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LIVES OF
THE LORD CHANCELLORS AND
KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL
OF ENGLAND.

VOLUME I.

This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in
cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You
may not reproduce this digitized copy ofthe book for
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(or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes.

THE

LIVES

THE LORD CHANCELLORS

KEEPERS OE THE GREAT SEAL

ENGLAND,
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TILL THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE IV.

BY
JOHN LORD CAMPBELL, LL.D. F.R.S.E.
in

IN SEVEN VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

SECOND AMERICAN,
FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION.

PHILADELPHIA.
BLANCHARD AND LEA.
1851.

1

^3

v-

>

\ ^

'^

TO

THE HONORABLE
WILLIAM FREDERICK CAMPBELL,
My dear Son,
As you are not to inherit from me great possessions,
or a name illustrated by long official career, I in
scribe this work to you, fn the hope that it may prove
to you a lesson of true labour.
I have hitherto had much reason to rejoice in the
progress of your studies ; and when you return from
viewing foreign cities and manners, I shall hope to
see you struggling to confer benefits on your coun
try, while you lay the foundation for a lasting reputa
tion for yourself. Thus I shall be more gratified
than by any power or distinction I myself could have
acquired, and you will render contented and happy
the declining years of —
Your ever affectionate Father,
CAMPBELL.
Nov. 1, 1845. 1*

PREFACE

THE THIRD EDITION

In preparing a New Edition of the Lives of the
Chancellors, I have availed myself of the numer
ous obliging communications which I have recently
received suggesting corrections and additions ; — and
from the careful revision which the work has under
gone, I hope it may now be found not unworthy of
the public patronage with which it has been hon
oured.
Stratheden House,
April 10, 1848.

PREFACE

THE FIRST EDITION

When suddenly freed, in the autumn of 1841, from professional
and official occupations, I revelled for a while in the resumption of
my classical studies, and in the miscellaneous perusal of modern
authors. By degrees I began to perceive the want of a definite
object : I recollected what Lord Coke and Lord Bacon say of the
debt due from every successful lawyer to his profession ; and I
felt within me a revival of the aspiration after literary fame,
which, in my most busy days, I was never able entirely to ex
tinguish. Having amused myself with revising for the press." a
Selection of my Speeches at the Bar and in the House of Com
mons," I resolved to write " The Lives of the Chancellors. "
It is for others to judge how this work is executed, but I am
more and more convinced that the subject is happily chosen.
" Histories," says Lord Bacon, " do rather set forth the pomp
of business than the true and inward resorts thereof. But Lives,
if they be well written, propounding to themselves a person to
represent, in whom actions both greater and smaller, public and
private, have a commixture, must of necessity contain a mora
true, native, and lively representation."* In writing the lives of
those who have successively filled a great office there is unity of
design as well as variety of character and incident, and there is
no office in the history of any nation that has been filled with such
* Advancement of Learning.

X PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
a long succession of distinguished and interesting men as the office
of Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Eng
land. It has existed from the foundation of the monarchy ; and
although mediocrity has sometimes been the recommendation for
it, — generally speaking, the most eminent men of the age, if not
the most virtuous, have been selected to adorn it. To an English
¦ statesman as well as an English lawyer the narrative ought to be
particularly instructive, for the history of the holders of the Great
Seal is the history of our constitution as well as of our jurispru
dence. There is even a sort of romance belonging to the true
tale of many of those who are to be delineated, and the strange
vicissitudes of their career are not exceeded by the fictions of
novelists or dramatists.
I foresaw the difficulties that would beset me — sometimes from
the want, and sometimes from the superfluity of "materials.
Struggling with these, I have attempted to present to the reader
a clear and authentic account of all who have held the Great Seal
of England from the earliest times — adapting the scale of my
narrative to the varying importance of what is to be told, and try.
ing as I proceed to give a glimpse of the most important historical
events, and of the manners of the age.
If I have failed, it will not have been for the want of generous
assistance. I wish to speak with the most heartfelt gratitude of
the kindness which I have experienced. I have been treated like
a shipwrecked mariner cast on a friendly shore — every one eagerly
desirous to comfort and to cherish him. In not one single instance
since I entered on the undertaking, when I have applied for as
sistance, have I met with a rebuff; on the contrary, the most
eager and disinterested disposition has been evinced to oblige me.
Such good offices I have to boast of, not less from political oppo
nents than from political associates, and my thanks are peculiarly-
due to many clergymen of the Church of England to whom I was
personally unknown, and who have devoted much time and trouble
in furnishing me with extracts from parish registers, copies of
epitaphs, and other local information.
I must be allowed publicly to express my thanks by name to
Lord Langdale, for the use of his valuable collection of Extracts

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XI
from the Close Roll, respecting the transfer of the Great Seal ; —
to Earl Fortescue, for the pardon under the Great Seal of his
ancestor by Edward IV. ; — to Lord Francis Egerton, for many
original documents of great interest relating to Lord Chancellor
Ellesmere ; — to Lord Hatherton, for an original mandate under
the hand and seal of his kinsman, Lord Keeper Littleton, for
raising money to carry on the war against the Long Parliament ;
to Mr. DufFus Hardy, for many important writs, proclamations,
and letters never before published, which he has discovered for
me in the Tower of London ; — to Sir Francis Palgrave, acquaint-
ed with the Anglo-Saxon times more familiarly than most men
are with the reign of George III., for the direction which he has
given to my inquiries whenever I have been at fault ; — to Mr.
M'Queen, author of " The Practice of the House of Lords," for
some difficult researches made by him on my account into the
antiquities of Equity Practice;1 — to Mr. Payne Collier, the
learned Editor of Shakespeare, for various ballads and handbills
published at the death of Lord Chancellor Jeffreys ; — to Mr.
Fqss, Editor of " The Grandeur of the Law," who has amassed
a noble collection respecting all English lawyers in all ages, for
helping me out with dates and facts respecting some of the early
Chancellors ; — to Mr. Spence, of the Chancery Bar, for his
communication to me of a large portion of his materials for the
important work in which he is engaged on the jurisdiction of the
Court of Chancery ; — to Mr. Parkes, author of " The History
of the Court of Chancery," for the loan of his large assortment
of tracts on English jurisprudence ; — to Mr. Purton Cooper,
Q. C, one of the Record Commissioners, for several unpublished
MS. treatises on the Practice of the Court of Chancery in early
times ; — to Mr. Panizzi, for the good-humour and intelligence
which have laid open to me all the treasures of the British Mu
seum ; — and to my friend and pupil, Mr. David Dundas, for his
assistance in gleaning materials for some lives that have become
obscure, but which ought to be known to mankind — particularly
that of Lord Chancellor John Russell.
In rapidly travelling through a period of above a thousand
years, I am well aware that I must have committed many mistakes,

xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
and have passed by, without discovering, much interesting matter.
I shall receive very thankfully any information with which I may
be favoured, either privately or in print, to enable me to correct
errors and to supply omissions.
I hope that I have shown myself free from any party or secta
rian bias. The great principles of civil and religious liberty I
ever wish boldly to avow, and resolutely to maintain ; but I be
lieve that I have fairly appreciated the acts and characters of
those whose Lives I have had in hand, without being swayed by
the consideration whether they were Roman Catholics or Protes
tants — Whigs or Tories. I must request the candid reader not
to judge by any particular expression, or any particular Life, but
by the whole scope and tendency of the work.
Horace Walpole seeks to deter all who have ever touched a
Great Seal from engaging in such a task, by observing, after his
criticisms on the historical labours of Sir Thomas More, Lord
Bacon, and Lord Clarendon, " It is hoped no more Chancellors
will write our story till they can divest themselves of that habit of
their profession — apologising for a bad cause."* My object has
been uniformly to reprobate violence and fraud, and to hold up
integrity and consistency for applause and imitation.
I regret the length into which I have been drawn ; but, after a
careful revision, I have found nothing that I could omit without
injury to my design ; and when due regard is had to the number
of persons whose history was to be narrated, and to the multitu
dinous facts to be introduced, I am not without hopes that I may
receive some little credit for condensation.
It will be seen that this " First Series" comes down to the
Revolution of 1688. I was advised to begin with the Chan
cellors during the eighteenth century, and to travel back, after
the precedent of Hume. Such a plan would have had advan
tages, the recent Lives being generally considered the most inter
esting ; but as I profess to give the history of our jurisprudence,
I thought that I should best succeed by starting from its sources
and following the course which it has run.
* Historic Doubts.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Xlll
I calculate that the work will be completed in two additional
volumes, for which I have already made considerable preparations,
and which, if my life and strength be preserved to me, I shall ere
Jong lay before the public. Little interruption to study is offered
by the political business of the House of Lords, and although I
resolve still regularly to attend the hearing of Appeals and Writs
of Error there, and the meetings of the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council, a considerable portion of the year is left en
tirely under my own control. That the " Second Series" may
be less defective, I earnestly request the communication of any
scarce tracts or unpublished MSS. which are likely to be of ser
vice to me.
If the work should be worthily finished, my ambition is, that it
may amuse the general reader ; that it may afford some instruc
tion to those who wish to become well acquainted with our consti
tutional history ; and above all, that it may excite the young
student of the law to emulation and industry, and confirm in his
mind the liberal and honourable maxims which ought ever to gov
ern the conduct of an English Barrister.
Stratheden House,
Nov. 1, 1845.

VOL. I.

PREFACE

THE SECOND EDITION

In presenting to the public a Second Edition of my First Series
of the " Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England," I
would rather expose myself to the imputation of vanity than of
ingratitude ; and I must therefore express my warm thanks for
the favour with which the book has been received. I may truly
say, that within a few weeks after its publication " it was on every
table, and almost on every toilette." Though founded on histor
ical records, and having solid instruction for its object, it has been
as generally read as popular works of fiction, aiming at nothing
beyond amusement.
I must especially return my thanks for the kind manner in
which, without regard to politics, the book has been treated in
periodical publications — quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily.
Gentlemen who have written these criticisms have done ample
justice to any merits which they discovered, and have forborne to
dwell upon mistakes which could not have escaped them.
This edition will be found not only more correct, but enriched
with several interesting documents which have recently been com
municated to me, — particularly a congratulatory Epistle to John
de Langton on his appointment as Chancellor by Edward I, ;
Richard III.'s Letter to Lord Chancellor John Russell respecting
the marriage of the Solicitor General with Jane Shore ; a letter
to negotiate a marriage between the daughter of Lord Chancellor

Xvi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Audley and the son of Sir Anthony Denny ; the courtship of
young Edward Trafford and Margaret Boothe under the decree
of Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon ; Lord Chancellor Hatton's
address to the Bar on a call of Serjeants ; Lord Ellesmere's de
cree to punish the prolixity of an equity draughtsman ; two letters
of Lord Keeper Williams, and a very curious letter to Jeffreys
when Recorder of London, showing the detestation in which he
was held even in that period of his career. I earnestly implore
that errors and omissions may still be pointed out to me.'
I have made considerable progress with my Second Series ;
and I trust that Volumes IV. and V. will be published before the
end of the present year. These will bring down the Chancellors
to the death of Lord Thurlow. A supplemental Volume, inclu
ding Lord Loughborough, Lord Erskine, and Lord Eldon, will
complete the work. I then propose (life and health being pre
served to me) to proceed with the " Lives of the Lord Chan
cellors of Ireland," — among whom are to be found char
acters as interesting as any I have yet described, — and whose
history, I think, may be made to shed a new light upon the con
nection between the two countries.
Strathedon House.
April 22, 1846. '

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

INTRODUCTION.
OF THE ORIGIN, FUNCTIONS, AND JURISDICTION OF THE OFFICE OF LORD
CHANCELLOR IN ENGLAND.
Etymology of Word " Chancellor,"P age 37. Antiquity ofthe Office in England,
38. Original Duty of Chancellor lo frame Writs, 39 And Royal Giants, 39.
Custody of Great Seal, 39. Chancellor Keeper of King's Conscience, 39. Chan
cellor formerly subordinate Officer, without judicial Power, 40. Cotnmon-law
Jurisdiction of Chancellor, 41. Equitable Jurisdiction, 42. Objections to Anti
quity of Equitable Jurisdiction, 42. Definition of Equitable Jurisdiction, 42. Ex
tension of Equitable Jurisdiction of Chancellor, 43. From Inrolments in Chancery
under Recognisance, 43. Fees, &c , 44. Harmony between Common Law and
Equity, 45. Discretion of Chancellor, 45. Appeal from Chancellor as Equity
Judge, 45. Habeas Corpus and Prohibitions, 46'. Ne exeat Regno, 47. Juris
diction over Coroners, 47. Criminal Jurisdiction, 47. Bankruptcy, 47. Lunacy,
47. Chancellor not ex officio Privy Councillor, 49. Speaker of Lords, 49. Pro
tection and Precedence, 49. Chancellor no Vote or Voice in Lords unless a Peer,
50. Anciently addressed two Houses at Meeting of Parliament, 50. Trial of
Peers, and Impeachments, 50. Star Chamber, 51. Trial of the Py.\, 51. Chan
cellor appoints Justices of Peace, 51. Patronage, 52. Visitor, 52. Other Func
tions, 52. Office of " Keeper of the Great Seal," 52. Lords Commissioners of
Great Seal 5:<. Present Title of Lord Chancellor, 54. Mode of Appointment, 54.
Tenure of Office, 54. Mode of using Great Seal, 55. Negociation of Marriage
of Henry VI under Great Seal, 55. Use of Great Seal by Edward IV , 56.
Times of Tudors and Stuarts, 56. Use of Great Seal since the Revolution of 1688
57. Origin of Expression of " The Seals," 57. Adoption of new Great Seal, 57.
Care in keeping the Great Seal, 58. Emoluments of Office, 58. Etiquette, 59.
In Parliament, 59. When administering Oaths to Prince of Wales, 59. To
King's younger Son, 59. To Peers in Chancery, 59. Lord Mayor's Day, 59.
Statute respecting Apparel of Chancellor, 60.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE CHANCELLORS UNDER THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS.
Merits of the Anglo-Saxons, 61. Augmendus, Chancellor to Ethelbert, 61. St.
Swithin, Chancellor lo Egbert and Elhelwulf, 61. Turret el, Chancellor
under Edward the Elder, 63. Athelstan, 64. Battle of llrunenburgh, 64. Ed-
2*

xviii CONTENTS.
mund and Edred, 64. Lord Chancellor Turketel becomes a Monk, 64. Adul
phus, 65. Alfric, 65. Office of Chancellor divided between three Abbots, 65.
Great Seal of Edward the Confessor,66. Leofric, Chancellor to the Confessor, 66.
Wulwius, 66. Reimbaldus, 66. Vice-Chancellor Swardus, 66. Origin of
Masters in Chancery, G7. CHAPTER II.
OF THE CHANCELLORS FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OF HENRY II.
Chancellors under early Norman Reigns, 67. Chancellors of the Conqueror, 69
Maurice, 69. Made Bishop of London, and resigns Great Seal, 69. Conduct.
of Ex-chancellor Maurice on the death of William Rufus, 70, Osmond, 70
His Character, 70. His literary Works, 71. Arfastus, 71. Baldeick, 71
Herman, 72. Welson, 72. W. Giffard, Chancellor under three Reigns,
72. His Character, 72 Conduct of Giffard on Death of Conqueror, 73
Chancellor to William Rufus, 73 Dismissed, 73. Bloet, Chancellor to Wil
liam Rufus, 73. Death and Character of Bloet, 74. Flambard, 74. Oppres
sions of Flambard, 75. Plot against Flambard, 75. His Preferments, 75. -Com
mitted to the Tower, 75. Exile and Death of Flamba-d, 76. Giffard, Chan
cellor lhe third time, 76. Dismissal and Banishment of Giffard, 77. Roger,
Bishop of Salisbury, Chancellor, 77. His Origin and History. 77. Roger's Rise,
77. His Conduct as Chancellor, 78. Made Chief Justiciar, 78. Roger's Con
duct on Settlement of the Crown, 78. Dismissal of Roger 79. Roger supports
Usurpation of Stephen, 79. Roger besieged in his Castle, 79. Surrenders
79. His Death, 79. His Career described by William of Malmesbury, 79.
Other Chancellors of Henry I., 80. Geoffrey Rufus, 80. Bought Office of
Chancellor, 80. Ranulphus, 81. Roger, Chancellor to King Stephen, suc
ceeded by his Nephew Alexander, 82. His Conduct as Chancellor, 82,
Character of Alexander, 82. Rocer Pauper, Chancellor, 82. Queen Ma
tilda, 83. Fitzsilbert her Chancellor, 82. Other Chancellors of Stephen, 83.
CHAPTER III.
LIFE of lord CHANCELLOR THOMAS a. BECKBT.
Parentage, 84. Stoty of his Mother being the daughter of an Emir, 84. Birth and
Education 85. Holds Office under Sheriff of London, 85. Patronised by Theo
bald, Archbishop of Canterbury, 85. Made Archdeacon of Canterbury 86.
Mission to Rome, 86. Appointed Chancellor, 87. Intimacy with Henry II. 87
His Duties as Chancellor, 88. Fitzstephen's Account of his Habits, 88. Story of
90 Befkl^T ^ £r' pDd thenB„eSSa™an, 89- «» Conduct as Chancellor,
90. Becket Tutor to the Prince, 90. Becket's Embassy to France 90 Ori«in
of Scutage, 92 Becket's Military Prowess, 93 Siege of Toulouse 93 SiDS le
Combat with Engleran de Trie, 93. His judicial Mefits, 94. H°s Views and In
Theo0baS,'d9495 ^ZT^ t\ ^°\ °' ^^ 96' Dealh ^ Tchbish p
swears to" Cons.i.u io£ o ^ Clarendon Z cT, r Cla,ren^n' , 10°- Becket
Trial of Becket, 101. Found GuUtv 101 V T C.ounc,1Jat Northampton, 101.
He escapes to the Continent 102 BpcW t i ? Proceedings against him, 101.

CONTENTS. XIX
Becket lhe Kiss of Peace, 105. Henry breaks his Engagement, 106. Becket
resolves on Vengeance, 106. Becket returns to England, 106. Reception at
Canterbury, 107. Visit to London, 107. Is ordered back to Canterbury, 107.
Excommunicates the three Prelates, 108. Arrival at Canterbury of four Knights
sworn to assassinate Becket, 108. They enter his Presence, 108. Calm and
courageous Conduct of Becket, 108. Assassination of Becket, 109. Horror of
the People, 110. Becket canonised, 110. Q,uo Warranto by Henry VIII. to un-
saint Becket, 110. Character of Becket, 111. By his Vituperators, 111. By
his Eulogists, 112. Just Estimate of his Character, 113. Result, 113. Whether
Becket Champion of Saxon Race, 113. Becket's Letters, 113.
CHAPTER IV.
CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF THOMAS a BECKET TO THE
DEATH OF HENRY II.
Obscure Chancellors after Becket, 114. Chancellor John, 114. Geoffrey
Plantagenet, Chancellor, 115. His Birth and Education, 115. A Bishop,
115. His Military Exploits, 115. Receives Great Seal, 116. His Conduct as
Chancellor, 116. His filial Piety, 117. State of Law during Reign of Henry II.
117. CHAPTER V.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF RICHARD 1.
Geoffrey made Archbishop of York, 118. Longchamp, Chancellor, 118. Rich
ard I. sails for the Holy Land, 1 18. Longchamp imprisons the Bishop ofDurham,
119. His Tyranny, 119. His Rapacity, 119. Prince John takes arms afcainst
him, 120. Geoffrey, the Ex-chancellor, invades England, 120. Geoffrey defeated
and imprisoned, 120. Combination of the Nobles against Longchamp, 120.
Saxon Inhabitants of London called in to assist, 121. Longchamp surrenders,
122. Longchamp flies in the Disguise of a female Pedlar, 122 Is seized by the
Mob, 122. Arrives in France, 122. Visits Cceur de Lion in Captivity, 123.
Geoffrey Plantagenet again Chancellor, 123. Subsequent Fate- of Geoffrey Plan
tagenet, 123. His Exile and Death, 123. Longchamp again Chancellor, 123.
Parliament at Nottingham, 123. Longchamp forges Letter Irom " The Old Man
ofthe Mountain" to clear Richard of Murder of Marquis of Monlferrat, 124. Re
signs Great Seal, 124 His Death, 125 Eustace, Bishop of Ely, Chancellor,
125. Origia of Vice-chancellors, 125 Vice-chancellors John de Alencon and
Malehien, 125. Vice-chancellor Bennet, 126. Death of Richard I., 126. Laws
of Oleron, 126. CHAPTER VI.
OF THE CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF KING JOHN.
Accession of John, 127. Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, Chancellor, 127.
Death of Lord Chancellor, 128. Great Seal sold to Walter de Gray, 129.
His Conduct, 129. Vice-chancellor Wallys, 129. Surrender of England to the
Pope, 130. De Gray, Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York, 131. His
Ignorance, 131. His Death and Character, 131. Richard le Marisco,
Chancellor, 131. Magna Cuarta, 131. Death of King John, 132. Beginning
of Statute Law, 132.

xx CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII.
CHANCELLORS during the reign of henry iii. till the appointment
OF QUEEN ELEANOR AS LADY KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL. '
Marisco, 132. Confirmation of the Great Charier, 133. Ralph ds Neville. Vice-
chincellor, 133. Misconduct of Vice-chancellor De Neville, 133. Letter of Re
monstrance from the Chancellor to the Vice-chancellor, 133. De Neville,
Chancellor, 135 Grant to him of Office of Chancellor for Life, 135. He is
likewise made Chancellor of Ireland, 136. And Guardian of Realm, 136. Dis
appointed of the Primacy, 136. Triumph of Peter de Rupibus, 136. De Neville
deprived of Great Seal, 137. " Simon the Norman," Chancellor, 13*. Dis
missed for Honesty, 137 De Neville restored to the Office of Chincellor, 138.
Hi* Death, 133. His Character, 133. Statute of Merton, 138. Attempt by
Parliament to acquire Right of appointing Chancellor, 138. Ranulph Briton,
Chin:ellor, 13). Jo.-in Al \uns ec, Chancellor, 140 Origin ofthe Dispensing
Power in England, 140. This Chancellor the greatest Pluralist on Record, 140.
John de Lexington', Chancellor, 140. Complaint in Parliament lhat Chancel.
lor not more consulted, 141. Petition to remove him, 141. King's Answer, 141.
CHAPTER vnr.
LIFE OF QUEEN ELEANOR, LADY KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL .
Queen Eleanor, Lady Keeper, 141. Her Parentage, 142. Wit and Beauty,
1-12. Marri.ige with Henry, 142 Her Unpopularity, 143. Quarrels with the
Citizens of London, 143 Birth of Edward L, 143 She receives the Great Seal,
6lh August, 1253, 144 Her Conduct as Lady Keeper, 144. Her Accouchement
144 Her Exaction of "Queen Gold," 144. A Parliament, 145 She resigns
the Great Seal, 145. Ballads upon her. 145. Pelted by the London Mob, 146.
She flies abroad, 146. Returns to England, 146. Takes the Veil 146. ' Her
Death, 146. Her Character, 146. CHAPTER IX.
LORD CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF LADY KEEPER QUEF.N EL
EANOR TILL THE DEATH OF HENRY III.
William de Kilkenny, Chancellor, 147. Reprimand to the Clergy 147 Kil
kenny's Resignation, 147. Embassy to Spain, 148. Death, 1 48. ' Henry de
Wkngiiam, 148. Mart Parliament, 148. " Provisions of Oxford," 148 Nich
olas be Ely n^de Chancellor by the Barons, 148. King recovers his Author-
ty'14.9- A,lar>'*n-'en.t, 149. Walter de Merton, Chancellor 149 His
tory of De Merton 150. Keepers of Seal, 150. Public Confusion, 50. ' Writs
for Simon de Mon.fort's Parliament, 149. Henry III., 151. Rolerence to Kin, of
Miin,<r\> p Ha Award, 151. Battle of Lewes, 152. Meeting of Simon de
Mention's Payment 152. Origin „f House of Commons, 152? Thom°s de
Cant.lupe, Chance lor, 153. His Salary, 153. Rattle of Evesh ,m, 154 Death
of Cant.lupe 154. Walter Giffard, Chancellor, 154. Resign , bein- ,,?nde
Archbishop or York 155 Godfrey Giffard, Chancellor, 153. ™ oved
for Incompetency, 153 John de Chishull. Chancellor, 155 Kichapd de
Middleton. Chancellor, 156 Prince Edward in ,he Holy Land i?6 John
He rv HI IT t*,"" « " ' "I Characler °r Chancellors dur'i 2 Ueign of

CONTENTS. xxi

CHAPTER X.
chancellors and keepers of the great seal during the reign of
edward i. till the death of lord chancellor burnel.
Walter de Merton, Chancellor, 159. His Conduct and Character, 160. Rob
ert Bcjrnel, Chancellor, 161. Birth and Education, 161. Accompanies Prince
Edward to the Holy Land, 161. Law Reform, 162. Statute of Westmin
ster the first, 162. Provisions of the Code, 162. Its Omissions, lb2. Con
quest of Wales, 163. Judgment against Llewellyn, 163. Lord Chancellor em
ployed in Government of Principality, 161. Parliament held in Chancellor's
Castle at Acton Burnel, 164. His Plan for Government of Ireland, 165 Vice-
chancellor Kiiby, 165 Prosecution by Chancellor of the Judges for liribery and
Corruption, 166. Dispute about Succession to Crown of Scotland, 166. Chan
cellor addresses the Scottish Nobles in French, 165. His Dexterity, 167. Chan
cellor gives Judgment in fu'our of Baliol, 168. Death of Burnel, 168. His Char
acter, 168. CHAPTER XI.
chancellors and keepers of the great seal from the death op
lord chancellor burnel during tub remainder of the reign of
EDWARD I.
John de Langton, Chancellor, 170. His Origin, 170. Ordinance for Dispatch of
Business, 170. Appeal of Earl of Fife v. King of Scots, 170. Parliament at
Berwick, 171. King goes abroad, 171. Parliament at Westminster, 171. "Con
firmation of the Chillers," 172. " Articuli super Chartas," 172. Chancellor
elected Bishop of Ely. 175. Goes to Ro.ne, 175. Resignation of Langton, 175.
Adam de Osgodebey, Keeper of Great Seal, 176, William de Grenefield,
Chancellor, 176. His Family, 176. Attempt in Parliament to make Office of
Chancellor elective, 177. Letter to the Pope respecting Independence of Scot
land, 177. Resignation of De Grenefield, 178. His Journey to Home, 178. His
Death, 178. William de Hamilton', Chancellor, 178. Statute " De Tall-
a«io non concedendo," 177 Conviction and Execution of Sir William Wallace
for Treason, 177. Death of the Chancellor, 177. Ralph de Baldock, Chan
cellor, 177. His Education and Rise, 17S. Death of Edward I., 173 Accession
of Edward II , 178 " Removal of De Baldock, 179. His Death, 179. Jurisdic
tion of Chancellor in the Reign of Edward 1 , 179. Improvements in Law, 179,
Gratitude to Law Reformers, 179. Law Books, 179.
CHAPTER XIL
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF EDWARD II.
Accession of Edward II., 180. John de Langton Chancellor the Second Time,
180. Kin" abroad, 180. King goes to Boulogne, 181. King himself uses the
Great Seal, 1 SI. Revolution in the Government, 181. The Chancellor resigns,
181, His Character, 182. Office of Chancellor in Abeyance, 182. Walter
Reynolds. Chancellor, 182. Tutor to Edward II, 182. His conduct as Chan
cellor, 183. His Resignation, 183. Execution of Gaveston, 183. Reynolds, the
Ex-chancellor, made Keeper of lhe Great Seal, 183. Battle of Bannockburn. 184.
Q. Whether the Great Seal was taken at the Battle of Bannockburn, 184. Coun
cil at York, 184. Resignation of Reynolds, 184. His subsequent Career, 185.
His Death, 185 Chancellor still Chief of Chapel Royal, 185. John de Sandalb
Chancellor 135. Keepers of Seal concurrently, 186. De Sand ilo removed, 186.
Epicurism 'of Lord Chancellor De Sandale, 186. John de Hotham, Chancel-

xxii CONTENTS.
lor 186 Ascendency of Earl of Lancaster, 186 Resignation of Chancellor.
187 John de Salmon, Chancellor, 187. Chancellor goes to France with King,
187 Surrender of Great Seal by De Salmon, 187- Great Seal in Custody of
Queen Isabella, 188. Isabella not " Lady Keeper," 188 De Salmon again acts
as Chancellor, 188. Chancellor opposes Earl of Lancaster, 188. Execution of
Earl of Lancaster, 188. Edward's incurable Love of Favourites, 188. Resig
nation ofthe Chancellor, 189. Robert de Baldock, Chancellor, 189. Civil
War, 189. Landing of Queen, 189. The Bishop of Exeter beheaded by the
Mob,' 190. Fate of the Spensers, 190 Sentence on younger Spenser, 190. Chan
cellor Baldock seized by the Mob, and thrown into Newgate, 191. Dies of his
wounds, 191. Prince Edward chosen Custos ofthe Kingdom, 191. Imprisonment
of Edward IL, 191. King sends Great Seal to Queen, 191. Queen's Procla
mation. 192. Edward II, deposed, 192. Murder of Edwaad IL, 192. Adam de
Orleton acts as Chancellor, 192. His equivocal line respecting the Murder of
the King, 192. Origin of Office of Master ofthe Rolls, 193. Complaints in Parlia
ment oHhe Court of Chancery, 193. Jurisdiction ofthe Court in Reign of Edward
IL, 193. Letters of Marque and Reprisals grained by Chancellor, 193. Year
Books, 194. Establishment of Inns of Court, 194.
CHAPTER XIII.
chancellors and keepers of the great seal from the commence
ment OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD III. TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF SIR
RICHARD BOURCHIER, THE FIRST LAY LORD CHANCELLOR.
John de Hotham again Chancellor 195. His Death and Character, 195. Henry de
Burghersh, Chancellor, 195. New Great Seal, 196. Temporary Ascendancy of
Mortimer, 196 Edward III. seizes the Reins of Government, 196. A Parliament,
196. King's Speech, 196 Burghersh dismissed, 197. His exile and Death, 197.
John de Stratford, Chancellor, 197. His Origin and Education, 197. Ambas
sador to Pope, 197. His Rise till appointed Chancellor, 19S. Punishment of
Queen Isabella, 198. Measures to restore Internal Tranquillity, 198 Court of
Chaneery becomes stationary, 196. Marble Chair and Table in Court of Chancery,
199. A Parliament, 199. Questions put to Parliament by the Chancellor, 199.
Chancellor returns from Embassy, 200. Separation of Lords and Commons, 200.
Great Influence of Parliament under Plantagenets, 200. Chancellor's Speech on
Meeting of New Parliament, 200. Keepers of Great Seal appointed by the
Chancellor, 201, Richard de Bury, Chancellor, 201. His Family, 201. Educa
tion, 201. His College Lire, 201. Tutor to Edward III. when Prince, 202. His
rise on Accession of Edward III, 202. His Splendour at Court of Rome, 203.
Bishop of Durham, 203. His Conduct as Chancellor, 203. A Parliament, 203.
Ambassador to Paris, 20.3. His Retirement, 204. Philobiblon, 204. His love of
Books, and Mode of collecting them, 204. His Encouragement to the Study of
Greek, 206. His Description of the Bad Usage of Books, 207 Gross Ignorance
of the Laity, 207. Scriptural Authorities for taking great Care of Books 208
Death and Burial or Richard de Bury, 208. His Merit, 208. Archbishop 'john
Stratford Chancellor the second Time, 209. Claim of Edward III to the Crown
of France, 209. Resignation of John de Stratford, 209. Robehtde Stratford
Chancellor, 209 Bynteworth, Chancellor, 210. His History, 210. His Death'
210. John de Stratford, Chancellor the third Time, 211. A Parliament *11
Resignation of John de Stratford, and re-appointment of Robert, 211. Ad minis!
trauon ofthe Stratfords, 211. Their Fall, 211. Embarrassment* ofthe Kin. ill
His sudden Return 211. Imprisonment of the Lord Chancellor, 212. Edward 'a
Rage against the Priesthood, 212. Advantages and Disadvantages of appoin in"
Ecclesiastics to Office of Chancellor, 212. a[jpuiminD

CONTENTS. XX111

CHAPTER XIV.
CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE APPOINTMENT OP
SIR ROBERT BOURCHIER TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF WILLIAM DE WICKHAM.
Sir Robert Bourchier, Chancellor, 212. His Birth and military Career, 212.
Retirement and Death of Ex-chancellor Robert de Stratford, 213. Prosecution of
Ex-chancellor John de Stratford, 213. A Parliament, 213. Writ of Summons re
fused to the Archbishop, 213. His Remonstrance, 213. His Appearance in Palace
Yard, 214. Information against him in Exchequer, 214. Triumphs over the King,
215. Spirited Conduct of House of Peers, 215 King submits, 215. His death
and Character, 215. Conduct of Lord Chancellor Bourchier, 215. King himself
uses the Seal, 216. Complaints against Lord Chancellor Bourchier, 216. Attempts
in Parliament to regulate the Appointment of Chancellor, 216. Statute for peri
odical Resumption of Office of Chancellor, 216. Oath to observe the Statute. 216.
Edward's perfidious Violation of the Statute, 217. Renewed Controversy between
the King and Ex-chancellor John de Stratford, 217. King resolves to sacrifice the
Chancellor to public Discontent, 218. Dismissal of Bourchier, 218. Death of Ex-
chancellor John de Stratford, 218. Disadvantages of Lord Chancellor Bourchier,
218. Bourehbr's subsequent Career, 218 Sir Robert Parynge, Chancellor,
219. His legal Studies, 219. When Chancellor he continues to study the Common
Law, 219. Use of the Great Seal, 219. King abroad, 219. Commons pray that
Chancellor may be a Peer, 220. Sudden Death of Lord Chancellor Parnynge,
220. Robert de Sadyngton, Chancellor, 221. His Descent, 221. Bad Equity
Judge, 221. A Parliament, 221. Lord Chancellor Sadyngton dismissed, 222. Re
turn to Ecclesiastical Chancellors, 222. John de Offord, Dean of Lincoln,
Chancellor, 222. Battle of Cressy, 222. Complaints in Parliament against Court
of Chancery, 222. Death of Chancellor de Offord, 223. John de Thoresby,
Chancellor, 224. His Writings, 224. Statutes of Treason, 224. Attack in Com
mons on equitable Jurisdiction of Chancellor, 225. Thoresby, being made Arch
bishop of York, resigns the Great Seal, 225. His Death, 225- William de Ed-
ington, Chancellor, 226. Peace of Bret^ni, 226. Statute for Use of English
Language, 226. Refuses the Primacy, 22?. Resignation of Lord Chancellor Ed-
inglon, 227. Simon de Langiiam, Chancellor, from being a Monk, 22S. His
Rise, 228. Translated lo Canterbury, 228. Quarrels wilh Wickhffe, 228. Custom
of Chancellor opening Parliament with Discourse from text in Scripture, 229.
He retires to Avignon, and aspires to the Popedom, 229. His Death, 229.
CHAPTER XV.
CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF
WILLIAM OF WICKHAM TILL THE DEATH OF EDWARD III.
William of Wickham, 230. His Origin, 230. Education, 230. Introduced to Ed
ward III 231. Builds Windsor Castle, 231, Order of the Garter, 231. Inscrip
tion on Castle, 231. Wickham takes Holy Orders, 232. His Preferment, 232.
Engages in Politics, 2.32. His Income. 232. Made Bishop of Winchester, 233.
Receives lhe Great Seal, 233. Impropriety ofthe Appointment, 233 Wickham
an incompetent Judge, 233. Complaints against him in Parliament, 234. He is
removed from Office 234. Sir Robert Thorpe, Chancellor, 234. His Birth and
Education, 234. His Promotions in the Law, 234. Popularity of Chancellor, 234.
His Death, 235. His Learning and Ability, 235. Sir John Knyvet, Chancellor,
235. His Origin, 236. An excellent Judge, 236. A Parliament, 236. Chance or s
Speech, 237. The " Good Parliament," 237. Alice Pierce, 237 Chancel or s
Speech to the Parliament, 237. Vote of ¦' Want of Confidence," 238. Prosecution
of William of Wickham, 238. Resignation and Death of Lord Ch»nceL^ *"£:
vet, 238. Adam de Houghton, Chancellor, 239. A. Parliament 1 239. D_ ealhoi
Edward ILL, 240. His Domestic Government, 240. Jurisdiction of Court oi t,nan-

xxJv CONTENTS.
eery >40 Character of the Chancellors of Edward III., 241. Origin of Parlia
mentary Impeachments, 241. Justices of Peace, 242.
CHAPTER XVI.
chancellors and keepers of the great seal from the commencement of
THE REIGN OF RICHARD II. TILL THE SECOND CHANCELLORSHIP OF WILLIAM OF
WICKHAM.
De Houghton continues Chancellor, 243. His Speech fo Parliament, 243. Proceed
ings of Commons. 243. Parliament at Gloucester, 243. HR Richard le Scrope
Chancellor 244. 'Death of Houghton, 244- Rise of Richard le fccivpe, 244. Made
a Peer 945 A Parliament, 245. Removal of Lord Scrope, and Appointment of
Simon de Sudbury as Chancellor, 245. His Origin and Education, 245. Made
Archbishop of Canterbury, 246. Loid Chancellor, 246. He proposes lhe Poll
Tax 246 Wat T} lei's Rebellion, 246. Chancellor seized in the 1 ower, 246. Be
headed 247. Miracles by the deceased Chancellor, 247. William Courtenay,
Chancellor, 248. His illustrious Descent, 248. Disputes with John cf Gaunt, 248.
His Behaviour as Judge, 248. Removal en Address cf Commons, 248. Lord le
Scrope again Chancellor, 248 Death of Ex-chancellor Courtenay, 248. King
quarrels with Lord le Scrope who is dismissed, 249. Roeert de Braybroke,
Chancellor, 249. Parliament, 249. Wicklifle, 250. The Chancellor's pious Fraud
to put down Heresy, 250. Michael de la Folle, Chancellor, 250. His Con
duct us Judge, 251. In Parliament, 251. Chancellor made an Eorl, 252. Alterca
tion in lhe House of Lords between tbe Chancellor and the Bishop ol Ely, 252. A
Parliament, 253. Pmc eedirgs against the C hancellor, 253. The Earl of Suffolk
remo\ed horn the Office of Chancellor, t'54. Thomas Arundel a| pointed, 254.
Impeachment of the Ex-chancellor, 254. His Defence, 254. Death of the Earl of
Suffolk, 254. His Character, 255. Thomas Azundltc, Chancellor, 254. His
Family 254. Education, 2 54. Misconduct of Richard II., 256. Civil War, 256. A
Parliament, 256. Arundel dismissed, 256.'
CHAPTER XVII.
CHANCELLORS A>D KEtPEnS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE SECOND CHANCELLOR
SHIP OF WILLIAM OF WICKHAM TILL TEE END OF THE REIGN OF RICHARD II.
William of Wickham again Chancellor, 257. His History between his two Chan-
cellorships, 267. A Parliament, 258 1 he Chancellor lays down his Office in Par
liament and is re- appointed, 208. Resignation of V, illiani of Wickham, 259. His
Retirement from Public Life, 259. His~Bealh, 259. His Merits, 259. Thomas de
Arundel's second Chancellorship, 259. History of John de Waltham, 2fc0. His
Invention of Writ of Subpoena, 260. Proceedings in Parliament against the
Court of Chancery, 261. Chancellor goes wilh King to Ireland, 261. His Death,
261. Removal of Arundel, 261 Edmund Stafford, Chancellor, 261. Chan
cellor's Speech on opening Parliament, 262. Ex-chancellor Arundel impeached
and con\icted, 262. Family ofthe Staffords, 262. Henry of Bolinabroke claims
the Crown. 263. John Searle, Chancellor, 263. Ex-chancellor Arundel ac
companies Henry, 264. Deposition of Richard II., 264. Henry raised to the
Thione, 265. New Parliament, 265. Celebrated Speech for Richard by Bishop
of Carlisle, 265. Fate of Richard, 266. Equitable Jurisdiction of the Court of
Chancery in Reign of Richard II , 266. Complaint against Masters in Chanceiy,
26b. ° J '
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY IV.
John Searle, nominally Chancellor, 267. A Parliament, 268. Chancellor not al-

