The Paston Letters Volume Vi Part 25

Sir William Car[ew].

Sir John Wy[ndham].

Sir Simond ... .

Sir Roger Be[llingham].

Sir John ... . .

Sir George Nevil . .

Sir Robert Radcly[ff].

Sir Jamys Par[ker].

Sir Edward Dar[ell].

Sir Edward Pekeryn[g].

Sir Thomas of W[olton].

Sir William Sand[es].

A mutilated endors.e.m.e.nt in Sir John Paston's hand reads, '... . .

prisoners ... . . fownd.'

[Footnote 101-1: [Add. MS. 34,889, f. 135.] This is only a fragment, the first part of which is lost. The seven names at the beginning are the end of a list of knights bannerets made upon the field. Then follow the names of those who were merely dubbed knights; but this list, too, is imperfect, not merely by the mutilation of some names, but because another leaf would certainly have been required to give them all. Compare another copy of these lists in Leland's _Collectanea_, iv. 214-15, where the names in the second list stand in a different order. Several of the mutilated names here have been filled in from Leland; but, curiously enough, that list gives no Sir Gregory and no Sir Simon.

Since this was in type the Editor has found a complete list, more accurate than Leland's, which will be printed at the end of these letters.]

[Footnote 102-1: Sir James Audeley, as his name is given in Leland's list. This was Sir James Touchet, who succeeded his father as Lord Audeley in 1491, and was beheaded and attainted in 1497.]

1017

DAME ELIZABETH BREWS TO SIR JOHN PASTON[102-2]

_To my rytth worchupfull son, Sir Jon Paston, be thys byll delyvyrd in hast._

[Sidenote: 1487, or later]

Ryth worchupfull son, I recommend me on to zow and to my lady zowyr wyf, and thankyng zow harttyly for the grett labyr thatt ze had on Thorys day for me, and for zowyr kyndnes; for and odyr had don a.s.se ze ded, I had had my purpos; qwerfor I prey G.o.d do be them a.s.se they do be me.

Son, I must prey zow to have a dosseyn men in harnes, with bowys and wepyn convenyent for them, that I may feche my stres ageyn. The schrevys man wa.s.se here wythe me, and [j. of] yowyres, he seyth he ys, and he hatth mad me feythful promes that he wol be wyth me ageyn on Monday, qwerfor I prey zow harttyly, son, and reqwere zow that zowyr men may be wyth me on Monday, as my werry tros ys in zow, qwo sknowyth blyssyd Jesu, Hom haff zow and zowyr in Yss keppyng.

Be zowyr trew modyr,

DAM ELYSABETHE BREWYSSE.

[Footnote 102-2: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] Fenn dates this letter 'about 1487.' It cannot be earlier than June of that year, and may be a few years later. But the date is unimportant. This letter appears to be a holograph. The next is written by a scribe.]

1018

DAME ELIZABETH BREWS TO SIR JOHN PASTON[103-1]

_To my right worshipfull son, Sir John Paston, Knyght, be this delyverd._

[Sidenote: 1488(?)]

Right worshipfull son, I recommaund me unto you and to my lady my doughter your wyfe, and I send you both Cristes blyssyng and myne. And, son, I thank you hertely for my son, William Brews; and I moste pray you for the reverens of Jesu to help hym for your tenauntes and myne, or els John Dynne will owver rewle them. And, son, G.o.d thank you, ye helpyd ons Whyte of Metfeld, and so I must beseche you nowe to do, and that it wold pleas you to gyffe credans unto the Priour of the Wyhte Freres, for I have shewed unto hym my mynd; and as ye do, I hold me content.

And, son, we ladys and jentil women in this contrey that is wedows, be sore trobyld with the Bysshop of Chester,[104-1] and haskith of us more than we may pay, and that knowith All myghty Jesu, Who have you in His blyssed kepyng.

Be your moder,

DAME ELIZABETH BREWS.

[Footnote 103-1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] The date of this letter is nearly as indefinite as that of the last, but it certainly lies between the year 1487, when Sir John Paston was knighted, and 1489, when William Brews died. If the latter part of the letter refers to the levying of a subsidy, in which the Bishop of Chester may have been one of the King's agents, the date is probably about the end of the year 1488. Sir Thomas Brews, the writer's husband, died in 1482.]

