doon, for y have none acqueyntaunce in 
 that contree that y coude trust too, wythoute the 
 Shyreve myght be my tender frende in thys cause, or 
 othyr such as ye thynk best. Wherfor y pray you 
 hertlye to take thys mater tenderly to hert, and that ye 
 lyke seke a moyen of such frendys as ye can best avyse, 
 and may verrayly trust uppon, to gyde thys mater yn 
 such wyse as myne entent myght be sped for the pos- 
 session of it ; for now that y have go so ferre yn the 
 matier, I wold not it faylled for no gode, but it preved 
 well, and toke to a gode conclusion. 
 
 And where as y have understand late, by certeyn 
 
 1 Thomas Fastolf of Cowhawe. See p. 292, Note i.
 
 3ro THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 well willers to you warde, whych have meoved me, that 
 yn case the seyd warde myght be had, that ye desyre 
 an alliaunce shulde take atwyx a doughter of yours 
 and the seyd waard, of whych mocion y was ryght glad 
 to hyre off, and wylle be ryght well wylling and help- 
 yng that your blode and myne myght increse yn alli- 
 aunces. And yff it please yow that by your wysdom 
 and gode conduyt that ye wolde help beere owte thys 
 mater substaunciallie ayenst my partie contrarie and 
 eville willers, that I myght have myne entent, I ensure 
 you ye and y shuld appoynt and accorde yn such wyse 
 as ye shuld hale you ryght well plesed both for the 
 encresyng of your lynage and also of myne. And y 
 pray you be ware whom ye make of your counsaille 
 and myne yn thys mater, and that it may be well bore 
 owte er ye com thens, and yn a sure wey ; and yff y 
 had knowe rathyr [i.e. earlier] of your entent, it shuld 
 hafe cost me more of my gode before thys, to hafe com 
 to a gode conclusion, whych I promysse yhyt shall bee, 
 and the mater take, by the fayth of my bodye. 
 
 Worshypfull and ryght welbelovyd cosyn, y pray 
 God spede you yn thys matier, and sende you your 
 gode desyrs. 
 
 Wreten at Castr, the xj. day of November anno 
 xxxiij R. H. VI. 
 
 Your cosyn, 
 
 JOHN FASTOLFE. 
 
 Item, cosyn, I pray yow when ye see tyme that my 
 Lord of Caunterbury l and my Lord Cromewell 2 may 
 be spoke wyth for the godes of my Lord Bedford, 
 beyng yn dyvers men handz, be compelled to be 
 brought ynne, as ye shall see more along of thys mater, 
 wyth the wrytyngs that I have made mencion, and left 
 wyth John Bokkyng and William Barker. 
 
 1 Thomas Bourchier. * Ralph, Lord CromwelL
 
 A.D. I454-] HENRY VI. 311 
 
 223. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 13 Nov. 
 THOMAS HOWES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 230.] 
 
 To the wurshepfutt Sir, and my good Maystyr John 
 Paston, at London, in haste. 
 
 URSHEPFULL and reverent Sir, and my 
 good maistyr, 1 I recomaund me to zow in as 
 delygent wyse as on my part apperteineth, 
 and p[le]a[s]e yow to vvete that my maistyr 
 was right well pleasyd with youre feithefull labour in 
 fulfellyng the patent for the warrd of A. B. C, and he 
 wyll feithefully labour as ye have avysed hym be 
 wrytyng of John Bokyng. And putte my maistyr in 
 more corage, I meovyd to hym upon myn hed that 
 encas be the child wer wyse, that thanne it wer a good 
 maryage be twen my wyff youre doutir and hym ; and, 
 Sir, my maistyr was glad whan he herd that moyen, 
 cosetheryng that youre doutyr is desendyd of hym be 
 the modyr syde. And, Sir, 1 have enqwerid aftyr the 
 seyd child, and no dout of but he is lykly and of gret 
 wyt, as I her be report of sondr personez. And it is 
 so, as I am credebly enformyd, that Jeffrey Boleyn 
 maketh gret labour for maryage of the seyd child to on 
 of hese douterez. I wold well to hym, but bettyr to yow. 
 Wherfor that ye delygently labour for expeclecyon of 
 this mater, that encas ye can fynde ony moyan ther to 
 have the seyd child, and we shal do feithefully owre 
 delygens in lyke wyse her, as ye avyse us, &c. 
 
 And, Sir, as ye thynke with avyse of my Maistyr 
 Yelverton, Jenney, and otherez my maisterez counsell 
 therin,that the Shereffmay be rewardyd,and yif my seyd 
 maisterez counsell thynke it be to do'n, that thanne ye 
 lyke to take an actyoun upon anenteynt \an attaint}? 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 2 Tliis is an action againsi a jury that has given a false verdict.
 
 312 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1454. 
 
 wheche ye most with them take upon yow at this tyme in 
 my maisterez absence ; for as ye do in that mater, he 
 woll hold hym content, for Wyllyam Barker hathe an 
 instruccyon of my maisterez intent upon the same. 
 And I send John Bokyng a copy of the panell, wheche 
 I shewed yow at Castr, c. Almyghty Jesu have yow 
 eternally in hese mercyfull governaunce. 
 
 Wretyn at Castr, the Wednysday next aftyr Se}-nt 
 Martyn, anno xxxiij. 
 
 TH. HOWYS. 
 
 224. 
 
 A.D. 1454, 1 8 Nov. 
 SIR THOMAS HOWYS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 To tJie ivurshepfull and reverent Sir, my good May stir 
 John Paston, in all goodly haste. 
 
 and wurshepfull Sir, and my' good 
 maistyr, I recomaund me to yow in as louly 
 wyse as on my part aperteineth. And please 
 yow to wete that my maistyr is fully purposed 
 to sewe ateynte, whereupon he wrytethe a lettere 
 clirectyd to yow and otherez, for the wheche I beseke 
 yow to be my good maystyr in pursewyng the seyd 
 ateynte ; and also my maistyr is agreed what reward 
 ye geve the Shereff he holdeth hym content. Wherfor, 
 that youre reward may be the larger, so he woll * ther 
 upon returne the panell for the seyd ateynte ; and 
 thanne yef Jenney wold meove my Lord of Norffolke 
 that he wold be my good Lord, amyttyng me for hese 
 chapeleyn, and Jhankyn Porter for hese servaunt, 
 wheche is hese chek roll, it shuld cause the matere to 
 have the redyer expedecyon, as well be the Shereff as 
 be the gret jury. And yef the processe may have so 
 redy sped that it myght be had be fore my Maystyr 
 
 1 ll-'oll, corr. from u'cld,
 
 A.D. 1454.] HENRY VI. 313 
 
 Yelwerton in this vaccacyon tyme,itwer a gret counfort, 
 &c. Beseking yow at the reverence of God, and as 
 ever my power servyse may be at your comaundement, 
 that ye effectualy labour this matere in the most sped- 
 full wyse, as youre descrecyon, with Jenneyez avyse, 
 thinketh most expedyent ; for I ferre gretly to be out- 
 lawed or the seyd processe shuld be brought to a 
 conclucyon withoute redy processe in the seyd ateynte. 
 And I here no sewer tydinges of a parlement ; but 
 rather thanne I shuld be outlawed, I wold yeld my 
 self to preson, wheche shuld be myn undoyng, and 
 thanne to be with oute remedy. My refformacyon 
 and counforte in eschewyng that lythe holly in your 
 helpe and Jenneyez at thys tyme, be cause my maystyr 
 hathe comytted the governaunce of the seyd matere to 
 yow, and what expense it draweth he agreyth to bere 
 it, &c. 
 
 I beseke Almyghty Jesu have yow, my good maystyr, 
 eternaly in hese mejYjcyfull governaunce, and inspyre 
 yow with hese speryt of remembraunce effectualy to 
 procede in this matere. 
 
 Wretyn breffly at Castre the Monday next be fore 
 Seynt Edmond the Kyng, 1 anno xxxiij. Regis H. vj tl - 
 
 Item, Sir, as for mony to the sped of this matere, 
 Bokkyng hathe redy in comaundement to makedelevery 
 to yow what that ye nede, so there shall be no defaute 
 in that, &c. 
 
 T. HOWYS. 
 
 225. 
 A.D. 1454-59. SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is mutilated and its date is uncertain, except that, being dated at 
 Caister, it must have been written between 1454 and 1459. 
 
 To my right welbilovyd cosyn, John Paston. 
 
 1 The day of St. Edmund the King was the 2oth November.
 
 314 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [^0.1454. 
 
 . . . wise, and for asmoche as it is 
 
 theLady 
 
 Hastinges l doughter, as I undrestande 
 
 is lyneally 
 
 descendid of my Lady Felbrig 2 is sustre .... 
 
 she was maried to Sir 
 
 Hug' Fastolf, graunsir to this same Thomas ; and the 
 Lady Hastinges is comen of Sir Robert Clyfton, which 
 dwellid besyde Lynne. I prey yow, cosyn, enquere of 
 my Lady Felbrigge how nygh they bethe of kynrede, 
 and whethir they mow marie to ghedre or not, and how 
 many degrees in lynage they bethe a sundre, for I 
 reporte me to yowr wyse discrescion what the law wol 
 sey ther ynne. 
 
 Item, it is so that Wyndam 3 came yesterday to Jer- 
 nemouth, and is at Stapletons ; and this day a man of 
 Stapletons came to me to wete if they sholde come 
 speke with me or not, and I have sent Sir Thomas to 
 hem to know ther entent and what they meane ; and 
 also he shal sey unto theym that I woll not medle ther 
 with but as law and consciens will. 
 
 This is the tydinges that I have ; I pray yow send 
 me some of yours. As towching the North cuntre, 
 Sperling hathe tolde yow. And God kepe yow. 
 Wretyn at Castre this same day. J. FASTOLF. 
 
 226. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 9 Jan. EDMUND CLERE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, i. 80.] 
 
 There is no doubt about the date of this letter. The King fell ill at Claren- 
 don in the autumn of 1453, and remained in a state of utter imbecility during 
 
 1 Margery, widow of Sir Edward Hastings of Elsing, and daughter of Sir 
 Robert Clifton. After her first husband's death she married John Wymond- 
 ham, who bought the manor of Felbrigg from Lord Scales and the executors 
 of Sir Simon Felbrigg. See Blomefield, viii. 112. 
 
 2 Catherine, widow of Sir Simon Felbrigg. She was a daughter of Anketill 
 Mallory, Esq. ofWinwick, in Northamptonshire. 
 
 3 John Wymondham or Wyndham. See Note i.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI, 315 
 
 the greater part of the year 1454, so that in March a deputation from the 
 House of Peers, sent to communicate with him on the death of his Chancellor, 
 Cardinal Kemp, was obliged to report that they had been utterly unable to 
 obtain from him any answer or sign that he understood the least thing said to 
 him. It appears from this letter that his recovery was about Christmas, 
 when he heard for the first time of the birth of his son fourteen months before, 
 and of the death of Cardinal Kemp nine months before. 
 
 To my welbeloved cosyn, John Paston, be this delivered. 
 
 IGHT welbeloved cosyn, I recomaund me to 
 to you, latyng you wite such tidings as we 
 have. 
 
 Blessed be God, the Kyng is wel amended, 
 and hath ben syn Cristemesday, and on Seint Jones 
 day 1 comaunded his awmener \almoner\ to ride to 
 Caunterbury wyth his offryng, and comaunded the sec- 
 retarie to offre at Seint Edwards. 
 
 And on the Moneday after noon the Queen came to 
 him, and brought my Lord Prynce with her. And then 
 he askid what the Princes name was, and the Queen 
 told him Edward ; and than he hild up his hands and 
 thankid God therof. And he seid he never knew til 
 that tyme, nor wist not what was seid to him, nor wist 
 not where he had be whils he hath be seke til now. 
 And he askid who was godfaders, and the Queen told 
 him, and he was wel apaid. 
 
 And she told him that the Cardinal 2 was dede, and 
 he seid he knew never therof til that tyme ; and he 
 seid oon of the wisist Lords in this land was dede. 
 
 And my Lord of Wynchestr 3 and my Lord of Seint 
 Jones 4 were with him on the morow after Tweltheday, 
 and he speke to hem as well as ever he did ; and when 
 thei come out thei wept for joye. 
 
 And he seith he is in charitee with all the world, 
 and so he wold all the Lords were. And now he 
 seith matyns of Our Lady and evesong, and herith his 
 
 1 Dec. 27. 
 
 2 John Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 * William Waynflete, Bishop o( Winchester. 
 
 * Robert Botyll. prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
 
 316 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A. D. 1455. 
 
 Masse devoutly; and Richard shall tell yow more 
 tidings by mouth. 
 
 I pray yow recomaund me to my Lady Morley, 1 
 and to Maister Prior, 2 and to my Lady Felbrigge, 3 
 and to my Lady Hevenyngham, 4 and to my cosyn 
 your moder, and to my cosyn your wife. 
 
 Wreten at Grenewich on Thursday after Twelfthe- 
 day. Be your cosyn, 
 
 EDMUND CLERE. 
 
 227. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 24 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 260.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO HENRY FYLONGLYE AND JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Must pay 40 to the Exchequer this term for the ward of 
 Thomas Fastolf, in part payment of 80, and other great pay- 
 ments at the same time, amounting to 200 or more. Desires 
 him, therefore, to speak with my Lord of Canterbury, whose 
 day of payment is long past, that he may have " the rather ready 
 payment " of his duty ; " for he is one of the Lords earthly that I 
 most trust upon." Hopes he will consider the great loss Fastolf 
 already sustains by "the great good the King oweth me, and 
 other divers Lords to my great discomfort." . 
 
 Castre, 24 Jan. 
 
 [This letter could not have been written before the year 1455, as Sir John 
 Fastolf only came to reside at Castre in the autumn of the year preceding. 
 The wardship of Thomas Fastolf was procured by Sir John for John Paston 
 in June 1454, so that it is highly probable he had to pay for it in the begin- 
 ning of next year. In the year following, again, Fastolf was endeavouring 
 to make good those claims against the Crown, which he here merely men- 
 tions as a ground of indulgence to himself.] 
 
 228. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 7 Feb. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 232.] 
 
 To my right trusty and welbelovyd cosyn, John Paston, 
 in goodly haste. 
 
 1 See p. 67, Note i. 2 Probably the Prior of Bromholm. 
 
 3 See p. 314, Note 2. 
 
 4 Sir John Heveningham married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Reedes- 
 ham Unless he married a second time, this Elizabeth was now his widow.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 
 
 YGHT trusty and welbelovyd cosyn, Icomaund 
 me to yow. And please yow to wete that I 
 am avertysed that at a dyner in Norwiche, 
 wher as ye and othyr jentylmen wer present, 
 that that therwere certeyn personez, jentylmen, whiche 
 utteryd skornefull language of me, as in thys wyse, with 
 mor, seyeng, "War the, gosune [cousin ?] war, and goo we 
 to dyner ; goo we wher ? to Sir John Fastolf, and ther 
 we shall well paye ther fore." What ther menyng was, 
 I knowe well to no good entent to me ward ; wherfor, 
 cosyn, I prey yow, as my truste is in yow, that ye geve 
 me knowelege be writing what jentylmen they be that 
 had this report with more, and what mo jentylmen 
 wer present, as ye wold 1 shuld and wer my deute to 
 do for yow in semblabyll wyse. And I shall kepe 
 yowr informatyon in this mater secret, and with Godds 
 grace so purvey for hem as they shall not all be well 
 pleasyd. At suche a tyme a man may knowe hese 
 frendes and hese fooes asonder, &c. Jesu preserve 
 and kepe yow. 
 
 Wretyn at Caster, the vij. day of Feverer, anno 
 xxxiij. R. H. vj 15 - 
 
 JOHN FASTOLF, Knyght. 
 
 229. 
 
 A.D. 1455. THOMAS HOWYS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The Rectory of Stokesby in Norfolk was vacant in the year 1455. The 
 right of presentation ought to have belonged to Sir John Fastolf, as John 
 Fastolf doubtless of Cowhaw had presented in 1444 ; but it was allowed 
 to lapse to the Bishop, who presented Simon Thornham, LL.D. Afterwards 
 it appears that James Gloys was rector, who must have been presented by 
 John or Margaret Paston. This letter was probably written a few days 
 before that which comes next. 
 
 To the right wurshepfull Sir, my good Afaystyr John 
 Faston.
 
 318 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 worshepfull Sir, and my good maistyr, I 
 recomaund me louly unto you, thankyng 
 youre good maystyrshep for your good re- 
 membraunce for the cherche of Stokysby, 
 wherupon I have desyred my trusty frend, Wylliam 
 Worcestre, to come be the Abot l homward, besekyng 
 you to avertyse hym youre good avyse how he may be 
 have hym best in this mater to the seyd Abot, etc. 
 And, Sir, en cas ye myght be at a leyser to be with 
 my mayster upon Thursday next comyng, forasmyche 
 as Maistyr Yelvyrton and Jenney shal be her, ye shuld 
 do my maistir ryght gret pleasure. And I beseke you 
 the rather for my sake, for at that tyme the conveyaunce 
 of almaterez shal be comounyd of; and I know verely 
 your avyse shall peyse depper in my maisterys conceyt 
 thanne bothyn thers shal do. Ye have dayly gret 
 labour for me, God reward yow, and my pore preyer 
 ye shall have, &c. I beseke Almyghti Jesu have you 
 in hese mercyfull governaunce, and graunt you evyr 
 that may be to your most herte plessaunce, &c. 
 Your chapeleyn and bedeman, 
 
 THOMAS HOWYS. 
 
 230. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 17 March. 
 THE ABBOT OF ST. BENET'S TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 236.] 
 
 This letter was written by John Martin, Lord Abbot of St. Benet's of 
 Hulme. The heads of this monastery were mitred abbots, and sat in Parlia- 
 ment. The date may be assigned to the year 1435 for two reasons first, 
 that in that year St. Benet's day (the 2ist of March) fell on a Friday : and 
 second, that in the same year the living of Stokesby lapsed to the Bishop of 
 Norwich. 
 
 To my ryght well be lovyd John Paston, Esquyer, be 
 this delivered. 
 
 1 Of SL Benet's, Hulme. His name was John Martin.
 
 A.D. 1455.] HENRY VI. 319 
 
 URCHEPEFULL Sire, and right well be lovyd, 
 I grete yow well, desyryng to here of youre 
 well fare, praying you interlych to bie with 
 me at dyner on Seynt Benett day, the whiche 
 xall be on Friday next comyng, or ell[es] in brief tyme 
 covenable to your ease, to th'entent that I may 
 commoun wyth yow of divers maters, the whiche I 
 purpose to have a doo in be your good advyse, and in 
 on especyall as for the chirche of Stokesby, whiche I 
 understand xall moche be reulyd after your advyse 
 and content ; tristyng our communicacion had in the 
 seyd [matters] xall cause pees and pleaser to all parties 
 be leve of our Lord, the whiche Lord mote preserve 
 you in all goode. 
 
 Wreten in my Monastery the xvij. day of Marche. 
 Be your good frend, 
 
 THE ABBOT OF S. BENETTS. 
 
 231. 
 
 Between A.D. 1455-9. ABSTRACT. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON AND YELVERTON. 
 
 Thanks them for speeding his action against Thomas Fau- 
 conere. Begs them to sue it out, as Fauconere is obstinate, and 
 has wrought against Byckwod right unjustly, who owes great 
 sums to divers creditors, &c. 
 
 Castre, 2Oth March. 
 
 [The date of this letter must be during Sir John's residence at Caister 
 between 1455 and 1459.] 
 
 232. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 2 9 March. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON, ESQ. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The reference here made to the process of attaint, which Fastolf had 
 resolved to sue in November 1454 (see No. 224), shows that this letter must 
 belong to the month of March following. It is written in Barker's hand.
 
 320 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [.\.D.i455 
 
 To myn ryght weel beloved cosyn, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 cosyn, I recomaunde me to 
 yow. And lyke yow to wete that at this tyme I 
 sende to yow myn welbeloved frende and ser- 
 vant, Sir Thomas Howys, to have youre good 
 councell and advyse how and in what wyse he may 
 best be demened there at this tyme in his yeldyng to 
 the Sheref upon his exigend, wheche is and shal be v. 
 tymes called as on Monday next comyng, as I under- 
 stande ; and, the same by good and discrete advyse 
 concluded and sette in a good weye by sewertes found 
 to appere at London the day of the retorn of the wrytte 
 or otherwyse, that thenne if ye thenke hit be to do'n 
 \to do\, ye lyke to take upon yow to comon with myne 
 Lord of Norwyche, 1 recomaundyng me to hys good 
 and tender Lordship, and declaryng to hym how and 
 in what wyse the seyd Sir Thomas was demened in 
 the oyer and determyner, and sethe how he hath wrong- 
 ously and with ought cause be vexed by John Andrews 
 and other, and greetly trowbled, wherupon this atteynt 
 now is grownded, in such wyse as ye thenk best to be 
 done; and that his Lordship by youre medyacion here 
 after geve not any favore to any persone or persones 
 on myne contrarye partye for any synystre informa- 
 cion geven other wyse than the trought in the mater 
 shal require, as he shal weel understande by youre 
 good reporte, for ye know the same mater weel. 
 Wherfore, cosyn, I praye yow that ye wole tender the 
 same for the weel and good speed therof, as myne 
 syngler trust is in yow. And the blessed Trinyte pre- 
 serve yow to his pleaser. 
 
 In hast, at Castre, the xxix. day of Marche. 
 
 Youre, JOHN FASTOLF, Chr. 
 
 1 I su,*pect " Norwyche " is here a slip of the pen, and that " my Lord of 
 Norfolk " was intended.
 
 A.D. I4SS-] HENRY VI. 321 
 
 Item, cosyn, I sende youre a lettre to delyver to 
 myne seyd Lord with a copye of the same, wheche I 
 praye yow to se, and if ye thenk hit be to do'n. de- 
 lyveret [deliver it] youre self, &c., to th'entent he 
 myght know the disposicion of the pepul how they be 
 sette, &c. ; for he weel advertysed in this mater shalbe 
 a greet supporter of trought in this be half, for the partye 
 contrarye wole do'n that they can to labore the jure, 
 and don to have theym rewled after theyr entent and 
 contrary to trought; wheche mater I remytte ondly to 
 youre ryght wyse discrecion. 
 
 233. 
 
 A.D. 1455, March (?). 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO THE DUKE OF NORFOLK. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The MS. of this is a corrected draft. Although the person addressed is not 
 named, the style in which he is addressed, and particularly the last sentence, 
 leave no doubt that it is the Duke of Norfolk. Indeed, this is not unlikely 
 to be the letter mentioned in the postscript to the last, of which a copy or 
 draft was sent along with the original to John Paston that he might deliver 
 the latter, only if he approved of its contents. If so, it is probable that Paston 
 withheld it, as we find by the letter immediately following that Fastolf ad- 
 dressed another memorial to the Duke on the subject of his dispute with 
 Wentworth four days later. 
 
 jjjIGHT hy and myghty Prynce, my right gode and 
 JH| gracyous Lord, I recomaund me to your gode 
 Lordship, etc. And please itt your Hygh- 
 nesse to wete that Sir Philip Wenteworth pur- 
 chasid the Kyngs patentis of the ward of the heyerand 
 londes of a por kynnesman of myne called John Fastolf 
 of Cowhawe, late passed to God, to the grett hurte 
 and distruccion as well of the inheritance of the seyd 
 heyer as interrupcion and breking of the last will of 
 the seyd John, and also to my grett treble and dam- 
 mage ; and for asmoche as it fortowned be grase the 
 .seyd patentes to be mystake, so that they were not 
 laufull ne suffycyent, be avyce of conceyll, certeyn 
 Y
 
 322 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1455. 
 
 persones, 1 to myn use, purchesid be the Kyngs letters 
 patentes suffycyent and laufull of the ward of the seyd 
 londes. And the rigth of thes bothe patentes hath be 
 putte in juges and lerned men, affor horn the seyd Sir 
 Philipp ne his conceyll cowd never prove hes tytill 
 lawfull be his seyd patents, and this notwithstanding 
 intendith be fors, as I understand, to take the profytes 
 of the seyd londes ageyns all lawe and concyence. 
 Beseching your Lordchip to tender me in myn age 
 and sekenesse that may not ryde ne help myself, and 
 of your habundant grace to supporte me in my right, 
 that I be not be fors ageyns lawe and concyence kepte 
 from the possescion of the seyd londes in this centre, 
 wher ye be Prynce and Sovereyn next owr Sovereyn 
 Lord. 
 
 The following memoranda occur on the back : 
 
 Br[adwe]ll juxta Jernemut. 
 Kirley juxta Leystoft, viij/z'. 
 
 Foxhole 
 
 Cowhaw in Nakton 
 on this side Yepiswich, iij. myl 
 
 > xviij/z'. 
 
 Langston in Brustall, ) ... ,. 
 
 ij. myle beyond Yepiswich, j" "J ' 
 Bentele, ij. mile beyond Brustall, xiiij/A (?) 
 
 234. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 2 April. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO THE DUKE OF NORFOLK. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 338.] 
 
 Although there is no direction upon this letter, it was evidently addressed 
 to the Duke of Norfolk, as it speaks of " your Castle of Framlingham." The 
 absence of any written address Fenn accounts for by supposing the letter to 
 have been enclosed in a cover ; but as it appears that the original contained 
 at least one passage which was crossed out (see page 341 in Fenn), we may 
 with greater probability consider it to have been a corrected draft, like the 
 last, sent to John Paston for his approval. The dispute with Sir Philip 
 Wentworth and the matters of John Porter and Sir Thomas Howes, here 
 referred to, both point to the year 1455 as the date of this letter. See Nos. 
 221, 224. 
 
 1 They were John Paston and Thomas Howes, and their patent was dated 
 6th June 32 Hen. VI. (1454). See Rolls of Parliament, v. 371.
 
 A.D. I4S5-] HENRY VI. 323 
 
 |IGHT high and myghty Prynce, my right noble 
 and good Lord, in my right humble wyse I 
 recomaunde me to your good grace. And for 
 the noble lordship and supportacion shewid 
 unto me at all tymes, I beseche our Lord God guer- 
 don yow, where as I may not, but only as yowr daily 
 and contynuell bedeman, now in myn age, pray for the 
 good prosperite of youre right highe and noble estate, 
 as I am gretly bounde to doo ; prayng tendirly yowre 
 Highnesse to contynue yowre good lordship and 
 supportacion in the materes touchyng your servaunt 
 John Porter and my pore Chappelleyn Sir Thomas 
 Howes, trustyng verily to God that, with the suppor- 
 tacion of your good Lordship, there mater shall yette 
 come to a good conclusion in punisshyng of perjure 
 and embracery that many yeris hathe ben and yette is 
 usid in this shire, whiche were grete merite, and to my 
 conceyte, in yow that ar soo noble a Prynce, a singler 
 renoune, as for the beste dede that may be doo for 
 the weel of bothe shires. 
 
 And in like wise that it please youre right good 
 grace to contynue youre noble favour and supportacion 
 to me in remedyeng the force doon by Sir Philip 
 Wentworth, kepyng now wrongful possession of certeyn 
 londes in Suffolk, nygh youre Castel of Framyngham ; 
 whiche lends certeyn of my frendes, to myn use, have 
 of the Kyngs graunte by his lettres patent byfore ony 
 patent that the seid Sir Philip hathe, whiche is my 
 singler matier in myn owen parte that I have now to 
 doo, as my cosyn Paston can enforme yowr Lordship, 
 for he knowith the mater and myn hole entente, to 
 whom your good grace lyke to yife credence. He 
 cometh to awaite upon your Lordship at this tyme, as 
 I understande, by my cosyn youre servaunt Richard 
 Suthwell, youre Lordship desired. 
 
 Right highe and myghty Prynce, my noble and 
 right good Lord, I beseche the Holy Goste be with
 
 324 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 yow, and evere more sende yow the accomplishment 
 of youre right noble desires to his plesir and youres. 
 
 Writen at my pore place of Castre, the ij de day of 
 Aprill. 
 
 Your humble man and servaunt, 
 
 J. FASTOLF. 
 
 235, 
 
 A.D. 1455, 3 May. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 244.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Thanks him for his letters, and the answer he made to Bok- 
 kyng. Does not know how to answer him concerning the ward, 1 
 the suit against William Jenney and Sir Thomas, &c. If Paston 
 could be at London this term, even for three days, it would speed 
 better than Fastolf's writing, and Fastolf will pay his costs. If he 
 cannot, Paston must use his own discretion, and Fastolf will abide 
 by what he does. It would be a great rebuke if the matter of 
 the ward went against us, " for nowadays ye know well that law 
 goeth as it is favored, and after that the attorneys be wise and 
 discreet in their conduct." 
 
 Castre, 3 May. 
 
 [This letter, being dated at Caister in the month of May, cannot be earlier 
 than 1455, and the references to the matter of the ward and the suit against 
 Sir Thomas Howes seem to fix it to that year.] 
 
 236. 
 A.D. 1455 (?), 8 May. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 RICHARD CALLE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Thome did not come to him, nor could he learn anything aboiu. 
 him from Sir Thomas Howes, except that Howes had informed 
 him of what Paston commanded Calle to tell his wife. Will not 
 distrain till he hear from Paston. Howys trusts to make suffi- 
 cient reckoning of all things touching Fastolf, so that neither he 
 nor Paston be hurt. He will do nothing in future without 
 Paston's advice. Desires him to remember John Elger, Bocking, 
 
 1 Thomas Fastolf. See p. 292, Note i.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 325 
 
 and others "for the rescues which was made for Jankyn Porter." 
 Remember James Gresham to withdraw the suit for W. Magges. 
 No News. 
 8 May. 
 
 [The allusion to John or Jankyn Porter in this letter makes it probable that 
 it was written in the year 1455. See No. 234.] 
 
 237. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 16 May. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 252.] 
 
 " THOMAS CANON, THE HELDER, OF MEKYLL PAGRAVE," TO 
 JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Desires to hear of his "durat prosperite and welfare." Hopes he 
 will protect him as he has done, if any man will put him to any 
 wrong. Has land in Lytyl Pagrave and in Lytyldonham, called 
 Strangys, which he wishes to sell to Past on before any other, on 
 condition that he will "keep it counsel" from John Pagrave till 
 he and the writer have accorded. 
 
 At Sporle, Friday after Ascension Day, 33 Hen. VI. 
 
 238. 
 A.D. 1455, 21 May. MEMORIAL TO HENRY VI. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 178.] 
 
 This is a copy of the memorial drawn up by the Duke of York and the 
 Earls of Warwick and Salisbury just before the first battle of St. Alban's, 
 which the Duke of Somerset and his friends would not allow to be presented 
 to the King. Although this copy is without date, the original was dated at 
 Ware the 2ist May. See Rolls of Parliament, v., 281, where the whole 
 document is cited. 
 
 Vadatur J. P. 
 
 j]OSTE Cristen Kyng, ryght hygh and myghty 
 Prince, and our mooste redoubted souverayn 
 Lorde, we recomaunde ws as humblye as we 
 suffice unto your hygh excellence, where unto 
 please it to wete that for so moche as we hyre and 
 understand to our grettyst sorowe erthlye that our enne- 
 jryes of approuved experience, such as abyde and kepe 
 theym sylf under the whyng of your Magestee Royall, 
 have throwen unto the same ryght stedyousely and 
 ryght fraudulentlye manye ambyguytees and doubles
 
 326 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 of the fayth, lygeaunce, and dewtee that, God knowyth, 
 we beere unto your Hyghnesse, and have put theym yn 
 as grete devoyr as they coude to enstraunge ws from 
 your mooste noble presence and from the favour of 
 your goode grace ; whych goode grace to ws ys and 
 owe to be our singuler and mooste desyred yoie and 
 consolacionL-We at thys tyme be comyng wyth grace 
 as your true and humble liege men, toward your seyd 
 Hygh Excellence to declare and shew therto at large 
 owr sayd fayth and ligeauncej entendyng wyth the 
 the mercye of Jesu yn the seyd comyng, to put ws yn 
 as diligent and hertye devoyr and dewtee as onye your 
 lyege men on lyve to that at may avaunce or preferre the 
 honnour and wellfare off the sayd Mageste Royalle and 
 the seurte of the sayd most notable person; the whych 
 [we] beseche our blessed Creature to prosper [in] as 
 grete honnor, yoie, and felicitie as ever had onye prince 
 erthlye, and to your sayd Hyghnesse so to take, accept, 
 and repute ws, and not to plese to geve trust or confi- 
 dence unto the sinistrez, maliciouse, and fraudulent 
 laboures and rapportes of our sayd ennemyes unto our 
 comyng to your sayd moste noble presence; where 
 unto we beseche humblye that we may be admitted as 
 your liege men, to th'entent to show ws the same; wher- 
 off yerstenday we wrote our lettres of our entent to 
 the ryght reverent fadre yn God, the Archebysshop of 
 Caunterburye, 1 your Chauncellr of England, to be 
 shewed to your sayd Hyghnesse, whereoff, forsomoch 
 as we be not acerteyned whethyr our sayd entent be 
 by hys fadrehode shewed unto your seyd goode grace 
 or not, we sende thereof!" unto thys closed a copy of 
 our said lettres of our disposicion toward your sayd 
 Hygh Excellence and the honnour and weele of the 
 land, whereynne we wolle persevere wyth the grace of 
 our Lorde. 
 
 1 Fenn states that on the margin of the MS., in a hand nearly coeval with 
 the letter itself, is written, " Memorandum quod diet' literae (?) Dominorum 
 
 direct' Archiepiscopo Cant est apud " What followed is lost, the 
 
 paper being torn. The letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, however, will 
 be found quoted at full length in the Rolls of Parliament, v. 280-1. '
 
 A.I). 1455-1 HENRY VI. 327 
 
 239. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 21-22 May. THE BATTLE OF ST. ALBAN'S. 
 
 This paper is reprinted from the Archaeologia, vol. xx. p. 519, to which it 
 was communicated by Mr. Bayley, keeper ot the records in the Tower, in 
 1822. 
 
 Bellum apud Seynt Albons. 
 
 |E yt knowen and hadde in mynde that the xxj. 
 day of May the xxxiij. zere of the regne of 
 Kyng Kerry the Sext, our sovereigne Lord 
 Kyng toke his jurnay from Westmynster 
 toward Seynt Albones, and rested at Watford all nyght; 
 and on the morvve be tymes he cam to Seynt Albones, 
 and wyth him on his partye assembled under his baner 
 the Duyke of Bockingham, the Duke of Somersete, the 
 Erie of Penbrok, the Erie of Northumburlond, the 
 Erie of Devynsshire, the Erie of Stafford, the Erie of 
 Dorsete, the Erie of Wyltsshire, the Lorde Clyfford, the 
 Lord Dudley, the Lord Burneys, the Lord Rose, wyth 
 other dyversse knyghtes, squyeres, and other gentilmen 
 and yemen to the nounbre of ij ml [2000] and moo. 
 And upon the xxij. day of the seyde moneth above 
 rehersed assembled the Duyk of Yorke, and wyth hym 
 come yn companye the Erie of Salesbury, the Erie of 
 Warrewyke with diverse knyghtes and squyers unto 
 ther partye into the felde, called the Key Feld, besyde 
 Seynt Albones. Fyrthermore, oure seyd sovereyne 
 Lord the Kyng, heryng and knowyng of the seyde 
 Dukes comyng with other Lordes afore seyde, pygth 
 his baner at the place called Boslawe in Seynt Petrus 
 Strete, whych place was called afore tyme past Sande- 
 forde, and commaundeth the warde and barrers to be 
 kepte in stronge wyse ; the for seyde Duyk of York 
 abydyng in the feld aforeseyde frome vij. of the clokke 
 in the morn tyl yt was al most x. without ony stroke
 
 328 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 smeton on eyther partye. The seyde Duke sende to 
 the Kyng our sovereyne Lord, be the avyse of his 
 councell, prayng and be sekyng hym to take him as 
 his true man and humble suget ; and to consider and 
 to tender at the reverence of Almyghty God, and in 
 way of charite the true entent of his comyng to be 
 good and gracyous sovereyne Lorde to his legemen, 
 whech with al ther power and mygth wille be redy at 
 alle tymes to leve and dye with hym in his rigth. And 
 to what thyng yt shoulde lyke his Mageste Ryall to 
 commaunde hem, yf ytbehis worsship, kepyng right of 
 the Croune and welffare of the londe ; " More over, 
 gracyous Lord, plese yt zour Majeste Ryall of zour 
 grete goodnesse and ryghtwesnesse to enclyne zour 
 wille to here and fele the ryghtwyse partye of us zoure 
 sugettes and legemen ; fyrst, prayng and besechyng to 
 oure Lord Jesus of his hye and myghty power to geve 
 un to zou vertu and prudence, and that thorugh the 
 medyacyon of the glorious martyr Seynt Albon to geve 
 zou very knowleche to knowe the entent of oure 
 assembleng at this tyme ; for God that is [in] Heven 
 knoweth than our entent is rightful and true. And 
 there fore we pray unto Al myghty Lord Jesus these 
 wordes Domine sis clipeus defensionis nostrce. Where- 
 fore, gracyus Ix>rd, plese it your hyghe Majeste to 
 delyvere such as we wole accuse, and they to have 
 lyke, as they have deserved and done, and ze to be 
 honorabled and worsshepyt as most ryghtffull Kyng 
 and oure governour. For and we shall now at this 
 tyme be promysed, as afore this tyme ys not unknowen, 
 of promes broken whech ful fayth fully hath ben pro- 
 mysed, and there upon grete othes made, we wyll not 
 now cesse for noon such promysse, surete, ne other, tyl 
 we have hem whych hav deserved deth, or elles we to 
 dye there fore." 
 
 And to that answered the Kyng our sovereyne Lord, 
 and seyde : " I, Kyng Kerry, charge and comaund that 
 no maner persone, of what degre, or state, or condi- 
 cyon that evere he be, abyde not, but voyde the felde,
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 329 
 
 and not be so hardy to make ony resystens ageyne me 
 in myn owne realme ; for I shall knowe what traytor 
 dar be so bolde to reyse apepull in myn owne lond, 
 where thorugh I am in grete desese and hevynesse. 
 And by the feyth that I owe to Seynt Edward and to 
 the Corone of Inglond, I shal destrye them every 
 moder sone, and they be hanged, and drawen, and 
 quartered, that may be taken afterward, of them to have 
 ensample to alle such traytours to be war to make ony 
 ruch rysyng of peple withinne my lond, and so traytorly 
 to abyde her Kyng and governour. And, for a con- 
 clusyon, rather then they shall have ony Lorde here 
 with me at this tyme, I shall this day, for her sake, and 
 in this quarrell my sylft" lyve or dye." 
 
 Wych ansuere come to the Duke of Yorke, the 
 wheche Duke, by the avyce of the Lordes of hys 
 Counceill, seyde unto hem thise wordes : " The Kyng 
 our sovereyne Lord will not be reformed at our besech- 
 yng ne prayer, ne wylle not understonde the entent 
 that we be comen heder and assembled fore and gade- 
 red at this tyme ; but only ys full purpose, and there 
 noon other wey but that he wole with all his power 
 pursue us, and yf ben taken, to geve us a shameful 
 deth, losyng our lyvelode and goodes, and our heyres 
 shamed for evere. And ther fore, sythe yt wote be 
 noon othere wyse but that we shall ootterly dye, better 
 yt ys for us to dye in the feld than cowardly to be put 
 to a grete rebuke and asshamefrul deth ; more over, 
 consederyng yn what peryle Inglonde stondes inne at 
 thys owre, therefore every man help to help power for 
 the ryght there offe, to redresse the myscheff that now 
 regneth, and to quyte us lyke men in this querell ; 
 preyng to that Lord that ysKyng of Glorye, that regneth 
 in the kyngdom celestyall, to kepe us and save us this 
 day in our right, and thorugh the helpe of His holy 
 grace we may be made strong to with stonde the grete 
 abomynable and cruell malyse of them that purpose 
 fully to destrye us with shameful deth. We ther fore, 
 Lord, prey to The to be oure confort and Defender,
 
 33 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 seyng the word afore seyde, Domine sis dipeus defen- 
 sionis nostrce." 
 
 And whanne this was seyde, the seyde Duke of 
 Yorke, and the seyd Erie of Salesbury, and the Erie of 
 Warrewyk, betwene xj. and xij. of the clocke at noon, the 
 broke into the toun in thre diverse places and severelle 
 places of the fore seyd strete. The Kyng beyng then 
 in the place of Edmond VVestley, hunderdere of the 
 seyd toun of Seynt Albones, comaundeth to sle alle 
 maner men of lordes, knygthtes, end squyeres, and 
 zemen that myght be taken of the for seyde Dukes of 
 York. Thys don, the fore seyde Lord Clyfford kept 
 strongly the barrers that the seyde Duke of York myght 
 not in ony wise, with all the power that he hadde, 
 entre ne breke into the toun. The Erie of Warrewyk, 
 knowyng ther offe, toke and gadered his men to gedere 
 and ferosly brake in by the gardeyne sydes betuene 
 the signe of the Keye and the sygne of the Chekkere 
 in Holwell strete ; and anoon as they wer wyth inne 
 the toon, sodeynly the blew up trumpettes, and sette 
 a cry with asshout and a grete voyce, " A Warrewe ! 
 A Warrewyk ! A Warrewyk ! " and into that tyme the 
 Duke of York mygth nevere have entre into the toun ; 
 and they with strong hond kept yt, and myghttyly 
 faught to gedere, and anoon, forth with after the brek- 
 yng in, they sette on them manfully. And as of 
 Lordes of name were slayn the Lord Clyfford, the 
 Duke of Somersete, the Erie of Northumberlond, Sir 
 Bartram Entuwysselle, Knynght; and of men of courte, 
 Wyllyam Zouch, John Batryaux, Raaff of Bap thorp 
 and hys sone, Wyllyam Corbyn, squyers ; William 
 Cotton, receyver of the Ducherye of Lancastre ; Gyl- 
 bert Starbrok, squyer; Malmer Pagentoun, William 
 Botelore, yomen ; Rogere Mercroft, the Kynges mes- 
 sanger; Halyn, the Kynges porter; Raufe Wyllerby ; 
 and xxv. mo, whych her names be not zet knowen. 
 And of hem that ben slayn ben beryed in Sent Albo- 
 nos xlviij. And at this same tyme were hurt Lordes 
 of name the Kyng, our sovereyne Lord, in the neck
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 331 
 
 with an arrowe ; the Duke of Bukingham, with an arrowe 
 in the vysage ; the Lord of Stafford in the hond, with an 
 arowe ; the Lord of Dorsette, sore hurt that he myght 
 not go, but he was caryede horn in a cart ; and Wenlok, 
 Knyght, in lyke wyse in a carte sore hurt ; and other 
 diverse knyghtes and squyers sore hurt. The Erie of 
 Wyldsshyre, Thorpe, and many other flede, and left 
 her harneys behynde hem cowardly, and the substaunce 
 of the Kynges partye were dyspoyled of hors and 
 harneys. This done, the seyde Lordes, that ys to wote, 
 the Duke of Yorke, the Erie of Salesbury, the Erie of 
 Warrewyke, come to the Kyng, our sovereyne Lord, and 
 on here knees be soughte hym of grace and foryeve- 
 nesse of that they hadde doon yn his presence, and 
 and be sought hym of his Heynesse to take hem as 
 hys true legemen, seyng that they never attendyde 
 [intended] hurt to his owne persone, and ther fore [the] 
 Kyng oure sovereyn Lord toke hem to grace, and so 
 desyred hem to cesse there peple, and that there 
 shulde no more harme be doon ; and they obeyde hys 
 commaundement, and lote make a cry on the Kynges 
 name that al maner of pepull shulde cesse and not so 
 hardy to stryke ony stoke more after the proclamacyon 
 of the crye ; and so cessed the seyde batayle, Deo 
 gratias. 
 
 And on the morwe the Kyng and the seyde Duke, 
 with other certeyn Lordes, come in to the Bysshops 
 of London, and there kept resydens with joye and 
 solempnyte, concludyng to holde the parlement at 
 London, the ix. day of July next comyng. 
 
 240. 
 
 A.D. 1455, [22 May]. 
 THE BATTLE OF ST. ALBAN'S. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 278.]
 
 332 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [-^.1455. 
 
 HE solecytouriz and causerys of the feld 
 takyng at Seynt Albonys, ther namys she\vyn 
 her aftyr : 
 
 The Lord Clyfford. 
 Rauff Percy. 
 Thorpe. 
 Tresham and Josep. 
 
 The inony \enemy 1 s\ batayle was in the Market-place, 
 and the Kynges standard was pight, the Kynge beynge 
 present with these Lordes, whos namys folwe : 
 
 The Duke of Bokyngham. 
 
 The Duke Somyrcete. 
 
 The Erie De\ r ynshire. 
 
 The Erie of Northeombirlond. 
 
 The Erie Stafford. 
 
 The Erie Dorcete. 
 
 The Lord Clyfford. 
 
 The Lord Ros. 
 
 With manyKnyghtes 
 and Squyeriz, to the 
 noumbre in alle that 
 faugh t that day iij 1 . 
 * [3000], and it was 
 done on Thursday 
 last past atwyx xj. and 
 xij. at mydday. 
 
 The namys of the Lordes that were on the othir 
 party shewyn here aftyr : 
 
 The Duke of York. 
 The Erie of Salysbury. 
 The Erie of Warwyk. 
 The Lord Clynton. 
 Sir Robert Ocle. 
 
 With many otheriz, to 
 - the noumbre of v ml - 
 [5000] men. 
 
 And SirRoberOcle tok vj c - [600] men of the Marchis, 
 and tok the Market-place or ony man was war ; than 
 the larum belle was ronge, and every man yed to 
 harneys, for at that tyme every man was out of ther 
 aray, and they joynid batayle anon ; and it was done 
 with inne di. [i.e. one fialf^\ houre, and there were slayn 
 the men, whos namys fohvyn :
 
 A.D. 1455- ] 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 333 
 
 The Duke Somyrcete. 
 The Erie Northombirlond. 
 The Lord Clyfford. 
 The Lord Clynton. 
 Sir Bartyn at Wessyll. 
 Babthorpe and hese sone. 
 Cotton, Receyvour of the 
 
 Duchye. 
 
 Gryphet, Ussher of Hall. 
 Kerry Loweys. 
 Wyllyam Regmayde. 
 John Raulyns.Asple. 
 Harpour, Yoman of the 
 
 Croune. 
 
 With many othir men, to 
 the noumbre of iiij c [400], 
 and as many or mo hurt. 
 The Kynge was hurt with 
 an harwe in the necke. 
 .The Duke of Bukkyng- 
 ham hurt, and fled in to 
 the Abbey. The Erie De- 
 vynshire hurt. The Erie 
 Stafford and Dorcetyr 
 gretly hurt. Fylongley 
 faught manly, and was 
 shet thorwe the armys in 
 iij. or iiij. placys. 
 
 The Duke of Norfolke come a day aftyr the jurney 
 was done with vj m11 - [6000] men. 
 And the Erie of Oxinford also. 
 
 The Erie of Shrewysbury, 
 
 Lord Crumwelle, 
 
 And Sir Thomas Stanley, 
 
 with x ml1 - [10,000] 
 men were comynge. 
 
 The Kynge with all the Lordes come to London to 
 Westmenstyr on Fryday, at vj. of clocke at aftyr none, 
 and London went a generalle processyon the same 
 day. 
 
 241. 
 A.D. 1455, 25 May. JOHN CRANE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. loo.] 
 
 This letter relates to the first battle of St. Alban'sand the principal changes 
 which took place immediately after it. 
 
 Unto my worship/till and wdbeloved cosyn, John Paston, 
 be this lettre ddivred in hast.
 
 334 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1455. 
 
 |IGHT worshipfull and entierly welbeloved Sir, 
 I recommaunde me unto you, desiring hertly 
 
 ilSill to here of your welfare. Furthermore lettyng 
 you wete, as for such tydinges as we have here, 
 such \these\ thre Lordes be dede, the Duke of Somerset, 
 the Erie of Northombrelonde, and the Lord Clyfford ; 
 and as for any other men of name, I knowe noon save 
 only Quotton of Cammbrigeshire. As for any other 
 Lordes, many of theym be hurt; and as for Fenyngley, 
 he lyveth and fareth well, as fer as I can enquere, &c. 
 
 And as for any grete multytude of people that ther 
 was, as we can tell, ther was at most slayn [x] l vj. 
 score. And as for the Lordes that were with the Kyng, 
 they and her men wer pilled and spoyled out of all 
 their harneys and horses ; and as for what rule we shall 
 have yit I wote nett, save only ther be made newe 
 certayn officers. 
 
 My Lord of Yorke, Constabil of Englande ; my Lord 
 of Warweke is made captayn of Calyes ; my Lord Burg- 
 chier is made Treasorer of Englande ; and as yit other 
 tydinges have I none. 
 
 And as for our soverayn Lorde, thanked be God, he 
 hathe no grete harme. 
 
 No more to you at this tyme, but I pray you send 
 this lettyr to my Maistresse Paston, when ye have 
 sene hit ; preyng you to remembre my systir Margrete 
 ageyne the tyme that she shal be made nonne. 
 
 Written at Lamehith, on Witsonday, &c. 
 By your cosyn, 
 
 JOHN CRANE. 
 
 242. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 28 May. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 255.] 
 
 1 In the original letter, the x is struck out, and vj placed after it in the 
 same line. F.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 335 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Thanks him for his pains in speeding his causes at London this 
 term. Understands the Sheriff of Norfolk's officers are at Nor- 
 wich, and now the writ of attaint is sent home by William Barker, 
 which Fastolf sends again to Paston that he may consult with the 
 Sheriff or his officers what to do. Both William Barker and 
 Seffrey (sic) Spyrlyng are now at Norwich, and one of them, if 
 need be, shall wait on Paston. 
 
 Castre, 28 May. 
 
 " And I trust to God, as the world goeth now, the said attaint 
 shall do right well." 
 
 [The postscript of this letter seems to refer to the change of administration 
 after the battle of St. Alban's. As to the action of attaint sued by Fastolf, 
 see Nos. 224 and 232.] 
 
 243. 
 
 A.D. 1455, June. 
 WILLIAM BARKER TO WILLIAM WORCESTER. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 104.] 
 
 This letter relates entirely to occurrences after the battle of St. Alban's. 
 The writer here only signs with his initials, but from the facsimile given by 
 Kenn of his " W. B.," he can be clearly identified with William Barker. 
 
 To William Worcester, be this lettre delyvered in hast. 
 
 |IR, I recomaunde me to yow; and as for 
 tydyngs, ye may enforme myn mayster, there 
 is non but that he hath knowleche of, but 
 that the Kyng, the Quene, and the Prynce 
 
 remeven to Hertford to morwen withought faute ; 
 
 myn Lord York to the Fryres at Ware; myn Lord 
 
 Warwyk to Hunesdon ; the Erie Salysburye to Rye ; 
 
 and there they shall abyde to tyme the Parlement be 
 
 gynne. 
 
 The Duk Buk is come inne, and sworn that he shal 
 
 be rewled, and draw the lyne with theym ; and ther to
 
 33 6 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 he and his brethern ben bounde by reconysaunce in 
 notable summes to abyde the same. 
 
 The Erie of Wylts sent to the Lordes from a place 
 of his, called Peterfeld, a lettre desyring to know if he 
 shuld come, and abyde abought the Kynges persone 
 as he dede be fore ; and if he shuld not, than that they 
 wold lycence hym to goon in to Erland, and leve there 
 upon his landes, &c., and before this don, the Lordes 
 were advysed to have made hym to don as the Duk 
 Buk hath don, and no more ; but what that wolle falle 
 now therof, no man can telle as yet. 
 
 The Baron of Dudley is in the Towre ; what shal 
 come of hym, God wote. The Erie of Dorsete is in 
 warde with the Erie of Warrwyk. 
 
 Hit was seyd, for sothe, that Harpere and ij. other 
 of the Kynges chamber were confedered to have 
 steked the Deuk York in the Kynges chamber ; but 
 hit was not so, for they have clered theym therof. 
 
 But London upon the same tale areysen, and every 
 man to harneys on Corpus Christi even, and moche 
 adoo there was. 
 
 Syr William Oldhall a bydeth no lenger in Seynt- 
 wery than the Chef Juge come, for that tyme he shal 
 goo at large, and sewe all his maters himself, &c. 
 
 The Baron Dudley hath appeched many men ; but 
 what they ben, as yet we can not wete. Sir Phillyp 
 Wentworth was in the feld, and bare the Kynges 
 standard, and kest hit down and fled. Myn Lord 
 Norffolk seyth he shal be hanged therfore, and so is 
 he worthy. He is in Suffolk now. He der not come 
 abought the Kynge. 
 
 Edmond Stendale was with Wenlok there in the 
 feld, and ffowly hurt. 
 
 Fylongley is at home at his owen place with his wyf, 
 and shal doe ryght weel ; but we have a greet losse of 
 his absence this terme, for hit wole be longe er he 
 come this terme, I am a ferde. 
 
 Alle the Lordes that dyed at the jorney arn beryed 
 at Seynt Albones.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 337 
 
 Other thinges ben non here, but ye shal sene by 
 Thomas Scales lettre the revvle of the Frenshemen, &c. 
 
 God spede us weel in our matres this terme, I praye 
 to God, who have yow in his kepyng, &c. 
 
 W. B. 
 
 244. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 8 June. 
 THE DUCHESS OF NORFOLK TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 96.] 
 
 From the time of year at which it was written, this letter must refer to the 
 parliamentary election of 1455. 
 
 To our e right trustiand wdbelovid John Pas f on, Esquier, 
 
 The Duchesse of Norffolk. 
 
 |IGHT trusti and welbelovid, we grete you 
 hertiliweel. And for as muche as it is thought 
 right necessarie for divers causes that my 
 Lord have at this tyme in the Parlement 
 suche persones as longe unto him, and be of his 
 menyall servaunts, wherin we conceyve your good will 
 and diligence shal be right expedient, we hertili desire 
 and pray you that at the contemplacion of thise oure 
 lettres, as our special trust is in you, ye wil geve and 
 applie your voice unto our right welbelovid cosin and 
 servaunts, John Howard and Syr Roger Chambirlayn, to 
 be Knyghts of the shire, exorting all suche othir as be 
 your wisdom shal now be behovefull, to the good 
 exployte and conclusion of the same. 
 
 And in your faithful attendaunce and trewe devoyre 
 in this partie, ye shal do unto my Lord and us a 
 singlere pleasir, and cause us herafter to thank you 
 therfore, as ye shal holde you right weel content and 
 agreid, with the grace of God, who have you ever in 
 his keping. 
 
 Wreten in Framlyngham Castel, the viij. day of June.
 
 33 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1455. 
 
 245. 
 A.D. 1455, ii June. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MvS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 269.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Thanks him for his letter sent from London. Bokkyng writes 
 that a writ of ravishment de garde is taken, and Wentworth's 
 counsel "call sore upon the action of 200 marks in the Common 
 Pleas, and John Andreus is ready there, and writs of capias 
 ayenst John Porter as well as ayenst Sir Thomas." Begs him to 
 hasten to London, as there is great labour against our intent. 
 Wentworth has got Debenham, Radclyff, and others in my 
 Lord's house against us. Would rather he were at London two 
 days too early than too late; for he trusts no man's wit so much 
 as Paston's. 
 
 Castre, 1 1 June. 
 
 [The references in this letter to the affair of the wardship, and to the actions 
 against John Porter and Sir Thomas Howes, all show that it belongs to the 
 year 1455.] 
 
 246. 
 
 A.D. 1455 (?). SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This is only the mutilated postcript of a letter without any address, though 
 it was doubtless directed to John Paston. The anxiety expressed that Pas.on 
 should be in London in good time corresponds so closely with the contents 
 of the preceding letter that we may refer this to the same period, especially 
 as both the preceding letter and this are in the handwriting of William Wor- 
 cester. The matter, which was to be engrossed before the Courts removed, 
 had reference probably to the wardship of Thomas Fastolf of Cow haw. Set 
 No. 248 following. 
 
 J. FASTOLF. 
 
 More overe, cosyn, I pray yow concyder . . . that 
 yff the plees for the mater ye [wit off] may be engroced 
 be tyme or the Courtys remefe, hyt may stand yn more 
 suertee ; and ellys hyt wille stand yn a jubardye as to 
 alle that hathe be spended and doon heere before. 
 And therfor, savyng your better avice, I had lever ye 
 were at London a weke the rather and tymelyer then 
 a weke to late. I pray yow doth somwhate aftyr my 
 councell as I wolle do by youres.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENR Y VI. 339 
 
 247. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 19 June. 
 WILLIAM PRYCE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 432.] 
 
 The evidence of date in this letter is the same as in No. 244. Notwith- 
 standing Pryce's efforts, not one of the persons named in this letter was actu- 
 ally elected, the knights returned for Norfolk in 1455 being the Duke of 
 Norfolk's nominees, Sir Roger Chamberlain and John Howard. See Nos. 
 249 and 250 following. 
 
 The copy of a Letter sent to John Paston be the Undir- 
 Shreve 1 of Norff. 
 
 JYGHT worchepfull Sir, I recomaund me on to 
 H| you, &c. And, Sir, as for the eleccion of 
 the Knyghts of the shire here in Norffolk, 
 in good feyth her hath ben moch to do ; nevir 
 the latyr, to lete yow have knowlech of the demenyng, 
 my Master Berney, my Master Grey and ye had gret- 
 tyst voyse, and I purpose me, as I woll answer God, to 
 retorne the dieu eleccion, that is aftir the sufficiente, 
 yow and Mastir Grey ; nevir the latyr I have a master. 
 Wretyn at Hederset, the Thursday next befor 
 Midsomer. By WILL'M PRYCE. 
 
 248. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 21 June. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 261.] 
 
 Writ to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer in pursu- 
 ance of patent, I2th December last, granting to John Bokking 
 and William Worcester the wardship &c., of the heir of John 
 Fastolf of Cowghawe. 
 
 Above in William Worcester's hand: " Bre. ad allocand. Vice- 
 comitem de proficuis terr. Thomse Fastolf in custodia Johannis 
 Bokkyng." 
 
 Inrolled, Trin., 33 Hen. VI., rot. 3. 
 
 [Memoranda below in William Worcester's hand as to certain statements 
 of Hugh Fenn about the form of the writ of livery directed to the Sheriff.] 
 
 1 Shieve in Fenn is almost certainly a misreading.
 
 340 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 249. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 2 4 J un e- JOHN JENNEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, iii. 240]. 
 
 The parliamentary election to which this letter refers is evidently the same 
 as in Nos. 244 and 247. The election of Howard and Chamberlain actually 
 took place on the 23d June, the day before this letter was written, as I find 
 by the original returns in the Record Office. 
 
 To my wurshipfull maister, John Pas/on, Esquier. 
 
 \\ Maister Paston, I recomaunde me to you. 
 And wher ye shulde be enformed that I shulde 
 sey to Howard 1 that ye labored to be Knyght 
 of the shire, I seid never soo to hym. I tolde 
 my Lord of Norffolk atte London that I labored 
 diverse men for Sir Roger Chaumberleyn, and they 
 seid to me they wolde have hym, but not Howard, in 
 asmeche as he hadde no lyvelode in the shire, nor con- 
 versement [i.e., acquaintance ?] ; and I asked them horn 
 they wolde have, and they seid they wolde have you, 
 and thus I tolde hym. And he seid on avysely, as he 
 kan doo full well, I myght not sey ye labored ther, for 
 I herde never sey ye labored therfor, be the feithe I 
 vowe to God. 
 
 As for this writ of the Parlement of Norwich, I thanke 
 you that ye will labour ther in ; as for my frendys ther, 
 I truste right well all the aldermen, except Broun 2 and 
 sech as be in his dawnger. 3 I prey you spekith to 
 Walter Jeffrey 4 and Herry Wilton, 5 and maketh them 
 to labour to your entent I prey you that yf ye thenke 
 that it wull not be, that it like you that to sey that 
 ye meve it of your self, and not be my desire. Sum 
 
 1 John Howard, the Duke of Norfolk's cousin. lie was afterwards created 
 Duke of Norfolk himself by Richard III., in whose cause he fell fighting at 
 the battle of Bosworth. 
 
 - Richard Brown was Mayor of Norwich in 1454, and member for that 
 city in 1460. F. 
 
 * This means in his debt, and therefore under his influence. F. 
 
 * Walter Jeffrey was Under-SherifF of Norwich in 1451, 1452, and 1459. F. 
 5 Henry Wiltoi' was returned with John Jenuey in 1477. F.
 
 A.D. HS5-] HENRY VI. 341 
 
 men holde it right straunge to be in this Parlement, 
 and me thenketh they be wyse men that soo doo. 
 Wreten atte Intewode, 1 on Sceint John day, in hast 
 Your servaunt, 
 
 JOHN JENNEY. 
 
 250. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 25 June. JOHN JENNEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, iii. 380.] 
 
 This letter clearly refers to the same matters as the preceding, and was 
 written the day after. 
 
 To my wurshipfull maister, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 I wurshipfull maister, I recomaunde me to you ; 
 and I thanke you that it plesith you to take 
 seche labour for me as ye doo. My servaunt 
 tolcle me ye desired to knowe what my Lord 
 of Norffolk seid to me whan I spake of you ; and he 
 seid in asmeche as Howard 2 myght not be, he wolde 
 write a lettre to the Under-Shreve that the shire shulde 
 have fre eleccion, soo that Sir Thomas Todenham 
 wer not, nor none that was toward the Due of Suffolk; 
 he seid he knewe ye wer never to hym ward. Ye 
 may 3 sende to the Under-Shreve, and see my Lord 
 lettre. Howard was as wode as a wilde bullok ; God 
 sende hym seche wurshipp as he deservith. It is a 
 evill precedent for the shire that a straunge man shulde 
 be chosyn, and no wurshipp to my Lord off Yorke, 
 jtior to my Lord of Norffolk to write for hym ; for yf 
 the jentilmen of the shire will suffre sech inconvenyens, 
 
 1 This estate came to Jenney by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Thomas Wetherby, a rich alderman of Norwich, who, after having twice 
 served as Mayor, quarrelled with the city about the election of his successor 
 in that office in 1433, and instigated various prosecutions against them. He 
 died in 1445. 
 
 2 See p. 340, Note i. 
 
 3 The modern version in Fenn reads, "The Mayor sent to the Under- 
 Sheriff, and saw my Lord's letter."
 
 34* THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1455. 
 
 in good feithe, the shire shall not be called of seche 
 wurshipp as it hathe be. 
 
 Wreten atte Intewode, this Wednesday next after 
 Sceint John, in hast. Your servaunt, 
 
 JOHN JENNEY. 
 
 251. 
 
 About A.D. 1455 (?), 29 June. 
 ALICE CRANE TO MARGARET PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 146.] 
 
 John Crane of Woodnorton, whom we suppose to have been the writer of 
 Letters 94 and 241, had a wife of the name of Alice, who was apparently a 
 widow in 1457, when she presented to the living of Woodnorton (see Blome- 
 field, iv. 313). But the writer of this was more probably a daughter, serving 
 in the household of a lady of rank according to the custom of the times. If 
 so, the date is before John Crane's death, which must have happened between 
 1455 and 1457. 
 
 To my cosyn, Margeret Pas/on, be this letter delyvred. 
 
 |YGHT worshipfull cosyn, I recomaund me 
 unto you, desyryng to here of youre welfare ; 
 and if it like you to her of my welfar, at the 
 makyng of this letter I was in good hele, 
 loved be God. The cause of my wrytyng to you at 
 this tyme is this, praying you to send me word of youre 
 welfare, and how ye do of youre seknesse, and if the 
 medycyn do you ony good that I send you wrytyng of 
 last ; thankyng you of the grete frenship that ye have 
 do to my moder with all my hert. 
 
 Also I pray you that ye wyll be good meyn to my 
 cosyn youre husbond, that he wyll se that my fader be 
 well ruleyd in his lyvelode for his worship and his 
 profett. 
 
 Also prayng you to hold me exschusyd that I have 
 wryten no ofter to you, for, in good feth, I had no 
 leysir; for my Lady hath be seke at London, ner 
 hand this quarter of this yere, and that hath be grete 
 hevinesse to me ; but now, blesyd be God, she is 
 amendyd and is in the centre agayne.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENR Y VI. 343 
 
 Also thankyng you of the grete chere that I had of 
 you when I was with you laste with all my herte, 
 prayng you of good contenuanse, for I had. never gret- 
 ter nede than I have now, and if I had leyser and 
 space, I wolde write to you the cause. 
 
 No more at this tyme, but the Holy Trenite have 
 you in his kepyng. 
 
 Wryten at Wyndesore, the xxix. day of June, 
 By youre pore bede oman and cosyn, 
 
 ALICE CRANE. 
 
 Also, cosyn, I pray you to sende me sum Norfoke 
 threde to do a boute my nekke to ryde with. 
 
 252. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 7 July. 
 WILLIAM WORCESTER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 128.] 
 
 At the date of this letter, William Worcester and his master, Sir John 
 Fastolf, were both at Caister, though the latter was thinking of going up to 
 London. This, being in July, cannot have been before 1455. Fenn supposes 
 the pardon to Poynings to have been on account of his participation in Cade's 
 rebellion, and accordingly dates this letter "about 1451." But Poynings was 
 accused of raising disturbances in 1453 and 1454. The reversal of Sir William 
 Oldhall's outlawry was in 1455 ; for we have seen in No. 243 that he was 
 obliged to remain in sanctuary for some little time after the battle of St. 
 Alban's. It appears by an inspexiunis on Patent Roll, 34 Hen. VI., m. 16, 
 that he presented a petition to the King in Parliament on the gth July, 33 
 Hen. VI. (1455), setting forth how he had served the King in France, and 
 yet had been pronounced a traitor by the Parliament of Reading in 31 
 Hen. VI., but that his outlawry had been reversed in the King's Bench. 
 
 To my 'Maister Paston. 
 
 jjLEASE your gode maistership to wete, that as 
 yerstenday came lettres from London that the 
 Parson * most nedys up to London to safe the 
 next amerciement ; and so ys forth to appiere, 
 yff he nedys most, xv. Johannis, 2 as ye shall see by Bar- 
 kers lettre, and shall be to morne at London, and with 
 
 1 Thomas Howes. 
 
 2 Qniitn'eiin Johaitnis, or on the quinznine of St. John, i.e., 8th July, the 
 I5th day from St. John the Baptist's day.
 
 344 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 Goddes grace he shall be releved by the meene of the 
 Parlement ; by Sonday yee shall hafe weetyng. 
 
 As for my maister, 1 he departyth not to London 
 tille the next vveke after thys, and [i.e., if] he ryde. 
 
 As for tydyngs be none couthe [i.e., publicly known], 
 but Ponyngs 2 ys qwyt and delyvered of all tresons ; 
 and Sir William Oldhale ys process yn the Kyngs 
 Bynche reversed ; and the Priest that accused Lordz 
 Cromewell, 3 Grey, 4 and my maister wolle confesse who 
 caused hym to do it, so that he may have hys lyve, &c. 
 
 Assone as ye goodly may to see my maister, it shall 
 be to hym a singuler pleasir. Sir, a baylly of my 
 maister ys yn Drayton. John Eimond brought a lettre 
 to yow, and he sent me wetyng he was shent [abashed] 
 uppon som mater, as he supposyth, conteyned yn the 
 lettre. Y pray you yn ryght be hys gode maister, 
 and that y may wete the cause, for y doubt he shall 
 and most obbey, yff he hath offended. 
 
 At Castr, the noneday, 5 vij. day Juliet. 
 
 Your, W. WORCESTRE. 
 
 On the top of this letter, in a different hand, is written 
 
 Prove ontrouthe in the Unclir-Sherif, or that he clede othir 
 wise thanne your counsell avysid hym, and Paston shall demene 
 hym accordyng. 
 
 253. 
 
 A.D. i455> ! 
 HENRY WINDSOR TO BOKKYNG AND WORCESTER. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 108.] 
 
 As this letter refers to die disputes which arose after the battle of St. 
 Alhan's as to who should bear the blame of that occurrence, the date is 
 certain. 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 2 Robert Poynings. Seep. 133, Note a. 
 
 3 Ralph, Lord Cromwell. He was accused 'of treason by a priest named 
 Robert Colynsoii. See Nicolas' " Privy Council Proceedings," vi. 108. 
 
 4 Probably Edmund, Lord Grey of Ruthin ; but there were at this time 
 also a Lord Grey of Codnor and a Lord Grey of Wilton. 
 
 6 The day of the Nones. F.
 
 A.D. 1455-1 HENRY VI. 345 
 
 Unto my moost faitfull brethern, John Bokkyng and 
 William Worcesire, and to eyther of theym. 
 
 ORSHIPFULL Sir, and my most hertely and 
 best be loved brother, I recommaund me unto 
 you in more loly wise than I can other thenk 
 or write ; and with al my service and trewe 
 herte thank you of your gentill lettres, full brotherly 
 written unto me at mony tymes of old, and especiall 
 of late tyme passed. And trwly, brother, I thank 
 Almyghty God of your welfare, of the which the berer 
 of this my pour lettre certified me of, &c. 
 
 And, Sir, as touchyng al maner of newe tithinges, 
 I knoo well ye are averous ; truly the day of makyng 
 of this letter, ther were nonn newe, but suche I herd 
 of, ye shalbe served with all. 
 
 As for the first, the Kyng our souverain Lord, and 
 all his trwe Lordes stand in hele of there bodies, but 
 not all at hertes ees as we. Amonges other mervell, 
 ij. dayes afore the writyng of this letter, there was 
 langage betwene my Lordes of Warrewikke and Crom- 
 well afore the Kyng, in somuch as the Lord Cromwell 
 wold have excused hym self of all the steryng or moev- 
 yng of the male journey of Seynt Albones ; of the 
 whiche excuse makyng, my Lord Warrewikke had 
 knolege, and in hast wasse with the Kyng, and sware 
 by his othe that the Lord Cromwell said not trouth, 
 but that he was begynner of all that journey at Seynt 
 Albones ; and so betwene my said ij. Lords of Warre- 
 wikke and Cromwell ther is at this day grete grugyng, 
 in somoch as the Erie of Shrouesbury hath loged hym 
 at the hospitall of Seynt James, beside the Mewes, be 
 the Lord Cromwells desire, for his sauf gard. 
 
 And also all my Lord of Warrewikke men, my Lord 
 of York men, and also my Lord of Salesbury men goo 
 with harnes, and in harnes with strang wepons, and 
 have stuffed their Lordes barges full of wepon dayly 
 unto Westminster. And the day of makyng of this
 
 346 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1455. 
 
 letter, ther was a proclamacion made in the Chauncerie, 
 on the Kyngs behalf, that noman shuld nether here 
 wepon, ner were harnes defensible, &c. 
 
