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LIVES

OP THE

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

TOL. V.

§lii5t)lx-S.gc |ieriob.

LIVES

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

WALTER FAEQUHAR HOOK, D.D. F.R.S.

DEAN OF CHICHESTER.

VOLUME V. MIDDLE-AGE PERIOD.

History which may be called just and perfect history is 01 three kinds, according to the object which it propoundeth or pretendeth to represent : for it either representeth a time, or a person, or an action. The first we call Chronicles, the second Lives, and the third Narratives or Relations. Of these, although Chronicles be the most complete and absolute kind of history, and hath most estimation and glory, yet Lives eicelleth in profit and use, and Narrative* or Relations in verity or sincerity. Lord BiCos

o3

LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, ^nblisrjtr in (Drbinarg to ilrr Pfcjtstg. 1867.

The right of translation is reserved.

LONDON :

K. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HILL.

ADVERTISEMENT.

With the present volume we conclude the History of the Primates who governed our Church ante- cedently to the period of the Reformation. The History of the Reformation will commence in the Sixth Volume, which is already in the press.

W. F. H.

February, 1867.

CONTENTS

THE FIFTH VOLUME.

CHAP. XVIII.

HENRY CHICHELEY.

Tradition at Higham Ferrers. — William of Wykeham. — Henry Chicheley born at Higham Ferrers. — Primary Education at "Win- chester.— Education by Seculars. — Goes to Xew College. — Be- comes a Fellow. — Studies Law. — His Ordinations and early Preferments. — His Brother successful in Trade. — Patronized by the Bishop of Salisbury. — Employed on an Embassy to the Pope. — State of the Papacy. — Chicheley consecrated Bishop of St. David's. — Beturns to England. — Takes the Oath of canonical Obedience to the Primate of England. — Does Homage to the King. — Sent on the Deputation from the Church of England to the Council of Pisa. — Proceedings at Pisa. — Beturns Home. — Involved in a Lawsuit. — Besigns his Preferments. — Employed on an Embassy to " our Adversary of France." — Beturns to his Diocese. — On Death of Henry IV. recalled to Court. — Elected to the See of Canterbury on Arundel's Death. — Chicheley as a Statesman. — Lollardism, a pobtical Schism. — Insurrection of Sir John Oldcastle. — Lord Cobham. — Vigorous Measures of Henry V — Parliament at Leicester. — Political Measures against Lollards.

Vlll CONTENTS OF

— Chicheley does not urge on the "War with. France from low Party Motives. — Causes of the "War. — Chicheley's Confiscation of the Property of alien Priories. — At the Head of the Govern- ment.— Parting of the Archbishop and King at Southampton. — Anxiety for News from abroad. — Successes. — Epidemic in the Army. — Agincourt. — Form of Thanksgiving by Chicheley. — New Festivals. — Honours to St. George of England. — Visit of Sigis- mund, King of the Romans. — Political Results. — Chicheley joins King Henry on the Continent. — Engaged in the Treaty of Rouen. — Returns to England, but revisits the King after his Marriage. — Officiates at the Queen's Coronation. — Sends Deputies to the Council of Constance. — Opposes the Pope. — Persuades the King not to permit Beaufort to be made a Cardinal. — Discipline of the Church exercised against Lord Strange. — Funeral of Henry V. — Chicheley confines himself as much as possible to his clerical Duties. — Convocation assumed its modern Form. — Good Under- standing between the Houses of Convocation and the Parliament. — Convocation a Court for Trial of Heresy. — Lollard Towers menaced. — Delegates to Council of Basle. — Various ecclesiastical Regulations. — Ultramontanism, or the System of modern Popery, introduced by Martin V. — Martin's Anger against the ancient Statutes which protected the English Clergy from the Pope. — Pope's personal Attack on Chicheley. — Chicheley's Weakness and Inconsistency. — High Testimonials to the Excellence of Chicheley from all Parties. — Beaufort made a Cardinal. — Chicheley at first resists, and then succumbs to the Insult. — Controversy on Precedence with Cardinal Kemp. — Trial of the Duchess of Gloucester. — Witchcraft. — Chicheley as a Prelate. — State of the Universities. — Chicheley Hatch. — Measures adopted preparatory to the Foundation of his College. — All Souls' Col- lege founded. — Property forfeited under Statute of Praemunire. — Restored by Henry VII. — Confiscated by Parliament. — College at Higham Ferrers. — Chicheley an Invalid. — Visits Oxford for the last Time. — Consecrates All Souls' College. — Applies for Permission to retire. — Provides for his Successor. — Dies before hii Resignation could be effected .... Page 1

THE FIFTH VOLUME. ix

CHAP. XIX

JOHN STAFFORD.

Of a noble Family. — Born at Hook, near Beaminster. — Educated at Oxford. — Party Spirit at Oxford. — Philip Repingdon.— Stafford a Lawyer. — The Lawyer's ecclesiastical Preferments.— Dean of St. Martin's. — Dean of Wells. — Patronized by Chicheley. — Dean of the Court of Arches. — His Diligence as a Privy Councillor. — Keeper of the Privy Seal. — Attached to Beaufort's Party. — Bishop of Bath and "Wells. — Managed Beaufort's Cause when the latter became a Cardinal. — Attended the King to France. — Made Chancellor, the first called Lord Chancellor. — Cardinal Beaufort misrepresented. — Specimens of Stafford's Eloquence. — Stafford selected by Chicheley to be his Successor in the Primacy. — Translated to Canterbury with general Approbation. — Journal of the French Embassy. — Character of King Henry and Queen Margaret. — Peace Policy. — Papal Aggression. — Stafford not so Gallican as his Party. — He was personally popular. — Social Progress during the Eighteen Years of Stafford's Ministry. — Cry for a Reformation. — He resigns the Chancellorship. — Under the Insurrection of Jack Cade, the Archbishop appears to advantage, — Prohibits Fairs and Markets in Churches. — Regulates certain Festivals. — Disputes between the ecclesiastical and lay Lawyers. — Martin V. establishes Popery in the modern acceptation of the word. — Effect of the ]S"ew System. — Difficulties in which the Clergy Avere involved. — The Alibi. — Bishop Pecock, an extreme Papist, mistaken for a Protestant. — Pecock's Popery excites a Tumult. — Stafford permits him at this time to escape condign Punishment. — The Golden Rose sent to Henry. — Foundation of Eton and King's. — Stafford received the King at Canterbury. — Commencement of the Civil War.— Before a Battle was fought, Stafford died Page 130

X CONTENTS OF

CHAP. XX.

JOHN KEMP.

Kemp, a distinguished Statesman. — Multiplicity of his Preferments. — Born at Olanteigh. — "Went to School at Canterbury.— Became a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. — Graduated in Laws, but confined his Practice to Canon Law. — Employed as Counsel against Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. — Patronized by Arundel and Chicheley. — Made Dean of Arches and Vicar-General to the Arch- bishop.— Introduced by latter to Henry V. — "Went on Embassy to the King of Arragon. — Held Musters at Caen and inspected the Troops. — Consecrated to the See of Eochester. — Appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal and Chancellor of the Duchy of Nor- mandy.— Translated to Chichester. — Translated to London. — Conge d'Elire a Nullity. — Resigns the Great Seal of Normandy. — Ambassador to Scotland. — Succeeded Beaufort in the Chancellor- ship.— Translated to York. — Difficulties with the Pope. — Kemp's Enthronement. — His Duties as Chancellor in Council and Parlia- ment.— His Ministry not negligent on the point of Social Eeform. — His Adherence to the Beaufort Party. — The good Duke of Gloucester. — Kemp prepared the way for Cardinal Beaufort's Return to England. — Party Tactics. — Clergy discontented with the Policy of Borne. — Kemp's Care of the Chapels Royal. — Resigns the Great Seal. — Chosen to represent the Church of England at the Council of Basle. — His Letter to Council. — Delays his Departure. — His Mission chiefly political. — The Council deposes the Pope ; the Pope excommunicates the Council. — Modern Romanism established. — Embassy at Arras. — Kemp's Wisdom as a Diplomatist. — Perfidy of the Duke of Burgundy. — Kemp at the Head of the Embassy to France. — Convention between Cardinal Beaufort and the Duchess of Burgundy. — Contemporary Account. — St. Bridget. — Kemp adheres to the new Romish System. — Failure of Embassy. — Cardinal's Hat offered to Kemp. — Neglect of his episcopal Duties. — Incidental Evils of Monastic System. — Sale of Livings. — Kemp's Unpopularity in

THE FIFTH VOLUME. XI

Yorkshire. — His strong Measures and unjustifiable Conduct — The amiable Side of his Character. — Bis Love of Eetirement and his Attachment to Kent — His Munificence at Wye. — Regula- tions of his College. — Purchases the Living. — A Benefactor to Oxford. — Is recalled to Public Life. — Lord Chancellor. — Qaeen Margaret's Minister. — Endeavours to protect the Duke of Suffolk. — Stretches his Authority for that Purpose in vain. — Yorkists in Force. — Kemp's vigorous Administration. — Conduct under Jack Cade's Insurrection. — Hereditary Eight to the Crown first asserted by the Duke of York. — Translation of Kemp to Canter- bury.— Convocation to grant a Subsidy. — The Pope's Agent, Clemens Yincentius, announces to the Synod the Pope's Inten- tion to quit Eome. — Yorkist Libels against Kemp. — The King's Illness. — Kemp as a Judge. — His Alarm at the Eiots. — Sponsor to the Prince of Wales. — Sudden Death. — Inventor}* of Goods.

Page 188

CHAP. XXI.

THOMAS BOUCHIER.

Eoyal Descent— Sent to Xevil's Inn, Oxford. — Benefactions to Oxford and Cambridge. — Preferments. — Dean of St. Martin's. — Dispute of the Dean and Chapter of St Martin with the Mayor and Corporation of London. — Further Preferments. — Bishop of Worcester. — Honourable Mention of Bouchier in the Conge (TElire. — Controversy with the Pope on the right to nomi- nate.— Disappointed at first of the See of Ely, to which he was afterwards elected. — Xeglect of episcopal Duty. — Popularity. — King's Bin ess. — The Commons' Petition that Bouchier might be appointed to the Primacy. — His Translation to Canterbury. — Did Homage. — His splendid Enthronization. — His Conduct as an Ecclesiastic— Appoints a Day of Humiliation. — Subscriptions raised against the Turks. — Primary Visitation. — Misconduct of

Xll CONTENTS OF ,

the Clergy. — Clerical Fops. — Pastoral Letter. — Corruption of the Clergy. — '.Complaints of the Universities. — Convocation. — Sub- sidy granted to Edward IV. by Convocation conceded under "Writ of Henry VI. — Convocation of York accepts Constitutions of the Church of Canterbury. — Bishop Pecock a zealous Papist. — His Principles. — Grounds of Hostility towards him. — Attacked by the Lords Temporal. — The Archbishop's Proceedings against Pecock. — His Judgment. — His harsh Treatment of Pecock. — His political Career. — State of Parties. — Bouchier Chancellor. — Proceedings after the Battle of St. Alban's. — The Archbishop effects a temporary Eeconciliation between the Yorkists and Lancastrians. — Conduct of the Queen. — Yorkists negotiate with the Primate. — Bishop of Terni. — Alarm of the Country. — Arch- bishop's Eeception of the Yorkist Fleet. — Friendly Belations with Eome. — Convocation. — Reception by the Archbishop, Clergy, and City of the insurrectionary Nobles. — Bouchier attends the Yorkist Army to Northampton. — Conference with the King. — -Battle of Northampton. — The Duke of York claims the Crown. — Bouchier's patriotic Conduct. — Betirement from public Life. — Won to the Papal side. — Receives the Bed Hat. — Crowns Edward IV. — Antecedents to the Battle of Bamet. — Bouchier Ambassador to France at the Peace of Picquigny. — His Hospitality at the Jubilee of Canterbury. — Entertains the Patriarch of Antioch. — His Life at Knowle. — Literary Society. — Brief Account of the Members. — Social Progress. — Introduction of Printing attributed to Bouchier. — Westkarre appointed Suffragan of Canterbury. — Death of Edward IV. — Conferences with the Duke of Gloucester. — Privileges of Sanctuary debated. — Bouchier's Mission to the Queen. — His Interview with the Queen. — Delivers the Duke of York to the Council. — Crowns Richard III. — Crowns Henry VII. — Officiates at the King's Marriage with Elizabeth of York. — His Death. — His Will.

Page 268

THE FIFTH VOLUME. Xlll

CHAP. XXII.

JOHN MORTON.

Born at Milborne St. Andrew, Dorsetshire. — Educated at Cerne Abbey, afterwards at Oxford. — A Benefactor to the University. — Appointed Principal of Peckwater's Inn. — Sub-Dean of Lin- coln.— His Preferments. — Parson of Blokesworth. — Present at Battle of Towton. — His Flight. — Is attainted. — In Flanders with Queen Margaret. — Distress of the Lancastrians. — Fortescue. — Counter-revolution. — Attached to the suite of Warwick. — Beturn to England. — King Edward flies.— Morton prepares to meet the Queen. — Edward's Return. — Battle of Barnet. — Morton's care of the Queen. — Battle of Tewkesbury. — Death of King and Prince of Wales. — Morton's Adhesion to Edward. — Morton received into the King's favour. — His Preferments. — Master of the Eolls. — His Diligence. — Sent on Embassy to Germany. — Be- nevolences.— War with France. — Treaty managed by Morton. — He negotiates the Ransom of Queen Margaret. — Personal Friend of Edward IV. and his Queen. — Resigns the Mastership of the Rolls. — Elected Bishop of Ely. — His Installation. — Morton in private Life. — Tutor to the Prince. — Garden of Holborn. — Residence in London. — Present at Death of Edward IV. — Officiates at Funeral. — State of Parties. — Duke of Gloucester.— His Politics. — His Manners. — Strawberry Scene. — Morton at- tainted and imprisoned. — Petition from Oxford in his favour. — Consigned to the custody of the Duke of Buckingham. — Morton at Brecknock. — Intrigues against Richard III. — Communications opened with the Countess of Richmond. — Morton's Flight. — Received in Flanders. — Returns to England after the Victory of Bosworth. — The Sweating Sickness. — Morton's Attainder re- versed.— Lord Chancellor. — Archbishop of Canterbury. — Morton as an Ecclesiastic. — Modern Romanism introduced. — Proceedings in Convocation. — Pastoral Letter. — Visitation of Monasteries. — Proposed Canonization of Henry VI. — Canonization of Anselm.

XIV CONTENTS OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

— Morton's Speeches in Parliament. — Creation of the Duke of York. — Henry the Seventh's Government. — Morton responsible as his Adviser. — Character of the Archbishop from Sir Thomas More. — Chancellor of Oxford. — His Munificence. — Died at Knowle •. . Page 387

CHAP. XXIII.

HENRY DEAN.

Early History unknown. — Educated at Oxford. — Not a Wyke- hamist.— Went also to Cambridge. — Becomes a Canon Regular. — Llanthony. — His Munificence. — His Connexion with the Mor- tons.— Lord Chancellor of Ireland. — Justiciary. — Consecrated Bishop of Bangor. — Recovers the Property of the See. — Trans- lated to Salisbury. — Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. — Translated to Canterbury. — Legate a Latere. — Officiates at the Marriage of Prince Arthur and the Princess Katherine. — Nego- tiates the Marriage between the King of Scots and the Princess Margaret. — His Death. — His Will. — Hi3 Funeral . Page 500

SUCCESSION

ARCHBISHOPS AND CONTEMPORARY KINGS.

Archbishops.

Henry Ckicheley . John Stafford . .

John Kemp . .

Thomas Bonchier .

John Morton . . Henry Dean . .

Conse- cration.

1408 1425

1419

1435

1479 1496

Consecrators.

Gregory XII.

(Hen. Winchester | John London . J PhiL "Worcester ] Will. Lichfield j John Rochester LBen. S. David's

Will. Ebroneusis . Mart. Arras .

Hen. Winchester John York . .

■ John Bath . . Robert Sarnm

..John S. Asaph

Thomas . . . John ....

Acces- sion.

1414 1443

1452

1454

1486 1501

Death.

1443

1452

1454

1486

1500 1503

Contemporary Kings.

I Henry V. \ Henry VI.

Henry VI.

Henry VI.

f Henry VI. | Edward IV. i Edward V.

Richard III. I Henry VI I.

Henry VII. Henry VII.

TABLE OF CONTEMPOEAEY SOVEREIGNS.

A.T>. ENGLAND.	SCOTLAND.	GERMANY.	FRANCE*	POPE.	SPAIN.
1414 i Henry V.	James I.	Sigismond.	Charles VI.	John XXII.	John II. (Castile.)
						Ferdinand I. (Arragon.)
						Charles III. (Navarre.)
1416						Alphonso V. (Arragon.)
1417					Martin V.
1422	Henry VI.			Charles VII.
1425						Blanche (Navarre) and John I. (Arragon.)
1431					Eugene IV.
1437		James II.	Albert II.
1440			Frederic III.
1447					Nicholas V.
1454						Henry IV. (Castile.)
1455					Calixtus III.
! 1458					^Pius II.
1460		James IH.
1461 Edward IV.			Louis XI.
1464					Paul II.
1471					Sixtus IV.
1474						Ferdinand II. and Isabella (Castile).
1479						Ferdinand II, the Catholic (Arragon). Eleanor (Navarre). Francis Phoebus (Navarre).
1488	Edward V. Richard III.			Charles VIII.		Catherine (Navarre.)
1484					Innocent VIII.
1485	Henry VII.
1488		James IV.
1492					Alexandor VI.
1493		Maximilian I.
1498			Louis XII.
				Tius III.

LIVES

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY,

BOOK III.

MEDIEVAL PERIOD. Continued.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HENRY CHICHELEY.

Tradition at Higham Ferrers. — William of Wykeham. — Henry Chicheley born at Higham Ferrers. — Primary Education at "Winchester. — Education by Seculars. — Goes to New College. — Becomes a Fellow. — Studies Law. — His Ordinations and early Preferments. — His Brother successful in Trade. — Patronized by the Bishop of Salisbury. — Employed on an Embassy to the Pope. — State of the Papacy. — Chicheley consecrated Bishop of St. David's. — Returns to England. — Takes the Oath of canonical Obedience to the Primate of England. — Does Homage to the King. — Sent on the Deputation from the Church of England to the Council of Pisa. — Pro- ceedings at Pisa. — Returns Home. — Involved in a Lawsuit. — Resigns his Preferments. — Employed on an Embassy to " our Adversary of Erance." — Returns to his Diocese. — On Death of Henry TV. recalled to Court. — Elected to the See of Canterbury on Arundel's Death. — Chicheley as a Statesman. — Lollardism, a political Schism. — Insurrection of Sir John Oldcastle. — LordCobham. — Vigorous Measures of Henry V. — Parliament at Leicester. — Political Measures against Lollards. — Chicheley does not urge on the "War with France from low Party Motives. — Causes of the War. — Chicheley's Confiscation of the Property of alien Priories. — At VOL. V. B

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

the Head of the Government. — Parting of the Archhishop and King at Southampton. — Anxiety for News from abroad. — Successes. — Epidemic in the Army.— Agincourt. — Form of Thanksgiviug by Chicheley. — New Festivals. — Honours to St. George of England. — Visit of Sigismund, King of the Romans. — Political Results. — Chicheley joins King Henry on the Continent. — Engaged in the Treaty of Rouen. — Returns to England, but revisits the King after his Marriage. — Officiates at the Queen's Corona- tion.— Sends Deputies to the Council of Constance. — Opposes the Pope. — Persuades the King not to permit Beaufort to be made a Cardinal. — Discipline of the Church exercised against Lord Strange. — Funeral of Henry V. — Chicheley confines himself as much as possible to his clerical Duties. — Convocation assumed its modern Form. — Good Understanding between the Houses of Convocation and the Parliament. — Convocation a Court for Trial of Heresy. — Lollard Towers menaced. — Delegates to Council of Basle. — Various ecclesiastical Regulations. — Ultramontanism, or the System of modern Popery, introduced by Martin V. — Martin's Anger against the ancient Statutes which protected the English Clergy from the Pope. — Pope's personal Attack on Chicheley. — Chicheley's Weak- ness and Inconsistency.' — High Testimonials to the Excellence of Chicheley from all Parties. — Beaufort made a^ardinal. — Chicheley at first resists, and then succumbs to the Insult. — Controversy on Precedence with Cardinal Kemp. — Trial of the Duchess of Gloucester. — Witchcraft. — Chicheley as a Prelate. — State of the Universities. — Chicheley Hatch. — Measures adopted preparatory to the Foundation of his College. — All Souls College founded. — Property forfeited under Statute of Praemunire. — Restored by Henry VII. — Confiscated by Parliament. — College at Higham Ferrers. — Chicheley an Invalid. — Visits Oxford for the last Time. — Consecrates All Souls College. — Applies for Permission to retire. — Provides for his Successor. — Dies before Ids Resignation could be effected.

