[Footnote 288.1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] There is neither signature nor address to this letter, but it is undoubtedly from Margaret Paston to her husband. The handwriting is the same as that of her other letters. The date seems to be after the death of Sir John Heveningham in 1453, and is not likely to have been a later year, as the Duchess of Suffolk’s influence must have been diminished when the Duke of York came into power, though it may possibly have been powerful again in 1456.]
[Footnote 288.2: John Wyndham, Esq. of Felbrigg.]
[Footnote 288.3: Alice, widow of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.]
[Footnote 288.4: John, son of Sir John Heveningham. --_See_ p. 227, Note 3.] [[_error for p. 285, n. 3 (Letter 227)_]]
[Footnote 289.2: Erased in MS. Apparently some further correction should have been made.]
[Footnote 289.3: Omitted in MS. ‘Do your devoir,’ _i.e._ endeavour, seems to have been the phrase intended.]
My Lordes, ye know well ynough the grete peynes, labours, and diligences that before thys tyme y have doon, to th’entent that the over greete dishonneurs and losses that ben come to thys full noble royaume of England by the fals menes of som persones that have take on theym over grete autoritee in thys royaume shulde be knowen, and that the persones lyvyng that have doon theym shulde be corrected aftyr the merites of her desertes. And to that entent y have denounced and delyverd to you in wrytyng certeyn articles ayenst the Duc of Somerset, whych ys one of theym that ys gylty thereoff, whertoo the Duc of Somerset have aunsuerd; and to that that he hath aunsuerd y have replyed yn such wyse that y trowe to be sure ynough that there shall no vayllable thyng be seyd to the contrarie of my seyd replicacion, and asmoch as he woold sey shall be but falsnesse and lesyngs, as be the probacions that shall be made thereuppon shall mow appiere; how be it that to alle people of gode entendement, knowyng how justice owyth to be ministred, it ys full apparaunt that the denunciacions ayenst hym made ben sufficiently preved by the dedes that have folowed thereoff; whereuppon y have requyred to have ouverture of justice by yow, whych ye have not yhyt doon to me, whereoff y am so hevy that y may no lenger beere it, speciallie seth the mater by me pursued ys so worshipfull for all the royaume, and for you, and so greable to God, and to alle the subgettys of thys royaume, that it may be no gretter. And it ys such that for anye favour of lignage, ne for anye othyr cause there shulde be no dissimulacion, for doubt lest that othyr yn tyme comyng take example thereoff, and lest that the full noble vertue of justice, that of God ys so greetly recommaunded, be extinct or quenched by the fals oppinions of som, that for the grete bribes that the seyd Duc of Somerset hath promysed and yoven them, have turned theyr hertys from the wey of trouth and of justice; some seyeng that the cases by hym committed ben but cases of trespasse, and othyr takyng a colour to make an universell peas. Whereoff every man that ys trewe to the seyd Coroune auyth gretely to marveylle, that anye man wold sey that the losse of ij. so noble duchees as Normandie and Guyen, that ben well worth a greet royaume, comyng by successions of fadres and modres to the seyd Coroune, ys but trespasse; where as it hath be seen in manye royaumes and lordshyps that, for the losse of tounes and castells wythoute sege, the capitaynes that hav lost theym han be deede and beheded, and her godes lost; as in Fraunce one that lost Chyrborough; and also a knyght that fledd for dred of bataille shulde be byheded, soo that alle these thyngs may be founden in the lawes wryten, and also yn the boke cleped _L’arbre de Bataille_. Wherfor, for to abbregge my langage, y requyre you that forasmech as the more partie of the dedes committed by the seyd Duc of Somerset ben committed yn the royaume of Fraunce, that by the lawes of Fraunce processe be made thereuppon; and that all thyng that y have delyvered and shall delyvere be seen and understand by people havyng knoulige theroff, and that the dedes committed by hym in thys royaume bee yn lyke wyse seen and understand by people lerned yn the lawes of thys land; and for preffe thereoff to graunt commissions to inquere thereoff, as by reason and of custom it owyth to be doon, callyng God and you all my Lordes to wytnesse of the devoirs by me doon in thys seyd matere; and requyeyng you that thys my bille and alle othyr my devoirs may be enacted before you.