 Also, the day afore the makyng of this letter, ther 
 passed a bill l both by the Kyng, Lords, and Comens, 
 puttyng Thorp, Josep, and my Lord of Somerset in all 
 the defaute; be the which bill all maner of actions that 
 shuld growe to any person or persones for any offenses 
 at that journey doon, in any maner of wise shuld be 
 extynt and voide, aftermyng all thing doon there well 
 doon, and nothing doon there never after this tyme 
 to be spoken of; to the which bill mony a man groged 
 full sore nowe it is passed. 
 
 And if I myght be recommaunded unto my speciall 
 maister and youres, with all loliness and trewe service 
 I beseech you hertely as I can. 
 
 And also to my brethern Th. Upton, 2 Lodowick of 
 Pole, William Lynd Calyn \Lincoln!\ and John Mer- 
 chalU 
 
 No more, but our Lorde have you both in his per- 
 petuell kepyng. 
 
 Writen at London, on Seynt Margarete Even, 3 in 
 hast ; and after this is rede and understonden, I pray 
 you bren or breke it, for I am loth to write any thing 
 of any Lord. But I moost neds ; ther is no thing 
 elles to write. Amen. 
 
 Your awn, 
 
 H. WYNDESORE. 
 
 254. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 25 July. JAMES GLOYS TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iv. 32.] 
 
 This letter is attributed by Fenn to the year 1461, but that date is certainly 
 inaccurate, as it was answered by John Paston at Norwich the /cry day it 
 was written, whereas in July 1461 Paston was in London. Moreover, it cer- 
 tainly could not have been ffter 1461, as Sir Thorr.as Tuddenham was 
 
 1 See Rolls of Parliament, v. 280. 
 
 2 Upon in Fenn, but Upton, in the modern version on the opposite side of 
 the page. 
 
 3 St. Margaret's day is the aoth July, the eve the igth.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENR Y VI. 347 
 
 beheaded in February of the following year. It must therefore belong to 
 the reign of Henry VI. ; and considering the time of the year, 1455 is the 
 only d;ite at which it is at all likely that any one would have ventured to 
 attempt the impeachment of Tuddenham and Heydon in Parliament, or could 
 have been plausibly accused of such a design against persons of so much 
 influence. 
 
 To the right wurchepfull Sir, and my goode mayster, my 
 Mayster John Paston, be this delivered '. 
 
 HEVERENT and right wurchepfull Sir, and my 
 gode mayster, I recomaund me to you, pra- 
 yng you to wete that ther is reysed a slandrows 
 noyse in this countre up on my Mayster Yel- 
 verton and you and my Mayster Alyngton, which I 
 suppose is do to bryng you ought of the conceyte of 
 the pepyll, for at this day ye stand gretly in the 
 countreys conceyte. It is seyde be Heydon and his 
 disciples that my Mayster Yelverton and ye and my 
 Mayster Alyngton shuld have doo oon Sir John Tar- 
 tyssale, parson of the Estchurche * of Warham and 
 chapeleyn to the priour 2 of Walsyngham, to put in to 
 the Parlement, a bille of divers tresons don be my 
 Lord of Norwich, 3 Sir Thomas Tudenham, and John 
 Heydon, and ye shuld have set to your seales ; and 
 if that Heydon had be vj. howrs fro the Parlement 
 lenger than he was, ther had be granted an oyer deter- 
 miner to have enquer of hem, &c. This was told 
 yesterday in right wurchepfull audience, and a mong 
 the thrifties men of this countre ; and thei seyd right 
 shrevvedly, for my lord of Norwich hath so flatered the 
 lay pepill as he hath redyn a bought his visitacion 
 that he hath thers herts. Wherfor, and it plese you 
 to lete me have knowlech what ye wuld I shuld 
 sey to it, wher as I her any such langage, I wull do 
 my parte, and have do hed toward as I have thought 
 in my conceytes best, &c. And if ther be any other 
 servyce that ye wull comaund me, I am and wull be 
 
 1 There were three churches in the parish of Warham. 
 
 2 Thomas Hunt. 
 
 8 Walter Lyhert, Bishop of Norwich.
 
 34 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 redy at yowr comaundment with the grace of God, 
 how \who\ ever have you in his blyssed kepyng. 
 Wretyn at Wighton in hast, on Sent James day, 
 Be your servaunte, JAMES 
 
 255. 
 A.D. 1455, 25 July. JOHN PASTON TO JAMES GLOYS. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter, which is printed from a draft in John Paston's hand, was 
 written in answer to the preceding, to which the reader is referred for the 
 evidence of its date. 
 
 To Sir James Gloys 
 
 HER be dyvers thynges in your letter sent to 
 me ; one that a slaw[n]derus noyse shuld 
 renne ageyns Yelverton, Alygton and me, to 
 brynge us owte of the conceytes of the puple 
 be Heydon and his dyscyplis, of a bill that shuld 
 have do put uppe in to the Parlement ageyns rny Lord 
 of Norwich and odir. I lete yow wete this is the 
 furst day that I herd of any seche, but I wold wete 
 the namys of hem that utter this langage and the 
 mater of the bill. As for my Lord of Norwych, I sup- 
 pose ye know I have not usid to meddel with Lordes 
 maters meche forther than me nedith ; and as for Sir 
 Thomas Todynham, he gaff me no cawse of late tyme 
 to labor ageyns hym, and also of seche mater I know 
 non deffaut in hym. And as for Heydon, when I 
 putte a bill ageyns hym I suppose he shall no cause 
 have, ne his discyplis nother, to avante of so short a 
 remedy ther of, as ye wrygth they sey now. As for 
 that ye desyr that I shuld send yow word what I shuld 
 sey in this mater, I pray yow in this and all other 
 lyke, ask the seyeres if thei will abyd be ther lang- 
 age, and as for me, sey I prupose me to take no 
 
 1 He was a priest and a dependant of the Fastens.
 
 A.D. 1455.] HENR Y VI. 349 
 
 mater uppon me butt that I woll abyde by ; and in 
 lek wys for Yelverton and Aligton. And that ye send 
 me the namys of them that ye wryte that herd this 
 langage seyd shrewedly, and what they seyd ; and that 
 ye remembre what men of substance wer ther that herde 
 itt ; for if this can be dreve to Heydon or his dissyplis, 
 as ye wryte, it wer a gode preve that they fere to 
 be appelyd of seche materes. And I thank yow for your 
 godwill. Wrete att Norwych, on Seynt James day. 
 
 256. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 2 
 
 JOHN CHEDWORTH, BISHOP OF LINCOLN, TO JOHN 
 PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iiu 246.] 
 
 The date of this letter is ascertained by a contemporaneous memorandum 
 at the bottom of the original in these words, "Litt. direct. Joh'i Paston inter 
 Michaelem xxxiij. et xxxiiij. Henr. Sexti." 
 
 To the worshipfull and welbdoved John Paston, Esquyer. 
 
 |IGHT worshipful and welbeloved Sir, I com- 
 aunde me unto you, and with all my hert 
 thank you for the grete labours that ye 
 oftymes have diligently doon for my wel- 
 beloved servant John Ode, to th'entent that he 
 shuld mowe atteyne to entre and enjoy peasible 
 his enheritaunce, as I am eriformed dew unto him ; 
 and pray you of youre goode contynuaunce, cer- 
 tyfieng you that I have written unto Yelverton, the 
 justice, that he wol, at some sesonable tyme, common 
 with Sir Thomas Tudenham, knyght, and to offre him 
 asmoche reason as it shal be thought unto him and to 
 you, that lawe wol in that behalf require, prayng you 
 that ye wol common with the saide Yelverton, and to 
 conceyve betwix you such lawful meones of gyding of 
 this matier that my said servaunt may have peasebly
 
 35 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1455. 
 
 with owten grete trouble his said enheritaunce, as I 
 shal in case semblable do my labour unto your 
 plcasaunce. And pray you that of the dispo- 
 sicion of the said Sir Thomas Tudenham in this be- 
 half, I may be certified. And Jesu preserve you. 
 Written at London, the xxvj. day of July. 
 
 J., BYSSHOPP OF LINCOLN. 
 
 257. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 2 Oct. 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 114.] 
 
 This letter was written in 1455, at the time'of the King's second attack of 
 illness, which happened while he was under the control of the Duke of York 
 and the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, as mentioned at the end of the 
 letter. In the latter part of the letter some words are lost by the decay of 
 the original MS. 
 
 To my right -worship/nil maistcr, John Paston, at Nor- 
 linc/ie, be this ddyvred. 
 
 XEASEityourmaistershiptowete 1 .... 
 Here be many marvaylos tales of thynggs 
 that shall falle this next inoneth, as it is seyd ; 
 for it is talked that oon Doktor Grene, a 
 preest, hath kalked [calculated ?~\ and reporteth, that by 
 fore Seynt Andreu day next coniyng shall be the 
 grettest bataill that was sith the bataill of Shrewisbury, 2 
 and it shall falle bytwene the Bisshoppes Inne of Sales- 
 bury and Westminster Barres, and there shall deye vij. 
 Lords, whereof iij. shuld be bisshoppes. Althis and 
 meche more is talked and reported. I trust to God it 
 shall not falle so. 
 
 Also there is gret varyance bytwene the Erll of 
 Devenshire and the Lord Bonvyle, as hath be many 
 day, and meche debat is like to growe the.'by ; for on 
 Thursday at nyght last passed, the Eril of Denshyres 
 sone and heir come with Ix. men of armes to Rad- 
 
 1 Here, says Fenn, follows an account of some law business, &c. 
 1 f aught in 1403 between Kin;j Henry IV. and the rebel Percies
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 351 
 
 ford's l place in Devenshire, whiche was of coiinseil 
 with my Lord Bonvyle; and they sette an hous on 
 fyer at Radfords gate, and cryed and mad an noyse 
 as though they had be sory for the fyer ; and by that 
 cause Radfords men set opyn the gats and yede owt 
 to se the fyer ; and for with th'erll sone forseid entred 
 into the place and intreted Radford to come doun of 
 his chambre to sp[e]ke with them, promyttyng hym 
 that he shuld no bodyly harm have ; up on whiche pro- 
 mysse he come doun, and spak with the seid Erll sone. 
 
 In the mene tyme his menye robbe his chambre, 
 and ryfled his huches, 2 and trussed suyche as they 
 coude gete to gydder, and caryed it awey on his own 
 hors. Thanne th'erll sone seid, " Radford, thou must 
 come to my lord my fadir." He seid he wold, and 
 bad oon of his men make redy his hors to ride with 
 hem, whiche answerd hym that alle his hors wern 
 take awey ; thanne he seid to th'erll sone, " Sir, your 
 men have robbed my chambre, and thei have myn hors, 
 that I may not ride with you to my lord your fadir, 
 wherfor, I pray you, lete me ride, for I am old, and may 
 not go." 
 
 It was answerid hym ageyn, that he shuld walke 
 forth with them on his feete ; and so he dede till he 
 was a flyte 3 shote or more from his place, and thanne he 
 was . . . softly, for cawse he myght not go fast. 
 And whanne thei were thus departed, he turned 
 . . oon ; forwith come ix. men ageyn up on 
 hym, and smot hym in the hed, and fellid .... 
 of them kyt his tL^ote. 
 
 This was told to my Lord Chaunceler 4 this fornoon 
 messengers as come of purpos owt of the 
 
 1 "Nicolas Radford," says Fenn in a note, "was an eminent lawyer, and 
 resided at Poghill, near Kyrton." In Pole's "Description of Devonshire," 
 p. 219. we find that one Nicolas Radford dwelled at Upcot in Henry VI.'s 
 time, "after whose death controversy arose betwixt John Radford of Oke- 
 ford and Thomazin, sister of the said Nicholas," who had married Roger 
 Prous. 
 
 2 A hutch was a cofier or chest standing on legs. 
 
 3 A flight was " a light arrow formed for very long and straight shots." 
 Halliwell. 
 
 * Archbishop Bourchier.
 
 35 2 THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1455. 
 
 same cuntre. This matier is take gretly 
 
 passed at ij. after mydnyght rod owt of London, as it 
 
 is seid, more thanne the best v/yse. Summe 
 
 seyne it was to ride toward my Lord of York, and 
 
 summe k, so meche rumor is here ; what it 
 
 menyth I wot not, God turne it at Hert- 
 ford, 1 and summe men ar a ferd that he is seek ageyn. 
 
 I pray God my Lords of York, Warwyk, 
 
 Salesbury and other arn in purpos to conveye hym . . 
 
 &c. The seid N. Crome, berer her of, 
 
 shall telle you suche tydynggs in 
 
 hast, at London, on Seint Simon day and Jude. 
 
 Yowr poer J. GR. 
 
 258. 
 A.D. 1455, 30 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 228.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF "TO MY RIGHT TRUSTY BROTHER, 
 NICHOLAS MOLYNEUX." 
 
 As I come not to London this winter, I beg you to see to my 
 Lord's matters, and labor to my Lord of Canterbury and Master 
 John Stokys for the recovering of my Lord's 2 [good]s. No man 
 can say more in the matter than you where his goods are, " and 
 where they be disposed," especially those that Sir Rob. Whytyn- 
 ham 3 had. Also the Lord Cromwell had " a certain number of 
 plate. " Your costs shall be paid out of the first money received. 
 Hears from John de Leawe, one of Lord Wi Hough by's execuiors, 
 that they will labor to my Lord Beaumont to advance the pro- 
 cess for recovery of his part of the reward for the taking of the 
 Duke of Alencon. Fendykes, a learned man of the Temple, 
 will help with his advice. Commend me to my sister your wife. 
 
 Castre, 30 Oct. 
 
 In Worcester' s hand, and endorsed by him. " A John Paston et 
 John Bokkyng." 
 
 infer from the manner in which Lord Cromwell is mentioned th 
 dead when this letter was written, it is probably of the year 1455.] 
 
 1 The king was at Hertford, as appears by the Privy Seals, in August and 
 September 1455, and not improbably in October also. 
 
 * The Duke of Bedford. 
 
 3 Sir Robert Whityngham died on the 4th November 1452. f>if. post 
 mortem, 31 Hen. VI., No. 47.
 
 A.D.I4SS-] HENRY VI. 353 
 
 259. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 13 Nov. WILLIAM WORCESTER TO JOHN 
 PASTON AND JOHN BOOKING. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 On the nth November 1454, Sir John Fastolf wrote to Paston about the 
 goods of the Duke of Bedford, but the subject recurred to his thoughts for 
 more than a year afterwards, and particularly in January 1456 when all the 
 other executors of the Duke were dead. This letter is certainly before the 
 death of Lord Cromwell, and therefore not later than 1455 ; but it seems to 
 indicate much greater solicitude on the subject than Fastolf shewed in the 
 preceding year. 
 
 To the ryght worshypfull Sir, John Paston, and to my 
 brothyr, John Bokkyng. 
 
 LEASE it yow to have yn knowlege that y veele 
 well my inaister takyth gretely to hert the 
 materes whych he hath wryt to you uppon the 
 execucion of my Lord of Bedford ys godes, 
 and in especiall for the recuveryng of hem, as well of 
 Sir Andreu O. 1 executors as of Sir Robert Whytyng- 
 ham, &c. to th'entent that it myght be opynly knowe yn 
 hys lyve tyme that they be not yn his gouvernaunce no 
 part of it, and that hys factors after hym shuld not be 
 troubled ne charged for it. And seth the seyd mater 
 ys of so grete wyght and charge, and that he takyth it 
 so gretely to hert, puttyng hys grettist trust yn yow, to 
 remembre thys seyd mater by avyse of hys councell 
 lerned, both spirituell as temporell, that ye wolle not 
 delay it, but wyth all your entencion remembred there, 
 as ye by your wysdoms shall thynk it moste expedient, 
 that som fruyt may grow of it. 
 
 There ys ynowgh whereoff, and it myght be recuvered, 
 John Bokkyng, ye know ryght moch yn thys mater, 
 and mooste of my maister ys entent hereynne. And 
 therfor, for myne acquytaille, y wryte to you to shew 
 
 1 Sir Andrew Ogard, who died on the isth October 1454. Inq. fast 
 mortem, 33 Hen. VI., No. 25. 
 
 2 A
 
 354 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 the chieff wrytynges of the copy of endentures of Sir 
 Robert Whytyngham, and of othyr wrytynges concernyng 
 that to Maister Paston, that he may be more rypelyer 
 grounded yn the seyd mater when he shall comyn wyth 
 my Lordz of Caunterburye, Cromewell, and with onye 
 of my maister councell. And our Lord kepe you. 
 
 My maister carpyth so oft on it dayly, and that 
 meovyth me to wryte to yow both. Att Castre, xiij. 
 day of November. Your, 
 
 W. WOR-H.R.-CESTRE. 
 
 260. 
 
 A.D. 1455, 25 Nov. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 252.] 
 
 St. Andrew's day fell on Sunday in 1455 and 1460. This letter must be 
 written in one of these two years, and the probabilities are greatly in favour 
 of the former, as John Paston and William Worcester were not on good 
 terms after the death of Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 To my right unirshipfull husbonde, John Paston, be this 
 delivered, in hast. 
 
 ?iIGHT wurshipfull husbonde, I recomaunde me 
 unto you. Plesith you to witte that myn 
 aunt Mondeforthe x hath desiryd me to write 
 to you, besechyng you that ye wol wochesafe 
 to chevesshe for her at London xx li marke for to be 
 payed to Mastre Ponyngs, outher on Saterday or Son- 
 day, weche schalbeSeint Andrwes Daye, in discharchyng 
 of them that be bounden to Mastre Ponyngs of the 
 s[ei]de xx ri marke for the wardeship of her doughter, 
 the weche xx li marke she hath delyvered to me in 
 golde for you to have at your comyng home, for she 
 
 1 Osbert Moundford, Esq. of Hockwold, married Elizabeth, daughter of 
 John Berney. Esq., and by her had Mary, their daughter and sole heir, who 
 married Sir William Tindale, Knight of the Bath.
 
 A.D. I4SS-] HENRY VI. 355 
 
 dare not aventure her money to be brought up to 
 London for feere of robbyng ; for it is seide heere that 
 there goothe many thefys be twyx this and London, 
 weche causeth her to beseche you to content the seide 
 money in dischargyng of the matre, and of them that 
 be bounden, for she wolde for no goude that the day 
 were broken. And she thankyth you hertely for the 
 greet labour and besynesse that ye have had in that 
 matre, and in all others touchyng her and hers, wher- 
 fore she seithe she is ever bounden to be your bed- 
 woman, and ever wolle be whyle she levethe. 
 
 My cosyn, her sone, and hese wife recomaundethe 
 them unto you, besechyng you that ye woll weche 
 safe to be her goode mastre, as ye have ben a fore 
 tyme ; for they be enformed that Danyell is comen to 
 Rysyng Castell, and hes men make her bost that her 
 mastre shal be a yene at Brayston withinne shorte 
 tyme. 
 
 Ferthermore, as for the matre that my sone wrote to 
 me for the boxe wheron wreten Falce Carle Sproutc 
 that I shulde enquer of William Wurcestre wher it 
 were, the seide William was not at home sen that I had 
 hes letter; but as sone as he comethe home, I shall 
 enquere of hym, and sende you an answer. 
 
 As towchyng for your leveryes, ther can noon be 
 gete here of that coloure that ye wulde have of, 
 nouther murrey, nor blwe, nor goode russets, undre- 
 nethe iij-r. the yerde at the lowest price, and yet is 
 ther not j nough of on clothe and coloure to serve 
 you. And as for to be purveid in Suffolk, it wul not be 
 purveide nought now a yenst this tyme, with oute they 
 had had warnyng at Michelmesse, as I am enformed. 
 And the blissed Trenyte have you in his kepyng. 
 
 Wreten at Norweche, on Seint Kateryn Day. 
 
 Be your, 
 
 MARGARET PASTON.
 
 356 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 261. 
 A.D. [1455], ii Dec. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, Xo. 262.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Thanks him for his pains in the advancement of his " charge- 
 able matters." Was never so much bound to any kinsman as to 
 Paston, who tenders so much his worship and profit. Sends 
 Worcestre with important letters to my Lord Privy Seal and the 
 Abbot of Bermundsey, and would like Paston to common with 
 them. Thanks him for informing him of the answer made to 
 the bill of Wentworth, " which I know had stand in great jeo- 
 pardy had not ye be." Sends his evidences concerning Brad- 
 well, that the Judges and Parliament may have better considera- 
 tion of his right, and of the patents granted to Paston and Howys 
 in that behalf. Desires credence for William Worcestre. 
 
 Castre, II Dec. 
 
 [The date of this letter must be between the year 1454, when Sir John 
 Fastolf settled at Caister, and 1458, as he was not alive in December 1459. 
 The reference to Parliament fixes it more precisely, as 1455 was the only year 
 during this period in which Parliament sat in December.] 
 
 262. 
 
 About A.D. 1455. 
 RICHARD BINGHAM TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Castlecombe MSS., Add. 28,212, f. 26, B.M.] 
 
 This letter has been printed by Mr Poulett Scrope in his privately printed 
 " History of Castle Combe." From evidences contained in other of the family 
 muniments, Mr Scrope supposes it to have been written about the year 1455, 
 which is probably not far from the true date. Compare Letter 299 following. 
 
 Copie of my fader Bynghames lettre to my fadre F. 
 
 IGHT honorable and reverend maistre, after 
 due and hertely recomendacion, I thank yovv 
 als hertily as I can that it likith your gode
 
 A.D. I4S5-] HENRY VI. 357 
 
 maisterschip, of your godnesse, to let to ferme to my 
 son Scrope the pouer enheritance that he schal enherit 
 after your decesse, if God will that he life therto. And 
 I hafe for my saide son comonde with my maistres of 
 your counsell, that is to sey, Paston and other, and I 
 fynde them not straunge, bot right streyte to dele with 
 in the mater ; and therfore my saide sone, and I for 
 hym, must sue to the well of mercy, that is to say, to 
 your honurable person, where is special refuge for my 
 saide son in this cas. My saide son is and hath be, 
 and will be to hys lifes ende, your true lad and ser- 
 vaunt, and glad and well willed to do that myght be to 
 your pleaser, wirschip, and profit, and als loth to offend 
 yow as any person in erth, gentill and well disposid to 
 every person. Wherfore I besech your gode grace 
 that ye will vouchesafe remember the premissez, my 
 saide sons age, his wirschipfull birth, and grete misere 
 for verrey povert, for he hath had no liflode to life 
 opon sithen my lady his moder deed, safe x. marc 
 of liflode that ye vouched safe to gife hyrn this last 
 yer, and therfore to be his good maister and fader. 
 And thof he be not worthy to be your son, make 
 hym your almesman, that he may now in his age life 
 of your almesse, and be your bedeman, and pray for 
 the prosperite of your noble person. And if I durst, 
 for your displesance, I wolde besech yow that ye wolde 
 vouchesafe lat my saide son hafe the saide lifelode 
 to ferme for terme of your life, payng to yow therfore 
 yerely CC. marc at ij. festes of the yere, that is to say, 
 Cristemasse and Middesomer, and ye schall be paied 
 hit truly at London, in Hillary terme for the feste 
 of Cristemasse, and Trinite terme for the feste of 
 Midsomer ; and I will be bounden for hym and [/.<?., if] 
 your maisterschip will vouchesafe to take me, and he 
 and I schall ever pray for yow. And thof the saide 
 lifelode be better to yow in availl yerely then I offer 
 yow therefore, this summe of CC. marc schal be 
 truly paid to yow yerely ; and God, that rewardeth 
 every gode dede, schal pey for hym the remenant to
 
 35 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1455. 
 
 yow, for every peny an C., in relesyng of yow .in 
 Purgatory, or ellys encresyng of your merite in Heven. 
 And how your maisterschip will that my saide son 
 schall do in this mater, I besech yow that he may be 
 certified be your writing. 
 
 263. 
 
 A.D. 1455. 
 FASTOLF'S CLAIMS AGAINST THE CROWN. I. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 260.] 
 
 The date of this paper is determined by the last paragraph shewing that 
 it was composed fifteen years after Sir John finally left France in 1440. 
 
 Billa dedebitis Regis inpartibus Francia Johanni Fastolf 
 militi debitis. 
 
 HESE ben the injuries, losses, and damages 
 that the seyd Fastolf hath had, as well with- 
 ynne this royaume of England as in othir 
 parties in maner and fourme as it ensewith. 
 First, it is to consider how 
 
 that the seyd Fastolf hath ben 
 
 vexed and troubled seth he 
 
 came last into this lande by 
 
 the myght and power of the 
 
 Due of Suffolk, and by the 
 
 labour of his counseill and ser- 
 
 vaunts in divers wyses, as in 
 
 grete oppressions, grevous and 
 
 outrageous amerciemants and 
 
 manye grete horrible extor- 
 
 cions, as it may appere more 
 
 pleynly by a rolle of articles 
 
 thereuppon made, the dam- 
 ages of which extenden to the 
 
 somme of V. ml marc. 
 
 Item, the seyd Fastolf hath
 
 A.D. 1455-1 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 359 
 
 be gretely damaged and hurt 
 by the myght and power of the 
 seyd Due of Suffolk and his 
 counseill, in disseising and 
 taking awey a maner of the 
 seyd Fastolf, called Dedham, 
 in the counte of Essex, to the 
 value of C. marks of yerly rent 
 which was halden from the 
 seyd Fastolf by the terme of 
 iij. yere day and more, to his 
 grete hurt, with CC. marks in 
 costs exspended in recouvere 
 of the same, the some in all, V c . marc. 
 
 Item, there ys cast in to the 
 Kyngs hands by untrew forged 
 offices and inquisicions, sup- 
 posed to be founde by dyvers 
 eschetours in the countees of 
 Norffolk and Suffolk, iij. cer- 
 teynmanersof the seyd Fastolf, 
 to the value of C. marks yeerly, 
 which seyd offices and inquisi- 
 cions were never dewly founde, 
 but forged by untrue imagina- 
 cions and meenys of certeyn 
 persones hys eville willers, as 
 it hath be confessed by thos 
 that were appoynted and 
 named to be uppon the en- 
 questys; and by the mali- 
 ciouse labour of his seyd 
 evylle willers, the seyd ma- 
 ners have ben troubled and 
 put in plee this iiij. yere day 
 and more, to the damage and 
 costs of the seyd Fastolf, the 
 somme - Vc. marc. 
 
 Item, the seyd Fastolf hauy-
 
 360 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1455. 
 
 ing the yeft of the Baronyes 
 and Lordshipp of Sillie Guil- 
 lem 1 andLasuze, inthecountee 
 of Mayn, to hym and to his 
 assignes for ever, the which 
 weren goten by the seyd Fas- 
 tolf, and no charge to the King, 
 for the value and denombre- 
 ment \number\ of iiij. m 1 . saluz 2 
 of yerly rent, he was com- 
 maunded by the Kinges lettres 
 to deliver upp the sayd bar- 
 onyes and lordshipps to the 
 Kyngs commissioners, pro- 
 myssyng hym, by the Kyngs 
 commaundement to have be 
 recompensed therefor, as the 
 seyd Fastolf hath to shewe, 
 and he not recompensed nor 
 rewarded no thing for the 
 levyng of his seyd baronyes 
 and lordship, to the damages 
 of the seyd Fastolf of the 
 
 somme of m 1 . m 1 . v. c [2, 500] marc. 
 
 Item, wrier as the seyd Fas- 
 tolf had a prisonner of his 
 owen taking, called Guill'm 
 Remond, 3 which was raun- 
 sonned, and agreed to pay 
 hym for his raunson with the 
 marks the somme of xxxij. m 1 . 
 saluz, the prisonner, withoute 
 knowelege or licence of the 
 seyd Fastolf, was take awey 
 
 1 Sir John took the castle of Sillie le Guillem in 1425, and from which he 
 was dignified with the title of baron. F. 
 
 4 The salute was a gold coin of Henry VI. current in France for i, 55. 
 English. F. 
 
 :! In 1423 he took the castle of Pacy, the governor whereof was Guillaume 
 Reymond. F.
 
 A.D. I4S5-] 
 
 HENRY VL 
 
 361 
 
 from hym by the Due of Bed- 
 ford, then beyng the Kyngs 
 Regent of Fraunce ; and with 
 the seyd prisonner he caused 
 the towne of Compyn, than 
 leyng in the Frensh partye ys 
 gouvernaunce, for to be yeldyn 
 to the Kyng, and to his seyd 
 Regent in his name ; and the 
 seyd Fastolf, after long pur- 
 sewts made to the Kyng and 
 his conseill, was recompensed 
 but to the value of m 1 . vj c .saluz 
 in lands in Normandye, when 
 they fortuned to falle into the 
 Kyngs hands, which lands he 
 hath also lost. And also the 
 seyd Fastolf hath lost the resi- 
 due of the seyd raunson, be- 
 syde the seyd lands, to the 
 somme of 
 
 Item, the seyd Fastolf ys 
 yhyt owyng for his porcion 
 and part for the recompens 
 and reward that shuld grow 
 and be dewe to hym for the 
 takyng of John, callyng hym 
 Due of Alauncon, at the bat- 
 ayle of Vernell, 1 which that 
 payd for hys raunson xl. m 1 . 
 marks, which rewarde, besyde 
 the Lord Wyllughbye ys part, 
 shuld extend to the somme of 
 
 Item, ys dewe to the seyd 
 Fastolf, by the execucion of 
 the last wylle and testament 
 of John, Due of Bedford, whos 
 soule God assoyle, for prestys 
 
 1 This battle was fought in 1424. F. 
 
 m 1 . m 1 . m 1 . m 1 . marc. 
 
 m 1 . m 1 . m 1 . m 1 . marc.
 
 362 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 and othir charges for saufgarde 
 and keping of certeyn forter- 
 esses, castellys, and townes, 
 and for othir costs, prests, and 
 charges by hym born in his 
 service, as it may appiere in 
 certeyn articles writen in a 
 rolle partic'lerly of the same, 
 the somme of ----- iiij ml . D c . iiij xx . xix. 
 
 [4,599] marc, vs. 6d. 
 
 Summa totalis xxj ml . iiijxix. xx . [21,099] marc, vs - 6d- 
 Item, seth the last comyng over of the seyd Fastolf 
 into this royaume, as by the space of xv. yere and more, 
 he hath born grete costs, charges, and expenss, at alle 
 tymes intending uppon the Kyngs highnesse and the 
 Lordes of his counseille, as he hath had in commaunde- 
 ment, and was his part to doo ; for the which and for 
 all the service that he hath doo to the right noble 
 Prince Kyng Herry the iiij the , ayle \%randfather\ to our 
 Souvragn Lord that now ys, and to the most victorious 
 Prince and Kyng, his fader, whos soulys God assoyle, 
 and also to our seyd Souvereyn Lord, he hath had 
 nouther fee, wagys, reward, ne recompense in this his 
 royaume of England, but hath born it of hys own propre 
 godys, at all tymys to the Kyngs honour and prouffit as 
 to his power, which ys to hym right grevouse and 
 chargeable, trusting to have be considered and re- 
 warded as othir men of suche deservyng have be in 
 the tymes of the right noble progenitours of our seyd 
 Souvreyn Lords, late Kyngs of this seyd reaume. 
 
 There is a corrected draft of the above paper, in William Worcester's hand- 
 writing, among the Paston MSS. in the British Museum, on the back of 
 which are the following additional memoranda : 
 
 Thees been the prestys and sommes of money that the [sic] Sir 
 John Fastolf, knyght, hath lent to oure seid Soverayn Lorde that 
 now is, at his commaundement in his grete necesitees, at divers 
 tymes with in this his reaume of England : 
 
 Item, the seid Fastolf lent to oure 
 seid Soverayn Lorde, in the moncth of
 
 A.D. I455-] 
 
 HE NR Y VI. 
 
 363 
 
 September, the xv. yer of his seid regne, 
 as it appereth at the seid recept of 
 Westminster, the somme of - ml /;'. 
 
 It is also to beremembred that the seid 
 Fastolf hath lent to oure seid Soverayn 
 Lord, in the moneth of Feverer, the seid 
 xv. yer of his noble regne, as it apper- 
 eth at the Kynges receyt of Westminster, 
 the somme of ml. marc. 
 
 Item, the seid Fastolf lent to our seid 
 Soverayn Lorde, for the viage of Sir 
 Thomas Kiriel, and of his retinue in to 
 the Duchie of Normandye, in the xxviij. 
 yer of his noble regne the somme of CC. 
 marc. Also afore that tyme in the 
 Kynges grete necessite ageyn the coro- 
 nacion of the Quene, at his forseid com- 
 maundement, the somme of C/z. Somme 
 of bothe - - iijc. xxxiij. vjj. 
 
 Item, the seydFastolflent to the voyage 
 thatThomasDanyellmadeintoBreteyn, 
 as it is notorily knowen, of which he ys 
 not yhyt payd, the somme of - C#. 
 
 Item, the seydP'astolf hath born grete 
 charge and cost of a lone made for the 
 spede and help of a voyage whych the 
 Erie of Shrewysbury now last made in 
 to the Kynges Duchee of Gyen, - 1 
 
 264. 
 
 FASTOLF'S CLAIMS AGAINST THE CROWN. II. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 268.] 
 
 This appears to be a supplementary paper to the preceding. Two other 
 copies or drafts of this paper exist among the Paston MSS. in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 A Declaration of the Costs which Sir John Fastolf was 
 at, ben without this royaume. 
 
 HE declaracions of certeyn prests, costys, and 
 chargys don and born by Sir John Fastolf, 
 aswel in the tyme of the moste noble and 
 victoryouse Princes of blessed memorie, 
 
 1 So in MS. The tota should be 100 less. ^ A blank.
 
 364 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 Kyng Kerry the iiij the , Kyng Herry v th , as in the tyme 
 of our Souvereyn Lord Kyng that now is, in hys werrys 
 by yend the see, as by the articles that folo\ven more 
 pleynly apperyth : 
 
 First, it ys to be remembred 
 that to the sayd Fastolf ys 
 owyng for divers costys and 
 chargis by hym born for the 
 tyme that he occupied th'- 
 office of the Constabulrye of 
 Burdeux for the saufgarde of 
 the Kyngys Duchie of Guyen, 
 as it apperith pleynlye by 
 accompt made of the sayd 
 office of Constabulrye, remayn- 
 yng in the Kyngs Cheker at 
 Westminster of record, wherof 
 he yet nouther had payement 
 nor assignement of, the somme 
 of ijc- xxvij//. xvs. \\}d. ob. 
 
 Item, in like wyse there ys 
 owyng to the seyd Fastolf for 
 wagys for hys service don to 
 the Kyng, and to the Due of 
 Clarence, beyng the Kyng ys 
 Lieutenant in the seyd Duchie 
 of Guyen, as it may appere 
 under suffisaunt writing, the 
 somme of - ij c ij//. xs. 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse ys owyng 
 to the seyd Fastolf for costys 
 and chargys that he bare when 
 he was Lieutenant of the towne 
 of Harflew l in Normandie, as 
 yt shewith by a debentur made 
 to the seyd Fastolf, with hym 
 remaynyng, Cxxxiij//. vjs. viij</. 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf was Lieutenant of Harfleur in 1415. F.
 
 A.I). 1455-1 HENR Y VI. 365 
 
 Item, in lyke wyse ys owyng 
 to the seyd Fastolf for the kep- 
 ing and vytaylyng of the Bas- 
 tyle of Saint Anthoyne in Paris, 
 as it apperith by writing suffi- 
 saunt and by the credi tours of 
 Sir John Tyrell, Knyght, late 
 Tresourier of the Kyngs house, 
 remaynyng in the Escheker of 
 Westminster of record, the 
 somme of xlijV/. 
 
 Item, there ys owyng to the 
 seyd Fastolf for the saufgarde 
 of the toune of Fount Melank l 
 in the parties of Fraunce, as 
 it apperith by accompt therof 
 made in the Kyngs Escheker 
 of England of record, the 
 somme of iiij xx ix//. xs. \\\}d. ob. q. 
 
 Summa xlij. marc ixs. q. 
 
 And in semblable wyse, over 
 all this ys owyng to the seyd 
 Fastolf for prests and wagys 
 of hym and his retenues beyng 
 in the Kings service in his roy- 
 aume of Fraunce and duchie 
 of Normandie, as wel abowte 
 the saufgarde and gouvern- 
 aunce of his tounys, castell, 
 and forteresses of Alaunson, 
 Fresney Le Vicounte, Vernell, 
 Honneflete, as for othir grete 
 causys and charges born and 
 payd in the Kyng our Souve- 
 reyn Lord ys dayes that nowys, 
 for the avauncement of his 
 conquest, the good and utilite 
 of hym, of his seyd royaume 
 
 1 Port Meulent was taken in 1422. F.
 
 366 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1455. 
 
 and duchie forseid, as it ap- 
 peryth oppenly by accomptys 
 made in the Chambre of Ao 
 compts of Paris and Roon, 
 wherof the vidimus remaynen 
 with the seyd Fastolf, and also 
 by certeyn debentur conteyn- 
 yng the seyd sommes, redy 
 to shewe, wherof the seyd Fas- 
 tolf hiderto hath had nouther 
 payement nor assignacion, the 
 
 somme of v. ml iiij xx ij. marc, 
 
 xiijj. \\]d. ob. sterling. 
 Summa totalis vj. m 1 . cxxv. marc, ixs. ob. q. 
 
 There are two drafts of the preceding statement among the Paston MSS. 
 in the British Museum, besides an imperfect draft hereafter mentioned. These 
 appear to have been drawn up as early as the year 1452. One of these is in 
 William Worcester's handwriting ; the other is a fair copy from it, with 
 further corrections, in his hand. The document printed above embodies all 
 the corrections in the second paper, and corresponds with it almost exactly in 
 every point, except that the latter places the second item relating to the Duke 
 of Clarence at the very end of the account, and contains the following addi- 
 tional entries : 
 
 And beside all this, there is yet owyng 
 to the sayd Fastolf uppon the voyage 
 that Thomas Danyell made into Bre- 
 tayn, as it is openly knowen, the somme 
 of CO. 
 
 Item, overe this the seyd Fastolf lent 
 to the voyage that Sir Thomas Kyryell 
 made into Normandye, in the xxviij. 
 yere of the regne of the Kyng our 
 Souverain Lorde, the somme of CC. 
 marc ; also lent to the Kyng afore that 
 tyme in his necessite the somme of C//. 
 The somme of both, - ijc- xxxiij/;. vjj. viij</. 
 
 And also the seyd Fastolf hath borne 
 grete charge and cost of alone made for 
 the spede and helpe of the voyage 
 whiche the Erie of Shrowysburyi now 
 last made into the Kynges duchie of 
 
 1 John T; 
 English ; ki 
 
 albot, first Earl, sent to France in 1452 to recover Guienne for the 
 killed the following year in endeavouring to relieve Castillon.
 
 A.D. I455-] HENRY VI. 367 
 
 Guyenne, to whom God graunte good 
 expedicion, as it shewitfy by suffisaunt 
 writyng, for whiche at the commaunde- 
 ment of my Lord Cardynalle 1 the seyd 
 Fastolf made a chevyssaunce and leyd to 
 wedd [i.e. pawned] the substaunce of his 
 pore juellys,in the whiche chevyssaunce 
 the seyd Fastolf hath lost xxxvij/;., and is 
 like to lese more herafter, by cause he 
 is not of poer to quyte hem oute ; the 
 seyd juellys lyne as yet to plegge for 
 the somme of - iiijc/j. 
 
 Somme of the prestys and debtys 
 abofe rehersed, ... ijml.xlv. markes, vj.r.wz'. ob. 
 
 The following is written on a separate paper, on the back of which occurs 
 the imperfect draft above referred to. 
 
 Item, overe all thys grete debtes dew at thys day to the seyd 
 Fastolf, he desyryth and prayth that it may be pondered and 
 concydered the grete lossez and damages that he hath susteyned 
 and born, as well in the parties of Fraunce as in thys land ; as at 
 one tyme lost the somme and value of iiijml. mark for Guillem 
 Remond, hys prysonnere, that agreed to pay for hys raunsom 
 xxxijml. salux. The seyd prisonnere was take awey from hym, 
 and delyvered the toune of Compyne in to the obbeissaunce of 
 our Souvereyn Lord. Also the reward that the seyd Fastolf 
 shuld hafe hys part for the takyng of the Due off Allaunson, whych 
 shuld mount for hys seyd part iiijml. [4000] markes, the grete 
 losse that he hath in delyveryng upp the baronye of Syllye 
 Guillem, in the counte of Mayn, be thout \withoui\ recompense 
 or reward, whych was gevyn to hym and hys assigneez in the 
 value of ml. ml. [2000] salux off yerly rent. Also the lesyng of 
 hys pore lyvelode in Normandie that was of the yerly value of 
 a mark. The grete importune lossez and damages that 
 he hath had seth he came into England, whych hys evylle wyllers 
 the officers and servauntes of the Due of Suffolk have, be thout 
 \witkout\ cause resonable, made hym leese, as in causyng hym to 
 be disseised wrongysly of iiij. of hys maners of Dedham, Bey ton, 
 Bradwell, Hykelyng, and Tychewell, to the value of ijc. [200] 
 mark of yeerly rent ; besyde othyr damages and lossez by colouif 
 of the lawe, and by menys of extorcions, as it may shew by a rolle 
 of articles to the value of vjml. [6000] markes. 
 
 1 Cardinal Kemp. See p. 138, Note 3. J Blank in MS.
 
 368 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1455. 
 
 265. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 " Many of the letters in this collection," says Fenn (iii. 261, 
 Note i), "mention the disputes between the Duke of Suffolk 
 and Sir John Fastolf concerning different manors and estates." 
 This remark is made with reference to the complaints against 
 Suffolk in No. 263 preceding. Only two of these letters have 
 been seen by the present editor. 
 
 266. 
 
 ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps 9735, No. 239.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Sends by his servant an instruction to be engrossed, corrected 
 by Paston's advice, and a remembrance concerning Walsingham, 
 which I hope by your help "shall be corryged." Certain friends 
 of yours and mine have been here, and desire me to write to you 
 "for your friendship and good will, passing all other men's." 
 
 [The date of this letter is quite uncertain, but it was probably written some 
 time during those later years of his life when Sir John Fastolf resided at 
 Caister. The signature, like some others during that period, is not in 
 Fastolfs own hand.] 
 
 267. 
 A.D. 1456, 6 Jan. BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 256.] 
 
 By the reference to the Duke of Bedford's will as having been in dispute 
 for twenty years, it would appear that this letter was written in the beginning 
 of the year 1456. Bedford died at Rouen on the i4th September 1435. 
 
 
 
 To my maister, John Paston. 
 
 LEASE your maistershyp to wete that I had 
 sent vow word of the god chiere that the 
 persons ye wote off had here uppon New
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VI. 369 
 
 Yeer Day, and how well they toke it, but W. Barker 
 coude playnly enforme yow. And John Sadler of 
 Ocle told me how they avaunted of it when he of 
 Lynne came by hym at nyzt lyeng, that he had neider 
 better chier, &c. 
 
 My maister demaundyth me sondry tymes when ye 
 shall be here. I coude not sey till thys day be passed. 
 William Geney shall be here to morn, so wold Jesus 
 ye were her then. I asked licence to ryde yn to my 
 contree, and my maistr dyd not graunt it ; he seyd hys 
 wille was for to make, &c. Y aunsuerd, it fyt not me 
 to know it. God gefe hym grace of holsom councell, 
 and of a gode disposicion ; non est opus unius diet, nee 
 unius septimanfE. 
 
 My Lord Bedford wylle was made yn so bryeff and 
 generall termys, that yn to thys day by the space of 
 xx. yeer can neider hafe ende, but all wey new to con- 
 strew and oppynable ; so a generallte shall ne may be 
 so gode as a particuler declaracion. 
 
 I wryte blontly. I had foryete to hafe told yow 
 Maister Fylongley meoved me to enforme my maister 
 to hafe a generalle pease, so it myzt be worshypfull. 
 Y hafe seyd no word, for I can not medle yn hygh 
 maters that passyth my wyt ; and therfor yff ye and 
 W. Geney mete to gheders, ye know and can devyne 
 best what ys to be doon. Our Lord be with yow. 
 
 Wryt hastly, vj. day Januar. 
 
 W. BOTONER, H.R. 
 
 268. 
 A.D. 1456 (?). BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 From the desire expressed by the writer in this letter to visit his own 
 country, we may refer it to the same period as the last. 
 
 To my Maister Paslon. 
 
 Please yow to wete that my maisteir 1 yn allwyse wille that I 
 ryde to Dedham to speke with Broke as well as wyth the stuard, 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf. 
 2 B
 
 37 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 and to gefe aunsuer to Broke yn whate wyse he wille depart for 
 the reuersyn ; he was ryd or I came home. And my maister wiile 
 comyn with yow for the moyens of a chauntuarye to be founded 
 of the place ye wote off; y seyd hym such chargeable maters 
 wold be doo betyme to know the certeyntee. And a greter lak 
 ys yn hym, he taryeth so long to put all thynges of charge yn a 
 sure wey ; hyt ys for lake of sad councell to moove hym. And I 
 most be at Castre by Thursday next ; and I pray yow let me not 
 be lete of my voyage yn to my contree, and I shall kepe Yorkes- 
 shyre with Spyrlyng, or such as shall ryde. The parson l with 
 yow shall do well sort my maister evidences, and that ys one the 
 grettist thyng nedefull for the seurtee of hys lyfelode ; and so it 
 wold be remembred hym, for now all thyng ys sett at appoynt, how 
 it standyth with hys debtys and officers, except that mater of grettist 
 charge, and also to provyde for the approwement of hys lyfelode. 
 
 \Y. EOTOXER. 
 
 And, syr. yff ye thynke to done (think it to be done), to meofe 
 Cler of the acre lond, but gefe hym no credence yn the con- 
 trarye, for I shall preffe it trewe yn my seyng for onye man 
 lyvyng. He that wille dysseyve hys servaunt yn maryage for so 
 litell a thyng, he wold disseyve another frende yn a gretter thyng. 
 He sekyth occasyons and querell to colour hys brekyng of 
 
 269. 
 About A.D. 1456. BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 There is no address to this letter, but it seems to have been intended for 
 John Paston. The exact time when it was written is uncertain, but we have 
 placed it after the last on account of the reference to Dedham. The true 
 date cannot be many years before or after 1456. 
 
 Please yow to wete that as for ease of my maisters* tenaunts 
 in Dedham, yff a lettre were devysed by Maister Geney yn my 
 maister name or youres to Thomas Hygham, one of the justices of 
 pease in Suffolk that toke the veredyt, he myzt do grete ease, as 
 yn disavowyng of it or yn wythdrawyng it owte of the bokes. 
 Robert Dene, clerk of the pese, seyth that lete my maister coun- 
 cell avise that whych he may do undammaged hymsylf, and he 
 wille with all hys hert. John Bokkyng ys well remembred that 
 my maister caused the seyd Thomas Hygham, by Maister Geney 
 mocion, to be one of the justice of pease, and one Jermyn of 
 Suffolk also. Whych both Hygham and Jermyn hath suffred my 
 maister hafe, savyng your reverence, tweyn shrewde tornys seth 
 that they mizt hafe letted, as now the seyd Thomas Hygham 
 myzt hafe letted the presentment or a moderated othyrwyse, &c. 
 
 1 Sir Thomas Howes. * Sir John FastolC
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 371 
 
 At reverence of God, beyth as sone as ye may with my maister to 
 ease hys spyryttes. He questioneth and desputyth with hys ser- 
 vauntes here, and wolle not be aunsuerd ne satisfyed som tyme but 
 after hys wylfulnesse, for hyt suffysyth not our simple wyttes to ap- 
 pease hys soulejbutwhenhe spekythwyth Maister Zelverton, yow, 
 or wyth William Geney and suche othyrs as be auctorised yn the 
 law, and wyth haboundance of godes, he ys content and haldeth 
 hym pleased wyth your aunsuers and mocions, as reson ys that 
 he be. So wold Jesus, one of yow iij., or som suche othyr yn 
 your stede, myzt hang at hys gyrdyll dayly to aunsuer hys materes. 
 
 I had but litille thyng to done when I scrybled thys bille. 
 
 Your, W. BOTONER. 
 
 270. 
 A.D. 1456, 20 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 266.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF "TO THE WORSHIPFUL LADY AND MY 
 RIGHT WELLBELOVED SlSTER, WHYTYNGHAM." 
 
 As all the executors of my Lord Regent, except himself, are 
 dead, and as he would not have her troubled in her age ' ' for exe- 
 cution of my said Lord's goods," nor for the evidences of his pur- 
 chased lands, &c., which were left in keeping " with my brother 
 your husband," sends John Paston and other his attorneys to 
 common with her, and settle the matter, which will be a great 
 discharge for her husband's soul. 
 
 Castre, 20 Jan. 
 
 [This letter must have been written after the death of Lord Cromwell, who 
 was one of Bedford's executors, and who died on the 4th January 1456. Set 
 his Epitaph in Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 46.] 
 
 271. 
 A.D. 1456, 25 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 275.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN BOKKING OR WILLIAM BARKER, 
 TO DELIVER TO JOHN PASTON AT LONDON. 
 
 Copy of a letter of Fastolf's to the wife of Sir Robert Whyt- 
 yngham (the copy examined by Butoner) to the same effect as the
 
 37 2 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.IX 1456. 
 
 preceding No., but with some slight differences in the wording, 
 and dated 25th January instead of 2Oth. 
 
 On the back is written: "Cousin Paston, I pray you take 
 Nicholas Molyneux, Thomas West, or Robert \Yaryn, whether 
 ye may hafe at leyser, with you, to go speke with the gentle- 
 woman." 
 
 272. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 26 Jan. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON AND OTHERS. 
 
 [The original of this letter is the property of W. A. Tyssen 
 Amhurst, Esq. of Didlington Park, Brandon.] 
 
 As this letter was written during Sir John Fastolf 's residence at Caister, 
 and Parliament appears to have been sitting at the time, the date must be 
 I45& 
 
 To my right trusty fraides, John Paston, Nicholas 
 ) and Thomas H'esf, Escuiers, 
 
 "ORCHIPFULL Sirs, and my right trusty 
 frendis, I commaunde me to you. And lyke 
 you to wite that I desire to knowe in certayn, 
 or evere I laboured to London, by whate 
 menys in the lawe spirituell or temporell I might labour, 
 or ellys my frendes and atturneys in my name and in 
 myne absence myght laboure best, for the recuvere of 
 the goodes of my Lord of Bedford, whos soule God 
 assoyle, and that his purchaced londes might be sold 
 to fulfille his wille and pay his debtes. And if it were 
 thought that the most spedyest and seurest wey were 
 to have it doon by act of Parlement, than I desire and 
 pray you, as my singular trust is in you, that ye wille 
 do make a substanciall bille in my name upon the said 
 mater and for the said cause, to be grounded and 
 devised by avis of substanciall lerned man, as Thomas 
 Yonge and othir suche, and of civille lawe, and the 
 said bille to be put up to the Kyng, whiche is chief 
 supervisor of my said Lorclis testament, and totheLordes
 
 A. D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 373 
 
 Spirituelle and Temporelle, as to the Comyns, of this 
 present Parlement, so as the iij. astates may graunte 
 and passe hem cleerly. And the said bille may be 
 grounded with so grete resons by your wysdomes and 
 good enformacion, and so rightfull and of conscience 
 that it shall not be denyed, ne letted to passe amonges 
 the Lordes Spirituell and Temporell, neythir amonges 
 the Comyns, whan it comyth before hem. And if this 
 said bille, after it is devised and made, and sent me a 
 copie of hit, hit shold be to me a singuler confort ; 
 for or evere I came to London, I wold that alle thing 
 shuld be made redy to my hande. "And it were exspe- 
 dient and according that my Lord Chaunceller l were 
 meoved that it might please his good Lordship to write 
 a lettre to me, in case I must come up for the said cause, 
 and that by as muche he is in the mater as sotiverain 
 juge and ordinarie principalle under the Pope in a 
 cause testamentarie, and also by cause the wille of my 
 said Lord is aproved in his court before his predeces- 
 sour. And Alle myghty God kepe you. 
 Writ at Castre, the xxvj. day of Januar. 
 Your, 
 
 J. FASTOLF. 
 
 And I wolde this bille were devised by my Lord of 
 Caunterbury is avis and agreement, to th'entent that he 
 may tender the mater the more whan it shalle come in 
 revolucion before hym. And I pray you hertely to 
 take this mater tendirlye to hert, for it shall be to me 
 my most singuler comfort, and for my discharge a grete 
 record as of myne acquitayle to my said Lordis soule. 
 Also ye must make frendes of suche as be nere aboute 
 my said Lord of Caunterbury, and may do, as Maister 
 John Stokys and his sty ward, for to remembre his good 
 Lordship as ofte as nede is. And that Davy Breknok 
 ne Sir Robert Whitingham wyffe be not foryeete. 
 
 1 Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury.
 
 374 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 273. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 27 Jan. 
 WILLIAM WORCESTER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter must have been written the day after the last, as this also speaks 
 of a bill being presented to Parliament for recovery of the Duke of Bedford's 
 goods. The passage in which the writer proposes visiting the west country 
 confirms the date of Letter 267. 
 
 To the worshypfull Sir, John Paston, Escuier. 
 
 fORSHYPFULL, aftyr dew recomendacion. 
 please your gode maistershyp to wete that 
 where as my maister wrytith to yow so 
 homelye of so manye materes to yow of hys, 
 to be remembred unto hys councell lerned by mene 
 of yow and of hys frendz and servauntz there, y pray 
 yow and requyre yow not to wyte [impute] it me that 
 y am the causer of it that my seyd maister noyeth yow 
 with so manye materes, for, be God, hym sylf remem- 
 bryth the moste part of hem ; albe it the particler 
 rehersell of the materes be fressher ynmyremembraunce 
 then yn hys. And, Sir, yn trouth he boldyth hym to 
 wryte to yow for the grete lofe and singler affeccion he 
 hath yn yow before all othyr yn hys causes spedyng, 
 and that ye wille moste tendyrlye of ony othyr remem- 
 bre hys servauntes as well as othyrs to whom belongyth 
 to spede the materes. He desyryth my Lord Chaun- 
 cellor shuld wryte to hym speciallye yff he most nedes 
 com upp, and a bille to be made yn to Parlement for 
 recuvere of my Lord Bedford godes. 
 
 Sir, there ys one Haryngton of Doncastre, a besye 
 soule, that damagyth my maistre to gretely in Bentley. 
 And Kerry Sotehille ys of my maister councell, but no 
 thyng that ys profitable ys don to hym to remedye it, 
 ye shall see by one Sir John Vincentes letter sent to 
 yow now, and W. Barker can enforme yow. Yn the 
 ende of thys terme y suppose to be at London, and 
 yn to west centre. My maistre wrytith to yow for a
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 375 
 
 rent of viii//. of annuite charged of a touneshyp called 
 Batham Wyly, that Maister Scrope he shall be bene- 
 ficed yn the ryzt of it. Ye have nede fare fayre with 
 hym, for he ys full daungerouse when he wille. Y gate 
 hym gode evidensis of the seyd rent that my maister 
 ne my lady had nevere, and he can not know it, &c. 
 Also my maister hath wreten to yow for avice of a new 
 feffement to be made for the maners of Tychewell and 
 Beytone, and betyme he desyryth to be sent hym. 
 Y pray yow, and ye se Maister Yng at a leyser to 
 commaund me to hym, and trustyng hys gode maister- 
 shyp that he wille be of my councell ayenst one Wil- 
 liam Fouler of Bokyngham thath kepyth from me a 
 litelle lond. And yff he wille contynew hys gode 
 maistershyp to me, ye may sey hym that I cast duelle 
 yn my contree, and wayt uppon hym to help ghete 
 ayen a pore gode of myn, for heere y thryve not, but 
 lose my tyme. Y pray our Lord have yow yn hys 
 kepyng. 
 
 Wryt hastlye, the xxvij. day of Januare. 
 
 Your, W. WYRCESTRE. 
 
 274. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 5 Feb. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 120.] 
 
 To the worshypfull Sir, and my ryght welbelovyd cosyn, 
 John Fasten; and in hys absence, to John Bokkyng 
 and William Barker. 
 
 ORSHYPFULL Sir and cosyn, I recomaund 
 me to yow. And lyke yow to wete that y have 
 a taylle 1 with my cosyn Fenne 2 of v c [500] 
 marc and more, for to be chaunged uppon 
 
 1 A tally. This was a cleft stick, in both parts of which notches were cut 
 to represent sums of money due ; on which one part was given to the creditor, 
 the other being retained by the debtor. 
 
 a Hugh Fenn.
 
 37 6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 such places as a man myght have moste spedye pay- 
 ment; and I pray yow hertlye to comyn wyth the 
 seyd Fenne, that y myght be ensured of the seyd 
 taylle to be eschaunged ; and for whate rewarde com- 
 petant to be yeven uppon the same, I wolle agree it. 
 
 Item, I desyre to know who ben the residew, the 
 remenant of the co-executors of the Lord Wyllughbye, 1 
 now the Lord Cromewell 2 ys decesed ; for thys cause. 
 Hyt was so, that there was dew to the Lord Wyllugh- 
 bye and to me x. m 1 - [10,000] marc for a reward, to 
 be payd of my Lord Bedford ys godes, for the takyng 
 of the Due of Allauncon. 3 And the seyd Lord Wyllugh- 
 bye had but one thowsand marc payd, and I m 1 - [1000] 
 mrc, soo viij. m 1 - [8000] levyth [remains] yhyt to pay; 
 of whych somme iiij. m 1 - [4000] most grow to the 
 executors of the seyd Lord Wyllughby to dispose. 
 And therfor y desyre that the executors, and such 
 as most have intrest in the Lord Wyllughby goodes, 
 may be comyned wyth ; that they may [make] pur- 
 seute for payment of the seyd iiij. m 1 - [4000] marc, 
 for hys part to be had, and y shall make for my part. 
 
 And [/.<?., if] Maister Nevyle, 4 the whych hath 
 wedded my Lady Wyllughbye, have power or intrest 
 to resseyve the Lord Wyllughby ys debts, then he to 
 be labured untoo. And my Lord of Salysburye woll 
 be a grete helper yn thys cause. 
 
 The Kyng, whych ys Supervisor of my Lord Bed- 
 ford testament, hath wreten and comaunded by sondry 
 lettres, that the seyd Lord Wyllughbye shuld be con- 
 tent for hys part. And so moch the mater ys the 
 furtherer. 
 
 And ther ys one Yon', a servaunt of the Lord Wyl- 
 lughbye, whych pursewed thys mater ; yft~ he were yn 
 London, he coude geve gode enformacion uppon thys 
 mater. 
 
 1 Robert, Lord Willoughby of Eresby. 
 
 2 Ralph, Lord Cromwell. 
 
 3 John, Duke of Alenfon, taken prisoner at the battle of Verneuil in 1424. 
 
 4 Sir Thomas Nevill, a younger son of Richard, Earl of Salisbury, married 
 Maud, the widow of Robert, Lord Willoughby. Dugdale, ii. 86.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 377 
 
 Y pray yow wryte to me how my maters doth, and 
 of such noveltees as ye have there. And our Lord 
 have yow yn hys kepyng. 
 
 VVreten at Castr hastlye, v. day of Feveryer, anno 
 xxxiiij to Regis Henrici VI. 
 
 Your cosyn, J. FASTOLF. 
 
 275. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 9 Feb. 
 JOHN BOOKING TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 265.] 
 
 To the right reverent and worshipful Sir, and my right 
 good maister, my maister Sir John fastolf, at Castre. 
 
 p|IGHT reverent and my right worshipful maister, 
 I recomaunde me to yow in my right humble 
 wise. Please hit your right good maistership 
 to wyte that on Sonday laste I sent yow many 
 and divers .lettres and writynges, by Lampet, of all 
 matiers that I hadde knowlege at that tyme redy to 
 answere. And now suche tidinges as ar here, but 
 fewe that ar straunge, excepte that this day my Lordes 
 York and Warwik comen to the Parlement in a good 
 aray, to the noumbre of iij c - [300] men, all jakkid * 
 and in brigantiens, 2 and noo lord elles, wherof many 
 men mervailed. It was seid on Saterday my Lord 
 shuld have ben discharged this same day. And this 
 day was seide, but if he hadde come stronge, he shuld 
 have bene distrussid ; and no man knoweth or can sey 
 that ony prefe may be hadde by whom, for men thinken 
 verily there is no man able to take ony suche enter- 
 prinse. 
 
 The Kyng, as it was tolde me by a grete man, wolde 
 have hym chief and princepall counceller, and soo to 
 be called hise chef counceller and lieutenant as longe 
 as hit shuld lyke the Kyng ; and hise patent to be 
 
 1 i.e., in coats of maiL See p. 291, Note 2. % See p. 134, Note 2.
 
 37 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 made in that forme, and not soo large as it is by 
 Parlement. But soome men thinken it wil ner can 
 otherwise bee ; and men speke and devyne moche 
 matere of the comyng this day in suche array to West- 
 minster. And the Lordes speken this day in the 
 Parlement of a greet gleymyng sterre that but late 
 hathe be seen diverse tymes, merveilous in apperyng. 
 The resumpsion, men truste, shall forthe, and my 
 Lordes of Yorkes first power of protectorship stande, 
 and elles not, &c. The Quene is a grete and stronge 
 labourid woman, for she spareth noo peyne to sue hire 
 thinges to an intent and conclusion to hir power. 
 
 I have seid to the bringer here of more to declare 
 yow alle a longe. And as for hise comyng, ye like to 
 understande that your nevew, my Maister Filongley, 
 hathe laboured and doon that he cowde or myght to 
 hise preferraunce ; but as for to make hym freman and 
 at hise ease, to hise profite and worship, it can not bee 
 with owte William Lyne be here, that boughte hise 
 prentishode of his maister, to hise grete hurte and 
 castyng of bakke by ij. or iij. yere of tyme loste ; and 
 ne were it that the maister and wardeyns of the Taillours 
 tendre hym, be cause of yow and of Fynynglee, hise 
 nrste maister, that solde hym to \\ illiam Lyne, as weel 
 as the seide Lyne and Richard, shuld alle lese ther 
 fredoms, as ye shall more pleinly understande by the 
 reporte of the seid Richard, &c. 
 
 This day was my Lord Devenshire at Westminstre, 
 and shuld have apperid, but he was countermaundid. 
 As to youre matier of Wentworthe, the trety con- 
 tynueth, and is putte by the arbitrours in Fortescu 
 and Yelverton, and we have day of newe til Friday 
 come sevenyght. God graunte it take a good ende. 
 The lawe is with us clerly, as weel in th'atteynte as 
 therinne as yette, blessid be our Lord, hoo have you 
 in hise most noble governaunce. 
 
 Written in your place this Moneday of Fastyngange, 1 
 m L cccclv. Your humble servaunt, J. B. 
 
 1 Fastingong was Shrovetide. See p. no, Note i.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VI. 379 
 
 And that ye like to write a good lettre for Richard 
 Fastolf to Sir Roger Chamberleyn, and to Thornton, 
 Chamberleyn of London, and to both of hem, &c. 
 
 276. 
 A.D. 1456, 12 Feb. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 270.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Thanks him for the pains he takes in his " chargeable matters," 
 especially the ward of T. F., and his advice for the recovery 
 of my Lord of Bedford's goods. My servants Bokkyng and 
 Barker have written to me for writings making mention of the 
 jewels and goods of my Lord delivered to Sir Robert Whiting- 
 ham that they cannot find there. I send, therefore, W. Worcestre 
 with a copy of Whitingham's account, which, however, is not a 
 complete statement. 
 
 Castre, 12 Feb. 
 
 P.S. Has just received a letter from Fasten, for which he 
 thanks him. 
 
 [This letter was evidently written in the same year as No. 270.] 
 
 277. 
 
 A.D. 1456, i March. 
 HUGH A FENNE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 332.] 
 
 The first paragraph of this letter seems to relate to Fastolf's claims against 
 the Crown set forth in Nos. 260 and 261, and as these seem to have been 
 drawn up in the end of 1455, this letter probably belongs to the year following. 
 The reference to William Brandon as "late escheator" confirms this date ; 
 and also, perhaps, the mention, at the end, of William Norwich, who was 
 Sheriff of Norwich this year. 
 
 To the right worchepfull Sir, John Paston, at Norwich. 
 
 YGHT worchepfull Sir, I recumaunde me un 
 to you. Leke you to wete my Maister Fas- 
 tolf compert 1 is spedde and demyd in the 
 Eschequyer for hym a yens the Kyng, wher 
 
 1 Compertorium is a judicial inquest in civil proceedings made by Commis- 
 sioners to find out &c., the truth of a cause. F.
 
 380 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 in was crafti labour and cloos to the seid spede, and 
 laked no dylygence, for the matter was defused and 
 dubble intendementz after dyverse mennys appynyons. 
 
 Her is Williem Brandon, late Eschetour, 1 and wold 
 have a non molestando 2 for Fulthorp ; and be cause ye 
 spake to me that no mo shuld be sued owte, and I 
 can gete no lybarate 3 in that case, therfore, as it is 
 tolde me, he wyll have oon up on Wenteworth is 
 patente, and that wer to my maister bothe velleny 
 and hurte. I pray you send me heryn your avyse. 
 It is no grete maistre to gader up that mony, if it wer 
 wele labord. I have somwhat affrayed them, and made 
 hem spend mony, as I wot well ye shall her therof. 
 Ye and I been discharged of our maynprys. 
 
 Now, Sir, for Goddis sake, as I have meved you a 
 fore, help to sette my maister in a worchepful dyreccion 
 of his maters to his honour, his profyte, and his hertis 
 ease, that which so doon he shall have the better 
 leysour to dysspose hym self godly, and be sette his 
 londs and his goodys to the plesour of God, and the 
 wele of his sowle, that all men may sey he deyeth a wyse 
 man and a worchepfull. Yf ye wyste what worchep 
 shuld growe to you in favour and conseyte of all men 
 thus to do, I wot well ye wolde be right spedy therin, 
 for I beleve fully ye ar ryght well wylled therto ; and 
 if owte I cowde helpe therto at myn nexte comyng, yf 
 I knew your entent, I wold do that I cowde. Yf it 
 like you to wryte your avyse in a bylle that I myght 
 have it by Good Fryday at Seint Benettys, Williem 
 Norwyche wol send it theder. The Holy Trinyte 
 conserve you in honour and prosperite. 
 
 From London, the furst day of Marche. 
 
 Your, HUGH A FENNE. 
 
 1 An Escheator was a county officer who certified into the Exchequer the 
 King's escheats, i.e., lands which fell to the King, either for a time or 
 altogether, as by the death of tenants in capite, minority of heirs, &c- 
 William Brandon was Escheator of Norfolk and Suffolk from i3th November 
 33 Hen. VI. to 4th November 34 lien. VI., i.e., from 1454 to 1455- 
 
 * A writ which lies for him who is molested contrary to the King's protec- 
 tion granted him. F. 
 
 3 A writ of liberate is a warrant either for the payment of annual pensions, 
 &c. granted under the Great Seal, or for delivery of possession of certain 
 lands or goods in the custody of a sheriff.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 381 
 
 278. 
 
 A.D. 1456 (?), [24 March.] 
 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN P ASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 As this letter relates to money matters of Fenn and Sir John Fastolf, it 
 may most probably be referred to the same year as No's. 274 and 277. 
 
 To my right worship/nil Maister, John Paston. 
 
 FTER due recomendacion had, please it your 
 maistership to wytte that William Yelverton 
 was mevid by me to comene with my maister 
 his fadir, as I wro.t to yow from Norwich. 
 And now he tellith me that he hath comened with his 
 fadir ; and he undirstondith that his fadir seyth that 
 he hath not knowelaged Fennes x obligacion. And 
 he seyth that Maister Fastolf undirstood that Fen 
 hadde title to the maner of Haryngby, and therfor 
 wold he that Fen shuld have it after Maister F. 
 lyve ; and, by liklynes, ther shall be labour made by 
 Fenn to have releses of Maister Yelverton, &c., but 
 he hath not yet relesed. He can no more undirstond 
 of hym as yet. If he can undirstond ony more 
 pleynly this day, I shall have knowelage at Norwich 
 on Friday or Saterday next comyng. Please it you to 
 have pacience, though I write so brefly. 
 
 In hast, at Walsyngham, the Wednesseday next to 
 fore Esterne. 
 
 Youre pouere servaunt, JAMES GR. 
 
 279. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 27 March. 
 ARCHBISHOP BOURCHIER TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 124.] 
 
 The date of this letter will appear tolerably certain on a comparison with 
 No. 272. In that letter Fastolf talks of coming up to London, if necessary, 
 
 1 Hugh Fenn. See No 277.
 
 382 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 about the matter of my Lord of Bedford's goods, but expresses a wish that if 
 he is to come, my Lord Chancellor viz., the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 should be got to write him a letter about it. 
 
 To the right worshipfull, and my right entierly welbeloved 
 Sir John Fastolf, Knight. 
 
 worshipful, and my right entierly wel- 
 beloved, I grete you right hertly wele, 
 thanking you specialy, and in full herty wise, 
 for the verray geantle goodnesse that ye have 
 shewid unto me at all tymes, praying you of good 
 contynuance. 
 
 And as touching suche matiers as ye sente unto me 
 fore, I truste to God verraly, insomuche as the rule 
 is amendid heer, and the wedder waxeth seesonable 
 and pleasante, to see you in thise parties within short 
 tyme, at whiche tyme I shal commune and demeene 
 unto you in suche wise, that ye shal be right wele 
 pleasid. 
 
 And as for the matier concernyng my Lord of Bed- 
 ford, thinketh nat contrarye, but that ye shal finde me 
 heftly welwillid to doo that I can or may for th'accom- 
 plesshment of youre desire, as wel in that matier as in 
 other, like as your servaunte John Bokking, berer 
 hereof, can clierlier reporte unto you on my behalve ; 
 to whom like hit you to yeve feith and credence in 
 this partie. And the blissid Trinitee have you ever- 
 lastingly in His keping. 
 
 Written in my Manoir of Lamehith, the xxvj. daie 
 of March. 
 
 Your feithfull and trew, TH. CANT. 
 
 280. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 30 March. 
 DAME ALICE OGARD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 290.] 
 
 This letter would appear to have been written in the year 1456, as Thomas 
 Fairclowe, D.D., was presented to the church of Attleborough on the zd 
 August in that year by Dame Alice Ogard as patron.
 
 A.U. 1456.] HENR Y VI. 383 
 
 To my right wurshipfull cosyn, yohn Paston, Esquyer. 
 