Henry

There is a tradition at Higham Ferrers which it is pleasant to accept and not necessary to doubt. It is Chichefey. said, that William of Wykeham, who at one period of 1414-43. his life was connected with Northamptonshire, and who, at the time referred to in the story, may have

Authorities. — There is a short and superficial life of Chicheley by Hoveden, in MS. among the muniments of All Souls' College, Oxford. It states some facts relating to his life, with little or no comment upon them ; it is written in Latin, and bears date 29th December, 1574 ; it has Hoveden's initials at the end of the heading, but is not written in his hand. It occupies rather more than three folio pages. In the copy of the Statutes, in the posses- sion of the present learned Warden of All Souls', there is " A short Discourse touching Henry Chicheley." It is transcribed from a

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 3

been on a visit at the castle,4 went forth one evening, chap.

1 XVIII.

like Isaac, to meditate in the fields. Wandering along s .

- H

the pastures watered by the Xene, he saw and con- chiciSev.

d with a shepherd's boy, and was so pleased with 1414-43. his answers and remarks, that he caused inquiry to be made as to his birth, parentage, and education. The bishop's servant, who was directed to obtain the in- formation which William of Wykeham required, found the boy seated on his mother's lap and eating his dinner. That boy was Henry Chicheley, and, like many other eminent men, Henry Chicheley was indebted for

icceaa in this life, and his hopes of a better, to the

similar entry in the Archbishop of Canterbury's copy of the Statutes, at Lambeth. It is supposed to have been drawn up by "Warden Warner, shortly before Hoveden's, but it relates exclusively to Chicheley's connexion with the foundation of the college. It certainly does not justify Spencer's description of it, as abounding with " gross errors." The life of Chicheley, in Latin, by Arthur Duck, was published in 1617 in Latin, and again by Bates in There is an English translation, to which I have chiefly referred, as being fuller than the Latin. Duck was followed by Spencer, in 1783. Spencer adds little to the information contained in the work of his predecessor. The object of these writers was to throw light upon the foundation of the college, rather than upon the general history of the Church. The other authorities used in the present Life are : — The Stemmata Chicheleana; the Regist Chichel. MBS.; Tanner ; An English Chronicle, written before 1471, published by the Camden Society ; Robert Redmayne's Vita Henrici Quinti; Elmhami Liber Metricus de Henrico Quinto; Versus Ehyth- niici in laudem Henrici Quinti ; the last three edited by C. A. Cole. To my kind friends, the Rev. Dr. Leighton, the Warden of All Souls' College, the Rev. Dr. Sewell, Warden of Xew College, and the Rev. Dr. Moberly, Head Master of Winchester, I am indebted for their diligent kindness, in searching for information among the documents of their respective houses. To the Rev. George Malins I have to express my thanks, for information afforded me about Higham Ferrers, of which place there is an interesting History, by Mr. Cole.

* He was Archdeacon of Northampton for a short time.

E 2

4 LIVES OF THE

xvm care °^ a mo^ier wno trained his intellect and educated — — his affections. This boy William of Wykeham deter- cinchefey. mined to educate at the college, the foundations of 1414-43. which he was now laying at Winchester.*"

It has been affirmed, that the father of Henry Chiche- ley was by trade a tailor. That such a report was cir- culated, when Henry had become the primate of all England, is countenanced by the fact of the practical joke which was played upon him by the courtiers of Henry VI. to whom he had on some occasion given offence, t They caused him to be served with a pie full of rags ; the rag-pie being intended to remind the first peer of the realm of his humble origin. That his father was engaged in trade is as certain as that, through success in trade, he was able to become a landed pro- prietor ; but it is probable that he had passed from the shop to the farm before the birth of Henry, and that it

* Iligham Ferrers was a place of some importance in the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries. Henry V. in his will, mentions the castle as belonging to the house of Lancaster.

t The story is of doubtful authority. In a MS. in the hand- writing of Bichard Symonds, now in the Harleian Collection (No. 991, 27), it is thus given, and reflects credit upon Chicheley's good humour and power of repartee. One of the courtiers, it is said, of Henry VI. 's time, sent by one of the king's servants, as from the king, a pie full of rags, a present to Cardinal Chicheley. It is here to be observed, as throwing suspicion on the story, that upon Chicheley a cardinal's hat had never been conferred. The point of the joke was to depreciate Chicheley, as the son of a tailor or draper. The cardinal, as he is called, received the messenger very civilly, and desired him to present his duty to his majesty, and to thank the king for thus reminding him of a very worthy and affectionate parent. He added, sarcastically, that he would make it his prayer that the king might as much surpass his royal father in all arts of prowess and virtue, as Chicheley had surpassed his in honour and preferments. Thomas Chicheley, the father, died on the 25th of February, 1400. His tomb was in the Lady-chapel of Higham Ferrers. — Stemmata Chichelcana, vii. viii.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CAHTERBUBY. 0

was, as one of the landed gentry, he sought the hand and £ hap. won the heart of Agnes Pyncheon. That the father of — ~ Agnes Pyncheon was more than a yeoman, is proved by chicSy. the fact of his exhibiting a coat of arms at a time when l-iii-w. to do so was penal, unless the right was beyond dis- pute.'" At all events, the family of Chicheley, which had been settled at Higham Ferrers for two genera- tions, was of high respectability ; and Henry himself was, as a child, designed by his father, not for the shop, but for agricultural pursuits.

Henry Chicheley was born about the year 1362-3,t and it is affirmed, that he was admitted a scholar of Winchester College in 1373. This statement, though virtually, is not literally correct. The celebrated college of St. Mary Winton, near Winchester, was not founded, strictly speaking, before the 20th of October, 1382, which is the date of its charter. The first stone of the material edifice was laid on the 26th of March, 1387. The chapel, the cloisters, and the cemetery were not consecrated till 1394. But before the buildings were completed, or even commenced, William of Wykeham had appointed a master and under-master to educate seventy boys, for whose board and lodging he paid, at the college of St. John Baptist on the Hill. These boys were to be educated, for the St. Mary Winton College, at Oxford, which William of Wykeham had already established, and which is now known as New College.^

* The Pyncheons bore arms — Or, a bend, three plates with a border counterehanged, azure and sable. — Pref. to Stemmata Chichel. viii.

■j" In a letter to Pope Eugenius, in 1442, he represents himself as an octogenarian.

X This munificent prelate and distinguished statesman has come before us on other occasions. I shall here add the leading facts of that life which, when the facts are detailed, may be truly called eventful. The reader is referred for these details to Bishop Lowth and the Kev. Precentor Waleott, who have thoroughly investigated

6 LIVES OF THE

chap. we may pause to observe, that this was an era in

the history of our country. William of Wykeham was

chicheiey. among the first to set the example, which was followed

1414-43. almost immediately by Chicheiey, and subsequently by

all the private documents relating to his life and institutions. He was born at Wykeham, in Hampshire, in the year 1324, the son of John and Sybil Longe. He was educated at the Minster School at Winchester, but it is, I think, more than doubtful whether he went to Oxford. He found friends and patrons, made by his genius and virtues, in Sir Nicolas Uvedale, Bishop Edingdon, and Edward III. His learning, however, in conjunction with his natural genius, won for him the title of "another Euclid in Geometry," and like Sir Christopher Wren he applied his information to practical purposes, being pre-eminent as an engineer and an architect. By Edward III. he was appointed, in 1356, Clerk of the King's works, and Surveyor of Windsor Castle and all the other castles and parks. He was justiciary of all the royal forests. By his advice the king pulled down the greater part of Windsor Castle, and by his skill it was rebuilt nearly as we find it now. Another great work of his was Queenborough Castle. The nave of Winchester Cathedral and his two St. Mary Winton colleges still live to attest his munificence as well as his genius. He was equally eminent as a lawyer, a divine, and a statesman. Like other ecclesiastics of the day, he accumulated a vast number of small benefices, which are not here enumerated, as they may be found in works of easy access. He was Archdeacon of Northampton for a short time, and was in 1360 Dean of St. Martin's, in London, of which important office we have had occasion more than once to speak. He was consecrated to the see of Winchester on the 10th of October, 1367. In the same year he was President of the Council and Chancellor of England. Four times he was appointed Chancellor. He was the constant friend of Edward III., and of Edward the Black Prince, but found in John of Gaunt an enemy, whose enmity, however, he lived down. Towards the close of his life, he occupied a situation similar to that occupied in our time by the aged Duke of Wellington. The Government always consulted him in emergencies, and his counsels always tended to peace. He died on the 27th of September, 1404, at Bishop's Waltham, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. — Lowth, Life of Wykeham. Walcott, William of Wykeham and his Colleges.

AECHBISHOFS OF CANTERBURY. 7

Wblsey and the Lady Margaret of Richmond, of divert- £yf,?'

ing a portion of the conventual revenues to the estab-

lishment of schools and colleges, to be conducted by the chicSy. secular clergy. The education of the people had been 1414-43. previously conducted almost entirely by the regulars, and schools were attached to the monasteries. For reasons which will come hereafter, under more special considera- tion, the monasteries had already declined in popularity and in their powers of usefulness. The greater monas- teries had absorbed the smaller, by purchasing their property ; and, following in their steps, William of Wykekani, and afterwards Chicheley, were enabled to endow their scholastic establishments with monastic lands, which, being in the market, were purchased by these prelates. The principles, the plans, and the whole system of education devised or adopted by the genius of William of Wykekam, one of the master spirits of the age, were closely followed by Henry VL when he founded Eton and King's ; and Wykehamists may claim for their founder the honour of having established that public school system, to which we mainly trace the character of the English gentleman.

Although there is no entry in the rolls of Win- chester to show in what year Henry Chicheley became a Wykehamist, yet the year 1373 is the date generally a - gned for his admission ; and if this be the case, then was Chicheley not only among the most eminent, but also the first of Wykeham's sons : —

" Nations, and thrones, and reverend laws have melted like a dream, Yet "Wykeharn's works are green and fresh beside the crystal

stream : Four hundred years and fifty their rolling course have sped, Since the first serge-clad scholar to "Wykehani's feet was led ; And still his seventy faithful hoys, in these presumptuous days, Learn the old truth, speak the old words, tread in the ancient

ways ;

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

Still for their daily orisons resounds the matin chime ; Still linked in hands of brotherhood, St. Catherine's steep they climb; Still to their Sabbath worship they troop by Wykeham's tomb, Still in the summer twilight siug their sweet song of home." *

From Winchester Chicheley proceeded to New Col- lege, Oxford. In the University there had been also what Bishop Lowth calls a preparatory establishment, synchronizing with that of Winchester, and com- mencing in the year 1373. Until the year 1386, when the college buildings were completed, the fellows were provided with lodgings at a cost of £10 13s. Ad. a year. Chicheley must have been among the first who occupied college rooms ; for he took his degree of bachelor of laws in the third week of 1389-90.t He was at that time a fellow, having been, no doubt, admitted at the expiration of his two years of pro- bation. His name occurs as residing in the college for the first time in the Steward of hall's book, in the thirty-seventh week of 1386-7. This is supposed to be the date of bis admission as a scholar. His name appears on the rolls (running from MicHaelmas to Michaelmas) as a bachelor of laws in 138.9. How he came to take that degree so early does not appear. In 1390-1 he had a severe illness, and allowance was made him for commons, during his illness, at the rate of sixteen pence a week for six weeks. For five weeks from the 11th of August, the rate of payment was reduced to fourteen pence. He resided, more or less, till the twenty-seventh week of the year 1392. After which there is no further mention of his name. J

* These beautiful verses were written by Sir Roundell Palmer, Attorney-General to Queen Victoria, himself among the sons of Wykeham pre-eminent.

f Spicer makes him B.C.L. in 1388, but I give the dates from the college books.

X Bursar's Accounts, New College.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 9

Although Chicheley had determined to devote his vy'm'

talents to the law, it was from the Church, as was

the custom of the age, that he hoped to derive his ChicKy. emoluments. In 1392 he was ordained to the office 14U-43. of sub-deacon, if ordination it may be called, by the Bishop of Deny acting for the Bishop of London. Even before this, he held a living in the diocese of St. Asaph * for which he seems to have vacated his fellowship at New College. In March, 1396, he became Bector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, on the presentation of the prior and convent of Colchester. t On the 26th of May following he was ordained deacon by Edmund, bishop of Exeter, under letters dimissoiy from the Bishop of London. | On the 23d of September in the

* Tanner, 176. "A. 1391 pastor fuit eccles. de Llanvarchall." Godwin, i. 126. The three holy orders were at this time — Priest, Deacon, and Sub-deacon. The inferior orders were those of — Acolyte, Exorcist, Evader, and Porter.

j- Newcourt, L 538.

J Bishop Stafford's Register, vol. i. The Register of Ordina- tions is not paged ; it follows fol. ccxlviii., and commences with an ordination in the church of St. Mary Major, Exeter, on the 18th September, 1395. Three ordinations follow in " Anno Domini supradict. ;" but as they are in months anterior to September, viz. in March, April, and May, " supradict. " is evidently an error ; and in the third the error is corrected by writing in the character of the period, thus, " m° cccmo nonagesimo sexto."

The entry of the ordination so corrected is as follows : —

" Ordines celebrati p. dnm in Capella Hospicii sui London die Sabbti quatuor tempor in Yigilia See. Trinitatis, videlicet xxvi. die mensis Maii anno domini supradict. et cons, domini anno pmo. de li- centia & comissione speciali Revendi in Xpo patris & domini domini Roberti pmissione divina London Epi : comissionis tenor sequitur 4 talis."

" Revendo," &c.

" Diaconi "—

" Mag1 Henricus Chicheley, R^ ecclie Sti StephT in "Wallebroke, civitatis Xondon p Iras di."

10 LIVES OF THE

chap, same year he was admitted to priest's orders by the

xviii • •

^^J Bishop of Basel, suffragan to the Bishop of London."""

chHief Chicheley was, during this period, practising as a

1414-43. lawyer, and having taken his degree as doctor of laws,

was successful as an advocate in the Court of Arches.

In the parish of St. Stephen, Walbrook, he settled,

and made a settlement for his family. He came of a

commercial family, and the commercial men in London

formed an aristocracy, with the honours of which the

brothers of Henry were contented, even when Henry

himself had become the first peer of the realm. To

be the head of the commercial world they thought

preferable to the position of new men struggling for

a recognition among the landed gentry. They settled

in London as grocers ; and as a grocer was then not

so much a retail dealer as a merchant carrying on

trade with various parts of the world, from which

spiceries of all kinds were imported, their business

was one which implied considerable capital on their

part to start with. Both brothers became aldermen

of the city of London. William served the office of

sheriff ; and Sir Robert was twice Lord Mayor. The

latter bequeathed a large fortune to pious uses.t

Although Henry Chicheley found his home in St. Stephen's, Walbrook, he was not constantly resident. His legal abilities recommended him to the notice of Richard Mitford, bishop of Salisbury.

Richard of Mitford had been confessor to Richard II. As one of the royal favourites he was imprisoned in Bristol Castle by the confederate lords, when they triumphed over the king in 1388. But he survived the malignity of party rage, and was consecrated to

* Tanner. William " Basiliensis " occurs as suffragan to the Bishop of London, 1394 to 1399. Stubbs, 144. t Newcourt, i. 582. Stow, ii. 197.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 11

the see of Chichester in 1390 ; having been formerly a ^y*J£

canon of Windsor, and Archdeacon of Norfolk In

1394 he accompanied Richard II. to Ireland, and there chichefey. Mitford was made Treasurer. He was translated to l 414-43. Salisbury in 139.3." Here he required a legal adv: and Dr. Chieheley was commended to his notice. The remuneration of a lawyer was not a salary, but some ecclesiastical preferment, which was either a sinecure, or a place the duties of which could be performed by a deputy.

If we regard the preferments which were now heaped upon Chieheley in the light of fees paid him for work done, or as retaining fees from his patron, we have a proof that, as an advocate, he was successful. On the 3d of September, 1397, he was collated to the arch- deaconry of Dorset, with a prebendal stall in the cathedral of Salisbury. The Bishop of St. David's, Guy de Mona, or Guy Jlohunt conferred upon him a canonry in the church of Abergwilly in the year 1400 : and in the same year he had a stall at Lichfield. In 1402 he became Archdeacon of Salisbury. In the same year he was retained as a lawyer by the pope, ami. in direct contravention of the law, was nominated to a prebend in Salisbury and to a canonry in the col-

* He died in 1407. "When he was at Chichester he gave us a new "body of statutes, which are still in force. Hardy's Le Xeve ; Stubbs, 60. See also Pat. 18 Ric. IL p. 2, m. 3.

t Guy de Mohun, or Mona, of Anglesey, had been Eector of Bradwell, Yicar of Harrow, Canon of Salisbury, and of Lincoln, and Treasurer of St. Paul's, London. He was consecrated Bishop of St David's on the 11th of November, 1397. He was appointed Lord High Treasurer on the 25th of October, 1402. He died on the 31st of August, 1407, at Charlton, in Kent, and was buried at Leedes, in that county. — Hardy's Le Xeve : Stubbs, He is not men- tioned as Lord High Treasurer by Foss ; but see Richardson's Godwin, ii. 1G2, who gives us for authority I. Pat 4 Hen. IV. m. 24.

12

LIVES OF THE

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

legiate church of Wilton, by provision, whenever they might become vacant. In 1403 he had a canonry in Lincoln Cathedral. In 1404, he exchanged the arch- deaconry for the chancellorship of Salisbury; the living of Odiham, in Hampshire, being thrown in. He held also a prebend in the church of Shaftesbury. From William de Ferrars, lord Groby, he received the rectory of Brington, in the diocese of Lincoln. By the Earl of Worcester and Sir Hugh le Despencer, joint patrons, he was presented to the living of Mel- comb, which he exchanged for that of Sherston, both in the diocese of Salisbury.*

As rising barristers, in these days, seek to acquire fortunes, that they may have wherewithal to support their dignity, if raised to a peerage, so it was no sign of an avaricious disposition on the part of Chicheley when he thus accumulated preferments. He was generous and liberal, as his future conduct showed. But he was ambitious ; and if he were to take part in the affairs of state, it was necessary, that he should possess the means of serving the king without making demands upon the royal treasury. The king's ministers were expected, for the most part, to support themselves ; or if they required remuneration, it was provided through those ecclesiastical appointments which were at the king's disposal.

Chicheley was now in a condition to become a candi- date for public office. The date of his first appoint- ment is in July, 1406, so that his rise had been slow ; and this we must attribute to his connexion with the fallen dynasty. Both Bishop Mitford and Bishop de

I believe I have mentioned all his preferments ; they were so numerous that the search for them is laborious. See Hardy's Le Neve, Stubbs, Spencer, Tanner, and the numerous authorities cited by these writers.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 13

Mona had been ministers under King Richard II. ; and ^R

that to the last Chicheley retained the esteem of the ~- — « Bishop of Salisbury, is proved by his having been chicheley. appointed by the bishop to act as his executor, and 1414-43. by his receiving under his will, as a token of his patron's regard, a golden goblet. But both Dr. Chiche- ley and perhaps the two bishops had sent in their adhesion to the king de facto, when Richard's cause was hopeless ; and an attachment to Richard would not have militated against the doctor's character, provided that he acquiesced in the will of parliament when Henry of Lancaster was elected king.

Chicheley's first mission was to Pope Innocent VII., when he was associated with Sir John Chepie.* The expense of the embassy was defrayed by Dr. Chicheley, and the object was chiefly to establish friendly relations between the English and the papal courts. It did not detain him long, but he so far satisfied the king that, on the 5th of October, he was employed to negotiate a peace between France and England.t Another embassy to the papal court in the following year was to be headed by Guy, bishop of St. David's ; the bishop was, however, too unwell to proceed on the mission, and obtained the appointment of Dr. Chicheley as his deputy.^ Thus was Chicheley again associated with Cheyne in an embassy to Pope Gregory XII., the pope who was at that time acknowledged in England. The ostensible object was merely, as before, to establish friendly relations between the papal court and that of Henry IV. But a person so observant as Chicheley, was not appointed without a further object ; and that object was, to ascertain and report upon the state of public opinion in Italy.

* Foedera (viii. 446, orig. ed.), iv. 100.

t Ibid. viii. 452 (orig. ed.). J Ibid. viii. 479.

