John Bockyng to John Paston

330

JOHN BOCKYNG TO JOHN PASTON¹

To my worshipful maister, John Paston, Squier.

   SIRE, please it your maistership to wyte that on Wednes-
     day, the v. day of Maij, I received a lettre from you
     by the prestis man of Walsyngham, and the Ascencion
Day,² in the mornyng, I received a lettre from yow bi the
handes of John Frays, my maisteris man, in whiche bothe
moche thinge is conteyned whiche alle at this tyme I may not
answere un to my comyng the nexte weke. And as to our
atteynte,³ the Chief Justice hathe, sithe this day sevenyght,
kept the Gildehalle in London with alle the Lordes and Juges,
sauf one in eche place. My Maister Markham yesterday rode
owte of London be tymes. Notwithstandyng we called ther
upon, and hadde at the barre Chokke,⁴ Letelton,⁵ Jenney,⁶
Illyngworth,⁷ John Jenney, and Dyne, and remembrid the
longe hangyng and the trouthe of the matier, with the grete
hurte of the partie in the tyme; and we have rule the next
terme betymes, and non otherwise, for to morwe the juges
sitten ayen in the toune. Mayster Yelverton can not be myry
for Wyrmegey, and as for the distresse, it is a non omittas, and
therfore Poley may and wil retorne what isseus he will. If
thei be smale, we shall suffre at this time; if thei be grete, we
must appere for Wyngfelde; and moche labour we have to
conceyve a goode warant of attorney. We shal plede the next
erme, for as at this tyme we wold on Monday enparle and
we may.

     Ye must suerly entrete the shireve, for we have moche
to doo with hym, as yesterday hadde we a grete day also in
th’eschequer. Myn maister¹ is moche bounde to Haltofte,
and there we ar assigned day over to the next terme, and
dwelle in law. Our counsail was longe or thei come, but at
the laste thei acquitte them weel. The bille was thought not
by all that stode at the barre that wer of nother partie. We
ar joyned in the sute of the obligacion in the Comon Place
ayenst Jenney and Howes. As for attachement, ye may none
have withowte ye or on of yow make your othe in propre
persone before the barons. I wolde have doon it; I cowde
not be amytted. And as for other processe, it is advised that
by the cors of th’eschequer I shall take a venire facias ayenst
Wentworthe, Andrews, longe Barnard, and Deyvill ad respon-
dendum quare in possessionem, &c. ingressi sunt. And we must
telle where other Coughawe or Kirkeley, I suppose; and ther-
upon a distresse and an attachement; nevertheles by your
othe, &c., hereafter. And it is thought good that the same
men shal be in the writte of ravyshment. Jenney hath advised
us to ley it in Blithinge hundred, and I have taken of hym
names; for as for London it is to nyghe enbracerye, as ye
thought well, and soo is Middlesex. Maister Yelverton con-
ceyvith it weel to your entent. There are aboughte and in
Suffolk but fewe men as of gentilmen and men of substance,
but if [unless] it be in Blithing hundre, were Hopton is grete;
but Jenney dredeth it not we may have good men at large;
and as for the hundre, he wil doo inow thereinne.

     As for the tailes of iiij^xxli. [four score pounds], as yette we
shal doo weel inowghe and thei were contentid; or thei that
shal have the silvere, the noyse were the lesse, for it shall, in
pledyng, alwey be rehersid by our contrarie party that for x.
marc we have alle that evere ther is, &c. I can not here how
Wentworthe takith this matier by no meane; what he meneth
I wote not. He is no thing pleasid with the matier of the
bille in th’eschequer. Thomas Denys come yesterday, and
none erste. I wolde Arblaster and he spoke with yow this
vacacion. I write noo more til my comyng.

     As for tidinges, noon othere thanne I sent yow laste; but
forthe on the same, all is as it was with the Quene,¹ the Prince
and myn Lord York ar stille at Tutbury and Sandale, and my
Lord of Warrewick at Warrewick. My Lord Bukingham
rode on Ascencion Even to Writell, noo thing wel plesid, and
sumwhat on easid of herte to his purpose; for the King hathe
ley in London Friday, Saterday, Sonday, Monday, Teusday,
and Wednesday remevid to Westminster agen. In alle whiche
tyme, men of London that wer chargid and sworne wolde not
nor hadde noo thing presentid sauf trespas; this day thei shal
sitte ayen. The peas is weel kepte, but the straungiers² ar
soore a dradde, and dar not come on brode. Here is alle that
I knowe as yet. Our Lord Jesu be with yow.

     Writen at Suthwerk the viij. day of Maij.

     I have paied to Dory Cs., and with moche peyne made
hym to ghete day of the other Cs. til the nexterme.

                                                            Your owen                         J. B.

     Endorsed in a seventeenth-century hand.—L’ra Joh’is Bokking, Attorn. in Com-
muni Banco.

     ¹ [From Paston MSS., B.M.] The date of this letter is quite certain, not only
from the circumstance of the 5th May being a Wednesday in 1456, as mentioned in
the beginning, but also from Ascension Day falling between that and the 8th, the
day on which this letter was written.

     ² Ascension Day was the 6th May in 1456.

     ³ See Nos. 267, 268, etc.

     ⁴ Richard Choke, Serjeant-at-law, afterwards Judge of the Common Pleas.

     ⁵ Thomas Lyttelton, the great lawyer, at this time King’s Serjeant, afterwards
Judge of the Common Pleas, famous for his treatise on Tenuresss.

     ⁶ William Jenney.

     ⁷ Richard Illingworth, afterwards Chief Baron of the Exchequer.

     ¹ Sir John Fastolf.

     ¹ A full stop after ‘Quene’ would improve the grammar of this sentence, but the
original is entirely without punctuation. The writer evidently meant that the Queen
and Prince were at Tutbury, and the Duke of York at Sandal.

     ² The foreign merchants. A riot took place about this time in London, in which
the houses of foreigners were attacked.—See Fabyan’s Chronicle; also Brown’s
Venetian Calendar, i. 81, 84.

1456
MAY 8

1456
MAY 8

1456
MAY 8