The Plumpton Letters and Papers

by Joan Kirby (Editor)

Overview

The Plumpton Letters and Papers provides a day-by-day record of Sir William Plumpton's struggle to maintain his local influence and, by devious means, pass his entire inheritance to a younger son, the future Sir Robert, who may have been illegitimate. The letters detail the protracted legal proceedings through which his granddaughter obtained these rights while Sir Robert was reduced to near penury, until a final arbitration at length reinstated him in his ancestral manor of Plumpton. Intermingled are fascinating glimpses of medieval life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107403291
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2011
Series:	Camden Fifth Series , #8
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Sir William Plumpton; 2. Sir Robert Plumpton; 3. The Plumpton inheritance; 4. The Babthorpe inheritance; 5. The manuscripts; 6. The Plumpton Coucher book; 7. Editorial method; 8. Sir Edward Plumpton's letter book, Nos 1-252; Appendix I. Transcripts of selected documents from the Plumpton Coucher book and other sources, Nos 1-9; Appendix II. Calendar of selected documents from the Plumpton Coucher book and other sources, Nos 1-88; Appendix III. Biographical notes; Index.

Editorial Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'For the prevalence of litigation in gentry circles, the ingenuity of lawyers and the manifold shortcomings of the law … the Plumpton archive is invaluable.' Keith Dockray, History

Review of the hardback: 'This volume is absolutely essential for all libraries of fifteenth-century English studies. It covers all the available letters and the most important documents, with detailed notes on every point … it is an outstanding edition of an almost unique source.' Parergon

From the Publisher