LETTER XXVIII.-(XI. vol. i. p. 45.) To my right worshipful cousin, John Paston, of Norwich, Esq. RIGHT worshipful sir, I recommend me unto you in the most goodly wise that I can; and forasmuch as ye desired of me to send you word of divers matters here, which have been opened in the parliament openly, I send you of them such as I can. First most especial, that for very truth upon Saturday that last was, the Duke of Suffolk was taken in the sea, and there he was beheaded, and his body with the appurtenance set at land at Dover; and all the folks that he had with him were set to land, and had none harm. Also the king hath somewhat granted to have the resumption again, in some but not in all, &c. Also if ye purpose to come hither to put up your bills, ye may come now in a good time, for now every man that hath any they put them in, and so may ye if ye come, with God's grace to your pleasure.1 Furthermore, upon the 4th day of this month, the Earl of Devonshire' came hither with 300 men well beseen 3 [provided], &c. and upon the morrow after, my Lord of Warwick, with 400 and more, &c. Also as it is noised here, Calais shall be besieged within this seven days, &c. God save the king, and send us peace, &c. Довил франя Leicester, Wednesday, 6th of May, 1450, 28 H. VI. LETTER XXIX.-(XII. Vol. i. p. 53.) Thomas Howys appears to have been a superintendent of Sir John Fastolf's affairs at Caister. He was rector of Blofield in Norfolk, from about 1460 to 1471; and was one of Sir John's executors. Castlecomb is in Wiltshire. [For a notice of Sir J. Fastolf, see a subsequent Letter.] To my trusty and well-beloved friend, Sir Thomas Howys, Parson of Castlecomb. TRUSTY and well-beloved friend, I greet you well. (Here follow some orders respecting his affairs at Caister.) And I pray you send me word who dare be so hardy to kick against you in my right; and say (to) them on my half (behalf) that they shall be quyt5 [requited], as far as law and reason will; and if they will not dread nor obey that, then they shall be quyt by Blackbeard or 1 Here follows some advice relative to some private bills of J. Paston, to be presented to the parliament. 2 Thomas Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, was taken at the battle of Towton in 1461, and afterwards beheaded, by order of Edward IV., he having revolted from Edward to Henry VI. 3 [Fenn explains this word, "A fine body of men well arrayed and accoutred."] 4 The Cranes were a good family, flourishing at his time in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, 6 Whitebeard, that is to say, by God or the devil; and therefore I charge you, send me word whether such as have been mine adversaries before this time continue still in their wilfulness, &c. Item, I hear ofttimes many strange reports of demenys of the governance of my place at Caister and other places, as in my chatell approving, in my wines, the keeping of my and the writer of this letter appears to have belonged to the court. 5 [Fenn translates quiet in this and the following instance.] 6 Swearing, we are told by some of our historians, was the fashion of the time, and we are here presented with one of the usual oaths. 7 [Perhaps from the French demence, follies, madness; or misdemeanors. Fenn translates the demeaning. As in my chattel approving," &c., is-as is proved in my chattels, &c.] This letter was written in 1465, 5 E. IV.; but it relates so entirely to a transaction in June and July, 1450, 28 H. VI. that I have thought it better to place it here, according to the date of the event it records, than according to the date of the time when it was written. It presents to us a certain and curious account of the commons of Kent, when assembled at Blackheath under Cade in 1459, and was written by J. Payn (then a servant to Sir John Fastolf) who was taken by them, carried about with them, and threatened to have been beheaded, &c. It truly shows to us the violence and barbarity of a body of men, collected chiefly from the meanest of the people, combined together for the pretended purpose of reformation; but really for the destruction of all good order and legal government. J. Payn had been formerly a servant to Sir John Fastolf of some consequence, and was now a petitioner for some relief, on account of his losses and misfortunes, while a prisoner, &c., with the rebels, from John Paston, one of the executors of Sir John Fastolf's will. To my right honourable master, John Paston. RIGHT honourable and my right entirely beloved master, I recommend me unto you with all manner of due reverence in the most lowly wise, as me ought to