Edward Plumpton to Sir Robert Plumpton

82 Edward Plumpton to Sir Robert Plumpton, 3 January [1489/90] (No.
     197, p. 135)

After ?e most humble & due recomendation had, please yt your
mastership ?at in ?e most humble lowly wyse I may be recomended
vnto my singuler good ladies; praying you to haue me excused in ?at
I send no wyld fole to you afore this tyme, for in all Lancashire cold
none be had for none money: the snaw & frost was so great, none was
in ?e country, but fled away to see, & ?at cause-me ?at I sent not, as
I promysed. Sir, Robt my seruant is a true seruant to me; neuerthelesse
he is large to ryde afore my male, & euer weyghty for my horse,
wherfore he hartely desireth me to wryte to your mastership for him.
He is a true man of tongue & hands, & a kind & a good man. If ?at
it please your mastership to take him to your service, I besech you to
be his good master, & the better at the instaunce of my especiall
prayer.^a Sir, I haue giuen to him the blacke horse ?at bar him from
the feild;¹ or if ?er be any service ?at ye will comand me I am redy, &
wilbe, to my lives end, at your comandement, all other lordship &
mastership layd aparte. My lord kepeth a great Cristimas as euer was
in this countrey, & is my especiall good lord, as I trust in a short tyme
your mastership shall know. My simple bedfelow, your bedwoman &
seruant, in ?e most humble wyse recomendeth hir vnto your mas-
tership² & to my ladys good ladyship, & your seruants; as knoweth
Jesu, who preserue you. Wrytten at Lathum, the iij day of January.

Your most humble seruant:     Ed: Plompton sectory to my Lord

             Straung^b

Endorsed: To þe most honorable my especyall good master Sir Robt
Plompton kt

     ^a Marginal note: Commendation of a seruant.

     ^b Appended: Copied pe 8 of May 1613.

     ¹ Probably the field of Stoke, 16 June 1487, at which Lord Strange was present, whereas
Sir Robert had probably been in the company of Northumberland, who had avoided
Stoke by directing a diversionary attack on York, P.W. Fleming, ‘Household Servants of
the Yorkist and Early Tudor Gentry’, in David Williams (ed.), Early Tudor England (Bury
St Edmunds, 1989), 22n.; D. Hay (ed.), The Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil, A.D.1485–1537
(Camden Society, 3rd ser., lxxiv, 1950), 23, 27; Hicks, NH, xiv, 97.

     ² Stapleton suggests that Edward Plumpton’s first wife was Agnes Griffith, sister of the
correspondent, 90, 121; Stapleton, 99n.

LETTER LXII.

To the right honorable my especyall good master, Sir Robart
Plompton, kt.

    After the most humble and due recomendation had, please yt
your mastership, that in the most humle lowly wyse Imay be
recomeded unto my singuler good ladies; Praying you to have
me excused in that Isend no wyld fole to you afore this tyme, for
in all Lancashire cold none be had for none money. The snaw
and frost was so great, none was in the country, but fled away to
see, and that caused me that I sent not, as I promysed. Sir
Robart, my servant, is a tryue servant to me, neverthelesse he is
large to ryde afore my male, and over weyghty for my horse;
wherfore he hartely desireth me to wryte to your mastership for
him. He is a true man of tongue and hands, and kind and a
good man. If yt please your mastership to take him to your
service, I besech you to be his good master, and the better at the
instaunce of my especyall prayer. Sir, I have given to him the
blacke horse that bar him from the feild;a and if ther be any
service that ye will comand me, I am redy, and wilbe to my lives
end at your comandement, all other lordship and mastership layd
aparte. My lord kepeth a great Cristinmas, as ever was in this
country, and is my especyall good lord, as I trust in a short tyme
your mastership shall know. my simple bedfelow, your bede-
woman and servant, in the most humble wyse recomendeth hir
unto your mastership, and to my ladys good ladyship, and your
servants; as knoweth jesu, who preserve you. Wrytten at La-
thum,b the iij. day of January.
                                  Your most humble servant, ED. PLOMPTON,
         (3 Jan. 1489-90.)                      Sectory to my lord Straung.

    a "Lord Strange brought with him to the field of Stoke a great Host, enough to
have beaten all the King's enemies, only of my lord his father's, the Earle of Derby's
folks, and his," writes a contemporary annalist. (Lel. Coll. edit. ult. vol. IV.p. 213.)
?Edward Plumpton had, it seems, with his servant, ridden in this company.

    b Latham Hall in Lancashire, the well-known seat of the Earls of Derby.