[Footnote 308.1: [From Fenn, iv. 266.] Elizabeth Paston, as we
have seen (No. 374), had married Robert Poynings by the beginning
of January 1459. We must, however, correct a slight inaccuracy in
the preliminary note to that letter, where it is said that by the
year 1470 they must have been married several years. Their union,
in fact, lasted little more than two years; for Robert Poynings
was slain at the second battle of St. Albans on the 17th February
1461. The inquisition _post mortem_, taken some years afterwards
(9 and 10 Edw. IV., No. 49), gives that day as the date of his
death. His son and heir, Edward, named in this letter (who was
afterwards Lord-Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Henry VII.), was
probably born towards the close of the year 1459, for he is
mentioned at the date of the inquisition (31st Jan. 49 and 1 Hen.
VI., _i.e._ 1471) as eleven years old and over. Elizabeth Poynings
must have remained a widow some years; but before 1472 she had
married Sir George Browne of Betchworth, Surrey. This letter is
certainly of later date than No. 627, for the lands which she was
then endeavouring to recover from the Earl of Kent were now
occupied by the Earl of Essex. It may perhaps have been a year or
two after 1466, but it was probably not later than 1469, as in
1470 Henry VI. was restored, and Essex, being a Yorkist, would not
have been so powerful. The year 1468 must be a tolerable
approximation to the true date.]
[Footnote 310.1: Edmund Grey, Lord Grey of Ruthin, and Baron
Hastings, who was created Earl of Kent in 1465.]
[Footnote 310.2: Henry, Viscount Bourchier, created Earl of Essex
in 1461.]
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