Our friend at Rougham may have been, and probably was, some kinsman
of the archdeacon, and it is just possible that Archdeacon Middleton,
who, you remember, bought the Lyng House, may have had, as his
predecessor in it, another archdeacon, this John de Ferentino, whose
nephew or brother, James, married Miss Isabella de Rucham, and
settled down among his wife's kindred. Be that as it may, John de
Ferentino had two sons, Peter and Richard, and it appears that their
father, not content with such education as Oxford or Cambridge could
afford--though at this time Oxford was one of the most renowned
universities in Europe--sent his sons to Rome, having an eye to their
future advancement; for in King Henry's days a young man that had
friends at Rome was much more likely to get on in the world than he
who had only friends in the King's Court, and he who wished to push
his interests in the Church must look to the Pope, and not to the
King of England, as his main support.
When young Peter came back to Rougham, I dare say he brought back
with him some new airs and graces from Italy, and I dare say the new
fashions made his neighbours open their eyes. They gave the young
fellow the name he is known by in the charters, and to the day of his
death people called him Peter Romayn, or Peter the Roman. But Peter
came back a changed man in more ways than one.
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