CONTENTS. XXV
lowed to address the two Houses, 268. Resigns, 268. His Obscurity, 268. Ed
mund Stafford restored, 268. Issues of fact arising in Court of Chancery to be
tried in a Court of Common Law, 268. The Chancellor resigns, 269. His Retreat
and Death, 269. Cardinal Beaufort, Chancellor, 269. His Origin and early
Career, 269. His Conduct as Chancellor, 270. Attempt of House of Commons to
Beize Church Properly, 270. "Lack-Learning Parliament," 271. Cardinal
Beaufort removed, 271. Thomas Longley, Chancellor, 271. Attempt to intro
duce Salic Law into England, 271. Proceedings in Parliament respecting the
Court of Chancery, 272. Archbiihop Arundel restored to Office of Chancellor,
273. Chancellor dismissed, 274. Great Seal in custody of Master of Kolls, 274.
Ex-chancellor Beaufort addresses the two Houses 274. Church in danger, 274. Sir
Thomas Beaufort, afterwards Duke of Exeter, Chancellor, 274. His History
and Conduct as Chancellor, 274. His Subsequent Career and Death, 275. Arch
bishop Arundel Chancellor lhe fifth Time, 275. Illness of Henry IV., 275. Char
acter of Chancellors of Henry IV., 275. Conviction and Execution of an Arch
bishop, 276. CHAPTER XIX.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY V.
Accession of Henry V., 276. Great Seal taken from Archbishop Arundel, and re
stored to Cardinal Beaufort, 276. Subsequent Career of Ex-chancellor Arundel,
276. He sentences Lord Cobham to be burnt, 277. Renewed Altempt of the
Commons to seize the Property of lhe Church, 278. King claims Crown of
France, 278. Chancellor's Speech at the opening of Parliament, 279. Petition
against the Court of Chancery, 279. Petition negatived, 280. Other Proceedings
of Commons against Court of Chancery-, 280. Chancellor lends Money to the
King, taking the Crown in pawn, 281. Act against the Irish, 282. Judicial Con
duct of Cardinal Beaufort, 282. Great Seal taken from Cardinal Beaufort, 282.
Longley, Chancellor lhe second Time, 282. A Parliament, 283. Treaty of Troyes,
283. Death of Henry V., 284. Adminisliation of Justice during his Reign, 284.
CHAPTER XX.
CHANCELLORS FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. TILL THE
DEATH OF CARDINAL BEAUFORT.
Lord Chancellor Longley resigns Great Seal to Infant King, 284. A Parliament, 286.
Longley re-appointed Chancellor, 285. Duke of Gloucester, Protector, 285. Pro
ceedings in Parliament against the Court of Chancery, 285. Lord Chancellor's
Speech on opening Parliament, 286. Disputes between Duke of Gloucester and
Cardinal Beaufort, 286. Longley deprived of Great Seal, 286. Cardinal Beaufort
Chancellor the third Time, 286. Death and Character of Ex-chancellor Longley,
287. Henry VI., in Mother's Arms, opens Parliament. 287. Lord Chancellor
Beaufort's Speech, 287. Chancellor to grant Licenses for Exportation of Butter
and Cheese, 288. Riots in London caused by Chancellor and Protector, 288.
Chancellor's Letter to Duke of Bedford, 288. " Parliament of Bats," 289. Im
peachment of Chancellor, 289. Chancellor and Protector reconciled, 290. Car
dinal Beaufort resigns Great Seal, 290. His subsequent History, 290. Si Is on
Trial of Maid of Orleans, 290. Fresh Quarrel with Duke of Gloucester, 291.
Murder of Duke of Gloucester, 291. Death of Cardinal Beaufort, 291. Hi»
Character, 291.
VOL. I. 3

XXVJ CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXI.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF
CARDINAL KEMPE TILL THE DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR WAYNFLETE,
Ob«euie Ori™ of Lord Chancellor Kempe, 292. His Rise, 292. His Conduct as
Chancellor5 293 Resignation of Cardinal Kempe. 294. John Stafford, Chan
cellor, 294. His Birth and Education, 294. His long Continuance in Office, 294.
Act to restrain excossive Jurisdiction assumed by Court of Chancery, 294. Lord
Chancellor Stafford's Style of Eloquence, 295. Repeal of Act for Chancellor to
license Exportation. 296. King's Marriage, 297. Disgraceful Treaty with France,
297 Foundation of Eton College. 297. National Indignation on discovering secret
Article in Treaty with France, 297. A Parliament, 298. Lord Chancellor Stafford
dismissed, 298. His Death and Character, 298. Cardinal Kempe again Chancel
lor, 298 Banishment and Death of Duke of Suffolk, 298. Jack Cade's Rebell
ion', 299. War of the Roses, 299. Death and Charader of Lord Chancellor
Kempe, 300. King's Illness, 300. The Earl of Salisbury appointed Chancel
lor by the Duke of York, 301. King's Recovery, 302. Cardinal Bourchier made
Chancellor by the Queen, 302. Great-grandson to Edward III., 302, His good
Qualities, 302. His Rise, 302. Battle of St. Alban's 303. Duke of York, Pro
tector, 304. Chancellor seals Writ to supersede Duke of Yoik, 304. Seal taken
from Archbishop Bourchier, 304. William Waynflete, Bishop of Winches
ter, Chancellor, 304. His Origin, 305. Fellow and Provost of Eton, 305. His
Conference with Jack Cade, 305 The Chancellor supports the Lancastrians, 306.
Bib judicial Conduct, 306. Apparent Pacification, 307. Hostilities resumed, 307.
Bailie of Blore Heath, 307. A Parliament, 307. Yorkists attainted, 307. Battle
of Northampton, 307. Waynflete resigns Great Seal, 307. His subsequent Ca
reer, ; 08. Submits to Edward IV., 308. Entertains Richard III. at the College
founded by him, 308. His Death and Character, 309.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF EENRY VI. FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF
GEORGE NEVILLE, BISHOP OF EXETER, TILL THE DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR
FORTESCUE.
Grea tSeal in Custody of Archbishop Bourchier, 309. George Neville, Bishop
of Exeter, Chancellor, 309. A Parliament, 309. Duke of York claims Crown,
310. Ri^hl to Crown argued at Bar of Lords, 310. Judgment for Duke of York
after Death of King Henry, 310. Battle of Wakefield, 311. Death of Richard
Plantagenet, Duke of York, 311. Execution of Ex-chancellor lhe Earl of Salis
bury, 31 1. His Children, 311. Quaere, Whether Sir John Fortescue was ever
Chancellor in England ? 311. Supposed to have been only Chancellor in part-
ibus, 312. His Family, 312. His Rise at the Bar. 312. Chief Justice, 312. While
Chief Justice, fights in Battle of Towton, 313. Attainted by Act of Parliament,
813. Goes into Exile, 313. Writes '¦ De Laudibus," 313. Submits lo Edward IV.
313. Writes in favour of Title of House of York, 313. He is pardoned, 313. Ex-
erup'.ificatii.n of Reversal of the Attainder of Lord Chancellor Fortescue 314
Retires to Ebrington, 315. Death, 315. Epitaph, 316. His celebrated Judgment
on Parliamentary Privilege, 316- Thorpe's Case, 317. Release of Manor of Eb-
rmglon, 316. Equity Lawyer, 318. His literary Merits, 318. His Character 318
His Descendants, 318. End of the Reign of Henry VL, 318. Law against a
Queen IJowager marrying without ihe consent of the reigning Sovereign 319
Equitable Jurisdiction of Chancery during Reign of Henry VI., 319. RudeState
of Equity, 319.

CONTENTS. xXVli

CHAPTER XXIII.
CHANCELLORS IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
George Neville again Chancellor, 320. A Parliament, 320. Chancellor's Speech on
opening Session, 321. Acts against wearing piked Shoes, 321. Chancellor abroad
cm an Embassy, 322 Edward's Kupture wilh the Nevilles, 322. Neville dis
missed from Office of Chancellor, 322 Robert Stillington, Chancellor, 322.
Subsequent Career of Ex-chancellor Neville, 322. His Death, 323. Character of
Robert Stillington, 323. His Origin, 323. His Speech at Prorogation of Parlia
ment, 321. His Speech on opening next Session, 324. Invasion by Earl of War
wick, 324. Henry VI. restored, B25. " The Hundred Days," 325 Doubtful
who was Chancellor on Restoration of Henry VI., 325. Edward IV. restored,
320 Death of Henry VI., 326. Stillington again Chancellor, 326, Illness and
Resignation of Chancellor, 326. Ex-chancellor goes on an Embassy, 326. Quare,
Whether he assisted in Usurpation of Richard III. ? 326. Imprisoned by Henry
VII. for taking part with Lambert Simnel, 327. His Death, 327. Henry Bour
chier, Earl of Essex, Keeper of Great Seal, 327. His Family, 327. Breda
Soldier, 327. His Resignation, 327. Knight of the Garter, 327. Lawrence
Booth, Bishop of Durham, Chancellor, 327. His Rise, 328. His Incompetency,
328. He is dismissed, 328. Rotheram, Bishop of Lincoln, Chancellor, 328. A
Parliament, 329. Length of Parliaments in early Times, 329. Characters of three
Chancellors who presided in one Parliament, 330. John alcock, Chancellor a
short Time, 330. Rotheram restored, 330. Chancellor's Speech to Parliament,
330. Statute against Irishmen, 330. Disputes between King and Clarence, 331.
"Statute of Kerqueue," 331. Death of Edward IV., 331. Decision of Lord
Chancellor Rotheram, 332. Attempts of Common-law Judges against Injunc
tions, 332. Jurisdiction established over Trusts, 333. Equity Pleading, 333.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGNS OF EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.
Disputes between the Duke of Gloucester and the Queen, 334. Rotheram delivers
up the Great Seal, 334. Prevails on the Queen to part with her younger Son, 33S.
John Russell, Chancellor to Edward V., 335. Final History of Ex-chancellor
Archbishop Bourchier, 335. And Rotheiam, 336. Character of Lord Chancellor
Russell, 336. His Origin and Rise, 336. His conduct on the Usurpation of Rich-
ard III., 337. Russell re-appointed Chancellor by Richard III , 337. Letter of
Richard to the Chancellor, 337. Postcript, 338. A Parliament, 338. Excellent
Laws now enacted, 339. Act against " Benevolences," 339. Chancellor regulates
Treaty with Scotland, 339. Removed from his Office, 341. His subsequent His
tory, 342. First perpetual Chancellor of Oxford, 342. His Death, 342. His Epi
taph, 342. Disposal of Great Seal at end of Reign of Richard III., 343. Legal
Proceedings during Reigns of Edward V. and Richard III., 343.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHANCELLORS AND LORD KEEPERS FROM THE ACCESSION OF HEHRY VII. TILL THE
APPOINTMENT OF ARCHBISHOP WARHAM AS LORD KEEPER.
Alcock, Bishop of Worcester, first Chancellor to Henry VII., 344. Difficult con
stitutional Questions settled, 345. Made Bishop of Ely, 345. Alcock removed
from Office of Chancellor, 345. Death of Ex-chancellor Alcock, 345. Cardinal
Morton, Chancellor, 346. His Birth and Education, 346. A Lancastrian, but
reconciled to Edward IV., 346 His Conduct under Richard III., 346. Straw
berry Scene at the Tower of London, 347. Imprisoned by Richard III., 347.
Escapes to Continent, 347. Recalled by Henry VII., 348. His Policy when

XXviii CONTENTS.
Chancellor, 347. His Speech to the two Houses of Parliament, 347. Star Cham
ber remodelled, 349. Limitation of Claims to Land, 349. Law protecting Acts
under King de faclo, 350. "Benevolence" imposed, 351. Cardinal Morton's
"Fork," 351. His Death, 351. Sir Thomas More's Character of him, 351.
Henry Deane, Bishop of Salisbury, Lord Keeper, 352. Distinguished at the
University, 352. His subsequent Rise, 352. Conduct as Lord Keeper, 353 Nego
tiates Marriage between the King of Scots and the Princess Margaret, 353 His
Resignation, 353 His Death, 353. Great Seal delivered to Archbishop War
ham, 353. CHAPTER XXVI.
LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP WARHAM, LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.
Birth and Education, 354. Practises in Doctors' Commons, 354. His Embassy to
Duke of Burgundy, 354. Speech to Duke and Duchess, 354. Made Master of
Rolls and Bishop of London, 354. Lord Keeper. and Lord Chancellor, 355. His
despatch of Business in Chancery, 355. Opposed Marriage between Prince Henry
and Catherine, Widow of Arthur, 355. His Panegyric on Dudley, the Attorney
General, afterwards hanged, 355. Death of Henry VII., 355. Legislation in his
Reign, 356. Administration of Justice, 356. Equity Jurisdiction, 356. Accession
of Henry VIII , 357. Warham continued Chancellor, 357. StiH opposes Henry's
Marriage with Catherine, 357. Improperly joins in Prosecution of Empsom and
Dudley, 357. A Parliament, 359. Chancellor's Speech to Two Houses, 359 His
Advice to Soldiers in the Field, 359. Warham's last Address to the Two Houses.
359. Makes a Speech in House of Commons, 359. Abuse of the Scotch, 359.
Dispute as to the Rank of the Earl of Surrey in the House of Lords, 359. War
ham undermined by Wolsey, 360. Driven to resign, 360. His Character as a
Judge. 360 His Occupations in Retirement, 360. Still insulted by Wolsey, 361.
Complains to the King, 361. Fall of Wolsey, 360. Quare, Whether Warham was
again offered the Great Seal ? 361. Countenances Holy Maid of Kent, 361. His
Death, 361. Conduct on Death-bed, 362. His Friendship with Erasmus, 362.
Character of Warham by Erasmus, 362. Letter of Warham to Erasmus, 364.
General Estimate of Character of Warham, 364.
CHAPTER XXVII.
LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HIS APPOINTMENT AS LORD
CHANCELLOR.
Wol.ey, the Son of a Butcher, 365. Proofs, 365. Sent to the University, 365 Wol
sey " the Boy Bachelor," 366. Fellow of Magdalen, and Schoolmaster, 366. Tu
tor to Sons of Marquess of Dorset, 366, Wolsey a country Parson, 366. Wolsey
set in the Stocks for Drunkenness and Rioting at a Fair, 367. His Revenee
when Lord Chancellor, 367. Wolsey leaves his Parish, 367. Chaplain to Arch-
Stt°P«q ?r? cry' 368- J° the GovernOT of Calais, 368. Chaplain to Henry
VII., 368. His Success at Court, 368. Wolsey's Embassy to the Emperor, 309.
ITWru1" Journey, 369. Rewarded with the Deanery of
Lincoln, 370. Death of Henry VII, 371. Wolsey introduced to the new King
fhe Kin, 3U7T\va„,,ned % ¦ ^^^ ^1 VIIL. 3"- Wolsey Almone fo
the King, 372. Wolsey Prune Minister, 373. Grants and Preferments. 374. Wol-
SZ™avm374rywGe,neral '°, %e,Arml iD *»»«». «4. Appointed' Bishop of
3^4 Cardinal ™J if7 made,B'shoP of Lin<=oln, 374. Archbishop of York, &c,
voluntarily, and wS^^SA^ dZ^UV^™ "^

CONTENTS. XXIX

CHAPTER XXVIII.
LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS APPOINTMENT AS LORD CHANCELLOR TILL
HIS FALL.
Homage paid to Wolsey by Foreign Powers, 377. By the University of Oxford, 377.
Letters to him from the King's Sisters, 377. Letters to him from the Earl of Ar
gyle, 378. His splendid Mode of living, 378. Wolsey 's Banquots to the KiLg,
379. His Procession to the Court of Chancery, 380. Jests against him, 382. His
Conduct as a Judge, 382. A Parliament, 383. Money Dill originates in Lords,
383. Wolsey causes Death of Duke of Buckingham, 384. Aims at the Popedom,
385. Wolsey is disappointed of the Popedom, 385. Again disappointed, 386-
His Love of Education, 386. A new Parliament, 387 Convocation, 387. Publi
cation of Debates in House of Commons, 3S7. Wolsey's Visit to the House of
Commons, 388. Conduct of Sir Thomas More, the Speaker, 388. Indignation of
Wolsey, 3S9. Wolsey tries to levy a Tax without Authority of Parliament, 389.
Masque at Gray's Inn to expose Wolsey, 390. Wolsey's Embassy to France,
391. His Journey, 391. His Reception at Calais, 391. Meeting of Wolsey wilh
King and Court of France, 392. His Courage and Skill as a Diplomatist, 393.
Treaty concluded, 393. Relation in Star Chamber of his Embassy, 369. Arrival
of French Embassy, 393. Ratification of Treaty at St. Paul's, 393. Splendid En
tertainment by Wolsey to French at Hampton Court, 394. Wolsey's Prosperity
before his Disgrace, 395. Origin of Wolsey's disgrace, 395. Anne Boleyn, 395.
Wolsey at first dissuades King's Marriage with Anne, 395. Afterwards labours
for the Divorce, 395. Obtains conditional License from the Pope, 396. Cam
peggio, 396. Cardinal Campeggio arrives in England, 397. Near Prospect of
Wolsey being elected Pope, 397. Hearing of the Divorce Suit before Wolsey
and Campeggio, 398. King's Anger at the Delay, 398. Divorce Suit carried be
fore the Pope, 399. The King makes a Progress in the Country, 399. The Court
at Grafton, 400. Wolsey neglected, 400. His last Interview with Henry, 400.
Dialogue between Henry and Anne respecting Wolsey, 401. Wolsey returns to
London, 401. His last Appearance in the Court of Chancery, 401. Refuses to
deliver up Great Seal without proper Warrant from King, 402. Deprived of his
Office and all his Possessions, 402.
CHAPTER XXIX.
LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS FALL TILL HIS DEATH.
Pramunire Informations filed against Wolsey, 402. Pleads guilty, 403. Proceeds to
Esher, 403. At Putney met by a Messenger from the King, 403. Lord Chancellors
"Fool," 403. Wolsey's Residence at Esher, 404. Letter from Erasmus, 404.
Returning Kindness of the King, 404. Nocturnal Visit to Wolsey from Sir John
Russell, 404. A Parliament. 404. Visit to Wolsey from the Duke of Norfolk, 404.
Impeachment of Wolsey, 405. Agreed to by the Lords, but rejected by the Com
mons, 406. Wolsey deserted by his former Friends, 406. Settlement with the
King, 407. Permitted to remove to Richmond, 407.- Ordered to York, 407. Jour
ney to the North, 407. Interview between Wolsey and Judge Shelley, 407. His
Installation as Archbishop appointed, 407. Alarm at Court from his Popularity,
i08. He is arrested for High Treason, 409. His Behaviour, 409. He is carried oft
a Prisoner, 409. His stay at Sheffield Park, 410. His Alarm at Prophecy that he
should die near Kingston, 410. His Illness, 410. Arrives at Liecester, 410.
Prophesies the Hour of his Death, 410. He dies, 411. His Burial, 411. His
Conduct as a Judge, 411. His Notions of Equity, 412. Increase of Equity Busi
ness, 412. Establishes auxiliary Courts, 413. His Complaints of the Lawyers, 413.
Wolsey free from Bribery and Corruption, 413. His natural Children, 413. His
Repentance, 414. 3*

XXX CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXX.
LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE LORD CHANCELLOB OF ENGLAND, FROM Ell
BIRTH TILL THE END Or THE REIGN OF HENRY VII.
Difficulty of appointing a Successor to Wolsey, 414. Sir Thomas More appointed
415. His Birth, 415. His Education, 415. Page to Cardinal Morton, 416. Goes
to the University, 416. His early Poems, 417. At Inns of Court, 418. His great
Proficiency in Law, 418. Gives Lectures in a Church, 418 Wishes to become a
Monk, 419. On trial dislikes Carthusian Discipline, 419. Resolves to Marry, 420.
His Courtship, 420. Happily married, 421. Rapid Progress in his Profession, 421.
He is Under-sheriff of London, 421. Returned to Parliament, 421. Excessive
Subsidy demanded by Henry to marry his Daughter, 422. Proofs that More held
the Office of Under-Sheriff, 422. More's Maiden Speech against the Subsidy, 422.
Indignation of the King, 422. More resolves to go into Exile, 423. Death of
Henry VII., 423. CHAPTER XXXI.
LIFE OE SIR THOMAS MORE FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. TILL HIS
APPOINTMENT AS LORD CHANCELLOR.
More resumes his Practice at the Bar, 424. Introduced to the King and Wolsey 424.
Counsel for the Pope in a great Cause, 424. Enters the Service of the King, 424.
Leaves the Bar, 425. Master of the Requests, &c , 42S. His House at Chelsea,
425. His second Wife, 425. His Domestic Life, 425. His Letter to Peter Giles,
426. Intimacy with the King, 427. Literary Occupations, 427. Embassies, 427.
Residence at Calais, 427. Resigns Office of the Sheriff, 428. Elected Speaker of
House 0f Commons, 428. He disqualifies himself, 428. His Oration to the King,
429. His laudable Conduct as Speaker, 430. Wolsey's Attempt to send him to
Spam, 431. Made Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster, 431. King's Visits to him
at Chelsea, 431. More's early Insight into Character of Henry VIII., 432. More
the Mouthpiece of the King, 432. His literary Reputation, 432. His famous
Quest.on to a Pedant at Bruges, 432. King's Divorce, 433. More conceals his
Opinion, 433 Preserves Neutrality, 433 Scene at the Council Table between
Wolsey and More, 433. More Ambassador at Cambray, 433. His Loss by Fire,
433. Beaut.ful Letter to h.s Wife, 434. He is made Lord Chancellor, 435.
CHAPTER XXXII.
UFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE FROM HIS APPOINTMENT AS LORD CHANCELLOR
TILL HIS RESIGNATION.
Installation of the new Chancellor, 436. Duke of Norfolk's Speech, 436 Sir Tho
mas More's Speech 437 More's Appointment applauded abroad 439! The Em
barrassments of Jh» Situation, 440. A Parliament, 441. Chancellor's Speech Xu
Prosecution of Wolsey not creditable to More, 441. Good Laws passed l^' Ad
oeiT, 445 Daily receives his Fmh > 'h,ere.wei:e "° A"'e»'s >" the Court of Chan-
His [Father's Death 44R 'Father's Blessing m the Court of King's Bench, 445.
Sundays'waU^o btth "fil^S'?' While^hancellor on
the great Case of <• The Little Do! 'Ma! ,her^hOT,ste;3' 4«- His Judgment in
447? Difficulty as the King4 Divorce 448 O™^ °f ?T CTHTt,0n °f Heretics.
Thomas Cromwell, 449. A8Pari amen. 2« -rh10n, of ,*e ^'versities, 449.
rarnament, 449. Threatened Rupture with Rome,

CONTENTS. XXXI
450. Perplexity of More, 450. Act passed prohibiting Appeals to Rome, 450.
More's Speech to House of Commons on the Divorce, 450. His distressed State of
Mind, 451. Scene with the King respecting the Divorce, 451. He resigns the
Great Seal, 452. CHAPTER XXXIII.
LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE FROM HIS RESIGNATION OF THE GREAT SEAL
TILL HIS DEATH.
More's high Spirits on his Resignation, 452. Jesting Mode of announcing it to his
Wife, 452. His '¦ Fool," 453. More's Mode of Life in Retirement, 454. Say
ings of Sir Thomas More's Fool, 453. His Letter to Archbishop Warham, 454.
Letter to Erasmus, 455. His Occupation, 455. King's Marriage with Anne Boleyn
455. More refuses to be present at her Coronation, 455. Summoned before Privy
Council on Charge of Bribery, 456. Accused of Treason in the Affair of the
Maid of Kent, 457. He is heard before a Committee, 457. Threats used, 458.
His Constancy, 458. History of Henry's Treaties against Luther, 458. More's
joy at finding himself able to act with Courage, 459. He escapes this Peril, 459.
Attempt to make him submit, 459. His Prophecy respecting Anne Boleyn,
460. Oath to the King's Supremacy required, 460, Commissioners appointed to
administe" the Oath, 460. More summoned before Commissioners, 460. Solemn
Departure from his House at Chelsea, 461. His Refusal to take Oath, 461. Com
mitted to Custody of Abbot of Westminster, 461. Sent to Tower, 462. His Re
ception m the Tower, 462. Jest on that Occasion, 462. Interview with his daugh
ter, 462. Visit from his Wife, 463 Act of Attainder, 463. Farther Proceedings
against More, 464. Infamous Conduct of Rich, the Solicitor General, 564. Trial
of More in Westminster Hall, 465. His Behaviour at Trial, 465. The Attorney
General's Address, 466. No Evidence to support the Charge, 466. Defence, 466.
More about to be acquitted, 467. Rich, Solicitor General, becomes Witness, and
commits Perjury, 467. More's Reply on this Evidence, 467. Summing up of
Lord Audley, 468. Verdict of Guilty, 468. Forms observed before Sentence, 469.
Sentence of Death passed, 469. More's Speech to the Judges, 469. Carried back
to the Tower, 470 Affecting Interview with his Daughter on Tower Hill, 470.
Death Warrant issued, 471. His last Letter to his Daughter, 471. Announcement
to him of his Execution, 471. Conducted to Scaffold, 472 His Devotions, 472.
His Jests, 472. His Death, 472. His Head stolen by his Daughter, 472. Barba
rous Conduct of Henry VIII. to More's Family, 473 General Horror produced
by the Murder of More, 473 More's Person, 473. His Character, 474 Merits of
the Reformers, 474. More's History of Edward V. and Richard III., 474. His
" Epigrammata," 475. His " Utopia," 477. More's enlightened views on Crim
inal Law, 477. On the Law of Forfeiture, 478. On Religious Toleration, 47S.
His Oratory, 479. His Wit and Homour, -i79. Practical Joke, 480. Sir Thomas
More compared to his immediate Successors, 481.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY.
Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Keeper, 4S1. His Character and Conduct, 481. His
Birth, 482. Education, 482. Member of House of Commons, 483. Gain3 the
Favour of King Henry VIII., 484. Is made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancas
ter, 483. Speaker of the House of Commons, 483. Proceedings of Commons on
Speech in Lords by Bishop of Rochester, 484. Rupture with Rome, 485. Audley
remains Speaker of the House of Commons while Lord Keeper, 486. Installation
as Lord Keeper, 486. Audley made Lord Chancellor, 487. His Conduct as a
Judge, ^87. As a Politician, 487. Commissioners to administer Oath under new
Act of Settlement, 487. Act to make Denial of King's Supremacy High Treason,
487. Presides at Trial of Bishop Fisher, 488. Evidence of Solicitor General
Rich, 488. Solicitor General Rich's Commentary as Counsel on his own Evi-

XXXII CONTENTS.
dence as Witness, 488. Scandalous Conduct ofthe Lord Chancellor and Judges,
489. Lord Chancellor pronounces Sentence of Death on Bishop Fisher, 490.
Trial of Sir Thomas More, 490. Rise of Sir Thomas Cromwell, 490. Henry
VIII. in love with Jane Seymour, 491. Audley assists in the Prosecution of Anne
Boleyn, 491. Audley sits on the Trial of Anne Boleyn, 492. Marriage of King
with Anne Boleyn declared void from the Beginning, 492, King's Marriage with
Jane Seymour, 492. Lord Chancellor's Speech to the two Houses, 493. Speaker
Rich out-flatters the Chancellor, 494. " Act giving King Power to dispose of
Crown, &c, 494. Fresh Contest between Rich and Audley in nattering the King
495. Chancellor created a Peer, 496. Presides at Trial of Marquess of Exeter
and Lord Montague, 496. The Lord Chancellor solicits a Recompense for the
Infamy he had incurred, 497. Grant in consequence, 497. He is made Knight of
the Garter, 498. A Parliament, 498. Chancellor's Speech, 498 " Bloody Bill of
the Six Articles," 498. Act Regulating Precedence, 499. Act giving King's
Proclamation force of Law, 499. King's Marriage wilh Anne of Cleves, 499.
Fall of Cromwell, 500. Chancellor's Plan to attaint Cromwell without hearing
him in his Defence, 501. King's Marriage with Anne of Cleves dissolved, 502.
Disgraceful Conduct of Cranmer in Divorce of Anne of Cleves, 502. Eastern
Custom of Prostration introduced, 502. Chancellor dissolves " Long Parliament,"
503. His Impartiality in Persecution, 503. King's Contentment with Queen
Catherine Howard, 503. Her Incontinence discovered, 503. Opinion of the
Judges upon her Case, 504. A Parliamrnt, 504. The Chancellor's Speech, 504.
Bill of Attainder against the Queen, 504- Execution of the Queen, 506. Act re
quiring Spinster whom King asks in Marriage, if not Maid, to disclsoe her Shame
5 06. Terror of young Ladies at Court, 506. King marries a Widow, 507. Queen
Catherine Par, 507. A Parliament, 507. Succession to Crown, 507. Audley's
last Illness, 508. Resigns the Great Seal, 508. Letter proposing Marriage be
tween his Daughter and the Son of Sir Anthony Denny, 509. His Death, 509.
His Career, 509 His Character, 510. His Epitaph, 510. His Descendants, 510.
CHAPTER XXXV.
LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY FKOM HIS BIRTH TILL THE
DEATH OF HENRY VIII.
Character of new Chancellor, 511. His Descent, 511. Renounces Heraldry, 511. Is
called to the Bar, 511. Obtains Office in Common Pleas, 511. Made Secretary
of State, 511. Opposed to Reformation, 512. Ambassador to negotiate the King's
Marriage, 512. Succeeds Cromwell as Chief Minister, 512. His Dismay on the
Detection of the Catholic Queen, Catherine Howard ; and the King's Marriage
with the Protestant Queen, Catherine Par, 512. His Plans against the new
Queen 513 He is made Lord Keeper, 513. His Abjuration of the Pope, 513.
Lord Chancellor, 514. His Installation, 514. His Deficiency in Law, 514. A very
Incompetent Judge, 514. His Unhappiness, 515. He tries to study Equity, 515.
Commission to assist him in hearing Causes, 515. His relentless Bigotry. 515.
Anne Ascue tortured and burnt by the Lord Chancellor, 517. The Chancellor's
offer of Pardon to Anne Ascue, 517. His attempt against the Queen, 517.
Prosecution ordered against the Queen, 517. Her terror, 518. Her discretion,
5 S ^?oreC,Tlled„t0 her' 518- Chancellor coming to arrest her isWi-
manded 519 Chancellor made Knight of the Garter, 519 A Parliament 519
Appointment of Custos Rotulorum taken from the Great Seal 619 wi
!^ s,nei'£hancelIor S' 52°- KinS's 1Uness> 52°- Chancellor makes the K inf's
Will, 520. Prosecution of Duke of Norfolk and Lord Suriev 521 E^fon
tJ^T;. rt AUn,?dW °f Dd!e 0f No,'folk' 521' Death of Henry VIII 522
rears of the Chancellor, 522, Juridical Review of the Rei" n of Hcrn-l vtti
o22. Statutes, 522, Commission to hear Causes, 523. Reports 523 7 '

CONTENTS. XXXU1
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE OP LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY.
Edward VI. proclaimed, 528. Wriothesley expects to retain Great Seal, and to
have the chief Power during the King's Minority, 523. Somerset Protector, 524.
Toung King's first Appearance in public, 524. Honours conferred by the Execu
tors on themselves, 524. Wriothesley made Earl of Southampton, 524. Intrigues
in the Council, 525. Charge against Wriothesley for issuing an illegal Commis
sion, 525. His Defence, 526. He submits, 526. He is deprived of the Great Seal,
and expelled from the Council, 526. New Powers to Protector, 527. Wriothesley
two Years in Retirement, 527. Unpopularity of Protector, 528. Wriothesley re
stored to the Council, 528. Proceedings against the Protector, 528. He is com
mitted to Tower, 528. Wriothesley hopes to enjoy supreme Power, 528. Super
seded by Earl of Warwick, 528. He retires from Public Life, 528. His Death,
529. His Character, 529. His Descendants, 529.

LIVES

O F THE

LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.

INTRODUCTION.

OF THE ORIGIN, FUNCTIONS, AND JURISDICTION IN THE OFFICE
OF LORD CHANCELLOR IN ENGLAND.
Before entering upon the Lives of the individuals who have suc
cessively filled the office of Lord Chancellor in England, I pro
pose to take a general view of its origin, functions, and jurisdic
tion, — reserving for future consideration a more detailed account
of the progressive changes which it has from time to time under
gone. The etymology of the word " Chancellor" sheds such a feeble
and. doubtful light on the subject of our inquiry, that I must de
cline engaging in the great controversy, whether " Cancellarius "
be derived from " cancellare " or " cancelh?" — from the act of can-
ceUmg the king's letters patent when granted contrary to law, or
from the little bars for fencing off the multitude from the recess or
channel in which sat the door-keeper or usher of a court of jus
tice. Of the former opinion, a distinguished champion of John of
Salisbury, who flourished in the reign of Henry II., and in the
verses prefixed to his Polycraticon thus glorifies the Chancellor :
" Hie est qui leges regni cancellat iniquas,
Et mandata pii principis iequa facit."*
So when Lord Chancellor Gardyner, in the reign of Queen Mary
presiding on the woolsack, in the sight of all the Lords, cut off
from a bill certain clauses to which the Commons had dissented,
he said, " I now do rightly the office of a Chancellor."!
* See 4 Inst. 88. 3 B. Com. 47.
t " Die Veneris, videlicet 4°, Januarii," (I & 2 Ph. & Mar. 1554-5.)
" Hodie allutce sunt a Domo Communi tres Bill se : quartern
" Prima. — For the repealing of all outlawries and other attainders had or made
against Richard Pate, Bishop, William Peytoo, and others.
VOL. I. 4

38 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
But more weight will probably be attached to the authority of
Gibbon, who, after exposing the profligate conduct of the Emperor
Carinus in having settled his favourites, and even his ministers,
from the dregs of the populace, and intrusted a " Chancellor"
with the government of the city, observes, " This word, so hum
ble in its origin, has by a singular fortune risen into the title of
the great first office of state in the monarchies of Europe." *
It "would likewise be foreign to our purpose (though very cu
rious) to trace the steps by -which, under the later Roman Em
perors, the " Cancellarius," like " the Justice-clerk " in Scotland,
from being a humble scribe or secretary, came to be invested with
high judicial powers. Nor should I be justified in inquiring how
the office passed from the Roman Emperors to that body ever
emulous of imperial state — the Roman Church, in which every
bishop had his " Chancellor," — or into the manner in which the
office was established, with a great variety of powers and duties,
in the different states on the continent of Europe founded by the
Northern invaders, who, clinging to their own institutions, were
fond of borrowing titles from the conquered. Our business here
is exclusively with " the Chancellor of the Kings of England."
This office has existed from the most remote antiquity. The
almost fabulous British King Arthur is said to have appointed a
Chancellor.! The Anglo- Saxon monarchs, from Ethelbert down
wards, certainly had such an officer, although we must not there
fore assent to the statement of Lord Coke, that the Chancery
dispensed justice as an ordinary tribunal, in the remote reign of
King Alfred. The office then existed, but, as we shall see here
after, centuries elapsed before it assumed the functions of a
Court. — How the office originally sprung up in England, and
what it has since become, it will now be my endeavor to de
scribe. With us the king has ever been considered the fountain of
Secunda.— That persons dwelling in the country shall not sell divers wares in
eities and towns corporate, by retail.
Tenia— Repealing all statutes, articles, and provisions made against the See
Apostohck of Rome since the 20th year of King Henry the Eighth ; and for th.
establishment of all spiritual and ecclesiastical possessions and hereditaments con
veyed to the lany w.lh two new provisoes added thereto by the Commons j
thL mlTnyef . h VW° C'rSueS' co",aini"g ™e.een lines, and concerning
tt„rwh If ' f V a"d '•" L°rds Wen(worthe, &c, should be clearly
E^thH£S-EP - -«~ was' t-ald^
was sent down to the Commons, where being also Ihrice read and Lreed unto i!
p 484 ^hancillob. —Lords' Journals, vol. l.
I S£^ Justices" ! "^ B6e CaSaUb°D a"d S*"-ius ad Hist. Aug. 253.

INTRODUCTION. 39
justice. In very early times, as he could not himself in persoti
decide all controversies and remedy all wrongs, tribunals were
constituted, over which deputed judges presided, to carry the law
into execution. Still, applications were made to him personally
by injured parties for redress ; these were to be referred to the
proper forum, and process was to be made out for summoning
the adversary, and directing that after both sides had been heard,
the appropriate relief should be administered. To assist him in
this department, the King employed a secretary, on whom by de
grees it was entirely devolved; and this officer, on a statement of
facts by the complainant, framed writs or letters, in the king's
name, to the judges, by which suits were instituted. Forms were
adopted, to be always followed under similar circumstances, and
a place was named to which all suitors might resort to be fur
nished with the means of obtaining justice. This was the qffi-
cina justiticR called Chancery, and the officer who presided over
it -was called Chancellor.*
Again, grants of dignities, of offices, and of lands were made
by the king. It "was necessary that these grants should be framed
and authenticated by an officer well versed in the laws and cus
toms of the kingdom ; and it was found convenient to employ for
ipais purpose the same person -who superintended the commence
ment of suits between subject and subject. Here we have the
other great branch of the pristine duties of Chancellor.
These writs and grants in the earliest times -were verified
merely by signature. From the art of writing being little known,
seals became common ; and the king, according to the fashion of
the age, adopted a seal with which -writs and grants were sealed.
This was called the Great Seal, and the custody of it was
given to the Chancellor.!
But how are we to account for the important function which
has immemorially belonged to this officer, of " Keeper- of the
King's Concience?" From the conversion of the r ,„_ ,
Anglo- Saxons to Christianity by the preaching of St. L • • J
Augustine, the king always had near his person a priest, to whom
was intrusted the care of his chapel, and who was his confessor.
This person, selected from the most learned and able of his order,
and greatly superior in accomplishments to the unlettered laymen
attending the Court, soon acted as private secretary to the king,
and gained his confidence in affairs of state. The present de-
* "Every one was to have a remedial writ from the King's Chancery, according
to his plaint," of which the following is the most ancient form :
" Rex, &c " [to the Judge], " Q.uestu3 est nobis A. quod B., &c. Et ideo
tibi (vices nostras in hac parte committentes) prajcipimus quod causam illam au-
dias et legitimo fine decidas." — Mirror of Justices, 8. See Fritzhert. Nat. Bre-
vium. t It has generally been supposed that Edward the Confessor was the first Eng
lish sovereign who used a seal ; but Dugdale shows that there were some grants
under seal ai far back as King Edgar. Dug. Off. ch. 2.

