XX. father; but pronounced judgment, that in respect of the CHAP. incivilities that had passed between them, he should, in a submissive manner, ask pardon of the Duke of Gloucester; that the Duke of Gloucester should freely forgive him; and, in token of a thorough reconciliation, each should take the other by the hand, so that they should be firm friends for the future." They accordingly shook hands, and parted with all outward signs of perfect love and concord, "which yielded a mighty satisfaction to all people, both of the clergy and laity;" and, by the advice of the council, a magnificent feast was given, in the name of the King, in honour of this supposed reconciliation. Beaufort It is not stated by historians that it was part of this Cardinal arrangement that Beaufort should give up his office of Chan- resigns cellor, the better to preserve the equilibrium between him Great Seal. and his rival; but it may be fairly presumed that he would not have voluntarily parted with such a source of power and of profit. However this may be, we find him immediately after petitioning parliament to be discharged of the Great Seal, which, by common consent, was granted.* He delivered it to the Duke of Bedford,-who himself sealed some letters patent with it in the presence of the King's council, but soon went through the form of putting it into the hands of the infant King,—and, on the 18th of March, it was given, A. D. 1426. in full parliament, to JOHN KEMPE, Bishop of London, as Lord Chancellor. † sequent Beaufort never resumed the Great Seal, and we can only His subgive a slight sketch of his subsequent history. On his re- history. signation he went abroad, and was declared Cardinal priest of St. Eusebius. Then he was first regularly raised to the purple; although we have occasionally called him Cardinal, the title by which he is best known. At the same time. he was appointed by the Pope Captain-General of the Crusaders, destined to oppose the Hussites, in Bohemia. On his return to England, he obtained leave to raise an army of "The Bishop of Winton for sundry causes prayed to be discharged from the office of the Great Seal, and he was consequently discharged." — Rot. Par. 4 Hen. 6. Rot. Cl. 4 Hen. 6. m. 8. † Rot. Cl. 4 Hen. 6. m. 8, CHAP. Sits on trial Orleans. 500 lancers and 5000 archers for the expedition; but for a bribe of 1000 marks, he consented that the men whom he had raised for the crusade should be led against the King's enemies in France. He was constantly on the watch for an opportunity to regain his political influence, and in 1429, he succeeded in humbling Gloucester, by having the young King crowned, and inducing the parliament to declare on the occasion that the office of Protector was at an end. Gloucester was thus reduced to his rank as a peer, and the Cardinal from this time to his death bore chief sway. In 1431, he again went abroad, and at Rouen he assisted of Maid of at the trial of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, and joined in the sentence that she should be burnt alive for heresy and witchcraft. He was the only Englishman who was concerned in this atrocity, and our neighbours the French, when they so eagerly impute it to us as a national disgrace, should remember that the Bishop of Beauvais and all her other judges were Frenchmen; and that she was brought to trial under an arrêt of the parliament of Paris. Fresh quarrel with Duke of Glouces ter. The Duke of Gloucester, though no longer Protector, was still formidable, and from time to time seemed on the point of recovering his authority. He accused the Cardinal of having incurred the penalties of a præmunire, by accepting papal bulls, of having amassed immense wealth by dishonest means, — of having usurped the functions of sovereignty by appointing embassies and releasing prisoners of his own authority, and of estranging all but his own creatures from the person of the young King. The Cardinal caused an accusation to be brought against the Duke's wife, to whom he was much attached, that she was guilty of witchcraft, by melting, in a magical manner, before a slow fire, a waxen figure of the King, with the intention of making the King's force and vigour waste away by like insensible degrees. The Duchess was condemned to do public penance, and to suffer perpetual imprisonment. But this proceeding was ascribed solely to the malice of the Duke's enemies, and the people encreased their esteem and affection towards a Prince who was thus exposed without protection to such mortal injuries. The CHAP. XX. manifestation of these sentiments made the Cardinal sensible that it was necessary to destroy a man whose popularity might soon become dangerous, and from whose resentment every Feb. 1447. thing was to be apprehended, if he should ever be in a situa- Murder of tion to gratify it. To effect this purpose, a parliament