95

JOHN DAMME TO JOHN PASTON[111.2]

_To my ryght worshepfull master John Paston at London in the Inner Temple._

[Sidenote: 1449 / NOV. 30]

Plese it your good maistershep to knowe that my maisteresse your wyff recomaundeth here to yow and fareth well, blyssed be G.o.d, and all your menye faren well also and recomaunde hem to yaw, &c. I was with my lord of Oxenford and dede myn erand, and I found his good lordshep well disposed towardys yow, for he seid if he were sent to for to come to, &c., if it kepe faire weder he wold not tarye, and if it reygned he wold not spare. More over I spak with Pertrych as touchyng the letter sent to my lord Moleyns; he seyth that he was privy to the wrytyng and wele a vowe it by record of xx. persons, but he wold name to me no persone; and so he and I accorded not fully. And I bad hym remembre hym that he myght not abyde there if ye wold have hym owt. And he seid he knewe well that.

But he seid, if ye put heem out, ye shuld be put owt sone after a geyn.

And I seyd if it happe it so thei shuld not longer reste there. And Mariot stod by and seyd that were no merveyll whill thei were but ij.

men, but it shuld not be best so. And I seyd that I lete them wete it shuld be so if ye wold, thow they made all the strenght which they coude make. And ther to Mariot seyd stately, that myght not be performed; and more langage ther was, to long to wryte at this leyser. Pertrych and his felaw bere gret visage and kepe gret junkeryes and dyneres, and seyn that my lord Moleynes hath wrytyn pleynly to hem that he is lord there and well be, and shall be, and ye not to have it; but I trust to G.o.ddes ryghtwysenes of better purvyaunce. Lyke it yow to remembre what Heydon doth and mayde by colour of justice of the pees, beyng of my lordes councell and not your good frend nor weell wyller, and to comon with your sad councell what ye must suffre by the lawe, and where inne ye may resiste. On Sunday last pa.s.sed Gunore and Mariot and John Davy and other dyned with Pertrych, &c.; and after eveson [_evensong_] Gonore spake to my maisteresse that she shuld make here men to leue here wyfeles and here jackes; and she answered that thei purposed to hurte no man of here owyn sykyng; but for it was seid that she shuld be plukkyd owt of here howse, she were loth to suffre that; and therfore she sayde thei shuld goo soo til ye come hom. And he seid stately, but if thei left here aray it shuld be plukked from them. I trust he must have a better warant, from his stately langage, or ells he shall not have it from hem esily.

All this I remitte to your good remembraunce with G.o.ddes help, to Whom I pray to gyde your ryght to his worshep and your hertes desire.

Wrytyn at Sustede on Seynt Andrewe day, &c.

Yowres,

J. DAMME.

Were but well, as me semyth, that ye myght ordeygne now a fetys jacke defensable for your self, for there con they do best and best chep, &c.

[Footnote 111.2: [Add. 34,888, f. 32.] This letter was evidently written in 1449, after John Paston had re-entered Gresham, and his wife was keeping it for him. See No. 88.]

96

JAMES GRESHAM TO [JOHN PASTON][113.1]

[Sidenote: 1449(?) / OCT. 16]

'The King is now into the Marches of Wales, as it is said, to the intent he may be near the country if my Lord of Buckingham, which is commissioner now in Wales for divers offences done there to the Crown, would sue to have his commission to be enlarged, if he were repyned.' It is not known when the King will be in London again, but he is expected here at the beginning of the Parliament. I have your writs of error, but can see nothing wrong. Thos. Denys asked me why you did not follow his suggestion about the removing of the strength at Gresham, and thinks it should be done yet. Francis Costard is not yet well at ease, for his _venire facias_ between Will. Prentys and him and Hen. Halman comes in very inopportunely. You had better come hither as soon as possible and get the favor of the sheriff that shall be next year.

London, 16 Oct.

