_Carissimo suo magistro, Johanni Paston, armigero._
_Jesus, Maria, &c._
[Sidenote: 1459]
Ryte reverent mayster and most trusty frend in erthe, as lowly as I kan
or may, I recomaunde me, &c. Syr, in feyth I was sore aferd that ze had
a gret lettyng that ze come not on Wednysday to met, &c. Be myn feythe,
and ze had be here, ze schuld haf had ryte good chere, &c., and hafe
faryd ryte wele after zour pleser, &c., with more, &c.
Sir John Tatirshall is at one with Heydon, &c., and Lord Skalys hathe
made a lofeday[195.2] with the prior and Heydon in alle materys except
the matere of Snoryng, &c. And the seyd pryor spake maysterly to the
jurrorys, &c., and told hem and [_i.e._ if] they had dred God and hurt
of here sowlys, they wold haf some instruccyon of the one party as wele
as of the other. But they were so bold they were not aferd, for they
fownde no bonys to sey in her verdyte, as T. T.[196.1] and J. H.[196.2]
wold, &c.
A lewde [_i.e._ illiterate] doctor of Ludgate prechid on Soneday
fowrtenyte at Powlys, chargyng the peple that no man schuld preyen for
these Lords traytorys,[196.3] &c.; and he had lytyl thank, as he was
worthy, &c. And for hyse lewd demenyng his brethir arn had in the lesse
favour at London, &c. Doctor Pynchebek and Doctor Westhawe, grete
prechowrys and parsonys at London, bene now late made monkys of
Charterows at Schene, one at the on place and an other at the other
place, &c.
The Chaunceler[196.4] is not good to these Lords, &c., for he feryth the
Erle of Marche wyl cleyme by inheritans the Erldam of Ha
. . . . .[196.5] &c., of which mater I herd gret speche in Somercede
schyre, &c. Wyndham, Heydon, Todynham, Blake, W. Chambirleyn, Wentworth,
have late commyssyonys to take for tretorys and send to the next gayl
all personys fawtorys and weelwyllerys to the seyd Lords, &c. Mayster
Radclyff and ze haf none of commyssyonys directid to zow, &c., for ze
bene holdyn favorabil, &c. Wyndham and Heydon bene namyd here causerys
of the commyssyonys, &c.
On Moneday last at Crowmere was the ore and the bokys of regystre of the
amrelte takyn a wey from my Lord Scalys men be a gret multitude of my
Lord Rossys, &c. The Lord Skalys is to my Lord Prince,[196.6] &c., to
wayte on hym, &c. He seyth, per Deum Sanctum, as we sey here, he schal
be amrel or he schal ly there by, &c. Be my feyth, here is a coysy werd
[_unsettled world_]. Walsham of Chauncery, that never made lesyng, told
me that Bokkyng was with my Lord Chaunceler this terme, but I askyd not
how many tymys, &c.
As I haf wrytyn to zow oftyn byfor this, _Facite vobis amicos de mammona
iniquitatis_, quia de facto. T. T., J. H., et J. W. [_J. Wyndham_] cum
ceteris Magistri Fastolf fallacibus famulis magnam gerunt ad vos
invidiam, quod excelleritis eos in bonis, &c., Judas non dormit, &c.
_Noli zelare facientes iniquitatem, quoniam tanquam fenum velociter
arescent et quemadmodum olera herbarum cito per Dei gratiam decident._
Ideo sic in Psalmo: _Spera in Domino et fac bonitatem et pasceris in
divitiis ejus et delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis
tui_.[197.1] Et aliter: _Jacta cogitatum tuum in Domino et ipse te
enutriet_.[197.2] _Utinam_, inquit Apostolus, _abscindantur qui vos
conturbant_,[197.3] &c. Et alibi: _Cavete vos a malis et importunis
hominibus_.[197.4] Precor ergo Deum qui vos et me creavit et suo
pretioso sanguine nos redemit, vos vestros et vestra gratiose conservet
in prosperis et gratiosius dirigat in agendis.
Scriptum Walsham, feria quarta[197.5] in nocte cum magna festinatione,
&c. Utinam iste mundus malignus transiret et concupiscentia ejus.
Vester ad vota promptissimus,
Frater J. BRACKLEY,
_Minorum minimus_.
[Footnote 195.1: [From Fenn, iii. 346.] This letter belongs to
the latter part of the year 1459. After the dispersion of the
Duke of York’s army near Ludlow in October of that year,
commissions were granted to various persons to arrest and punish
his adherents. Even as early as the 14th of October, Lord Rivers
and others were commissioned to seize their lands and goods in
different counties (see _Patent Roll_, 38 Hen. VI., p. 1, m. 12,
_in dorso_). But this letter, we are inclined to think, was
written about six or seven weeks later, for it will be seen by
the next that Bocking, who is here stated to have been with my
Lord Chancellor ‘this term,’ must have been in attendance on him
before the 7th December, and therefore, we may presume, during
Michaelmas term, which ended on the 28th November. It is,
however, difficult to judge, from the very slender allusion to
Sir John Fastolf, whether this letter was written before or
after the old knight’s death. Brackley here speaks of having
been quite recently in Somersetshire, which is not unlikely to
have been in the middle of October, when the Earls of March,
Warwick, and Salisbury withdrew into the West. Brackley, as will
be seen, was a great partisan of these Lords, and may very well
have accompanied them; but not long before Fastolf’s death he
appears to have been at Norwich.]
[Footnote 195.2: Love days were days appointed for the
settlement of disputes by arbitration.]
[Footnote 196.1: Sir Thomas Tuddenham.]
[Footnote 196.2: John Heydon.]
[Footnote 196.3: Meaning the Earls of March, Warwick, and
Salisbury.]
[Footnote 196.4: William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester.]
[Footnote 196.5: The original letter is here defective.--F.]
[Footnote 196.6: Edward, Prince of Wales.]
[Footnote 197.1: Psalm xxxvi. (or xxxvii.) 1-4.]
[Footnote 197.2: Psalm liv. (or lv.) 22.]
[Footnote 197.3: Gal. v. 12.]
[Footnote 197.4: 2 Thess. iii. 2.]
[Footnote 197.5: ‘Feria quarta’ means Wednesday.]
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