Ryght worchepfull syr, I recomand me to you, &c. It is so that thys day ther cam a good felaw to me, whyche may not be dyscoveryd, and let me wet that my Lord of Norff. consayll hathe this Crystmas gotyn the two wydows, whows husbands wer slayn at the sege of Caster, and have hem bowndyn in a gret some that they shall swe a peel ayenst me and syche as wer ther with me within the plase, and they be bownd also that they shall relese no man within the apell namyd tyll syche tyme as my Lord of Norff. wyll lycence them.
Item, the cawse is thys, as it is told me by dyvers, that ye meke no more swte to my Lord for yourself than ye do, and therfor they do the wors to me for your sake.
Item, as for my comyng up to London, so God help me, and I may chese, I com not ther, for argent me fawlt, without apell or an inkyr [inquiry ?] of som specyall mater of your cawse it. Item, I pray yow remembyr Caleys, for I am put out of wagys in thys contre.
Item, I pray yow send me some tydyngs how the world gothe ad confortandum stomacum.
Item, ye must purvey anewe atorny in thys contre. As for me, for our maters and clamore is to gret, and our purse and wytte to slendyr, but I wyle rubbe on as long as I maye bothe with myn owne, and other menys that wyle do for me tyll better pese be.
Wretyn thys Saturdaye, at Norwcyche. J. P.
[65.1] [From Fenn, iv. 416.] It appears by the contents that this letter was written about Christmas after the siege of Caister. An appeal of murder was a process sued by the nearest relative of a person killed. It was quite independent of any prosecution for murder by the Crown, and no royal pardon was of any avail against it; but the appeal had to be brought within a year and a day of the fact.
... at Norwcyche
text has “Norwcyche”: corrected from Fenn
[741]
JOHN PASTON TO SIR JOHN PASTON[66.1]
1470
MARCH 1