do, evermore desiring to hear of your worshipful state, prosperity, and welfare; the which I beseek (beseech) God, of his abundant grace, increase and maintain to his most pleasance and to your heart's desire. Pleaseth it, your good and gracious mastership, tenderly to consider the great losses and hurts that your poor petitioner hath, and hath had, ever since the commons of Kent came to the Blackheath, and that is at fifteen years passed; whereas my master, Sir John Fastolf, knight, that is your testator, commanded your beseecher to take a man, and two of the best horses that were in his stable, with him, to ride to the commons of Kent to get the articles that they come for; and so I did, and all so soon as I came to the Blackheath, the captain' made the commons to take me; and for the savation (saving) of my master's horses, I made my fellow to ride away with the two horses; and Jack Cade; he called himself John Mortimer, of the house of March, he was likewise styled Captain Mend-all. It cannot be supposed that the Duke of Exeter, I was brought forthwith before the Captain of Kent; and the captain demanded (of) me, what was my cause of coming thither, and why that I made my fellow to steal away with the horses; and I said that I came thither to cheer with my wife's brethren, and others that were mine allies, and gossips of mine, that were present there; and then was there one there and (who) said to the captain that I was one of Sir John Fastolf's men, and the two horses were Sir John Fastolf's; and then the captain let cry Treason upon me throughout all the field, and brought me at four parts of the field, with a herald of the Duke of Exeter 2 before me, in the Duke's coat-of-arms, making four oyez at four parts of the field; proclaiming openly by the said herald, that I was sent thither for to espy their puissance and their habiliments of war, from the greatest traitor that was in England or in France, as the said captain made proclamation at that time, from one Sir John Fastolf, knight, the which minished (diminished) all the garrisons of Normandy, and Manns, and Mayn, the a faithful Lancastrian, took any part in this com motion, but it is probable his herald might be forced into the service of the rebels [or the herald might have joined the rebels of his own accord]. which was the cause of the losing of all the king's title and right of an heritance that he had beyond sea. And moreover, he said that the said Sir John Fastolf had furnished his place with the old soldiers of Normandy, and habiliments of war, to destroy the commons of Kent when that they came to Southwark, and therefore he said plainly that I should lose my head; and so forthwith I was taken, and led to the captain's tent, and one axe and one block was brought forth to have smitten off mine head; and then my master Poynyngs2 your brother, with other of my friends came, and letted (prevented) the captain, and said plainly, that there should die an hundred or two that in case be that I died; and so by that mean my life was saved at that time. And then I was sworn to the captain, and to the commons, that I should go to Southwark and array me in the best wise that I could, and come again to them to help them; and so I got the articles, and brought them to my master, and that cost me more amongst the commons that day than 27s. Whereupon I came to my master Fastolf, and brought him the articles, and informed him of all the matter, and counselled him to put away all his habiliments of war, and the old soldiers, and so he did, and went himself to the Tower, and all his meny 3 [household] with him but Betts and one Matthew Brayn; and had I not been, the commons would have brenned (burnt) his place and all his tenuries; where though it cost me of my own proper goods at that time more than six marks (47.) in meat and drink, and (yet) notwithstanding the captain that same time let take me at the White Hart in Southwark, and there commanded Lovelace to despoil me out of mine array, and so he did; and there he took a fine gown of muster devillers furred with fine beavers, [This must mean Fastolf's house in Southwark, alluded to in Letter cxxxi.] 2 Robert Poynyngs married Elizabeth, the sister of J. Paston, and was sword-bearer and carver to Cade. 3 [Fenn translates-family.] 4 Probably some kind of velvet. 