He becomes popular.

1429. Sept. 22.

Dec. 18.

that he durst not disobey; and that the men themselves declared to his face, that they would not march against the Hussites, but were determined to restore the superiority of the English arms in France. '

If the conduct of the cardinal on this occasion irritated the court of Rome, it served to add to his popularity in England; and when the parliament assembled, both houses seemed to contend which should heap on him the most distinguished honours. The same objection which excluded him from the feast of St. George, had also excluded him from the king's council: but the lords now requested him, for the service of the king, and the benefit of the nation, to resume his seat at that board, and to absent himself only when subjects were debated which concerned the court of Rome 2. To this Dec. 20. flattering request he willingly assented: and two days later the commons, when they presented to the king a grant of a second supply, took the opportunity to preface it with a panegyric on the virtues and services of the cardinal. 3

Charges against him.

It is generally believed that the duke of Glocester, finding himself unable to exclude his rival from the cabinet by force, undertook to remove him by policy. So much is certain, that Beaufort, at the repeated instances of the council, consented to accompany the

'Raynald, vi. 73, 74.

2 Rot. Parl. iv. 338.

3 Facta prius speciali recommendatione reverendissimi in Christo patris et domini, domini Henrici, permissione divina titulo S. Eusebii, presbyteri cardinalis de Anglia vulgariter nuncupati, per prolocutorem suum ulterius declarabant, etc. Ibid. p. 337. I quote the words of the record, because they have generally been misunderstood to mean, that the commons granted a second subsidy at the recommendation of the cardinal.

young king to France: and that during his absence, an ungenerous attempt was made to ruin him for ever. In a numerous meeting of the peers, the king's attorney, on the ground that the dignity of cardinal was incompatible with the possession of a bishopric, proposed that he should be removed from the see of Winchester, and condemned to refund its revenues from the day of his promotion in the court of Rome. Glocester immediately arose, charged his uncle with having obtained for himself and his diocese a bull of exemption from the jurisdiction of Canterbury, and contended that by such act he had incurred the penalties of præmunire. But of this charge no satisfactory evidence was produced: and the lords after a long debate resolved, that the cardinal should be heard in his own defence, and that in the interval the records. should be searched for precedents, and the judges be required to deliver their opinions'. This attack, which was followed by the seizure of his jewels at Sandwich, valued at twelve thousand pounds, alarmed Beaufort. Instead of returning to England, he took his leave of Henry at Calais, under pretence that he had received orders from the pope to visit him at Rome : but re

Rym. x. 497. The objections now made were the cause, that when Eugenius in 1440 named the archbishops of York and Rouen cardinals, both these prelates refused that dignity and to relieve them from all apprehension, Henry granted them the royal licence to retain their bishoprics together with the cardinalate, and the pope solemnly declared that it had not been his intention, by introducing them into the sacred college, to remove them from their churches of York and Rouen. The writs issued on this occasion shew how difficult it was for ecclesiastics at this period to secure themselves from the operation of the statutes of præmunire. Rym. x. 758. 840.

1431. Νον. 6.

1432. May 12.

mained for several months in Flanders, watching the motions of his enemies, and directing those of his friends. A conditional bill of indemnity, to protect him from the penalties of præmunire, if they had been incurred, was brought into the commons, and met with no opposition in its progress through either house. Shortly afterwards he appeared in his place, on a day when Henry was present. He had obtained, he said, the king's leave to proceed to Rome at the requisition of the sovereign pontiff, when he heard that it was intended to charge him with treason in his absence. As his reputation was dearer to him than any other treasure, he was returned to face his accuser. Let him come forth, whoever he might be, and he should find him ready to answer. After some deliberation between the duke and the lords, it was replied that no one appeared to make such a charge, and that the king held him to be a good and faithful subject. Beaufort thanked his sovereign for his gracious declaration, and demanded that it might be delivered to him in writing under the king's signature: not that he meant to plead it on a future occasion-he scorned to depend on any thing but his own innocence; but that it might be publicly known, that no one dared to support such an accusation against him. His request was granted: and the declaration was entered on the rolls. '

Rot. Parl. iv. 390, 391. Rym. x. 516, 517. He next. complained of the illegal seizure of his jewels at Sandwich, and demanded their restitution from the justice of his sovereign. The duke, and many of the council pleaded the poverty of the crown, and resisted this demand. Proposals were made and rejected : and at last both parties assented to the following most singular compromise. The jewels were restored to the cardinal, who in return advanced to Henry six thousand pounds, on condition that when he should demand pay

From this period during several years, the uncle and nephew, equally jealous of each other, laboured to strengthen their own influence by the advancement of their dependants. Glocester on all occasions brought forward Richard duke of York, in whom were now centred the rights of the family of Clarence: the cardinal espoused on all occasions the interests of his nephew, Henry Beaufort, earl, and afterwards duke, of Somerset. The former continued to preside in the cabinet, and to enrich himself by obtaining grants from the crown: the latter annually aided the government with loans, and conducted in person almost every negociation with foreign powers. Though these, as far as regarded peace, had been hitherto unsuccessful, they served to augment his popularity. The nation, exhausted by a long and ruinous contest, naturally transferred its attachment from the patron of war to the advocate of peace.

of the duke

1439.

At length the two rivals made the grand trial of Liberation their strength. The duke of Orleans had often and of Orleans. earnestly sued to obtain his liberation, promising to exert all his influence to bend the French cabinet to proposals of peace. The cardinal favoured, the duke opposed his petition. The former argued, that in the present exhausted state of the nation, it was prudent to employ every probable expedient to put an honourable

ment within the course of six years, the reasons on each side should be laid before the king, and on his decision as to the legality of the seizure, should depend the retention or repayment of the money. At the same time he lent the government another sum of six thousand pounds, in addition to eight thousand which he had advanced during Henry's residence in France, the repayment of which was secured by parliament on the next supply which should be granted. Ibid.

termination to the war and that at all events the ransom of the duke would enable the king to continue the contest for two years without any additional burden to the people. Glocester built his opposition on the abilities of the prisoner, and his acquaintance with the policy and resources of England. Charles and his son, he observed, were princes of slender capacity, guided by their ministers, and placed in opposition to each other by the intrigues of their favourites: but were the duke of Orleans to obtain his liberty, he would unite the two parties, assume the direction of the cabinet, and teach the English to condemn their own folly in supplying the enemy with so able a counsellor 1. To lessen the influence of the cardinal, Glocester delivered to the king a memorial, containing the real or supposed transgressions of that prelate under twenty different heads but though it is probable that out of so great a number, some charges may have been founded in fact, the majority prove rather the enmity of the nephew than the guilt of the uncle 2. The king read the memo

Rym. x. 765.

2 He accuses him of ambition in seeking the dignity of a cardinal after he had been prohibited by the late king, and of contempt of the royal authority in receiving the papal bulls, retaining his bishopric of Winchester, and procuring an exemption from the authority of the primate, without the king's permission. But if these offences subjected him, as Glocester maintained, to the penalties of a præmunire, it should be remembered that they had been long ago pardoned by act of parliament. In the next place he complains of Beaufort's avarice, whose riches are too great to have been honestly procured. He makes, indeed, loans to the king, but seldom executes his engagements with fidelity, seeking pretexts to appropriate to himself the securities he receives, and defrauding the crown by means of his officers, who receive the customs in the port of Southampton. The cardinal's services in foreign embassies, so fre