14

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

The affairs of the Eoman see and court, affecting more or less every national church in Europe, were now coming to a crisis. The reader must here be reminded of the course of events up to this time. We have seen the miserable position of ecclesiastical affairs during what has been called the Babylonish exile, when the papacy became the tool of French intrigue. After the Curia had returned to Eome, then to the Babylon- ish captivity succeeded the papal schism. On the death of Gregory XL, who, in 1377, had re-established the papacy at Rome, the people of Rome compelled the cardinals to elect an Italian pope, Urban VI. The French party in the conclave, after a time, declared that appointment void, and elected a Frenchman, Clement VII., who once more fixed the papal residence at Avignon. After this was exhibited to Europe, for more than thirty years, the spectacle of two men, some- times even of three, assuming to be successors of St. Peter and the representatives upon earth of God Most High, who hurled against each other anathemas the most awful, and invoked the horrors of war in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Against these abuses all parties were now protesting ; and a demand was made for a reform which should reach the head as well as its members. All parties also were in a condition to combine. Hitherto co-ope- ration between France and England had been a thing impossible. What had attached the French to the papacy, had alienated the people of England from the pope. We have seen how anti-papal England had become while the popes resided at Avignon. Although the anti-papal spirit had, in some measure, subsided when the papal court was re-established at Rome, there was still a residuum of discontent in England; while every movement, which tended in one direction.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 15

on this side of the Channel, had an opposite tendency JHAR in France. The removal of the papal court to Italy

. rm Henry

had rendered that court unpopular in France. The fact chicheiey. of the French having started an opposition pope, did MU-A not mend matters, for they shared with other nations in the inconvenience resulting from the doubt, whether the pope they served was, after all, any pope at all. The re-establishment of the papal court at Eome, while an opposition papacy was in existence, rendered the discontent in the position of public affairs, as great in Italy as it was in any other part of the world. For Italy had been kept in a state of incessant warfare ; and, on either side, the treasury had been exhausted by the profligate expenditure of rival courts, which ought to have been models of purity, but were found to be sinks of corruption.

After much fruitless negotiation, the cardinals, on both sides, became weary of this state of things ; and they called upon the two popes to resign their pre- tensions and to permit a third person, acceptable to both parties, to be elected to the papal throne.

Of the rival popes, Gregory XII. was the one whom England acknowledged ; or, as the phrase was, England was in the obedience of Gregory XII. Angelo Corrario was now demolishing the high character which fourscore years of an upright and consistent career had built up. In his old age, the tiara was conferred upon him under a pledge, fortified by an oath, that he would at once resign the papacy, if by so doing peace could be re- stored to the Church. By this stipulation he now refused to abide ; and the indignation of his former supporters in Italy was freely expressed when the English embassy arrived at Eome.""

* When we hear that the court of Gregory XII. , who for more than threescore years and ten lived an ascetic, was one of the most

16 LIVES OF THE

xvm' There was a desire on the part of the pope to

— ■ — conciliate the English ; and to England, probably, he

Chicheiey. felt an attachment for the support always given to the

1414-43. Italian in opposition to the French pope. When the

proposal was made to him, that he should resign the

papacy, he reserved to himself, in the event of his doing

so, the titular dignity of Patriarch of Constantinople,

with certain benefices to be held in commendam, and

among them the archbishopric of York, — intending,

probably, to take up his abode in this country. This

was, so far as England was concerned, a popular act.

While Chicheiey was at the papal court, the news arrived of the death of his patron, Guy, bishop of St. David's. Chicheiey had received the promise of the bishopric from the king, in the event of its becoming vacant while he was absent discharging the duties of the embassy, and acting as the deputy of Guy Mohun.* To be consecrated by the pope was regarded as an honour as great as it was rare, and Chicheiey felt sure, that his court would be pleased if he applied to the pope for consecration. The pope complied with his request ; but, instead of receiving the nomination from the king, he appointed Chicheiey to the bishopric by provision. There are, therefore, two ways in which

luxurious in Europe ; when we find an upright man, in extreme old age, alienating, in favour of his nephews, some of the great estates in the Roman church, and, with one foot in the grave, incurring the guilt of perjury, we are inclined to give credit to the report, that the old man was in the hands of his nephews, and was only partially responsible for his wrong doings. His court was luxurious in the extreme, and either he or his nephews had a sinful relish for sweet things. In the single article of sugar, Gregory's household expenses exceeded the entire charge for food and raiment of any of his pre- decessors. See Muratori, Annali d'ltalia, xiii. 75 (ed. Mil. 1818-21). * Henrici Quarti opera Episcopatui Menevensi praeiicitur anno 1409. Godwin, i. 126.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 17

this appointment is mentioned. Sometimes it is £viil

mentioned as the gift of the king, sometimes as the

provision of the pope ; and possibly some document chicEy. may be discovered, in which it is alluded to as the 1414-43. election of the chapter. This is in accordance with what we have seen to have been the usual custom at this period, when all parties claimed their own rights without thinking it necessary to contest the oppugning claims of others. The king said he nominated, because in the conge d'elire he named the clerk to be elected ; the chapter said they elected, though they chose the royal nominee ; and when the pope confirmed the nominee of the Crown, he issued a bull of provision. This system, which involved a fearful amount of perjury, continued till the Reformation, and must be recollected by those who would form a right decision in the case of Cranmer, when of his case we shall have to speak. It was on the 1 7th of June that Chicheley was consecrated, the pope officiating.* The new bishop started almost immediately on his return to England, and he reached this country on the 28th of the following August.

There had been, in the meantime, precautions taken and consultations held, with the object in view of preventing the establishment of any precedent on the part of the pope, which might in any way prejudice the rights, privileges, and independence of the English church and realm. The first thing which the bishop had to do, after his arrival in England, was to make oath of canonical obedience to the see of Canterbury ; and it was not till then that he was invested with the spiritualities of the see of St. David's. He then did homage to the king in the usual form ; and solemnly renounced all title to the temporalities of his bishopric * Stubbs, p. 62 (from MS. Tanner, 146).

VOL. V. C

18 - LIVES OF THE

xvm' ^y anv rign^ accruing to him from his consecration by — ■ — the pope. He was made, according; to custom, to

Henry .* , r . . . _5., _ . '.

■Chicheiey. repudiate every expression in the bull of provision,

1414-43. which could be construed to the prejudice of the Crown.

These were, with the exception of one, the forms

always observed ; but from the circumstances in which

Chicheiey stood, they received a peculiar significance.

The Bishop of St. David's had no time to be enthroned, or to visit his diocese ; for almost imme- diately after his return to England, he was again employed on public business. He had communicated with his government on the state of affairs in Italy, and on the domestic influence which was brought to bear on the aged pope, to induce him, through perjury, to retain the papal throne. The guilt of perjury was, in this instance, increased by the fact of his creating cardinals contrary to the oath he had taken, that, during his temporary occupancy of the see, no new cardinals should be made.

Before Chicheley's return to England, on the 23d of July, 1408, the Archbishop of Canterbury had con- vened a synod to adopt measures for the union of the Universal Church, endangered by the schisms of the Church of Borne. On Sunday, July the 28 th, the king, going in great state to the Chapter-house at St. Paul's, had met the clergy, and was informed by them, that another embassy would be sent to Gregory XII. to announce the determination of the Church of England to transmit no money to Borne, until the schism in the papacy had ceased. The king gave his sanction to the resolution, which was also adopted by the two Houses of Parliament. A letter to this effect was despatched in the king's name both to the pope and to the cardinals."5'

* Walsingham, Y.N. p. 569 (ed. 1603). In the determination

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 19

A deputation not long after arrived in England from xvin'

the cardinals. It was a grand anti-papal movement.

The deputation was headed by the Archbishop of CMeheiey. Bordeaux. The cardinals revived and re-asserted the M*-** primitive principle, that a general council is superior to the pope ; and that the authority of the Church resides in a general council. They proposed, therefore, by that authority, to depose both Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII., and to elect another pontiff, not by the conclave but by the council. The legation met with an enthusiastic reception in England ; its members were entertained at the public expense, and the king received them with great cordiality and magnificence in Westminster Hall.

On the 1 4th of the following January, the archbishop held another synod to appoint delegates to represent the Church of England at the (Ecumenical Synod, which the cardinals had summoned to meet at Pisa. Henry Chicheley, bishop of St. David's, was one of the delegates now appointed. At the head of the embassy was Eobert Hallam, bishop of Salisbury ,* while the king

not to send money to Eome till the schism should he concluded, the Convocation of York agreed.

* Kobert Hallam was Eector of Northfield, Kent. On the 6th of June, 1399, he was collated to a prehend in York Cathedral. On the 7th April, 1400, he hecame Archdeacon of Canterbury. In 1403 he was Chancellor of Oxford. He was appointed, by papal provision, to the see of York ; but the king being offended by the papal intrusion, and threatening to withhold the temporalities, a compromise took place, and instead of being consecrated Metropolitan of the North, he became Bishop of Salisbury. When the pope had yielded, he was permitted to appoint him by provision, though this was against the law, and probably the king regarded the bishop as his nominee. He was consecrated by Gregory XII. himself at Sienna, in the year 1407. The king restored the temporalities to him on the 1st of December. He took the oath of obedience to the king (which nullified a secular oath he had taken to the pope) at Maidstone, on the 28th of March following. He headed the mission

C2

20 LIVES OF THE

xviii' was rePresente(l Dy tlie Earl of Suffolk. They were

— — associated with many divines and doctors, who were to

CMchefoy. appear in behalf of various orders and institutions, the

1414-43. interests of which might possibly be compromised by

the proceedings of the Council.*

The embassy was conducted on a scale of great magnificence ; and met with a cordial and splendid reception at Paris from the celebrated Gerson, chan- cellor of the University, who was the life and soul of the movement. The arrival of the English ambas- sadors at Paris was in itself both significant and im- portant. The two great parties by whom the Western Church had been divided, were now seen in close alli- ance, ready to co-operate — the party of Gregory XII. represented by the Church of England, and the party of Benedict XIII. to whose obedience France had hitherto adhered.

Gerson t was a great reformer, though he differed

to Pisa, and was delegate of the Church of England, at the Council of Constance. On the 6th of June, 1411, he was nominated a cardinal of the Church of Rome, under the title of St. Chryso- gonus. He died at Constance on the 4th of September, 1417. — Reg. Arundel. Hardy's Le Neve ; Stuhhs.

* The narrative of the proceedings in connexion with this mission may he found in the "Continuatio Eulogii," iii. 412; Reg. Arundel MS. ; Wilkins, iii. 306—314.

In the last session of the Council of Pisa, Alexander V. con- firmed all the preceding acts, and some decrees were made for the correction of the more glaring abuses which had been brought to light, though the prosecution of further reforms was deferred. The aged pope was entirely under the guidance of Cardinal Cassa, a man of depraved character, who afterwards became pope, under the title of John XXIII. On him the horrible suspicion rests that lie poisoned Alexander V. when the pope could no longer be of service to the ambitious cardinal.

t For an account of Gerson, and the proceedings at Paris, the reader is referred to the introductory chapter of this book. John Charlier do Gerson was born in the year 1363, at Gerson, in the

APX'HBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

21

from the reformers of the sixteenth century, in that he held the necessity of a visible head of the Church. He addressed the English ambassadors in a sermon, which may still be read in his works. He chose the appropriate text, Hosea i. 11. It will amply repay the student who may be inclined to peruse it.

AYhether by accident or by design, the embassy from the Church of England did not reach Pisa before the Council was in session. Its arrival created a great sen- sation, and when the members of the synod went forth in solemn procession to meet our representatives, they were attended by the whole population. It must have been a splendid sight to see assembled under the dark blue Italian sky — in that lawn-like meadow which is sanctified by the Duomo, the Baptistry, the Campanile, and the Church of the Campo Santo — the representa- tives of all that Europe held of noble, and great, and godly. Such were those assembled, though they were intermingled — as in this world must always be the case — with what was base and sordid/"

diocese of Bheims, and was educated in the college of Xavarre at Paris, of which university he was chancellor in 1395. At the Councils of Eheims, Pisa, and Constance, he distinguished himself as a reformer. When the Council of Constance hroke up, in It 18, he did not venture to return to Paris, where the Duke of Bur- gundy was in power, hut travelled through Germany and Switzer- land, and at last settled at Lyons, where he died in 1429. His works are numerous, and the perusal of them is important to the nt who wishes to understand the feelings of the age. See Du Pin, Gersoniana, lib. iv., prefixed to his edition of Gerson's works; Herm. von der Hardl acilii Const.; and L'Enfant.

* The reader is referred to the following works for this interesting portion of history : — yetera Acta Concilii Pisani, et ad illud spec- tantia, in D'Achery. Spicilegio. t. i. pp. 803-S62 : Harduini Acta Concilior. vii. 1929-1962, and viii. 1-204 ; Bonifacii Ferrerii, Tract, pro Defensione Benedicti XIII., in Martene, Thesaur. ii. 1435 ; _:i Bracciolini, Historia Florentina, ed. Becanato, Yenet. 1715, 4to Theoduriei a Niem, Vita Johannis XXIII. in EL von der

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

22

LIVES OF THE

5-vfn ^^e cormptions of the Church were unmercifully

exposed, and let us hope that, by party feeling, they

Chicheiey. were exaggerated. The demand for a reformation in 1414-43. the head and members of the Church was reiterated. In the fifteenth session the two reigning popes were proved to be incorrigible heretics and obstinate schis- matics. They were deprived of all their ecclesiastical rights and dignities, and finally the two popes were solemnly excommunicated. On the 15th of June, the papacy being now vacant, the cardinals entered into conclave, and on the 26th of that month Peter Filargo, a native of Candia, was elected pope. From a Fran- ciscan prior Peter had risen to be Archbishop of Milan, and was at this time a cardinal. He was a good and pious, though, as the sequel proved, a weak man, un- fitted by age and character for the high post to which he was elevated as Alexander V.

Into a more detailed account of the Council of Pisa — a very inviting subject — I am prevented from entering, as Chicheiey bore only a subordinate part in the English embassy. Still it is important to observe the principles now asserted, as they are those to which Chicheiey had given a cordial assent ; and we may thus regard him as a reformer, though his notions of a reformation extended only to the discipline, and not at all to the doctrine of the Church.

The Bishop of St. David's soon after his consecration was involved in a lawsuit, the pleadings in which throw light on the manners and feelings of the age. The question arose whether the prebend in Salisbury conferred upon Chicheiey by Bishop Mitford, was not by his consecration ipso facto void. The king claimed

Hardt, Concil. Constant., t. ii. p. xv.; Joli. Gersonii, Be Modis unicndi et reformandi Ecclesiam in Concilio Universali, opp. t. ii. p. ii.; L'Enfant, llistoirc du Concilc do Pise ; Bollinger, iv. 148.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 23

to present to the stall as vacant, and a writ of qudre C1H.AP- impedii was directed against the Bishop of Salisbury -- — " (Hallam) and the Bishop of St. David s. The case was chic2;y. argued in the Michaelmas term, 1409. It was pleaded 1414-43.- by his counsel for Chicheley : " We continued in pos- >n of the prebend after Richard Hallam had received the temporalities at the hand of the king. Subsequently to which and before we were created Bishop of St. Davids, St. Peter the Apostle, reciting by his bulls, that we were elected Bishop of St. David's, granted us licence to enjoy all other benefices.' It was observed by Chief Justice Thirning, " The grant of the apostle cannot change the law of the land." Hankford, one of the counsel, replied, "Papa omnia potest" and referred to certain precedents. These precedents the Chief Justice refused indignantly to examine. " Neither," said he, " will I enter upon an abstract question as to the power of the apostle ; all I can say is, that I cannot see how he, by any bull of his, can change the law of England." In the course of the pleadings, Culpeper, another of the counsel for the Crown, referring to the statute law on the subject, remarks, '"'that the statute under consideration was enacted for the express purpose of protecting the king and other patrons in their rights, and of restraining the encroachments which the apostle makes against the law." The court was divided in opinion as to the treatment of the case, but the Chief Justice was deter- mined to uphold the common law of England against the encroachments of the apostle, and to maintain the right of patrons to present, non obstante any papal dispensation. After much discussion the counsel for the bishop, acting under his direction, gave way, and judgment was given for the Crown.""

* See Year-Book, Anno 11 Hen. IY. pp. 37, 59, 76. The reader

24 LIVES OF THE

chap. Chicheley had at this time, and probably during

■ the progress of the trial, determined to retire from the

chicSy. toils and anxieties of public life — and to retire to his uu-±3. "Welsh diocese, there to devote his mind to the sacred duties of his episcopal office. Under such circum- stances wealth would not be required, and he desired to free himself from those cares in which such a multi- plicity of preferments could not fail to involve him. He resolved to resign them all. But when he had determined upon this step, the business was again complicated by papal claims, opposed, as they were, both to the common and statute law of the realm. The dispensation to hold so many preferments in com- onendam had been granted by the pope, and by the pope the dispensation must be cancelled ; there was no diffi- culty in obtaining a bull to this effect, but to introduce that bull into England without the royal consent would subject the bishop to the penalties of the prae- munire. In consequence, a royal mandate was to be obtained, containing a non obstante clause with re- ference to the statute of praemunire.""' The bishop reserved to himself the right of nominating his succes- sors, that he might have the means of remunerating, before his retirement, his dependants and relations. The chancellorship of Salisbury he gave to William Chicheley, his nephew, who did honour to the appoint- ment.t

The bishop could not carry his intention to retire immediately into effect ; for, in the year 1410, he was again employed on a foreign embassy with Sir John Cheyne, Dr. Catryk, and Henry lord Beaumont, in

will remember that in all disputes the papal claims were put forth in the name of the Apostle Peter.

* Printed in the Foedera, viii. G32 (28th April, 1410).

f Pref. to Stem. Chichel. p. x.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 25

negotiating the continuance of a truce already existing Sym'

between this country and France/" The reader will

remember that, ever since the infraction of the treaty CMcheiey. of Bretigny, this country was at war with France. The i-tn-43, question now had not a reference to peace. The King of England, whether right or wrong, was a pretender to the French throne. When the French declared the treaty of Bretigny void, Edward III. reserved the title of King of France, which he had before set aside ; and although there was, from time to time, a suspension of arms, it was only through truces, in which the rights of either party were reserved. Throughout the nego- tiations in which Chicheley was concerned, Charles VI. was only spoken of as our Adversary of France, " Adversarium nostrum Franciae." It is not impro- bable that the rights of the respective sovereigns were mooted among the ambassadors, and that Chicheley had recourse to those arguments in relation to the Salic law, which Hall, the chronicler, on another occasion put into his mouth. It is certain that Chicheley took notes of what was said and done when he was engaged in this embassy.

At length the happy hour arrived when the Bishop of St. David's might visit his diocese. He repaired to St. David's in 1411, and on the 20th of May he was enthroned, t His residence was such as he desired ; not a castle with tower and moat, and frowning gate- way, but a mansion described as " unsurpassed by any English edifice of the kind," unpretending and com- fortable, yet perfectly secure, being situated in the midst of a fortified close.

On the death of Henry IV. however, Chicheley was recalled to the court. The young king, his successor,

* v

oedera, viii. 637 (20th May, 1410). f MS. Tanner, 146.

26

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry jChicheley.

1414-43.

was desirous of knowing the precise terms of the late truce with France, and having been informed that the Bishop of St. David's had taken notes of all the proceedings, summoned him into the royal presence. The clear-headedness, straightforward and business-like habits of Chicheley made a deep impression upon the observant mind of Henry ; and we may date from this time, a friendship between the prelate and the king, which terminated only with the royal hero's life.

That Chicheley did not urge the king to rush madly upon an invasion of France, is proved by the fact that, in conjunction with the Earl of Warwick and the Lord de la Zouch, he was despatched on an embassy suggested by himself, to the Duke of Burgundy, with a view of prolonging the truce.*

The Bishop of St. David's had once more determined on retirement from public life. The primacy became vacant in 1414 by the death of Archbishop Arundel. To Chicheley's mortification and surprise, a deputation waited upon him from the chapter of Canterbury, to say that he had been unanimously elected as Arundel's successor. Immediately on the late archbishop's death the king issued a conge d'elire to the chapter, accom- panied by a letter missive, requiring them to elect the Bishop of St. David's. The deputation now informed the bishop that they had immediately and unanimously obeyed the royal command ; and so popular was Chicheley, that, when to the crowd which filled the nave it was signified that Chicheley was to be the new archbishop, the announcement was received with enthusiastic applause.

There is a class of mind, not of veiy exalted cha- racter, which, when a man rejects the offer of high place in Church or State, looks out for some low and * Frcdera, ix. 34 (14th July, 1413).

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 27

sordid motive for the refusal. Others can suppose it *jaffiJ£

ible that Chicheley may have felt that " better is

a handful with quietness, than both hands full with chicheley. travail and vexation of spirit." 1414-43.

He reminded the deputation, in the usual form, that a bishop being wedded to his church, can only be divorced by a papal dispensation ; that for that dispensation they must postulate, and that in the population he would take no part. In the confused state of things at that time in the Church, there was always a chance that there might at any time be a hitch in the appointment. The chapter claimed to elect, the king claimed to nominate, the pope claimed to translate by provision. The chapter denied the right of the Crown to nominate, the Crown denied the right of the chapter to elect or the pope to pro- vide. All parti ^g their own rights, yielded to the kino- when the government was strong. And so now the election took place on the 4th of March, under a conge del ire from the king, the king's nominee being elected. The royal assent to the election was given on the 23d of March. The bull of provision was issued on the 27th of April. The temporalities were restored by the king on the 30th of May. The pall was delivered to the primate by the bishops of Winchester and Norwich on the 24th of July/'

The celebrated Lyndwood, in dedicating the Provin- ciale to Archbishop Chicheley, styles him, by the grace of God, Archbishop of Canterbury ; and Soruner shows that the same style had been used by his predecessor Ethelhard, six hundred years before. By degrees the form " by the grace of God " was confined to kings, and the style of our archbishops was changed into by Divine evidence or by Divine But still arch-

* Reg. Ckich. foL 2 ; Hardy's Le Xeve.

