Please it your hynesse, consideryng that if this gret insurreccyon, ryottis, and wrongis, and dayly continuans ther of so heynosly don a geyn your crowne, dignite and peas, shuld not be your hye myght be duly punysshed, it shall gefe grett boldnesse to them, and alle other mysdoers to make congregacyons and conventicles riottously, on abille to be seysed, to the subversyon and finall distruccyon of your liege peple and lawes: And also, how that your seid besecher is not abille to sue the commone lawe in redressyng of this heynos wrong, for the gret myght and alyaunce of the seid Lord: And also, that your seid besecher canne have non accyon be your lawe ageyn the seid riotous peple for the godis and catellis be hem so riottously and wrongfully take and bore awey, because the seid peple be onknowe, aswelle here names as here persones, on to hym;—To purvey, be the avyse of the Lordis spirituall and temporall assembled in this present Parlement, that your seid besechere may be restoryd to the seid godis and catellis thus riottously take away; and that the seid Lord Molyns have suche comaundment that your seid besecher be not thus with force, in maner of werre, hold oute of his seide maner, contrary to alle your statutes mad ageyn suych forcibille entrees and holdyngs; and that the seid Lord Molyns and his servauntes be sette in suche a rewle, that your seid besechere, his frendis, tenauntes, and servauntes, may be sure and saffe from hurt of here persones, and pesibly ocupy here londs and tenements under your lawes with oute oppressyoun or onrightfull vexasioun of any of hem; and that the seid riseres and causeres therof may be punysshed, that other may eschewe to make any suche rysyng in this your lond of peas in tyme comyng. And he shalle pray to God for yowe.
[127.1] [Add. Charter 17,240, B.M.] The date of this petition must be during the sitting of Parliament, in the beginning of the year 1450. The first expulsion of John Paston from Gresham is here clearly dated in February 1448. The ‘October last’ in which he re-entered might, so far as appears in this petition, have been in the same year, but the letters referring to this dispute in 1449 compel us to put it a twelvemonth later.
[127.2] A.D. 1448.
[128.1] Bands of white woollen cloth?
[128.2] Pavises were large shields.
[128.3] Crome is a Norfolk word, signifying a staff with a crook at the end of it.
[128.4] This person was returned to Parliament for Norwich in October 1450.
[128.5] Battle-axes.
[103]
MARGARET PASTON TO JOHN PASTON[130.1]
To my rytz wurchipful mayster, Jon Paston, be this delyvered in hast.