have been made on Richard Calle this week, so that he was in great jeopardy at Norwich among them; and great affrays have been made upon me and my fellowship here on Monday last past, of which Richard Calle telleth me that he hath sent you word of in writing more plainly than I may do at this time, but I shall inform you more plainly hereafter. I suppose there shall be great labour against you and your servants at the assizes and sessions here, wherefore me seemeth, saving your better advice, it were well done that ye should speak with the justices ere they come here; and if ye will that I complain to them or to any other, if Good (God) fortune me life and health, I will do as ye advise me to do, for in good faith I have been simply entreated among them, and what with sickness and trouble that I have had, I am brought right low and weak, but to my power I will do as I can or may in your matters. The Duke of Suffolk and both the duchesses shall come to Claxton this day, as I am informed, and this next week he shall be at Cossey; whether he will come further hitherward or not I wot not yet; it is said that he should come hither, and yet his men said here on Monday that he claimed no title to this place. They said their coming was but to take out such riotous people as was here within this place, and such as were the king's felons, and indicted and outlawed men, nevertheless they would show no warrants whereby to take none such, though there had been such here. I suppose if they might have come in peaceably they would have made another cause of their coming. When all was done and they should depart, Harleston and other desired me that I should come and see mine old lady, and sue to my lord, and if anything were amiss it should be amended. I said if I should sue for any remedy that I should sue further, and let the king and all the lords of this land to have knowledge what hath been done to us, if so were that the Duke would maintain that hath been done to us by his servants, if ye would give me leave. I pray you send me word if ye will that I make any complaint to the Duke or the Duchess, for as it is told me they know not the plainness that hath been done in such things as hath been done in their names.* I should write much more to you but for lack of leisure. I commanded my master Tom this day to have come again by me from Norwich when he had spoken with Richard Calle, but he came not; I would he were quit of his indictment so that he were quit of your service, for by my truth I hold the place the more ungracious that he is in for his disposition in divers things, the which ye shall be informed of hereafter. The Trinity have you in keeping. Written the Friday next after Saint Thomas. By your MARGARET PASTON. Friday, 12th of July, 1465. 5 E. IV. LETTER CCXXXVII.—(LVII. vol. iv. p. 225.) The ease and familiar style of this letter will not be displeasing to the reader; perhaps he will smile at the particular directions concerning J. Paston's hose, and his minute description of the hosier. To my mistress, Margaret Paston, be this delivered in haste at London. AFTER all humble and most due recommendation, as lowly as I can, I beseech you of your blessing; please it you to weet that I have sent to my father to have an answer of lengths without the Duke's knowledge, and that she appears to believe the report to be true. 3 [In original pleynesse,-fulness or extent.] 4 [This is not the language or style of thought that would be used by a people accustomed to the oppression of an overpowering aristocracy. Dukes and Duchesses appear to weigh very little with Margaret Paston, while she feels conscious of her right.] such matters as I have sent to him for in haste, of which matters the greatest of substance is for the manor of Cotton, beseeching you to remember him of the same matter that I may have an answer in the most hasty wise. Also I pray you that mine aunt Poynings may be desired to send me an answer of such matters as she woteth of by him that shall bring me an answer of the matter of Cotton. Also, mother, I beseech you that there may be purveyed some mean that I might have sent me home by the same messenger two pair of hose, one pair black and another pair of russet, which be ready made for me at the hosier's with the crooked back, next to the Black Friar's-gate within Ludgate; John Pampynge knoweth him well enough I suppose, and (if) the black hose be paid for he will send me the russet unpaid for; I beseech you that this gear be not forgotten, for I have not an whole hose for to don; I trow they shall cost both pair 8s. My brother, and my sister Anne,2 and all the garrison of Heylesdon fare well, blessed be God, and recommend them to you everych (every) one. I pray you visit the Rood of Northdoor and St. Saviour at Bermondsey,3 among while ye abide (during your abode) in London, and let my sister Margery go with you to pray to them that she may have a good husband ere she come home again: and now I pray you send us some tidings as ye were wont to command me; and the Holy Trinity have you in keeping; and my fair mistress of the Fleet. Written at Norwich, on Holy Rood day. Your son and lowly servant, JOHN PASTON, the youngest. Norwich, Saturday, 14th of September, 1465.5 E IV. LETTER CCXXXVIII.