Dame Elizabeth Brews to Sir John Paston

  • Medieval Family Life
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Title
Dame Elizabeth Brews to Sir John Paston
Reference
Add. 27446, f. 67
Date
?1488
Library / Archive
  • The British Library
Transcript location(s) in printed volume(s)
Gairdner, Vol VI, item 1018; Fenn, Vol V, Henry VII item 10
Transcript from John Fenn, 'Original Letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III…. Volume V' (1st transcript)

LETTER X.

 

To my right Worshipfull
      Son Sr John Paston Knyght
      be this delyverd.

 

RIGHT worshipfull Son J recomaund me unto you and to
my lady my doughter your wyfe and I send you both
cristes blyssyng and myne And Son J thank you hertely for
my Son Will’m Brews and J moste pray you for ye reu˜ens
of Jhu to help hym for your ten’nts and myne or els John
Dynne Will Owner rewle them and Son god thank you ye
helpyd ons Whyte of Metfeld and so I most besech you
nowe to do And yt yit wold pleas you to gyffe credans onto
the Prior of ye white Freres for I haue shewed vnto hym my
mynd And as ye do J hold me content And Son we ladys
and Jentyl Women as in this Contrey that is wedows be sore
trobyld wt the Bysshop of Chester and haskith of us more
than we may pay and yt knowith all myghty Ihu who haue
yow in his blyssed kepyng.

                                                                Be your Modyr,

                                                          Dam ELIZABETH BREWSE.

 

       12¼ by 4¼.

 

 

     This letter contains little worthy of notice, except what Lady Brewse says
concerning the Bishop of Chester, as she calls him; she must mean John
Hales, Bishop of Litchfield, the bishops of which see were often called Bishops
of Chester, from having their palace there. The Bishopric of Chester was not
founded till 1541. 33 H. VIII.

      What demand the Bishop had upon widowed ladies and gentlewomen does
not appear.

     William Brewse died in 1489; this letter, therefore, must have been written
before that time.

     Autograph, Pl. xxx. No. 8.
Transcript from John Fenn, 'Original Letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III…. Volume V' (2nd transcript)

LETTER X.

 

To my Right Worshipful Son Sir John Paston, Knight,
be this delivered.

 

RIGHT worshipful Son, I recommend me unto you, and to
my Lady my daughter your wife, and I send you both Christ’s
blessing and mine. And, son, I thank you heartily for my
son William Brewse; and I must pray you for the reverence
of Jesu to help him for your tenants and mine, or else John
Dynne will over-rule them; and, son, God thank you, ye
helped one White of Metfield, and so I must beseech you
now to do, and that it would please you to give credence
unto the Prior of the White Friars, for I have showed unto
him my mind; and as ye do, I hold me content.

     And, son, we ladies and gentlewomen in this country,
that is [be] widows, be sore troubled with the Bishop of
Chester, and [he] asketh of us more than we may pay, and
that knoweth Almighty Jesu, who have you in his blessed
keeping.

                                                                 By your Mother,

                                                           Dame ELIZABETH BREWSE.

Between 1487 and 1489.
           2 and 5 H. vii.

 

 

     This letter contains little worthy of notice, except what Lady Brewse says
concerning the Bishop of Chester, as she calls him; she must mean John
Hales, Bishop of Litchfield, the bishops of which see were often called Bishops
of Chester, from having their palace there. The Bishopric of Chester was not
founded till 1541. 33 H. VIII.

      What demand the Bishop had upon widowed ladies and gentlewomen does
not appear.

     William Brewse died in 1489; this letter, therefore, must have been written
before that time.

     Autograph, Pl. xxx. No. 8.
Transcript from James Gairdner, 'The Paston Letters, A.D., 1422-1509, New Complete Library Edition, Volume VI'

1018

 

DAME ELIZABETH BREWS TO SIR JOHN PASTON1

 

To my right worshipfull son, Sir John Paston, Knyght,
be this delyverd.

 

    RIGHT worshipfull son, I recommaund me unto you and
        to my lady my doughter your wyfe, and I send you
        both Cristes blyssyng and myne. And, son, I thank
you hertely for my son, William Brews; and I moste pray
you for the revcrens of Jesu to help hym for your tenauntes
and myne, or els John Dynne will owver rewle them. And,
son, God thank you, ye helpyd ons Whyte of Metfeld, and so
I must beseche you nowe to do, and that it wold pleas you to
gyffe credans unto the Priour of the Wyhte Freres, for I have
shewed unto hym my mynd; and as ye do, I hold me content.

     And, son, we ladys and jentil women in this contrey that is
wedows, be sore trobyld with the Bysshop of Chester,1 and
haskith of us more than we may pay, and that knowith All
myghty Jesu, Who have you in His blyssed kepyng.

                                             Be your moder,

                                                                 DAME ELIZABETH BREWS.

 

     1 [From Paston MSS., B.M.] The date of this letter is nearly as indefinite as that
of the last, but it certainly lies between the year 1487, when Sir John Paston was
knighted, and 1489, when William Brews died. If the latter part of the letter refers
to the levying of a subsidy, in which the Bishop of Chester may have been one of the
King’s agents, the date is probably about the end of the year 1488. Sir Thomas
Brews, the writer’s husband, died in 1482.

 

1 The Bishops of Coventry and Lichfield were often called Bishops of Chester
before the foundation of the modern Bishopric of Chester by Henry VIII. John Hales
or Halse was Bishop of Coventry from 1459 to 1490.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1488(?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1488(?)