CHAP. during the next ten years to bestow the first va I. 1421. cant benefice in his presentation, and after that every second or some member of either university, graduated in one of the three faculties of divinity, law, or physic. It was hoped that this expedient would silence their complaints; though on account of objections raised by the universities themselves, four years elapsed before it was put in execution.103 The truth is, that the persons who chiefly suffered from the practice of provisions, and who chiefly profited by the statutes against them, were the higher orders of the clergy. These, as their right of presentation was invaded by the exercise of the papal claim, had originally provoked the complaints, which the reader has so frequently noticed; and now were ready to submit to a minor sacrifice, rather than allow the repeal of the statutes, which secured to them the influence of patronage, and shielded them from the interference of the pontiffs.104 103 Wilk. Conc. iii. 381. 401. 104 I profit of this open space to notice a singular assertion of Hume at the close of his nineteenth chapter: that "the first commission “of array which we meet with, was issued by Henry V. in 1415 : "when the feudal militia gave place to one which was still less orderly "and regular." The fact is, that such commissions were usual in every reign since Henry II. See vol. ii. p. 438, and vol. iv. p. 184. Martin V....... .1431. Pius II. PARIS-DE GOVERNMENT DURING THE MINORITY-DUKE OF BEDFORD REGENT OF THE French throne was preserved from ruin by the premature death of Henry V. The task of CHAP. II. II. CHAP. maintaining the ascendency which he had gained, devolved on an infant successor, and a divided ministry while the dauphin, in the vigour of youth, and seconded by the wishes of the people, called the different factions under his banner, and directed their combined efforts against the invaders of their country. We shall see that prince recover in the course of a few years the crown of his ancestors; expel the English from their conquests; and seal a long series of success with the subjugation of Gascony, the last fragment of the ancient patrimony belonging to the English monarchs in France. 'Settlement vernment. The new king, the son of Henry and Cathaof the go- rine, was hardly nine months old. On the first advice of his father's decease, several spiritual and temporal peers assembled at Westminster; issued commissions in the name of Henry VI. to the judges, sheriffs, and other officers, to continue the exercise of their respective duties; and summoned a parliament to meet in the beginning of November. The first care of that asNov. 17. sembly was to ratify all the acts of the authority by which it had been convened, as sufficiently justified by the necessity of the case :1 its second, to supply the defect arising in the exercise of the royal authority from the infancy of the king. The two last centuries furnished three instances of minorities, at the accession of 1422. 1 Rot. Parl. iv. 170. II. Henry III., Edward III., and Richard II. But on CHAP. none of these occasions had the powers of the executive government been intrusted to a guardian or regent, if we except the two first years of Henry III., when the appointment of such an officer was deemed requisite to oppose the pretensions of a foreign competitor at the head of a powerful army, and in possession of the capital. The duke of Glocester, however, preferred a claim to the regency on two grounds: because in the absence of the duke of Bedford he was the nearest of kin to his nephew; and because the late king, when he lay on his death-bed, had appointed him to that charge. The lords (for such matters did not appertain to the cognizance of the commons) having searched the rolls, and consulted the judges, replied that his demand was not founded either on law or precedent, but was contrary to the constitution of the realm, and the rights of the three estates: and that the appointment of the late king was of no force, because he could not alter the law of the land without the three estates, nor delegate the authority which expired with his life, to be exercised by another after his death. To satisfy him, however, as far as was in their power, they would appoint him president of the council, in the absence of his brother the duke of Bedford, not with the title of regent, lieutenant, governor, or tutor, words which might be construed to import a delegation of the sovereign authority, but CHAP. with that of " protector of the realm and church II. 2 "of England:" an appellation, which could serve only to remind him of his duty. Acting on these principles they named the chancellor,treasurer, and keeper of the privy seal, and sixteen members of the council with the duke of Bedford, and in his absence, the duke of Glocester, Dec. 5. for president: and by a deputation notified these nominations to the commons, who gave their 3 assent. Regulations were then enacted for the direction of the council, the duties on wool with Dec. 18. the tonnage and poundage were continued for two years, and the parliament was dissolved.5 England presented no cause of uneasiness: but every eye was most anxiously turned towards France. Death of The regency of that kingdom had, according to Henry's last injunctions, been offered to the duke of Burgundy; and on his refusal was given 2 Ibid. iv. 326. 3 Ibid. iv. 174, 175. 326. Their salaries were as follows: The bishop of Winchester, when he was chancellor, received the same as an archbishop, and the lord Stafford, as treasurer, the same as an earl (Rot. Parl. v. 404. Rym. x. 268. 359, 360). This difference in the amount seems to have been regulated by the estab lishments which each was obliged to maintain in proportion to his rank. 4 Ibid. iv. 175. 5 Ibid. |