Note 146.1 — THE PASTON LETTERS Henry VI (continued 3)

[From Fenn, iv. 38.] This letter is referred by Fenn to the beginning of Edward IV.’s reign, but on a careful examination I think it must be earlier, as William Jenney’s proceedings, even in the first year of Edward IV., were by no means friendly to John Paston. The Lord Scales here mentioned must therefore be the Lord Scales of Henry VI.’s time, who was murdered in July 1460, and the letter, having been written in August, cannot be later than 1459. In that year, as will be seen by Letter 377, John Paston’s eldest son had already begun active life, and I am inclined to think that it is the precise year in which the present letter was written. John Paston, the second, was at that time not more than nineteen years of age, and we hear nothing of his doings earlier. The manor of Sporle was inherited by John Paston, senior, from his father the judge.

147.1 Thelveton, near Diss, in Norfolk.