On account of the bad state of the roads and the lack of the modern convenience of quick transmittal of information, the turmoils and upheavals of the cities left the manors unaffected by more than a ripple of their excitement. The manor had its own social and administrative system, which provided for the performance of duties by the various elements of the manorial establishment. In times of wide social disorder, the manor, by reason of its isolation, was often subject to attack; then the courage and fortitude of its female occupants were called forth to the uttermost. Women whose names might otherwise have passed into obscurity have been enrolled among England's heroines by reason of just such circumstances; one such, whose fame carries us back to the Wars of the Roses, was Lady Joan Pelham, wife of Sir John Pelham, Constable of Pevensey Castle. While Sir John was in Yorkshire with the Lancastrian Duke Henry, fighting against Richard II., Pevensey Castle was fiercely attacked by Yorkist forces. The continuance of the siege brought on a scarcity of provisions; in this strait, Lady Joan addressed a letter to her husband, which, besides displaying the courage of a noble English lady, has the additional interest of being the earliest letter extant written by an English woman of quality. It reads as follows: "MY DERE LORDE: "I recommande me to yowr his Lordeshippe wyth heart and body and all my pore myght, and wyth all this I think zou, as my dere Lorde, derest and best yloved of all earth lyche Lordes; I say for me and thanke yhow me der Lorde, with all thys that I say before, off your comfortable lettre, that ze send me from Pownefraite that com to me on Mary Magdaleyn day; ffor by my trowth I was never so gladd as when I herd by your lettre that ye was stronge ynogh wyth the grace off God for to kepe you fro the malyce of your ennemys. And dere Lorde iff it lyk to your hyee Lordeshippe that als ye myght, that smythe her off your gracious spede whych God Allmyghty contynue and encresse. And my dere Lorde, if is lyk zow for to know of my ffare, I am here by layd in a manner off a sege, wyth the counte of Sussex, Sudray, and a green parsyll off Kentte; so that I ne may nogth out, nor none vitayles gette me, hot wyth my die hard. Wharfore my dere if it lyk zow, by the awyse off zowr wyse counsel for to sett remadye off the salvation off yhower castells wt. stand the malyce off ther sehures foresayde. And also that ye be fullyehe enformede off there grett malyce wyker's in these schyres whyche yt haffes so dispytfful wrogth to zow, and to zowl contell, to zhowr men, and zuor tenaunts ffore this cuntree, have yai wastede for grett whyle. Farewell my dere Lorde, the Holy Tryn zow kepe fro zour ennemys and son send me gud tythyng off yhow. Ywryten at Pevensey in the castell, on Saynt Jacobe day last past. "By yhowr awnn pore, "J. PELHAM. "To my trew Lorde."