[Footnote 74.1: [From Fenn, iv. 188.] Our reason for believing
this letter to have been written in the year 1463 will be seen in
a footnote.]
[Footnote 75.1: Possibly John Damme.]
[Footnote 75.2: This looks like a mistake, for no Speaker of the
name of Fynes is met with during this period. The expression,
however, suggests that the letter was written about the beginning
of a new Parliament, which could only have been that which met on
the 29th April 1463. On the following day the Commons elected John
Say as their Speaker, whose name Margaret Paston seems to have
confounded with the family name of William Fenys, Lord Say, the
trusty friend of Edward IV. who accompanied him into exile when he
fled from his kingdom in 1470. It does not appear, however, that
John Say, the Speaker, was related to that family.]
[Footnote 75.3: The Sacrist or Sexton of the Priory of Norwich was
the officer who had the care of Sacra, or Holy Things, as the
Church Plate, Copes, etc.; he was likewise Secretary, Auditor, and
Chancellor of the Convent, and had a Sub-sacrist or Deputy to
perform the servile parts of his office. In 1444 Brother Richard
de Walsham was appointed Sacrist.--F.]
[Footnote 75.4: John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.--F.]
[Footnote 76.1: Crouchmas Day, or the Invention of the Cross, was
on the 3rd of May.--F.]
545
[JAMES GRESHAM] TO JOHN PASTON[76.2]
_To mygth rigth good and speciall maister, John Paston, dwellyng at
Heylesdon be syde Norwich._
[Sidenote: 1463 / JULY]
Rigth reverent, &c. Please your maisterchip wete that I resseived your
letter whiche ye sent by Crome, and as for the examinacion of, &c. that
I wrot to you of in my former letter to be taken on the Munday or on
Tewysday, &c. this was the cause. Ye yaff me informacion at my last
departyng fro you that the murdre was don uppon the day nexst after
Seynt Petre. And for doute lesse ye had be ougth at the comyng of my
seid letter, and for dowte that I supposed that my maistres, your wyf,
had not be remembred of the day, it caused me, accordyng to your
informacion, to wryte the uttermost day for her remembrans.
Neverthelesse, if ye certifie that ye toke the examinacion with in the
yere and day, and sette the day in certayn, your certificat is
sufficiant in lawe and shall bynd any of the parties to sey the
contrary. And also the writte is that ye schuld certefie _sine
dilatione_, and no day expresly yoven you whan to certifie it; wherfor
ye may kepe uncertefiet tyl the nexst terme. And so do sir, for it schal
do no hurt; but if ony questions or jangelyng schuld be mad when the
examinacion was, let a sufficiant day with inne the yere be noysed, and
if the _teste_ be to schort we schal fynd the mene it schal be amendyd
by hym that wrot it. For after the informacion that I had of Crome the
Sunday was the uttermest day, and therefor it was happy that sche was
examined thenne. And where that ye wold I schuld tak the advice of
Maister Markham, &c., if all thyng were laufull, and elles not, it is
full hard to my self to determine the certaynte of every circumstans of
the mater, and it is not gretely to be comuned of with other, nor to
comune of casez lyke; for whan the mater schuld come in revelysshon it
wold cause prevy titlers and flaterers ougth of suche questions to
ymagyn, and contryve mater of distourbans. Wherfor uppon the certeynte
of myn determinacion I brak the mater to Master Markham, which called to
hym Master Byngham, and so thei ij. meved Y.[77.1]; and after that
mocion he kept not his owyn councell but brak to every man of it. Hou be
it he was sore mevyd with it, I wote it well, and glad to take avyse and
comfort of other personez than of Masters Markham and Byngham. Al
circumstans were to long to wryte, but I hope to speke with you be tymes
i nougth or ye schall nede to certefye, &c. And, sir, in conclucion,
Masters Markham and Byngham thynk it sufficiant i nougth to take his
promys and his othe with ougth obligacion that he schal mak amends if
profe here after can be mad uppon hym. And to this Maister Markham
prayed you to agre by the same token ye mevyd hym to sette an ende be
twyx you and my masters your brethern. Neverthelesse if ye thynk this
wey not sufficiant, ye may lete sum other handele the mater at hom to
hym if that ye hope to gete good pref in the mater, for with ougth
evydent proffe the mater schall be but noysefull to you, and cause men
to thynk that it growyth of your ille wyll to hym ward, &c.; for he
noyseth and seyth, because of ille wyll ye have caused a mad woman to
take apell a yens hym.
Item, sir, as for Leukenore he is not at London, but peraventure I schal
make hym to be meved in the mater here after.
Item, I dede your erand to my maister your son.
Item, as for John Say,[78.1] he recomendyth hym to you, bothe for your
billes and for your labour, and prayeth you if ony land that lyth for
the priour ease mygth be aspyed, that ye wold help to gete it hym and
send hym word; and as for the morteysyng . . . . . . and at his cost and
labour.
Item, as for tydyngs, the Kyng and the counsell is at Northampton,[78.2]
and the Convocacion schall be . . . . . . . . . after Relyk Sunday. And
ther be ij. marchaunts come fro Caleys, and they mygth no leve have to
com[e] . . . . . . . . . schuld bere the Kyng certeyn lettres and juste
tytyngs that sege is comyng to Caleys. And trew[s] . . . . . . . .
[ou]re Lady Day, as I herd sey.
Item, it is talked that Duchemen and Englysshemen ben at contraversie
with in . . . . . . .
[Footnote 76.2: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] This letter seems to be
in James Gresham’s handwriting. It is evident that it was written
shortly after Midsummer. Rather more than a year and a day had
elapsed since a murder committed on the morrow of St. Peter’s Day
(_i.e._ on the 30th June), and it is mentioned that Convocation
was to sit some little time after Relic Sunday, which always falls
in the middle of July. Further, the King is said to be at
Northampton, which he was in July 1463, and no other year appears
to suit.]
[Footnote 77.1: Yelverton.]
[Footnote 78.1: Probably the Speaker of the Parliament of 1463,
whom Margaret Paston named Fynes in Letter 544. _See_ p. 75,
Note 2.]
[Footnote 78.2: According to the dates of the Privy Seals the King
was at Northampton from the 8th to the 28th July 1463; also on the
2nd May 1464.]
[[To mygth rigth good and speciall maister
_text has “gooa” (italic a for d)_]]
546