Sir Henry Savile to William Plumpton

240 Sir Henry Savile¹ to William Plumpton, [?1544]    (No. 28, p. 209)

Cossin Plompton,^a in as harry manner as I can think I recomend [me]
to you. First, all your frinds ar in good health heare. I have bene very
sick since ye went, but I am well now, I thank God. I haue vewed
Christall: þe rent of it, as it is now letted, xs iiijd score, xvli viijs; and
Arthington² is about xxli at þe end of xvj yeares; the will be iij score
pownd aboue þe rent. And the woods, my man sayes he dar giue a
thowsand marke for them, but he thinks without dowt he will make a
thowsand li. I haue written to my cossin, Henry Savill of Lapset,³ to
go thorowgh with my lord of Canterbury for it.⁴ Acording to the
comunication, and ye and my cossen John Gascoyne⁵ shall haue a part
if ye will wryte to me that ye will strike to it, and I will haue a part,
and Robart Savill⁶ and Henry Savill of Lapsit will stand to tow parts.
I think the woods will giue vs our money and more, and the lease
cleare to be gotten [p. 210] for laying out of the money^b till we can
make it againe of the woods. I haue sent you a rental of it, what it is
euery cloase. I pray you let my cossen John Gascoyne se this letter &
þe rentall. Kepe it secret from all other. I pray God send vs merry
meting. All written in my ship at Timmoth. Cussin Gascoyne, your
children ar mery.

Your asured kinsman     Henry Savill^c

Endorsed (p. 209): To my cosen Plompton of Plompton this deliuer with
spede

     ^a Marginal note: 28 letter by Henry Savill knight.

     ^b Marginal note, as above.

     ^c Marginal note: Copied the 14 of June, Wedsday.

     ¹ Of Thornhill, Yorks, App. III. I am grateful to Mr Michael Collinson for his
suggestion that this letter could date from late April 1544 before Sir Henry, who held a
captaincy in the army mustered for war against the Scots, sailed on 1 May from
Tynemouth after waiting a week there for a fair wind.

     ² Formerly a house of Cluniac nuns, [Sir William Dugdale], Monasticon Anglicanum (6
vols, 1817–30), iv, 518.

     ³ The Saviles of Lupset, a collateral branch of the Thornhill family, were descended
from Thomas Savile (d.1501/6).

     ⁴ Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury 1533–55. On 7 June 1542 he acquired
lands and woods belonging to the former Cistercian monastery of Kirkstall and the
nunnery at Arthington, L & P, xvii, 256.

     ⁵ Probably John Gascoigne of Lazencroft (d.1557), of a collateral branch of the
Gascoignes of Gawthorpe, Smith, 290; Flower’s Visitation, 45.

     ⁶ Robert Savile of Howley (d.1583), Sir Henry’s illegitimate son, who ultimately
acquired the whole property in fee. It later descended to the Brudenells, hence the
prevalence of ‘Brudenell’ and ‘Cardigan’ in the street names in this part of Leeds,
Stapleton, 247n., App. III.

LETTER XXI.

To my cosen Plompton of Plompton, this deliver with spede.

    Cossin Plompton, in as harty manner as I can think I recomend
me to you. First, all your frinds ar in good health heare. I have
bene very sick since ye went, but I am well now, I thank God.
I have vewed Christall; the rent of it, as it is now letted, x^s iiij^d
score, xv^li viii^s; and Arthington is above xx^li at the end of xvi
yeares: the will be iij score pownd above the rent. And the
woods, my man sayes, he dar give a thowsand marke for them,
but he thinks without dowt he will make a thowsand li. I have
written to my Cossin, Henry Savill of Lapset, to go thorowgh
with my Lord of Canterbury for it. Acording to the comunication,
and ye and my Cossen, John Gascoyne, shall have a part, if ye will
wryte to me that ye will stike to it; and Robart Savill and Henry
Savill of Lapsit will stand to tow parts. I think the woods will
give us our money and more; and the lease cleare to be gotten, for
laying out of the money till we can make it againe of the woods.
I have sent you a rental of it, what it is, every cloase. I pray
you let my Cossen, John Gascoyne, se this letter and the rentall.
Kepe it secret from all other. I pray God send us merry meting.
All written in my ship, at Timmoth.

                                                   Your asured kinsman,
                                                                                 HENRY SAVILL.^a

Cussin Gascoyne, your children ar mery.
(Anno circa 1543.)

    ^a Sir Henry Savill of Thornhill, Tankersley, and Elland, com. Ebor. K.B. The
monastery of Kirkstall and nunnery of Arthington had been part of the religious plun-
der acquired by Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in exchange for other lands,
34 Hen. VIII.1543, in trust for whose younger son, Thomas Cranmer, it was held by
Peter Hammond and others in the 4th of Edw. VI. (Burton's Mon. Ebor.) The
bargain for the lease spoken of in this letter it may be presumed was adhered to on
the part of the Savills only. Robart Savill of Howley, the illegitimate son of Sir
Henry Savill, must have afterwards also acquired the reversion in fee, as this estate
has descended with his other property to the Brudenells. Of the other parties
who were to be admitted to a share in the speculation, Henry Savill of Lupsett,
the surveyor, was ancestor to the legitimate branch of Savill, and William Plumpton
and John Gascoigne were related in equal degree to Sir Henry Savill, whose lineal
ancestor had married a Gascoigne. The dating of this letter from aboard ship at Tyne-
mouth furnishes a new biographical feature in the life of Sir Henry, whose letters
show him to have had all the heartiness of the sailor, unbounded in his hospitality,
and devoted to sporting.