40 LORD CHANCELLORS OE ENGLAND.
marcation between civil and ecclesiastical employments was then
little regarded, and to this same person was assigned the busi
ness of superintending writs and grants,-^- with the custody of
the great seal. . .
For ages to come the Chancellor had no separate judicial pow
er, and was not considered of very high dignity in the state, and
the office was chiefly courted as a stepping-stone to a bishopric,
to which it almost invariably led. Particular individuals holding
the Great Seal acquired a great ascendancy from their talents,
but among the Anglo-Saxons the Chancellor was not generally a
conspicuous member of the government, and in the early Anglo-
Norman reigns he ranked only sixth of the great officers under
the Crown, coming after the Chief Justiciar, the Constable, the
Mareschal, the Steward, and the Chamberlain. At this time the
Chief Justiciar was by far the greatest subject both in rank and
power* He was generally taken from among the high hereditary
barons ; his functions were more political than judicial ; he some
times led armies to battle ; and when the Sovereign was beyond
the sea, by virtue of his office, as regent he governed the realm.!
The office of Chancellor rose into importance from the energy
of A'Becket, Longchamp, and other ambitious men who held it ; t
but it was only in the end of the reign of Henry III, or the be
ginning of the reign of Edward I., that its supremacy was es
tablished. Till then the Aulia Regia existed, — of which the
Chief Justiciar was president, and in which all causes of impor
tance, of whatever description, were decided.
The origin of the different courts in Westminster Hall, as they
exist, may be distinctly traced to the disruption of this great tri
bunal — like the formation of the planetary system from the neb
ulous matter of which some philosophers tell us it is composed.
The Chancellor always sat as a member of the Aula Regia, and
from his usual duties and occupations he must have been its chief
legal adviser. $ In all probability, early in its history, the differ-
* Mad Exch. b. 1.
t Hence comes the title ofthe "Lords lustices " appointed to represent the
King in England in the reigns of George I and George II. ; and of the Lords Jus
tices " now appointed lo act in Ireland in lhe absence of the Lord Lieutenant.
There was likewise from very remote times a Giand Justiciar in Scotland with
very arbitrary power. In that country when the Judges going the circuit approach
a royal barge, lhe Lord Provost universally comes out to meet ihem — with lhe
exception of Aberdeen,— of which there is by tradition this explanation. Some
centuries ngo, the Lord Provost, at the head of [he magistrates, going out to meet
the Grand Justiciar at the Bridge of Dee, the Grand Justiciar, for some imaginary
offence, hanged his Lordship at the end of the Bridge,— since which the Lord
Provost of Aberdeen has never trusted himself in the presence of a Judge beybnd
the walls of the city.— Ex relatione of a very venerable person who has filled lhe
office now called the Lord Justice General.
% The office of Chancellor in France appears to have risen into great importance
by the same means. " Magnitudinem virorum qui eo munere [Caneellarii] funge-
bantur, vires decusque illi attulisse crediderim, ut ab exiguis iniliis ad tanlam ma-
jestatem pervenerit." — Paul. Kncycl. de rebus geslis Francon. p 104 a
§ He was wont to act, together with the Chief Justiciar and other great men,

INTRODUCTION. 41
ent branches of judicial business which came before it were al
lotted to the consideration of particular members most conversant
with them ; and while matters of chivaly might be decided by
the opinion of the constable and mareschal, the validity of the
king's grants would be reierred to him whose duty it was to au
thenticate them, and proceedings by virtue of mandatory writs
or commissions, under the Great Seal, could best be judged of
by the same person who had issued them. So, questions arising
out of " petitions of right," monstrans de droit," and " traverses
of office," — where a complaint was made that the King had
been advised to do any act, or was put in possession of any
lands or goods, to the prejudice of a subject, would be naturally
referred to " the Keeper of his Conscience.*
The officer to whom such references "were made by degrees
became a separate judge ; and hence the origin of what is con
sidered the common-law jurisdiction of the Chancellor.
It is certain, that almost immediately after the establishment
of the Court of King's Bench for criminal law, the Common
Pleas for civil suits, and the Exchequer for the revenue, all ex
traordinary cases of a juridical nature being reserved for the
King in council, — the Chancellor held a separate independent
court, in which the validity of royal grants was questioned by
scire facias, and the other matters were discussed which I have
supposed to have been previously referred for his opinion, to
guide the decision of the Aula Regia. To assist in this new
separate jurisdiction, officers were appointed, and they had the
privilege of suing and being sued in all personal actions in the
court to which they were attached. These proceedings were
carried on in accordance with the rules and maxims of the com
mon law.
Here then we have the Chancellor with two great occupa
tions : — the first, his earliest one, of supplying writs to suit
ors who wished to litigate in other courts ; the second, the de
cision of a peculiar class of suits as a judge. According to an
cient simplicity, the place where he carried on the business of
his office was divided between the "Hanniper" or hamper, in
which writs were stored up ; and the " Petty -bag," in -which
were kept the records and proceedings in the suits to be decided
by himself.! Thus did the Chancellor decide all matters of law
that might arise by his own authority, subject to a writ of error
in matters of revenue at the Exchequer, and sometimes with the other justiciars
itinerant in their circuits. About the beginning of King Henry the Second's reign,
there were pleas in the county of Kent holden " before the King's Chancellor, and
before Henry de Essex, the King's Constable," and " before the Chancellor and
the Earl of Leicester," Americaments were set upon several persons in Worces
tershire by " the Chancellor and Stephen de Segrave ; " and in the counties ol
Nottingham and Derby by the same persons. — Madd. JExch. cap. 2. p. 42
* Gilbert's History of the Exchequer, p. 8.
t Even now a distinction is made between the " hanniper " side and the " pet
ty bag " side of the court. 4*

42 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
to the King's Bench ; but he had no power to summon a jury ;
and issue being joined on a question of fact, he at once handed
over the record to the King's Bench, where the suit proceeded,
and was finally disposed of.*
This •• common -law jurisdiction" ofthe Chancellor has been
generally earned back to the reign of Edward I.— by some much
higher,— and the validity of it has never been questioned ;— but
his "Equitable Jurisdiction," which has become of infinitely
greater importance, has been supposed to be a usurpation, and
not to have been exercised till the reign of Richard II, upon
the introduction of uses and trusts of real property, and the in
vention of the writ of subpoena by John of Waltham, Bishop of
Salisbury. After much investigation, I must express my clear
conviction, that the Chancellor's equitable is as indubitable and
as ancient as his common-law jurisdiction, and that it may be
traced in a manner equally satisfactory.
The silence of Bracton, Glanvil, Fleta, and other early juridical
writers, has been strongly relied upon to disprove the equitable
jurisdiction of the Chancellor; but they as little notice his
common-law jurisdiction, most of them writing during the sub
sistence of the Aula Regia; and they all speak of the Chan
cery, not as a court, but merely as as an office for the making and
sealing of writs.! There are no very early decisions of the
Chancellors on points of law, any more than of equity, to be
found in the .Year Books, or old Abridgments. It was formerly
objected, that there were no Bills or Petitions in Chancery ex
tant of an earlier date than the time of Henry VI., but by the
labors of the Record Commissioners many have been discovered
of preceding reigns. Till the 17th Richard II, when the statute
was made giving the Chancellor power to award damages or
costs to the defendant on the plaintiff's suggestions being proved
to be false, there was little use in filing or preserving them, and
from that era -we have them in abundance.
"By "equitable jurisdiction" must be understood the extra
ordinary interference of the Chancellor, without common-law
process, or regard to the common-law rules of proceeding, upon
the petition of a party grieved, who was without adequate reme
dy in a court of common-law ; whereupon the opposite party
was compelled to appear and to be examined, either personally
or upon written interrogatories ; and evidence being heard on
* I have followed the authority of Blackstone (Com. vol. iii. 49 )• but Mr.
Macqueen.in his very learned and valuable treatise "On the Appellate' Jurisdic
tion of the House of Lords," has collected weighty decisions and arguments to
show that the writ of error from the petty-bag or common-law side in Chan
cery is directly to Parliament, and that when the issue of fact has been determined
in the King's Bench, the record goes back to the Court of Chancery where final
judgment ought to be given. See p. 369, et seq. Idea qucere. '
t The first law book which treats of the judicial powers of the Lord Chancel
lor is the " Diversite" des Courtes," written in the end of the fifteenth or begin
ning of the sixteenth century, tit. Chancery, fol. 296.

INTRODUCTION. 43
b6th sides, without the interposition of a jury, an order was made
secundum cequum et bonum, which was enforced by imprisonment.
Such a jurisdiction had belonged to the Aula Regia, and was
long exercised by Parliament* ; and when Parliament was not
sitting, by the king's ordinaiy council. Upon the dissolution of
the Aula Regia many petitions, which Parliament or the Council
could not conveniently dispose of, were referred to the Chancel
lor, sometimes with and sometimes without assessors. To avoid.
the circuity of applying to Parliament or the Council, the petition
was very soon, in many instances, addressed originally to the
Chancellor himself. For some ages these extraordinary applica
tions for redress were received by the Parliament, by the Coun
cil, and by the Chancellor concurrently. The Parliament by de
grees abandoned all original equitable jurisdiction, acting only as
a court of appeal in civil cases, and taking original cognizance
of criminal cases on impeachment by the Commons ; but it will
be found that the Council and the Chancellor long continued
equitably to adjudicate on the same matters, and that there -were
the same complaints and statutes directed against both.
From various causes, however, the equitable jurisdiction of
the Council gradually declined. The proper and immemorial
business of the Chancellor being the preparation of writs, where
a case occurred to which no known writ was properly applicable,
and in which the common-law courts could not grant redress, he
took it into his own hands,. and having heard both parties, gave
relief. Again, where the proceedings in the courts of law under
writs which he had issued "were grossly defective an inequitable,
he was naturally called upon to review them, and to prevent
judgments which had been fraudulently obtained from being car
ried into effect.
Another source of equitable jurisdiction to the Chancellor, of
considerable importance, though little noticed, arose from the
* Audley v. Audley, 40 Edward III. This, lhe earliest instance I have found
of a suit for a specific performance, is fully reported in the close roll of that year.
By a deed executed in contemplation of the marriage of Nicholas son of James
Lord Audley, he had covenanted to settle lands in possession or reversion to the
amount of 400 marks. After the marriage, Elizabeth, the wife, petitioned lhe
King in parliament that Lord Audley should be ordained to perform the covenant.
The King caused the defendant to come before the Chancellor, the Treasurer, and
the justices and other " sages " assembled in Ihe Star Chamber. The L:idy Aud
ley "showed forth her grievancies ;" that is to say, she declared them by word
of mouth, and produced the indenture of covenant. A demurrer put in on the
part of the defendant was overruled ; and after various proceedings before the
Chancellor and Treasurer in the Council, performance of the covenant was at last
obtained. One of the most remarkable examples of Parliament acting as a court of equity
is William Lord Clynton's case, in the 9th of Hen. V., where William de la Pole,
a feoffee to uses, was compelled to reeonvey his lordship's estates. This might
possibly have proceeded on the ground of parliamentary privilege. I believe the
records of the Court of Chancery, although they prove the exercise of lhe equita
ble jurisdiction of the Chancellor much further back, do not show any example sn
early of compelling the execution of a trust. R. P. 9 H. 5.

44 LSRD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
practice of inrolling in Chancery covenants and agreements, re
leases of right, and declarations of uses, and of securing the
performance of these deeds by a recognizance acknowledged
before the Chancellor, and entered upon the close rolls. On ap
plications for writs of execution by reason of the alleged for
feiture of the recognizance, the Chancellor was of course bound
to hear both parties, and to make such decree between them as
justice required.
For the sake of fees to the Chancellor and his officers, great
encouragement was given to suitors resorting to Chancery, and
from the distinguished ability of the men presiding there, who
were assisted by the Master of the Rolls and the other masters,
— ecclesiastics well "skilled in the civil law, — the business was
more systematically and effectively transacted than before the
Council, which has ever been a tribunal without fixity in its
members or regularity in its proceedings. These various causes
combining, the equitable jurisdiction of the Council fell into
desuetude, like that of the Parliament; and in the Court of
Chancery that admirable system of equity which we boast of in
England, and which with our common law has been adopted by
our brethren in America, was gradually developed and matured.
It is thus a great mistake to suppose that the clerical expedient
of a conveyance to uses, for the purpose of evading the statutes
of mortmain, gave rise to the equitable jurisdiction of the Chan
cellor, or that he at first interfered only in cases of trust binding
on the conscience. From the researches of the Record Com
missioners it appears that his equitable jurisdiction was well es
tablished long anterior to the time when such cases came before
him, and that the earliest applications to him for relief were from
those who suffered by direct violence and the combinations of
great men, against which they were unable to gain redress by
the ordinary process of law.* Then followed cases in which
it was necessary to correct the absurdities of the common-law
judges, who in their courts laid down rules utterly subversive of
justice,! — or in which, from multiplicity of parties, disability to
sue, intricacy of accounts, suppression of documents, facts being
exclusively in the knowledge of the adverse party, the impor
tance of specific relief, and the urgent necessity for preventing
irremediable damage to property, trial by jury and common-law
process afforded no adequate remedy. The maxim of the com
mon-law judges, that if a man accepted the conveyance of land
as a trustee, they could only look to the legal estate, and they
* -AnbiUJn Ch?ncerl sti11 aI'eges "combination and confederacy," -which, if
specially cha ged, ought to be denied by the answer. *
h»L^nfflTv!l?Ple' tha.- Wher^ \claim was founded on a deed detained in tta
h t *?*£ nother\no, act,<m "»«M be maintained; that if a deed of grant were
d™" hv dlJ ?S,£v" Wa%'°3t W'th ,l ; ?nt that a man was liable to W money
due by deed twice over, >f on payment he had omitted to take acquittance imdet

INTRODUCTION. 45
would allow him to enjoy it discharged of the trust, -was not the
earliest, nor for a long the most usual, ground for seeking relief
in equity.*
I must likewise observe, that there was not by any means the
constant struggle between the two jurisdictions of common law
and equity which is generally supposed. At times, from per
sonal enmity, from vanity, from love of power, and from love of
profit, Chancellors and Chief Justices came into unseemly col
lision, and in this warfare they resorted unsparingly to the ar
tillery of injunctions, attachments, writs of habeas corpus, in
dictments, and praemunires. But, generally speaking, the com
mon-law judges co-operated harmoniously with the Chancellor,
and recognised the distinction between what might fitly be done
in a court of law and in a court of equity. He sometimes con
sulted them before issuing a subpoena to commence the suit. In
hearing causes, if not satisfied with the advice of the Master of
the Rolls and the Masters in chancery (his ordinary council), he
was from the earliest times in the habit of calling in the assist
ance of some of them; and questions of extraordinary impor
tance he adjourned into the Exchequer Chamber, that he might
have the opinion of all the twelve. !
For the benefit of the general reader I may here be permitted
to make a few observations upon the Chancellor's supposed prce-
torian power, or nobile officium- It is a common opinion that
English equity consists in the judge acting upon his own notions
of what is right, always softening the rigor of the. common law
when he disapproves of it, and dispensing with the application
to particular cases of common-law rules allowed to be generally
-wise, — so that he may reach justice according to the circumstan
ces of each particular case, in pursuance of the suggestion of
Lord Bacon, " Habeant Curias Prajtorias potestatem tarn subveni-
endi contra rigorem legis quam supplendi defectum legis. % But
with us there is no scope for judicial caprice in a court of equity
more than elsewhere. Our equitable system has chiefly arisen
from supplying the defects of the common law, by giving a rem
edy in classes of cases for which the common law had provided
none, and from a universal disregard by the equity judge of cer
tain absurd rules of the common law, which he considers inap
plicable to the whole category to which the individual case under
* Even so late as the reign of Charles II. it was vexata questio whether an ac
tion on the case could be maintained by cestuique trust against the trustee. See
Barnardislon v. Soame, 7 St. Tr. 443 ; 1 Vernon, 344, n.
t From this practice the decrees ran, Per curiam Cuncellarioz et omnes^ Justi-
tiarios ; sometimes, Per decretum Cancelarii ex assensu omnium Justitiarium
ac aliorum. de Concilii Domini liegis prceseniium. Again, Idea consideration
est per curiam de assensu Johannis Fortescue, Capitalis Justitiaiii Domini Re
gis ad placita tenenda, et ditersorum aliorum Jusliiiariorum et servienttum ad
legem in curia prceseniium. — Seld. Off. Lord. Ch. § 3.
% De Augmentis Scient lviii. ; Aphor. 35.

46 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
judgment belongs.* In former times unconscientious Chancellors,
talking perpetually of their conscience, have decided in a very ar
bitrary manner, and have exposed their jurisdiction to much odium
and many sarcasms. ! But the preference of individual opinion
to rules and precedents has long ceased : " the doctrine of the
court" is to be diligently found out and strictly followed; and
the Chancellor sitting in equity is only to be considered a magis
trate, to whose tribunal are assigned certain portions of forensic
business, to which he is to apply a well-defined system of juris
prudence, — being under the control of fixed maxims and prior
authorities, as much as the judges of the courts of common law.
He decides "secundum arbitrium boni viri;" but when it is ask
ed, " Vir bonus est quis ? " the answer is " Qui consulta patrum,
qui leges juraque servat." X
There was long great doubt and difficulty with respect to the
mode of reviewing the decrees of the Lord Chancellor on the
equity side of the court ; but, after a violent parliamentary strug
gle, it was at last settled, in the reign of Charles II, that an ap
peal lies from them to the House of Lords.
There are other judicial functions to be exercised by the Chan
cellor in his own court, which I ought to notice. In conjunction
with th£ common-law judges, he is a guardian of personal liber
ty ; and any one unlawfully imprisoned is entitled to apply to him
for a writ of habeas corpus, either in term or in vacation, k So
the Chancellor may at any time grant prohibitions to restrain
inferior courts from exceeding their jurisdiction, though he listens
with reluctance to such motions when they may be made to the
King's Bench, whose habits are better adapted to this sort of busi
ness. II
* Notwithstanding the rudeness and defects ofthe common law, we should ever
remember its favor to personal liberty, and its admirable machinery for separating
law and fact, and assigning each to a distinct tribunal ; wherein it excels all other
systems of jurisprudence which have appeared. We should likewise bear in mind
that it offered many specific remedies, which, after the improvement of equitable
jurisdiction, fell into desuetude.
t The most celebrated is the saying of Selden : " Equity is a roguish thing :
for law we have a measure. Equity is according to the conscience of him who is
Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. It is all one as if they
should make the standard for the measure we call a foot ' a chancellor's foot.'
What an uncertain measure would this be ? One chancellor has a long foot ;
another, a short foot ; a third, an indifferent foot : it is the same thincr in the chan
cellor's conscience" — Table Talk.
X " The discretion of a judge is the law of tyrants: it is always unknown ; it
is different in different men ; it is casual, and depends upon constitution, temper,
and passion. In the best, it is oftentimes caprice ; in the worst it is every vice,
folly, and passion, to which human nature is liable.''— Lord Camden
See 2 Peer Wms. 752. ; 1 Bl. Com. 47. ; Story's Equity, i. 30. ; Maddocks'
Ghancry, l. 29. ; Correspondence between Lord Hardwicke and Lord Kames ;
Tytler's Lite of Lord Kames, 230. ; Cooper's Letters ; Sur la Cour de la Chancel
leries : Abuses and Remedies of Chancery, by George Norbury ; Har». Law Tracts ;
and two pieces concerning Suits in Chancery by Subpoena, temp.°H. VIII., like
wise in Harg. Law Tracts, and are both exceedingly curious.
§ Crawley's Case, 2 Swanst. 6.
1 Per Lord Redesdale, 2 Sch. & Lef. 136. See 4 Inst. 81. ; 2 P. Wms 203

INTRODUCTION. 47
The Chancellor has an exclusive authority to restrain a party
from leaving the kingdom, where it appears that he is purposely
withdrawing himself from the jurisdiction of the court, to the
disappointment of honest creditors. This is effected by the writ
"ne exeat regno," issuing under the great seal; — a high preroga
tive remedy, which, as it affects personal liberty, is granted with
great circumspection, particularly where foreigners are concern
ed.* It is the province of the Chancellor to issue a writ under the
Great Seal " de coronatore eligendo," directed to the sheriff, and
requiring the freeholders of the county to choose a coroner.!
He also decides in the Court of Chancery questions arising as to
the validity of the election. % And upon complaint against a
coroner for neglect of duty, or upon an allegation of incapacity,
— as from being confined in a prison, or of incompetency, as from
mental derangement or habits of extreme intemperance, — the
Chancellor may remove him from his office. $
Anciently the Chancellor took cognizance of riots and conspira
cies, upon application for surety of the peace ; but this criminal
jurisdiction has been long obsolete, although articles ofthe peace
still may, and sometimes are, exhibited before him.ll
The Chancellor has a most important jurisdiction in Banhrwpt-
cy, which arose partly from the commissions for distributing the
effects of insolvent traders being under the Great Seal, and part
ly from the powers directly given to him by the act of parlia
ment. The proceeding is here generally by Petition, in which
case there is no appeal; but on questions of difficulty the Court
makes its equitable machinery ancillary to this summary juris
diction ; and, a Bill being filed, the matter may be carried to tho
House of Lords. The weight of this branch of business, which
was at one time nearly overwhelming, has been greatly lightened
by the appointment of permanent Commissioners and the Court
of" Review; but the Chancellor still retains a general superinten
dence over bankruptcy.
It has been a common opinion that the Chancellor has no ju
risdiction whatever in Lunacy by virtue of his office, and that
this jurisdiction is entirely derived from a special authority under
the royal sign manual, -which might be conferred on any one else.
But I clearly apprehend that a commission " de idiota," or " d$
hmatico inquirendo," would issue at common law from the Court
of Chancery under the Great Seal, and that the Lord Chancel
lor, without any special delegation for this purpose, would have
authority to control the execution of it, and to make orders for
* De Carriere v. Calonne, 4 Vess. 577. See Bedmes' Writ JVe exeat regno,
and Beames' Chancery Orders, p. 89.
1 F. N. B. 163 ; 1 Block. 847.
t Re Coroner Co. Stafford, 2 Russ 475.
§ Ex parte Parnell, 1 Jac & W. 451. ; Ex parte Pasley, 3 Drur. & War. 34.
H Tunnicliffe v. Tunnicliffe, a. d. 1S23; Williams v. Williams, A. u. 1841.

48 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
that purpose. The sign manual takes its origin from stat. 17
Edw 2. c. 9., by which the rents and profits of the estates of
idiots are given to the Crown, and form part of the royal revenue.
During the existence of the Court of Wards and Liveries, the
management of the estates of idiots and lunatics was intrusted
to it, and since has been delegated to the Chancellor. Being a
fiscal matter, the warrant is countersigned by the Lord High
Treasurer, or Lords Commissioners of the Treasury*
So much may for the present suffice respecting the forensic
character of the Lord Chancellor; and I now proceed to give a
rapid sketch of his other functions.
* I was obliged to' investigate this matter during the short time when I had the
honor to hold the great seal of [reland. By an oversight, the usual warrant under
the sign manual respecting lunatics had not in the first instance been delivered to
me, but I found that I might safely make some orders in Lunacy before I received
it. On such matters, perhaps, the appeal ought to be to the House of Lords, al
though the appeal respecting others comprehended in the special delegation be to
the sovereign in council. See 3 Bl. Com. 48. 427. ; Story's Equity, ii. 542.; In
Re Fitzgerald, 2 Sch. & Lef. 432. 151.
As the form of the warrant throws some light upon the subject, and is nowhere
to be found in print, I subjoin a copy of lhat which was addressed to me : —
" Victoria R.
"Right trusty and wellbeloved councillor. We greet you well. Whereas it
lielongeth unto us in right of our royal prerogative to have the custody of idiots,
and their estates, in th.U part of our United Kingdom called Ireland, and to take
the profits thereof to our own use : And whereas such idiots and lunatics, and their
estates, since the erecting of the Court of Wards and Liveries, have been in rule,
order, and government of that court, and upon the disuse thereof are now itt our
immediate care, commitment, and, dispose, which doth occasion multiplicity of
suitors and addresses loour own person : We therefore, forthe ease of ourself, and
ofthe said suitors, from the charge of attendance, and considering that the writs of
inquiry of idiots and lunatics are to issue out of the Q,ueen's Court of Chancery
of that part of our said United Kingdom called Ireland , and the inquisitions there
upon taken and found are returnable in that court, have thought fit to intrust yo»
with the care and commitment of the custody of the said idiots and lunatics, and
their estales. And we clo by these presents give and grant unto you full power
and authority, without expecting any further special warrant from us, from time to
time to give orders and warrants for the preparing of grants and custody of such
idiots and lunatics, and their estales. as are or shall be found by inquisition thereof
taken or to be taken, and returnable in our said High Court of Chancery ; and
thereupon to make and pass grants and commitments, under our Great seal of that
part of our United Kingdom called Ireland, of the custodies of all and every such
idiots and lunatics, and their estates, to such person or persons, suitors in that .be
half, as according to the rules of law and the use and practice in those and the ike
causes you shall judge meet for that trust, the said grants and commitments to be
made in such manner and form as hath been heretofore used and accustomed, and
to contain such apt and convenient covenants, provisions, and agreements, on the
parts of the committees and grantees to be performed, and such security to be by
them given as shall be requisite and needful. And for so doing, this shall be your
wa"ant.Given at our Palace at Buckingham House, this 16th day of duly, 1841,
In the fifth year of our reign. By Her Majesty's command.
To our right trusty and wellbeloved councillor) W. Cowper
John Baron Campbell, our Chancellor of that > J. Baring
part of our United Kingdom called Ireland. ) H. Tufnell.
" Entered at the Signet Office, the 16th day of July, 1841.
" Bridges Taylor, Deputy."

INTRODUCTION. 49
It is said by Selden that the Chancellor is a privy councillor
by virtue of his office ; but this can only mean that he is entitled
to offer the king advice, as any peer may do; — not that by the
delivery of the Great Seal to him he is incidentally constituted
a member of the Privy Council, with the powers lawfully belong
ing to the office of a privy councillor ; for no one can sit in the
Privy Council who is not by the special command of the Sover
eign appointed a member of it ; and, as far back as can be traced,
the Lord Chancellors who were not privy councillors previous to
their elevation have been sworn of the Privy Council, like other
great officers of state." *
He certainly is ex officio Prolocutor or Speaker of the House
of Lords, whether he be a peer or not. Without any commission
or express authority for the purpose, he always presides there
when present. This privilege is said to belong to him by pre
scription, and he has enjoyed it many centuries, although in the
reigns of Richard I., John, and Henry III. (within the time of
legal memory) it was exercised by the Chief Justiciar. The
Crown may by commission name others to preside in the House
of Lords in the absence of the Chancellor; and, no speaker ap
pointed by the Crown being present, the Lords of their own au
thority may choose one of themselves to act as speaker, — which
they now often do in hearing appeals ; — but all these speakers are
immediately superseded when the Chancellor enters the House, t
By 25 Edw. III. c. 2., to slay him in the execution of his office
is high treason. By 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10., he has precedence
above all temporal peers, except the king's sons, nephews, and
grandsons, whether he be a peer or a commoner. If he be a
peer, he ought regularly to be placed at the top of the dukes'
bench, on the left of the throne ; and if a commoner, upon " the
uppermost sack in the parliament chamber, called the Lord Chan
cellor's woolsack." % For convenience, here he generally sits,
though a peer, and here he puts the question, and acts as prolo
cutor; but this place is not considered within the House, and
when he is to join in debate as a peer, he leaves the woolsack,
*See Selden 's Office of Lord Chancellor, § 3. It has often been said that the
Lord Mayor of London is a privy councillor by virtue of his office, but for this there
is notthe slightest pretence, although he is styled "right honourable," and on a
demise of the Crown joins with the aldermen and other notables in recognising the
title of the new sovereign.
f Lord Chief Baron Gilbert suggests that the Chancellor sits on the woolsack as
steward of the King's Court Baron, and draws an ingenious but fanciful parallel
between the Court Baron of a manor and the House of Lords. Gilb. Ev. 42. —
By an old standing order of the House of Lords, his constant attendance there is
required. % There are woolsacks for the Judges and other assessors, as well as for the
LoVd Chancellor. They are said to have been introduced into the House of Lords
as a compliment to the staple manufacture of the realm ; but I believe that in the
rude simplicity of early times a sack of wool was frequently used as a sofa —when
the Judges sat on a hard wooden bench, and the advocates stood behind a rough
wooden rail, called the bar.
VOL. I. 5

50 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
and stands in front of his proper seat, at the top of the dukes'
bench. If he be a commoner, notwithstanding a resolution of the
House that he is to be proceeded against for any misconduct as
if he were a peer, he has neither vote nor deliberative voice, *
and he can only put the question, and communicate the resolu
tions of the House according to the directions he receives, t
From very early times the Chancellor was usually employed
on the meeting of a new parliament to address the two Houses
in the presence of the King, and to explain the causes of then-
being summoned, — although this was in rare instances done by
the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and by other function
aries, t
"Whether peer or commoner, the Chancellor is not, like the
Speaker of the Commons, moderator of the proceedings of the
House in which he seems to preside ; he is not addressed in de
bate ; he does not name the peer who is to be heard ; he is not
appealed to as an authority on points of order; and he may
cheer the sentiments expressed by his colleagues in the minis
try J
On the trial of a peer for treason or felony, either before the
House of Lords or before selected peers when parliament is not
sitting, the presidentship of the Lord Chancellor is suspended,
and a Lord High Steward is specially appointed pro hac vice
by the Crown. This arose from the Lord Chancellor, in early
times, being almost always an ecclesiastic, who could not meddle
in matters of blood. Since the Chancellor has been a layman,
he has generally been- nominated Lord High Steward; but then
he becomes " His Grace," and presides in a different capacity. 1
On the impeachment of commoners (which can only be for high
* From the manner in which the journals are kept, it might have been inferred
that the Chancellor, or Keeper of the Great Seal, though a commoner, was con
sidered a member of the House. Thus, in the times of Sir Nicholas Bacon, his
presence is recorded as if he were a peer, under the designation of " Custos Mag.
Sig. ; and the same entries continue to be made with respect to Sir N. Wright
and Sir R. Henley. So , on the 22d Nov. 1830, there is an entry in the list of peers
present, «' Henricus Brougham Cnncellarius," bul he had no right to debate and
vote till the following day, when the entry of his name and office appears in the
same place, " Dominus Brougham et Vaux Cancellarius."
t Lord Keeper Henley, till raised to the peerage, used to complain bitterly of
being obhgtd to put the question for the reversal of his own decrees, without being
permitted lo say a word in support of them.
X See Elsynge on Parliaments, p. 137.
§ This arises from a proper distrust of a Speaker holding his office during the
pleasure of the Crown, and necessa.ily an aciive political partisan; but most in
convenient consequences follow from there being no moderator in an assembly
which is supposed to be the most august, but is probably the most disorderly in the
|| On the late trial of the Earl of Cardigan, Lord Denman was appointed and
acted as Lord High Steward, on account of the temporary illness of Lord Chan-
sellor Cottenham. ' u

INTRODUCTION. 51
crimes and misdemeanors *) he presides as in the ordinary busi
ness of the House.
The Chancellor was once a most important criminal judge, by
ruling the Court of Star Chamber. Here he alone had a right to
speak with his hat on ; and if the councillors present were equal
ly divided; he claimed a double vote, whether for acquitting or
convicting, t While this arbitrary tribunal flourished hi the plen
itude of its power under the Tudors and Stuarts, — with a view
to proceedings here rather than in the Court of Chancery was
the Great Seal often disposed of; but since the abolition of the
Star Chamber, the Chancellor has been released from taking any
part in criminal proceedings, unless on the rare occasions of im
peachments, and the trials of peers. %
Still he presides at " the trial of the Pyx," when a jury of
goldsmiths determine "whether new coinages of gold and silver
be of the standard weight and fineness, and the Master of the
Mint be entitled to his quietus.
Since the institution of justices of the peace in the reign of
Edward III, instead of the conservators of the peace formerly
elected by the people, — to the Lord Chancellor has belonged the
power of appointing and removing them throughout the king
dom. § Upon this important and delicate subject, he generally
takes the advice of the Lord Lieutenant, or Custos Rotulorum,
in each county ; but when any extraordinary case arises, it is his
duty, and his practice, to act upon his own judgment.
He nominates, by his own authority, to many important offices
connected with the administration of justice, and he is by usage
the adviser of the Crown in the appointment to others still more
important, — including the Puisne Judges in the three superior
courts in Westminster Hall, II and the Masters in Chancery. If
* So settled in Fitzharris's case, Temp. Car. II. See Lives of Shaftesbury and
North. t Hudson's Star Chamber, 2 Coll Jur. 31. ; 4 Inst. 63.
J Various statutes, now repealed, delegated to the Chancellor functions in aid
of the criminal law. Thus by 2 H. 5. st. 1. c 29, he was enabled to issue writs
of proclamation in cases of bloodshed ; and -by 35 H. 6. u. 1. the like power was
granted to him for the apprehension of fugitive servants embezzling the goods of
their masters, to be exercised with the advice of the Chief Justice of either
Bench, or of the Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Till the late new modelling of
the courts of error, he likewise, by 31 E. 1. c. 12., sat in the Exchequer Chamber
to decide writs of error from the Court of Exchequer. He is now, ex officio, a
member of the Central Criminal Court, and of the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council ; but he is not expected to attend in the former, and in the latter
only in cases of great difficulty. Till the accession of the present Queen, the
Chancellor had a most painful duty to perform, in advising on the report of the
Recorder of London in what cases" the law should be allowed to take its course ;
but convictions in the metropolis are now left as those at the Assizes with the
Judges and the Secretary of State. 7 W. 4. & 1 Vic. c. 77.
§ See 1 Ed. 3. St. 2. c. 16 ; 28 Hen 6 u. 11.
|| Lord Eldon likewise claimed the patronage of the office of Chief Baron, as
belonging to the Great Seal ; but this, since the Court of Exchequer was reform
ed, has been supposed to belong io the Prime Minister, — of course with the con
currence of the Cabinet and the Sovereign.
% By 3 & i W. 4. c. 94. s. 16., Masters in Chancery are now appointed by

52 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
He is patron of all the king's livings of the value of 20?. and
under, in the king's books.* These he was anciently obliged to
bestow upon clerks in Chancery, King's Bench, Common Pleas,
and Exchequer, who were all in orders ; but he can now dispose
of them according to his notions of what is due to religion, friend
ship, or party.
He is visitor of all colleges and hospitals of royal foundation ;
and representing the Sovereign as parens patriee, he has the gen
eral superintendence of all charitable uses, and is the guardian
of all infants who stand in need of his protection.
The custody of the royal conscience may possibly be consid
ered one of the obsolete functions of the Chancellor, for he is no
longer a casuist for the Sovereign as when priest, chaplain, and
confessor ; and it is now merely his duty, free from other sworn
counsellors, to give honest advice, for which he is responsible in
parliament. I may observe, however, that the Chancellor has in
all ages been an important adviser of the Crown in matters of
state as well as a great magistrate. The Chancellor in former
times was frequently prime minister ; and although the Earl of
Clarendon in the reign of Charles II. is the last who ostensibly
filled this situation, his successors have always been members of
the Cabinet, and have often taken a leading part, for good or for
evil, in directing the national councils.
There is a distinction which it may be convenient that I should
explain between the title of " Chancellor " and " Keeper o*f the
Great Seal" As we have seen, there was in very early times
always an officer called " the Chancellor," »«i' e%ox-nv, or " King's
Chancellor" to distinguish him from the Chancellors of bishops
or of Counties Palatine. He generally was intrusted with the
personal custody of the Great seal ; but occasionally while there
was a Chancellor the seal was delivered to another person who
was called " Custos sigilli," or " Vicecancellarius," and did all
the duties of the office connected with the sealing of writs and
grants, and the administration of justice, — accounting for all
fees and perquisites to the Chancellor. In the 28th of Henry III.
a statute passed to check this practice : " Si rex abstulerit sigil
lurn a Cancellario, quicquid fuerit interim sigillatum irritum ha-
beatur." However, the attempt to prevent such a deputation
soon failed. Chancellors going upon embassies, or visiting their
dioceses, or laid up by long sickness, could not themselves use
the seal, and were unwilling to surrender the office to a rival,
letters patent under the Great Seal ; but the nature of the office remains un
changed. When, as a little check on cancellarian favouritism, the mode of ap
pointing a Master in Chancery was changed from the Chancellor putting on his
hat in Court to a nomination by the Crown, it was expressly stated that the pat
ronage was to continue with the Chancellor, and not to be transferred to the
Prime Minister.
# The limit used to be twenty marks ; but since the new valor beneficiorum in
the time of Henry VIII. pounds a're supposed to have been substituted for marks.

