Robert Plumpton to Mrs Isabel Plumpton

229 Robert Plumpton¹ to Mrs Isabel Plumpton, 12 January [c.1535/6] (No.
        12, p. 191)

Right worshipful mother,^a I humbly recommend mee unto you, desiring
you of your dayly blessing, praing Jesu long to continew your helth to
his pleasur. Mother, I thank you for the [blank] at^b you send mee, for
yf you were not, I were not able to liue, for this same Christmasse hath
cost mee as much as you send mee. Wherfor I am afraid I shal not
haue money to serue mee to Easter. Also I wold desire you to send
mee word of the letter that I wrote to my father and you, for to mooue
my Lady Gascoin² to write to my lord her brother³ not to bee only his
seruant, but of his houshold and attending unto him, for els he wold
do as other lords do, knowes not half their seruants. Wherfor I desire
you that you wil mooue my Lady Gascoin to writ so to my lord that I
may bee his houshold seruant.

     Also, mother, I wold desire you to mark wel my letter that I sent
you by Mr Oughtred.⁴ And here I send you a godly New Testament
by this bearer, and yf the prologue⁵ bee so small that ye cannot wel
reade them, ther is my fathers book, and they are bothe one, and my
fathers book hath the prologue printed in bigger letters. Yf it wil please
you to read the Introducement ye shal see maruelous things hyd in
it. And as for the understanding of it, dout not, for God wil giue
knowledge to whom he will giue knowledg of the Scriptures, as soon
to a shepperd as to a priest, yf he ask knowledg of God faithfully.⁶
Wherfore pray to God, and desire Jesus Christ to pray for you and
with you. No more to you at this tyme, but God fill you with al spiritual
knowledge, to the glory of God, helth of your soule, and the profit of
your poor nieghbor. Written at the Temple, the 12 day of January.^c

By your sonn     Robart Plompton^d

Endorsed: To his mother at Plompton be this letter deliuered

     ^a Marginal note: 12 letter by Rob: Plompton who died 38 Henry 8.

     ^b The surface of the page is rubbed.

     ^c Marginal note: Copied the 7 of June 1626, Wednesday.

     ^d Appended: Wherfor pray. Written at the [. . .].

     ¹ William and Isabel?s eldest son, who died 1546. James Ryther of Harewood accounts
for the Plumptons? predilection for the name ?Robert? by their proximity to the shrine
of St Robert of Knaresborough, W.J. Craig, ?James Ryther of Harewood and his Letters
to William Cecil, Lord Burghley?, YAJ, lvi (1984), 103 &n.

     ² Margaret, daughter of Richard, Lord Latimer (d.1530) was the 2nd wife of Sir William
Gascoigne (d.1551).

     ³ John Neville, Lord Latimer (d.1542), joined the Pilgrimage of Grace but claimed that
it was against his will. His third wife, Katherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, later
married Henry VIII, GEC; Test. Ebor., vi, 159?63; Reid, 58?9.

     ⁴ Robert Ughtred of Kexby, son of Sir Henry (d.1510), 161.

     ⁵ Attached by Tyndale to this and subsequent editions of his New Testament, A.G.
Dickens, Lollards and Protestants in the Diocese of York (Oxford, 1959), 132?3.

     ⁶ For Prof Richmond?s view of Robert as one of the gentry ?moles? who helped to
?destroy a healthy flock?, see Harper-Bill, 149.

                                                       LETTER X.

To his mother at Plompton be this letter delivered.

    Right worshipful mother, I humply recommend mee unto you,
desiring you of your dayly blessing, praing Jesu long to continew
yourhelth to his pleasur. Mother, I thanke you for the........... you
send mee, for yf you were not, I were not able to live; for this
same Christmasse hath cost mee as much as you send mee. Wher-
fore, I am afraid I shal not have money to serve mee to Easter.
Also I wold desire youto send mee word of the letter that I wrote
to my father and you, for to moove my Lady Gascoin to write to
my lord, her brother,^a not to bee only his servant, but of his hous-
hold and attending unto him; for els he wold do as other lords do,
knowes not half their servants. Wherfor, I desire you that you
wil moove my lady Gascoin to write so to my lord that I may bee
his houshold servant. Also, mother, I wold desire you to mark
wel my letter, that I sent you by Mr. Oughtred;^b and here I send
you a godly New Testament by this bearer. And yf the prologue
bee so small that ye cannot wel reade them, ther is my fathers
book, and they are bothe one, and my fathers book hath the pro-
logue printed in bigger letters. Yf it wil please you to read the
introducement, ye shal see marvelous things hyd in it. And as
for the understanding of it, dout not; for God wil give knowledge
to whom he will give knowledg of the Scriptures, as soon to a
shepperd as to a priest, yf he ask knowledg of God faithfully.
Wherfor, pray to God, and desire Jesus Christ to pray for you
and with you. No more to youat this tyme, but God fill you
with al spiritual knowledge, to the glory of God, the helth of your
sould, and the profit of your poor nieghbor. Written at the Tem-
ple, the 12 day of january.

                                                            By your sonn,

    (Anno circa 1536.)                                 ROBERT PLOMPTON.

^a Margaret, Lady Gascoyne, second wife of Sir Willima Gascoyne of Gawkthorpe,
com. Ebor. kt. was daughter of Ricared Nevill, Lord Latimer, who died 22 Hen.
VIII. 1530, and sister of John Lord Latimer, among whose household servants
the writer of this letter, the eldest son of an esquire of no mean degree, seeks to be
admitted. This connection with Lord Latimer, who died in 1542, probably brought
about the marriage of Robert Plumpton with Ann Norton, 2 Sept. 1538, he having
attained his majority on the 17th of January preceding, and whose brother Richard
Norton was married to this Lord's sister. At the date of this letter, robert Plump-
ton was a student of the Inner Temple, and, it would seem, deeply imbued with
the new doctrines, which the study of the Scriptures, now thrown open by the
discovery of the art of printing to the interpretation of each one's private judgment,
had lately introduced to the world. The zeal he here manifests for the conversion of
his father and mother to the novel investigation was, however, fruitless; the family
ever adhered to the ancient faith. He died at Waterton in the 38th of Hen. VIII.
1546, about Christmas, at the early age of thirty-one; but it is probable that his sen-
timents underwent a considerable modification after his connection by marriage with
the Nortons, who were among the most zealous sticklers for Papacy in teh North
Country.

    ^b Robert Ughtred of Kexby, com. Ebor. esq.