_Tradatur J. P._
[Sidenote: 1455 / MAY 21]
Moste Cristen Kyng, ryght hygh and myghty Prince, and our mooste
redoubted souverayn Lorde, we recomaunde ws as humblye as we suffice
unto your hygh excellence, where unto please it to wete that for so
moche as we hyre and understand to our grettyst sorowe erthlye that our
ennemyes of approuved experience, such as abyde and kepe theym sylf
under the whyng of your Magestee Royall, have throwen unto the same
ryght stedyousely and ryght fraudulentlye manye ambyguytees and doubtes
of the fayth, lygeaunce, and dewtee that, God knowyth, we beere unto
your Hyghnesse, and have put theym yn as grete devoyr as they coude to
enstraunge ws from your mooste noble presonce and from the favour of
your goode grace; whych goode grace to ws ys and owe to be our singuler
and mooste desyred yoie and consolacion: We at thys tyme be comyng wyth
grace as your true and humble liege men, toward your seyd Hygh
Excellence to declare and shew therto at large owr sayd fayth and
ligeaunce, entendyng wyth the mercye of Jesu yn the seyd comyng, to put
ws yn as diligent and hertye devoyr and dewtee as onye your lyege men on
lyve to that at may avaunce or preferre the honnour and wellfare off the
sayd Mageste Royalle and the seurte of the sayd most notable person; the
whych [we] beseche our blessed Creature to prosper [in] as grete honnor,
yoie, and felicitie as ever had onye prince erthlye, and to your sayd
Hyghnesse so to take, accept, and repute ws, and not to plese to geve
trust or confidence unto the sinistrez, maliciouse, and fraudulent
laboures and rapportes of our sayd ennemyes unto our comyng to your sayd
moste noble presence; where unto we beseche humblye that we may be
admitted as your liege men, to th’entent to show ws the same; wheroff
yerstenday we wrote our lettres of our entent to the ryght reverent
fadre yn God, the Archebysshop of Caunterburye,[24.1] your Chauncellr of
England, to be shewed to your sayd Hyghnesse, whereoff, forsomoch as we
be not acerteyned whethyr our sayd entent be by hys fadrehode shewed
unto your seyd goode grace or not, we sende thereoff unto thys closed a
copy of our said lettres of our disposicion toward your sayd Hygh
Excellence and the honnour and weele of the land, whereynne we wolle
persevere wyth the grace of our Lorde.
[Footnote 23.2: [From Fenn, iii. 178.] This is a copy of the
memorial drawn up by the Duke of York and the Earls of Warwick
and Salisbury just before the first battle of St. Albans, which
the Duke of Somerset and his friends would not allow to be
presented to the King. Although this copy is without date, the
original was dated at Ware, the 21st May.--See _Rolls of Parl._
v. 281, where the whole document is cited.]
[Footnote 24.1: Fenn states that on the margin of the MS., in a
hand nearly coeval with the letter itself, is written,
‘Memorandum quod dict’ literæ (?) Dominorum direct’
Archiepiscopo Cant. est apud . . . . .’ What followed is lost,
the paper being torn. The letter to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, however, will be found quoted at full length in the
_Rolls of Parliament_, v. 280-1.]
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