John Bocking to John Paston

345

JOHN BOCKING TO JOHN PASTON¹

To my right worshipful Maister, John Paston.

RIGHT worshipful Sir, and my good maister, I re-
     comaunde me to yow, and have receyvid a lettre
     from yow by Sir Thomas is man, berer here of. And
as for the accions,² bothe of ravishement and th’attachement,
the declaracions ar made tunc solvend’ and not solut’, and as
moche amendid as we can or may be favour have amendid.
We hadde be beguyled and they hadde not be sen in Norffolk,
for here til this day come noo counsaill; and to have per
manus Johannis Wyngfelde it wole not be, for we can not
bringe it inne, and also it is to late.

     And as for iiij^xxli. [fourscore pounds],³ Fenn and I mette
with Worsop this day, and he spake soore to Fenn and me,
and we put hym overe, saying we wolde doo as moche as we
myghte. I thinke verily that Fenn wole deserve ther inne a
thanke, but I can not understande hym what he wolde be
doon to, or how rewardid, for whanne I speke of it he is
desplesid, and seithe he desirith noo rewarde; but he farith as
a man wole sey he wold noo silvere, and lokith awaywardes
and takith a noble. And he hath written to yow of the matere
of Sir Philip Wentworthe touching this writte of liberate,⁴
whiche is but a color and noo warant sufficient, ner we owe
not to doo no thinge that shuld obeye it, ner the Shireve
nother dothe but of favor that he dothe to hem, and hym liste
otherwise to doo, as Fenn writeth yow more pleinly. And as
for a supersedies [sic], there lithe noon, as he seith, up on a
liberate.

     And as for entryng in Bradwell, thei doo opyn wronge, for
after myn patent opteyned, there was a writte to sease it into
the Kynges hande, and soo it was and is. And as to your
patent, it is counsailled me to have a writte to th’eschetor de
custodia liberanda, whiche may not be denyed. And if we
myght have una cum exitibus a tempore mortis, it were a sove-
reigne writte. It shalbe assaied, and doo thertoo what can
lete; the fermours be promised to be saved harmeles and
chargid not to paie ony thing to them.

     And as for the iiij^xxli. [fourscore pounds] to be sette on
Olivere is taile, I can not see it wole be, for there is noo suche
worlde to bringe it abowte. It is faire, and we can ghete it
on Fulthorp is dette by grete labor for agrement, for I drede
it wole be moste agayn us that it is of recorde soo longe
unpaied. And Hue at Fenn sueth now to Nailer to ghete
owte moo liberates, suche as the last were to the last eschetor.
And this God graunte thei take good spede.

     And as to your isseus, I shal accordyng to your lettre
speke with Gresham whanne he cometh, and the Juges and
Barons bothe shalbe enformed of the title of Wentworthe, as
ye write, and how it is up on a feyned dede upon surrender,
and a patent cancelled, &c., which Fenn hath promisid to doo.

     And as to Sir Thomas matier, I write un to yow and hym
joinctly what hathe be doon therinne at this tyme. And Jesu
have yow in kepyng.

     Writen at Suthwerk, the viij. day of Octobre.

     As to tidinges, the Kyng and the Quene ar at Coventre.¹
The Counsail be ganne there yesterday, and my Lord
Shrewyshbury,² Tresorier of England, and John Wode shalb
[shall be] Under-Tresorer. Thus thei say in the Chequer.

                                               Your owen,                                 J. B.

     ¹ [From Paston MSS., B.M.] The body of this letter relates entirely to proceed-
ings in the dispute between Sir John Fastolf and Sir Philip Wentworth about the
wardship of Thomas Fastolf. The postscript alone relates to public matters. The
date will appear by the footnotes.

     ² Against Sir Philip Wentworth.

     ³ This sum was to be paid by John Bocking and William Worcester for a patent
of the wardship of Thomas Fastolf.—See Letter 347 following.

     ⁴ See p. 77, Note 5.

 ¹ The Privy Seal dates show the King to have been at Coventry between the 20th
September and the 14th October 1456.

     ² John Talbot, second Earl of Shrewsbury, was appointed Treasurer on the 5th
October 1456.—Patent Roll, 35 Hen. VI., p. 1, m. 16.

1456
OCT. 8

1456
OCT. 8