was called to assemble, --not at London, which was supposed to be too well affected to the Duke, but at Bury St. Edmund's, where it was supposed he would be helpless. As soon as he appeared, he was thrown into prison on a charge of treason. He was soon after found dead in his bed; and though it was pretended that his death was natural, no one doubted that he had fallen a victim to the vengeance of his arch enemy. The Cardinal himself died six weeks after the murder of his nephew, which, it is said, gave him more remorse in his last moments than could naturally have been expected to be felt by a man hardened, during the course of a long life of violence, in falsehood and in religious hypocrisy. His death-bed is described in harrowing terms by our great dramatic bard :--- "Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on Heaven's bliss, And the agony of his despair is, if possible, made more dreadful by the lofty conception and successful execution of the scene in the masterpiece of Reynolds. Duke of April, 1447. Death of Cardinal Beaufort. But volumes have been written to prove that his life was His chainnocent and his end pious, by arguments which may carry conviction to the mind of those who believe that Richard III. was a remarkably straight and handsome man, with a very tender heart. The Cardinal's enormous wealth was applied, according to his will, in founding oratories for priests to pray for his soul, and these may account for the attempts which have been made to vindicate his memory.* Cardinal Beaufort is not only a favourite with ignorant chroniclers, but with the enlightened Dr. Lingard, who says that we owe to the imagination of Shakspeare the fiction of his dying agonies. But it is well known that Shakspeare, in his historical plays, most strictly followed history or tradition, and embodied the belief of his time. Dr. Lingard himself quotes a passage from Hall, stating "that the Cardinal lamented on his death-bed that money could not purchase life, and that death should cut him off when he hoped, now his racter. CHAP. XX. nephew Gloucester was gone, to procure the purple tiara," which the historian tries to discredit, merely on the ground of improbability, because the Cardinal was so old and infirm, and had his funeral rehearsed while he was yet alive. Dr. Lingard even denies his avarice, because he did not receive interest on his loans to the crown, and only looked to be benefited by the forfeiture of the pledges which he took by way of security, and being paid back in gold coin the sums he seems to have advanced in silver. He thus demanded "that paement be maad in golde of the coigne of England of just weighte, elles I not to be bounde to delyver ayene the seide weddes (pledges), though the seide paiement were offered to be maad in silver." A usurer stipulating for ten per cent. interest would not show a more intense love of money. - Acts of Coun. iv. 234. 248. Ling. v. 124. CHAPTER XXI. CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. FROM THE CHAP. March 16. Obscure origin of Chancellor We have had a succession of Chancellors of high birth, some of them nearly allied to the Crown. Cardinal Beaufort's successor was one of that other class who have won their way in this country to high distinction from an obscure origin. He 1426. was born in Kent, of parents in a very low condition of life, and educated as a poor scholar at Merton College, in Oxford. Here, amidst all the evils of penury, he applied himself with ardour to study, and made particular proficiency in the civil and canon law. In due time he took the degree of Doctor in both faculties, after disputations which attracted the notice of the whole university, and were talked of all over England, After practising for some time as an advocate in the eccle- His rise. siastical courts,-on account of his high reputation as a jurist he was made Dean of the Arches and vicar-general to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Rising rapidly in the church, he was consecrated Bishop of Rochester; from whence he was translated to Chichester, and thence to London, the see he filled when he was appointed Lord Chancellor; finally, he was promoted to the Archbishopric of York, and a cardinal's hat was bestowed upon him. duct as Chancellor, Soon after his high civil appointment, he was called upon to His contake a decisive part in checking the arrogance of the Duke of Gloucester, who having for a time got rid of Cardinal Beaufort, avowed his purpose to rule in an arbitrary manner, although the Duke of Bedford had not yet returned to France, exclaiming, "Let my brother govern as him lusteth, whiles he is in this land; after his going over into France, I woll govern as me seemeth good." The Chancellor and the other members of the council made a representation on the subject to the Duke of Bedford, and both brothers being |