Volume Iii Part 71 (1/2)
_To his right reverent and wors.h.i.+pfull broder, John Paston, Esquier, be this delivered in great haste._
[Sidenote: 1461 / OCT. 11]
Brother, I recommende me to you. After all dewe recommendacions, &c.
Sir, it was tolde me by rythe a wors.h.i.+pfull man that loveth you rythe well, and ye him, and ye sall knowe his name hereafter, but put all things out of doubt he is such a man as will not lye: on the xj^th day of October the Kinge said, 'We have sent two privy sealys to Paston by two yeomen of our chamber, and he disobeyeth them; but we will send him anoder tomorrowe, and by G.o.ds mercye, and if he come not then he sall dye for it. We will make all oder men beware by him how they sall disobey our writinge. A servant of our hath made a complainte of him.
I cannot thinke that he hath informed us all truely, yet not for that, we will not suffer him to disobey our writinge; but sithen he disobeyeth our writinge, we may beleve the better his gydinge is as we be informed.' And therwith he made a great avowe that if he [_ye_] come not at the third commandement ye xulde dye therefore. This man that told me this is as well learned a man as any is in England; and the same xj^th day of October, he advised me to send a man to yow in all the hast that might be to lett yow have knowlache, and that ye xulde not lett for none excuse, but that ye xulde make the man good cheere and come as hastily ye might to the Kinge, for he understandeth so much that the King will keep his promise. Notwithstanding, by mine advice, if ye have his letter or the messenger come to you, come to the Kinge wards or ye meet with him, and when ye come ye must be suer of a great excuse. Also if ye doe well, come right stronge, for Howards wife made her bost that if any of her husbands men might come to yow ther yulde goe noe penny for your life; and Howard hath with the Kinge a great fellows.h.i.+p.
This letter was written the same day that the Kinge said these words, and the same day that it was told me, and that day was the xj^th day of October as abovesaid; and on the next morning send I forth a man to yow with this letter, and on the same day send the Kinge the third privye seale to you. Also he that tolde me this seid that it were better for yow to come up than to be fotte out of your house with streingth, and to abide the Kings judgement therin, for he will take your contumacy to great displeasure. Also, as I understand, the Duke of Norffolk hath made a great complaint of yow to the King, and my Lord of Suffolk[314.1] and Howard and Wyngfelde helpe well to every day and call upon the King against yow. The Kinge is at this day at Grenewich, and ther will be still till the Parliament beginne. Some say he will goe to Walsingham, but Mr. Sotyll seid in the aulle in the Temple that he harde no worde of any such pilgrimage. No more, &c. Written the xj^th day of October at midnight.
My nevew John tolde me also that he supposed ther were out proclamacions against yow, &c. the same day.
By CLEMENT PASTON,
your broder.
[Footnote 313.1: This letter is reprinted from the _Norfolk Archaeology_, vol. iv. p. 26, where it is edited from a transcript contained in a MS. genealogy of the Paston family drawn up by Sandford, author of the _Genealogical History of England_. The references to Howard's animosity against Paston, and to an approaching Parliament, prove clearly that this letter is of the year 1461.]
[Footnote 314.1: John de la Pole, son and heir of William, Duke of Suffolk, who was attainted in 1450, was not restored to the Dukedom till the 23rd of March 1463; but being in favour at court, and having married Edward IV.'s sister, he seems even at this time to have been popularly called 'my Lord of Suffolk.']
485
RICHARD CALLE TO JOHN PASTON[315.1]
_To my ryght reverent and wurschipfull maystre, my mastre John Paston._
[Sidenote: 1461 / OCT. 13]
Plesith it your maystreschip to witte that Mr. John and I, with other mo, have ben at Cotton on Friday[315.2] last pa.s.sed, and there Jenney had do warned the corte there to be the same Friday, and he was at Eye at the cescions the Thorsday before; and on the Friday in the mornynge he was comyng to Cotton to hoolde the corte there. And it fortuned we had entred the place or he come; and he herd therof and turned bac a yein to Oxon[315.3] to my Lorde of Norwiche, and there dyned with hym.
And my Lorde sent Mr. John Colleman to Cotton Halle to speke with you; and at hes comyng he undrestode ye were not there, and if ye had, my Lorde desired you to come and spoken with hym, and that my Lorde desired to put your matre in a trety; in so moche that Mr. John Colleman tolde to my master, John Paston, that diverse of your elmees [_enemies_] had labored to my Lorde to have a trety if he cowde brynge it aboute, &c.
And as for the tenaunts they wolde not come at the place on to the tyme that I sent for hem, for they sey pleynly they woll not have a do with hem; and so the corte whas holden in your name, and the tenaunts ryght weele plesed ther of, excepte Thurnberne and Agas, and as for any socour, they have there ryght noone at all. And so Mr. John whas ther Friday all day and Saterday tyll none; and than he toke hes horse with x.x.x. men with hym and rode to Jeney place, and toke there x.x.xvj. heede of nete, and brought hem in to Norfolk; and so whas I left still at Cotton with xij. men with me, be cauce they reporte and we abode there ij. dayes we schulde be pult out be the heeds. And so we a mode [?
_abode_] there v. dayes and kepte the place, and I walked aboute all the lordeschippes and spake with all the fermours and tennaunts that longen to the maner to undrestande her disposessyon and to receyve money of hem; and I fynde [them] ryght weele disposed to you. And be cauce the corte whas warned in ther name and not in youre, therfore they purvey no money; but they have promysed me to pay no money to no man but to you, so that ye woll safe hem harmeles; and I told hem ye wold safe hem harmeles. They have apoynted with me to make redy her money withinne a fornyght aftre Halowemesse, &c. I have receyved of the tenaunts that I undrestod out [_owed_] you werst wyll viij. marc, &c. And as for Edward Dalys money it is redy, so that your maistreschip woll se that he be not hurt be hes obligacion. Ferthermore, plesit your maistreschip to sende worde if they entre into the maner ayein, how we schall be rwled and gidyd; for the tenaunts fere hem they wol entre whan we be gon, and than wol they distreyne the tenaunts, for they sey there that my Lorde of Cauntyrbury and other Lords woll relese to hem, notwithstandyng that I have enformed hem other wice; wherfore, savyng your better advice, me semethe it were ryght weele doo that ye had a letter of my Lorde of Cauntirbury, and other to the tenaunts of Cotton that it is her wyll and entent that ye schulde have the rwle and gouernaunce, and receyve the money of that maner, and other that were Sir John Fastolff, on whom G.o.d have mercy, for I dought not and suche a lettre came downe to the tenaunts there schulde no man sey nay to it. Besechyng your maystreschyp to have an answere of how we schall be gided and rwled, &c. Item, to sende worde howe we schall doo with the geere that wee toke out at the Wyght Freris, wether it schall be sent to you or nought. And Jesu preserve you. Wreten at Norwiche upon Sein Edwards Day.
Be your servaunt and bedman,
RIC. CALLE.
_Endorsed in a hand nearly contemporaneous:_ 'Litter' sirca anno (_sic_) E. 4 iij. vel iiij^{o.}'
[Footnote 315.1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] On comparing this letter with No. 481, no one will doubt that both were written in the same year.]
[Footnote 315.2: 9th October.]