28

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. | XVIII.

Henry

Chicheley.

14H-43.

bishops and dukes retained the form when addressed, and were entitled each to be called, your Grace."''

In what remains to be said of Chicheley, we shall present him to the reader, first as a statesman, and then in the character in which he is still revered, that of a munificent prelate.

I. When Chicheley was first called to the councils of King Henry V. the country, through the bad govern- ment of Eichard II. and the weak government of Henry IV. had been reduced to a condition the most deplorable. Discontent was universal. The merchants complained that the coasts were infested by French privateers and pirates. The inland trade was impeded by robbers, who were too often supported by profligate young nobles, who shared in the spoils, and sometimes, for a freak, joined in these acts of aggression. The nobles themselves were a constant terror to the king. Never since the reign of Stephen had they been more powerful, and not even in Stephen's day were they so independent of the government. They were almost irresistible ; for they no longer consisted of numerous small barons, acting independently, and warring upon one another : the power was now in the hands of a few great earls, who overawed the lesser barons, and in whose service those barons were often contented to hold subordinate offices.

These nobles, approaching to the position, in modern times, of the petty princes of Germany, became the more powerful, from the insecure basis on which the throne itself stood. The people had acquiesced in the will of the parliament— though it was a parliament clad in armour — when the crown was given to the popular Henry of Bolingbroke. But though Henry

* Seo Somner (ed. Battely), p. 136; and Seidell's Titles of Honor (ed. 1G31), part i. chap. vii. sect. 2, an interesting chapter.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 29

was a member of the house of Cerdic, and although Syf^' the rights of primogeniture were not fully established — — ■ except among the heralds, the kings of the house of chicheky. Lancaster were quite aware that, if they lost their 1414-43. popularity, the claims of the Earl of March to the throne on the ground of hereditary right, would alter the complexion of any resistance offered to their government, and afford a plea to rebels for assuming the title of patriots. It was this feeling which para- lysed the strong arm of Henry IV., and it was by the cares that came upon him from this state of affairs, that he was brought to an untimely grave.

To add to the difficulties of the government, lollard- ism, which, under Wiclif, had been a religious move- ment, and had scarcely developed itself into a sect, had now become a political faction. With the cant of religion on the lips of many who were hypocrites, and with the real feelings of religion inflamed into fanati- cism in others, all discontent now assumed the name of lollardism ; and among the aristocracy there were some who, incapable of distinction, when a competition among their equals was high, sought the pabulum for their vanity in the plaudits of puritanism.

At the head of the lollards, in this reign, was Sir John Oldcastle, who, in right of his wife's barony, claimed to be called Lord Cobham. He was, as Lord Cobham, in a disputable if not a false position, a position no longer in any way recognised by the con- stitution. A man in such a position, aspiring to the dignities of the aristocracy, but looked down upon by the ancient aristocrats, was sure to be discontented, and was prepared to place himself at the head of a dis- contented faction. He is regarded by some as a saint, and of his secret piety it is impossible for us to speak ; we can only hope and, in the absence of proof, believe,

30

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

that he was a good man. The facts of his life, as revealed in history, present him to us simply as a demagogue. We have seen, in the life of Arundel, that he endured hardship for the sake of his principles or his vanity. His conduct at that time, and when he was under examination, whether regarded as insolent or as courageous, according to the standing-point from which his character is viewed, rendered it impossible for the authorities not to commit him to the Tower. But, whether from pity or from policy, the king and i^he archbishop are supposed to have connived at the escape of one with whom they found it difficult to deal. * At all events, his escape from the Tower was effected ; and he fled to Wales, the fastnesses of which were at this period of our history the usual receptacle for the dis- contented. In the lovely vallies of Wales, amid scenes which raise the mind from the contemplation of nature up to the worship of nature's God, the fervour of piety might be freely indulged by those who viewed with contempt the ceremonial which, with the same object in view, was now assuming an unwonted splendour in the newly-built cathedrals by which England was adorned. But Oldcas tie's piety was not satisfied with security ; his principles were to be propagated. Charity required that the weaker professors of godliness should be pro- tected, and that the magistrates, regarded as persecutors, should be restrained if not coerced. A proclamation already issued against the lollards by Henry V., their

* According to the belief of some of his contemporaries, he was supposed to he indebted for his escape to demoniacal agency : —

u Has capit inducias in turri Londoniarum ; Eumpens vincla fugit dsemonis artis ope. I line antris latitat clam perquirendo favorem, In Lavacri luce concipiendo dolum."

Elmham, p. 97.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 31

keen opponent, rendered it important to show that no xvul persecutions would avail against those who predicated "^"v_w godliness exclusively of themselves, and who regarded Chickeiey. the rest of the world as nefarii et perditi homines. m4-43- In the year preceding Chicheley's translation to the primacy, Sir John Oldcastle, lord Cobham, was in open rebellion.

The most alarming reports reached the metropolis. Oldcastle was said to be marching upon London at the head of twenty-five thousand men. The army, or mob, increased as it advanced — crescit eunclo. It was announced, that the intention was to capture the king, to put his present counsellors to the sword, to constitute Oldcastle his minister, — and to make Oldcastle, in short, de facto king. It had always been the policy, in all risings of the people, to distinguish between the king and his ministers. But there was now on the throne a man determined to ride as well as to reign.

\Yhen the news of the insurrection reached London, the king was at Eltham. He was quite unprepared for resistance. He had no standing army. He could not summon his nobles immediately to his rescue. Many of them were engaged in protecting their own domains. His own retainers could not, on a sudden, be assembled in any great numbers. It was by no means certain how far he would be supported by the Londoners. AVithin the city the lollards were sure to find many sympathisers, though, to defend their property, the citizens might be induced to resist them.

But with the determination and discretion by which he was characterised in after life, the young king immediately removed to Westminster. He could not trust himself within the walls of the city; but he gave orders that the gates should be closed and guarded.

32

LIVES OF THE

chap. The king was informed, that a communication had

— , — . been opened between some of the discontented in the

ChicTeiey. C^J S^L neighbourhood of London, and the lollards

1414-43. now in open rebellion. He discovered that Ficket

Fields was to be the rendezvous : a well-chosen spot,

lying in the suburbs of St. Giles's.

Henry ordered his friends to arm, and to meet him at night, when they would receive his orders. At night they came ; and the king stated it to be his intention to make an immediate attack upon the enemy. The future hero was as yet untried as well as young, and some presumed to tender their advice, that he should wait until he could muster his troops, or at all events till break of day, — in order that he might then discover who, among the assembled people, would be willing, when appealed to, to give him their support. But Henry V. was born to command. He had summoned his friends not to give him counsel, but to obey his orders. There must be no delay. He was the more urgent for immediate measures; for, while to the sordid among the lollards the plunder of the castles of the nobles and the mansions of the merchants was held out to encourage them to acts of violence, as in the case of Wat Tyler's insurrection, the more sincere and determined among the religionists were lured to the attack upon London and Westminster, by the prospect held forth of a conflagration of St. Paul's Cathedral and of Westminster Abbey.

The king gave the word of command. His troops marched, in the middle of the night, in silence to St. Giles's, with the object of anticipating the projected movement on the following day.

Only a few of the malcontents had assembled: These were asked the reason of their being at this place at this time of night, and they gave answer that they

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 33

Sf for Lord Cobhani. Thev were imme- diately seized and imprisoned. The captured persons,

Henry

in great alarm, made a full confession of the treasonable Chicheiey. designs of the lollard party. The decided measures 1^-43. in a night attack, adopted by the king, spread dismay among the insurgents. They fled, and the kings troops were employed not so much in fighting as in pursuing them and making them prisoners. The con- duct of the king, considering the character of the times, when death was the penalty for almost every offence however trivial, was merciful. Some of the prisoners were executed, but the greater number were pardoned. When we remember, that after Wat Tyler's insurrection there were 1,500 executions throughout the country, we must admit that the lollards were dealt with more leniently than we should have expected. Cobham, for the second time, made his escape.*

That the lollards, though hostile to the Church, were regarded, at this time, chiefly as enemies to the State, may be seen from the proclamation which offered a reward for the apprehension of Sir John Oldcastle, — so styled, and not Lord Cobham. After a brief allusion to the heretical tenets of the lollards, Sir John and his party are condemned for attempting the destruction of the king's person, and the estates of the lords and magnates of the realm, t

On the 28th of March, another proclamation]: was

* At a later period, according to Otterbourne and "Walsingham, when Henry was employed in his wars abroad, Cobham entered into a treasonable correspondence with the Scots, and invited them to invade England. This statement is fully confirmed by the various items of information which the reader will find in tbe Pari. Eolls.

t The proclamation may be found in Fcedera, ix. 89 (11th Jan. 1113-14). I had translated it, but it is too long for transcription, as it only indirectly concerns Chicheiey.

X Fcedera, ix. 119.

VOL. V. D

34 LIVES OF THE

5vfn' issued, granting a general amnesty to all who, before the

~ feast of St. John Baptist, should apply for pardon, with

Chicheiey. twelve exceptions, and among them of course Sir John •1414-43. Oldcastle. Another proclamation appeared on the 20th of May,* which is interesting from the circum- stance, that the occupations of the leading persons concerned in lollardy are given : there were as many clergymen as goldsmiths, plumbers, fleshers, coopers, weavers, hosiers, and honey-mongers. A further pro- clamation appeared in November, — all tending to show the great reluctance of the Government to have recourse to extreme measures. In the latter it is expressly charged upon the lollards, that they had determined to put to death the peers, the prelates, and other magnates of the land, and to constitute John Oldcastle, of Couling, in the county of Kent, regent of the realm.t Into the history of this in- surrection I have entered at some length, because it bears indirectly upon an important part of Chicheiey 's history.

The chronicler, Halle, writing in the reign of Henry

* Fcedera, ix. 129.

f Ibid. ix. 170 (6th Nov. 1414). Oldcastle remained in con- cealment, and lived as an outlaw, until the year 1417. Parliament was sitting at that time, and as soon as it was reported that the common enemy was taken, it was agreed that parliament should not he dissolved until he were brought to his trial. On his trial, he was condemned as a traitor, and excommunicated as a heretic. The terrible sentence was pronounced that for his treason he should be hanged, and for heresy be burned. I am aware that Oldcastle is regarded as a Protestant martyr ; the authorities generally being Bale and Foxe. Bale's account of him may be seen in the second volume of the Harleian Miscellany. "Foul-mouthed Bale," as he is called by Anthony Wood, was not more tolerant than Foxe towards those from whom he differed. I have only given the facts as they occur in Walsingham, and the contemporary authorities.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 35

VIIL, asserts that, in the parliament which met at S5J™

Leicester on the 30th of April, the lollards were all —

powerful ; that they proposed to confiscate the pro- chie2y. perry of the Church for the service of the king and 1414-43. his nobles : and that to avert this evil Chicheley, with Machiavellian policy, proposed the French war.

Now, it is to be observed that, although it is true that the parliament did not meet till the 30th of April, yet the writs to summon it were, nevertheless, issued on the 29th of January ; that is to say, they were issued at the very time, when London and West- minster were in a state of disturbance. The parliament was summoned to meet, not at Westminster as was usual, but at Leicester, evidently because it was inex- pedient if not dangerous, at that time, to invite a large concourse of people to the metropolis threatened by the lollards.

When the parliament at last was opened at Leicester, what were the first measures adopted \ Precisely those which we should have expected. A statute against the lollards was introduced, not by the clergy, but by the laity, alarmed, as all men were, at the late pro- ceedings in London. At the very time when, accord- ing to Halle, who wrote at the end of the reign of Henry VIIL, the lollards were introducing a Bill to rob the clergy, an act of parliament was actually passed for "the extirpation of the heretics called lollards." The chancellor, the treasurer, the justices of one bench or of the other, justices of peace, sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, and other officers, within their re- spective jurisdictions, were armed with extraordinary powers for the express purpose of suppressing the lollards. The punishment for the first offence was comparatively light, but a relapsed heretic was to be

D 2

36

LIVES OF THE

xvm hanged for treason against the king, and then burned

Henry

for heresy against God.* An act was also passed ChYcheiey. against riotous meetings and unlawful assemblies : 1414-43. rioters, attainted of great and heinous riots, were to suffer one year's imprisonment, without bail or main- prize ; and those who were found guilty of lesser riots were to suffer imprisonment as long as the king and his council should think fit.

The clergy were not particularly influential in this parliament, or, if they were, they saw the wisdom of yielding to public opinion. A measure was adopted against one of the crying evils of the day — the encroachments of the spiritual courts upon the rights and jurisdiction of the courts of the king. As the clergy were retiring from the common law courts, driven out by lay lawyers, they were endeavouring to enlarge the powers of the ecclesiastical courts ; and an act was now passed to make the court Christian subordinate, in certain respects, to civil courts of the realm.t

There is no record of any speech made by Chichelcy at this parliament ; we search for it in vain in the rolls of parliament, and in the history of the Privy Council. Walsingham and Hardynge and other con- temporary writers are silent upon the subject. And as for Chicheley's advising, in this imaginary speech, and in this conservative parliament, a war with France to counteract the machinations of the lollards, who had just rendered themselves odious to the great body of the nobles, and particularly to the king, we can prove the negative ; for we happen to know that, nine months before the meeting of parliament,

* Statutes at Large, 2 Hen. V. Stat. i. c. 7. t Ibid. c. 3.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 3 /

that is, in August, 1413, the war with France was chap regarded as a thing inevitable. ' • — - — -

It is to be remarked, in justice to Chicheley, that chicheiey. if he was animated by a strong spirit of hostility to 1 414-43. the lollards, which we do not deny, he certainly was not more so than were the lay nobles of the day, and perhaps much less so than the great king himself. Among the episcopal statesmen there was not to be found one more zealous in the cause of what he regarded as orthodoxy, than King Henry V. His zeal in the cause of the Church he evinced, as we have already seen, even while he was only Prince of Wales : and it certainly did not diminish, when he became King. Short as his reign was. and hard pressed as he was for money, he found time and means to found three monasteries ; two of them for Augustins and Carthusians near his palace at Sheen. To West- minster Abbey he was a benefactor so liberal as to evoke expressions of gratitude from his anonymous panegyrist ; and on all occasions he went out of his way to set an example to his people of devotion in his religious duties. t

There may be a controversy between party zeal and Christian charity, as to whether Henry was animated by a spirit of superstition or of piety. On such a point the Searcher of hearts can alone decide, and the final

* Xo notice would have been taken of what was adduced by Halle, for a display of his own rhetoric, if such splendid use of it had not been made by Shakspeare in the first scene of Henry V. In Henry VIII. 's time Halle, a staunch pxotestant, supposed Chicheley to have been influenced by those sectarian feelings, which, though in an opposite direction, influenced himself. But this was an anachronism. Chicheley took the political, not the sectarian view of the subject, which had not yet come into existence, or existed only, except among the lollards, in a slight degree.

f See Versus Ehythmici de Hen. V. 69—73.

38

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

judgment will be given before a tribunal, at which, the judgment of those courts below, at which spiritual pride presides, will often be reversed.

That Chicheley, however, was a decided advocate for the war is certain ; and that he may have supported it, at some period of his life, by arguments now held in- sufficient and weak, is highly probable. In the pro- gress of civilization and under a purer form of Christianity, when a character for philanthropy has a marketable value, we have been taught to regard war as, at all times, a calamity ; and, except when it is unavoidable, as a sin. In the days of Chicheley it was looked upon by some, as an aristocratic pastime ; by others, as a means, through the ransoming of prisoners, of amassing fortunes in a manner more honourable than by trade ; and even philanthropy had this to say, that, by service in war, the serf might be freed from bondage, and the son of the villain might become a gentleman.

Chicheley would have none of that horror of war which, even in modern times, has sometimes been overcome by an ambition on the part of the young to achieve the honours, which a state of warfare still holds out. With Chicheley and those who discussed subjects of war with him, the question of policy and expediency could alone be broached.

They looked to the state of England. The whole country was as a barrel of gunpowder, and an accidental spark might, at any moment, cause an explosion. The peace of the country only existed in the fact, that no leader of importance was, at this time, prepared to raise the standard of revolt. The standard once raised, hundreds were prepared to rally around it ; and if a civil war was begun, who could say where it would end ? The Lancastrian king only remained upon his

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 39

throne in peace, because the Earl of March was not Sym strong enough to contend with him ; and because also -^ —

o o * _ Henry

there were so many nobles with royal blood in their CMcheJey. veins, that each thought, if the present dynasty was i^u-is. overthrown, he might have a chance of obtaining the crown. They were lukewarm on the question of legi- timacy; while the people at large admitted the right of the parliament to remove the crown from an unworthy head, and to assign it to any member of the royal house.

It had strongly forced itself upon the sagacious mind of Henry IV., that the only way to avert the threatening miseries of a civil war — for such a war, war on Eng- lish soil, was, even then, regarded as a calamity, — was by finding warlike employment for the discontented of all classes of the community in foreign parts. He knew the love of the English for military glory ; and he felt sure, that the return of a conqueror to England would do more to consolidate the Lancastrian dynasty, than any political measures, however wisely conceived or really beneficial they might be. Among the last in- junctions of the late king to his son was one to this effect.

The war policy was an inheritance. Of peace no advocate was to be found among the counsellors of the king. The simple question was, against whom should the war be waged. Henry IV., from an early period of his life, had dreamed of a crusade ; and at his last hour, the name of Jerusalem still lingered on his lips. But the age of crusades had long since passed away; and we always seek in vain to resuscitate an extinct enthusiasm. To revive the past in the pre- sent or the future is an expectation sure to fail. A small party there was, which would have carried out the sound policy of Edward I., and have rendered the British island an impregnable fortress, by uniting the two kingdoms of which it was comprised under one sovereign.

40

LIVES OF THE

xviu' -^ut ^° tne maj01'ity °f tne nation, the barren hills of

Scotland did not offer that attraction, which was pro-

Chichekiy. vided for the plunderer, whether patrician or plebeian,

1414-43.

in the fertile plains and in the wealthy towns of France. The glories of the last Edward's reign still lingered in men's minds ; while the attendant sufferings and the consequent miseries of the war had long since been forgotten. Poor knights had returned home laden with spoil, and scarcely a habitation was found, which was not adorned with articles of French industry and taste. Barons loved to recount the gallant actions of their fathers, and pointed to the coffers, now nearly ex- hausted, which had once been replenished by the ransoms paid by captured lords and princes. The serfs who had followed their lords to battle, were now liveried retainers in their halls ; or had become bandits in the woods and forests, eager to resume a course of life which they thought to be more honourable. The towns on the sea-coast were in a state of insecurity ; the very Channel was filled with French privateers and pirates ; for although there was a truce between Eng- land and France, yet, as has been before remarked, between the two countries no peace existed.

The question before Chicheley and the council did not, indeed, relate to peace ; we were already at war with France, and the point to be decided was, whether we should or should not, instead of putting off the day of battle by truces badly kept, prosecute the war with vigour.

That Henry had less claim to the throne of France than his great-grandfather, Edward III., is, with our modern notions of hereditary right, quite clear ; and to say this, is to say that his claim was less than nothing."'5"

* Isabel, the mother of Edward III., was the daughter of Philip

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 41

Even if we were to admit the justice of Edward's £vni claim, in right of his descent, through Queen Isabel, — ,— from Philip IV. ; yet, at this time, the representative chicSy. of Edward and his mother was the Earl of March. We 1414-43. may contend, that his rights might be set aside by an English parliament in respect to the English crown : but even then, the parliament of England could not interfere with any rights and privileges which he might enjoy in France. But this was not the view taken by Chicheley and the advocates on the side of Henry. By the Lancastrians it was held that Richard II., in his resignation, had yielded all his rights, not only as king, but also as the head of the royal family : and it was maintained, that these, in their completeness, had been conferred by the nation on Henry of Bolingbroke and his heirs. It was to be added, that this transfer of the inheritance had been acquiesced in by the Earl of

the Fair. The sons of Philip were Louis X., Philip, and Charles TV., who all of them, in succession, occupied the French throne, and all of them also died without male issue. Edward claimed the crown of France, as the next male heir, in the right of Isabel his mother, on the supposition that the Salic Law, though depriving females of the succession, was of no effect in regulating the male issue of such females. But, conceding this point, Edward had no right to the throne ; for Jane, daughter of Louis X., became, by her husband Philip of Evreux, the mother of Charles the Bad, king of Xavarre. And Charles's claim was superior to that of Edward, on Edward's own principle, as a male descendant, through a female, of a later king of France, Charles being the grandson of Louis X., and Edward the grandson of Philip IV., the father of Louis X. The claim of Charles, again, was inferior to that of Philip, son of Eudes, fourth duke of Burgundy, by his wife Jane, daughter of Philip Y, brother and successor of Louis X.; while Philip's claim would thus have been admissible, as Blanche, the daughter of Charles IY., brother and successor of Philip Y., died without issue by her husband Philip, duke of Orleans, son of Philip VI., king of France. The title of King of France was retained by the kings of England until renounced by George III.