INTRODUCTION. 53
from whom there might have been great difficulty in recoverino-
it when he had tasted its sweets. Wherefore, in defiance of the
law, — on all such occasions while they retained the favour of
the Sovereign, they handed over the seal to a "lieu-tenant"
from whom they could at any time demand it back. By-and-by,
between the death, resignation, or removal of one Chancellor
and the appointment of another, the Great Seal, instead of re
maining in the personal custody of the Sovereign, was sometimes
intrusted to a temporary keeper, either with limited authority (as
only to seal writs), or with all the powers, though not with the
rank, of Chancellor. At last, the practice grew up of occasion
ally appointing a person to hold the Great Seal with the title of
" Keeper," where it was meant that he should permanently hold
it in his own right, and discharge all the duties belonging to it.
Queen Elizabeth, ever sparing in the conferring of dignities,
having given the Great Seal with the title of " Keeper* to Sir
Nicholas Bacon, objections were made to the legality of some of
his acts, — and to obviate these, a statute was passed* declar
ing that " the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal for the time being
shall have the same place, pre-eminence, and jurisdiction as the
Lord Chancellor of England." Since then there of course never
have been a Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal concur
rently, and the only difference between the two titles is, that the
one is more sounding than the other, and is regarded as a higher
mark of royal favour. During the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries there were various instances of the Great Seal being
delivered to a " Lord Keeper," who not rarely, for acceptable.
service, has been raised to the dignity of "Lord Chancellor;"
but since the commencement of the reign of George III, the
title of "Lord Chancellor" has always been conferred in the first
instance with the Great Seal, and "Lord Keepers" probably
will be seen no more.
We have still to treat of " Lords Commissioners of the Great
Seal," — whom it may continue convenient to appoint. From
very early times there had been a custom of occasionally giving
the Great Seal into the joint custody of several persons, who
held it under the Chancellor, or -while the office was vacant.
Immediately after the Revolution, in 1689, Serjeant Maynard and
two other lawyers were appointed by a commission under the
Great Seal to execute the office of Lord Chancellor. Doubts
were started as to their powers and precedence, which gave rise
to the statute 1 W. & M. c. 21., enacting "that commissioners
so appointed should have all the authority of Lord Chancellor or
Lord Keeper, one of them being empowered to hear interlocu
tory motions, and the presence of two being required at the pro
nouncing of a decree or affixing the Great Seal to any instru-
5 Eliz. c. 18.
5*

54 LORD CHANCELLORS OP ENGLAND.
ment; — the commissioners to rank next after peers and the
Speaker of the House of Commons."
On the union with Scotland, the Chancellor was designated
" Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain," and now his proper
title is " Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Ireland," —
the Great Seal which he holds testifying the will of the Sover
eign as to acts which concern the whole empire, although there
are certain patents confined in their operation to Scotland and
Ireland respectively, which still pass under the separate Great,
Seals appropriated to those divisions of the United Kingdom*
The appointment to the office of Lord Chancellor in very re
mote times was by patent or writ of Privy Seal, or by suspending
the Great Seal by a chain round his neck t, but for many ages
the Sovereign has conferred the office by simply delivering the
Great Seal to the person who is to hold it, verbally addressing
him by the title which he is to bear. He then instantly takes
the oaths t , and is clothed with all the authority of the office, al
though usually, before entering upon the public exercise of it,
he has been installed in it with great pomp and solemnity.
The proper tenure of the office is during pleasure, and it is de
termined by the voluntary surrender of the Great Seal into the
hands of the Sovereign, or by his demanding it in person, or
sending a messenger for it with a warrant under the Privy Seal
or Sign Manual. There have been grants of the office of Chan
cellor for life and for a time certain, but these Lord Coke pro
nounces to be illegal and void ; and, while its political functions
remain, the person holding it must necessarily be removable with
the other members of the administration to which he belongs.
I must now make a few observations respecting the Great Seal
* By Art. xxir. of the union with Scotland, it is provided that there shall be
one Great Seal for the United Kingdom. There is no such provision in tjie Act
for the union with Ireland ; and s. 3 of 30 & 40 G. 3 c. 67. provides that the
Great Seal of Ireland may continue to be used as theretofore. But patents of
peerage of the United Kingdom, treaties with foreign states, and other imperial
acts, are under the seal held by our Lord Chancellor, who is therefore, in some
sense, the Chancellor of the empire, although he has no judicial jurisdiction be
yond the realm of England.
t " Forma caneellarium constituendi, regnante Henrico Secundo. fuit appen-
dendo magnum Anglias sigillurn ad collum concellarii electi." See 4 Inst 87 ¦
Camden, p. 131.
% The oath of office consists of six parts : " 1. That well and truly he shall
serve our Sovereign Lord the King and his people in the office of Chancellor
2. lhat he shall do right to all manner of people, poor and rich, after the laws
and usages of the realm. 3. That he shall truly counsel the King, and his coun
sel he shall lay ne i and keep. 4. That he shall not know nor suffer the hurt or
disheriting of the King or that the rights of the Crown be decreased by anv
means as far as he may let it. 5. If he may not let it, he shall make it clearly
and express y to be known to the King, with his true advice and counsel. 6. And
Gol Mmtel^LrinrsIr ^ Kil'e'S Pr°fit * »" that he ™™M? ™* as

1 An old Norman word signifying to conceal.

INTRODUCTION. 55
and the mode of applying it. It is considered the emblem of
sovereignty, — the clavis regni, — the only instrument by which
on solemn occasions the will of the Soveriegn can be expressed. *
Absolute faith is universally given to every document purporting
to be under the Great Seal, as having been duly sealed with it
by the authority of the Sovereign.!
The law, therefore, takes anxious precautions to guard against
any abuse of it. To counterfeit the Great Seal is high treason t,
and there are only certain modes in which the genuine Great
Seal can be lawfully used.
Letters patent ought always to state the authority under which
they have passed the Great Seal. In early times we find such
notices as these : " By the king himself," " By the king himself
and all the council," " By the petition of the council," " By the
king himself and the great council," " By the king and council
in full parliament," " By letters of the king himself of the sig
net," " By petition in parliament," " By the king's own word of
mouth." To guard against grants improperly passing under the Great
Seal, an ordinance was made in 1443 § ; requiring that the Chan
cellor should not fix the Great Seal to a grant without authority
under the Privy Seal ; but this was not by any means rigorously
observed. Thus, in 1447, Henry VI. having pardoned a person
who had been convicted of high treason, a letter sealed with the
" signet of the eagle " was sent to the Chancellor, commanding
him to make out a pardon to him under the Great Seal, with this
P. S., "when the Privye Seale slmll come into the countrey, wee
shall sende you your suffycient warrant in this behalf."
Another instance of this king's disregard of the official forms
intended to prevent the Crown acting without the sanction of its
advisers we have in the negotiation of his marriage. In 1442
instructions were issued under the Great Seal empowering am
bassadors therein named to treat for an alliance with the eldest
daughter of the Count of Armagnac, but the King afterwards
wished to " set in general," that he might have the choice of any
one of the Count's daughters. Instead of causing so important
a variation from the original instructions to be executed in a
proper manner under the Great Seal, it was merely expressed in
a private letter from the King to the ambassadors under " the
signet of the eagle ; " — the King thus trying to excuse the ir-
y
* 1 Hale's Pleas of the Crown, ch. xvi.
t The most striking illustration of this maxim is given by the course pursued
by Parliament in 1788 and 181 1, when from the mental alienation of George III.,
the royal authority was completely in abeyance. Commissions, without any roy
al warrant, were produced under the Great Seal for opening parliament and giv
ing the royal assent to the Regency Bill, and in point of law they were supposed
to express the deliberate will of him who in point of fact was unconscious of
these proceedings. — Pari. Hist, vol. xxvii. 1162.; Pari. Deb. vol. xviii. 830.
1102. t 25 Ed. 3. § 25 Hen. 6.

56 LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.
regularity — " And forasmuch as ye have none instructions of
this form but this only which proceedeth of our own motion, desir
ing therefore that ye, notwithstanding all other, do the execution
thereof, we have signed this letter of our own hand, the which as
yet, wot well, we be not much accustomed for to do in other case."
The ambassadors declined to act upon that letter, and informed
the King that, " according to their simple wits," it had altogether
superseded their commission. They therefore prayed for new
powers ; and another commission was " issued under the Great
Seal, which expressly authorised them to select any one of the
Count's daughters for consort to His Majesty."*
On many occasions King Edward IV. enforced directions in
letters to the Chancellor for using the Great Seal, by adding his
commands in his own handwriting. Thus Kirkham, the Master of
the Rolls, while he had the custody of the Great Seal, having hesi
tated to make out letters of safe conduct for a Spanish ship with
out a warrant under the Privy Seal, the King ordered a letter to
be sent to him under the signet, expressing surprise at his non
compliance with the former request, and commanding him that,
immediately on sight of that letter, he should make out and deliv
er the instrument, and that he should afterwards have further war
rant if necessary. " Albeit," the King adds, " our speech to you,
us thinketh, was sufficient warrant." And at the bottom he wrote,
with his own hand, " Sir, we will the premises be sped without
delay." t
Some riots having occurred at Bristol, the Chancellor was order
ed by a letter signed by the King, and sealed with the signet, to
make a commission for the trial of the offenders ; and Edward
wrote on it with his own hand, " Cosyn, yff ye thynke ye schall
have a Warrant, ye may have on made in dew forme ; We pray
you hyt fayle not." t
In 1479 the Chancellor was ordered to grant letters patent of a
corody to one of the King's servants on his petition signed by the
King, who wrote under it, " My Lord Chanseler, Wee praye you
spede thys Bille, and take hyt for your warrant."
Towards the end of his reign Edward directed a writ for an in
quisition to be made out for the benefit of his "Lady Mother" by
a letter to the Chancellor, concluding thus : — " This we wol you
speed in any wise, as our trust is in you ; " adding in his own hand,
" My Lord Chanseler, thys most be don." §
Much greater irregularities, in this respect, prevailed under the
Tudors and the Stuarts ; and the practice became not very uncom
mon for the Sovereign, where an instrument of doubtful legality
was to pass, to affix the Great Seal to it with his own hand.
* Journal of Bishop Beckington, p. 6.
t Ex orig. in Turr. Lond.
t Warrant here evidently means letters of Privy Seal, without which the King
doubted whether his order would be obeyed.
§ Ex orig. in Turr. Lond.

INTRODUCTION. 57
Since the Revolution of 1688, when the principles of responsi
ble government were fully established, the Great Seal could only
be lawfully used by a Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Lords'
Commissioners ; and unless with respect to the sealing of writs and
commissions of course, for which the delivery of the Seal to them
is sufficient authority, there must be a warrant under the royal sign
manual for the preparation of " a bill " or draught of the proposed
patent. This, when prepared, is superscribed by the Sovereign,
and sealed with the Privy signet in the custody of a Secretary of
state; then it sometimes immediately passes under the Great
Seal, in which case it is expressed to be "per ipsum regem," "by
the king himself ; " but in matters of greater moment, the bill, so
superscribed and sealed, is carried to the keeper of the Privy Seal,
who makes out a writ or warrant thereupon to the Chancery, in
which last case the patent is expressed to be "per breve de priva
te sigillo," " by writ of privy seal."
In early times, the king used occasionally to deliver to the Chan
cellor several seals of different materials, as one of gold and one
of silver, cut with the same impression, to be used for the same
purpose; and hence we still talk of "the seals being in commis
sion," or of a particular individual being " a candidate for the
seals," meaning the office of Lord Chancellor; — although, with
the exception of the rival great seals used by the king and the par
liament during the civil "war in the time of Charles 1, there has not
been for many centuries more than one great seal in existence at
the same time.t
When on a new reign, or on a change of the royal arms or style,
an order is made by the sovereign in council for using a new Great
Seal, the old one is publicly broken, and the fragments become the
fee of the Chancellor, t
* See 2 Inst. 551. 555. ; 2 Bl. Com. 347.
t The French expression of " Garde des Sceaux" arose from the Chancellor in
France always having the custody of a variety of different seals applicable to dif
ferent purposes. In England the same person has had the custody of the Great
Seal and the Privy Seal ; but this was contrary to law and usage, the one being a
check upon the other. — 1 Hale's Pleas of the Crown, ch. xvi.
I This being the general rule, an amicable contest, honoris causa, arose upon
the subject between two of the most distinguished men who have ever held the
office. Lord Lyndhurst was Chancellor on the accession of William IV , when by
an order in council a new Great Seal was ordered to be prepared by his Majesiy's
chief engraver.1 but when it was finished and an order was made for using it,2
Lord Brougham was Chancellor. Lord Lyndhurst claimed the old Great Seal on
the ground that the transaction must be referred back to the date of the first order,
and that the fruit must therefore be considered as having fallen in his time; while
Lord Brougham insisted that the point of time to be regarded was the moment
when the old Great Seal ceased to be the " clavis regni," and that there was no ex
ception to the general rule. The matter being submitted to the King as supreme
judge in such cases, his Majesty equitably adjudged that the old Great Seal should
be divided between the two noble and learned litigants, and as it consisted of two
parts for making an impression on both sides of the wax appended to letters pa-

l 4tb. August, 1830. 2 31st August, 1831. Books of Privy Council.

58 LORD CHANCELLORS OE ENGLAND.
The close Roll abounds with curious details of the careful man
ner in which this Great Seal was kept in its " white leathern bag
and silken purse" under the private seal ofthe Chancellor. There
was a rule that he should not take it out of the realm ; and this
was observed by all Chancellors except Cardinal Wolsey, who, in
1521, carried it with him into the Low Countries, and sealed writs
with it at Calais, — a supposed violation of duty which formed one
of the articles of his impeachment. Indeed, the better opinion is,
that the Great Seal cannot be used out of the realm even by the
sovereign. Edward 1 having himself affixed the Great Seal at
Ghent to a confirmation of the charters, the Earls of Norfolk
and Hereford objected that this act in a foreign country was null,
and the charters were again confirmed under the Great Seal on the
King's return to England.*
Some readers may feel a curiosity to know whether there are any
emoluments belonging to the office of Chancellor besides the frag
ments of the old Great Seal when a new one is adopted. I shall
hereafter present copies of grants of salary, and tables of fees and
allowances, showing the profits of this high officer in different
reigns. Li the meanwhile it must suffice to say, that, on account
of his distinguished rank, his important duties, his great labours,
and the precariousness of his tenure, he has generally received the
largest remuneration of any servant of the crown. In early times
this arose mainly from presents, and I am afraid from bribes. The
deficiency was afterwards often supplied by grants of land from
the crown, -which continued down to the time of Lord Somers.
Then came the system of providing for the Chancellor and his
family by sinecure places in possession and in reversion. Now all
these places are abolished together with all fees ; and parliament has
provided a liberal, but not excessive, fixed salary for the holder of
the Great Seal, — with a retired allowance when he has resigned
it to enable him to maintain his station, and still to exert himself
in the public service as a judge in the House of Lords and in the
Privy Council, t
I shall conclude this preliminary discourse with the notice of
certain forms connected with the Great Seal, to which high impor-

tent, — one representing the Sovereign on the throne, and the other on horseback,—
the destiny of the two parts respectively should be determined by lot. His Majes
ty's judgment was much applauded, and* he graciously ordered each part to be set
in a splendid silver salver with appropriate devices and ornaments, which he pre
sented to the late and present Keeper of his Conscience as a mark of his personal
respect for them. — The ceremony of breaking or " damasking " the old Great Seal
consists in tho Sovereign giving it a gentle blow with a hammer, after which it is
supposed to be broken, and has lost all its virtue But to counterfeit the old Great
Seal is treason. So held in the 9th of Edward IV of counterfeiting the great seal
of Henry VI., although this sovereign had been attainted as an usurper.— 1 Hale's
Pleas of the Crown. 177.
* a. d. 1298. See Black. Law Tracts 345.
f Lord Loughborough was the first Chancellor who had a retired allowance by
act of parliament. The present arrangement was made by Lord Brougham See
2 & 3. W. 4. c. 122. 5

INTRODUCTION. 59
tance has sometimes been attached, and which havegiven rise to
serious controversies.
By a standing order of the House of Lords, the Lord Chancel
lor, when addressing their Lordships, is to be uncovered ; but he is
covered when he addresses others, including a deputation of the
commons. When he appears in his official capacity in the presence of the
Sovereign, or receives messengers of the House of Commons at
the bar of the House of Lords, he bears in his hand the purse con
taining (or supposed to contain) the Great Seal. On other occa
sions it is carried by his purse-bearer, or lies before him as the em
blem of his authority. When he goes before a Committee of the
House of Commons he wears his robes, and is attended by his
mace-bearer and purse-bearer. Being seated, he puts on his hat
to assert the dignity of the upper House ; and then, having uncov
ered, gives his evidence.
Although the Lord Chancellor no longer addresses the two
Houses at the opening or close of a session of parliament, he still
is the bearer of the royal speech, which, kneeling, he delivers into
the hand of the Sovereign.
When the Prince of Wales is to take the oaths for any purpose
in the Court of Chancery, the Lord Chancellor meets him as he
approaches Westminster Hall, and waits upon him into court. The
Prince's Chancellor holds the book, and the oaths are read by the
Master of the Rolls. The Lord Chancellor sits covered while the
oaths are administered, the bar standing. The Lord Chancellor
then waits on the Prince to the end of Westminster Hall*
When a younger son of the King is to take the oaths, the Lord
Chancellor meets him at the steps leading from the Hall to the
Court, and conducts him into court. The Master of the Rolls
reads the oaths, the senior Master in Chancery holding the book.
His Lordship sits covered, the bar standing. He then uncovers,
takes the purse in his hand, and attends his Royal Highness down
the steps into the Hall.t
When peers take the oaths before the Lord Chancellor, the dep
uty usher holds the book, while a deputy of the clerk of the crown
reads the oaths. The Lord Chancellor sits covered during the
time the peers are in court, except at their entrance and departure,
when he rises and bows to them.}
When the Lord Mayor of London comes into the Court of Chan
cery on Lord Mayor's Day, and bv the Recorder invites the Lord
Lord Chancellor to dinner at Guildhall, the Lord Chancellor re
mains covered, and does not return any answer to the invitation, t
I have only further to state respecting the privileges and disa-
* Case of Prince of Wales, afterwards George II. Dickens, xxix.
t Case of Duke of Cumberland, 16th June, 1755. Dickens, xxx.
t Dickens, xxxii
§ Ex relatione a Lord Chancellor who never would be wanting in any point of
due courtesy to high or low — Lord Lyndhurst.

60 LORD CHANCELLORS OE ENGLAND.
bilities of the office of the Lord Chancellor, that by,stat. 24 Hen.
VIII. c. 13., he is entitled " to weare in his apparel! velvet sateite
and other silkes of any colours excepte purpure, and any manner of
f urres excepte cloke genettes."
And now let us proceed to the Lives of the distinguished men
who have held the office thus imperfectly described.

CHANCELLORS UNDER ANGLO-SAXON KINGS. 61
CHAPTER I.
OF THE CHANCELLORS UNDER THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS.
It has been too much the fashion to neglect our history and anti
quities prior to the Norman conquest. But to our Anglo-Saxon
ancestors not only are -we indebted for our language and for the
foundation of almost all the towns and villages in England, but for
our political institutions ; and to them we may trace the origin of
whatever has most benefitted and distinguished us as a nation.*
It is a point of filial duty incumbent upon us, to commemorate and
to honour the individuals among them who in any department at
tained to great eminence. Of those who filled the office of Chan
cellor under the Anglo- Saxon kings, little has been handed down
to us ; but that little ought not to be allowed to fall into oblivion.
.According to Selden, Ethelbert, the first Christian lung among
the Saxons, had Augmendus for his " Chancellor" or Referendari-
us, the officer who received petitions and supplications addressed
to the Sovereign, and made out writs and mandates as Custos Le
gis. There is great reason to believe that he was one of the be
nevolent ecclesiastics who accompanied Augustine from Rome on
his holy mission, and that he assisted in drawing up the Code of
Laws then published, which materially softened and improved
¦ many of the customs which had prevailed while the Scandinavian
divinities were still worshipped in England, t
There are three others whose names are transmitted , D ?gg i
to us as having been Chancellors to Anglo-Saxon kings I' D g25'4
without any history attached to them, legendary or au- t' D g27'i
thentic, — Cenwona, under Offa, king ofthe Mercians, L ' '
Bqsa, under Withlofe, and Swititolphus, under Berthulp.}
Next comes the Chancellor so celebrated for his pluvious propen
sity, St. Swithin, who held the office under two sovereigns, and of
whom much that is true, as weU as much that is fabulous, has been
transmitted to us. We can trace his history as certainly as that
of Bede or Alcuin, and he left like them, among his countrymen, a
"bright reputation for learning and ability, which was rationally
cherished till obscured by the miracles afterwards imputed to him.
Swithin was a native of Wessex, and was born at the very com-
* The descendants of the Anglo-Saxons seem destined to he by far the most nu-
inerousand powerful race of mankind,— occupying not only the British Isles in
Europe tut the whole of America from Mexico to the Polar Seas, and the whole
of Australia and Polynesia. The English language will soon be spoken by an infi
nitely greaier number of civilised men than ever was the Greek, the Latin, or the
TlSeiden's Office of Chancellor, 2. Dugd. Or. Jur. 32. Piillpot's Catalogue of
Chancellors. Spel. Gloss. Cancellarius, p. 109.
* lb.
VOL. I. D

62 CHANCELLORS TJNDEK
mencement of the ninth century. He was educated in a monas
tery at Winchester, then the capital of the kingdom. He prose
cuted his studies with such ardour that he made wonderful profi
ciency in all the knowledge of the age, and having been ordained
presbyter in 830 by the Bishop of Helmaston, was selected by-
King Egbert for his chaplain, and tutor to his son Ethelwulf* He
soon showed a capacity for state affairs, and was placed in the
office of Chancellor, continuing, like his successor, a-Becket, while
intrusted with the administration of justice, to superintend the edu
cation of the heir-apparent. He is said to have enjoyed the con
fidence of the King without interruption, and by his counsels to
have contributed to the consolidation of the states of the Hep
tarchy into one great kingdom.
-f R^fi 1 ^n ^e accessi°n °f his royal pupil to the throne, he
'[a- d. .j retajne(j j^s 0fj]Ce 0f Chancellor, and was in still high
er favor. So wise a minister was he esteemed, that William of
Malmesbury, referring to his sway, says the ancient opinion of
Plato was verified in this reign, that " a state would be happy when
philosophers were kings, or kings -were philosophers." Alstan,
. Bishop of Sherborne, took a more conspicuous lead, and several
times in person conducted the army to battle against the Danes;
but Swithin guided the counsels of the sovereign as well as being
personally beloved by him. He was now made Bishop of Win
chester, being recorded as the 17th prelate -who had filled that see.
He proved a devoted friend to the church, hitherto slenderly pro
vided for among the Anglo-Saxons, and he procured a law to pass
in the Wittenagemot for the universal and compulsory payment of
tithes. But the nation was most of all indebted to him for instilling the
rudiments of science, heroism, and virtue into the infant mind of
the most illustrious of our sovereigns. The son of Ethelwulf, af
terwards Alfred the Great, was, from childhood, placed under the
care of the Chancellor, who assisted his mother in teaching him
to read and to learn the songs of the Scalds, and afterwards ac
companied him on a pilgrimage to Rome, taking the opportunity of
pointing out to him the remains of classical antiquity visible in the
twilight of refinement which still lingered in Italy.
On Swithin's return to England, his last years were disturbed
by the successes of the Danish invaders, and not having the mili
tary turn of some ecclesiastics and Chancellors, he shut himself
up in his episcopal house, employing himself in acts of piety and
charity. He died on the 2d of July, 862, having directed that his
body should be buried, not in the Cathedral, but in the churchyard
among the poor.t
* William of Malmesbury represents that he was employed in affairs of state
before he had the care of the King's son. "Natura, industriaque laudubilis audi-
turn Regis non effugit. Quocirca ilium hactenus excoluit, ut et multa uegotiorum
ejus consiho transigeret, et filium Adulfum ejus inagisterio locaret."— W. Malm,
242. t " Jam vero Tit« pnesenti valefacturua pontificali authoritate prsecepit astanti'

THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS. 63
He was much admired by ecclesiastics at Rome, as well as in
his own country, having first established in England, for the bene
fit of the Pope, the payment called " Peter's pence." In conse
quence, about fifty years after his death, he was canonised.
Now comes the legend of St. Swithin. It was thought that the
body of the Saint ought to be translated from the churchyard to be
deposited under the high altar, and the 15th of July was fixed for
that ceremony, — when there were to be the most gorgeous pro
cessions ever seen in England. But he highly disapproved of
this disregard of his dying injunction, and sent a tremendous rain,
which continued without intermission for forty days, and until the
project was abandoned. Ever since he regulates the weather for
forty days from the day of his proposed translation, laying down
this rule, that as that day is fair of foul, it will be fair or foul for
forty days thereafter.
The founders of the Reformation in England seem either to have
believed in his miraculous powers, or to have entertained a very
grateful recollection of his services to the Church, for they have
preserved the 15th of July as a Saint's day dedicated to Lord
Chancellor Swithin*
It must be admitted that there is great difficulty in distinguishing
between what is authentic and what is fabulous in his history, t
Ttjrketel is the first English Chancellor wfth whom we can
be said to be really acquainted. He was of illustrious r ggo I
birth, being the eldest son of Ethelwald, and the grand- L • • -J
son of Alfred. He was early distinguished for learning, piety, and
courage. Taking priests's orders, his royal uncle, Edward the
Elder, immediately offered nim high ecclesiastical preferment
This he declined, thinking that it might interfere with the civil em
ployments which, notwithstanding his tonsure, he preferred. Im-
bus, ut extra ecclesiam cadaver suum humarent ; ubi et pedibus praetereuntium et
stillicidiis ex alto rorontibus esset obnoxium." — Wm. oj Malm. 242.
* See Phillpot's Catalogue of Chancellors, p. 1. Gostelin. Pit. Swithini.
Henry of Huntingdon. Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesl. Reg. Angl. p. 151. Spelmtn'i
Life of Alfred.  de Gest. Pont. 242.
t Most of Lord Chancellor Swithin's decisions have perished, hut I find one case
reported which was brought judicially before him, and in which he gave specific re
lief, although seemingly the remedy was at common law by an action of trespass.
An old woman came to complain to him that the eggs in her basket which she was
carrying to market had all been wantonly broken. " Is ante se adductse mulier-
culas annis et pannis squalidas querelam auscultat, damnum suspirat, misericordia
mentis cunetantem miraeulum cxcitat statimque porrecto crucis signo, fracturam
omnium ovorum consolidat."— Wm. of Malm. 242.
There is much faith in the Ex-chancellor, not only in England but in Scotland,
where for many centuries there has been this proverb : —
" St. Swithin's day, gif ye do rain,
For forty days it will remain ;
St. Swithin's day, and ye be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain na mair."
In some parts of Scotland, St. Martin (whose day is 4th July) is the raining
Saint.

64 CHANCELLORS UNDER
gftlphiis informs us that the King thereupon made him his Chan
cellor and Prime Minister: — " Cancellarium suum eum constituit,
ut quaecunque negotia temporalia vel spiritualia Regis judicium ex-
pectabant, ilhus consilio et decreto (nam tantse fidei et tam pro
fundi ingenii tenebatur) omnia tractarentur, et tractata irrefraga-
bilehi sententiam sortirentur. " *
r qo/;i He retained his office under bis cousin Athelstan, who
[a. d. y^o. j by hig advice &st took the title of « Eng of England."!
At the famous battle of Brunenburgh, so celebrated in the relics
T t> 938 1 °^ Saxon and Scandinavian poetry, in which Athel-
*¦ ' ' '* stan had to fight for his crown against five confederated
nations, Norwegians, Danes, Scots, Irish, and Britons, Chancellor
Turketel rendered the most signal service to his sovereign and his
country. The citizens of London marched under his banner, and
supported by Singin with the men of Worcestershire, he penetrat
ed into the midst of the Scots, killed the son of their king, and
compelled Constantine himself to seek safety in flight. Some his
torians relate that, although the Chancellor led his troops to the
scene of action, he refused himself to mix in the fight, because the
canons prohibited to clergymen the effusion of blood ; but it was
the doctrine of the age, that an exception was allowed in -war un
dertaken for the protection of the country against a pagan inva
sion, and we shall find some of his ecclesiastical successors com
bating stoutly in the field even against Christian adversaries t
Turketel still continued Chancellor under the two succeeding
f Ti 940 1 monarons> Edmund and Edred, the brothers of Athel-
T t> 946 1 s^an' an(^ was likewise " Consiliarius primus, praecipu-
LA' ' '-' us et a secretis familiarissimus." $ As Edred was af
flicted with a fingering and painful disease during the greater part'
of his reign, the sceptre was actually in the hands of the Chancel
lor, and he was obliged not only to superintend the administration
of justice and to conduct the civil government of the kingdom, but
on several occasions to command the military force both against
foreign and domestic enemies.
In a fit of religious enthusiasm, while still powerful and prosper-
r D 043 -i ous, he suddenly bade adieu to worldly greatness for
L • ¦ • • 'J the seclusion of a monastery. It is related, that going
on a message from the King to Archbishop Wolstan, it chanced
that his road lay by the abbey of Croyland, which had been re
duced to ruins in recent warfare, and now only afforded a miserable
shelter to three aged monks. Touched by their piety and resigna
tion, he believed himself divinely inspired with the design to en
ter into their society, and to restore their house to its ancient splen
dour. Having obtained permission to carry this design into effect,
—before his civil extinction, in imitation of a dying caliph, he sent
* Ingulpbi Hist. g. h. Dug. Or. Jur. 32.
t His father and grandfather had been styled kings of the Anglo-Saxons, and
tneir predecessors merely kings of Wessex.
t See Lingard, i. 212. j Ingul g h

THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS. 65
the public crier through the streets of London, where, during four
reigns, he had exercised such authority, announcing to the citizens
that the Chancellor, before quitting his office and entering into the
monastic order, was anxious to discharge all his debts, and offered
to make threefold reparation to any person whom he might have
injured. Every demand upon him being liberally satisfied, he re
signed the office of Chancellor into the King's hands, made a tes
tamentary disposition of his great possessions, put on the monastic
cowl, was blessed by the Bishop of Dorchester, recovered for th«
abbey all that it had lost in the Danish wars, endowed it with fresh
wealth, was elected Abbot, and procured from the King and the
Witan a confirmation of all the rights which his house had ever
enjoyed, with the exception of the privilege of sanctuary, which
he voluntarily renounced, on the ground that his experience as
Chancellor made him consider it a violation of justice and an in
centive to crime. He survived twenty-seven years, performing, in
the most exemplary manner, the duties of his new station, and de
claring that he -was happier as Abbot of Croyland than Chancellor
of England* He died in 975.
The next Chancellor of whom any mention is made was Adul-
phus under King Edgar; but we are not told what part r „,q -.
he took in the measures of this peaceful and prosperous <¦ ' ' "¦>
reign, t
Ethelred, who mounted the throne in 978, had, for his first Chan
cellor, Alfbjc, the eleventh Abbot of St. Alban's, of -whom nothing
memorable has been transmitted to us. The King then made a
very whimsical disposition of the office, which he meant to be per
petual, — "dividing it between the Abbots for the time being of
Ely, of St. Augustine in Canterbury, and of Glastonbury, who
were to exercise it by turns; — the Abbot of Ely, or some monk by
him appointed, acting as Chancellor four months yearly from Can
dlemas, and the other two abbots each four months successively,
making up the twelve." t Lord Coke commenting upon this ar
rangement says," " Albeit it was void in law to grant the chancel
lorship of England in succession, yet it proveth that then there
was a Court of Chancery." §
We are not informed how the three Abbots actually discharged
their duties, or how long they enjoyed the office. If the grant was
not revoked as illegal at the accession of Edmund Ironside, we
need not doubt that it was violated on the conquest of the kingdom
by Canute, who probably employed one of his own countrymen to
assist him in administering justice to his new subjects.
* Ingul. 25—52. Ordine, 340. t Or. Jur. 32.
t The words of an old monk of Ely are : " Statuit atque concessit quatenus Ec-
clesia de Ely extunc et semper in Regis curia Cancellarii ageret dignitatem quod et
aliis, Sancti, viz. Augustini et Glaconias Ecclesiis constituit, ut abbates istorum
ccenobiorum yicissim assignatis succedendo temporibus, annum trifarie dividerint
cum sanctuarii et cseteris omatibus altaris ministrando." See Dug Off. Ch. § I.
f 4 Inst. 78. 6*

66 CHANCELLORS UNDER
We have no further notice of any Chancellor till the reign of
rA D 10431 Edward the Confessor. During his long exile in Nor-
*- " '* mandy he had contracted a taste not only for the lan
guage, but also for the usages of that country ; and among other
Norman fashions, he introduced that of having a great seal to tes
tify the royal will in the administration of justice, and in all mat
ters of government. Sealing had been occasionally resorted to by
his predecessors on solemn occasions * , but they then only used a
private seal, like the prelates and nobles ; and public documents
were generally verified by the signature of the Chancellor, or by
the King affixing to them the sign of the cross. A large state Seal
was now made, upon the model which has been followed ever
since. It bore the representation of the King, in his imperial robes,
sitting on his throne, holding a sceptre in his right hand and a
sword in his left, with the inscription " Sigillurn Edwardi Anglo-
rum Basilei." t
Leofmc was the Confessor's first Chancellor J; but it is doubt
ful whether this great seal had been adopted in his time, as he is
r 104^1 no* recor<ied as having used it. We know that it
i- ' ' 'J was in the custody of Wulwius his successor. A
royal charter to the church of Westminster, framed by him, trius
concludes : — " Ut hoc decretum a nobis promulgatum pleniorem ob-
tineat vigorem, nostra manu subter apposito signo roboravimlis, at-
que fidelibus nostris praesentibus roborandum tradidimus, nostrse-
que imaginis sigillo insuper assignari jussimus," &c, with the at
testing clause, " Wulwius, regiae dignitatis Cancellarius, relegit et
sigillavit," &c. $
The next Chancellor was Reimbaldus, who likewise sealed with
the royal seal, as we find by another charter of the Confessor to
the Church of Westminster, thus authenticated : — Ego, Reimbol-
dus, Regis Cancellarius, relegi et sigillavi, &c. When he was pre
vented by absence or indisposition from acting, his duties were
performed by Swardus, who appears to have been his Vice-
Chancellor. Thus another charter of the Confessor, granting many
manors to the church of Westminster, has this concluding clause :
— "Ad ultimum, cartam istam sigillari jussi, et ipse manu mea
propria signum crucis impressi, et idoneos testes annotari prtece-
* Thus on inspecting an old Saxon charter of King Edgar to the abbey of Per-
shore, still extant, three labels are to be seen for seals to be appended by ; and God-
-fric, Archdeacon of Worcester, writing to Pope Alexander III. of this very charter,
says : " Noverit sanctitas vestra, verum esse quod conscripti hujus scriptum origi-
nale in virtute Sanctae Trinitatis sigilla tria, trium personarum autenticarum, ad
veritatem, triplici confirmatione commendat ; Est autem sigillurn primum illustris
Regis Edgari ; secundum Sancti Dunstani Cant. Arch. ; tertii Alferi Ducis Mercio-
rum sicut ex diligenti literarum impresserum inspectione evidenter accerji." Due.
Off. Chan. § 3. *
t See an engraving of it, Palgrave's History of England, i. 328., taken from the
original in the British Museum. An admirable picture by words,— of the Chancel
lor sitting in the Wittenagemot, will be found in the preface to the same valuable
publication, p, xiv.
% Spel. Gloss. 1C9. $ Or. Jur. 34.

THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS. 67
pi." Then follows : — Swardus, notarius ad vicem Reimbaldi re-
gice dignitatis cancellarii, hanc cartam scripsi et subscripsi." *
Lord Coke is justified in his contemptuous assertion that Poly-
dor Virgil, in affirming that the office of Chancellor came in with
the Conqueror, " perperam erravit t : " but he himself was very
imperfectly acquaieted with its history, and we are stiU left much
in the dark respecting its duties, and the manner in which it was
bestowed in the Saxon times. Then, as long after, the little learn
ing that existed being confined to the clergy, we need not doubt
that a post requiring the art of writing and some knowledge of law,
was always filled by an ecclesiastic ; and as it gave constant ac
cess to the person of the King, and was the highway to prefer
ment, — even if the precedence and emoluments belonging to it
were not very high, — it must have been an object struggled for
among the ambitious. Human nature being ever the same, we
may safely believe that at that early period, as in succeeding ages,
- it was the prize sometimes of talents and virtue, and sometimes of
intrigue and servility.
As we approach the aera of the Conquest, we find distinct traces
of the Masters in Chancery, who, though in sacred orders, were
well trained in jurisprudence, and assisted the Chancellor in pre
paring writs and grants, as well as in the service of the royal chap
el. They formed a sort of college of justice of which he was the
head. They all sate in the Wittenagemot, and, as " Law Lords,"
are supposed have had great weight in the deliberations of that
assembly.:!:

CHAPTER II.

or THE chancellors from the conquest to the reign of
HENRY II.
From the Conquest downwards we have, with very few interrup
tions, a complete series of Chancellors. Yet till we , D 106g ,
reach the reign of Richard 1, when records begin
which are still extant, containing entries of the transfer of the
Great Seal, we can seldom fix the exact date of their appointment ;
and we glean what is known of them chiefly from the charters
Which they attested, from contemporary chroniclers, and from monk
ish histories of the sees to which they were promoted.
Few of those who held the office under the Norman monarchs
before Henry II. took any prominent part in the conduct of public
affairs, and they appear mostly to have confined themselves to their
official duties, in making out writs, superintending royal grants, au-
* 4 Inst. 78. t 4 Inst. 78.
t Or. Jur. chap. xvi. Palgrave's Hist. Eng. Preface.

68 CHANCELLORS FROM THE
thenticating the acts of the sovereign by affixing the Great Seal to
all instruments which ran in his name, and by sitting, in a subordi
nate capacity, in the Aula Regia to assist in the administration of
justice. The office of Chief Justiciar, introduced by Wilham, long con
tinued to confer great splendour on those who held it, while the
highest functions of the Chancellor were considered those of being
almoner and secretary to the King. Odo, Bishop of Bayeux*
William Fitzosborne, and William de Warrenne, successively
Justiciars, were men of historical renown ; they assisted Wilham
in his great military enterpise ; they afterwards took an active part
in imposing the yoke on the conquered, and they governed the
realm as viceroys when he occasionally visited his native domin
ions. Till Thomas a-Becket arose to fix the attention of his own
age and of posterity, the Chancellors were comparatively obscure.
They probably, however, were William's advisers in the great
changes which he made in the laws and institutions of the coun
try. English writers, with more nationality than discrimination or
candour, have attempted to show that he was called Ctmqueror,
merely because he obtained the crown by election instead of he
reditary descent.! In all history there is not a more striking in
stance of subjugation. Not only did almost all the land in the
kingdom change hands — the native English being reduced to the
thralls ofthe invaders — but legislative measures were brought
forward, either in the sole name of the Sovereign, or through the
form of a national council under his control, seeking to alter the
language, the jurisprudence, and the manners of the people. % It
would have been very interesting to have ascertained distinctly by
whose suggestion and instrumentality the French was substituted
for the English tongue in aU schools and courts of justice ; the in
tricate feudal law of Normandy superseded the simplicity of Sax
on tenures ; trial by battle was introduced in place of the joint
judgment of the Bishop and the Earl in the county court; the sep
aration was brought about between ecclesiastical and civil jurisdic
tions ; and the great survey of the kingdom' was planned and accom
plished, of which we have the resultin Domesday, "the mostvalua-
ble piece of antiquity possessed by any nation." \ But while there
is blazoned before us a roll of all the warlike chiefs who accompa
nied William in his memorable expedition, and we have a minute
* He was -William's uterine brother, and, though an ecclesiastic, he was a dis
tinguished military leader. In the famous Bayeux tapestry giving a pictorial his
tory of the Conquest, he makes the greatest figure next to William and Harold.
The other Justiciars of this reign were hardly less eminent.
t As in the law of Scotland property acquired by an individual is called his con-

X The vitality of the Anglo-Saxon language and institutions at last prevailed,
but there is hardly to be found such a striking instance of race tyrannising over
race, as in England during the reigns of the Conqueror and his immediate de
scendants. | Hume.

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OE HENRY II. 69
account of the hfe and character of all those who took any promi*
nent part m the battles, sieges, and insurrections which marked
his reign, we are left to mere conjecture respecting the manner in
which justice was administered under him * , and the measures of
his civil government were planned and executed, t
But I must now proceed to give the names of William's Chan
cellors, with such scanty notices of their history as r ,,
can be furnished from the imperfect materials which l-A- D- 1067-J
are preserved to us.
In 1067, the year after the battle of Hastings, when he had ob
tained the submission of a considerable part of England, although
it was not till long after that he reduced the northern and western
counties to his rule, he appointed as his first Chancellor, Maurice,
a Norman ecclesiastic, who had accompanied him as his chaplain
when he sailed from St. Vallery for the coast of England.
We know httle with certainty of the acts of this functionary be
yond his perusing and sealing a charter by which the Conqueror,
after the example of the Confessor, granted large possessions to
the abbot and monks of Westminster, t
In the usual course of promotion, Maurice, being Chancellor,
was made Bishop of London. Here we find him highly celebrated
for his exertions to rebuild St. Paul's. The year before his conse
cration the greatest part of the City of London, built of wood, had
been consumed by fire, and the Cathedral where it now stands, on
the site of an ancient temple of Diana, had been almost entirely
destroyed. But by his pious exhortations, assisted by a royal grant,
it rose from its ashes with new magnificence^
Maurice enjoyed the dignity of Chancellor on his first appoint-
* A very ample report of the cawse dlebre between Odo, as Earl of Kent, and
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Penenden Heath, before Chief Justiciary
Godfrey, has come down to us, but no notice of any other judicial proceeding in
this reign can be traced.
t In classic antiquity lawgivers were honored not less than conquerors, and all
the most celebrated laws of Rome bore the names of their authors ; but in our own
history (horresco referens) oblivion seems to await all those who devote themselves
to legal reform. We do not know with any certainty who framed the Statutes of
Westminster in the time of Edward I, the Statute of Pines, the Statute of Uses,
the Statute of Wills, or the Statute of Frauds, although they ought to have been
commemorated for conferring lasting benefit on their country.
 " Sed omnes illacrimabileS
Urguentur, ignotique longa
Nocte, carent quia vate sacro.''
The Grenville Act for the trial of controverted elections was the first which con
ferred any iclat on the name of its author, and Eox's Libel Act is almost the only
other down to our own times.
X The charter is thus attested, "Ego, Mauritius Cancellarius, favendo legi et
sigillavi." 4 Inst. 78 — The words of the Conqueror's first charter are curious,
"Ego, Willielmus, Dei gratia, Rex Anglorum, Dux Normannornm, et Princepa
Cenomannorum, hoc prseceptum scribere prsecepi, et scriptum hoc signo Dominico
sic confirmando -f- stabilivi, nostrasque imaginis sigillo insuper assignari curavi,"
&c. \ W. Malmesb. De Gestis Pontificum, lib. ii.

