[MR] Wikipedia: The Multiple Sir John Pastons

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this day in 1421 was born Sir John Paston (died 1466). Sir John Paston
was a lawyer, soldier, parliamentarian, sometimes knight, and land owner
from East Anglia. John was also an associate and attorney of the famous
soldier Sir John Fastolf (who was nothing like Shakespeare's oafish
character Fallstaff, which the Bard unkindly based on the real knight).
There is considerable suspicion that Sir John Paston manipulated the dying
Fastolf into leaving Paston his estate, including Caister Castle. Maybe, or
maybe not, but in any case the wrangling over these estates dragged on for
much of the late 1400s.

Sir John Paston (died 1466) wrote many of the famous Paston Letters, a
large collection of correspondence from several generations of the family,
that provides important insights into the lives of the uppper middle class
/ lower-level nobility of that time.

You can read more about Sir John Paston (died 1466) at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paston_(died_1466) .

Reading the Paston Letters, or even an edited gloss of them (which I have
done), can leave one very confused. Sir John had two sons, also named Sir
John Paston, and it can make your head spin trying to figure out who was
whom, since they also wrote some of the Paston Letters or were frequently
mentioned in them.

Sir John Paston (died 1479) succeeded his father, and was also a lawyer,
land owner and knight. He also was deeply involved in the legal fight over
the family estates. This Sir John Paston was present at the famous joust of
peace between Earl Rivers, Lord Scales, and Anthony, the Bastard of
Burgundy. He left us one of the written accounts of the fight. Although he
fathered an illegitimate daughter, this Sir John never married. Here's the
link to his Wikipedia bio:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paston_(died_1479) .

Sir John (died 1479) was succeeded by his brother, also Sir John Paston
(died 1504). It isn't clear from his Wikipedia article if this Sir John was
an attorney (it's been several years since I read the Paston Letters), but
he was a knight and courtier. Under this Sir John, the title to Caister
Castle was finally, more or less, settled, though he had to fight his uncle
William Paston in court to gain the property. His bio is found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paston_(died_1504) .

Are you confused? You aren't the only one. It would have been so much
simpler if the various Johns could have been numbered, I, II, III, though
that probably wouldn't have made the Paston Letters any clearer. Mercifully
Sir John Paston (died 1504) had the good sense to NOT name any of his sons
John, so this confusing tradition ended.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