As for the Kynges comynge into the contre. On Monday come fortenyght he well lye at the Abbey of Stratteforde and so to Chelmnsford, than to Syr Thomas Mongehombrey, than to Hevenyngham,[121.1] than to Colchestyr, than to Ipswyche, than to Bery, than to Dame Anne Wyngfelds, and so to Norwych; and there woll he be on Palme Sunday Evyn,[121.2] and so tary there all Ester, and than to Walsyngham. Wherefore ye had nede to warne Wylliam Gogyne and hys felaws to purvey them of wyne i now, for every man berythe me on hande[121.3] that the towne schalbe dronkyn drye as Yorke was when the Kynge was there.
Syr, Mayster Sampson recomaunde hym on to yow, and he hathe sende yow a rynge be Edmonde Dorman, and besydys that he requeryd me to wryte on to yow that it were best for yow to purvey yow of some gentyl meny thynges ageyns the Kyngs comyng, for suere he well brynge yow gests i now, and therfore purvey yow theraftyr. Also he sendythe yow worde that it is my lords mende that my syster with all other godely folkys there abowt scholde acompeny with Dame Elsebethe Calthrop[121.4] because there is noo grete lady ther abowte ageyns the Kyngs comyng, for my lorde hathe made grete boste of the fayre and goode gentylwomen of the contre, and so the Kynge seyd he wolde see them sure.
Syr, my lorde hathe sente on to the most parte of the gentyl men of Essex to wayte upon hym at Chelmnysford, where as he entendythe to mete with the Kynge, and that they be well apoyntyd, that the Lankeschere men may see that ther be gentylmen of as grete sobestaunce that thei be able to bye alle Lankeschere. Men thynke that ye amonge yow wol doo the same. Your contre is gretely bostyd of, and also the inabytors of the same. I beseche you to remembr my hors that ye promisyd me. God kepe yow.
Wretyn at Schene in haste, the vij. day of Marche, with the hande of your brodyr, Wylliam Paston.
[120.1] [From Fenn, ii. 158.] This letter was unquestionably written in the reign of Henry VII., and not in that of Edward IV., to which Fenn assigned it. The writer, William Paston, was only born in the year 1459, and was still pursuing his studies at Eton so late in Edward’s reign as the year 1479, in the end of which year his eldest brother, Sir John Paston, died. The Sir John Paston to whom this is addressed must therefore be the second son of John Paston, Esquire, who was knighted at the battle of Stoke in 1487, and died in 1503. The year in which the letter was written is, however, still doubtful. I do not find by the Privy Seal dates of Henry VII. that such a progress as is here spoken of was ever carried out. Apparently it was intended that, beginning on Monday fortnight after the date of the letter, the King should occupy a fortnight on the way from London to Norwich, and arrive there on Palm Sunday Eve. The year must therefore have been one in which Palm Sunday Eve fell between the 5th and the 11th of April, and Easter Day between the 13th and 19th April. The earliest year that will suit these conditions is 1489, when Easter fell on the 19th April; and that this was the true date of the letter is made probable by several other circumstances. In 1489 the King was staying at Sheen during March. A great council had certainly met in the end of the year 1488 about the affairs of Brittany, and is very likely to have prolonged its meetings or renewed them from time to time to the 3rd March following. Moreover, if our date be correct, it supplies an interesting and highly probable fact with regard to Henry, Earl of Northumberland, the fourth of the line of Percy, who was slain in an insurrection in the north in April following, showing that he was with the King at Sheen in the beginning of March, and had undertaken by indenture to protect the Borders against the Scots, not long before he found himself called upon to put down the King’s rebellious subjects in Yorkshire.
[120.2] Here follows some account relative to a grant from the Crown, etc.—F.
[120.3] John, Lord Dynham.
[121.1] Not Haveningham in Suffolk, but Heveningham, Hevingham, or, as it is now commonly written, Hedingham, in Essex, the seat of the Earl of Oxford.
[121.2] 11th April.
[121.3] See vol. ii. p. 110, Note 1.