The Plumpton Letters and PapersJoan Kirby Cambridge University Press, 1996 - 370 pages This latest volume in the Royal Historical Society's Camden Fifth Series is a new and comprehensive edition of the only surviving northern medieval letter collection. Of particular value to social and legal historians, Joan Kirby's text contains a wealth of material unavailable to the editor of the previous edition of 1836. The collection offers a vivid day-to-day portrayal of a northern knightly family during a period of decline in the military function of knighthood. Parochial, proud, violent and litigious, as Percy tenants and feed officials their fortunes fluctuated with those of their patrons; loyalty to the Lancastrian cause in 1461, for example, cost both families loss of life, liberty and office. Two protracted lawsuits drew them deep into the complexities of the legal process and the political patronage on which they depended. The resulting correspondence with their lawyers constitutes a unique primary source for all scholars of medieval England. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
Sir William Plumpton | 3 |
Sir Robert Plumpton | 9 |
The Plumpton Inheritance | 13 |
The Babthorpe Inheritance | 15 |
The Manuscripts | 18 |
The Plumpton Coucher Book | 21 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
afore App.II Appended appointed appurtenances Aprill besech brother byll chantry Constable Copied þe Copyist's note cousin Crakemarsh daughter deleted deliuered Derbyshire earl of Northumberland Ebor Elizabeth Endorsed father feoffees feoffment frinds giue grace granted Grassington Hassop hast hath a seale haue heirs Isabel Joan John Dodington June kepe king king's Kinoulton Knaresborough lady lands letter London Lord Margaret Marginal note Marmaduke Constable marriage married master Sir master Sir Robt mastership mynd Notts Percy pleasure Plumpton to Sir pray preserue recomend me vnto Rempston rent Richard III Right worshipfull Sir Robart Plompton knight Robart Plompton kt sayd servant shalbe shew shold singuler Sir John Sir Richard Sir Robert Plumpton Sir William Plumpton Sotehill Stapleton Steeton tenements ther therof trust tyme vnderstand vpon welbeloued Wherfore wife wilbe William Gascoigne William Plompton wold worshipfull master wryting wrytting wyfe wyll wyse York Yorkshire þat ye