—(LVIII. vol. iv. p. 227.) We who fortunately live at a time of peace and domestic tranquillity, can scarcely believe the picture of savage manners here represented: if the Duke of Suffolk were ignorant of, or did not even encourage such proceedings, it can hardly be supposed that his retainers dared to have done such mischief; they certainly must know that what they did would not meet with their lord's displeasure. Their behaviour in the church is very extraordinary, as papists almost universally pay great respect not only to their priests, but to their places of public worship, esteeming them as sacred, and on no pretence to be violated or profaned. On the back of the original letter is written in an ancient hand, "A Lre concerning the extreme dealing of the Duke of Suff. at Haylesdon." [These cases of disputed right, and actions of ejectment, seem ever to have been conducted with singular rudeness and barbarity. The scene here depicted, and which Fenn says we can scarcely believe, is by no means of unfrequent occurrence at the present day in Ireland. The presence of the bailiffs of Eye and Stradbroke clearly shows that it was a legal proceeding, though Margaret Paston calls it a robbery. All excesses of the acting agents are of course uniformly repudiated by their employers.] To my right worshipful husband, John Paston, be this delivered in haste. RIGHT worshipful husband, I recommend me to you; please it you to weet that I was at Heylesdon upon Thursday last past, and saw the place there, and in good faith there will no creature think how foully and horribly it is arrayed but if (unless) they saw it; there cometh much people daily to wonder thereupon, both of Norwich and of other places, and they speak shamefully thereof; the Duke had by better than a thousand pound that it had never been done, and ye have the more good will of the people that it is so foully done; and they made your tenants of Heyles 1 Sir John Paston. 2 Anne Paston, afterwards wife of W. Yelverton. 3 The Abbey of Saint Saviour at Bermondsey, in Surrey, was founded in 1081, 15th William the Conqueror, by Alwin Child of London; it was surrendered in 1539, 31 H. VIII. when it was pulled don and Drayton, with other, to help to break down the walls of the place and the lodge both, God knoweth full evil against their wills, but that they durst none other wise do for fear; I have spoken with your tenants of Heylesdon and Drayton both, and put them in comfort as well as I can: the Duke's men ransacked the church, and bare away all the good that was left there, both of ours and of the tenants, and left not so much but that they stood upon the high altar and ransacked the images, and took away such as they might find, and put away the parson out of the down, and a fair house built on the site by Sir Thomas Pope, knight. 4 Margery Paston, she afterwards married Richard Calle. 5 [In original arayed, doubtlessly for harried or herried-damaged or destroyed.] church till they had done; and ransacked every man's house in the town five or six times; and the chief masters of robbing was the bailiff of Eye, the bailiff of Stradbrook, Thomas Slyford, and Porter; and Slyford was the chief robber of the church, and he hath most of the robbery next the bailiff of Eye; and as for lead, brass, pewter, iron, doors, gates, and other stuff of the house, men of Cossey and Cawston have it, and that they might not carry they have hewn asunder in the most despiteous wise. If it might be I would some men of worship might be sent from the king to see how it is both there and at the Lodge, ere than any snows1 come, that they may make report of the truth, else it shall not mowe be seen so plainly as it may now; and at the reverence of God speed your matters now, for it is too horrible a cost and trouble that we have now daily, and must have till it be otherwise; and your men dare not go about to gather up your livelihood, and we keep here daily more than thirty persons for savation of us and the place, for in very truth and (if) the place had not been kept strong the Duke had come hither. Arblaster thinketh verily that Hugh a Fenn may do much in your matters, and he thinketh he will do for you faithfully if ye will, &c. At the reverence of God, if any worshipful and profitable mean may be taken in your matters, forsake it not in eschewing of our trouble and great costs and charges that we have, and may grow hereafter; it is thought here that if my Lord of Norfolk would take upon him for you, and that he may have a commission for to inquire of such riots and robberies as hath been done to you and other in this country, that then all the country will await upon him and serve your intent, for the people loveth and dreadeth him more than any other lord, except the king and my Lord of Warwick, &c. God have you in his keeping, and send us good tidings from you. Written in haste, upon the Sunday Saint Simon and Jude's By yours, even. Sunday, MARGARET PASTON. LETTER CCXXXIX.