[Footnote 104-1: The Bishops of Coventry and Lichfield were often called Bishops of Chester before the foundation of the modern Bishopric of Chester by Henry VIII. John Hales or Halse was Bishop of Coventry from 1459 to 1490.]

1019

SIR JOHN PASTON TO DAME MARGERY PASTON[104-2]

_To Dame Margery Paston, at Oxenhed._

[Sidenote: 1486-95]

Mastress Margerey, I recomand me to yow. And I prey yow in all hast possybyll to send me, by the next swer messenger that ye can gete, a large playster of your _flose ungwentorum_ for Kynges Attorney, Jamys Hobart, for all hys dysease is but an ache in hys knee. He is the man that brought yow and me togedyrs, and I had lever then xl_li._ ye koud with your playster depart hym and hys peyne. But when ye send me the playster, ye must send me wryghtyng hough it shold be leyd to and takyn fro hys knee, and hough longe it shold abyd on hys kne unremevyd, and hough longe the playster wyll laste good, and whethyr he must lape eny more clothys aboute the playster to kepe it warme or nought. And G.o.d be with yow.

Your,

JOHN PASTON.

[Footnote 104-2: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] James Hobart was the King's Attorney-General from 1486 to 1509, and Dame Margery Paston died in 1495. There is nothing to fix the date of this letter more precisely.]

1020

THE QUEEN TO THE EARL OF OXFORD[105-1]

_To oure right trusty and enterly beloved cosyn, Th'Erll of Oxon._

BY THE QUENE.

[Sidenote: 1487-1502]

Ryght trusty and entierly beloved cosyn, we grete you well, lattyng you wete hou it is commen un to oure knowlege that where as ze newly entred upon oure welbeloved Symon Blyant, gentilman, in to the maner of Hemnals in Cotton, descended and belongyng unto hym by right of enheritaunce, as it is seid, ze ther upon desired the same Symon to be agreable for hys part to put all maters of variance thenne dependyng atwene hym and oon Sir John Paston, Knyght, pretendyng a t.i.tle unto the seid maner into th'award and jugement of two lenerd men, by you named and chosen as arbritrours atwene them; and in case that the same arbritrours of and upon the premisses neither yave oute nor made suche awarde be for the brekyng up of Pasche [_Easter_] terme nowe last pa.s.sed, ze of your owne offre graunted and promysid unto the seid Symon, as we be enformed, to restore hym forwyth there upon unto hys possession of the seid maner.

And how it be that the same Symon, at youre mocion and for the pleasir of youre lordshyp, as he seith, aggreed un to the seid compromyse, and ther upon brought and shewed hys evydence concernyng, and sufficiently provyng hys ryght in the seid maner un to the seid arbritrours, and that they have not made nor yolden out betwene the said parties any suche awarde; yet have not ze restored the same Symon unto hys possession of the seid maner, but contynuelly kepe hym owt of the same, wich, yf it so be, is not only to hys right grete hurt and hinderaunce, but also oure mervaile. Wherfore we desire and pray you ryght affectueusly that ze woll the rather at the contemplacion of thees oure lettres, shew unto the said Symon, in hys rightfull interesse and t.i.tle in the seid maner all the favorable lordshyp that ze goodely may, doyng hym to be restored and put in to hys lawfull and peasible possession of the same, as fer as reason, equite, and good conscience shall require, and youre seid promise, in suche wyse that he may undyrstond hym selfe herynne to fare the better for oure sake, as oure verray trust is in you.

Yeven under oure signet at my Lordes Palois of Westmynstre, the xxv. day of Juyn.

[ELEZEBETH.][106-1]

Subskrybyd with the Quenys hand.

[Footnote 105-1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] This letter and that which follows, relating to the manor of Cotton, are both quite uncertain in point of date, except that they cannot be earlier than 1487, when Sir John Paston was knighted, nor later than 1502, as the Queen and Sir John Paston himself both died in the year following.]