70 CHANCELLORS PROM THE
ment but for a short space of time, as it seems to have been the
policy of William never to allow his great seal to remain long in
the same hands. Spelman represents him as having been again
Chancellor in 1077 * and there can be no doubt that he continued
a person of considerable influence during the whole of this and
the succeeding reign.
We have, however, no distinct account of the part which he
r 1 1 nn 1 aSaul took in public affairs till Rufus was accidentally
[a. d. iiuu.j killed fe gir -v^-g^gj. Tyrrel while hunting in the New
Forest. Henry, the king's younger brother, who was of the party,
in violation of the superior claims of Robert, then absent in Nor
mandy, hastened to London to claim the vacant throne. In those
days anointment by a prelate was supposed to give a divine right
to kings, and the commencement of a reign was calculated from
the day of the coronation, not from the death of the predecessor.
The privilege of crowning the Kings of England has always been
considered to belong to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Primate,
but Anselm from his quarrel with the late King was now in exile.
Henry in this extremity applied to Maurice, the Ex-chancellor, and
overcame his scruples respecting the law of primogeniture by a
share of the royal treasure, which he had secured to himself as he
passed through Winchester, and by which history records his usur
pation was accomplished. On the third day from the tragical end
of Rufus, Maurice placed the crown on the head of the new sov
ereign in the abbey of Westminster.
The Great Seal was now again within his reach, but he prefer
red the quiet use of his riches, and the hope eagerly cherished,
though never realised, of succeeding to the primacy. He died in
1107, still Bishop of London, having seen a rapid succession of
eight or nine Chancellors after his own resignation or dismissal.
The Conqueror's second Chancellor was Osmond. Dugdale and
Spelman leave the year of his appointment uncertain, and we might
never have been informed of his having filled this office, had it not
been that in 1078 he was promoted to the bishopric of Sarum, and
we find some account of him in the annals of that see. He was,
of course, a Norman, for now, and long after, no Saxon was pro
moted to any office, civil, military, or ecclesiastical. Having come
over with William, and fought for him in the field, he was first
made Earl of Dorset, — and now being girt with a sword, while he
held the Great Seal in one hand, a crosier was put into the other.t
Of Osmond's conduct in his office of Chancellor few particulars
are transmitted to us ; but he is said to have been much in the
* Gloss. Series Cancell. Angl.
t Such a combination long continued very common, and the Reformation even
did not recognise the separation which now prevails between sacred and secular
employments. James I had a bishop for Lord Keeper of the Great Seal;
Charles I. had a bishop for his Lord Treasurer; Queen Anne, with the loud appro
bation of Swift and the High Church party, had a bishop for her Lord Privv Seal
and one of her ambassadors to negotiate the treaty of Utrecht.

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OE HENRY II. 71
confidence of the Conqueror, who consulted him about all the most
arduous and secret affairs of state, as well as confiding to him the
superintendence of the administration of justice. William of
Malmesbury is his chief panegyrist, celebrating his chastity, his
disinterestedness, his deep learning, and, above all, his love of sa
cred music, — representing as the only seade on his character his
great severity to penitents, which was caused by his own immacu
late life. After his elevation to the episcopal dignity, he devoted
himself entirely to his sarcerdotal duties.
He is the first Chancellor I have to mention as an author. ' His
principal work was " A History of the Life and Miracles of Alden,
a Saxon Saint, the first Bishop of Sherborne." He likewise com
posed the service "secundum usum Sarum," which remained in
great repute, and was followed in the West of England till the
Reformation.* From a charter of the Conqueror, dated in 1069, confirming a
grant ofthe Confessor to Leofric, who was the first Bishop of Exe
ter, and from another charter of the Conqueror, dated in 1073,
granting lands to the Dean and Canons of St. Martin's in the City
of London, we know that the Great Seal was at those times held
by ARFASTust, who is stated to have been Bishop of Helmstadt, in
Germany. He is supposed to have been one of the ecclesiastical
adventurers who ranged themselves under the standard which the
Pope had blessed when Wilham proclaimed his grand enterprise.
As a reward for his services he was in 1070 appointed Bishop of
Elmham, in Norfolk, a see established there as early as 673. In
1075 he removed the see to Thetford, where he died in 10844
Of his successor we know little but the name, there being no
description added to it to tell us from what country he sprang, or
what other office he ever filled ; but a charter granted at this time
by the Conqueror to the monks of St. Florentius of Andover is
witnessed and authenticated by Baldrick as King's Chancellor, j
He was no doubt King's Chaplain, but does not seem to have
reached any higher ecclesiastical dignity. Although the custody
of the Great Seal was in those days considered a certain step to a
bishopric, premature death or loss of power had disappointed the
hopes of this aspirant.ll
* De Gestis Pontificum, lib. i.
t He thus subscribes both charters : —
«_(_ Ego Akfastus Cancellarius."
t Vide Spelm. Gloss. 109, where he is stated to have been twice Chancellor.
The see was soon after removed to Norwich, where it has ever since remained,
Annal. Winton. Angl. Sax. I. 294. Weaver, 827.
$ Inspex. Pat. Ed. 2. p. 2. MS. Lold. Chron. Ser. 1.
jj It is said that the poetical name for a belt or girdle was taken from this Cha»-
eellor, who is supposed to have worn one of uncommon magnificence.
" Athwart his breast a Baldric brave he ware
That shined like twinkling stars with stones most precious rare." SlKNSKK.

T2 CHANCELLORS PROM THE
Next came Herman, with whose origin and history we are well
.jwjquainted. He was a Norman by birth, and before the coming in
i$f William he had been promoted to the bishopric of Sherborne.
It is a curious consideration that in the reign of the Confessor there
siras the most familiar intercourse between England and Norman
dy ; the French language was spoken at his Court * , and many
Normans were employed by him. Of these Herman was one of
the most favoured, and he is supposed to have assisted in the arti
fices which his native prince resorted to for the purpose of being
designated heir to the crown of England, in derogation of the rights
pf the true representative of the line of Cerdic, and of the claims
of Harold, who aspired to be the founder of a new Saxon dynasty.
Immediately after the battle of Hastings he sent in his adhesion
to William, and he steadily supported him in the protracted strug
gle which took place before the Norman yoke was imposed upon
the whole of England. For reasons not explained to us, he wished
to remove his episcopal see from Sherborne to Old Sarum, which
has been so often talked of as a decayed borough, but which
William of Malmesbury describes as being at this time such a
wretched place, that " a miserable commerce was carried on these
in water." t He -was gratified in this whim, and his services were
farther rewarded by the custody of the Great Seal.
He was succeeded by William Welson, who being appointed
Bishop of Thetford soon gave up the office of Chancellor, and ire-
tired to the discharge of his spiritual duties. %
The Conqueror's last Chancellor was William Giffard, who,
though promoted to the rich see of Winchester, eagerly retained
the Great Seal. He -was a very dexterous man, who could accom
modate himself to the various tastes of persons and times. Though
once deprived of office by an unexpected turn of affairs, and for
a considerable interval baffled in his schemes for recovering it, he
at last contrived to be reinstated; and he was Chancellor und#r
three successive sovereigns.
He was not incapable of giving good advice, and of taking the
liberal side when it suited his interest. Although he had heartily
concurred in the oppression of the Saxons in the early part flf
William's reign, and had declared that they were to be considered
aliens in their native land, and had assisted in the measures for up
setting English law and extirpating the English language, yet,
when the two great Earls, Morcar and Edwin, appeared still for
midable, and discontent among the natives had become so deep
and general as to threaten a dangerous revolt, the Chancellor join
ed with several other prelates in praying that the conquered people
" A radiant Baldrics o'er his shoulders tied
Sustain'd the sword that glitter'd at his side." Pope.
But this probably arose from the difficulty of finding any other etymology for the
* See Thiery's History of the Norman Conquest.
t De Gest. Pont. lib. ii. j Spel. Gloss 109

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OP HENRY II. 73
might be emancipated from some of the galling disabilities which
had been inflicted upon them, and he induced the Conqueror to re-
Store a few of the laws of the Confessor, which, though seemingly of
no great importance for the protection of general liberty, gave ex
treme satisfaction by creating the hope of further concessions. He
was associated with Godfrey, Bishop of Constance, r ' . nft„ ,
the grand Justiciar, in the government of the country, *¦ ' ' ''
while the Conqueror was engaged in his last fatal campaign
against the French King.
When Rufus suddenly presented himself in England, announc
ing his father's death, and claiming the crown, Giffard at first cor
dially supported him, and gained him the good will of the native
English by promises to them of good treatment and of enjoying
the licence of hunting in the royal forests. As a reward for Ms ser
vices he was confirmed in the office of Chancellor. This, howev
er, he did not then long hold. It is suspected that, thinking he
discovered in the public mind a strong feeling for the rights of pri
mogeniture, and influenced by the promise of still higher promotion
from Prince Robert, he was engaged in the abortive conspiracy
among the Barons in favour of that unfortunate prince. Whatever
taught be the cause, the Great Seal was taken from him, and he
was relegated to his see during the remainder of this reign. We
take leave of him for the present.
He was succeeded by a man more unscrupulous than himself,
Robert Bloet, a Norman who, with several brothers, r .. „„? i
had come over with the Conqueror.* He laughed at ^ ''
the conciliatory policy which had been lately adopted, and keenly
abetted the king in all the arbitrary proceedings now resorted to for
the purpose of breaking the spirit of the English. Although in
high favour, he could not obtain a mitre till he had been Chancel-
lot five years, and then he owed his promotion to a dangerous ill
ness with which the King was visited. The sees of Canterbury
and Lincoln had been kept long vacant,, that their rich temporali
ties might swell the royal revenue. The Keeper of the King's
Conscience had in vain pointed out to him the impiety of this
practice, till his arguments were enforced by a disease which left
the royal spoliator little hope of recovery. Now, for the good of
his soul, he bestowed the primacy on Anselm, who afterwards be
came so famous a champion of the church, and Lincoln was the
prize of the Chancellor himself. But there was still much difficul
ty in getting possession of the see ; for no sooner did the penitent
monarch become convalescent than his appetite for ecclesiastical
property returned in full force, and it was only on the condition of
large pecuniary contributions that he would accept the homage of
the new bishop.t The better to enable him to support these, Bloet
* The family still subsists in Monmouthshire, the name being now spelt Bluet.
1 " Afterwards repenting himself of such liberality in that he had not kept it
longer in his hands towards the enriching of his coffers, he devised a shift how to
Vol. i. 7

T4 CHANCELLORS PROM THE
himself set up as a wholesale dealer in church preferment, while
he was guilty of great extortion in his office of Chancellor ; and he
became famous above all his predecessors for venality and op
pression. Authors differ as to the circumstances of his end. Some assert
that for his crimes he was thrown into prison by the King, where
he died ; while others circumstantially state that he contrived to
keep the King in good humour by large presents ; that riding to
gether near Woodstock, the Chancellor fell from his horse in an
apoplectic fit ; and that being carried into the palace, he presently
died, the King lamenting over him. Lord Coke dryly observes of
him, " that he lived without love, and died without pity, save of
those who thought it pity he lived so long." Yet he is not without
admirers ; he was of agreeable manners, and he softened censure
by an ostentatious disclaimer of principle, so that the world, seeing
that he was not so profligate as he pretended to be, gave him credit
for some portion of latent honesty. By one writer he is character
ised as " a handsome man, well spoken, and of a serene mind."
His death happened in 1090.*
The odium which Bloet excited was much softened by his suc
cessor, Chancellor Flambard, — a monster unredeemed from his
vices by any virtue or agreeable quality. His original name was
Ranulphus or Raife, but he afterwards acquired the nickname of
Flambard or " devouring torch," which stuck to him, and by which
he is known in history. Of the lowest origin, he reached high sta
tion by extreme subtlety and by a combination of all sorts of evil
arts. I am sorry to say he is the first practising advocate I read of
who was made Chancellor. Having begun his career as a com
mon informer, he took to the practice of the law, and being "a
pleader never to be daunted, — as unrestrained in his words as in
his actions, and equally furious against the meek as the turbulent t"
he rose to great eminence both in the civil and ecclesiastical courts.
Of course he was a priest. % Bred in Normandy, he was familiar
with the language as well as the law, now introduced into England.
He succeeded in making himself useful to the Ex-chancellor Mau
rice, Bishop of London, who employed him and introduced him at
Court. There he was found a ready and efficient instrument of
extortion and tyranny, and he was rapidly promoted. He first act
ed as chaplain and private secretary to the King, and on the dis-
wipe the bishop's nose of some of his gold, which he performed after this manner.
He caused the bishop to be sued, quarelinglie charging him that he had wrong-
fullie usurped certcine possessions together with the citie of Lincoln which apper
tained to the see of Yorke. Which although it was but a forged cavillation and a
shamefull untruth ; yet could not the bishop be delivered out of that trouble till he
had paid to the king 5000/.— H. Hollinsh, ii. 34.
,™ AAgU? Sa,cra> vo1 H; 6?4' H""' »e Contemptu Mundi, 698. Spel. Gloss.
Parkes 22 r' " ^ England' L 406- Lives ot Chancellors, i. 4.
t William of Malmesbury.
% The true maxim was " nullus causidicus nisi clericus."

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OF HENRY II. 75
grace or death of Bloet, the Great Seal was delivered to him. His
ingenuity was now sedulously employed in devising new methods
of raising money for his rapacious employer. The liberty of hunt
ing was circumscribed by additional penalties ; new offences were
created to multiply fines ; capital punishments were commuted by
pecuniary mulcts, and a fresh survey of the kingdom was ordered
to raise the renders to the Crown of those estates which were al
leged to have been underrated in the Record of Domesday, and to
discover ancient encroachments on the royal domains* Though a
churchman he openly advised the King to apply the revenues of
the church to his own use. So greatly was Rufus delighted with
these services, that he pronounced Chancellor Flambard to be the
only man -who to please a master was willing to brave the ven
geance of all the rest of mankind.t
In the midst of the ill-will and the envy which the Chancellor
excited, a plot was laid to get rid of him, — very different from the
intrigues of modern times resorted to for the same purpose. Ge-
rold, a mariner who had formerly been in his service, set on by
rival courtiers, one day pretended to come to him as a messenger
from the Bishop of London, and prevailed on him to step into a
boat on the margin of the Thames, that he might visit this vene
rable Prelate, represented to be lying at the point of death in a vil
la on the opposite bank. When the Chancellor had reached the
middle of the river the boat was suddenly turned down the stream,
and He wn.s soon forcibly taken from it, put on board a ship, and
carried out to sea. The intention "was, that he should be thrown
overboard, but fortunately for him, before this was executed, a tre
mendous storm arose ; a superstitious dread overtook some of those
engaged to murder him ; they quarrelled among themselves ; Ge
rald, the chief conspirator, was induced by entreaties and promises
to put him ashore ; and on the third day, to the amazement and
terror of his enemies, he appeared at Court with the Great Seal in
his hand, as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
He was now made Bishop of Durham, in consideration of a
present of 1000Z. extracted from him by the King, who had been
taught by him to keep ecclesiastical benefices long vacant, and then
to sell them to the highest bidder.
According to some authorities Flambard was farther advanced to
the offices of Treasurer and Grand Justiciar, but at all events he
appears to have held the Great Seal along with his other employ
ments (whatever they were) till the end of this reign.
On Rufus coming to his untimely end, the indignation of the
people broke out against his obnoxious minister ; and to satisfy the
public clamour, Flambard was committed to the Tower by the new
* Hie juvenem fraudulent stimulationibus inquietavit Regem, incitans ut
totius Anglise reviseret descriptionem, Anglicseque telluris comprobans iteraret-
partitionem, subditisque reciderit, tam advenis quam indigenis quicquid inveneretur
ultra certam dimensionem. Ord. Vital. 678.
t Malmes. 69. 158.

76 CHANCELLORS PROM THE
government. Here he is said to have lived sumptuously on the al
lowance which he received from the Exchequer, and presents
which were sent him, till, having lulled the vigilance of his keep
ers, he contrived to escape. In the bottom of a pitcher of wine,
sent to solace him was concealed a coil of rope. He invited the
knights who guarded him to dine with him and partake of the
wine ; they remained drinking till late in the evening, and when
they had at last reclined on the floor to sleep, the Ex-chancellor,
with the aid of this rope, let himself down from the window*, and
was received by his friends, who conducted him to the sea-shore,
and safely landed him in Normandy. He was there kindly enter-
f t) HOI! tamed Dv Duke Robert, and notwithstanding his
1 ' ' 'J many misdeeds, and the perils he had run, he was
afterwards restored to his see, and he peaceably ended his days in
his native land. A month before he died he caused himself to be
carried from the castle to the high altar of the Cathedral of Dur
ham, and there, in the presence of the clergy and laymen of rank
in the county, he began with many groans to repent him of his
conduct towards the church, confessing that his proceedings had
been prompted not by necessity but by the purest avarice. Aftej
this confession, he proceeded to make restitution, and the charter
is preserved, sealed on the occasion with his episcopal '^.seal, by
which he restores to the monks the lands of which he had deprived!
them. The penitent language of this charter is very strong, and
We may hope .that it "was sincere : — " Ea. omnia, qnsra eis voluntale
et cupiditate mea abstuleram, sciatis me eisdem in perpetuum pos-
sidenda, mali facti paenitens, et misericordiam quserens, super al-
tare Sancti Cuthberti per umiulum reddidisse."t Nevertheless he
was branded to all posterity as " the plunderer of the rich, the
exterminator of the poor, and the confiscator of other men's in
heritances, "t
Henry I. was no sooner placed on the throne by the means we
f 1 1 nn 1 nave glanced at in the life of Lord Chancellor Maurice,
1 ' ' J now Bishop of London § , than he restored the Great
Seal to William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, -who, from the
infamous conduct of the last two Chancellors, in spite of his incon
sistencies and -want of steady princijile, had come to be regarded
with some respect ; and the new Sovereign aimed at popularity by
this appointment, as well as by the commitment and threatened!
punishment of Flambard.
When Duke Robert returned from the taking of Jerusalem and
invaded England, claiming the crown both as his birthright and
under the agreement with Rufus, it was generally felt that, from
his incapacity to govern, notwithstanding his personal bravery, he
* This window, with the mullion to which the rope was attached, may still be
admired by antiquaries in the Tower.
t Communicated to mo by one of the present prebendaries.
X William of Malmesbury. s Ante, p. 4»

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OF HENRY II. 77
had not for a moment any chance of success, and Lord Chancellor
Giffard adhered steadily to the youngest brother, to whom he had
sworn allegiance. He continued to hold the Great Seal under him
for six years, until, after the conquest of Normandy and the impris
onment of Robert, the formidable dispute broke out with Anselm
respecting investitures. Giffard's feelings as a churchman out
weighed his gratitude to the family of the Conqueror, and the
leaning which, as Chancellor, he must have had in favour of the
power of the Crown. He took a decided part with the Primate,
and re-echoed the words of Pascal, the Pope, " Priests are called
gods in Scripture, as being the vicars of God; and will you, by
your abominable pretensions to grant them their investiture, assume
the right of creating them."*
Hemy dismissed him from the office of ChanceUor, and banished
him the kingdom. After the compromise with An- r
selm, he was allowed to return to his diocese, but he <-A' D" 1107-J
was never restored to favour. He lived some years in tranquil
lity, and dying at Winchester was buried in the cathedral there.
He is famed for having built the palace in Southwark, near Lon
don Bridge, in which, for many centuries, the Bishops of Winches
ter resided when they visited the metropolis, and the site of which
belongs to the see. He likewise founded a convent for monks at
Framley, and another for nuns at Taunton, t
On the dismissal of Giffard, Henry would have been glad to have
appointed a layman for his ChanceUor, but persons in orders only
were then considered qualified to hold the office. He selected one
who, though a priest, had not yet received much preferment, and
who might be expected to be submissive to the royal will. This
was Roger, afterwards Bishop of Sarum, who -was of obscure ori
gin and of defective education, but who, from his parts and his
pliancy, made a distinguished figure in this and the succeeding
reign. Roger began his career as a country parson, — the incumbent of
a small parish in the neighborhood of Caen, in Normandy. The
story goes, that Prince Henry, then in the employment of his
brother Robert, accidentally entered with some of his companions
the little church in "which Roger was saying mass. The priest
recollecting that soldiers do not generally hke long prayers, and
being more anxious for favour on earth than in heaven, dispatched
the service with extraordinary rapidity. Whereat they were all so
well pleased that the Prince jestingly said to him, " Follow my
camp," — which he did ; — and this -was the first step in the pre
ferment of the man who was afterwards Lord Chancellor, Bishop
of Salisbury, and Chief Justiciar, and who had great influence in
disposing of the Crown of England.
Henry at first employed him only as chaplain, but as he kept up
* Eadmer, p. 61.
t Or. Jur. 1. Spel. Gloss. 109. De Gestis Pont. lib. i.
7*

78 CHANCELLORS FROM THE
his reputation for short prayers and showed other courtier-like qual
ities, though he was rather illiterate, he was appointed private sec
retary, and gained the entire good will of the Prince. Since the
commencement of the present reign he had been a sort of humble
dependant at court, — generally liked, but not much respected,—
and hardly considered fit to be promoted to any high station. Hen
ry, afraid of clerical pride and obstinacy, — in his present difficulty
to find a pliant priest, conferred the Great Seal upon him, with the
title of Chancellor.
Roger's faculties always expanded with his good fortune. He
now showed much dexterity in business, and executed all the du
ties of his office entirely to the satisfaction of the King, and even
of the public. Without seeming to desert the interest of his order,
he supported the royal prerogative, and he was mainly instrumental
in bringing about the accommodation with Anselm, which suspend
ed to a future time the collision between the crown and the mitre.
Henry rewarded him with the Bishopric of Salisbury, and grants
of many manors.
When he had filled the office of Chancellor for some years, he
resigned it for the still higher one of Chief Justiciar *, which he
held till near the conclusion of this reign. He was now really
prime minister, although the title was not yet known in any Eu
ropean monarchy, — and during the King's residence in Normandy,
sometimes for years together, he governed England as Regent.
He is much celebrated for his skill in conducting the negotiations
r 119m respecting the succession to the Crown after the mel-
|a. d. 1 .J ancnoiy shipwreck in which the King's only son per
ished. Matilda, his daughter, married first to the Emperor Henry V.,
and then to Geoffry, Count of Anjou, was the great object of his
affections ; and his solicitude now was that she might succeed him
in all his dominions. But the laws by which the Crown was to
descend were then by no means ascertained. Although Queen
Boadicea had ruled over the Britons, — among the Anglo- Saxons no
female had mounted the throne : the Salic law was supposed to pre
vail in Normandy, and no one could say whether with the Norman
dynasty it was to be considered as transferred into England. Sup
posing females to be excluded from the1 succession, it was doubtful
whether the exclusion would extend to a male deriving his descent
from the royal stock through a female. Roger, to suit his present
purpose, now laid it down ex cathedra as incontrovertible doctrine,
" that the Crown, like a private inheritance, should descend to the
daughter and heiress of the person last seised;" and he was
greatly instrumental in obtaining from the Barons of England as
well as Normandy a recognition of Matilda as successor to her
father in both countries. He even succeeded in prevailing upon
them to swear fealty to her — himself setting the example.
He continued in high favour with Henry for several years; but
* H. Hunt. lib. vii. p. 219.

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OE HENRY II. 79
afterwards from some dispute, the nature of which has not been
explained to us, he was dismissed from the office of r 11331
Chief Justiciar, which was given to De Vere, Earl of '-A' D- J
Oxford. No sooner did a demise of the Crown take place than Roger
forgetting what he owed to the late King, and his r ,
oath to Matilda, and listening to the offers of her ri- LA- D- ll^o-J
val Stephen, the grandson of the Conqueror by his daughter, mar
ried to the Count of Blois, — was active in persuading the Arch
bishop of Canterbury to give the royal unction to the usurper,
and influenced many of the Barons to declare in his favour, on the
new constitutional doctrine which he propounded, " that males
only could mount the throne of England, but that a male might
claim through a female." He defended his consistency, — assert
ing that circumstances only had changed, and that he still remain
ed true to his principles.
Stephen, getting possession of the government, Roger, the Ex-
chancellor, was rewarded for his bad law and his perfidy first with
the Great Seal, and then with the office of Lord Treasurer. He
was now in all things highly favoured by the new king, and, under
a licence from him, erected at Devizes one of the largest and
strongest castles in England, where he appears to have displayed
a sort of sovereign state and independence.
Before long he quarrelled with Stephen, who had convened a
council at Oxford, to which the Bishops were all summoned.
Roger refused to attend, and set at defiance all the threats held
out to induce him to submit. A strong force being sent against
his castle at Devizes, he showed a determination to hold out to
the last extremity, and he would probably have made a long de
fence, and might have been rescued by the assistance of other
turbulent and faithless Barons if an expedient had not been re
sorted to which strongly marks the barbarous manners of the
times. The Bishop had a natural son, to whom he was much at
tached. The King having got possession of this youth, threatened
to hang him before the waUs of the castle, in his father's sight,
unless the castle were immediately delivered up. The menace
had the desired effect, and the Bishop unconditionally surrendered.
His sacred office protected him from personal violence, but he
soon after fell ill of a quartan ague, and died on the 4th of De
cember, 1139.
We have the following graphic sketch of the career of this
Chancellor from William of Malmesbury. " On the 3d of the
ides of December, Roger Bishop of Salisbury, by the kindness of
death, escaped the quartan ague which had long afflicted him. To
me it appears that God exhibited him to the wealthy as an exam
ple of the mutability of fortune, that they should not trust in un
certain riches. He first ingratiated himself with Prince Henry by
prudence in the management of domestic matters, and by re
straining the excesses of his household. Roger had deserved so

80 CHANCELLORS PROM THE
well of him in his time of need, that, coming to the throne he de
nied him nothing ; giving him estates, churches, prebends, and
abbeys; committing the kingdom to his fidelity; making him Chan
cellor and Bishop of Salisbury. Roger decided causes, had the
charge of the treasury, and regulated the expenditure of the king
dom. Such were his occupations when the King was in England;
such, without an associate or inspector, when the King resided in
Normandy. And not only the King, but the nobility — even those
who were secretly stung with envy by his good fortune, and more
especially the inferior ministers and the debtors of the King-
gave him almost whatever he could fancy. Did he desire to add
to his domain any contiguous possession? — he would soon lay
hold of it by entreaty, or purchase, or force. He erected splendid.
mansions of unrivalled magnificence on all his estates. His cathe
dral he dignified to the utmost with matchless buildings and orna
ments. In the beginning of Stephen's reign his power was undi
minished, the King repeating often to his companions, ' By the
birth of God, I would give him half England, if he asked for it.
Till the time be ripe, he shall tire of asking before I tire of giv
ing.' But Fortune, who in former times had flattered him so long
and so transcendently, at last cruelly pierced him with scorpion
sting. The height of his calamity was, I think, a circumstance
which even I cannot help commiserating ; — that though in his fall
he exhibited to the world a picture of such wretchedness, yet
there were very few who pitied him ; — so much envy and hatred
had his excessive prosperity drawn on him from all classes, not
excepting those very persons whom he had advanced to honour."*
The precise time when Roger gave up the custody of the Great
Seal in exchange for the office of Chief Justiciar is not ascertain
ed ; and there is much obscurity with respect to the Chancellors
after him during the remainder of the reign of Henry I. Wal-
dric, Godfrey Bishop of Bath, Herbert Bishop of Norwich,
Geoffrey Rufus Bishop of Durham, Ranulphus, or Arnulph,
and Reginald Prior of Montague, are enumerated in different
lists of Chancellors, and are casually noticed by different writers
as having held the Great Seal in this interval f ; but the superior
splendour of Roger of Salisbury threw them all into obscurity ;
and little is known respecting any of them, with the exception of
Geoffrey Rufus and Ranulphus, and it would have been well for
the memory of these two if they had been as little known as all
the rest.
Geoffrey Rufus is famous for being recorded as the first that
openly bought the office of ChanceUor for money. There was an
ancient legal maxim, " Quod CanceUaria non emenda estf," yet
the Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I. states that Geoffrey Rufus, Bishop of
# Gesta Reg. Angl. p. 637. t Or. Inst. I. Spel. Gloss. 109.
t This probably arose from the semi-sacred nature of the office, including the
care of the king's chapel and the keeping of his conscience, so that the purchase of
it might be considered to savour of simony.

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OE H jS N R Y II. 81
Durham, purchased the Chancery from the King for 3006/. 13s. 4d.,
a sum equivalent to 45,000/. of present money*; and he must, no
doubt, have been guilty of much extortion and oppression to in
demnify himself for so great an outlay. From the fractional sum
which the Great Seal then fetched, we might almost suppose that
it had been put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder. In
subsequent reigns we shall find other instances of its being dis
posed of for money ; but we are never distinctly informed whether
this was by public auction or private contract.!
Of Ranulphus Henry of Huntingdon relates, that from the gen
eral hatred excited by his misdeeds, he was supposed to have
come to his end by a special visitation of Divine Providence.
The King having kept his Christmas at Dunstable, proceeded to
Berkhamstead. " Here there was a manifestation of God worthy
of himself. Ranulphus, the King's Chancellor, had laboured un
der sickness for twenty years. Nevertheless, at court he was ever
more eager than a young man after all manner of wickedness, op
pressing the innocent and grasping many estates for his own use.
It was his boast, that while his body languished his mind was still
vigorous. As he "was conducting the royal party to his castle,
where the King proposed to stay some time as his guest, and he
had reached the top of a hill from which the stately structure
might be descried, — -while he "was pointing to it with great elation,
he fell from his horse, and a monk rode over him. In consequence,
Le xsras: so. hruisecL tLat Le brea±Hficl Lis. last in a.few days. Ecce
quanta superbia quam vilissime, Deo rolente, deperiit." X
We shall not attempt giving any further details respecting the
Chancellors of Henry I. It is to be regretted that the accounts of
them which have descended to us are so very scanty. From the
. character of this Sovereign, who -was not only a great warrior, but
the brightest -wit and most accomplished scholar of his age, we
may believe that those who -were selected by him to hold his great
seal, and consequently to be in constant familiar intercourse with
him, were distinguished by their talents, acquirements, and agree
able manners. We should be particularly glad to know which of
them was the author of the Code which passes under the name
* Et idem Cancellarius, viz. " Gaufridus debet MMM et vii. et xiijs. et iiijd
pro sigillo." This is the most ancient roll in the series, and for many years was
supposed to belong to the 5th Stephen. Rut, first, Prynne discovered it had been
wrongly assigned, and fixed it to the 18th Henry I. ; — then Madox (though he
always quotes it as 3 Stcph. in the body of his "Exchequer"), in a learned Latin
" Disceptatio," following the "Dialogus de Scaccario," at the end of his work,
clearly shows that it belongs to Henry's reign, but leaves the precise year uncer
tain : — lastly, Mr. Joseph Hunter, in his Preface to the Roll itself, published by
the Record Commission, proves, without the possibility of a doubt, that the Roll
is that of 31 Henry I.
t, The office of Common-law Judge was likewise venal. The same year Richard
Fitz-Alured fined in fifteen marks of silver that he might sit with Ralph Basset at
the King's Pleas, "Ricardus filius Aluredi dabat xxv. marcas argenti ut sederet
cum Radulfo Basset ad Placita Regis." — Mad. Ex. iv. 3.
X Hen. Hunt. lib. vii. p. 382. The last reflection is too quaint for translation.

82 CHANCELLORS FROM THE
of Henry 1, but which must have been compiled by a jurist under
his orders, — a work so useful to instruct us in the manners and
customs of the times, and showing the broad distinction stiU made
between the English and the Normans. But though the names of
these functionaries are preserved as having filled the office of
Chancellor, dark night envelops their history and their character.
When, on the usurpation of Stephen, Roger, Bishop of Salis-
r iiqci bury, had by his treachery to the family of Henry,
LA' ' "J his benefactor, acquired such influence with the new
Sovereign, — after presiding as Chancellor at the Convention of
Estates held at Oxford, when the charter. was passed confirming
the hberties of the church, the barons, and the people, — he be
stowed the office on his nephew Alexander, and made him Bish
op of Lincoln*
The new holder of the Great Seal was not without good quali
ties ; but it is said that having been brought up in great luxury by
his uncle, he had contracted an inordinate taste for expence, which
soon brought him .into difficulty and disgrace. Wishing to excel
other chiefs by his splendour and his largesses, he tried to supply
the deficiency of his own resources by preying upon others who
were in his power. Still his extravagance exceeded all his means
of supplying it. His vanity was gratified by being called " the
Magnificent" at the Court of Rome. He went thither in 1142,
and again in 1 144, with a view to settle the disputes between the
King ajarl the Pope, ancl Lo Lad tL© singular good.— Lick in tLcac
negotiations to please both parties. With the approbation of the
King he was appointed legate by the Pope, with power to convene
a Synod, at which several useful canons were made to repress the
enormities of the times. He made a third journey to the Pope,
then in the south of France, where, in the month of August, in
the year 1147, growing sick, as was supposed from the heat ofthe
climate, he returned home and died.
During his career he had been more than once in arms against
his Sovereign. Besides founding convents, he built three strong
castles, Banbury, Sleford, and Newark. These excited the jeal
ousy of Stephen, who compelled him to surrender them, and, after
getting possession of Newark, this capricious tyrant for some time
detained him in prison. However, he was speedily restored to fa
vour, and at his death was denominated " Flos et Cacumen Reg-
ni et Regis."t
His successor as Chancellor was the natural son of his uncle
" Roger the Great," Bishop of Salisbury. This promotion shows
strongly the power and influence which the family had attained ;
for the new ChanceUor displayed no personal good qualities to
* 1 Pari. Hist. 5. There is extant among the archives of the Dean and Chap
ter of Exeter the original of the famous " Charla Stephani Regis de Libertatibus
Ecclesiffi Anglias et Regni; " dated at Oxford, Regni mei anno primo, A. D. 1 136,
and witnessed " Rogero Cancellario."
t Hen. Hunt. lib. vii. p. 290. Guil. Neib. 1. i. t. 6.

CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OF HENRY II. 83
compensate for the stain on his birth. He is mentioned by the
monkish historians under the name of " Roger Pauper." He
seems neither to have possessed the wealth nor the pliancy of his
father. Taking part with the Barons who held out their castles
against the King, he was made prisoner. He might have been
set at liberty if he would have changed sides ; but this he con
stantly refused to do, even when threatened with the penalties of
treason. As a singular favour he was allowed to abjure the realm,
and he is supposed to have died in exile*
We ought here to mention the Chancellors of Queen Matilda,
Though not enumerated by historians among the r 11401
sovereigns of England, she was crowned Queen, and ^A' D' 114^-J
while Stephen was her prisoner, — by the prowess and fidelity of
her natural brother, Robert Earl of Gloucester, she was in the en
joyment of supreme power throughout the greatest part of the
kingdom. Making the city of Gloucester her metropolis, she filled
up all the great offices of state with her adherents. She was the
first English sovereign that ever intrusted the Great Seal to the
keeping of a layman. For her Chancellor she had William Fitz-
gilbert, a knight who had gallantly fought for her ; and she grant
ed the office in reversion to Alberic de Vere, Earl of Oxford, to be
held by Wilham de Vere his brother, when it should be rendered
up by William Fitzgilbert.
But Stephen was released from prison, and after a protracted
struggle, being successful in the field, this grant was r 1 ,ft
nullified by the arrangement -which allowed him to f ' ... '
reign during his life, — the sceptre on his death to '-A'
descend to the issue of Matilda.
There are three other Chancellors of this reign whose names
have been discovered by antiquaries, Philip, Robert de Gant,
and Reginald, Abbot of Walden t ; but every thing respecting
them is left in impenetrable obscurity. What part they took in
the civil war, whether they mitigated or aggravated its horrors,
and whether they were steady to their party, or changed sides as
interest prompted, must remain forever unknown. Of this dis
turbed period little can be learned respecting the administration
of justice or change of laws. The contending parties were both
exclusively Norman ; the descendants of the conquered were
equally oppressed by both, and no one had yet arisen to vindicate
the reputation or to defend the rights of the Anglo-Saxon race.
The darkest hour is immediately before break of day and the
next Chancellor we have to introduce to the reader -was of Saxon
origin ; he was one of the most distinguished men of any race
that this island has ever produced, and he is now invoked as a
Saint by all the votaries of the Romish church. We have a full
and minute biography of him by a contemporary who was his
* Ord. Vit. pp. 919, 920.
t Spel. Glos. 109.

84 REIGN OF HENRY II.
kinsman, and the various events of his life, which make a conspi
cuous figure in our national annals, are as well known and authen
ticated as if he had flourished in the eighteenth century.