[Footnote 113.1: This abstract was made from one of the Roydon Hall MSS. shown to the Editor in 1875. Since that date he has not seen the original.]

97

SIR JOHN FASTOLF TO JOHN FASTOLF AND JOHN KIRTELING[113.2]

_To my ryght tristy and welbelovede Cosin and Frende, John Fastolf, and Sir John Kirtelinge, Parson of Arkesay._

[Sidenote: 1449 / OCT. 31]

Trusty and welbeloved frendz, y grete yow wel. And for as moche as y have appointed with my sone, Stephen Scrope, lyke as y sende yow the appointement writen hereafter in this letter, the whiche appointement y woll ye fulfylle be the avys of my counsel in that at longeth to my party, like as. .h.i.t ys writen.

Thys ys the appointement made be twene Sir John Fastolf, Knight, and Stephen Scrope, Squier, in the maner as here after hit ys writen:--

Fyrst, for as moche as the mariage of the saide Stephen Scrope was solde[114.1] to Sir William Gascoyng, the Chefe Justice of Englonde, for v^c. [500] marke, with the whiche mariage was deliverd in hande to the sayde Gascoyng the maner of Wyghton on the Wolde, in Yorke schyre, with the apertenance of the saide maner; and whan the sayde Gascoyng hade hym, he wolde have solde hym agayn, or maried the saide Stephen Scrope ther [_where_] he schulde have byn despareiged: wherefore, at the request of the sayde Scrope and hys frendes, the saide Fastolf boght the ma[ri]age of the saide Scrope of the saide Sir William Gascoyng for v^c.

marke, wherby the saide Fastolf hath mariage of the saide Stephen Scrope, or elles to have the saide somme of v^c. marke that he payde for hym, like as. .h.i.t ys above sayde.

Item, for as moche as the sayde Stephen Scrope ys comyn to the saide Fastolf, sayinge that he hath fownde wey to be maried at his lyst, and also for his worschippe and profyt, so that the saide Fastolf woll consent therto, that ys to say, to Fauconeris doughter of London, that Sir Reynalde Cobham[114.2] had weddid.

Item, for as. .h.i.t ys the saide Fastolf ys wille to forther and helpe the saide Scrope in any wize ther he may be fortherede, the sayde Fastolf consenteth that the sayde Scrope marie hym to the Fauconeris doughter, with that that the sayde Fauconer gyf to the sayde Fastolf the saide somme of v^c. marke, the whiche he payde for the saide Scrope.

Item, yf that the sayde Stephen Scrope pay or do pay the somme afore sayde of v^c. marke sterling, than the sayde Sir John Fastolf and Dame Mylicent,[114.3] his wyf, schall make astate of the said maner of Wyghton on the Wolde in Yorke schyre, with the apertenaunce of the sayde maner, to the saide Stephen Scrope and to the woman, the whiche schalbe his wyf, and to here eyres of here bodyes begete be twix hem two.

Item, yef the sayde Stephen dye with oute eyre of his body begeten, than the sayde maner of Wyghton, after the descece of the saide hys wyf, schall retourne agayne to the sayde Fastolf and Dame Mylicent, his wyf, and to the eyres of the sayde Mylicent.

Item, yf so be that the sayde Fauconer wilnot pay the sayde somme of v^c. marke, bot peraventure wolde gyf a lesse somme, then the sayde Fastolf wyl deliver to the mariage of the saide Scrope certayn londe, havynge rewarde to the somme that the sayde Fauconer wil gyf, havyng rewarde to the afferrant of xl. pounde worthe land and v^c. mark of golde.

Item, if that the sayde Fauconer wilnot gyf no somme of golde for the sayde mariage, the sayde Fastolf wyl take the mariage of the childe that ys eyre to the forsaide Sir Reynolde Cobham, and that the sayde Scrope forto conferme the estat hys moder has made to the saide Fastolf, yf so be that the consel of the saide Fastolf se by thaire avys that hit be for to do, and that the said mariage may be [as] moche worth to the said Fastolf as v^c. mark.

