The Paston Letters Volume Iii Part 22

_To my right trusty and welbeloved frend, John Paston, Squier._

[Sidenote: About 1456(?)]

Right trusty and welbeloved frend, I grete you hertly well. And for as mych as I u[ndyrstond] a bill was made at Yermuth 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 benyvolence, wherof I thanke you right hertely. I pray G.o.d have you in governance.

Writen at Midelton, the xx. day of Septembre.

Zowr frend,

SCALES.

[Footnote 100.5: [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.]

344

ARCHBISHOP BOURCHIER TO JOHN PASTON[101.1]

_To our right truste and right welbeloved John Paston, Esquier, and William Norwiche[101.2] and to either of theym._

[Sidenote: 1456 / SEPT. 7]

Right truste and right welbeloved, we grete you hertly wel. And where as Sir Nichol Bowet, Knight, sueth an appeelle in the 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 s.h.i.+rreve of the saide countee to surceese of the execucion of any processe upon the exigent[101.3] 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 G.o.d have you ever in his keping.

Written in our Manoir of Mortelake, the vij. daie of September.

T., ARCHBYSSHOPP OF CANTERBURY.

[Footnote 101.1: [From Fenn, iii. 276.] This letter may be presumed to have been written during the time that Archbishop Bourchier was Lord Chancellor, viz. between 7th March 1455 and 11th 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.]

[Footnote 101.2: Sheriff of Norwich, 1455; Mayor, 1461. Died, 1463-4.--Blomefield.]

[Footnote 101.3: _See_ vol. ii. p. 248, Note 4.]

345

JOHN BOCKING TO JOHN PASTON[102.1]

_To my right wors.h.i.+pful Maister, John Paston._

[Sidenote: 1456 / OCT. 8]

Right wors.h.i.+pful 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,[102.2] bothe of ravishement and th'attachement, the declaracions ar made _tunc 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 to have _per ma.n.u.s Johannis Wyngfelde_ it wole not be, for we can not bringe it inne, and also it is to late.

And as for iiij^{xx}_li._ [_fourscore pounds_],[102.3] 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 n.o.ble.

And he hath written to yow of the matere of Sir Philip Wentworthe touching this writte of _liberate_,[102.4] whiche is but a color and noo warant sufficient, ner we owe not to doo no thinge that shuld obeye it, ner the s.h.i.+reve 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 _supersedies_ [_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 _de custodia liberanda_, whiche may not be denyed. And if we myght have _una c.u.m exitibus a tempore mortis_, it were a sovereigne writte. It shalbe a.s.saied, 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}_li._ [_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 G.o.d graunte thei take good spede.

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 t.i.tle 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.[103.1] The Counsail be ganne there yesterday, and my Lord Shrewyshbury,[103.2]

Tresorier of England, and John Wode shalb [_shall be_] Under-Tresorer.

Thus thei say in the Chequer.

Your owen,

J. B.

[Footnote 102.1: [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 wards.h.i.+p of Thomas Fastolf. The postscript alone relates to public matters.

The date will appear by the footnotes.]

[Footnote 102.2: Against Sir Philip Wentworth.]

[Footnote 102.3: This sum was to be paid by John Bocking and William Worcester for a patent of the wards.h.i.+p of Thomas Fastolf. --_See_ Letter 347 following.]

[Footnote 102.4: _See_ p. 77, Note 5.]

[Footnote 103.1: The Privy Seal dates show the King to have been at Coventry between the 20th September and the 14th October 1456.]

[Footnote 103.2: John Talbot, second Earl of Shrewsbury, was appointed Treasurer on the 5th October 1456.--_Patent Roll_, 35 Hen. VI., p. 1, m. 16.]

346

BOTONER TO JOHN PASTON[104.1]

_To my Maister Paston._

[Sidenote: 1456(?) / OCT. 12]

Please 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 apposyng,[104.2]

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 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; yff it take well to theyr entent, then it ys her [_their_] doyng. And yn G.o.de 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 connyng 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 Heydon, 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 G.o.d, my maister lost c. marc by a seute of Margyt Bryg upon a defence of atteynt, because a quest pa.s.sed 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 deffended, at my maister grete cost and labour, and 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 parson ys wellfare asmoch as man lyvyng, to my wreched power; and yff, or when, ye hyre onye froward ymagynacions, I pray yow gefe no credence tille ye hyre it aunsuerd. I am eased of my spyrytes now that I hafe expressed my leude [_ignorant_] menyng, because of my felow Barker, as of such othyr berkers ayenst the mone, to make wys.e.m.e.n laugh at her foyle. Our Lord kepe yow.

Wryt at Castre the xij. day of October.

Your