Biography of Thomas Percy 1st Baron Egremont 1422-1460

Paston Letters Volume 2 235. 19th January 1454. 2.235. Newsletter Of John Stodeley¹.

As touchyng tythynges, please it you to wite that at the Princes² comyng to Wyndesore, the Duc of Buk' (age 51) toke hym in his armes and presented hym to the Kyng in godely wise, besechyng the Kyng to blisse hym; and the Kyng yave no maner answere. Natheless the Duk abode stille with the Prince by the Kyng; and whan he coude no maner answere have, the Queene come in, and toke the Prince in hir armes and presented hym in like forme as the Duke had done, desiryng that he shuld blisse it; but alle their labour was in veyne, for they departed thens without any answere or countenaunce savyng only that ones he loked on the Prince and caste doune his eyene ayen, without any more.

Item, the Cardinalle (age 74)³ hathe charged and commaunded alle his servauntz to be redy with bowe and arwes, swerd and bokeler, crossebowes, and alle other habillementes of werre, suche as thei kun medle with to awaite upon the saufgarde of his persone.

Item, th'erle of Wiltshire (age 33)⁴ and the Lord Bonvile (age 61) have done to be cryed at Taunton in Somerset shire, that every man that is likly and wole go with theym and serve theym, shalle have vjd. every day as long as he abidethe with theym.

Item, the Duk of Excestre (age 23)⁵ in his owne persone hathe ben at Tuxforthe beside Dancastre, in the north contree, and there the Lord Egremond (age 31)⁶ mette hym, and thei ij. ben sworne togider, and the Duke is come home agein.

Item, th'erle of Wiltshire, the Lord Beaumont, Ponynges, Clyfford, Egremond, and Bonvyle, maken all the puissance they kan and may to come hider with theym.

Item, Thorpe⁷ of th'escheker articuleth fast ayenst the Duke of York, but what his articles ben it is yit unknowen.

Item, Tresham (age 34)⁸, Josep⁹, Danyelle¹⁰, and Trevilian¹¹ have made a bille to the Lordes, desiryng to have a garisone kept at Wyndesore for the saufgarde of the Kyng and of the Prince, and that they may have money for wages of theym and other that shulle kepe the garyson.

Item, the Duc of Buk' hathe do to be made Ml. Ml. [2000] bendes with knottes, to what entent men may construe as their wittes wole yeve theym.

Item, the Duke of Somersetes herbergeour hath taken up all the loggyng that may be goten nere the Toure, in Thamystrete, Martlane, Seint Katerines, Tourehille, and there aboute.

Item, the Queene hathe made a bille of five articles, desiryng those articles to be graunted; wherof the first is that she desireth to have the hole reule of this land; the second is that she may make the Chaunceller, the Tresorere, the Prive Seelle, and alle other officers of this land, with shireves and alle other officers that the Kyng shuld make; the third is, that she may yeve alle the bisshopriches of this land, and alle other benefices longyng to the Kynges yift; the iiijth is that she may have suffisant lyvelode assigned hir for the Kyng and the Prince and hir self. But as for the vth article, I kan nat yit knowe what it is.

Note 1. [Egerton MS. 914, B.M.] There is no evidence that this letter had anything to do with the Paston correspondence, but as a very interesting political letter of the period we have thought it right to give it a place in the collection. The date is quite certain, being after the birth of Prince Edward in October 1453, and before the death of Cardinal Kemp in March 1454.

Note 2. Edward, only son of Henry VI. (age 32), born 13th October 1453.

Note 3. John Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury.

Note 4. James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond.

Note 5. Henry Holland.

Note 6. Thomas Percy, third son of [his father] Henry, Earl of Northumberland (age 60).

Note 7. Thomas Thorpe, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, who was also Speaker of the House of Commons, but was at this time imprisoned in the Fleet in consequence of an action brought against him by the Duke of York.—(See Rolls of Parl. v. 239.)

Note 8. Thomas Tresham, who as ‘Sir Thomas Tresham, Knight,' was attainted under Edward IV. for fighting on the Lancastrian side at Towton, but his attainder was afterwards reversed in Parliament 7 and 8 Edw. IV., on the ground that he was a household servant of Henry VI. and had been brought up in his service from a child.—Rolls of Parl. v. 616–617.

