Katherine Chadderton to George Plumpton

2 Katherine Chadderton¹ to George Plumpton, [c.1450 × 1455]      (No. 30,
    p. 178)

My best brother, I am sory, by my troth, that I shall nott see you &
cum thus far as to York. God knoweth my intent was not for no great
gud þat I thoght to desire, but I wott wele now ye trusted the contrary.
But, brother, it is not vnknowne þat I am right sickly, & my hart wold
haue bene gretly comforted to haue spoken with you, but I trow, & so
doth my daughter, that ye be disp[l]eased, denyeing that my writing
afore, because she desired a booke of you, and as euer I be saved, she
praied me write for either salter or primmer, and my hosband said,
halfe apley, ‘prey my brother to gett somwhat to my new chappell’.
God wot, he ment neither gold nor siluer, but some other thing for
said awter. But I had knowne ye wold haue bene displeased, I wold
not haue writt, for as much as I haue speuled my best brother.

     My sister, Dame Isabell,² liueth as heauy a life as any gentlewoman
borne, the which cause me I faired neuer well sence I saw her last
month. Hous such, hath nether woman nor maide with her, but her
selfe alone. And her hosband cometh all day to my hosband and seyeth
the feyrest langwage that euer [. . .]^a ye hard. But all is rong, he is euer
in trouble,^b and all the ioy in earth hath she when my hosband cometh
to her. She sweareth there is noe creature she loueth better. Also,
brother, I beseech you intirely, if there be any goodly young woman
[p. 179] that is a good woman of her body, & pay iiij and xx or more,
and I would haue one of my owne kin, an theare were any, for my
selfe. And, deare brother, and ye or any for you <can> espie, I beseech
you to gitt her for me as hastely as you may, soune upon Easter, and
it may be. I can no more, for great hast of my iorny, but I beseech þe
blessed Trinitie, with all þe saints in heauen, give me grace to se you
or I die, to God’s pleasure & your bodily health.

     And, brother, I yede to the Lord Scroope³ to haue sene my lady, &
be my trothe I stood thear a large houre, and yet I might neither se
lo[rd] nor ladye; and þe strangest cheare that euer I had of my Mistres
Darsie,⁴ and yet I had 5 men in a suit. There is noe such 5 men in his
house, I dare say.

                                    Be your sister               Ka: Chadyrton

Endorsed (p. 178): To Master Georg Plompton att Bolton Abbey

     ^a Two words deleted.

     ^b Marginal note: Lane Plompton. King H. IV.

     ¹ Katherine, sister of Sir Robert Plumpton (d.1421), Stapleton suggests her husband
was a Chadderton of Chadderton Hall, Lancs. Two possibilities are (1) Richard Chad-
derton who entered Henry V’s retinue in 1415 in the following of Sir Ralph Staveley, (2)
Henry de Chadderton to whom Sir William de Assheton owed a debt in 1431, Stapleton
xl; J.S. Roskell, Knights of the Shire for the County Palatine of Lancaster (Chetham Society, n.
s., 96, 1937), 111, 177; VCH of the County Palatine of Lancaster, ed. Wm Farrer, v (1911), 98,
109n.

     ² Katherine’s elder sister, Isabel, married a Lincolnshire knight, Sir Stephen Thorpe,
George Plumpton being one of the parties to the contract, 10 March 1425. Their mother,
Alice Plumpton (d.1423), had made provision for their marriage portions, and bequeathed
to each a number of devotional and household items, CB, 424, 456, 381, 411; Stapleton,
xxxi–ii.

     ³ John, Lord Scrope of Masham married, before 24 Aug. 1418, Elizabeth, daughter of
Sir Thomas Chaworth, of Wiverton, Notts, GEC; 1.

     ⁴ Eleanor Scrope, daughter of John, Lord Scrope, married Richard Darcy (d. before
June 1452), son and heir of Sir John Darcy of Hirst, Coll(ectanea) Top(ographica) et Gen(ealogica)
(8 vols, 1834–43), ii, 148–9; C.B. Norcliffe (ed.), The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563
and 1564 made by William Flower, esquire, Norroy King of Arms (Harleian Society, xvi, 1881),
91–2, 279.