John Paston (died 1466)

After he succeeded his father in 1444, his life was marked by conflict occasioned by a power struggle in East Anglia between the dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, and by his involvement in the affairs of his wife's kinsman, Sir John Fastolf.

[1][10] Although Paston inherited a substantial estate, in the latter 1440s the family suffered 'a series of reverses', including the loss of the manor of East Beckham in 1445 .

On the one hand, it has been argued that through his influence with Henry VI, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, became the dominant magnate in East Anglia, ousting John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, from his rightful position, and the Paston reverses have been held to 'demonstrate the extent to which gentry society in East Anglia suffered from the depredations of [Suffolk's] followers', two of whom, Sir Thomas Tuddenham and John Heydon of Baconsthorpe, are considered to have, with their armed posses, harassed local gentry, including the Pastons and their servants and tenants.

Paston attempted to recover the manor through both negotiation and legal action, and when these proved fruitless, sent his wife, Margaret, to reside in a house in the town in October 1448.

In the following January Hungerford's servants assaulted and damaged the house, forcing Margaret Paston to leave.

[12] 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] 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'.

[12] 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'.