^{page 24 note a} Marginal note: 8 letter.

^{page 24 note 1} John, Lord Scrope of Masham (d.1455), lord treasurer of England 6 Feb. 1432 to 11 Aug. 1433, CPR, 1429–38, 187Google Scholar; 2.

^{page 24 note 2} George Plumpton, clerk, Sir William‘s uncle and brother of the writer of a, App. III.

^{page 25 note a} Two words deleted.

^{page 25 note b} Marginal note: Lane Plompton. King H. IV.

^{page 25 note 1} Katherine, sister of Sir Robert Plumpton (d. 1421), Stapleton suggests her husband was a Chadderton of Chadderton Hall, Lanes. Two possibilities are (1) Richard Chadderton who entered Henry V's retinue in 1415 in the following of Sir Ralph Staveley, (2) Henry de Chadderton to whom Sir William de Assheton owed a debt in 1431, Stapleton xl; Roskell, J.S., Knights of the Shire for the County Palatine of Lancaster (Chetham Society, n. s., 96, 1937), 111, 177Google Scholar; VCH of the County Palatine of Lancaster, ed. Wm Farrer, v (1911), 98, 109n.Google Scholar

^{page 25 note 2} Katherine's elder sister, Isabel, married a Lincolnshire knight, Sir Stephen Thorpe, George Plumpton being one of the parties to the contract, 10 March 1425. Their mother, Alice Plumpton (d.1423), had made provision for their marriage portions, and bequeathed to each a number of devotional and household items, CB, 424, 456, 381, 411Google Scholar; Stapleton, , xxxi–ii.Google Scholar

^{page 25 note 3} John, Lord Scrope of Masham married, before 24 Aug. 1418, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Chaworth, of Wiverton, Notts, GEC; 1.

^{page 25 note 4} Eleanor Scrope, daughter of John, Lord Scrope, married Richard Darcy (d. before June 1452), son and heir of Sir John Darcy of Hirst, Coll(ectanea) Top(ographica) et Gen(ealogica) (8 vols, 1834–1843), ii, 148–9Google Scholar, Norcliffe, C.B. (ed.), The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564 made by William Flower, esquire, Norroy fang of Arms (Harleian Society, xvi, 1881), 91–2, 279.Google Scholar

^{page 26 note 1} Marginal note: 1 letter. Ano 1612, copied 8 December.

^{page 26 note 1} The death of Sir William's son and heir, William, probably on the field of Towton, 29 March 1461, was to have far-reaching consequences for the family. He is last recorded as living 19 Feb. 1460/1, CB, 547.Google Scholar

^{page 27 note a} Marginal note: 10 letter.

^{page 27 note b} Marginal note: Copied 12 of December 1612, Sunday.

^{page 27 note 1} Henry Bourchier, re-appointed 18 March 1460/1 held office until April 1462, HBC, 103.Google Scholar

^{page 27 note 2} Sir William had been sheriff of Yorks in 1448 and of Notts and Derbys in 1452, List of Sheriffs, 103, 162.Google Scholar

^{page 27 note 3} Brian Rocliffe's appointment as third baron of the Exchequer was ratified 2 Nov. 1458; his office precluded his appearance as counsel in the exchequer court, CPR, 1452–61, 482Google Scholar; App. III.

^{page 27 note 4} The summons of greenwax particularized those items for which the sheriff was held responsible. He might be called to account years after the end of his term in office, Blatcher, M., ‘Distress Infinite and the Contumacious Sheriff’, BIHR, xiii (1935–1936), 149–50Google Scholar; Brown, A.L., The Governance of Late Medieval England, 1272–1461 (1989), 63.Google Scholar

^{page 28 note a} Marginal note: 14 letter. Variance betwene Perpoint and Plompton, month other.

^{page 28 note 1} Sir John Markham, CJKB 1461–9.

^{page 28 note 2} In the 1450s the Plumptons were in dispute with the Pierpoints, of Holme Pierpoint, Notts, over land in Mansfield Woodhouse. Whilst process was pending in the courts Sir William Plumpton's brother-in-law and steward, John Greene of Newby, murdered Henry Pierpoint on 21 July 1457, and was in turn murdered at Pannal, near Harrogate, by Henry's brother John. Crown proceedings against those involved were supplemented by appeals of homicide by Henry's widow, Thomasin, and John Greene's nephew and heir, Richard Greene. A previous attempt at arbitration had failed, Payling, S.J., Political Society in Lancastrian England (Oxford, 1991), 200–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; App. III.

^{page 28 note 3} Sir Richard Bingham, JKB. His award was given 21 May 1463, Apps II, 22; III.

^{page 29 note a} Marginal note: George Plompton, Sir William, refer ut supra.

^{page 29 note b} Marginal note: Copies 10 December 1612.

^{page 29 note 1} Richard Illingworth, lawyer, of Kirby Woodhouse, Notts, appointed 10 Sept. 1462; knighted by 1466, CPR, 1461–1467, 22, 198.Google Scholar

^{page 29 note 2} John Tiptoft, 1st earl of Worcester (exec. 1470), lord treasurer in April 1452 and again in 1462 and 1470, Roskell, J.S., The Commons and Their Speakers in English Parliaments 1376–1523 (Manchester, 1965), 248.Google Scholar

^{page 29 note 3} The quarrel arose out of the terms of a contract for the marriage of Sir William's daughter Elizabeth, and William, son of Thomas Beckwith of Clint. Thomas may have been escheator for Yorkshire in Nov. 1462, as Stapleton states, but there is no record of the appointment for that year, Index of Escheators for England and Wales (PRO, L and I, supp. ser., lxxii), 189Google Scholar; 68; App. II, 17, 54.

^{page 29 note 4} Probably Thomas Colt (d.1467), a lawyer retained by the Duchy as apprentice 1452–66 chamberlain of the Exechequer, App. III.

^{page 29 note 5} John Beford (or Bedford) and John Plumtree, citizens and fishmongers of London, and merchants of the Staple of Calais, CCR, 1454–61, 15, 412.Google Scholar

^{page 30 note a} Marginal note: 13 letter.

^{page 30 note b} inn deleted.

^{page 30 note c} written deleted.

^{page 30 note d} the deleted.

^{page 30 note e} Marginal note: Coppied the 13th December Anno 1612.

^{page 30 note 1} See 6.

^{page 30 note 2} A writ, sued out with a return day, which allowed the sheriff sufficient time to proclaim outlawry in four successive courts before pronouncing it in a fifth, Blatcher, M., The Court of King's Bench, 1450–1550: A Study in Self-Help (1978), 74.Google Scholar

^{page 30 note 3} The Bill of Middlesex was the procedure whereby the court of King's Bench acquired jurisdiction in civil cases between subject and subject.

^{page 31 note a} Marginal note: 11 letter.

^{page 31 note b} Marginal note: Copied 12 of December 1612, Sunday.

^{page 31 note 1} A reference to Sir William's acquittal in 1463 on a charge of spreading treasonous rumours. Pardons were issued to him on 30 Aug. 1463 and 20 Jan. 1463/4, CPR, 1461–67, 285Google Scholar; App. II, 19, 26.

^{page 31 note 2} Probably the earl of Warwick, whose stronghold was Middleham castle, Richmondshire. Plumpton was reinstated as the earl's deputy at Knaresborough after coming to terms with him, Introd., above p. 7.

^{page 31 note 3} See 6.

^{page 31 note 4} The bond for the marriage of Sir William's daughter Alice with Richard Goldsburgh is dated 1 Oct. 1465, CB, 586.Google Scholar

^{page 31 note 5} Edward Goldsburgh later became a baron of the Exchequer, , Test. Ebor., iv, 49Google Scholar; Chrimes, S.B., Henry VII (1972), 158Google Scholar; Horrox, Rosemary, Richard III: A Study of Service (Cambridge, 1989), 199.Google Scholar

^{page 31 note 6} Robert Roos of Ingmanthorpe, near Wetherby, whose son's projected marriage with another of Sir William's daughters was aborted, WYASL, Acc.1731/6, fol.208.

^{page 31 note 7} Margaret, daughter of William's deceased son and heir was contracted to marry Brian Rocliffe's son John, 26 Nov. 1463. The following Feb. her sister Elizabeth was contracted to marry John, eldest son of Henry Sotehill of Stockerston, Leicestershire. Significantly the two prospective fathers-in-law were servants of the earl of Warwick, Apps I, 3; II, 23; III.

^{page 32 note a} Marginal note: 26 letter.

^{page 32 note b} MS plea.

^{page 32 note c} had deleted.

^{page 32 note d} Marginal note. Copied 1 of February 1612, Monday.

^{page 32 note 1} Robert Bolton, minister of the house of St Robert, of the Order of the Redemption of Captives at Knaresborough, is known to have been in office in 1491. His successor was appointed in 1499, VCH Yorks, ed. Wm. Page, iii (1930), 296.Google Scholar

^{page 32 note 2} Sir William claimed some rights over this ground. The use of a plea of trespass instead of one of novel disseisin enabled a straightforward question of tide to be put, as opposed to the complexity of the rules of pleading which had grown up around the petty assizes, Hastings, , 203–4, 237–8Google Scholar; 10, 18.

^{page 32 note 3} A slang expression for returning a writ without an endorsement, Hastings, , 228.Google Scholar

^{page 32 note 4} A judicial writ of mesne process issued by the filacer and aimed at getting the defendant into court, Baker, J.H., An Introduction to English Legal History (1979), 52.Google Scholar

^{page 32 note 5} Writ for the arrest of an outlaw. The minister and certain members of the community were indicted and outlawed during these proceedings. The process did not bring the defendant into court to answer the plaintiff unless he found himself inconvenienced by the outlawry, Hastings, , 240Google Scholar; App. II, 31.

^{page 32 note 6} Writ to summon a person against whom an indictment for a misdemeanour had been found, 18.

^{page 32 note 7} See 10, 11.

^{page 32 note 8} Sir William may have been seeking a place in Lady Ingoldesthorpe's household for Isabel Marley, 12.

^{page 32 note 9} A trusted kinsman and lawyer, one of Sir William's feoffees in the conveyances etc. of 1472–5, 5; App. II, 35, 36.

^{page 34 note a} Marginal note: 28 letter.

^{page 34 note b} MS of.

^{page 34 note c} Marginal note: Copied 1 of February 1612, Munday. Edward Bickerdick.

^{page 34 note 1} Sir John Mauleverer, of Allerton Mauleverer (d. by 1483), 16.

^{page 34 note 2} Henry Solchili, whose first instalment of the balance of the purchase price of his son's marriage was now due, 8; App. I, 3.

^{page 34 note 3} See 11.

^{page 34 note 4} Geoffrey Downes (d.1494), who styled himself a ‘gentleman of London’, was Lady Ingoldesthorpe's steward, and co-founder with her of a chantry and lending library at Pot Shrigley, Cheshire. It is therefore probable that Joan, Lady Ingoldesthorpe, is the Lady P. referred to here, Ormerod, G., History of the County Palatine of Cheshire (3 vols, Chester, 1882), ii, 325–37.Google Scholar

^{page 35 note a} Marginal note: 12 letter.

^{page 35 note b} Marginal note: Map.

^{page 35 note 1} William Hussey, of Gray's Inn (d.1495), king's attorney, 1472, sergeant, 1478, CJKB, 1481–95, Ives, , CL, 374–5, 466Google Scholar; Lord Campbell, John, The Lives of the Chief Justices of England (3 vols, 1858), i, 154–5.Google Scholar

^{page 35 note 2} The lawyer, Thomas Middleton, of Stockeld, near Plumpton, , 14Google Scholar; App. III.

^{page 35 note 3} Thomas Eyre, a London merchant, acknowledged receipt of 10m, on account, 10 May 1465 and 15 Nov. 1465, CB, 567, 569.Google Scholar

^{page 35 note 4} The writer's son, later Sir John, 8.