42 LIVES OF THE

xvm' Marcn liimself. Henry, therefore, might regard himself — . — as having inherited every right, privilege, and preroga- cincheiey. tive which had, at any time, pertained to his prede- 1414-43. cessors, the kings of England. Then, as to the casus belli, this is so fairly stated by a French writer, in praise of whose candour too much cannot be said, that his argument shall here be given. After the violation of the treaty of Bretigny by Charles V., there was a renewal of the war between England and France. " This second war," it is observed, " was interrupted by a truce, which continued till the death of Edward in 1377. During the reign of Eichard II. and the remainder of Charles V.'e life, and the first years of Charles VI., war and peace followed each other in quick succession, without any important or decided advantage on either side. At last Eichard II. and Charles VI. concluded, not a peace, but a truce, for twenty-eight years, which was ratified by the marriage of Eichard with Charles's daughter, Isabel. From the deposition of Eichard to the death of Henry IV., notwithstanding frequent violations of the truce, both sides maintained that it still subsisted. Such was the state of the two crowns when Henry of Monmouth ascended the throne. France, having broken the treaty of Bretigny, and maintaining that the treaty was void, the kings of England were evidently reinstated in all their rights, such as they were before the peace. On this principle, immediately after the disclaiming of that peace on the part of France, Edward III. resumed the title of king of France, which he had previously laid aside ; and his successors assumed it also. Since the commencement of the war which followed the peace of Bretigny, there never had been peace between the crowns, but only truces, which do not affect the rights of either party. It is evident, therefore, that, when he ascended the

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 43

throne, Henry V. found himself under precisely the ^H.AP- same circumstances in point of right in which his — ~- ^grandfather, Edward III., had been eighty years before, chiSSj. when by him the first war was commenced Besides hi 4-43. which, Henry had to allege a solemn treaty, which, after it had been unequivocally acted upon, France broke on a most trifling pretext." *

At a time when too many of our own authors think it necessary, sometimes without examining the subject, to indulge in inconsiderate declamations against the great and good king Henry and his ministers, it is pleasant to read the candid and dispassionate statement of the learned French writer. I thiuk it most probable that the view taken of the subject by Edward and Henry was, that as there were several parties who had equal, or nearly equal, claims to the crown of France, they might all contend for a prize, which was to be won by the strongest arm and the clearest head.

When it was finally determined that no truce with France should again be made, Chicheley was equally zealous and successful in his endeavours to raise the necessary funds. From the clergy he obtained a sub- sidy of twopence, The payment of Peter pence to the Roman treasury was suspended under the plea, urged at the late synod, that pending the Schism, it was not known who the St. Peter was, to whom the money was legally due. Chicheley collected the tax, and devoted it to the service of the king. A precedent was set by Chicheley of the confiscation of monastic property to the service of the state. The possessions of the alien priories were sold, as belonging to foreigners hostile to the King of England ; and they were forfeited to the

* "Abrege Historique des Actes Publics d'Angleterre," which accompanies the foreign edition of Rymer.

44 LIVES OF THE

chap. Crown.* At a later period of the reign, the archbishop,

^J~ with the bishops of Winchester and Durham and Sir

r3^7 John Kothenhale, were formed into a Commission to

Cmcneley.

1414-43. receive the profits arising from wardships, and the marriages of wards of the Crown ; these were applied to the expenses of the war.t Chicheley went further. While the army was fighting the battles of the country abroad, it was necessary to form a militia for the protection of the coast. The clergy of the diocese of Canterbury undertook to protect, at his requisition, the south coast, and the example of the primate was followed by his suffragans, who were required by the king to array the clergy for the defence of the king- dom.J While Chicheley was at the head of the Government, equal zeal was shown by the laity.

The parliamentary grants were liberal. Meantime the king's eye was everywhere, from Land's End to the mountains of Wales, and from the South Coast to the marches of Scotland. For the defence of the East and West marches of Scotland, two hundred lances and four hundred archers were despatched ; and for the defence of North and South Wales, one hun- dred lances and two hundred archers. The sea-coast was to be watched by a navy, doubled in its number of ships, and by one hundred and fifty lances and three hundred archers. In addition to these, which may be regarded as the regular troops, the peers were em- powered to call out the militia of the several counties ; and the archbishop, as we have seen, formed the clergy

* The property of those of the alien priories which had already shaken off their dependence upon Norman abbeys, and, by electing their own head, had become independent monasteries, was spared.

t Fcedera, ix. 322 (28 Nov. 1415). This is one of the earliest instances of treating the property of the Crown as public property.

X Fcedera, ix. 253 (28th May, 1415), where the proclamation for arraying the clergy is given.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 45

into volunteer corps, diligent in practising at the butt.* char

Never were the bowmen of England more numerous \

or more skilled. To assist in the transport of the clJce^v troops, ships were hired from Holland and Zealand ; 1414-43. and, for the first time, the Government, not content with pressing into the public service the ships of the merchants, determined on having a navy of its own. Henry was a ship-builder throughout his reign ; and not only sailors but smiths and carpenters were pressed for the king's service, that the knights might be sup- plied with armour, and that the bows of the archers might be kept in repair. Xot only were the usual engines of war placed on board the ships, but several cannons of unusual size, called bombards ; to work which gunners were procured from Germany.

Great activity was shown in the commissariat de- partment. The sheriffs of the different counties were employed in the purchase of cattle ; and the bakers and brewers of Southampton and Winchester were working night and day. The whole country was on the tiptoe of expectation.

The Duke of Bedford was appointed lieutenant of the kingdom during the absence of the king; but Chichelev was placed at the head of the Council. From the commencement of the reign, Chicheley had been chief adviser of the king, and now he was constituted, in modern parlance, the prime-minister.t Although the expenses of acting on the Council must

* The rate of pay is worthy of notice. A duke employed in the service -was to receive thirteen shillings and fourpence ; an earl received six shillings and eightpence ; a haron, four shillings ; a knight, two shillings ; an esquire, heing a man-at-arms, one shilling ; every archer, sixpence a day. For every thirty men-at-arms, the sum of one hundred marks a quarter was assigned. Fcedera* ix. 828 29th April, 1415).

t Fcedera, ix. 223 (18th April 1415).

46

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

have been considerable, yet the services of the primate were, like those of his predecessors, gratuitous till the year 1426. In that year, an order of council assigned salaries to the privy councillors, the salary of Chicheley amounting to three hundred marks. This measure indi- cated a social change. So long as the council was confined to ecclesiastics remunerated by Church pre- ferment, or by the first nobles of the land, no payment was necessary ; but a salary became requisite, when kings were obliged to look to talent rather than to birth ; and when many men of talent declined taking holy orders or to subject themselves to the restraints of ecclesiastical life. For a long period, as we shall find in Henry VIII.'s reign, the public servants were inadequately paid, and persons of inferior station were employed in diplomacy.

Just before the fleet sailed from Southampton, the archbishop waited upon the king to receive his last commands, and to confer his benediction upon the armament. Henry was not a man to think scorn of any of the forms of religion, or to undervalue a bishop's blessing. He was accustomed to confess every week, and, hidden from public view in the royal closet — such as may still be seen in St. George's Chapel — he was accustomed to frequent the daily service of the Church ; making it a rule to come before the service commenced, and not, as the custom with some had been, to leave church before it was over.* * " Hex in divinis fore devotus perhibetur,

Et caput et finis inter divina tenetur.

Qualibet hebdomada culpas confessio mundat,

Et sic multimoda virtus regalis abundat.

Dum missas audit ilium clam cellula claudit ;

Dulciter implorat, tunc et devotius orat.

Externas curas, praesentes sive futuras

Tunc non disponit, in Christo spem quia ponit."

Versus Rhythmici de Henrico (t)uinto, 91 — 98.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 47

pensive when Chicheiey approached him on the 10th day of August, 1415. He had already,

on the 24th of July, executed his will,* and had chicheiey. requested the archbishop to act as one of his executors, hi 4-43. He now informed him that, as a mark of his friend- ship, he had bequeathed to the primate a crimson embroidered velvet robe.

It was a splendid sight which met the eye of Chicheiey, as he looked proudly from the shore upon the fleet, which transported the army of England to the Continent. The formation of a fleet had occupied the mind of the king for some time ; and although some vessels of small craft were employed, there were ships also of considerable dimensions. We have an account of a ship built at Bayonne at Henry's expense, which was one hundred and eighty-six feet in length. The stern was in height ninety-six feet, and the keel was in length one hundred and twelve feet.t But the grandest ship of all which sailed that day, was the ship on which the royal standard was hoisted.

This was the most brilliant, if not the happiest, period of Chicheley's life. J Nevertheless, the anxiety must have been intense to the Home Government, when the country was drained of its able-bodied men, who had been enlisted to serve in the king's army abroad. In the event of any casualty occurring to the king, the country might be invaded from three quarters at once — from Scotland, from Wales, and from France. Its main defence would lie with the

* Fcedera, ix. 289.

f Ellis's Letters, Second Series, xxi.

X In the parliament of 1415 it was enacted that, "Considering the damnable schism between the two popes at Eome, all bishops elect, and other persons, should be confirmed by their own metro- politans, upon the king's writ, without further excuse or delay." — Pari Hist. i. 332 (ed. 1S0G).

48 LIVES OF THE

Yvfrr' volunteers, consisting chiefly, as we have seen, of

clergy? an(i °f a militia formed by the superannuated ;

Chicheiey. together with the small body of disciplined troops, 1414-43. posted at the points of attack, sufficient to defend the country under ordinary circumstances, yet utterly inadequate to resist such a force as might be allied against England, in the event of her army being destroyed in France. The consolation was that civil disturbances were not now to be apprehended, since the discontented had, in large numbers, joined the forces of the king.

With intense anxiety did the Government, over which Chicheiey presided, wait for intelligence with respect to the safe transport of the troops. How natural such anxiety was, we may easily imagine, when we read that the forces were embarked at Southampton in 1,500 ships of various tonnage. Upon the winds and the waves, as much as upon human skill, the safety of the army depended. The weather was watched, and great was the satisfaction experienced by all parties at home, when the news arrived, that, on the 13th of August, after a safe passage of two days, the fleet had entered the mouth of the Seine, and had anchored at a place called Clef de Caus, between Honfleur and Harfleur. This news was fol- lowed by the announcement that, on the 18 th of that month, the siege of Harfleur had commenced. The high expectations of the people in England were, however, damped by parties arriving from the camp, through whom it was reported, that the resistance offered by the enemy was such as to render a pro- tracted siege unavoidable ; and fears were now enter- tained lest, from the condition of the army, weakened by an epidemic, the king would be compelled to raise the siege. Among those who perished through the pre-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 40

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry

valent dysentery was Courtenay, bishop of Norwich,* a personal friend of the king, by whom the dying bishop was nursed with all a brother's affection and chichefey. a nurse's care. But almost immediately after the last m piece of intelligence, the Government was calling upon the people to return thanks to God for the success of the royal army in the capture of the beleaguered city. On the 18th of September the belligerents came to terms, and on Sunday, the 22d, the town was sur- rendered. Seated on a throne, erected under a silk pavilion on a hill opposite the city, the king received the homao-e of the governor and other chief inha- bitants, the holy sacrament being borne in procession before them, that on it they might swear to keep the treaty. The king, having reproached them for having

* Kichard Courtenay was the son of Philip Courtenay, of Powder- ham, "by his wife Margaret, daughter of Humphrey, earl of Hereford. He was the godson of Archbishop Courtenay ; who bequeathed him 100/. and his hooks if he became a clergyman, and his best mitre if he happened to he a bishop. He was educated at Exeter College, and held the office of Chancellor of the University in 1 6 1 1 and in 1612. He graduated in laws, and became an eminent lawyer. But though practising as a lawyer, he sought his income in the Church. On the 24th of July, 1394, he was a prebendary of St. Paul's, and soon after obtained prebends in Lincoln, York, and "Wells. In 1400 according to Le Xeve, in 1397 according to Dallaway, he was pre- centor of Chichester. In February, 1409-10, he was collated to the archdeaconry of Northampton. He obtained the deanery of St. Asaph in May, 1402, and in 1410 he was removed to the deanery of Wells. In the meantime he was empkwed in secular appoint- ments. In 1406 he was one of the embassy which attended Philippa, the daughter of Henry IV., to Denmark, where she was married to King Eric at Lunden. He was consecrated to the see of Norwich at Windsor on the 17th September, 1413. He was employed in 1414 in the embassy to France, to demand the French crown. He died of dysentery at the siege of Harfleur, on the loth September, 1415, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. — Fuller. English Chron. 34, 180. Le Neve. Stubbs.

VOL. V. E

50

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry

Chicheley.

1414-43.

kept his own town from him, now offered them his forgiveness ; and then entertained them hospitably at a royal banquet. Those of the inhabitants who refused their allegiance to Henry, were regarded as prisoners of war, but were kindly treated, though they were obliged to quit the town. To re-people it immigrants were invited from England. Thus was borne in mind one object of the war, which was to provide employment for those who were unable to find work, and were therefore ready for mischief at home.

The enthusiasm of the people was great. The times of Edward III. had now returned. Immense booty had been taken. To Chicheley and the Council it was a real relief to hear of the enormous treasures, which had been secured by the king, and which he had appropriated to the public service.

But what the enemy could not accomplish was soon to be effected by the unsubdued energy of an epidemic. The army was fearfully diminished by the dysentery. Further military operations, at that late season of the year, with an army so weakened, could not be attempted. Notice came therefore to the Government, that the king would winter in England. But how to get to England was the question. The gallant navy which had con- veyed the troops to Harfleur had been dispersed. The king had no choice left him, therefore, but to make for his town of Calais. But to reach Calais he would have to pass through Normandy — that is, through a hostile country into which Chicheley and the Government knew well, that the enemy was pouring an overwhelm- ing force. It was soon known in England that the king, having garrisoned Harfleur, had left that town on the 8th of October. The archbishop and the Home Government calculated, that the whole army consisted of not more than nine thousand men ; some, perhaps

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 51

correctly, gave the number as six thousand. News 5vni"

came that our " Adversary of France," Charles VI. had

unfurled the Oriflamme ; and that, with a well-appointed chicSy. army, consisting of fourteen thousand men at arms, the 1414-43. march of the English kino; was to be arrested.

It was an awful crisis. There seemed to be scarcely a chance for the little army of Henry. If he were defeated, fourteen thousand men were ready to pour down on the English coast. For such a contingency the countiy was unprepared ; and Chicheley felt, that the whole responsibility rested on him, for he had no con- fidence in the Duke of Bedford, who, though he after- wards proved himself to be second only, as a general, to Henry V. himself, was, as yet, an untried man.

The gloom, however, was dispelled as by a miracle. On Tuesday, the 29th of October, at an early hour, the news reached Chicheley at Lambeth, that the battle of Agincourt had been fought and won j and the grati- tude of the people displayed itself in spontaneous religious processions. The official despatches did not arrive till the 4th of November, when the Duke of Bedford announced formally to parliament what ap- peared to the members as a twice-told, though certainly not a tedious, tale. There had been a shout of joy throughout the land — the louder from the fears which were before entertained for the safety of the king and his army. The French, it was said, had been as six to one against the English, and henceforth a superstition prevailed, which, to the disquiet of cosmopolitan liberalism, still lingers in the land, that one Englishman is a match for six Frenchmen.

The primate, as the head of the Council, received intelligence that the victorious king would set sail for England on the 16th of November; and the archbishop hastened to Canterbury, to make ready there, for the

E 2

52

LIVES OF THE

xvni" roya^ reception, while the whole population rushed to — — the coast to bid the hero welcome. Alarm had again to chiSey. he experienced. The wind was boisterous. Two vessels, H14-43. which had accompanied the king from Calais, were lost. Hour after hour the nation appeared watching at the coast ; and when, at length, the king's ship neared the beach, crowds of people rushed into the sea and brought the conquering hero on their shoulders to the shore.* The archbishop remained at Canterbury, and there, as the king approached, he gave him a hearty welcome, as the head of the clergy, no longer armed as volunteers, but appearing in their sacerdotal vestments. A pro- cession was then formed to the cathedral. The arch- bishop waited on the king while he paid his devotions at the shrine of St. Thomas, and viewed the other sacred treasures.! Chicheley then left the king, and hurried to Lambeth to be prepared for the royal reception in London. Henry, having slept at Eltham, was received at Blackheath by the mayor of London, attended by more than twenty thousand people, wild with enthusiasm and delight. The king modestly de- clined any special demonstrations of honour to himself, and avoided all appearance of a triumph. He had subdued rebellious subjects — such he claimed the

* Titus Livius, Foro-jul., p. 22.

f Elmham is careful to remind us that the king visited St. Au- gustine's. " Quod Gaucort, cum aliis captivis, venit ad regem et rex ad Dovoriam remeavit."

" Gaucort captivus ex condicto redeunte, Portum Dovorise rex remeando petit. Unius aptat ibi requiem retinere cliei,

Versus metropolim limina sancta petens. Visit ibi sanctos Augustinum sociosque,

Inde Thomse limen, his rei'erendo preces." — P. 124. Elmham's account of the king's entrance into London, too long for transcription, is extremely interesting, from its reference to familiar localities.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

53

French to be — and this was a legitimate ground for ^vim' thanksgiving, but not for triumphant demonstrations. ■ — * — The English people thought otherwise, and, as he en- cMcheiey. tered the city in simple attire, they hailed him as the 14M-4*. conqueror of the national enemy. They escorted him to St. Paul's, where Chieheley received him, and a Te Deiun was sung. The archbishop then hastened to his barge, and was ready for the king's arrival at Westminster Abbey. Here Henry again poured forth his fervent feelings of gratitude and piety ; for, whether he were right or wrong, he represented his cause to himself as a righteous and a holy cause, thinking his success a sufficient proof of the fact.*

The archbishop was directed to prepare a service for the occasion, to be used in the churches in the province of Canterbury. We find a description of the service in Elmham. It is scarcely possible to render it intel- ligible in a translation. It is a memoria technica of the psalms to be sung on each day of the week, followed by similar couplets relating to the other parts of the service. It is as follows :

'* Bex memor est regum, Patriarcharuin, quoque vatum,

Qui Begi summo laudis amcena dabant. Nam quoties datur acta manu victoria summi,

Augendum toties est opus inde Dei. Praevia cum Psalmis stant Piesponsoria versu,

Gloria post toto sunt repetenda clioro.

(Dominica feria 2. feria 3. feria 4. feria 5.

Canternus Jubilate Confltemini Laudate nomen Domini J^nedicite feria b. tavit cor meum in Domino

Laildate Dominum de ccelis Exul in Qrdme psaU(?

* In Sir Harris Xicolas, the reader will find all that can be suggested against the character of Henry. In Tyler's Life of Henry- he will find a defence only strong by reference to facts. Tyler is almost puerile in his attempt to represent Henry a hero on the protestant model of the nineteenth century.

54

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley. 1414-43.

gumm*Trinitati £enedictus QuisBeus Qloria Patri Honor Virtus

Tju.iaus Benedicamus Patrem dabis his.

Post missam celebre memoratur Trinus et Unus ;

Cum versu, ' Tibi laus, 0' repetenda patet. Versiculo dat collectam celebrando sacerdos ;

Ascendit Christus, sumpta Maria tenet. Hie vir despiciens memor est tibi, Sancte Georgi !

His sunt versiculi cum prece more pari. Post complementum, divinorum memores sex

Hi sunt sollennes, quos numerare potes.

rprjnitas gpjritus Sanctus J£gXEdwardus pr<^QQ.Johannes Baptista

Miles8anctus Georsius Kerina beataSancta Maria

o

( Libera nos Veni Sancte spirftus Confer ave Rexgentis> iun°"is Internatos

•i ad placitum chori.

