FASTOLF, Sir John (1380-1459). Letter to JOHN PASTON, Caistor, 10 July n.y., the text and signature ('yo[u]r cosyn John Fastolf') in the hand of Fastolf's secretary, William Worcester alias Botoner, in English, on paper, 7 lines on one page, 84 x 250mm , integral address panel ('To the Worshypfull sir and my ryght Welbelovyd Cosyn John Paston'), trace of seal, window-mounted. Provenance : from the collection of the Norfolk historian Charles John Palmer (1805-1888): a note on the mount probably in his hand records its purchase in 1839 for two guineas from Thorpe's catalogue 553.
FASTOLF, Sir John (1380-1459). Letter to JOHN PASTON, Caistor, 10 July n.y., the text and signature ('yo[u]r cosyn John Fastolf') in the hand of Fastolf's secretary, William Worcester alias Botoner, in English, on paper, 7 lines on one page, 84 x 250mm , integral address panel ('To the Worshypfull sir and my ryght Welbelovyd Cosyn John Paston'), trace of seal, window-mounted. Provenance : from the collection of the Norfolk historian Charles John Palmer (1805-1888): a note on the mount probably in his hand records its purchase in 1839 for two guineas from Thorpe's catalogue 553. 'Please yow to wete that the pryour and Convent of Norwych have wyth halden certeyn Rent for londes that they halden of me wythynne my maner of haylysdon and ys ii tapers of wax of ii lb wyght by the space of xviii yeere ... p[ray]yng yow to speke wyth the pryour ... and that ye lyke to meove hym to make me paym[en]t as hys dewtee ys, so as y have no cause to sewe [i.e. sue] farther and to doo as Justice requyryth ... y pr[a]y yow cosyn that y may speke wyth yow or [i.e. before] y ryde. and that or thrysday by the ferthyst and ther y shall tell you tydyngs off the parlem[en]t'. The inspiration in name at least for Shakespeare's Falstaff, Sir John Fastolf made his fortune in the French wars (where he was closely associated with John, Duke of Bedford), and was able to acquire substantial estates both in England and France, notably including the manor of Caistor in Norfolk and the Boar's Head tavern in Southwark. He features largely in the Paston letters as a close friend and neighbour of John Paston in life, and posthumously as the subject of an extended inheritance dispute. As is often the case with Fastolf's business correspondence, the text and signature here are in the hand of his secretary, William Worcester (he also used his mother's surname, Botoner), who both before and after his master's death was active as an author, producing, amongst others, the extant Boke of Noblesse and a lost life of Fastolf; Worcester ultimately inherited from Fastolf the manor of Fairchilds in Hellesdon, Norfolk, to which the present letter relates. The letter is published in the Paston Letters (ed. James Gairdner, 1904, vol.II, pp.107-8) from a transcript printed, with numerous minor inaccuracies, by Palmer in his Foundacion and Antiquitye of the Towne of Greate Yermouthe (1847, p.61). Palmer dates the letter to 1449, though Gairdner observes that it must date from after 1454, when Fastolf established himself at Caistor.
FASTOLF, Sir John (1380-1459). Letter to JOHN PASTON, Caistor, 10 July n.y., the text and signature ('yo[u]r cosyn John Fastolf') in the hand of Fastolf's secretary, William Worcester alias Botoner, in English, on paper, 7 lines on one page, 84 x 250mm , integral address panel ('To the Worshypfull sir and my ryght Welbelovyd Cosyn John Paston'), trace of seal, window-mounted. Provenance : from the collection of the Norfolk historian Charles John Palmer (1805-1888): a note on the mount probably in his hand records its purchase in 1839 for two guineas from Thorpe's catalogue 553.
FASTOLF, Sir John (1380-1459). Letter to JOHN PASTON, Caistor, 10 July n.y., the text and signature ('yo[u]r cosyn John Fastolf') in the hand of Fastolf's secretary, William Worcester alias Botoner, in English, on paper, 7 lines on one page, 84 x 250mm , integral address panel ('To the Worshypfull sir and my ryght Welbelovyd Cosyn John Paston'), trace of seal, window-mounted. Provenance : from the collection of the Norfolk historian Charles John Palmer (1805-1888): a note on the mount probably in his hand records its purchase in 1839 for two guineas from Thorpe's catalogue 553. 'Please yow to wete that the pryour and Convent of Norwych have wyth halden certeyn Rent for londes that they halden of me wythynne my maner of haylysdon and ys ii tapers of wax of ii lb wyght by the space of xviii yeere ... p[ray]yng yow to speke wyth the pryour ... and that ye lyke to meove hym to make me paym[en]t as hys dewtee ys, so as y have no cause to sewe [i.e. sue] farther and to doo as Justice requyryth ... y pr[a]y yow cosyn that y may speke wyth yow or [i.e. before] y ryde. and that or thrysday by the ferthyst and ther y shall tell you tydyngs off the parlem[en]t'. The inspiration in name at least for Shakespeare's Falstaff, Sir John Fastolf made his fortune in the French wars (where he was closely associated with John, Duke of Bedford), and was able to acquire substantial estates both in England and France, notably including the manor of Caistor in Norfolk and the Boar's Head tavern in Southwark. He features largely in the Paston letters as a close friend and neighbour of John Paston in life, and posthumously as the subject of an extended inheritance dispute. As is often the case with Fastolf's business correspondence, the text and signature here are in the hand of his secretary, William Worcester (he also used his mother's surname, Botoner), who both before and after his master's death was active as an author, producing, amongst others, the extant Boke of Noblesse and a lost life of Fastolf; Worcester ultimately inherited from Fastolf the manor of Fairchilds in Hellesdon, Norfolk, to which the present letter relates. The letter is published in the Paston Letters (ed. James Gairdner, 1904, vol.II, pp.107-8) from a transcript printed, with numerous minor inaccuracies, by Palmer in his Foundacion and Antiquitye of the Towne of Greate Yermouthe (1847, p.61). Palmer dates the letter to 1449, though Gairdner observes that it must date from after 1454, when Fastolf established himself at Caistor.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