-(LIX. vol. iv. p. 233.) There is no direction to this letter, but the line which precedes it is written in an ancient hand upon the back of it. The first imprisonment of John Paston was in consequence of a writ of trespass brought against him by William Jenny, Esq., serjeant-at-law, in Easter Term, 4 E. IV. 1464, when the issue being found for the plaintiff, a capias pro fine was awarded for the king; Paston absconded, and the exigent was awarded and directed to the sheriff of Suffolk, and he was called at four county courts; but before the fifth he surrendered himself and was committed to the Fleet. The second was in 1465, upon a vile suggestion that he was a bondsman of the king. He died in London the 26th of May, 1466, and was buried in the Priory of Bromholm, in Norfolk. A letter to John Paston, Esq., from his wife, showing his imprisonment in the Fleet. RIGHT worshipful husband I recommend me to you; please it you to weet that I received your letter that ye sent me by John Holme on Wednesday last past, and also I received another letter on Friday at night that ye sent me by Nicholas Newman's man, of the which letters I thank you, for I should else have thought that it had been worse with you than it hath been or shall be, by the grace of Almighty God, and yet I could not be merry since I had the last letter, till this day that the mayor sent to me, and sent me word that 1 If we may judge from the mention of snow here, the winters began earlier at this period than at the present seasons, we having very rarely now any considerable fall of snow before Christmas. he had knowledge for very truth that ye were delivered out of the Fleet; and that Howard was committed to ward for divers great complaints that were made to the king of him; it was talked in Norwich and in divers other places in the country on Saturday last past that ye were committed to the Fleet, and in good faith, as I have heard say, the people was right sorry thereof, both of Norwich and in the country, ye are right much bound to thank God, and all those that love you, that have so great love of the people as ye have; ye are much beholden to the mayor, and to ye 2 Thomas Ellis was Mayor of Norwich in 1460, and again in 1465. Gilbert,' and to divers others of the aldermen, for faithfully they owe you good will to their powers. I have spoken with Sir Thomas Howes for such things as ye wrote to me for, and he promised me that he should labour it after your intent as fast as he could, and in good faith, as my brother and Playters can tell you, as by his saying to us he is and will be faithful to you; and as for William Worcester he hath been set so upon the hone," what by the parson and by others, as my brother and Playters shall tell you, that they hope he will do well enough; the parson said right well and plainly to him. The parson told me that he had spoken with Sir William Chamberlayn, and with his wife, and he thinketh that they will do well enough after your intent so that they be pleasantly entreated; and the parson told me that he wist well that Sir William Chamberlayn could do more ease in such matters as ye wrote of touching my Lord of Bedford than any man could do that liveth at this day; also he told me that he felt by them that they would owe you right good will, so that ye would owe them good will; the parson hopeth verily to make you accorded when he cometh to London. 4 Item, my brother and Playters were with Calthorpe to inquire of the matter that ye wrote to me of, what answer he gave them they shall tell you; I sent the parson of Heylesdon to Gurney to speak to him of the same matter, and he saith faithfully there was no such thing desired of him, and though it had been desired, he would neither have said nor done against you; he said he had ever found you loving and faithful to him, and so he said he would be to you to his power, and desiring me that I would not think him the contrary. As for John Gros he is at Sloley, therefore he might not be spoken with. 1 John Gilbert had been mayor in 1459 and in 1464. He died in 1472. 2 This expression is taken from setting a razor, and means that he had been talked to not only in a smooth, but likewise in a sharp and severe manner. 