( Hie est vere martyr Placet hsec." *

In the years 1415 and 1416, trie Convocation was actively, though not very profitably, employed. It was supposed, of course, that at Agincourt St. George, our patron saint, fought for the armies of England. In heathen times, when one people conquered another, it was customary to do honour to the gods of the victorious nation. It was for this purpose, that his god might share in the honours of his triumph, that the golden image of that god was raised by Nebu- chadnezzar on the plains of Dura. The spirit of hea- thenism had lingered long in Christendom ; and Henry V., unwilling to ascribe all the credit of the late victory to his own transcendent genius, desired that new honours should be conferred upon St. George. Archbishop Chicheley, therefore, in obedience to the royal command, acting on the advice of his brethren the clergy, and supported by the decree of a provincial synod, constituted the feast of St. George as a greater double, and ordered it to be observed as such in eveiy

* Elmhani, Lib. Metr. de Henrico V. p. 1 10.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. -)0

church throughout the province of Canterbury.* Eegu- £vin.' lations were made for the observance of other festivals ; — - — and to prevail upon the north-countrymen to concur in chicheley. the arrangements, so as to include the entire Church of HM-A England, it was enjoined, that the feast of St. John of Beverley should henceforth be kept in the southern, as it had long been observed in the northern, province. The Yorkshiremen, who fought at Agincourt, swore that they had seen St. John of Beverley fighting by their side. How he was to be distinguished from any other knight they did not say ; but the Yorkshiremen who stayed at home — the old men and the women — were not behind their belligerent brethren in their zeal for the Northern Saint ; for they swore that, at the very time that the engagement took place, holy oil flowed by drops, like sweat, out of his tomb, as an indication, it was said, of the mercy of God towards his people, through the merits of that holy man. But a difficulty presented itself. The feast of the translation of St. John of Beverley fell on the 25 th of October, when service was performed in honour of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, for whose merits also, it was said, the Lord had deigned to look down on the English nation with a gracious regard. There was, therefore, a splitting of the difference ; and that all the three saints might be equally honoured, it was ordered by the archbishop that, throughout his province, the feast should be cele- brated by nine lessons : the first three the proper lessons for St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, the three middle ones for the Translation of St. John of Beverley, and the last three out of the Exposition of the Gospels for several martyrs, with the service accustomed in such cases according to the use of Sarum.t

* YVilkins, iiL 376.

t Spelnian, ii. 673, Wilkins, iiL 379. The whole constitution is worthy of perusal, but it is too long for transcription here.

56 LIVES OF THE

Sy^T?' Yerily the Church required a reformation which — ■ — would go far deeper than the reformation which Chicheiey. Chicheley was prepared to support, and which reached 1413-43. only to things external. The necessity, indeed, of some reforms was admitted by the convocation at this time assembled ; but they were insufficient, and went not to the root of the evil. It was enacted, that no married or bigamous clerk""* or layman should exer- cise any spiritual jurisdiction whatever, under any pretence, either in his own name or in any other s ; and whatsoever should be done, or had been done, by the said married or bigamous clerks or laymen, was declared to be null and void. This shows that the clergy still continued, though against the canons, to marry. The Constitution of 1416 proceeds further than that of 1415; and the Convocation, through its president, ordained, that the suffragans of Canterbury should, by themselves or their officials and commissaries, make inquiry in their several jurisdictions, in every rural deanery, at least twice in every year, after persons suspected of heresy. The clergy could only take cog- nisance of heresy as such ; but this decree was really pointed against the lollards, a political rather than a religious faction, though acting under the pretext of religion. Men of good report in every deanery or parish, in which heretics were said to dwell, were sworn to

* A "bigamous clerk was one who had successively married two wives ; and, interpreting by the canon, the same designation was applied to any one who had married a widow, or a divorced woman. But the same law expressly allows a dispensation to he granted to him who, being a priest, had successively had two concubines ; for Innocent III., in his Decretal, a.d. 1213, rules that this is only simple fornication, and no irregularity is thereby incurred. Decretal. Greg. ix. lib. i. tit. 21, c. 6. Johnson, in referring to the Decretal, says, "from such laws good Lord deliver us ! " We note the cir- cumstance as one of those which rendered a reformation necessary.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 57

CHAP.

XVIII.

Henry

denounce all suspected persons ; that is to say, all

who kept private conventicles, or who differed in their

lives and manners from the generality of the faithful, chkheiey.

Books written " in the vulgar English tongue " were i*i4-43.

to be regarded as suspicious, and were therefore to be

seized.

The search was not diligently made, nor, indeed, was it necessary. The wars on the Continent, and afterwards the civil wars in England, provided so much employment for turbulent spirits, that, before the close of Chicheley's episcopate, lollardism, as a faction, had become politically insignificant. But the arrival of the Emperor Sigismund in England, at the period now under consideration, is sufficient to account for the zeal displayed at this particular time, against the lollards*

The emperor's object in visiting England was two- fold— to terminate the schism of the "Western Church, and to take measures to meet that demand for a reformation of the Church, which had become almost universal. In both objects he was secure of the co- operation of Chicheley.

The emperor, the king, the archbishop admitted that the Church required to be reformed in its head, and in its members. They went further. In concur- rence with the opinions of all the leading divines of Europe, they regarded a general council as superior to the pope ; and had arrived at the determination that it was only by subordinating the rival popes to the judgment of a council, that the schism could be brought to a conclusion. It was determined, that a general council should be convened ; and to render it

* Sigismund was at this time, strictly speaking, only Kin^ of the Eomans, and Emperor elect. In public documents he -was described " Sigismundus Dei gratia Eomanorum Eex, semper Augustus."

58

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry

Cliicheley.

1414-43.

effective, it was necessary, that all the sovereigns of Europe should be united, and that they should com- bine in action. The clergy gave their cordial support to the measure, and the most active among the re- formers were ecclesiastics. But, although the leading persons in church and state were unanimous in their determination to effect a reformation of the church in its head and members, they were equally unanimous in resisting any change in the doctrine or the formularies of the church. It was by avoiding this subject, that they expected to secure unanimity of action ; and, unfortunately, they were equally unanimous in the resolution to put down by fire and faggot any attempt at doctrinal reformation. The doctrinal reformers were at this time chiefly to be found among the humbler classes of society ; and these reformers were regarded with feelings similar to those which, in our own time, have been excited against the chartists. They were despised and feared, and when any man of eminence appeared on their side, it was supposed that, from personal considerations, he entertained revolutionary designs, and against him all hands were raised. Upon this topic, however, the reader is referred to the intro- ductory chapter of this book.

There is always a large class in every country, who, carrying a right principle to a vicious extreme, by some moral obliquity venerate wrong itself when it

has long been established

who declare that they-

" Would rather bear the ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of ; "

and when the object of the visit paid to this country by the emperor elect was known, the archbishop sought to prevent alarm by issuing those constitutions against the lollards to which we have referred.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 59

The other object which the emperor had in view, ^JAP. in subservience to his main purpose, was to effect an --p — accommodation between England and France, and to cmcheiey. act as mediator between the contending parties. He 1414-43. had, for this purpose, already visited Paris ; and, as England was not quite prepared for the exhausting process of another campaign, he found Henry ready to enter into negotiations. The negotiations were broken off by the conduct of the French. Armagnac, having become constable of France, had attacked Harfleur, and, having the power of the state at his command, he permitted the French fleet to scour the Channel, and to threaten several parts of the English coast. By the wonderful energy of Henry, an English navy im- mediately appeared on the sea ; and under the command of the Duke of Bedford, not only defeated the French fleet, but compelled Armagnac to raise the siege of Harfleur.*

The King of the Komans, when he was in England, came to a good understanding with Chicheley ; and before he quitted the country, he formed an alliance with King Henry. 7

In the negotiations with France, which took place after our success, and ended in a truce of four months^

* See the document, De Duce Bedfordiae locum tenente supra Mare constitute, in the Fcedera, ix. 371 (22 Jul., 1416) ; "VTalsing- ham, 394 (ed. 1603); Elmham, 139; Tit Liv. 26; Monstrelet, ii. 119 (ed. Johnes) ; Otterb. i. 278.

■f See Alligantia Sigismundi Eegis Eomanorum. Fcedera, ix. 377; and, Ejusdem AlligantiaB Fromissio ex parte Eegis, Fcedera, ix. 381 (15 Aug. 1416). The documents, though long, are interesting, from their going into detail. The treaty •was confirmed by parliament. Hot Pari. iv. 96.

J The truce was for four months, to be observed by land, through the marches of Picardy, and all western Flanders ; and by sea, de Marrock (Morocco) usque ad regnum jSbrwegiae. Fcedera, ix. 397. This negotiation was with the Dauphin. Henry, it would seem,

60 LIVES OF THE

xvm Chicheley acted as one of the commissioners. But lie -^ — did not assume a prominent position, and perhaps he Chicheley. only attended because, the French party being repre- 1414-43. sented ^y the Archbishop of Kheims, it was decorous that the Church of England should be represented by her primate. Into the intricacies of the negotiation we have no occasion to enter, although the interesting fact transpires, that Chicheley and the English ambas- sadors were directed not to accept the French language as the medium of communication. The king insisted that the documents to be signed by his ambassadors should be either in English or in Latin.

When King Henry returned to the Continent the archbishop was not appointed to the regency, because the king might require the presence of so able a lawyer and diplomatist in his foreign negotiations and arrange- ments. For some reason or other, however, the arch- bishop did not join the king in France till the close of 1418. He then remained with Henry until the surrender of the city of Rouen. We find him asso- ciated with the Earl of Warwick in conducting the treaty of surrender with the noble-minded inhabitants of that city. The inhabitants of Rouen, when they found that their countrymen were unable to come to their rescue, sent an embassy to the King of England, consisting of two churchmen, two gentlemen, two citizens, — all described by the chronicler as a\ dee, prudent, and well-spoken. The archbishop Lad taken up his abode at the convent of preaching friars ; and

was at the same time in alliance with the Duke of Burgundy and the Queen, or nominally with Charles VI. But if we refer to the long document, De Tractando cum Dauphino super Amicitiis, in Foedera, ix. 626 (26 Oct. 1418), and the Acts of the Privy Council, ii. 350, it appears that the king was certainly at first desirous of coming to terms with the Dauphin.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 61

here the deputation from Kouen was received by him ^vm'

and the Earl of Warwick ; and were informed, that the

king demanded an unconditional surrender of the city, chicheley. On receiving this information the citizens imme- Ifl*-4l diately determined to burn the town, and either to force their way through the English lines, or to perish in the ruins. The king, having heard of their noble resolve, directed the archbishop to summon the deputies of the city to another conference ; and it was now agreed that, on their paying 365,000 crowns of gold, and swearing allegiance to the King of England, the citizens should retain all the liberties, privileges, and franchises of which they had been in possession from the time of St. Louis. All who, rather than submit to these conditions, preferred to quit the city, were to be escorted in safety beyond the king's outposts ; under the condition, that they took oath not to bear arms against the king for one whole year. When the treaty was concluded, and pledges given for its due observance, a certain number of the towns- men were permitted to enter the English camp at their pleasure for the purchase of provisions. The caterers were astonished at the abundance of provisions, and their consequent cheapness ; and they were gratified by the hospitality and kindness of the archbishop. The treaty was concluded on the 16th of January, 1419, and on the 19th, the king made his public entry into the town of Eouen."""

The deep religious impression, which the mind of Chicheley had received ; and which had induced him to desire a retreat from public life, increased rather than diminished. He felt more and more his responsibilities as a minister of God. He gradually ceased to be the mere lawyer, and became a theologian. During the * Monstrelet, ii. 222 (eel. -Joluies).

62 LIVES OF THE

chap, period of his remaining with the camp in France, he

was chiefly occupied by the duties which devolved

Chicheiey. upon him as confessor to the king, and chaplain- 1414-43. general of the army ; at the same time, he directed his attention to the establishment of ecclesiastical courts in the several dioceses of the conquered country, from which the higher ecclesiastics had, in general, fled. In former times, as the reader of these volumes will remember, the Church was so identified with the State, that the primate assumed a right of ecclesiastical j mis- diction, wherever the civil government of a conquered country devolved upon the Crown. Although, in Chicheley's time, the Church had already become an institution of the country, distinguishable from the State, yet this feeling was not extinct. Where Henry was king, there Chicheiey was primate. His attend- ance in the camp, therefore, became a duty : and, as the conquests of Henry, after the capture of Rouen, rapidly extended over Normandy and Brittany, the duties which Chicheiey was called upon to discharge, were neither easy nor agreeable. Chicheiey was able, however, to return to England at the end of August ; and he remained occupied with the business of his province till June in the year following.

On the 21st of May, 1420, a treaty of peace had been signed at Troyes between England and France, and the Princess Katherine was the affianced bride of Henry, king of England, who signed himself regent and heir-apparent of France. When peace was pro- claimed in London on the 24th of June, — a peace which was made on these conditions, gave the most intense satisfaction to the nation. But before that time, on the 10th of June, Chicheiey had embarked at Win- chelsey, and was on his way to Troyes to offer his congratulations to the newly-married couple.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 63

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry

The marriage had taken place on the 30th of May, in the presence of the principal nobility of Burgundy and France. To conciliate the French, the Archbishop chicheley. of Sens, and not the Archbishop of Canterbury, HH-4fc officiated on the occasion. If, in celebrating this event, it was the intention of the king to astonish the French, by a display of his grandeur, he certainly succeeded ; for Monstrelet remarks that "such great pomp and magnificence were displayed by him and his princes, as if he were at that moment king of all the world." *

Chicheley, on his arrival, was cordially welcomed by his royal master and his bride ; and he set himself diligently to work, in order that peace might be estab- lished between the GaUican and English churches, as well as between the two nations. He had caused a proclamation to be issued, in which he directed the French to submit to all diocesan ordinances, and regulations, as they had existed before our conquest of France, thereby removing all pretensions to jurisdiction on his part. The French were not to be treated as conquered. The two nations were to form a united kingdom.

Having settled affairs in France, the Archbishop of Canterbury returned to England, to prepare for the reception of the young queen, and for her coronation.

At the coronation Chicheley officiated. It is un- necessary to describe the ceremonial, which was con- ducted in strict accordance with the form which has always been observed in England, if not throughout all those nations of Europe to whose courts the court of the holy Roman empire was the model. The enthusiasm with which the people received the queen, a foreigner, was a proof of their zeal, their loyalty, their love for

* Monstrelet, ii. 277 (ed. Johnes).

64 LIVES OF THE

xvtn ner lier°ic husband. The nation rose as one man to — - say, God bless you.

Henry mi . ... , -.

Chicheiey. Inese rejoicings and the coronation took place in 1414-43. Lent. According to the notions of the age, there was nothing indecorous in the festivities; neither was a splendid feast to be eschewed, — only, the banquet was to consist exclusively of fish. " Ye shall understande," says Fabyan, " that the feast was all of fyshe." Yet, strange to say, the first dish he mentions is brawn. The bill of fare is given by Fabyan, and is an interesting document.

Supported by the king, and with a king ever ready to act upon his advice, Chicheiey, at this period of his life, showed a vigour of mind, in which he was certainly deficient when this support was withdrawn, and when he had to rely on his own resources. Pious, like the king, he was, like the king, a patriot ; and devoted as they were to the cause of religion, for that very reason, they were both on the side of the cardinals, against the pope ; under the conviction, that the Church required a reform, which nothing but decided measures could effect.

"While ever ready to obey the call of his king, Chicheiey still avoided as much as possible state affairs, and he gave his chief attention to his spiritual duties. The arguments of Wiclif had begun to tell, and the clergy were becoming aware, that there was an incon- sistency in assuming spiritual offices merely to enable them to discharge the functions of statesman.*

* We have an instance of the manner in which ecclesiastical preferments were used to make provision for persons employed in professions now filled entirely by laymen, in a letter from Henry V. to his Chancellor, the Bishop of Durham, in 1421 : — "Worshipful Fader in God, ouro right trusty and welbeloved.

AUCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

65

One of the first duties which devolved upon Chieheley after his appointment to the see of Can- terbury was to summon a synod for the purpose of electing and appointing delegates to the Council of Constance. The delegates selected were the Bishops of Salisbury,* of Bath,f and of Hereford.]; The Arch-

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

14H-43.

Forasmuche as we have understoode by youre lettres, late sent unto at oure Wyf ye Queene hath spoken unto you, and desireth vat hir Phisicien myght have sum benefice wiyoute cure, of oure collacion, in ye whiche matere ye desire to have knowledge of oure wil, we signiffie unto you yat hit is wel oure entent whanne sucche benefice voydeth, of oure yefte yat ye make collacion to him thereof" —Ellis, i. 71.

* For an account of the Bishop of Salisbury, Eobert Hallani, see above, p. 19.

f Nicholas Bubwith was Bector of Southall ; on the 4th of Feb. 1396, he was Bector of Brington ; he was Yicar of Xaseby ; on the 17th of March, 1392, he was collated to a prebend in Lichfield Cathedral ; to Exeter, on 2d June, 1396; to Bipon, on 29th April,

1399 ; to Salisbury, on 27th Nov. 1402 ; to York, 3d March, 1403 j and in the same year to a stall in Lincoln Cathedral. He was Archdeacon of Exeter on the 9th April, 1399 ; of Dorset, 9th July,

1400 ; of Bichmond, 16th March, 1401. In 1403 he was appointed chaplain to the king. He was Clerk or Master of Chancery, 1397; Lord Keeper in 1402 ; Master of the Bolls, 24th Sept. 1402 ; Lord Treasurer, 27th Feb. 1401 ; and in 1406, and again in 1408. He was consecrated to the see of London on the 26th Sept. 1406, at Mortlake. He was translated to Salisbury on the 22d of June, 1407, and on the following October to Bath and "Wells. If he was appetent of preferment, he could also be munificent. He built a chapel and hall, and endowed a hospital at "Wells, and daily fed twenty- four poor persons. At the Council of Constance he bore a distinguished part, and gave the casting vote for the election of Pope Martin V. He died 27th Oct. 1424. Aug. Sac. i. 571; Beg. Arundel ; Pat. 7, Hen. IV. p. 2, m. 2, 20. Hardy, Le Xeve, Stubbs.

t Eobert Mascall was born probably, Pits says certainly, at Lud- low, where he became a Carmelite. He studied at Oxford, where he was distinguished equally for his learning and his piety. He was appointed confessor to Henry IV., and was appointed as a VOL. V. F

66

LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry 'Chicheley.

bishop nominated as his own proxies Robert Appylton, canon of York, and John Forest or Forester, canon of Lincoln.*

The king's ambassadors were the Earl of Warwick, Henry lord Fitzhugh, Sir Walter Hungerford, Master John Homyngham, doctor in laws, and Sir Ralph Rochfort.f

Another embassy was subsequently sent, and it was escorted by not fewer than four hundred Englishmen. We are not surprised at the number, when we find per- mission given to the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Worcester to be attended each by sixty men with horses and harness. | Hallam, bishop of Salisbury, was the chief person in the mission. He was, though opposed to the Lollard and the Bohemian parties, a decided and consistent reformer. He invariably sided

member of his Council, by Henry V. He was nominated to the see of Hereford by Henry IV., and was duly elected, and was also appointed by papal provision. He was consecrated on the 6th of July, 1404. The temporalities were restored to him on the 25th of Sept. (Pat. 5, Hen. IV. p. 2, m. 23) and made his profession of obedience to the king, in the church of Coventry, on the 28th of the same month (Reg. Arundel, fol. 28). He returned to England from Constance, and died on the 22d of December, 1416. By his will he desired to be buried in the cross aisle of the Friars ( 'ar- melite at Ludlow (Weever, 457), but was actually buried in the church of White Friars, London. Fuller's Worthies, iii. 59 ; Hardy, Le Neve, Stubbs.

* Wilkins, iii. 369. The name is given in Le Neve as Forester. For an account of the Council of Constance the reader is referred to the introductory chapter of this book. The first session was held in November, 1416, and the last on the 22d of April, 1418.

t In the Pell Rolls, p. 335, a statement is given of the payments made to the Earl of Warwick and the other members of the embassy. For his expenses in going to and returning from the Council of Constance, held " for the salvation of souls," the Earl of Warwick received 333/. 6s. M.; Lord Fitzhugh, 200/.; the others 100/.

