CHAP. Final his chancellor Arch bishop Bourchier, But before entering on the life of the new Chancellor, we must conclude our account of the two Archbishops, who for the rest of their days confined themselves to the discharge of tory of Ex- their ecclesiastical functions. Bourchier performed the marriage ceremony between Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, by which the red and white roses were united; but his great glory is, that he was one of the chief persons by whose means the art of printing was introduced into England, and that he was a zealous and enlightened patron of reviving learning. He died at his palace of Knowle, near Sevenoaks, on the 30th of March, 1486, and was buried at Canterbury, where his tomb still remains on the north side of the choir, near the high altar. and Rotheram. Character of Lord Chancellor His origin and rise. Rotheram did not take any active part in the struggles which ensued, but he was so strongly suspected by Richard III. that he was detained in prison during the short reign of this usurper. Although set at liberty after the battle of Bosworth, he was looked upon with no favour by Henry VII., who to the last retained his Lancastrian prejudices, and was desirous to depress all the partisans of the House of York. He died at Cawood, in the year 1500, aged 76. He was founder of Lincoln College, Oxford, and showed his affection to the place of his nativity by building a college there, with three schools for grammar, writing, and music. The Protector was wading through slaughter to a throne when he appointed John Russell to the office of Chancellor to the young King, whom he had doomed to destruction. Yet this Prelate, though he did not altogether escape suspicion, appears to have been unstained by the crimes of his patron; and he is celebrated by most of the chroniclers of that period for uncommon learning, piety, and wisdom. He was probably selected by Richard as a man who, from his mild disposition, would not be dangerous to him, and whose character might bring some credit to his cause. I do not find any distinct account of this John Russell's parentage. He was most likely of the Bedford family, who, having held a respectable but not brilliant position in the West of England since the Conquest, were now rising into eminence.* He was born in the parish of St. Peter, in the He CHAP. XXIV. duct on the III. We are not informed how the new Chancellor employed His conhimself in the short interval during which the government usurpation was allowed to be carried on in the name of Edward V.; but of Richard as he is not mentioned in connection with the scenes of open violence which ensued, and no serious charge of treachery was urged against him when the Lancastrians triumphed, we are bound to believe that the usurpation was planned and effected without his privity, though, like most others in the kingdom, he was not unwilling to recognise the usurper. We must remember that the revolution proceeded on the ground that Richard was the right heir;-that the two young Princes, though set aside, still survived when he gave in his adhesion; and that there is great reason to think that Edward actually walked at the coronation of his cruel uncle. § * John Russell, a lineal ancestor of the present Duke, was Speaker of the House of Commons in the second parliament of Hen. VI., which met in 1432. Wiffen, in his " History of the House of Russell," does not mention the Chancellor, perhaps from a shyness to acknowledge him on account of his connection with Richard III., and the suspicion under which he unjustly laboured of having betrayed two sovereigns to whom he had sworn allegiance. † Wood, Hist. et Ant. Oxon. 413. Ibid. 413, 414. § So far Horace Walpole, I think, succeeds, although he fails egregiously in making Richard both handsome and virtuous. CHAP. June 28. 1483. Russell reappoint ed Chan cellor by Richard III. Letter of Richard to the Chancellor. Two days after the ridiculous farce acted at Guildhall, under the management of Buckingham, which Shakspeare has made so familiar to us, John Russell had the Great Seal again delivered to him, as Chancellor to Richard III., and he swore allegiance to the new King. This ceremony took place at Baynard's Castle, in Thames Street, the residence of the Duchess of York, where the usurper first kept his Court. The record tells us, "that the Chancellor having there received the Great Seal from the King, carried it to his inn called the Old Temple, in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, and that on the 20th of June following he sat here, assisted by Morton the Master of the Rolls, and three Masters in Chancery. We have no further account of the exercise of his judicial functions. Richard was soon obliged to take the field that he might put down the insurrection of the Duke of Buckingham. The Chancellor was then confined to his bed in London by a severe fit of sickness. When Richard reached Lincoln at the head of his army, he sent to the Chancellor the following letter, the original of which is still preserved in the Tower: "By the King, 66 Right Reverend