Henry Beaufort

For other people named Henry Beaufort, see Henry Beaufort (disambiguation).

His Eminence Henry Beaufort
Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester
Cardinal Henry Beaufort
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Winchester
Installed	1404
Term ended	1447
Predecessor	William of Wykeham
Successor	William Waynflete
Other posts	Lord Chancellor of England, Cardinal Priest of S. Eusebio
Orders
Consecration	14 July 1398
Created Cardinal	24 May 1426 by Pope Martin V
Rank	Cardinal Priest
Personal details
Born	Château de Beaufort, Anjou, France
Died	11 April 1447 Wolvesey Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, England
Buried	Winchester Cathedral
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Parents	John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Katherine Swynford
Previous post	Bishop of Lincoln 1398–1404, Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1397–1399, Dean of Wells 1397–1398

Historical painting by Paul Delaroche showing Cardinal Beaufort interrogating Joan of Arc in prison.

Tomb of Cardinal Beaufort in Winchester Cathedral.

Henry Beaufort (died 11 April 1447) was a medieval English clergyman, Bishop of Winchester,^[1] a member of the royal house of Plantagenet,^[2] and Cardinal.^[1]

Life

The second of the four illegitimate children of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford, Beaufort was born in Anjou, an English domain in France, and educated for a career in the Church. After his parents were married in early 1396, Henry, his two brothers and one sister were declared legitimate by the pope and legitimated by Act of Parliament on 9 February 1397, but they were barred from the succession to the throne;^[3]^[4]^[5] this later proviso, that they were specifically barred from inheriting the throne, the exact phrase being excepta regali dignitate (English: the royal dignity excepted), was inserted with dubious authority by their half-brother Henry of Bolingbroke. On 27 February 1398 he was nominated Bishop of Lincoln and on 14 July 1398 he was consecrated.^[6] When his half-brother deposed Richard and took the throne as Henry IV of England, he made Bishop Beaufort Lord Chancellor of England in 1403.^[7] Beaufort resigned that position in 1404 when he was appointed Bishop of Winchester on 19 November.^[8]

Between 1411 and 1413, Bishop Beaufort was in political disgrace for siding with his nephew, the Prince of Wales, against the King, but when King Henry IV died and the Prince became Henry V of England, he made his uncle Chancellor again in 1413; however, Beaufort resigned the position in 1417.^[7] Pope Martin V offered the Bishop a Cardinal's hat, but King Henry V would not let him accept it. Henry V died in 1422, shortly after making himself heir to France by marrying Charles VI's daughter, and their infant son Henry VI of England. Bishop Beaufort and the child king's other uncles formed the Regency Government of England 1422-1437, and in 1424 Beaufort became Chancellor once more, but was forced to resign again in 1426 because of disputes with the King's other uncles.^[7]

Part of Halsway Manor in Somerset was built by Beaufort as his hunting lodge.^[9] He is traditionally held to have built the north aisle of the Church of St Mary at Stogumber "as penance for his lax life whilst at his Hunting lodge".^[10]

Pope Martin V finally made him a Cardinal in 1426.^[7] In 1427 Martin made Beaufort the Papal Legate for Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia, and directed him to lead the fourth "crusade" against the Hussites heretics in Bohemia. Beaufort's forces were routed by the Hussites at the Battle of Tachov on 4 August 1427.^[11]

When the English captured Joan of Arc in 1431, Beaufort presided at her trial before she was burned at the stake.

Beaufort continued to be active in English politics for years, fighting with the other powerful advisors to the King . He died on 11 April 1447^[8] and was laid to rest in a tomb in Winchester Cathedral. He suffered from delirium on his deathbed and, as he hallucinated, according to legend he offered Death the whole treasury of England in return for living a while longer.

