Sir John Towneley to Sir Robert Plumpton

163 Sir John Towneley¹ to Sir Robert Plumpton [2 November 1502]     (No.
        78, p. 43)
 

Right worshipfull Cousin, I recomend me vnto you, desiryng to here
of your well fayre. Cousin, I vnderstand there was a servant of yours, &
a kynsman of myne, was myschevously made <away> with,² which I
am sory fore.^a Cousin, I desire & pray you to be good master to
Nycholas Lee my lyaufe,³ as touching his goods, & the better at the
instance of this my wrytting. And if there by any thinge þat I may doe
for you, yt shalbe redy to you, as euer was any of my ansitors to yours,
which I enderstand they wold haue bene glad to do any pleasure <to>.
Written at Townley on Salmes Day last past.

John Townley kt^b

Endorsed: To my right worshipfull cousin Robart Plompton kt be these
deliuered

     ^a Marginal note: Sir J. Townley. Nic: Lee.

     ^b Appended: Copied the 17 day of March 1612.

     ¹ Sir John Towneley of Towneley, Lancs (d.1539), App. III.

     ² Probably Sir Robert’s servant Geoffrey Towneley, who may have lost his life in a
fight for the defence of Plumpton. Although forcible entry by claimants to disputed land
was common, it was unusual by the 15th century for fatalities to occur, J.G. Bellamy,
Criminal Law and Society in Late Medieval and Tudor England (Gloucester, 1984), 69–70.

     ³ Possibly ‘neif’, a bondman OED; 56, 98.

LETTER CXXX.

To my right worshipfull Cousin, Robart Plompton, Kt. be these
delivered.

    Right worshipfull Cousin, I recomennd me unto you, desiryng
to here of your wellfayre. Cousin, I understand there there was
a servant of yours, and a kynsman of myne, was myschevously
made away with, which I am sory fore. Cousin, I desire and
pray you to be good master to Nycholas Lee, my lyaufe, as touch-
inge his goods, and the better at the instance of this my wrytting;
and if ther be any thinge that I may doe for you, yt shalbe redy
to you, as ever was any of my ansitors to yours, which, I ender-
stand, they wold have bene glad to do any pleasure to. Written
at Townley, on Salmes day^a last past.

(2 Nov. 1502.)                                                     JOHN TOWNLEY, kt.^b

    ^a2 Nov. All Souls-day, otherwise "Soulemas day."

    ^b Sir John Towneley of Towneley, com. Lancast. kt. born 1473, died 1539. The
kinsman here alluded to was doubtless Geffrey Towneley, whose name has occurred
more than once in the correspondence; and of whom the last memorandum in the
Cartulary is to the effect, that David Griffith had received of Gefferay of Towneley, ser-
vant to Sir Robert Plompton, knight, ixli for his fee of Hawwarrey parke, at Leyrpole,
5 Oct. 14 Hen. VII. 1498. (Chartul. No. 795.) It is presumed that he lost his life
in the riot adverted to in the preceding letter.