BEAUFORT, Henry, bishop of Lincoln, afterwards of Winchester, and contemporaneously cardinal of St. Eusebius, was born about the year 1367, having died in 1447, at the age of eighty. He was the second son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by his mistress, Catherine Swinford, whom he afterwards married, and whose issue was declared legitimate by parliament, 20th Ric. II., with the condition that they should not succeed to the crown. Beaufort studied at Oxford, Cambridge, and Aix la Chapelle, rose rapidly in the church, and at an early age, in 1397, became bishop of Lincoln, and was intrusted by his half-brother, Henry IV., with the great seal. In 1379 he succeeded William of Wyckham in the see of Winchester, to which he avariciously clung throughout the remainder of his life. The first occasion on which he figured in his officio-political character, was when he made a demand for supplies; which was met by the bold suggestion of the commons to seize upon the revenues of the clergy, then reputed to constitute a third part of the riches of the realm. This suggestion was opposed by Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, who moved the king and the lords so powerfully as to produce a strong demonstration in favour of the church, whereupon the archbishop defied the commons with great vehemence; but, notwithstanding this, they passed a bill, which was thrown out by the lords. This unconstitutional proceeding of the commons has been attributed to the absence of lawyers in the commons' house at that time; Beaufort having, in issuing the writs, totally excluded that fraternity, on the authority of an ordinance of the lords in the reign of Edward VI., but to which the commons had never assented, and which, therefore, had till then been disregarded. To this the parliament of Henry IV. owed its significant name of "the lack-learning parliament." In 1405 Beaufort, having forfeited his brother's favour, was deprived of office; but on the accession of Henry V., the great seal was again conferred on him; this being almost the only change which the young king made in his father's ministry. Henry having adjusted his affairs at home, laid claim to the crown of France, and proceeded thither, to enforce his pretensions by the sword. During the king's absence, the ambitious chancellor used every exertion to extend his own authority, regardless of all remonstrance and the energetic opposition of the commons. When Henry returned, flushed with his glorious successes at Agincourt, Beaufort sought to divert the commons from their domestic grievances by inciting the people to the entire conquest of France. They nevertheless ceased not to urge their complaints against the encroachments of the chancellor, who, however, temporized with them, relying on the sovereign's favour. The war-cry so eagerly fomented by the chancellor involved him in a dilemma. The king, distressed for money to carry on this war, made large demands on the country—subsidies were more easily voted than collected. Considerable sums were raised on the security of the dukes of Clarence, Bedford, and Gloucester; but all proving inadequate, the king cast a longing eye upon the treasures of the avaricious chancellor, and pressed him for aid; but despite his inordinate love of power, jeopardized as it was by resistance, he stoutly refused to lend on the security with which others were fain to be content, until at length the king in despair proffered to pledge the crown itself to Beaufort; upon which he advanced a sufficient sum for the prosecution of the war, and took possession of the royal diadem.
With the exception of about six weeks in 1416, whilst absent with the king in France, he retained the great seal until 23rd July, 1417, when, having disgusted Henry by his avarice, he was compelled to surrender it, and never regained it during that reign. He visited the council of Basil, and got himself named cardinal and apostolic legate in England and Ireland, by Pope Martin V., but the king forbade his acceptance of these dignities. On the demise of Henry V., the crown descended to his son, Henry VI., then only nine months old, and whose uncle, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, as regent, assumed the government. Parliament set at nought the king's will, and nominated the duke of Bedford protector, appointing Gloucester his brother's locum tenens in his absence. The struggle for pre-eminence between Gloucester and Beaufort now commenced; the latter having obtained letters patent for securing out of the customs revenue the 20,000 marks he had lent to the late king, regained the chancellorship on the 24th July, 1324. In that capacity he opened a new parliament; and, to throw the protector into the shade, he produced the royal infant, who, seated in his mother's lap, occupied the throne. The strife between the rival parties grew serious; civil war became imminent; Bedford was in France, having been appointed regent of that country, and Gloucester assumed the exercise of the royal prerogative; whilst Beaufort asserted his supremacy as the pope's legate and the king's lord-keeper of the privy seal. Having obtained possession of the tower, Beaufort strengthened the garrison, whilst the citizens of London closed the gates of the city against the chancellor, whose retainers then assaulted the city gate at London bridge. A tumult ensued, in which bloodshed was with difficulty averted by the archbishop of Canterbury and the prince of Portugal, who succeeded in procuring a cessation of hostilities pending the arrival of the duke of Bedford, who, in answer to their request, returned from France; but, failing to effect a reconciliation, he convened the nobility at St. Alban's to discuss the matters in difference. The spirit of faction, however, defied all attempts at adjustment; the conclave adjourned to Northampton, where the discussion was resumed with no better success, and it was resolved to appeal to a full parliament, which met at Leicester on the 18th February, 1420. To avoid the disastrous consequences of a collision between the partisans of the protector and the chancellor, the members were interdicted from bringing their swords. This prohibition was obeyed to the letter; but the adherents of the two great rivals armed themselves with bats or bludgeons, in lieu of steel, and hence arose the name of "the parliament of bats." These weapons, when observed, were also forbidden; whereupon they concealed stones and plummets of lead in their sleeves and bosoms. When seated in the great hall of Leicester castle, the young king, then only five years of age, was placed upon the throne, and the chancellor declared the cause of the summons with tolerable moderation; but, when the speaker was chosen, the protector impeached the chancellor, charging him with treasonable practices towards the king, and with compassing the death of the protector, laying wait for him with armed men at London bridge, and in the chambers and cellars of Southwark, to kill him if he passed that way. The chancellor admitted having procured armed men and placed them as alleged, not for the assassination of Gloucester, but for his own safety, having been informed that the duke had designed to do him bodily harm. Much recrimination ensued, but parliament strongly deprecated these discussions between the two great rivals, and the matter was referred to a select committee of peers and bishops, both parties consenting to abide their award. The duke of Bedford presided, and afterwards reported in open parliament Beaufort's innocence of the charge of having sought to procure the murder of the late king when prince, and of counselling the heir-apparent to depose his father, Henry IV.; but adjudged that in respect of the incivilities which had passed between Beaufort and his rival, he should ask pardon of the duke of Gloucester, that the latter should freely forgive the chancellor, and that they should be firm friends in future. They conformed to these injunctions, exhibiting, at least externally, every demonstration of love and concord, to the great joy of the people. The event was celebrated by a magnificent feast, given in the name of the king. Beaufort, however, regarded this award as a galling reproof, and in dudgeon resigned the great seal, and obtained leave to accompany the duke of Bedford to France. On his arrival at Calais he was greeted with the intelligence that the pope had conferred upon him the dignity of c ardinal, and appointed him legate à latere, to direct, as captain-general of the English forces, a crusade against the Hussites in Bohemia. For this purpose, on his return to England, he obtained leave to raise an army of 5500 lancers and archers; but his zeal in the cause of the church succumbed to his cupidity, and for a bribe of 1000 marks he consented to divert his newly-raised levies from the service of the cross to that of the crown, and they were employed against the king's enemies in France.
The recovery of his own influence, and the destruction of Gloucester's power, were his constant aim. In 1429 he brought about the coronation of the young king, and induced parliament to abolish the office of protector, thus depriving the duke of his high position as head of the regency, and reducing him to his own rank as a peer. Thenceforth he maintained his ascendency to the day of his death, notwithstanding the restless opposition of Gloucester and the antagonistic spirit of the people, then growing daily more hostile to ecclesiastical domination. In 1431 it was mooted by the peers, that as it was inimical to the laws of the country that two offices so incompatible with each other as those of cardinal and bishop of an English see should