 YGHT worshippfull and enterly belovyd cosyn, 
 I comaund me to yow hertyly ; latyng yow 
 wete that there ys a contraversie mevyd be 
 twix my cosyn John Radeclyff l of Attylburgh 
 and me for the advoweson of the chirch of Attylburgh, 
 the whech ys now voide, wheroff the title is myn veryly 
 as God knowith, the whech shall be oppenyd unto 
 yow ; and upon Thursday next atte' Wymondham, 
 there shall be take an enquerre de jure patronatus afore 
 Master Robert Popy and Master Symond Thornham, 
 atte whech day I may nought be my selff as God 
 knowyth, and thow I myght, yt were not convenyent. 
 And therfore, ryght trusty cosyn, consideryng that I 
 am a wed owe impotent as of body, tendyrly and 
 hertily I pray you, yf yt lyke yow, to be there assistyng 
 my councell in my right as reson and lawe will upon 
 Thursday next, be viij. of the clokke ; and Fyncharn, 2 
 Spelman, and othir of my councell shall be than there 
 waytyng upon yow. And, jentyll cosyn, have me excuse'd 
 thowh I wryte thus brefly and homly to yow, for in 
 trouth I do it of a synguler trust and affection, the 
 wheche I have in yow, consideryng the goode nome 
 and fame of trouth', wysdom, and good conducte, the 
 which I here of you. And therfor, and ye may to youre 
 well, I beseche you hertyly to be there, and ye shall 
 nought lese therby with the grace of Almyghty Jesu, 
 the wheche evyr preserve and promote you, gentill 
 cosyn, in moche worship to youre hertys ease. 
 
 Atte Bokenham Castell, on Teuysday in Pache 
 weke, in hast D. A. OGARD. 3 
 
 1 John Radcliff, Esq., married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Walter, 
 Lord Fitz- Walter. He was in her right called Lord Fitz- Walter, and was 
 killed at Ferrybridge in 1461. 
 
 2 Simeon Fincham, of Fincham, Esq. His son John married Agnes, 
 daughter of John Spelman, of Bcckerton, Esq., I suppose the person here 
 mentioned. He died in 1460, and Simeon in 1458. F. 
 
 a Dame Alice Ogard was the widow of Sir Andrew Ogard, Knight, whose 
 first wife was Margaret, the daughter of Sir John Clifton, Knight, of Boken- 
 ham Castle. He died in 1454, and Alice, his relict, in 1460. F.
 
 384 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.U. 1456. 
 
 281. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 8 May. 
 
 JOHN BOCKYNG TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is quite certain, not only from the circumstance of 
 the 5th May being a Wednesday in 1456, as mentioned in the beginning, but 
 also from Ascension Day falling between that and the 8th, the day on which 
 this letter was written. 
 
 To my worshipful maister, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 IRE, please it your maistership to wyte that on 
 Wednesday, the v. day of Maij, I received a 
 lettre from you by the prestis man of Wal- 
 syngham, and the Ascencion Day, 1 in the 
 mornyng, I received a lettre from yow bi the handes of 
 John Frays, my maisteris man, in whiche bothe moche 
 thinge is conteyned whiche alle at this tyme I may not 
 answere un to my comyng the nexte weke. And as to 
 our atteynte, 2 the Chief Justice hathe, sithe this day 
 sevenyght, kept the Gildehalle in London with alle the 
 Lordes and Juges, sauf one in eche place. My Maister 
 Markham yesterday rode owte of London be tymes. 
 Notwithstanding we called ther upon, and hadde at 
 the barre Chokke, 3 Letelton, 4 Jenney, 5 Illyngworth, 6 
 John Jenney, and Dyne, and remembrid the longe 
 hangyng and the trouthe of the matier, with the grete 
 hurte of the partie in the tyme ; and we have rule the 
 next terme betymes, and non otherwise, for to morwe 
 the juges sitten ayen in the toune. Mayster Yelver- 
 ton can not be myry for Wyrmegey, and as for the 
 distresse, it is a non omittas, and therfore Poley may 
 and wil retorne what isseus he will. If thei be smale, 
 we shall suffre at this time ; if thei be grete, we must 
 
 1 Ascension Day was the 6th May in 1456. 
 
 2 See Nos. 223, 224, &c. 
 
 a Richard Choke, berjeanl-at-law, afterwards Judge of the Common Pleas. 
 4 Thomas Lyttelton, the great lawyer, at this time King's Serjeant, after- 
 wards Judge of the Common Pleas, famous for his treatise on "Tenures." 
 8 William Jenney. 
 6 Richard Illingworth, afterwards Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 385 
 
 appere for Wyngfelde ; and moche labour we have to 
 conceyve a goode warant of attorney. We shal plede 
 the next terme, for as at this tyme we wold on Mon- 
 day enparle and we may. 
 
 Ye must suerly entrete the shireve, for we have 
 moche to doo with hym, as yesterday hadde we a grete 
 day also in th'eschequer. Myn maister 1 is moche 
 bounde to Haltofte, and there we ar assigned day over 
 to the next terme, and dwelle in law. Our counsail 
 was longe or thei come, but at the laste thei acquitte 
 them weel. The bille was thought not by all that 
 stode at the barre that wer of nother partie. We ar 
 joyned in the sute of the obligacion in the Comon 
 Place ayenst Jenney and Howes. As for attachement, 
 ye may none have withowte ye or on of yow make 
 your othe in propre persone before the barons. I 
 wolde have doon it ; I cowde not be amytted. And 
 as for other processe, it is advised that by the cors of 
 th'eschequer I shall take a venire facias ayenst Went- 
 worthe, Andrews, longe Barnard, and Deyvill ad 
 respondendum quare in possessionem, <&c. ingressi sunt. 
 And we must telle where other Coughawe or Kirkeley, I 
 suppose ; and therupon a distresse and an attache- 
 ment ; nevertheles by your othe, &c., hereafter. And 
 it is thought good that the same men shal be in the 
 writte of ravyshment. Jenney hath advised us to ley 
 it in Blithinge hundred, and I have taken of hym 
 names \ for as for London it is to nyghe enbracerye, 
 as ye thought well, and soo is Middlesex. Maister 
 Yelverton conceyvith it weel to your entent. There 
 are aboughte and in Suffolk but fewe men as of gentil- 
 men and men of substance, but if [unless] it be in 
 Blithing hundre, were Hopton is grete ; but Jenney 
 dredeth it not we may have good men at large ; and 
 as for the hundre, he wil doo inow thereinne. 
 
 As for the tailes of iiij xx //. {four score pounds\, as 
 yette we shal doo weel inowghe and thei were con- 
 tentid ; or thei that shal have the silvere, the noyse 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf. 
 2 C
 
 386 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 were the lesse, for it shall, in pledyng, alwey be 
 rehersid by our contrarie party that for x. marc we 
 have alle that evere ther is, &c. I can not here how 
 Wentworthe takith this matier by no meane ; what he 
 meneth I wote not. He is no thing pleasid with the 
 matier of the bille in th'eschequer. Thomas Denys 
 come yesterday, and none erste. I wolde Arblaster 
 and he spoke with yow this vacacion. I write noo 
 more til my comyng. 
 
 As for tidinges, noon othere thanne I sent yow 
 laste ; but forthe on the same, all is as it was with the 
 Quene, 1 the Prince and myn Lord York ar stille at 
 Tutbury and Sandale, and my Lord of Warrewick at 
 Warreivick. My Lord Bukingham rode on Ascencion 
 Even to Writell, noo thing wel plesid, and sumwhat on 
 easid of herte to his purpose ; for the King hathe ley 
 in London Friday, Saterday, Sonday, Monday, Teus- 
 day, and Wednesday remevid to Westminster agen. 
 In alle whiche tyme, men of London that wer chargid 
 and sworne wolde not nor hadde noo thing presentid 
 sauf trespas ; this day thei shal sitte ayen. The peas 
 is weel kepte, but the straungiers 2 ar soore a dradde, 
 and dar not come on brode. Here is alle that I knowe 
 as yet. Our Lord Jesu be with yow. 
 
 Writen at Suthwerk the viij. day of Maij. 
 
 I have paied to Dory O., and with moche peyne 
 made hym to ghete day of the other Cs. til the 
 nexterme. Your owen J. B. 
 
 Endorsed in a seventeenth century hand. L'ra Joh'is Bokking, Attorn, in 
 Commiini Banco. 
 
 282. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 15 May. 
 JOHN BOOKING TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 130.] 
 Whitsun eve, the day on which this letter is dated, fell on the isth May in 
 
 1 A full stop after " Quene " would improve the grammar of this sentence, 
 but the original is entirely without punctuation. The writer evidently meant 
 that the Queen and Prince were at Tutbury, and the Duke of York at Sandale. 
 
 * The foreign merchants. A riot took place about this time in London, in 
 which the houses of foreigners were attacked. See Fabyan's " Chronicle ;" 
 also Brown's "Venetian Calendar," L 81, 84.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 387 
 
 1456, just a week after the date of last letter ; and no one can doubt that they 
 both belong to the same year. 
 
 To my Maister Fasten. 
 
 ORSHIPFUL Sir, and my good maister, I 
 recomaunde me to yow. This day I come 
 home ; and as to our materes, I shall be 
 with yow on Monday and Teusday next, be 
 my maisters advys, and enforme yow of all, and of 
 suche as I will not write. Your cofre is at the Prinse 
 Inne ; sende for it whane ye like, be the token, I 
 hadde of Margret Goche a boke of lawe that Wigge 
 brought me. As for tidyngs, my maistys your brother 
 faren weel, and recomaunde them to my maistresse, 
 there moder, to yow, and to all, &c. 
 
 As for tidings elles, the Kyng is at Shene, the Quene 
 and Prince at Tutbury, but if it be the latter remev- 
 yng. Tidings were that the Lord Beaumont was slayn, 
 and my Lord Warrewik sore hurte, m 1 . [1000] men 
 slayn, and vj xx . [six score] knyghts and squiers hurte, 
 and no thing trewe, blessed be God. As for the 
 Lumbards, 1 ij. of the trespasers were hanged on Mon- 
 day, and there ar be this tyme proclamacions made, or 
 shall be, thorwe London, the pees to be kepte up on 
 grete peynes ; and the Lumbards to occupie the mer- 
 chaundizes as thei dide til the Counsail or Parlament 
 have otherwise determyned. And noo more as yet. 
 
 The atteynte abidith unreuled til the next terme, as 
 I shal telle yow, and it shal doo weel with God is 
 grace, hoe have yow in kepyng and all youres. 
 
 Writen at Caster vigilia Pentecostal. 
 
 Your owen J. B. 
 
 283. 
 
 A.D. 1456 (?), [16 May]. 
 HENRY WINDSOR TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 278.] 
 
 The date of this letter is doubtful. The two pieces of intelligence at the 
 beginning were certainly both false rumours, as the writer, indeed, seems to 
 
 1 See Note 2, preceding page.
 
 388 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 have suspected. Henry VI. never went to Scotland in manner of'war, and 
 the Earl of Wiltshire never was made Chancellor. But the time when those 
 rumours seem most likely to have arisen was in the year 1456, when the 
 Duke of York had been deprived of the Protectorate. The Earl of Wiltshire, 
 being of the opposite party to York, was not unlikely to have been talked of as 
 Chancellor, although the Chancellorship was given on the 7th of March to the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. As to the rumoured expedition against Scotland, 
 we know that in the preceding year James II., in defiance of the truce, laid 
 siege to Berwick, which offered a gallant resistance (Xicolas's Privy Council 
 Proceedings, vi. 248)1 This, however, does not appear immediately to have 
 led to open war between the two countries. Diplomatic relations were still 
 carried on till, on the loth of May 1456, James II. despatched Lyon Herald 
 to the King of England to declare plainly that the Truce of 1453 was injurious 
 to Scotland, and that he did not mean to abide by it (Lambeth MS. 211, 
 f. 146 b). No reply was made to this message till the 26th of July, when an 
 answer was despatched by the Duke of York in the King's name (see Rymer 
 xL 383) ; but there can be little doubt the desire to punish the insolence of 
 the Scots must have been very general long before. 
 
 FTER humble and due recommendacion, 
 please it your gode maistership to under- 
 stand that atte makyng of this my pour letter 
 ther were no noveltees with us, but suche as 
 yee understocie full well afor your departyng, except 
 the Kyng woll in to Scotland in all maner wyse of 
 werre, and that my Lord of Weltshire shal be made 
 Chaunceller. I suppose the better is but a sclaunder, 
 and therfore be ye avised howe ye delyver theym as 
 tidynges. 
 
 Also I wotte full well where I lefte you in suche 
 matiers as it pleassed you to make me of your counsell, 
 as touchyng oon matier specially ; and howe that ye 
 said unto me whenne I desired your goode maister- 
 ship to shewe favour in suche as ye best myght yf 
 any thing shuld be shewed ad lumen, my Maister F. 
 except; and howe that ye answered and said as it 
 pleassed you that I was conquered, in trouth, that 
 shuld preve but a full grete unstabulnes in me with 
 more. Sac. But, Sir, I pray you howe some ever my 
 maister rekeneth with any of his servaunts, bring not 
 the matier in revolution in the open Courte, for and it 
 were ones opened afore the Juges howe that any lettre 
 patentes shuld be purchased of an ante date, 1 and the 
 defaute faunde in me, ye wold be a m 1 - [thousand] tymes 
 
 1 A law was passed in the eighteenth year of Henry VI. to put a stop to 
 the abuse of persons having interest about the Court procuring antedated
 
 A. D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 389 
 
 avised, and my Maister F. both, or that ye wold amend 
 me soo much as I shuld be appered therbe. And 
 therfor I beseche you be well avised howe that matier 
 be opened for myn ease. 
 
 I was not desired to write unto you of no on persone, 
 so God be my help, yourself except ; but I wold ye 
 wold take avise and counsell of the Freest that hadde 
 you soo long under hand on Shorthursday, 1 whenne I 
 and my feleship, God thank you, hadde of you right 
 grete chere to our grete comfort and your grete coste, 
 howe that the same Freest understandeth this letter 
 of the Gospell underwriten : " Jesus dixit Simoni Petro, 
 Si peccav[er]it in te frater tuus, vade et corripe eum inter 
 te et ipsum solum ; si te audierit lucratus es fratrem 
 tuum. Si autem te non audierit, adhibe tecum adhuc 
 unum vel duos, ut in ore duorum vel trium testium stet 
 omne verbum. Quod si non audierit, die ecclesiae ; si 
 autem ecclesiam non audierit, sit tibi sicut ethnicus et 
 publicanus," etc. And in another place, " Tune acce- 
 dens Petrus ad Jesum dixit, Domine, quotiens petevit 
 \peccabit\ in me frater meus, [et] dimittam ei? usque 
 septies ? Dicit illi Jesus, Non dico tibi, usque septies, 
 set usque septuagesies septies." 2 
 
 My maister can doo no thing, the which shall come 
 in open audience at thise deies, but it shalbe called 
 your dede. Hit is not unknoon that cruell and 
 vengible he hath byn ever, and for the most parte 
 with aute pite and mercy ; I can no more but vade et 
 cqrripe eum, for truly he cannot bryng about his 
 matiers in this word [world"], for the word is not for 
 hym. I suppose it wolnot chaunge yetts by likelenes, 
 but I beseche you, Sir, help not to amend hym onely, 
 by [/?] every other man yf ye kno any mo mysse 
 disposed. 
 
 letters patent, by means of which they were enabled to claim the emoluments 
 jf lands or offices granted to them from a date anterior to the actual passing 
 of the grant. See Hardy's Introduction to the Patent Rolls of King John. 
 p. xxx. 
 
 1 Shere or Shore Thursday, Maundy Thursday, the day before Good 
 Friday. 
 
 * St. Matthew's Gospel, chap, xviii, ver. 15, 16, 17, and ver. 21, 92.
 
 39 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 I canno more, but as I can or mey, I shal be his 
 servaunt and youres unto such tyme as ye woll co- 
 mande me to sursese and leve of, yf it please hym. 
 
 Sir, I pray you take this copy 1 of your statute, it is 
 not examined be me, for I found hit thise v. yeres 
 pessed. 
 
 Writan in my slepyng tyme at after none, on Wyt- 
 sonday. Also, Sir, yf I have rehersed wyttyngly the 
 text of the Gospell syngularly unto your maistership, 
 I beseche you to be had excused. 
 
 Your own, 
 
 H. W. 
 
 284. 
 A.D. 1456, i June. JOHN RUSSE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 To my Maister Paston, in haaste. 
 
 Please your good maistirship to wete that my Lord of Norffolk 
 yaf in comaundement to Cristofre and to the balif of Colneise 
 to laboure with us acording to your mocion. And as to 
 Skilly, fermour of Cowhaugh, we enteryd there, and seyd we 
 wold have payment for the half yeer past, and sewrete for the 
 half yeer comynge, or ellys we wold distreyne and put hym out 
 of pocession, and put in a newe fermoure ; and so oure demenyng 
 was suche that we toke no distresse, and yit we have hym bounde 
 in an obligacion of xviij//'. payabil at Michelmesse without con- 
 decion, and vjs. viij</. we receyvid of hym for opocession, for the 
 ferme as yit remayneth on gatherid in the fermourez handes. But 
 I seyd hym I wold be ther ageyn for the recedu of the half yeer 
 ferme past withinne this xiiij. dayes ; and he seyd he wold do hlse 
 delygence to gather it up. But he spak with Wentworth sethyn, 
 whiche yef hym an uttyr rebuke, as he swor to me, and seyd he 
 wold have hys payment of Skylly, and sewe hise oblygacion 
 this next terme whiche he is bounden in to Wentworth for the 
 yeerly payment of the same ferme; and the seyd Wentworth seyd 
 he wyll takyn an accyon of trespas this next terme ageyn us that 
 were there ; and Devyle seyd ye were hender the londes at the 
 begynning of your sute thanne ye be now, and that shalbe knowe 
 be Lammesse next comyng, for he hathe thynges to shewe ye saw 
 
 1 This relates to papers sent with this letter, and accounts for there being 
 no direction, as the whole was enclosed" in a parcel. F.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 391 
 
 nevyr yit. Skilly offend me xls. to have delyvered hym ageyn 
 hise obligacion, and he wold have put me in pocession of a dis- 
 tresse, and [i.e., if] I wold have delyvered it hym ; he seithe he dede 
 nevyr so mad a dede, for Wentworth wold no bettyr mean thane 
 we had takyn a distresse. He shuld sone have remedyed that ; but 
 now he seith Skylls is withoute remedy, but he will be payd, &c. 
 
 Item, Sir, as to the fermourez of the manor of Langston in Brustal, 
 we have also sewyrte be oblygacion withoute condecion payabil 
 at Michilmesse, and toke no distresse but enteryd the londes ; but 
 we had gret peyne to brynge hem ther to, for ther is one John 
 Cook of Braunford hath it in ferme of Wentworth all, and he leteth 
 it out ageyn be parcelles to iij. sondre persones. But he was not 
 at home, where for we have the same fermourez bounde for payment, 
 and they had no mony redy, but they have promysed to delyvere 
 Kerry Deye at Yepiswiche this day xxj. in party of payment. 
 
 Item, Sir, as to the fermour of the maner of Bentley, clepid 
 Bentley Houses, we have hym bonde in lyke wyse for the ferme 
 of the seyd maner from Michilmesse last past tyl Mychelmesse 
 next comyng, in an obligacion of x. marks payabil at Michilmesse 
 next comyng, without ony condecyon ; and in party of payment I 
 have receyvid of hym x'rijs. iiijd., and he promyseth me iiij. 
 markes at Lammesse next comyng. And as for Bradwell, my 
 maistir 1 hathe sewyrte ; and as for Kyrley Hawe, I was with the 
 fermour yistirday, but he wyll paye no peny, nor be bounde 
 neithir. Wherfor my maistir shal sende us to take a distresse 
 tomorwyn, and I truste we shal fynde sum meanys to have hym 
 bounde, &c. 
 
 Item, John Andrewe hathe in fee yerly of the maner of Coug- 
 haugh xxs., and Thomas Denys xiijV. \i\]d. of the maner of Fox- 
 hole, but as ferre as I can enquere, there is payd no more feez 
 out of non of the maneris to none othir men but to these tweyne. 
 
 Item, as for the endenturis, I sende here with a copy of Skyl- 
 lyez endenture and a copy of Deynis endenture, fermour of the 
 maner of Bentley, clepid Bentley Houses ; and Kerry Deye shal 
 brynge a copy of John Cooks endenture of the ferme of the maner 
 of Langston in Brustall; and as for Wareyn Bonde, he mad 
 nevyr endenture for the ferme of Kyrkley Hawe, for he hathe 
 ocupyed it but sethin Michilmesse last past ; and so he holdith 
 it but be promyse upon compnaunt [covenant?}. And we shal 
 gete a copy of Sewalys endenture, fermour of Bradwelle, and me 
 semyth, savyng your bettyr avyse, it war right expedient that 
 ye shuld for the sped of this mater be at London in al haste. 
 
 Primo die Junii anno xxxiiij. 8 
 
 Youre humble servaunt and bedeman, 
 
 JOHN RUSSE. 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 2 The 34th year of the reign of Henry VI. This date is added in a differ- 
 ent hand, apparently that of John Faston, to whom the letter is addressed.
 
 39* THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1456. 
 
 285. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 7 June. 
 JOHN BOOKING TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 134.] 
 
 On comparing this with the previous letters of Bocking, Nos. 281 and 282, 
 it will be seen that they must all three be of the same year. 
 
 To my right good maisfer, John Paston, Squier, at 
 Norwiche, in haste. 
 
 I, please it your maistership to wyte, I have 
 my attachements graunted in open Courte 
 with helpe of Litelton l and Hewe at Fen, 
 and was bide to make redy the names, &c, 
 before the Barons, of which Haltoft 2 was one. . . . 
 
 As for tidings, the Kyng is at Shene, the Quene at 
 Chestre ; the Due of Buk was, as I come hiderward, 
 at Writell, the Erie of Warrewyke at Werrewyke, and 
 the Lords Chaunceller, 4 Tresorier, 5 and th'Erle of 
 Sar' [Salisbur}>\ in London, and noo more Lords at 
 the begynyng this day of the grete Counsail. Many 
 men say that there shuld be, but thei wote not what. 
 The sege shall, as men say, come to Caleys and to 
 Guynes, for moche puple come overe the water of 
 Somme, and grete navies on the see. 
 
 Th'Erle of Penbroke 6 is with the Kyng, and noo 
 more Lordis. Th'Erle of Richemond 7 and Griffith 
 Suoh (?) are at werre gretely in Wales. The Comons 
 of Kent, as thei werre wo[n]tte, er not all weel disposid, 
 for there is in doyng amongs hem what evere it bee. 
 
 1 Thomas Lyttelton See p. 384, Note 4. 2 Gilbert Haltoft. 
 
 3 Here, in the origin.il, followed various passages relating to law business, 
 which Fenn has not printed. 
 
 4 Archbishop Bourchier. 
 
 * Henry, Viscount Bourchier, was appointed Lord Treasurer on the 29th 
 May 1455 (Patent Roll, 33 Hen. VI.. p. 2, m. 12). and so continued till the sth 
 October 1456, when the office was taken from him and given to the Earl of 
 Shrewsbury (Patent, 35 Hen. VI., p. i, m. 16). 
 
 Jasper Tudor. See p. 266, Note 3. 
 
 7 Edmund Tudor. See p. 266, Note 2.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VI. 393 
 
 Of Scotts is here but litell talkyng. My Lord York is 
 at Sendall stille, and waytith on the Quene and she 
 up on hym. 
 
 I dide my maistress your moderis erands, as ye 
 have herde of, for Maister William hath writen his 
 entente, and he and Clement faren weel. 
 
 Writen at Horshighdone, vij mo die Junij. 
 
 Rokewode and Crane faren weel, and thei and I 
 recomaunde hem to my maistress your wif. 
 
 And as I understande, the Clerke of the Rolles is 
 owte of charite with Maister Yelverton, and my Lord 
 Chaunceller a litell mevid, &c. 
 
 Your owen, J. B. 
 
 286. 
 A.D. 1456, 1 8 June. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 242.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON, ESQ. 
 
 As to the matters on which Paston sent to him by Will. Barker 
 to desire his advice, Paston knows that Fastolf has put his whole 
 confidence in him, and begs he will do with the advice of Fastolf's 
 learned counsel whatever they jointly think for his weal ; "for ye 
 know well I am so visited by the hand of God that I may not deal 
 with such troublous matters, without it should be to great hurt of 
 my bodily welfare, which I trust ye would not desire." If you find 
 my Lady of York disposed to visit this poor place, commend me 
 to her, and tell her how it is with me that I cannot receive her 
 as I ought. 
 
 Castre, 18 June. 
 
 [As it will appear a little further on that the Duchess of York visited 
 Caister in 1456, this letter is probably of that year.] 
 
 287. 
 A.D. 1456, 24 June. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 263.] 
 
 SIR J. FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 To-day my cousin Sir Miles Stapleton, Sir James Braylyes, 
 Andrew Grygges, " hyr resseyvor," and Grymston have been with
 
 394 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 Fastolf at Castre, and brought him 253 marks, which they would 
 have paid if he had had the obligation here. Sends therefore a 
 letter by his servant Colyn how Sir S. and he are agreed for its 
 deliverance, &c. Sir S. made many strange insinuations that the 
 money was paid before, partly by assignment to Clyffton, &c. 
 On the i8th and igth inst. "long Bernard, with a priest of 
 Kent, to the number of 16 horse, hafe, at Nacton, Bentley, and 
 other places of F., and entered by colour of a deed of feoffment 
 made to the Lady Roos and others, and hafe right proud language 
 to the farmers, that they will obtain their intent." Russe has 
 written more plainly by Nich. Colman. 
 
 " Item, I charge right greatly the matter of my Lord of Bedford 
 for mydischarge, and for the recovery of my Lord's goods." Begs 
 Paston to common with the Lord Chancellor and others about it ; 
 and desires him to give "mine attorney, Raulyns, and my Serjeants" 
 a warning " to take more tenderness " about the process of Hyke- 
 lyng that has been so many years and days driven off. 
 
 St. John Baptist's Day. 
 
 [From the reference to "the matter of my Lord of Bedford," this letter 
 was most probably written in the year 1456.] 
 
 288. 
 A.D. 1456, 24 June. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 238.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 "First it is to remember that, upon St. John's day, there was 
 Sir Symond Brayles, chaplain of my Lady of Suffolk, and in 
 presence of Sir Miles Stapleton and Edward Grymston, said that 
 the 200 marks was paid before in the Duke of Suffolk's days." 
 Can prove by writings that this was not so, and that he "offered 
 to put it upon my Lord Chancellor and upon one or two of Lords 
 of the King's council as my said Lord Chancellor will call unto 
 him," that it may be known whether my Lady is wronged or 
 Fastolf. The .100 of the above sum was not paid by assignment 
 to Clyffton. Sir Simon complains that the suit was stolen against 
 Sir Thos. Tuddenham, and judgment given without my Lady's 
 counsel knowing of it ; which can be disproved. 
 
 Castre, St. John Baptist's Day. 
 
 "Item, I remembered Sir Simon for the restitution of my 
 revenues of Dedham 3 year day, and my damage of a mill put 
 down," &c. I paid 500 marks for the ward of Sir Rob. Har- 
 lyng's daughter for my Lord to Sir John Clyfton, of which the 
 Duke had no right to receive one penny, for there was no land 
 held of the King. 
 
 [This letter corresponds so closely with the last that it must have been 
 written the same day.]
 
 A.D. I456-] HENR Y VI. 395 
 
 289. 
 
 A.D. 1456 (?) [29 June.] 
 FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Dr. John Brackley, the writer of this letter, was a Grey Friar of Norwich,- 
 of considerable celebrity as a preacher. Several letters of his are found in 
 this collection, written in the years 1459 and 1460. This, however, must be 
 a few years earlier, as in 1459 Brackley writes of William Worcester in very 
 different terms. The handwriting also is not so close as that of his later 
 letters. We cannot, however, carry the date further back than 1455, as it 
 seems that Worcester and Howes were at this time together, which must have 
 been at Caister. Nor will the year 1455 itself suit all the circumstances of 
 the letter, for it is evident that John and William Paston were also together, 
 and as the writer asks John Paston to speak to Yelverton, it may be pre- 
 sumed they were in London. Now, John Paston was certainly not in London 
 within a week after St. John the Baptist's Day in 1455. We Have therefore 
 placed the letter in 1456. It will be observed that, on the ist of June in that 
 year, John Russe advised Paston to go up to London. 
 
 Honorabili viro Johanni Paston armigero ac confratri 
 suo Willelmo germane uterino. 1 
 
 |YTE reverent Syre, &c. I am informyd credy- 
 bily of a secrete frend that S. T. T. [Sir 
 Thomas Tuddenham\ andj. H. \_John Hey dori\, 
 with J. A. \_John Andrews f\ and other of 
 cursyd covy, wyl bryng with hem many gentylmen of 
 here bende to compleyn upon me at the next chapitle, 
 &c. And there fore, by the grace of God, I dispose 
 me, with help of zour good maysterschip and my 
 Mayster Willyam, zour brother. Where fore, at the 
 reverens of God, that ze do speke with the clerk men 
 clepyn Brayn, that kepyth the bokys of here indite- 
 mentes at the oyer determyner, anno xxix regni Regis ; 
 and that an extret or a copy myte schortly be wrytyn 
 owt of as many namys as dedyn indyte T. T. and J. H. 
 for trespas, extorsyones, and oppressyonys done to 
 other men, as wele as to my Mayster Fastolff, etc., that 
 I may be redy to schew to my ordre, lyk a kalender, 
 a legende of here lyvys and here rewlyng of the cuntre, 
 
 1 This address is in William Worcester's hand. The letter itself is in 
 Brackley's own.
 
 39 6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 in destruccyon and gret myschef of the cuntre in here 
 dayes. At the reverens of Jesu, forzet not this mater, 
 ne the mater of Dedham, etc. I wolde ze askyd my 
 good lord and mayster, Yelverton, yf I sent hym ony 
 letter in the same mater, &c. Dicente Davitico 
 Psalmo : 1 Ne obliviscaris -voces inimicorum iuorum, 
 nam superbia eorum ascendit semper in psalmo ; qui et 
 si nunquam ascendant in coelos, utinam nunquam de- 
 sendant ab \_a(T\ abissos, &c.. etsi anima eorum in 
 malis tabescebat, &c. Scriptum festinacione (?) feria 
 3 a post festum Natalis Sancti Johannis Baptistse. 2 
 Recommendetis me magistro meoW. Paston, confratri 
 vestro, et Thomae Playter cognato meo, cui dicite quod 
 faciat Willelmum Geneye sibi benivolum quia Sampson 
 filius et heres J. Sampson olim mariti Katerinse 
 Fastolff apud Owlton mortuus, et ibi sunt duae viduae, 
 major et minor, senior et junior. Eligatur quse sibi 
 melius placet. 
 
 Magister Thomas Howys vobis amantissimus se 
 cordialissime recommendat vobis, etc. Item, Willel- 
 mus Wigorniensis recommendat se vobis ex toto corde. 
 Scribo vobis, utinam ad placitum. 
 
 Vester ad vota, 
 
 F. J. B., Minorum minimus. 
 
 I hafe a rolle redy of the inditements, that they 
 were indityd for trespase and extorsyon and oppres- 
 syon done to my Mayster Fastolff, in the keping of 
 W. Worceter, &c. 
 
 Visa frangatur et in ignem post jaciatur. Si digne- 
 mini loqui cum effectu magistro Ricardo Fysscher, 
 secretario domini mei comitis Warwicensis, pro cujus 
 nomine et amore promptissimus sum adhuc plura pad, 
 ut mittatur pro me litera magistro provinciali et diffini- 
 toribus. 
 
 1 See Psalm Ixxiii. (or Ixxiv.) 23. 
 
 8 St. John the Baptist's Day is the 24th June. Feria tertia means Tuesday.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VI. 397 
 
 290. 
 
 A.D. 1456 (?), 17 July. 
 HENRY FYLUNGLEY TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 166.] 
 
 This letter must have been written about the time Sir John Fastolf first 
 began to make inquiry on what terms he could obtain a license for establish- 
 ing a college at Caister, a project which he had much at heart during the 
 latter years of his life. A letter from Sir John himself upon this subject will 
 be found a little further on, dated the i8th November 1456, and we think it 
 probable that this is of the same year. 
 
 To my ryght worship/nil unkle, and my ryght good 
 master, Syr John Fastalf, Knyght. 
 
 ijYGHT worshipfull unkull, and my ryght good 
 master, I recomaund me to yow wyth all 
 my servys. And, Sir, my brother Paston 
 and I have comened togeder as touchinge to 
 your colage that ye wold have made ; and, Sir, hit ys 
 to gret a good that ys axed of yow for youre lycens ; 
 for they ax for every C. marc that ye wold amortyse 
 D. marcz, and woll gefe hit noo better chepe. 
 
 And, Sir, y told my brother Paston that my Lady of 
 Bargeveney 1 hath, in dyvers Abbeyes in Lecestershyre, 
 vij. or viij. prestes singinge for her perpetuell, by my 
 brother Darcyes and my unkle Brokesbyes meanes, 
 for they were her executors ; and they acorded for 
 money, and gafe a cc. or ccc. marc, as they myzt 
 acord for a prest. And for the suerte that he shuld 
 synge in the same abbey for ever, they had maners of 
 good valew bounden to such persones as plesed the 
 sayd barthern \brethren\, Brokkesby and my brother 
 Darcy, that the sayd servyse shulde be kept. And 
 for lytell moore then the Kynge axed hem for a 
 lycence, they went thorgh with the sayd abbots. And 
 y hold this wey as sure as that other. Ye may comen 
 with youre councell therof. 
 
 1 Edward Nevill, Lord Abergnvenny, was twice married. His first v/ife, 
 to whom he owed his title, was Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Bermchan; p, 
 Earl of Worcester. His second was Catherine, daughter of Sir Robert 
 Howard. The Lady here mentioned is probably the former, for though 
 Dugdale says he obtained a dispensation for his second marriage in 1448, 
 that date is inconsistent with the age of his son and other facts mentioned.
 
 39 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 And yf there be any servyse that I can do for yow, 
 hit shall be redy at all tymes, with the grace of God, 
 who have yow in his kepynge. 
 
 Wryten at London, the xvij. day of Juyll. 
 Your nevew and servaunt, 
 
 HENRY FYLUNGLEY. 
 
 291. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 31 July. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS. B.M.] 
 
 This letter is doubtless of the same year as No. 287, in the end of which 
 Fastolf wishes his attorney, Rawlyns, urged to greater activity in the matter 
 of Hickling. 
 
 To my worshipful cousyn, John Paston. 
 
 IGHT trusty and worshipful cousyn, I re- 
 comaunde me to yow. And like it yow to 
 wyte, myn attorny, Raulyns, hathe enformed 
 me that the Jugis have ruled processe to goo 
 owte ayenst the priour of Hikelyng of distresse per 
 omnia bona et catalla, of whiche the writte and other 
 ar not yet come fro London. I trust whan thei come, 
 be your good counsail and meane, the Shireve wil doo 
 his devoir; how be it, as I understande, thei have 
 sente the Lord Scales all there evidences, and he wil 
 come and dwelle there hym silf. And I am also 
 enformed, for certeyn, that the Bushop of Norwiche, 
 for all the truste I hadde to hym, that by his meane I 
 shulde have knowen there fundacion, he hathe warned 
 his officeres not to have adoo therinne, by cause of the 
 Lord Scales, &c. Cousyn, I pray yow, in as moche 
 as the matere, by agrement, was putte in you and 
 Fyncham, and how that ye, for the same cause, spe- 
 cially kepte your day at London, and toke not in 
 there defaulte and not myn, that ye wil soo in caas 
 ye see Fyncham remembre, and to othere there as ye 
 seme it shulde profite to be knowen, and that yet
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VL 399 
 
 nevertheles my sute soo ferforthe I wole yet, as I 
 wolde thanne, and at all tymes am redy ; and soo I 
 vvolde the priour knewe, and all othere, as weel his 
 weehvillers as otheres, as the bringer lierof shall declare 
 you more pleinly. As for tidinges, my folkes ar not 
 yet come fro London. The abbot of Seint Benettes 
 hathe ben with me, and suche as he tolde me the 
 bringer shall enforme you. And our Lord Jesu have 
 you in governaunce. 
 
 Writen at Castre, the last day of Julie. 
 
 Your cousyn, J. F. 
 
 292. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 10 Aug. 
 LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 138.] 
 
 This letter is dated by a memorandum at the bottom of the original, in the 
 handwriting, as Fenn believes, of John Paston : " Lettera inter Mich, xxxiiij. 
 et xxxv." 
 
 To my right trusly and intierly welbeloved frend, John 
 Paston, Squier. 
 
 |IGHT trusty and entierly welbeloved frend, I 
 grete you well, and wull ze wite that Danyell x 
 hath required me to write un to you, praying 
 you that ze wyll kepe the day upon Thurs- 
 day 2 vij. dayes nexst comyng, which shal be for the 
 best, as I trust ; not with standyng I suppose lerned 
 men wyll not be easy for to gete be cause of this besy 
 tyme of hervest. Almyghty God have you in Hise 
 governaunce. 
 
 Writen at Mydelton, 3 the x. day of August. 
 Your frend, 
 
 SCALES. 
 
 1 Thomas Daniel of Rising. See pp. 65, 84, &c. * loth August. 
 
 3 In Norfolk.
 
 400 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 293. 
 About A.D. 1456 (?). LORD SCALES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is placed immediately after another letter of Lord Scales, dated 
 like this from his seat at Middleton in Norfolk, as probably belonging to the 
 same period, though the exact year is uncertain. 
 
 To my right trusty and welbeloved frend, John Paston, Squitr. 
 
 Right trusty and welbeloved frend, I grete you hertly well 
 And for as mych as I u[ndyrstond] a bill was made at Vermuth 
 ageyns my cousyn Bryan Stapylton and hise wy. . . . have 
 set up the said bill in the Kynges Bench, which bill is in your 
 kepyng, pray[ing] you that ye wyll sende me the same bill be the 
 bringer herof, to the entent I m[ay] se it. And as I am informed 
 be my said cousyn, ye shewed hym grete gentilnesse and beny- 
 volence, wherof I thanke you right hertely. I pray God have 
 you in governance. 
 
 Writen at Midelton, the xx. day of Septembre. 
 
 Zowr frend, SCALES. 
 
 294. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 7 Sept. 
 ARCHBISHOP BOURCHIER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 276.] 
 
 This letter may be presumed to have been written during the time that 
 Archbishop Bourchier was Lord Chancellor, viz., between yth March 1455 
 and nth October 1456, when the Great Seal was given to Bishop Waynfleet. 
 William Norwich, also, was Sheriff of Norwich in 1455, and is doubtless 
 addressed in that capacity, but his year of office would not have begun so 
 early as September. The letter therefore belongs to the following year. 
 
 To our right truste and right welbeloved John Paston, 
 Esquicr, and William Norwiche, 1 and to either of 
 thtym. 
 
 IGHT truste and right welbeloved, we grete 
 you hertly wel. And where as Sir Nichol 
 Bo\vet, Knight, sueth an appeelle in the 
 
 I Sheriff of Norwich, 1455; Mayor, 1461. Died 1463-4- Blomefield.
 
 A.D.I4S6.] HENRY VI, 401 
 
 countee of Norffolk ayenst oon Robert Offord of Berking 
 for the deeth of oon Sir Henry Bowet, clerc, we 
 being enformed that the matier is pitevous, praie 
 you hertly that ye wul in our behalve moeve and 
 entreete the Shirreve of the saide countee to surceese 
 of the execucion of any processe upon the exigent 1 to 
 hym directed in that behalve unto the next terme, so 
 that resonable meanes maye be founden to save the 
 saide Robert harmelesse ; lating hym wite that we 
 have written to the saide Sir Nichol for a convenient 
 treetie to be taken in that behalve, as shalbe thought 
 according to right. And God have you ever in his 
 keping. 
 
 Written in our Manoir of Mortelake, the vij. daie 
 of September. 
 
 T., ARCHBYSSHOPP OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 295. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 8 Oct. JOHN BOOKING TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The body of this letter relates entirely to proceedings in the dispute between 
 Sir John Fastolf and Sir Philip Wentworth about the wardship of Thomas 
 Fastolf. The postscript alone relates to public matters. The date will appear 
 by the footnotes. 
 
 To my right worshipful Maister, John Paston. 
 
 IGHT worshipful Sir, and my good maister, I 
 recomaunde me to yow, and have receyvid a 
 lettre from yow by Sir Thomas is man, berer 
 here of. And as for the accions, 2 bothe of 
 ravishement and th'attachement, the declaracions ar 
 made tune solvend' and not solut\ and as moche 
 amendid as we can or may be favour have amendid. 
 We hadde be beguyled and they hadde not be sen in 
 Norffolk, for here til this day come noo counsaill; and 
 
 1 See p. 222, Note i. * Against Sir Philip Wentworth. 
 
 2D
 
 402 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 to have per manus Johannis Wyngfelde it wole not be, 
 for we can not bringe it inne, and also it is to late. 
 
 And as for iiij xx /z. \fowscorc pounds], 1 Fenn and I 
 mette with Worsop this day, and he spake soore to 
 Fenn and me, and we put hym overe, saying we wolde 
 doo as moche as we myghte. I thinke verily that 
 Fenn wole deserve ther inne a thanke, but I can not 
 understande hym what he wolde be doon to, or how 
 rewardid, for whanne I speke of it he is desplesid, and 
 seithe he desirith noo rewarde ; but he farith as a man 
 wole sey he wold noo silvere, and lokith awaywardes 
 and takith a noble. And he hath written to yow of 
 the matere of Sir Philip Wentworthe touching this 
 writte of liberate," whiche is but a color and noo warant 
 sufficient, ner we owe not to doo no thinge that shuld 
 obeye it, ner the Shireve nother dothe but of favor 
 that he dothe to hem, and hym liste otherwise to doo, as 
 Fenn writeth yow more pleinly. And as for a super sedies 
 [sic], there lithe noon, as he seith, up on a liberate. 
 
 And as for entryng in Bradwell, thei doo opyn 
 wronge, for after myn patent opteyned, there was a 
 writte to sease it into the Kynges hande, and soo it 
 was and is. And as to your patent, it is counsailled 
 me to have a writte to th'eschetor dc custodia liberanda, 
 whiche may not be denyed. And if we myght have una 
 cum exitibus a temporc mortis, it were a sovereigne writte. 
 It shalbe assaied, and doo thertoo what can lete ; the 
 fermours be promised to be saved harmeles and chargid 
 not to paie ony thing to them. 
 
 And as for the iiij xx //. \_fourscore pounds'] to be sette 
 on Olivere is taile, I can not see it wole be, for there 
 is noo suche worlde to bringe it abowte. It is faire, 
 and we can ghete it on Fulthorp is dette by grete labor 
 for agrement, for I drede it wole be moste agayn us 
 that it is of recorde soo longe unpaied. And Hue at 
 Fenn sueth now to Nailer to ghete owte moo liberates, 
 suche as the last were to the last eschetor. And this 
 God graunte thei take good spede. 
 
 1 This sum was to be paid by John Booking and William Worcester for a 
 patent of the wardship of Thomas Fastolf. See Letter 297 following. 
 a See p. 3^0, Note 3.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VI. 403 
 
 And as to your isseus, I shal accordyng to your 
 lettre speke with Gresham whanne he cometh, and 
 the Juges and Barons bothe shalbe enformed of the 
 title of Wentworthe, as ye write, and how it is up on a 
 feyned dede upon surrender, and a patent cancelled, 
 &c., which Fenn hath promisid to doo. 
 
 And as to Sir Thomas matier, I write un to yow 
 and hym joinctly what hathe be doon therinne at this 
 tyme. And Jesu have yow in kepyng. 
 
 Writen at Suthwerk, the viij. day of Octobre. 
 
 As to tidinges, the Kyng and the Quene ar at 
 Coventre. 1 The Counsail be ganne there yesterday, 
 and my Lord Shrewyshbury, 2 Tresorier of England, 
 and John Wode shalb [shall be\ Under-Tresorer. 
 Thus thei say in the Chequer. 
 
 Your owen, J. B. 
 
 296. 
 
 A.D. 1456 (?), 12 Oct. BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is uncertain, but must be between the years 1454 and 
 1450, when Botoner was at Caister. Bocking and Barker seem to have been 
 in London at the time, which we know was the case in February 1456 ; and 
 as we have evidence that Bocking at least was still there in October, we may 
 perhaps attribute this letter to the October of 1456. 
 
 To my Maister Paston. 
 
 JJLEASE yow to wete that I hafe remembred of 
 the langage that I hafe late lerned W. Barker 
 had to yow and othyrs of his accomptes ap- 
 posyng, 3 and of that they be not hole bethyn 
 [between] ws, but yn division, &c. Sir, as I may sey 
 yow, hyt was nevere othyrwyse, ne nevere ys lyke to 
 be ; for now they hafe do with Lowys, he that ys next 
 
 1 The Privy Seal dates show the King to have been at Coventry between 
 the 2oth September and the i4th October 1456. 
 
 2 John Talbot. second Earl of Shrewsbury, was appointed Treasurer on 
 the sth October 1456. Patent Roll, 35 Hen. VI., p. i, m. 16. 
 
 3 The apposing of accounts was the charging of an accountant with the 
 balance due hy him to his employer.
 
 404 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1456. 
 
 shall be yn the same as he was yn gelosye ; for when 
 my maister comaundyth such as of force, by reson of 
 her occupacion, most be nere hym, to do a message to 
 hys felow, or question of hym, hyt shall be ymagyned 
 amonges our felyshyp that he doth make maters to my 
 maister. And so it ys ymagyned of me when I wryte 
 lettres to London, to Bokkyng or Barker, that yn such 
 maters as please hem not, then it ys my doyng; yffit take 
 well to theyr entent, then it ys her \their\ doyng. And 
 yn gode feyth, so it was ymagyned of me and othyrs 
 that wrote, by my maister comaundment, to Castre, 
 to the parson of Blofeld, Geffrey Spyrlyng, and othyrs, 
 that of such maters as was lykyng to hem and coude 
 be sped by help of my maister frendes as by theyr 
 solicytyng, then it was seyd that it was theyr avice, 
 labour, and doyng. And yff the maters went not to 
 my maister entent, ne that they coude not bryng 
 aboute the mater, then it was imagyned and jangled 
 that it was my wrytyng and doyng. I bare nevere 
 my maister purs, ne condyt nevere chargeable mater 
 alone of hys yn lawe, for my discrecion ne con- 
 nyng know not whate such maters menyth. I knew 
 nevere of oyer ne terminer, ne rad nevere patent before, 
 ne my maister knew nevere the condyt of such thynges ; 
 and when he wrote of hys grevonse to hys frendys, he 
 commaunded no man to be endyted, for he wyst not 
 whate belonged to such thynges, ne the parson neyther, 
 but remitted it to his councell lerned. There was no 
 man gretter at hert with hym, as Andreus wyth Hey- 
 don, because of castyng Bradwell and Tychewell yn 
 the Kynges handes, and toke awey the waarde. And 
 I came nevere at the oyer and terminer. 
 
 By God, my maister lost c, marc by a seute of 
 Margyt Bryg upon a defence of atteynt, because a 
 quest passed ayenst hyr of xij. penyworth lond by yeer; 
 and I dar sey and prefe it, my maister never spake of 
 hyr, ne knew hyr not, ne wrote to sew hyr at the oyer 
 and terminer, as I am remembred. Yhyt yt was well 
 defended, at my maister grete cost and labour, and
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 45 
 
 myne pore labour also. Yhyt ought not I, ne none 
 such yn my stede, beer the wyte \blame\ wyth Sir 
 Thomas, ne none othyr ; he that takyth the tolle most 
 take the charge, hyt ys hys negligence that wille take 
 the labour more then he may awey. I wold the par- 
 son ys wellfare asmoch as man lyvyng, to my wreched 
 power ; and yff, or when, ye hyre onye froward ymagy- 
 nacions, I pray yow gefe no credence tille ye hyre it 
 aunsuerd. I am eased of my spyrytes now that I hafe 
 expressed my leude \ignorani\ menyng, because of my 
 felow Barker, as of such othyr berkers ayenst the 
 mone, to make wysemen laugh at her foyle. Our Lord 
 kepe yow. 
 
 Wryt at Castre the xij. day of October. 
 
 Your W. BOTONER. 
 
 I hafe and do purchasse malgre to remembre of 
 evidenses lakkyng by negligence, &c. And therfor I 
 most be muet and suffre gretter losses but [un/ess] it 
 be othyrwyse concydered. I sende yow the copie 
 of your patentes, 1 in parchement, and I hafe remem- 
 bred as well as I can both the stuard and Bertilmeu 
 Elys for execucion ayenst the pleggs of your seyntu- 
 arye, carpenter (?) Snow, that evere ys disposed to 
 breke promysses. Foryefe me of my leude lettre 
 wrytyng, and I pray yow laugh at it 
 
 297. 
 
 A.D. 1456 or 1457. 
 SIR THOMAS HOWES TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS. B.M.] 
 
 This letter is dated by the writer in the 35th year of Henry VI., but he 
 does not say in what month it was written. The 35th of Henry VI. was 
 reckoned from the ist September 1456 to the 3151 August 1457. Taken in 
 connection with the postscript of Botoner's letter immediately preceding (the 
 date of which letter this partly confirms), it is not unlikely that this was 
 
 1 Probably the patent of 6th June 1454, granting the wardship of Thomas 
 Fastolf to John Paston and Thomas Howes. See No. 207, also the letter 
 following.
 
 406 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 written about October. Perhaps " Wednesday after messe " should have been 
 " Wednesday after Michaelmesse." If so, the exact date would be October 
 6th. 
 
 To my right goode maister, John Paston. 
 
 REVERENT Sir, &c. Please yow to wete that 
 it [is] so that my maister, of his owen froward- 
 ness, and of non other mannys mevyng, hat 
 sent a warent to Cristefor that he shuld 
 delyver me no mony tyll the iiij xx //. {fourscore pounds'] 
 where payed for Bokkyng and Wurcestre patent; 1 and 
 yf the seyd Cristefore delyvered me any mony, that 
 he shuld take a sewerte of me therfor, nowthwith- 
 standyng my maister preyed me that I shuld reherce 
 alle thynge in my name, where of I held me content. 
 And now I fele this traytour wrytyng under nethe, and 
 I nowth prevy ther to, at my comyng owt causet me to 
 thynk the more hevynes, &c. Nevertheles, I prey yow 
 that a mene may be taken of trety by the mene of 
 Clopton or Ellys. Sende me word, and I shal seke 
 menys of trety, for, be God, I shal trust no more no 
 fayre wordes ; and there to I shall lete alle the Lords of 
 this lond knowe what wrytyngs I have, and his dispo- 
 sicion. Save yowre reverens, Cristyfor sal (?) have 
 swyche a maister, &c. I prey yow, as ever I may do 
 yow service or be yowre bedeman that ye wele sende 
 me yowre avise. I had lever paye xx. marke, or x//. 
 in hande and x//. yerely furthe, with myn enemyndz 
 good love, than to yelde me to preson ayens here 
 entent, and sewe forth the tyncte. And no trost what 
 my maister wele do, for I can right evele beleve that 
 he wele bere ovvt the cost of the tyncte whan he maket 
 straunge to ley dowun the condempnacion, &c. 
 
 Wretyn brevely at Horseydown the Wenesday after 
 messe, anno xxxv ta T. HOWYS. 
 
 1 The wardship of Thomas Fastolf was at first granted to John Paston and 
 Thomas Howes, by patent of the 6th June 1454. and for this they agreed to 
 pay loo marks into the Exchequer. Hut, for some reason or other, a new 
 arrangement was made, and the wardship was granted by another patent, 
 dated i2th December 1454, to John Bokkyng and William Worcestre, who 
 offered the King 20 marks over what Pastou liad offered, i.e., So in all. 
 .Sec Patent Roll, 33 Hen. VI., p. i, m. 10.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 407 
 
 I shal nowt leve this mater to serve the most enemy 
 that he hat in Inglond. I wele non of his good. I 
 have lever other men go to the Dille [Devil f\ for his 
 good than I do. 
 
 298. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 1 6 Oct. 
 JAMES GRESHAM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 24.] 
 
 This letter is assigned by Fenn to the year 1449, but the true date is 1456, 
 as will be seen by the footnotes. 
 
 To the right worshipfull and myn especiall maister,John 
 Paston, Esquyer, in hast be this delivered, 
 
 FTER al due recomendacion, like it you to 
 wete, that the day of your assise is die Ltmce 
 proximo post tres seplimanas Sancti Mic/iaelis, 
 whiche is on Moneday come vij. nyght ; at 
 whiche tyme I trost ye wole be here, or ellis can I do 
 lytell or nought there inne. 
 
 As touchyng your mater ageynst Gunnore, that dwel- 
 leth in lawe, I have spoken to Lyttelton, 1 and comuned 
 with hym there in, but it is not yet spoke of atte barre. 
 Gunnore hath waged his lawe ' 2 of that he haade his 
 day to wage it of, &c. 
 
 As touchyng your issues at Wentworth sute, it is ijV., 
 and it was retourned er I come here. My Maister 
 Fastolfs councel taketh heed thereto, &c. 
 
 As for tydynges, my Lord Chaunceler 3 is discharged. 
 In his stede is my Lord of Wynchestre. 4 And my 
 
 1 See p. 384, Note 4. 
 
 2 Wager of law was an ancient process by which a defendant cleared him- 
 self in an action of debt. He gave sureties that on a certain day he would 
 " make his law," then took oath that he did not owe the plaintiff anything, 
 as alleged, and called eleven compurgators to swear they believed him. 
 
 3 Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, afterwards Cardinal. 
 
 4 William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, was appointed Chancellor in 
 Archbishop Bourchier's place on the nth October 1456.
 
 408 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456 
 
 Lord of Shrewisbury 1 is Tresorer, and Broun 2 of your 
 Inn is Undertresorer. If ye wold sende to hym to 
 graunte you the namyng of th'eschetorship of Norffolk, 
 c., it were weel do, for it is told me he wold do 
 moche for you. 
 
 Maister Lawrence Bothe 3 is Prive Seall. And it is 
 seid that my Lord of York 4 hath be with the Kyng, 
 and is departed ageyn in right good conceyt with the 
 Kyng, but not in gret conceyt with the Whene [Queeri] ; 
 and sum men sey, ne hadde my Lord of Buks 5 not 
 have letted it, my Lord of York had be distressed in 
 his departyng. 
 
 On Moneday last passed was a gret affray at Coventre 
 bytwene the Duke of Somersets men and the weche- 
 men \u>atchmen~\ of the toun, and ij. or iij. men of the 
 toun were kylled there, to gret disturbance of alle the 
 Lords there ; for the larom belle was ronge, and the 
 toun arose, and wold have jouperdit to have distressed 
 the Duke of Somerset, &c., ne had the Duke of Buks 
 not have take a direccion therein. 
 
 Also it is seid the Duke of Buks taketh right 
 straungely that bothe his brethren 6 arn so sodeynly 
 discharged from ther offices of Chauncellerie and Tre- 
 soryship ; and that among other causeth hym that his 
 opynyon is contrary to the Whenes \Queen '.$] entent, and 
 many other also, as it is talked. Item, sum men seyn, 
 the counseal is dissolved, and that the Kyng is forth to 
 Chester," &c. Also summe sey that many of the Lords 
 shall resorte hiddir to London ageynst Alhalwen tyde. 
 
 And as touchyng th'eleccion of Shirefs, men wene 
 that my Lord of Canterbury shall have a gret rule, and 
 specyall in our countre. 
 
 1 John Talbot, second Earl. He was appointed Treasurer on sth October 
 1456. Patent Roll, 35 Henry VI., p. i, m. 16. 
 
 2 John Brown. See William Wyrcestre's "Annals." under the year 1468. 
 
 3 Afterwards Bishop of Durham, and finally Archbishop of York. 
 * Richard, Duke of York. 
 
 8 Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 6 The two Bourchiers, viz., Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and tlenry Viscount Bourchier, the former of whom had been Lord Chan- 
 cellor and the latter Lord Treasurer , sre Notes 3 of last page and i of this) 
 were the Duke of Buckingham's half brothers by the mother's side. 
 
 7 The Court had been staying at Coventry.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENR Y VL 409 
 
 I can no more, but Almyghty God send us as his 
 most pleaser is. 
 
 Wretyn al in hast, the Saterday next after Seint 
 Edwards day. 
 
 Your Servaunt, JAMES GRESHAM. 
 
 299. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 10 Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 241.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Begs him in the end of the term to come home by Dedham, 
 along with William Worcester and Barker, to see to the accounts 
 of barley and such husbandry as is used there. As to Wighton 
 in Yorkshire, Bokkyng reminds me you spoke to me that my son 
 Scrope and his father-in-law 1 should have all the lyvelode of my 
 wife's in farm, to which I agreed, or else that Lord Vescy would 
 have Wighton, as he once had, at a rent of ^34 much more 
 than I make it worth yearly. Do as you think best for me. I 
 had rather my son Scrope had it with sufficient surety. 
 
 Castre, 10 Nov. 
 
 Begs him to common with William Worcester that by means of 
 my Lord of Canterbury, or otherwise, Master William Clyf and 
 others of the executors of John Wellis may be spoken to for the 
 recovery of great good that William Worcester knows Wellis 
 owed to Fastolf. 
 
 [The date of this letter appears to be 1456. Of the years when Fastolf 
 resided at Caister, it is not 1454, because in that year Barker could not have 
 been in London on the zoth November ($ee No. 221). It is not 1455, because 
 Worcester appears to have been at that time at Caister (se$ Nos. 259 and 260). 
 The same appears to have been the case in 1457, though we can only judge 
 by a letter of the 2gth October ; and although Worcester certainly was in 
 London in November 1458, Sir John Fastolf was then in London with him.] 
 
 300. 
 A.D. 1456, 15 Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 259.] 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON AT THE TEMPLE. 
 
 Received certain letters by Henry Hanson on Thursday last, 
 including one from William Barker written in Lukett's hand, and 
 
 1 Richard Bingham, Judge of the King's Bench.
 
 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 two bills of supplication, one of which, in the name of the 
 tenants of Cotton, he has sent to Paston, as he has already written. 
 John Russe and Geoff. Spyrlyng have ridden to Cotton in con- 
 sequence, and will inform Paston how they speed. Thinks the 
 bill " right good and well spoken according to the truth of their 
 riotous demeaning." Received at the same time a bill written 
 in his own name, of which he approves. Hears that young 
 Henry Wentworth, young Calthorpe, and young Brews were at 
 the distress-taking, among others. Has perfect confidence in 
 Paston as to the treaty, and hopes to obtain again the manor of 
 Bradwell by some means, as clear as he had it before his unhappy 
 release. Hears that the Chief Justice " rectid the matter " in 
 Parliament before the Lords, and shewed how Fast olf was wronged 
 in that it was untruly found by the office that he had disseised Sir 
 Hue Fastolf of the manor, whereas he has documents proving a 
 true sale. My Lady of York has been here, " and sore moved 
 me for the purchase of Castre." Begs him to devise means for 
 the licence of mortising of certain buildings for the foundation of 
 a college, " as ye and I have commoned of before." William 
 Worcester can show him a copy of one passed by the King, and 
 signed ready to the late Chancellor Stafford. Desires him to 
 make himself acquainted with two chaplains about my Lord of 
 Canterbury and my Lord Chancellor. William Barker writes of 
 a general treaty, to which he can make no answer further than 
 he has already done to Yelverton and Paston. 
 Castre, Monday after St Martin. 
 
 {In this letter, as in the last, we have Worcester and Barker both in London, 
 which, we have seen, points to the year 1456. It is clear also that this letter 
 was written just before that which follows.] 
 
 301. 
 
 A.D. 1456, 1 8 Nov. 
 JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTOX. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 164.] 
 
 This letter, as printed by Fenn, bears no date in itself, but in the editorial 
 note at the foot it is dated : " Caister, i8th of November." Probably this 
 date is expressed in the original, but has been accidentally omitted in the 
 printing. If so, the year in which it was written must be either 1456 or 1457, 
 and most probably the former. In 1455 the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
 my Lord Chancellor were one and the same person, which they evidently ?.re 
 not here ; and in 1458 it appears by the Castlecombe MSS. that Sir John 
 Fastolf was in London on the 26th November, so that he is not likely to 
 have been expecting a visit from the Duke of Norfolk at Caister eight days 
 before. On the other hand, if this was written in the year 1456, it must be 
 remembered that Archbishop Bourchier had been just recently discharged 
 of the office of Lord Chancellor, which was given to Bishop Waynfleet on 
 the nth October, and it is highly probable that the Archbishop had been 
 already spoken to on the subject in his capacity of Chancellor.
 
 A.D. 1456.] HENRY VI. 411 
 
 To the worshipful and my right welbeloved cosyn, John 
 Paston, at the Temple, or to William Barker, at 
 Suthwerk, be this delvered. 
 
 ORSHIPFUL cosyn, I comaunde me to yow. 
 And where as I late wrote unto yow in a 
 lettre by Henre Hansson for the fundacion 
 of my college, I am soore sette therupon ; 
 and that is the cause I write now, to remembre yow 
 agayn to meve my Lords of Canterbury 1 and Wyn- 
 chestre 2 for the licence to be opteined, that I might 
 have the morteisying withowte ony grete fyne, in 
 recompence of my longe servise contynued and doon 
 un to the Kyng, and to his noble fader, whom God 
 assoile, and nevere yette guerdoonned or rewarded. 
 
 And now sithe I have ordeyned to make the Kyng 
 founder, and evere to be prayed fore : and for his right 
 noble progenitors, hise fader, and uncles, me thinketh 
 I shuld not be denyed of my desire, but the rather to 
 be remembrid and spedde. 
 
 Wherfore, as I wrote un to yow, I pray yow acqueynte 
 me and yow, for the rather spede here of, with a 
 chapelleyn of my Lord of Caunterbury, that in your 
 absence may remembre me, and in like wise with my 
 Lord Chaunceller ; 3 for seyng the Kyngs disposicion, 
 and also hise, un to the edyfyeng of God is service, it 
 myght in noo bettyr tyme be mevid, &c. 
 
 My Lord of Norffolk is- remevid from Framlyngham 
 on foote to goo to Walsyngham, 4 and deily I wayte 
 that he wolde come hidre. 
 
 Your cosyn, 
 
 J. FASTOLF. 
 
 1 Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop. 2 William Waynfleet. Bishop. 
 
 3 William Waynfleet, the Bishop of Winchester before mentioned. 
 * On pilgrimage to the famous Shrine of our Lady at Walsingham,
 
 412 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1456. 
 
 302. 
 A.D. 1456, Nov. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,244, B.M.] 
 PROCEEDINGS IN A SUIT IN MICHAELMAS TERM, 35 HEN. VI. 
 
 I. Writ to the Sheriff of Suffolk to attach John Andrewe of 
 Boylom, and bring him before the Barons of the Exchequer on 
 the morrow of All Souls to answer, along with Sir Philip Went- 
 worth and Thos. Deyvill of Netlestede, to the suit of John Paston 
 and Thomas Howys. 
 
 II. Pleadings. The King committed the wardship of Thomas, 
 son and heir of John Fastolf of Cowhawe, to Paston and Howes 
 by patent, 6 June 32 Hen. VI. ; but on the 8 June 32 Hen. VI., 
 Andrewe and Deyvill, with force and arms, entered Sholond Hall, 
 Suffolk, and Foxhole, and Bentley Houses, &c., and took rents to 
 the sum of .360, and underwood to the value of 4.0. Impar- 
 lance granted till 26 Nov., when the parties were not agreed. 
 Venire facias was then awarded a die Saticti Hilarii in xv. dies, 
 
 303. 
 
 A.D. 1457 (?), 2 April. 
 JOHN BOOKING TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is very uncertain. In 1456 the writer dates from 
 Southwark on the 8th of May, and in 1458 from London on the I4th of March, 
 so that there is rather a presumption against his being at Caister on the ad 
 of April in either of these years. But these points, it must be owned, are 
 little to be relied on, as Bokking certainly passed to and fro a good deal be- 
 tween London and Norfolk. The date must, however, be between 1455 and 
 1459. The letter has no address, but was doubtless intended for John Paston. 
 
 i]IRE, lyke it your maistership to wete that I 
 sende you at this tyme the rolle of the copies 
 of all patentes, and the appoyntement with 
 Wentworth laste, and also a abstracte drawen 
 as it come simply to my remembrance. And I shalbe 
 with you sumtyme the next weke. All men ar owte 
 at this tyme, as the Parson, 1 Worcester, and Barker ; 
 and therfore til thei come, I may not owte. H. Wyn- 
 desor departid on Monday, and will doo that he can. 
 
 1 Thomas Howes.
 
 A.D. I457-] HENR Y VI. 413 
 
 He telleth me Lumleys patent is in his awarde, but it 
 is of noo force. And also he hathe Constable is ij. 
 [second f\ patente, and that is moste ayenst us, &c. 
 He wil purveie therfore as ye Jcnowe myn maister 1 
 comaundit hym to yow. 
 
 Here hath ben Wilton with the dede of feffement 
 yesterday, and all men hadde ensealed sauf myn maister 
 that now hathe ensealed, and H. Inglose is right soory. 
 I can no newe tidinges, but that myn maister hath put 
 his matier of Issabells in Scroudeby, and the rente of 
 the priour of Norwiche dieu to Heilesdon in your hande 
 and Thomas Grene. Ye shal the next weke have the 
 evidences. And Jesu kepe you and youres. 
 
 I sende myn Maistres Crane a lettre fro hir brother, 
 but I have the credence, whiche I can not say but 
 if she appose me for certein materes of hir brotheres. 
 
 Writen at Castre, the ij. day of Aprill. 
 
 Your owen servaunt, J. B. 
 
 304. 
 A.D. 1457, 20 April. BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 294.] 
 
 It appears from the contents of this letter that it was written two and a 
 half years after Sir John Fastolf came to live in Norfolk, which he did in the 
 autumn of 1454. The date therefore is certain. 
 
 To my Maister Paston. 
 
 jjLEASE you to wete that, after dew recom- 
 mendacion, hyt yt so that my maister sendyth 
 me to London for the mater of Rochestr, as 
 for dyvers of hys oune parti culer maters which 
 concern not the lawe, &c. ; and I am lyke to tarye till 
 ye com, in case ye com wythynne iij. wekys. 
 
 Sir, at reverence of God, seth my maister ys fully yn 
 wille to renew hys fefment, that it may be do be tyme 
 
 l Sir John Fastolf.
 
 414 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1457. 
 
 by the surest grounde that may be had, for, be it 
 nevyr so suerly don, hyt shall be thought lytille ynowgh 
 to kepe hys lond owte of trouble ; and to spare for no 
 councell ne cost to make sure, for a peny yn seson 
 spent wille safe a pounde. I comyned with my broyder 
 Spyrlyng, which seyth he wille do hys attendaunce, 
 and to kepe it ryzt close of the namys. Taryeng 
 drawyth parell. 
 
 And ye meved a gode mater to the Parson and to 
 me at your last beyng at Castr, that my maister shud 
 be lerned whate hys housold standyth uppon yerlye, 
 seth he kept it holye to ghedr at one place ; and that 
 don, then to see by the revenues of hys yeerly lyfelode 
 whate may be leyd and assigned owte for that cause 
 to meynteyn hys seyd housold, and over that, whate 
 may be assigned to beere owte hys plees, and also do 
 pay for hys foreyn chargs l and dedes of almes to a 
 convenyent somme. 
 
 And seth the grettist ordynarye charge most be hys 
 housold kepyng, hyt were moste exspedyent that ye 
 wold note well to remembre specially my maister to do 
 hys audyt[or]es cast up and make rollys of hys accompts 
 concernyng the seyd housold seth Jie came yn to Nor- 
 ffolk thys ij. yer and half, whych was nevyr so long to 
 doo thys xl. wynter as ye now. And it ys pytee that 
 hys audyt ys none ethyr wyse yn that entended ; ye 
 must nedys, yff ye wille my maister know how hyt stand 
 with hym yerly of hys chargs, that thys be do fyrst, as 
 it was allwey acustomed. My maister wille acord it 
 to be don, but it ys forgete throwgh negligence of men 
 yoven to sensualite, as Thomas Upton, me, and othyrs. 
 My maister can not know wheder he go backward or 
 forward till thys be doon. 
 
 I can not elles, but ye wille not foryete thys that the 
 audyt[or]es go verraily aboute it to an ende. And Hay- 
 lysdon accompts be behyndefor ij. yeer to [/wjgrete pite 
 ys, and it wer yours or yn any wyseman gouveraunce. 
 
 At Norwich hastly, the Wenstay in Ester weke. 
 
 BOTO-H.R.-NER. 
 
 1 Charges not connected with his household accounts. F.
 
 A, D. 1 45 7.] HENRY VI. 415 
 
 305. 
 
 A.D. 1457, i May. BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, iii. 298.] 
 
 That this letter was written in the year 1457, appears pretty clear from its 
 agreement with the last in which Botoner speaks of the expediency of getting 
 the accounts of Fastolf 's household audited, and mentions that his master was 
 sending him up to London. A further confirmation of the date may be found in 
 the dates of the Privy Seals of the 35th year of Henry VI., which show that 
 the King was at Hereford during April, though he had removed to Worcester 
 on the 4th of May. 
 
 To the ryght worshypfull Sir, John Paston, Escuier, 
 beyng in Norwych, yn haste. 
 
 |YGHT worshypfull Sir, aftyr dewe recommen- 
 dacion, please yow to wete that I wrote a 
 remembraunce to yow the day that I departed 
 owte of Norwich, by Rychard, the Parson 
 ys servaunt of Blofeld, concernyng certeyn maters to 
 be remembred by your wysdom for my maister ys 
 avaylle, whych your grete wysdom can well undrestand 
 ys ryght nedefull, as one thyng yn especiall, that Shyp- 
 dam and Spyrlyng ought to labour, fyrst of onye thyng 
 that belongyth, to audyt the accompts of the resseyt 
 and despense of my maister housold at Castr seth 
 he came last in to Norffolk, whych aswell for the pro- 
 visyons that ys had of hys oune grownyng as in money 
 payd ; for till the seyd accompts be made ordynatlye, 
 whych be of a grete charge yeerlye, wete ye for certeyn 
 my maister shall nevere know whethyr he goth bakward 
 or forward. And manye othere accomptants that maken 
 lyvere of provysyons of cornys and catell to the house- 
 hold by the resseyvour and by the bayllyfs can not 
 approve theyr liberatz just tille the seyd housold 
 bokes be made upp; and seth it hath be kept ordynary- 
 lye seth my maister begen to kepe house thys 1. yeer 
 almoste, and when he hath be absent beyond see, &c,, 
 hyt ought to be more redelyer be doon and made upp 
 whyle he is present, and well the rathere that hys hous- 
 old menye were not so hole to ghedr thys xl. yer as 
 be now at Castr. Also hyz minustrs of accompts of
 
 416 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1457. 
 
 hys chieff maner of Haylysdon for iij. yeer to make 
 upp and to examyn ; and I ensure yow full simplye 
 approwed hys wollys and hys fermys. 
 
 And the iij d ys that so wold Jesus my maister audytors 
 wold faythfully and playnlye enforme my maistr of the 
 trouth of the yeerly grete damage he beryth in deburs- 
 yng hys money aboute shyppes and botes, kepyng an 
 house up at Jermuch [ Yarmouth] to hys grete harme, 
 and resseyvyth but chaffr and waare for hys cornys and 
 wollys, &c. and then most abyde along day to make 
 money; of such chaffr takyng he shall nevere 1 be 
 monyed, ne be aunsuerd clerly of hys revenues yeerly 
 but [unless] those thyngs abofeseyd be amended be 
 tyme. Yn Lowys days xij. yeer to gheder my maister 
 was wont to ley upp money yeerly at London and Castr, 
 and now the contrarye de malo in pejus. 
 
