Volume Ii Part 21 (1/2)
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 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 Lent.[97.2]
Your Orator,
ROBT., P. OF B.
I sent zow a letter, bod I hade non answer ageyn.
[Footnote 96.1: [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 improbable, that 'the Bishop of the other side of the sea' was Walter Lyhert, Bishop 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 pet.i.tions as early as February.]
[Footnote 96.2: Robert Rogers was parson of Thorpe from 1445 to 1476.]
[Footnote 96.3: Court of Rome.]
[Footnote 97.1: Deceive.]
[Footnote 97.2: The first week in Clean Lent means the first _entire_ week in Lent beginning on a Sunday.]
85
NUNCUPATIVE WILL OF EDMUND PASTON[98.1]
[Sidenote: 1449 / MARCH 21]
Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos praesens scriptum pervenerit, Nos, Willelmus May, Magister Novi Templi, London', Johannes Bakton gentilman, Thomas Parker, civis et cissor Londoni, et Johannes...o...b..rn, salutem in Domino sempiternam. Sciatis quod xxj. die Martij Anno Domini mccccxlviij.[98.2] Edmundus Paston de comitatu Norff., armiger, in bona memoria ac sana mente existens, languens in extremis, in nostra praesentia, condidit et declaravit testamentum suum nuncupativum in hunc modum:--In primis, legavit animam suam Deo Omnipotenti, Beatae Mariae Virgini et omnibus Sanctis, corpusque suum ad sepeliendum in ecclesia Templi praedicti, sive in ecclesia Fratrum Carmelitarum London' [ad electionem sui confessoris[98.3]]. Item dictus Edmundus, pro eo quod noluit circa bona sive negocia temporalia mentem sive animam suam affligere seu occupare, set ad aeternam felicitatem se praeparare, dedit, legavit ac commisit omnia bona et catalla sua praedilecto fratri suo Johanni Paston, ex magna confidencia in ipso habita ut ea disponeret pro bono animae suae, prout melius videret Deo placere ac animae suae prodesse.
Et dictum Johannem Paston ordinavit et const.i.tuit executorem suum. In cujus rei testimonum praesentibus sigilla nostra apposuimus.
_Endorsed_--Copia ultimae voluntatis Edmundi Paston.
_Endorsed in a later hand_--Testamentum Edmundi Paston secundi filii Willelmi Paston Justiciarii.
[Footnote 98.1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.]]
[Footnote 98.2: This is 1449 according to the modern computation, which begins the year on the 1st of January instead of the 25th March.]
[Footnote 98.3: These words are erased.]
86
LORD MOLYNS TO THE TENANTS OF GRESHAM[99.1]
_To my trusty and wel belovyd, the Vycary and Tenaunts of my Lordschepe of Gressham._
[Sidenote: 1449 / MARCH 24]
Trusty 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 servaunt, 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 Lords.h.i.+p of Gressam schal with in short tyme be knoweyn, and be the lawe so determynyd, that ye schall all be glad that hathe ought me youre gud wyll therin.