Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, to Sir William Plumpton

21 Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland,¹ to Sir William Plumpton, 17 August
      [?1470] (No. 3, p. 152; CB 613)

Right trusty and with all myn hart my welbeloued cossine,^a I grete you
hartily wealle, and desire and pray you that my welbeloued seruant
Edmund Cape may haue and occupie the office of the baliship of
Sesey, as his father did to fore in time past.² My trust is in you that,
the rather for this mine instance & contemplation, ye will fulfill this my
desire, and I will be as well-willed to doe thinge for your pleasure, that
knoweth our Lord, who haue you in his blessed keping. Written in my
manner of Top<c>life, the seuententh day of August.^b

                              Your cossin                                     H. Northumberland

Endorsed: To my right trusty and welbeloued coussinⁿ Sir William
Plompton knight

     ^a Marginal note: 3 letter.

     ^b Marginal note: Copied 9 December 1612.

     ¹ Henry Percy was released from the Tower, 27 Oct. 1469 and restored to the earldom
of Northumberland at York, where he swore allegiance, 25 March 1470, Thomas Rymer,
Foedera (20 vols, 1704–35), x, 648.

     ² Sir William’s son-in-law Sir George Darrell, of Sessay, died in 1466. His son,
Marmaduke, was presumably still a minor and probably in Sir William’s custody, VCH,
Yorks: North Riding, ed. Wm Page, i (repr. 1968), 447; App. III.

LETTER XIX.

To my right trusty and welbeloved Coussin, Sir William Plompton,
knight.

    Right trusty and with all myn hart my welbeloved Cossine, I
grete you hartily wealle, and desire and pray you that my wel-
beloved servant Edmund Cape may have and occopic the office of
the baliship of Sesey,a his father did tofore in time past. My
trust is in you, that the rather for this mine instance and contem-
plation, ye will fulfill this my desire, and I will be as wellwilled to
doe things for your pleasure. That knoweth our Lord, who have
you in his blessed keping. Written in my manner of Topclife,
the sevententh day of August.

                                                  Your Cossin, H. NORTHUMBERLAND.^b

    ^a Sessay, a parish town in the wapentake of Allertonshire, was the residence of
the family of Darell, of whom Sir George Darell, knight, died 8 Edw. IV. 1466, having
married Margaret, daughter of Sir William Plumpton. The application of the Earl of
Northumberland, on behalf of his servant, for the office of bailiff, makes it probable that
Sir William Plumpton had then the wardship of the heir of Sir George Darell.

    ^b Henry Percy, restored to the earldom of Northumberland in 1470, and to the
estates of the family in Yorkshire, was the fourth Earl of the name.