^{page 35 note 5} Sir Henry Vavasour, of Hazelwood (d.1500), whose wife, Joan, appears to have been Dame Agnes Plumpton's sister, Test. Ebor., v, 164.Google Scholar

^{page 36 note a} Marginal note: 18 letter.

^{page 36 note b} Marginal note: Copied 12 January 1612, Tewsday.

^{page 36 note 1} The letter must have been written before 1469 when Sir William acknowleged his secret marriage to Joan Wintringham, and after the death of Sir Edmund Ingoldesthorpe in 1456, note 4, below; App. III.

^{page 36 note 2} The writer and his brother, John, treasurer of the cathedral church of York 1459–77, probably came of a Kentish family, hence his daughter's profession in the Dominican convent at Dartford Abbey, Kirby, J.W., ‘Women in the Plumpton Correspondence: Fiction and Reality’, in I. Wood & G.A. Loud (eds), Church and Chronicle in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to John Taylor (1991), 229Google Scholar; Idem, NH, xxv, 114.

^{page 37 note 3} Probably the daughter of Richard Marley and Sir William's niece, Alice, daughter of Godfrey Plumpton.

^{page 37 note 4} Godfrey Greene's letter 14 Feb. 1463/4 suggests that Sir William desired a place for his kinswoman in the household of Joan, Lady Ingoldesthorpe, 9; App. III.

^{page 37 note 5} William Hastings, chamberlain of the household 1461, Ross, , Edward IV, 74–5Google Scholar and passim.

^{page 37 note a} Marginal note: 7 letter.

^{page 37 note b} Marginal note: Copied December 9 Anno 1612.

^{page 37 note 1} Warwick had been Great Chamberlain of England since 1461, and captain of Calais since 1455. Granted the Percy manor of Topcliffe in the spring of 1462, he may at this time have been looking after the interests of George, duke of Clarence in Spofforth, a lordship granted to die duke in 1461, but for which he did not do homage until 1466, CPR, 1461–67, 45, 71, 86, 189Google Scholar; GEC; Pollard, , NE England, 287.Google Scholar

^{page 37 note 2} Visiting Kildwick church in 1666 Dodsworth saw the arms of the Scarboroughs of Giusburn in the east window of the north choir, and an inscription recording the death of William Scarborough, in 1528, Whitaker, , Craven, i, 212, 216.Google Scholar

^{page 37 note 3} Topcliffe, worth £90 a year in 1478–9, was granted to Warwick by Edward IV in April 1462, CPR, 1461–67, 186, 189Google Scholar; Bean, J.M.W., The Estates of the Percy Family, 1416–1537 (Oxford, 1958), 47.Google Scholar

^{page 38 note a} Marginal note: 15 letter.

^{page 38 note b} Marginal note: Copied 14 December 1612, on Tewsday.

^{page 38 note 1} The letter is dated by Sir James Harrington's shrievalty, see note 7, below.

^{page 38 note 2} George Neville, archbishop of York, dismissed 8 June 1467, HBC, 85.Google Scholar

^{page 38 note 3} William Poteman, archdeacon of the East Riding and godfather to Henry Percy, 4th earl of Northumberland, who bequeathed him 2 tuns of Gascon wine annually for life. Test. Ebor., iii, 304–10Google Scholar; App. II, 33.

^{page 38 note 4} Isabella, Lady Stapleton, widow of Sir Brian Stapleton, of Carlton (d. 1464), and sister-in-law of Sir William. Her son Brian was apparently still a minor, Dendy, F.W. (ed.), Visitations of the North, or Some Early Heraldic Visitations of, and Collections of Pedigrees Relating to the North of England (SS, cxxii, 1912), 115n.Google Scholar

^{page 38 note 5} Sir Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough (d.1496), 219.

^{page 38 note 6} John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester (exec.1470), 6.

^{page 39 note 7} Sir James Harrington, of Brierley (d.1487), sheriff of Yorkshire, Nov.1466, List of Sheriffs, 162Google Scholar; App. III.

^{page 39 note 8} Sir John Conyers, of Hornby (d.1490).

^{page 39 note 9} Sir Henry Vavasour, 11.

^{page 39 note 10} Sir Robert Constable, of Flamborough (d.1488), App. III.

^{page 39 note 11} Thomas Middleton, of Kirkby Overblow, lawyer, married Joan, daughter of Sir William Plumpton, CB, 570Google Scholar; 11; App. III.

^{page 39 note a} Marginal note: 16 letter.

^{page 39 note b} Marginal note: Coppied 12 January 1612, Tewsday.

^{page 39 note 1} The letter was probably written before 1469 when Sir William was dismissed from his office as master forester.

^{page 39 note 2} The writer, who was asking a considerable favour, must have known that Manfeld's gratitude would be useful to Sir William, Dyer, C., Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages: Social Change in England c.1200–1520 (1988), 61.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note a} Marginal note: 25 letter.

^{page 40 note b} Marginal note: Copied Feb. 1612, Munday.

^{page 40 note 1} The assize justices hearing a case at nisi prius were empowered only to proceed on issues referred to them for convenience out of one of the benches, and had to send the results back to the relevant court for judgement, Baker, , 19–20.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 2} Robert Danby, of Thorpe Perrow (d.1474), CJCP.

^{page 40 note 3} Middleton, Thomas, 14.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 4} See 10.

^{page 40 note 5} John de Vere, 13th earl of Oxford (d.1513) turned king's evidence, Gairdner, James (ed.), Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles (Camden Society, 2nd ser., xxviii, 1880), 78–9.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 6} John Poynings and William Alford, Ross, Edward IV, 122–3.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 7} Richard Stairs, a London skinner, ibid.

^{page 40 note 8} Sir Thomas Tresham was eventually freed, but beheaded after Tewkesbury, 1471, Roskell, , Commons, 368–9Google Scholar; Hicks, M.A., ‘Edward IV, the Duke of Somerset and Lancastrian Loyalism in the North’, NH, xx (1984), 34.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 9} Sir John Marney, of Layer Marney, Essex (d. by 1472), CPR, 1467–77, 151, 155, 329, 344–5Google Scholar; Wedgwood, J. and Holt, A., History of Parliament: Biographies of Members of the Commons House 1439–1509 (1930), 575.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 10} Thomas Hungerford, executed 1469 at Salisbury in the king's presence, Hicks, M.A., ‘Piety and Lineage in the Wars of the Roses: the Hungerford Experience’, in Griffiths, R.A. and Sherborne, James (eds), Kings and Nobles in the Later Middle Ages: A Tribute to Charles Ross (Gloucester, 1986), 94–5.Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 11} Henry Courtenay, brother and heir of Thomas, earl of Devon (exec. 1461), whose lands and honours were still forfeit, Thomson, J.A.F., ‘The Courtenay Family in the Yorkist Period’, BIHR, lv (1972), 31–3Google Scholar; GEC.

^{page 41 note 12} Of Kexby, near York (d.1472), 161.

^{page 42 note a} Marginal note: 22.

^{page 42 note b} her deleted.

^{page 42 note c} he deleted.

^{page 42 note d} An illegible word deleted.

^{page 42 note e} Marginal note: Copied 21 January 1612, Friday.

^{page 42 note 1} Sir William's illegitimate son, 86; App. II 53.

^{page 42 note 2} Probably brother of Isabel Marley, 12.

^{page 42 note 3} Given-Wilson comments on the propensity of the lesser nobility for stepping in and out of direct management as need required, English Nobility, 95Google Scholar; Richmond, , John Hopton, 31.Google Scholar

^{page 43 note a} Marginal note: 27 letter.

^{page 43 note b} CB ‘it hath cost you money this tearme, & yett no conclusion but to change the pleadings the next tearme …’

^{page 43 note c} Marginal note: Copied 1 of February 1612, Munday.

^{page 43 note 1} The writ sent by Greene with this letter was returned unexecuted by the sheriff in the following Hilary term because of lack of time. Another was issued 12 Feb.1469/70, returnable at Easter, Stapleton, , 22n.Google Scholar

^{page 43 note 2} Thomas Middleton, App. III.

^{page 43 note 3} Sir William's disputes with the convent were eventually resolved by arbitration, 20–25 June 1471, CB 571, 572Google Scholar; App. II, 31, 32.

^{page 43 note 4} Guy Fairfax, of Gray's Inn, king's sergeant 1481, App. III.

^{page 43 note 5} Henry Sotehill had been king's attorney at the trial of Hungerford and Courtenay, App. III.

^{page 43 note 6} Writ for the arrest of an outlaw.

^{page 43 note 7} Sir John Mauleverer's challenge related to forest prosecutions initiated by Sir William as chief forester, 26.

^{page 43 note 8} Miles Wilstrop, of Wilstrop in the Ainsty, escheator of Yorkshire, 1469–70, married to Eleanor, daughter of Guy Fairfax, List of Escheators, 189Google Scholar; Flower's Visitation, 355.Google Scholar

^{page 44 note a} Marginal note: 5 letter.

^{page 44 note b} Marginal note: Copied 9 December 1612.

^{page 44 note 1} John Neville, Lord Montague (d.1471) married Isabel, daughter of Joan, Lady Ingoldesthorpe. Created earl of Northumberland, 27 May 1464 after the posthumous attainder of the 3rd Percy earl, he was induced to surrender the earldom on the reinstatement of the 4th earl in March 1470, for a ‘pies nest’: the title of Marquis Montague, and Courtenay lands in Devon, , CPR, 1461–67, 332, 341Google Scholar; Hicks, M.A., ‘What Might Have Been: George Neville, Duke of Bedford 1465–83: His Identity and Significance’Google Scholar, in Idem, Richard III and His Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses (1991), 294Google Scholar; 23.

^{page 44 note 2} Sir John Mauleverer and Thomas Wade (or Ward) were as ardently Yorkist as Sir William was, at heart, Lancastrian, and they had probably been exploiting their political advantage since 1461, Hicks, , NH, xiv, 81Google Scholar; 10, 16.

^{page 45 note a} Marginal note: 21 letter. Sir William that died 20 of Ed. 4th was custos of the castle of Knaresb.

^{page 45 note b} The original was either illegible or blank at this point.

^{page 45 note c} through deleted.

^{page 45 note d} the deleted.

^{page 45 note e} Marginal note: Copied 21 January 1612, Friday.

^{page 45 note 1} Sir William had been reinstated in office at Knaresborough under Warwick in 1464; dismissed c. 1469, 28.

^{page 45 note 2} A timber tree.

^{page 45 note 3} Sir John Scott held the office, 1461–70, Ross, Edward IV, 324.

^{page 45 note 4} John Felton was still a member of the royal household in Jan. 1480, CPJR, 1476–85, 171.Google Scholar

^{page 45 note 5} A younger brother of Sir Christopher Warde of Givendale, he was in office in the royal household in 1469, when he was granted tronage and pesage at Southampton, CPR, 1467–77, 166Google Scholar; Horrox, , Richard III, 241Google Scholar; Test. Ebor., iv, 274.Google Scholar

^{page 45 note a} Marginal note: 3 letter.

^{page 45 note b} Marginal note: Copied 9 December 1612.

^{page 45 note 1} Henry Percy was released from the Tower, 27 Oct. 1469 and restored to the earldom of Northumberland at York, where he swore allegiance, 25 March 1470, Rymer, Thomas, Foedera (20 vols, 1704–1735), x, 648.Google Scholar

^{page 46 note 2} Sir William's son-in-law Sir George Darrell, of Sessay, died in 1466. His son, Marmaduke, was presumably still a minor and probably in Sir William's custody, VCH, Yorks: North Riding, ed. Wm Page, i (repr. 1968), 447Google Scholar; App. III

^{page 46 note a} Marginal note: 6 letter.

^{page 46 note b} found repeated.

^{page 46 note c} Marginal note: Copied 9 of December 1612.

