HENRY VI.

II.

demanded to be admitted into the council, and CHAP. to be made acquainted with the manner in which the concerns of his kingdom were con-. ducted.

This claim was resisted with firmness

but with respect.82 Yet Henry, though he acquiesced for the present, three years afterwards renewed his demands. To satisfy him, it was resolved, that the pardon of offences, the collation of benefices, and all special graces should be reserved to the king: that he should be made acquainted with all debates of importance respecting his crown and prerogatives: and should decide in all matters, regarding which the council should be so far divided in opinion that the majority did not exceed two thirds of the members. Thus the government remained, till he became of full age.

66

66

"

83

83 The members of the council (the duke of Glocester alone was absent) replied, that, "God, indeed, had endowed the king with as great understanding and feeling as ever they saw or knew in any prince or other person of his age: nevertheless, to quit them truly to God, to the king, and to his people, they dare not take upon them to put him in conceit or opinion that he is yet en"dowed with so great feeling, knowledge, and wisdom, the which “must in great part grow of experience, nor with so great foresight "and discretion to depart and choose in matters of great weight "and difficulty, as is expedient and behoveful to him and his peo'ple. They therefore think it would be perilous and harmful to

66

change the rule and governance that afore this in his tender age "hath been appointed for the good and surety of his noble person, "and of this land: and trust, that if any such motion be again "made to him, before he agree to it, he will take the advice of his "great council, or of his continual council, for the time being: the "which manner of his demeaning, it is trowed and thought, will "be the best that can be advised," Ibid. 438. $3 Rym. 438, 439.

1434.

Nov. 12.

1437.

Nov. 13.'

CHAP. 11.

Disputes between Glocester

and the cardinal.

IV. The reader has already noticed the commencement of the quarrel between the duke of Glocester, and his uncle the bishop of Winchester. Their mutual rivalry converted these near relations into the bitterest enemies, and ingave sensibly an opposite direction to their views of national polity. The duke proclaimed himself the warm and inexorable advocate of war: the bishop contended with equal vehemence for peace; and as the council perpetually oscillated between the influence of the one and of the other, the war was never conducted with vigour, and obstacles were constantly opposed to the conclusion of peace. The bickerings between these two ministers are of themselves beneath the notice of history: but they derive importance from their consequences, which were felt through the greater portion of Henry's reign.

When Beaufort, during the life of the last monarch, visited the council of Bazil, he was named by Martin V. cardinal and apostolic legate in England, Ireland, and Wales, with a promise that his creation and appointment should be afterwards published in the accusDec. 28. tomed manner. 84 The intelligence alarmed the jealousy of archbishop Chichely. Other legates were foreigners, whose stay was too short to create any permanent prejudice to the rights of the metropolitans: but Beaufort would fix his

1437.

HENRY VI.

CHAP.

II.

1419. March 6.

residence in England, and by his superior authority suspend or limit for years that jurisdiction which belonged to the successors of St. Augustine. On this account he wrote a long letter to the king, who, persuaded by his arguments, forbade the bishop of Winchester to accept the dignity which had been offered him.65 Thus the matter rested, till the quarrel arose between that prelate and his nephew of Glocester. It has been already noticed that Beaufort condescended to make him an apology, resigned the chancellorship, and obtained permission to travel but it is probable that by these concessions he purchased the royal licence to accept the preferments to which he had been named in the court of Rome. He was soon afterwards declared cardinal priest of St. Eusebius, was invested with the usual habit at Calais, received the hat at Mechlin, and was appointed captain general of the crusaders destined to oppose the Bohemian March 18. Hussites.26 His absence perhaps encouraged, or his promotion stimulated, the ambition of the

1426. June 26. 1427.

Feb. 2.

85 After alluding to the ambition of Beaufort, he tells the king that, "There never was no legate a latere sent into no land, and 'specially into the realm of England, without great and notable cause. And they when they came, abiden but little while, not over a year, and some a quarter or two months, as the needs re

66

quired and yet over that he was treated with ere he came into "the land, when he should have exercise of his power, and how "much should be put into execution." See the whole letter apud Duck, Vit. Cich, p. 129.

II.

1428. March 3.

CHAP. duke of Glocester, who at the next meeting of parliament required of the lords a declaration Oct. 15. of the powers vested in him as protector. Whether it was on this or some other account, is uncertain: but the parliament was soon afterwards prorogued. When it opened again the duke repeated his demand, adding that he would not take his seat till it was answered, and admonishing the house not to pass any bill in his absence. The reply must have proved most mortifying to his ambition. They reminded him that the act, which gave him the title of protector, invested him with no authority except in the two cases of foreign invasion, and internal revolt; "marvelled from their hearts" that after he had subscribed this act, he should pretend to any additional power; declared that in parliament he was no more than any other peer; and exhorted him to resume his seat, and attend to the business of the nation, as he was bound to do in obedience to the king's writ. The duke reluctantly acquiesced."

Beaufort raises

troops for

the cru

sade.

About six months later the cardinal ventured to return to England: and at his entry into the metropolis was met in solemn procession by the Sept 1. clergy, the mayor, and the citizens. But it soon appeared that though he had been received with honour, his new dignity had made him an object of suspicion. In the presence of the council,

87 Rot. Parl. iv. 326, 327.

. II.

1429.

April 17.

and at the requisition of the king's attorney, he CHAP. was compelled to promise that he would abstain in the execution of his office from every act, which might derogate from the rights of the crown or of the subject: and when the feast of St. George arrived, was forbidden to attend as chancellor of the order of the garter, on the ground that he ought to have vacated that office, together with the bishoprick of Winchester, from the day on which he accepted the dignity of cardinal. Beaufort was content to submit, that he might not by opposition defeat the project, in which he was now engaged. As soon as Cunzo, May 10, the papal envoy, had delivered the letters of Martin V. to the council, the cardinal exhibited the bull appointing him captain general against the Hussites, and solicited the royal licence to publish the crusade, and to raise an army of five hundred lancers, and five thousand archers for the expedition. Both petitions were granted, June 18, but on condition that the troops should be reduced to one half of the number demanded,

"The protest of Gaudray, the king's attorney, is still extant. He maintains that it is the right of the crown, founded on special privilege and prescription, with the knowledge and tolerance of the pontiffs, that no legate should come to England unless at the petition of the king and that as the cardinal had come without being asked for, it was not the intention of the king or council to approve of his entrance in derogation of the laws or rights of the kingdom, or to admit him as legate contrary to law and right, or to consent that he should exercise his legation in opposition to the same. Fox, i. 920.