X Foedera, v. 95. De Passagio.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 67

with the emperor, and maintained the superiority of SSfjjJ

a council over the pope.* When John XXIII. was

urging his complaints against the emperor, he made a chiSSey. special complaint against Kobert, bishop of Salisbury ui4-43. and the representatives of the clergy of England, who, he asserted, had threatened to place the pope under arrest. Bishop Hallam had indeed gone further than this. When the awful iniquities of which John had been guilty were revealed to the Council, the Bishop of Salisbury hesitated not to give it as his opinion, that the pope ought to be burned at the stake, f

The archbishop's representative, Forester, wrote an interesting account of the early proceedings of the Council to the government at home. It is too long for transcription, but it is worthy of an attentive perusal. The English ambassadors were received with distin- guished honour by the King of the Eomans, who entered the city of Constance with " the livery and colour of the King of England about his neck," — the badge, as we afterwards find it, of the Order of the Garter. He permitted the Bishop of Salisbury to take precedence of the representative of "Our Adversary of France," and graciously received the assurance of the English ambassadors, that they were determined to carry out to the full extent a reformation of the Church, in its head and members. He took every opportunity of doing honour to the representatives of the King of England.^

* The pope accused him of acting as if Hallam considered him- self superior to hoth king and council. L'Enfant, i. 12S.

t L'Enfant, ii. 123. Schestr. Act. et Gesc. 268. There are twenty-five references to the Foedera in L'Enfant. I have read them all hut have not found in them anything that is not men- tioned in L'Enfant, or which bears immediately on Chicheley.

| Dors. Christianissimo Principi H. Anglise et Francis Eegi Domino meo semper augusto detur ista litera. In the letter, which

F 2

68 LIVES OF THE

$Sf£ There was considerable misunderstanding and insub-

ordination among the members of the embassy, when the

Chicheiey. health of Bishop Hallam began to fail ; and the misun- 1414-43. derstanding was purposely augmented by the agents of Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, the king's uncle. He, to further his own objects, desired to strengthen the papal against the imperial party. This occasioned a letter, suggested by Chicheiey, and probably written by him in the king's name, in which instructions were given to the bishops attending the Council as to their mode of proceeding for the future. The bishops are directed to send home any of their subordinates, who might prove refractory ; and the transgressors were threatened with a confiscation of their estates. When a difference of opinion arose among the bishops, the minority was to yield to the majority. From this document it appears, that other English bishops besides the three mentioned above, had attended the Council, probably volunteering their services, but certainly not leaving the country without the king's permission. The letter was dated the ISth of July, 1|17, and bishop, or rather Cardinal Hallam died in the September following.*

Chicheley's conduct was, at this time, perfectly con- sistent. He acted with determination, and was resolved to maintain the liberties of the Church of England. Acting through his convocation, he availed himself of the schism at Eome to annul all papal immunities and exemptions in England, or rather in the province of Canterbury. When the revenues of the alien priorie were vested by parliament in the king, the archbishop obtained for the measure, through convocation, the

1

I

is evidently written, " currente calamo," Bubwith is called bishop of London.

* Foedera, iv. pt. 3, 6.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 69

sanction of the Church. He himself became the pur- £y^- chaser of many of the estates when they were exposed — ■ — to sale. Neither he nor his contemporaries regarded chichefey the dissolution of these monasteries as sacrilege. The i^u-43. good of the country required their dissolution, and it was done. All that he desired was permission to apply the revenues to sacred purposes. He endorsed, if he did not propose, the order in council which prohibited the preferment in England of any foreigner to any ecclesiastical benefice ; until he had made oath and given security, that he would never divulge the secrets of the Government, or in any manner make known its designs to any enemy of the country. In 1 42 1 . the arch- bishop refused a grant to Pope Martin V., when by the papal agent a subsidy was demanded. When the pope desired to confer, by provision, the bishopric of Ely, — to be held in commendam with the see of Kouen, — upon Lewis, the archbishop of that province, Chicheley had refused to invest him with the spiritualities of the English see. He sided with the Galliean church when that church asserted its liberties. We are not sur- prised, therefore, that the pope should seek to humiliate Chicheley ; or that he attempted to do so, by proposing to appoint Hemy Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, his legate d latere.

Hemy Beaufort, in the year 1417, being desirous of seeing something of the world, had started a pilgrim for the Holy Land. But all the world was now assembled at Constance; and he thought, that it might be profitable to himself, and that it would certainly be an agreeable detour, if he were to volunteer an appearance at the Council. He was the second of the sons of John of Gaunt by Catherine Swinford, and had been legitimatized in 1397. He made his appearance, therefore, with all the prestige attached to a member of the royal family

70

LIVES OF THE

xvm' °^ England ; and he performed a part of some im-

-r- portance in the affairs of the Council, though on the

Chicheiey, side opposed to the policy of his country. To him was 1414-43. referred the settlement of a controversy, by which the Council was at this time divided. The imperial party, with whom the delegates of the Church of England and the reformers generally had sided, were earnest, that before the election of a pope, the Council should, under the guidance of the emperor, enact the reformations, for which there was an urgent demand. The cardinals, on the other hand, very generally insisted on the previous election of a pope ; and under his presidency they declared themselves ready to effect the required re- formations. The parties referred the case to the decision of the Bishop of Winchester. Beaufort decided upon the expediency of first electing the pope. His advice was followed : Martin V. was elected. The cause of reform, by that election, was delayed for a century. A conservative reaction in favour of the whole papal system may be dated from this time ; and, as elsewhere, so also in England, Martin laboured incessantly not only to re-establish the papal supremacy, but to obliterate all the measures which had been adopted, during the schism, to render the national churches, such as the English and the Gallican, more independent and less corrupt.

Martin V. was not unmindful of the service which Beaufort had rendered to him, neither did he prove ungrateful. He knew that Beaufort looked forward to a future, — it might be distant, — when he might himself assume the tiara. In the November following his election as pope, he accordingly nominated Henry Beaufort a cardinal. When the news reached Eng- land, it was scarcely believed. It passed the boundaries of belief, that the pope would proceed to appoint an

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. / 1

English prelate to the cardinalate without first corn- char

ox . XI 111.

municating with the Government. But this rumour ^^ was followed by another, which was still more difficult ciucKy. to believe, though it caused considerable excitement and 1114-43, alarm, — that the new cardinal was to be appointed a legate a latere for life. It was reported, besides this, that application had been made to the king, from whom no decided answer had been received, for per- mission to the cardinal to hold in commend am the bishopric of Winchester. This was virtually to supersede the primate, and to subjugate the Church of England to the Church of Koine : the real governor of the Church of England was, in this way, to be an officer of the Church of Eome, and not a successor of Augustine. This was an unheard-of usurpation. In every national church of Europe, at this time, it was admitted that the Bishop of Borne had certain rights, though these rights had never been clearly defined ; but every national church was in itself as independent as was the Church of Rome itself. It was governed by its ordinaries, the pope having only extraordinary or visitational powers. When in our own time the King of England was king also of Hanover, he possessed and exercised certain rights as king, but the kingdom of Hanover was not merged in the kingdom of England. The people of Hanover would have resented an attempt to enforce upon them the observance of a law on the mere ground of its being an enactment of the English parliament, though they might accept the same law enjoined by the royal prerogative. The attempt to identify the Church of England with the Church of Borne, and to treat it simply as a Boman colony, to be governed by Boman officers — the design of Martin V. : — was an unheard-of usurpation, though so craftily devised as not at once to be understood in all its

72

LIVES OF THE

xvm' hearings. Chicheley was alarmed lest the king should

*- be induced to accede to the papal proposal in favour

Chicheley. of his uncle ; and he despatched, couched in strong 1414-43. though respectful terms, a letter to King Henry V., whom he thus addressed : — " Sovereign lord, as your humble priest and devout beadsman, I recommend me to your highness, desiring ever more to hear and know of your gracious speed, both of body and of soul ; also of my lords your brethren, and all your royal host." He reminds the king that, in a letter dated from Caen, on the 25th of the preceding Sep- tember, he had given his commands to the archbishop, the Duke of Bedford, and the chancellor, to prevent any communication between any persons of any estate or condition whatever, in the realm of England, and the newly-elected pope, until the election had been announced to the king ; and until, according to the common law of England, the king had consented to receive as his pope the person so elected. The royal commands had been strictly observed, except' in one instance, which rendered it necessary for the Council in England to receive fresh orders from the king. This, at the instance of the Duke of Bedford, the archbishop now sought.

The primate was bound by his allegiance to the king and by his duty to " the Church of your land, of the which," he says, " God and you, gracious lord, have made me governor," to open to him a certain matter which, at one time, was only whispered, but which now was openly affirmed, that his brother of Winchester was to be made a cardinal, and that appli- cation had been made to the king, or would be made, that he might hold with it his bishopric in com- mendam; that moreover the cardinal was to be ap- pointed a legate d latere; and that, still further, he

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 73

was to retain the office of legate for his life, and to chap.

. . XVIII.

exercise the powers pertaining to it throughout the *

king's dominions. " Sovereign lord and most Christian c2cSy. prince," writes the archbishop with increasing energy, hh-43. " what instance shall be made to your highness for this matter I wot not ; but, blessed be Almighty God, under your worthy protection, your Church of England is at this day, I dare boldly say it, the most honourable Church Christian, as well as to divine service as to honest living therein, governed after strict laws and holy constitutions, without any great extortions or anything that turns to the scandal of your foresaid Church, or of your land, or any trespasses that cannot be corrected by the ordinaries, as the case may be." He then entreats the king to consider that, such being the case, there could be no good end answered by the establishment of such "a legacie" as had never been tolerated by any of his ancestors. As, owing to want of time on the king's part to consult the law books on the subject, and in the absence of books to which the lawyers in attendance on him might refer, the archbishop sends with his letter a scroll, con- taining a brief statement of the papal law by which legates a latere are vested with exorbitant powers. Besides these, he adds, what power the legate may have " in special of the pope's grace, no man can wot, for it standeth in his will to order whatever he might think fit." The archbishop declares, that by an inspec- tion of the laws and chronicles, it could be proved, that there never was a legate a latere in any land, especially in the realm of England, except for some great and notable cause ; and that even then, when the business for which the legacie was instituted had been accomplished, at the end of a year and a few months, the legate would depart. The appointment of a legate

74

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CHAP. XVIII.

Henry -Chickeley.

1414-43.

d latere for life was an unheard-of usurpation, which would tend largely to the oppression of the people and the subversion of the Church. " Wherefore, most Christian Prince and Sovereign Lord," says the arch- bishop in conclusion, " as your true priest, whom you have thought fit to set in so high an estate, which without your gracious lordship and supportation I know myself insufficient to occupy, I beseech you, in most humble wise that I can devise or think, that you will this matter take tenderly to heart, and see, that the state of the Church be maintained and sustained, so that every minister thereof hold him content with his own part : for truly he that hath least hath enow to reckon for. And that your poor people be not pyled nor oppressed with diverse exactions and unaccustomed demands, through which they should be the more feeble to refuse you, our liege lord, in time of need." *

Henry V. not only responded cordially to the patriotic sentiments of this letter ; but he took up the cause of the Church of England and her primate with his accustomed enthusiasm, energy, and zeal. He re- fused to permit Beaufort to retain his bishopric if he accepted the cardinalate ; and he went so far as to say, that he would rather see his uncle Beaufort in- vested with the imperial diadem of England, than hear of his being covered with the cardinal's hat.

We have before us another letter from Chicheley to the king, which must have been written in 1418. The king had desired his uncle, the Duke of Exeter, to confer with the archbishop about a successor to the Bishop of St. David's, lately dead, in the office of con-

* This was written at Lambeth, on the 6th of March. Indorsed — " Au Eoy Nostre Souverein S." I have abbreviated the letter, and modernized the sentences, except when it seemed necessary to retain the exact words of the original.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 75

fessor to the royal household, and they had agreed in xvni" their choice of a fit person who would be immediately

. Henry

despatched to join the army. The archbishop com- chicheiey. mends the piety of the king, who, amidst all the 1414-43. turmoils of war, ever thought of the spiritual welfare of himself and of his people. The king also applied to the archbishop for his licence to choose a priyate confessor for himself; and the primate sent hiin a licence, signed with his own seal, empowering the king to do, in that case, all that he would himself do if he were in the royal presence.

We have an account, about this time, of some legal proceedings on the part of the archbishop which are interesting, as showing the manner in which the dis- cipline of the Church was administered — that discipline being brought to bear on the high as well as the low, on the rich as well as the poor. A disturbance took place on Easter-day in the church of St. Dunstan's-in- the-East. Several persons were wounded, and one Thomas Petwarden. a fishmonger, in endeavourino- " to appease the tumult," was slain. The church was, of course, desecrated by the murder. Lord Strange on the one side, and Sir John Russell on the other, each instigated by his wife, were accused of having origi- nated the fray.

On the 20th of April, an investigation took place, at the church of St. Magnus, at which the archbishop presided. It came out in evidence, that the chief offenders were Lord and Lady Strange. They were excommunicated for the offence, and were directed to appear before the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Mayor, at St. Paul's church, on the 1st of May ; that great holiday being purposely selected, in order that a deep impression might be made on the multitude unemployed. The archbishop and the mayor arrived

76

LIVES OF THE

xvin *n S^a*e on ^1G ^y aPPomted. In the meantime a — — procession had been formed at St. Dunstan's church. Chicheiey. Before the parson of the parish marched two and two, 1414-43. in their shirts, the servants of Lord Strange. Imme- diately after the parson walked Lord and Lady Strange, bareheaded and barefooted, amidst the jeerings of the people. The archdeacon closed the procession. Arrived at St. Paul's, the offenders made oath that they would observe the penance to be imposed. At the consecra- tion of the desecrated church the lady was required to fill the vessels with water, and to offer some ornament for the altar to the value of ten pounds ; Lord Strange was to offer a pix of silver to the value of five pounds, and a fine was to be paid, of which the value is not specified, to the widow of the unfortunate Petwarden. * The first cloud which came over the brilliant and happy reign of Henry V. was in 1421, when the news arrived of the defeat and death of the Duke of Clarence, at Beauge, in Anjou. The king instantly prepared for action. He left his young wife, expecting her confine- ment, at Windsor, and, on the 11th of June, he landed at Calais. Intelligence soon came, that the invincible hero had captured Dreux ; and although he had been obliged to raise the siege of Orleans, he kept his Christmas at Paris. Thither the archbishop had de- spatched a messenger to convey to the king the happy intelligence that the heir to his crown had been born on St. Nicholas' day, 6th of December, 1421, and had been by the primate baptized.t

* Ellis, i. 3. MS. Cotton. Vesp. F. xiii. fol. 20, orig. The confessor here mentioned was Stephen Patrington, a Carmelite bishop of St. David's, 1415; translated to Chichester Dec. 1417. He died before his translation could be perfected.

t Walsingham, ii. 312. The Chronicle mentions the presents made on the occasion.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 77

The queen, when she had sufficiently recovered from chap.

the effects of her confinement, joined the king at the

Chateau Bois de Vxincennes, about a mile and a half cMcheiey. from Paris, on the 21st of May. On the 5th of June, uu-43. the news arrived, that the city of Meaux, after a des- perate resistance, had surrendered to Henry. This good news, however, was soon followed by reports of the un- satisfactory state of the king's health ; but, however great the anxiety occasioned by these reports may have been, the country was not prepared for the astounding intelligence of his death, which occurred at the Bois de Vincennes, on the 31st of August.

Never was public grief more powerfully manifested. In addition to the grief he shared with the entire nation, Chicheley had to lament, in the death of King Henry, the loss of a friend, whom for his piety he revered, and upon whose wisdom, firmness, and courage, he had learned to lean for support in all the difficulties of his career. Attended by fifteen of his suffragans in their pontificals, the archbishop met the corpse, when it was brought into England ; and his Avas the melancholy duty to consign the body of his royal master to the grave at Westminster Abbey, near the shrine of Edward the Confessor.

Nothing could exceed the splendour of the cere- monial. The body, embalmed, was brought first to St. Denys, thence to Notre Dame, at Paris ; from Paris to Rouen, where the procession had been joined by the queen ; from Rouen to Calais, to Dover, to Canterbury, to London. Wherever the corpse rested, masses were sung from the first dawn in the morning till nine o'clock. The funeral car was covered with vermilion silk, embroidered with gold, drawn by six horses. Upon it, besides the coffin, was laid an e&igy of the king in all the splendour of royal array. Lamps were burning

78 . LIVES OP THE

chap, before and behind the funeral car. Two hundred and ■ — v — fifty surpliced torch-bearers walked on each side of .ciucSy. the hearse, which was followed by five hundred men- ial 4-43. at-arms, all in black armour, their lances pointed downwards.

To the archbishop an account was given of the last moments of his royal friend, who died as he had lived, in piety and penitence. At the same time, it is to be remarked that, instead of regarding the war as a sin, he laid the blame of any miseries which it might have occasioned upon those who resisted his entrance into his kingdom of France ; and he expressed his desire not to renew the war, but to conduct it at the head of another Crusade.

The chancellorship being vacant when the first parliament of the new reign was called, that parliament was opened by a speech from the archbishop, who proved himself to be no prophet. He told the parlia- ment that God, of His great mercy, had left issue to them of the most victorious Prince Henry, of the royal blood of France ; he remarked that, as all perfections were comprised within the number of six, as the God- head had made all things in six days, so would His Divine Majesty accomplish the grand beginnings of the famous fifth Henry, in his son Henry the Sixth ; whose will it was that all estates and persons should enjoy their full liberties.*

On the death of Henry the Fifth, Chicheley deter- mined to confine himself, as far as circumstances would permit, to his spiritual duties, and in the factions which disturbed the early portion of the reign of Henry the Sixth, he took no prominent part. He was attached to the party of Humphry, called the

* Eot. Tail.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 79

"good Duke of Gloucester,"* but we find him occa- ^vfiL sionally employed in mediating between the faction ^^ of the duke and that of his opponent, Cardinal chicheley. Beaufort. 141i"43-

In 1423, he held a visitation of the dioceses of Chichester and Salisbury, and in the following year of the extensive diocese of Lincoln.

In the last year of Henry the Fifth's reign Chicheley had given directions for the erection of a college at Higham Ferrers, to which we shall have occasion here- after more particularly to refer. He now availed him- self of an opportunity to visit his native place. It was a visit of pleasure, commingled with laudable pride, if pride is ever allowable, both to himself and his townsmen.

In all that related to his spiritual duties the arch- bishop was indefatigable ; and, although he had not the sagacity of a Luther, to penetrate to the root of the evils by which the Church was overshadowed, yet, wherever he went, he exerted himself to correct abuses, and he applied a practical mind to lay down some wise regulations for the future. He is said to have con- vened eighteen synods, or assemblies of the clergy ; and although we find him occasionally appointing a deputy, it was only for a single day, so that he may be said to have presided over them all in person.

The conventions of the clergy, under Archbishop Chicheley, who had for his adviser the celebrated jurist "William Lvndwood, began to approach the form and character of a modern convocation.

From the reign of Edward I. the kings had been

* Humphry, duke of Gloucester, -was called the "good duke," probably because he -was on the anti-papal, or popular side, and so ■was opposed to Beaufort, the representative of the papal party. He does not seem in any other sense to have deserved the title.

80 LIVES OF THE

xvrrr" accustomed to summon, not only the bishops and other

— — prelates to parliament, but also a certain number of

Chicheiey. the inferior clergy, that, through them, their repre-

1414-43. sentatives, the clergy, might be taxed, at the same

time, as the laity.

The parliamentary conventions were perfectly dis- tinct from synods or councils, which were convened for spiritual purposes by the sole authority of the metro- politans of the respective provinces. A parliamentary convention of the clergy depended upon the royal will, though he required his mandate to be issued by the archbishop of the province ; * a synod or council was summoned for church purposes only, by the archbishop with the royal permission.

The parliamentary convention was very unpopular, and was also found to be inconvenient in its working. The clergy were not fairly represented, and when the clergy, summoned under the prsemunientes clause, had agreed to a tax, another meeting became frequently necessary to confirm the vote ; for the clergy would not give up the right of taxing themselves. This meeting, called by the archbishop, assumed the cha- racter of a council, and occasionally legislated for the church. The kings by degrees found it expedient and less trouble to demand their subsidies from the councils so convened, and these councils were tech- nically known as convocations. A convocation, there- fore, gradually acquired a double character. It was both a State convention to grant a subsidy, and a synod to debate on church affairs. The members

* This was the prsemunientes clause, so called from the first word thereof, which required the archbishops and bishops, when summoned to parliament, to summon also such of the inferior clergy to come with them as they might think sufficient to represent the whole body of the clergy. See Phillimore's Iiurns, 21.

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 81

acted in a twofold capacity — as members of the com- ™f£m

nionwealth, and as ministers of the Gospel. At first, —

when these assemblies assumed the form of convoca- cwcheiey. tions, they were summoned by the archbishop without* mi-43. any special mandate from the king. But when the clergy refused to grant subsidies in parliament, and asserted the right of taxing themselves in convocation, writs were issued compelling the metropolitans to summon a convocation, whenever the exigencies of the State required it.

By degrees the convocation assumed more and more of the synodal character ; and the business was con- ducted by committees who reported to the president ; the regulars forming one committee, the seculars another. In Chicheley's time the convocation, fre- quently though not always, debated in separate houses j though the lower house was then, as now, little more than a committee of the whole convocation, having no independent right of action. It was in the convoca- tion of 1425, that we find the first appearance of a prolocutor, as presiding over the debates of the inferior clergy, and representing them in the upper house. On that occasion, the archbishop declared the cause of the convocation on the second day of meeting, and directed the deans, archdeacons, and proctors of the chapters and clergy, to withdraw into the lower house under the Chapter-house, and to choose from among themselves a referendary or prolocutor, who, in their stead, might deliver their sense and carry back the answer. The first prolocutor was "William Lyndwood. In several subsequent convocations, however, no permanent pro- locutor appears to have been chosen ; but a chairman was appointed for the occasion. This fact is worthy of notice, since it shows that, as is the case with many of

vol. v. G

82

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Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

our institutions, there was no formal or theoretical scheme of ecclesiastical government designed or pro- mulgated for convocation. The rights and duties of •such assemblies gradually came into vogue, to meet the necessities of the case, as they, from time to time, arose. There was no jealousy or misunderstanding between the houses of parliament and the houses of convocation, but a desire to co-operate for the good of the joint constitution of Church and State. The clergy sitting in convocation were placed upon an equality with the members of parliament, and an act of par- liament was passed which conferred upon the former all the immunities, and, among others, that of freedom from arrest, which were enjoyed by the latter*

It may be convenient here to take a general view of the proceedings of Chicheley in convocation, passing over, for a time, certain important transactions which intervened, and to which we shall have occasion to revert.