^{page 46 note 1} After Edward IV's resumption of the crown in April 1471 Gloucester recovered the offices of constable and admiral of England, which he held before the Readeption. In the same year he was made chief steward of the North Parts of the Duchy of Lancaster and great chamberlain of England, but surrendered the latter in favour of Clarence, May 1472. This letter was therefore probably written after that date, and before the ‘appointment’ with Northumberland, May 1473, CPR, 1467–77, 178, 262Google Scholar; Ross, , Edward IV, 186, 200.Google Scholar

^{page 47 note a} Marginal note: 4 letter.

^{page 47 note b} Marginal note: Copied 9 December 1612.

^{page 47 note 1} Sir William's son-in-law Sir Richard Aldburgh, of Aldburgh, near Knaresborough, App. III.

^{page 47 note 2} Dame Isabel Ilderton, widow of Sir Thomas Ilderton, of Ilderton, near Wooley (d. before 1470), brought an action against her husband's cousins, Thomas (d.1478) and John Ilderton in 1472–75 for removing her deceased husband's evidences ‘to the disenheritance of the heirs of the said Thomas and Isabel,’ Dodds, M. Hope (ed.), History of the County of Northumberland (15 vols, 1893–1940), xiv, 274Google Scholar; CFR, 1452–1461, 113, 274Google Scholar; ibid., 1461–71, 196; ibid., 1471–88, 151.

^{page 47 note a} Marginal note: 2 letter.

^{page 47 note b} you deleted.

^{page 47 note c} Marginal note: Anno 1612, copied 9 December.

^{page 47 note 1} A man of some standing in Knaresborough, Robert Birnand held substantial properties in and around the town in 1462, including burgages and land in the town fields. Concurrently the family leased the mills, market tolls and borough court, Jennings, B. (ed.), A History of Nidderdale (Huddersfield, 1967), 73, 90.Google Scholar

^{page 48 note a} Marginal note: 20 letter.

^{page 48 note b} Marginal note: Copied 21 of January, Friday.

^{page 48 note 1} William Nessfield, of Nessfield in Craven, possibly the father of John Nessfield, esquire of the body to Richard III, Hampton, W.E., ‘John Nessfield’, in Petre, J. (ed.), Richard III, Crown and People (Richard III Society, 1985), 178–9.Google Scholar

^{page 48 note 2} Richard Banke, of Bank Newton in Craven. A retainer of Richard III, he joined the earl of Lincoln's rebellion and was attainted after Stoke, Hampton, , 187Google Scholar; Collectanea, vi, 321.Google Scholar

^{page 49 note a} Marginal note: 17 letter.

^{page 50 note b} Marginal note: Stutavel deed.

^{page 50 note c} is deleted.

^{page 50 note d} Marginal note: Copied 12 January 1612, Tewsday.

^{page 50 note 1} Undated grant to Nigel de Plumpton pro servicio suo et pro uno equo precio centum solidorum, of part of the waste of the forest of Knaresborough, with licence to course the fox and the hare throughout the forest – a right jealously guarded by subsequent generations of the family, CB, 72Google Scholar; BL, Add. MS. 32, 113, f.6.

^{page 50 note 2} Brearton, near Knaresborough.

^{page 50 note 3} 5 May.

^{page 50 note 4} The responsibility for getting his writ to the sheriff lay on the plaintiff, Hastings, 162.

^{page 50 note 5} Middleton, near Ilkley.

^{page 50 note 6} The contract for the marriage of Robert (later Sir Robert) Plumpton with Agnes, sister of Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe was signed 13 July 1477, Apps II, 37; III.

^{page 50 note 7} Robert Plumpton, of York (‘Robinet’), attorney, one of Sir William's two illegitimate sons, App. III.

^{page 51 note a} Marginal nate: 29 letter.

^{page 51 note b} Marginal note: Copied 1 of February 1612, Munday.

^{page 51 note 1} A writ of supersedeas was a means of blocking the process of outlawry, Hastings, 210.

^{page 51 note 2} A plea outside the judgement of the court.

^{page 51 note 3} 17.

^{page 53 note a} Marginal note: 23 letter.

^{page 53 note b} Marginal note: Deference betwene Gascoine & Plompton but Northumberland pacifies them.

^{page 53 note c} Marginal note: Copied 30 of January 1612, Saturday.

^{page 53 note 1} The plaintiff was therefore not-suited, Hastings, 158.

^{page 53 note 2} Order to appear in court because there was a case to be answered.

^{page 53 note 3} Sir John Pilkington of Chevet Hall, near Wakefield, knighted at Tewkesbury, 1471; chamberlain of receipt of the Exchequer, April 1477, dead by 8 March 1479, App. III.

^{page 53 note 4} Sir William Gascoigne, of Gawthorpe (d.1487), brother-in-law of the 4th earl, appointed deputy at Knaresborough after the earl's appointment as steward etc., in 1470. In Oct. 1471 he gave a bond to keep the peace towards Sir William, Kirby, , NH, xxv, 111–12.Google Scholar

^{page 53 note 5} The bailiwick of Knaresborough, granted to Sir William by Gloucester, 29 Sept. 1472 for 12 years, App. II, 34.

^{page 53 note 6} Sir William Hastings, appointed king's chamberlain for life, 31 July 1461, raised to the peerage 1467, CPR, 1461–67, 55Google Scholar; ibid., 1467–77, 26.

^{page 53 note 7} Having made his peace with the Yorkists, Sir William reappeared on the commission in Feb. 1472, but was dropped in Nov. 1475 when the number of JPs was reduced. His reappointment in Dec. 1476 was due to Northumberland's good offices, CPR, 1467–77, 638Google Scholar; Arnold, , 117–25.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note a} Marginal note: 24 letter.

^{page 54 note b} Marginal note: Copied [illeg.] of February 1612, Munday.

^{page 54 note 1} Sir John Pilkington, 28.

^{page 54 note 2} Thomas Rotherham, bishop of Lincoln, resumed the chancellorship, 29 Sept. 1475, HBC, 85–6.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 3} The statute of 10 Hen. VI c.6 was intended to stop plaintiffs from using the writ of certiorari to remove indictments to the king's bench ‘unknown to the Party so indicted or appealed’, thus procuring outlawry of the defendant. It might also be sued out by a defendant in order to display a pardon already purchased, Maddern, Philippa C., Violence and Social Order: East Anglia 1422–1442 (Oxford, 1992), 44–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 54 note 4} Judges disliked the malicious appeal, Whittick, C., ‘The Role of the Criminal Appeal in the Fifteenth Century’, in Guy, J.A. & Beale, H.G. (eds), Law and Social Change in British History (Royal Historical Society, 1984), 58–9.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 5} 18 Nov. A missed return day might result in the discontinuance of the action, Baker, , 53.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 6} Counsel usually demurred at speaking gratis through fear of being accused of barratry or maintenance, Baker, J.H., ‘Counsellors and Barristers’, Cambridge Law Journal, xxvii (1969), 27, 212, 222.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 7} Richard Pigott, called sergeant 1463, App. III.

^{page 54 note a} Appended: Copied the 4 day of March 1612.

^{page 55 note a} Marginal note: 19 letter.

^{page 55 note b} are deleted.

^{page 55 note c} Marginal note: Copied 21 of January 1612 Fryday.

^{page 55 note 1} Sir William died 15 Oct. 1480.

^{page 55 note 2} The Plumptons had held ¼ of a knight's fee (3 carucates) of the Percies in the Lordship of Idle at least since 1166, SirClay, C.T. (ed.), Early Yorkshire Charters (YASRS, extra ser., ix, 1963), 266.Google Scholar

^{page 56 note a} MS ye bat.

^{page 56 note b} Appended: This letter hath a seale. Copied the 3 day of Marche 1612.

^{page 56 note 1} Gloucester and Northumberland called out the northern levies for a counter-raid after a Scottish attack had ended in the burning of Bamburgh in the summer of 1480, Ross, , Edward IV, 279.Google Scholar

^{page 56 note 2} Wressle castle, built by Thomas Percy, earl of Worcester, in the king's hand after the 3rd earl's posthumous attainder in 1461, was in the following year granted jointly for life to Lawrence Booth, bishop of Durham and William Neville, Lord Fauconberg, Storey, R.L., ‘The North of England 1399–1509’, in Chrimes, S.B., Ross, C.D., & Griffiths, R.A. (eds), Fifteenth-Century England, 1399–1509 (Manchester, 1972), 140, 143Google Scholar; The Itinerary of John Leland, i, 52–53.Google Scholar

^{page 56 note a} Appended: this letter hath a seale at … Copied the 25 day of February 1612.

^{page 56 note 1} Preparations began in Dec. 1480 for open war with Scotland, Ross, , Edward IV, 279–80.Google Scholar

^{page 57 note 1} Sir William Plumpton's 2nd wife, and mother of Sir Robert.

^{page 57 note 2} Henry Fox, valet, and Sir John Whixley, chaplain, were among the trustees for the settlements made by Sir Robert to increase his mother's life estate, 25–27 Oct. 1480, CB, 701–3.Google Scholar

^{page 57 note 3} Sir John Whixley and Richard Plumpton, clerk, were appointed by the official of York to collect the debts and take an inventory of the effects of Sir William Plumpton who died intestate, 10 Jan.1480/1, CB, 628.Google Scholar

^{page 58 note a} Appended: This letter hath a seale. Copied the 27 day of February 1612.

^{page 58 note 1} Robert Plumpton was knighted by Northumberland Aug. 1481, Hicks, , NH, xiv, 107.Google Scholar

^{page 58 note 2} Not until some time in Oct. 1481 did Edward IV announce his decision not to lead the army against the Scots. Gloucester and Northumberland were therefore left to besiege Berwick during the winter of 1481–2, Ross, 282–3.

^{page 58 note a} Appended: This letter hath a seale. Copied the 27 day of February 1612.

^{page 58 note 1} Possibly John Pullein, of Scotton (d.c.1519), sergeant of the kitchen to Richard III, Hampton, W.E., ‘Sir Robert Percy and Joyce his Wife’, in Richard III, Crown and People, 185Google Scholar & n; 53.

^{page 58 note 2} Presumably a kinsman of the Tancreds of Boroughbridge, George Tancred witnessed a deed dated 15 Dec. 1480, CB, 708Google Scholar; 55. Feudal settlements by magnates such as Northumberland were known as ‘derections’, Bellamy, J.G., Criminal Law and Society in Late Medieval and Tudor England (Gloucester, 1984), 79.Google Scholar

^{page 59 note a} ioy deleted.

^{page 59 note b} Mr deleted.

^{page 59 note c} Appended: Copied Þe 29 of Apryll 1613.

^{page 59 note 1} Sir Robert succeeded his father as steward of the Percy lordship of Spofforth, 53.

^{page 59 note 2} John Fawkes (fl.1494–5), son of John Fawkes, of Farnley, receiver of Knaresborough 1438, Somerville, , i, 526Google Scholar; Thoresby, R., Ducatus Leodiensis (1st edn, 1715), 130Google Scholar; Pullein, , 55.Google Scholar

^{page 59 note 3} The writer was probably a university-trained physician with an itinerant practice. Under the terms of his contract with his patient, which probably defined the disease and its cure and was entered into before the commencement of treatment, he could have received a down-payment for medicines etc., and the rest on completion of the cure. Patients were often extremely active, sceptical and well-informed, Talbot, C.H., Medicine in Medieval England (1967), 138Google Scholar; Felling, M., ‘Medical Practice in Early Modern England: Trade or Profession’, in W. Prest (ed.), The Professions in Early Modern England (1987), 91, 101, 106.Google Scholar

^{page 60 note a} Marginal note: Colthorpe plieth to Plo: courts.

^{page 60 note b} Appended: Copied Þe 6 day of May 1613.

^{page 60 note 1} Edward was Sir Robert's young kinsman and legal adviser, Apps.II, 49; III.

