Gressam qwyts hym well yn your erandys doyng to me. Your, W. Botoner.
[323.3] [From Fenn, i. 140.] The year in which this letter was written must be that of the mayoralty of Robert Sturmy at Bristol, as shown in p. 324, Note 2. It certainly could not be 1457, Fenn’s date, as Lord Cromwell died in January 1456.
[324.1] James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. He was appointed Lord Treasurer of England on the 15th March 1455 (Patent, 33 Henry VI., p. 2, m. 20), but on the 29th May following the office was taken from him, and given to Henry, Viscount Bourchier (Ib. m. 12). But this letter, which is dated in July, cannot be in 1455; indeed, we have positive evidence that it is in 1454. How, then, are we to explain the manner in which Wiltshire is referred to above? It is just possible—though not likely, as Wiltshire was a Lancastrian—that his appointment may have been enrolled in the wrong year, and that he was really made Lord Treasurer on the 15th March 1454. A difference in punctuation will perhaps solve the difficulty best:— ‘The Lords that be appointed to keep the see maken hem ready yn all haste, and the Treasourer also: the Lord Wyltshyre for the west coast.’ John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, is mentioned as Lord Treasurer on the 11th February 1454.—See Rolls of Parl. v. 238.
[324.2] The name was printed by Fenn ‘St’myn’,’ and in the modern version on the opposite page, ‘St. Myn.’ Robert Sturmy was Mayor of Bristol in the year 1453–4. It was probably this very ship that was captured by the Genoese in 1457, of which disaster there is the following notice in the MS. Calendars of Bristol:— ‘Mr. Robert Sturney [alias Sturmey], who was Mayor in 1453, had this year a ship spoiled in the Mediterranean Sea by the Genoese, which ship had gotten much wealth as having been long forth. She had spices fit to be planted here in England, as was reported, but the men of Genoa in envy spoiled her. Which wrong, when King Henry understood, he arrested the Genoa merchants in London, seized their goods, and imprisoned their persons, until they gave security to make good the loss; so that they were charged with £6000 indebted to Mr. Sturney.’—Seyer’s Memoirs of Bristol, ii. 189.
[324.3] ‘The said town,’ it would appear, did ‘do her part’ on the occasion; for besides this ship fitted out by the Mayor, Bristol subscribed £150 to a loan raised by the Duke of York from the seaports for the protection of trade. This sum may appear insignificant for a flourishing seaport; but London itself only subscribed £300, and Southampton, which was the next largest contributor, only £100, while Norwich and Yarmouth contributed the latter amount between them.—Seyer’s Bristol, ii. 188; see also Rolls of Parl. v. 245. We must remember, however, that these sums probably represent about fifteen times their value in modern currency. At all events, by comparison with other places, Botoner had no cause to be ashamed of his native town.
[324.4] Robert Poynings.—See [p. 154, Note 3].
[325.1] ‘Many a good man’s heart he hath.’—We should have thought this explanation unnecessary, but that Fenn, in his modern version, gives the following most extraordinary rendering:— ‘Many a good man is hurt (that) he hath.’
[250]
EDMUND, LORD GREY OF HASTINGS TO JOHN PASTON[325.2]
To my trusty and wele belovid John Paston, Squyer, be this lettre delivered.
1454
JULY 11