Godfrey Greene to Sir William Plumpton

29 Godfrey Greene to Sir William Plumpton, [Michaelmas term, ending 25
     November 1477] (No. 24, p. 170, CB 621)

Right reuerent & worshipfull Sir,^a I recomend me vnto your good
mastership. Please you to witt that I labored to Mr Pilkinton¹ & to the
chauncelor diuerse times for your letter fra the king,² and promissed
me to moue my lord to speak to the king therefore; neverthelesse it
was not doon; but when the king comes to London I shall labour
therefore again. Your writts & certiorare³ are labored for & shalbe had,
how be the iudges will graunt no certiorare but for a cause. Ailmer wife
was like to haue bene non suit in her appeale,⁴ for her day was Octabis
Martini,⁵ but Whele [and] I certified the iudges that she wold come if
she were in hele & out of prison. The iudges gifnes her no favour, for
they say they vnderstand by credible informationes that these men be
not guiltie, & it is but onely your mainetenance. And so one of them
said to me out of the court. And Guy Fairfax⁶ said openly att the barre,
that he know so verily they were not guilty, that he wold labor their
deliuerance for almes, not takeing a penny, and I, seeing this, took Mr
Pygott⁷ and Mr Collow.⁸

Godfrey Grene^b

Endorsed (p. 170): To the right reuerend and worshipfull Sir William
Plompton this be deliuered

     ^a Marginal note: 24 letter.

     ^b Marginal note: Copied [illeg.] of February 1612, Munday.

     ¹ Sir John Pilkington, 28.

     ² Thomas Rotherham, bishop of Lincoln, resumed the chancellorship, 29 Sept. 1475,
HBC, 85–6.

     ³ The statute of 10 Hen. VI c.6 was intended to stop plaintiffs from using the writ of
certiorari to remove indictments to the king’s bench ‘unknown to the Party so indicted or
appealed’, thus procuring outlawry of the defendant. It might also be sued out by a
defendant in order to display a pardon already purchased, Philippa C. Maddern, Violence
and Social Order: East Anglia 1422–1442 (Oxford, 1992), 44–5.

     ⁴ Judges disliked the malicious appeal, C. Whittick, ‘The Role of the Criminal Appeal
in the Fifteenth Century’, in J.A. Guy & H.G. Beale (eds), Law and Social Change in British
History (Royal Historical Society, 1984), 58–9.

     ⁵ 18 Nov. A missed return day might result in the discontinuance of the action, Baker,
53.

     ⁶ Counsel usually demurred at speaking gratis through fear of being accused of barratry
or maintenance, J.H. Baker, ‘Counsellors and Barristers’, Cambridge Law Journal, xxvii
(1969), 27, 212, 222.

     ⁷ Richard Pigott, called sergeant 1463, App. III.

LETTER XXVII.

To the right reverend and worshipfull Sir William Plompton,
knight, this to be delivered.

    Right reverent and worshipfull Sir, I recomend me unto your
good mastership. Please you to witt that I labored to Mr. Pil-
kinton and to the Chauncelera diverse times for you letter fro
the King, and promissed me to move my lord to speak to the
King therefore; neverthelesse it was not doon, but when the King
comes to London, I shall labour therefore againe. Your writts and
certiorare are labored for, and shalbe had, how be the judges will
graunt to certiorare but for a cause. Ailmer wife was like to
have bene non suit in her appeale, for her day was octabis mar-
tini;b but Whele and I certified the judges that she wold come
if she were in hele, and out of prison. The judges gifnes her no
favour, for they say they understand by credible informations,
that these men be not guiltie, and is but onely your maintenance;
and so one of them said to me out of the Court. And Guy Fair-
faxc said openly att the barre, that he knew so, verily they were
not guilty, ?that he wold labor their deliverance for almes, not
takeing a penny; and I seing this, took Mr. Pygottd and Mr.
Collow.e
             (Anno circiter 1476-7.)                       GODFREY GRENE.

a Thomas Rotheram, Bishop of Lincoln, made Lord Chancellor, 1475.
b 18 November.
c Guy Fairfax, King's Serjeant. (See note to Letter XV.)
d Richard Pigot, called serjeant 7 Nov. 1464.
e William Colow, called serjeant 9 June 1479.