of the testator long remained unsettled. The probate of his will is dated in 1467, some years after his decease. In 1464 Paston was committed to the Fleet prison for refusing to seal a release1. An agreement m was made between the bishop and him, relating to the lands and goods, in 1470. Worcestre engaged by indenture" for his faithful behaviour toward the bishop and his college, and for other matters, in 1472. He complains, that in or about November that year, Yelverton, to his very great prejudice, had delivered to the bishop silver things to the amount of four hundred and twenty-two marcs. There is also extant "the agreement "and award between the bishop and Sir "John Paston, touching the building of the

66

66

college at Castre, of seven preests and

seven poor men translated by dispensa"tion of the Pope to as many preests and

66

poor scholars in Magdalen college, and "touching the lands of Sir John Fastolff," dated in 1474. Whether this munificent

1 Itinerarium, p. 162.

m Norfolk et Suffolk in genre, No 29.

n Ibid. No 75. 12 Edw. IV.

• Itinerarium, p. 368.

P Norfolk et Suffolk in gnre, N° 23.

knight was, as has been asserted, a direct benefactor in his lifetime, or by his will, to Waynflete's hall, or to his college, which was founded only the year before he died, I cannot at present ascertain. The portion of his estate which came into possession of the bishop, might be neither given nor bequeathed, but be obtained by purchase, or as the endowment of his intended college at Castre. Sir William Brereton had shared with this distinguished warrior in the dangers under lord Scales, and been promoted to the same post in Normandy, and, it is

Anstis, Order of Garter, vol. i. p. 140, says that "Sir John "Fastolf is commemorated in an annual speech at Magd. college; that the Boar's-head in Southwark, £150 per annum, " and the manors of Caldecut and Lovingland in Suffolk, were "given by him to the college. But the college," he adds, "have "no records of these benefactions, as he enfeoffed the founder in "his lifetime."

The author of a note in the Biographia Britannica says, he was so bountiful to Magdalen college two years before he died, "that his "name is commemorated in an anniversary speech; and though the

particulars of his bounty are not now remembered, because he in"feoffed Waynflete in his lifetime, it is yet known that the Boar's"head in Southwark, now divided into tenements yielding £150 "yearly, together with Calcedot (sic) mannor in Suffolk, were part "of the lands he bestowed thereon; and Loving-land in that county " is conceived also to have been another part of his donation." This account, as well as that of Anstis, from which it is copied, is apprehended to be inaccurate. I have never heard an anniversary speech on this subject.

probable,

probable, was connected both with him and lord Crumwell by his military services. It was perhaps from this acquaintance, or from relationship, that Waynflete had knowledge of them; and, in particular, that he became "best frend to the soule of Sir John Fas"tolff."

SECT. XIII. THE power of the Lancastrians proved but of short duration. The Yorkists advanced with an army, and Warwick by a herald desired a conference", which was refused. It is not improbable that Waynflete, who has been justly termed a learned and studious prelate rather than a politician, and who was always a lover of lenient measures, dissented at this time from the violent councils of his party; for on "Monday the 7th of July, 1460, (38 H.VI.) "about five in the afternoon, he delivered "the great silver seal to the king in his tent, "then standing in Hardinstonfield, near the "abbey de la Pré, by the town of Northampton; in the presence of the bishop of "Hereford, and of Durham keeper of the

66

66

66

privy seal; and of Master Thomas Mar

Budden, p. 78.

66

ninge,

"ninge, the king's secretary," and of two esquires; and then by royal command it was placed in a certain chest in the tent, of which he immediately delivered the keys to the kings. A full pardon of all misdemeanors, &c. had been granted to him the same day at Northampton *.

SECT. XIV. IN the battle which followed on the 10th of July king Henry was taken prisoner. An obsequious parliament then constituted the duke of York heir apparent of the crown, and lord protector during the life of the reigning king. Queen Margaret, who had fled with the young prince her son, meeting with support from the barons of the north, obtained a victory at Wakefield, (7th Feb. 1460,) when York and Salisbury were slain, and retook the king near St. Albans. But the earl of March, who succeeded his father in the title of York, forced her to retire, demanded the crown in an assembly of peers at London, and was proclaimed by the name of Edward IV. Then the animosity of the

De la Pré was an abbey of nuns of the Cluniac order. Notit.

Mon. p. 379.

See Rymer Acta MSS. vol. ix. N° 97.

two

two roses was raised as high as possible. The battle near Towton (29th of March, 1461,) was such, it is said, as had not its parallel in the annals of the island. The fugitive Lancastrians formed a mound with their bodies across a river swoln by falling snow, and the stream ran purple with the blood of the victims of civil fury. Edward was solemnly crowned at Westminster; and declared by a parliament, king, both de jure and de facto. The act of attainder included even Henry and his queen, who had escaped to Scotland; and the estates of many great personages, their adherents, became rewards of the partisans of the house of York.

SECT. XV. MISTAKES have been made respecting the time when Waynflete became and ceased to be chancellor ". Budden re

lates

" Budden confutes Polydor Vergil, who says he was a long while in the office: "Is etenim homo propter justitiam prudentiamque "diu Angliæ cancellarius fuit." Verg. Hist. 1. xxiii. p. 493, fol. Basil. 1570. Budden, p. 79.

Godwin, p. 232, (and Ayliffe,) makes him chancellor from 1449 to 1458. Wharton, Angl. S. vol. i. p. 318, remarks this mistake of Godwin.

Spelman in v. Cancell. sets him down as chancellor according to some 28 Hen. VI, but with a quære; and afterwards 35 Hen. VI; and Nevyll 38 Hen. VI, which is right.

Collier