To the convocation of 1416 we have had occasion to refer, when speaking of the honour done to the northern saint, John of Beverley. It was also stated, that in the same convocation it was ordered that inquiries should be made in every suspected place, twice a year, for the discovery of heretics. Information was to be given respecting those who were accustomed to frequent conventicles, who differed in their conduct from the generality of the faithful, and who possessed prohibited books in the vulgar tongue.t

* Gibson, 974.

t Wake, State of the Church. Phillimore's Burns, iL 18, et seq. Eegist. Chicheley MS. Heylin Tracts, 703. Hody (426) observes that from the reign of Henry VI., and so downwards, the inferior clergy appeared so seldom, if at all, in parliament, 'that in the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 83

The trials for heresy had generally been conducted £?m in the ecclesiastical courts, but at this period they were — ~- transferred to convocation. Heresy had assumed such chichdly. new forms, that probably it was found necessary to H14-43. bring the accused before a synod, — the powers of a synod differing widely from those of an ecclesiastical court. In the ecclesiastical court the judge can only administer the law ; and, by a skilful advocate, a man notoriously guilty of heresy may be proved, though violating the spirit of the law, not to have transgressed the letter. In the ancient councils, which established the precedent for provincial synods, a new law might at once be passed, or rather, the wording of an old canon might be corrected so as to prevent the evasion of the dishonest. This is indeed a power so vast and dangerous, that it would not be tolerated in these days : but at a time when the object was to nip heresy in the bud, rather than to discover the means by which an offender might escape, it was not regarded with sus- picion. Heresy and treason were at this time in such close alliance, that the complaint against the clergy, on the part of the laity, was not that they exercised an in- quisitorial power, but that they endangered the Govern- ment by being remiss in their search after heretics. It was not that a zeal existed for the repression of heresy,

parliament rolls of that and the succeeding reigns, the three estates of the realm are alluded to as the " Bishops, Lords, and Commons," though in reality the three estates are, the Clergy, Lords, and Commons. "When the above •was written I had not the advantage of being acquainted with Mr. Joyce's "England's Sacred Synods." a very valuable work to those who desire to become conversant with the history of our convocations. I think, upon comparing what has been stated above with what has been advanced by him, that our statements will be found to correspond. Our authorities must be nearly the same.

G 2

84 LIVES OF THE

but that a fear prevailed that heretics designed the overthrow of the civil as well as of the ecclesiastical

Henry ,

Chicheiey. government.

1414-43. When the clergy met for the discharge of their judicial functions, they met not as in convocation, but as a synod, and they sat in one house. As judges of heresy, they condemned heretical books to be burnt ; and when heretics were brought before them they dis- played an anxiety to induce them to avoid the penalties of the law by prevailing upon them to recant. When, at a later period of our history, it was the policy, inflamed by passion, of a large party to attack the hierarchy, it was customary to represent every bishop and eccle- siastical judge as a bloodthirsty inquisitor ; and, as proof of their persecuting spirit, mention was made of the prisons attached to the ecclesiastical courts, or the episcopal residences which were called Lollard Towers. But as we have before remarked, these prisons, or Lollard Towers, were intended to enable men to escape the severer penalties of the law. The ecclesiastical judge could inflict no severer punishment than imprisonment. If a heretic were left then in the hands of the ecclesias- tical officers, his life was spared. A man convicted of heresy might be handed over to the civil authority, and by that authority he would be burnt ; or, instead of being handed over to the civil authority, he might in the first instance be delivered to his diocesan. By his diocesan he could only be imprisoned. During his im- prisonment he might be led to recant, and, on recanting, he would be required to enter into his recognizances for his good conduct for the future, and then he would be dismissed. So frequently was this the case, that the zealots of an heretical party hated a Lollard Tower more than they did the pope. It is important to bear

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 85

this in mind, when we hear of Chicheley's building the ^nn

Lollard Tower at Lambeth. He was certainly not a

bloodthirsty man ; and though we have no particular chicheiey. reason for upholding the cause of bishops, of whose i*i*-43. delinquencies I have not been slow to speak, we must remember, that they also are God's creatures, and are not of necessity more hard-hearted than other judges. Man is a fierce and terrible animal — of all animals the most remorseless when his passions are roused and his blood is boiling. Awful is the infidel fanatic, as we see him in the French Revolution ; awful the religious fanatic, as he is exhibited to us in the French De Montfort, and the authors of the Inquisition. But, in quiet times, the leaning of man's heart is to the side of mercy ; and even when it is supposed that the public peace requires the adoption of strong measures, the tendency is to rescue a fellow-creature from the extreme penalties of a law, in upholding which the Infidel and the Christian may be equally firm.

There were several prosecutions for heresy, but the only one which is remarkable as indicating an advance in freedom of thought, is that of Thomas Bayly, who, in 142S, was accused of saying that the consecrated Host was in its nature true bread and wine, and only the Body and Blood of our Lord in figure. Such an assertion had not been hazarded by Wiclif, and marks the progress of the intellectual movement."" The same convocation is to be mentioned with respect, for having granted a subsidy to the king, while refusing it to the pope's nuncio.

In 1430, delegates were appointed by convocation to the Council of Basil ; and a constitution was issued

* "Wilkins, iii. 515-17.

86

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Henry Chicheley.

1414-43.

by the Archbishop of Canterbury with the sanction of convocation, which is the more extraordinary, as it relates to what we should regard as a matter purely secular, belonging not to convocation but to parlia- ment. It is the more important to notice it, as it shows the manner in which secular matters were gra- dually drawn into the ecclesiastical courts, a subject upon which we have already treated. The eccle- siastical lawyers argued that the subject of the con- stitution came within the jurisdiction of the Court Christian, because it related to honesty ; and honesty was a moral virtue, of which the ecclesiastical courts might have cognizance. After a preamble, in which the iniquity of the age is considered, the archbishop proceeds : —

" Public fame and certain experience assure us that there are many trickish chapmen in some cities, boroughs, and other places of our province, who, without regard to their salvation, use to buy of simple folk and others, wool, flax, honey, and wax, and other necessaries, by a greater measure and greater weight commonly called le aunttll, otherwise scfreft, or pountftr, in a fraudulent manner and to sell the same ; and others iron, steel, pitch, and rosin, and other commodities by lesser measure and weights called abogr to pogS, otherwise lggg»ng forcing, to the great hazard of their souls, and the robbing of the poor and such simple folk, and the intolerable injury of others who do not observe that the said auncel weight is (so) vulgarly called on account of some hidden falsities and frauds therein used." *

* Johnson, i. 489. The second edition of Johnson remarks that " the name ' auncel ' seems clearly to be a Norman form, derived from the compound Anglo-Saxon verb ' handyyllan,' to give or sell with the hand, to which may also be traced the English word ' handsel.' The instrument used is described as a beam or shaft, with scales or hooks at each end, which, being raised on the fore-

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 87

The archbishop took occasion also to regulate the ^f^' fees received by the various ecclesiastical officers, in — . — - remuneration for the discharge of their duties. Bishops chicheiey. and archdeacons were forbidden to receive more than MM-4& twelve shillings, the former for the institution, and the latter for the induction, of clerks ; and no gratuity or demand whatever was to be made for ordinations. This was ordered to meet the complaints of the inferior clergy, who were joining with many of the laity in complaining that persons were now preferred to the highest positions in the Church, through court favour ; some of whom had not even obtained a university degree ; while many, through their ignorance of civil and canon law, were incompetent to discharge with effect the duties of their respective offices. A consti- tution rendering it imperative for persons in high ecclesiastical positions, to be graduates at one or other of the universities, was issued by Chicheiey in 1432.

The disputes between the cardinals and the popes, and the bold attempt which had been made to subju- gate the pope to a general council, had set men's minds thinking. Though the time had not come when a remedy for the existing evils could be suggested, yet the great work of this century, — sometimes called the Saeculuni Synodale, — was, that it impressed upon the European mind the great fact, that a reformation had become a necessity. It might be delayed, but it was sure to come. It was delayed by the political sagacity and the statesmanlike qualities of Pope Martin V. The clergy of the national churches of Europe had long regarded the pope as an adversary rather than a

finger or hand, served to show the equality or difference of the ■weight and the thing -weighed." See Phillip's Eng. Diet, Auncel- -weigt. Somner, Diet. Sax., Handyyllan.

88

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CHAP. XVIII.

Henry

Chicheley.

1414-43.

friend. This was especially the case with respect to the English and the G-allican churches. The pope had his own objects in view, and those objects were often not consistent with the interests of a national church. The demand from Rome was for money. To resist, or to evade the demand where it could not be resisted, was the interest of the clergy no less than of the laity. At the commencement of the fifteenth century, there was throughout Western Europe a good understanding between the clergy and laity, the civil and the eccle- siastical governments. They were prepared to unite their forces in an attack upon Rome. At the councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basle, the attack had been made. If it had been established then, that the pope was the servant and vassal of a council ; if a council could have established itself as the superior of the pope, then the pope, in the modern sense of that title, would have been extinct. The Council of Constance was not so much a synod of the Church, as it was a European congress. It was apparently successful. It was frus- trated in the mid-career of victory by the Macchiavellian arts of Roman diplomacy. It lacked a master-mind to enable it to reap the fruits of victory. Its zeal was wasted, when, from pure exhaustion, it retired from the field of battle. It had been convened to give liberty to the national churches of Europe ; but, in electing Otho Colonna to the papacy, it gave a master to Christendom.

By Martin V. a new sera was established. The interest of every national church was from this time to be identified with the Church of Rome, and the pope was to be the universal bishop. It was Martin V. who established the principle and sowed the seed, which was to be developed into Ultramontanism.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 89

The system of Hildebrand was now to be superseded, |yf^' or to give place to a scheme of government more ^~ adapted to the exigencies of the time, if Home was chicheiey. still to be in the ascendant. The reader who has 1414-43. perused these volumes, will have seen that by Gregory VII. the independent action of national churches had been recognised and allowed. The Bishop of Eome claimed not ordinary, but only extraordinary juris- diction,— the jurisdiction of a visitor or of the judge in a court of final appeal. The Ordinary is the eccle- siastical superior who has jurisdiction, not by way of deputation or delegation, but in his own proper right. He is called the ordinary, because he has judicial cog- nizance, in his own right, of all causes arising within the territorial limits of his jurisdiction. He is opposed to persons extraordinarily appointed — to the judex delegatus, or extraordinary — whose jurisdiction extends only to such causes as are specifically delegated to him, either by some superior authority, or by some law under certain circumstances overriding the ordinary juris- diction.* Not to mention inferior ordinaries, such as archdeacons ; the bishops were ordinaries of their dioceses, subject to the extraordinary jurisdiction of their respective metropolitans. According to the Hilde- brandine system, the metropolitans were ordinaries in their provinces, subject to an appeal to the see of Eome, and to the constitution by that see of an extra- ordinary judge in special cases. But now the pope claimed to be the universal ordinary; the bishops of the national churches, only acting as his delegates, were to obey his orders. Hence we shall find from this

* He is called Ordinarius, " quia habet ordinariurii jurisdictionem, in jure proprio, et non per deputationern." Co. Litt. 96, a. See Lindwood, lib. i. tit. 3 ; Swinb. 380 ; Ayliife's Parergon, 309.

90

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CHAP. XVIII.

Henry Chicheley.

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time, the continual appointment of legates d latere, to control the metropolitans, — to do that which Henry V. would have sacrificed his crown rather than tolerate. This almost immediately was developed into modern Romanism.

The battle of Ultramontanism, thus originating, was fought by Rome against the Anglican and the Gallican churches, with various success. At the Reformation, the Anglican church re-established its independence. For some time, the battle in France was doubtful, but Gallicanism was overthrown at the Revolution ; and it has ever been the policy of the Bonaparte dynasty to ally itself with Rome, and to permit Ultramontane despotism to establish itself in France.

From the commencement of the fifteenth century, there were always men in the Church of England resolute in resisting the new pretensions urged by the successors of Martin ; but the battle between Ultra- montanism and Anglicanism continued, until the master mind and resolute will of Queen Elizabeth placed the Church on its present anti-papal basis.

Martin V., when he had resolved on his policy, made a violent attack upon the English Government, and attempted to compel the primate of all England to act simply as the pope's representative and delegate. We are in possession of a correspondence, comprising twenty letters, which passed between the papal and English governments, and between the pope and the Arch- bishop of Canterbury*

* See Wilkins, iii. 471, et seq. The letters in "Wilkins are printed from the Eegister of Booth, bishop of Hereford. There are some obvious inaccuracies in the transcription, and there is no attempt at chronological arrangement. The letters are printed from

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 91

The violent outbreaks of temper and the insolent 5vni* tone of mind displayed by Martin V. are truly offen- — — sive, but he kept his object steadily before him ; and chicheley. as there may be method in madness, so also was it 1414-43. discernible in the pope's anger. The personal attack made upon Chicheley, who represented that principle of a national church which Martin sought to over- throw, certainly intimidated the primate ; and if his conduct on this occasion did not correspond to what, judging from his antecedents, we should have expected, we must remember that the circumstances in which Chicheley was placed were new ; that he had no pre- cedents to guide him ; and that his health was infirm, while, as is sometimes the case with long livers, he had become prematurely old.

The wrath of Martin was excited by the statute of praemunire. It was part of his policy to array the Church against the Government, and it was consistent with that policy to permit himself, on such a subject, to be lashed into a perfect frenzy. Against what he was accustomed to call "the execrable statute," he wrote angry letters to the king and to the parliament. The simple-minded and single-hearted archbishop, not divining the pope's object, thought that he had been urged on to his present course by the intrigues of Beaufort and his party. He asserted, therefore, that the Duke of Gloucester and he — the arch- bishop himself — had been misrepresented, if the pope supposed that they were hostile to his holiness. He

another manuscript, the Petyt MSS. in Burnet's collections, and have been collated with the original by the learned editor of the new Oxford edition, Mr. Pocock. They do not occur in Chicheley's Eegister at Lambeth. The archbishop may have been ashamed of the correspondence, and may have desired its suppression.

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xvm" affirmecl ^at nothing but his old age prevented him — - from waiting upon the pope in person, and explaining cjiicheiey. to him the manoeuvres of a faction, whose evident object 1414-43. Was to shorten his days by involving him in all this trouble, or to compel him to resign his archbishopric. He wrote also to the cardinals, and retained one of their number by a pension of forty English nobles for the pur- chase of wine, to act as his counsel, and to plead his cause, whenever he might be attacked by the Beaufort party. Chicheley acted on the old principle. He regarded the Bishop of Kome as the first among the bishops, and as he admitted that the pope possessed certain un- defined powers in the Church of England, he sought to conciliate him. But this was precisely the point which Martin combated, and the mode of Chicheley's sub- mission only exasperated him the more. As for his " beloved son Humphrey, duke of Gloucester," what right had Chicheley to take up his cause, when against him not one word had been uttered by the pope ? His complaint was not against the duke but against Chiche- ley, and against him only. As for what the archbishop had said in vindication of his own conduct, and his respect for the pope ; Martin insolently tells the aged primate, speaking to him as if he were a schoolboy in disgrace, that he must rebut the charges brought against him, not by words, but by actions : " Labour, therefore," he says, " with all your might, that the execrable statute enacted against the liberty of the Church be repealed, and neither observe it yourself, nor let it be observed by others. . . . This if you neglect to do, no declaration of your good will to us and the Holy See will be of avail. One other thing we have heard, and cannot refrain from mentioning. We have heard that you have stated that the Holy Sec desires

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the abolition of this statute for the purpose of gaining ^vm

money/' This charge he indignantly, and probably

with justice on his side, repudiates. It was not for chicSy. money that he was now contending, but for a new 1414-43 position in the church and realm of England.*

Chicheley was not equal to the crisis. He looked at the past through spectacles dimmed by old age ; and was disheartened by the evident defeat of the reform party at Basil. Martin knew perfectly well, that the statutes of provisors and praemunire were passed with the fall concurrence, or, as we have seen, in some mea- sure, at the instigation of the bishops and clergy. They had united with the laity in measures which would free them from those pecuniary burdens which the popes of Eome endeavoured, on various pleas, to impose upon the clergy. Nothing was more probable, than that Chicheley had frequently used the old arguments in defence of these enactments : " If you repeal the sta- tutes," he would ask, " what safeguard have you against papal exactions ?" He did not see Martin's point. The statutes ignored the pope's jurisdiction except in ex- traordinary cases ; and therefore they were peculiarly obnoxious to one who was seeking to establish an ordinary jurisdiction for the pope, at least in things spiritual I am inclined to think, that this was the real object he had in view when he now offered a gratuitous insult to the see of Canterbury. He addressed his mandate to the two metropolitans of England, and headed it thus : " Martinus Episcopus, sen-us servorum Dei, venerabilibus fratribus Eboracensi

* "Wilkins, Cone. iii. 473. A wrong date is given to this letter in "Wilkins, " tertio " being printed by mistake for " decimo." The Petyt MS. assigns the letter to the tenth, instead of the third year of Martin's pontificate.

94 LIVES OF THE

xvm" e* Cantuariensi Archiepiscopis salutem et apostolicam — — benedictionem." That Martin was not displeased at an Chicheiey. opportunity of offering an insult to Chicheley, is very 1414-43. conceivable : but there would be such extreme little- ness of mind in offering such a petty insult as to name the Metropolitan of York before the Primate of all England, that we are unwilling to suppose, that a mind so powerful as that of Martin would be guilty of it, if he had not some further and more immediate object in view. His conduct on this occasion was, at all events, in accordance with what he wished to advance as the facts of the case. He was now trying to establish the principle, on which subsequent popes were henceforth to act, that the highest metropolitan in a national church was only a delegate of the pope ; and that, therefore, it remained for him to decide, as policy might dictate, as to the precedence of the one before the other. They were both equal in his eyes, both were to act as his servants, and it mattered little whether he named first the Archbishop of York or the Archbishop of Canter- bury: the question of their precedence was, he would insinuate, beneath his notice. This view of the case is borne out by the letter itself, which is too long for transcription; but the purport of it is to denounce the two primates and their suffragans for their being in the habit of utterly disregarding all papal pro- visions. The provisions were contrary to the laws of the land ; by them the rights of a patron were for that time superseded, and the papal nominee demanded institution or collation, as the case might be. It was notorious that the hierarchy of the Church of England were accustomed to obey the law of the land by which their own rights were protected ; and in spite of papal remonstrances, to reserve the right of the nomination

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 95

for patrons. The pope now required the metropolitans xvm" to obey his orders, whether in accordance with the law

J . Henry

of the land or not ; under the penalty, that, if the)' chicheiey. refused to grant the pope the nomination pro hdc vice, i-*u-43. they should be subjected, themselves individually, to excommunication ; and then should be deprived of the benefice, the collation to which had hitherto belonged to them either of right or by custom.

The aged archbishop was intimidated ; but the blood of the English clergy was roused, and they were prepared to resent and resist this attack on their inde- pendence. Most gratifying to the good archbishop must have been the universal burst of indignation when the pope, instigated by the Beaufort faction, and retorting upon Chicheiey the charge of a love of money, accused the munificent primate of accumulating an immense, fortune to the destruction of his own soul. The suffragans of Canterbury volunteered a letter to the pope, in which they say of their father of Canter- bury, that in the government entrusted to him, he is so efficient in business and careful in management, that by the whole body of the realm (although peradventure by a few ill-disposed persons it may chance to be other- wise reported) he is considered a faithful steward and a prudent ; and so humble is he, and benign in deed as well as in word, so industrious and so watchful in the exercise of the charge committed to him, and modest in his governance, that by the whole college of the clergy he is called a pious father and a pacific pastor, to whom, in the bond of peace, all other prelates cling, and that without any cause or matter of complaint. *

* Wilkins, iii. 471, where this letter is misplaced. Among them the name of Beaufort does not appear, and it is to the Beaufort faction that an allusion is made in the letter.

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LIVES OF THE

CHAP. XVIII.

Henry

Chicheley.

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The University of Oxford came forward on the occasion, and it is due to Chicheley that we give an excerpt from their letter. They boldly state, that " all the princes throughout the limits of our realm know, the nobles know, and the poor proclaim, that our said most reverend father is, in the church of our nation, not a ravening wolf, but a good shepherd, not a reed fol- lowing the blast of avarice, but a firm column of our most holy mother Church. We wonder, therefore," they said, in conclusion, " that any one at your most Holy See, laying aside the fear of God, has dared to open his mouth with lying words against a father so modest and pious, radiant with virtues on all sides ; for he is here a mirror of life, a vessel of virtues, a lantern of manners, a