^{page 60 note 2} Since the death of Sir William the heirs general, Margaret Rocliffe and Elizabeth Sotehill, and their respective husbands, John Rocliffe and John Sotehill, had been in dispute with Sir Robert over his right to the Plumpton inheritance. Richard Ill's arbitration award is dated 16 Sept. 1483. It held until contested at the instigation of Sir Richard Empson, BL, Harl. MS 433; App. II, 64; 119.

^{page 60 note 3} Brian Rocliffe was Margaret Plumpton's father-in-law; his sister was married to William Palmes, of Naburn, father of two future sergeants, Brian (d.1519/20) and Guy (1516), 8; Ives, , CL, 452, 472.Google Scholar

^{page 60 note 4} A Thomas Topcliffe was clerk of the receipt to the receiver-general of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1480–4, Somerville, , i, 401.Google Scholar

^{page 60 note 5} Prof Colin Richmond suggests that Edward Plumpton's habit in the 1480s of confiding his correspondents to the protection of Jesus may mark a changing convention: the name of the Lord is seldom mentioned in the Paston Letters, ‘Religion and the Fifteenth-Century English Gentleman’Google Scholar, in Dobson, R.B. (ed.), The Church, Politics and Patronage in the Fifteenth Century (Gloucester, 1984), 200.Google Scholar

^{page 61 note a} Appended: Copied Þe 6 of May 1613.

^{page 61 note 1} Edward Plumpton was secretary to George, Lord Strange (d.1503), eldest son of Thomas, Lord Stanley (d.1504), created earl of Derby 27 Oct. 1485, GEC; Coward, B., The Stanleys, Lords Stanley and Earls of Derby 1385–1672 (Chetham Society, 3rd ser., 30, 1985), 13Google Scholar, GEC.

^{page 61 note 2} Henry Stafford, 2nd duke of Buckingham (exec. Nov. 1483) was in rebellion against Richard III. Lord Stanley's 2nd wife Lady Margaret Beaufort was implicated, Jones, Michael K. and Underwood, Malcom G., The King's Mother (1992), 147Google Scholar; Jones, M.K., ‘Richard III and the Stanleys’, in Horrox, R. (ed.), Richard III and the North (University of Hull Studies in Regional and Local History, 6, 1986), 40, 49nGoogle Scholar. There was uncertainty as to whether Lord Strange was responding to the king's summons or to the duke's appeals, Bennett, M.J., The Battle of Bosworth (1985), 48.Google Scholar

^{page 62 note a} Appended: Copied Þe 17 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 62 note 1} Mauleverer, Sir John, 18.Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 2} In his will, proved 12 April 1502 in Doctors' Commons, Robert Mauleverer bequeathed to Our Lady of Walsingham a diamond ring given to him by Richard III. His brother Halnath (or Alnathus) was named executor, Test. Ebor., iv, 182n.Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 3} See 18.

^{page 62 note 4} John Pullein, of Scotton, married Grace, daughter of Mauleverer, Sir John, Pullein, 128–29Google Scholar; 36.

^{page 62 note 5} Robert Birnand, of Knaresborough, Sir John Mauleverer's brother-in-law, described in a deed of 1499 as ‘learned’, Flower's Visitation, 201Google Scholar; Michelmore, D.J.H. (ed.), The Fountains Abbey Lease Book (YASRS, CXL, 1981), 105Google Scholar; 24.

^{page 62 note 6} Alice, daughter of Richard Banke of Newton (d.1496), CIPM, Henry VII, iii, 389.Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 7} Sober Hill is the name of two farmhouses in Newby Wiske, North Yorkshire, Stapleton, , 47n.Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 8} It appears that Lady Mauleverer had made over her jointure and dower to her son, Sir Thomas, in exchange for an annuity, 41.

^{page 62 note 9} Halnath Mauleverer, of Allerton Mauleverer, near Knaresborough, App. III.

^{page 63 note a} Appended: Copied the 18 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 63 note 1} Strenuous efforts were sometimes made to persuade widows to accept a cash annuity in place of dower in order that the whole estate might be brought back into single ownership, for example Dame Isabel Plumpton, widow of Sir Robert (d.1407), was persuaded to accept a rent charge of 40m out of the manor of Plumpton in lieu of dower, App. II, 6.

^{page 64 note a} Marginal note: 1 H.7, 20 Decem.

^{page 64 note b} MS to.

^{page 64 note c} A word deleted.

^{page 64 note d} MS Sep.

^{page 64 note e} Appended: Copied pe 20 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 64 note 1} 10 Dec. 1485. Parliament had assembled on 7 Nov., RP, vi, 276.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 2} Parliament was prorogued until 23 Jan. It did not reassemble, Mackie, J.D., The Earlier Tudors 1485–1558 (Oxford, 1952), 65.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 3} The marriage took place on 18 Jan.1485/6.

^{page 64 note 4} Crowland Chronicle Continuations, 195.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note a} Probably a scribal error: Stapleton suggests weened, p. 263.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note b} At the head of the page: 15 Feb: 1 of H.7. Followed by either 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6 of Hen.7 deleted.

^{page 65 note c} Appended: Copied Þe 20 of Apryll 1613.

^{page 65 note 1} According to the Parliament Roll, 21 Aug. to 20 Jan.

^{page 65 note 2} The Act of resumption put Henry in possession of all the crown lands held by Henry VI on 2 Oct.1455, RP, vi, 336–84.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 3} According to Richmond the attitude of the gentry towards religious fraternities was in reality somewhat superficial, ‘The English Gentry and Religion c.1500’, in Harper-Bill, C. (ed.), Religious Belief and Ecclesiastical Causes in Late Medieval England (1991), 137Google Scholar; McIntosh, Marjorie K., ‘Local Change and Community Control in England, 1455–1500’, Huntington Library Quarterly, xlix (1986), 236.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 4} Jasper Tudor (d.1495), created duke of Bedford 27 Oct. 1485, GEC.

^{page 66 note a} Appended: Copied þe VIth of May 1612.

^{page 66 note 1} William Plumpton, of Kirkby Overblow, illegitimate son of Sir William (d.1480). A dispute between him and Sir Robert was settled 22 Nov. 1490, App. II, 53; 86.

^{page 66 note 2} Haverah Park, a royal chase in the liberty of Knaresborough, and parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster, of which the earl of Derby was seneschal of the North Parts, Stapleton, , 51n.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 3} George, , Strange, Lord, 39.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 4} de Vere, John, earl of Oxford (d.1513), 16.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 5} Stanley, Thomas, earl of Derby, 39.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 6} Sir William Stanley of Holt (exec. 1495), younger brother of the earl of Derby, was lord chamberlain by Feb.1486, CPR, 1485–94, 69.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 7} Syon Abbey, a house dedicated to the Holy Saviour, St Mary the Virgin and St Brigitta, where it was the custom for pardons to be held on the feast day of the saint, 8 Oct., Knowles, M.D., The Religious Orders in England (3 vols), ii, 177–8Google Scholar; Gairdner, James (ed.), The Paston Letters (6 vols, 1904)Google Scholar, no. 827.

^{page 66 note 8} The king kept Easter (26 March) at Lincoln, and afterwards travelled to Nottingham and York, Collectanea, iv, 185.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note a} Appended: Copied þe 27 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 66 note 1} The earl of Northumberland.

^{page 66 note 2} The writer was probably assistant priest at Spofforth under the rector, Alexander Lye, who was presented in 1481 by Northumberland, and resigned c.1499. Plumpton was in his parish, 110.

^{page 66 note 3} A writ commanding the taking of evidence.

^{page 66 note 4} Probably William Senhouse (or Sever), 50.

^{page 66 note 5} Sir Richard Tunstall of Thurland, Lancs (d.1492), steward of the honor of Pontefract, CB, 548Google Scholar; App. III; 56, 71.

^{page 67 note 6} Rector of the church of St Martin, Micklegate, York, 1476–1519, where the Plumptons held the advowson, CIPM sive Escaetarum, iv, 403Google Scholar; App. II, 2.

^{page 67 note a} of the deleted.

^{page 67 note b} Appended: Copied þe 20 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 67 note 1} Sir Thomas Brian (d.1500), justice of the bench from 1485, Nicholas, N.H. (ed.), Testamenta Vetusta (2 vols, 1826), ii, 450Google Scholar; CPR, 1485–94, 1, 40Google Scholar &. passim.

^{page 67 note 2} Henry Percy, eldest son of the 4th earl of Northumberland, who succeeded his father April 1489, 125.

^{page 67 note 3} Edward, earl of Warwick (exec.1499), son of George, duke of Clarence (exec.1478), was a prisoner in the Tower.

^{page 67 note 4} Probably due to the ‘Old bubo-plague’ which raged in York in 1485, and caused high mortality among the monks of Christ Church Priory, Canterbury, Creighton, C., History of Epidemics in England (2 vols, 1894), i, 282Google Scholar; Hatcher, J., ‘Mortality in the Fifteenth Century’, Econ. HR, 2nd ser., xxxix (1986), 29Google Scholar; Crowland Chronicle Continuations, 169.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note a} Sir christopher Ward repeated.

^{page 68 note 1} This summons may not refer to the meeting at Barnsdale in 1486, but to another occasion, perhaps Lincoln's invasion in June 1487, Hicks, , NH, xiv, 99.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 2} Of the knights, all save Plumpton and Middleton had been closely associated with Gloucester; they were recruited by Northumberland between 1483 and 1489, Hicks, , loc.cit., 106–7.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 3} The esquires were John (later Sir John) Hastings, of Fenwick (d. 1504), John (later Sir John) Rocliffe, of Cowthorpe (d.1531), and John Gascoigne, a kinsman of Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe, App. III.

^{page 69 note a} MS assiste.

^{page 69 note b} Appended: copied þe 9th day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 69 note 1} Stapleton suggests the writer was the son of Richard and Elizabeth Greene, of Newby, and that he married Isabel, sister of William Tancred, bailiff of Knaresborough, Stapleton, , 84n.Google Scholar; 51, 55; App. III.

^{page 69 note a} Appended: Copied þe ij day of May 1613.

^{page 69 note 1} Possibly Brian Roos, priest (d.1529), rector of Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby, and brother of Thomas Roos of Ingmanthorpe. Described as ‘Doctor of Decrees in the University of Valence’, and as ‘incorporated’ at Oxford 3 Feb. 1510/11, Test. Ebor., iv, 223–4.Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 2} Joan, Lady Plumpton died between 19 Oct.1496, when she passed some copyhold land to Sir Robert, and the following year, when her son gave a twentieth part of a ducat to the rebuilding of the hospital of St James at Compostella, for prayers to be said for the soul of his mother, CB, 785.Google Scholar

^{page 70 note a} MS Overton deleted.

^{page 70 note b} Appended: Copied þe 11 day of March 1612.

^{page 70 note 1} William Senhouse (or Sever) elected abbot of the Benedictine abbey of St Mary, York in 1485, provided to the bishopric of Carlisle, 1495, translated to Durham 1502. He continued as titular abbot until 1502. Lieutenant in the North 1499–1502, Reid, R.R., The King's Council in the North (1921), 78, 84Google Scholar; Emden, A.B., A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500 (3 vols, Oxford, 1957), iii, 1669Google Scholar; Lander, , 23–4Google Scholar; HBC.

^{page 70 note 2} Possibly Miles Wilstrop, 18, 40.

^{page 70 note 3} Sir Thomas Mauleverer was dead by 1495. His son and heir, Richard, married Sir Robert's daughter Joan.

^{page 70 note a} Appended: copied þe 9 day of April 1613.

^{page 70 note 1} Richard Greene, of Newby, had been implicated in the Plumptons' dispute with the Pierpoints, 5, 48, 55; Apps II, 22; III.

^{page 71 note 2} Ralph Neville, of Thornton Bridge, 138.