 I dar not be know of thys bille, but ye may question 
 and vele of the disposicion of thys maters of otheres, and 
 then undrstand yff I wryt justly e or no ; and ye, as of 
 your mocion for my maister worshyp and profyt, exor- 
 tyng hym, the stuard, Shypdam, and Spyrlyng to take 
 a labour and a peyn that thys be reformed. 
 
 I pray yow, and require yow kepe thys mater to 
 your sylf. 
 
 Yowr, BOTONER. 
 
 As for nouveltes none comth, 2 but yt ys seyd the 
 sege shall com to Calix. The Erie of Warwyk 3 ys 
 yhyt at Caunterbury with the Archbyship, 4 and the 
 Erie younger brothere 5 maryed to Sir Eadmund Yngyl- 
 thorp doughter uppon Seynt Marks Day. The Erie of 
 Worcestr 6 broght aboute the maryage. The Queen 
 and the Kyng at Herford, 7 the Lordes Bokyngham, 8 
 
 1 The left-hand copy in Fenn reads "neide," but the modern version 
 " never," which is clearly the true reading. 
 
 2 So in Fenn, but qu. " couth." See p. 344. 
 
 3 Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. 
 
 4 Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 5 John Neville, afterwards Marquis Montague, married Isabel, daughter 
 and heir of Sir Edmund Ingoldesthorpe of Burgh Green, in Cambridgeshire, 
 by his wife Jane, sister, and at length co-heir of John Lord 1'iptoft, first Earl 
 of Worcester. He was slain in the battle of Barnet in 1471. 
 
 6 John Tiptoft. 7 Hereford. 8 Humphrey Stafford.
 
 A.D. I457-] HENRY VI. 417 
 
 Shrewsbury, 1 and otheres ther. And now it ys seyd 
 Herbert 2 shall com ynne, and apper at Leycester 
 before the Kyng and the Lordes, hys lyfe graunted 
 and godes, so he make amendys to theym he hath 
 offended. Manye be endyted, som causelese, which 
 makyth Herbert partye streng, and the burgeys and 
 gentlemen aboute Herford wille goo wyth the Kyng 
 wyffe and chylde, but a pease be made or the Kyng 
 part thens, for ell[es] Herbert and hys affinite wille 
 acquyt them, as it ys seyd. 
 
 The Erie of Warwyk hath had the folks of Caunter- 
 bury and Sandwych before hym, and thanked hem of 
 her gode herts and vytaillyng of Calix, and prayeth 
 hem of contynuaunce. 
 
 I sende a bille of the namys endyted to my maister 
 and yow, to see and laugh at theyr Wellsh names 
 descended of old pedegris. Our Lord be with yow. 
 
 Wryt hastly at London, the fyrst day of May. 
 
 BOTONER. 
 
 306. 
 
 About A.D. 1457. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON, ESQUIRE. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This is a letter of pure business, and the date is uncertain; but as John 
 Paston had been giving advice about money matters and the affairs of Fas- 
 tolf 's household in 1457, we may insert it here. 
 
 To mync -worshipfull cosyn, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 Ryght worshipfull cosyn, I recomaunde me to yow, and thanke 
 yow of youre greet peyn and labores that ye daylye take for me 
 in alle myn causes, for wheche I am greetly holden to yow, God 
 yelde hit yow. And, cosyn, hit is so, as I am enformed, that a 
 lermore of myn maner in Saxthorp, called John Bennes, shuld 
 come be fore yow for to appoynte for suche dewte as he oweth 
 
 1 John Talbot, second Earl. 
 
 Sir William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke, a steady Yorkist. 
 
 2 E
 
 418 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1457. 
 
 to me upon his ferme. I sende to yow the bokes of his accompt 
 to th'entent that Spyrlyng may awayte upon yow at his comyng, 
 and declare hym his dewte, wheche, as myn receyvore seyth, hit 
 wole drawe to the summe of xlv//. [^"45], and more money at 
 Michelmasse now next comyng. And the ferme is but xx//. [,20] 
 yerly, by wheche ye may understande that he hath hadde greet 
 favore in his payementes to his weel and myn greet hurt, as I 
 reporte me to youre greet wysdome. Neverthelesse, sethe hit is 
 so that he hath hadde this advayle upon me, I wold seen now 
 that suche dewte as shal ben dewly founde upon hym by accompt 
 to be made at this day, that I may ther of have payement in 
 hande as reson wole, or of as moche as the day is ronne of; and 
 for the resydewe to have greable sewerte, that is to sey, of xx//'. 
 growen at Mihelmasse next comyng, to have payement therof at 
 the Festes of Seynt Andrew and the Annunciacion of our Lady 
 next comyng by even porcions, as in his endenture made of the 
 seyd lees more pleynerly is conteyned. And this don, I am con- 
 tent that he goo at large, and elles that Spyrlyng take a rekenyng 
 of hym, so as I may be aunswered accordyng to the statute, &c. 
 And, cosyn, that overe this ye lyke to yeve credence to the brynger 
 her of of that he shal declare yow in this be half be mouth. And 
 oure Lord kepe yow. 
 
 Wreten in hast, at myne manoir of Castre, the Saterday next 
 after our Lady Day the Assumpcion. 
 
 And, cosyn, I praye yow that he have none favore other wyse 
 than lawe wole, seyng he is so contraryows for any fayer promyse 
 of his behalf &c. 
 
 Youre cosyn, 
 
 JOHN FASTOLF, Ch'r. 
 
 307. 
 A.D. 1457, 2 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [Add. Charter 17,245, B.M.] 
 
 Copy of a charter granted by John Paston, [patron ?] of the 
 
 church of Gresham, and Robert Miller, allowing 
 
 the prior and convent of St. Sepulchre of The[tford] to distrain 
 for a pension on the vicarage. 
 
 2 Oct. 36 Hen. VI. 
 
 [This document is mutilated. In the margin is the following note in a 
 modern hand: " E. Coll. Fr. Blomefield, Hist. Norf. vol. i., fo. 436."]
 
 A.D. I457-] HENRY VL 419 
 
 308. 
 A.D. 1457, 29 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 268.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLFTO "MY BROTHER" WILLIAM YELVERTON, 
 Ji STICE. 
 
 Begs him to continue his kindness especially, now that the 
 Parson, Sir Thomas, comes up to appear before him and other the 
 King's judges " by the cruel and hasty suit of Androus and his 
 affinity." Hopes the process sued by him so eagerly " upon the 
 unjust condemnation shall be reformed and holpen by the attaint 
 in chastising of perjury that reigneth so much now a days." It 
 were a blessed deed if it were reformed by Yelverton. Desires 
 credence for " my cousin Paston " and Sir Thomas in the matter. 
 
 Signature not Fastolf's own. 
 
 Castre, 29 Oct. 
 
 [This letter is written in William Worcester's hand. The suit of Andrews 
 against Howes appears to have been in 1457, as it is referred to afterwards in 
 a writ of the ist September 1458, which will be found noticed under that 
 date.] 
 
 309. 
 
 A.D. 1457, 30 Oct. 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO STEPHEN SCROOPE. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 42.] 
 
 The date of this letter is clearly the same as that of the last, with only a 
 day's difference. 
 
 A Stevyn Scrope. 
 
 and my right wel beloved 
 Sone, I comaund me to yow, and hertily 
 thank yow for your good avertismentys, and 
 right well avysed lettres to me sent from 
 tyme to tyme, and so pray yow of your good continu- 
 ance. 
 
 Plese it yow to wete that, for as mech as the parson 
 Sir Thomas Howes cometh up at this tyme by the 
 grevous pursewte of John Andreus and Heydon, to
 
 420 THE PASTON LET1ERS. [A. D. 1458. 
 
 apere be fore the right worschepeful Sir, my right wel be 
 loved brother, your fadir, 1 and other the Kynges Juges 
 of the Kynges Benche, I pray zow hertily that ye 
 wille have in remembraunce for to recomaund me to 
 hym whan ye speke with hym, and for to thank hym 
 for his rightful favour shewed in Sir Thomas matier, 
 and in alle other maters that toucheth me, wheche ben 
 attained in that hey courte ; and so it lyke yow, pray 
 hym of his good continuance, and I shall doo serve it 
 unto hym to my symple power for his good wyl to me 
 shewed, and to myne; and I trust to God that he 
 shal hold hym plesid. And that it like yow to geve 
 credence to the seid Sir Thomas of that he shal sey to 
 zow for my worschepe and profyte, and that this lettre 
 may recomaund me to my doghtir your wyf, be sechyng 
 the blissed Trinite to sende yow the acomplyshment 
 of your good desyre. 
 
 Wretyn at Castre, the xxx. day of Octobr. 
 
 J. F. 
 
 310. 
 
 A.D. 1458? 24 Jan. RICHARD, EARL OF SALISBURY, 
 TO VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 146.] 
 
 Fenn considers this letter to have been called forth by the summons sent by 
 the King to the Lords of both parties to come to London, in the beginning of 
 1458, with a view to a reconciliation. On this view, the excuse of illness given 
 by Salisbury is, of course, a mere pretence, and, moreover, was not adhered to, 
 for within a week after it was penned, Salisbury actually was in London with a 
 company of 400 horse and 80 knights and squires (see Botoner's letter of the ist 
 February). This sudden change of tactics on the part of the Earl seems to me 
 hardly probable, and I see no reason why the letter should not reter to a 
 genuine illness upon a different occasion. Nevertheless, as there is no posi- 
 tive evidence on the subject, I leave the date suggested by Fenn, with a 
 query, on which the reader may use his own judgment. 
 
 1 On comparing this letter with the last, the person here referred to would 
 seem to be Justice Yelverton. Mr. Poulett Scrope, however, in his privately 
 printed History of Castlecombe 'p. 277) says it was Sir Richard Bingham, 
 whose daughter Joan Stephen Scrope had by this time married. It is quite 
 possible that Fastolf sent a similar message to Bingham by Scrope, and to 
 Yelverton by Paston and Howes.
 
 A. D. 1458.] HENRY VI. 421 
 
 To the right worchipful and with al myn hert rigt 
 entierly welebiloved Brother, the Viscount Beaumont. 
 
 worshipful, and, with al myn hert, right 
 entierly wele bilovede brothre, I recomaunde 
 ID me unto yow. And for somoche as by the 
 Kings moste noblez lettrez brought me late 
 by Hagreston, oon of the gromes of his chambre, I am 
 desirede to come unto his Highnesse to London; wher- 
 unto for suche grevous diseas and infirmitees as it hath 
 liked oure Lord to visit me with, wherof Robert 
 Danby can at large declare unto yow, I can ne mowe 
 dispose me, without feynyng, by the trouth I owe 
 unto the King, but that therby I doubt not, I shulde 
 not rekever, daies of my lyfe, suche hurt as, by the 
 reason of the said diseas, wolde grow unto me, the 
 which hath right fervently and sore holden me in 
 many diversez bihalvez, so that, sith my last comyng 
 frome London I had not, by the space of vj. daies to- 
 gidiez, my helth. 
 
 Wherfore, brothre, I pray yow, with al myn hool 
 hert, that it like yow to cal tofore yow the said Robert 
 Danby, and to take of him the vray trouth in the pre- 
 missez, and therupon to bee my good and tendre 
 moyen, as by your wysdome can best bee thought con- 
 venable, unto the Kinges goode grace, for th'excuse of 
 my nown comyng ; prayng yow hertly to certifye me, 
 by comers bitwen, suche tidings as ye shal have in 
 thos partiez, with othre your good pleasir to be per- 
 fourmed at my power, as knoweth oure Lord, to whom 
 I biseche to ever have yow in his blissed proteccion 
 and keping. 
 
 Wryten at Shirrifhoton, the xxiiij. day of Januare. 
 
 Your trew brodir, wich prayth you hertely to 
 excuse me to the Kings Heghnesse. 
 
 R. SALISBURY.
 
 422 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1458. 
 
 311. 
 
 A.D. 1458, 28 Jan. AGNES PASTON. 
 [From Fenn, i. 142.] 
 
 Erands to London of Augnes Past on, the xxviij. day of 
 Jenure, the yer of Kyng Henry the Sext, xxxvj. 
 
 prey Grenefeld to send me feythfully word, 
 by wrytyn, who Clement Paston hath do his 
 dever in lernyng. And if he hathe nought 
 do well, nor wyll nought amend, prey hym 
 that he wyll trevvly belassch hym, tyl he wyll amend ; 
 and so ded the last maystr, and the best that ever he 
 had, att Caumbrege. And sey Grenefeld that if he 
 wyll take up on hym to brynge hym in to good rewyll 
 and lernyng, that I may verily know he doth hys dever, 
 I wyll geve hym x. marcs for hys labor, for I had lever 
 he wer fayr beryed than lost for defaute. 
 
 Item, to se who many gownys Clement hathe ; and 
 the that be bar, late hem be reysyd. He hathe achort 
 \a short] grene gowne, and achort musterdevelers l 
 gowne, wer never reysyd ; and achort blew gowne that 
 was reysyd, and mad of a syde gowne, whan I was last 
 at London ; and asyde russet gowne, furryd \Vith bevyr, 
 was mad this tyme ij. yer ; and asyde murry gowne 
 was mad this tyme twelmonth. 
 
 Item, to do make me vj. sponys, of viij. ounce of 
 troy wyght, well facyond and dubbyl gylt. 
 
 And sey Elyzabet Paston that she must use hyr selfe 
 to werke redyly, as other jentylvvomen done, and sum- 
 what to helpe hyr selfe ther with. 
 
 Item, to pay the Lady Pole . . . xxvj-r. \\\}d. for 
 hyr bord. 
 
 And if Grenefeld have do wel hys dever to Clement, 
 or wyll do hys dever, geffe hym the nobyll. 
 
 AGNES PASTON. 
 
 1 See p. 134, Note x.
 
 A.D. I45S.J HENR V VI. 423 
 
 312. 
 
 AGNES PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii, 40.] 
 
 As there is no distinct evidence of the date of this letter, I have placed it 
 after another paper written by Agnes Paston, and making mention of Clement, 
 though I rather suspect it may be a little later. It certainly cannot have 
 been, as Fenn supposes, written within a short time after William Paston's 
 death in 1444, as Clement Paston was then only two years old. From some 
 of the expressions, we might be led to suspect that John Paston was in trouble 
 at the time. 
 
 Tho my ivele be lovyd son, John Paston, be this delyvered 
 in haste. 
 
 ONNE, I grete zow wele, and lete zow wete 
 that for as myche as zoure brothir Clement 
 leteth me wete that ze desyre feythfully my 
 blyssyng, that blyssyng that I prayed zoure 
 fadir to gyffe zow the laste day that ever he spakke, 
 and the blyssyng of all seyntes undir heven, and myn 
 mote come to zow all dayes and tymes ; and thynke 
 veryly non other but that ze have it, and shal have it, 
 with that that I fynde zow kynde and wyllyng to the 
 wele of zoure fadres soule, and to the welfare of zoure 
 bretheren. 
 
 Be my conseyle dypose zoureselfe as myche as re 
 may to have lesse to do in the worlde ; zoure fadye 
 sayde : In lityl bysynes lyeth muche reste. This 
 world is but a thorough fare, and ful of woo; and 
 whan we departe therefro, rizth nouzght bere with us 
 but oure good dedys and ylle. And ther knoweth 
 no man how soon God woll clepe hym, and therfor 
 it is good for every creature to be redy. Qhom God 
 vysyteth him he lovyth. 
 
 And as for zoure bretheren, thei wylle I knowe cer- 
 teynly laboren all that in hem lyeth for yow. Oure 
 Lorde have zow in his blyssed kepyng, body and 
 soule. 
 
 Writen at Norwyche, the xxix. day of Octobyr. 
 
 Be zoure modir, A. P-
 
 424 THE PASTON LETTERS. [^0.1458. 
 
 313. 
 
 A.D. 1458, i Feb. 
 WILLIAM BOTONER TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 150.] 
 
 Fenn states that he has omitted, as of no consequence, the first part of this 
 letter relating to the holding of some courts and some other law matters 
 wherein Yelverton, Fylongley, and others were concerned. 
 
 To my ryght worshypful master, Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 ^|YGHT worshypfull Sir, and my ryght gode 
 maister, I recomaund me to yow yn my full 
 humble wyse. Please yow to wete, as to 
 nouveltees here both x Christofr Barker wryt- 
 eth to you more along. 
 
 The Kyng came the last weke to Westminster, and 
 the Duk of Yorke came to London with hys oune 
 housole onlye to the nombre of cxl. hors, as it ys seyd; 
 the Erie of Salysburye with iiij c - [400] hors yn hys 
 companye, iiij xx [fourscore] knyghts and sqwyers. 
 
 The Duke of Somerset came to London last day of 
 Janyver with ij - [200] hors, and loggyth wythoute 
 Temple Barre, and the Due of Excestr shalle be here 
 thys weke with a grete felyshyp and strong, as it ys 
 seyd. 
 
 The Erie of Warwyke ys not yhyt com, because the 
 wynde ys not for hym. 
 
 And the Duke of Excester takyth a grete displesir 
 that my Lord Warewyke occupyeth hys office, and 
 takyth the charge of the kepyng of the see uppon 
 hym. 
 
 Item, as for tydyng of beyend see, I hyre none cer- 
 teyn, but that the Frensh Kyng 2 shulde hafe maryed 
 hys doughter to the Kyng of Hungerye, 3 whych had 
 
 1 The modem version in Fenn reads "here being." 
 
 2 Charles VI I. 
 
 3 Ladislaus V., who died on the 23d November 1457, when on the point of 
 marriage with Magdalen, daughter of Charles VII. of France. He is be- 
 lieved to have been poisoned.
 
 A.D. 1458.} HENR Y VI. 425 
 
 the descomfytur uppon the Turks, and the seyd Kyng 
 ys decesed wythynne thys vj. wekes, or the spouselle 
 was made; but he ordeyned or he dyed that the 
 Frensh Kyngs doughter shuld be named Quene of 
 Hungerye duryng hyr lyffe. 
 
 Rygt worshypfull Sir, I beseche the blessed Trinite 
 hafe yow yn hys gouvernaunce. 
 
 Wrete at London, the fyrst day of Feverzer, anno 
 36 R. H. VI. 
 
 Moreover, please you to wete that William Canyngs 
 the merchaunt wryteth an aunsuer of your lettre. I 
 trust it shall be the better for your wrytyng. 
 
 My brother promytted me a certeyn sorome when I 
 maryed, and I shall hafe it of my suster yfT I may. 
 Your humble servauntte, 
 
 W. BOTONER, dit WORCESTYR. 
 
 314. 
 
 A.D. 1458 (?) [Feb.] ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 274.] 
 WILLIAM BOTONER TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 You shall know the governance here on Paston's coming to 
 you better than I can write. The King is gone to Berkhamstead, 
 "and it is said my Lords Somerset, Exeter, Clifford, and Egre- 
 mont, that rode upon Thursday last to the King, they come again 
 to London ; and the Lord of Northumberland is come to the 
 King at this time after the Lords' departing out of London with 
 3000 or 4000 people, as it is said, but all toke (?) to a good peace, 
 and reconysances made to keep the peace in great sums till 
 Michaelmas, that in the mean time to make a throw peace final 
 by means of all the Lords." John Vyncent of Bentley was at 
 the Priory of Lewes in Sussex this week, and says that sixty sail 
 of Frenchmen were sailing before the coasts, keeping the sea. 
 The Lord Fauconberg is, at Hampton with his navy. Edmund 
 Clere of the King's house has heard from a soldier of Calais that 
 Crowmer and Blakeney is much spoken of among Frenchmen. 
 "The King's safe conduct is not holden but broken, as it is 
 voiced here, and that will do no good to merchants till it be
 
 426 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1458. 
 
 amended." Figs and raisins are dear at l8s. the croc (?), "wherte" 
 at los. the qr., malt 5.?. Remains here awaiting for the comfing 
 of your] officers of Castlecombe to bring up your money. Expects 
 to send 4.0 by Master Paston. .... (Mutilated at the 
 bottom; date lost.) 
 
 [The King was at Berkhamstead in the end of June and beginning of July 
 1450; also on the 3d March 1453 (from Reading, whither he returned imme- 
 diately) ; also in February and March 1458 (from 2oth February to I3th 
 March). This letter must have been written in February 1458.] 
 
 315. 
 
 A.D. 1458, 15 March. 
 JOHN BOCKING TO SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 154.] 
 
 This letter relates to the temporary reconciliation effected between the 
 Lords of the opposite parties in the spring of 1458. 
 
 To my Maister Fastolf, at Castre, in haste. 
 
 YKE it your maistership to wyte that, as for 
 tidings, the Counsell is, the fornone, at the 
 Blake Frires, for the ease of resorting of the 
 Lordys that are withinne the toun ; and at 
 afternone at the White Frirers in Fletstrete, for the 
 Lordis withowte the toun ; and all thing shall come 
 to a good conclusion with God is grace, for the Kyng 
 shall come hidre this weke, and the Quene also, as 
 some men sayn, and my Lord Buk, 1 and Stafford 2 
 with hire, and moche puple. 
 
 My Lord of Caunterbury takith grete peyne up on 
 hym daily, and will write un to yow the certeynte of 
 suche tidings as falle ; and shuld have doon or this 
 tyme, saf for that he wolde knowe an end of the 
 matter. 
 
 Other tidings here are none, sauf my Lord of Ex- 
 cestre 3 is displesid that the Erie of Warwyk shall kepe 
 
 1 Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 9 Henry Stafford, Earl of Stafford, grandson of Buckingham, who suc- 
 ceeded him in the Dukedom in 1460. 
 * Henry Holland, Duke of Ex>ur.
 
 A.D. 1458.] HENRY VI. 427 
 
 the see, and hath therfore received this weke m 1 - //. 
 [^1000] of the Hanupere. 1 
 
 The messenger was on horsbak whanne I wrote 
 yow this bill, and therfore it was doon in haste ; and 
 our Lord Jesus kepe yow. 
 
 Writen at London the Wednesday after Midlenton. 
 
 And my Lord of Caunterbury tolde me that the 
 Frenche men have ben before yow, and that ye shotte 
 many gonnes ; and so he tolde all the Lords. 1 have 
 desirid hym to move the Counsell for refreshing of the 
 toun of Yermowth with stuff of ordnance and gonnes 
 and gonne powdre, and he seid he wolde. 
 Your humble servaunt, 
 
 J. BOKKING. 
 
 316. 
 
 A.D. 1458, 24 May. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 267.] 
 
 JOHN PASTON AND T. Howvs 2 TO FASTOLF AT CASTRE. 
 
 Yesterday "I and other of yours" were at your manor of 
 Bentlay a right fair manor, in the shrewdest rule and gover- 
 nance. You have had many officers there who, for ill-will, have 
 put out the tenants, and let the lands to your hurt. Some owe 
 for six, some for seven years, &c. 
 
 Yesterday Harry Sotehill, of your learned counsel, was with 
 us, and has taken ways in the law, &c. As Barker sends word 
 that the attaint held not, we shall stay the longer. The Lord 
 Egremont sent for my brother, and told him " he would see you 
 homeward, as he supposed." Take care therefore you make no 
 more grants, for you have made too many. Could let Bentlay, 
 with surety, for 500 marks a year ; but will not venture, because 
 of the trouble of letting Wyghton, " and also till Scrope hath 
 spoken with you," who will be with you now, &c. 
 
 Doncaster, Wednesday in Pentecost week. 
 
 [It appears from an account of Paston's expenses, of which an abstract is 
 given farther on, that he was at Doncasier in the 36th year of Henry VI.] 
 
 1 The Hanaper of Chancery. 
 * John Paston signs for both.
 
 428. THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1458. 
 
 317. 
 
 A.D. 1458, i June. 
 JOHN JERNYNGAN TO MARGARET PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 156]. 
 
 The engagement at sea described in this letter is dated by Fabyan on 
 Trinity Sunday or Monday 1458. 
 
 Unfj my ryght wurchipfull Cosyn, Margei Paston, this 
 lettre be delyvered in haste. 
 
 wurchipfull and my moste beste be- 
 loved maystres and cosyn, I recommaund 
 me unto you as lowly as I may, evermor 
 desyring to here of your gode welfar ; the 
 whiche I beseche Alinyzthy Jesus to preserve you and 
 kepe you to his plesur, and to your gracious herts 
 desyre. 
 
 And yf it plese you to here of my welfar, I was in 
 gode hele at the makyng of this lettre, blessed be God. 
 
 Prayng you that it plese you for to send me word 
 yf my fadyr wer at Norwiche with you at this Trenite 
 Masse or no, and how the matyr dothe be twene my 
 Maystres Blawnche Wychynham and me, and yf ze 
 sopose that it shall be brought a bowte or no ; and 
 how ze fele my fadyr, yf he be wele wyllyng thereto or 
 no ; prayng you lowly that I may be recomaund lowly 
 unto my maystres, Arblastres wyfe, and unto my 
 Maystres Blawnche, her dowzther, specially. 
 
 Ryght wurchipfull cosyn, yf it plese you for to her 
 of suche tydings as we have her, the basset \embassy\ 
 of Burgoyne schall come to Galleys the Saturday 1 eftyr 
 Corpus Christi day, as men say v. hondred horse of 
 hem. Moreover, on Trenite Sonday, 2 in the mornyng, 
 came tydings unto my Lord of Warwyke that ther 
 were xxviij te sayle of Spaynyards on the se, and wherof 
 
 1 June sd. s May 28th.
 
 A.D. 1458.] HENR Y VI. 429 
 
 ther was xvj. grete schippis of forecastell ; and then 
 my Lord went and manned fyve schippis of forecastell, 
 and iij. carvells, and iiij. spynnes [pmnaces], and on 
 the Monday, 1 on the mornyng eftyr Trenite Sonday, 
 we met to gedyr afore Caleis, at iiij. at the clokke in 
 the mornyng, and fawz thet gedyr till x. at the clokke; 
 and ther we toke vj. of her \their\ schippis, and they 
 slowe of oure men aboute iiij xx [four score], and hurt 
 a ij. hondred of us ryght sore ; and ther wer slayne on 
 theyr parte abowte xij xx [twelve score\, and hurt a v. 
 hondred of them. 
 
 And haped me, at the fyrste abordyng of us, we toke 
 a schippe of iij c - [300] ton, and I was lefte therin and 
 xxiij. men with me ; and thei fawzthe so sor 2 that our 
 men wer fayne to leve hem, 3 and then come they 
 and aborded the schippe that I was in, and ther I was 
 taken, and was prisoner with them vj. houris, and was 
 delyvered agayne for theyr men that wer taken beforne. 
 And as men sayne, ther was not so gret a batayle upon 
 the se this xl. wyntyr. And for sothe, we wer wele 
 and trewly bette ; and my Lord hathe sent for mor 
 scheppis, and lyke to fyzthe to gedyr agayne in haste. 
 
 Nomor I write unto you at this tyme, but that it 
 plese you for to recomaund me unto my ryght reverent 
 and wurchipfull cosyn your husband, and myn ownkll 
 Gournay, and to myn awnte his wyfe, and to alle 
 gode maysters and frencls where it schall plese yow ; 
 and eftyr the writyng I have from you, I schall be at 
 you in alle haste. 
 
 Wretyn on Corpus Christ! day in gret haste, be 
 your owne umble servant and cosyn, 
 
 JOHN JERNYNGAN. 
 
 1 Mny 2Qtn. 
 
 a "for" in Fenn ; seemingly a printer's error, as the word is "sore" in 
 the modern version. 
 
 3 Here, according to Fenn, the words " and go the " occur in the original, 
 struck out.
 
 430 THE P A S T O X LETTERS. [A.D. 1458. 
 
 318. 
 
 A.D. 1458? [27 Aug.] 
 HENRY WYNDESORE TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 170.] 
 
 At the date of this letter, Sir John Fastolf must have been in Norfolk, and 
 William Worcester in London. From the time that the former went into 
 Norfolk in 1454, till the end of the year 1457, Worcester seems generally to 
 have resided with him ; but in the beginning of 1458 he was in London, and 
 it appears by the Castlecombe MSS. (Add- MS. 28,208, B.M. pp. 39, 42) 
 that he was holding courts at Castlecombe in Wiltshire in June and July of 
 that year, and that, in November of the same year, he and Fastolf were both 
 together in London. It is probable therefore that he was in London in 
 August, before Fastolf had come up. Indeed, he appears not to have re- 
 turned to Norfolk till January following ; so that in August he might quite 
 well have devoted himself to the study of French in the expectation of a 
 lengthened stay. 
 
 To my full speciall gode Maister, John Fasten. 
 
 JORSHIPFULL Sir, and my full speciall goode 
 maister, after humble recommendacion, please 
 it you to understand that such service as I 
 can doo to your plesir, as to myn under- 
 standyng, I have shewed my diligence nowe this shorte 
 season sithen your departyng, and in especiall aboute 
 suche a copie of a foundacion as your maistership 
 commaunded me to gete you a copie of, of the which 
 I sende unto you at this tyme, by my broder William 
 Worcestre, iij. copies writen by Luket, because I had 
 no leisir, but somoch besems in settyng forth my 
 Maistr of the Rolles. 1 At this tyme, and in all this 
 Kyngs deies, ye can have noon oder accordyng any 
 thing to your entent. 
 
 And as for the names of the Poles, 2 William hath 
 more wrytyng than ye and I coude fynde, foundon by 
 labor made by hym and me. And also, Sir, he hath 
 caused me to examyn olde and mony records, writen 
 by some Frenshman, concernyng the manour of Ded- 
 
 1 Thomas de Kirkeby. 
 
 2 Apparently William Worcester was examining the pedigree of the De la 
 Poles, ancestors of the late Duke of Suffolk, who had disputed with Fastolf 
 the right to- the manor of Dedham.
 
 A.D. 1458.] HENRY VI. 431 
 
 ham ; that was a comborous labour, for these copies 
 were full defectif, as it apereth by the correctyng of 
 them. 
 
 Item, Sir, I may sey to you that William hath goon 
 to scole, to a Lumbard called Karoll Giles, to lern 
 and to be red in poetre or els in Frensh ; for he hath 
 byn with the same Caroll every dey ij. tymes or iij., 
 and hath bought divers boks of hym, for the which, as 
 I suppose, he hath put hymself in daunger to the same 
 Karoll. I made a mocion to William to have knoen 
 part of his besines, and he answered and seid that he 
 wold be as glad and as feyn of a good boke of Frensh 
 or of poetre as my Mastr Fastolf wold be to purchace 
 a faire manoir ; and therby I understand he list not to 
 be commynd with all in such matiers. 
 
 Item, Sir, as for any tidings, William can tell you 
 here at London ar but full fewe ; but Henry Bourg- 
 chier is ded sodenly at Ludlowe ; my Lord of Caunter- 
 bury and my Lord Bourgchier shall be this wyk at 
 Hunnesdon, and hunte and sporte theym with Sir 
 William Oldhall. 
 
 At this tyme nothyng els to your maistership ; but 
 and it please you to remembre my maister at your 
 best leiser, wheder his old promise shall stande as 
 touchyng my preferryng to the Boreshed in Suthwerke. 
 Sir, I wold have byn at a noddr place, and of my 
 maisters owun mocion he said that I shold sett uppon 
 the Boreshed, in the which matier I reporte me to 
 William Worcestre, Bokkyng, and William Barker, and 
 most specially to my maisters awun remembraunce. 
 
 I know full well ther cann noo conclusion be taken 
 to myn asayle \avay lel!\ without help of your maister- 
 ship, unto the which I utterly submitte me in this, and 
 in all oder. And our Lord Jesu preserve you and all 
 youres, and send you your herts desire with right. 
 
 Writen at London on Sonday next after Seynt Bar- 
 tholomu Dey in hast. 
 
 By your servaunt, HENRY WYNDESORE.
 
 43 2 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1458. 
 
 319. 
 
 A.D. 1458, i Sept. ABSTRACT. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Writ of pone procured by Thomas Howes, clerk, of Castre, 
 against John Wyndham, Thomas Danyell of Rysyng Castle, 
 Edmund Bukenham of Snyterton, Robert Lethum of Wytton by 
 Blofeld, Simon Gunnor of Estbekham, and sixteen others, for 
 maintaining a plea begun at Westminster without the King's writ 
 by John Andrew of Beylom, Suffolk, against Howes, whom he 
 had maliciously procured to be indicted. 
 
 i Sept. 37 Hen. VI. 
 
 On the back are the words: " Manutenencia facta fuit iiij'o die 
 Julii anno xxxvto. 1 Dampna C/z. 
 
 320. 
 
 BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps 9735, No. 249.] 
 This letter clearly relates to the subject of the preceding No. 
 
 To my Maister Paston. 
 
 IR, as I went to my horsward by Lincoln Coke 
 ys place, hyt fortuned that Wymondham and 
 H. Fenne talked to gedre, and called me by 
 my name, and both asked how my maister 2 
 fard, &c. Then Fen desyred me abyde to see astate 
 taked yn Lyncoln place by hym boght of Markham. 
 In the meene tyme the seyd Wymondham sent hys 
 man to speke with hym, and yede yn talkyng of Sir 
 Thomas 3 how he wille help labour to an ende, and 
 had spoke with Heydon yersten efe for the seyd cause. 
 I seyd the cruell amerciementes by their labour, and the 
 [V/ky?] not beneficed, shewed to grete a malice to undo a 
 preest innocent yn such a cause, &c. After my takyng 
 
 i A.D. 1457. 
 3 Sir John Fastolf. 3 Howes.
 
 A.D. 1458.] HENR Y VL 433 
 
 leefe, he called me ageyn, and seyd that he desyred 
 Sir Thomas to be gode meene to my maister to hafe 
 affeccion to the chylde, &c. I aunsuerd, yff my maister 
 had before the maryage be laboured [i.e. if my master 
 had been applied to before the marriage], hyt had [been] 
 moche esyer to bryng aboute then now. And because 
 hys fadre was so maryed ayenst my maister wille, he 
 nevere wold hafe affeccion to hym all hys lyfe dayes. 
 He seyd that Thomas l was with hys modre ther she 
 duellyth, and yff it please my maister to sende for hym 
 by Sir Thomas meene, &c. 
 
 I ensure yow by my soule I brake no mater to hym 
 but of Sir Thomas undoyng, and hys adversaries nevere 
 the better, whych to my power wold help make it 
 knowen to Lordes and all othyrs of the cruell amercie- 
 mentes, the cruell juge to be knowen as he ys, for I 
 am of hys contrey, and know hys rysyng and maryages 
 as well as hym sylfe. At ix. at clok to hors bake. I 
 pray yow breke my bille (?). 
 
 Your, H. R. 
 
 321. 
 
 ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Add. Charter 17,246, B.M.] 
 
 ROLL OF THE PERSONAL AND OTHER EXPENSES OF JOHN 
 PASTON IN THE 36 AND 37 YEARS OF HENRY VI. 
 
 For dress and cloth, various. 
 
 " Liberat' hospitio," $7, 17 f. *]d. "Item, uxori et pueris 
 domi," .8, igs. id. " Item, pueris Cantabrig' cum v. marke (?) 
 per Wekeys," lois. " Item, eisdem et sosiis (sic) suis in regard'," 
 4?. 2d. "Item, eisdem apud London," &c. 
 
 " Item, Henr' Bolte, capellano pro stipendio usque Pascha, 
 xxxvto." 13.?. q.d. " Et 17 die Julii pro ij. quart'," 26s. ?>d. 
 
 " Expencx forinsecse." "Pro fine Domino Regi facto quod 
 Johannes Paston non sit miles." Expenses with Munford at Thet- 
 ford, 2s. id. " Item, in exemplificatione Ecclesize de Gresham, 
 Magistro Bulman," 3^. 8i/. "Item, expenc' equorum Fastolf 
 
 1 Apparently Thomas Fastolf. 
 2 F
 
 434 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1459. 
 
 Norvvici ij. vie. et AlexancV apud Forncet," 3.?. id. " Item, 
 praesentatio angnellorum data Radclyff," i8rf. To Alexander 
 coming from Cambridge. " Item, in coltellis apud Dancaster 
 datis servientibus Fastolf et meis," y. 4^. Glazing Chapel at 
 Mauteby, los. " Pro arrestatione Carroli Nowell apud Bury 
 septimana Matthias," 3^. &d. Expenses of Ball's horse at Berk- 
 wey for six weeks, los. " Item, expenc' mese versus Snaylwell 
 et redeundo de Bury," $s. $d. " Item, expenc' Norwici ad cess" 
 hospic" existent' apud Heylysdon," i&d. " Item, expenc' meae 
 apud Sweynsthorp," &d. 
 
 In Easter and Trinity terms. Paid to William Wyrcester 
 " equitanti super negotia maritagii sororis," icw. For wine and 
 spice with Fortescu and Wentvvorth, 23^. 
 
 Hilary term. Lent to James Arblaster at London, 40^. " Item, 
 exequiae Edmuncli Paston," 2s. &,d. To divers poor people of 
 Norwich for relief of their charge "circa reparationem murorum 
 civitatis," "js. 
 
 322. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 3 Jan. 
 ELIZABETH POYNINGS TO AGNES PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 328.] 
 
 The writer of this letter is Agnes Paston's daughter Elizabeth, for whose 
 marriage, as we have seen, there had been a good deal of negotiating in past 
 years (see Nos. 70, 71, 196, 209, 210), and who has now become the wife of Robert 
 I'oynings. As the 3d of January, the day on which this letter is dated, was 
 a Wednesday, the year must be 1459. The 3d of January did not fall on a 
 Wednesday again till 1470, by which time Elizabeth Paston and Robert 
 Poynings must have been married several years, as will be seen by No. 99 
 preceding. 
 
 To my right worshypfidl moder, Agnes Paston. 
 
 [IGHT worshipful! and my most entierly belovde 
 moder, in the most louly maner I recomaund 
 me unto youre gode moderhode, besekeyng 
 you dayly and nyghtly of your moderly 
 blissing, evermore desiryng to her of your welfare and 
 prosperite, the which I pray God to contynw and 
 encresce to your herts desyre. And yf it lyked your 
 gode moderhode to here of me and how I do, at the 
 makyng of this lettre I was in gode hele of body,
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENR Y VI. 435 
 
 tanked be Jesu. And as for my mayster, my best 
 beloved that ye call, and I must nedes call hym so 
 now, for I fynde noon other cause, and as I trust to 
 Jesu non shall ; for he is full kynde unto me, and is 
 as besy as he can to make me sur of my joyntor, wherto 
 he is ibounde in a bonde of m 1 //. to you mother, and to 
 my brother John, and to my brother William, and to 
 Edmund Clere, 1 the which neded no such bond. 
 Wherfore I beseke you, gode moder, as our most 
 synguler trost is yn your gode moderhode, that my 
 maistr, my best beloved, fayle not of the C. marc at 
 the begynnyng of this terme, the which ye promysed 
 hym to his mariage, with the remanent of the money of 
 faders wille ; for I have promytted faithfully to a gentil- 
 man, called Bain, that was oon of my best beloved 
 suertees, and was bounde for hym in CC//., of which 
 he reherseth for to ryseyve at the begynnyng of thys 
 terme Cxx/z., and yf he fayle therof at this tyme, he 
 wille clayme the hool of us, the which were to us to 
 grete an hurt ; and he con not make an ende with 
 noon of hys other suertees withoute this seyd sylver, 
 and that con my brother John telle yow wel i nough, 
 and it lusteth hym to do soo, and in all other thyngs. 
 As to my Lady Pool, 2 with whom I sojerned, that ye 
 wul be my tendr and gode moder that she may be 
 payde for all the costes doon to me before my mary- 
 age, and to Christofre Houson, as ye wrote unto my 
 brother John that I shuld have ben so ; and that it 
 plese your gode moderhode to yeve credence to Wil- 
 liam Worcestr. And Jesu for his grete mercy save yow. 
 Written at London, the Wendysday the iij. day of 
 Janyver. 
 
 By your humble doughter, 
 
 ELYZABETH PONYNGGS. 
 
 1 Edmund Clere wes the second son of John Clerc, Esq. of Ormesby, and 
 died in 1463. 
 
 2 See p. 422.
 
 43 6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1459. 
 
 323. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 5 March. 
 JOHN PASTON, THE ELDER SON, TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 336.] 
 
 By Letter 325 following, it will be seen that the writer of this letter had 
 given displeasure to his father in the early part of the year 1459. There can 
 be no doubt that this letter refers to the same occasion. 
 
 To my ryght wyrschypful fadre, John Paston, Esquyer, 
 be thys letter delyveryd in hasty wyse. 
 
 ,_5jYGHT worschypful Syr, in the most lowly wyse, 
 I comaund me to yo\vr good faderhod, be- 
 
 sechyng yow of yowre blyssyng. Mut it plese 
 yowr faderhod to remembre and concydre 
 the peyn and hevynesse that it hath ben to me syn 
 yowr departyng owt of thys contre, here abydyng tyl 
 the tyme it please yow to schewe me grace, and tyl the 
 tyme that by reporte my demenyng be to yowr plesyng; 
 besechyng yow to concydre that I may not, ner have 
 noo mene to seke to yow as I awght to do, and savyng 
 under thys forme, whych I besech yow be not take to 
 no dysplesur, ner am not of power to do any thynge in 
 thys contre for worschyp or profyht of yow, ner ease of 
 yowr tenantys whych myght and scholde be to yowr 
 pleasyng. Wherfor I besech yow of yowr faderly pyte 
 to tendre the more thys symple wryghtyng, as I schal 
 owt of dowght her after doo that schal please yow to 
 the uttermest of my power and labor ; and if ther be 
 any servyce that I may do if it please yow to comaund 
 me, or if y maye understonde it, I wyl be as glad to do 
 it as any thyng erthely, if it wer any thyng that myght 
 be to yowr pleasyng. And no mor, but Allmyghty God 
 have yow in kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn the v. day of Marche. 
 
 By your older sone, 
 
 JOHN PASTON.
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENRY VI. 437 
 
 324. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 13 April. ABSTRACT. 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No. 254.] 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON AND SIR THOMAS 
 HOWES, PARSON OF BLOFELD. 
 
 As you desire me to write letters to certain lords, &c. on " such 
 matters as ye beth now to London for,' and as you know best what 
 it would be most expedient for me to write, I send my servant 
 Colyn Newman to you with my signet sealed in a little leather 
 bag, under a signet of a ram, that you and William Jenney, or two 
 of you, may make out letters in my name as you think fit, keeping 
 copies of those you write. When Sir Thomas comes home again, 
 let him bring back my signet sealed under your signets and the 
 copies you have sent. "And also perad venture I might as well 
 write to them that ben away as to those that been present. And 
 among others ye may say to my nephew, Henry Filongley, I 
 trust right greatly in my Lord Treasurer's good Lordship that he 
 will be my good Lord's supporter to me in my right." 
 
 Castre, I3th April 37 Hen. VI. 
 
 (Signature not Fastolfs own.) 
 
 325. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 29 April 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 174.] 
 
 The only years during the married life of John and Margaret Paston 
 (except when their eldest son was a mere child), in which the Sunday preced- 
 ing Ascension Day fell some time before the loth of May, were 1456 and 1459. 
 In the former year the King could not either have been or have intended to 
 be at Leicester on the loth of May. In 1459 the Privy Seals show that he 
 was at Northampton on the i4th, i8th, and igth of May, and it is quite pos- 
 sible he may have been at Leicester on the loth. In 1464 Edward IV. was 
 at Leicester in May, and the Sunday before Ascension Day was the 6th of 
 May ; but it is not probable this letter was written in that year, for two reasons. 
 In the first place, Margaret Paston could hardly have hoped for an answer 
 from her husband who may be presumed to have been in London in time 
 to have sent his son to be at Leicester on the loth ; secondly, Letter 323, 
 which is evidently of the same year as this, would probabiy have been signed, 
 "John Paston, K." (i.e., Knight).
 
 43 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 Tho my ryth worschopffull hossebond, John Fasion, in 
 hast. 
 
 YTHE worchepfwl hosbond, I recommawnd 
 me onto yow. Plesyth you to wete that on 
 Thorisday last was ther wer browt unto this 
 towne many Prevy Selis, and on of hem was 
 indosyd to yow, and to Hastynggs, and to fyve or 
 sexe odyr gentylmen; and anodyr was sent onto yowr 
 sone, and indosyd to hym selfe alone, and asynyd 
 wythinne wyth the Kynggys howyn hand, and so wer 
 bwt fevve that wer sent, as it was told me ; and also 
 ther wer mor specyal termys in hys then wern in 
 oderys. I sey a copy of thoo that wer sent onto odyr 
 gentylmen. The intent of the wrytyng was, that they 
 sshuwlde be wyth the Kyngg at Leycester the x. day 
 of May, wyth as many personys defensebylly arayid 
 as they myte acordyng to her degre, and that they 
 schwld bryng wyth hem for her expensys for ij. mony- 
 this. As for the lettyr that was indosyd to yow and 
 to odyr, it was delyveryd to Welyam Yelvyrton, for 
 ther aperyd no mor of the remwlawnL Hastynggs is 
 forthe into Yorke schyr. 
 
 I prey yow that ye vowchesaf to send word in hast 
 how ye wyl that yor sone be demenyd herin. Men 
 thynk her, that ben yowr wel wyllerys, that ye may no 
 lesse do than to send hym forthe. As for hys demenyng, 
 swn ye departyd, in god feythe, it hath ben ryth good, 
 and lowly, and delygent inn ovyr sythe of yowre ser- 
 vawntys, and odyr thinggys, the whiche I hope ye 
 wold abe plesyd wyth, and ye had be at horn. I hope 
 he wyl be well demenyd to plese yow heraftynvard. 
 He desyryd Alblaster to bemene 1 to yow for hym, and 
 was ryte hevy of hys demenyng to yow, as I sent yow 
 word also be Alblaster, how I dede to hym aftyr that 
 ye wer go ; and I beseche yow hartyly that ye woche- 
 
 1 To be mean, i.e., to be a mediator. Fenn has not apprehended the 
 phrase, which he has modernised " to bemoan,"
 
 A.D. 1459- ] HENK Y VI. 439 
 
 saf to be hys god fadyr, for I hope he is schastysyd, 
 and wil be the worher [worthier ?] heraftyr. 
 
 As for alle odyr tynggys at horn, I hope that I and 
 odyr schal do howr part ther inne, as wel as we may, 
 bwt as for mony it comyth bwt slowly. And God have 
 yow in hys kepyng, and sen yow good sped in alle 
 yowr matteris. 
 
 Wretyn in hast at Norwece, on the Sonday next 
 before the Assencyon Day. 
 
 Ser, I wold be ryte glad to he \hear~\ swmme gode 
 tydynggys fro yow. 
 
 Be yorys, M. P. 
 
 326. 
 A.D. 1459 (?), 25 May. 
 
 OSBERT MUNDEFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The writer of this letter was put to death at Calais on the asth June 1460, 
 having been taken at Sandwich when about to go thither in aid of the Duke 
 of Somerset against the Earl of Warwick. The date cannot be in that year, 
 and how much earlier it may be is quite uncertain, unless we suppose " mon 
 petit homme d'armes " to be Paston's eldest son, who, as we have seen, was 
 summoned to perform military service in 1459. 
 
 A mon treshonnoure Seigneur, Jehan Paston, Esctder. 
 
 RESHONNOURE Sire, je me recommande a 
 vous tant que je puis, et vous prie qu'il vous 
 plaise me recommander a ma maistressevostre 
 noble espouse et a tous voz enffans, et que ne 
 soit point mis en oubly mon petit homme d'armes. Et 
 oultre vous plaise me recommander a mon Maistre 
 Yelverton et mon Maistre Caulthorpe, et a touz mes 
 autres maistres et amis de pardela ou sera vostre bon 
 plaisir. Et vous mercie des grans plaisirs et amitiez 
 que avez faitz et monstrez a moy et aux miens, lesquelz 
 Dieu me doint deservir. Treshonnoures Sire, plaise 
 vous savoir que mon frere Jehan a Bernay ma escript 
 dune matere dont me touchastes, moy estant parde la,
 
 44 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 a laquelle vostre desir vouldroit 1'onneur des deux 
 pars, et de laquelle matere le porteur de cestes vous 
 informera, et des nouvelles de pardeca s'il vient a voz 
 bons plaisirs. Et vouldroye bien que vous et mon dit 
 frere Jehan a Bernay voulsissez communiquer avecques 
 la personne aqui la matere touche, et que je peusse 
 savoir son entente, affin dy otemperer, car je luy voul- 
 droye faire plaisir et service; car je y suis tenu, et la 
 chose sera en partie reglee par vous et par mondit frere, 
 mais je veil estre le tiers, et une autre personne sera le 
 quart. Treschere et treshonnoure Sire, je vous recom- 
 mande tout mon fait de pardela, et sy faiz je la petite 
 Marie, pour laquelle je vous mercie, et especiallement 
 ma damoiselle vostre fame et noble espouse, et me des- 
 plaist de la grant paine et charge que avez poui elle ; 
 mas Dieu me doint grace que je le puisse aquicter. 
 Priant nostre Seigneur qui soit garde de vous, et vous 
 doint bonne vie et longue, et joyeulx acomplissement 
 de touz voz desirs. 
 
 Escript a Calais, le xxv me jour de May. 
 Le tout votre serviteur, 
 
 OSBERNE MUNDEFORD. 
 
 327. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 24 June. 
 
 WILLIAM BARKER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 It appears by the Bishops' Registers at Nonvich that John Clerk was 
 instituted to the living of Rendlesham on the aoth June 1459 on the King's 
 presentation. This letter must have been written four days later in ignorance 
 of the fact. Clerk's predecessor was John Sybton, administration of whose 
 goods was granted on the igth May 1459. 
 
 To myn ryght worshypfull [m]aysfer, John Paston, at 
 London, atte the Temple. 
 
 LEASE youre maystership that as to morwen 
 a newe inquirendum shal be taken at Wyc- 
 harn Markette for the parsonage of Rendeles-
 
 A.D. I459-] HENR Y VI. 441 
 
 ham for one Mayster John Clerke, a chapeleyn of the 
 Lady Roos ; and Sir Thomas 1 shuld a ben there, 
 but he is hurte of an hors, and also hit was so late 
 warnyng that we myght not ben there ; and, as May- 
 ster Steven seyth, hit should not a avayled, thow one 
 hadde bene there, and elles I wold a labored theder myn 
 self. But he seyth and [i.e., if] ye wold speke to myn 
 Lord Norwych, and enforme hym of the trought of the 
 mater, he shal never presente ner inducte non tyl the 
 ryght of the pzitentes be discussed, and also we may 
 after wardes hald a melius inquirendum. Mayster 
 Steven hath wreten to Sir John Bulman all the tytles 
 and presentacions, and therefore, if hit please yow to 
 comon with hym, ye shall understande all the mater by 
 hym how myn Lord is diposed. And [if] Mayster 
 Robert Eppeswell is now at London, hit were shame 
 that they shuld have ther entent. Sir Phillip Went- 
 worth groundeth not his presentacion by the patent, 
 but by the endenture a twyxt the wedewe and hym, &c. 
 Myn mayster is as 'freshe as ever he was this ij. 
 yere, thanked be God. And youre mater that ye have 
 meved of to Sir Thomas for the porchase, &c., myn 
 mayster is weel agreed therto, but fyrst hit was taken 
 strangely, &c. Almyghty Jesu preserve yow, myn wor- 
 shipfull mayster, to youre desyre after his pleser and 
 youre trewe entent. 
 
 Hastly at Norwyche, on Seynt John Day, at vij. of 
 the clokke at even. Youre owen man, 
 
 W. BARKER, 
 Per mandat T. H. 
 
 328. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 3 July. ABSTRACT. 
 
 SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From MS. Phillipps, 9735, No 250.] 
 
 " Hit is to remember my cousin, John Paston, that where as 
 he desired to have the names of the new feoffinen* of the manor 
 
 1 Sir Thomas Howes.
 
 442 THE PASTON L E T T E R S. [A.D. 1454-59. 
 
 of Dedham that William Geney might see to ground such matter 
 upon as might be for the surety of the said manor, I sent a copy 
 of the said feoffment by John Daunson the last week." Gives 
 other points of information asked for. Has caused the patent to 
 be written and sealed for Rauff Alygh's fee Paston is to over- 
 see the evidences of Fastolf's tenement by St. Olave's Church, 
 which one Laurence Donne has summoned. Philip Grocer on 
 London Bridge is a great maintainer of Donne. As to the mat- 
 ters moved by Stephen Scrope and Richard Byngham has lately 
 written by Dannson "to my said cousin " and to William Yelver- 
 ton of Ms intent, and given them full power to appoint with them. 
 
 (Signature not his own. ) 
 Castre, 3 July 37 Hen. VI. 
 
 Would like Paston and Hue at Fenne to see a speedier mean 
 for the recovery of the 300 marks adjudged to Fastolf to be 
 received of the Lady Fulthorp for the ward of Thomas Fastolf. 
 
 329. 
 
 Between A.D. 1454 and 1459. 
 JOHN, LORD LOVEL, TO VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 128.] 
 
 The writer of this succeeded to the barony of Lovel in 1454, and married 
 Jane, the daughter of John, first Viscount Beaumont, the person addressed. 
 As Beaumont was slain at the battle of Northampton on the loth July 1460, 
 this letter cannot be later than 1459, but may be some years earlier. 
 
 To my right worshipfull, and my moost best beloved Lord Fadre, 
 my Lord Beaumont. 
 
 Right worshipfull and my moost best beloved Lord Fadre, I 
 recomaunde me unto youre good Lordship. Please it yow to 
 wit, I have consayvid your writyng right well ; and for asmoche 
 as ye desure the stiwardship of Baggeworth for youre wilbeloved 
 Thomas Everyngham, which y trowe verely be right a good and 
 a feithfull gentilman. How be it, my Lord, youre desure shall 
 be had in all that is in me ; and at the instaunce of your Lord- 
 ship, y by th'avise of my counceill, shall gyf it hym in writyng 
 undre suche fourme as shall please yow, wheryn y wold be glad 
 to doo that at might please youre good Lordship, prayng yow 
 right hertly ye wold be myn especiall good lord and fadre in all 
 suche [matters] as ye can thynk shuld growe to my worship or 
 profile in any wise, as my synguler trust is moost in yow. And 
 y alwey redy to doo yowe servyse with Goddes grace, who have 
 yow, my right worshipfull and my moost best beloved Lord 
 Fadre, ever in His blessid kepyng. 
 
 Written at Rotherfild Gray, the xxiiij. day of Juyle, &c.
 
 A.D. i444-6o.] HENRY VI. 443 
 
 Furthermore, my Lord, and it like yow, my Lady my modre 
 recommaunclid her unto your good Lordship, yn whom her moost 
 feith and trust is in, prayng yow, ye woll be good brother unto 
 her, for she hath taken yow for her chief counceill, &c. 
 
 JOHN, LORD LOVELL. 
 
 330. 
 
 A.D. 1444-60. ELIANOR, DUCHESS OF NORFOLK, TO 
 VISCOUNT BEAUMONT. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 194.] 
 
 Here we have another letter, of uncertain date, addressed to the same 
 person as the last. The year when it was written is quite immaterial, but 
 must have been between 1444, when John Mowbray, the writer's husband, 
 was confirmed in the dignity of Duke of Norfolk (which had belonged to his 
 grandfather in the time of Richard II.), and 1460, when Viscount Beaumont 
 was slain at the battle of Northampton. 
 
 To my right worshipfull and right entierly vuelbelovid cousin, the 
 Viscount Beaumont, 
 
 Right worshipfull and right entierly welbelovid cousin, I 
 comaunde me to you with alle my herte, desiring to here, and 
 verile to knowe of your worshipfull estate, profite, hele and good 
 prosperite, the whiche I beseche our Lord Jesu ever to mayntene 
 and preserve in alle worship, to his plesaunce, and to your herts 
 ease. 
 
 Please it you, cousin, to witte that your welbelovid servaunt, 
 Roger Hunt, and a servaunt of my moost dred Lord my husbond, 
 on William, yoman of his ewry, a have comend to gedre, and been 
 fully thorgh and agreed that the said William shall have his 
 office, if it may please your good Lordship. W r herfore, cousin, 
 I pray you, as my speciale truste is in you, that ye will, at 
 th'instaunce of my proier and writing, graunte by your lettres 
 patents to the said William the forsaid office, with suche wages 
 and fees as Roger your said servaunt hath it of you ; trustyng 
 verile that ye shall fynde the said William a faithfull servaunt to 
 you, and can and may do you right good service in that office. 
 
 And, cousin, in th'acompleshment of my desire in this mater, 
 ye may do me a right good pleaser, as God knowith, whom I 
 beseche for His merci to have you ever in His blessed gouvern- 
 aunce, and send you good lyfe and long, with muche good 
 worship. 
 
 Writen at Framlynham, the viijth day of Marche. 
 
 ELIANORE, the Duchess of Norfolk. 
 
 1 An officer who had charge of the table linen, &c.
 
 444 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1459. 
 
 331. 
 
 A.D. 1459. FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 342.] 
 
 No signature appears to be attached to this letter as Fenn has printed it, 
 but the style is unmistakeably that of Brackley, to whom he attributes it. 
 The original was endorsed in an ancient hand, according to Fenn, " Littera 
 fratris Doctoris Brackley per quam patet Jo. Fastolf valde desiderasse pre- 
 sentiam consanguinei sui Jo. Paston." The date seems to be shortly before 
 Sir John Fastolf's death, which happened on the 5th November 1459. 
 
 To my Mayster, Jon Pastone, Esqwyer, be this letter 
 prescntid. 
 
 Jesu mercy. 
 
 reverent mayster, &c., as sone as ze may 
 goodly, comyth to Castre, and Zelverton 1 with 
 zow, and ze think it to be done ; and sendyth 
 home zowr men and hors, tyl ze haf do here, 
 &c. And by grace of God and zour polityk wisdham, 
 ze schal conclude more effectually in gret matyers of 
 substans, to my maysterys 2 and zour \vorschip and 
 profyte. It is hey tyme ; he drawyt fast home ward, 
 and is ryte lowe browt, and sore weykid \weakened\ 
 and feblyd, &c. And ze must bryng with zow a forme 
 of a supplicacyon made at London in what maner wyse 
 Mr R. Popy, a cunnyng and a crafty man, schal pre- 
 sentyn and purposyn to the Kyng for the inmorteys- 
 ing of Castre to Seynt Benet, &c., which he promittyd 
 up [promised upori\ a certeyn mony, &c., and undirtoke 
 it, &c., and fond that tyme no bonys in the matere, 
 &c. And now he seyth he wil labour and ryde and 
 do hise part, &c. And he wold haf me to help hym, 
 &c., quod non fiet,&c., or elles a man of credens of my 
 masterys, &c., quod dubito fieri, &c. God bryng zow 
 sone hidyr, &c., for I am weri tyl ze come. 
 
 Sir Thomas the parson, zowr owne most trewe, &c., 
 be myn trewthe, and I zour bedeman and zowrs at 
 zour comaundement, in zour letter haf no more towchid 
 of the mater, &c., to my mayster, &c. Every day this 
 
 I William Yelverlon. 2 Sir John Fastolf.
 
 A.D. 1459-1 HENR Y VI. 445 
 
 v. dayes he seyth, " God send me sone my good cosyn 
 Paston, for I holde hym a feythful man, and ever on 
 man." Cui ego, " that is soth," &c. Et ille, " schew me 
 not the mete, schew me the man." Hsec verba repli- 
 cat saepius cum magno stomacho, &c. Colinus Gallicus 1 
 dicit in Jernemuta et aliis locis se esse executorem, 
 &c. Dixit etiam heri coram pluribus, si semel fuerit 
 London' nunquam vult videre Norfblchiam, &c. Dicit 
 etiam, ubi executores credunt se habituros claves, &c., 
 post mortem alii habebunt claves, ita bene sicut illi, 
 &c. Falsissimus est, et ego bene dixi in partem suam 
 inter ipsum et me, &c. Propter Deum, faciatis Spir- 
 lyng venire juxta promissum in f'cu [factumH], &c. 
 Gallicus ipse maxime odit rectorem et vellet supplan- 
 tare eum, &c. Item, valde desiderat suum, quietus 
 est quia absit, &c. 
 
 Henricus Todyham continue aspirat post mortem 
 magistri cum mille habeat oculos nocendi, &c., si 
 quorum duos deperderit, nullus caeteros timeret, &c. 
 
 332. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 3 Nov. 
 WILL OF SIR JOHN FASTOLP. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This document is printed from the original draft, in which a great part 
 of the text has been crossed out, and other paragraphs substituted in the 
 margin. The passages thus cancelled are enclosed within brackets with 
 asterisks. Those substituted for them or inserted in a later hand are printed 
 in a parallel column on the right. The passages bracketed without asterisks, 
 and also the dotted spaces, are lost by mutilation. 
 
 In the name and the wurship of the holy, blyssydfull Trynite 
 [in the year] of our Lord Jesu Crist, M1CCCCLIX., and 
 in the xxxviij. yeer of [our souerayn Kyng] of Englonde and of 
 Fraunce, Herry the Sexte, the iij. day of the moneth [of] Novem- 
 bre, 2 I, John Fastolf of Castre, be Gret Jernemuth, of the counte 
 -of [Norfolk], Knyght, beynge in good remembraunce, albeit I am 
 sykly and thorwh age infeb[led], bryngyng to mende and often 
 
 1 By this name William Worcester is intended. 
 
 2 The date wa originally " the xiiij. day of the moneth of June."
 
 446 
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 revolvynge in my soule how this world is tra . . . and how, 
 amongs all e[r]thely thynges that is present or for to come, there is 
 noe thynge in this onstable world so serteyn to creature of man 
 kende as is departynge out of this world be dethe, the soule from 
 the wrechyd body ; and noo thynge erthely so onserteyn as the 
 cure and tyme of deth Therefore I, willynge and desyringe that 
 of suche goodes of substaunce worldly, mevabill and onmevable, 
 that God of hise bounteuous grace hathe sent me in my lif to 
 dispose and ocupye, that they be disposed as it may be thowght 
 best for the helthe of my soule and to the plessaunce of God, 
 and also for the relyf, soccour, and helpe of the soulez that I am 
 most oblygid and bounde to purveye and doo . . . for, as the 
 soule of John Fastolf, my fadyr, Dame Mary, doutyr of Nicholas 
 
 my modir, and the soule of Dame Milcent, my wiff, 
 
 the dautyr of [Sir Robert] Tibtot, knyght, and for the soulez of 
 
 othyr of myn kynsefolke and speciall frendes 
 
 here undir wretyn, I ordeyn and this my last will 
 
 in fournie and maner folwyng : 
 
 [First Draft.} 
 
 *\Fyrst, I will and ordeyne that, 
 if it plese oure sovereynge lord 
 Kynge Herry the Sexte, or hese 
 heyre Kynges, for the longe con- 
 tynwyd servise be me in the 
 daye of strengthe and helthe 
 of my body, to hym and to the 
 noble Kynge Herry the Forthe 
 and Herry the Fifte, hise pro- 
 genitoris, and to hise noble 
 uncles John Duke of Bedford, 
 Thomas Duke of Clarence, 
 whill they were in the werrys 
 of oure seyd sovereyng Lord and 
 hise noble progciiitorys forseid, 
 in Fraunce and Normandy as 
 in cuntreez and othyr placis, 
 consederynge my many gret 
 labourys, peynis, and perilis in 
 the seyd servise of oure sove- 
 reyn Lord and hise noble pro- 
 genitoris forseyd, and hise 
 pleyntyuous grace withoutyn 
 
 ony othyr of myn 
 
 executores namyd in my testa- 
 ment, or ellys for a resonable 
 sume of [money] whiche oure 
 seyd sovereyn Lord owith me, 
 or in othir wise, or be ony othyr 
 
 [Secotid Draft.} 
 Firste, Forasmyche as for the 
 welfare of my soule and of the 
 soules forseyd, and for ese, 
 support, and helpe of the pore 
 inhabitantes in the cuntre of 
 Flegge, and for to avoyde that 
 noo lord nor gret astat shuld 
 inhabit in tyme comyng with- 
 inne the gret mancion be me 
 late edified and motid in Castre 
 forseid, I have of long tyme 
 been in purpose to stablishe and 
 founde a collage withinne the 
 seyd gret mancion, and soo to 
 purveye that suche as I lovyd 
 and thought behoffefull for the 
 seyd cuntre, and that noon othyr, 
 shulde inhabite in the seyd man- 
 cion with the collagyens of the 
 seyd collage: Therfor, and for 
 the senguler love and trust that 
 I have to my seyd cosyn John 
 Paston, [abov]e all othyr, beyng 
 in veray beleve that he will 
 execute my will here in, I will 
 and ordeyne, as he and I have 
 covinauntyd and been accordyd 
 that he shall, with inne reson- 
 able tyme aftyr mydeseas, founde
 
 A.D. I459-] 
 
 HENR Y V [. 
 
 447 
 
 meane, so as myn executores 
 therein shall accorde with oure 
 seyd sovereyn Lord and hise 
 counsell, or with hise heire 
 Kynges and here councell, to 
 lycence and graunte to them 
 that be feffyd to myn use in my 
 Lordshepis manere.z, londes, 
 tenementes, rentes, servisez, with 
 here appurtenaunces, or to here 
 assigneez aftyr the effecte and 
 forme of the lawe, by the avyse 
 of myn executores, to ordeyne, 
 founde, and stablishe, withinne 
 the gret mancion or dwelynge 
 place late be me newe edified 
 and motid in the town of Cas- 
 tre, be Gret Jernemuth, in the 
 counte of Norffolk, whiche man- 
 cion or dwellyng place I was 
 born in, a collage of a prioury 
 of vj. religeous personis, monks 
 of the ordir of Seynt Benett, 
 and to imnorteise and graunte 
 to the seyd priour and vj. re- 
 ligeous personis, or to here 
 successorys, the forseyd man- 
 cion or dwellynge place, with 
 all the appurtenauncez andothir 
 suffecient and cleer lyflode of 
 the forseyd lordshepis, maneres, 
 londes, and tenementes, rentes, 
 and servisez.with here appurten- 
 auncez, for the sustentacion of 
 the seyd priour and vj. religeous 
 personys and here successorys, 
 and for here othyr chargys and 
 reparacionis, and for vij. pore 
 men in the seyd collage in per- 
 petuite, be the avise and dis- 
 crecion of myn executores for- 
 seid, to be foundyd and sus- 
 teynid; and that thanne the 
 forseyd feffees or her assignees 
 if they .... grauntes of 
 othyr havyng entresse in this 
 be halve requisit lawefully shul 
 make, founde, and stablishe, or 
 doo be made, founde, and stab- 
 
 ordo founde .... and indewe 
 withinne the seid mancion a 
 collage of vij. religeous monkys 
 or pristes, to preye for the soules 
 above seyd in perpetuite, of 
 whiche one to be cheif gover- 
 nour of hem, and he to have 
 x//., and iche othyr prist or 
 monk [of the said co]llage x. 
 marks yeerly for here susten- 
 aunce and fynding, clerly paid 
 in mony, and that the seyd col- 
 lagyens shull be soo indewyd 
 that be syde here seyd pencions 
 for here propir levynge to be 
 
 grauntyd hem, they 
 
 inmorteysid to hem to fyndevij. 
 pore folke yeerly in perpetuite 
 in the seyd mancion of Castre 
 to preye for the soulis above 
 seyd in perpetuite. Of whiche 
 pore folk iche of hem to have 
 xlr. a yeer or th . . . . ere 
 levynge, fynding, and sustenta- 
 cion ; and that the seyd John 
 Paston shall ordeyne and make 
 swyr to the seyd collagyens, and 
 to the seyd pore folke a suffe- 
 cient summe, and a competent 
 and an esy dwellynge place . . 
 . . . seid collagyens nor here 
 successorys beryng no repara- 
 cion there of, for whiche and 
 for othyr consyderacionis above 
 seyd, I will, graunte, and or- 
 deyne that the seyd John Paston 
 shall have in fee symple, to 
 hy[m and his heirs] all the 
 manerez, londes, and tenementes 
 in Norffolk, Suffolk, and Nor- 
 wiche in whiche the seyd John 
 Paston or ony othyr to myn use 
 are or were feffyd in or have 
 title to, and that all feffeez feffyd 
 in the seyd manerez, londes, 
 and . . . er astat of the seyd 
 manerez, londes, and tenementes 
 to suche personys, and at suche 
 tymes and in suche fourme as
 
 44 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 lishid in the seyd collage, with the seyd Fasten, hise heyris or 
 the seyd priour and vj. religeous his assigneez, shall requyre hem, 
 men, ever to endure, for to prey or ony of hem. And the seyd 
 
 for my soule and for the soulez John Paston seyd 
 
 of my fadir and my modir, and collage shal here and paye to 
 of all my kynsefolk and good my behoft, towardes the pay- 
 doeres, and for the soulez of mentys of my dettes and othir 
 the blissyd memorye Kynges thynges, be my present will 
 forseyd, Herry the Forthe and assygnid to be do, m'mlmlmL 
 Herry the Fifte, and the seyd [4000] mark, in suche fourme 
 noble Dukys, and for the good and at suche tyme as in this my 
 
 astat and prosperite of oure present will 
 
 sovereyn Lord durynge hese here aftir folwyng : 
 lyf tyme, and aftyr for hese 
 soule, and for all Cristeyn 
 
 soules, therefor to synge and sey dayli devyne servise and preyeris 
 in perpetuite ; and to be of the orderis. proffession, obedyence, 
 and governaunce of the ordyr of Seynt Benettes, and of the 
 same ordyr and profession as been the monkes of Seynt Benettes 
 in Holme, in the counte of Norffolk, and shalbe stablyshid be the 
 good avyse of myn executorys : And thoo feffeez forseyd, or here 
 assygnez, inmorteyse and graunte, or do been inmorteised and 
 grauntid, feffe sufficiently swyrly and lawfully to the seyd pryour 
 and religeous, [and to their] successores, the forseyd mancion and 
 dwellynge place, with the appurte[nances], .... sufficient, 
 swyr, and cleer lyflode of the for seyd lordshepis maneres .... 
 rentes, servisez, with here appurtenancez in Castre forseyd, and 
 
 in all othir placis lithe next the seyd mancion or 
 
 dwellynge place, for the sustenaunce [of the] seyd priour and 
 vj. religeous men and here successoris, here servauntis, and the 
 [seyd] vij. pore men : And for the chargys and reparacionis for- 
 seyd, to the yeerly valew of thre hundryd markes starlyng over 
 all chargys ; to have and to holde to the forseyd religeous men 
 and to here successoris for ever ; providid alwey that the seyd 
 priour and religeous men and here successoris be bounden and 
 compellabill suffeciently in lawe be the discrecion of my seyd 
 executoris, to susteyne the forseyd vij. pore men contymvally, 
 suffeciently, and convenyently in all thyngis withinne the seyd 
 collage for ever, and for to preye for the soulys afore seyd.] * 
 
 *[Item, I will and graunte that if outhyr the forseyd licence and 
 graunte of oure seyd sovereyn Lord, or of hise heyre Kynges, or 
 the licence or graunt of ony othyr .... entresse in this be- 
 
 halve be not lawefully, swyrly, and suffeciently 
 
 that thanne my seid executorys shall geve or do be gove to . . 
 .... of the monastery of Seynt Benettes of Holme, for seyd, 
 
 lyflode or mony competent seyd abot and covent or 
 
 here successorys, and my seyd executores si:?l accorde there in 
 be here wise discrecionis, for the indewement and sustentacion 
 of vj. monkes in the seyd monastery and vij. pore men in the
 
 A.D. 1459.] 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 449 
 
 same monastery, to prey for the soulys forseyd in perpetuite, to 
 be foundyd, susteynid, and kept, providid that the vj. monkes 
 forseyd be aumentyd abovyn the noumbre of monkes of here ferst 
 fundacion, and over the noumbre that they now use to kepe in 
 the seyd monastery, and that lawefull and agreable swyrte per- 
 petualy be made be the avyse of myn seyd executores, aswell for 
 the augmentacion, susteyning, and kepynge of the seyd vj. 
 monkys, as for the convenyent and suffecient sustentacion, fynd- 
 yng, and kepyng of the seyd vij. pore men in perpetuite, to preye 
 as is afore seyd. 
 
