John Paston (died 1479)

Sir John Paston
Father	John Paston
Mother	Margaret Mautby
Born	before 15 April 1442
Died	November 1479 (aged 37) London
Buried	Whitefriars, London

Sir John Paston (before 15 April 1442 – November 1479), was the eldest son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby. He succeeded his father in 1466, and spent a considerable part of his life attempting to make good his father's claim to the lands of Margaret Mautby'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. Although long betrothed to Anne Haute, a first cousin of Elizabeth Woodville, he never married, and was succeeded by his younger brother, also named John.

John Paston, born before 15 April 1442, was the eldest son and heir of John Paston and Margaret Mautby, daughter and heir of John Mautby of Mautby, Norfolk. He had a younger brother, also named John (1444–1504), who later succeeded him, as well as three other brothers, Edmund, Walter and William, and two sisters, Margery and Anne.

Although nothing is known of John Paston's education, it is clear from his correspondence, and from the surviving inventory of his books in his own hand, that he had been well educated. He became a courtier in the household of Edward IV in 1461, and was knighted when he reached the age of majority in 1463. In November 1463 he angered his father by leaving home without his parents' consent, perhaps to join the King in the north of England, and in December 1464 a further quarrel with his father resulted in their complete estrangement, with his father terming him 'a drone among bees'; they were not reconciled until May 1465.

Much of his father's time from the mid-1450s had been taken up by his position as adviser to Sir John Fastolf'. In June 1459 Fastolf had made a written will in which he appointed ten executors and charged them with founding a college in Caister. However after Fastolf died on 5 November 1459, Paston's father 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. However his claim to the Fastolf lands was challenged by John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, by William Yelverton and Gilbert Debenham, by John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, and by Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, and in 1464 a legal challenge to Paston's executorship under the nuncupative will was mounted by William Yelverton; the lawsuit was still undecided at the time of his death.

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