5 A coat of mail, consisting of many-jointed and scale-like plates, &c. and one pair of brigandines 5 covered with blue velvet and gilt nails, with leg-harness; the value of the gown and the brigandines 81. Item, the captain sent certain of his meny to my chamber in your rents, and there (they) broke up my chest, and took away one obligation of mine that was due unto me of 361. by a priest of Paul's, and one other obligation of one knight of 10., and my purse with five rings of gold, and 17s. 6d. of gold and silver; and one harness complete of the touch of Milan: and one gown of fine perse blue, furred with martens; and two gowns, one furred with bogey, (budge,) and one other lined with frieze; and there would have smitten off mine head when that they had despoiled me at (the) White Hart; and there my master Poynyngs and my friends saved me, and so I was put up, till at night that the battle was at London Bridge; and then at night the captain put me out into the battle at the bridge, and there I was wounded, and hurt near hand to death; and there I was six hours in the battle, and might never come out thereof; and four times before that time I was carried about throughout Kent and Sussex, and there they would have smitten off my head; and in Kent there as (where) my wife dwelled, they took away all our goods moveable that we had; and there would have hanged my wife and five of my children, and left her no more goods but her kirtle and her smock; and anon after that hurling (commotion), the Bishop of Rochester? impeached me to the queen, and so I was arrested by the queen's commandment into the Marshalsea, and there was in right great duress, and fear of mine life, and was threatened to have been hanged, drawn, and quartered; and so (they) would have made me have impeach my master Fastolf of treason, 8 6 [Rents is a house or building. The term exists yet in London, in Fulwood's Kents, near Gray's Inn, and a few other instances.] 7 John Lowe, a learned divine. 8 Why this attempt was made upon him to accuse his master, Sir John Fastolf, of treason I cannot conceive, unless it was, because Sir John left his house, &c. in Southwark, and retired to the Tower, instead of resisting and attacking the rebels. After J. Paston had received this letter, it seems as if he had sent it to my Lord Oxford, for on the back of it, in J. Paston's hand-writing, is the following direction. "To the rith worspfull and my rith speciall Lord my Lord of Oxenford." The estates in dispute between J. Paston and my Lord Molyns were at Gresham in Norfolk, where Sir William Paston, the judge, had purchased the moiety of a manor, &c. of Thomas Chaucer, Esq. The other moiety now in dispute had been in the possession of the ancestors of Ellenor (now the wife of Robert Hungerford, Lord Molyns), who was the daughter and heir of Sir William Molyns, Lord Molyns, who was killed at the siege of Orleans in 1428, and had likewise come into Sir William's possession. The disputes were carried on for several years, and how at last finally settled I know not. To my right especial muster, John Paston, in haste. RIGHT worthy worshipful Sir, and mine especial master, I recommend me to you, and pray you weet that I was yesterday at my Lord Chancellor's house, and there I spake with White, and he told me that he had the letter that ye sued for from directed to the Lord Molyns of that substance that ye had sued to him for an especial assise and an oyer and determiner,3 and that he should command his men being at Gresham to depart thence, and that the profits thereof should be received by an indifferent person, safely to be kept till the right were determined between you and my Lord Molyns, &c., which letter White sent forth by a man of my Lord Chancellor to the Lord Molyns. And he sent his answer in writing of this substance, that it should not like my Lord Chancellor to grant assise, &c., forasmuch as the Lord Molyns had sore belaboured in his country to pease (appease) and still the people there to restrain them from rising, and so he was daily laboured there about in the king's service, and that considered, he trusted verily that there should none assise be granted to your intent; and he said further in his answer, if he might attend to be in Nor 1 William de Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester, he was soon after succeeded by John Kemp, Archbishop of York. A writ directed to the sheriff for recovery of possession of things immoveable, whereof yourself or ancestors have been disseised. Is a commission especially granted to certain persons for the hearing and determining of causes, folk, and leave the necessary service that he did to the king now in Wiltshire, he would be but well pleased that you had your assize, for he knew his title and his evidence so good for his part, that he durst well put it in my Lord Chancellor and in what