Affair and daughter

When Henry was Bishop of Lincoln, he supposedly had an affair with Alice FitzAlan (1378–1415), the daughter of Richard FitzAlan and Elizabeth de Bohun; however, there is no evidence to support this allegation and the theory has been countered by Brad Verity.^[12] Henry fathered an illegitimate daughter, Jane Beaufort, in 1402, who some make Alice's daughter. Both Jane and her husband, Sir Edward Stradling, were named in Cardinal Beaufort's will. Their marriage about 1423 brought Sir Edward into the political orbit of his shrewd and assertive father-in-law, to whom he may have owed his appointment as chamberlain of South Wales in December 1423, a position he held until March 1437.^[13] The hypothesis of Jane's mother being Alice Fitzalan is possibly a legend subscribed to by the Tudor-era descendants of Sir Edward and Jane Stradling. There is no late-14th or early-15th century documentation to support this affair at all, and the surviving documentation entirely discounts it. However, a blood connection to Cardinal Beaufort would itself be prestigious, regardless of the mother or her marital status.

Notes

↑ 1.0 1.1 Miranda, Salvador. "Henry Beaufort". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
↑ Joel Thomas Rosenthal, "The Training of an Elite Group: English Bishops in the Fifteenth Century" Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 60.5 (1970:1–54) p. 7.
↑ Cokayne Complete Peerage Volume XII pp. 40–41
↑ Schofield, Nicholas; Skinner, Gerald (2007). The English Cardinals. Oxford: Family Publications. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-871217-65-0.
↑ Williams, David (1996). British Royalty. London: Cassell. pp. 240–241. ISBN 0-304-34933-X.
↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 256
↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 87
↑ 8.0 8.1 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 277
↑ John Lloyd Warden (1895). An Exploration of Exmoor and the Hill Country of West Somerset: With Notes. Seeley & Co., Ltd.
↑ "Stogumber". Quantock Online. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
↑ Harriss, G. L. (1987). "Henry Beaufort, 'Cardinal of England'". Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium: England in the Fifteenth Century (Woodbridge: Paul Watkins Publishing): 123–4. |accessdate= requires |url= (help)
↑ Verity, Brad (2004). "A Non-Affair to Remember – The Alleged Liaison of Cardinal Beaufort and Alice of Arundel". Foundations 1 (4): 246–268. (subscription required (help)).
↑ R. A. Griffiths, Conquerors and Conquered in Medieval Wales, 1994

References

Cokayne, George E. (1982). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant XII (Microprint ed.). Gloucester [England]: A. Sutton. ISBN 0-904387-82-8.
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.

Political offices
Preceded by Edmund Stafford	Lord Chancellor 1403–1405 1413–1417 1424–1426	Succeeded by Thomas Langley
Preceded by Thomas Arundel		Succeeded by Thomas Langley
Preceded by Thomas Langley		Succeeded by John Kemp
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Thomas Thebaud	Dean of Wells 1397–1398	Succeeded by Nicholas Slake
Preceded by John Bokyngham	Bishop of Lincoln 1398–1404	Succeeded by Philip Repyngdon
Preceded by William of Wykeham	Bishop of Winchester 1404–1447	Succeeded by William Waynflete
Preceded by Alemanno Adimari	Cardinal Priest of S. Eusebio 1426–1447	Succeeded by Richard Olivier de Longueil
Academic offices
Preceded by Philip Repyngdon	Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1397–1399	Succeeded by Thomas Hyndeman

Deans of Wells

High Medieval	Ivo Richard de Spakeston Alexander Leonius Ralph of Lechlade Peter of Chichester William of Merton John Saracenus Giles of Bridport Edward of Cnoll Thomas Bytton William Burnell Walter Haselshaw

Late Medieval	Henry Husee John Godelee Richard of Bury Wibert of Littleton Walter of London Thomas Fastolf John of Carleton Stephen Penpel John Fordham Thomas Thebaud Henry Beaufort Nicholas Slake Thomas Tuttebury Richard Courtenay Walter Medeford John Stafford John Forest Nicholas Carent William Witham John Gunthorpe

