_A Instruccion and Information of the verray trewe matier betwen the
Priour and the Covent of Bromholm and the seyd John and me, as I am
enformed, and as I knowe touchant my persone and the_[23.2] ----.
[Sidenote: Ista litera missa non fuit.]
Right worthy and worshepefull Sir, I recomaunde to yow, preyeng yow to
wite that I have resceyved yowr goodly lettres makyng mencion that Sir
John Paston,[23.3] ut asserit, hath optyned me condempnyd to hym in
CCC[vij.][23.4] marcz and C._s._; and that the same John, atte
reverence of your right worthy persone, hathe cesed of his sute of
certeins processes ageyns me up on the seyd condempnacion, takyng
continuance[23.5] of the same matier unto Cristemasse next comyng; by
which lettres ye conseille me to make ende with the seyd John, ne
deterius inde contingat. I [s]end yow, closed with this bille,
[the][23.6] copie of un frendly lettre that the seyd John hathe sent to
me late, touchant the same matier. The seyd priour hath sent also to
yow, and to Mayster William Swan, whiche longe hathe be his procurator,
a procuracie for my person, and v. marcz of moneye onward. Wher up, in
the seyd prioures name, and in myn own also, I prey yow hertily to sette
al these matieres in continuaunce un to yowr comyng in to Ingeland; and
because ye arn here beneficed, owr cuntreman, and of worshepe and
cunnyng worthyly endowed, the seyd priour and his brether, and I also,
willen gladdely in these matieres be treted by yow; and if this mesure
be accepted, and we may have knowyng here ther of, it shall cause the
attemptacion of diverses matieres a geyn summe frendes of the seyd John
to cese. And if this continuance be refused, I prey yow, with al my
power, that of your wysdom and good discrecion ye wille, in the seyd
prioures name, and myn, defenden the seyd sutes, and alle other that the
seyd Johne sueth ageyn the seyd priour and me, in your best maner, and
to be of owr counseill in these matieres; and as ye lyke resonablely to
write to us, so we wil be governed in yowre rewarde, and al other
circumstaunces of the same matieres.[24.1] I conceyve by your seyd
lettres that the grece of the matier conteigned in the same ye have of
the informacion and assercion of the seyd John, and as he hath enformed
yow, I wot weel ye trewely writen; but I hope and trust verrayly the
matier of his informacion is untrewe [for he hathe no cause to swe to
me, ne I was nevre somouned ne cited].[24.2] The priour of Bromholm sued
ageyn the seyd John and other in Ingeland a wryt of _præmunire facias_,
and I was therin of the same prioures counseill as the lawe of Ingelond
and myn office willen, and more I have nought hadde to do with the seyd
Johne, and I can nought beleve that in this cas the same Johne myght by
your lawe any swich sute have ageyn me as your lettre specifieth. Also
William, the prest specified in yowr [letter],[24.3] told me that he,
after that ye told hym of this matier, lyke as yewrce (?), he comuned
with Maister William Swan, and he told the seyd prest ther no processe
in the courte ageyn me in no maner ----.[24.4]
The above two documents are from a corrected draft, written on one
side of a broad sheet of paper. On the other side is a long Latin
pleading, also much corrected, relative to the Abbey of Bermondsey;
prefixed to which are the following words, in the same hand as the
preceding letters:--
‘Sir, do writen ij. copies of this note in papier, wyde writen, and
gete a copie of the writte in the Eschekyr ageyn.’
The pleading referred to is in a different hand, and begins as
follows:--
‘Et prædictus abbas dicit quod ipse de præmissis domino Regi
compotum reddere non debet; quia dicit quod diu ante erectionem,
fundationem sive erectionem prioratus de Bermundeseye qui nunc
erectus est in prædictam Abbatiam, Willielmus Rufus filius Willelmi
Conquestoris nuper Rex Angliæ fuit seisitus de manerio de
Bermundeseye,’ etc.
[Footnote 21.2: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] This letter, being
dated in November, was probably written before Nos. 11 and 12
which follow, though evidently very near them in point of date.
The chief evidence of the time when they all must have been
written will be seen in No. 12.]
[Footnote 21.3: Who this Prior was we cannot say, the list of
the Priors of Bromholm being very defective. Blomefield says,
that a Prior John has been met with in the 11th of Edward III.,
and Robert, in the 14th of Henry VI.--that is to say, in 1435 or
1436, just ninety-nine years later. Nothing is known of the
Priors between these dates, even by the latest editors of
Dugdale.]
[Footnote 21.4: ‘Commoigne,’ i.e. brother monk. The writer also
calls him _apostata_, _i.e._ a monk who has run away and
renounced his order.]
[Footnote 22.1: These words occur in the draft, but are crossed
out.]
[Footnote 22.2: Thomas Brancaccio, Cardinal Bishop of Tricarico.
He was made a cardinal by his uncle, Pope John XXIII., and is
said to have been a man of very bad morals.]
[Footnote 22.3: Interlined, and afterwards erased.]
[Footnote 23.1: Above these words, and in the place where the
signature might have been expected, occur these names, one above
another--
‘Thomas Abbas de Leyston, in Com’ Suff.
‘Ricardus Fremelyngham, concanonichus ibidem.’
They do not, however, appear to be connected with the letter.
The following words are also scrawled between this letter and
the next:-- ‘N. persona ecclesiæ de Testerton in Com’ Norff.
Gees Cuttyng. Joh’ persona ecclesiæ de Yermuth (?), Alicia
Gosloth (?).’]
[Footnote 23.2: _Sic._]
[Footnote 23.3: The title ‘Sir’ was at this time commonly
prefixed to a priest’s name.]
[Footnote 23.4: The ‘vij.’ is struck out.]
[Footnote 23.5: Contiañce, MS. here and after.]
[Footnote 23.6: Struck out.]
[Footnote 24.1: Here occur the following words, crossed
out:-- ‘Ferthermore, touchant my persone, I mervaille that the
seyd ---- Ferthermore.’]
[Footnote 24.2: Struck out.]
[Footnote 24.3: Omitted in MS.]
[Footnote 24.4: The draft here ends abruptly.]
[[fuit seisitus de manerio _text has “d emanerio”_]]
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