3 Thomas Hert was instituted to the rectory of Heylesdon in 1448. Thomas Gurney, of Norwich, Esq., died in 1471. I pray you that ye will send me word whether ye will that I shall remove from hence, for it beginneth to wax a cold abiding here. Sir Thomas Howes and John Russ shall make an end of all things after your intent, as much as they can do therein this week, and he proposeth to come forwards to you on the Monday next after St. Leonard's day. My brother and Playters should have been with you ere this time, but that they would abide till this day were past, because of the shire. I spoke to my brother William as ye bade me, and he told me, so God him help, that he hired two horses two days before that ye rode that he might have ridden forth with you; and because that ye spoke not to him to ride with you, he said that he wend ye would have had him with you. Thomas Fastolf's mother was here on the next day after ye were ridden, to have spoken with you for her son, he (and) she prayeth you at the reverence of God that ye will be his good master, and to help him in his right, that he may have home his livelihood out of their hands that have it in his nonage; she saith that they would make him a year younger than he is, but she saith that he is more than twenty-one, and upon that she dare take an oath. And the blessed Trinity have you in his keeping, and send you good speed in all your matters, and send ye victory of all your enemies. Written in haste, on Soulmas 7 day. 5 The word not seems here to have been omitted in the original letter. [In the original "he seyd yt he woud ye wold have had hym wt yow." Meaning we think-and because you did not ask him to ride with you, he had said that he thought or wished ye would have had him with you.] 6 I am not certain in what degree of relationship this Thomas Fastolf stood to Sir John Fastolf; he was, I believe, a cousin, and a Suffolk branch of the Fastolf family, as a Thomas Fastolf resided near Ipswich in 1474. See Letter lxx. 54. P. 7 All-souls, otherwise Soulmas day, 2d of November. LETTER CCXL.-(LX. vol. iv. p. 241.) John Wymondham, Esq., the writer of this letter, married Margery, the daughter of Sir Robert Clifton, knight, of Denver, in Norfolk, and widow of Sir Edward Hastings, of Elsing, knight; he therefore calls her" my lady." He died in 1475. He purchased the manor and estate at Felbrigge of the trustees of Sir Simon Felbrigge, where he had resided; but once in his absence Sir John Felbrigge made a forcible entry, and dragging out his lady by the hair of her head (who had locked herself up in a chamber to keep possession), got into possession, and retained it till Wymondham obtained the king's order to Thomas Montgomery, Esq., high-sheriff of the county, to put him again into possession. The dispute was then settled with Sir John Felbrigge, and upon Wymondham's paying to him two hundred marks (1331. 6s. 8d.) he released all claims, &c. This letter seems to have been written during the time that he was dispossessed of Felbrigge, and which must have been either before the year 1461 or 1466, those being the years in which Sir Thomas Montgomery was sheriff of Norfolk; and as J. Paston at this time seems to have been under misfortunes, it was probably near the latter year. I have therefore ventured, though doubtfully, to date the letter in 1465. This letter is curious, as it acquaints us with the ordinary and plain manners of the time. To my worshipful cousin, John Paston. RIGHT worshipful cousin, I commend me to you; and forasmuch as there was a child dead at Astley's, and another like to be dead in the same place, what time that I rode out about my little livelihood, my lady and I both thought pity on my mistress your wife to see her abide there, and desired her to come to my poor house unto such time as ye should a be otherwise avised (provided), which if it please you I am right well apayed (contented). Sythen (since) I understand by my lady that ye desire to know whether that I should abide here still or not; as to that I have none other place that I would abide at, and my lady saith how she is advised to end her life here; also she saith how ye desire to have a stable within my place; and as to that, a faith, Sir, I have none but that must needs serve for my wood; as for a chamber ye shall have one for your men all ready; and as Norwich, 0th of November, 1465. touching a stable Sir John Sparham and I Written at Norwich, on Saint Martin's even. 5 E. IV. D Hmwn Ham LETTER CCXLI.-(LXI. vol. iv. p. 243.) I have given this letter to show the estimation that John Paston's assistance was held in; for the present of an hundred marks to secure his friendship was a very large sum in these days. From this letter we are likewise acquainted with the disputes subsisting between Felbrigge and Wymondham. The date cannot be clearly ascertained, but I have placed it in the January after J. Wymondham's letter, but whether rightly or not I cannot say. To my cousin, Paston, be this delivered in haste. RIGHT reverend and worshipful cousin, I commend me unto you, desiring to hear of your welfare, the which the Almighty Jesu preserve to his pleasaunce, and to your own |