=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. iii., Nos. 675, 681.
_Sir John Paston to John Paston._
... I pray you send me word if any of our friends or well-doers be
dead, for I fear that there is great death in Norwich, and in other
borough towns in Norfolk, for I assure you it is the most universal
death that ever I wist in England; for, by my troth, I cannot hear by
pilgrims that pass the country nor none other man that rideth or goeth
[through] any country, that any borough town in England is free from
that sickness; God cease it when it please Him. Wherefore, for God's
sake, let my mother take heed to my young brethren that they be not in
any place where that sickness is reigning, nor that they disport not
with any young people which resort where any sickness is, and if there
be any of that sickness dead or infect in Norwich, for God's sake, let
her send them to some friend of hers in the country....
_Margaret Paston to her son John._
... As for tidings here, your cousin Barney of Wichingham is passed to
God, him God assoil. Veyly's wife and London's wife, and Pycard the
baker of Twmlond be gone also; all this household and this parish is as
ye left it, blessed be God; we live in fear, but we know not whether to
flee, for to be better than we be here.
THE DEATH OF HENRY VI. (+May 21, 1471+).
A. =Source.=--_Chronicles of the White Rose_ (Warkworth's
"Chronicle"), p. 131. (Bohn, London: 1845).
And the same night that King Edward came to London, King Harry, being
in ward, in prison in the Tower of London, was put to death, the
twenty-first day of May, on a Tuesday night, betwixt eleven and twelve
of the clock; being then at the Tower the Duke of Gloucester, brother
to King Edward, and many others; and on the morrow he was coffined and
brought to St. Paul's, and his face was open that every man might see
him. And in his lying, he bled on the pavement there; and afterward
at the Black Friars was brought, and there he bled anew and afresh;
and from thence he was carried to Chertsey Abbey in a boat, and buried
there in our Lady Chapel.
B. =Source.=--_Chronicles of the White Rose_ (Fleetwood's "Arrival
of King Edward IV."), p. 93. (Bohn, London: 1845.)
Here it is to be remembered, that from the time of Tewkesbury-field,
where Edward, called Prince, was slain, then, and soon after, were
taken and slain at the King's will, all the noblemen that came from
beyond the sea with the said Edward, called Prince, and others also
their partakers as many as were of any might or puissance. Queen
Margaret herself was taken and brought to the King, and in every part
of England, where any commotion was begun for King Henry's party, anon
they were rebuked, so that it appeared to every man at once, the said
party was extinct and repressed for ever, without any manner of hope
of again quickening; utterly deprived of any manner of hope or relief.
The certainty of all which came to the knowledge of the said Henry,
late called King, being in the Tower of London. Not having before that
knowledge of the said matters, he took it to so great despite, ire,
and indignation, that of pure displeasure and melancholy, he died
the twenty-third day of the month of May. Whom the King did order to
be brought to the friars preachers at London, and there his funeral
service done, to be carried by water to an Abbey upon Thames' Side,
sixteen miles from London, called Chertsey, and there honourably
interred.