Note 71.1 — THE PASTON LETTERS Edward V.

[From Fenn, v. 302.] This letter was not a part of the Paston correspondence, but was printed by Fenn in the series as a letter of much historical interest from a copy given him by the Rev. John Brand, secretary to the Society of Antiquaries. The following memoranda accompanied the copy:—

‘Extract from an ancient MS. of pedigrees, etc., in quarto, late in the possession of Sir Walter Blackett, Bart., and now the property of John Erasmus Blackett, Esq., Alderman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; p. 333, under title of “A Coppie of some Letters which were found in Rabie Castle after the Rebellion, to shew the fashion . . . . of those times.” The above MS. is of the date of James I., though there are several continuations in a more modern hand.

‘This copy has doubtless been a transcript of an original letter of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III., and written just before his seizure of the crown.

‘Raby Castle is in the county of Durham.’

Fenn adds that it does not appear clearly who this Lord Nevill was. But as the letter was found in Raby Castle after the great rebellion of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, in 1569, it was evidently addressed to one of that family of Nevills, the heads of which were Earls of Westmoreland. In 1483 the Earl of Westmoreland’s name was Ralph Nevill, but he died in the year following, and was succeeded in the title by Ralph, son and heir of his brother, John, Lord Nevill, who was slain at Towton. It was this Ralph, then heir-presumptive to the earldom, who is here called Lord Nevill. He had got his father’s attainder reversed in 1472, and his title of Lord Nevill was recognised. See G. Ele’s Peerage, viii. 112.