^{page 71 note 3} Sir Robert's nephew William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe (d.1551), knighted 25 Nov. 1487, the year of his father's death, 149; App. III.

^{page 71 note 4} Probably Sir Robert's chaplain, 34.

^{page 71 note a} Appended: Copied the 25 day of February 1612.

^{page 71 note 1} The battle of Stoke was fought on 16 June. John Pullein of Scotton received a pardon dated 22 Aug. 1487, CPR, 1485–1494, 191.Google Scholar

^{page 71 note 2} A former Gloucester retainer, Hicks, NH, xiv, 97n.Google Scholar

^{page 72 note a} refused deleted.

^{page 72 note b} Appended: This letter hath a scale. Copied the 23 day of February 1612.

^{page 72 note 1} The letter shows that Sir Robert had been granted the deputy stewardship etc. of Knaresborough; his predecessor in office, Sir William Gascoigne, died in March 1487, Wedgwood, , 364Google Scholar; App. III.

^{page 72 note 2} Sir Thomas Wortley, of Wortley (d.1514), knighted 1482. Knight of the body to Richard III; came to terms with the new régime and by Aug. 1487 held the same office under Henry VII, CPR, 1485–34, 192.Google Scholar

^{page 72 note a} A word deleted.

^{page 72 note b} Appended: This letter hath a seale. Copied the 22 day of February 1612.

^{page 73 note a} Appended: Copied þe 14 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 73 note 1} Probably Elizabeth, wife of Richard Greene, of Newby, 48, 51.

^{page 73 note 2} Son of William Tancred of Boroughbridge and Alice, sister of Sir William Plumpton's son-in-law Sir Richard Aldburgh (d.1476). The Tancreds were related to the Greenes of Newby, Somerville, , 524–5Google Scholar; Test.Ebor., vi, 191Google Scholar; SirLawson-Tancred, Thomas, Records of a Yorkshire Manor (1937), 136Google Scholar; 36.

^{page 73 note 3} 65

^{page 73 note 4} All Souls Day.

^{page 73 note 1} Sir Richard Tunstall, of Thurland was granted the stewardship of Pontefract for life 12 Sept. 1486, Somerville, , 514Google Scholar; 71, 45; App. III.

^{page 73 note 2} Manumissions provided landowners with ‘an irregular but not inconsiderable income’, e.g. on the estates of Edward, 3rd duke of Buckingham (d.1521) concealed bondmen were diligently sought out. A power of attorney granted by Sir William 10 April 1439 includes ‘nativi et sequelae’, Rawcliffe, C., The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham, 1394–1521 (Cambridge, 1978), 60–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; McFarlane, K.B., The Nobility of Later Medieval England (Oxford, 1972), 224–6Google Scholar; Acheson, Eric, A Gentry Community: Leicestershire in the Fifteenth Century, c.1422–c.1485 (Cambridge, 1992), 56CrossRefGoogle Scholar; App. II, 9; 98, 164.

^{page 74 note a} Appended: this letter hath a seale. Copied the 4 day of March 1612.

^{page 74 note 1} Northumberland was restored to the wardenship of the Marches 3 Jan. 1485/6 on an annual basis; his contract was renewed 26 Feb. 1487/8. On the 30 Jan. 1485/6 he was appointed a commissioner to treat for peace with Scotland, a peace which was ratified 26 July 1486, Rotuli Scotiae in Turri Londoninense et in Domo Capitulari Westmonasteriense Asservati (2 vols, 1814, 1819), ii, 463–4, 470–1, 484–5.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note a} mastership deleted.

^{page 75 note b} Appended: Copied the 10 of March 1612.

^{page 75 note 1} Sir Robert Ughtred's will was proved 17 June 1488, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, York, Prob. Reg., v, 333.

^{page 75 note a} Appended: Copied pe 20 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 75 note 1} Newburgh, an Augustinian priory near Coxwold.

^{page 76 note a} Appended: Copied the 10th of March 1612.

^{page 76 note 1} Follifoot was within the lordship of Plumpton.

^{page 76 note 2} Pannal, near Harrogate, was within the forest of Knaresborough.

^{page 76 note a} brough deleted.

^{page 76 note b} xviijs deleted.

^{page 76 note c} should haue deleted.

^{page 76 note d} God deleted.

^{page 76 note e} Appended: This letter hath a seale. Copied the 10 of March 1612.

^{page 77 note a} Appended: Copied the 14 of Aprill of 1613.

^{page 77 note 1} William Calverley, of Calverley, Yorks (will pr.31 Jan. 1488/9), son of Sir Walter Calverley and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Markenfield, Thoresby, Ducatus, 117Google Scholar; Test. Ebor., ii, 281n.Google Scholar

^{page 77 note 2} John Baildon, of Baildon, may have been a nephew of the writer, Thoresby, , 117.Google Scholar

^{page 77 note a} Appended: this letter hath a seale. copied the 26 day of February 1612.

^{page 77 note 1} Northumberland had been appointed king's lieutenant in the North Parts, App. III.

^{page 78 note a} Appended: this letter hath a scale. Copied the 3 day of March 1612.

^{page 78 note 1} William Aldburgh, son of Sir Richard Aldburgh's bastard son, also named William (d.1475), was indicted at York in late May 1489 for having, on 13 May, expelled Sir Robert Plumpton and Ralph Neville from certain lands, Hicks, , in Richard III and his Rivals, 398Google Scholar; Lawson-Tancred, , Records, 136.Google Scholar

^{page 79 note a} one of deleted.

^{page 79 note b} MS others.

^{page 79 note c} payne deleted.

^{page 79 note d} Appended: Copied the 18 day of March 1612.

^{page 79 note e} At the foot of the, letter, in a different hand: His true loue, Dorety Straud.

^{page 79 note 1} Robert Hancock (d. 1495/6), grocer and freeman of York, MP York 1483, 1485–6, Wedgwood, , 418Google Scholar; Test. Ebor., iv, 274.Google Scholar

^{page 79 note 2} William White was mayor of York 1491–94/5, Raine, A. (ed.), Tork Civic Records, ii, (YASRS, ciii, 1941), 68, 114.Google Scholar

^{page 80 note a} Appended: Copied the 29 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 80 note 1} Stephen Eyre of Hassop, Derbys (d.1488), 10th son of Robert Eyre of Padley, established a collateral branch of the family as tenants of the Plumptons in Hassop from Michaelmas 1479, CB, 695, 751Google Scholar; App. III.

^{page 80 note a} Appended: this letter hath a scale. Copied the 4 day of March 1612.

^{page 80 note 1} Husband of Sir Robert's step-sister, Elizabeth. Both protagonists were feed by Northumberland, Hicks, , NH, xiv, 106Google Scholar; 6; Stapleton, , 6, 72n.Google Scholar

^{page 81 note a} Appended: Copied pe 10th day of May 1613.

^{page 81 note 1} William Scargill (d.1497), of Thorpe Stapleton and Whitkirk, near the Duchy manor of Leeds, Kirby, J.W., The Manor and Borough of Leeds, 1425–1662: An Edition of Documents (P. Th.S., LVII, 1989), 280Google Scholar & passim; 71, 93.

^{page 81 note 2} 56

^{page 81 note 3} Probably a scion of a major administrative family, with branches in Yorks and Herts. Nicholas Leventhorpe was receiver of Pontefract and Knaresborough at this time, Kirby, , Documents, 21, 32Google Scholar; Horrox, , Richard III, 41Google Scholar; Somerville, , i, 400–1, 516–17, 526Google Scholar; 137.

^{page 81 note a} be past tyme deleted.

^{page 82 note b} Appended: Copied þe 4th day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 82 note 1} Robert Eyre II, of Padley, Derbys (d.1498), elder brother of the writer of 67, and head of the senior branch of the family, 139; App. III.

^{page 82 note 2} Of Elton, Derbys. There is no record of this grant in CB.

^{page 82 note 3} The parties having agreed to submit to arbitration, Robert Eyre gave his award 1 June 1490, App. II, 51; 77.

^{page 82 note a} me deleted.

^{page 82 note b} Appended: Copied þe 10 day of April 1613.

^{page 82 note 1} William Scargill, 69.

^{page 83 note a} Appended: This letter hath a scale. Copied the 8 day of March 1612.

^{page 83 note 1} Newburgh Priory held lands in Spofforth. John Latoner was elected prior in 1483 and resigned in May/June 1518, VCH, Yorks, iii, 226, 230.Google Scholar

^{page 83 note 2} Land subject to assessment for the tenth, OED.

^{page 83 note a} Corte deleted.

^{page 83 note b} MS and I.

^{page 83 note c} Appended: Copied be 20th day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 83 note 1} Chaplain to the earl of Northumberland, who, in 1473 and 1484, respectively, presented him to the East Riding rectories of Lowthorpe, near Driffield, and Watton, near Leconfield, where there was a Gilbertine priory. He died 1504, Test.Ebor., iv, 231–2Google Scholar; VCH, Yorks, iii, 254.Google Scholar

^{page 83 note 2} Of Crayke (d.1504), lawyer, younger son of Sir Robert Danby, CJCP, of Farnley, near Leeds, and Thorpe Perrow, who died by suicide, 1472. Richard was filacer, 1485, Hastings, , 85Google Scholar; Fisher, J., History and Antiquities of Masham and Mashamshire (1865), 249–51.Google Scholar

^{page 83 note 3} 51, 55.

^{page 84 note a} A word deleted.

^{page 84 note b} Appended: this letter hath a seale. Copied the 22 day of February 1612.

^{page 84 note 1} The matter relates to the house in Plumpton referred to by Sir William Gascoigne in 61 as belonging to his uncle, Ralph Gascoigne, of Burnby in the East Riding, 4th son of Sir William Gascoigne (d.1463/4), who died, 1488. In his will he mentions two unnamed daughters, Test.Ebor., iv, 15Google Scholar; CB 747, 748.Google Scholar

^{page 84 note a} One or two words deleted.

^{page 84 note b} A word deleted.

^{page 84 note c} Cousin Gascougne deleted.

^{page 84 note d} Appended: Copied the xxiij day of Aprill 1612.

^{page 84 note 1} This was probably the earl's last letter to Sir Robert, App. III.

^{page 84 note 2} Michael Hicks suggests this was the 4th earl's only visit to Seamer, and that he was probably executing a commission to repair Scarborough castle, NH, xxii, 43.Google Scholar

^{page 85 note a} Appended: Copied be 12th day of March 1612.

^{page 85 note 1} Thomas Wymbersley was confirmed in office at the Cistercian abbey of Kirkstall, 1468; his successor, Robert Killingbeck, was elected, 1499, VCH, Yorks, iii, 145.Google Scholar

^{page 85 note 2} Joan, Lady Plumpton died soon after 19 Oct. 1496, 49.

^{page 85 note a} Appended: Copied 11 day of March 1612.

^{page 85 note 1} Elected abbot of the Cistercian abbey of St Mary of Fountains, near Ripon, in 1478, he appears to have ruled there until 1494, VCH, Yorks, iii, 138.Google Scholar

^{page 85 note 2} Between 1446 and 1458 Sir William had been on terms of friendship with the abbey; Thomas Swynton (by 1471 Darneton's predecessor as abbot) conferred at length with him on two occasions; his minstrel and players entertained there, and he was paid a fee of £3 6s 8d as feodary, Fowler, J.T. (ed.), Memorials of the Abbey of St Mary of Fountains, iii (SS, CXXX, 1918), 18, 25, 31, 59, 74, 110.Google Scholar

^{page 86 note a} Appended: Copied þe 3 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 86 note 1} On 12 July 1490, by deed witnessed by Robert Eyre, Sir Robert granted Ralph Haugh, of Darley, Derbys, an annuity of 5m out of the manor of Hassop, CB, 757Google Scholar; 70.

^{page 87 note a} tryall deleted.