CHAPTER III.
LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR THOMAS a BECKET.
King Stephen having died in the year 1154, he was succeeded
by the son of Matilda, the first of the Plantagenet r
line, — a prince for vigour and ability equal to any *-A- D'
who ever filled the throne of England. From early youth he had
given presage of his discrimination and talents for government,
and one of the first acts of his reign after his arrival in England,
was to appoint as his Chancellor the famous Thomas a Becket.*
Gilbert Beck or Becket, the father of this most extraordinary
man, was of Saxon descent, a merchant in London, and though
only of moderate wealth had served the office of sheriff of that
city. His mother, -whose name was Matilda, was certainly of the
same race, and born in the same condition of life as her hus
band ; — although, after her son had become chancellor and arch
bishop, a martyr and a saint, — a romantic story was invented that
she was the daughter of an Emir in Palestine ; that Gilbert, her
future consort, having joined a crusade and being taken prisoner
by her father, she fell in love with him ; that when he escaped
and returned to his native country, she followed him, knowing no
words of any -western tongue except " London" and " Gilbert;"
that by .the use of these she at last found him at Cheapside ; and
that being converted to Christianity and baptized, she became his
wife. I
# We are not informed in whose custody the Great Seal was between the king's
accession and the appointment of Becket.
t That monkish chroniclers and old balllad-mongers should have repeated and
credited this fable is not surprising; but I cannot conceal my astonishment to finfi
it gravely narrated for truth by two recent, most discriminating and truthful histo
rians, Sharon Turner and Thierry, who, while they were enlivening, one would
have thought must have had some suspicion that they were deluding their readeh.
Becket himself, in an epistle in which he gives an account of his origin, is entirely
silent about his Syrian blood ; and i-itzstephen, who describes himself as '"his fel
low citizen, chaplain, and messmate, remembrancer in his chancery, and reader of
papers in his court," says expressly that he was born of parents who were citizens
of London. I should much sooner expect to find the statement believed, that his
mother when with child of him dreamed that she carried Canterbury Cathedral in
her womb, or that the midwife, when she first received him into the world, exclainr-
ed, " Here comes an archbishop,"— -for which there is uncontradicted authority,
" Eum in lucem editum obstetrix in manibus tollens, ait, Archiepiscopum quendam
a terra elevavi."— Fitzst. 10. The story of the Emir's daughter first appears in the
compilation called Quadilrogus, not written till long after. Lib. i. a 2. There
has been a supposition equally unfounded recently started, that Becket was of the

THOMAS a BECKET. 85
Thomas, their only child, was born in London in the year 1119,
in the reign of Henry I. Being destined for the Church; his edu
cation was begun at Merton Abbey in Surrey, and from thence he
was transferred to the schools of London, which (making ample
allowance for exaggerated praise) seem then to haye been very
flourishing* He was afterwards sent to finish his studies at Paris,
where he not only became a proficient in philosophy and divinity,
but likewise in all military exercises and polite acquirements, and
was made an accomplished cavalier. One great object of his re
sidence in Paris was to get rid of his English accent, which was
then a mark of degradation and a bar to advancement. When he
returned, it might well have been supposed from his conver
sation and manners, that his ancestor had fought at Hastings un
der the banner of the Conqueror, and that his family had since
assisted in continuing the subjugation of the conquered race.
Like Sir Thomas More, one of his most distinguished succes
sors, he began his career of business by holding a situation in the
office of the Sheriff of London ; but this was not at all to his
taste, and he soon contrived to insinuate himself into the good
graces of a great baron of Norman blood resident in the neigh
bourhood of the metropolis, with whom he gaily spent his time in
racing, hunting, and hawking, — amusements forbidden to the
Saxons. His next patron was Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who
finding him a youth of uncommon parts, and captivated with his
graceful and winning address, made him take deacon's orders, and
conferred upon him the livings of St. Mary le Strand and Othford
in»Kent, with prebends in the cathedrals of London and Lincoln.
His ambition for high preferment was now kindled ; but he found
Norman rave. See Ed. Rev. CLXXIII , July, 1S47, p. 137. His Saxon pedigree
appears from all contemporary authorities
* "In Lundnnia tres principles ecclcsise scholas celebres habent de privilegio
et antiqua dignitate. Disputant scholares. quidam demonstrative, dialectico alii;
hii rotant enthymcmata ; liii pcrfectis melius utuntur syllogismis. Quidam ad os-
tentalionem excrcentur disputatione, quae est inter colluctantes ; alii ad veritatem,
qua? est perspeetionis gratia. Oratores aliqui quandoque orationibus rhetoricis ali-
quid dicunt apposile ail persuadendum, curantes artis prrecepta servnre et ex con-
tingentibus nihil omitiere. Pueri diversarum seholarum versibus inter se conrixan-
tur; aut de priin-rpiis artis grammatical vel regulis prseteritorum vel supinorum
contendunt. Sunt alii qui in epigrammatibus, rythmis et metris, utuntur vetere ilia
triviali dicacitate ; liceniia Fescenfiina socios, suppressis nominibus, liberius lace-
rant- loedorias jaculantur et scommata; salibus Socraticis sociorum vel forte ma-
jorum, vitia taugunt; vel mordaoius dente rodunt leonino audacibus dithyrambis.
Auditores, multum ridere parati,
Ingeminant tremulos naso crispante cachinnos."
 Descriptiotpolulignamce civitatis Lundonice, 4. Fitzstephen is equally eloquent in
describing the sports of the Londoners. "Plurimi civium delectantur, ludentes in
avibus colli, nisis, accipitribus et hujusmodi, et in canibus militantibus in sylvis.
Habentque cives suum jus veuandi in Middlesexia, Hertfordsira et tota Cliiltra, et
in Cantia usque ad aquam Crayee, p 9. But he shakes our faith in all his narra
tives by asserting that, in the reign of Stephen, London was capable of sending
into the field 20,000 cavalry, and 60,000 infantry, p. 4.
VOL. I. 8

86 REIGN OF HENRY II.
himself deficient in a knowledge of the civil and canon law, then
the great means of advancement both in church and state, — and
he prevailed on his patron to send him to Bologna, which had
been for some time the most famous university in the world for
such studies. . After residing there a year, attending the lectures
of the celebrated Gratian, he went to Auxerre in Burgundy, where
there was like-wise a flourishing juridical school, and he returned
to England fully qualified for any situation, however exalted, to
which fortune might raise him.
He was now promoted to the archdeaconry of Canterbury, an
office of considerable trust and profit. Displaying great talents
for business, he gained the entire confidence of the primate, and
was employed by him in two delicate negotiations with the court
of Rome. The first was to recover for the see of Canterbury the
legatine power which properly belonged to the primacy, and of
which it had been stript This point he carried, to the great de
light of Theobald, who attached the highest importance to it.
The next was a matter of more national importance. Notwith-'
1 1 .„ t standing the solemn treaty between Stephen the
'¦' reigning king, and Henry the son of Matilda, the
right heir to the crown, intrigues were going on to defeat the suc
cession of the Angevin line, and a plan was in contemplation to
have Eustace, the son of Stephen, crowned King of England in
his father's lifetime. Theobald and the majority of the prelates
remaining true to their engagement, deputed Archdeacon Becket
to obtain from Pope Eugenius a bull against any bishop officiating
at the coronation of the son of Stephen. This mission was at
tended with considerable difficulty, for young Henry Plantagenet
had already shown himself hostile to the encroachments of the
papal see, and there was an apprehension of danger from the
union of the crown of England with his immense continental pos
sessions, extending from Picardy to the Pyrenees ; — and one of
the cardinals who favoured Eustace observed to Becket, that " it
would be easier to hold a ram by the horns than a lion by the tail."
But Becket's great abilities in negotiation proved successful, the
intended coronation was prevented, and on the death of Stephen,
Henry was peaceably proclaimed king.
The new Sovereign was then in Normandy. On his arrival in
1 1 ,. . n England he was informed by Archbishop Theobald,
¦*¦' ' J who crowned him, of the services of the Archdea
con of Canterbury ; and a Becket, then the handsomest and the
most accomphshed young man in the kingdom, was presented to
him. Henry was at once captivated by his appearance and his
agreeable acquirements, and soon admitted him to his familiarity
and confidence. The future Saint, at this stage of his career, has
incurred the suspicion of having forgotten what was due to the
priestly character and to the strict rules of morality, for the pur
pose of securing an influence over the dissipated Sovereign. He
not only joined him in military exercises and in the sports of the

THOMAS a BECKET. 87
field, but in all sorts of court festivities, and it is to be feared in
revelries, which could only be palliated by the habitual licence of
Norman manners ; although some of his biographers stand up for
his immaculate purity in the midst of the most alluring tempta
tions. Archbishop Theobald was at first the King's chief favourite and
adviser, but his health and his influence declining, Becket was
found apt for business as well as amusement ; and gradually be
came intrusted with the exercise of all the powers of the crown.
He received the wardenship of the Tower of London, the custo
dy of the castle of Berkhamstead, and a grant of the honour of
Eye, with the service of 140 knights.
The exact time of his appointment as Chancellor has not been
ascertained, the records of the transfer of the Great r H.
Seal not beginning till a subsequent reign, and old j_' 1 ' „
•biographers being always quite careless about dates.*
But he certainly had this dignity soon after Henry's accession, and
to him are ascribed by historians the restoration of the laws of
Henry I., the resumption of the grants by which Stephen had im
poverished the crown, the restoration of the English exiles -who
had fled to the Continent during the late troubles, and the other
wise and liberal measures which characterised the commencement
of this reign. While he continued Chancellor, the office of Grand
Justiciar does not seem to have been filled up, and, except the
King, he had no superior. Tall in stature, with a placid, hand
some, and commanding countenance, his figure pleased the eye ;
while his subtle reasonings, his polished elocution, and facetious
gaiety, won the heart. His loftiness of mind, that was proud and
ceremonious "with rank and power, softened into affability, gentle
ness, and liberality towards his inferiors and dependents. Popu
larity being his passion, he studied to be attractive, and he knew
that the condescensions of greatness have still greater influence
than its power.f He was the first to give the office of Chancel
lor the pre-eminence and splendour -which have since belonged
to it.
We may imagine the joy of the Saxon race in witnessing his
elevation. For nearly a century they had been treated as aliens
and serfs in their own country ; no one of Saxon blood had been
promoted to any office of distinction, civil, military, or ecclesiasti
cal. The tradition was, that the Danish dynasty established by
Canute, had been overturned by too great leniency being shown
to the native English : and William and his descendants were re
solved to avoid a similar error. The Anglo-Saxon language was
proscribed at court : the Normans would at this time as little have
condescended to learn it as the language of the wild Irish whom
they soon after conquered ; and every opportunity was taken to
* Spelman makes him Chancellor in 1154, and Dugdale not till 1157.
t Gervase, 1668.

88 REIGNOFHENRYII.
show contempt for the dress, the habits, and the manners of the
subjugated descendants of Hengist and Horsa.
Becket had risen by acquiring the dialect and accomplishments
of the dominant caste, but he was too noble-minded now to be
ashamed of his origin : he proclaimed his lineage, and profess
ed himself a protector of the rights and liberties of all his coun
trymen. It is dofibtful whether at this time the Chancellor had any sepa
rate judicial duties ; but we know that Becket sat as a member
of the Supreme Court or Aula Regis ; that he sealed all the
King's grants with the Great Seal ; that he had the care of the
royal chapel ; and that he acted as secretary to the King in domes
tic affairs, and in all foreign negotiations.
Of his conduct, habits, and demeanour, while he continued
Chancellor, we have a very graphic and trustworthy account from
his secretary; — and instead of diluting it, after the modern fashion,
into a mixture from which all its pungency and raciness would
evaporate, I think I shall much better convey an accurate notion
of the character of the individual, and of the manners of the
times, by a literal translation of a few of the most remarkable
passages of this interesting work :
" The Chancellor's house and table were open to all of every
degree about the court who wished to partake of his hospitality,
and who were, or appeared to be, respectable. He hardly ever
sat down to dinner without earls and barons whom he had invited.
He ordered the rooms in which he entertained company to be dai
ly covered during winter with clean straw and hay, and in sum
mer with clean rushes and boughs*, for the gentlefolks to lie down
upon, who on account of their numbers could not be accommodat
ed at the tables, so that their fine clothes might not be soiled by a
dirty floor. His house was splendidly furnished with gold and
silver vessels, and was plentifully supplied with the most costly
meats and wines.
" The prime nobility of England and the neighbouring king
doms sent their sons to be servants to the Chancellor. He gave
these young men handsome entertainment and a liberal education,
and when he had seen them duly admitted into the order of
knighthood he returned them back to their fathers and relations.
Some he retained near his own person. The King himself in
trusted his own son, the heir apparent of the kingdom, to be
brought up by him, and the Chancellor maintained the prince with
all suitable honour, together with many sons of the nobility of the
same age, and all their train, instructors, and servants.
" Many nobles and knights paid homage to the Chancellor,
which he received with a saving of their allegiance to the King,
and he then maintained and supported them as their patron.
* A custom which continued in England down to the time of Erasmus, and
which he describes in nearly the same words.

THOMAS a BECKET. 89
" Wlien he was going beyond sea he had a fleet of six or more
vessels for his own use, and he carried over free of expence all
who wished to cross at the same time. When he was landed he
recompensed the masters of bis ships and the sailors to their
hearts' content. Hardly a day passed in which he did not give
away magnificent presents, such as horses, hawks, apparel, gold
or silver furniture, or sums of money. He was an example of the
sacred proverb : — Some bountifully give aivay what belongs to them,
and still always abound ; while others seize what does not belong to
them, and are always in want. So gracefully did the Chancellor
confer his gifts, that he was reckoned the charm and the delight
of the whole Latin world.
" The Chancellor was in high favour with the King, the clergy,
the army, and the people, on account of his eminent virtues, his
greatness of mind, and. his good deeds, which seemed to spring
spontaneously from his heart. Serious business being finished,
the King and he consorted as young comrades of the same sta
tion, — whether in the palace, in church, in private society, or in
excursions on horseback.
" One cold wintry day they were riding together through the
streets of London when they observed an old beggar-man coming
towards them, wearing a worn-out tattered garment. Said the
King to the Chancellor, ' Do you see that man V — Chancellor. ' I
see him.' — King. ' How poor ! how wretched ! how naked he is !
Would it not be great charity to give him a thick warm cloak ?' —
Chancellor. ' Great indeed ; and you, as King, ought to have a
disposition and an eye for such things.' Meanwhile the beggar
comes up ; the King stops, and the Chancellor along with him.
The King in a mild tone addresses the beggar, and asks him ' if
he would like to have a good cloak ?' The beggar, not knowing
who they were, thought it was all a joke. The King to the Chan
cellor. — ' You indeed shall have the grace of this great charity ;'
and putting his hands on a very fine new cloak of scarlet and er
mine which the Chancellor then wore, he struggled to pull it off,
while the Chancellor did his best to retain it. A great scuffle and
tumult arising, the rich men and knights who formed their train,
in astonishment, hastened to find out what sudden cause of con
test had sprung up, but could gain no information : both the con
tending parties were eagerly engaged with their hands, and seem
ed as if about to tumble to the ground. After a certain resistance
the Chancellor allowed the King to be victorious, — to pull off his
cloak, — and to give it to the beggar. The King then told the
whole story to his attendants, who were all convulsed with laugh
ter. There was no want of offers from them of cloaks and coats
to the Chancellor. The old beggar-man walked off with the
Chancellor's valuable cloak, enriched, beyond his hopes, rejoicing
and giving thanks to God*
* It is impossible not to admire the finesse with which Fitzstepben tells this
8*

90 REIGN OE HENRY II.
" Sometimes the King took his meals in the dining-hall of
Chancellor for the sake of amusement, and to hear the stories t
at his table and in his house. While the Chancellor was sitt
at table the King would be admitted into the hall on horseba
sometimes with a dart in his hand, returning from the chase
riding to cover ; sometimes he merely drank a cup of wine, i
having saluted the Chancellor, retreated; sometimes jumping o
the table he sat down and partook of the banquet. Never in i
Christian age were two men more familiar or friendly."
Becket continued Chancellor till the year 1162, without £
abatement in his favour with the King, or in the power which
possessed, or in the energy he displayed, or in the splendou:
his career. He not only presided in the Aula Regis and supet
tended the domestic administration of the kingdom, but, when
necessities of the state so required, he himself went on fore
embassies, and led armies into the field.
The King's eldest son was still a boy and a pupil of the Ch
1 1 _„ 1 ceUor, to whom it was thought that his educat
A' ' 'J might be better intrusted than to any other, both
literature and chivalry. According to the custom of that th
which continued for centuries afterwards, it was usual to conti
marriage between the children of sovereign princes long bef
they reached the age of puberty, and Henry the son of a Coi
thought it would add to the splendour of his family and to the i
bility of his throne, if his infant heir were affianced to a daugl
of the King of France. To bring about this alliance, which -\
opposed by the Emperor of Germany, Henry proposed that
Chancellor should himself proceed to the French court, and h<
once accepted the embassy.
" He prepared," says Fitzstephen, " to exhibit and pour out
opulence of English luxury, that among all persons and in
things the Sovereign might be honoured in his representative, i
the representative in himself. He took with him about two h
dred mounted on horseback, of his- own family, knights, prie
standard-bearers and squires, — sons of noblemen, forming
body-guard, and all completely armed. All these, and all tl
followers, were festively arrayed in new attire, each according
his degree. He likewise took with him twenty-four changes
raiment, almost all to be given away, and left among the forei
ers he was to visit. He carried along with him all kinds of d
and birds for field sports used by kings and rich men. In his ti
he had eight waggons ; each waggon was drawn by five hoi
equal to war horses, well matched, and with uniform harne
each horse was taken care of by a stout young man dressed ii
new tunic. Two waggons carried nothing but ale made with ^
story, particularly the courtly acquiescence of the Chancellor after a proper n
tance, and the profusion ot offers of coats and cloaks to the Chancellor, then
favourite, and the distributor of the favours of the Crown

THOMAS a BECKET. 91
ter and malt*, in casks fastened with iron, to be given to the
French. The furniture of the Chancellor's chapel filled one
waggon, his chamber another, his kitchen ' another ; others were
loaded with eatables and drink for the use of himself and his
train. He had twelve swmpter horses ; eight carried the Chancel
lor's gold and silver plate. Coffers and chests contained the Chan
cellor's money in good store, sufficient for his daily expenses, and
the presents which he meditated, together with his clothes, books,
and articles of the like nature. One horse, which preceded all
the rest, carried the holy vessels of his chapel, the holy books, and
the ornaments of the altar.
" Likewise each -wagon had chained to it, either above or below,
a large, strong, and fierce mastiff, which seemed able to contend
with a bear or a lion, and on the top of every sumpter horse there
was a monkey with a tail, or an ape, mimicking the human coun
tenance. On entering the French towns and villages the proces
sion was headed by about 250 young men on foot, in groups of six,
or ten, or more, singing some verses in their own tongue, after the
manner of their country. Then came at a little distance hariers
and other dogs coupled, together with their keepers and whippers-
in. Soon after the waggons, strengthened with iron and covered
over with great skins of animals sewed together, rattled over the
stones of the streets; at a short distance followed the sumpter
horses, rode by their grooms, who sat upon their haunches. The
Frenchmen running out from their houses at all this -noise, in
quired whose family can this be ? Being answered, 'Behold the
Chancellor of the King of England going on a mission to the King
of France,' they exclaimed, 'How wonderful must be the King of
England himself, ivhose Chancellor travels in such state !'
"After the sumpter horses followed esquires carrying the shields
of the knights and leading the saddle horses ; then came other
knights, — then pages, — then those who bore hawks, — then the
standard bearers and the upper and lower servants of the Chan
cellor's household, — then soldiers and priests riding two and two ; —
last of all came the Chancellor, surrounded by some of his friends.
" As soon as the Chancellor landed in France, he sent forward
a messenger to inform the French King of his approach. The
* I find no mention of hops in the text, and I suspect that the ale so boasted of
was only the ancient Scandinavian drink described by Tacitus as " a corruption of
barley," and still manufactured in Flanders under the name of " bierre blanche." —
Some say that hops were unknown in England till the end of the reign of Henry
VIII., when the liquor made bitter by them was called by the new name of " beer."
Hence the popular lines —
" Hops, Reformation, Carp, and Beer,
Came to England all in one year."
According to Virgil, the northern nations knew how to flavour their wort with
acids :  " et poculla laeti
Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis."

92

REIGN OF HENRY II.

t

King appointed to meet him at Paris by a certain day. It is th
custom for the French Kings to purvey for all persons coming t
court and while they remain there ; and the King now wishing t
purvey for the Chancellor, by an edict published by him at Paris
prohibited all persons from selling any thing to the ChanceUor o:
his people. This coming to the knowledge of the Chancellor, hi
sent on his servants to St. Denis and the neighbouring towns
that, changing their dress and concealing their names, they shoulc
buy for him bread, flesh, fish, wine, and all eatables in abund
ance, and when he entered the " Hotel du Temple," which he
was to occupy in Paris, they ran up and informed him that he
would find it supplied with provisions fully sufficient for the use
of a thousand men for three days.
" He gave away all his gold and silver plate and changes ol
raiment, — to one a robe, to another a furred cloak, to a third a
pelisse, — to this man a palfrey, and to that a war horse. Why
should I enter into further particulars ? He won favour above al]
men. He successfully completed his embassy: he gained his
object: whatever he solicited was granted to him.
" In returning, he apprehended and lodged in prison Vedo de la
Val, an enemy of the King of England, and a notorious public
robber."* That this union might not afterwards be broken off, and might
cement a good understanding between the two countries, — accord
ing to the treaty which the Chancellor had concluded, Margaret
the infant princess was put under the care of a Norman baron, who
was to superintend her education ; and her dower, consisting of a
great domain in the Vexin, was placed in the hands of the Knights
Templars till the celebration of the marriage.
It is said that the Chancellor continued zealously to cultivate
a d 11591 Peace; but in spite of his efforts, war with France
'J become inevitable. The duchy of Toulouse had be
longed to the father of Eleanor, who had been married to the King
of France ; and being divorced from him, was now Queen of Eng
land. Henry claiming this territory in her right, — under some pre
tence Louis insisted that he was entitled to dispose of it,— and
both parties prepared to settle the dispute by an appeal to arms.
The Chancellor, with his usual penetration, saw, that instead of
the feudal militia, who were to fight without pay for forty days, it
would be much better to commute personal service for a pecuniary
contribution, by which a regular army might be equipt and main-
t^m0e;d- ,He therefore introduced the pecuniary aid, caUed scutage,
of 31 to be levied on ever knight's fee; and the number of 60,000
knights fees established by the Conqueror still remaining, he thus
collected 180,0002., and engaged a numerous force of mercenaries,
whose attendance m the field was to be extended to three months.
With them marched, from the love of glory, an illustrious host, con-
* Fitzstephen.

THOMAS a BECKET. • 93
sisting of English Barons, and many from Henry's continental
dominions ; — a Prince of Wales, — Malcolm King of Scotland, and
Raymond King of Arragon, to whose infant daughter had been
affianced the King's son, Richard, afterwards Cceur de Lion, then
an infant in his nurse's arms. But of aU who composed this great
army, the bravest and the most active warrior was Lord Chancel
lor a Becket, who had enlisted a body of 700 knights at his own
expense, and, marching at their head, was the foremost in every
enterprise. Louis was shut up with a small force in the city of Toulouse,
to which Henry laid siege. Becket represented that it might easily
be taken by assault, offering to lead on the storming party himself,
and it is generally allowed that this blow might at once have put
a glorious termination to the -war ; but Henry, -when congratulated
on the prospect of having in his power such an illustrious captive,
conceived conscientious scruples against offering violence to his
liege lord, whom he had sworn to guard and protect. The Chan
cellor laid down for law that the King of France, by assuming the
command there in person, had deliberately put himself in the sit
uation of an enemy on equal terms with his opponent. During
this discussion a great French army came to the rescue of their
King : the golden opportunity was lost, and Henry was obliged
to retreat with the bulk of his forces into Normandy. " The Chan
cellor, with his own followers and the single aid of Henry of Es-'
sex, the King's Constable, remained to preserve the English-cm-
thority in that quarter, all the other leaders having refused to do
so. Armed with a helmet and coat of mail, he afterwards, with
his own brave band, took three very strong castles which had been
deemed impregnable. Nay, more, he crossed the Garonne with a
military force, attacked the enemy, and having established the
authority of the King in all that province, he returned triumphant
and honoured."*
In a subsequent campaign, the Chancellor, besides 700 knights
of his own family, had under his command 1200 cavalry and 4000
infantry, whom he had taken into pay, for the space of forty days.
" Each soldier serving on horseback received from him three shil
lings a day to provide horses and attendants, and was entertained
at the Chancellor's table. He himself, although in holy orders,
encountered Engleran de Trie, a valiant French knight, who, in full
armour, rode furiously against him, his lance in the rest : — the priest
unhorsetl the knight, and made prize of his charger. Ofthe whole
army of the King of England, the soldiers of the Chancellor were
always the first, the most daring, and the most distinguished for
their exploits, he himself instructing them, encouraging them, and
leading them on."t
Peace being at last restored, the ChanceUor un- r 1 1 fin- 1
buckled his sword, again put on his robes at West- 1 • -1
* Fitzst. t Fitzst.

94 REIGN OF HENRY II.
minster, and returned to the discharge of his civil duties. His ad
ministration of justice was vigorous and impartial, no favour being
shown to Saxon or Norman, to layman or ecclesiastic. Hithertc
he preferred the interests of the Crown to those of his own order
During the late war the rich prelates and abbots of the Norman
race, whose military zeal had greatly subsided since they could nc
longer plunder a vanquished people, excused themselves from
yielding to the summons to serve in the field, because, said they
Holy church forbade them to shed blood; and farther, on the same
pretence, they refused to pay the tax substituted for personal
service, -which, they said, was indirectly violating a divine precept.
But the Chancellor overruled their scruples, and compelled them
to pay up the arrears. Upon this the heads of the Church utter
ed the most violent invectives against him. Foliot, Bishop of
London, publicly accused him of plunging a sword into the bosom
of his mother, the Church ; and Archbishop Theobald, his former
patron, threatened to excommunicate him. Becket stiU showed
an entire indifference to ecclesiastical censures, and established
Henry's right to personal service or scutage for all thq lands held
by the Church. One day, at a meeting of the clergy, some bi
shops affected to talk in high-flown terms of their being independ
ent of the royal authority; but the Chancellor, who was present,
openly contradicted them, and, in a severe tone, reminded them
that they -were bound to the King by the same oath as men of
tho-Hword, "to be true and faithful to the King, and truth and faith
to bear of life and limb and earthly honour."
Some have supposed that Becket all this time, while he held
the office of ChanceUor, -was hypocritically acting a part to secure
Henry's favour, that he might be elevated to the primacy, with the
premeditated purpose of then quarrelling with the King, and tak
ing part against him in the controversies which had been going on
between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. But notwith
standing his conversation with the Abbot of Leicester, it is much
more probable that his change of sentiments and policy was
brought about by change of situation, and that hitherto he had serv
ed the King with sincerity and zeal, although it was foreseen by
those well acquainted with his character, that he might become a
very dangerous subject if placed in a high situation independent
of the Crown.
It would appear that he himself, while Chancellor, and a devot
ed friend and servant of Henry, had a presentiment of his future
destiny, and, we may believe, an earnest desire to avoid it. The
age and infirmities of Theobald showing that the primacy must
soon be vacant, the general expectation was that the Chancellor
would succeed to it, not only from his extraordinary merits and
success, but such being the usual course of promotion*
* Fitzstephen in describing the nature of the office of Chancellor says, " All ec
clesiastical preferments are disposed of by his advice ; so that, by God's "race and
his own merits, he is almost sure to become an archbishop or bishop if he"pleases."

THOMAS k BECKET. 95
In this state of things, Becket, residing at St. Gervas, near
Rouen, fell dangerously ill ; and such interest did his condition ex
cite, that he had a visit from the King of England and the King
of France on the same day. Afterwards, when the danger was
over, and he "was convalescent, he one day sat playing at chess
dressed in a cloak with sleeves, like a young courtier. "Aschat-
inius, Prior of Leicester, coming from the King's Court, then in
Gascony, entered to pay him a visit, and addressing him with
famUiarity, on account of their long intimacy, said, — How is it
that you wear a cloak with sleeves ? This dress is fitter for those
who go a-hawking; but you are an ecclesiastical character, — one
in individuality but many in dignity — .Archdeacon of Canterbury,
— Dean of Hastings, — Provost of Beverley, — canon here and
prebendary there, — nay, the proxy of the Archbishop, and (as the
report goes at Court) archbishop soon to be.' To this speech the
Chancellor made answer, among other things : — ' Truly I know
three poor priests in England, any one of whom I would rather
wish to be promoted to the primacy than myself; for if by any
chance I were appointed, knowing my Lord the King previously
so well, I should be driven either to lose his favour, or (which
Heaven forefend!) to sacrifice the service of God.' Nevertheless
this afterwards fell out as he foretold."*
In April, 1161, Archbishop Theobald died. Henry declared that
Becket should succeed, — no doubt counting upon r 116]
his co-operation in carrying on the policy hitherto L
pursued in checking the encroachments of the clergy and of the
see of Rome, and hoping that his obsequious minister, uniting su
preme and ecclesiastical dignity, the remainder of his reign would
be characterised by internal tranquillity and harmony, son that
he might turn his undivided attention to schemes of foreign ag
grandisement. The same opinion of Becket's probable conduct was generally
entertained, and a cry was raised that " the Church was in danger."
The English bishops sent a representation to Henry against the
appointment, and the electors long refused to obey his mandate,
saying that " it was indecent that a man who was rather a soldier
than a priest, and who had devoted himself to hunting and falcon
ry instead of the study of the Holy Scriptures, should be placed
in the chair of St. Augustine."
Matilda, the King's mother, with more penetration into character,
interfered to prevent the election on another ground, and warned
her son that when once Becket was independent of him, being
consecrated archbishop, he would turn out a rival and an enemy,
and would disturb the peace of the kingdom. Henry's eagerness
for the appointment was only inflamed by opposition, and he re
solved to carry it in spite of all obstacles.
Becket himself still pretended indifference or aversion, occupied
* Filzst.

96 REIGN OF HENRY II.
himself with the duties of Chancellor, and continued his usua
courtly life and secular habits. His rival, Gilbert Foliot, Bishoj
of Hereford, a prelate from his youth upwards, of rigid morals
and severe demeanour, who was himself looking to the primacy
had been in the habit of asserting that the Chancellor was impa
tiently watching the demise of Theobald, and being in Normandy
when he heard of that event, immediately hastened to England
in the hope of succeeding him. The ecclesiastics with whom the
election was, remaining obstinate, Becket with seeming unconcern
attended to business at Harfleur, or hunted in the forests around
Rouen. At the end of a year the King, determined to be trifled with no
1 1 r2 -, longer, communicated to the Chancellor at Falaise
'J that he must prepare for a voyage to England, and
that in a few days he should certainly be Archbishop of Canter
bury. It would be difficult to analyse the feelings of the future
Martyr at this announcement. He probably experienced a glow
of pleasure at the near prospect of greatness, and yet was so far
his own dupe as to persuade bimself that he was unwilling to have
it thrust upon him. His biographer informs vis, that, casting a
smile of irony on his dress, he replied, — " that he had not much
the appearance of an archbishop, and that if the King was serious,
he must still beg leave to decline the preferment, because it would
be impossible for him to perform the duties of the situation and at
the same time retain the favour of his benefactor."
The legate, Henry of Pisa, happening to be present, assisted in
combating these scruples, and Becket, taking an affectionate leave
of the King, sailed for England, agreeing to be consecrated as
Primate if the election should fall upon him.
On the 3d of June, 1162, the prior and monks of Canterbury,
with the suffragan bishops, assembled at Westminster, and now,
with one exception, concurred, after many prayers and masses,
in electing Becket as Archbishop. The dissentient was Foliot,
who observed, when the ceremony was over, that " the King had
worked a miracle in having that day turned a layman into an arch
bishop, and a soldier into a saint." Many of the nobles who hap
pened to be present testified their approbation by loud applause;
and Prince Henry, under a commission from his father, gave the
royal assent to the election.
Down to this time Becket, notwithstanding his many ecclesias
tical benefice, was only in deacon's orders ; which were then sup
posed to be consistent with most of the pursuits and habits of a
layman ; but he was now ordained priest by the Bishop of Roch
ester, and, proceeding to Canterbury, he was consecrated by the
Bishop of Winchester, assisted by many other bishops. He was
enthroned with extraordinary solemnity. The ceremony was al
most as pompous as a coronation, all ranks being eager to gratify
the King, and to pay court to the favourite.
The universal expectation was, that Becket would nowplay the

THOMAS a BECKET. 97
part so successfully performed by Cardinal Wolsey in a succeeding
age : that, Chancellor and Archbishop, he would continue the
minister and personal friend of the King ; that he would study to
support and extend all the prerogatives of the Crown, which he
himself was to exercise and that in the palaces of which he was
now master he would live with increased magnificence and luxury.
When we judge of his character, we must ever bear in mind that
aU this was easUy within his reach, and that if he had been ac
tuated by love of pleasure or mere vulgar ambition, such would
have been his career.
Never was there so wonderful a transformation. Whether from
a predetermined purpose, or from a sudden change of inclination,
he immediately became in every respect an altered man. Instead
of the stately and fastidious courtier, was seen the humble and
squalid penitant. Next his skin he wore haircloth, populous with
vermin ; he lived upon roots, and his drink -was water, rendered
nauseous by an infusion of fennel. By way of further penance
and mortification, he frequently inflicted stripes on his naked back.
Daily on his bended knees he washed the feet of thirteen beggars,
refreshed them with ample food, and gave each of them four pieces
of silver. He wandered alone in his cloister, shedding many tears,
from the thought of Iris past sins, and his great occupation was to
pray and read the Scriptures. He wore the habit of a monk ;
¦and the monks, astonished at the sanctity he displayed, already
talked of his conversion as a most evident miracle of Divine grace,
poured out upon him at his consecration.
The wonder of mankind was still further excited by the next
step, which he speedfiy took, without ever consulting the King, or
any previous notice of his intention ; he sent the Great Seal to
Henry, in Normandy, with this short message, " I desire that you
will provide yourself with another ChanceUor, as I find myself
hardly sufficient for the duties of one office, and much less of two/'
The fond patron, who had been so eager for his elevation, was
now grievously disappointed and alarmed. He knew Becket too
well to believe that this resignation proceeded from real humil
ity and dislike of temporal power ; he therefore looked upon it as
an indication of a higher and more dangerous ambition, believing
that the Archbishop would have continued his ChanceUor if he
had not aspired to become his competitor, and to exalt the mitre
above the crown. He at once saw that he had been deceived in
his choice, and that the worst predictions of his mother were likely
tp be speedily verified.
He resolved, however, to treat the Archbishop with patience
and forbearance, though with firmness, and that, while he showed
to the world that he would be master in his own dominions, he
should not appear the aggressor in the controversy which he an
ticipated. He therefore stiU aUowed Prince Henry to remain un
der the tuition of the Archbishop.
The two old friends first met at Southampton, on the King's re-
vol. i. 9

98 REIGN OF HENRY II.
turn from Normandy. Becket went thither to do homage for the
temporalities of his see, and was received courteously, though
coldly. Having intimated Ins incapacity to fulfil the duties of two
offices, he was required to resign that of archdeacon of Canter
bury, which was of great value, and which he wished to retain.
Here the King had clearly the law on his side, and he succeeded.
But Becket immediately resolved, by an appeal to the law, to be
revenged. On the ground of vindicating the rights of his see,
he demanded of the King the castle and town of Rochester with
other possessions ; — of the Earl of Clare, a favourite ofthe King,
the castle of Tunbridge, — and of other noblemen various other
r qri 1 1 properties, which heaUeged had once belonged to the
[a. d. dbl .J church 0f Canterbury, and to which no lengtho f time
could ever confer atitleas lay fee.
How far he might have been able to establish these claims may
be doubtful, but before they could be brought to a legal inquiry he
set up others which he could not support, and the King being de
termined to curb ecclesiastical encroachments by new laws, which
the Archbishop resolutely resisted, a fatal rupture took place be
tween them.
Wilham de Eynsford, a military tenant of the Crown, having
ejected from a rectory in Kent, the advowson of which belonged
to him, a priest presented to it by Becket, was immediately ex
communicated by him, contrary to a well established law, which
had been respected ever since the Conquest, that the tenants of
the Crown should not be excommunicated without the King's
knowledge and consent. Henry, by a messenger, sent him orders
to absolve Eynsford, but received for answer that it belonged not
to the King to inform him whom he should absolve and whom ex
communicate. After many remonstrances and menaces, the royal
mandate was at last obeyed. Henry had at this time great advan
tages in asserting the royal prerogative, for his reputation was
high from the success of his government both at home and abroad;
his barons all concurred in his policy ; and the power of the Church
was weakened from there being two rival popes ; — each claiming
to be the successor of St. Peter ; — one under the title of Victor IV.,
residing at Rome, and patronised by the Emperor; and another
under the title of Alexander III, who kept his court in France,
protected by Louis VII. Henry had sent in his adhesion to the
latter, but with significant doubts of his title. Alexander, who
was only restrained by his peculiar situation from carrying the
pretensions of the triple crown as high as any of his predecessors,
looking on Becket as a great prop of his power, had received him
with high distinction at Tours, and secretly abetted him in all his
designs. The grand straggle which the Church was then making was,
that aU churchmen should be entirely exempted from the jurisdic
tion of the secular courts, whatever crime they might have com
mitted. A priest in Worcestershire, having about this time de-

THOMAS k BECKET. 99
bauched a gentleman's daughter, had proceeded to murder the
father. On a demand that he should be delivered up and brought
to trial before the King's judges, Becket insisted on the privileges
of the Church, — confined the criminal in the bishop's prison lest
he should be seized by the King's officers, — passed upon him
merely sentence of degradation, and insisted that, when degraded,
he could not again be brought to trial for the same offence.
Henry, thinking that he had a favourable opportunity for bring
ing the dispute to a crisis, summoned an assembly of all the pre
lates at Westminster, and himself put to them this plain question :
"Whether they were willing to submit to the ancient laws and
customs of the kingdom ? " Their reply, framed by Becket, was :
" We are wilting, saving our own order." There was only one dis
senting bishop : he -was willing to give an unqualified answer in
the affirmative, but Becket sorely upbraided him for his servility.
The King, seeing what -was comprehended in the reservation, re
tired with evident marks of displeasure, deprived Becket of the
government of Eye and Berkhamstead, and aU the appointments
which he held at the pleasure of the Crown, and uttered threats
as to seizing the temporalities of all the bishops, since they -would
not acknowledge their allegiance to hirn as the head of the state,
The legate of Pope Alexander, dreading a breach with so power
ful a prince at so unseasonable a juncture, advised Becket to sub
mit for the moment; and he with his brethren, retracting the sav
ing clause, absolutely promised " to observe the laws and customs
of the kingdom."
To avoid all future dispute, Henry resolved to follow up his vic
tory by having these laws and customs, as far as the r ..».,
Church -was concerned, reduced into a code, to be *¦ '
sanctioned by the legislature, and to be specificaUy acknowledged
by aU the bishops. This was the origin of the famous " Constitu
tions of Clarendon."
We Protestants must approve of the whole of them, for they in
a great measure anticipate the measures which were taken when
the yoke of the Church of Rome was thrown off at the Reforma
tion ; but, in justice to Becket, we must acknowledge that they
were in various particulars an innovation upon the principles and
practices which had long prevailed. Not only did they provide
that clerks accused of any crime should be tried in the King's
courts ; that all suits concerning advowsons and presentations
should be determined according to the course of the common law ;
and that the clergy should no longer pretend to the right of en
forcing payment of debts contracted by oath or promise, whereby
they were drawing all questions~of contract and ^property before
their tribunals ; but that aU appeals in spiritual causes should be
carried from the archdeacon to the bishop, from the bishop to the
primate, and from the primate to the king, without whose consent
it should go no farther ; that no clergyman should leave the realm
without the King's licence ; that, on a vacancy, the revenue of epis-

100 REIGN OF HENRY II.
copal sees shcaild belong to the Crown ; that the members of each
chapter, or such of them as the King might please to summon,
should sit in the King's chapel till they made the new election
with his consent ; and that the bishop elect should do homage tn
the Crown.*
Under these constitutions, Henry would have disposed of all ec
clesiastical dignities by his own authority, would have prevented'
all appeals to Rome, and would have been himself " the Head of
the Church." Being submitted to the great council called at
Clarendon, they were unanimously and joyfully earned by the
barons. The prelates were then called upon individually to set
their seals to them, and to promise to observe them. No one ven
tured to oppose the King's will, except Becket. He for some time
resolutely refused his assent, though urged to compliance by pre
lates as well as barons of the greatest authority in the kingdom.
What follows subjects him to the imputation of occasional weak
ness or duplicity, and disregard of the sacred obligation of an oath.
At a private meeting of the prelates, Richard de Hastings, Grand
Prior of the Templars, throwing himself on his knees before him,
and with many tears entreating Mm that if he paid any regard to
his own safety or that of the Church, he should yield, he exclaim
ed, " It is my master's pleasure that I should forswear myself,
which I resolve to do, and to repent afterwards as I may." He
then marched at their head to the King, and took an oath, " with
good faith and without fraud or reserve, to observe the Constitu
tions." They were immediately sent over to Pope Alexander, and it was
hoped he would ratify them, thinking only of his recent obligations
to the Sovereign of England ; but he plainly seeing that they went
to establish the independency of England on the papacy, condemn
ed them in the strongest terms, abrogated and annulled them, ab
solved all who had taken an oath to submit to them, and threaten
ed with excommunication, all who should presume to enforce them.
Becket, who had been overwhelmed with remorse from the mo
ment of his weakness, followed Henry to Woodstock — some think
with the intention of abdicating the primacy ; — but, not being able
to obtain an interview, and being encouraged by the spirited con
duct of the Pope, he resolved to make ample atonement for the of
fence he had committed, and from this time to his death, showed a
fortitude, perseverance, and self-devotedness, which have never
been surpassed. He refused to exercise any part of his archiepis-
oopal functions tiU he received the special pardon and absolution of
* One of the articles shows that the right of sitting in the House of Lords now
belonging to bishops, and greatly prized by them, was originally forced upon them
at a time when they thought it an indignity to sit in any assembly except by them
selves, as a separate order : " That the archbishops, bishops, and other spiritual dig
nitaries should be regarded as barons of the realm, should possess the privileges and
be subjected to the burthens belonging to that rank, and should be bound io at
tend the king in his great councils, and assist at all trials, till sentence either of. death
or loss of members be given against the criminal."