 [First Draft.} 
 * [It]em, I will and ordeyne 
 that all and singuler lordshepis, 
 maneres, londes, and tene- 
 mentes, [ren]tes, and servisez, 
 with here appurtenauncez, in 
 whiche ony persone or personys 
 are feffid in or have astat and 
 possession to myn use, in whiche 
 sum ever counteez or townez the 
 seyd lordshepis, maneres, londes, 
 and tenementes, rentes, and ser- 
 visez bein withinne the ream 
 of Englond ; and that all the 
 forseyd and senguler lordshepys, 
 manerez, tenementes, rentes, and 
 servisez, with here appurten- 
 aunce, in whiche ony person 
 or personys been intitlyd to 
 myn use be the lawe, shull be 
 sold be ray seyd execuloris, ex- 
 cept manerez, londes, and tene- 
 mentes, rentes, and servisez, 
 with here appurtenauncez, as 
 shall be morteysyd to the seyd 
 collage, if the fundacion thereof 
 take effecte : And that the mony 
 of the sale or salys comynge be 
 disposed be my seyd execu- 
 tores in executyng of thys my 
 last wyll and testament, and in 
 othyr dedes of almesse as my 
 seyd executores be here discre- 
 cion shal seme best to plese 
 God for the helthe of my soule 
 and for the soulys forseyd : And 
 that happe the fundacion of the 
 seyd collage to take to noon 
 effecte, nor the seyd collage 
 
 [Second Draft."] 
 Item, I wyll, ordeyne, and 
 graunte that all othir lorshepis, 
 manerez,londes,and tenementes, 
 rentes, and servisez, with here 
 appurtenaunce, in whiche ony 
 persone or personis been feffid 
 in, or have astat or possession, 
 or be in titlid to myn use be the 
 lawe, except the seyd manerez, 
 londes, and tenementes, rentes, 
 and servisez, with here appur- 
 tenauncez, in the shirez of Norf- 
 folk, Suffolk, and Norwiche, in 
 the article next presedent speci- 
 fied, shull be sold be the seyd 
 JohnPastonand ThomasHowys, 
 ij. of myn executoris. And I 
 will, graunte, and ordeyne that 
 the seyd John and Thomas, 
 and noon othir while they leve, 
 shall have thesenglerrewle,sale, 
 and disposecion of all my londes 
 forseyd, except before except, 
 and execucion of this my last 
 will and of every article there 
 in; and I will that theseid John 
 and Thomas shall have all the 
 profitez and avaylez and emol- 
 wements of the seyd maneris, 
 londes, and tenementes, rentes, 
 and servisez, with all othir 
 comoditeez thereof comyng, til 
 be them they be sold, and the 
 mony of the profiles and salis 
 thereof comynge, be them to be 
 disposed for the welfare of my 
 soule and of the soulez forseyd 
 duiyng the lyf of the seyd John 
 
 2 G
 
 45 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [^0.1459. 
 
 foundyd, that thanne the lord- and Thomas; and in cas this 
 shepis, londes, and tenementes, my will be not executyd in 
 rentes, and servise, with here theyre [liv]es, that thanne the 
 appurtenancez, whiche shul bee execucion be thereof doon be 
 assygnid to the seyd morteys- othyr myn executores that aftyr 
 yng, also shull be sold [be my]n hem too shal have the mynis- 
 executores, and the mony there- tracion of my goodes. 
 of comyng to be disposed be 
 [myn] executores in executyng 
 and parformynge of my will and 
 
 testament, and in othyr dedes of mercy, pite, and almesse as shal 
 seme best to my seyd executores for the soulez afore seyd and 
 the soulys undyr wretyn.] * 
 
 * [Item, I will and ordeyne that my seyd executoris shull take 
 and have all the issews, avaylez, profitez, and emolwementes of all 
 and senguler lordshepys, manerez, londes, tenementes, rentes, 
 and servisez forseyd, with here appurtenaunce, excepte before 
 except, to be geve to the seyd collage, on to tyme they be sold 
 feithefully and trewly be my seyd executores ; and on to tyme 
 that they that shull be purchasorys be feithefull and trewe bar- 
 geyne thereof made be twene hem and my seid executorys, shull 
 take and have the issewes, profitez, avayles, and emolwementes, 
 withoute fraude or male ingyne. And also I wyll and ordeyne that 
 my forseyd executores shull take and have all the issewys, profitez, 
 avayles, and emolwementes of all and senguler aforn except 1 ... 
 . . londes, tenementes, rentes, servisez, with here appurtenauncez, 
 
 on to tyme and vj. religeous men or here successoris, if the 
 
 forseyd admynistracion shull have and take lawefull 
 
 and feithfull estat beforce of the seyd inmorteys[yng], or ellys 
 that they be feithfully and trewly accordid with my seid execu- 
 torys for the takyng and havyng of the issewes, profitez, and 
 avayles, and emolwementes withoute fraud or male ingyne. And 
 if the seyd inmorteysyng take noon effecte, I will and ordeyne 
 that my seyd executores shull have and take all and senguler 
 issewys, profitez, avayles, and emolwementes of the forseyd except 
 lordshepys, londes, manerez, and tenementes, rentes, and servicez, 
 with here appurtenaunces, tyl they be feithefully and trewly sold 
 be my seyd executores, unto tyme that they that shalbe purchasorys 
 thereof, be feithefull and trewe bargayne be twene them and my 
 seyd executores thereof made, shull take thoo issewys, profitez, 
 and avaylez, and emolwements thereof, withoute fraude or male 
 ingyne. And I will and ordeyne that my seyd executores shull 
 dispose all and senguler issewys, profitez, avaylez, and emolwe- 
 mentes afornseyd for my soule, and for the soulys afom reher- 
 syd, as they shall seme beste to the plesure of God.] * 
 
 Item, forasmyche as it is seyd that dy verse personis of dyverse 
 
 desentes pretende at this day to be next heneritere 
 
 [inheritor} to me aftyr my deseas, where 
 
 knowe that no creature hathe title or right to inheryte ony
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENRY VL 451 
 
 londes and tenementes, rentes, and servisez 
 
 that ever I hadde, or ony persone or personys have to 
 
 myn use ; therfor I will and ordeyne that no persone nor per- 
 sonis as hey . . . me for no douteful or obskure materes con- 
 teynid in this my present will, nor for noon othyr, shall take ony 
 maner of avauntage, benefice, or profit be ony manner meanys 
 or weyes, of ony manerez, lordshepis, londes, tenementes, rentes, 
 servisez, goodes, or catellys that were myn at ony tyme. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne and graunte that myn executoris 
 [before namyd], or the more part of them 1 and noon othir, shall 
 have the decleracion and interpretacion of all and senguler 
 articles, chapetris, clausis, whiche and wordes in this my last 
 will hadde and wretyn, in whiche articlis, chapetris, clausis, and 
 wordes ony doute or doutez, dirknesse or dyversite of undir- 
 stondyng shall falle or happe to be founde, and that no persone 
 or personys be reson of suche articlys, chapetris, clausys, or wordes, 
 have or take ony profit or avauntage othyr wise thanne aftyr the 
 maner and fourme.of declaracion and interpretacion of my seyd 
 [too namyd] 2 executors. 
 
 Item, I will, ordeyne, and comaunde that all my dettes that is 
 owynge [be] me be dewe examynacion be fully payd and con- 
 tentyd to the creditoris, which can be foundyn dewe that is 
 owynge be me ; and also that all wronges, trespacis, offends, and 
 grevys be me doon or comyttid, if ony bee, that ony maner per- 
 sone hathe been hyndryd or damagid wrongfully, if ony suche bee 
 that can suffeciently and lawefully be previd and knowe, I wyll 
 fyrst be fore all othyr thinges it be speed that myn executores do 
 make amendes, restitucion, and satisfaction to thoo personys or to 
 here executorys by me damagyd and hyndred as concience and 
 good feithe requyreth. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that in every town in which I or ony 
 to myn use have lordshepys, manerez, londes, and tenementes that 
 the pore pepyl of the tenure of the seyd town have ij. yeer to 
 gethyr in reward after theyre afferaunt and quantite of the x. part 
 of oon yeerly valewe and reveneuse of the seyd [lor]dshepis, mane- 
 rez, londes, tenementes, and rentes, halfe to be departyd to . . 
 [par]ishe cherchis for werkys,ornamentes,and othyr thynges neces- 
 sarye to the seyd chyrchis, and half to be departyd amonges the 
 seyd pore pepil that be tenauntes 3 of the seid lordshepis, maneres, 
 londes, and tenementes soo to be disposed aftyr the discrecion 
 of myn executores [before namyd], 4 aftyr my will approvid, and 
 my dettes payd. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that the pryour of the prioury of the 
 parishe cherch of Jernemuth for the tyme beynge, and hese covent 
 
 1 Or the more part of them. These words are crossed out. The words 
 "before namyd" are an interlineation substituted for them by the second 
 hand. 
 
 v Interlineation by second hand. 
 
 3 " fermors " inserted in a different hand. 
 
 * Interlined by second hand.
 
 45 2 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1459. 
 
 and hise successorys, observe and kepe yeerly and perpetualy to 
 endure an annversary in the seyd parishe cherche for to preye 
 for the soule of my fadyr, John Fastolf, Squyer, that lythe buryed 
 there in the seyd chyrche, with placebo and derigt and messe, 
 be note the vigyl and day of hese obit, with the noumbre of 
 prystes and clerkes accordyng in such a cause ; and for to susteyne 
 the kepyng of the seyd annversary, I will that be the avise of 
 myn executorys [before namyd] 1 that londes or teneme[ntes] 
 
 ordeynid to the yeerly valewe of XX.T., and 
 
 that to be inmorteis swyr to the seyd prioury or 
 
 parishe chyrche, oonly to susteyne and bere and chargys 
 
 of the perpetuall kepyng and susteyning of the seyd annversary. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that if I have ony reliquis of Seyntes, 
 also suche ornamentes for the chirche, that I have left as vest- 
 mentes, garlementes of sylke or velwet, of robis, and rny gownys, 
 that parcell of hem be yovin to the seyd monastery cherche of 
 Seynt Benettes, where I shal be buryed, to remayne for ornament 
 of the chapell there be me late edified ; and also part of hem to 
 be distrubited amonges the parishe chyrchis that be in suche 
 townes that I have ony lordshipis, manerez, londes, tenementes, 
 and rentes, provided that a resonable and a competent part of the 
 seyd reliquis and ornamentes be kept and govyn to the seyd col- 
 lage to be made at Castre, and this to be doon be the avise of 
 myn executores be fore namyd. 2 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that suche of my consanguinite and 
 kynred whyche be pore and have but litil substaunce to leve 
 
 by, that they be relevyd of my goodes havyng 
 
 consederation to thoo that be nerrest of my kyn and of 
 
 Also of here good disposecion too God ward and to me in here 
 
 othir of my kyn, that a consyderacion be hadde 
 
 and yovyn to the relyf and preferment] of my cosyn Robert 
 Fitzraf, for hese good, trewe and long servise to me doon and 
 contynwyd, and alsoo be reson of my consanguynite and kynred. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that if ony persone make ony com- 
 pleynt to myn executores that I have purchasyd ony taylid londes 
 be this my will ordeynid to be sold,3 and that thoo personys 
 that so compleyne doo suffeciently and evydently prove and 
 shewe withoutyn ony collucion, fraude, or male ingyne suche 
 londes taylid ; thanne I will that the right heyris purchase as be 
 suche taylid londes, if ony be in my possession or in my fefieez 
 
 handes, and that for a is thanne ony othir persone 
 
 after the avyse and discrecion of the seid John Paston and 
 Thomas Howis, clerk, and where there be no lawefull answere 
 nor debarre of the tayle. 4 
 
 1 Interlined by second hand. 
 
 2 before namyd. These words are an interlineation by another hand. 
 
 3 be this tny mill ordeynid to be sold, interlined by another hand. 
 
 4 after the avyse tayle. These words are an interlineation by the second 
 hand.
 
 A.D. I459-] HENRY VI. 453 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that the holy place of monastery and 
 abbathye of cure Ladyiz chirche of Langley, in the diocise of Nor- 
 wiche, for my soule to be more specialy recommendyd, and also 
 for to kepe and susteyne, one day in the yeer, myn annversary 
 solempnely be note the derige and messe of requyem for ever to 
 endure for the helthe of my soule and for the soule of Dame Mil- 
 cent, my wif, the doutyr of Sir Robert Tibetot, Knyght, whiche 
 was of the consanguynite and kyn to the foundorys of the seyd 
 monastery, and she owyng a senguler affeccion and love of devo- 
 cion to the preyeris of that place, that the Abot and Covent have 
 a reward and a remuneracion of my mevable goodes aftyr the dis- 
 crecion of myn executores before namyd. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that be the avise of myn executorys 
 before namyd, that prevecion and ordenaunce be made that the 
 obit and annversary may be yeerly inperpetuite kept with placebo 
 and derige and messe of requiem 
 benote for the soule of Dame 
 
 Mary, my modir, in the chirche [Second Draft. ] 
 
 of Attilburgh, * [and a fundacion * and that oon of the monkis or 
 of a messe there, or in othyr con- pristes in the collage be me or- 
 venyent place to be morteysid, deynid in the mancion of Castre 
 for ever to seye and preye for forseid shall synge specialy in 
 here soule and for here auncet- perpetuite for the soule of my 
 ryez aftyr the discrecion of myn modir and all here auncestryez, 
 executorys.] * and good dooerys. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that it be provided be myn executores 
 before namyd a reward as a yefte be made to the chapell of Seynt 
 Jorge in the Castill of Wyndishore, and to the collagyens of the 
 
 same collage for to have my soule recomendid amonges 
 
 with an annversary to be kept yeerly and perpetualy amonges 
 hem -with placebo and [derige and] messe of requyem be note. 1 
 
 Item, I will, ordeyne, and 
 
 comaunde that myn [executores [Second Draft.] 
 
 and] 2 feffeez* porsewe lawfully * be the avise of myn executores 
 my right and title that I have before namyd 
 in xxv. marke of yeerly rente, 
 with all the areragis that of right 
 
 and conciehce is dewe to my feffeez feffyd there in to myn use to 
 dispose for my soule helthe chargyd and payable out of a maner in 
 Hiklyng, callid Nethyrhalle,with the priour and covent of Hiklyiig 
 for the tyme beyng, be bounden and astrict be wryting undyr here 
 covent sealys to paye yeerly. And on lyke wise I wyll that pursewt 
 be made be Parlement or othyrwise lawefull for redressyng of the 
 wrong doon to me in the maner of Bradwell, in the hundrid of 
 Lodynglond in Suffolk, whiche I purchasid trewly, and hadde a 
 lawefull astat in the same maner, as myn evydence woll shewe of 
 record, xl. yeer past ; and for to redresse the wrong full entre 
 
 1 with an annversary note, erased. * Erased.
 
 454 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 doon . . . . . my feffeez in the maner of Dedham Nethir- 
 halle by Willyam, late Duke of Suff[olk], as well as for the wrong- 
 full entre eftsonys and late made upon serteyn personys feffyd 
 to myn use in the seyd maner, now of latter tyme ; And that myn 
 executores doo dewly here deligence aboute the recovery and 
 getyng ageyn of the seyd manerez, londfes], and tenementes and 
 rentes above seyd of my goodes to be born. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that the wardeyn and the procutoris 
 for the tyme beyng of the parishe chirche of Seynt Oloff in Suthe- 
 werk, be London Brege, beyeng to the use of the seyd chirche 
 of Seynt Oloff, be preferryd, in beyeng and purchasyng of myn 
 executorys before namyd, a tenement with a warff thereto longyng, 
 set be the seyd chirche, callyd the Bukheed, before ony man, and 
 for a lesse valewe than it is worthe withine the sum of xx/z. 
 
 Item, I will that a convenyent stoon of marbill and a flat 
 fygure, aftyr the facion of an armyd man, be made and gravyn in 
 the seyd stoon in laton in memoryall of my fadyr, John Fastolf, 
 Squyer, to be leyd upon hese toumbe in the chapell of Seynt 
 Nicholas, in the parishe chirche of Jernemuth, and with my 
 skochonys of armys of hym and hese auncestryez, with a scripture 
 aboute the stoon makynge mencion the day and yeer of hise 
 obite. 
 
 Item, I will that in semblable wise a marble stoon of a con- 
 venyent me made to be leyd upon the toumbe 
 
 of Dame Mary, my modyr, in the foundid in the 
 
 parishe chyrche of Atilburgh, and that a figure 
 
 of a jentilwoman with here mantil, with a scripture made of laton 
 
 in on iiij. skochonys of armys of here iij. husbondes, 
 
 as the skochon of Thomas Mortimer, Knight, [John] Fastolf, 
 Squyer, the seconde husbonde, and of John Farwell, Squyer, the 
 thridde husbonde, auncetryez in the seyd toumbe, and the day 
 and yeer of here obite to be wretyn aboute. 
 
 * [Item, I will that a prove- 
 cion be made for swerte of the 
 
 maner of Cowlynge in Suffolk, [Second Draft.] 
 
 accordyng to the last wyll of Item, that myn executores 
 Dame Marget Braunche, my before namyd helpe that the 
 sustir, in whiche maner I stond maner of Cowlynge be disposed 
 enfeffed in to here use, and ser- and guydid aftyr the will of 
 teyn londes in the seyd Cow- Dame Marget Braunche, my 
 lynge that Dame Mary, my sustir, if myn executoris thynke 
 modir, purchasyd to here and to it be to doo. 
 hireheirez, that IlerryBraunche, 
 my neweu, here son .... seyd 
 
 maner, provided that he be oblygid to preye for hise fadir, Sir 
 Philip Br[aunche, and his] modir, Dame Marget, serteyn preyeris 
 and messez, with a prist, to be contynw[aly] seyd [be] the dis- 
 crecyon of myn executorys.] * 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that the executores of John Wellys,
 
 A.D. I459-] HENRY VI. 455 
 
 aldreman of London, whiche hadde gret goodes of myne in hise 
 governaunce whil I was in the partyez of Fraunce and Norman- 
 dye, and hadde never opyn declaracion to whos handes of my 
 resseyvoris atturnyez, or servauntes of myne the seyd goodes 
 were delyvered particlerly, and for that cause to be aserteynid 
 of the trouthe in this be halve, as well as for the dyscharge of the 
 seyd John Wellys soule, his executores and attornyez may yeve 
 accompt, soo declaryng of my seyd goodes accordyng to the 
 trouthe and concience. 
 
 * [Item, to be providyd, if it be thowght comodiously that it 
 may be doon be myn executores, that a chauntry may be foundyd 
 in the chyrche of Seynt Oloff, be London Brege, in Southewerk, 
 to prey for my soule perpetualy.] * 
 
 Item, I will and requyre that it be knowyn to all pepill present 
 and for to come that where afore thys tyme whil I dwellyd and 
 excersysed the werrys in Fraunce, Normandye, Angoy, and Mayne, 
 as in Gyen, havyng undir the Kyng, myn sovereyn Lord, officez 
 and governauncez of cuntreez and placis, as of castilys, fortreys, 
 citeez, and townes be xxx. yeer and more contynwed, be reson of 
 
 whiche officez many sealis of myn annys gravyn with my 
 
 name wretyn aboutyn course (?) in the seyd 
 
 castilys and fortreycez that my lef tenauntes and officerz 
 
 beyng in dyverse suche placis ocupied undyr me the sealys and 
 sygnettes to scale saf conduytez and billettes of saf gardes, and 
 othyr wry tinges of justice longyng to suche officez of werre; and 
 I doutyng that summe of the forseyd sealys of armys or sygnettes 
 remayne stille amonges myn officeres or personys not delyvered to 
 me ageyn, and that with the sealys of armys and signettes ony 
 monwements, chartrys, dedes, letterys patentes, blankes chartrys 
 in parchemyn or paper, or othyr evydence forgyd and contryved 
 withoute my knowynge or assent, myght soo be sealyd ageyn all 
 concience and trouthe and ryghtwisenesse ; and for these causez, 
 and for doute of ony inconvenyent that myght falle be this my 
 wrytinge, I sertefie for trouthe and afferme on my soule, I swere 
 and proteste that sethe I cam last out of Fraunce and Normandye, 
 xix. yeere passed, I never sealyd 
 wrytinge of charge, yefte, nor 
 
 graunte with noon othyr seal of [Second Draft. ] 
 
 armys nor sygnet thanne *[with * I have usyd this ij. yeer day 
 this same seal of armys and last passed. 
 
 sygnet this my 
 
 present will and my last testa- 
 ment,] * and evermore that I 
 
 have enselyd no [charge] yefte, nor graunte be the space of xix. 
 yeer with noo seal nor sygnet, of noo lordshype, maner, nor 
 manerez, annuite, reversionis, nor of no yiftes nor grauntes of goodes 
 and cattellys, mevable and on mevable, nor mony, excepte suche 
 as I have made opynly to be knowyn, executyd, and put in poces- 
 sion be fore this day. Wherfore I requyre all Cnstyn
 
 45 G THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1459. 
 
 peple to yeve noo feithe nor credence to ony pryvat wryting not 
 opynly declarid nor provid in my lif tyme, nor to blanke chartrys 
 
 sealyd in my whereof I remembre me well that oon 
 
 John Wyntir, Esquyer, late my servaunt, hadde (?) in kepyng a 
 blanke letter in parchemyn ensealyd ondyr my seal, and never 
 delyvered it me ageyn, but seyde he hadde lost it at hyse con- 
 fecion, as wryting ondyr hise owyn hande maketh mencyon or he 
 deyde. 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that myn houshold be holdyn and 
 kept with my menyal servauntz be the space of half yeer aftyr my 
 deseas, soo as they wyll be trewe to me and obedyent to myn 
 executorys, and here wages for that tyme payd, and that in the 
 meane tyme they purvey hem for othyr servise as they lyke best 
 to avise to leve in trouthe ; and if ony servaunt be well governyd 
 and holde ageyns my ... or ageyn myn executorys to breke my 
 good disposecion, I wy[ll that he shall be ?] remevyd, and that he 
 
 abyde noo lenger among the fel trewly avoydid 
 
 withoutyn ony reward of me or of myn ex[ecutores], 
 
 * [Item, I will and ordeyne [Second Draft. ] 
 
 that amonges othyr lordes, fren- Item, I will and ordeyne that 
 des, and kynesmen that I desyre, amonges othir that I have put in 
 [for] the discharge of my con- remembraunce be this my will 
 cience, be put in remembraunce to be preyed fore that suche as 
 of preyeris for the [good] affec- shalbe bounden to preye for me, 
 cion I hadde on to them that I and be rewardidof mynalmesse, 
 desyre shuld be preyed fore, is shalbe chargid be myn execu- 
 the soule of that blyssyd prynce, toris be fore namyd to preye for 
 Thomas Bedford, 1 late Duke of the welfare of m[y] soverayn 
 Excestre, the soulys of the Lord Lord the Kyng, and for the 
 Tibtot, Rauff, Lord Crumwell, soulys of all my good lordes and 
 Sir John Radclife, my brothyr- kynsefolk, and of thoo I am 
 in-lawe, and Dame Cisly, late b[ounden] to preye fore or doo 
 hyse wiff, my sustyr, whiche lithe preye fore, and for hem that I 
 buryed at Burdeux ; Sir Philip have hadde ony goodes of. 
 Braunche, Knyght, my brothyr- 
 in-law, that deyde and was 
 
 slayn in Fraunce, and Dame Marget, late hyse wif, my sustyr, 
 buryed at Cowlynge ; also John Farwell, Squyer, my fadyer-in- 
 lawe; Sir Herry Inglose, Knyght, of my consangwynite ; Sir 
 Hewe Fastolf, Knyght, that deyde in Cane in Normandye; Sir 
 Robert Harlynge, Knyght, my neveu, that was slayn at the sege 
 of Seynt Denys in Fraunce ; John Fitzraf, Squyer, my neveu ; 
 Cisly, late the wif of Herry Fylongley, my nese, also late desesyd ; 
 Dame [Dan] Willyam Fastolf, of my consanguynite, prophessyd 
 in the monastery of Seynt Benettes, and aftyr Abot of Fescamp in 
 Normandye, whiche deide at Parys ; Mathew Gowgh, Squyer, 
 Thomas Gower, Squyer, John Sak (?), marchaunt of Paryse, my 
 
 1 Beaufort.
 
 A.D. 1459.] 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 457 
 
 [Second Draft.] 
 
 * full wyll and assentynge of 
 the seyd John Paston and 
 Thomas Howys, clerk. 
 
 trusty frend and servaunt, and for the soule of John Kyrtlyng, 
 parson of Arkesey, my right trusty chapeleyn and servaunt 
 domysticall xxx. wynter and more, Thomas Hoddeson, a trusty 
 servaunt of myne, John Lyndford, and William Gunnour.] * 
 
 Item, I will, ordeyne, and streyghtly charge myn executorys 
 that noon of hem shall [give] quyetaunce nor rellesse in no wise be 
 hym self, nor be noon othir, to noon of my detorys, nor to dettour 
 of myn executoris, of what so 
 ever of astat or condecion that 
 he be of, withoute the * [know- 
 ynge, plessaunce, and assentynge 
 of all myn executorys, or the 
 more part of hem.] * 
 
 Item, I will, ordeyne, and streightly charge that none of 
 myn executorys, be him self, nor be noon othyr, in ony maner or 
 
 condecion cautelous, colour shall sell, nor doo selle, 
 
 alyen, nor doo alyen, withdrawe, or do be [witidra]we, my londes 
 and tenementes, jowellys of gold or sylvir, dettes or cattelys, ves- 
 selys or vestmentes of sylke, lynen, or wollyn, or ony othyr uten- 
 sylez, to my persone or hous- 
 hold perteyning, nor noon othyr 
 goodes of myne, mevable or on 
 mevablys, quyk or ded, generaly 
 orspecialy,withoute *[theknow- 
 yng, plessaunce, and assentynge 
 of all myn executorys, or the 
 more part of hem ; and if it be 
 soo that ony of myn executores 
 attempte maleciously the con- 
 trary in effecte, he fallith in the 
 centense of excommunicacion, 
 doyng the contrary to my last 
 will.] * 
 
 Item, I will, ordeyne, and 
 streyghtly charge that all my 
 feffeez feffyd of trust on to myn 
 use of and in all my manerez, 
 lordshepis, londes, tenementes, 
 and rentes, and servisez, and 
 profitez, be me or othyr to myn 
 use purchasyd *[in all maner of 
 counteez, citeez, or burghes or 
 townes with in the ream of 
 
 Eng[lond] ] * they that 
 
 have astat, pocession, or tythe to 
 myn use, with all the goodlyhaste, 
 .... and withoute delay aftyr 
 they be requyred be myn exe- 
 cutores * aftyr my deseas, that 
 
 [Second Draft.] 
 
 * the very will and assentyng of 
 the seyd Paston and Howys, 
 and that noon othyr attempte 
 there in nor in noon othir 
 cause in this my will to doo 
 the contrarye to hem in effecte 
 I require hem in Goddes be 
 halve. 
 
 [Second Draft.] 
 
 * except before except, be me 
 grauntid to the seyd John Pas- 
 ton or hese assygnes. 
 
 * before namyd.
 
 45 8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 they shall feffyn and make lawe- 
 
 full astat in fee symple * [of and 
 
 in all maner lordshipys, londes, 
 
 tenementes, meswages, rentes, 
 
 servisez, and profitez forseyd, 
 
 or of every parcel! of the same] * 
 
 to that persone or personys to [Second Draft."] 
 
 whom or to whiche * [my seid * the seid John Paston and 
 
 executores in accomplisment of Thomas Howys. 
 
 my last will, the said maneres, 
 
 lordshepys, londes, tenementes, 
 
 mecis, rentes, and servisez, or 
 
 ony parcell of the same,* shall * except before except. 
 
 sell, or doo sell aftyr the de- 
 
 claracion of this my last will * for * to dispose 
 
 the helthe of my soule, * [Dame * and for the soulis above seyd. 
 
 Milcent, my wif, with all my 
 
 progenitorys, cosynes, and bene- 
 
 factorys, and all my frendes.] * 
 
 * [Item, I will, ordeyne, and streightly charge, aftyr be the 
 grace of God 1 be desesed out of thys world, also myn exe- 
 cutores willynge in effecte to accepte the charge upon hem of 
 execucion of my testement and of mynistracion of my last will, 
 all the articlis there in conteynid they shall ransakyn besyly and 
 discussyn soo discretly in here remembraunce, that both in will 
 
 shal not omyttyn for to complishe the seyd articles 
 
 in Seynt Poule the Appostyll seithe he that is 
 
 ignoraunt God Almighty shall hym not knowyn to 
 
 hise savacion * this article to otherys that ignoraunce 
 
 shuld not been on to myn execu[torys] in hurtynge of my soule, 
 occacion of trespacynge, nor God offendyng. ] * 
 
 * [Item, I wyll, I ordeyne, and hertely desyr, that if it soo be 
 be the grace of the Holy Gost, or of my good Aungill, or ellys be 
 the verteuous devocion of ony good man, or be lyberte of fredam 
 of myn owyn will, it happe ony good werkes and profitable to the 
 helthe of my soule necessarye or avayleable to come be favour or 
 swetnesse in to my remembraunce, as oftyn as I wryte or doo 
 wryte suche thyngs worthy to be remembryd in ony codicill or 
 codicilles for to be conyoinid to my testament or to my last will, 
 thanne I will and preye with gret instaunce of al myn executorys 
 that alle thoo poyntes or articlys be me expressyd and conteynid 
 in the seyd my codicill or codicillys that they may have strengthe 
 and vertwe of observaunce in effecte, as if the hadde be wretyn in 
 the code of my testement and my last will.] * 
 
 * [Item, I will, I ordeyne, and I hertely desyre, sethe that every 
 mortall creature is soget to the lymitez or merkys of mutabelyte 
 
 1 See i Cor. xiv. 38. The translation of this verse in the Vulgate " Si 
 quis autem ignorat ignorabitur " conveys a materially different sense from 
 that of our English version.
 
 A.D. I459-] 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 459 
 
 and chaungeableness, and mannys levynge in frelte and condecion 
 is caduke and casewell, therfor on the behalve of Almyghty God, 
 and be the weye of entyer charyte, I exhorte, beseche, and preye 
 all myn executorys, in the vertwe of cure Lord Jesu Cryst, and in 
 the vertwe of the aspercion of Hise holy blood, shed out graciously 
 for the savacion ofallmankende, 
 
 that for the more hasty delyver- 
 aunce of my soule from the 
 peynefull flawmes of the fyre of 
 Purgatory, on suche maner and 
 wise they dele and departe my 
 goodes feithfully be here discre- 
 cion and prudence and poly- 
 tik,] * the yeer of my buryeng, 
 in exspence of myn entyrement 
 and othyr almesse, the same 
 yeer, and dedys of pyete (?) for 
 the holsum estat of my soule 
 amonges pore peple and nedy to 
 [be pjartyd and distributid plen- 
 teuously and hastely, the sum of 
 
 mil marke * [ the 
 
 space of v. or vij. yeer immedi- 
 atly folwyng by yeer Dxxxiij/z. 
 vjj. viiji/. in almessefull deds 
 and charitable wirkys, with all 
 goodly possibelyte that they 
 shall soo dispose my goodes in 
 effecte feithefully that my soule, 
 vexid in peynefull angwyshis, 
 with holy Job, be not compellyd 
 to sey with gret lementacion and 
 mornyng, Have mercy on me, 
 have mercy on me, namely yee 
 that my frendes shuld bee, forthe 
 hande of Goddes punysshynge 
 hathe grevously touchyd me. 
 These be the articlys, xxxj. be 
 noumbre, concernith the intent 
 and purpose of my last will be 
 the handes of myn executores, 
 whiche I charge hem streytly, 
 prey hem, and beseche hem 
 enterly feithefully to execute, as 
 they will have helpe of God and 
 of hise holy Gospell. And soo 
 I requyre hem as wysdam, jus- 
 tice, and concience to doo for 
 me as they wolde I shuld doo 
 
 [Second Draft.] 
 * Item, I wyll and ordeyne 
 that John Paston and Thomas 
 Howys, clerk, geve and dis- 
 pose, 
 
 [Second Draft.] 
 
 of the salis of my londes and 
 my goodes be my will . . sygnid 
 to be sold, be fully disposid for 
 the well of my soule in almes- 
 sefull dedes [and] charitable 
 werkes with all goodly possi- 
 belite. 
 
 [The following new clause at 
 
 the end. ,] 
 
 Item, I will and ordeyne that 
 the seyd John Paston, for the 
 payment of iiij. mil- marke for- 
 seid, shal bere and paye to the 
 seyd Thomas Howys, clerk, or 
 to suche as shall aftyr them 
 have the mynistracion of my 
 my goodes, the seid sum [of] 
 viijc. marke iche othyr yeer of 
 the forseyd yeerrys in whiche
 
 460 THE PASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1459. 
 
 for hem in cas lyche. In tokene that sum is ordeynid to be dis- 
 
 and witnesse whereof, to this tributid til he be tho 
 
 my last will I, Sir John Fastolf, paymentes born and payd the 
 
 above x . . ]* seyd sum of iiijml. markes, and 
 
 that soo paid to be disposed be 
 the seyd [John Pa]ston and 
 Thomas Howys, or be hem that 
 
 shal aftyr them have the mynistracion of my goods in executyng 
 [my] will in awmesse full dedes in fourme afore seyd soo that my 
 
 mevable goodes be mean of that shall the lenger 
 
 indure in dedis of almessc. 
 
 333. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 3 Nov. 
 
 WILL OF SIR JOHN FASTOLF. 
 
 [From Add. MS., 22,927, B.M.] 
 
 Anno Domini millesimo quadringentesimo quinquagesimo 
 nono, mensis Novembris, videlicet, die Sabbati proximo post 
 Festum Omnium Sanctorum, Johannes Fastolff, miles, de comitatu 
 Northfolch, Norwicen Dioc', in manerio suo de Castre, dictse 
 Diocesis, quoad bona sua immobilia suam ultimam declaravit 
 voluntatem prout sequitur : 
 
 John Fastolff, Knyght, the secunde and the thirde day of the 
 moneth of Novembre, the yere of the reigne of King Henry the 
 Sexte after the Conquest, xxxviij. yers, being of longe tyme, as he 
 said, in purpos and wille to founde and stablissh withynne the gret 
 mansion at Castre, by hym late edified, a college of vij. religious 
 men, monkes or seculer prestes, and vij. pore folke, to pray for 
 his soule and the soulys of his wife, his fader and modir, and 
 other that he was beholde to, imperpetuite. And forasmuch as 
 he had, as he rehercid, a very truste and love to his cosyn, John 
 Paston, and desired the performyng of the purpoos and wille 
 forsad to be accomplisshed, and that the said Sir John shulde not 
 be mevid ne sterid in his owne persone for the said accomplissh- 
 ing of the said purpoos and wille, ne with noon other worldly 
 maters, but at his oune request and plesire, wolde, graunted, 
 and ordeyned that the said John Paston shalle, withynne reson- 
 able tyme aftir the dissese of the said Sir John, doo founde and 
 stablisshe in the said mansion a college of vij. monkes or prestes 
 and vij. pore folke, for to pray for the soulys above said imper- 
 
 1 The original draft ends with this word at the bottom of the page. Appa- 
 rently the last few words of the draft were written on a flyleaf, which is now 
 lost
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENRY VI. 461 
 
 petuite ; so that one of the said monkes or prestes be maister, and 
 have x/i. yerely, and ich othir monke or preste x. marc yerely, 
 and ich of the pore folke xlr. yerely ; and that the said John 
 Paston shalle make sure to the said collegions a sufficient roume 
 and a competent and an esy duelling place in the said mansion, 
 the said collegions nor her successours bering no charge of 
 reparacion therof. For which, and for othir charges and labours 
 that the said John Paston hath doon and take uppon hym, to the 
 eas and profile of the said John Fastolf, and for othir considera- 
 cions by hym rehercid, the said Sir John Fastolff wolde, graunted, 
 and ordeyned that the said John Paston shalle have alle the 
 maners, landes, and tenementes in Northffolk], Southfolk, and 
 Norwich, in which the said John Paston or any other are or were 
 enfeffed or have title to the use of the said Sir John Fastolf; and 
 at [that} alle the feflfees infeffed in the said maners, londes, and tene- 
 mentes shalle make and deliver astate of the said maners, landes, 
 and tenementes to such persones, at such tymes, and in such forme 
 as the said John Paston, his heirs, and his assignes shalle requere 
 thaym or any of thayme. And that the said John Paston shall 
 pay to othir of the said Sir Johns executours iiijml. [40100] marc 
 of laufulle money of England in the forme that folweth, that is 
 to say: Where the said Sir John hadde apointed and assigned that 
 his executours shalle, the firste yere aftir his disses, dispoos for 
 his soule and performyng his wille a ml- marks or a m\li. f^iooo] 
 of money, and yerely aftir, viijc- [800] marc, tille the goodes be 
 disposed, the said John Paston shalle pay iche othir yere the 
 said summe of viijc- marc till the summe of iiijm- [4000] be paid ; 
 so that the said mevabill goodes shalle the lenger endure to be 
 disposed, by th'avise of his executours, for the said soulys : And 
 also the said Sir John said, forasmuch as it was the very wille 
 and entent of the said Sir John that the said John Paston shulde 
 be thus be avauntaged and in no wise hurte of his propir goodes, 
 therfore the said Sir John wolde graunted that if the said John 
 Paston, aftir the dissese of the said Sir John, by occasion and 
 unlaufulle trouble in this reame, or by mayntenaunce or myght 
 of Lordes, or for defaute of justice, or by unresonable exaccions 
 axid of hym for the licence of the said fundacion, withoute 
 coveyne or fraude of hym selve, be lettid or taried of the making 
 or stablesshing of the making of the said fundacion, that thanne 
 he fynde or doo finde yerely aftir the first yere of thus dissese of 
 the said Sir John, vij. prestes to pray for the said soulys in the 
 said mansion, if he can purvey so many, or els for as many prestes 
 as faile, yeve yerely aftir the said first yere, by th'avise of his 
 executours, to bedred men and othir nedy true pepille, as much 
 money in almose for the said sowlys as the salary or findyng of 
 the prestes so faillyng is worthe or amounteth to, unto the tyme 
 he may laufully and peasably founde the said college and doo 
 his true devir for the said fundacion in the meane tyme. And the 
 said Sir John Fastolf wolde, graunted, and desired faithfully alle
 
 462 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 the reside we of his executours and feffees to shewe the said John 
 Past on favore in the said payment es and daies, and help hym for 
 the Kinges interesse and the eschetours, and furthir hym in that 
 they may in alle othir thinges as they wolde doo to hym selve, 
 and not vex ne inquiete hym for the said fundacion in the meane 
 tyme. Ande where the said Sir John Fastolf made his wille and 
 testament the xiiij. day of June in somer last passed, he wolde, 
 graunted, and ordeyned that this his wille touching thes pre- 
 missez, as welle as the said wille made the said xiiij. day, except 
 and voided out of his said wille, made the said xiiij. day, alle that 
 ooncerneth or perteyneth to the fundacion of a college, priory, or 
 chauntery, or of any religious persones, and all that concemeth 
 the sale or disposing of the said maners, landes, and tenementes, 
 wherof this is the very declaracion of his full wille, stand and 
 be joyntly his very enteir and laste wille, and annexed and 
 proved togedir. Also the said Sir John Fastolf, Knyght, the 
 Tuysday next before the fest of Alle Saintes, and in the moneth of 
 Septembre the said yere, and the iij. day of Novembre, and 
 diverse other tymes, at Castre aforesaid, wolde, ordeynyd, and 
 declared his wille touching the making of the said college, as 
 welle as the graunte of the said maners, landes, and tenementes in 
 Norffolk, Suffolk, and Norwich, in fourme, manere, and sub- 
 stance aforeseid. Also the said Sir John wolde and ordeyned 
 that if the said John Paston, by force or myght of any othir 
 desiring to have the said mansion, were letted to founde the seid 
 college in the said mansion, that thanne the said John Paston 
 shulde doo poule down the said mansion and every stone and 
 stikke therof, and do founde iij. of the said vij. prestes or monkes 
 at Saincte Benettes, and one at Vermuth, one at Attilbrugh, and 
 one at Sainte Oloves Church in Southwerke. Also the said Sir 
 John Fastolf, the iij. and iiij. daies of the moneth of Novembir 
 abovesaid, desired his said wille or writyng, touching the funda- 
 cion of the said college and the graunte of the said maners, 
 landes, and tenementes to the said John Paston, to be redde unto 
 the said Sir John ; and that same wille redde anH declared unto 
 hym articulerly, the said Sir John Fastolffe wolde, ordeyned, and 
 graunted that the said John Paston shulde be discharged of the 
 payment of the said iiijml. markes, and noght pay therof in case 
 he did execute the remenaunte of the said wille. 
 
 Also the said Sir John Fastolf, Knyght, aboute the tyme of hervest 
 the yere of the reigne of King Henry the Sexte, xxxvth yere at Castre 
 faste by Mikel Vermuth, in the shire of Norffolk, in presence of 
 diver; persones that tyme called to by the said Sir John, did make 
 astatt _nd feffement and liverey of the seasin of the maner of Castre 
 aforesaid, and othir maners, landes, and tenementes in Norffolk, to 
 John Paston, Squier, and othir ; and at that lyverey of season 
 therof delivered, as welle by the handes of the said Sir John as by 
 other, the said Sir John Fastolfe by his owne mouth declared his 
 wille and entente of that feffement and liverey of season made to
 
 A. 6. 1459.] HENR Y VI. 463 
 
 the use of the said Sir John asfor during his live onely, and 
 aftir his decese, to the use of the said John Paston and his heirs. 
 And also the said Sir John said and declared that the said John 
 Paston was the best frende and helper and supporter to the said 
 Sir John, and that was his wille that the said John Paston shulde 
 have and enherite the same maners, landes, and tenementes and 
 othir aftir his decese, and there to duelle and abide and kepe 
 householde ; and desired Daun William Bokenham, Priour of 
 Vermouth, and Raufe Lampet, Squier, Bailly of Vermuth, that 
 tyme present, to recorde the same. Also the said Sir John Fas- 
 tolf, the vj. day of July next aftir the tyme of the sealing of his 
 wille made the xiiij. day of June, the xxxv. of King Henry the 
 Sexte, and aftir in the presence of Daun William Bokenham, that 
 tyme Prioure of Vermouth, and other, wolde, ordeyned, and de- 
 clared by wille that the said John Paston shulde have alle thynges as 
 the said Sir John had graunted and declared to the said prioure and 
 othir at the tyme of the said [asta]te and feffement made to the 
 [said] John Paston, the said xxxv. yere of King Henry the vjth, 
 the said Sir John seyng [saying-] that he was of the same wille and 
 purpoos as he was and declared at the tyme [of the] said astate 
 takyng. Also the said Sir John wolde that John Paston and 
 Thomas Howes, and noon othir of his executours, shulde selle 
 alle maners, landes, and tenementes in whiche any persones were 
 enfeffed to the use of the said Sir John, excepte the said maners, 
 landes, and tenementes in Norffolk, Suffolk, and Norwich ; and 
 the same John Paston and Thomas Howes shalle take and 
 receyve the profiles, ysshueys, and emolumentes commyng of the 
 said maners, landes, and tenementes, excepte before except, tille 
 they may resonably be solde ; and that the said John Paston and 
 Thomas, the money comyng of the same sale, as welle of the said 
 proufites, ysshuys, and emolumentes, shulde dispoos in dedys of 
 almose for the soule of the said Sir John and the soulys aforesaid, 
 and in executyng of his wille and testament : And also the said 
 Sir John wolde that alle the feffees enfeffed in the said maners, 
 landes, and tenementes assigned to be sold, whannethay be required 
 by the said John Paston and Thomas Howes, shall make astate 
 to persone or persons as the said John Paston and Thomas shalle 
 selle to, the said maners, landes, and tenementes, or any narte 
 therof, and that noon othir feffe [feoffee} nor the executours of the 
 said Sir John shall make any feffement, relece, ne quitance of 
 any londes befor assigned to be solde that wer at any tyme long- 
 ing to the said Sir John, withoute the assente of the said John 
 Paston and Thomas Howes. Datum anno Domini, mense, die et 
 loco supradictis.
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 334. 
 A.D. 1459, 3 Nov. SIR JOHN FASTOLF'S WILL. 
 
 From a modern copy among the MSS. at Narford, in the possession of 
 Andrew Fountaine, Esq. The original of this document has not been met 
 with, and the copy from which it is printed is unfortunately very corrupt ; 
 but no other text is obtainable. The more obvious inaccuracies have been 
 corrected, but some obscurities remain, on which the reader may exercise his 
 own judgment. For a knowledge of this document I am indebted to Mr. 
 Tyssen Amhurst, of Didlington Hall, Brandon, to whom it was lent by the 
 owner. 
 
 Anno Domini [millesimo] * quadringentesimo quinquagesimo 
 nono, mensis Novembris, videlicet, die Sabbati proximo post 
 Festum Omnium Sanctorum, Johannes Fastolffe, miles-, de com' 
 Norfolk, Xorvicen' dioc', in manerio suo de Castre, diet' dioc', 
 suum condidit testamentum, et ipsius ultimam declaravit volunta- 
 tem, prout sequitur : In primis, commendavit et commisit ani- 
 mam suam Deo Omnipotenti, Creatori suo, ac gloriosae Virgini 
 Mariae, matri Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et omnibus Sanctis. 
 Item, legavit corpus suum, postquam ab hac luce migraverit, 
 sepeliendum in ecclesia conventual! monasterii Sancti Benedict! 
 in Hulmo, Norvicen' dioc', sub arcu novae capellae per ipsum 
 ibidem de novo constructs, ex parte australi chori sive cancelli, 
 sub tumba marmorea, juxta corpus Milicenciae olim consortis suae 
 ibidem sepultas ; ac voluit quod abbas et conventus monasterii 
 prasdicti, antequam corpus suum ibidem sepeliretur, securitatem 
 facerent quod dabunt et concedent Johanni Paston et aliis per 
 ipsum nominandis, licentiam dandi et concedendi septem mona- 
 chis vel presbyteris et eorum successoribus in quodam collegio 
 apud Castre praedict' per praedictumjohannem Paston stabiliendo 
 et dotando, terras et tenementa quae idem Johannes Paston et alii 
 feofFati per ipsum Johannem Fastolf seu suos feoffatos de dictis 
 abbate et conventu tenent. vel tantum inde quantum idem Johannes 
 dictis monachis vel presbyteris dare voluerit. Item legavit, 
 ordinavit, et praecepit omnia debita sua fideliter persolvi et quae- 
 cumque per ipsum forisfacta de quibus constare poterit, emen- 
 dari, restitui, 2 et satisfieri cum effectu. Item legavit ad repara- 
 tionem et sustentationem portus villae Magnae Jernemuth', ac ad 
 renovationem et sustentationem murorum dictae villce pro bono 
 commodo reipublicoe, salva tuitione villae pnedictas et patriae adja- 
 centis, centum marcas sterlingorum, sub conditione quod bur- 
 genses seu gubematores dictae villae sine mora seu dilatione 
 perficiant 3 reparationem portus et murorum praedictorum quam- 
 diu dicta summa a se extendet, ut gentes ibidem commorantes 
 habeant animam suam in suis orationibus specialiter recommen- 
 datam. Item, cuilibet ecclesiae parochiali singularum villarum 
 in quibus habuit, aut aliquis ad suum usum habet, domum seu 
 
 1 Omitted in MS * restum, MS. 3 proficiant, MS.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENRY VI. 465 
 
 manerium, terras, ettenementa pro special! recommendatione 
 animae suae, unum vestimentum de serico panno pro missis ibidem 
 celebrandis, et quod fiat in eodem scutum armorum suorum brodi- 
 natum secundum discretionem executorum suorum et indigentiam 
 dictarum ecclesiarum. Item, legavit et ordinavit servientibus l 
 suis et familiaribus domesticis remunerationem condignam seu 
 competentem de bonis suis mobilibus juxta statum suorum [sic] ad 
 summam tres centum marcarum.itaquod quilibet generosus habeat 
 duplicem ad valentiam,* et sic descendendo successive juxta statum 
 eorum seu exigentiam meritorum ministrorum suorum ac fidelium 
 laborum, habita tamen consideratione ad certos servientes a circa 
 personam suam attendentes diebus et noctibus in laboribus, 
 angustiis et vigiliis, tarn in sanitate quam in infirmitate, circa 
 prseservationem corporis sui ac sanitatem celerius obtinendum. 
 Item, legavit cuilibet ordini Fratrum religiosorum et domorum 
 Mendicantium, tarn in villa Magnae Jernemouth quam in civitate 
 Norwici, pro recommendatione animae suae, summam competentem 
 secundum discretionem executorum suorum limitandam, cum 
 nihil in proprio habeant unde sustentari valeant nisi de caritate 
 et elemosina devotorum Christianorum. Residuum vero omnium 
 bonorum suorum mobilium legata sua excedentium, ac catallorum 
 suonim vivorum et mortuorum, ac debita singula quae sibi debean- 
 tur, dedit et legavit executoribus suis infrascriptis juxta modum, 
 formam et potestatem eisdem per eum superius limitatam, speci- 
 ficatam et ascriptam, ut ipsi eisdem modo et forma, per inde omni 
 pondere discretionis et sani consilii, ea distribuant pro salute 
 animae suae inter maxime debiles et pauperes, claudos et caecos, 
 ac alios impotentes in eorum lectis decumbentes, se et suos sus- 
 tentare commode non valentes ; habita consideratione speciali ad 
 pauperes de consanguinitate et amnitate sua intimos et propinquos, 
 et praesertim in locis ubi quondam possessiones, praedia, redditus 
 et sua dominia fuerunt situata, et praesertim in villis et locis ubi 
 habent, seu aliquis ad usum suum habet, dominia, maneria, terras, 
 tenementa, et etiam ad emendationem pauperam ecclesiarum 
 villarum praedictarum, viarum turpium et pontium communium 
 reparationem, et in aliis piis elemosinafiis usibus et caritatis 
 operibus, specialiter in comitatibus Norfolk' et Suffolk' ; et quod 
 circa funeralia et legata sua ac elemosinas supradictas primo anno 
 post decessum suum mille marcae seu mille librae disponantur, et 
 annuatim postea quingentae librae, triginta tres librae, sex solidi 
 et octo denarii, quousque bona sua mobilia et pecuniae de ven- 
 ditione terrarum ac bonorum suorum vendendorum provenientia 
 modo et forma praedictis plenarie disponantur, sicut coram Deo in 
 die extremo Examinisvoluerintrespondere; et ad hoc eos exhorta- 
 batur in Domino Jesu Christo taliter pro 3 ipso singula fideliter 
 peragere vellent cum pro eis in casu consimili faceret juxta con- 
 scientiam, rationem, et justitiam. Et praedicti testamenti ac 
 
 1 finentibus, MS. ! fincntes, MS. per, MS. 
 
 2 H
 
 466 THE PASTON LETTERS. ^.0.1459. 
 
 ultimae voluntatis suae suos executores ad exequendum, disponen- 
 dum et ministrandum modo et forma per eum inferius limitatis 
 et subscriptis, constituit, ordinavit, fecit et elegit Willelmum 
 Wintoniensem episcopum ; Johannem, Dominum de Beauchamp ; 
 Nicholaum, abbatem de Langle ; Johannem Stokes, legum doc- 
 torem; Fratrem Johannem Brakley, doctorem theologiae; Wil- 
 lelmum Yelverton, unum justiciariorum Domini Regis ; Johannem 
 Paston, armigerum ; Henricum Filongley, armigerum ; Dominum 
 Thomam Howes, presbyterum; et Willelmum Worcester; quos 
 modum et formam executionis et administrationis bonorum suorum 
 per executores suos fiend' sic limitavit, voluit, disposuit, et modi- 
 ficavit ; videlicet, quod praedicti Johannes Paston et Thomas 
 Howes solum et ante alios executores pnedictos subeant et 
 habeant administrationem et dispositionem omnium bonorum 
 mobilium, catallorum ac denariorum ex venditione omnium terra- 
 rum et tenementorum suorum vendendorum et proficuorum 
 eorundem terranim et tenementorum provenientum, ut ipsi duo 
 soli ea disponant pro salute animae suae, et quod alii executores 
 supradicti abstineant se abomniadministrationedictorum bonorum 
 suorum, nisi pro modo, forma, causa, loco, et tempore quibus per 
 ipsos Johannem Paston et Thomam Howes ad eorum juramenta 
 pro dicta administratione fuerint evocati pariter et rogati ; et quod 
 nullus dictorum aliorum executorum suorum sine consensu et 
 voluntate ac advisamento dictorum Johannis Paston et Thomas 
 Howes capiat aliquid seu distribuat de bonis suis mobilibus et 
 catallis prasdictis, nee venditionem eorundem neque terrarum nee 
 tenementorum praedictorum facial, nee aliqua sibi debita recipiat, 
 neque aliquos creditores suos quovis modo acquietet, neque, prae- 
 dictis Johanne Paston et Thoma Howes viventibus et administrare 
 bona sua volentibus,aliquis alius executorum praedictorum adminis- 
 trationem bonorum suscipiat suorum, sed quod quantum dicti alii 
 sui executores ad [sic] eorum singuli praedict' Johanni Paston et 
 Thomae Howes in quibuscunque egibilibus [sic] quae hujusmodi 
 testamentum et ultimam voluntatem concernentibus, favorabiliter 
 assistant et succurrant cum per eosdem fuerint ad hoc requisiti. 
 Voluit tamen quod si alter praedictorum Johannis et Thomae 
 recusaverit onus administrationis bonorum hujusmodi subire, vel 
 ante administrationem functam obierit, quod tune ille dictorum 
 duorum executorum suorum administrare volens eligat unum de 
 executoribus praedictis sibi associandis quern putaverit in hiis sibi 
 magis idoneum, et ita voluit fieri de omnibus aliis executoribus 
 proescriptis; videlicet, quod uno moriente vel deficiente de duobus, 
 alter loco ipsius ad electionem administrationem incumbent' 
 substituatur et assumatur. Si autem ambo executores praedicti 
 onus recusaverint subire administrationis prasdictae, vel ambo exe- 
 cutores administrationem incumbentes moriantur antequam sub- 
 stituantur executores alii, voluit quod tune illi duo executores 
 viventes praedictam administrationem subeant et habeant quos 
 major pars executorum viventium sui testamenti duxerit eligendos,
 
 A.D. I459-] HENRY VI. 467 
 
 et quod illi duo administrationem subeuntes ad dictos Dominum 
 Episcopum et Dominum de Beauchamp, Nicolaum Abbatem de 
 Langley, Johannem Stokes, Fratrem Johannem Bracley, Willel- 
 mum Yelverton, Henricum Filongley, et Willelmum Worcester 
 recursum habeant pro eorum consilio et advisamento obtinendo 
 in causis arduis et materiis requisitis. Supervisores vero dicti testa- 
 menti reverendissimum in Christo patrem et dominum, Domi- 
 num Thomam Dei gratia Cantuariensem Archiepiscopum, Wal- 
 terum Episcopum Norwicensem, Magistrum Robertum Popy cleri- 
 cum, et Hugonem Fenn, Domini Regis auditorem, ordinavit et 
 constituit, et voluit quod dicti duo executores onus administra- 
 tionis subeuntes remunerarentur secundum merita laborum suorum 
 et diligentiam in prsemissis expediendis juxta discretionem dicti 
 Domini Episcopi Wintoniensis et Magistri Johannis Stokes, seu 
 majoris partis aliorum executorum viventium. Supervisores vero 
 prsedicti et costeri executores remunerarentur secundum merita 
 laborum suorum per discretionem duorum executorum dictae 
 administrationi incumbentium. Et voluit quod si quis prsedicto- 
 rum per eum superius nominatorum dictos Johannem Paston et 
 Thomam Howes in officio suo hujusmodi seu circa administra- 
 tionem bonorum ejusdem defuncti quoquomodo impediverit, 
 turbaverit, vexaverit, molestaverit, vel inquietaverit, aut aliquid 
 prsedictorum facere prsesumpserit vel conatus fuerit, ab adminis- 
 tratione bonorum suorum omnino removeatur, et si quid prsemis- 
 sorum ante susceptionem administrationis hujusmodi attempta- 
 verit, ipsum ad administrationem hujusmodi nullatenus admitti 
 voluit et declaravit. Datum anno Domini, mense, die, loco 
 supradictis. 
 
 335. 
 
 A.D. 1459. 
 INVENTORY OF SIR JOHN FASTOLF'S GOODS. 
 
 [From Add. Charter 17,247, B.M.] 
 
 The MS. from which this document is printed is a roll which appears to 
 have been at one time in the possession of Blomefield, the historian of Nor- 
 folk. At the end is the following note in his handwriting : " March 7, 1743. 
 A true coppy of this roll given to Sr. Andr. Fountain, Kt, by me, Fra. 
 Blomefield." 
 
 Memorandum that here aftir foloweth an inventarye of the 
 gold and silver in coyne and plate, and othir godes and catelles 
 that sumtyme were Sir John Fastolf, Knyght, whiche the said 
 Sir John Fastolf gaf to John Paston, Squier, and Thomas Howys, 
 clerk, of trust and confidence, that the same godes shuld the more 
 saufly be kept to the use of the said Sir John duryng his lif, and
 
 468 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 aftir his decesse to be disposed in satisfiyng of the duetees and 
 dettes to God and Holy Chirche, and to alle othir, and in fulfillyng 
 and execution of his legate last wille and testament withoute eny 
 defraudyng of thesaid Holy Chirche orof enycreditoursorpersones. 
 
 First, in goold and silver, founden in th'abbey of Seynt Benet 
 aftir the decesse of the said Sir John Fastolf, mini' iiijxx 
 xiij/*. iijj. \\\]d. 
 
 Item, founden atte Castre, lxj/z'. v]s. \u]d. 
 
 Item, receyved atte Bentlee by the handes of William Barker 
 in money by hym receyved of John Heryngton, xx/;'. 
 
 Item, receyved atte London, CCCClxix//. 
 
 Summa MlM'DCxliij//. xj. in coyne. 
 
 First, two peces of golde, weiyng xlviij. unces. 
 Item, two ewers of golde, weiyng xxvij. unces. 
 Item, j. flaget of silver, weiyng xxxviij. unces. 
 Item, ij. prikettys of silver, weiyng xxvij. unces et di. 
 Summa of golde, Ixxv. unces, and of silver, Iv. unces. 
 
 Item, iij. chargeours of silver, weiyng vijxx iij. unces. 
 Item, xij. platers of silver, weiyng ixxx ix. unces. 
 Item, xij. disshes of silver, weiyng vijxx viij. unces. 
 Item, xij. sausers of silver, weiyng iiijxx xv. unces. 
 Summa vc Ixxv. unces. 
 
 Item, xij. flat peces bolyond in the bothom, weiyng viijxx ix. 
 
 unces. 
 Item, vj. bolles with oon coverecle [AV/] of silver, the egges 
 
 gilt, my marster helmet enameled in the myddes, weiyng 
 
 viijxx Jiij. unces. 
 Item, a candilstik, a priket and ij. sokettys of silver, weiyng 
 
 xvij. unces. 
 Item, ij. potell pottes of silver wrethyn, the verges gilt with 
 
 braunches enameled, with j. tree in the lyddys, weiyng vjxx 
 
 xij. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. galon pottes of silver wrethyn, the verges gilt, ename- 
 led in the lyddes with iij. floures, weiyng xjxx ix. unces. 
 Item, j. roste iren with vij. staves and j. foldyng stele of silver, 
 
 weiyng Ixxiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. flagons of silver, with gilt verges, and the cheynes 
 
 enameled in the myddes, with j. hoke, weiyng ixxx unces. 
 Summa, ixc Ixiiij. unces. 
 
 Item, a saltsaler like a bastell [a lastille or small t(/wer\ alle 
 gilt with roses, weiyng Ixxvij. unces. 
 
 Item, a paire of basyns, alle gylt, with an antelope in the myd- 
 des, weiyng xjxx unces. 
 
 Item, ij. ewers, gilt, pounsed with floures and braunches, 
 weiyng xxxix. unces.
 
 A.D. 1459-3 HENR Y VI. 469 
 
 Item, j. spice plate, well gilt like a double rose, my maister 
 
 helmet in the myddes, with rede roses of my maisters armes, 
 
 weiyng v** x. unces. 
 Item, ij. galon pottes, all gilt, enameled in the crownes with 
 
 violet floures, weiyng xxx xiij. unces. 
 Item, vj. bolles, with oon coveracle gilt, with my maisters 
 
 helmet enameled in the myddes, weiyng viijxx vj. unces. 
 Item, j. stondyng cuppe, all gilt, with a coveracle, with my 
 
 maisters helmet enamyled in the myddes, weiyng xlj. unces. 
 Item, another cuppe of the same facione, all gilt, weiyng xlij. 
 
 unces. 
 Item, Jiij. cuppes, gilt like founteyns, with j. columbyne floure 
 
 enameled in the myddes, weiyng iiijxx xvj. unces. 
 Summa, DCCCClxv. unces. 
 
 Item, j. grete flagon, with stuf theryn, weiyng xvijxx x j. unces. 
 Summa, CCClj. unces. 
 
 Item, vj. platers, weiyng vijxx unces. 
 
 Item, xiiij. disshes, weiyng ixxx unces. 
 
 Item, xij. peces of dyvers sortes, weiyng vijxx xiij. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. grete galon pottes, playn, with gilt verges, my mais- 
 ters helmet in the kever, weiyng xijxx x ij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. paire basyns, the verges gilt, Harlyngs * armes in the 
 bottom, weiyng v*x xv. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. quart potts, with gilt verges, with the same armes in 
 the lydde, weiyng Ixx. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. ewers, the oon demi gilt, and the othir the bordures 
 gilt, weiyng Ij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. spice plate demi gilt, mymaisters terget enamyled in 
 the myddes, weiyng Ixxj. unces. 
 
 Summa, DCCCCCxxxij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. stondyng cuppe gilt, with j. kever, with j. rose in the 
 
 toppe, weiyng xl. unces. 
 
 Item, anothir cuppe of the same facion, gilt, weiyng xlj. unces. 
 Summa, iiijxx j. unces. 
 
 Item, iij. grete chargeours, weiyng vijxx ij. unces. 
 Item, xij. platers, weiyng xjxx x ij. unces. 
 Item, xij. disshes, weiyng ixxx v iij. unces. 
 Item, xj. sausers, weiyng Ixxvj. unces. 
 
 Summa, DCxxxviij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. paire basyns, with gilt verges and j. rose, with my 
 maisters helmet enameled and gilt in the myddes, weiyng 
 viijxx vj. unces. 
 
 1 Sir Robert Harling of East Ilarling, in Norfolk, was a companion in arms 
 of Fastolf, and was killed at Paris in 1435.
 
 47 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1459. 
 
 Item, ij. ewers, gilt and enameled in like wise, weiyng Ixxv. 
 
 unces. 
 Item, xij. flatte peces, pounsed in the bottom, the verges gilt 
 
 sortely, weiyng vijxx xvj. unces. 
 
 Item, j. spiceplate demi gilt, wrethyn, weiyng Ixxij. unces. 
 Item, vj. holies, with oon kever, the verges gilt, my maisters 
 
 helmet in the myddes, weiyng viijxx iiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. grete pottes, eche of a galon, wrethyn the verges of 
 
 bothe gilt with popy leves, with j. tre levedroses in the lidde, 
 
 enameled, weiyng xjxx xvj. unces. 
 Item, ij. potelers, with gilt verges, enameled in the liddes, 
 
 weiyng iiijxx i x . unces. 
 Item, ij. flagons, with gilt verges, and the cheyne enameled in 
 
 the myddes, weiyng viijxx j. unces. 
 Item, j. candelstik, with j. priket and ij. soketts, weiyng xvij. 
 
 unces. 
 
 Summa, xjc xxxyj. unces. 
 
 Item, j. saltsaler, with j. kever, well gilt, with many wyndowes, 
 
 weiyng iiijxx vj. unces. 
 Item, vj. bolles, all gilt, with j. kever and j. rose in the toppe, 
 
 eche enameled in the bottom with my maisters helmet, 
 
 weiyng viijxx vj. unces. 
 Item, ij. galon pottes, gilt playn, anameled in the lyddes with 
 
 my maisters target, weiyng vijxx xiiij. unces. 
 Item, j. stondyng cuppe, pounsed with floures, well gilt, 
 
 weiyng xlij. unces. 
 Item, j. gilt cuppe, stondyng covered, pounsed with j. rose in 
 
 the toppe, weiyng xlvij. unces. 
 Item, vj. gobelettes, wele gilt, with j. columbyne floure, weiyng 
 
 vijxx yj. unces. 
 
 Summa, DCxlj. unces. 
 
 Chapdl. 
 
 Item, vij. prikettes, with gilt verges, weiyng iiijxx v j. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. stondyng candilstikkes, with gilt verges, weiyng 
 iiijxx j. unces. 
 
 Item, j. ship, with gilt verges, weiyng ix. unces. 
 
 Item, j. box for syngyng brede, a weiyng iiij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. haly water stop, with j. sprenkill and ij. cruettes, wei- 
 yng xij. unces. 
 
 Summa, C iiijxx xij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. brode pryket, alle gilt, weiyng xlv. unces. 
 
 Item, j. paire basyns, all gilt, enameled in the bottom with 
 
 roses, weiyng Ix. unces. 
 Item, j. pyx, demi gilt, weiyng xxx. unces. 
 
 1 The round cakes or wafers intended for consecration in the Eucharist.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENRY VI. 471 
 
 Item, j. crosse, all gilt, weiyng xij. unces. 
 Item, j. ewer, all gilt, weiyng xvij. unces. 
 Item, j. chalice, alle gilt, weiyng xxvij. unces. 
 Item, j. lesser chalice, all gilt, weiyng xiiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. roses over gilt, weiyng xv. unces et di. 
 Item, j. ymage of Seynt Michell, weiyng viijxx x. unces. 
 Item, j. ymage of oure Lady and hir Childe in hir armes, 
 weiyng vxx x . unces. 
 
 Summa, D c xxix et di. unces. 
 
 Item, j. grete flagon, weiyng xviijxx viij. unces. 
 Item, j. almesse disshe, weiyng vjxx xij. unces. 
 Summa, DC unces. 
 
 Item, j. sensour of silver, and gilt, weiyng xl. unces. 
 Item, j. ship, weying xviij. unces. 
 Item, j. pece with j. kever, weiyng xx. unces. 
 Item, j. gobelet, gilt, weiyng xj. unces. 
 Item, j. stondyng cup, with j. kever, weiyng xij. unces. 
 Summa, Cj. unces. 
 
 Item, iij. grete chargeours, of oon sorte, weiyng xjxx xviij. 
 
 unces. 
 Item, j. chaufer, to sette upon a table for hote water, weiyng 
 
 iiijxx xiij. unces. 
 Item, iiij. holowe basyns, wherof oon is bolyons, weiyng all 
 
 xxx xiiij. unces. 
 
 Item, iij. botelles, of oon sorte, weiyng vijxx xiiij. unces. 
 Item, vj. grete peces, of oon sorte, weiyng vxx xvij. unces. 
 Item, xij. peces, all of oon sorte, weiyng xjxx xiiij. unces. 
 Item, iij. smale peces, weiyng xxv. unces. 
 Item, j. grete bolle, with j. kever, weiyng Ixij. unces. 
 Item, iij. gobelettes, pounsed, weiyng xiiij. unces et di. 
 Item, j. powder box, and j. kever to j. cup, weiyng xxij. unces. 
 Item, ij. basyns, the verges gilt with popy leves, enameled with 
 
 my maisters helmet in the bottom, weiyng viijxx ix. unces. 
 Item, ij. ewers, gilt, enameled in the same wise, weiyng iiijxx 
 
 unces. 
 
 Item, iiij. ewers, of the olde facion, weiyng Ixxvij. unces. 
 Summa, xv c xxij. unc' et di. 
 
 Item, j. litill flat pece, gilt, with j. kever, weiyng xxvij. unces. 
 Item, j. stondyng pece, all gilte, with j. kever, weiyng xxxviij. 
 
 unces. 
 Item, j. litill stondyng pece, gilt, with j. kever, weiyng xxj. 
 
 unces et di. 
 
 Summa, iiijxx v j. unc' et di.
 
 47 2 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 Apud Sanctum Benedidum. 
 Item, ij. basyns, with gilt verges, and my maisters helmet in 
 
 the botom, with ij. ewers, with gilt verges, and my maisters 
 
 helme on the lyddes, weiyng togider CCxxxj. unces. 
 Item, iiij. prikettes, with gilt verges, weiyng xxxj. unces. 
 Item, ij. lesser prikettes, weiyng v. unces. 
 Item, j. basyn and . j. ewer, with my maisters armes in the 
 
 botom, weiyng Ixiij. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. litill twers, of ij. sortes, weiyng xxiiij. unces. 
 Item, j. spiceplate, with gilt verges, weiyng xliiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. galons, with gilt verges, with my maisters armes in 
 
 the liddes, weiyng iiijxx X vj. unces. 
 Item, ij. potellers, of oon sorte, weiyng iiijxx iiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. othir potellers, of oon sorte, weiyng iiijxx xiij. unces. 
 Item, j. potell potte, of anothir sorte, weiyng xxxv. unces. 
 Item, ij. quartelettes, of dyvers sortes, weiyng xlviij. unces. 
 Item, j. litill botell, with j. cheyne and j, stopell, weiyng 
 
 xxxviij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. brode priket, with gilt verges, weiyng xxiiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. candilstikkes, ij. prykettes, and iiij. sokettes, weiyng 
 
 xxxvij. unces. 
 