Early modern	William Cosyn Thomas Wynter Richard Woleman Thomas Cromwell William Fitzjames John Goodman William Turner Robert Weston Valentine Dale John Herbert Benjamin Heydon Richard Meredith Ralph Barlow George Warburton Walter Ralegh Robert Creighton Ralph Bathurst William Grahme Matthew Brailsford Isaac Maddox John Harris Samuel Creswicke Lord Francis Seymour

Late modern	George Lukin Hon Henry Ryder Edmund Goodenough Richard Jenkyns George Johnson Edward Plumptre Thomas Jex-Blake Armitage Robinson Richard Malden Frederic Harton Christopher Woodforde Irven Edwards Patrick Mitchell Richard Lewis John Clarke

Bishops of Winchester

Early Medieval	Wine Leuthere Hædde Daniel Hunfrith Cyneheard Æthelheard Ecgbald Dudd Cyneberht Ealhmund Wigthegn Herefrith (disputed) Eadmund (disputed) Eadhun Helmstan Swithun Ealhferth Tunbeorht Denewulf Frithestan Beornstan/Byrnstan ÆlfheahI ÆlfsigeI Beorhthelm ÆthelwoldI ÆlfheahII

High Medieval	Cenwulf ÆthelwoldII ÆlfsigeII Ælfwine Stigand Walkelin William Giffard Henry of Blois Richard of Ilchester Godfrey de Luci Richard Poore Peter des Roches Ralph Neville William de Raley Aymer de Valence Andrew of London William de Taunton John Gervais Nicholas of Ely Robert Burnell Richard de la More John of Pontoise

Late Medieval	Henry Woodlock John Sandale Rigaud of Assier John de Stratford Adam Orleton William Edington William of Wykeham Henry Beaufort William Waynflete Peter Courtenay Thomas Langton

Early modern	Richard Foxe Thomas Wolsey Stephen Gardiner John Ponet Stephen Gardiner John White Robert Horne John Watson Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Day Thomas Bilson James Montague Lancelot Andrewes Richard Neile Walter Curle Brian Duppa George Morley Peter Mews Jonathan Trelawny Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly John Thomas Brownlow North

Late modern	George Pretyman Tomline Charles Sumner Samuel Wilberforce Harold Browne Anthony Thorold Randall Davidson Herbert Ryle Edward Talbot Frank Woods Cyril Garbett Mervyn Haigh Alwyn Williams Falkner Allison John Taylor Colin James Michael Scott-Joynt Tim Dakin

Bishops of Lincoln

High Medieval	Remigius de Fécamp Robert Bloet Alexander Robert de Chesney Geoffrey Plantagenet Walter de Coutances Hugh of Avalon William de Blois Hugh of Wells Robert Grosseteste Henry of Lexington Richard of Gravesend Oliver Sutton

Late Medieval	John Dalderby Anthony Bek Henry Burghersh Thomas Bek John Gynwell John Bokyngham Henry Beaufort Philip Repyngdon Richard Fleming William Grey William Alnwick Marmaduke Lumley John Chadworth Thomas Rotherham John Russell

Early modern	William Smyth Thomas Wolsey William Atwater John Longland Henry Holbeach John Taylor John White Thomas Watson Nicholas Bullingham Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Chaderton William Barlow Richard Neile George Montaigne John Williams Thomas Winniffe Robert Sanderson Benjamin Lany William Fuller Thomas Barlow Thomas Tenison James Gardiner William Wake Edmund Gibson Richard Reynolds John Thomas John Green Thomas Thurlow

Late modern	George Pretyman (later Pretyman Tomline) Hon George Pelham John Kaye John Jackson Christopher Wordsworth Edward King Edward Hicks William Swayne Nugent Hicks Aylmer Skelton Leslie Owen Maurice Harland Kenneth Riches Simon Phipps Bob Hardy John Saxbee Christopher Lowson

Henry Beaufort

Life

Affair and daughter

Notes

References

Further reading