THOMAS a BECKET. 101
the Pope, and proportioning his discipline to the enormity of his
supposed offence, he redoubled his austerities to punish himself
for his momentary consent.
Much less with a view to his own safety than in the hope of
more effectually embarrassing the King by his absence from the
realm, he twice attempted to cross the Channel ; but was driven
back by contrary winds, and being brought into the royal presence,
he was asked by Henry, " if he thought that one island could not
hold them both?"
A great council was called at Northampton, where Henry plan
ned to accomplish the utter destruction of his competitor. He was
peremptorily summoned and compeUed to attend. When seated
among the peers, various charges were brought against him, of
which several were alleged to amount to high treason, and others
sought to make him accountable for larger sums of money than it
was possible for him to repay.
This is the earliest state trial of -which there is any account ex
tant ; and we have a very minute and seemingly very accurate
report of it.* It lasted a good many days, the court sitting on
Sundays as weU as week days. The judges were Enghsh pre
lates, and Norman as well as Enghsh barons. The high treason
consisted in the Archbishop not having appeared when summoned
in one of the King's courts, although he had sent four knights to
appear for him. He was found guilty, and his person being ad
mitted to be sacred, he was sentenced to forfeit all his goods and
chattels, — a penalty commuted for a fine of 500/.
Judgment was then prayed against him that he might refund
300/. of the rents which he had received as warden of Eye and
Berkhamstead. He coolly answered that he would pay it ; for
although he had expended a larger sum in repairs, money should
never prove a cause of dissension between him and his Sovereign.
The next item was 500Z. aUeged to have been advanced to him
when he was Chancellor, and lay before Toulouse. He main
tained that it was a gift, but he was obliged to give sureties for the
amount. Then foUowed a demand which testified a total disre
gard of justice, and a fixed determination to ruin him — 44,000
marks alleged to have been received from vacant bishoprics and
abbeys during his chancellorship. He pleaded that he had been
publicly released of aU such obligations under the King's author
ity, by the Earl of Leicester and the Prince when he was conse
crated, and that it was weU known that he had spent all these
sums in the public service. His plea was overruled. The object
was to force his resignation, and Foliot strongly (not disinterested
ly) advised him to yield ; but he would now sooner submit to
martyrdom. The following morning, having first celebrated the mass of St.
Stephen with the office beginning " Princes sat and spake against
* St. Tr. vol. i. p. 1.
9*

102 REIGN OF HENRY II.
me," he proceeded to Court, arrayed in his pontifical robes, and
bearing in his hand the archiepiscopal cross. The king, astonish
ed at this parade, retired with the barons into an inner apartment,
and was soon after foUowed by the bishops. Becket remained
alone with his attendants in calm and intrepid dignity. Henry
used the most violent language against him, in which he was join
ed by his courtiers. Bloodshed being dreaded, the bishops came
to him in a body, and Hilary of Chichester said to him in an up
braiding tone, " You were our primate, but by opposing the royal
customs you have broken your oath of fealty to the King. A per
jured archbishop has no right to our obedience." " I have," was
his only reply. The bishops seated themselves on the opposite
side of the hall, and solemn silence long prevafied. At length
the door opened, and the Earl of Leicester, at the head of the
barons, desired him to listen to his sentence. " My sentence !"
interrupted the archbishop. " Son and Sir Earl, hear me first ;
you know with what fidelity I served the King, — how reluctantly,
to please him, I accepted my present office, and in what manner
I was declared by him free from aU simUar claims. For what
happened before my consecration I ought not to answer, nor will
I. Know, moreover, that ye are my children in God ; neither law
nor reason allows you to judge your father. I, therefore decline
your tribunal, and refer my quarrel to the decision of the Pope.
To him I appeal; and shaUnow, under the protection ofthe Cath
olic Church and the apostolic see, depart." As he slowly with
drew, some courtiers threw straw at him which they picked up
from the floor, and the voice of one whom he recognised called
out to him, " Traitor !" A feeling of his ancient knightly prowess
was for a moment excited, and as soon suppressed. Turning
round he rejoined, " Were it not that my order forbids me, that
coward should repent of his insolence." At the gate the populace
received him with acclamations, and he was conducted in triumph
to his dweUing.
He then asked permission to go beyond the seas, and being told
that he should have his answer next morning, concluded that a
plan had been laid to assassinate him in the night. He pretended
that he "was going to seek sanctuary, and he had a bed prepared
for himself in a church ; but this was only to further his escape,
against which they had taken great precautions. By the help of
a disguise he eluded the vigilance of the guards stationed at the
north gate of the town, and assuming the name of " Brother
Christian," and travelling as a pilgrim, — after many adventures
and perils he reached Sandwich, and was safely landed at Grave-
lines. Forthwith he visited the King of France, who was delighted to
receive and encourage him, as an instrument to disturb the gov
ernment of the King of England. He next proceeded to Sens,
the court of Pope Alexander, whose feelings were more divided,
and who was obliged to act with more caution. The Pontiff, how-

THOMAS h BECKET. 103
ever, although he was unwilling to incur the direct hostility of
Henry, behaved with generosity to the illustrious exile who had
suffered so much for the cause of the Church. Becket having re
signed his mitre, on the ground that there had been something un-
canonical in his original election, was immediately reinstated by
him with the archiepiscopal dignity, and a secure residence was
assigned to him in the convent of Pontigny. Here he put on the
habit of a Cistercian monk, and for some years found an asylum ;
but he lived in state, and received strangers with great magnifi
cence, having ample funds from the voluntary contributions of his
admirers. The persecution he had undergone had made aU his
errors be forgotten, and he was now high in the favour of man
kind. With general applause he compared himself to our blessed
Saviour, who had been condemned by a lay tribunal, and who, he
said, " was crucified anew in the present oppressions under which
his Church laboured." He stiU pretended to be the spiritual fa
ther of the King and all the people of England ; propounded the
doctrine that kings reign solely by the authority of the Church,
and threatened to pronounce sentence of excommunication against
the King, whereby his subjects would be absolved from their alle
giance. Henry, on the other hand, sequestrated all Becket's property in
England ; banished his servants and dependants, to the number
of 400 ; suspended the payment of Peter's pence ; made overtures
for an alliance with the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, the enemy
of Alexander ; and indicated, an intention of recognising the Anti-
pope Pascal III. as the true successor of St. Peter.
The exiled Archbishop, being forced from his retreat at Pontig
ny, by a threat of Henry to confiscate the possessions r 11 (57
of aU the Cistercian abbeys in England, took shel- 1 ' '
ter some time at Sens, and afterwards removed to the city of
Rome, of which Alexander had got possession on the death of
Victor the succeeding Antipope. In this interval he wrote many
letters, which are stiU extant, to support his cause, — some ad
dressed to the Pope, some to the English bishops, and some to
Henry himself, whose heart he attempted to touch by addressing
him in a very different strain from that to which they had been
accustomed when, as boon companions, they had both rather
laughed at sacred things*
The English nation, and even the English clergy, took part with
their sovereign, and treated the primate as a factious r iifiS
and turbulent demagogue, who was looking only to *¦
gratify his own vanity and to aggrandise his own powert; but in
* Speaking of Henry's supposed persecution of the Church, he says, " the
Daughter of Zion — the Spouse of the great King — is held captive in your hand."
— Ep. Beck. lib. iv. ep. 6S.
f This appears clearly from the letters addressed to him which are preserved.
Thus writes the Bishop of Lisieux :— " Some think that your struggle does not
proceed from virtue but from pride ; that still the Chancellor in spirit, yon are

104 REIGN OF HENRY II.
the continental dominions of England there was a strong disposi
tion to regard him as a martyr and a hero, and Henry trembled for
the consequences of being put under the ban of the Church. Al
exander now could afford to support Becket more openly, and con
ferred legatine powers upon him, which rendered him more formi
dable. Had England alone been concerned, Henry might proba
bly, like his successor of his own name, have entirely thrown off
the yoke of Rome ; but he was obliged to temporise ; for the Pope
and Louis, of whom he held his fair provinces in France as liege
sovereign, were stirring up a most formidable resistance to his au
thority. The crisis was hastened by the offence taken on account of the
iicqi coronation of Henry, the King's son, by the Arch-
'¦' bishop of York, in derogation of the rights of the
see of Canterbury, and in the teeth of a papal buU enjoining that
no Enghsh prelate except the primate should officiate at this cere
mony. Henry saw with alarm that the thunder which he had so long
feared was about to burst upon him, and he was ready to resort to
any expedient which should not permanently disable him from fu
ture resistance, for the purpose of now averting the storm. Ne
gotiations were repeatedly attempted without effect ; — the King in
terms proposed always insisting on a salvo to " his royal dignity,"
— and the Archbishop on a salvo to " the honour of God," — each
of which was indignantly rejected as a cloak for treachery. Hen
ry tried to gain over the King of France to his side, by an appeal
to their common interests as sovereigns, saying, " There have
been many kings of England, some of greater, some of less au
thority than myself; there have also been many Archbishops of
Canterbury, holy and good men, and entitled to every sort of re
spect. Let Becket but act towards me with the same submission
which the greatest of his predecessors have paid to the least of
mine, and there shall be no controversy between us." Louis,
struck with this mode of putting the case, professed to condemn
the primate, but was soon again earned away by a common feel
ing of animosity to Henry.
At last it was agreed that the King of England and the Arch-
1170 1 bishop of Canterbury should have a personal inter-
J view in a spacious meadow near the town of Fere-
itviUe, on the borders of Touraine. Henry pretended to be desir-
striving that none should resist your will ; that you seek to make the diadem sub
ordinate to the Church, and that you hopo that having overcome royalty, your
power will be without limit or control." L. i. ep. 85. So the clergy in an address
to him, after ironically reciting his pretences to piety, they advise him to continue
in a course of humility and charity, and abstaining from injury and menaces, to
advance his cause by patience, meekness, and dependence on Heaven. " Study
with paternal care to feed the sheep committed to your charge, that they may have
life, peace, and security." Ibid. John of Salisbury wrote him a private letter in
a still severer strain, concluding with the words, " Take it as you please "— " vos
accipiatis ut placet," and was excommunicated for his pains.  Ep. 31.

THOMAS a BECKET. 105
ous of a cordial and permanent reconciliation, but still fostered se
cret schemes of vengeance, and privately took an oath that he
would stop short of giving the Archbishop " the kiss of peace','
which, like eating salt with an enemy among eastern nations,
would have for ever prevented him from executing or being privy
to any act of violence against him.*
However, they met with apparent cordiality. As soon as Beck
et appeared, the King galloped up with his cap in his hand, and
respectfully saluted him ; and, as if there never had been any dif
ference between them, addressed him with the easy familiarity
which had distinguished their former friendship. Henry, carrying
his politeness to an excess which might have excited the suspi*
cion of the Archbishop, exclaimed, " As for the men who have be
trayed both you and me, I will make them such return as the de
serts of traitors require." The Archbishop, probably likewise dis
sembling his real feelings, — as if- melted to submission and ten
derness, — alighted from his horse, and threw himself at the feet
of his Sovereign. But the King immediately raised him, and,
holding his stirrup, insisted that he should remount, saying, " In
short, my Lord Archbishop, let us renew our ancient affection for
each other." Then returning to his attendants, he observed, " I
find the Archbishop in the best disposition towards me ; were I
otherwise towards him, I should be the worst of men." The arti
cles agreed between the high contracting parties were, — That the
King should restore to the Archbishop the possessions of the see
of Canterbury, taking him into his grace and favour, — and in mer
cy make amends to that Church for the injury it had sustained at
the late coronation of his son : — in return for which the King was
promised love, honour, and every service which an Archbishop
could render in the Lord to his earthly Sovereign ; — that the Arch
bishop should return to England to resume the exercise of his sa
cred functions, and that the King should furnish him with a sum
of money to discharge his debts, and defray the expenses of his
journey. Henry was then asked to seal the compact with "the kiss of
peace," but he declined, — making this excuse : — "In my own coun
try I will kiss his face, hands, and feet, a hundred times ; but
now let it be postponed. To salute him in England will be
thought an act of favour and affection ; it would look like compul
sion here."
The French King construed this refusal as a proof of unextin-
* We have a lively description from an eye-witness of the effect produced upon
Henry by receiving a dispatch disclosing a new machination of the archbishop,
and we may conceive how much it must have cost him, even for a short time, to
affect moderation. " He threw his cap from his head, unfastened his belt, cloak,
and vest, scattered them: to a distance, with his own hand tore off the silk covering
from his bed, and began to gnaw pieces of straw." " Pileum de capite projecit, —
balteum discussit, pallium et vestes longius abjecit, — stratum sericeum quod erat
supra lectum manu propria removit — et coepit straminis masticare festucas." — L. 1.
ep. 44.

106 REIGN OF HENRY II.
guished resentment, and counselled Becket not to leave France ;
but the Archbishop said that " duty called him to England, what
ever perils he might encounter." After some interval, during which
the kiss of peace was studiously avoided by Henry, Becket took
leave of him with a foreboding mind, emphatically telling him he
was afraid he should see him no more. Henry exclaimed, " Do
you take me for a traitor ?" Becket added these pathetic words,
which, however he may have feigned on other occasions, he pro
bably spoke with sincerity : " Necessity obliges me, in the lowly
state to which I am reduced, to revisit my afflicted Church. I go,
Sir, with your permission, perhaps to perish for its security, unless
you protect me. But whether I live Whatever may befaU me,
may the blessing of God fall upon you and your children !"
Henry promised to meet him at the sea-coast, to supply him
there with the stipulated pecuniary aid, and to accompany him to
England; but failed in all these promises, and Becket was obliged
to borrow 300/. for the payment of his debts and expenses, from
the Archbishop of Rouen, and to embark under the superintend
ence of John of Oxford, with whom he had had a personal feud,
and who was set over him as a spy.
Finding the King stiU so hostile, he determined to make the
most vigorous use of the weapons now in his own power, and to
maintain his independence and ascendancy to the last extremity.
The Pope, before he heard of the peace of Feritville, had issued
letters of excommunication against the Archbishop of York and
the Bishops of London and Salisbury for officiating at the coro
nation of the King's son, contrary to the papal bull. Becket hav
ing received these letters, at first, for the sake of peace, had wise
ly resolved to suppress them ; but in a fit of irritation he now dis
patched them to England, before himself, by a trusty messenger,
who had instructions to elude the search for buUs from Rome,
now strictly made at all the outports, and -who succeeded in pub
lishing them at Canterbury, so as to give effect to them according
to the canon law. The three excommunicated prelates inveighed
against the Archbishop's implacable hatred of his opponents and
unquenchable thirst for agitation; they denounced him to the
young King as a person who was coming to tear the crown from
his head; and they hastened to Normandy to inflame the resent
ment and to invoke the vengeance of Henry.
Becket being informed that it would be dangerous for him to
land at Dover, where the castle was garrisoned by the King's
troops, directed his ship to Sandwich, then a port belonging to his
see, where he was sure of a good reception from his tenants.
After he had disembarked he experienced some rudeness from the
sheriff of Kent, who hastened to the spot with a band of soldiers,
and without venturing to offer any violence to him, told him that
he was entering the land with fire and sword, that he had excom
municated the Archbishop of York and two other prelates for
merely doing their duty, and that unless he took better counsel it

THOMAS a BECKET. 107
would be safer for him to remain in foreign parts. The Archbi
shop boldly asserted his right to punish the prelates for disobed
ience, to their canonical superiors, and, denying all treasonable in
tentions, expressed his resolution to defend the liberties of the
Church. His march to Canterbury was a triumphal procession. There,
to honour his return, banquets of unexampled splendour were pre
pared ; the cathedral was hung with silks and precious vestments,
and as he walked up to take possession of his throne, the notes
of the organ were drowned by the sound of trumpets, the ringing
of bells, and the shouts of the multitude, thrown into all the rap
tures of religious enthusiasm. Encouraged by this expression of
public feeling, he made a progress to London, intimating that,
under his archiepiscopal and legatine powers, he there meant to
begin his visitations on those ecclesiastics whose conduct had
been uncanonical in his absence. The dignitaries of the church,
who had taken part against him, now under great apprehension,
expostulated with him for disturbing the public tranquiUity. He
answered, " that the peace of sinners was no peace ; that the Pope
had sent a mandate ordering evil peace to be broken ; that Jeru
salem in her wealth and self-indulgence might think she was at
peace, but that the Divine vengeance was hovering over her."
He was every where greeted with the loudest acclamations of
the multitude, who believed that he had been persecuted, and
among whom a notion veiy generally prevailed that he had quar
relled with the King in standing up for the Saxon race. As he
approached Southwark the metropolis was emptied of its inhabit
ants — the clergy, the laity, men and women of aU ranks and ages
pouring forth to meet him, and celebrating with hymns of joy his
triumphant entrance.
He was very desirous of seeing Prince Henry, over whom, as
Iris pupil, he hoped to exercise great influence ;- but the Kiing's
ministers, -who carried on the government in the Prince's name,
became alarmed, and sent a peremptory order to the Archbishop
immediately to return to Canterbury, and not to march through
any towns or castles on his way back. He obeyed — travelling
privately in company with a few knights, to protect him from in
sult. When he arrived at Canterbury, meeting with many indig
nities from those connected with the government, he had a pre
sentiment of his fate : he told his clergy that the quarrel could not
now end without effusion of blood, and he wrote to the Pope that
the sword of death hung over him, but that he was ready to perish
in the cause which, however unworthy, he had been called by
Providence to support.
On Christmas day, celebrating high mass himself, and preach
ing to the people, he took occasion to say that one of their Arch
bishops' had been a martyr, and that it was possible they might
have another, but he should never flinch from his duty ; and he
concluded the service of this sacred anniversary -with pronouncing

108 REIGN OF HENRY II.
the excommunication of the three prelates, with all the energy and
fierceness which could' be engendered by religious fanaticism and
personal resentment.
On the fourth day afterwards, about two in the afternoon, en
tered abruptly the Archbishop's apartment the four knights whose
names have become so famous in the martyrdom of St. Thomas,
Reginald Fitzurse, William Tracy, Hugh de MorviUe, and Richard
Brito. They had been present at the court of Henry in Norman
dy when, on the arrival of the three excommunicated prelates and
their account of Becket's insolent proceedings in England, the
King had exclaimed : — " Of the cowards who eat my bread, is
there not one who will free me from this turbulent priest?" — Con
struing this, expression into a royal licence, or recommendation,
or command, they bound themselves by oath to return to England
and avenge their Sovereign. To avoid suspicion they travelled
by separate routes, and they met at Saltwood, near Canterbury,
the residence of Robert de Broc, baron included in the excommu
nication, to arrange their operations. Henry was not aware of
their departure, and sent other messengers to arrest Becket. The
four knights, however, having collected a large military force from
the neighbouring castles, entered the city of Canterbury, and or
dered the mayor to arm the citizens and have them ready for the
King's service. He hesitated, suspecting their design, when he
was commanded, as he valued his own safety, to keep all quiet
within the walls whatever might happen.
They were unarmed when they appeared before the Archbish
op, and seating themselves without saluting him, they first tried
to gain his submission by intimidations, and in the King's name
ordered him forthwith to absolve the excommunicated prelates.
With the greatest calmness and intrepidity he replied, that the
Pope alone could decide the case of the Archbishop of York; but
that he himself .would absolve the others, on condition that they
previously took the accustomed oath of submitting to the determi
nation of the Church. " From whom had you your archbishopric?"
demanded Reginald. " Its temporals from the King," said Becket,
" its spirituals from God and the Pope." The barons mummied,
and gnashed their teeth. Becket. stiU undaunted, said to them,
— " In vain you menace me. If all the swords in Englaud were
brandishing over my head, your terrors could not move me. Foot
to foot, you would find me fighting the battle of the Lord." It SO
happened that three of them had been in Iris serviee when he was
Chancellor, and sworn allegiance to him. Alluding to this oil'
cumstance, he added, in a tone of tenderness, " Knowing whal
has passed between you and me, I wonder that you should threat
en me m my own house." " We will do more than threaten,"
cried Reginald, fiercely,— and with his accomplices left the apart
ment. They then rushed through the hall to the fore-court, where
was stationed the band that had accompanied them, and called

THOMAS a BECKET. 109
" to arms." Reginald having put on his maU, seized an axe, and
began to batter the gate which had been shut against them.
The Archbishop's attendants were in an agony of alarm ; but
he, neither in look, tone, or gesture, betrayed the slightest symp
tom of apprehension. In this moment of suspense, the voices of
the monks singing vespers in the adjoining choir were heard, and
it being suggested that the church offered the best chance of safe
ty, Becket agreed to join the worshippers there, thinking that, at
all events, if he were murdered before the altar, his death would
be more glorious, and his memory would be held in greater vene
ration by after ages. -He then ordered the cross of Canterbury to
be carried before him, and slowly followed his friends through the
cloister. He entered the church by the north transept, and hear
ing the gates barred behind him, he ordered them to be re-opened,
saying, that the temple of God was not to be fortified like a cas
tle. He was ascending the steps of the choir when the four
knights, With twelve companions, all in complete armour, burst
into the church, their leader caUing out, " Hither, to me, ye ser
vants of the King."
As it was now dusk the Archbishop might have retreated and
nioncealed himself, for a time at least, among the crypts and. secret
passages of the building, with which he was well acquainted ;
but, undismayed, he turned to meet the assassins, foUowed by his
ei*>ss -bearer, the only one of his attendants who had not fled. A
voice was heard-^" Where is the traitor ?" Silence for a moment
prevailed ; but when Fitzurse demanded — " Where is the Arch
bishop ?" he replied, Here I am ; the Archbishop, but no traitor !
Reginald, I have granted thee many favours. What is thy object
now ? If you seek my life, let that suffice ; and I command you,
in the name of God, not to touch one of my people."
Being again told that he must instantly absolve the prelates, he
answered. " Till they make satisfaction I will not absolve them."
" Then die," said Tracy. The blow aimed at his head only slightly
Wounded him, as it was warded off by the faithful cross-bearer,
whose arm was broken by its force. The archbishop, feeling the
blood trickle down his face, joined his hands and bowed his head,
saying, " In the name of Christ, and for the defence of his
Church, I am ready to die." To mitigate the sacrilege, they wish
ed to remove him from the church before they despatched him ;
but he declared he should there meet his fate, and retaining the
same posture, desired them to execute their intentions or their or
ders, and, littering his last words, he said, " I humbly commend
my spirit to God, who gave it." He had hardly finished this
prayer when a second stroke quickly threw him on his knees, and
-a third laid him prostrate on the floor, at the foot of the altar.
There he received many blows from each of the conspirators, and
his brains were strewed upon the pavement.
Thus perished, in the fifty-third year of his age, the man who,
of aU Enghsh Chancellors since the foundation of the monarchy,
Vol. i. 10

110 REIGN OF HENRY II.
was of the loftiest ambition, of the greatest firmness of purpose,
and the most capable of making every sacrifice to a sense of duty
or for the acquisition of renown.
To the general historian it belongs to narrate the escape of the
conspirators and their subsequent destiny, — the indignation and
horror of the whole christian world when the deed was made pub-
he, — the remorse of Henry, and the humiliations to which he sub
mitted by way of penance and atonement, — together with the
permanent consequences of this memorable controversy upon reli
gion and the state. I must content myself with a short notice of
subsequent occurrences connected personally with Becket, and an
attempt at a fair estimation of his character.
The government tried to justify or paUiate the murder. The
Archbishop of York likened Thomas a Becket to Pharaoh, who
died by the Divine vengeance, as a punishment for his hardness
of heart ; and a proclamation was issued, forbidding any one to
speak of Thomas of Canterbury as a martyr : but the feelings of
men were too strong to be checked by authority ; pieces of linen
which had been dipped in his blood were preserved as relics;
from the time of his death it was believed that miracles were
worked at his tomb ; thither flocked hundreds of thousands, in
spite of the most violent threats of punishment ; at the end of
two years he was canonized at Rome, and, till the breaking out of
the Reformation, St. Thomas of Canterbury, for pilgrimages and
prayers, was the most distinguished Saint in England.
Henry VIII, when he wished to throw off the authority of the
Pope, thinking that as long as the name of St. Thomas should re
main in the calendar men would be stimulated by his example to
brave the ecclesiastical authority of the Sovereign, instructed his
Attorney- General to file a quo watranto information against him
for usurping the office of a Saint, and he was formaUy cited to
appear in court to answer the charge. Judgment of ouster would
have passed against him by default had not the King, to show his
[impartiality and great regard for the due administration of justice,
assigned him counsel at the public expense. The cause being
called, and the Attorney- General and the advocate for the accused
being fully heard, with such proofs as were offered on both sides,
sentence was pronounced, that " Thomas, sometime Archbishop
of Canterbury, had been guilty of contumacy, treason, and rebel
lion ; that his bones should be publicly burnt, to admonish the liv
ing of their duty by the punishment of the dead; and that the of
ferings made at his shrine should be forfeited to the Crown." A
proclamation foUowed, stating, that " forasmuch as it now clearly
appeared that Thomas Becket had been kiUed in a riot excited by
his own obstinacy and intemperate language, and had been after
wards canonised by the Bishop of Rome as the champion of his
usurped authority, the King's Majesty thought it expedient to de
clare to his loving subjects that he was no saint, but rather a rebel
and a traitor to his Prince, and therefore strictly charged and com-

THOMAS a BECKET. Ill
manded that he should not be esteemed or called a saint ; that aU
images and pictures of him should be destroyed, the festivals in
his honour be abolished, and his name and remembrance be eras
ed out of aU books, under pain of his Majesty's indignation and
imprisonment at his Grace's pleasure."*
But the permanent reputation of Becket must depend on the
qualities he displayed, and the actions he performed in his life
time ; not on the decrees of popes or the proclamations of kings
since his death. In considering his merits and defects, it is, above
all, requisite to guard against religious prejudices, by which he
has been elevated into a hero of almost spotless virtue, or degrad
ed into a hypocrite, stained with the crimes of ingratitude and
perjury. The early part of his career, so brilliant and so successful, is not
liable to any severe censure. His participation in the irregulari
ties of his youthful Sovereign is denied, and -when repented of
might be forgiven. AU the functions of the office of Chancellor
he is aUowed to have fulfilled most satisfactorily, and the meas
ures which he recommended as minister were just and prudent.
His military prowess and skill we cannot read of without being
dazzled ; and, with the exception of Ignatius Loyola, there is pro
bably no such striking metamorphosis of a soldier into a saint.
The grand dispute respecting his character and conduct begins
from the time when, being consecrated Archbishop, he resigned
the Great Seal. As he proved such a champion of the supremacy
of the Pope, it is perhaps not surprising that in recent times his
vituperators are bigoted Protestants, and his unqualified eulogists
are intolerant Roman Catholics.
The former contend that Becket, being in reality little better
than an infidel, had nothing in view but his own aggrandisement,
which he thought he could most promote by exalting the power of
the Church ; — that he had long aimed at the primacy, with the in
tention, as soon as he had obtained it, to trample on the Crown;
and that, to disarm the suspicion of the King, he pretended to
conform to all his notions'respecting ecclesiastical as -well as secu
lar affairs ; — that from the moment of his elevation he threw off
the mask, and did eveiy thing in his power to annoy and injure
his benefactor, as if animated by the most deadly spite against.
him ; — that he proved his want of principle by swearing to ob
serve the Constitutions of Clarendon, and immediately after
wards, regardless of his oath, infringing them himself, and stirring
up others to resist them ; — that during his banishment, though he
displayed firmness worthy of a better cause, he continued, from
selfish motives, to refuse all reasonable terms of accommodation,
and to plot against his Sovereign and his country ; — that when at
last restored, he broke the engagements into which he had enter
ed, persecuted his opponents with implacable resentment, and
* Walk. Con. iii. 385. 841. Burn. Ref. 152.

112 REIGN OE HENRY II.
showed that, according to his long-festered design, he was still
determined to make priests in the West, like Brahmins in the
East, the dominant caste, for the purpose of himself, as their lead
er, exercising absolute sway, — that he provoked his tragical end ;
— and that, although the deed of his assassins cannot be strictly
defended, there is reason to rejoice in it, as the hazards and the
evils of his daring enterprise were thus shown to be greater than
the advantages to be attained by it, — ecclesiastical encroachmerit
was effectually checked, — and no more Odos, Dunstans, Anselms,
or«Beckets appear in our annals.
On the other hand, say the undiscriminating worshippers of
Papal supremacy, — Becket having had the primacy pressed upon
him by the King for the purpose of subverting the authority of the
Church, so necessary to the maintenance of true religion, then,
for the first time, thought seriously of the duties and obligations of
this new dignity, and his eyes were at once opened to the neces
sity of a new course of fife, both for his own sake and for the
good of others. Although, like Wolsey in a subsequent age, he
might have joined in his own person all civil and spiritual power,
enjoyed ease, wealth, and pleasure, and reigned in the King's name-
he saw that such a course, however agreeable, would be sinful ; —
that great sacrifices were required from him, and that he must
thenceforth exclusively dedicate himself to the discharge of his
spiritual duties. He therefore afforded the single instance which
has ever occurred of the ChanceUorship being voluntarily resigned,
either by layman or ecclesiastic. He meditated nothing beyond
what belonged properly to his sacred office, when the King began,
the persecution against him, which only ended with his murder-
The Constitutions of Clarendon, however consonant to the doc
trines of Wickliffe, afterwards adopted by Luther, were inconsis
tent with the clear precepts of the gospel, and the privileges and
immunities conferred upon the apostles and their successors, and,
at all events, were inconsistent with established law and custom.
Tn a moment of weakness Becket promised to observe them ; but
this was to save himself from fatal violence which then threaten
ed, and at last overtook him. A forced promise is not binding,
and from this promise he was formally absolved by the Vicar of
Christ. The unfounded charges brought against him at North
ampton, and the unjust pecuniary demands then made upon him,
with the threats of personal outrage, rendered it necessary for him
to seek an asylum on the Continent, to appeal to foreign nations,
and to put himself under the protection of the common Father of
Christians. Whfie at Pontigny, Sens, and at Rome, he was al
ways willing to make any personal sacrifice for reconciliation so
that the cause of religion was safe ; but the King, under pretenee
of guarding his royal dignity, was still bent on prosecuting his
scheme for annihilating the influence of the clergy, which nothing
but the heroic courage of one man hindered him form accomplish
ing. The conditions solemnly ratified at Fereitville the King was

THOMAS a BECKET. 113
the first to violate. The excommunication of the three prelates
was in strict accordance with the canon law, which was parcel of
the law of the land ; and Becket's only chance, either of personal
safety or of preserving the liberties of the country, was then to en
force the rights which clearly belonged to his office and to his or
der. His martyrdom must be considered one of the most splendid
that has occurred since the propagation of the gospel to edify
Christians, for, not ignorant of what was prepared for him, and
being able at any time, by a slight concession, to avert his fate,
he braved the assassins whom he could not withstand, and he re
ceived the deadly wounds they inflicted upon him with a con
stancy which could only have proceeded from a fervent faith in
the promises of revelation, and the immediate aid of its divine
Author. Setting aside exaggeration, and miracle, and religious prejudice,
I must confess I am inclined to think that this last view of Becket
is not only the more merciful, but the more just. I cannot doubt
his sincerity, and almost all will agree that he believed himself to
be sincere. Let us consider the sudden effect of the touch of the
mitre on men of honour in our own time. It mttst be remembered
that by the same ardour and enthusiasm he was led to put on a
coat of mail and engage in single combat with a stalwart knight,
and afterwards to wear a shirt of hair and to submit to the disci
pline of the whip. If he bore implacable resentment, he showed
inflexible resolution in the support of what he considered a good
cause, willingly submitting to poverty, exfie, and death itself.
Both sides concur in ascribing to him brilliant talents, great ac
quirements, and dehghtful manners, which captivated alike king
and commonalty.
Some have lately thought they discovered in Becket a patriot
who took up the cause of the Saxons, and quarreUed with the
Normans in trying to obtain justice for his countrymen ; but al
though he is celebrated for his impartiality to both races while
ChanceUor, I can find nothing political in his subsequent disputes,
— which appear to me to have been purely between the civil and
spiritual authorities, and not between race and race*
We can best judge him by the large collection of his letters
which have come down to us. In these, although we should in
* Thierry, the great supporter of the notion that Becket's actions and his fate
ar e to be explained from his being the champion of the Saxon race against Nor-
man oppression, quotes (iii. 190.) from a note in Hearne's edition of William of
N ewbury : — " Willelmus Maltret percussit cum pede sanctum
Defunctum, dicens ; Pereat nunc proditor ille,
Qui regem regnumque suum turbavit, et omnes
Angligenas adversus eum consurgere fecit."
But there was no insurrection in England during Henry's reign, and the poem from
which these lines are taken, giving an exaggerated account ofthe martyrdom of St.
Thomas, is evidently the production of a, later age.
10*

114 REIGN OE HENRY 1 1.
vain look for the classical style and delicate raillery of Erasmus,
we find a vigour, an earnestness, and a reach of thought quite un
exampled in the productions of the age in which he lived. Making
us familiar with him, they explain to us the extraordinary ascend
ancy which he acquired over the minds of mankind.*

CHAPTER IV.
CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF THOMAS a BECKET TO THE
DEATH OF HENRY II.
The history of the Great Seal during the reign of Henry II. is
left in a state of much uncertainty from the time when it was re
signed in 1162 by Thomas a Becket tUl it was delivered in 1181
to Geoffrey Plantagenet, the King's natural son. In this interval
there were very powerful chief justiciars — Richard de Luci, and
Robert Earl of Leicester ; and they probably rendered the office
of Chancellor for the time of little consequence. However, we
find the names of several who are said to have held it.
First, " Joannes CanceUarius"t occurs ; but of this John we
r 1 1 „„ know not the surname, nor what other dignity he ev-
'"¦"*" ' ' er attained. Next comes Rodolphus de Warnavilla,
of whom we only know that when he was appointed he was arch
deacon of Rohan.t The third is Walter de Constantiis, who was
made Bishop of Ely. Although the last is supposed to have been
at one time ChanceUor to the King, it would appear that in the
year 1175 he only held the Great Seal as a deputy, if we may
judge from the account given us by Hoveden of an embassy to the
Earl of Flanders, in which he was joined with the famous Kan-
ulphus de Glanvil, afterwards Chief Justiciar, and the earliest wri
ter on the Law of England. On this occasion he is desoribed as
" Vice-CanceUarius."§ What share any of these ChanceUors had
in the stirring events of the time, — the framing of the Constitu
tions of Clarendon, — the deadly controversy with Becket, — the
conquest of Ireland, — the war with Scotland, — the feudal sub
jection of that country on the capture of Wilham the Scottish
King, and the continued disputes and wars between Henry and
his sons, we -shall never learn.
* See Eitzstephen, Hoveden, Quadrologus, Lord Lyttelton's History of Henry
IL, Thierry's History ofthe Norman Conquest, Epist. Sane. Thorn,; Sanctus Tho
mas Cantuariensis, ed. J. A. Giles ; and a Life of Becket in the " English Review,"
for September andTDecember 1846.
t Spel. Glos. 109. j Xd. 0r. Jm., 3,
§ Et ad audiendum mde responsum comitis (Elandrise) misit Walierum de Con
stantiis, Vice-Chancel.lae.hjm suum et Ranulpham de Glanvilla. Hoveden,
P. ii. p. 561. n. W.

J 0 H N — R 0 D 0 L P H TJ S— W A L T E R— -C HANCELLORS. 115
It is the fashion of historians down to a much later era, to ascribe
aU the acts of government, even those connected with legislation
and domestic administration, to the autocracy of the nominal chief
of the state ; but the most active sovereign could only in general
have the merit of selecting good counseUors and taking good ad
vice ; and if our sovereigns would sometimes lose credit, they
might as often be relieved from obloquy, by a disclosure of the
share which each minister had in the measures of their reign.
We now come to another ChanceUor, whose origin, career, and
character are weU known to history. In the year 1181 Henry de
livered the Great Seal to Geoffrey, his son by the fair Rosamond.*
Of all his progeny, legitimate or illegitimate, this was his favorite.
The boy was tenderly reared at Court, and as he displayed lively
parts, great pains were taken with his education. He could not
have a regular appanage, as if he had been a son ofthe Queen, but
it was thought that an ample provision might be made for him in
the Church. While yet a youth, he was appointed archdeacon of
Lincoln, and -while in the 20th year of his age, by royal mandate
he was elected bishop of that see. For a considerable time, under
favour of a papal dispensation, he enjoyed the tempqrahties, with
out having been consecrated bishop, or even admitted into holy
orders. A rebellion breaking out in 1174, he raised a large milita
ry force, took several castles, displayed great personal prowess,
and was of essential service in reducing the insergent Barons to
subjection. When Henry -was raising an army to repel an invasion of the
Scots, Geoffrey joined him, and brought, under his own banner,
140 knights raised in his bishopric, with many more men-at-arms,
well mounted and accoutred. The King received him with much
joy, and said in the hearing of a great multitude of persons who
were present at their meeting, — " My other sons, by their conduct,
have proved themselves bastards, but this alone has shown him
self to be reaUy my true and legitimate son."
Though as a soldier Geoffrey obtained reputation, he was very
deficient in his duty as a churchman, and after being seven years
a bishop, he still refused to become a priest. At last, in the year
1181, Pope Alexander III. sent a mandate to Richard, Archbishop
of Canterbury, requiring the Primate to compel him by ecclesias
tical censures no longer to defer what could not without scandal
be any longer dispensed with, or to renounce his election to the
bishopric of Lincoln.
The slender restraints then imposed on ecclesiastical dignitaries
weighed with him little, but to priestly tonsure and tunics he
would not submit ; and as in spite of all remonstrance he persisted
in sincerely saying, " Nolo episcopari," — so the see was declared
vacant and bestowed on another. This was not from any levity
of character or love of idleness, for Geoffrey had applied himself
* Orig. Jur. 1. Spel. Gloss. 109.