Fadre in God, and right trusty and well-beloved, We grete you well, and in our hertiest wyse thank you for the manyfold Presentes that your servantes in your behalve have presented unto us at this oure being here: which we assure you we toke and accepted with good herte: and so we have cause. And whereas we, by Goddes grace, intend briefly to avaunce us towards our rebel and traitor, the Duc of Buckingham, to resist and withstand his malicious purpose, as lately by oure other letters We certifyed you oure mynde more at large: For which cause it behoveth us to have our Grete Sele here, We being enfourmed that for such infirmities and diseases as ye susteyne ne may in your person to your ease conveniently come unto us with the same: Wherefore we wil, and natheless charge you that forthwith upon the sight of thies, ye saufly do the same oure Grete Sele to be sent unto us; and such of the office of our Chauncery as by your *Rot. Cl. 1 Ric. 3. n. 100. wisedome shall be thought necessary, receiving these oure letters for youre sufficient discharge in that behalve. Yeven undre oure signet at oure cite of Lincolne the xii day of Octobre." CHAP. XXIV. The letter, so far, is in the handwriting of a secretary. Postscript, Then follows this most curious postscript in the handwriting of Richard himself:-" We wolde most gladly ye came your selff, yf that you may, and yf ye may not, we pray you not to fayle, but to acomplyshe in al dillygence our sayde commaundemente, to send oure Seale incontinent upon the syght hereof as we truste you with such as ye truste and the officers parteyning to attende with hyt; praying you to ascerteyn us of your News ther. Here, loved be God, is al wel and trewly determyned, and for to resiste the malyse of him that had best cause to be trew, the Duc of Bokyngam, the most untrew creature lyvynge. Whom, with God's grace, we shall not be long til that we wyll be in that parties and subdew his malys. Wee assure you there was never falsre traitor purvayde for, as this Berrerr Gloucestre shall shew you."* The Great Seal was accordingly sent to the King, who retained it in his own custody till the 26th of November, when having returned in triumph to London, he restored it to Lord Chancellor Russell. † There had as yet been no parliament since the death of A parliaEdward IV., but one was now summoned by writs under the ment. Great Seal. The two Houses met in January, 1484, and the King being seated on the throne, the Lord Chancellor addressed them, and as soon as a Speaker was chosen, proposed a bill, whereby it was "declared, pronounced, decreed, confirmed, and established, that our Lord Richard III. is the true and undoubted King of this realm, as well by right of consanguinity and heritage, as by lawful election and coronation." The issue of Edward IV. being bastardised, and the Earl of Richmond and all the Lancastrian leaders attainted, the parliament, at the suggestion of the government, set to work * See Kennet, i. 532. n. † Rot. Cl. 1 Ric. 3. n. 101. in good earnest to reform the law and to improve the institutions of the country. This policy, prompted by the King's consciousness of his bad title to the crown and his desire to obtain popularity, was warmly promoted by the Chancellor. From the destruction and obliteration of records which followed upon the change of dynasty, we have very imperfect details of the proceedings of this parliament; but looking to the result of its deliberations as exhibited in the Statute Book, we have no difficulty in pronouncing it the most meritorious national council for protecting the liberty of the subject and putting down abuses in the administration of justice, which had sat since the time of Edward I. I will fondly believe, though I can produce no direct evidence to prove the fact, that to "JOHN RUSSELL" the nation was indebted for the Act entitled-"The Subjects of this Realm not to be charged with Benevolence," the object of which was to put down the practice introduced in some late reigns of levying taxes under the name of " benevolence," without the authority of parliament. The language employed would not be unworthy of that great statesman bearing the same name, who in our own time framed and introduced Bills "to abolish the Test Act," and "to reform the representation of the people in parliament: " "Remembering how the Commons, by new and unlawful innovations against the laws of this realm, have been put to great thraldom and exactions, and in especial by a new imposition called Benevolence, be it ordained that the Commonalty of this realm from henceforth in no wise be charged therewith, and that such exactions aforetime taken shall be for no example to make the like hereafter, but shall be damned and annulled for ever."* When the session of parliament was over, the Chancellor was employed to negotiate a peace with Scotland. At Nottingham he met commissioners from the Scottish King, and it was agreed that, to consolidate the amity between the two countries, Anne de la Pole, the niece of King Richard and sister of the Earl of Lincoln, declared to be heir presumptive Stat. 1 Ric. 3. c. 2. |