Catherine, Duchess of Norfolk, to John Paston

  • Medieval Family Life
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Title
Catherine, Duchess of Norfolk, to John Paston
Reference
Add. 34888, f. 12
Date
[?]after 1444
Library / Archive
  • The British Library
Transcript location(s) in printed volume(s)
Gairdner, Vol II, item 60; Fenn, Vol III, Henry VI item 3
Transcript from John Fenn, 'Original Letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III…. Volume III' (1st transcript)

LETTER III.

               To our Right trusty
               and hertily Welbeloved
               John Paston Squier.

                                               Kat’yn Duchesse
                                                  of Norff’.

RIGHT trusty and entierly Welbeloved We grete you wel
     hertily as we kan And for as moche as we prpose wt grace
of ihu to be at london wtin bryff tyme We pray you yt your
place ther may be redy for us for we we wole sende our Stuff
thedir to for our comyng and siche agrement as we toke wt you
for the same we shall duely prforme yt wt ye myght of ihu who
haff you in his blissed keping Wretyn at Eppeworth the ijde.
day of Octobre.

 

           11 ¾ by 4 ½.

    Paper Mark,
      A Bull’s Head and Star.
             Pl. XXII. No 13.

  We here see a lady of the first rank going to London in the beginning of the winter, to
the house of one of her dependents, for which she had agreed with him for the time of
her stay in town, and by her stuff was meant most probably her beds, hangings, and other
matters for the fitting up of her lodgings.

     Katharine, duchess of Norfolk, widow of John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, who died
in 1433, was daughter of Ralph, lord Neville, first earl of Westmoreland, by Jane,
daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster.

After the duke?s death she married in succession, Thomas Strangeways, esq. John
viscount Beaumont, and sir John Widville, brother to Anthony, earl Rivers; wife or
widow to one of which she most probably was at the time this letter was written: though
it might be written during her widowhood as duchess of Norfolk, as it is dated from the
late duke’s seat at Epworth, or Epleworth.

     N. B. An old duchess of Norfolk, is said to have died in 1475. Qy. if this lady.
Transcript from John Fenn, 'Original Letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III…. Volume III' (2nd transcript)

LETTER III.

 

To our right trusty and heartily well beloved John Paston, Esq.
Katharine, Duchess of Norfolk.

RIGHT trusty and entirely well beloved, we greet you well
     [as] heartily as we can. And for as much as we purpose
with grace of Jesu to be at London within brief [short] time,
We pray you that your place there may be ready for us, for we
 will send our Stuff thither tofore our coming; and such agree-
ment as we took with you for the same, we shall duly perform
it with the might of Jesu, who have you in his blessed
keeping.

     Written at Epworth the 2d day of October.

 

        Epworth, in Lincolnshire,
            in the island of Axholm,
            2d of October.
            After 1434.

 We here see a lady of the first rank going to London in the beginning of the winter, to
the house of one of her dependents, for which she had agreed with him for the time of
her stay in town, and by her stuff was meant most probably her beds, hangings, and other
matters for the fitting up of her lodgings.

     Katharine, duchess of Norfolk, widow of John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, who died
in 1433, was daughter of Ralph, lord Neville, first earl of Westmoreland, by Jane,
daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster.

 

After the duke?s death she married in succession, Thomas Strangeways, esq. John
viscount Beaumont, and sir John Widville, brother to Anthony, earl Rivers; wife or
widow to one of which she most probably was at the time this letter was written: though
it might be written during her widowhood as duchess of Norfolk, as it is dated from the
late duke’s seat at Epworth, or Epleworth.

     N. B. An old duchess of Norfolk, is said to have died in 1475. Qy. if this lady.

Transcript from James Gairdner, 'The Paston Letters, A.D., 1422-1509, New Complete Library Edition, Volume II'

60

 

CATHERINE, DUCHESS OF NORFOLK, TO
JOHN PASTON1

 

To our right trusty and hertily welbeloved John Paston, Squier.

 

Kateryn, Duchesse
of Norff.

 

     RIGHT trusty and entierly welbeloved, we grete you wel
         hertily as we kan. And for as moche as we purpose
with grace of Jesu to be at London within bryff tyme,
we pray you that your place ther may be redy for us, for we
wole sende our stuff thedir to for [tofore, i.e. before] our
comyng; and siche agrement as we toke with you for the same,
we shall duely performe yt with the myght of Jesu, who haff
you in his blissed keping.

     Wretyn at Eppeworth, ijde day of Octobre.

 

     1 [From Fenn, iii. 16.] The writer of this letter was the widow of John
Mowbray, second Duke of Norfolk, who died in 1432. After the Duke’s death, she
married again no less than three times; and Fenn thinks this letter, which is dated
from Epworth in Lincolnshire, a seat of the Duke of Norfolk’s, was probably written
during her first widowhood. It must be remarked, however, that in 1432 John Paston
was only twelve years old at the utmost, so that this letter could hardly have been
written till at least ten years after. It is, besides, hardly probable that John Paston
would have been addressed as the owner of a ‘place’ in London, before his father’s
death in 1444. The exact year, however, is quite uncertain.

                                                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After
1444