Note 92.1 — THE PASTON LETTERS Edward IV (continued 2)

[From Fenn, iv. 72.] This letter and the next both mention assizes at Thetford. The latter, which is dated on Wednesday, the last (29th) day of February, and which was certainly written in the year 1464, mention them as being held on that very day. The present letter, dated on the second Monday in Lent, says they are to be held on Wednesday following. Now the second Monday in Lent 1464 fell on the 27th of February, that is to say just two days before that particular Wednesday on which we know that the assizes really were held. This alone seems almost sufficient evidence of the date of the letter. As for the King’s going up to London, it appears by the dates of the Privy Seals that on the 9th February he was at Gloucester, on the 16th and 17th at Kimbolton; and it is stated in the next letter that he was at Waltham on the 27th, which shows that he really was moving towards the capital. This was not the case in 1462, the year to which Fenn assigns the letter; nor do I know his authority for stating that there was a Burgundian Embassy in the beginning of that year.