 Item, vj. gobelettes, of dyvers sortes, weiyng xxviij. unces. 
 Item, xiiij. peces, of dyvers sortes, weiyng vjxx xv. unces. 
 Item, j. olde pece,with j. kever and j. knop, weiyng xxxij. unces. 
 Item, ij. chargeours, of oon sorte, weiyng Ixxviij. unces. 
 Item, vj. platers, of oon sorte, weiyng vijxx vij. unces. 
 Item, xviij. disshes, of dyvers sortes, weiyng xxx X vj. unces. 
 Item, vj. sawsers, of oon sorte, weiyng xxviij. unces. 
 Summa, xvc xvij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. saltsaler, alle gilt, with j. kever, weiyng xxxvij. unces. 
 Item, j. pese, with j. kever, all gilt, with j. knop, weiyng 
 
 xxxj. unces. 
 
 Item, j. playne pece, gilt, with j. kever, weiyng xxvj. unces. 
 Item, j. litill pece, gilt, with j. kever, weiyng xviij. unces. 
 Summa, vxx xij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. chargeour, weiyng xlv. unces. 
 Item, viij. platers, weiyng ix*x xj. unces. 
 Item, viij. disshes, weiyng vjxx v . unces. 
 Item, viij. saucers, weiyng xlix unces. 
 
 Item, j. potell potte, with gilt verges, enameled in the top with 
 violet leves, weiyng xlix. unces. 
 
 Summa, CCCC iiijxx ijj. unces. 
 
 Item, j. stondyng cup, with j. kever, all gilt, weiyng xxxviij. 
 unces.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENRY VI. 473 
 
 Item, j. founteyn, all gilt, with j. columbyne floure in the 
 bottom, weiyng xxiij. unces. 
 
 Summa, Ixj. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. saltsalers, weiyng xxxix. unces. 
 
 Item, j. candilstik, with ij. sokettes, weiyng xxj. unces. 
 
 Item, iiij. flat peces, pounsed in the bottom, weiyng xl. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. gobelettes, pounsed, weiyng ix. unces. 
 
 Item, xiij. spones, wherof oon is gilt, weiyng xvij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. ewer, with j. knop, weiyng xiij. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. potellers, with my maisters armes on the liddes, 
 
 weiyng Ixxij. unces. 
 Item, j. potell potte, with braunches on the lidde enamelid, 
 
 weiyng xlix. unces. 
 Item, iij. pottes, enameled with j. garlond, weiyng vxx vij. 
 
 unces. 
 
 Item, j. quart pot, weiyng xxix. unces. 
 Item, j. grete chargeour, weiyng Ixxix. unces. 
 Item, iij. lesser chargeours, weiyng vxx xj. unces. 
 Item, v. platers, of oon sorte, weiyng vxx xv. unces. 
 Item, xij. disshes, of oon sorte, weiyng xxx i x . unces. 
 Item, ix. sausers, of oon sorte, weiyng Ixiij. unces. 
 Summa, Ml iiijxx xij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. gobelet, gilt, with j. columbyne in the bottom, weiyng 
 
 xxiiij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. stondyng cup, with j. kever, weiyng xxxv. unces. 
 Summa, lix. unces. 
 
 Castre. 
 
 Item, ij. prykettys, with gilt verges, weiyng xvij. unces. 
 Item, ij. cruettes, oon lakkyng a lydde, weiyng viij. unces. 
 Item, j. litill crosse, with j. fote, all gilt, weiyng vij. unces. 
 Item, j. sakeryng bell, weiyng xj. unces. 
 Item, j. chalice, weiyng xviij. unces. 
 Item, j. saltsaler, weiyng v. unces. 
 Item, j. paxbrede, 1 weiyng a unces. 
 Item, j. grete saltsaler, with j. kever, weiyng xxvij. unces. 
 Item, j. playn basyn, with j. ewer, weiyng Iiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. flat peces, of oon sorte, weiyng xxij. unces. 
 Item, xvij. spones, of ij. sortes, weiyng xviij. unces. 
 Item, iiij. platers, weiyng iiijxx xiiij. unces. 
 Item, vj. disshes, weiyng iiijxx xiiij. uncei. 
 Item, iiij. sausers, weiyng xviij. unces. 
 Item, j. candilstik, withoute sokettes, weiyng xviij. unces. 
 Summa, CCCCx. unces. 
 
 1 A small tablet with a representation of the Crucifixion on it, presented to 
 be kissed during the mass. 
 Blank in MS.
 
 474 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1459. 
 
 ' ofxlvj. unces gold and ijml. Dxxv. unces of silver plate taken 
 from Bermondesey. 
 
 ' In primis, a peson * of gold, it fayleth v. balles, weiyng 
 
 xxiij. unces gold. 
 
 Item, j. paire basons, beyng 2 bothe weiyng vxx ij. unces. 
 Item, j. paire ewers, beyng 2 bothe weiyng xlv. unces. 
 Item, j. paire of newe flagons, cheyned, everyche weiyng 
 
 Ixxiiij. unces vijxx xiij. unces. 
 
 Item, iiij. platers, parcell of ix. platers not sortely, weiyng 
 in all xxx ix. unces; S o iche weieth xxiij. unces. Soo 
 the weight of the same iiij. platers, iiijxx xij. unces. 
 Item, xij. disshes, weiyng in all ixxx ix. unces. 
 w ltem, xij. sausers, weiyng in all iiijxx xvij. unces. 
 Summa unciarum argenti, DClxxiij. unc', et de auro, xxiij. unc'. 
 
 Item, j. cup of golde, with an ewer, weiyng xxiij. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. spiceplates, weiyng bothe iiijxx xij. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. olde chargeours, of oon sorte, weiyng iiijxx v iij. unces. 
 
 Item, j. grete plater, weiyng xxxviij. unces. 
 
 Item, v. olde disshes, weiyng in alle Ixxvj. unces. 
 
 Item, v. sausers, weiyng xxix. unces. 
 
 Item, ij. quart pottes, weiyng liiij. unces. 
 
 Item, ix. platers, weiyng xvjxx Hj. unces. 
 
 Item, a flat pece, playne, of silver, weiyng xvj. unces. 
 
 Item, a quart pot, of silver, with gilt verges, weiyng xxvj. 
 
 unces. 
 
 Item, an holowe basyn, of silver, weiyng xxviij. unces. , 
 Summa unciarum de auro, xxiij. unc'; etdeargento, DCClxx.unc'. 
 
 Item, ij. stondyng cuppes, gilt, of oon sorte, iche weiyng xxiiij. 
 
 unces Ixviij. unces. 
 
 Item, vj. gobelettes, uncovered, weiyng xxiij. unces et di. 
 Item, j. layer, weiyng xxiiij. unces. 
 Item, j. saltsaler, gilt, weiyng xxxiiij. unces. 
 Item, ij. lesse chargeours, weiyng Ixx. unces. 
 Item, v. platers, not sortely, parcell of ix. platers, weiyng in 
 
 all xxx jx. unces; so iche plater weyeth by estymacion xxiij. 
 
 unces. So the weight of v. platers, Cxv. unces. 
 Summa, CCCxxxiiij. unces di. 
 
 Item, j. saltsaler, gilt, with a cover, weiyng xxxj. unces. 
 Item, iiij. peces, gilt, with ij. coveres, weiyng Ixxiiij. unces. 
 
 1 An instrument in the form of a staff, with balls or crockets, used for 
 weighing, before scales were employed for that purpose. 
 
 8 The word " beyng " in these two places seems to have been altered to 
 " weyng," which was unnecessary.
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENRY VI, 475 
 
 Item, vj. Parys cuppes, of silver, of the Monethes, with lowe 
 
 fete, the bordures gilt, weiyng iiijxx x. unces. 
 Item, j. white stondyng cuppe, with a cover of silver, weiyng 
 
 xij. unces di. 
 
 Item, j. knoppe, for a covere, gilt, weiyng j. unce. 
 Item, j. flagon, of silver and gilt, accordyng with the olde 
 
 inventarie, weiyng xxx xviij. unces. 
 Item, anothir flagon, of the same sorte and of the same weight, 
 
 xxx xviij. unces. 
 
 Summa, DCxliiij. unces di. 
 
 Item, j. paire of olde flagons, iij. pyntes, fayleth j. stopell, 
 
 weiyng iiijxx x. unces. 
 Item, j. grete sawser, weiyng vj. unces di. 
 Item, ij. olde cruettes, weiyng vj. unces. 
 
 336. 
 A.D. 1459 SIR JOHN FASTOLF'S WARDROBE. 
 
 [From Archseologia, xxi. 252.] 
 
 This roll and the preceding are both printed in the Archaeologia from 
 transcripts made by Blomefield, the Norfolk historian, for his friend Sir 
 Andrew Fountaine. The original of this second roll we have not met with. 
 
 Memorandum, 
 
 That the last day of Octobre, the yere of the reyne of 
 
 King Henri the Sixt, Sir John Fastolf, Knyght, hath lefte in his 
 warderope at Castre, this stuft'e of clothys, and othir harnays that 
 followith, that is to wete : 
 
 Toga remanenda hoc tempore in Garderoba Domini. 
 
 First, a goune of clothe of golde, with side slevis, sirples wise. 
 Item, j. nothir gowne of clothe of golde, with streyght slevys, 
 
 and lynyd withe blak clothe. 
 Item, halfe a gowne of red felwett. 
 Item, j. gowne of blewe felwett upon felwet longe furrid withe 
 
 martyrs, and perfold l of the same, slevys sengle. 
 C. Item, i. gowne, clothe of grene, of iij. yerds. 
 Item, j. side scarlet gownys, not lynyd. 
 
 Item, j. rede gowne, of my Lorde Coromale a is lyverey, lyned. 
 Item, j.chymere 3 cloke of blewe satayne, lynyd with blake silke. 
 Item, iij. quarters of scarlet for a gowne, di. quarter of the same. 
 
 1 Trimmed. The word is more commonly written " purfled." 
 
 2 Cromwell. 
 
 3 The chammer or skamew was a gown cut in the middle. See Strult'i 
 Dress and Habits of the People of England, ii. 359.
 
 47 6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 Item, j. broken gowne of sangweyne, graynyd with the slevys. 
 Item, j. gowne of Frenche russet, lynyd with blak clothe. 
 Item, j. chemer of blak, lynyd with blak bokerame. 
 Item, j. gowne of blak, lynyd with blak lynyng. 
 Item, iij. quarters of a russet gowne with ought slevys. 
 Item, j. jagged huke 1 of blakke sengle, and di. of the same. 
 
 U. 
 
 Tunica Remanentes ibidem. 
 Item, j. jakket of blewe felwett, lynyd in the body with smale 
 
 lynen clothe, and the slevys withe blanket. 
 Item, j. jakket of russet felwet, lynyd with blanket clothe. 
 Item, j jakket of red felwet, the ventis bounde with red lether. 
 Item, j. jakket of blakke felwet upon felwet, lynyd with smale 
 
 lynen cloth. 
 Item, j. jaket, the bret and slevys of blak felvet, and the re- 
 
 manent of russet fustian. 
 Item, ij. jakketts of russet felwet, the one lyned with blanket, 
 
 t'other with lynen clothe. 
 Item, ij. jakketts of chamletts. 
 Item, j. jakket of sateyne fugre. 8 
 Item, j. dowblettis of red felwet uppon felwet. 
 Item, j. jakket of blak felwet, the body lynyd with blanket 
 
 and the slevys with blak clothe. 
 
 Item, j. dowbelet of rede felwet, lynyd with lynen clothe. 
 Item, ij. jakketts of derys lether, with j. coler of blak felwet. 
 Item, j. dowbelet of white lynyn clothe. 
 Item, j. pettecote of lynen clothe stoffyd with flokys. 
 Item, j. petticote of lynen clothe, withought slyves. 
 Item, ij. payre hosyn of blakke keyrse. 
 Item, iij. payre bounden with lether. 
 Item, j. payre of blake hosyn, vampayed with lether. 
 Item, ij. payre of scarlet hosyn. 
 
 U 
 V 
 
 Capucia et Capellee, 
 
 Item, }. russet hode, with owgt a typpet, of satyn russet. 
 Item, j. hode of blakke felwet, with a .typpet, halfe damask 
 
 and halfe felwet, y jaggyd. 
 
 Item, j. hode of depe grene felwet, jakgyd uppon the rolle. 
 Item, j. hode of russet felwet, with a typpet, halfe of the same 
 and halfe of blewe felwet, lynyd with the same of damaske. 
 Item, j. hood of depe grene felwet, the typpet blake and grene 
 
 felwet. 
 Item, j. hood of russet felwet withougt a typpet. 
 
 1 A kind of mantle. See Strutt's Dress and Habits, ii. 363. 
 
 2 Figured or branched satin.
 
 A.D. H59-] HENRY VI. 477 
 
 Item, j. hode of damaske russet, with j. typpet, fastyd with a 
 lase of silke. 
 
 Item, j. rydyng hode of rede felwet with iiij. jaggys. 
 
 Item, j. hode of skarlet, with a rolle of purpill felwet, bor- 
 dered with the same felwet. 
 
 Item, j. hode of blake satayne, the rolle of blake felwet. 
 
 Item, j. of purpill felwet, with owten rolle and typpet. 
 
 Item, j. hode of russet felwet, the typpet lynyd with russet 
 silke. 
 
 Item, j. typpet, halfe russet and halfe blake felwet, with j. 
 J a gge. 
 
 Item, j. rydynghoode of blakalyere, lynyd with the same. 
 
 Item, j. rydyng hoode of blakke felwet, i-lynyd with blakke 
 clothe. 
 
 Item, j. hatte of bever, lynyd withe damaske gilt, girdell, 
 bokkell, and penaunt, with iiij. barrys of the same. 
 
 Item, j. gret rollyd cappe of sangweyn, greyned. 
 
 Item, ij. skarlet hoodys. 
 
 Item, iiij. hodys of sangweyn, graynyd. 
 
 Item, ij. hodys of perce blewe. Item, ij. hodys blakalyre. 
 
 Item, j. knitte cappe. Item, j. unsette poke. 
 
 Item, ij. poyntys of a hood of skarlot. 
 
 Item, j. blake rydyng hoode, sengle. Item, ij. strawen hattis. 
 
 Item, j. blewe hoode of the Garter. 
 
 Item, j. gowne of my ladys, sengle. 
 
 Alia res necessaries ibidem. 
 
 Inprimis, j. canope of grene silke, borderyd with rede. 
 Item, iij. trapuris, with iij. clothis of the same sute. 
 Item, ij. old cheses plis [chasubles\ of rede. 
 Item, ij. pokkettis stuffyd and embraudyd with white rosys after 
 
 his devyce, of rede with crossis leten with silver. 
 Item, j. pece of scarlot, embraudit in the myddell, containing 
 
 in length iij. yerds and di. 
 Item, j. pece of blewe, contaynyng in length iij. quarters, and 
 
 in brede v. quarters. 
 Item, j. pece of skarlot for trappars for horsys, with rede 
 
 crossis and rosys. 
 
 Item, ij. stripis of the same trappuris sutly. 
 Item, j. pece of Seynt George leveray, for j. hode. 
 Item, j. ball of coper gilt, embrauded rechely with j. skogen 
 
 [scutcheon] hongyng therbi. 
 Item, ij. pencellis of his armys. 
 Item, ij. yerds and j. quarter of white damaske. 
 i Item, j. pece of white felwet ij. yerdis longe. 
 
 Item, j. pece of rede satayne, brauden [embroidered] with Me 
 
 f aunt fere. 
 
 Item, ij. strypes of the same. 
 Item, ij. cote armours of silke, aftir his own armys.
 
 478 THE P ASTON LETTERS. 0.0.1459. 
 
 Item, j. cote armour of whyte silke of Seynt George. 
 
 Item, ij. pecys of clothe of golde of tyssent. 
 
 Item, j. pece of blak kersey with rosys, and embraudit with 
 
 Me fount fere. 
 
 Item, ij. stripis of the same sute. 
 Item, ij. peces of blewe canvas of xlij. yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of linnen cloth, steyned. 
 Item, j. pece of grene wurstet xxx. yards longe. 
 Item, iiij. clokys of murry 1 derke. 
 Item, j. bollok haftyd dager, harnesyd wyth sylver, 2 and j. 
 
 chape 3 thertoo. 
 
 Item, j. lytyll schort armyng dager, withe j. gilt schape. 
 Item, iij. payre tablys of cipris, being in casys of lether. 
 Item, j. payre tablys of G., enrayed withowght, and here men 
 
 in baggys longyng thertoo. 
 
 E. 
 
 Imprimis, v. pellowes of grene silke. 
 
 Item, j. pellow of silk the growund white wyth lyllys of blewe. 
 
 Item, ij. pellowes of rede felwet and the growund of ham 
 
 blakke. 
 
 Item, v. pellowys of rede felwet. 
 Item, ij. pellowys of rede felwet beten upon satayne. 
 Item, j. littill pellow of grene sike, full wythin of lavendre. 
 Item, j. pellow of purpyll silke and golde. 
 Item, ij. pellowes of blew silke, with a schelde. 
 Item, v. large carpettys. 
 
 Imprimis, j. longe pillowe of fustian. 
 
 Item, iij. brode pillowes of fustyan. 
 
 Item, ij. pillowys of narwer sorte and more schorter, of fustyan. 
 
 Item, j. longe pellow of lynen clothe. 
 
 Item, j. pellow of a lasse sorte. 
 
 Item, j. brode pyllow of lynen clothe. 
 
 Item, ij. pillowes of lynen clothe of a lasser assyse. 
 
 Item, viij. pelowes of lynen clothe off a lasser assyse. 
 
 Item, v. of the lest assyse. 
 
 In primis, j. cover of grene silke to a bedde, lynyd with blewe 
 
 silke. 
 Item, j. close bedde of palle grene and whyte, with levys of 
 
 golde. 
 
 Item, j. covyr of the same. 
 
 Item, j. covyr of rede silke lynyd with bokerame. 
 Item, j. cover of white clothe, fyne and well-wrought, purpeynte 
 
 [pourpointe or stitched] wyse. 
 
 Item, j. cover of raynis, wrowght with golde of damaske. 
 Item, j. donge [mattress or feather bed] of purle sylke. 
 
 1 Dark or brownish red. % Silver twisted round the haft. 
 
 1 The schape or chape was the ferule of the scabbard, Dr. Meyrick.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENR Y VI. 479 
 
 Item, j. seler of white lynen clothe. 
 
 Item, j. testur of the same. Item, iij. curtaynys sutely. 
 
 Item, iij. cartaynyes of lynen clothe. 
 
 Item. iij. blankettis of fustian. 
 
 Clothis o Arras and of Tapstre warke. 
 
 Inprimis, j. clothe of arras, clyped the Schipherds clothe. 1 
 
 Item, j. of the Assumpsion of Oure Lady. 
 
 Item, j. newe banker of arras, with a bere holdyng j. spere in 
 
 the middys of the clothe. 
 Item, j. tester of arras with ij. gentlewomen and ij. gentlemen, 
 
 and one holdyng an hawke in his honde. 
 Item, j. clothe with iiij. gentle women. 
 Item, j. testour of arras with a lady crouned and a grete rolle 
 
 aboughte her hede, the first letter N. 
 Item, j. clothe of ix. conquerouris. 
 Item, j. cover for a bedde, of newe arras, and a gentlewoman 
 
 beyng ther in the corner with a whelp in hir honde and an 
 
 Agnus Day abought hir nee. 
 
 Item, a seler of arras frangyd with silke, red, grene, and white. 
 Item, j. testir of the same, red, grene, and white. 
 Item, j. testur frangyd with grene silke. Item, j. seler of the same. 
 Item, j. clothe for the nether hall, of arras, with a geyaunt in 
 
 the myddell, beryng a legge of a bere in his honde. 
 Item, j. clothe of arras for the dese \da'is\ in the same halle, 
 
 with j. wodewose [a savage} and j. chylde in his armys. 
 Item, j. clothe of the sege of Faleys for the west side of the 
 
 halle. 
 Item, j. clothe of arras with iij. archowrys on scheting \shooting\ 
 
 a doke in the water with a cross bowe. 
 Item, j. clothe of arras withe a gentlewoman harpyng by j. 
 
 castell in myddys of the clothe. 
 Item, j. cover of arras for a bedde, with a mane drawyng water 
 
 in the myddel of the clothe ought of a welle. 
 Item, j. lytell tester of arras, whith j. man and a woman in the 
 
 myddyll. 
 
 Item,j. banker 2 of arras with a man schetyng at j.blode hownde. 
 Item, j. clothe of arras with a lady crouned, and j. rolle abought 
 
 her hedde with A. N., lynyd with gray canvas. 
 Item, j. clothe of arras with a condyte in the myddill. 
 Item, j. clothe of arras, with a gentlewoman holding j. lace of 
 
 silke, and j. gentlewoman a hauke. 
 Item, ij. clothis portrayed full of popelers. 
 Item, j. testyr of blewe tapistry warke with viij. braunchys. 
 Item, j. blewe hallyng 3 of the same sute. 
 Item, j. rede clothe of v. yerds v. dim. of lenthe. 
 
 1 Probably representing the Adoration of the Shepherds. 
 
 2 Covering for a bench. 
 8 Hanging for a hall.
 
 480 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 Item, j. banker of rede, with iij. white rosys and the armys of 
 
 Fastolf. 
 
 Item, j. nothyr clothe of rede, with v. roses sutly. 
 Item, j. hallyng of blewe worstet, contayning in lenthe xiij. 
 
 yerds, and in bredthe iiij. yerds. 
 
 Item, j. hallyng with men drawen in derke grene worsted. 
 Item, ij. pecys of whyte worsted, bothe of one lengthe. 
 Item, j. hallyng of depe grene, contayning in lenthe xj. yerds, 
 
 and in bredthe ij. yerds and one halfe. 
 Item, j. hallyng of the same sute, lengthe, and brede. 
 Item, j. tester of grene and whyte, wyth braunchis sutely. 
 
 F. 
 
 Clothis of Arras. 
 
 Item, ij. clothis of arras for the chamboure over the nether 
 
 halle, of huntyng and of haukyng. 
 Item, iij. clothis of grene and whyte, withe braunchis sutely to 
 
 the other wreten before. 
 Item, a coveryng of a bedde of aras, withe hontyng of the bore, 
 
 a man in blewe, with a jagged hoode, white and rede. 
 
 Canvas in the Warderop and fy tie Lynen Clothe of dyvers sortes. 
 
 First ix. berys for fetherbeddys. 
 
 Item, iiij. transomers. 
 
 Item, j. pece of lynen clothe, countyng lenthe and brede iiijx*. 
 
 ellys, and the tone ende kit and nought enselyd and the 
 
 other ende hole. 
 Item, j. pece of lynen clothe, yerde brode, contaynyng xiiij. 
 
 yerds and more, and not sealed. 
 
 Item, j. pece of grete lynen clothe, yerde brode, of xxij. yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of yerde brode, xxiv. yerds iij. quarters, pro 
 
 Willelmo Schipdam. 
 Item, j. pece of a yerde and an halfe quarter brode, of xxv. 
 
 yerds and iij. quarters, pro Willelmo Schypdam. 
 Item, j. pece of yerde brode, of xij. yerds and j. quai'ter. 
 Item, j. pece of fyne lynen clothe, yerd brode, of Ivj. yerdys of 
 
 lenthe. 
 
 Item, j. pece of grete clothe, yerde brode, of Ivij. yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of grete clothe of xxiiij". yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of clothe leke of xxviij. yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of clothe of xxxvij. yerds et dim. 
 Item, j. pece of grete clothe of xxij. yerdys per Willm. Schyp- 
 
 dham. 
 
 Item, j. pece of clothe lyke of xxxij. yerds and j. quarter. 
 Item, j. pece of lyke clothe of xxxvj. yerds, per Willm. 
 
 Schypdam.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENRY VI. 481 
 
 Item, j. pece of clothe of xxxiij. yerds and j. quarter, per Wil- 
 
 1m. Schypdam. 
 Item, j. pece of xxvij. yerds j. quarter. Item, j. pece of x. 
 
 yerds dim. 
 Item, j. pece of viij. yerds. Item, j. pece of xxviij. yerds iij. 
 
 quarters. 
 Item, j. pece of xix. yerds dim. Item, j. pece of xxij. yerds j. 
 
 quarter. 
 Item, j. pece of xiij. yerds j. quarter. Item, j. pece of xxiij. 
 
 yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of xxvij. yerds j. quarter. Item, j. pece of xxx. 
 
 yerds dim. 
 Item, j. pece of xxxij. yerds dim. Item, j. pece of xlj: yerds 
 
 and j. quarter. 
 Item, j. pece of xxxj. yerds dim. Item, j. pece of xviij. yerds 
 
 iij. quarters. 
 
 Item, j. pece of xiij. yerds. Item, j. pece of xiiij. yerds. 
 Item, j. pece of xlv. yerds. Item, j. pece of viii. yerds dim. 
 Item, j. pece of xiij. yerds dim. Item, j. pece of xxij. yerds j. 
 
 quarter. 
 
 Item, j. pece of xxxix. yerds. 
 
 Item, j. pece of xxxiij. yerds j. quarter of beter clothe. 
 Item, ij. rollys of lynen clothe, both not moten. Item, Ix. 
 
 yerds of clothe. 
 Item, j. pece of Seland clothe, with dyvers sealys at the endys. 
 
 Summa totalis, xl. peces. 
 
 Summa totalis istius folij ultra ij. rolles cone' Ix. vtrg' et in pece 
 sigillat' cum Domini secreto sigillo uti in fine paginae, ml. 
 xxxvij. virg. ij. quart, dim. per C. que re. 
 
 Manent, cum tribus pecijs restitutis. 
 
 H. 
 
 Adhuc in Garderobn in domo Superiori. 
 
 Item, iij. grete brasse pottys of Frenche makyng. 
 
 Item, j. grete chafron of brasse. Item, ij. chaiernes of a lase 
 
 sorte. 
 Item, iiij. chafemes of the French gyse for sewys. Item, j. 
 
 panne. 
 Item, j. litell potte of .brasse. Item, ij. chamber basons of 
 
 pewter. 
 Item, iiij. chargeourys. Item, vj. platowres. Item, vj. sawsers 
 
 of pewter. 
 Item, iiij. candylstykkeys of my mayster is armys and my 
 
 ladyes, copper and gilt. 
 
 Item, j. fountayne of latayne to sette in pottys of wine. 
 Item, ij. hangyng candylstykkes. Item, ij. maundys \baskets\. 
 2 1
 
 482 THE PASTOX LETTERS. 0.0.1459. 
 
 Item, j. basket of wykers. Item, xxj. bowys. 
 Item, viij. schefe arrowys of swanne. 
 
 Camera ultra Buttdlarium pro exlraneis. 
 
 Item, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. pillowe. 
 Item, ij. blankettys. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, j. purpeynt of white. Item, j. seloure. Item, j. testoure. 
 Item, ij. curtaynys of the same sute. Item, j. cobbord clothe 
 of the same. 
 
 Magna Camera ultra Aidant Estevalem. 
 
 In primis, j. fetherbedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. seler. 
 
 Item, j. tester, withe one gentlewoman in grene, taking a mal- 
 lard in hir hondes. 
 
 Item, j. coveryng, with j. geyaunt smytyng a wild bore with a 
 spere. 
 
 Item, iij. courtaynes of grene silke. 
 
 Item, j . clothe of arras, of the Schipherds. 
 
 The White Chambour next the Gret Chaumbtir, sumtyme Nicholas 
 Bokkeyng is Chaumbre. 
 
 In primis, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. pyllowe 
 
 of doun. 
 
 Item, ij. blankettys bon. 
 
 Item, j. payre of schetys, every schete iiij. schete iiij. webbes. 
 Item, j. coveryng of whyte lynen clothe. Item, j. purpoynt. 
 Item, j. tester. Item, j. seler. Item, iij. curtaynys of whyte. 
 Item, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. blankettys. 
 Item, iij. payre of schetys. Item, ij. coverlettes of grene warke. 
 Item, j. cobbord clothe. 
 
 The Chaumboure, sumtyme for Stephen Scrape, hangyng dothys 
 portrayed with the Schipherds. 
 
 Item, j. federbedde. Item, j. bolster. 
 
 Item, ij. fustian blanketts, every of hem vj. webbys. 
 
 Item, j. pyllowe of downe. Item, j. pyllowe of lavendre. 
 
 Item, j. cover of apres [ypres ?], lynyd with lynen clothe. 
 
 Item, j. tester and j. seler of the same. Item, iij. curtaynes of 
 
 rede saye. 
 
 Item, j. clothe hangyng of Schovelers. 
 Item, j. rede curtayne o saye for the chayre. 
 Item, iiij. cosschonys of rede say. Item, j. cobbord clothe. 
 Item, j. rynnyng bedde with a materas. 
 Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. blankettis. Item, j. payre of 
 
 schetys. 
 Item, j. coverlet of yellow clothe.
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENR Y VI. 483 
 
 Raffman is Chambonr, 
 
 Item, j. fedcler bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. blanket. 
 Item, j. payre of schetys. Item, j. redde panne of kinyng 
 
 skynnys. 
 
 Item, j. testour. Item, j. selour of rede saye. 
 Item, j. hangyng clothe of popelers. Item, ij. tapettis with 
 
 clowdys. 
 Item, j. coveryng of grene saye. Item, j. coverlet of other 
 
 warke. 
 
 The Yeomen is Chamburfor Straungtrs. 
 
 In primis, iij. fether beddys. Item, iij. bolsterys. Item, j. 
 
 materas. 
 
 Item, v. blankettys. Item, iij. payre of schetys. 
 Item, j. coverlet of grene warke. 
 Item, ij. coverynges of white, grene, and blewe. 
 Item, ij. hangyng clothys of the same. 
 
 The White hangyd Chambre next Inglose is Chambonre. 
 
 In primis, j. feddebedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. blankettys. 
 Item, j. payre of schetys. Item, j. pillowe of downe. 
 Item, j. purpoynt white hangyd. Item, j. hangyd bed-de. 
 Item, j. selere. Item, j. testoure. Item, iij. curtaynys of white. 
 Item, j. curtayne of the same. 
 
 Inglose Chambre. 
 
 In primis, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. 
 
 Item, ij. blanketts of fustian, everyche of them vj. webbes. 
 
 Item, j. peyre of schetys, every schete iij. webbys. Item, j. 
 
 hed schete. 
 
 Item, j. pillowe of downe. Item, j. pillowe of lavendre. 
 Item, j. covering of aras. Item, j. testoure. 
 Item, j. seleure of the same. Item, j. pane furryd with 
 
 menevere. 
 Item, iij. courtaynys of rede saye. Item, v. clothes of tapserey 
 
 warke. 
 Item, j. bankere clothe of the same. Item, j. cusschen of redde 
 
 silke. 
 
 Item,iiij. of rede saye. Item, j. cobbordclothe. Item, j. paylette. 
 Item, j. bolster. Item, j. blanket. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, j. coverlyte. Item, j. grene carpette. 
 
 The White hangyd Ckambour next the Warderobe. 
 In primis, j. fedderbedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. blankettys. 
 Item, j. payre of schettys. Item, j. hed schete. Item, j. pil- 
 low of downe. 
 Item, j. pillow of lavendre.
 
 484 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 Item, j. purpoynt white, with a scuchon after an horse wyse, 
 
 visure and braunchis of grene. 
 Item, j. selour. Item, j. testour. Item, iij. curtaynys of lynen 
 
 clothe. 
 
 Cole and Walkyn is Chamboure that was for the two auditourys. 
 
 Item, ij. materasse. Item, ij. blankettys. Item, ij. schetys. 
 Item, j. bolster. Item, j. coverlet of white warke withe burdys. 
 Item, j. testour of red saye. Item, j. seler of canvas. 
 
 TJie Porter is Chamlour. 
 In primis, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. payre 
 
 of schetys. 
 
 Item, j. blankett. Item, j. coveryng cloth. 
 Item, j. curtayne of rede saye. 
 
 Tlie Chambour agenest the Porter is Chamboure. 
 
 In primis, j. feddir bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. payre 
 
 of schetys. 
 Item, j. payre of blankettys. Item, ij. coverlettys of grene 
 
 and yolowe. 
 Item, j. seler of blewe panes and white. Item, ij. pecys of saye. 
 
 The Chamber over the Draught Brigge. 
 
 In primis, j. fedder bed, covered withe gray canvas. Item, j. 
 
 bolster. 
 
 Item, ij. blankettys, j. payre of schettys. 
 Item, j. rede pane furryd withe connyngs. 
 Item, j. testour, and j. selour of rede saye with Me f aunt fere. 
 
 Schipdam is Chambre. 
 
 In primis, j. fedderbedde. Item, ij. blangettis. Item, ij. schetys. 
 
 Item, j. bolster. 
 
 Item, j. coverlet of white rosys, at every comer iiij., and one in 
 
 the myddell. 
 
 Item, j. seler of rede say. 
 Item, j. testour of rede say, lynyd wythe canvas. Item, j. 
 
 chayre. 
 
 Item, j. pece of rede say for accomptyng borde. 
 Item, iiij. cosschonys rede say. Item, j. aundiren. Item, j. 
 
 firepanne. 
 Item, j. payre of tongus. Item, iij. formys. Item, j. junyd 
 
 stole. 
 
 The Inner Chaumbour over the Gatis, 
 
 In primis, j. federbedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. blankettes. 
 Item, j. gardevyaunt \ineat safe\. Item, ij. cosschonys of blewe 
 
 say. , 
 
 Item, j. junyd stole.
 
 A.D. I459-] IIENR Y VI. 485 
 
 The Myddell Chambour. 
 
 In primis, j. feder bedde. Item, j. materas. Item, j. quylt. 
 Item, ij. coverletts of rede say. Item, j. testour withe a selour. 
 Item, ij. courtaynys of rede say. Item, j. testoure of the same. 
 Item, j. payre of tongys. 
 
 Camera Bokkyng in le Basecourte. 
 
 In primis, j. fedderbedde. Item, j. bolster. 
 
 Item, ij. payre of schetys. Item, ij. blankettys. 
 
 Item, j. coverlete of popelers, lynyd with whyte lynnyng clothe. 
 
 Item, j. selour. Item, j. testour of rede saye. 
 
 77ie Coke is Chambour. 
 
 Item, j. feder bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. schetys. 
 Item, j. redde coverlyte of rosys and blood houndys hedys. 
 
 Feraufe [or Fiizrauf] is Chambre. 
 
 Item, j. fedderbedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, ij. blankettys. Item, j. coverlyte. Item, j. testour. 
 Item, j. selour of blewe clowded. 
 
 Thomas Fastolft Chamboure. 
 
 Item, j. fedderbed. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, ij. blankettis. Item, j. rede coverlet. 
 Item, j. coveryng of worstet. Item, j. testour. 
 Item, j. selour of rede say, withe the armys of Fastolf. 
 
 Tfie Bedde in the grete Stabull. 
 Item, j. materas. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, j. coverlyt of blewe and rede. 
 
 The Bedde in the Sumer Stabull. 
 Item, j. materas. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, j. coverlyte of blewe and rede. 
 
 The Gardinares Chambre. 
 
 In primis, j. bolster. Item, j. materas. Item, j. payre of schetys. 
 Item, ij. blankettys. Item, j. coverlet of blewe. 
 Item, j. nother of better blewe. Item, j. materas. Item, j. 
 
 bolster. 
 
 Item, j. carpet. Item, j. coveryng of grene say. 
 Item, j. coveryng of popelerys. Item, j. selour of blewe. 
 
 My Maister is Chambre and the withe draughte withe the Stable. 
 In primis, j. fedderbedde. Item, j. donge of fyne blewe. 
 Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. blankettys of fustians. 
 Item, j. payre of schetis. Item, j. purpeynt.
 
 486 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 Item, j. hangyd bedde of arras. Item, j. testour. Item, j. 
 
 selour. 
 
 Item, j. coveryng. 
 
 Item, iij. curtaynes of grene worsted. 
 Item, j. bankeur of tapestre warke. 
 Item, iiij. peces hangyng of grene worsted. 
 Item, j. banker hangyng tapestry worke. Item, j. cobbord 
 
 clothe. 
 
 Item, ij. staundyng aundyris. Item, j. feddefflok. 
 Item, j. chafern of laten. Item, j. payre of tongys. 
 Item, j. payre of bellewes. Item, j. litell paylet. Item, ij. 
 
 blankettys. 
 
 Item, j. payre of schetys. Item, j. coverlet. 
 Item, vj. white cosschynes. Item, ij. lytell bellys. 
 Item, j. foldyng table. Item, j. longe chayre. Item, j. grene 
 
 chayre. 
 Item, j. hangyng candylstyk of laton. 
 
 In Camera and Warda nuper pertinentibus Dotnince Mylcentice 
 
 Fastolf. 
 
 In primis, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, j. materas. 
 Item, j. quelte. Item, smale pyllowes of downe. 
 Item, j. hongyd bedde of fyne whyte. Item, ij. smale payletts. 
 Item, j. rede coverlet. Item, j. leddre pyllewe. Item, j. basyn. 
 Item, j. ewer. Item, ij. pottys. 
 Item, ij. lyttyll ewers of blew glasses, powdered withe golde. 
 
 The Chambure there Margaret Hodessone laye. 
 Item, j. fedderbedde. Item, j. bolster. Item, ij. fustians. 
 Item, j. chayre withe j. pece of palle white and grene. 
 
 The utmost Chambur nexte Winter Halle. 
 Item, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. bolster. 
 Item, j. coveryng of grene worsted. Item, ij. staundyng 
 
 aundeirys. 
 
 Item, j. hangyng candylstyk of laton. 
 Item, j. cobbord clothe. Item, j. rede chayre. 
 
 The White Draught Chamber for Lewys and William Worcester. 
 In primis, j. fedder bedde. Item, j. donge. Item, j. bolster. 
 Item, j. hangyd bedde. Item, j. testour. 
 Item, j. selour of rede worsted, i-hangyd with clothe of pale, 
 blake, white, and grene. Item, j. arstellawe. 
 
 G 
 
 In primis, ij. pecys of satayne after the fassion of a dowblet to 
 
 were under gownes. 
 Item, viij. quarters of silk, the slevys of the same rolled to 
 
 gedder for jakketts. 
 Item, j. jakke of blakke lynen clothe stuffyd with mayle.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENRYVI. 487 
 
 Item, vj. jakkes stuffyd with home. 
 Item, j. jakke of blake clothe lyned with canvas mayled. 
 Item, xxiiij. cappes, stuffed withe home, and sum withe mayle. 
 Item, vj. payre glovys of mayle, of schepys skynne, and of 
 
 doos. 
 Item, iij. grete crosbowes of stele, with one grete dowble 
 
 wyndas ther too. 
 
 Item, j. coffyre, full of quarrellys of a smale sorte. 
 Item, xij. quarrellis of grete sorte, feddered with brasse. 
 Item, vj. payre curassis. Item, j. payre of breggandires. 
 Item, iij. harburyones of 1'Milayne. 
 
 Item, v. ventayletts for bassenetts. Item, vj. peces of mayle. 
 Item, j. garbrasse. Item, j. polleson. Item, vj. payre grevys. 
 Item, iiij. payre thyes. Item, xj. bassenetts. Item, j. payre 
 
 coschewes. 
 Item, j. payre bregandines, helyd with rede felwet. Item, j. 
 
 spere. 
 
 Item, ij. bassenetts. Item, ij. saletts withe ij. visers. 
 Item, viij. saletts, white, withe oute vesoure. Item, v. payre 
 
 vambras. 
 
 Item, iij. spere heddys. Item, j. swerde with a gyld chape. 
 Item, j. prikkyng hat, covered withe blake felwet. 
 Item, ij. tarcellys on hym be hynde. Item, iij. gonnes, called 
 
 serpentins. 
 Item, ij. white payre of brigaundiris. Item, ij. payre hosyn of 
 
 blak kersey. 
 
 Item, payre bounde wyth lether. Item, ij. payre of skarlat. 
 Item, j. payre of blake vampayed withe lether. 
 Item, ij. jakketts of russet felwet. Item, ij. aundyrys, grete, of 
 
 one sorte. 
 
 Item, ij., lasse, of anothyr sorte. Item, iij. lesser aundiris. 
 Item, xi. aunderis for lecchen. Item, j. iren spitte. 
 Item, ix. barrys of iren for curtaynes. 
 Item, ij. chaynes for the draught brigge. 
 
 Magna Aula. 
 xj. crosbowes whereof iij. of stele, and v. wyndas. Item, j. 
 
 borespere. 
 
 Item, vj. wifles. Item, j. rede pavys. Item, j. target. 
 Item, xxj. speris. Item, j. launce gay. Item, iij. pecys of 
 
 rede worsted. 
 
 Item. j. grene chayre. Item, j. red chayre. 
 Item, j. pece of rede worsted in the toure parloure. 
 Item, j. banker of tapestry worke. 
 
 Item, j. nothir of tapestry warke newe, in the hall wendewe. 
 Item, vij. cosschenys of tapestre. 
 
 Aula Yemalis. 
 
 Item, j. clothe of arras, of the Morysch daunce. 
 Item, ij. chayrys fraungyd. Item, j. rede chayre di. dos (?).
 
 433 THE PASTOX LETTERS. [A. u. 1459. 
 
 Item, di. dosn. of tapestrye warke. Item, j. banker of aras. 
 Item, ij. andyris stondyng. 
 
 Celar. 
 
 In the seler, certayn vessell whiche John Ouresby is chargid 
 withe by an endenture, wherof the copy is annexed to thislese. 
 Item, ij. pypes of rede wyne. 
 
 The Bottre. 
 
 Item, ij. kervyng knyvys. 
 Item, iij. kneyves in a schethe, the haftys of every, withe naylys 
 
 gilt. 
 
 Item, j. payre galon bottels of one sorte. 
 Item, j. payre of potell botellys of one sorte. 
 Item, j. nother potell bottell. Item, j. payre quartletts of one 
 
 sorte. 
 
 Item, iiij. galon pottis of lether. Item, iij. pottelers of lether. 
 Item, j. trencher knyfe. Item, j. grete tankard. 
 Item, ij. grete and hoge bottelis. Item, xiiij. candylstykkys 
 
 of laton. 
 Item, certayn pecys of napre, accordyng to a bylle endentyd 
 
 annexed to this lese. 
 Item, j. quartelet for wine. 
 
 In primis, iij. chargeres argenti de parvo sorte. Item, v. platers 
 
 argenti. 
 
 Item, xij. dissches argenti unius sortis. 
 Item, viij. dissches argenti minoris sortis. 
 Item, xj. sawseris argenti unius sortis. 
 
 Item, iij. crateras argenti, quarum j. data Margaretae Hoddsone. 
 Item, iij. covertorijs argenti enamelid and borage floures in les 
 
 betimes. 
 Item, vj. chacyd pecys gilte bi the bordurys, with the towche 
 
 of Paryce. 
 Item, ij. pottis argenti potlers, percell gilte and enameled 
 
 with violetts and dayseys. 
 Item, ij. pottis of sylver, of the facion of goods enamelyd on 
 
 the toppys withe hys armys. 
 Item, j. quarteler argenti, percel gilt withe j. chase a bought of 
 
 rosys and levys. 
 Item, j. rounde salt seler, gylt and covered with a wrethe toppe 
 
 with this wordys wreten, Me fauntfere, a bowght. 
 Item, j. salt seler, pacell of the same fassion sengle. 
 Item, ij. salt selers of sylver, playne and smale with a dowble 
 
 rose graven withe armys. 
 Item, j. basyn of sylver, percell gylte, with a dowble rose, his 
 
 armis enamelid in the bottom be with his helme and his crest. 
 
 Liberaf Londorf cum Domino. 
 
 Item, j. nother bacyn, white, of the same facion, enamilid with 
 his armys in the bottom.
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENRY VI, 489 
 
 Item, ij. ewars ther withe. 
 
 Item, j. lytyll sylver bacyn playne, with j. flat ewer. 
 
 Item, j. goboleit chaced, the bordours gilt. 
 
 Item, xvj. sponys of sylver, withe knappys gylt lyke perle. 
 
 Item, j. candylstyk of sylver, percell gylt, dowble nosyd. 
 
 Item, j. rounde basyn argenti cum, j. ewer argenti playn. 
 
 Item, ij. grete bacyns of sylver, the bourdour is gylt and wretyn 
 
 abought, Me f aunt fere, 
 Item, ij. ewers accordyng ther to. Item, j. lytyll stert panne 
 
 of sylver. 
 
 Item, ij. disschys of sylver founden in my lady is chambre. 
 Item, ij. smale pecys. 
 
 Item, j. saltseler boliouned inwarde, covered and gylt. 
 Item, j. stondyng coppe gylte, with j. knappe in maner like 
 
 perle. 
 Item, ij. playn borde clothys for my maister is table, counte 
 
 ix. yerds in lengthe. 
 Item, ij. playne clothis for my maisters table, ece counte vj. 
 
 yerds. 
 
 Item, vj. napkyns playn. 
 Item, iiij. tewelles playn warke, eche cont' in lenthe ij. yerds, 
 
 dim'. 
 
 Item, iiij. playne clothis for the hall, eche of vj. yerds. 
 Item, ij. wasschyng tewellys of warke, eche of x. yerds. 
 Item, j. pocter (?). Item, j. overpayn of Raynes. 
 
 Capella. 
 
 Inprimis, ij. antyfeners. Item, j. legande of hoole servyce. 
 Item, ij. myssayles, the one noted and closyd wyth sylver, and 
 
 the other not noted. 
 Item, j. sauter claspyd with sylver, and my mayster is armys 
 
 and my ladyes ther uppon. 
 Item, j. mortellege covered withe white ledes. 
 Item, j. vestement covered withe crownes gilt in the myddes, 
 
 with all the apparayle. 
 
 Item, j. vestement hole of redde damaske warke. 
 Item, j. vestement of blak clothe of golde, with the hole orna- 
 ments. 
 Item, j. auter clothe, withe a frontell of white damaske, the 
 
 Trynete in the myddys. 
 Item, j. vestement of tunekell. Item, j. cope of white damaske, 
 
 withe the ornaments. 
 Item, j. awbe. Item, j. stole. 
 
 Item, j. favon, encheked white and blewe. Item, j. auter clothe. 
 Item, ij. curtaynes of white sylke, withe a frontell of the same, 
 
 withe fauchouns of golde. 
 Item, j. vestement of divers colurys, withe a crosse of golde to 
 
 the bakke, iiij. birdys quartelye.
 
 49 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1459. 
 
 Item, j. crosse of sylver and gylt, with oure Lady and Seynt 
 
 John. 
 
 Item, j. chales sylver and gylt. Item, j. pax brede. 
 Item, j. crucyfyxe, thereon withe oure Lady and Seynt John 
 
 enamelyd, and full of flour delys. 
 Item, ij. candylstykkys of sylver, the borduris gylt. 
 Item, ij. cruettys of sylver, percell gylt. 
 Item, iij. pyllowes stondyng on the autre off rede felwet withe 
 
 flowrys enbrawderid. 
 
 Item, ij. carpettis. Item, iiij. cosschenys of grene worstede. 
 Item, j. chayre in the closet of Fraunce, fregid. 
 Item, j. cosschon of redde worsted. Item, j. sakeryng bell of 
 
 sylver. 
 
 Pistrina. 
 
 Item, j. bulter. Item, j. ranell. Item, ij. payre wafer irens. 
 Item, ij. basketts Item, j. seve. Item, j. payre trayes cum j. 
 
 coler. 
 
 Item, j. materas. Item, j. blanket. Item, j. payre of chetis. 
 Item, j. coverlyte. 
 
 Brewhousee. 
 
 Item, xij. ledys. Item, j. mesynfate \mashin g-tub\ Item, j. 
 
 yelfate [ale vat]. 
 Item, viij. kelers, &c. 
 
 Coquena. 
 
 Item, j. gret bras pote. Item, vj. cours pottys of brasse. 
 
 Item, iiij. lytyll brasse pottis. Item, iiij. grete brasse pottis. 
 
 Item, iij. pike pannys of brasse. 
 
 Item, ij. ladels and ij. skymers of brasse. 
 
 Item, j. caudron, j . dytyn panne of brasse, j. droppyng panne. 
 
 Item, j. gredyren, iiij. rakkys, iij. cobardys, iij. trevitts. 
 
 Item, j. fryeyng panne, j. sclyse. 
 
 Item, ij. grete square spittys, ij. square spittys cocnos. 
 
 Item, ij. lytyll brochys rounde, j. sars of brasse. 
 
 Item, j. brasyn morter cum j. pestell, j. grate, j. sarche of tre. 
 
 Item, j. flessche hoke, ij. potte hokys, j. payr tongys. 
 
 Item, j. dressyng knyfe, j. fyre schowle, ij. treys, j. streynour. 
 
 Item, j. venegre botell. 
 
 Larderia. 
 
 Item, iij. grete standere pannes, j. bochers axe. 
 
 Item, ij. saltyng tubbes. Item, viij. lynges. Item, iiij. mul- 
 
 wellfyche. 
 
 Item, j. barell. dim. alec. alb. di. 
 Item, j. barrell. anguill., unde car. cc. anguill. 
 Item, j. ferkyn anguill. hoole. Item, j. barrell. 
 Item, j. busschell salt albi. Item, j. quart, alb sal.
 
 A.D. I459-] HENRY VI, 491 
 
 337. 
 
 FASTOLF'S COLLEGE. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This paper is a very rough draft, full of errors in grammar and spelling. 
 
 riting of 
 , possibly 
 
 , r n speng. 
 
 Additions have been made to the text here and there in the handwriting of 
 John Paston. It was evidently written after Sir John Fastolf 's death, possibly 
 
 several years later. 
 
 exitacio domini Johannis Fastolf ad 
 concludendum festinanter cum Johanne Pas- 
 ton fuit quod vicecomes Bemond, Dux 
 Somerset, comes Warwyk, voluerunt emere, 
 et quod intendebat quod executores sui desiderabant 
 vendere et non stabilire colegium ; quod totaliter fuit 
 contra intencionem sui died Johannis Fastolf; et con- 
 siderabat quod certum medium pro licencia Regis et 
 dominorum non providebatur, et sic tota fundatio 
 colegii pendebat in dubiis ; et ideo ad intencionem 
 suam perimplendam desideravit dictum barganium fieri 
 cum Johanne Paston, sperans ipsum in mera voluntate 
 perficiendi dictum colegium et ibidem manere ne in 
 manibus dominorum veniat. 
 
 Item, plures consiliarii sui dixerunt quod licet fun- 
 daret regulos seu presbiteros, aut eicientur per clamia 
 falsa aut compellantur adherere dominis pro manu- 
 tinencia, qui ibidem ad costus colegii permanerent et 
 morarent[ur] et colegium destruerent ; et hac de causa 
 consessit eos ditari in pencionibus certis ad modum 
 cantarise Heylysdon, sic quod dictus Johannes haberet 
 ad custus proprios conservacionem (?) terrarum erga 
 querentesetclamatores; et ne executores diversi propter 
 contrarietates et dissimulaciones seu favores --- 1 
 
 Item, considerabat quod ubi monechy et canonesi 
 \inonachi et canonici\ haberent terras seu tenementa 
 ad magnam \sic\ valorem, scilicet m 1 - [1000] vel ij. m 1 - 
 [2000, sc. librarunt\, tarn singulares monachi et canoneci 
 tantum per se resiperent \reciperenf\ x\s. per annum et 
 
 1 Sic the sentence left unfinished.
 
 49 2 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 prandium, et quod abbas, officiarii et extraequitatores 
 expenderent residuum in mundanis et riotis ; et ideo 
 ordinavit dotacionem praedictam in annuetatibus. 
 
 Et quod non fuit intencio dicti Johannis Fastolf in 
 convencione praedicta mortificare CCC. marcas terras, 
 quia prima convencio Johannis Paston est solvere v. m L 
 [5000] marcas in tribus annis et fundare colegium 
 quod in intencione dicti Johannis Fastolf constaret m 1 ' 
 [1000] libr., et semper dedit Johanni Paston mancionem 
 suam in manerio et tota terra \sic\ in Northefolk et 
 Southefolk assessa ad v. C. [500] marcas annuatim, 
 tune Johannes Paston emeret revercionem CC. mar- 
 carum terrae quae valet iiij. 1 m L [4000] marcas ad suam 
 propriam adventuram pro vj. m 1 - v. C. [6500] marcis. 
 
 Item, pro tranquillita[te] et pace tempore vitas, ita ut 
 non perturbetur per servos hospicii, ballivos, firmarios 
 seu attornatos placitorum. 
 
 Item quod abbas de Sente Bede 2 potuit resistere fun- 
 dationi, intentione ut tune (?) remaneat sibi et suis. 
 
 Endorsed: " Causa festinae bargania: inter Fastolf et Paston." 
 
 338. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 12 Nov. 
 WILLIAM PASTOX TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Ferm, iii. 352.] 
 
 This letter gives an account of the steps taken by William Paston in behalf 
 of his brother, who was Sir John Fastolf 's principal executor, to secure the 
 goods of the deceased knight immediately after his death. 
 
 To my Maistr Jon Paston in Norffolk. 
 
 YTHE will belovyd broder, I recomand me to 
 zow, sertefyeng zow that on Fryday last was 
 in the mornyng, Wurceter and I wer come 
 to London be viij. of the clok, and we spak 
 
 1 The figures " iiij." are blurred. 
 8 Apparently St. Benet's is intended.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENR Y VI. 493 
 
 with my Lord Chanceler, 1 and I fund hym well dis- 
 posyd in all thyng, and ze schall fynd hym ryth profyt- 
 abyll to zovv, &c. And he desyred me to wrythe zow 
 a letter in hys name, and put trust in zow in gaderyng 
 of the good togeder, and pray zow to do so and 
 have all his good owthe of every place of his, and his 
 awne place, qwer so ever they wer, and ley it secretly 
 wer as ze thowth best at zowr assynement, and tyll 
 that he speke with zow hym selff, and he seyd ye 
 schuld have all lawfull favor. I purpose to ryde to 
 him this day ifor wryttis of diem clawsit extremum^ 
 and I sopose ze schall have a letter sent from hym 
 selff to zow. 
 
 As for the good of Powlis, it is safe j now \enougK\ ; 
 and this day we have grant to have the good owthe of 
 Barmundsey with owthe avyse of any man, sawyng 
 Worseter, Plomer, and I my selff, and no body schall 
 know of it but we thre. 
 
 My Lord 3 Treasorer 4 spekyth fayr, but zet many 
 avyse me to put no trust in hym. Ther is laboryd 
 many menys to intytill the Kyng in his good. Sothe- 
 well 5 is Eschetor, and he is rythe good and well dis- 
 posyd. My Lord of Exsater G cleymyth tytill in myn 
 master plase, with the aportynancys in Sothewerk, 
 and veryly had purposyd to have entrid; and his con- 
 sayll wer with us, and spak with VVurseter and me. 
 And now afterward they have sent no word that they 
 wold meve my Lord to sue be menys of the lawe, &c. 
 I have spoke with my Lord of Canterbury and Master 
 Jon Stokys, and I fynd hem rythe will disposyd bothe, 
 &c. 
 
 Item, to morow ar the nexst day ze schall have a 
 noder letter, for be that tyme we schall know mor 
 than we do now. 
 
 1 William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. 
 
 2 See p. 16, Note i. 
 
 3 The left-hand copy in Fenn reads "brod," which seems to be a misprint 
 * James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. Beheaded in 1461. F. 
 
 6 Richard Southwell. 
 
 6 Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter.
 
 494 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 My Lord Chanceler wold that my master schuld be 
 beryed wurchyply, and C. mark almes done for hym ; 
 but this day I schall holly know his enthent. Master 
 Jon Stokys hathe the same consaythe and almes 
 gevyng. Harry Fenyngley is not in this towne, ner 
 the Lord Bechamp. 
 
 Item, we have gethe men of the speretuall law with 
 haldyn with us, qwat casse some ever hap. We have 
 Master Robert Kenthe, but in any wyse have all the 
 good ther to gedyr, and tary for no lettyng, thow ze 
 schuld do it be day a lythe \day light] opynly, for it is 
 myn Lord Chanceler ffull in thenthe that ze schuld 
 do so. 
 
 As for Wyllyam Worceter, he trustythe veryly ze 
 wold do for hym and for his avaylle, in reson ; and I 
 dowthe nott and he may veryly and feythefully under- 
 stand zow so disposyd to hym ward, ze schall fynd 
 hym feythefull to zow in leke wysse. I understand 
 by hym he will never have oder master butt his old 
 master ; and to myn consaythe it were pete butt iff he 
 schull stand in suche casse be myn master that he schuld 
 never nede servyce, conserying [considering] how myn 
 master trustyd hym, and the long zers that he hathe be 
 with hym in, and many schrew jornay for his sake, &c. 
 
 I wrythe zow no mor, be cawse ze schall [have] a , 
 noder letter wretyn to morow. Wretyn at Lundon 
 the xij. day of Novembr, in hast, be 
 
 WILLYAM PASTON. 
 
 339. 
 
 BISHOP WAYNFLETE'S ADVICS. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 358.] 
 
 j]E it remembred that forasmoch as Sir John 
 Fastolf late decesed, of grete affeccion, hath 
 put me yn trust to be one of hys executors, 
 and seth hyt ys desyryd me to know my dis- 
 posicion hereynne, myne advyse is this, that fyrst an
 
 A.D. I459-] HENR Y VI. 495 
 
 inventorie be made holye of hys godes and catell 
 yn all places, and thayt they be leyd yn sure waard by 
 your discrecions, tille the executors, or the moste part 
 of tho that he put hys grete trust uppon, speke wyth 
 me and make declaracion to me of hys last wille, to 
 the accomplyshment whereon" I wolle be speciall gode 
 Lord. 
 
 Ferthymore, as touchyng hys buryeng and month 
 ys mynde l kepyng, that it be don worshyplye, accord- 
 yng to hys degree and for the helth of hys soule, and 
 that almesse be yeven yn mass seyng, and to pore 
 peple to the some of a hundred mrcks tille that othyr- 
 wyse we speke to geder; and I can agree ryzt well 
 that hys servaunts haf theyr rewardes be tymes accord- 
 yng to hys wille, to th'entent that they may be better 
 disposed and to pray for the wellfare of hys soule, 
 takyng avyse of a lerned man yn spirituell lawe, for no 
 charge of administracion till the executors com to 
 ghedr, or the moste part that hys trust was most 
 uppon, to tak the administracion. 
 
 W. WlNTON. 
 
 340. 
 
 Between A.D. 1459 and 1466. ABSTRACT. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 ROBERT SPANYOF POSSEWYKE TO THE WIFE OF JOHN PASTON, 
 ESQUIRE. 
 
 Begs her influence with her husband and Sir T. Howes, 
 executors of Sir J. Fastolf, for reparation of a wrong done by Sir 
 John, who refused to ratify a purchase made by the writer from 
 his surveyor, Sir John Kyrteling, of a place and lands in Tunstale, 
 sometime called Wrightes of Smalbergh, without receiving 10 
 marks over what was bargained. 
 
 [This letter must have been written between the death of Fastolf in 1*59 
 and that of Paston in 1466.] 
 
 1 A monthly celebration in memory of a deceased person, when prayers 
 were said and alms offered for the good of his souL
 
 49 6 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 341. 
 A.D. 1459. FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 346.] 
 
 This letter belongs to the latter part of the year 1459. After the dispersion 
 of the Duke of York's army near Ludlow in October of that year, commis- 
 sions were granted to various persons to arrest and punish his adherents. 
 Even as early as the i4th of October, Lord Rivers and others were com- 
 missioned to seize their lands and goods in different counties (see Patent Roll, 
 38 Hen. VI., p. i, m. 12, in dorso). But this letter, we are inclined to think, 
 was written about six or seven weeks later, for it will be seen by the next 
 that Booking, who is here stated to have been with my Lord Chancellor 
 " this term," must have been in attendance on him before the 7th December, 
 and therefore, we may presume, during Michaelmas term, which ended on 
 the 28th November. It is, however, difficult to judge, from the very slender 
 allusion to Sir John Fastolf, whether this letter was written before or after 
 the old knight's death. Brackley here speaks of having been quite recently 
 in Somersetshire, which is not unlikely to have been in the middle of October, 
 when the Earls of March, Warwick, and Salisbury withdrew into the West. 
 Brackley, as will be seen, was a great parti/an of these Lords, and may very 
 well have accompanied them ; but not long before Fastolf 's death he appears 
 to have been at Norwich. 
 
 Carissimo suo magistro, Johanni Paston, armigero. 
 Jesus, Maria, &>c. 
 
 reverent mayster and most trusty frend 
 in erthe, as lowly as I kan or may, I reco- 
 maunde me, &c. Syr, in feyth I was sore 
 aferd that ze had a gret lettyng that ze come 
 not on Wednysday to met, &c. Be myn feythe, and 
 ze had be here, ze schuld haf had ryte good chere, &c., 
 and hafe faryd ryte wele after zour pleser, &c., with 
 more, &c. 
 
 Sir John Tatirshall is at one with Heydon, &c., 
 and Lord Skalys hathe made a lofeday 1 with the prior 
 and Heydon in alle materys except the matere of 
 Snoryng, &c. And the seyd pryor spake maysterly to 
 the jurrorys, &c., and told hem and [i.e., if] they had 
 dred God and hurt of here sowlys, they wold haf some 
 instruccyon of the one party as wele as of the other. 
 But they were so bold they were not aferd, for they 
 fownde no bonys to sey in her verdyte, as T. T. 2 and 
 J. H. 3 wold, &c. 
 
 1 Love days were days appointed for the settlement of disputes by arbitra- 
 tion. 
 * Sir Thomas Tuddenham. 3 John Heydon.
 
 A.D. 1459.] HENRY VI. 497 
 
 A lewde [i.e. illiterate] doctor of Ludgate prechid on 
 Soneday fowrtenyte at Powlys, chargyng the peple that 
 no man schuld preyen for these Lords traytorys, 1 &c. ; 
 and he had lytyl thank, as he was worthy, &c. And for 
 hyse lewd demenyng his brethir arn had in the lesse 
 favour at London, &c. Doctor Pynchebek and Doctor 
 Westhawe, grete prechowrys and parsonys at London, 
 bene now late made monkys of Charterows at Schene, 
 one at the on place and an other at the other place, &c. 
 
 The Chaunceler 2 is not good to these Lords, &c., 
 for he feryth the Erie of Marche wyl cleyme by inheri- 
 
 tans the Erldam of Ha 3 &c., of which mater 
 
 I herd gret speche in Somercede schyre, &c. Wynd- 
 ham, Heydon, Todynham, Blake, W. Chambirleyn, 
 Wentworth, have late commyssyonys to take for tretorys 
 and send to the next gayl all personys fawtorys and 
 weelwyllerys to the seyd Lords, &c. Mayster Rad- 
 clyft and ze haf none of commyssyonys directid to 
 zow, &c., for ze bene holdyn favorabil, &c. Wyndham 
 and Heydon bene namyd here causerys of the com- 
 myssyonys, &c. 
 
 On Moneday last at Crowmere was the ore and the 
 bokys of regystre of the amrelte takyn a wey from my 
 Lord Scalys men be a gret multitude of my Lord 
 Rossys, &c. The Lord Skalys is to my Lord Prince, 4 
 &c., to wayte on hym, &c. He seyth, per Deum 
 Sanctum, as we sey here, he schal be amrel or he schal 
 ly there by, &c. Be my feyth, here is a coysy werd 
 [unsettled world}. Walsham of Chauncery, that never 
 made lesyng, told me that Bokkyng was with my Lord 
 Chaunceler this terme, but I askyd not how many 
 tymys, &c. 
 
 As I haf wrytyn to zow oftyn byfor this, Facile vobis 
 amicos de mammona iniquitatis q'de. 5 T. T., J. H., et 
 J. W. \J. Wyndham} cum ceteris Magistri Fastolf 
 
 1 Meaning the Earls of March, Warwick, and Salisbury. 
 
 William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. 
 
 8 The original letter is here defective. F. 
 
 4 Edward, Prince of Wales. 
 
 6 What is meant by " q'de " Fenn does not explain. 
 
 2 K
 
 498 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. 0.1459. 
 
 fallacibus famulis magnam gerunt apud vos invidiam, 
 quod excelleritis eos in bonis, &c., Judas non dormit, 
 &c. Noli zelare facientes iniquitatem, quoniam tanquam 
 fenum velociter ares cent et quemadmodum olera herbarum 
 cito per Dei gratiam deddent. Ideo sic in Psalmo : 
 Spera in Domino et fac bonitatem et pasceris in divitiis 
 ejus et delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis 
 tui}- Et aliter: Jacta cogitatum tuum in Domino et 
 ipse te enutriet? Utinam, inquit Apostolus, abscin- 
 dantur qui vos conturbant? &c. Et alibi : Cavete vos 
 a malis et importunis hominibus.^ Precor gratiosum 
 Deum qui vos et me creavit et suo pretioso sanguine 
 nos redemit, vos vestros et vestra gratiose conservet in 
 prosperis et gratiosius dirigat in agendis. 
 
 Scriptum Walsham, feria quarta 5 in nocte cum magna 
 festinatione, &c. Utinam iste mundus malignus tran- 
 siret et concupiscentia ejus. 
 
 Vester ad vota promptissimus, 
 
 Frater J. BRACKLEY, 
 
 Minorum minimus. 
 
 342. 
 
 A.D. 1459, 7 Dec. JOHN BOOKING TO YELVERTON, 
 PASTON, AND FILONGLEY. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 178.] 
 
 This letter was written at Coventry during the parliament which sat there 
 iu 1459, when the Duke of York and his adherents were attainted. 
 
 To my right worshipful maistris, William Yelverton, 
 justice, JoJrn Paston, ana Herre filongley, and to 
 eche of them. 
 
 HJIGHT worshepful Sers, I recomaunde me to 
 yow. And like it yow to wete, that my Lord 
 Chaunceller is right good and tendre 
 
 1 Psalm xxxvi. for xxxvii.) 1-4. 
 
 * Psalm liv. (or Iv.) 22. 
 8 Gal. v. 12. 
 
 * 2 Thess. iii. 2. 
 
 " Feria quarta" means Wednesday. 
 6 William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester.
 
 A.D. I4S9-1 HENRY VI. 499 
 
 Lord in all your materes, and soo wil contynue, 
 and my Lord Tresorier l in like wise ; which bothen 
 have answerid Wyndham, not aldermoste to hise plesir, 
 becaus of his noiseful langage, seyng [j^y/w^] how he 
 myght have noo lawe, and that my Lord Chaunceller 
 was not made executor but for meigntenaunce, 2 with 
 many othir woordis noo thing profitable ner furtheryng 
 his entents. As for ony particuler materes, the parla- 
 ment as yet abideth upon the grete materes of atteyndre 
 and forfetur ; 3 and soo there be many and diverse par- 
 ticuler billes put inne, but noon redde, ner touchyng 
 us, as nygh as we can herken ; to whiche Playter and 
 I attenden daily, trustyng on my Lords aboveseid, my 
 Lord Privy Seall, 4 and other good Lords, and many 
 also of your acquayntance and owres, that and ony 
 thing be, we shall sone have knowlege. 
 
 The Chief Justice 5 is right herty, and seith ful wel 
 and kyndely of my maistr, whom Jesu for his mercy 
 pardonne, and have yow in His blessid governaunce. 
 
 Writen at Coventre the morwne after Seint Nicholas. 6 
 
 And as to money, I delyvered unto the Under- 
 tresorier 7 a lettre from Maister Filongley, and I fonde 
 hym right wele disposid to doo that may please yow 
 in all our materes ; and take noo money of hym as 
 yette, for we have noo nede to spend ony sumes as 
 yette, ner with Gods grace shall not have. I come to 
 this town of Coventre suche day sevenyght as the 
 parlement byganne ; and as for suche things as I coude 
 herken aftyr, I sende to William Worcetre a grete bille 
 of tidings to shewe yow and all. 
 
 Yesterday in the mornyng come inne th r erle of Pem- 
 broke 8 with a good felechip; and the Duchesse of 
 York 9 come yestereven late, as the bringer here of 
 
 1 James, Earl of Wiltshire, was made Treasurer of England on the 3oth 
 October 1458. Patent Roll, 37 Hen. VI., p. i, m. 21. 
 
 2 See p. 145, Note 2. 
 
 S Against the Duke of York and his adherents. 
 
 4 Lawrence Booth. 6 Sir John Fortescue. 
 
 St Nicholas' Day is the 6th December. 
 
 7 " Undertresouer " in Fenn must, I think, be a misprint. 
 
 8 Jasper Tudor. See p. 266, Note 3. 
 
 8 Cecily, daughter of Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmoreland.
 
 500 
 
 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 shall more plainly declare yow, to whom ye like to gif 
 credence. The Bushop of Excester 1 and the Lord 
 Grey Ruthyn 2 have declarid them ful worshipfuly to 
 the Kings grete plesir. Playter and I writen you a 
 lettre by Norffolk, yoman for the Kyngs mouth. 
 
 Your JOHN BOKKING. 
 
 The following list of those of the Duke of York's party 
 who were attainted by Parliament was found by Fenn 
 pinned to the above letter : 
 
 The Due of York. 
 Therle of Marche. 
 Therle of Rutland. 
 Therle of Warrwyk. 
 Therle of Salusbury. 
 The Lord Powys. 
 The Lord Clynton. 
 The Countesse of Sarr. 
 Sir Thomas Nevyle. 
 Sir John Nevyle. 
 Sir Thomas Haryngton. 
 Sir Thomas o Parre. 
 Sir John Conyers. 
 Sir John Wenlok. 
 Sir William Oldhall. 
 
 Edward Bourghcier, sq. 
 A brother of his. 
 Thomas Vaughan. 
 Thomas Colte. 
 Thomas Clay. 
 John Denham. 
 Thomas Moryng. 
 John Oter. 
 Maistr Ric Fisher. 
 Hastyngs and other that 
 
 as yet we can not know 
 
 the names, &c. 
 
 As for the Lord Powys, he come 
 inne, and hadde grace as for 
 his lyf, but as for hise gods 
 the forl'eture passid. 
 
 343. 
 
 A.D. 1459, Nov. or Dec. 
 
 SIR PHILIP WENTWORTH'S PETITION. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This petition was presented to the Parliament which sat at Coventry in 
 1459, and received the Royal assent. It has already been printed in the 
 RoHs of Parliament, v. 371. 
 
 1 George Nevill, son of Richard.Earl of Salisbury, brother of Richard, Earl 
 of Warwick. He was afterwards Archbishop of York. 
 