^{page 87 note b} Appended: Copied the 17 day of March 1612.

^{page 87 note 1} Of Hammerton in Craven, he married Sir Robert's half-sister Isabel, and succeeded his father in 1480; knighted 1481; died 1500, Hicks, , NH, xiv, 106Google Scholar; CB, 524.Google Scholar

^{page 87 note 1} Nicholas Kniveton, of Mercaston, Derbys, sheriff of Notts & Derbys 1489–90; his son, also Nicholas, was sheriff 1493–4. The king's esquire was probably the younger man, List of Sheriffs, 104Google Scholar; CPR, 1494–1509, 303Google Scholar. This letter is probably one of those missing from the Letter Book, Introd., above p. 18.

^{page 88 note a} Appended: Copied the 20th day of May 1613.

^{page 88 note 1} Edward Frank, Henry Davy, John Mayne and Christopher Swan, who conspired with John, abbot of Abingdon to aid the earl of Lincoln's rebellion. Stapleton points to an error in the printed Parliament Roll, which assigns the conspiracy to 20 Dec. 6 Hen.VII, whereas according to the date of their execution as revealed in this letter the date should be 10 Dec. 5 Hen.VII (1489), RP, vi, 436–7Google Scholar; Stapleton, , 87n.Google Scholar

^{page 88 note 2} The chancellor of the Duchy was at this time Sir Reginald Bray, appointed 15 Sept. 1485 for life. Sir Robert was seeking renewal of the leases granted to him by the late earl of Northumberland, after whose death Henry Wentworth was appointed steward of Knaresborough. Sir Robert seems to have continued for some time as deputy. His lease of the mills was renewed, Somerville, , i, 392, 524Google Scholar; 87, 122; CB, 755.Google Scholar

^{page 88 note 3} 69.

^{page 88 note 4} Richard Empson (exec.1510) was attorney general of the Duchy from 1485 to 1506, Somerville, , i, 406.Google Scholar

^{page 88 note 5} George, , Strange, Lord, 39.Google Scholar

^{page 89 note a} Appended: Copied þe 11 day of May 1613.

^{page 89 note 1} Sir Robert received a receipt, dated 8 March 1489/90, from Richard Harpur, receiver general of the Duchy, for the farm of the mills of Knaresborough, CB, 755.Google Scholar

^{page 89 note 2} The feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 3 May, App. II, 31.

^{page 89 note 3} Axle, , OED.Google Scholar

^{page 90 note a} Marginal note: Commendation of a seruant.

^{page 90 note b} Appended: Copied þe 8 of May 1613.

^{page 90 note 1} Probably the field of Stoke, 16 June 1487, at which Lord Strange was present, whereas Sir Robert had probably been in the company of Northumberland, who had avoided Stoke by directing a diversionary attack on York, Fleming, P.W., ‘Household Servants of the Yorkist and Early Tudor Gentry’, in Williams, David (ed.), Early Tudor England (Bury St Edmunds, 1989), 22n.Google Scholar; Hay, D. (ed.), The Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil, A.D. 1485–1537 (Camden Society, 3rd ser., lxxiv, 1950), 23, 27Google Scholar; Hicks, , NH, xiv, 97.Google Scholar

^{page 90 note 2} Stapleton suggests that Edward Plumpton's first wife was Agnes Griffith, sister of the correspondent, 90, 121; Stapleton, , 99n.Google Scholar

^{page 90 note 1} Younger son of Sir George Darrell, App. III; 21.

^{page 90 note 2} Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, appointed deputy warden-general of the Scottish Marches after the death of Northumberland 1489, Chrimes, , 108Google Scholar; GEC.

^{page 90 note 3} 110.

^{page 91 note a} MS s<p>eep.

^{page 91 note b} A word deleted.

^{page 91 note c} charging deleled.

^{page 91 note d} no deleted.

^{page 91 note e} MS your.

^{page 91 note f} Appended: Copied þe 7 of May 1613.

^{page 91 note 1} Ellen, Lady Delves, widow of Sir John Delves of Doddington slain at Tewkesbury 1471. His son James was executed after the battle, and attainted in the following Parliament. The reversal of the attainder in 1482 restored the heirs and feoffees to their original status, although with exemption to James Blount, for certain lands in Staffs. The matter at issue was Lady Delves's dower lands in the Notts manor of Crakemarsh in which Sir Robert had an interest, Rowney, I., ‘Arbitration in Gentry Disputes in the Late Middle Ages’, History, lxvii (1982), 102Google Scholar; RP, vi, 436Google Scholar; 92; App. I, 4.

^{page 92 note 2} The writ provided for the taking of evidence required in judicial proceedings in chancery.

^{page 92 note 3} Robert Blackwall, attorney at the exchequer and Sir Robert's tenant in Flagg, Derbys, pleaded his landlord's cause in the matter of a bovate of land called Wolfhuntlands in Mansfield Woodhouse, so called because it was held by the service of winding a horn and chasing the wolves out of Sherwood Forest, CPR, 1430–37, 124Google Scholar; 85, 147; CB, 798Google Scholar; App. II, 67.

^{page 93 note a} Marginal note: grene wax.

^{page 93 note b} praysed deleted.

^{page 93 note c} Appended: Copied þe 8 of May 1613.

^{page 93 note 1} It was necessary to be present in person to plead a pardon, Blatcher, BIHR, xiii, 148.Google Scholar

^{page 93 note 2} The entreaty of fines, issues and amercements in the Exchequer under the court's seal made in green wax.

^{page 93 note 3} Sir Robert's claim to Wolfhuntlands, 84.

^{page 93 note 4} Retainers paid by gentry clients were usually of the order of £1 13s 4d, or 10s. Thus the offer to Robert Blackwall, a master in chancery, was not appreciated; Plumpton later increased the fee to 10s, Ives, , CL, 288Google Scholar; 84; CB, 798Google Scholar (dated 19 Sept. 1499).

^{page 94 note a} Marginal note: Hauerey parke valued at 10 li.

^{page 94 note b} vij li deleted.

^{page 94 note c} Marginal note: William Plo: bastard.

^{page 94 note d} Appended: Copied þe 8th of May 1613.

^{page 94 note 1} David ap Griffith, one of the earl of Derby's executors, was probably a member of the earl's household — possibly the writer's brother-in-law. He held the parkership of the earl as chief steward of the Duchy in the North Parts. Edward Plumpton's position as secretary to Lord Strange enabled him to importune Griffith in Sir Robert's interest, Stapleton, 94n.Google Scholar; Horrox, , Richard III, 207Google Scholar; Bennett, , Bosworth, 87Google Scholar; 82, 90.

^{page 94 note 2} William Plumpton, of Kirkby Overblow, the younger of the two illegitimate sons of SirPlumpton, William, 87, 88Google Scholar; App. II, 58.

^{page 94 note 3} Sir Henry Wentworth, 87.

^{page 95 note a} lords deleted.

^{page 95 note b} MS lober.

^{page 95 note c} find deleted.

^{page 95 note d} Appended: Copied þe 10th of May 1613.

^{page 95 note 1} Sir Henry Wentworth, of Nettlestead, Suffolk (d. by 1499), sheriff of Yorks 1489–90. With Sir Richard Tunstall he was associated with the earl of Surrey in the lieutenancy of the North, CPR, 1485–94, 366Google Scholar; 105, 107; List of Sheriffs.

^{page 95 note 2} The Cistercian abbey of Hales in Gloucs.

^{page 96 note a} MS ye.

^{page 96 note b} Marginal note: William Plo: sueth Sir Rob:.

^{page 96 note c} Appended: Copied be 4th of May 1613.

^{page 96 note 1} Sir Robert obtained his indenture of lease of Haverah Park dated 26 Aug. 1490. A further payment is recorded 5 Oct. 1498, App. II, 52; CB, 795Google Scholar; 90.

^{page 96 note 2} In the Derbys manor of Ockbrook, conveyance of 7 Nov. 1475, CB, 600, 603Google Scholar; 150.

^{page 96 note 3} The date appears to be a copyist's error: by deed dated 1 Oct. 1490 William Plumpton submitted himself to the award of arbitrators, including Sir Robert Plumpton, in regard to all matters in dispute between them. The result was that William was to pay 50s for the herbage of Haverah, CB, 759Google Scholar. App. II, 58.

^{page 96 note a} Appended: Copied þe 12 of Aprill 1612.

^{page 96 note 1} Of Clotherholme, Richmondshire (will pr. 1503), one of Sir Robert's close friends and kinsmen (his grandmother was Sir William Plumpton's sister Margaret), cousin of sergeant Pigott, Richard, Test. Ebor., iv, 6–7, 213–15Google Scholar; 29, 162; App. III.

^{page 96 note 2} Palessers were those who had the care of the palings in Haverah Park, Stapleton, , 98n.Google Scholar

^{page 96 note a} Marginal note: Haveray parke in Edward Plo: hands.

^{page 97 note a} Appended: Copied þe 28 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 97 note 1} David ap Griffith, 86.

^{page 97 note 2} 88n.

^{page 97 note a} MS finyd.

^{page 97 note b} ther deleted.

^{page 97 note c} am deleted.

^{page 97 note d} Appended: Copied þe iij of May 1613.

^{page 97 note 1} Nicholas Kniveton, the elder, of Mercaston, List of Sheriffs, 104Google Scholar; 79.

^{page 97 note 2} 147

^{page 97 note 3} 84, 147; App. II, 44.

^{page 98 note a} Appended: Copied pe 3 iiij of May 1613.

^{page 98 note 1} 84, 93.

^{page 98 note 2} The heirs of James Delves (exec.1472) were his two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of James Blount, and Ellen, who married the lawyer Sir Robert Sheffield. The land in question was Ellen, Lady Delves's dower in Crakemarsh, Staffs, where the Plumptons held land, and upon which Blount and Sheffield were casting covetous eyes, 180; App. III.

^{page 99 note a} surmytted deleted.

^{page 99 note b} MS hus.

^{page 99 note c} Delfe deleted.

^{page 99 note d} Appended: Copied be 7 of May 1613.

^{page 99 note 1} Margaret, widow of William Scargill (d.1484). Their eldest son, William (d.1497), had already been in trouble with the authorities at Pontefract. John Scargill was their deceased younger son, Test. Ebor., iii, 256–7Google Scholar; 69, 71.

^{page 99 note 2} John Morton, archbishop of Canterbury.

^{page 99 note 3} William Fairfax (d.1514), son of Sir Guy Fairfax, 208; App. II.

^{page 99 note 4} 92

^{page 99 note 5} Dale Abbey, often called Stanley Park, a house of Premonstratensian canons in Derbyshire; the rule of the current abbot, Richard Nottingham, ended in 1491, VCH, Derby, ed. Wm Page, ii (1907), 69, 75.Google Scholar

^{page 100 note a} his repeated.

^{page 100 note b} Appended: Copied the 19 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 100 note C} D Graff deleted.

^{page 100 note 1} On 8 Oct. 1492 Henry VII began the investment of Boulogne, and on 20 Oct. Geoffrey Towneley, servant to Sir Robert, paid over to the abbot of Whalley the rent for £8 for Haverah Park, Mackie, , 107–8Google Scholar; CB, 766.Google Scholar

^{page 100 note a} Marginal note: a guist.

^{page 100 note b} A word deleted.

^{page 100 note c} A word deleted.

^{page 100 note d} Appended: Copied the 15 day of March 1612.

^{page 100 note 1} William Markenfield, younger brother of Sir Thomas Markenfield, of Markenfield, near Ripon (d.1497), Test.Ebor., v, 232–5.Google Scholar

^{page 100 note 2} Sir Robert's lease of Haverah park commenced 26 Aug. 1490, 90; App. II, 52.

^{page 101 note a} Marginal note: Lordship Stanton.

^{page 101 note b} ther deleted.

^{page 101 note c} Appended: copied þe ij of May 1613.

