Note 61.1 — THE PASTON LETTERS Henry VI

[From Fenn, iii. 26.] ‘From a memorandum,’ says Fenn, ‘on the back of this letter, dated in April 1444, it is probable that it was written on the 30th of January 1443.’ Did Fenn mean the 30th of January 1443–4? In the side-note immediately below the letter, he dates it in his usual exact manner, ‘Wednesday, 30th of January 1443, 22 H. vi.’ But unfortunately there is an error here. January in the 22d year of Henry VI., means January 1444 according to the modern computation, or 1443 in the style formerly in use, by which the year was reckoned from the 25th of March. But the 30th of January was a Wednesday in 1443, only according to the modern computation of the year,—that is to say, it was a Wednesday in the year 1442–3, not in 1443–4. I imagine, however, that the ‘30th of January’ should have been ‘29th of January,’ and that Fenn really meant 1443–4, corresponding with the 22nd year of Henry VI.; for the memorandum to which he refers is a draft agreement, dated on Passion Sunday, 22 Hen. VI., A.D. 1444.

61.2 The celebrated Sir John Fortescue.