William Paston

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 14 Aug 1444

Notes:

Justice of the Common Pleas from 15 Oct 1429 to his death. Steward of the Duke of Norfolk, 1415. Wikipedia: "William Paston, the only son of Clement Paston and Beatrice Somerton, had a distinguished career as a lawyer and Justice of the Common Pleas. He acquired considerable property, and is considered 'the real founder of the Paston family fortunes'."

William married Agnes Berry in 1420. Agnes (daughter of Edmund Barry) was born after 1399; died in Aug 1479. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 22 May 1466, London, England

Notes:

From Wikipedia:

John Paston was the son of William Paston, Justice of the Common Pleas, and Agnes Berry. After he succeeded his father in 1444, his life was marked by conflict occasioned by a power struggle in East Anglia between William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and by his involvement in the affairs of his wife's kinsman, Sir John Fastolf. A number of his letters survive among the Paston Letters, a rich source of historical information for the lives of the English gentry of the period. [...]

In 1455 he was elected as one of the Knights of the Shire for Norfolk, but did not take a seat in Parliament as the Duke of Norfolk 'insisted on his own nominees being returned'. In 1457 he paid a fine for declining a knighthood. In 1458 Paston, his brother William and others were accused of 'riotous behaviour', and the Duke of Norfolk headed a commission charged with arresting them. From 1460–6 he was Justice of the Peace for Norfolk, and was elected as a member of parliament in 1460 and again in 1461. In 1461, as a result of conflict with Sir John Howard, then Sheriff of Norfolk, he was briefly imprisoned in the Fleet. In 1464, in connection with his involvement in the estate of the late Sir John Fastolf, he was accused of trespass, outlawed, and imprisoned in the Fleet.[12][1] In 1465 he was imprisoned in the Fleet for the third time, again in connection with Fastolf's estate.

Much of Paston's time from the mid-1450s had in fact been taken up by his position as adviser to his wife's kinsman, 'the ageing, wealthy, and childless Sir John Fastolf'. In 1456 he was appointed one of the feoffees of Fastolf's lands. In June 1459 Fastolf made a will which provided that his ten executors found a college in Caister. However, after Fastolf died on 5 November 1459, Paston claimed that on 3 November Fastolf had made a nuncupative will giving Paston exclusive authority over the foundation of the college, and providing that, after payment of 4000 marks, Paston was to have all Fastolf's lands in Norfolk and Suffolk. Relying on the nuncupative will, Paston took possession of the Fastolf estates, and resided at times at Fastolf's manors of Caister and Hellesdon.

Paston's claim to the Fastolf lands was challenged by the Duke of Norfolk, who seized Caister in 1461; by Sir William Yelverton and Gilbert Debenham, who claimed the manors of Cotton in Suffolk and Caldecott Hall near Fritton; by John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, who claimed two Norfolk manors, Hellesdon and Drayton, in 1465; and by Lord Scales, who in January 1466 forced officials of the city of Norwich to seize Paston's property there in the king's name, alleging that Paston was a 'serf of the crown'. In 1464 a legal challenge to Paston's executorship under the nuncupative will was mounted by William Yelverton, one of the ten executors who had been appointed under Sir John Fastolf's written will; however the case was still undecided at the time of Paston's death.

During the latter years of his life, Paston fell out with his eldest son and heir, John. He died at London on 21 or 22 May 1466, and was buried at Bromholm Priory, Norfolk.

John married Margaret Mautby between Apr 1440 and Nov 1440. Margaret (daughter of John Mautby and Margery Berney) was born in 1422; died on 4 Nov 1484. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Member of Parliament 1472-75; 1478; 1491-92.

William married Anne Beaufort before 1470. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married William Yelverton in 1477. William (son of John Yelverton and Margery Morley) died after 4 Feb 1481. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Second of his name. Wikipedia: “Sir John Paston was the second son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby. He succeeded his elder brother, Sir John Paston, in 1479. He fought at Barnet and Stoke with John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, served as his deputy when Oxford was appointed Lord High Admiral of England, and was a member of the Earl’s council. A number of his letters survive among the Paston Letters, a rich source of historical information for the lives of the English gentry of the period.”

Knight of the shire for Norwich, 1485. In the same year he was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk.

According to Norman Davis (citation details below), he was probably born in Geldeston, Norfolk, where the manor was held by Ralph Garneys, who married his mother’s mother after John Mautby’s death.

John married Margery Brewse in Jul 1477. Margery (daughter of Thomas Brewse and Elizabeth Debenham) was born about 1457; died about 1495; was buried in White Friars, Norwich, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William Clere. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Fyneux. John died on 17 Nov 1525. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"His [Sir John Paston's] financial embarrassment was doubtless eased by the marriage of his son and heir, William, to Sir Henry Heydon's daughter Bridget, whose marriage portion was probably 500 marks. The wedding was already in sight when Sir Henry informed John Paston of the conclusion of the dispute with William Paston: 'How yee and myn ladie, and in what sylk or clooth yee will have these tweyn yong innocentes maried jnne, iff it shuld be purveyed at London to send me word, or ellys at Norwich, as it shall please you and myn ladie ther-affter I shall applie me; for it must bee ordyrd be you in the yong husbondes name.' 1489 seems the year in which to place the end of the controversy and the marriage, as on 10 February 1489 Margery, in writing to John, refers to 'my brodyre Heydon.'" [Colin Richmond,The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase (1990), quoted by Brad Verity, citation details below.]

Family/Spouse: Bridget Heydon. Bridget (daughter of Henry Heydon and Anne Boleyn) was born about 1480; died before 17 Jan 1554; was buried on 17 Jan 1554 in St. Margaret's, Paston, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

See our entry on her husband Thomas Tyndall for a brief discussion of her death date.

Family/Spouse: Thomas Tyndall. Thomas (son of John Tyndall and Amphyllis Coningsby) was born about 1505 in of Hockwood, Norfolk, England; died about 25 Dec 1583. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Erasmus married Mary Wyndham after 22 Oct 1521. Mary (daughter of Thomas Wyndham and Eleanor Scrope) was born about 1508; died on 1 Jan 1597; was buried in Paston, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Norfolk, 1563.

Clement married Alice Pakington after 1567. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1565-66.

“He played little part in national affairs but took a prominent role in the government and political life of his native county and was known as a careful administrator and a ‘just and painstaking magistrate’ [...] A supporter of Edmund Freake, bishop of Norwich (1575–84), Paston was involved in the bitter conflict between the bishop and the puritans for control of the chancellorship of the diocese in 1578. He was described by Bishop Scrambler as an ‘observer of law’ which has been taken to mean that his religious views were either conformist Church of England or impartial (Smith, 214). In 1597 he moved to the new house which his uncle, Sir Clement Paston, had built at Oxnead. Known for his liberality, hospitality and benefactions, Paston is chiefly remembered for the founding and endowment of North Walsham grammar school (the Paston School), in 1606.” [Oxford DNB, citation details below.]

As he lived through her entire reign, presumably he was aware that queen Elizabeth was his third cousin, both of them being great-great grandchildren of London mayor Geoffrey Boleyn and his wife Anne Hoo.

William married Frances Clere on 5 May 1551 in St. Margaret's, Paston, Norfolk, England. Frances (daughter of Thomas Clere and Ann Gyggs) was born in 1531; died in 1610. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Anthony Cope on 7 Apr 1600. Anthony (son of Edward Cope and Elizabeth Mohun) was born between 1548 and 1550; died on 6 Jul 1614. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]