brought to trial. Sir William Gascoigne, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who had courage to commit the Prince of Wales to prison for a contempt, was afraid to try an archbishop. Thereupon, a commission passed the Great Seal for his trial before another judge, Sir William Falthorpe, and he was convicted and executed, to the great horror of all churchmen and many of the laity, although clerical exemptions and privileges were now regarded with much less respect than at any prior b æra. The Chancellors at this time successfully resisted an attempt by the Commons to participate in the appellate jurisdiction of parliament, and obliged them to be contented with a resolution that their consent was necessary to all legislative acts.© CHAPTER XIX. CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY V. We now come to a reign for military exploits, one of the most brilliant in our annals, but by no means distin- March 21, guished for juridical improvement, although during 1413. the course of it the office of Chancellor was filled by very eminent men. Henry V. being proclaimed King, to the great joy of the people,-the first act of his reign was to take the Great Seal from Archbishop Arundel, and deliver it to his uncle, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, the Cardinal, who now entered on his second Chancellorship. The young King was b As civilization advanced, it was desirable that the power and exclusive privileges of the clergy should be curtailed; but their ascendency during the darker ages had been highly beneficial to the community. Not only were they the sole depositaries of learning, but they were often the protectors of the people against the tyranny of the King and the nobles. The enlightened reformers at Runnymede therefore made it the first article of Magna Charta, "quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit, et habeat omnia jura sua integra, et libertates suas illesas." See Hale's Jurisd. House of Lords. There is curious entry in the Parliament Roll, showing the hours when the two Houses now met for the despatch of business. At the parliament which assembled in 1406, after the choice of the Speaker had been confirmed "Et sur ceo le Chanceller d'Engleterre dona en charge de par le Roi as ditz Communes, q. pur l'esploit du dit parlement ils soient assemblez en lour maison accoustemez deinz l'Abbeie de Westm' chescun jour durant le parlement a sept del clocke; et semblable charge il dona as seignrs. du parlement, qu'ils de lour partie pur mesme l'esploit se assemblent en lour lieu accustume a noef del clocke."-Roll. Par. ifi. 568. d not actuated by any desire to change his father's ministers Contrary to the expectations of his dissolute companions, and of the nation generally, his plan was to continue in their offices all who had faithfully served the Crown. Perhaps he was induced to make an exception in the case of the Archbishop, on account of the active part which this Prelate had taken in the dethronement of Richard II. Young Henry expressed the deepest sorrow for the fate of that unhappy Prince, did justice to his good qualities, performed his funeral obsequies with pomp and solemnity, and cherished all those who had distinguished themselves by their loyalty and attachment_to him. The Archbishop, while in exile, and on his return to England, had devised and prosecuted the plans which led Richard to his grave, and he might now be an object of personal dislike to the new King, who did not go so far as to resign his Crown to the true heir, but affected much to favour the doctrine of legitimacy. We must now take final leave of Ex-Chancellor Arundel. Relieved from official duties, he occupied himself in carrying on a violent prosecution against the Lollards, whom the King was rather disposed to screen, and he presided on the trial and condemnation of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, their leader, who had incurred the peculiar hatred of the clergy by actively supporting the proposal to encroach on the revenues of the church. This intriguing Prelate and Chancellor does not fill so great a space in the eye of history as might have been expected from the important part he acted in the revolutions of his age; but such was his reputation for ability with his contemporaries, that when impeached for high treason in 1397, the Commons having finished their case,as he began to answer for himself, Sir John Busby, the Speaker, entreated the King that this might not be allowed him, "lest he might, by his subtlety and great wit, bring persons over to believe him innocent,' -so that he was forced to remain silent.R Of his judicial character no author makes mention. He died in January, 1413. Cardinal Beaufort, two days after his appointment, sealed writs for a new parliament to meet at Easter; and when the time came, opened the session with a speech from the text, "Ante omne actum consilium stabilire.' The Commons made an at the stern order was given : d We might have expected to see the Great Seal now delivered to Sir John Falstaff, that he might play the part of "Chancellor," as he had done that of "King;" but instead of this, "Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet: A.D. 1414. tempt to reform the Ecclesiastical Courts and other abuses, but exhausted themselves in attacks on the Lollards. These were renewed in a parliament which met the following year, when laws were passed, at the suggestion of the Chancellor and other Prelates, against reading Wickliffe's translation of the Bible, and against other such enormities. But the Church was alarmed by the Commons again urgently pressing that the revenues of the clergy should be applied to the purposes of the State, and passing a bill which, says Hall, "made the fat abbots to sweat, the proud priors to frown, the poor monks to curse, the silly nuns to weep, and indeed all to fear that Babel would fall down." It is said by some historians, that it was to divert this storm fran the church, that Chicheley, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, strongly advised the King to claim the crown of France, and to lead an army across the seas in support of his pretended right. Certainly there is extant a long and very extraordinary speech of his, addressed to the King in the House of Lords, making out the title of Edward III., notwithstanding the Salic law, and