Edward Plumpton to Sir Robert Plumpton

80 Edward Plumpton to Sir Robert Plumpton, 17 December [1489] (No.
     202, p. 139)

[p. 140] Pleaseth your mastership, after all due recomendacon, to wyte
?at this day was hanged at ?e Tower Hill iiij servants of the kings,¹
wherfore ?e brynger herof can shew to you by mouth. Other nowes as
yet here is none. Sir, afore your indentures of Mr Chaunceler, he
maketh none vnto Candlemasse next, & then he will haue a generall
awdite, where ye & all other shall haue your lesses out;² & in ?e meane
tyme, euery man to ocupie ther owne farmes, notwithistanding ?e
premysses. Put ye no dout therin, for ye shalbe sure therof assone as
any man of his. I haue spoken with Nicholas Leuthorpe³ & fele him
well dispossed toward you. Sir, if ye send therfore at Candlemasse,
send to Mr Hemson,⁴ by the token, I gat him a warrant for a doo of
my lord in his parke of Hals yerely.⁵ If it please you to assigne me,
send me word what increse & approment ye wyl give, & I wyll applie
my mynd & service to your pleasure & wele. Sir I purpose to se your
mastership or to send this Cristinmasse, if I may goe home. This day
my lord knoweth not whether he goeth home afore this tyme or noo.
If we goe home I wyll send; if not, I pray you send to me afore
Candlemasse. Remember Clement Simpson. Pleaseth your mastership
to recomend me to my singuler gud lady. And your owne faythfull
servant, as knoweth our Lord, who perserve you. Wrytten at London
the xvij day of December.

Your humble servant           Edward Plompton^a

Endorsed (p. 139): To my master Sir Robt Plompton knight

     ^a Appended: Copied the 20th day of May 1613.

     ¹ Edward Frank, Henry Davy, John Mayne and Christopher Swan, who conspired
with John, abbot of Abingdon to aid the earl of Lincoln?s rebellion. Stapleton points to
an error in the printed Parliament Roll, which assigns the conspiracy to 20 Dec. 6
Hen.VII, whereas according to the date of their execution as revealed in this letter the
date should be 10 Dec. 5 Hen.VII (1489), RP, vi, 436?7; Stapleton, 87n.

     ² The chancellor of the Duchy was at this time Sir Reginald Bray, appointed 15 Sept.
1485 for life. Sir Robert was seeking renewal of the leases granted to him by the late earl
of Northumberland, after whose death Henry Wentworth was appointed steward of
Knaresborough. Sir Robert seems to have continued for some time as deputy. His lease
of the mills was renewed, Somerville, i, 392, 524; 87, 122; CB, 755.

     ³ 69.

     ⁴ Richard Empson (exec.1510) was attorney general of the Duchy from 1485 to 1506,
Somerville, i, 406.

     ⁵ George, Lord Strange, 39.

LETTER LXI.

To my master, Sir Robart Plompton, knight.

    Pleaseth your mastership, after all due recomandacion, to wyte
that this day was hanged at the tower hill iiij servants of the
Kings; wherfore, the brynger herof can shew to you by mouth.a
Other newes, as yet, here is none. Sir, afore your indentures of
Mr. Chaunceler, he maketh none unto Candlemesse next, and then
he will have a generall awdite, where ye, and all other, shall have
your lesses out; and in the meane tyme, every man to ocupie ther
ownefarmes, notwithstanding the puremysses: put ye no doubttherin,
for ye shalbe sure therof, assone as any man of his.b I have
spoken with Nicholas Lenthorpe,c and fele him well dispossed
toward you. Sir, if ye send therfore at Candlemasse, send to
Mr. Hemsond, by the token, I gat him a warrant for a doo of my
lorde in his parke of Hals yerely. If it please you to assigne me,
send me word what increse and approment ye wyll give, and I
wyll applie my mynd and service to your pleasure and wele. Sir,
I purpose to se your mastership, or to send this Cristinmase, if I
may goe home. This day my lord knwoeth not whether he goeth
home afore this tyme, or noo. If we goe home, I wyll send; if not,
I pray you send to me afore Candlemasse. Remember Clement
Simpson. Pleaseth your mastership to recomend me to my sin-
guler good lady. And your owne faythfull servant, as knoweth
our Lord, who preserve you. Wrytten at London, the xvij day
of December.
                                                        Your humble servant,
           (17 Dec. 1489.)                              EDWARD PLOMPTON.

a These four were Edward Frank, Henry Davy, John Mayne, and Christopher Swan,
who about the first day of December, vth yere of the reigne of King Henry VII. at
London, had communication with one Thomas Rothwell, otherwise called Thomas
Even, late of London, priest, how they might take out of the King's ward Edward
the Earl of Warwick, John abbot of Abingdon supplying money for the purpose; and
afterwards, viz. on the xxth day of Decembre, in the said vth yere, conspired to com-
pass their design at Abingdon, for which acts they were attainted of high treason.?
(See Rolls of Parliament, vol. VI. p. 436 b, where the printed text, besides having in one
place vith yere for vth yere of the King's reign, is also wrong in the day of the month
of December, which should be the xth, calculating by the date of their execution, as
ascertained by this letter.) The herald, whose valuable memorial of the ceremonies at
Court in the early years of the reign of Hen. VII. has been printed by Hearne in the
Collectanea Lelandi (vol. IV.) notes that, "that Abbott of Abyndon and Harry Swan,
and oder, wer attaynt of Treson in the Parlement, and Edward Franke, Harry Davy,
Taileur of London, and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . were beheded at Tourhill."

 b This information has doubtless reference to the renewal solicited of the leases
granted to Sir Robert Plumpton by the deceased Earl of Northumberland, whose
office of Constable, Steward, and Master Forester of the castle, lordship, and forest of
Knaresborough, had only been a grant for life, though afterwards reconferred upon his
successor, when he was out of ward.

    c Nicholas Leventhorp, esq. was Receyvour of the Honours, of Pountfrett and
Knaresbugh, an office held by patent. (Rot. Parl, 1 Hen. VII. vol. VI. p. 341b.)

    d Master Hemson, otherwise Empson, afterwards Sir Richard Empson, kt. the well-
known tool of Henry VII's legal extortiosn, had it seems, even at this period, attained
to considrable eminence in the practice of the law, a knowledge which he afterwards
perverted to such unworthy purpose. Of this celebrated individual much interesting
matter will be found in the subsequent letters, and in the Memoirs of the family of
Plumpton, prefixed to this volume of correspondence.

    e George Stanley, Lord Strange. Hale was a manor of the Earl of Derby, in the
county of Chester.