Volume Ii Part 25 (1/2)
RICHARD, EARL OF WARWICK, TO SIR THOMAS TODENHAM[117.1]
_To owr ryght trusty and welbelovyd Frend, Ser Thomas Todenham._
[Sidenote: 1449(?) / NOV. 2]
Ryght trusty and welbelovyd frend, we grete you well, hertely desyryng to here of yowr welfare, which we pray G.o.d preserve to yowr herts desyr; and yf yt please yow to here of owr welfare, we wer in goud hale atte the makyng of this lettre, praying you hertely that ye wyll consider owr message, which owr Chapleyn Mayster Robert Hoppton shall enforme you of.
For as G.o.d knowyth we have gret besynesse dayly, and has had here by for this tyme. Wherfor we pray you to consyder the purchas that we have made wyth one John Swyffhcotte, Squier of Lyncolnshyr, of lx.x.x. and viij_li._ by yer, whereuppon we must pay the last payment the Moneday nexte after Seynt Martyn' day, which sum ys CCCC. and lviij_li._; wherfor we pray you wyth all owr herte that ye wyll lend us x_li._, or twenty, or whet the seyd Maister Robert wants of hys payment, as we may do for you in tym for to com; and we shall send yt you ageyn afor Newyers day wyth the grace of G.o.d, as we ar trew knyght. For there is nonne in your c.u.n.tre that we myght wryght to for trust so well as unto you; for, as we be enformyd, ye be owr well wyller, and so we pray you of goud contynuaunce.
Wherfore we pray you that ye consyder our entent of this mony, as ye wyll that we do for you in tym to com, as G.o.d knowyth, who have you in hys kepyng.
Wreten atte London, on All Salwyn [_All Souls'_] day, wyth inne owr loggyng in the Grey Freys [_Friars_] wyth inne Newgate.
RIC., ERLE WARWYKE.[117.2]
[Footnote 117.1: [From Fenn, i. 84.] Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, afterwards famous as the 'King-maker,' succeeded to the t.i.tle in 1449, and this letter is not unlikely to have been written in that very year. Certainly it is not many years later.
In 1449 and 1450 Warwick was probably in London to attend the Parliament.]
[Footnote 117.2: 'The seal of this letter' says Fenn, 'is of red wax, on which is the Bear and Ragged Staff, the badge of this n.o.bleman, with his motto,--the whole very fair and curious, and around it is a braid of twine.']
99
ABSTRACT[118.1]
[Sidenote: 1449 / DEC. 11]
Copy of a Grant from the Crown to John Bray for services against the King's enemies. Caen, 11th December 14[4]9, 28 Henry VI.
[This doc.u.ment is very mutilated and decayed. It is written in French, the spelling of which is very peculiar, and is probably a bad copy by some one who did not know the language.]
[Footnote 118.1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.]]
100
WILLIAM TAILBOYS TO VISCOUNT BEAUMONT[118.2]
_To my right honorabull and right wurs.h.i.+pful Lord, my Lord Viscont Beaument._
[Sidenote: Before 1450]
Right honorabull and my right wurs.h.i.+pfull Lord, I recomaund me unto your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p with all my service, evermore desireng to here of your prosperitie and welfare, the which I pray G.o.d encres and contynue to his plesur, and after your oone herts desire; thankyng you of the G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p that ye have shewed me at all tymes, beseching you alway of G.o.de contynuance.
Plesid your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p to be remembred how afore this tyme Hugh Wythom hath said he wold be in rest and peese with me, and not to maligne agayn me otherwise than lawe and right wold; that notwithstandyng, upon Munday last past, he and iij. men with him come unto a servaunt hous of myn in Boston, cald William s.h.i.+rref, and there, as he sete at his werke, stroke him upon the hede and in the body with a dagger, and wondet him sore, and pulled him out of his hous, and set him in prison without any cause resonabull, or without writ, or any other processe shewid unto him; and that me semes longs not for him to do, bot as he says he is endited, and as your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p knawes wele, I and all my servaunts are in like wise; bot and any man shuld have done hit, it longs either to the s.h.i.+rref or to your baliff as I conceyve, and other cause he had non to him as fer as I kan knawe, bot awnly for the malissiousness that he hath unto me, ne I kan think non other bot it is so. And now yistre nyght my Lord Welles[119.1] come to Boston with iiij^xx [_four score_] horses, and in the mornyng foloyng toke hym out of prison, saying afore all peepll, 'Fals thefe, you shall be hanged, and as mony of thy maistre men as may be goten' --as your servaunt John Abbot kan report unto your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p,--and hath taken him away with him to Tatessall, what to do with him I kan not say, bot as I suppose to have him to Lincoln Castell: wherfor I besech your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p in this matier to be my G.o.de Lord, and it please your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p to write a letter to the kepere of the Castell of Lincoln, that it liked him to deliver him out of prison undre a sufficient seurety had for him, for and thai may kepe him still be this meyne, thai may take all the servaunts that I have, and so I may do agayn in like wise.
And also, as I am enformed, without he be had out of prison in hast, it will be right gravewis to him to heile of his hurt, he is so sore streken; and if there be any service that your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p will comaund me to do in any c.u.n.tre, plesid you to send me word, and it shal be done to my power with the grace of G.o.d, which have you, my right honorabull and wurs.h.i.+pfull Lord, alway in his blessid kepyng. Writen at Kyme,[119.2] upon Wednesday next after our Ladi day the a.s.sumpcion.[119.3]
Also plesid your G.o.de lords.h.i.+p to wit, after this letter was made, there come a man fro Tatessall into my fenne, which owght me G.o.de will, and be cause he wold not be holden suspect, he speke with wemen which were mylkand kyne, and bad theme goo to a preest of myn to Dokdike, and bid him fast goo gif me warnyng how that my Lord Wilughby,[120.1] my Lord Cromwell,[120.2] and my Lord Welles[120.3] proposid theme to set a sessions, and hang the said William s.h.i.+rref, and thai myght bryng ther entent abowte; and so, as I and your servaunt John Abbot stode to geder, the prest come and gaf me warnyng herof, which I trust for my wors.h.i.+p your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p wold not shuld happen, for it wer to me the grettest shame that myght falle; bot and it plese your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p to write to all your servaunts in this c.u.n.tre, that thai will be redy upon a day warnyng to come when I send theme word, I trust to G.o.d thai shal not hang him agayn the lawe, bot I, with help of your G.o.de Lords.h.i.+p, shall be abull to let hit.
By your Servaunt,
WILLIAM TAILBOYS.[120.4]