insisting that whatever title that Sovereign had was now vested in his present Majesty. He thus concluded: "Consider the just title you have to this crown, devolved on you by Queen Isabella your great-grandmother, sister and heir to three successive kings of France, who died without children, and take up noble arms to assist so just a cause. Advance your standard into France, and with assured hopes of victory march to conquer those dominions which are your own by inheritance. There is no true Englishman but is ready to devote his life and fortune to so glorious a service of his King. And in full persuasion of the justness of the war, we, the clergy, have given such a sum of money to maintain it as was never granted to any of your predecessors, and will join all our prayers for the success of your arms." His Grace found it convenient to forget not only the objections to the claim of Edward III., but the awkward fact, that supposing this monarch to have been entitled to the crown of France, if the succession to it was not regulated by the Salic law, the true heir was the Earl of March, descended from his second son the Duke of Clarence, and not Henry V., descended from his third son, the Duke of Lancaster; and if the parliament of England could change the descent of the English crown, transferring it to a younger g 1 Parl. Hist. 324. branch of the royal family, it could have no such power over the crown of another country, which could not be considered, like the Isle of Man, as appurtenant to the crown of England." But the Primate was warmly supported by the Ex-Chancellor Thomas Beaufort, then Earl of Dorset, afterwards Duke of Exeter, and his arguments prevailed with the King and the royal brothers, who, being young and thirsting for glory, were impatient to signalise their courage against the old enemies of their native land. The same gallant spirit diffusing itself through the minds of the other nobles, they all declarel for a war with France. The Ecclesiastical Revenues Bill was allowed to drop, and as soon as a supply was voted, the parliament was prorogued. The successive ecclesiastical Chancellors who presided in the House of Lords from this time till the quarrel with Rome in the reign of Henry VIII. contrived to prevent the subject being again brought forward in parliament. A.D. 1415. But the clamours against the abuses of the Court of Chancery could not be silenced. Cardinal Beaufort was now extending its jurisdiction in a manner that greatly alarmed the common lawyers, and caused the most lively remonstrances from the House of Commons. As soon as the King returned to England, after his glorious campaign, commenced by the capture of Harfleur, and crowned by the battle of Agincourt, —a parliament was called, and the Chancellor, in his speech with which the session was opened, tried to divert attention from all domestic grievances by a glowing description of the martial glory the nation had won. He strongly urged them to be content with nothing less than the conquest of France, endeavouring to demonstrate "that a thing well begun, and continued with diligence, must have a prosperous event, according to the saying, Dimidium facti qui bene cœpit habet.” i There were, of course, warm congratulations on account of the splendid success of the royal arms; but the first real business was a petition from the Commons to the King (the usual mode of legislating in that age) against the recent encroachment of Courts of Equity, praying that no causes should be drawn thither which might be determined in the Courts of common law. The petition is curious, as containing h After the Revolution of 1688, William III. and our constitutional kings of the House of Hanover called themselves kings of France, and bore the lilies in their shield till the year 1801-but to make out their title would have required the eloquence of the Archbishop. i 1 Parl. Hist. 331. a full exposition of the opinion of the great body of the nation upon the subject of equitable jurisdiction.* The royal veto was put upon the measure, the response being, "Le Roy s'avisera.' The chief grievance now complained of was afterwards remedied in practice, by the plaintiff being obliged to put upon the file of the Court a bill specifying his cause of suit before the subpœna issued. In the following year, the Commons renewed the complaint against arbitrary proceedings contrary to the course A.D. 1416. of the common law, although the Chancellor had tried to tranquillise them by an opening speech from the text, "Operam detis ut quieti sitis." There had, as we have seen, been an early practice of presenting petitions to parliament complaining of private grievances. After the separation of the two Houses, these were reserved for the consideration of the Lords, and were first submitted to the triers of petitions, who were appointed at the commencement of every session. Such of them as disclosed matters only fit for the ordinary tribunals of the country, were in regular manner referred to those tribunals, and some were not improperly allotted to the Chancellor, or the Privy Council. But this course was resorted to chiefly by suitors who knew they had no chance of success in the Courts of common law; and, as an expedient for securing themselves a hearing before those by whom the rules k" Also the Commons pray, that inasmuch as many persons of your kingdom feel themselves greatly aggrieved in this, that your writs, called writs of subpoena and certiorari, are made and sued out of your Chancery and Exchequer for matters determinable by your common law, which never were granted or used before the time of the late King Rich. ard; when John Waltham, heretofore Bishop of Salisbury, of his craft, invented, made, and commenced such innovations against the form of the common law of your realm, &c.: And whereas, by reason that your justices of either Bench, when they ought to attend in their places, to enter pleas and to take inquests for the deliverance of your people, are occupied upon examinations upon such writs, to the great vexation, loss, and costs of your liege subjects, who are long time delayed in the sealing of their writs, sued in your Chancery, by reason of the great occupation upon the said examinations, which things are not profitable to you, most Sovereign Lord, not n 1 Parl. Hist. 333. Rot. Parl. 3 Hen. 5, part ii. vol. iv. p. 84. |