 2 Edmund, Lord Gray of Ruthin, afterwards created Earl of Kent
 
 A.D. I459-] HENRY VI. 501 
 
 besechith Phelip Wentworth, Knyght, 
 that where the warde and mariage of Thomas, 
 sone and heire of John Fastolf, late of Cow- 
 haugh in the [county] of Suffolk, squyer, and 
 of the lond of the same John, belonged to the Kyng 
 of rigth, and among other by reason of the nonnage of 
 the sayd heir, the maner of Bradwell in the said counte 
 was sesed in to his handes by vertu of an enquest take 
 a fore his Eschetour of the seid counte. The whiche 
 offices 1 John Fastolf, Knyght, and other tented to 
 traverse, and by that meane had the sayd maner to 
 ferme, accordyng to the statute in that case made, and 
 it was founden and jugement yoven for the Kyng in 
 the said traverse by the labour of the said Phelipp, 
 which, the xviij. day of Novembre, the yer of the regne 
 of the Kyng the xxvj., 2 bougth of Marmaduke Lampney, 
 than Tresorer of Englond, the said ward and mariage 
 for an C. marc, as it appereth in the Kynges receyte, be 
 syde all other costes and charges that the said Phelipp 
 hath don uppon the same, as weel in fyndyng of the 
 Kyngges title of the said ward, as in the meyntenauns 
 of all other sewtes dependyng uppon the same, to the 
 costes of the said Sir Phelypp more than D. marc. 
 And the said John Fastolf, Knyght, was adjuged in 
 the Kynges eschequer to pay an C.ix/z xiijs. viijW. ob. for 
 the issuez and profiles which he had take of the londes 
 of the same warde. And where the Kyngges lettres 
 patentes be entred in the remembrauns on the Tresorer 
 parte in the said eschequyer in this fourme : 
 
 Rex omnibus ad quos, &c., salutem. Sciatis quod 
 per manucaptionem Thomae West de London armigeri, 
 et Willelmi Barker de Norwico gentilman, commisi- 
 mus Johanni Paston armigero et Thoniae Howes clerico 
 custodiam omnium terrarum et tenementorum cum 
 pertinentiis quae fuerunt Johannis Fastolf de Cow- 
 haugh in com Suffolk armigeri die quo obiit et quae per 
 
 1 An inquisition taken before an escheator, by virtue of his office, was fre- 
 quently called an office. 
 * A.D. 1447.
 
 502 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1459. 
 
 mortem ejusdem Johannis Fastolf ac ratione minoris 
 aetatis Thomae, filii et haeredis dicti Johannis Fastolf, 
 ad manus nostras devenerunt et in manibus nostris ad 
 hue existunt; habendam a tempore mortis prsefati 
 Johannis Fastolf usque ad plenam aetatem dicti 
 hseredis, una cum maritagio ejusdem hseredis, absque 
 disparagatione ; et si de haerede illo humanitus con- 
 tingat antequam ad plenam aetatem suam pervenerit, 
 haerede illo infra setatem existente non maritato, tune 
 dicti Johannes Paston et Thomas Howes habeant 
 custodiam et maritagium hujusmodi haeredis, simul 
 cum custodia omnium terrarum et tenementorum prae- 
 dictorum ; et sic de haerede in haeredem quousque 
 aliquis haeres haeredum praedictorum ad plenam aetatem 
 suam pervenerit : Reddendo nobis prout concordari 
 poterit cum Thesaurario nostro Angliae citra festum 
 Paschse proximo future, ac sustentando domos 
 clausuras et aedificia, necnon supportando alia onera 
 dictis terris et tenementis cum pertinentiis spectantia 
 sive aliquo modo incumbentia quam diu custodiam 
 habuerint supradictam, ac inveniendo dicto haeredi 
 compententem sustentationem suam : Eoquod expressa 
 mentio de vero valore annuo praemissorum in praesenti- 
 bus minime facta existit, aut aliquo statute, actu sive 
 ordinacione in contrarium edito sive proviso non ob- 
 stante. Proviso semper quod si aliquis alius plus dare 
 voluerit de incremento per annum pro custodia et 
 maritagio praedictis, quod tune praedicti Johannes Paston 
 et Thomas Howys tantum pro eisdem solvere tene- 
 antur si custodiam et maritagium habere voluerint 
 supradictam. In cujus" &c. Teste Rege apud West- 
 monasterium vj to die Junij anno H. vj li xxxij do . 
 
 And after that an accorde is entred in the sayd 
 Eschequer in thys forme : In Hillarii record 1 , anno 
 xxxvj to Regis If. vj fi ex parte Remembr* Thesaurarii : 
 
 Et modo, xx. die Februarii hoc termino, prasdicti 
 Johannes Paston et Thomas Howys venerunt hie in 
 propriis personis suis et optulerunt se ad concordan- 
 dum cum Thesaurario Angliae pro custodia omnium
 
 A.D. I4S9-] HENR Y VI. 503 
 
 terrarum et tenementorum, una cum maritagio ejusdem 
 haeredis. Et super hoc concordatum est inter Johan- 
 nem Comitem Wigorniae, Thesaurario Angliae et prae- 
 fatos Johannem Paston et Thomam Howys quod ipsi 
 solvent domino Regi pro custodia omnium terrarum et 
 tenementorum prsedictorum, videlicet a tempore mortis 
 praefati Johannis Fastolf usque ad plenam setatem died 
 hseredis ac maritagium ejusdem haeredis, decem marcas 
 tantum ; de quibus quidem x. marcis consideratum est 
 per Barones quod praedicti Johannes Paston et Thomas 
 Howys et manucaptores sui praedicti pro custodia et 
 maritagio praedictis erga Regem onerentur praetextu 
 Regis literarum patentium et concordiae predictorum ac 
 aliorum praemissorum. 
 
 So by the sayd lettres patentez and the sayd accorde 
 the sayd John Paston and Thomas Howys schuld have 
 the sayd C.ix//. xiijj-. viij</. ob. and the sayd ward and 
 mariage, the whiche is worthe CC/z., for the sayd x. 
 marc only. And also, for as moche as the sayd Tre- 
 sorer recordeth in the Kyngges High Court of Parle- 
 ment begonne at Westminster the ix. day of Jule the 
 yer of the Kyngges noble regne xxxiij., that he made 
 never no suche accord wyth the sayd John Paston and 
 Thomas Howys of the sayd ward, the whiche mater is 
 of record in the Kyngges chauncerye certefyed by the 
 sayd Erie of Worceter, as weell as by other his lettres 
 to dyvers persones directed, sealed with his signet, 
 wretyn and signet with hys owen hand, as plenerly 
 dooth appere : Where for plese it your gret wysdams, 
 the premisses considered, to pray the Kyng oure 
 soverayn Lord, that, by the advys and assent of his 
 Lordes spirituelx and temperelx, and by you hys 
 comunes in the present parlement assembled, stablys- 
 shed and inacted that the sayd entre of accord and 
 jugement theruppon be anulled and of non effect. 
 And the sayd Phelyppe schall pray to God for you, <fcc.
 
 504 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 344. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 6 Jan. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 G. SPERLYNG TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 Paston was misinformed as to what Sperlyng said of his late 
 master's * will. What he said was that about Hallowmas was 
 twelvemonth he was about eight weeks with his said master, who 
 one day examined him about the conveyance of his lands, and said 
 there was no man of worship in Norfolk had so many auditors as 
 he, yet he could never get the certainty how his livelode was dis- 
 posed; but he had found a means to be quiet, "whereof," he 
 said, " I am as glad as a man had geve me 1000 mark," by grant- 
 ing his cousin Paston all his livelode in Norfolk and Suffolk, oft 
 condition he should amortise sufficient lands to maintain a master 
 and six secular priests at Castre. Paston was to take the risk of 
 any counter claim and trouble hereafter, &c. 
 
 Norwich, Epiphany Day. 
 
 [The date of this letter must be 1460, as it is after Fastolf's death, and 
 speaks of a conversation the writer had with him about the management of 
 his lands a twelvemonth before Hallowmas preceding the date of the letter. 
 At Hallowmas 1459 Sir John was dying, and quite unable to support any 
 conversation for want of breath, so that the reference must be to Hallowmas 
 1458.] 
 
 345. 
 
 A.D. 1460, Jan. 
 WILLIAM BOTONER TO JOHN BERNEY. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 182.] 
 
 The date of this letter is ascertained partly by the reference in the suppres- 
 sed passage to Sir John Fastolf's interment, and partly by the allusion to the 
 capture of Rivers and his son by John Denham. Compare the letter following. 
 
 To the ryght worshypfull Sir, John Herneye, Scuier, at 
 Castre beyng. 
 
 wohypfull Sir, I recommaund me to 
 yow. 2 ....... As for tydyngs 
 
 here, I sende som of hend wreten to you and 
 othyrs how the Lord Ryvers, 3 Sir Antonye, 
 
 1 Sir John Fastolf. 
 
 2 " Here," says Fenn, "follow complaints against Frere Brakle, &c., con- 
 cerning Sir John Fastolf's interment, affairs, &c." 
 
 3 Richard Widville, Lord Rivers, afterwards created an Earl by King 
 Edward IV., who married his daughter Elizabeth,
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 505 
 
 hys son, and othyrs hafe wonne Calix 1 be a feble 
 assault made at Sandwich by Denham, 2 Squyer, with 
 the nombre of viij - men, on Twyesday betwene iiij. 
 and v. at cloks yn the mornyng. But my Lady 
 Duchesse 3 ys stille ayen receved yn Kent. The Duke 
 of York ys at Debylyn \jDubliri\, strengthed with hys 
 Erles and homagers, as ye shall see by a bille. God 
 sende the Kyng victorie of hys ennemyes, and rest 
 and pease among hys Lordes. 
 
 I am rygt gretly hevyed for my pore wyfe, for the 
 sorow she takyth, and most leefe hyr and hyr contree. 
 Y shall nothing take from hyr more then a litell spend- 
 yng money, tille better may bee. And the Blessed 
 Trinite kepe and sende you helth. 
 
 Wret at London hastly, the Monday after I departed 
 from you, 1459, x. Your, 
 
 W. BOTONER, called WYRCESTER. 
 
 346. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 28 Jan. 
 WILLIAM PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 186.] 
 
 This letter, like the last, refers to the capture of Lord Rivers and his son 
 at Sandwich, an incident dated by William Worcester in his annals shortly 
 after the Christmas of 1459, which probably means just after the New Year. 
 
 To his right worshipfull brother, jfohn Paston, be this 
 lettre delyvered. 
 
 FTER dewe recomendacion had, please you to 
 wete that we cam to London uppon the 
 Tewysday by none, nexst aftr our departour 
 fro Norwich, and sent our men to inquyre 
 
 1 This must be a sneer. The truth, as recorded by Botoner himself in his 
 annals, was that John Denham and others secretly sailed from Calais, and 
 surprised Sandwich, where they took Lord Rivers and his son Anthony pri 
 soners, and carried them back to Calais. 
 
 2 John Denham or Dynham, afterwards Lord Dynham. 
 * Cecily, Duchess of York.
 
 506 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 after my Lord Chaunceler, 1 and Maister John Stokys, 
 and Malmesbury. 
 
 And as for my Lord Chaunceler, he was departed 
 fro London, and was redyn to the Kyng ij. dayes er 
 we were come to London ; and as we understand he 
 hasted hym to the Kyng by cause of my Lord Ryvers 2 
 takyng at Sandwyche, &c. 3 
 
 As for tydyngs, my Lord Ryvers was brougth to 
 Caleys, and by for the Lords with viij xx - [eight score] 
 torches, and there my Lord of Salesbury reheted 
 \rated~\ hym, callyng hym knaves son, that he schuld 
 be so rude to calle hym and these other Lords traytors, 
 for they schall be found the Kyngs treue liege men, 
 whan he schuld be found a traytour, &c. And my 
 Lord of Warrewyk rehetyd hym, and seyd that his 
 fader was but a squyer, and broute up with Kyng 
 Kerry the V te , and sethen hymself made by maryage, 
 and also made Lord, and that it was not his parte to 
 have swyche langage of Lords, beyng of the Kyngs 
 blood. And my Lord of Marche reheted hym in lyke 
 wyse. And Sir Antony 4 was reheted for his langage 
 of all iij. Lords in lyke wyse. 
 
 Item, the Kyng cometh to London ward, and, as it 
 is seyd, rereth the pepyll as he come ; but it is certayn 
 ther be comyssyons made in to dyvers schyres that 
 every man be redy in his best aray to com whan the 
 Kyng send for hem. 
 
 Item, my Lord Roos is com fro Gynes. 
 
 No more, but we pray to Jesu have you in his most 
 mercyfull kepyng. Amen. 
 
 Wretyn at London, the Munday next after Seynt 
 Fowle day. 5 
 
 Yowr broder, 
 
 WILLIAM PASTON. 
 
 1 William de Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. 
 5 See p. 504, Note 3. 
 
 * " Then follows," says Fenn, " a long account of private business, which 
 is here omitted." 
 
 4 Sir Anthony Widville, afterwards Lord Scales and Earl Rivers. 
 8 1'he Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul is on the 25th of January.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 507 
 
 347. 
 A.D. 1460. WILLIAM BOTONER TO . 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The MS. of this letter is not an original, but a copy in the handwriting of 
 John Paston. It appears to be written on the cover of a letter from his wife, 
 addressed on the back, " To my ryght wurschipfull husbond, John Paston, be 
 this delyvered in haste." The date must be 1460, as it is clearly not long after 
 the death of Sir John Fastolf ; and as the writer speaks of having recently left 
 Norwich, it was probably not many days or weeks after No. 345. 
 
 Very frende at nede experience will schewe be 
 deede, as wele as be autorite of Aristotle in 
 the Etiques that he made of moralite. Also 
 by the famous Reamayn Tullius in his litell 
 booke De Amicida; thangyng you for olde contynued 
 frendschip stidfifastely grounded, as I wele \gu. feel ?] be 
 your letter of a goode disposicion made, as it appereth. 
 Where as it schewith to the understandyng of suche as 
 you write uppon that I schulde, be crafty councell of 
 some men sodenly have departed in to these parties, 
 &c., and that I straunched me from sertein persones 
 to moche, &c. ; as for the furste, it schalbe to openly 
 knowe that I departed not hedre be councell of suche 
 persons as they ymagyne, for in trowthe no creature 
 levyng, when I departed from Norwich, knewe of it, 
 saffe one that hath and evermore schal be next of my 
 knowlege in viagis makyng, alle be it I will not alwey 
 disclose the cause. I herde sey sith I come to Lon- 
 don theye weche ye dempte to be of my councell 
 thanne where at Wolsyngham or Thepala (?) when I 
 departed. I have wrete the cauce to hym that of 
 nature schulde be my beste frende, that for as much I 
 had labored as weele as W. Paston do my maister 
 frendes, chevised, and leyd money content out of his 
 purse to the some of C/z., and more for cloothe and 
 other thynges for my seide maister entencion, promyt- 
 tyng payment be fore Cristemesse, or right soone aftir, 
 or to be at London, and acquytyng me that I put me 
 my dever. And be cause my maister attorneys in that
 
 508 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 parties toke not to herte to make the payementes here 
 so hastely as they ded there, I had no comffortable 
 answere of spedyng the seid paymentes here. And also 
 I was not put in truste a mong the seid attorneys there 
 to yeve on peny for my maister sowle, but I paid it of 
 myn owne purse befoore ; nother in trust ne favour to 
 geve an almesse gowne, but that I praid for it as a 
 straunger schulde doo, alle be it myn autorite is as 
 grete as theris, and rather more as I tolde you. And 
 also my Lorde of Canturebury and Maister John 
 Stookes, his juge, had geve autorite to ministre to a 
 certein somme till the testament were proved. And 
 these preseidents consedred wolde discorage any man 
 to a bide but a litel amonges hem that so straunged hem 
 self from rne and mistrusted me, be thut any cauce- ye 
 knowe wele how that my maister man servauntes were 
 put in gretter truste and familiarite to handell, geve, 
 and telle out of the bagghes my maister money bothe 
 at Seint Benetts and in Norwich in divers places by 
 grete summes and litell. And ye as other my maister 
 servauntes and I that helped gete my maister goode and 
 brynge it togedre were straunged, .and as it semyd by 
 there demenyng mistrusted to cure grete vilanye and 
 rebuke, wheche muste be answerd the causes why, and 
 we declared [i.e., exculpated], and so shal I make it 
 for my pore person, and for my maister sowle heele. 
 It is not soilied (?) knowen that I was one of the 
 cheeffe that kepte bothe my Maister Paston and myn 
 oncle x in my maister favour and truste, and if I wolde 
 have labored the contrary, by my sowle that is the 
 grettest othe that I may swere of my silff they had 
 never be nygh my maister in that case they stonde 
 nowe. And if they woll labour to damage or hendre 
 me, all the worlde woll mysreporte of hem and litel 
 truste hem, nowther they schal not have wurschip nor 
 profight bi it I wolde be to them as lowyng and as 
 wele willyng as I gan, so I fynde cause, and other I 
 wolnot be to my fadre, and he weere a liffe. I requere 
 
 1 Botoner's wife, whose Christian name was Margaret, was a niece of 
 Thomas Howes, parson of Blofield. He therefore calls Howes his uncle.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VI. 509 
 
 you a[n]swere for me as I wolde and have do for you 
 whan som of hem have seid ful nakedly of you, and 
 suche as ye deeme hafe mysereported causeles of me, 
 I pray you that they see my letter as weele as my 
 frendes. My maister also (God yelded is sowle) graun- 
 ted to me a liffelode accordyng to my degre, that I, 
 my wiffe, and my childre, schulde have cause to prey 
 for hym. My wiffes uncle 1 was present in his chapell at 
 Castre as wele as my wiffe, and comaunded her oncle 
 to chese the londe. This is trowthe be the blissed 
 Sacrament that I receyved at Pasch [i.e., Easter]. And 
 because I demaunded my right and dwte of my Maister 
 Paston, he is not plesed. I have lost more thanne 
 x. mark worthe londe in my maister servyce, by 
 God, and not \imless\ I be releved, alle the worlde 
 schal knowe it elles that I have to gret wrong. Wolde 
 God I kowde plese bothe Maister Paston and my oncle 
 in reson, who preserve you. 
 
 Wrete hastely the vij. day of Feveryere. 
 
 Your, 
 W. BOTONER, dit Wurcester. 
 
 348. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 6 April. W. LOMNER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter must be after the death of Sir John Fastolf, and 
 before John Paston had gone to take possession of his lands in Norfolk. 
 Saxthorpe was one of Fastolf 's manors which so came to him. The year 
 may therefore be presumed to be 1460. 
 
 To the right worchipfull and reverent and myn good 
 mayster Paston, Squyere, be this taken. 
 
 Y ryght worchipfull mayster, I recomaunde me 
 to yow, besechyng yow to hold me excusyd 
 that I awaytyd noon otherwyse opon yow 
 and my mastras at my comyng from Nor- 
 
 1 See Note on last page.
 
 510 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1460. 
 
 wich ; for yn good feyth I was soo seke that I hadde 
 moche labour to come home, and sythen that tyme I 
 have hadde my parte, &c. And, Sere, as for Berney, he 
 begynnyth to falle ought of the popell conceyte faster 
 than ever he fell yn, for serteyn causez, &c. I shalle telle 
 yow yn haste. But, Sere, blyssyd be God, as for yow, 
 your love yncresith amonge hem, and so I prey God 
 it mot, for and I herde the contrarie, ye shuld sone 
 have wetyng. The under-shrefe dotht Mortoft favour, 
 and lete hym goo yn Norwich as hym lyst, and al the 
 centre abought me sey right evyll of hym for a mayn- 
 tenor of the Kynges enime; for there ben an C. 
 [hundred'} purposid to ride to the Kyng for hym, and 
 he come neer this contre, for they sey thow he hadde 
 never doo with his handes he hath seid a now to die. 
 I have warend the under-shreffe ther of, &c. Sere, 
 forther, I am yn bildyng of a pore hous. I truste God 
 that ye shulle take your loggyng ther yn here after whan 
 ye come to your lordshippis on tho partes. And I 
 durste be soo bolde on your maystershep to aske of 
 yow xij. copill of oken sparris, I wold hertilly prey 
 yow not to have them, but ther they may be for bore 
 beste, and that is at a yard of yourz yn Saxthorpe, 
 callid Barkerz. I have eshe but noon oke, but litell 
 now comyth the fellyng ther of, &c. And me semyth ye 
 myght take mony for wood ther that stant and seryth 
 and doth no good but harme, and with yn fewe yeres 
 ye shulnot wete where it is become, &c. Also ther be 
 serteyn materz betwyn soom of your tenuantez and me. 
 I abide your comyng and doo not \tiaughtH} at the 
 reverens of yow; they be knowelle yn the contre. 
 And God have yow yn his kepyng. 
 ^Yretyn on Palme Sunday. 
 
 Be your servaunt, 
 
 W. LOMNER.
 
 A.D. i 4 6o.J HENRY VI. 511 
 
 349. 
 
 A.D. 1460 [before Easter]. 
 
 FRIAR BRACKLEY TO [WILLIAM PASTON.] 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 From what is said of the expectation of a descent of Warwick upon the 
 coast, it appears that this letter was written in the spring of 1460. 
 
 llfESU mercy, Marie help, cum Sanctis omnibus, 
 trewe menyng executorys ffro fals terrauntes 
 and alle tribulacyonys. Amen. Ryte reverent 
 Sire, &c., W. Y. 1 Judex and hise wyf were 
 here with here meny and here hors in our ladyes place, 
 &c. on Saterday at evyn, and yedyn hens on Monday 
 after none, whan summe had drunkyn malvyseye and 
 tyre, 2 &c. And I prechid on the Sonday byfore hem, 
 not warnyd tyl after mete. And than for lak of M. 
 Vergeant, or our wardeyn Barnard, I sodeynly seyd 
 the sermon. And byfore I had ryte ovyr and soleyn 
 chere of hem bothe, &c. ; but after the sermon he 
 seyd opely to the prior, heryng myche folk in the 
 chirch, " I haf herd hym oftyn here and ellys where, 
 but [this] 3 is the best that ever I herd hym sey," &c., 
 and at evyn drank to me, and made me good chere, 
 half on the splene, &c. 
 
 But on Moneday, whan he had ny etyn and drunkyn 
 a now, he gan to rollyn hym in hise relatyvis, and we 
 eldyd hym, as many men thowtyn, ryte ongayly in hise 
 gere, &c. ; hise wyf begynnyng the communicacyon 
 with rite a sootyr (?) chere. And he heeld on so sore he 
 cowd not cese, &c. tyl he went to his hors, &c. And 
 the pryor demenyd hym gentylly in hise talkyng. And 
 there was not forgetyn non unkyndnesse of my Mayster 
 J. P., zour brother, of sleyn [slaying] of hise man Worme- 
 gey, and of manage of hise dowghtyr, whiche now schal 
 solempnely be maryed to Conerys, 4 a knytes sone, &c. 
 
 1 William Yelverton. a Tier ; a bitter drink or liquor. HalliwelL 
 
 3 Omission in MS. 
 
 4 John, son of Sir Robert Conyers, knight, married Eleanor, daughter of 
 William Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench. Blomefield, i. 483
 
 512 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1460. 
 
 And now last at Seynt Benettes, where he so worschip- 
 ful a justise and as kunnyng in lawe as ever was zour 
 fadyr, &c. as alle men knowyn, &c. And zour brother 
 J. P. brokyn owt be occasyon of zour langage, and 
 takyn wytnesse of Malmysbury, a man of my Lord of 
 Caunterbury, whiche hath spokyn with the seyd justise 
 the last terme in Westmyster Halle. And there he 
 seyd more tymes than one, " Sire, this the fyrst tyme 
 that ever I spake with zour Lordschip, &c." And 
 sythe after ze weryn at Seynt Benettys forseyd, ze 
 komyn not gentylly but ryte malicyously disposid to 
 myn Lady Felbrygg, and dede your devoyr to haf put 
 hym out of hir conceyt, and it wolde not be, &c. And 
 what vyolens my Mayster J. P., germanus vester, dede 
 to W. Wayt, 1 &c. up on hise owne grownd at Musshold, 
 &c. And after al these materys, bare me on hand 2 that 
 I had seyd to on of the worthiest of the schyre that the 
 seyd justise be gan the brekyng at Seynt Benettes; 
 for I suppose I seyd thus to my Lord, Syr Water, 
 alias my Mayster Radclyff, to whos in I went to, and 
 zaf hym a potel of swete wyne, he demaundyng me of 
 that brekyng, &c., as I remembre me and suppose I 
 seyd, "W. Y., justise, began to myn knowlache and 
 understondyng." Whan he seyd so fumowsly, "Who so 
 ever sey that of me, he lyeth falsly in hise hede, &c." 
 And my Mayster Radclyff rode forthe with owt of towne 
 to Dokkyng and Brumham, and with hym rode W. Y., 
 sone to the justise. And yf the seyd Radclyff teld this 
 to W. Y., I wote never. And yf he dede I merveyle 
 sore. But and al go to al, as is like to go, I may not sey 
 nay, but I trow I seyd so. Radclyf and ze bene grete 
 frendes. I wold ze wold lat hym knowe the trowth, &c. 
 This mater mevyd the justisis wyf, and than he 
 be gan hise mater more boldly, seying to me be 
 fore the pryour and miche pepyl, that it was told hym 
 the same day that I seyd, as for the brekyng, the 
 justise began. " Forsothe," seyd I, " whan I came 
 into the chambre there, the fyrst word I hard was this, 
 
 1 See page 150, Note 2. 2 See page 90, Note i.
 
 A.D. 1460.] J1ENRV F7. 513 
 
 that ze seyd to my mayster J. P., ' Who that ever seyth 
 so, I sey he lyeth falsly in hise hede,' &c." " Ya," 
 quod the justise, " ze schuld haf told what mevyd me 
 to sey so to hym." And I seyd I cowde not tellyn 
 that I not herd, &c. Et Judex "Ze schuld haf 
 examyned the mater," &c. And I seyd, "Sire, it 
 longyd not to me to examyne the mater, for I knew 
 wele I schuld not be juge in the mater, and alonly to 
 a juge it longyth to sene and stodyen illam Sacrae 
 Scripturae clausulam, whiche holy Job seyd, Causam 
 quam nescicbam diligent 'issime investigabam" 
 
 And than, " No," seyth he hardyly, " ze schal not 
 not be juge, but yf ze had owt me as good wil as ze 
 dede and do to Paston, ze wold than have sergyd the 
 cause of my gret greef, why I seyd as I seyd, &c. 
 But I haf sey the day, ze lovyd me beter than hym, 
 for he yaf zow never cause of love as I haf done," &c. 
 " Sire," I sey, " he hath yovyn me cause swyche as I 
 am behold to hym for," &c. " Ya," seyth he, " ze 
 schal bere wytnesse, &c., and the other Mayster Cle- 
 ment and W. Schipdham." Cui ego " As for the 
 wytnesse I schal bere, I schal sey and writyn as I 
 knowe," &c. Cui ille " I made hise testament, 1 and 
 I knowe," &c. Cui ego " I saw nevir testament of 
 your makyng ; and as for on testament that he made, 
 and I knowe bothe the writer and maker, after hise wyl 
 and intent, ze stonde stille there in as ze dede than," 
 &c. Et tune gavisus est, &c. Et ille " I knowe ze 
 haf a gret hert, &c., but I ensure zow, the Lordes 
 above at London arn infoormyd of zow, and they schal 
 clelyn with zow wele anow." Cui ego " He or they 
 that hafe infoormyd the Lordes wele of me, I am 
 behold to hem ; and yf they be otherwyse infoormyd, 
 I schal do as wele as I may. But be myn trowthe I 
 schal not be aferd to sey as I knowe for none Lord of 
 this lond, if I may go saf and come, quod non credo, 
 per Deum, propter evidencias multas," &c. Tune 
 prior "Domine, non expedit nee ration! seu verae con- 
 
 1 This seems to refer to the will of Sir John Fastolf, though he is not named. 
 2 L
 
 514 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 scientise congruit, quod vos contendatis cum Magistro 
 Paston, vel ipse vobiscum, pro bonis defuncti, quae 
 solum sua et non vestra sunt. Miror valde," inquit, 
 " cum prioribus temporibus tarn magni fuistis amici, et 
 non sic modo, quare valde doleo." Cui Judex " There 
 is no man besy to bryng us to gyder, &c., so that I kan 
 wele thynk it were lytil maysteri." But in feyth I 
 knowe wele the Juge, W. Wayte his mawment [i.e., 
 puppet], hise boy Yimmys, with here hevedy and 
 fumows langage, have and dayly do uttyr lewd and 
 schrewd dalyauns, &c. 
 
 I sent zow bode of dyvers thinges be M. Roger 
 Palle, and I haf no answer, &c. I schuld go to Castre, 
 and a man of my Lordes Norfolk told here he came 
 fro London, and there he had commonly voysid that 
 the Duke of Norfolk schuld be the Kynges comaunde- 
 ment kepe hise Esterne at Castre for safe gard of the 
 cuntre ayens Warwyk and other swich of the Kinges 
 enmyes whiche may lytely be lyklynesse aryve at Wax- 
 ham, &c. My mayster zour brother, J. P., ne ye, ne 
 M. T. Howys, ne I may not esily be brokyd in the 
 Jugys conscyens, &c. Sir Jon Tatirshales man spake 
 with yow at London, and than ye seyd to hym to hafe 
 comyn in your owne persone to our Lady or this tyme, 
 whiche was cause of myn abidyng here, &c. I serial, 
 be the grace of Jesu, be at Castre on Soneday next, &c. 
 W. W., J. B., junior, Colinus Gallicus, 1 et T. Upton 
 multum, ut suppono, fuerunt assidui ad informationem 
 malam dandam dominis diversis hujus regni contra 
 vestrum germanum J. P., M. T. Howes, me, etc. ; sed 
 confido in vobis quod vos conficlitis in Christo Jesu 
 et Sanctis omnibus, qui vos vestros et vestra dirigat in 
 agendis. Recommendetis me, si placeat, Magistro 
 meo Johanni P., uxori, et matri, cum filiis suis nepoti- 
 bus vestris, et Thomae Playtere vestro dilecto amico. 
 Et quare vobis jam scribo et non vestro germano J. P. 
 alias scietis, etc. 
 
 Vester orator continuus, 
 
 F. J. B., Minorum minimus. 
 
 1 See page 443, Note i.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 515 
 
 350. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 2 May. 
 
 WILLIAM PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is certainly in the year 1460, for it was written after 
 the death of Sir John Fastolf, and before the deposition of Henry VI., Mar- 
 garet of Anjou being still spoken of as "the Queen." 
 
 To hys rythe wurchy^full~\ broder, Jon Paston, 
 [dwelling at Castre. 
 
 |RODER, I comand me to zow, certhefieng 
 zow that Playter is redyn to Lundon ward 
 this day abowthe ij. afternone. And he taryed 
 here, and schulde abedyn styll till he had 
 had an horse that Master Thomas Howys schuld have 
 lent hym. And so I thowthe he schuld have taried 
 to long ; and so he hathe bowthe on off myn hors. 
 And iff it nede, he schall send zow word be his man 
 fro Lundon how he felythe the disposycyon off men 
 ther, &c. ; and he schall send his man horn be New- 
 market wey. And I have infurmyd hym acording after 
 the ententhe of zowr letter. 
 
 I spak this day with Bokkyng. He had but few 
 wurdes, but I felt be hym he was rythe evyll disposyd 
 to the parson and zow, but coverthe langgage he had. 
 I wene he be assentid to the fyndyng of this offyce x 
 takyn at Bokynham, and Recheman schall bryng zow 
 the namys of the men that mad the verdythe on Sone- 
 day n exst comyng. I pray send to myn broder Cl ements 
 fermor of Somerton for money for my broder Clement, 
 for to have sent to hym to Lundon. I schuld have 
 done it qwan I was at Caster ; myn moder desyryd me, 
 and I sent a letter after to the parson, and prayed hym 
 to receve it, &c. 
 
 Item, I prayd the parson to wrythe a letter in his 
 
 1 See p. 501, Note i.
 
 516 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 name to myn suster Ponyngges, 1 as ze and I comunyd 
 onys togeder, cownsellyng her to take good avyse befor 
 sche sold her wood at Wrenham ; and he schuld knowe 
 ther by weder Ponyngges wer in Kent ar nat, &c. I 
 understond that this Bokkyng and Worceter have grett 
 trust in ther awne lewd consaythe^ wathe some ever it 
 menythe, c. Bokkyng told me this day that he stood 
 as well in consaythe with myn Maister Fastolff iiij. days 
 befor he dyed as any man in Englond. I sayd I 
 soposyd nay, ner iij. zere before he dyed. I told hym 
 that I had hard dyveres talkynges of hym as men sayd, 
 qweche I soposyd schuld nat easly be browthe a 
 bowthe, and he swore that he talkyd never with no 
 man in no mater that schuld be a zen zow, c. It is 
 he that makythe William Wurceter so froward as he is. 
 
 I wold ze had a witnesse of Roberd Ingglows, thow 
 he wittnessyd no more but that myn master had his 
 witthe, becawse he was so lathe with myn master 
 Fastolff. Worceter sayd at Castre it schuld be nesses- 
 sary for zow to have good witnesse, as he saythe it 
 schuld go streythe with zow wytheowt zowr witnesse 
 were rythe sofycyent. Myn cosyn Berney can tell 
 zow, &c. 
 
 Item, remenbre to make the parson to make an 
 instrument up on his sayyng. I funde hym rythe 
 good qwan I spak with hym at Caster ; and remembre 
 the newe evydens. 
 
 Item, Arblaster and I spakk togeder. I felle hym 
 rythe feythefully disposyd to zow ward, and he schall 
 mow do myche good and he go to Lundon, for he can 
 labore will a monge Lordes. He and I comunyd to 
 geder of myn Lord Awbre; 2 lethe hym tell zow qwat 
 it was, for he will speke with zow to morow. It is full 
 nessessary to mak zow strong be lord chep, and be oder 
 menys. Myn Lord Awbry hathe weddit the Duke of 
 Bokyngham dowter, 3 and he was lathe with Master 
 
 1 Elizabeth Paston, now wife of Robert Poynings. 
 
 2 Aubrey de Vere, son of the Earl of Oxford, who suffered death, with his 
 father, in February 1462. 
 
 3 Anne, eldest daughter of Humphry Duke of Buckingham.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 517 
 
 Fastolff be fore he dyed, and he is gret with the 
 Qwene. 
 
 God have zow in His kepeng. Wretyn at Norwyche 
 the secund day of May. 
 
 Be zowr broder, W. PASTON. 
 
 Oranya pro pecunya facta sunt 
 
 351. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 8 May. 
 THE ABBOT OF LANGLEY TO JOHN STOKES. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 398.] 
 To the ryght worchepfull Sere, Mayster John Stokes. 
 
 |YGHT worshypfull Sere, I recomaund me to 
 yow ; and for asmyche as it is informyd me 
 that it was appoynted that alle the executors 
 of the worshepfull knyght, Sere John Fastolf, 
 whos soule God asoyle, shuld be at London as on 
 Monday next comyng, of wheche executors I am 
 namyd for on, as I ondyrstond ; wherfore, in as myche 
 as ye be ordenary and on of the same executors, I 
 prey yow tendre my laboure withoute my comyng, 
 be youre dyscrecion myght be more profyt to the dede ; 
 for I conseyve it shuld be but charge to the dede, and 
 lytell ava'yleable, consyderyng that John Paston, 
 Squyere, and Thomas Howys, parson of Blofeeld, 
 schall come up at this time, wheche were 1 the persones 
 above all other that the seyd Sere John Fastolf put in 
 hys most sengulere love and trust, and wold they shuld 
 have the kepyng and dysposicion of hys goods, as wele 
 in hys lyve as after hys deseas, to dyspose for the well 
 of hys soule ; and that non other namyd hys executors, 
 but only they tweyn, shuld have ony kepyng or dys- 
 posyng of ony part of hese goods duryng ther lyves ; 
 and that alle other namyd executors shuld supporte 
 them and geve them to the seyd John Paston and 
 
 1 This word is omitted in the literal transcript in Fenn.
 
 5i8 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1460. 
 
 Thomas Howys here good avyse in performyng of hys 
 desyre in that behalve. Wherfor that it lekyth yow in 
 ony thyng ye desyre me to do in thys cause or matere 
 to geve yowre feyth and credence to the seyd John 
 Paston and Thomas Howys ; and so desyred me the 
 seyd Knyght feythefully to do, that knowyth God, 
 whom I be seke preserve yow from alle adversyte. 
 
 Wretyn in the Abbey of Langeley, the viij. day of 
 the monyth of May, the yeere of oure Lord m l cccc.lx. 
 Youre preest, ABBOT OF LANGELEY. 1 
 
 352. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 19 June. 
 JOHN PASTON TO MARGARET PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 This letter appears to have been written the year after Fastolf 's death. 
 
 To my trusty cosyn, Margaret Paston, at Norwich, be 
 this ddyvered? 
 
 RECOMAUNDE me to you, letyng you witte 
 that I sent a letter to John Russe and Richard 
 Kalle that thei, by th'advyse of Watkyn Ship- 
 dam and William Barker shuld send me word 
 of whom alle the maneres, londes, and tenementes 
 that were Sir John Fastolffes wern holde, preyng you 
 that ye wold do them spede them in that matier ; and 
 if my feodaryes, whiche lye in the tye of my gret cofyr, 
 may ought wisse therin, lete them se it. 
 
 Item, I wolde that William Barker shulde send me 
 a copye of the olde traverse of Tychewell and Beyton. 
 And lete Richard Kalle spede hym hidderward, and 
 come by Snaylwel, and take suyche mony as may be 
 getyn there, and that he surfre not the mony that the 
 tenauntes owe to come in the fermours handes. 
 
 1 His name was Nicholas. 
 
 2 Below this address is written, in another hand, " To Richard Calle, at 
 Caster, be this deliverid in hast."
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 519 
 
 Item, that he come by Cambrigge and bryng with 
 hym Maister Brakkeles licence from the provynciall 
 of the Grey Freres. I prey you recomaunde me to 
 my modir. 
 
 Wretyn at London the Thursday next to fore 
 Middesomer. JOHN PASTON. 
 
 353. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 23 July. THE YORKIST LORDS TO THE 
 AUTHORITIES IN NORFOLK. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 244.] 
 
 This manifesto must have been issued in July 1460, after the battle of 
 Northampton, when the King was in the hands of the confederate Lords. 
 It certainly was not, as Fenn supposes, in 1455, after the battle of St. Alban's, 
 when the Earl of March was only thirteen years old and the Duke of York, 
 his father, was made Protector. York had not come over from Ireland in 
 July 1460, and is consequently not named in this document. 
 
 The Erlys of Marche, Warwyke, and Salysbury. 
 
 |YGHT welbeloved, we grete you wele; and 
 wher, for the tendre love that we have to the 
 concervacion of the Kyngs peas, lawes, and 
 justice in this his realme of Englonde, we 
 have comaunded the Kyngs peeple in his name, be 
 oure letters and diverse writyngs, that no man shulde 
 robbe or dispoile Sir Thomas Todenham, Knyght, 
 John Heyden, John Wyndham, Kerry Todenham, 
 and John Andrws, and other weche have sued to us 
 for oure seide letters ; we, wolyng to eschevve that any 
 person shulde have colour be oure seide letters to noyse 
 us, or any of us, that the seide Sir Thomas, John Hey- 
 den, John Wyndham, Herry, and John Andrws, or any 
 other of suspecte fame, be accorded with us, or any of 
 us, for suche wrongs as they, or any of ham, have do 
 to us, our servaunts and tenants or wellwellers, or that 
 we shulde hafe hem in tendrenesse or favour to dis- 
 corage trewe people to swe a yen hem be the lawe ; 
 We therfore notyfie to yow, as we woll that it be notyfid
 
 520 THE P ASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1460. 
 
 to all people, that \ve, ne noon of us, intende not to 
 favour or tendre hem, or any other of suspecte fame, 
 but rather to corecte suche be the lawe, for we made 
 our seid letters soly for kepyng of the pease and jus- 
 tice, and not for favour of suspecte condicione. And 
 the Holy Trynyte kepe yow. 
 
 Wreten at London the xxiij''- day of Jule. 
 
 To all Meyers, Sceryves, Balyfys, Constables, and 
 
 all the Kynges Offecers and Ministres in Nor- 
 
 ffolk, and eche on of hem. 
 
 354. 
 
 A.D. 1460? 
 
 AXONYMOUS TO YELVERTON AND PASTON. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is by an unknown writer, and very uncertain as to date. It 
 shews that Tuddenham, Wentworth, and Heydon, all adherents of the House 
 ot" Lancaster, were desirous of a compromise with Yelverton and Paston. 
 The year 1460, some time after the battle of Northampton, is perhaps as 
 likely a period as any. 
 
 To the right worshipful Seres, my right welbeloved and 
 trusted cosyns, William Yekcrton, Justice, and John 
 Paston. 
 
 ;IR, please your right worshipfull maystership 
 that Mayster Paston come to London as on 
 Thursdaye att none last past, and I trust 
 verelye all maters here were resonablye 
 labored to his comyng, and now they shal be better. 
 Neverthelesse, I have ben mevid of tretye by dyvers 
 personez sith I came hidre, as wele for Tudenham, 
 Wentworth, Heydon, and other at this tyme not wel 
 willed to yow and yourez, seyng fhat such money as is 
 spent a twix yowe is but wastfully expendid and to 
 non use vertuouse. I fele by theym they be not right 
 corageous in theyrwerkes, ner nought wold if theymyght 
 lave a resonable trete. I meve not this that ze shold
 
 A. D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 521 
 
 thenk that they had conquered me by noyans, but I 
 do it to avertyse yow for th'eschewyng of the import- 
 able costes that hath ben born by yow, and yet lyke to 
 bee, aswele in the elde maters hangyng as in newe at 
 this tyme to be grownded, if this werre shal rest and 
 hold a twyx yowe, and specially for the ease of hym 
 that shalbe solicitour in the same. Ye nede at this 
 terme rather to have had thre solicitours than in any 
 other terme past this iij. yere, on concyderyng the 
 maters hangyng, &c ; of which please yow to send yowr 
 gode advyse and wille yf ye thenk it to be don, and 
 els not, for this is but a mocion, &c. 
 
 355. 
 
 A.D. 1460, Oct. 
 FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 382.] 
 
 This letter appears to have been written just before the sitting of the 
 Parliament of October 1460, of which John Paston was a member. Warwick's 
 brother was then Chancellor. No signature is attached to this letter in Fenn's 
 literal copy, although the name is appended to the modern transcript. 
 
 To my Maystcr Jon Pastone, Esqwyer, be this letter 
 prescntid. 
 
 y, Maria, &>c. 
 
 l YTE reverent Sire, after durecommendacion, we 
 sey in this cuntre that Heydon is for Bark- 
 schir in the Comon Hows. And the Lady of 
 Suffolk 1 hath sent up hyr sone 2 and hise wyf 
 to my Lord of York to aske grace for a schireve the 
 next yer, Stapilton, Boleyn, or Tyrel, qui absit. God 
 send zow Ponyng, W. P., W. Rokewode, or Arblaster. 
 Ze haf myche to done ; Jesu spede zow. Ze haf many 
 good preyers, what of the covent, cyte> and cuntre. 
 God safe our good Lords, Warwik, alle hise brether, 
 
 1 Alice, widow of William, Duke of Suffolk. 
 
 = John de la Pole, second Duke of Suffolk. He married Elizabeth, the 
 Duke of York's daughter.
 
 522 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 Salisbury, c., fro al fals covetyse and favour of ex- 
 torcyon, as they wil fle uttyr schame and confusyon. 
 God save hem, and preserve fro treson and poyson ; 
 lete hem be war her of for the pite of God ; for yf o\vt 
 come to my Lord Wanvik but good, far weel ze, far 
 weel I, and al our frends ! for be the weye of my sowle, 
 this lond wer uttirly on done, as God forbede. Her 
 \iheir\ enmyes bostyn with good to come to her favour ; 
 but God defende hem, and zeve hem grace to knowe 
 her frends fro her enmyes, and to cherisch and preferr 
 her frends and lesse the myte of alle her enmyes 
 thorw owt the schiris of the lond. And [i.e., if] my 
 good Lord Wanvik, with my Lord his brother Chaun- 
 celer 1 and my Lord her fadyr 2 woldyn opposyn, as 
 dede Danyel, Fortesku, Alisaunder, Hody, Doctor 
 Aleyn, Heydon, and Thorp, of the writyng made be 
 hem at Covyntre Parlement, they schuld answer wers 
 than sub cino or sub privo (?), and this generaly wold 
 I sey at Powlys Cros, etc., and [i.e., if] I schuld come 
 there, &c. It is verifyed of hem, i Jeremiae, 8, 
 Vere mendacium operatus est stilus mendax scribarum, 
 &c. And think of two vers of zour Sawter, Scribantur 
 hcec in generations altera (hujus scilicet parliamenti) et 
 populus qui creabitur laudabit Doininum? &c. Dele- 
 antur etiam tales perversi scriptores de libra viventium 
 et aim justis non scribantur.^ Et non plura, sed vos, 
 vestros et vestra conservet Jesus graciose in prosperis 
 et graciosius dirigat in agendis. 
 
 Ex Norwico, feria quarta, 5 nuncio festinante. 
 
 And I prey zow for Godds sake to be good mayster 
 to Jon Lyster, &c. And I prey zow think, in this 
 Parlement, of the text of Holy Scripture, Quicunque 
 fccerit contra legem Dei et contra legem Jtegis judicium 
 fiet de eo, vel in condemnationem substanticR e/'us, vel in 
 carcerem, vel in exilium, vel in mortem (Primo Esdroe, 
 vij., et parti 2 Esdrse 8). 
 
 * George Nevill, Bishop of Exeter. 
 " Richard Nevilj. Earl of Salisbury. 
 
 3 Psalm cL 'or cii 18. 
 
 4 Psalm Ixviii. (or Ixix.) 28 
 
 5 Feria qnarta means Wednesday.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VI. 523 
 
 356. 
 
 A.D. 1460. FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter appears by the contents to have been written about the begin- 
 ning of the Parliament of 1460, to which it would seem Paston did not 
 immediately repair to take his place, thus giving occasion to an insinuation 
 that he did not wish to be called upon to vote money for the King and Queen. 
 
 Venerando suo magistro, Johanni Paston. 
 Jesus, &c. 
 
 IEVERENDE domine, &c. Propter Deum 
 caveatis a confidentia in illo nigro Hiber- 
 nico 1 oculis obliquo et lusco, qui utinam 
 corde, ore et opere non esset obliquior ; qui 
 heri misit literara Colino Gallico 2 ; de quibus dicitur 
 quod singuli caccant uno ano. Et parvus Adam hodie 
 portavit(P) magistro suo responsum. Idem enim 
 luscus dicit vos esse cupidissimum, quia multum 
 afflixistis debitores patris vestri, persequendo eos cum 
 omni rigore, &c. Item dicit quod cum pater vester 
 fuerit judex ditissimus, quasi nihil fecistis pro eo in 
 distribuendo elemosinam pro anima ejus, et cum 
 nihil feceritis pro patre vestro, quomodo pro magistro 
 Fastolf aliquid facietis? Item dicit "Utinam fuis- 
 sem in morte magistri mei, quia in me ultra omnes 
 homines mundi maxime confisus est," &c. Item dicit 
 quod in hora qua obiit magister suus, obviavit sibi 
 unus albus bubo, qui eodem tempore juxta unam 
 ecclesiam continuo clamavit mirabiliter et volavit 
 ssepius iteratis vicibus sub equo suo inter tibias equi 
 sui &c. Item dixit cuidam fratri conventus mei, 
 " Magister Brakle accipit super se magnum regimen, 
 &c., et certe, si pecunia legata in ultima voluntate suis 
 servientibus non fuerit in larga habundancia distributa, 
 erit ad magnum dedecus et verecundiam personse 
 mese," &c. Utinam caveritis ita bene de eo sicut ego 
 cavebo, quia cum sit filius Hibernicus, ego de eo 
 semper minus curabo. Ipse vellet habere bona ex 
 
 1 This seems to be John Booking. 2 See page 445, Note i.
 
 524 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 parte sua, &c. Deo teste non fecit (?) l vos magistri 
 sui, &c. Haec omnia et plura dixit idem miser 
 magistro dementi, a quo hsec omnia et plura didici 
 &c. Item dicit quod vos timetis adire locum parlia- 
 menti quia non vultis prsestare pecunias Regi nee 
 Reginse et aliis ; et ideo pigritia vestra in hoc passu 
 erit bonis mortui satis nociva, &c. Ego tot et tanta 
 audivi de illo quod, per Deum, nunquam confidam in 
 illo, &c. ; est enim miser multum malencolicus et in 
 to to colericus, et, salva patientia vestra, redd at com- 
 potum de singulis antequam capiat onus testamenti, 
 &c. 
 
 Judex 2 eras venturus est, &c., et sicut se hie gerit 
 vestra caritas notitiam habebit, &c. Rogo detis mihi 
 licentiam recedendi ad conventum Norwici, ad mutan- 
 dum vestimenta mea propter sudores, &c., et ad stu- 
 dendum pro sermone, &c., ad honorem Dei, &c., qui 
 vos vestros et vestra salvet in ssecula. Amen. 
 
 Vester orator, FRATER J. B. 
 
 On the back : Item dixit magistro Clementi quod 
 ipse non vult esse Frere, veni mecum, nee canta secum, 
 nee Dacok, nee facok, nee Frater, lava pedes, &c. 
 Item dicit vos instruxisse magistrum suum contra eum 
 de auferendo evidencias, &c., et ipse plures labores 
 habuit pro eo quam vos vel aliquis alius, &c. Custo- 
 dite literam ultimo a me vobis missam, &c. Utinam 
 Upton et ipse essent extra locum, &c., quia hie fiunt 
 consumptiones maximse, &c. 
 
 Endorsed in a ikth century hand: A. lettre much dispraising W. Wir- 
 ceotcr, from Doctor Brakley. 
 
 357. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 12 Oct. 
 CHRISTOPHER HANSSON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 198.] 
 Tins letter must have been written in the year 1460, when the Duke of 
 
 1 The word is " ft" in the MS. And to make sense of the passage, I think 
 another word must be omitted. " Non fecit vos amicunt magistri sui," i.e., 
 he did not make you out to be any friend of his master. 
 
 2 William Yclvcrton.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VL 525 
 
 York came over from Ireland, his party having been victorious at the battle 
 of Northampton and gained possession of the King's person. 
 
 To the right worshiffull Sir and Maister,John Paston, 
 Escuier, at Norwiche, be this ddyvered in hast. 
 
 worschipfull Sir and Maister, I reco- 
 maund me un to you. Please you to wete, 
 the Monday after oure Lady Day 1 there 
 come hider to my maister ys place, 2 my 
 Maister Bowser, Sir Harry Ratford, John Clay, and 
 the Harbyger of my Lord of Marche, desyryng that 
 my Lady of York 3 myght lye here untylle the comyng 
 of my Lord of York and hir tw sonnys, my Lorde 
 George 4 and my Lorde Richard, 5 and my Lady Mar- 
 garete 6 hir dawztyr, whiche y graunt hem in youre 
 name to ly here untylle Mychelmas. And she had not 
 ley here ij. dayes but sche had tythyng of the londyng 
 of my Lord at Chestre. The Tewesday next after, 
 my Lord sent for hir that sche shuld come to hym to 
 Harford \Hereford\ and theder sche is gone. And 
 sythe 7 y left here bothe the sunys and the dowztyr, 
 and the Lord of Marche comyth every day to se 
 them. 
 
 Item, my Lord of York hath dyvers straunge com- 
 missions fro the Kyng for to sitte in dyvers townys 
 comyng homward; that is for to sey, in Ludlow, 
 Schrrofysbury, Herford, Leycetre, Coventre, and in 
 other dyvers townys, to punych them by the fawtes to 
 the Kyngs lawys. 
 
 As for tythyngs here, the Kyng is way at Eltham 
 and at Grenewych to hunt and to sport hym there, 
 bydyng the Parlement, and the Quene and the Prynce 
 byth in Walys ahvay. And is with hir the Due of 
 
 1 The Nativity of Our Lady is on the 8th September. The Monday fol- 
 lowing was in this year the isth. 
 
 2 Probably Sir John Fastolf s place in Southwark. 
 
 3 Cecily, Duchess of York. 
 
 4 Afterwards Duke of Clarence. 
 8 Afterwards Richard III. 
 
 e Afterwards Duchess of Burgundy. n 
 
 ' The modern version in Fenn reads : " And she hath left here.
 
 526 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 Excestre and other, with a fewe mayne, as men scythe 
 here. 
 
 And the Due of Somerset he is in Depe [Dieppe] ; 
 withe hym Maister John Ormound, Wyttyngham, 
 Andrew Trollyp, and other dyvers of the garyson of 
 Gyanys, under the Kyng of Fraunce safcondyte, and 
 they scythe here, he porpose hym to go to Walys to 
 the Quene. And the Erie of Wyltschyre l is stylle in 
 pece at Otryght at the Frerys [friars], whiche is 
 seyntwary. 
 
 Item, Colbyne ys come home to my maister is place, 
 and seyth that, at your departyng 2 ouzt of London, ze 
 send hym word that he schuld come hedder to the 
 place, and be here un tylle your comyng a zene ; and 
 so he is here it, and seith he wolle take no maister 
 but be your avyce, nether the leese \iieverthelesi\ 
 awaytythe uppon Maister Oldhall the most parte at 
 Redre 3 at his place. 
 
 Item, Maister Ponyngs hathe enteret on an two or 
 iij. placys uppon the Erie of Northomberlond, and he 
 stondyth in good grace of the Kyng, my Lord of 
 Marche, my Lord Wanvyk, and my Lord of Salysbury. 
 Most parte of the centre abought his lyflod hold aythe 
 withe hym. And my maisteras your sister 4 is not 
 delyverd as yet ; God yef hir god delyveraunce. 
 
 No more to you at this tyme, but and ze wolle 
 comaund me any servyce y may doo, it is redy. And 
 Jesu have you in his blessid kepyng ; and I beseche 
 you this letter may comaund me to my maisteras your 
 moder, and my maisteras your wyfe, and alle your 
 houshold. 
 
 Wreten at London the xij. day of Octobre. 
 Your owne Servaunt, 
 
 CHRISTOFER HANSSON. 
 
 1 James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. 
 
 2 Paston must have left London and gone to Norwich not long before the 
 Parliament, which began on the yth October; and, as we have already 
 observed, he did not return in time for its commencement. 
 
 3 Redriffor Rotherhithe. 
 
 * Elizabeth, wife of Robert Poynings. See No. 322.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 527 
 
 358. 
 A.D. 1460 (?) 17 Oct. ABSTRACT. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 ROBERT CALL TO [JOHN PASTON]. 
 
 Has delivered the horse-litter to Robert Lynne according to his 
 message. Cannot get a farmer for Mauteby. Sends John Deye. 
 He will not pass one combe barley for an acre. He has fourteen 
 acres " reasonably well dight to sow on wheat." None will take 
 the close at Mauteby at the price agreed upon with Calle by 
 Lynne and Robert Butler. 
 
 Caister, St. Luke's Eve. 
 
 P.S. on the back, unimportant. 
 
 [From what is said in Margaret Paston's letter of the aoth October follow- 
 ing about the lands at Maultby being unlet, this may perhaps have been written 
 in the same year three days earlier.] 
 
 359. 
 A.D. 1460, [Oct.] THOMAS PLAITER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The writer of this excuses his delay in coming to London, as he had been 
 asked to stay and give evidence before the under-escheator, who was to sit at 
 Acle on Tuesday after St. Luke's Day. This refers to the inquisition on the 
 lands of Sir John Fastolf, which was taken at Acle on that day in 1460. 
 
 To my rygth worchipfull and my good maister, John 
 Paston, Esquyer, in hast. 
 
 YGTH worchipfull and my most speciall syn- 
 guler good maister, I recomend me to you, 
 besechyng your maistership not to be dys- 
 plesed with my long taryans, and also to take 
 it to no gref thou it were long or I wrot to you ; for in 
 good feyth I wend my self with in sevenygth after Seynt 
 Feythesmesse 1 to have ben at London, and for asmoche 
 as Suthwell 2 desyred me to tarye for evydens gevyng, 
 &c. I promysed hym so to do and tarye tyll the Mun- 
 
 1 St. Faith's Day is on the 6th of October. 
 * Richard Southwell, Escheator of Norfolk.
 
 528 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A D. 1460. 
 
 day after Seynt Feythesmesse, or tyll the Tewysday 
 sevenyth after at the ferthest, and at tho dayes I hard 
 no word fro hym. And so uppon the Thursday after 
 had I word that the under-eschetour schuld sytte at 
 Ocle l the Tewysday after Seynt Luce ; 2 and so I tarye 
 as yette, and trust verely to be with you the Saterday 
 at the ferthest after Seynt Luce. Item, Sir, if my 
 Maister of the Rolles 3 be not come, I trust to God to 
 com tydely i now, as for the traversys ; and if ye besi 
 you to the innyng ther of or I com, Richard Ley schall 
 delyver hem you, if ye send to hym for it; for I left 
 hem with hym to gete hem in if he mygth, and pro- 
 mysed hym a reward for his labour. Item, my mais- 
 tres 4 and all folkes be heyll and mery, blyssed be Jesu, 
 ho have you in his blyssed governans and proteccion. 
 By your, THOMAS PLAITER. 
 
 360. 
 
 A.D. 1460, [21 Oct.] 
 THOMAS PLAITER TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter must have been written immediately after the taking of the 
 inquisition referred to in the preceding. The list of the jury who took it is on 
 a separate paper found apart from this letter in which it was enclosed. The 
 names of those indicated as sworn are identical with those on the official 
 record (Inquisitions post mortem, 38 and 39 Hen. VI., No. 48), but seven 
 additional names are included, besides one that is struck out. 
 
 To my maister, John Paston, Esquycr. 
 
 [FTER] my most speciall recomendacion, like 
 your maisterchip wete that the office 5 is taken 
 at Ocle in lyke forme as Suthwell 6 can schew 
 you, for Fraunceys Costard hath sent it hym, 
 and the jentylmen that passed uppon the office wold 
 
 1 Acle in Norfolk. 
 
 * St. Luke's Day is the i8th October. The Tuesday after it was the aist 
 in 1460. 
 
 3 Thomas de Kirkeby. 4 Margaret Paston. 
 
 $ The inquisition. See p. 501, Note i. 6 Richard Southwell. Si-t' p 4.3
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VI. 529 
 
 fynd nor medyll nouther with the tenurs nor ho is next 
 here \fieir\ Wherfor if ye wol have other wyse found, 
 Fraunceys Costard hath under take it, but it schal not 
 be by suche men of worchip [as] is yn this. Item, the 
 under-chryf was at Ocle, and ded and sayd to the 
 jentylmen al that ever he cowde to the lette of the 
 matter. And as for Suffolk, I understand they have 
 no warant, so I tarye as yet what cas that ever falle. 
 And if ye wold that I tarye not, that it lyke you by 
 the brynger her of to send me hasty wurd. 
 I send you the names of the jure here in. 
 
 Your, THOMAS PLAITER. 
 
 On a separate paper formerly enclosed in the preceding is the 
 Jollowing List : 
 
 Jurati pro Domino Rege. 1 
 
 Willelmus Rokewood, armiger, jur'. 
 
 Johannes Berney, armiger, jur'. 
 
 Radulphus Lampytte, armiger, jur'. 
 
 Johannes Byllyngford, armiger, jur*. 
 
 [Jacobus Arblaster, armiger, jur'.] 2 
 
 Willelmus Deymayne, armiger, jur'. 
 
 Willelmus Dawbeney, armiger, jur'. 
 
 Willelmus Julles, jur'. 
 
 Christofre Norwiche, jur 1 . 
 
 Thomas Holler, jur'. 
 
 Johannes Berkyng, jur'. 
 
 Robert Bryghtlede, jur*. 
 
 Robertus Spany, jur'. 
 
 Johannes Bernard, jur'. 
 
 Rogerus Iryng, jur'. 
 
 Robertus Townesende. 
 
 Johannes Grygges de Ran worth, jur*. 
 
 Robertus Regestre, jur'. 
 
 1 This is a panel of the jury drawn up before the inquisition was taken. 
 The heading and the word "jur." opposite the names of those sworn have 
 been added afterwards. 
 
 ' This name is scored out with the pen. 
 2 M
 
 53 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 Johannes Maunvyle, jur*. 
 Willelmus Rysyng. 
 Johannes Doke. 
 Robertas Jekkes, jur*. 
 Johannes Why[te]. 
 Henr[icus] . . . ratte. 
 Car[ol]us Barker. 
 Johannes Cappe. 
 Thomas Paternoster. 
 
 361. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 21 Oct. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iv. 194.] 
 
 Reference is made in this letter, as in the preceding, to the holding of the 
 inquisition on Sir John Fastolfs lands at Acle, which was on Tuesday the 
 zist October 1460, the day this letter was written. 
 
 To my ryth worchepfull husband, Jon Paston, be thys 
 delyveryd in hast. 
 
 worchepfull husbonde, I recomand me 
 to yow. Plesyth it yow to weet that I re- 
 ceyvyd yowyr letter that ye sent me byNycolas 
 Colman on Sonday last past. And as for the 
 mater that ye desyiryd me to breke of to my cosyn 
 Rokwode, it fortunyd so that he came to me on Son- 
 day to dyner sone aftyr that I had yowyr letter ; and 
 when we had dynyd, I mevyd to hym ther of in covert 
 termys, as Playter shall informe yow eraftyr. And as 
 I thowt by hym, and so ded Playter also by the lan- 
 gwage that he had to us, that he wold be as feythfull 
 as he kowd or myte be to that good Lorde that ye 
 wrot of, and to yow also, in ony thynge that he kowde 
 or myte do in case wer that he wer set in offyse, so 
 that he myth owte do ; and ther to he seyd he wolde 
 be bownde in a m 1 -//. [^1000] and he was so myche 
 worthe.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENRY VI. 531 
 
 As for the todyr that ye desyiryd I scholde meve to 
 of the same mater, me semyth he is to yonge to take 
 ony swhyche thyngys up on hym ; and also I knovve 
 veryly that he scholl never love feythfully the todyr 
 man that ye desyiryd that he schuld do, for when he 
 rem[em]bryth the tyme that is paste, and ther for I 
 spak not to hym ther of. 
 
 Thys day was holde a gret day at Okyll x befor the 
 undyr schreve and the undyr exchetor, for the mater 
 of Syr Jon Fastolfys londys ; and ther was my cosyn 
 Rookwod and my cosyn Jon Berney of Redham, and 
 dyvers odyr jentylmen and thryfty men of the contre ; 
 and the mater is well sped aftyr your intent (blyssyd 
 be God !) as ye schall have knowlage of in hast. 
 
 I suppose Playter schall be with yow on Sonday or 
 on Monday next comyng, if he may. Ye have many 
 good prayers of the poer pepyl that God schuld sped 
 yow at thys Parlement, for they leve in hope that ye 
 schold helpe to set a wey that they myte leve in better 
 pese in thys contre thane they have do befor, and that 
 wollys schold be purveyd for, that they schuld not go 
 owt of thys lond as it hathe be suffryd to do be for, 
 and thane schall the poer pepyll more leve bettyr thane 
 they have do by her ocwpacion ther in. 
 
 Thomas Bone hathe salde all yowyr wole her for 
 xx</. a stone, and goode swerte fownd to yow ther for, 
 to be payid a Myhellmas next comyng ; and it is solde 
 ryth well aftyr that the wole was, for the moste part 
 was ryte febyll. Item, ther be bowt for yow iij. horse 
 at Seynt Feythys feyer, and all be trotterys, ryth fayir 
 "horse, God save hem, and they be well kepyd. Item, 
 your myllys at Heylysdon be late [/<?/] for xij. marke, 
 and the myller to fynde the reparacion ; and Rychard 
 Calle hathe let all yowyr londys at Caster ; but as for 
 Mawtby londys, they be not let yet. Wylliam Whyte 
 hathe payid me a geyne thys daye hys x.//., and I have 
 mad hym a qwetans ther of, be cause I had not hys 
 oblygacion. 
 
 1 Acle, in Norfolk.
 
 53 2 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 Ther is gret talkyng in thys centre of the desyir of 
 my Lorde of York. 1 The pepyll reporte full worchep- 
 fully of my Lord of Warwyk. They have no fer her 
 but that he and othyr scholde schewe to gret favor to 
 hem that have be rewyllers of thys centre be for 
 tyme. 
 
 I have done all yowyr erandys to Syr Thomas 
 Howes that ye wrote to me for. I ame rythe glade 
 that ye have sped welle in yowyr materys be twyx Syr 
 Fylyp Wentworthe and yow, and so I pray God ye 
 may do in all othyr materys to hys plesans. As for 
 the wrytyngys that ye desyirid that Playter schuide 
 sende yow, Rychard Call told me that they wer at 
 Kerry Barborys, at the Tempyll gate. 
 
 The mayir ~ and the mayires sent hedyr her dynerys 
 thys day, and Jon Dame came with hem, and they 
 dynyd her. I am beholde to hem, for they have sent 
 to me dyvers tymys sythe ye yed hense. The meyr 
 seyth that ther is no jentylman in Northefolk that he 
 woll do more for than he wole for yow, if it laye in hys 
 poer to do for yow. J. Perse is stylle in prisone, but 
 he wolle not confese more thane he ded when ye wer 
 at home. Edmond Brome was with me, and tolde 
 me that Perse sent for hym for to come spek with hym, 
 and he tolde me that he was with hym and examynyd 
 hym, but he wold not be a knowe to hym that he hade 
 no knowlage wher no goode was of hys masterys more 
 thane he hade knowlageyd to yow. He tolde me that 
 he sent for hym to desyir hym to labor to yow and to 
 me for hym if ye had be at home ; and he tolde me 
 that he seyd to hym ayen that he wold never labor for 
 hym but [unless] he myth know that he wer trwe to hys 
 mastyr, thow it lay in hys power to do ryth myche for 
 hym. I suppose it schuide do none harme thow the 
 seyd Perse wer remevyd ferther. I pray to Code yeve 
 grace that the trowthe may be knowe, and that the 
 
 1 The claim made by Richard, Duke of York, to the Crown in Parliament 
 on the 1 7th October 1460. 
 8 John Gilbert, Mayor of Norwich.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VI. 533 
 
 dede may have part of hys owne goode. And the 
 blissyd Trinyte have yow in Hys kepyng. 
 Wretyn in hast at Heylysden the Tuesday next aftyr 
 Seynt Lwke. 
 
 Be yowyrs, M. P. 
 
 362. 
 
 A.D. 1460. PIERS TO MARGARET PASTON. 
 
 This and the letter following appear to have been written by the prisoner 
 spoken of in the end of Margaret Paston's letter immediately preceding. 
 We may therefore suppose them to belong to the same period, or probably 
 a few months earlier, before the Yorkists were in power, although, as will be 
 seen hereafter, Perse did not regain his liberty till January 1462. 
 
 To myn right reverent and worchipphull Maisterez 
 Paston, be this delivered. 
 
 IGHT reverent and wurchippfull maisteres, I 
 recomaunde me un to yow, beseching yow of 
 your good maisteresshipp to be myn good 
 maisteres to help wit your gracious woord un 
 to myn right reverent and wurchipphull maister and 
 your to take of me, his pore presoner and your, suerte 
 queche I xall fynd to be bounde for me to brynge me 
 un to all answere, in to the tyme that myn maister and 
 ze have dimisse me wit myn suerte. And bescheche 
 your good maistereschipp to prey myn mayster that 
 he will yeve yow lycense wit his wurchippfull counsaill 
 and youre, in case that myn maister may nout tarie, 
 that ze in his absence may take myn seid suerte. And 
 if it please his heyghnesse and youre, that I may have 
 answere ayene be the bryngere of this, and here up I 
 xall send for myn suertes, queche I trust in Good xul 
 be to your plesure. No more att this tyme. I prey 
 God evyr have yow in kepyng. 
 
 Be your pore presonere, 
 
 PIERS, sum tyme the servaunt of 
 John of Bemeye.
 
 534 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1460. 
 
 363. 
 A.D. 1460. PERSE TO SIR ROBERT ROKESBY. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 432.] 
 To my right ivorschipfull Sir, Robert Rokysby. 
 
 j|YGHT wurshipfull Sir, I recomaunde me to 
 you,besechyng you, of your good emastership, 
 that ye wol wechesafe to speeke to Richard 
 Kowven that he myght brynge me or sende 
 me the money that is betwen hym and me in all the 
 haste that he maye, for in goode feythe I hadde never 
 more neede for to have help of my goode as I have at 
 this tyme, for, Godvvot, it stonde right straunge with 
 me ; for the false chayler that kepeth me entretethe 
 me worse thanne it weere a dogge, for I am feterid 
 worse thanne ever I whas, and manacled in the hands 
 by the daye and nyght, for he is a feerde of me for 
 brekyng a weye. He makethe false tales of me, throw 
 the means of a false qwene that was tendyng to a 
 Frensheman that is presoner to my Lord Roose, 1 and 
 for be cause of that he bronde me every day be John 
 of Berney, that is goone to the tother Lords ; 2 but I 
 truste to God oonys to qwite hys meede. And, Sir, I 
 thanke you mekel of that ye have doone for me or 
 seide ; and, Sir, I shal deserve it a yenst you, be the 
 grace of God, for i' feythe I am be holden to you more 
 thane to all men that ever I founde syn I cam in 
 preson. 
 
 No more to you at this tyme, but God have you 
 in His kepyng. 
 
 Be your servaunt and bedman, PERSE. 
 
 1 Thomas Lord Roos. He fled to Scotland with Margaret of Anjou after 
 the battle of Towton in 1461, and was beheaded at Newcastle after the battle 
 of Hexham in 1464. 
 
 * The Lords of the Duke of York's party.
 
 A.D. 1460.] NENR Y VI, 535 
 
 364. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 23 Oct. 
 FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 386.] 
 
 This letter was clearly written after the battle of Northampton in 1460, by 
 which the state of parties at the Parliament of Coventry in 1459 was exactly 
 reversed. 
 
 It is right to caution the reader with regard to this and other letters of Dr. 
 Brackley that the original editor, Sir John Fenn, has expressed a misgiving 
 that he may in some instances have misread the contractions used in the 
 Latin words. 
 
 To the rite worshipful esqwyr, Jon Paston, be this 
 
 presented. 
 
 Jesus, Maria, Johannes Baptista. Franciscus, cum Sanctis 
 omnibus, assistant vobis vestris in labor i bus. Amen. 
 