^{page 101 note 1} A Derbys property acquired by the Plumptons through the Foljambe inheritance, App. II, 11.

^{page 101 note a} Marginal note: 2 cuple of conies.

^{page 101 note b} Appended: Copied the 15 day of March 1612.

^{page 101 note 1} Younger son of Sir Wm. Ryther, of Ryther, near Harewood (d.1476). Succeeded to the family estate after the deaths of two elder brothers without issue. Knighted by the time he was sheriff, 1503. Will pr. 26 April 1520, Test.Ebor., v, 125Google Scholar; 187.

^{page 102 note a} Appended: Copied þe 11 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 102 note 1} Of Warcop, Westmorland. Kinsman of the Plumptons through inter-marriage with the Hammertons, Hylton, W.H. and Longstaffe, R. (eds), Heraldic Visitation of the Northern Counties by Thomas Tonge, Norroy King of Arms, A.D. 1530 (SS, xli 1863), 100Google Scholar; Anglica Historia, 100.Google Scholar

^{page 102 note 2} Apparently a villein, 56, 164.

^{page 102 note a} Marginal note: Lands in Folifoott.

^{page 102 note b} Shaw deleted.

^{page 102 note c} Appended: Copied þe 27 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 102 note 1} John Swale, of South Stainley in the North Riding, was a defendant in a case of trespass heard in Star Chamber c.1485, Brown, W. (ed.), Yorkshire Star Chamber Proceedings, i (YASRS, xli, 1909), 5–8.Google Scholar

^{page 103 note a} Appended: Copied the 14 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 103 note 1} Of Hawksworth (fl.1492), one of the jurors at the Yorks IPM after the death of Sir William, App. II, 42.

^{page 104 note a} Sir deleted.

^{page 104 note b} hath deleted.

^{page 104 note c} MS wilbe.

^{page 104 note d} Appended: Copied þe 9 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 104 note a} Appended: copied þe 20 of May 1613.

^{page 105 note a} for yt deleted.

^{page 105 note b} Appended: Copied þe 11th of May 1613.

^{page 105 note a} Appended: This letter hath a scale. Copied 12 of March 1612.

^{page 105 note 1} Elected abbot of the Augustinian abbey of St Mary, Lilleshall 1464, resigned 1499. The abbey held property in Arkendale, near Knaresborough and retained Sir Robert as steward, VCH, Shropshire, ed. Gaydon, A.T., ii (1973), 79Google Scholar: CPR 1461–67, 334Google Scholar; ibid., 1494–1509, 107.

^{page 105 note 1} See Introd., above p. 19n.

^{page 105 note 2} The skirmish at Ackworth took place April 1492. Surrey was under-warden of the East and West Marches as deputy to Prince Arthur. The northern rebels objected to the levying of a benevolence, Reid, , 80Google Scholar; 87, 107.

^{page 106 note a} A word deleted.

^{page 106 note b} Appended: Copied be 11 day of March 1612.

^{page 106 note 1} Second wife of Sir Robert Percy, of Scotton, App. III.

^{page 106 note 2} George Talbot, 4th earl of Shrewsbury (d.1538). His letter to Sir Robert includes a reference, presumably, to the field of Ackworth, which dates this letter to 1492. A competent estate administrator, he was chief steward of 11 monasteries, Bernard, G. W., The Power of the Early Tudor Nobility: A Study of the Fourth and Fifth Earls of Shrewsbury (1985), 148Google Scholar; 108.

^{page 107 note a} Marginal note: Letter 19.

^{page 107 note b} Appended: this was for his service against the rebells þat killed the earle of Northumberland at Thirske in the 4 yeare of H. þe 7 for yt was the last rebelliion afore 7 H.7 & 28th of May.

^{page 107 note 1} A reference to the skirmish at Ackworth, 105.

^{page 108 note a} MS wee.

^{page 108 note b} Marginal note: Letter 31.

^{page 108 note 1} On 30 Jan. 1488/9 Robert Walkingham had sold 3 closes in the vill of Plumpton to Sir Robert and Dame Joan, his mother. It appears that the earl believed there was a conspiracy to defraud Dame Joyce, CB, 752Google Scholar; 104; Introd., above p. 13.

^{page 108 note 2} At Ackworth, 105, 107.

^{page 108 note a} Appended: Copied 19 Aprill 1613.

^{page 109 note a} þat deleted.

^{page 109 note b} Marginal note: Arthington of Arthington. Plom. seruant.

^{page 109 note c} Appended; Copied pe 27 of Aprili 1613.

^{page 110 note a} late deleted.

^{page 110 note b} Appended: Copied þe 12 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 110 note 1} As suggested by Stapleton, the subscription is a scribal error. The writer was Richard Cholmley, of Braham Hall, near Plumpton, whose appointment as receiver and surveyor of the temporalities of the see of Durham is dated 1 March 1493, CPR, 1485–94, 418Google Scholar; Stapleton, , vGoogle Scholar; App. III.

^{page 110 note 2} John Sherwood, died 12 Jan. 1493/4, HBC, 221.Google Scholar

^{page 110 note 3} Alexander Lye, instituted rector of Spofforth 25 Dec. 1481, 45.

^{page 110 note 4} The warning had its effect, for Sir Robert paid his tithe 1 Feb. 1494, CB, 770.Google Scholar

^{page 111 note a} them deleted.

^{page 111 note b} Appended: Copied þe 8 of May 1613.

^{page 111 note 1} Richard Fox, bishop of Durham from 1494 to 1501 when he was translated to Winchester. He remained in office as keeper of the Privy Seal until 1516, HBC, 93Google Scholar; Kirby, , NH, xxv, 119Google Scholar; 116.

^{page 111 note 2} Kilborne, Christopher, 113, 115, 124.Google Scholar

^{page 111 note 3} Possibly Towneley, Geoffrey, 163.Google Scholar

^{page 111 note 4} Senhouse, William, 50.Google Scholar

^{page 111 note 5} Edmund Thwaites of Lund, near Beverley (d.1500), succeeded William Elland as recorder of Hull in 1486/7, a post he occupied until 1489/90. Retained by Northumberland, who appointed him an executor, Test. Ebor., iii, 304–10Google Scholar; Routh, Pauline Sheppard, ‘The Thwaites Family and Two Effigies at Lund, East Riding’, YAJ, lxi (1989), 89–90Google Scholar; VCH, York, North Riding: City of Hull, ed. K.J. Allison (1969), 34.Google Scholar

^{page 111 note 6} The case had been referred by Star Chamber, Reid, 80.

^{page 112 note a} Appended: Copied þe 4 day of May 1613.

^{page 112 note 1} Senhouse, William, 50, 112.Google Scholar

^{page 112 note 2} Sir George Tailbois, of Kyme, Lines, JP Lincs, later made knight of the body, CPR, 1494–1509, 611, 647–9.Google Scholar

^{page 112 note 3} Collyweston near Stamford, the residence of Margaret, countess of Richmond and Derby, the king's mother, wife of Thomas Stanley, 1st earl of Derby, Jones, M.K., ‘Collyweston — an Early Tudor Palace’Google Scholar, in Williams, D. (ed.), England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium (1987), 134–36Google Scholar; 39.

^{page 112 note 4} David, ap Griffiths, , 94, 109.Google Scholar

^{page 113 note a} A word deleted.

^{page 113 note b} Marginal note. Edw: plo:.

^{page 113 note c} Marginal note: Ed: Plo: vidz.

^{page 113 note d} Marginal note: Geffray Townley, Sir Rob: Plo: seruant.

^{page 113 note e} A word deleted.

^{page 113 note f} Appended: Copied 30 of Apryll 1613.

^{page 113 note 1} Probably an attorney; perhaps the Owen Barley mentioned in 115.

^{page 113 note 2} Sir Thomas Lovell (d.1520). Of recent origin, the presidency of the Council, as implied in this letter, controlled the office of the signet, Select Cases, p. xxxix.Google Scholar

^{page 113 note 3} Percival Lambton, lawyer, son of Richard Lambton, of Harrogate. Ives calls him ‘an apparently insignificant’ member of Lincoln's Inn. Attorney-general of the Palatinate of Durham 1492–1501, Ives, E.W., ‘Promotion in the Legal Profession of Yorkist and Early Tudor England’, Law Quarterly Review, lxxv (1959), 303Google Scholar; 106, 115, 116.

^{page 113 note 4} Fox, Richard, 112.Google Scholar

^{page 113 note 5} Parliament sat from 14 Oct. 1495 until just before Christmas, but the bill is not mentioned in RP. An Act was passed against similar abuses in the county courts, Statutes of the Realm (11 vols, HMSO, 1810–1828), ii, 579Google Scholar; RP, vi, 458–508.Google Scholar

^{page 113 note 6} Probably a reference to the unscrupulous methods of Empson and Dudley, Pollard, A.F. (ed.), The Reign of Henry VII from Contemporary Sources (3 vols, 1913), ii, 123n.Google Scholar

^{page 113 note 7} 147, 91, 85. On legal managers who put up money for their clients' costs, see Ives, , CL, 142Google Scholar; 116.

^{page 114 note a} Appended: Copied pe 28 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 114 note 1} Surely the writer of 114.

^{page 114 note 2} Richard Fox, translated from Durham to Winchester Aug. 1501, HBC, 221.Google Scholar

^{page 114 note 3} 112.

^{page 114 note 4} Bishop Fox as lord privy seal was here ‘privately rendering nugatory his official acts’, Pollard, , Reign of Henry VII, ii, 124.Google Scholar

^{page 115 note a} Appended: Copied þe iijth of May 1613.

^{page 115 note a} Appended: Copied þe 19 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 115 note 1} John Kendal (d.1501), Grand Prior of England of the Order of St John of Rhodes, VCH, Middlesex, ed. R.B. Pugh, i (1969), 200.Google Scholar

^{page 115 note 2} Tong, John, 118.Google Scholar

^{page 115 note 3} John Rocliffe, App. III.

^{page 116 note a} Appended: Copied the 12th day of May 1613.

^{page 116 note 1} Sir Robert and Dame Agnes stood sponsors at the birth of the writer, Stapleton, , 120n.Google Scholar

^{page 116 note 2} After the suppression of the Templars in 1312, Great Ribston, near Plumpton, was the only one of their seven Yorkshire preceptories to retain an independent position, VCH, Yorks, iii, 262.Google Scholar

^{page 117 note a} call deleted.

^{page 117 note b} Marginal note: King Ric: not frendly in is award.

^{page 117 note c} Appended: Copied þe 20th day of May 1613.

^{page 117 note 1} This is the first intimation of Richard Empson's intention to oust Sir Robert from the lands secured to him by Richard III's arbitration of 16 Sept.1483, App. II, 48.

^{page 117 note 2} Husband of Elizabeth Plumpton.

^{page 117 note 3} Sir William Gascoigne (d.1551), Sir Robert's nephew, App. III.

^{page 117 note 4} The rule applying to most land held by free tenure was that the daughters of a dead eldest son excluded a younger son, SirPollock, F. and Maitland, F.W., The History of English Law (2nd edn of 1898, Cambridge, 1968), 260Google Scholar; Introd., above p. 8.

^{page 117 note a} A copyist's error: Stapleton suggests ‘Easton’, Richard Empson's house in Northants, p. 123n.

^{page 117 note b} Gascoyn deleted.

^{page 117 note c} Appended: Copied the 17 day of March 1612.

^{page 117 note 1} Empson was at this time attorney-general of the Duchy, Somerville, i, 392–3.

^{page 117 note 2} Richard Fawberg, Introd., above p. 14.

^{page 117 note 3} Fawberg was the surviving feoffee for the midlands estates, App. II, 29.

^{page 118 note a} Marginal note: Ed: Plo: is to be married to a weadow.

^{page 118 note b} dig deleted.

^{page 119 note c} hart deleted.