Item, ze sende me be Raufm[an an] answare o[f] the letters that y sende yow, that I may have ve[ray] knolage how that hit standys with me ther in al maner of thynges, and that I [h]ave an answare of every article that y wrote to yow.

Item, for as moche as that I am bonden for my Lord Scales[115.1] to my Lord Cardnale[115.2] in v^c. mark, the qu[ech] somme he kan not fynd no way to pay hit, on lese then that he sel a parcel of his land; quer fore he sendis ower a man of his called Pessemerche, with whom I wil that ze spek, and se be zore avis whech of the places of my said Lord Scales that standis most cler to be solde; and if the place that is beside W[a]lsyngham stand cler, I have hit lever then the tother; and therfore I pray [z]ow that ze make apointement with the said Pesemerche in the best wise that ze may, athir of the ton place or the tother, and or ze let take hit after xx. zere, havyn[g] rewarde to the verray val[u]

therof, and as ze don send me worde be the next ma.s.sager.

Item, my Lord of Hungerford[116.1] has writen to me for to have the warde of Robert Monpyns[on]is sone, wher of I am agreed that he schal [have] hit like as I has wretyn to hym in a letter, of the whech I send zow a cope closed here in: wher fore I pray zow to enquere of the verray valu of the land that Monpynson haldis of me, and sendis me word in hast; for my said Lord Hungerford sais in his letter that hit is worth bot xl_s._ a zere aboufe the rentis, as ze may se the letter that he sent me, the q[uec]h I send zow be my son Scrope. And I pray zow to demene zow to my said Lord as eesely as ze may in this mater and al other that I have to do with hym, as ze may se be the cope aforesaid.

And or (_sic_) have zow in his kepyng. Wretyn at Roan (?)[116.2] the last day of October.

J. FASTOLFE.

_Endorsed_ Appunctuamentum factum pro Stephano Scroope anno xxviij Regis H. vj. ad maritandum.

[Footnote 113.2: [From the Castlecombe MSS. in the B.M., Add.

MS. 28,212, No. 21.] According to the endors.e.m.e.nt, this letter should have been written in the year 1449; but the reader will see by the footnotes that there are grounds for doubting the accuracy of this date.]

[Footnote 114.1: The marriage of wards in those days used to be sold to men of property, who would compel them to marry their own sons or daughters, or whatever other persons suited them.

The only restriction to this right was, that the ward might, on coming of age, have an action against his guardian in case of _disparagement_, that is to say, if he was married beneath his station.]

[Footnote 114.2: Sir Reginald Cobham of Sterborough, in Surrey, who died in 1446. He was the father of the notorious Eleanor Cobham, the mistress, and afterwards wife, of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.--Brayley's _Hist. of Surrey_, iv. 159.]

[Footnote 114.3: Milicent, wife of Sir John Fastolf, is known to have been alive in the 24th year of Henry VI. (1446). William Worcester says the allowance for her chamber was paid until that date; but as he says nothing more, it has been supposed she did not live longer. Mr. Poulett Scrope also believes her to have died in 1446, on the authority of a contemporary MS., which says she and Fastolf lived together thirty-eight years.--_Hist.

Castlecombe_, 263.]

[Footnote 115.1: Thomas de Scales, 8th Lord.]

[Footnote 115.2: John Kemp, Archbishop of York, afterwards of Canterbury; or, if this doc.u.ment be some years earlier, Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester.]

[Footnote 116.1: Walter, 1st Lord Hungerford, died in August 1449, and was succeeded in the t.i.tle by his son Robert.]

[Footnote 116.2: The name is a little indistinct from the decay of the paper, but the first and last letters are clear, and it is scarcely possible to doubt that Rouen was the place here intended. Yet if this be so, the letter must be much earlier than the date a.s.signed to it in the endors.e.m.e.nt.]

98