 [f|ORSCHIPFUL and most interely bitrustid 
 mayster and specyal frend, after dute of al 
 lowly recomendacyon, ze schal conceyve that 
 I certefie zow for trewthe. I comonyd late 
 with a worschipful and a wele namyd, a good thrifty 
 man of this cuntre, which told me in secrete wyse that 
 he herd Doctor Aleyn seyn after the Parlement of 
 Coventre * that yf the Lords that tyme reynyng and 
 now discessid myte haf standyn in governans, that 
 Fortesku the justice, Doctor Moreton, Jon Heydon, 
 Thorp and he, schuld be made for evir ; and yf it 
 turnyd to contrary wyse, it schuld growe to her fynal 
 confusyon and uttyr destruccyon ; for why, the par- 
 lyows \_perilous\ writing and the myschevous inditing 
 was ymaginid, contrivid, and utterly concludid by her 
 most vengeable labour, &c., and her most malicyows 
 conspiracye ayens the innocent lords, knytis, gentilis, 
 and comonys, and alle her issu perpetuel, &c. And as 
 I wrote last to zour maysterschip the text of Jeremise 
 c 8 Vere mendacium operatus est stilus mendax scri- 
 barum; it folwith in the same place, Confusi sunt 
 sapientes, perterriti et capti sunt; verbum Domini proje- 
 
 1 Held in December 1459.
 
 53 6 THE PAS TON LETTERS. [A. D. 1460. 
 
 cerunt, et sapient ia mdla est in eis. Propterea dabo 
 mulieres eorum exteris ; agros eorum haredibus alienis, 
 &c. I wolde myn Lord Chaunceler and my specyal 
 Lord Erl, utinam Duke, of Warwyk, with al her trewe 
 affinyte, schuld remembre this text, which is Holy 
 Scripture, &c., as I wold do by for the Kyng and hise 
 Lords at the Cros ; x for the principil of this text hath 
 be contynued in dayly experiens sithe bifore the Parle- 
 ment of Bury; 2 but the conclusion of this text came 
 never zet to experiens, and that is gret rewthe. De 
 dominorum fidelium atque communium morte satis 
 injuriosa multiformiter lamentanda discernendo per 
 singula ex paucis scit discretio vestra perpendere 
 plura, &c. Et ubi ego (scilicet in ecclesia Pauli) palam 
 praedicavi hunc textum, Non credas inimico tuo in ceier- 
 nam (Ecc. 12), et quidam hujus regni doctor et epis- 
 copus, utinam non indignus, asseruit eundem textum 
 Scripturse Sacrse non incorporatum, quia 3 doctor 
 Nicholaus de Lira super eundem textum dicit, etc. 
 &c. 4 Sapienti, non insipienti scribo. Plura habeo 
 vestras reverentise scribere quae jam non expedit calamo 
 commendare. Uxor Johannis Berney de Redham jam 
 infra triduum peperit filium, &c. Magistra mea uxor 
 vestra sana est cum filiis vestris et filiabus et tola 
 familia. Conventus 5 noster inter caeteros habet statum 
 vestrum specialissime recommendatum in missis ac 
 orationibus, consuetisque suffragiis ; et cum jam sitis 
 in parliamento praesenti pro milite electo, uti vobis 
 consulo verbis Pauli Apostoli, Labora sicut bonus mi/es 
 Jesu Christi; 6 et alibi, Job utendo verbis, Militia si/per 
 terram est -vita hominis (Job [7]). Viriliter igitur agite 
 et confortetur cor vestrum qui speratis in Domino (in 
 Psalmo). 7 Quis, inquit Sapiens, speravit in Domino et 
 
 1 Paul's Cross. . 2 . In M47- 
 
 3 This word is printed by Fenn " q'," which is explained as rjnare on the 
 opposite page. But a mere q with a mark of abbreviation never means quare. 
 
 4 This " &c. &c." occurs only in the version of the letter in extenso on the 
 right hand page in Fenn. 
 
 Fenn reads " cognatus," but the word in the original is contracted, and 
 is represented in the literal version, thus, ' CYs " 
 
 u 2 Tim. ii. 3. 1 Psalm xxx. (xxxi.), 24.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VI. 537 
 
 conftisns cst, ef permansit in mandatis Domini et dcre- 
 lictus est ? 1 quasi diceret nullus. 
 
 Ex Nonvico feria quinta post festum Sancti Luoe 
 Evangelistse. 2 
 
 365. 
 
 A.D. 1460, 29 Oct. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fasten MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The date of this letter is ascertained by the statement at the end that, on 
 the morrow, a "day" was to be kept at Bungay for Fastolfs lands. The 
 inquisition on Fastolfs lands in the county of Suffolk was held at Bungay on 
 Thursday before all Saints, 39 Henry VI., ie., 3Oth October 1460. (Inquisi- 
 tions /At/ mortem, 38 and 39 Hen. VI , No. 48.) 
 
 To my ryth welbdovyd brodyr, Clement Paston, for to 
 delyver to hys brodyr Jon, in haste. 
 
 YTH w[urshepfu]ll husbonde, I recomande 
 me to yow. Plesyth yow to weet that I re- 
 ceyvyd a lettyr on Seynt Symondys evyn and 
 J[w]d, that came frome Jon Paston, 3 in the 
 wyche lettyr he wrot that ye desyryd that I scholde 
 do Jon Paston or Thomas P[layter] looke in the gret 
 standyng chyste in on of the gret canvas baggys whyche 
 standyth ageyns the lokk, for the copys of the fals 
 inqwest of ofys that was fownde in Northefolk, and for 
 the kopy of the comyssyon that came to Jon Andrewys 
 and Fylpot and Heydon, and othyr thyngys towchynge 
 the same mater, I have do. Jon Paston sowte all iij. 
 grete baggys in the seyd kofyr at ryth good leyser, and 
 he can non swhyche fynde. Plesyth it yow to remem- 
 bre ye sent me word in the fyrste lettyr that ye sent 
 me, that ye wolde that Playter scholde asent hem up 
 to yow to London, and I schewyd hym yowyr wryttyng 
 howe that ye wrote to me ther in. I suppose be cawse 
 
 1 Ecclesiasticus ii. n, 12 (v. 10 of our English version). 
 
 2 The name " John Brackley " is appended like a signature to the modern 
 version of this letter in Fenn, but not to the left hand copy, which professes 
 to be a literal transcript. 
 
 3 The elder son of that name.
 
 53 s THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1460. 
 
 he purposyd to come up to London hym selve hastely, 
 he sent yow none answer ther of. Rychard Calle tolde 
 me that alle swhyche thyngys were lefte with Hery 
 Barbore at the Tempyle Gate when the last terme was 
 doo, and soo I sent yow worde in a lettyr whyche was 
 wretyn on the Twesday next aftyr Seynt Looke, 1 and 
 ther in was an answer of all the fyrst lettyr that ye sent 
 me. I sent itt yow by yonge Thomas Elys. I sent 
 yow anothyr lettyr by Playter, the whyche was wretyn 
 on Saterday 2 last past. 
 
 Item, I receyvyd a lettyr frome yow on Sonday, 3 of 
 the wyche I sent yow an answher of ma lettyr on Seynt 
 Symondes Evyn and Jwde by Edmunde Clere of Stok- 
 ysby; and as sone as I hade the seyd lettyr on Sonday, 
 I sent to Syr Thomas Howes for the mater that ye 
 desyryd that he scholde inqwer of to Bokyng, and I 
 sent a yene sethe to the seyd Syr Thomas for to have 
 knowlage of the same mater yestyrdaye, and I have 
 non answher of hym yet. He sent me worde he 
 scholde do hys part there in, but othyr answer have I 
 none yet of hym. I sende yow in a canvase bage, 
 inselyd by Nycolas Colman, as many of Crystofyr 
 Hansonys acomptys as Jon Paston can fynde ther as 
 \where\ ye sent worde that they were. Rychard Har- 
 bard recomawndyth hym to yow, and prayth yowe that 
 ye wole wychesave to remembre the lettyr that scholde 
 be sent fro my Lorde of Wanvyk to a man of hys beyng 
 at Lowystofete ; and if it be not sent to hym, that it 
 plese yow to do purvey that it may be sent to hym in 
 haste, if it maye be, as to morow ther schall be keppyd 
 a day at Bowunggey for Mastyr Fastolfys londys be for 
 the exchetore, and there schall be Wylliam Barker and 
 Rychard Call. Ye schall have knowlage in haste what 
 schall be do ther. And the blyssyd Trinite have yow 
 in Hys kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn in haste at Norwyche on the Wednysday 
 next aftyr Seynt Symond and Jwde, 
 
 Be yowyr M. P. 
 
 1 See No. 361 s October 251)1. 3 October zth.
 
 A.D. 1460.] HENR Y VI. 539 
 
 366. 
 
 A.D. 1460 (?), 5 Dec. 
 SIR GEOFFREY BOLEYN TO JOHN PASTON, ESQ. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter was probably written in the year 1460. It is evident some time 
 had elapsed since Sir John Fastolf's death, but as the subject was one which 
 the writer wished to bring early before Paston's notice, it is not likely that he 
 allowed much more than a twelvemonth to pass by. 
 
 To my ryght wurschypfull Ser, John Paston, Esquycr. 
 
 ||YGHT wurschypfull Ser, after ryzth hertely 
 recomendacion, lyke it yow to wete that my 
 Maister Fastolf, hoose sowle God asoyle, 
 whan I bowth of hym the maner of Blyclyng, 
 consideryng the gret payment that I payed therfor, 
 and the yerly annuyte duryng his lyfe after his entent, 
 was to me gret charge ; and the same tyme, in his place 
 at Southwerk, by his othe made on his primer ther, 
 grauntted and promitted to me to have the maner of 
 Gunton, 1 with all the apportenaunce for a resonable 
 pris afor ony other man. And, Ser, as I understande 
 ye be that person that my seid maister, consideryng 
 your gret wysdom, most trosted to have rewle and 
 dyreccion of his lyfelode and goodes, and, Ser, trewly, 
 yf I hed ben nere unto yow, I wold have spoken to 
 yow herof be for this tyme ; neverthelasse I wolde 
 desyre and pray yow to schewe me yowr goode wyll 
 and favour in this by halve, wher inne ye schall dys- 
 charge my seid maistres sowle of his othe and promyse, 
 and I schall do yow servyce in that I can or maye to 
 my power. And of yowr goode wyll and favour her- 
 ynne I pray yow to late me have wetyng, and I schall 
 be redy to wayte on yow at ony tyme and place wher 
 ye wull assyne. And owr blysyd Lord have yow in 
 his kepyng. Wret the v. day of Decembre. 
 Be youer owyn, 
 
 GEFFREY BoLEYN. 2 
 
 1 Guton (MS.) 
 * The subscription and signature only are in Boleyn's hand.
 
 54 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1461. 
 
 367. 
 
 A.D. 1461, 23 Jan. 
 CLEMENT PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, i. 202.] 
 
 This letter appears to have been written after the battle of Wakefield, when 
 the victorious army, led on by Margaret of Anjou, was marching southwards. 
 
 To hys rythe worchypfwll broder, John Paston. 
 
 YTHE reverent and worchypfwl broder, I re- 
 comawnde to yow, certyfyyng yow that yowr 
 letter was delyveryd to me the xxiii. day of 
 Januar abowthe none seasson, and Rychard 
 Calle rode in the mornyng, and therfor I brak \opened\ 
 yowr letter, if ther wer any aftr mater ; and I dede 
 Christofer Hauswan goo to my Lord of Cawnter- 
 bure 1 to tell him, as yowr letter rehersyd, and my 
 Lord seyd he hadde spokyn with yowr man ther of the 
 day be fore, and if the Byshop of Norwyche wod not 
 doo so mwche for him, he hys the les behold to him. 
 Notwithstandyng, he sayd, he wold save yow harmles 
 agens John Yowng; but and ye do well remember 
 thys Lord have many maters to thynge on, and if it be 
 forgeten, the harm is yowrs, and also if the word 
 \world} torn, John Yong will not doo at hys prayer. 
 
 And my Lord Fitzwater 2 is ryden northewards, and 
 it is sayd in my Lord of Cawnterberys howse that he 
 hethe takyn ij a [200] of Andrew Troloppys 3 men. 
 And as for Colt, 4 and Sir Jamys Strangwysse, and Sir 
 Thomas Pykeryng, they be takyn or ellys dede. The 
 comyn voysse is that they be de dede. Hopton 5 and 
 Hastyngs 6 be with the Erie of Marche, and wer not 
 
 1 Archbishop Bourchier. 
 
 ' 2 Who this Lord Fitzwalter was, our Peerage historians are unable to tell. 
 He was slain at the battle of Ferrybridge on the 2pth March 1461. 
 
 3 Andrew Trollop, whose desertion of the Duke of York at Ludlow in 
 1459 caused the dispersion of the Yorkist leaders. He was killed at the battle 
 of Towton in March 1461, fighting on the Lancastrian side. 
 
 4 Thomas Colt See Rolls of Parliament, v. 348. 
 
 5 Walter Hopton. See Rolls of Parliament, v. 368. 
 
 6 William, son of Sir Leonard Hastings. See Rolls of Parliament, ib.
 
 A.D. 1461.] HENRY VI. 541 
 
 at the fewlde. 1 Wat word that ever he have fro my 
 Lords that be here, it is well doo, and best for yow, to 
 see that the contre be allweys redy to come bothe fote 
 men and hors men, qwen they be sent for ; for I have 
 herd seyde the ferthere Lords will be here soner that 
 men wen, I have arde sayde, er iij. weks to an ende ; 
 and also that ye xwld come with more men, and clen- 
 lier arayed than anoder man of yowr cwntre xwld, for 
 it ly the more up on yowr worchyp, and towcheythe 
 yow more nere than odermen of that cwntre, and also 
 ye be mor had in favor with my Lords here. In this 
 cwntre every man is well wyllyng to goo with my Lords 
 here, and I hope God xall helpe hem, for the pepill 
 in the northe robbe and styll, and ben apoyntyd to pill 
 all thys cwntre, and gyffe a way menys goods and lufF- 
 lods in all the sowthe cwntre, and that wyll ask a mys- 
 cheffe. My Lords that ben here have as moche as 
 they may do to kep down all thys cwntre more than 
 iiij. or v. schers, for they wold be up on the men in 
 northe, for it ys for the welle of all the sowthe. 
 
 I pray yow recomawnde me to my moder, and that I 
 prayed her of her blyssyng. I pray yow exscwse me to 
 her that I wryte her no letter, for thys was y now a doo. 
 I dare not pray yow to recomawnde me to my swster 
 yowr wyff, and the masenger I trow be so wysse he 
 can not doyt. Ye mwst pay him for hys labor, for he 
 taryd all nyt in thys town for thys letter. 
 
 Wrytyn the xxiij. day of Janware in haste, wan I 
 was not well at hesse. God have [you] in Hys keping. 
 By CLEMENT PASTON, 
 
 Yowr broder. 
 
 368. 
 
 A.D. 1461, 31 Jan. 
 THE PRIOR OF BROMHOLM TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 404.] 
 
 As executor to Sir John Fastolf, Paston must have taken possession of 
 Caister soon after his death. The Duke of Norfolk, however, pretenUed a 
 
 1 The battle of Wakefield.
 
 542 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A. D. 1461. 
 
 title to it, and, as we shall find hereafter, had dispossessed Paston by June 
 1461. This letter, dated on Saturday after the Feast of the Conversion of St. 
 Paul, must therefore have been written in January 1461, as in 1460 the only 
 other probable year that feast (25th January) fell on Friday, and a letter 
 written on Saturday after the feast would not have referred to the Friday 
 after the same feast as a past date. 
 
 Amicabili magistro nostro, Johanni Paston, armigero. 
 
 UL reverend and worshipful, after all dewe 
 reverence and recommendacion, your pore 
 Preste besecheth humble it plese your good 
 maystirship to understande be this simple 
 bylle that on the Friday next after the Feste of the 
 Conversion of Seynt Poule laste paste I was at your 
 place at Castre to a tolde yow what answer I hadde 
 of Sir Thomas Howis, parson of Blofeld ; and in as 
 moche as ye wer not at hoom, I tolde it to my mastras 
 your wyfe ; and God thanke her of her jentilnes, she 
 made me grete cher, and mor over a vysed me to sende 
 yow a bille ther of to Lundon. This was his answer, 
 whan I had talked to hym as I cowde in lyke wyse as ye 
 averted me to do. He answered a geyn in these wordes, 
 " Nere is my kyrtyl, but nerre [nearer] is my smok." 
 And this was his menyng that ye schulde be mor ner 
 us and tender to us than he, and that ye schulde rather 
 owe us good wyl than he, and that we schulde labour 
 rather to yowr maystirship than to hym ; and also that 
 good that he had to dispose he had be sette it, and of 
 passel he tolde me he had delyvered the Abbot ot 
 Langele fourescor li., wher of, as he seyd to me, ye 
 grutched and wer in maner displesed, not withstandyng 
 ye seyd a geyn to hym ye shulde geve as moche. And 
 he seyd to me ye named the places wher ; and therfor 
 he avysed me to labour effectualy to your good maystir- 
 ship, for ye mych [mig/if] helpe us x wele. For he seyd 
 ye had moche good of the dede to dispose, what of your 
 ifadcr, God blisse that sowle, what of Berney, and what 
 now of his good Mayster Fastolfe. And as for Sir John 
 Fastolfe, on hoose soule Jesu have mercy ! he seyd to 
 
 1 us. The word is no in Fenn's literal copy, which must be a misprint.
 
 A.D. 1461.] HENRY VI. 543 
 
 me ye had of his good four, four, and four mor than 
 he in these same termes with owte ony summe. 
 
 And after all oder talkyngs he tolde me he shulde 
 be with yow at Lundon hastyly, and that he wolde sey 
 good worde to yow to releve our poor place. Sir, I 
 beseche bethe not displesed, for truly and I woste to 
 have your hevy maystership therfor, I had lever it 
 had bene on thoght. And is this that whan Sir Thomas 
 Howes and ye be saunne at Lundon, we myght be so 
 in your good grace, that our place myght be broder to 
 Langele, for that shulde glade us mor than the com- 
 mission that the Bysshop of Norwich sente us on 
 Thrusday laste paste to gader the dymes, for that is a 
 shrewde labour for us, a grete coste and a shrewe 
 juparde. 
 
 Over mor that hy and myghty celestial Prince pre- 
 serve yow body and sowle, and sende yow coumforte 
 of the Holy Goost wele to performe all your herds 
 desir in all your materes to his plesaunce, and your 
 wurship, and solace to alle your welle wyllers. 
 
 Wretyn at Bromholm, on the Saturday next after 
 the Feste of the Conversion of Seynt Poule laste paste. 
 
 From your Preste and Bedeman, 
 
 JOHN, PRIOUR OF BROMHOLM. 
 
 369. 
 
 A.D. 1461, i March. 
 MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 412.] 
 
 " This letter," says Fenn, " has no direction, and lest it should be opened, 
 the paper which fastens the seal is, along the edge, marked with lines by a 
 pen, which communicate with the latter (qu. with the letter ?), hy which means 
 
 after winning the second battle of St. Alban's. Giles Saint Loe was sheriff 
 
 of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1458.
 
 544 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. 1461. 
 
 A Lettre to J. Paston, ar., from his wife}- 
 
 it you to wytte that it is lete me witte 
 by on that owith you good wyll that there is 
 leid awayte up on you in this cuntre, yf ye 
 come here at large, to bryng you to the pre- 
 sence of syyche a Lord in the north as shall not be for 
 your ease, but to jopardie of your lyf, or gret and im- 
 portable losse of your goods. And he that hath take 
 up on hym this enterprise now was undr-shireff to G. 
 Sayntlowe. He hath gret favour herto by the meanes 
 of the sone of William Baxter that lyth beryed in the 
 Grey Freres ; and, as it is reported, the seid sone hath 
 geve gret sylver to the Lords in the north to bryng the 
 matier a bowte, and now he and alle his olde felawe- 
 ship put owt their fynnes, and arn ryght flygge and 
 mery, hopyng alle thyng is and shalbe as they wole 
 have it Also it is tolde me that the fadr of the bastard 
 in this cuntre seid that now shuld this shire be made 
 sewir for hym and his heires hens forward, and for the 
 Baxsteris heyres also, wherby I conceyve they thynke 
 that they have none enemy but you, &c. 
 
 Wherfor like it you to be the more war of your 
 gydyng for your persones saufgard, and also that ye be 
 not to hasty to come in to this cuntre til ye here the 
 world more sewer. I trowe the berar of this shall telle 
 more by mowthe. as he shall be enfourmed of the 
 rewell in this cuntre. God have you in His kepyng. 
 
 Wretyn in hast, the secund Sunday of Lent by 
 candel light at evyn. 
 
 By yours, &c. M. 
 
 370. 
 JOHN DAVY TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iv. 78.] 
 
 This letter was written some time after the death of Sir John Fastolf not 
 unlikely, as Fenn imagines, in the reign of Edward IV. ; but the exact date 
 is immaterial 
 
 1 This title is taken from an endorsement in a later hand.
 
 A.D. 1461?] HENRY VI. 545 
 
 On to my Maystyr Pastone, be this lettrc delyveryd. 
 
 YTH wurchopful Sere, I recomaund me on to 
 you. And iff it lyke you I have spokyn with 
 Bussard, and demaundyd hym iff he had ony 
 evydens, dedys, or copyis, or ony other evy- 
 dens of ony place or off ony lyflod that longget on to 
 my mayster, 1 and seyth, Nay, be is feyth, and be is 
 trowthe, for, if he hadde, he wold send hem on to you 
 with a good wyl ; for he seyth it xud don hym non ese. 
 And, Ser, iff it plese you I askyd hym if he knew ony 
 evydens that he had delyveryd on to William Wossetyr, 
 bill, or deds, or ony other evydens that xuld longgyn 
 on to ony purchas or off ony lyfflod on to my maystrys, 
 and he seyth, Nay trewly ; for he seyth the last tyme 
 that he wrot on to William Wusseter, it was be ffor 
 myssomyr, and thanne he wrot a cronekyl of Jerew- 
 salem, and the jornes that my mayster dede whyl he 
 was in Fraunce (that God on his sowle have mercy !) ; 
 and he seyth that this drow more than xx. whazerys 
 [20 quires ?] off paper, and the wrytyng delyveryd on 
 to William Wursseter, and non other, ne knowyth not 
 off non other be is feyth. 
 
 Be your man, J. DAVY. 
 
 371. 
 
 THOMAS SHOTBOLT TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 Beyond the evident fact that this letter was written between the death of 
 Sir John Fastolf in 1459 and that of John Paston in 1466, there is not much 
 clue to the date. 
 
 To my worshipfullmaister, Maister Paston of the Temple. 
 
 ORSHIPFULL Sir, soo ye will send a polletik 
 person to Ludgate in secrete wise to comune 
 with me, and lete hym not in no wise speke 
 
 Sir John Fastolf. 
 2 N
 
 546 THE PASTON LETTERS. [AD.? 
 
 of you to hove (?) youre good maistership, and a 
 resonable remedy shall ease you of a gret part that 
 the criour cleymeth of you for Maister Fastolffs 
 detts of xiij. or xiiij. yere at the lest, and be that 
 perave[ntu]re of the hole qui in uno cst rcus morbus 
 
 \in omnibus\ rcus Sir, remembreth your 
 
 worship if y doo to ease you, lete me not be discoveryd, 
 for ye knewe not your worship y wold not doo thus. 
 What ever ye have of me, ye may sey it is found in the 
 stywardes boks, and y know that ye have desired 
 favour to have hym seese for your worship that procur 
 hym ageyns you ; whoo so shall kom to me, he may 
 kom in Maistre Nevills name, for with hym have y a 
 doo. As for your own servaunts, y ferd me lest they 
 be knowyn whethir it be servaunt or othir, send knovv- 
 leche of my reword and a bille under your seall or 
 your own hands, or bothe on your worship to have it 
 close that y be not blamyd for that ; y shall telle you 
 her after. Wretyn in Ludgate. 
 
 Your servaunt and there prisoner, 
 
 THOMAS SHOTBOLT. 
 
 372. 
 
 A WHITSUNDAY SERMON OF FRIAR BRACKLEY. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 392.] 
 
 The original MS. of this sermon was endorsed, of course in a much later 
 hand than the document, " An ancient Whitsunday sermon preached by 
 Frier Brackley (whose hand it is) in the Friers Minors Church, in Norwich." 
 Of this and the remaining papers in this volume the dates are very uncertain. 
 
 IjRENDS, this holy tyme, as owr moder Holy 
 Chirch maketh mension, the Holy Gost came 
 from hevyn, and lighted in the disciples of 
 Crist, inflamyng them with connyng, and 
 strenghyng them with grace. And be cause the doct- 
 rine and prechyng of them shuld go thurghought all 
 the werd, furst thei wer to be enfourmed and taught 
 connyng, and to be strenth with awdacide and grace,
 
 A.D. ?] HENRY VI. 547 
 
 and than to be endewed and yovyn all manner of 
 langags that thei myght prechyn to all maner of 
 naciones, so that tho naciones that thei preched to 
 myght understond them, and every naciones his owyn 
 tonge ; and so thees Appostilles, after that thei wern 
 enspired with the Holy Cost, wher so ever thei preached, 
 were ther never so many naciones present, ich nacion 
 thought that thei spokyn in ther owyn langage etenim 
 illud loquebantur variis linguis Apostoli. 
 
 Frends, iij. thyngs be necessary in prechyng to hym 
 that shall prechyn thurgh the werd as the Appostell 
 dede that is to sey, connyng, boldnesse, and langags. 
 If thei had had connyng and none audacite, but have 
 fered to have preched, it shuld litill a profited, as we 
 have examplles dayly at Cambrige, exempli [gratia] 1 de 
 Clerico quis studuit sermonem, &c. And if thei have 
 bothyn connyng and audacite, and have none elo- 
 quensye ner copiousnesse of langage, so that he preche 
 that his audiens is most excercised in, that thei may 
 understand hym, elles it profiteth not. 
 
 Therfor thes holy Appostill[es], be for thei shuld 
 prechyn, furst thei wer to be confirmed and strenghed. 
 Our Lord strenghed them be under nemyng, 2 enform- 
 yng, and helpyng, culpando ut in Evangelium recumben- 
 tibus, &c. He strenghed them with his help and grace 
 whan he brethed in them, seyng " Accipite Spiritum 
 Sanctum ; et quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur 
 eis, et quorum retinueritis retenta sunt," 3 &c. He 
 strenghed them also be his doctrine whan he seid 
 " Petite et accipietis ; si quid petieritis Patrem in 
 nomine meo, dabit vobis." 4 How that ye shuld prayn 
 to God and askyn, I taught you on Estern day. Ther- 
 for ye shall pray to God be good werkyng, right full 
 lebyring, and in good deds perseveryng. 
 
 Frends, ye owe for to ask of God that your joy may 
 ben a full joy and perfight ; we may never have a full 
 joy in this werd, wher as ever among folwyth hevy- 
 
 1 Omitted in Fenn's literal transcript 
 
 * i.e., reproving. 
 
 3 John xx. 22, 23. * John xvi. 23, 24.
 
 5-0 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. ? 
 
 nesse. A man joyth sumtyme in gold and sylver, 
 and in gret substaunce of erdly gods, in bewte of 
 women, but this joy is not perfyght but this joy is 
 not stabill, but it is mutabill as a shadow ; for he that 
 this joyth in the bewte of his wyffe, it may fortune to 
 monvyn he shall folwyn her to chirch up on a bere. 
 But if ye wull knowyn what is a full and a wery joy, 
 truly forgevenesse of synne and everlestyng blisse, 
 wher as is never sikenesse, hunger, ner thurst, ner no 
 maner of disseas, but all welth, joy, and prosperite, 
 &c. Ther be iij. maner of joys, the on void, a nother 
 half full, the thred is a full joy. The furst is plente of 
 werdly gods, the seconde is Costly grace, the threde 
 is everlestyng blisse. The furst joy, that is affluens of 
 temporall gods, is called a veyn joy, for if a man wer 
 set at a bord with delicate mets and drynks, and he 
 sey a cawdron boyllyng a forn hyra with pykke and 
 bronston, in the which he shuld be throwyn naked as 
 sone as he had dyned ; for he shuld joy mych in his 
 deliciose mets, it shuld be but a veyn joy. 
 
 Right so doth the joy of a covetouse man, if he sey 
 what peyn his sowle shuld suffre in helle for the mys- 
 kepyn and getyn of his good, he shuld not joy in 
 his tresore, ut in Libro Decalogorum, " Quidam homo 
 dives," &c. 
 
 Semiplenum gaudium est quando quis in prsesenti 
 gaudet et tune cogitans de futuris dolet, ut in quodam 
 libro Graeco, "Quidam Rex Graeciae," &c. Her ye may 
 se but half a joy; how \u>ho\ shuld joy in this werd, if he 
 remembred hym of the peynes of the toder werd ? 
 " Non glorietur fortis in fortitudine sua, nee sapiens in 
 sapientia sua, nee dives in divitiis suis." l De quibus 
 dicitur, qui confidunt in multitudine divitiarum suarum, 
 quasi oves in inferno positi sunt. 2 " Qui gloriatur, in 
 Domino glorietur." 3 Therfor lete us joy in hope of 
 everlestyng joy and blis. " Gaudete quia nomina 
 vestra scripta sunt in caslo," 4 ut gaudium vestrum sit 
 plenum. A full joy is in hevyn. Et in hoc apparet quod 
 
 1 Jerem. ix. 23. * Psalm xlviiL (xlix.) 6, 14. 
 
 * i Cor. L 31. * Luke x. 20.
 
 A.D. ?] HENRY VI. 549 
 
 magnum gaudium est in cselo, quoniam ibi est gau- 
 dium quod " oculus non vidit, nee auris audivit, et in 
 cor hominis non ascendit, quae Deus prseparavit dili- 
 gentibus," l et ideo, fratres, variis linguis loquens 
 [precor] ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum, vel habeatis 
 gaudium sempiternum. 
 
 373. 
 
 THE EARL OF OXFORD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 138.] 
 To my right trusty and right welbeloved John Paston. 
 
 Right trusty and right welbeloved, I grete you wele. And I 
 am enfourmed that William Mathew of Norwich, Bocher, hath 
 brought an accion of dette agayn Nicholas Hert, a tenaunt of 
 myn, berer hereof, and hath supposid by his accyon that my said 
 tenaunt shuld ow hym Ixxj. for his hire of tyme that he shuld a 
 ben servaunt to my said tenaunt ; wher it is said to me for trouthe 
 that he was aprentyce to my said tenaunt, and never othrwise 
 with holde but as aprentice, and owith no mony to haf of hym. 
 I send to yow my said tenaunt to gif yow clere informacyon of 
 the mater, and I pray you that ye wole calle the jurry before yow 
 that am impanellid betwen thaym, and opne thaym the mater at 
 large at myn instaunce, and desire thaym to do as concyens wole, 
 and to eschue perjury. And the Trinite kepe yow. If ye take 
 the mater in rule, I pray therof, and wole be content. 
 
 Wretyn at Wevenho, the xxviij. day of Decembr. 
 
 THE ERLE OF OXENFORD. 
 
 374. 
 
 SIR JOHN WINGFIELD TO JOHN PASTON. 
 
 [From Fenn, iii. 140.] 
 To my welbelovyd brother, John Paston, Squier. 
 
 Brother Paston, I recomaunde me unto you, praying you that 
 ye take the labour to speke with Thomas Ratclef of Frammesden 
 for the delyveraunce of part of an hous which lythe in his wode 
 at Fraumesden, which hous the owener hath caryed part therof to 
 Orford, which so departed, the remenant that remayneth ther in 
 his wode schall do hym lytell good, and yt schall hurte gretly 
 the warkeman and the owener therof also, which is my tenaunt, 
 and [i.e. if] the hous schuld be set upon my ground. 
 1 i Cor. ii. 9.
 
 550 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. ? 
 
 I wright unto you in this be halfe, be cause I understand he 
 woll be moche avised by you, and yf he do ony thynge at my 
 request, I schall do as moche that schall plese hym ; and also the 
 pore man schall gef hym ij. nobles or xxj. rather than fayle. I 
 pray you be as good a mene for hym as ye may in this be halfe, 
 as my verry trust is in you, and I schal be redy at all tymes to 
 doo that may be to your plesur. I trust to Jesu, who have you 
 in His kepyng, and sende you joy of all your ladyes. 
 
 Wretyn at Lederyngham, the Tewesday in Whisson weke. 
 Your brother and frende, 
 
 WYNGEFELD J. 
 
 375. 
 
 [JOHN PASTON ?] TO [RICHARD] SOUTHWELL. 
 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 This letter is printed from a corrected draft in a hand which may be that 
 of Margaret Paston, writing in her husband's name. The beginning may 
 perhaps refer to the impending marriage of Richard Southwell with Amy, 
 daughter of Sir Edmund Wichingham, which took place, according to Blome- 
 field (x. 274), about the beginning of Edward IV. 's reign. From the mention 
 made of Osbert Mundford, however, the letter cannot be later than 1460. 
 The ravishment of Jane Boys, as here related, corresponds so closely with that 
 of Dame Joan Beaumont, of which notice will be found in the Rolls of Parlia- 
 ment, v. 269, that we might almost surmise the same person is spoken of; but 
 this can hardly be. 
 
 |ROTHER Suthwell, I comand me to yo\v, 
 certifiing yow that, on Thursday be the 
 morwe, I spak with my cosine Wichingham 
 at London, where he lete me wet of the 
 letter sent to Lee, wherby I conseyve the stedfast 
 godlordship and ladiship of my Lord and my Lady l in 
 this mater, &c., whech gevith cause to all her servaunts 
 to trost verily in them and to do hem trew servise. I 
 lete yow wete that the seid Wychyngham, when I 
 departid from hym, had knowleche that Jane Boys 
 shuld that nyght be come to London, and he put in a 
 bylle to the Lordis for to have delyverauns of hyr and tc 
 have hese adversarys arestid. And this nyght at Nor 
 wiche was told me newe tydyngges that she shuld on 
 Thursday after my departyng a be before the Lordis 
 and there asaide untrewly of her selff. as the berer 
 hereof shal informe yow if ye know it not before ; of 
 
 1 Probably the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk.
 
 A.D. ?] HENRY VI. 551 
 
 wheche tydyngges, if they be trew, I am sory for her 
 sake, and also I fere that her frendys schuld sewe the 
 more feyntely, wheche Godde defende. For her seyng 
 untrewly of her selff may hurt the mater in no man 
 but her selff; and thow she wol mescheve her selff, 
 it wer gret pete but if the mater were laborid forth, 
 not for her sake, but for the worchepe of the estatys 
 and other that have laboryd therin, and in ponyshing 
 of the gret oryble dede. Wherfore I send yow dyvers 
 articlis in a bill closid herin, wheche preve that she 
 was raveshid ayens hyr wel, what so ever she sey. 
 
 Thes be provis that Jane Boys was ravischid ageyn 
 her wil, and not be er own assent. 
 
 One is that she, the tyme of her takyng, whan she 
 was set upon her hors, she revyled Lancasterother 1 and 
 callid hym knave and wept, and kryid owte upon hym 
 pitewly to her, and seid as shrewdly to hym as coud 
 come to her mende, and fel doune of her hors unto 
 that she was bound, and callid him fals t[r]aytor that 
 browth her the rabbettes. 
 
 Item, whan she was bounde she callid upon her 
 modyer, wheche folwyd her as far as she myght on her 
 feet, and whan the seid Jane sey she .myght goo no 
 ferther, she kryid to her modyer and seid that what so 
 ever fel of her, she shuld never be weddyd to that 
 knave, to deye for it. 
 
 Item, be the weye, at Shraggarys hous in Kokely 
 Cley, and at Brychehamwell, and in all other places 
 wher she myght see any people, she kryid owte upon 
 hym, and lete people wete whos dowtyr she was, and 
 how she was raveshid ayens her wyll, desyeryng the 
 people to folwe her and reskew her. 
 
 Item, Lancasterotherys prest of the Egle in Lyn- 
 colne shire, wheche shroff her, seid that she told hym 
 in confession that she wold never be weddyd to hym, 
 
 1 According to Blomefield (viii. 299) Joan (or Jane), one of the four 
 daughters of Edmund de Wichingham, married, first, Robert Longstrather, 
 and afterwards Robert Boys of Honing, in Norfolk.
 
 55 2 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. ? 
 
 to deye for it; and the same prest seid he wold not 
 wedde hem togedyr for M'7/. 
 
 Item, she sent divers tokenes of massage to Soth- 
 well be Robert Inglose, wheche previth welle at that 
 tyme she lovyd not Lancasterother. 
 
 Item, a man of the master of Carbrokes come dyvers 
 tymes in the weke before she was raveshid to Wych- 
 ynghams hous, and inquerid of her mayde whedyr her 
 mastras was insuerid to Sothwell or nay, the wheche 
 prevyth well that Lancasterother was not sure of her 
 godwill ne knew not of her counseyl, for if he had, 
 he ne nedid not to have sent no spyes. 
 
 Whech seen, I avyse yow to move my Lord and 
 my Lady to do in this mater as affettualy as they have 
 do before, for this mater touchyth hem, consideryng 
 that they have begonne ; and dowt not, what so ever 
 falle of the woman, well or evel, my Lord and my Lady 
 shal have worchep of the mater if it be wel laborid, 
 and also ye shall have avayl therof and the advers 
 parte chall gret trobil. 
 
 Also it were necessarie that Wychyngham were sent 
 to and cofortyd in hese seute, and that he avysid hym 
 of seche articlis and preves of the mater as I have sent 
 to yow and put hem in writing, but not to disclose non 
 tho preves to non creature unto that tyme that it 
 fortune the mater to be tried be enquest, or other wyse 
 take end, but avyse hym for to seye to the Lords and all 
 (?) in generall termes that what so ever Lancaster- 
 other or hese douter seyn nowh, it shal be wel prevyd 
 she was reveshid ayens her wyll ; and let him desire of 
 the Lordis that his dowter mith be in his kepyng, and at 
 large fro Lancasterother un tylle the mater were duly 
 examynd. I wold this mater sped the bety[r] be cause 
 my Lady spoke so feythefully to me therin, and that 
 mevyth me to wryte to yow this long symple lettyr of 
 myn intent. l [Also wher ye be informyd that vj. men 
 of Osbern Monforthes shuld a be at the seid raveshing, 
 I certifie yow verily it was not soo ; for Osbem Monde- 
 ford wol do in the mater all that ever he can or may 
 
 1 This passage is crossed out in the MS.
 
 A.D. ?] HENRY VI, 553 
 
 to help to punisse the doer, and desirith to know the 
 grownd of that tale, of whech I pray send me word if 
 and what ye will ellis.] God kepe yow. 
 
 VVret at Norwich the Soneday nex before the fest 
 of Sent Margret. 
 
 Item, [if] she had be of hes assent affter the time 
 she was in hes possescion in Lynkoln shire, hit had be 
 bett l 
 
 376383. 
 
 ABSTRACTS. 
 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] 
 
 The following letters and papers cannot be referred 
 to any certain date, though probably of the reign of 
 Henry VI. Being of very little interest, they are 
 noticed as briefly as possible merely for the sake of 
 completeness. 
 
 376. W. , Bishop of Norwich, to William Yelverton, steward 
 of his lands, and John Intwode, his surveyor. Desires them to 
 inquire at Bacton into the demand made by Richard Blake in a 
 bill enclosed, and minister to him as right and law will. London, 
 8 Nov. 
 
 377. Memoranda of John Berney against Simon Corbrygg, 
 who obtained lands by a charter forged by Broke, a scrivener, 
 late owner of Weggs, and has injured Berney for eight years past 
 or more in the possession of the manor of Cleyhall. 
 
 378. William Jenney to John Paston, Esq. Has been shown 
 by his neighbour, Robert Tylyard, a piece of evidence of certain 
 " lyfelode " he has in Whetacre, by which it appears that Lord 
 Wellys should have no ward of the same, unless he can produce 
 contrary evidence. As Paston is of my Lord's council, and has 
 the rule of his " lyflode " in this country, desires he will write to 
 him that the matter be indifferently seen. Theberton, 13 Dec. 
 
 379. J. Burton to Margaret Paston. Sends hogsheads ot 
 wine by Plumton the carter, &c. Desires her to send the money 
 to "dawn" William Dallyng. Dated, "Wednesday after I 
 parted from you.' 
 
 1 Sentence left incomplete.
 
 554 THE PASTON LETTERS. [A.D. ? 
 
 380. W. Cotyng * to Margaret Paston. Has received to- 
 day ^"9: 0:2 from Simon Miller, her farmer at Tichwell, for 
 Midsummer payment. Sends it by Roger, servant of the Parson 
 of Thorp. Simon has paid five shillings for finding a man to the 
 King for Tichwell, and but for me you would have paid a mark. 
 Charges for repairs. As for your lining cloth, my brother is still 
 beyond the sea. Brankaster, 31 July. 
 
 381. to . My father and I bought the rever- 
 sion of Olton, &c. of Ralph Lampet and Alexander Kyngyston. 
 They have now made a new sale of it to William Jenney without 
 giving notice to me or my father. We ask your mediation with 
 Jenney, whom we trusted most. 
 
 382. Eliz. C[lere] to John Paston. Concerning a pasture in 
 the town of N. overgrown with whins. Wants advice as to the 
 conditions of the right of pasturage. Your mother prays you to 
 think on Horwellebery. 25 May. 
 
 383. Memoranda to inquire: (l.) If William Cofe were 
 enfeoffed in Rothnall Hall? (2.) If Tylerd knew William Cofe of 
 Northcofe 2 before the day of his death two years, one year, half 
 a year, or a quarter, &c. ; what seal he used ? (3.) If Tylerd were 
 not about him, to common with Gernyngham and such as were 
 about him. (4.) Item, in case it can be understood that he made 
 none estate, " than lete Wodesyde goo to Robert Prymer in his 
 owyn name, saying that John P. (Paston) is his good mayster in 
 hys mater," &c. 
 
 1 He was rector of Swainsthorp, to which he was presented by William 
 Pnston and John Dam in 1444, and which he exchanged for the living of 
 Tichwell in 1450. Blomefield, v. 63. 
 
 2 William Cove of North Cove, Suffolk. -See Suckling's Hist, of Suffolk, 
 1.48. 
 
 END OF VOLUME 7. 
 
 Muir &> Paterson, Printers, Edinburgh.
 
 This Last cancels all previous ones. 
 7TH CATALOGUE. , DKCEMBER 1871. 
 
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 T I 
 
 r 
 
 ACSIMILE EXTS. 
 
 ? 
 
 THE FIRST PRINTED 
 
 <Ec0tcimcnt. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 WILLIAM TYNDALE ASSISTED BY WILLIAM ROY. 
 
 Photolithographed, by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum, 
 from the unique Fragment now in the Grenville Collection. 
 
 Briefly told, the story of this profoundly interesting work is as follows: In 1524,1 
 TYNDALE went from London to Hamburgh ; where remaining for about a year, he 
 journeyed on to Cologne: and there, assisted by WILLIAM ROY, subsequently the 
 author of the satire on Wolsey, Rede me and be nott wrothe [see /. 9], he began this 
 First edition in 410, with glosses, of the English New Testament. A virulent enemy 
 of the Reformation, COCHL^EUS, at that time an exile in Cologne, learnt, through 
 giving wine to the printer's men, that P. Quentel the printer had in hand a secret 
 edition of three thousand copies of the English New Testament. In great alarm, he 
 informed Herman Rinck, a Senator of the city, who moved the Senate to stop the 
 printing; but Cochlaeus could neither obtain a sight of the Translators, nor of a sheet 
 of the impression. 
 
 Tyndale and Roy fled with the printed sheets, up the Rhine to Worms ; and there 
 i-ompleting this edition, produced also another in Octavo, without glosses. Both edi- 
 tions were probably in England by March, 1526: and of the six thousand copies ot 
 which they together were composed ; there remain but this fragment of the Firsf 
 commenced edition ; and of the Second edition, one complete copy in the Library ol 
 ;he Baptist College at Bristol, and an imperfect one in that of St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 London. 
 
 Cjjis Jtarrment is tfjc Earliest Portion of trjt printcn Englisfj 
 Bible in rasttncr. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. PREFACE. ! 
 
 Evidence connected with the first Two 
 Editions of the English Nfiv Testa- 
 ment ; viz. , lit Quarto and Octavo. 
 
 1. WILLIAM TYNDALE'S antecedent 
 
 Career. 
 
 2. The Printing at Cologne. 
 
 3. The Printing at Worms. 
 
 4. WILLIAM ROY'S connection with 
 
 these Editions. 
 
 5. The Landing and Distribution in 
 
 England. 
 
 6. The Persecution in England. 
 
 Topographical and Literary Evidence 
 connected with the present Fragment. 
 
 1. It was printed for TYNDALE by 
 
 PETER QUENTEL at Cologne, be- 
 fore 1526. 
 
 2. It is not a portion of the separate 
 
 Gospel of Matthew, issued by TYN- 
 DALE previous to that year. 
 
 3. It is therefore certainly a fragment 
 of the Quarto. 
 
 Is the Quarto a translation of Luther 1 - 
 German version ? 
 
 Text. Innet Marginal References 
 
 Prologge. Outer Marginal Glosses. 
 
 II. THE PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHED TEXT 
 [The Title Page is wanting.] 
 
 The Prologge [by TYNDALE.] 
 
 The bokes conteyned in the newe Testa> 
 
 ment. 
 
 Woodcut fby ANTHON VON WORMS]. 
 The Gospel according to St. Matthew> 
 
 Ch. I. XXII. 12 [where the fragmem 
 
 ends]. 
 
 III. PART OF THE TITLE PAGE OF Ru 
 
 PERTUS' In Matthaum: 
 
 Printed by PETER QUENTEL at Cologne 
 between March and July 1526. 
 
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 Itartu. LARGE PAPER EDITION. TITLES, etc. 
 
 l' 
 
 (1.) A DECREE of the STABRE-CHAMBER, concerning 
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 (2.) An ORDER of the LORDS AND COMMONS assembled 
 in Parliament for the regulating of Printing, &c., London, 1643. 
 
 (3.) AREOPAGITICA : A speech of Mr. JOHN MILTON for 
 
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 Lord MACAULAY. He attacked the licensing system, in that sublime treatise which 
 
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 H. HALLAM. Many passages in this famous tract are admirably eloquent; an in- 
 
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 [1556]. 
 
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 Shippes and an Armada of the King of Spaine. [By Sir 
 
 WALTER RALEIGH.] London. 1591. 
 
 (2) The most Honourable Tragedie of Sir Richarde Grinuille. 
 
 Knight (.'.) Bramo assai, poco spero, nulla chieg$io. [By 
 
 GERVASE MARKHAM.] London. 1595. [Two copies 
 
 only are known, Mr. Grenville's cost^o.] 
 
 (3.) The Fight and Cyclone at the Azores. By Jan Huygen 
 
 van LINSCHOTEN. 
 
 Lord BACON. In the yeare 1591. ivas that Memorable Fight, of an English ship 
 called the Reuenge, under the command of Sir RICHARD GREENUILE; Memorable 
 (I say) euen beyond credit, and to the Height of some Heroicall Fable. And though 
 it -were a Defeat, yet it exceeded a Victory; Being like the Act of Sampson, that 
 killed more Men at the Death, than he had done in the time of all hi; Life. Con- 
 siderations touching a Warre with Spaine [Written in 1624.] Misc. Works. Ed. 1629. 
 
 Three Shillings. Post free throughout the United Kingdom. One Shilling- 
 
 $1.50C. Post free throughout the United States. $0. 50C. 
 
 30. Barnabe (Srooge* 
 
 EGLOGS, EPYTAPHES AND SONETTES, newly written by 
 
 Barnabe Googe. London 1563. 15 March. 
 
 Three Shillings- Post free throughout the United Kingdom. One Shilling. 
 
 $1 50C- Post free throughout the United States. $0. 50C. 
 
 Vol. XIV. Boy, &c. Raleigh, &c. Googe. 'Post free. 4s. or $2. Oc. 
 
 . ' . This Series will bo resumed with Stubbes' Anatomic of Abuses 
 in the winter of 1872, as announced at p. I. 
 
 SU M M A R Y. 
 
 Here, a temporary halt will be made. It may be useful to summarize 
 the prices of complete sets, up to this point ; including free delivery to 
 any part of the United Kingdom or the United States of America. 
 
 ENGLISH REPRINTS. THIRTY IN NUMBER. 
 
 OCTAVO. To United Kingdom. To United States. 
 
 Stiff Covers, uncut edges, 30 Nos. . . /I 17s. 6(1. $18. 75C. 
 
 The same bound in Green Cloth, red edges, 14 vols. 2 5s. 6d. $22. 75c. 
 
 QUARTO. 
 Stiff Covers, uncut edges, 30 Nos. 5 S3. 6(1. $54. 25C.
 
 Beprint0, SDemp Ciuarto* 
 
 Approaching completion. To be published about April 1872, 
 in one large Quarto volume of over 400 pages, price 15s. 
 
 . '. A copy of the second only of the two following works sold for .25, at Mr. Bolton 
 Corney's sale in June 1871. Both works are of excessive interest as representing 
 English geographical knowledge while Sebastian Cabot was yet alive, and at the time 
 of the first English voyages to Moscovy 1553-1554. 
 
 RICHARD EDEN: 
 
 Sometime private Secretary to Sir W. CECIL, afterwards Lord BURLEIGH. 
 
 I. A treatyse OF THE NEWE INDIA, WITH 
 OTHER NEW FOUNDE LANDES AND IS- 
 LANDS, ASWELL EASTWARDE AS WEST- 
 WARDE, as they are knowen and found in these cure 
 dayes, after the descripcion of SEBASTIAN MUNSTER, in his. 
 boke of vniuersall Cosmographie, &c. [London, 1553.} 
 
 1. Dedication to the Duke of Northumberland. 
 
 2. Rychard Eden to the reader. 
 
 3. C[ Of the newe India, as it is knowen and found in these our days. In the 
 
 yeare of oure Lorde M.D.L. III. After the description ot Sebastian Munster 
 in his Booke of the Vniuersall Cosmographie, Libr. v. De tern's A sice Maioris. 
 And translated into Englishe by Richard Eden. 
 
 4. <[ Of the newe India and Ilandes in the West Ocean sea, how, when, and by 
 
 whom they were found. 
 
 II. The First English Collection of Voyages, Traffics, and Discoveries. 
 
 THE DECADES OF THE NEW WORLD OR 
 WEST INDIA, &c. &c. [by PETER MARTYR of 
 Angleria.] [Translated, compiled, &c. by RICHARD EDEN.} 
 {[ Londini, Anno 1555. 
 
 1. The [Dedicatory] Epistle [to King PHILIP and Queen MARY]. 
 
 2. Richard Eden to the Reader. 
 
 3. The [1st, 2d, and 3d only of the 8] Decades of the newe worlde or 
 west India, Conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes, 
 with the particular description of the moste ryche and large lands and 
 Ilandes lately founde in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritaunce of 
 the kinges of Spayne. In the which the diligent reader may not only 
 consyder what commoditie may hereby channce to the hole Christian worla 
 in tyme to come, Intt also learne many secreates tonchynge the lande, the 
 sea, and the starrcs, very necessary to be knowen to al such as shal at- 
 temple any navigations, or othenvise haue delite to be/wide the strange ana 
 woonderfiil woorkes of god and nature. 
 
 Wrytten in the Latine tounge by PETER MARTYR of Angleria, and 
 translated into Englysshe by RYCHARDE EDEN. 
 
 The Decades are Letters divided in books or chapters, ten of which form the Decas. 
 A. The first Decas was written between Nov. 1493 and some date after 1500. It 
 
 was published singly in 1511. Its title is OF THE OCEAN: and it is principally 
 
 occupied with the discovery of the New World by Columbus. 
 
 1. The First voyage of Columbus. 
 
 2, 3, 4, 5. The Second voyage of Columbus, and a description of Hispaniola. 
 6, 7. The Third voyage of Columbus. The discovery of Trinidad, Paria, &c. 
 
 8. The navigation of Petrus Alphonsus. 
 
 9. The navigation of the brothers Pinzon. 
 
 10. The gold and pearls of the West Indies.
 
 12 EDEN'S TRANSLATION OF P. MARTYR'S Decades, &c. 
 
 B. The second Decas is dated 4th DEC. 1514. It is devoted to THE SUPPOSED CON- 
 TINENT OR PIRME LANDE: and describes chiefly the settlement of Darien in which 
 Fogeda, Nicuesa, EncUo. Pizzaro, and others were concerned. 
 
 C. The third Decas was finished in OCT. and published in the Nones [1-5] of Nov. 
 1516. Written on THE NEW SOTTH OCEAN, &c., &c. 
 
 1-3. A summary of Vasco Nunnez's letter of 3 MARCH 1514, giving his account of 
 
 his Discovery of the Mar del Sur (the Southern Sea) now called the Pacific 
 
 Ocean. 
 
 4. Columbus' discovery of Beragua, 1502. 
 6, 6. The Voyage of the new governor Petrus Anus with 17 ships and 1500 men to 
 
 Darien, 12 April 20 July 1515. 
 1, 8. A particular description of Hispaniola, given by Andreas Morales the pilot : 
 
 including much curious folklore of tribes which soon perished for ever. 
 9, 10. The affairs and goldmines of Darien and the pearl fisheries in the Gulf of 
 
 San Miguel. 
 
 D. A supplementary book, first added in the edition printed in 1521, entitled OF 
 
 THK LANDS AND ILANDES LATELY FOUNDE: AND OF TH^ MAKERS OF THE IN- 
 HABITANTS OF THE SAME. 
 
 The LANDES are Yucatan and Mexico, the ILANDES are Cozumel, Sacrificios, &c. 
 As the three previous books had described two of the three great races that peopled 
 Central America and its islands before the advent of the Spaniards, viz., the Carib 
 race of caunibals, and the more humane population of the Islands; so in this fourth 
 book we have the earliest account of the Astec and Mexican race. This supplemen- 
 tary book is also the earliest printed account of the beginning of Cortez's conquest of 
 Mexico, viz., up to the time when he sent Alaminus the pilot home from Vera Cruz. 
 
 .'. The charm of Peter Martyr's Letters consists in their preserving to us, like 
 amber, the process and heroic story of these discoveries. It is astonishing with what 
 utterly erroneous opinions these explorations were carried on. Even in his third 
 voyage, in which he discovered the variation of the compass, Columbus believed the 
 earth to be in form like a pear, and in position standing on its broad end. Also that 
 the Terrestrial Paradise was at the thin top end of the earth ; and that Trinidad was 
 that Paradise. And, therefore, that in his course from Spain to that islnnd he had 
 been constantly sailing uphill. 
 
 The Bull oj Pope Alexander VI. 
 
 Of the ordinary navygation from Spayne to the Weste Indies. 
 
 Of twoo notable thynges as touchyug the West Indies: And of the great rychesse 
 brought from thense into Spayne. 
 
 Of the mynes of golde,*and the manner of workynge in theym. 
 
 Of the maner of fysshinge for perles. 
 
 Of the familiaritie which certeyne of the Indians haue wyth the deuyll, and how 
 they receaue answere of hym of thynges to coome. 
 
 Of the temperature of the regions vnder or neare to the burnt lyne cauled Torrida 
 zona or the Equinoctial! : and of the dyuers sen-sons of the yeare. 
 
 Of dyuers particular thynges, as woormes, serpentes, beastes, foules, trees, &c. 
 
 Of trees, fruites, and plantes. Of Reedes or Canes. 
 
 Of venemous apples wherwith they poyson theyr arrowes. 
 
 Of fysshes and of the maner of fysshynge. 
 
 Of th[e]mcrease and decrease, (that is) rysynge and faullynge of our Ocean and 
 Southe sea caulled the sea of Sur. 
 
 Of the strayght or narowe passage of the lande lyinge betwene the North and 
 South sea, by the whiche spyces may much sooner and easlyer lie brought from the 
 Islandes of Molucca into Spayne by the West Ocean then by that way wherby the 
 Portugales sayle into East India. 
 
 Howe thynges that are of one kynde, dyfTer in forme and qualitie, accordynge to 
 the nature of the place where they are engendred or growe. And of the beastes 
 cauled Tygers. 
 
 Of the maners and customes of the Indians of the finne lande, and of theyr women. 
 
 Of the chiefe Ilandes Hispaninla and Cuba. [firme lande. 
 
 Of the lande of Bacoale^ s cauled Ba.ccalea.rum, situate on the North syde of the 
 
 6. Of other notable things, gathered out of dyuers outers. 
 
 1. Of the vniuersal carde and newe worlde. 
 
 2. Of the vya?e made by the Spanyardes rounde abowte the worlde [by Ferdinand 
 
 MAGELHAE.NS : Written in Italian by ANTONIO PIGAFETTA.!
 
 EDEN'S TRANSLATION OF P. MARTYR'S Decades, &c. 13 
 
 3. Of the prices of precious stones and Spices, with theyr weightes and measures 
 
 as they are accustomed to be soulde bothe of the Moores and the gentyles : 
 And of the places where they growe. 
 
 4. The debate and stryfe betwene the Spanyardes and PorUigales, for the diuision 
 
 of the Indies .and the trade of Spices. [Written in Spanish by FRANCISCO 
 
 LfM'EZ DE GOMARA.] 
 
 5. Of the Pole Antartike and the starres abowt the same, &c. [From AMERICUS 
 
 VESPUTIUS, ANDREA DE CORSALI, ALOISIUS CADAMUSTUS.] 
 
 7. Of Moscouie and Cathay. 
 
 1. A discourse of dyuers vyages and wayes by the whiche Spices, Precious stones. 
 
 and golde were brought in owlde tyme from India into Europe and other 
 partes of the world. 
 
 Also ofthevyage to CATHAY and East India by the north sea: And of 
 certeyne secreates touchynge the same vyage, declared by the duke of Mo^ 
 couie his ambassadour to an excellent lerned gentelman of Italic, nameci 
 GALEATIUS BUTKIGARIUS. 
 
 Lykewyse of the vyages of that woorthy owlde man Sebastian Cabote, yet 
 liuynge in.Englande, and at this present the gouernour of the coompany of the 
 marchantes of Cathay in the citie of London. 
 
 2. A briefe description of Moscouia after the later wryters, as SEBASTIAN MUN- 
 
 STFR and IACOBUS BASTAI.DUS. 
 
 3. Of the North regions and of the moderate and continuallheate in coulde regions 
 
 aswell in the nyght as in the day in soomer season. Also howe those regions 
 are habitable to th[e]inhabitauntes of the same, contrary to th[e]opinion of 
 the owlde wryters. 
 
 4. The historic written in the latin toonge by PAULUS louiys bysshoppe of Nuceria 
 
 in Italic, of the legation or ambassade of greate Basilius Prince of Moscouia, 
 to pope Clement the vii. of that name : In which is conteyned the description 
 of Moscouia with the regions confininge abowte the same euen vnto the great 
 and ryche Empire of Cathay. 
 
 5. Other notable thynges concernynge Moscouia gathered owt of the bookes of 
 
 SlGISMUNDUS LlBERUS. 
 
 6. The Letters Missiue of EDWARD VI. in 1553. 
 
 8. Other notable t/tynges as touchynge the Indies [chiefly out of the 
 books of FRANCISCO LOPEZ DE GOMARA, 'and partly also out of the 
 carde made by SEBASTIAN CABOT']. 
 
 Of the foreknowledge that the poet Seneca had of the fyndynge this newe worlde 
 and other regions not then knowen. 
 
 Of the great Ilande which Plato cauled Atlantica or Atlantide. 
 
 Of the colour of the Indians. Why they were cauled Indians. 
 
 The fyrste discoueryrige of the Weste Indies. 
 
 What manner of man Chrystopher Colon was : and howe he came fyrst to the know- 
 ledge of the Indies. 
 
 What labour and trauayle Colon tooke in attemptyng his fyrst vyage to the Indies. 
 
 Of newe Spayne cauled Nona Hispana, or Mexico. Of Peru. 
 
 Of the great ryuer eauled Rio de la Plata (that is) the ryuer of syluer. 
 
 Of the the hygher East India cauled India Tercera or Trecera. 
 
 Of the landes of Laborador and Baccalaos, lyinge west and northwest from Eng- 
 lande, and beinge parte of the firme lande of the West Indies. 
 
 The discouerynge of the lande of Floryda. 
 
 An opinion that Europa, Africa, and Asia, are Ilandes : and of certayne nauigations 
 abowt the snme. 
 
 That the Spanyardes have sayled to the Antipodes (that is) such as go fiete to fiete 
 ageynst vs, &c. 
 
 Who fyrst founde the needle of the compasse, and the vse thereof. 
 
 The Situacion and byggenes of the earth. What degrees are. 
 
 9. The Booke of Metals. 
 
 1. Of the generation of metalles and theyr mynes with the maner of fyndinge the 
 
 same : written in the Italicn lounge by VANNUCCIUS BIRINGUEZIUS in his 
 booke cauled Pyrotechnia. 
 
 2. Of the myne of golde and the Htie thereof in particular. 
 3- Of the myne of siluer and the qualitie thereof. 
 
 4. The maner of workynge in golde mynes of Egipte in owld tyme. 
 
 10. The description of the two viages made cnut oj England into Guinea 
 in A/ricke\\n 1553, 1554]. 
 
 11. The maner of fyndynge the Longitude of regions. 
 
 [AN INDEX OF ABOUT 4000 ARTICLES WILL CONCLUDE THE WHOLE.]
 
 Beprinttf, Imperial 
 
 PETRUCCIO UBALDINI-AUGUSTINE RYTHER 
 
 A Discourse concerning the Spanishe fleete inuad.inge Englande in 
 the yeare 1588 and overthrowne by her Maiesties Nauie vnder the con- 
 duction of the Right-honourable the Lorde Charles Howarde highe 
 Admirall of Englande: written in Italian by PETRUCCIO VBALDINI 
 citizen pf Florence, and translated for A. RYTHER : vnto the which dis- 
 course are annexed certain tables expressinge the generall exploites, and 
 conflictes had with the said fleete. 
 
 These bookes with the tables belonginge to them are to be solde at 
 the shoppe of A. RYTHER, being a little from Leaden hall next to the 
 Signe of the Tower. [1590.] 
 
 The twelve Tables express the following subjects-: 
 
 FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 I. THE SPANISH ARMADA COMING INTO THE CHANNEL, OPPOSITE 
 THE LIZARD ; AS IT WAS FIRST DISCOVERED. 
 
 II. THE SPANISH ARMADA AGAINST FOWEY, DRAWN UP IN THE 
 FORM OF A HALF MOON ; THE ENGLISH FLEET PURSUING. 
 
 III. THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE TWO FLEETS. 
 AFTER WHICH THE ENGLISH GIVE CHASE TO THE SPANIARDS, WHO 
 DRAW THEIR SHIPS INTO A BALL. 
 
 IV. DE VALDEZ'S GALLEON SPRINGS HER FOREMAST, AND is TAKEN 
 BY SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. THE LORD ADMIRAL WITH THE 'BEAR' 
 AND THE 'MARY ROSE,' PURSUE THE ENEMY, WHO SAIL IN THE 
 FORM OF A HALF MOON. 
 
 V. THE ADMIRAL'S SHIP OF THE GUIPUSCOAN SQUADRON HAVING 
 CAUGHT FlRE, IS TAKEN BY THE ENGLISH. THE ARMADA CON- 
 TINUES ITS COURSE, IN A HALF MOON ; UNTIL OFF THE ISLE OF 
 PORTLAND, WHERE ENSUES THE SECOND ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 VI. SOME ENGLISH SHIPS ATTACK THE SPANIARDS TO THE WEST- 
 WARD. THE ARMADA AGAIN DRAWING INTO A BALL, KEEPS ON ITS 
 COURSE FOLLOWED BY THE ENGLISH. 
 
 VII. THE THIRD AND THE SHARPEST FIGHT BETWEEN THE TWO 
 FLEETS : OFF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 VIII. THE ARMADA SAILING UP CHANNEL TOWARDS CALAIS ; THE 
 ENGLISH FLEET FOLLOWING CLOSE. 
 
 IX. THE SPANIARDS AT ANCHOR OFF CALAIS. THE FIRESHIPS 
 APPROACHING. THE ENGLISH PREPARING TO PURSUE. 
 
 X. THE FINAL BATTLE. THE ARMADA FLYING TO THE NORTH- 
 WARD. THE CHIEF GALLEASS STRANDED NEAR CALAIS. 
 
 LARGE MAP SHOWING THE TRACK OF THE ARMADA 
 ROUND THE BRITISH ISLES. 
 
 These plates which, being of the titinost rarity, are also a most valu- 
 able, early, and authoritative representation of the Spanish Invasion 
 .are now being re-engraved in facsimile : and will be issued in the Spring 
 of 1872, at the lowest feasible price : probably HAi.F-A-GuiNEA.
 
 CHOICE BOOKS. 
 
 isl) Bogage to tfye SSHest rtbte$ in 1567-9 
 
 Recounted in the Narratives and Depositions of Sir JOHN HAWKINS 
 and others, who, escaping the surpassing faithlessness and treachery of 
 the new Viceroy for Mexico, Don MARTIN DE HENRIQUEZ, in Vera 
 Cruz harbour on 24 Sept. 1568 on which occasion there were captured 
 the Queen's ship, the Jesiis of Lnbeck, and two other ships, the Angel 
 and the Swallinv, belonging to Hawkins came home in the greatest 
 weakness and distress in the Minion under HAWKINS and the Judith 
 under FRANCIS DRAKE, and at length reached England in January 1569. 
 
 Together with the Narratives of three Survivors of the 1 14 starving 
 and defenceless Englishmen, whom Sir John was compelled to put 
 a land from the Minion on the Mexican shore, north of Tampico, on the 
 8th October 1568 : which number was, within a lew days, reduced by 
 ten, who were killed by the Chichimics: viz. of 
 
 DAVID INGRAM of Barking in Essex, sailor, who with 26 of the company travelled 
 to the NorthiEast. Of which 26; he, with RICHARD BROWNE and RICHARD TWIDE, 
 alone reached Europe : having walked 2000 miles at the least through the North 
 American tribes to Cape Breton, whence they were brought to Havre in a French 
 ship, and so reached England in the autumn of 1569. 
 
 MILES PHILIPS, apparently belonging to the Minion, who, with the remaining 78 
 of the company journeying Westward, fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and were 
 taken to Mexico ; where, after some troubles, they were hired out by proclamation as 
 slaves to the Spaniards living in that countrey. With whom they waxed wealthy, 
 until the advent of the Inquisition in 1574. Whereupon all the English in the coun- 
 try were seized, and after cruel rackings and lengthened examinations, publicly 
 sentenced on 31 March 1575, to various punishments, (three of them to death). In 
 which trouble MILES PHILIPS got off with simply wearing the San Benito for five 
 years in a monastery. At length, escaping in the spring of 1581, through the deserts 
 of Guatemala, he came to Europe in the Spanish fleet of that year, reaching Seville 
 in the following September. After some still further hazards, he succeeded in coming 
 home from Majorca in the English ship Landret, and reached Poole in February 
 1582 : after 16 years' absence. 
 
 JOB HOKTOP of Bourne in Lincolnshire, who was a Gunner in the Jesus of Lubeck, 
 who being also one of the 78 that journeyed Westward, came to Mexico : and did not 
 reach England till 2 Dec. 1590. His own computation of what he underwent in this 
 long period is as follows : "Imprisoned in Mexico, two years; in the Contrataction 
 He 
 Ga 
 
 . three ye 
 
 Total. 23 Years.' 
 
 Also of HAWKINS'S pretended treachery to the King of Spain in 
 11571, so '.hat he made him a Spanish Grandee, &c, 
 
 N PREPARATION. PRICE SIX SHILLINGS. 
 
 LEISURE READINGS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Comprising inter alia, with all necessary elucidations : 
 
 1. Prose extracts, Songs, Ballads, Sonnets, Elegies, Pastorals, &c., expressing either 
 fact, strength of reasoning and imagination, or a keen sense of beauty of style. 
 
 2. Important or scarce Tracts and Poems, too small for separate reproduction, such as 
 would in time past have found their way into the Harleinn Miscellany. 
 
 3. Authors' Prefaces or Apologies for their own writings, as revealing the motives 
 and occasions of their composition. 
 
 4. Discussions of rare books or rare classes of books. 
 
 5. Occasionally : translations from works by Englishmen in Latin or other languages. 
 
 6. Literary curiosities of all kinds. 
 
 . ' . There is no motive fc.r tin inclusion in these volumes oj anything t/tat is not 
 excellent in its way or conducive to restful recreation. 
 
 IN PREPARATION. PRICE FIVE SHILLINGS. EACH VOLUME.
 
 ANNOTATED REPRINTS, 
 
 l)c paston Cetters. 1422-1509. 
 
 EDITED RY JAMES GAIRDNER, ESQ., OF THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. 
 
 Every one knows what a blank is the history of England during the 
 Wars of the two Roses. Amid the civil commotions, literature almost 
 died out. The principal poetry of the period is that of Lydgate, the 
 Monk of Bury. The prose is still more scanty. The monastic Chroni- 
 cles are far less numerous than at earlier periods : and by the end of the 
 Fifteenth Century they seem to have entirely ceased. Thus it has come 
 to pass that less is known of this age than of any other in our history. 
 In this general dearth of information recent historians like Lingard, 
 Turner, Pauli, and Knight, who have treated of the reigns of Henry 
 VI., Edward IV., &c., have found in The Paston Letters not only 
 unrivalled illustration of the Social Life of England, but also most 
 important information, at first hand, as to the Political Events of that 
 time. So that the printed Correspondence is cited page after page in 
 their several histories of this period. 
 
 The Paston Letters have not however been half published. Sir John 
 Fenn's edition, in five volumes 410, 1787-1823, which sells for FIVE 
 GUINEAS, only contains 487 letters, &c. This edition will contain about 
 950, and will be issued in three volumes 8vo, containing about 1700 pp. 
 for ONE GUINEA. 
 
 In proportion to the increased number of the Letters is the facility 
 for arranging them in a strict chronological order. Mr. Gairdner, who 
 has made the Correspondence his especial study for years past, will 
 afford all necessary elucidations of persons, places, and events. Hal- 
 lam's opinion of the Letters, based simply on Fenn's "imperfect edition, 
 is as follows : 
 
 The Paston Letters are an important testimony to the progressive condition of 
 society ; and come in as a precious link in the chain of the moral history of England, 
 which they alone in this period supply. They stand indeed singly, as far as I know, 
 in Europe ; for though it is highly probable that in the archives of Italian families, if 
 not in France or Germany, a series of merely private letters equally ancient may be 
 concealed, I do not recollect that any have been published. They are all written in 
 the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., except a few, that extend as far as Henjy 
 VII., by different members of a wealthy and respectable, but not noble, family ; and 
 are, therefore, pictures of the life of the English gentry of that age. Introduction 
 to the Literature of Europe, i. 228. Ed. 1837. 
 
 Vol. I., comprising the reign of Henry VI. is far advanced, and will 
 be ready about March 1872; price SEVEN SHILLINGS in cloth. 
 
 Vols. II. and III. (Edward IV., Edward V., Richard III., Henry 
 VII.), will appear about a year later. 
 
 . ' '. If one hundred Gentlemen will send in their names to me for a 
 Large Paper Edition ; I ivtfl start sitch an impression at Three Guineas 
 for the Three volumes, FOOLSCAP QUARTO, stiff covers, uncut edges: 
 payable as the books are ready for delivery. E. A. 
 
 5 QUEEN SQUARE. BLOOMSBUP.Y. LONDON. W.C.
 
 This book is DUE on the last 
 date stamped below.
 
 A 000229176 3