^{page 119 note d} Appended: Copied the 7 of May 1613.

^{page 119 note 1} Sufficient.

^{page 119 note 2} The ryall, first minted in 1463, was valued at 10s. It replaced the noble, valued at 6s 8d, Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, 80.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 3} On 10 Dec. 1483 Edward Plumpton entered into a bond to release a rent out of Nether Studley granted to him and his first wife, Agnes, CB, 728.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note a} Marginal note: 11 H.7 M.10.

^{page 119 note b} honorable deleted.

^{page 119 note c} 2 words deleted.

^{page 120 note d} Marginal note: Edward Plo: a suter in Midlesex. Below, non nuptia 10 m.1496. 11 H.7. Below: obiit 9 Aug. 1499 [illeg.].

^{page 120 note e} better deleted.

^{page 120 note f} Appended: Copied the 10 day of May 1613.

^{page 121 note a} about deleted.

^{page 121 note b} Marginal note: Edward Plo: is to be married what […].

^{page 121 note c} Misspelling deleted.

^{page 121 note d} my deleted.

^{page 121 note e} xx deleted.

^{page 121 note f} MS taken.

^{page 121 note g} Appended: copied the 6 of May 1613.

^{page 121 note 1} 38n.

^{page 122 note 2} Edward and Agnes were married but their union was to be short. Less than four years later she appealed one Robert Tykhull of the murder of her husband, CPR, 1496–1509, 233.Google Scholar

^{page 122 note a} þe der deleted.

^{page 122 note b} A word blotted.

^{page 122 note c} Appended: Copied þe 8 of May 1613.

^{page 122 note 1} The manor of Sacombe in Hertfordshire had descended to Isabel, wife of William Plumpton. At this date Sir John Hastings (d.1504) held the manor by courtesy of England, Introd., above p. 16, 126; App. II, 63.

^{page 122 note 2} On 28 Jan. 1501/2 Thomas Kilborne sold property in Plumpton to Sir Robert and his son and heir William, CB, 806.Google Scholar

^{page 122 note 3} Surplus, excess.

^{page 122 note 4} This is Edward Plumpton's last surviving letter.

^{page 123 note a} Appended: This letter hath a seale. Copied the 25 day of February 1612.

^{page 123 note 1} The writer of this and subsequent letters was probably Henry Percy, 5th earl of Northumberland (1478–1527), who achieved his majority in 1499, but was given livery of his lands 14 May 1498, App. III.

^{page 124 note a} MS fist.

^{page 124 note b} Misspelling deleted.

^{page 124 note c} Blank.

^{page 124 note d} Blank.

^{page 124 note e} Appended: Copied the xxth of December 1613.

^{page 124 note 1} Probably succeeded Edward Plumpton as Sir Robert's principal man of affairs, App. III.

^{page 124 note 2} Octave.

^{page 124 note 3} Writ to summon a defendant against whom an indictment for a misdemeanour had been found.

^{page 124 note 4} 127, 128.

^{page 124 note 5} Introd., above p. 16; 124; Apps II 56; III.

^{page 124 note 6} 225n.

^{page 124 note 7} 153; App. III.

^{page 124 note 8} Writ commanding the sheriff to have before the court at Westminster, or before the judges of assise at nisi prius, the bodies of the jurors named in the panel to the writ.

^{page 124 note 9} Writs of nisi prius empowered the king's justices to come into the country to receive jury verdicts there, for transmission to the bench on their return. Under nisi prius they had no original jurisdiction, but merely the power to proceed on issues referred to them for convenience out of one of the benches, Baker, , Introduction, 19–20.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 10} Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Plumpton, married Sir Richard Mauleverer, CB, 799Google Scholar; App. III.

^{page 124 note 11} Probably Pole, German, 138.Google Scholar

^{page 125 note a} Appended: Copied þe 21 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 125 note 1} 126n.

^{page 125 note 2} Against John Ellis, of York, 126, 128.

^{page 125 note 3} In a case of novel disseisin the jurors were required to inspect the lands in question before coming into court ready with their verdict, Sutherland, Donald W., The Assize of Novel Disseisin (Oxford, 1973), 1, 18.Google Scholar

^{page 125 note 4} 129.

^{page 125 note 5} The Derbys manor of Elton with the advowson of a chantry in the chapel of St Margaret in the parish church was conveyed by Sir William to Dean Andrews of York and his co-feoffees in 1475, although it was then the subject of a dispute with Thomas Foljambe of Walton, who claimed it as heir of Sir Edward Foljambe (d. before 1464). On 2 Nov. 1479 Sir Edward's widow conveyed the right of seisin to Sir William, but it was excluded from Richard III's award 16 Sept. 1483 because the title was still in question, CB, 598, 693Google Scholar; App. II 40, 48.

^{page 125 note 6} Writ for the purchaser against the disturber where no right of patronage was in dispute.

^{page 125 note 7} Writ for the recovery of an advowson.

^{page 125 note 8} 124n.

^{page 126 note a} Appended: Copied þe 27 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 127 note a} Appended: Copied 19 April Munday 1613.

^{page 127 note 1} Possibly an older half-brother of Sir Robert's daughter-in-law, Isabel, née Babthorpe. He and Sir William Gascoigne were nominated by Sir Robert to treat for him during the trial of Bubwith & Burgh v. Plumpton at York assizes in Sept. 1502, Stapleton, , 218nGoogle Scholar; 250; CB, 824Google Scholar; App. II, 64.

^{page 127 note 2} The case appears to have been heard at York assizes in the Michaelmas term, 1499, BL, Add. MS 32,113, fols 230–234v; 142.

^{page 127 note 3} John Kingsmill (d.1508), called sergeant 1495, king's sergeant 1497, JCP 1508. Noted for his high fees, Ivés, E.W., ‘The Reputation of the Common Lawyers in English Society, 1450–1550’, University of Birmingham Journal, vii (1960), 152Google Scholar; Idem, CL, 123, 467; Idem, ‘The Common Lawyers of Pre-Reformation England’, TRHS, 5th ser., xviii (1968), 145, 157.Google Scholar

^{page 127 note 4} There were several challenges to proposed members of the jury on the ground of consanguinity, BL, Add. MS 32,113, fols 233–233v.

^{page 127 note a} Which is y deleted.

^{page 127 note b} send me word deleted.

^{page 127 note c} Appended: Copied the 19 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 127 note 1} In CB, fols 159–62 are extracts from the Coucher Book of the Augustinian priory of St John the Evangelist, Healaugh Park, near Wetherby, recording grants made by Peter de Plumpton and others.

^{page 127 note 2} Henry, 10th Lord Clifford, later 1st earl of Cumberland (d.1542). Elleson was apparently his steward at Malton.

^{page 127 note 3} Kirk Deighton, near Plumpton.

^{page 128 note a} MS resarved.

^{page 128 note b} Marginal note: John Tailoir.

^{page 128 note c} Appended: Copied the 29 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 128 note 1} Kirkby Wharfe, near Tadcaster, part of the Babthorpe inheritance, App. I, 5.

^{page 128 note a} Appended: this letter hath a seale. Copied the 27 day of February 1612.

^{page 128 note 1} 14; App. III.

^{page 129 note a} Appended: this letter hath a seale at [the copying]. Copied the 23 day of February 1612.

^{page 129 note a} Appended: Copied the 11 day of March 1612.

^{page 130 note 1} Elected 1499, in office 1516. Presumably Sir Robert's stewardship would require confirmation by a new abbot, 104n.

^{page 130 note a} MS ther.

^{page 130 note b} Appended: Copied be 10 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 130 note 1} A Notts gentry family which claimed a distinguished ancestry, but had failed to augment its fortunes by marriage, Payling, , 73–4, 245Google Scholar; 147.

^{page 131 note a} Appended: this letter hath a seal. Copied the 6 day of March 1612.

^{page 131 note 1} A Richard Ampleforth witnessed the will of Sir Robert's eldest son William who died 1 July 1547, Test.Ebor., vi, 260.Google Scholar

^{page 131 note a} & kepe yt deleted.

^{page 131 note b} Marginal note: A remindir for preventing of Þe plage.

^{page 131 note c} MS ghost.

^{page 131 note d} Appended: Copied Þe 27 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 131 note 1} 69.

^{page 131 note 2} London and Oxford suffered heavily from an outbreak in 1499–1500. Among the local victims was the archbishop of York, Thomas Rotherham, at Cawood, Creighton, , 287Google Scholar; Drake, F., Eboracum (1736), 447Google Scholar; Palliser, D.M., ‘Epidemics in Tudor York’, NH, viii (1973), 47.Google Scholar

^{page 131 note 3} 5 Aug. Lady Margaret Beaufort acquired a manuscript book (c.1500) that included a list of prayers and anthems for use by those seeking protection against the pestilence, Jones, , King's Mother, 147.Google Scholar

^{page 132 note a} Blank.

^{page 132 note b} Appended: Copied Þe 29 day of March 1613.

^{page 132 note 1} Son of John de la Pole, of Radburne, Derbys, deceased, and grandson of Elizabeth (159), now aged about 16, App. III.

^{page 132 note 2} Sir Robert's son and heir, William Plumpton.

^{page 132 note 3} Sir Robert may have sent his daughters Margaret and Eleanor away from plague-stricken Spofforth, 137.

^{page 133 note 4} Ralph Neville and his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Christopher Ward of Givendale, 51, 149.

^{page 133 note 5} John Neville.

^{page 133 note a} Appended: Copied Þe 7 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 133 note 1} Son or younger brother of Robert II, 69; App. III.

^{page 133 note 2} Sir Robert's daughter Margaret, wife of the writer's son Arthur Eyre.

^{page 133 note 1} Spital-in-the-Street, Lincs.

^{page 134 note a} Appended: Copied Þe 27 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 134 note 1} 136.

^{page 134 note 2} County Durham.

^{page 135 note a} burne deleted.

^{page 135 note b} Appended: Copied Þe 23 of Aprill 1613.

^{page 135 note 1} Probably Richard Pullein of Kirby Hall and Killinghall, near Knaresborough, Somerville, , i, 179.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 2} 148; Introd., p. 16.

^{page 136 note 3} John Atwater (mayor of Cork), his son, and John Taylor, arraigned 16 Nov. 1499, Fabyan, Robert, The New Chronicles of England and France, in Two Parts, ed. Sir Henry Ellis (1811), 687.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 4} Sir John Sely.

^{page 136 note 5} Sir John Turbervile of ‘Suthwerk’, Surrey, marshal of the Marshalsea, steward and constable of Corfe, treasurer of Calais, CPR, 1494–1509, 365, 367Google Scholar; RP, vi, 367.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 6} They were found guilty of a plot to slay the marshal of the Tower and release the earl of Warwick 18 Nov. R.L. Storey believes the whole episode was engineered by the king, The Reign of Henry VII (1968), 87.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 7} Arraigned 19 Nov., executed 29 Nov., SirEllis, Henry (ed.), Original Letters Illustrative of English History (3 vols, 1824), i, 34–8Google Scholar; Anglica Historia, 116–19.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 8} Stapleton suggests this was the Prior of St John's Clerkenwell, 143n.

^{page 136 note 9} Richard Beauchamp, Lord St Amand (d.1508), attainted 1483/4 but soon pardoned, GEC.

^{page 136 note a} veyse of lurnd deleted.

^{page 137 note b} fale ye not to seytt deleted.

^{page 137 note c} Appended: copied the 3 day of Aprill 1613.

^{page 137 note 1} A receipt dated 4 Aug. 1500 for 20m was received by Sir Robert in acknowledgement of an instalment on 250m covenanted for the marriage of his daughter Margaret with the writer's eldest son, the future Sir Arthur Eyre. For her keep 50s was to be allowed out of each instalment, CB, 800Google Scholar; 139, 218.

^{page 137 note a} Appended: Copied the 24 of Aprill 1613.