Note 9. William Joseph, who, with Thorpe, was frequently accused by the Yorkists of misleading the King.—Rolls of Parl. v. 280, 282, 332, 342.

Note 10. Thomas Daniel, Esq.—See p. 255, Note 2.

Chronicle of St Albans by Abbot John Whethamstede [-1465]. [1458] "Also, where Thomas Percy (age 35), Knight, Lord of Egremont, and [his brother] Richard Percy (age 32), his brother, sons of our said kinswoman, [his mother] Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland (age 61), were in our Sessions of Oyer and Terminer lately held in our County of York, before Richard Byngham and Ralph Pole, our Justices, and other our Commissioners there, by names contained among the records of the said Sessions, condemned to our said kinsman the [his uncle] Earl of Salisbury (age 58) in the sum of eight thousand marks; and they and our kinswoman Alice (age 51), his wife, in the sum of five thousand marks; to Thomas Neville (age 28), Knight, son of the same Earl of Salisbury, in the sum of one thousand marks; and to the same Thomas, and Matilda, his wife, in the sum of two thousand marks; and to John Neville (age 27), Knight, also son to the same Earl of Salisbury, in the sum of eight hundred marks; for divers great transgressions, supposed and found to have been done in the said Sessions by the said Lord Egremont and Richard, his brother, to the said Earl of Salisbury, Alice, Thomas Neville, Matilda, and John Neville, as appears by the records of the said Sessions; we desire, praise, ordain, and judge, for the aforementioned considerations, that our said kinsman Richard, Earl of Salisbury, and the said Thomas and John, his sons, shall release, and each of them shall sufficiently release, in law, all the aforementioned sums and executions thereof. And also, that they, and each of them, shall sufficiently release Ralph Verney and John Steward, late Sheriffs of our City of London, to whose custody the said Lord Egremont was committed for the aforementioned condemnations, or part of them, and, for our end, all actions that they, or any of them, may have against the said late Sheriffs, for the escape of the said Lord Egremont from our prison, and their custody."

Item, ubi Thomas Percy, Miles, Dominus de Egremonde, et Ricardus Percy, frater suus, filii dictæ consanouineæ nostræ, Alianoræ, Comitissæ Northumbriæ, fuerunt in Sessionibus nostris de Audiendo et Terminando, nuper tentis in Comitatu nostro Eboraci, coram Ricardo Byngham et Radulpbo Pole, Justiciariis nostris, et aliis nos. tris Commissionariis ibidem, per nomina contenta inter recorda Sessionum prædictarum, condemnati dicto nostro consanguineo Comiti Sarum in summa octo millium marcarum; ac ipsi et nostræ consanguineæ Aliciæ, uxori suæ, in summa quinque millium marcarum; Thomæ Nevyll, Militi, filio ejusdem Comitis Sarum, in summa mille marcarum; et eidem Thomæ, et Matildi, uxori suæ, in summa duorum millium marcarum; et Johanni Nevylle, Militi, filio etiam eidem Comiti Sarum, in summa octingentarum marcarum; propter diversas magnas transgressiones, suppositas et inventas in dictis Sessionibus esse factas per dictum Dominum Egremond, et Ricardum, fratrem ejus, dictis Comiti Sarum, Aliciæ, Thomæ Nevylle, Matildi, et Johanni Nevylle, ut per recorda dictarum Sessionum apparet; volumus, laudamus, ordinamus, et judicamus, propter considerationes prædictas, quod dictus noster consanguineus Ricardus, Comes Sarum, ac dicti Thomas et Johannes, filii sui, relaxent, et quilibet eorum relaxet, sufficienter in lege omnes summas prædictas, et executiones earundem. Ac etiam, quod ipsi, et quilibet eorum, sufficienter relaxent Radulpho Verney et Johanni Stiwarde, nuper Vicecomitibus civitatis nostræ Londoniarum, quorum custodiæ dictus Dominus Egremonde fuerat, propter condemnationes prædictas, monde fuerat, propter aut partem earundem, et, propter finem nostrum, commissus, omnimodas actiones, quas ipsi, vel aliquis ipsorum, possunt habere versus dictos nuper Vicecomites, propter escapiamentum dicti Domini Egremond extra prisonam nostram, et ipsorum custodiam.