judge he would call to him; and where (as) my Lord Chancellor desired him to avoid his men, from Gresham, he trusted that my lord would not desire that, because he had his possession, and that it was his wife's right, and so him thought it against reason that he should avoid utterly his possession. This same Monday goeth my Lord Chancellor and my Lord of Buckingham into Kent, to sit upon an oyer and determiners at Rochester, and White told me that there is written a general oyer and determiner to be in Norfolk; and that therefore, and for the Lord Molyns writing, him seemeth it is not to your avail to sue for an especial assise nor for an oyer and determiner. When I came hitherward, I met with my Lord of Norfolk, between Barkway and Baberham homeward, and whether he shall come again hither or not I wot not, but I trow ra and was formerly only in use upon some sudden outrage or insurrection in any place. 4 These disturbances amongst the people were the remains of Cade's rebellion, which had been lately suppressed. These commissions of oyer and determiner were to try those who had been concerned in the late rebellion under Cade. ther yes than nay, for it is said that all the lords be sent for to be here on Monday or Tuesday next coming for a council. The Chief Justice' is not here, nor none other justice, except Danvers, (who) is now made Judge of the Common Pleas, and is forth into Kent with the lords, &c. All this tofore was written on the Monday next after our Lady-day (17th of August), and this same Wednesday was it told that Cherburg is gone, and we have not now a foot of land in Normandy, and men are afraid that Calais will be besieged hastily, &c. Pynchamore shall tell you by mouth more than I have leisure to write now to you. I wrote to mine em. that there were nine or ten thousand men up in Wiltshire, and I had it of the report of Whittock's mede (? maid) but I trow it is not so, for here is now little speech thereof, nevertheless if I hear more I shall send you word hereafter by some loaders (carriers) that come to Saint Bartholomew's fair. Written in haste at London, the Wednesday next after our Lady-day, &c. (the Assumption, 15th August.) Your own simple Servant, London, Wednesday, 19th of August, 1450, LETTER XXXII.-(XXI. vol. iii. p. 93.) I have given this letter, as it informs us of the price and value of land at this period. Fourteen years' purchase seems high, since it does not appear that Sir John bought it for its convenience, as he mentions selling it again. By calling it "Heigham's Place," I suppose there was a house as well as land. In 1470, twenty years after this time, the reward offered for apprehending the Duke of Clarence was 10007. in money, or 100/. a-year in land. This seems to fix land at that period at only ten years' purchase; perhaps the preceding civil wars had caused this abatement in its value. [This Sir John Fastolf seems to have been a thoroughly worldly, money-getting man, and his letters must set at rest the statement that Shakspere had him in his mind in his character of Sir John Falstaff. There is, indeed, not one feature of resemblance.] Το my right trusty friend Sir Thomas Howys, parson of Castlecombe, being at Caister, and William Barker, in haste, at Caister Inn, by Yarmouth. RIGHT trusty and well-beloved friend, I greet you well, and as for Heigham's Place to be sold, as ye advise me to buy it at the sum of an hundred marks (661. 13s. 4d.) or within, and reserving in the said payment mine own duty, and pay the remanent in wool to the said Heigham's creditors, as your letter maketh mention; I have understood that William Jenney shall be here this week, and I shall veele (feel) him how near may be sold; for if the widow will sell it after fourteen year or fifteen year, that it may be lett, send me ut terly word, for I will not melle (meddle) of it else thus advised; and send ye me word how much more in value in a stone shall I sell my wool, and how another chapman will give me for the place when I have bought it; but after [the rate of?] fourteen year I would buy the place. Written at London, the 15th day of October, in the 29th year of King Henry VI. JOHN FASTOLF. London, Thursday, 15th of October, 1450, 29 H. VI. LETTER XXXIII.—(XXII. vol. iii. p. 95.) [THIS letter is from James Gresham in London, to J. Paston at Norwich, dated about October, 1 John Hody was at this time Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 2 Robert Danvers became a judge of the Common Pleas 14th of August, 1450. 1450, and contains merely details of legal proceedings, in which J. Paston was engaged.] |