116 REIGN OP HENRY II.
diligently to study, and had made considerable progress in the
civU and canon law. By way of indemnity for his loss, the office
of Chancellor was conferred upon him.
Even in those days such an appointment must have been consi-
d ered a very glaring job, the young man, notwithstanding his
talents and acquirements, being entirely without experience, and
the custody of the Great Seal having important judicial duties
annexed to it. Nevertheless, he is said to have dedicated himself
to business in a very exemplary manner, and to have given consi
derable satisfaction to the public.
A doubt exists how long he remained in the office. Some ac
counts represent him as holding it during the remaining eight
years of his father's reign*, whUe there are notices of three others
having during this interval been h\ possession of the Great Seal,
— Nigel, Bishop of Ely t, Walter de BidunJ, and the before-
mentioned Walter de Constantiis. Perhaps the authorities may
be reconciled by supposing that these merely assisted as Vice-
ChanceUors, while Geoffrey remained Chancellor, enjoying the
dignity and emoluments of the office till his father's death. Ran
ulphus de Glanvil was now Chief Justiciar, and he must have
thrown into the shade all others connected with the administration
of the law. A skilful mfiitary commander, he queUed a danger
ous rebellion and gained a briUiant victory over the Scots, taking
their King prisoner ; he presided with distinguished lustre in the
Aula Regia; and he wrote a book on the law and constitution of
England, which is now read by all who wish to acquire a critical
knowledge of them as they stood in the first century after the
Conquest, before they were modified by the great charter of King
John.$ Whatever might be the qualifications of Geoffrey Plantagenet for
r 1 1 QR 1 ^s offi°e °f Chancellor, all authors are loud in his praise
•-A' ' '-" for his steady fidelity and attachment to the King, while
his brothers were constantly thwarting and annoying him, and were
often in arms against him. In 1189,near the close of this reign, the
pious Chancellor fought vahantly by his father's side in a hard-con
tested battle near Frenelles in Normandy, and the Enghsh army be
ing obliged to retreat in some disorder, he offered to keep watch at
an outpost, fatigued and spent as he was, while his father should
*This opinion is espoused by Lord Lyttelton in his History of Henry II.
t Cart. 5 Ed. 3. m. 1. \ Lei. Coll. vol. i. p. 38.
$ Glanvil not having been Chancellor, I do not feel myself at liberty to give any
detailed account of his life ; but I may be excused transcribing in a note a char
acter of him to be found in the preface to. the eighth part of Lord Coke's reports
"Et nota quod prasfatus Ranulph' de Glanvilla fuit vir prasclarissimus genere
utpote de nobili sanguine, vir insuper strenuissimus corpore, qui provectiori state
ad Terram Sanctam properavit et ibidem contra inamicos crucis Christi strenuis-
sime usque ad necem dimicavit." Coke seems to envy the glory of the crusader-
for though he himself had ''written learnedly end profoundly," his own exploits as
ex-chief justice when sheriff of Buckinghamshire, could not compare with those
of ex- chief justice Glanvil.

GEOFFREY PLANTAGENET, CHANCELLOR. 117
enjoy some repose ; but Henry would not suffer him to be his
guard with so much danger to himself.
Soon after, hearing of his father's dangerous illness at Chinon,
he hastened thither, and finding him so much oppreseed by fever
that he could not sit up in his bed, he gently raised his head and
supported it on his own bosom. Henry fetched a deep sigh, and
turning his languid eyes upon him, said: — "My dearest son, as
you have in all changes of fortune behaved yourself most duti-
fuUy aud affectionately to me, doing all that the best of sons could
do, so will I, if the mercy of God shaU permit me to recover from
this sickness, make such returns to you as the fondest of fathers
can make, and place you among the greatest and most powerful
subjects in aU my dominions. But if death should prevent my
fulfiUing this intention, may God, to whom the recompence of all
goodness belongs, re-ward you for me." — " I have no solicitude,"
replied Geoffrey, "but that you may recover and may be happy."
The King with his last breath expressed a wish that this pious
son should be provided for by his successor, — a wish that was
held sacred by the penitent Richard.
Geoffrey, dutiful to the last, attended the corpse to the nunnery
of Fontevrault, — where blood running from its mouth at the ap
proach of Richard, that generous though violent spirit, in a fit of
remorse, reproached himself as the murderer of his father.
During the latter part of the reign of Henry II. , while his son
Geoffrey was ChanceUor, all things being reduced to peace, our
legal polity is supposed to have made greater advances than it
had done from the Conquest downwards. The great regularity
in the order of proceeding, and the refinement with which ques?
tipns respecting property were treated, show that if the age was
barbarous, it produced individuals of enlarged minds and well skil-
ed in the principles of jurisprudence.
Very able men followed as Chancellors in the succeeding reigns,
but from foreign war and domestic strife little improvement was
effected by any of them for near a century afterwards.
Although there be as yet no traces of the Chancellor having a
separate court of his own, either for common law or equitable jri*-
risdjction, it is certain that in the time of Henry II. he was looked
up to as a high judicial authority; and he occasionally went the
circuit as a justice in eyre or of assize.*

CHAPTER V.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF RICHARD I.
Richard, as soon as he had attended his father's funeral, was
* Mad. Ex. p. 61. See Lord Lyttelton's Hist. iii. 479. 4 Inst. 159.

118 REIGN OF RICHARD I.
j iibq-] impatient to join the Crusade. From the arrange-
LA- • -J ments he had made for the government of the realm
in his absence, it was not convenient that Geoffrey should be con
tinued in the office of Chancellor, but an offer was made to him
of ecclesiastical preferment which he could not resist. He was
appointed Archbishop of York, and being now in France, he suf
fered himself to be consecrated to the holy office by the Archbish
op of Tours, metropolitan of Anjou. He agreed not to take pos
session of his see for three years, during which time he swore that
he would not set foot on English ground, — an oath required of him
by Richard, who had some suspicions as to his fidelity. How he
observed the oath we shall see as we proceed with the life of his
celebrated successor.
Richard's Chancellor was William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely*,
one of the most eminent men who have ever held the Great Seal.
He was a native of Beauvais in France, and of mean extraction,
but he gave early proof of extraordinary ability and address. He
first came into notice in the service of the Chancellor Geoffrey,
the son of Rosamond. Being afterwards introduced to Prince
Richard, he contrived to insinuate himself into his good graces
without incurring the suspicion of the old King, and through suc
cessive promotions in the Church he was made Bishop of Ely —
always displaying great vigour of character and capacity for busi
ness, and hitherto concealing his inordinate ambition and rapacity.
Although he had now resided many years in England he did not
understand one word of the English language ; but such -was still
the depression of every thing Anglo-Saxon, that neither in par
liament, nor in courts of justice, nor in the society of the great,
did he experience any inconvenience from this deficiency. The
King, about to set off upon his memorable expedition to the Holy
Land, not only conferred upon him the office of ChanceUor, but
made him Grand Justiciar and guardian of the realm jointly with
Hugh, Bishop of Durham! ; and that he might better insure the
public tranquillity, procured for him the authority of legate from
the Pope. Richard's great object was to deprive his brother John
of all power and influence, — being apprehensive that this Prince,
who had early displayed his faithless character and turbulent dis
position, would, in his absence, according to various prior examples
in the Norman line, enter into cabals with discontented Barons,
and aim at the Crown. But he fell into a mistake in appointing
the Bishop of Durham as a check on the power of Longchamp.
The one would bear no equal, and the other no superior.
No sooner had Richard left England on Ms voyage to the Medi
terranean than their animosities burst forth, and threw the king
dom into combustion. Longchamp^:, presumptuous in his nature,
* Or. Jur. Hoved. 375. Spel. Glos. 109.
t Hoved. 378. M. Par. in Ann. 1189.
X In the following account of the administration of Longchamp, his flight and
his subsequent career, I have chiefly followed ''¦ the History of the Norman Con-

CHANCELLOR. 119
elated by the favour which he enjoyed with his master, holding
the Great Seal, and armed with the legatine commission, refused
to share the executive power of the state with his colleague,
treated him with contumely, and, upon the show of resistance,
went so far as to arrest him, and, as the price of his liberty, ex
torted from him a resignation of the earldom of Northumberland,
and his other dignities. The King, informed of these dissensions,
ordered, by letters from Marseilles, that the Bishop should be re
instated in his offices ; but the Chancellor had still the boldness to
rgfuse compliance, on pretence that he himself -was better ac
quainted with the King's secret intentions. He proceeded to gov
ern the kingdom by his sole authority, to treat all the nobility with
arrogance, and to display his power and riches with the most invi
dious ostentation. A numerous guard was stationed at his door.
He never travelled without a body of 1500 foreign soldiers, noto
rious for their rapine and licentiousness. Nobles and knights were
proud of being admitted into his train. He sealed pubUc acts
with his own signet seal instead of the Great Seal of England.
His retinue wore the aspect of royal magnificence ; and when in
his progress through the kingdom he lodged in any monastery, his
attendants, it is said, were sufficient to devour in one night the
revenue for several years. To drown the curses of the natives,
he brought over from France, at a great expense, singers and jest
ers, who sang verses in places of public resort, declaring that the
Chancellor never had his equal in the world.
In the meanwhile he abused his power to enrich himself and
his family ; he placed his relations and friends of foreign birth in
aU posts of profit or honour, and gave them the government of
castles and cities, of which, under various pretexts, he deprived
men of the pure Norman race, spoiling them and the descendants
of the Saxon thanes with indiscriminate violence. Contempora
ry authors say, that " by reason of his rapines a knight could not
preserve his silver belt, nor a noble his gold ring, nor a lady her
necklace, nor a Jew his merchandise." He showed himself, be
sides, haughty and insolent, and he enforced submission to his
will by the severity and promptitude of his vengeance. The
King, who was obliged to winter in Sicily, and was detained in
Europe longer than the ChanceUor expected, being informed of
the arbitrary and tyrannical conduct of his minister, made a fresh
attempt to restrain his power, and sent orders appointing Walter,
Archbishop of Rouen, Wilham Marshal, Earl of Strigul, Geoffrey
Fitz-Peter, William Briewere, and Hugh Bardolf councUlors to
Longchamp, and commanding him to take no measure of impor
tance without their concurrence and approbation. But such gene
ral terror had he created by his violent conduct, that for a long
time while they did not venture to produce the King's mandate.
quest" by Thierry, who cites authorities, most of which I have examined, and
which fully support his statements. See vol. iv 40 — 52. 64 — 75.

120 REIGN OF RICHARD I .
When it was produced the ChanceUor insisted that it was a forge
ry, and he stiU exercised an uncontrolled authority over the nation.
Prince John, aware of the general discontent, and seeing with
envy the usurpations of the Chancellor, at last took
a.d. 1191.J courage t0 make head against him; and all those
who were smarting under his exactions, or who hoped to better
their condition by change, actively engaged in the party formed
for his overthrow. An open rupture broke out between those
rivals for power, on the occasion of the Chancellor's attempt tb
deprive Gerard de Camville, a Norman by race, of the office of
sheriff of the county of Lincoln, which the King had made over
to him for a sum of money. The Chancellor, who wished to be
stow this office on one of his friends, summoned CamviUe to de
liver up to him the keys of the castle of Lincoln ; but he resisted
the demand, saying that he was a liege man to Prince John, and
that he would not surrender his fief till tried and condemned in
the court of his liege lord. On this refusal the Chancellor canie
with an army to besiege the castle of Lincoln, and took it. Cafti-
viUe demanded justice from his superior and protector. By Way
of reprisals, John took possession of the royal castles of Notting
ham and TickhiU — there raised his flag, and stationed his men, de
claring, according to Hoveden, that if the ChanceUor did not de
speedy justice to Camville his vassal, he would visit him with a
rod of iron. The Chancellor quailed under his threat, and enter
ed into a treaty, by which John remained in possession of the two
castles he had taken.
The next assault upon the authority of the ChanceUor proceed
ed from his predecessor in office, Geoffrey, now Archbishop of
York. Regardless of his oath not to enter the realm of England
for three years, and of a solemn warning he received when about
to embark, he resolved to take possession of his see, and to enjoy
the benefit of any chances of farther preferment which might
open to him. The Chancellor sent armed men to seize him upon
his landing. He escaped their pursuit in disguise, and gained a
monastery in the city of Canterbury, where the monks hospitably
received him and concealed him. A report, however, getting
abroad that he had taken refuge there, the convent was surround
ed by soldiers, and the Archbishop being seized in the church,
When he was returning from celebrating mass, was shut up in the
castle of the city under the keeping of the Constable de Clare.
The violent arrest and imprisonment of an. Archbishop made a
great noise all over England, and John, thinking this a favourable
occasion for extending his own power, openly took the part of hits
captive brother. Although he had hitherto regarded Geoffrey as
an enemy, he now pretended to feel for him the most tender aflec-
tion, and with menaces he insisted on the Chancellor setting the
Archbishop at liberty. Longchamp, on account of the sacred cha
racter of his prisoner, did not venture to resist. John then wrote
to aU the Bishops and Barons to assemble at Reading; while the

CHANCELLOR. 121
ChanceUor, by other letters, forbade them to accept the invitation
of a prince whose object it was to disinherit his Sovereign. The
assembly, however, was held : John and Geoffrey met, wept, and
embraced, and the latter on his knees besought his fellow-peers
to avenge the insult which had been offered in his person to the
immunities of the Church and the right of sanctuary.
John, becoming bolder and bolder, repaired to London, there
convoked the great council of the Barons and Bishops, and accus
ed the ChanceUor before them of having grossly abused the au
thority with which the King had intrusted him. The accused had
injured and offended so many of those who were to decide his
case, that the accuser was sure of a favourable hearing.
The Chancellor was cited to appear before the Barons by a cer
tain day. He refused, and assembling a military force, marched
from Windsor, where he kept his Court, upon London, to antici
pate the re-assembling of the body -who presumed to act as his
judges. But John's men-at-arms came upon him at the gates of
the city, attacked and dispersed his foUowers, and compeUed him
in great haste to throw himself into the Tower of London, where
he shut himself up, -while the Barons and Bishops assembled in
Parliament and deliberated on his fate.
The majority of them had resolved to strike a great blow, and
to depose by their authority the man who, holding the royal com
mission, could not regularly be deprived of office without the ex
press order of the Sovereign. In this daring enterprise, they be
ing themselves Normans, were desirous of having the assistance
of the Saxon inhabitants of London, constituting the great mass
of the population. In the morning of the day appointed for their
meeting, they caused the great alarm-beU to be rung, and as the
citizens issued forth from their houses, persons stationed for the
purpose directed them to repair to St. Paul's Cathedral. The
merchants and trades-people going thither to see what was the
matter, were surprised to find assembled the grandees of the
country, the descendants of those who had conquered at Hast
ings, — with whom hitherto they had had no other relation than
that of lord and viUain. Contrary to custom, the Barons and Pre
lates gave a gracious reception to the citizens, and a temporary
equality was established among aU present. The Enghsh guess
ed as well as they could the meaning of the speeches addressed
to them in French, and there was read and explained to them a
pretended letter of the King, intimating that if the ChanceUor
should be gufity of malversation in his office, he might be depos
ed. A vote was then taken of the whole assembly, without dis
tinction of race, and the Norman heralds proclaimed "that it
pleased John, the King's brother, and aU the Bishops, Earls, and
Barons of the kingdom, and the citizens of London, that the
ChanceUor should be deposed."
It was at first thought that he would have stood a siege in the
Tower, but he was without courage at the approach of real danger,,
vol. i. 11

122 REIGN OE RICHATtD T.
and he immediately offered to capitulate. He was' fire ely allowed
to depart on condition of ¦ delivering ' up the keys Of aU the King's
castles. He was made to swear that he would not leave England
till he had done sO, and two of his brothers were detainedas hos
tages for his good faith.
He withdrew to Canterbury, under pretence of fulfilling his oath ;
but when he had remained there a few days,' he formed the resolu
tion to fly, liking better to expose his brothers to death than to de
liver up the castles, by the possession of which he hoped to "recov
er what' he had lost. He left the city on foot and in disguise, hav
ing over his own clothes a gown with great sleeves and a petticoat,
— his face being covered' by a thick veil — carrying Under' his arm
a pack of linen, and in his hand an eU measure:* In this attire,
which was that of anEriglish female pedlar of the time, theJ Chan
ceUor made for the sea-shore, and' was obliged to wait f6r the ship
in which he was to embark. He seated himself quietly on a stone
with his pack on his 'knees, and some fishermen's wives, who were
passing by, accosted him and asked' him the price of his wares ; —
tut not^nowing a single word of Enghsh, the ChanceUor made ho
reply, and shook his head, — to the great surprise of those" who
wished to become his customers. They Walked on ; "but other
women coming up, and examining the quality of the finen,*made
the same demand as the first. The pretended female pedlar" still
preserved silence, and the women repeated their questions. At
length; at his wit's end, the ChahceUor raised a loud laugh, hoping
so to escape from his embarrassment. At this laugh without'a
jest, they believed they saw before them a female out of her mind,
'and raising her veil to ascertain who she was, discovered the face
of a man of swarthy complexion, lately shaved.f Their criesof
surprize attracted the workmen of the port, who, glad to find an
object 6f sport, seised hold of the person in masquerade, drawing
him by his garments^ causing him to tumble on the ground; and
making merry with his vain- efforts to escape from themahd \o
make them comprehend' who he was. After dragging him a long
'way dver, stones and through thud, the Sailors and fishermen con
cluded by shutting him up in a dark ceUar.S ; Here he remained till
he contrived to communicate his misadventure to the agents ofthe
government. He1 was1 thdn forced to deliver up the keys of 'all
the royal castles, according to his engagement; and was permitted
freely to leave "England.
On arriving in Fiance, ihe immediately 'Tvrote to the King that
' * " Tanicafoeminefiviridi . . . cappatri habens ejusdem1c61oris . . . manicatam . . .
'peplum'm caplte . . t pannum lineUrn in mahu sinistra . . : vergam vendilofis in dex-
ftra/'-^Ho-veden. D
t ", Viderunt faciem horn in is nigram et noviter rasam "  Ibid
X (rEt facta est statim multitudo virorum ac mulierum extrahentium de capite pe-
plum et trahentium eum prostratum m terram per manicas et capiicium "—Ibid
4 '' Plurtbusque modis tnrpiter tractavit per totam villain et . . .in quodam cellario
senebroso . . . inclusit. — Ibid. ^

LONGCHAMP, CHANCELLOR. 123
Prince John, having got possession of his fortresses, was about to
usurp the throne, and pressing him immediately to return from the
Holy Land. He seems, to have convinced Richard that he him
self had asted as a good and loyal, subject, and that his struggle
with the Barqns was only in the support of the royal authority.
To his honour it is recorded that, hearing of Richard's captivity in
Germany, he repaired thither, and obtained permission to visit, in
prison, that generous master, whom the universe seemed to have
abandoned* Richard received him as a personal friend persecut
ed in his. service, and employed him in repeUing the unfounded
charge brought against him as a pretext for his detention, and in
conducting the negotiations for his liberation.
As soon as Longchamp had been subdued and exiled by John
and the Barons, the office of Chancellor was restored to Geoffrey
Plantagenet, now fuUy instaUed in his archbishopric, and he held
it till Richard's return to England, when he was finally deprived
of it. He experienced clemency to which he was not much enti
tled, considering his perfidy and breach of oath, and he seems to
have employed himself in the discharge of his ecclesiastical duties
during the remainder of this reign-
It will be convenient that I should here relate what further is
known of him as Ex- Chancellor. After the death r lig9
of Richard he was no longer suffered to live in *¦
tranquillity John seized aU his goods, and the profits of his arch
bishopric, audi Geoffrey raised a strong party against him. A
truce was established between them ; but this was of short dura
tion. John requiring for his wars, without the consent of the great
council of the nation, the tenth shilling pf what every body was
worth, this tax was resisted as iUegal by Geoffrey, who pronounc
ed sentence of excommunication on all within his diocese who
should pay it. John vowed a bitter revenge, and was proceeding
to such extremities against him that he went into voluntary exUe,
and died at a distance from his native land before the memorable
sera when the Barons at Runnymede obtained security against
unlawful taxation, and the tyranny of John was effectuaUy re
strained. But we must now return back to. Longchamp. No sooner was
Richard again in possession of the royal authority, than, disregard
ing aU the charges which were brought against his vicegerent of
abuse of authority, he re-instated him in the office of Chancellor,
and restored to him all his authority.
In 1194 a parliament was called at Nottingham. When it was
opened, Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, sat on the King's right
* Thu^ the Chancellor is supposed to have serenaded the King : —
" O Richard, O mon Roy,
L'univers t'abandonne,
Mais pour moy je garde ma foy,
Toujours fidele a ta personne."

124 REIGN OF RICHARD I.
hand, and Geoffrey Archbishop of York, on his left. But Long
champ, the ChanceUor, was present, and although only ranking ac
cording to the precedence of his see, he guided aU their delibera
tions. The session was about the usual length, viz. four days.
On the first day sentence was passed on several rebellious Barons
and sheriffs, -who were deprived of their castles and jurisdictions.
On the second day the King pronounced judgment against his
brother John, who was absent, for having, contrary to his oath of
fealty, usurped his castles, and entered into a conspiracy with the
King of France against him — when he was ordered to appear by
a certain day under pain of banishment. On the third day a sup
ply of two shillings on every ploughland was voted to the King ;
and the last day was spent in hearing and redressing grievances,
and resolving that to nullify the King's submission to the Emperor
when in captivity, he should be crowned again. This ceremony
was actually performed at Winchester.
But Longchamp, the ChanceUor, had soon to extricate the King
from a new perplexity. A calumny was propagated, and general
ly believed, that while in the East he had murdered the Marquis
of Montferrat* This charge was invented by PhUip, King of
France, Richard's great rival, with whom he was now at open war,
and much damped the zeal of his supporters, both in England and
on the Continent. All protestations and reasonable proofs of in
nocence being vain, the Chancellor forged a supposed, autograph
letter, professing to have been written by " The Old man of the
Mountain," to the Duke of Austria, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin
characters, — of which the following is a translation : —
" To Leopold, Duke of Austria, and to all princes and people of
the Christian faith, greeting. Whereas many Kings in countries
beyond the seas impute to Richard, King and Lord of England,
the death of the Marquis, I swear by the God who reigns eternally,
and by the law which we follow, that King Richard had no par
ticipation in this murder. Done at our castle of Messina, and seal
ed with our seal, Mid-September, in the year 1503 after Alexander."
This extraordinary missive was formally communicated by the
ChanceUor to foreign sovereigns, and he likewise sent copies of
it to the monks who were known to be employed in compihngthe
chronicles of the time. Its manifest falsity was not remarked in
an age when criticism and a knowledge of eastern manners had
made little progress m the north of Europe. It had a sensible
effect in weakening the imputations of the King of France among
his own subjects and it greatly encouraged those of the King of
b^fmmaculafe * ^^ ^^ chamcter was thus P™ved to
Longchamp soon after resigned the Great Seal; but Richard
* Sec the tale of the " Talisman" by Sir Thomas Rmtt «!{» -o », _* n
" History of the Western Empire," ii. 265? bcott.-Sir Robert Comyn'.

LONGCHAMP, CHANCELLOR. 125
made as much use of his counsel as ever to the day r
of his death. He was, in 1197, together with the lA' D'
Bishop of Durham, sent on an embassy to the Pope, and while
still in the public employment, he died at Poictiers in the begin
ning of the foUowing year. He certainly was a man of great energy
and abUity, and, tried by the standard of honour and morality
which prevailed in the 12th century, he probably is not to be very
severely condemned either as a Chancellor or a Bishop*
Richard appointed as his successor, Eustace, Bishop of Ely t,
who had previously been Vice-chanceUor.
In this reign we have the earhst distinct evidence of the ex
istence of the officer connected with the Great Seal, caUed indif
ferently " Custos SigiUi," " Sigillifer," and " Vice-canceUarius ;"
but in all probability the office was long before weU known. It
has been usual to consider the Great Seal as inseparable from the
person of an existing ChanceUor, and that the Keeper of the Great
Seal, from the remotest antiquity, exercised all the functions of the
ChanceUor under another title ; but, as we shall see, for many
ages to come there were often concurrently a ChanceUor and
Keeper of the Greal Seal. When the King went abroad, some
times the Chancellor accompanied him with the Great Seal, an
other seal being delivered to a Vice-chancellor, to be used for the
sealing of writs and despatch of ordinary business. At other
times the Chancellor remained at home, with the custody of the
Great Seal, and a Yice-chanceUor attended the King with another
seal while he was abroad, and acted as Secretary of State. WhUe
the King remained in England, if the ChanceUor went abroad, a
Vice-chancellor was always appointed to hold the Seal in his ab
sence ; and while the King aaid the Chancellor were both in Eng
land, it often happened that, from the sickness of the ChanceUor,
or his absence from Court on public or private business, or from
his being ignorant of law or absorbed in politics, a Vice-chancel
lor was appointed, who, as deputy, transacted all affairs connected
with the Great Seal, the patronage and profits stiU belonging to the
ChanceUor. Longchamp, while he held the office of ChanceUor, always had
Vice-chanceUors acting under him, who were intrusted with the
custody of the Great Seal. The first of these was John de Al
encon, Archdeacon of Lisieux. Then came Roger Malus Catulus,
or Malchien. Hoveden relates, that while Longchamp, the Chan
ceUor, remained in England to administer the government, Mal
chien, as Vice-chanceUor, attended Richard in Sicily, on his way
to Palestine, and was afterwards drowned near Cyprus, having the
Great Seal suspended round his neck.t It is said that the King,
* See 1 Pari. Hist. 7.
t According to Spelmam, Eustace was made Chancellor in 1190, Gloss. 100 ,
and according to Dugdale, in 1198.— Or. Jur. 5.
t This occurrence induced Lord Coke to say. that the form of conferring the office
11*

126 REIGN OF RICHARD I.
on his return, ordered aU charters that had been sealed with it to
be resealed with another seal, bearing a different impression, made
to replace it, — upon the suggestion that the lost seal might have
been misapplied, and therefore would not properly authenticate the
royal grants, — this being in reality a device to draw money to his
exhausted exchequer.
Subsequently, one "Master Bennet" was Vice-chanceUor; but
he must have been appointed in England by John and the rebel
lious Barons, or by their ChanceUor, for we find him anathemat
ised by Longchamp, who, as Bishop of Ely and Pope's legate,
could caU in the censures of the Church to aid his temporal autho
rity. In a list of those excommunicated for disobedience to the
ChanceUor, who represented the King, we find " Etiam denunc-
icamus excommunicatum Magistrum Benedictum, qui sigiUum
Domini Regis contra statutaRegis et Regni et contra prohibitionem
nostram, ferre prsesumpsit."*
When Longchamp was again Chancellor, he had for his Vice-
chanceUor one Eustace, styled " Sigilhfer," Dean of Salisbury,
who succeeded him as ChanceUor, and as Bishop of Ely. Eus
tace likewise had a Vice-chanceUor, Warine, Prior of Loches.
Eustace and Warine remained in their respective offices with
out any thing memorable occurring to them, tiU the Lion-hearted
Richard, who had gained such remown by his prodigies of valour
in the East, feU ingloriously before the little castle of Chalos ;
and, as might have been expected, they were immediately dis
missed by his successor, who had been at constant enmity with
him during his life, and even hated his memory.
We have one remarkable juridical monument of his reign — the
laws of Oleron, the foundation of the maritime jurisprudence of
modern Europe, and cited as authority at the present day on both
sides of the Atlantic. The Code is said to have been framed by
Richard himself, when on a visit to his continental dominions, but
was probably the work of Vice-chancellor Malchien, or some law
yer who had accompanied him.t
of Chaneellor was by suspending the Great Seal round the n eck of the person ap
pointed. — 4 Inst. 87.
* Hoved. P. ii. p. 707. n. 30.
t Some are now disposed to ascribe the Law of Oleron to a different author and
to a later age. Luder's Essay ; Hallam's Middle Ages; Penny Cyclopcedia, tit.
Oleron, Laws of. But I do not think that their arguments outweigh the record in
the Tower of London, and the authority of Coke, Selden, Hale, Prynne, and Black-
stone. No doubt the Code is a collection of rules and customs which had grad
ually sprung up, but I see no sufficient reason to doubt that it was compiled and
published to the word under the authority of Richard.

WALTER HUBERT, CHANCELLOR. 127

CHAPTER VI.
OP THE CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF KING JOHN.
We have now materials for an exact history of the Great Seal.
From the beginning of the reign of King John to the r ^ 1 Qg
presenttime, it has seldom been placed in the custo- '¦A'
dy of any person, even for a single day, without a memorandum
of the transfer being entered in records still extant.
This, the most worthless of Enghsh sovereigns, having usurped
the throne in derogation of the rights of Arthur, the unfortunate
son of Geoffrey his elder brother, was anxious to prop up his de
fective title by the support of the Church ; and, with that view,
he appointed as his ChanceUor Walter Hubert, Archbishop of
Canterbury, who had been for a short time Chief Justiciar, during
the stormy period of the preceding reign* While he held this
office, the monks of Canterbury had complained to the Pope that,
contrary to the canons of the church, their archbishop was a judge
in causes of blood, and that, being involved in secular affairs, he
neglected his ecclesiastical duties. The Pope, therefore, sent a
paternal remonstrance to the King, requiring him to remove the
Archbishop from all lay employments and, for the future, not to
admit him, or any priest, into any secular office.
Hubert, however, without hesitation, accepted the offer of the
ChanceUorship from John, and was in the habit of boasting of its
power and emoluments. It is related that, when he was stating
how much this office was to be preferred to any other, he was thus
rebuked by Hugh Bardolfe, an unlettered baron, — " My Lord, with
your good leave, if you would well consider the great power and
dignity of your spiritual function, you would not undertake the yoke
of lay servitude." t The office was too lucrative to be abandoned
for such a gibe, and the Archbishop, on the contrary, immediately
obtained a charter from the King which, under pretence of regu
lating, increased the fees to be taken by him and his officers.}:
* Spel. Gloss. 100. Or. Jur. 5. t Hoveden, 451.
t The reader may be amused by a translation of this curious document.
" Ordinance of ihe King concerning the Fees of the Great Seal of England.
" John, by the grace of God Kirg of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Nor
mandy, Aquitain, and Earl of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,
barons, justiciaries, sheriffs, provosts, and all bailiffs and faithful people, greeting.
Forasmuch as divine mercy has called us to the government of the kingdom of
England, which belongs to us of hereditary right, and under the unanimous assent
and favour of the clergy and people, has most mercifully exalted us to be king ; we
desire with great desire, as indeed we ought, to provide fully for tbe. liberty and free
dom of the clergy and people ; and for the honour of God and the holy church,
and the peace and tranquillity of the clergy and people, to entirely abolish bad

128 REIGN OF KING JOHN.
Hubert retained the office of ChanceUor till his death, in 1205,
but does not seem to have attended much to its duties, as he con
stantly had the assistance of Vice-chanceUors ; first of Simon
Fitz-Robert, Archdeacon of Wells, and John de Gray, Archdeacon
of Cleveland, jointly ; then of John de Brancestre, Archdeacon of
Worcester; next of Hugh Wallys, Bishop of Lincoln ; and, lastly,
of Josceline de Wells, afterwards Bishop of Bath and WeUs.
This is the most disgraceful period in the annals of England.
Arthur, the right heir to the throne, was murdered by
[ a. d. 1199.J the King] and the Enghsh were expeUed from Nor
mandy and almost the whole of the possessions in France which
had been united to the Crown since the accession of the house of
Anjou. John, upon his return after these disasters, attempted to throw
the blame of them upon the Chancellor and his other ministers in
and wicked cus.oms which have arisen either from covetousness, bad counsel, or
evil disposition of the mind.
" And forasmuch as the Seal of Richard, our illustrious brother, formerly King
of England, of good memory, in his days had fallen into that state, that for cer
tain acts pertaining to the Seal some things were received out of the usual ancient
course more from inclination than reason, to the prejudice of the regal dignity and
the liberty of the kingdom ; to wit, for letters patent of protection eighteen shillings
and fourpence were given, for which only two shillings ought to have been given,
and for simple confirmations in which nothing new is inserted, twelve marks and
five shillings were given, for which only eighteen shillings and fourpence ought to
have been given; we, for the health of the souls of ourself, of Henry, formerly king
of England, our father, of happy memory, and ofthe said King Richard, our
brother, and all our ancestors and successors, will and grant, and at the instance of
the venerable father Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury our Chancellor, do ordain
that in future times nothing shall be received by the Seal of us or our successors,
for acts, beyond what was anciently ordaided to be received for the Seal ofthe Kings
of England, and which was received for the Seal of Henry, our father, formerly
Kin°- of England, of good memory, to wit, for a charter of new infeoffment of lands,
tenements, or liberties, shall be taken one mark of gold or ten marks of silver for the
use of the Chancellor, and ontr mark of silver for the use of the Vice-chancellor, and
one mark of silver for the use of the prothonotary, five shillings for wax. For a
simple confirmation, in which nothing new is added, shall be given one mark oj
silver for the use. of the Cliancellcr one besant for the use of the Vice-chancellor, anil
one besant for the use of the prothonotary, and twelve pence for wax. Eor a sim
ple protection two shillings shall be given.
" If any one shall presume to act contrary to this onr ordinance, he shall incur
the anger of Almighty God, and of us, and every curse by which an anointed and
consecrated king can curse. Moreover, the aforesaid Archbishop of Canterbury.
our Chancellor, and all bishops who at our consecration laid hands on us, have
with our consent promulgated sentence of general excommunication against all
who shall presume to act contrary to this our ordinance. To this our ordinance
which we have made concerning our Seal, we have put that Seal in witness and
perpetual confirmation. Witness, &c.
" Given under the hand of Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, our Chancellor,
at Northampton, on the 7th day of June, in the first year of our reign." — Feed. 75.
Beyond these fees, it appears in an ancient memorial concerning the constitution of
the king's house, registered in the Red Book of the Exchequer by Alexander de
Swereford, that the Chancellor at this time had five shillings a day, besides an al
lowance of Simhel's bread, salt, wine, candles, &c. Lib. Rab fol. xxx. col. 2. The
Chancellor had also in the next reign " ad sustentationem snam et clericorum
Cancellariie Regis D. marcarum per annum."

WALTER HUBERT, CHANCELLOR. 129
England, whom he accused of remissness in not sending him pro
per supplies ; and, under pretence of a new expedition to recover
his Continental dominions, he, in the most arbitrary manner, ex
torted taxes from his subjects, which he wasted in wanton prodi
gality. On the death of Hubert, the archbishop, the office of Chancel
lor came into the King's hands *, and then the Great r 12o6
Seal remained some time in the custody of John de >¦
Brancestre, who had before acted as Vice-chanceUor, while the
King considered how he should dispose of it. To raise money for
his necessities, he at last put it up for sale. The purchaser was
one Walter de Gray, who paid down 5000 marks (equal to
61,245Z. of present money) for it during the term of his natural
life, and the grant was made out to him in due form. Under this
he actually held the Chancellorship, without interruption or dis
pute, for six years. He began by doing the duties of the office
himself t, but he afterwards had for Keepers of the seal, or Vice-
chancellors, Hugh Wallys, and Richard de Marisco, Archdeacon
of Richmond, who afterwards was himself ChanceUor.
Walter de Gray, having become, by purchase, " Keeper of the
King's Conscience," appears to have been much in his confidence,
and to have abetted him in those fatal measures which brought
the Crown of England under feudal subjection to the see of
Kome. Hugh WaUys, the Vice-chancellor, who had expressed
great zeal on the King's side, went over to the opposite faction on
receiving a favour which was intended as a reward for his fidelity.
The grand dispute had arisen respecting the appointment to the
see of Canterbury, the Pope having consecrated Langton arch
bishop, without the King's authority or privity. Langton was not
aUowed to take possession of his archiepiscopal throne, and was
obliged to reside abroad. In the mean time the see of Lincoln
became vacant, and Wallys was elected to it by tbe king's recom
mendation, on the condition that he should not recognise Langton
as archbishop. The Bishop elect desired leave to go abroad in
order to receive consecration from the Archbishop of Rouen ; but
he no sooner reached France than he hastened to Pontigny, where
Langton then resided and paid homage to him as his primate. X
It has happened in all ages of the church that ecclesiastics, on
reaching the dignity of the mitre, have preferred the interest of
their order to the ties of gratitude or the reputation of consistency,
and have speedUy forgotten the express or implied undertaking
* Hie devenit Cancellaria in manum Domini Regis post mortem H. Cantaruen-
sis Archiepiscopi, — Chart. 7 John, m 8.
t Hie recepit Dominus W. de Gray Cancellariam. And of the first charter
next following it is said, " Data per manum Walteri de Gray, iii die Octobris, anno
vii."— Chart. 7. J. n. 51.
} Hume calls this person " Hugh Wells," and describes him as chancellor" but
Wallys was his true name, and he never held the Great Seal as Chancellor. — Vol.
ii. 60.

130 REIGN OP KING JOHN.
which was the condition of their elevation. The pliant Arch
deacon, become Bishop of Lincoln, showed himself a rigid sup
porter of papal supremacy, and received consecration from Lang
ton, whom John stiU disowned: By way of punishment for his
contumacy, he was for five years deprived of the temporalities of
his bishopric. He aftewards took an active part in obtaining
Magna Charta, acting, it is to be feared, rather from revenge than
from patriotism.
r <m T Walter de Gray was still ChanceUor when the most
[a. d. 16 .] ignommious charter passed to which the Great Seal
of England has ever been appended. Pandulph, the Pope's legate,
not being satisfied with John's promise that he would acknow
ledge Langton for primate, that he would restore all the exiled
clergy and laity who had been banished on account ofthe con
test, — that he would make them fuU restitution of their goods
and compensation for aU damages, — and that every one out-
la-wed or imprisoned for his adherence to the Pope should im
mediately be received into favour, — required John to resign his
kingdom to the Church, — to put himself under the immediate
protection of the Apostolic See, — to acknowledge the Pope as his
liege lord, and to. authenticate the act by an instrument under the
Great Seal, which should be confirmed by the national council.
Accordingly, with the King's concurrence, a charter was framed in
his name, in which he declared that, " not constrained by fear, but
of his own free wiU, and by the common consent and advice of
his barons, he had for the remission of his own sins and those of
his family, resigned England and Ireland to God, to St. Peter and
St. Paul, and to Pope Innocent and his successors in the apostolic
chair ; he agreed to hold these states, as feudatory of the church
of Rome, by the annual payment of 1000 marks — 700 for Eng
land, 300 for Ireland ; and he stipulated, that if he or his succes
sors should ever presume to revoke or infringe this charter, they
should instantly, except upon admonition they repented of their
offence, forfeit all right to their dominions."
To the honour of the memory of Walter de Gray and his depu
ties, and to the credit of the nation, there is reason to believe that
the King could not find a subject in his dominions sufficiently base
to put the Great Seal to this charter, although, owing to the pres
ence of a French army, and the deplorable condition to which
public affairs had been reduced, it could not be successfully resist
ed. From an entry in the Patent RoU it appears that about this
time the Great Seal was in the King's own keeping, and we may
reasonably suppose that he affixed it to the charter with his
own hand.*
?English historians, when they would infer the feudal dependence of Scotland
on England from the homage done by William while a prisoner of war to Henry
IL, notwithstanding the release of Richard I. of any such claim, utterly forget that,
according to their reasoning, there is much more ground for contending that Eng
land is now subject to the Pope of Rome as superior; for this superiority was

WALTER &E GRAY, CHANCELLOR. 131
Lord ChanceUor de Gray now bartered his office for preferment
in the Church. He was first elected Bishop of Litchfield and
Coventry, but some obstacle arising about his consecration, he
never was in possession of this see. In 1214, however, he be-
¦ came Bishop of Worcester. He finaUy reached the dignity of
Archbishop of York, — not without difficulty, for the Chapter long
refused to elect him on the ground that he was " minus sufficiens
in literatura," notwithstanding that he had studied at the Universi
ty of Oxford, and for some years filled the office of Lord Chancel
lor. His election being at last carried, he could not for some time
obtain consecration from the Pope, who again urged the objection
of " crassa ignorantia." This was hardly denied ; but the topic
relied xipon in answer was his virgin chastity amidst the general
profligacy of churchmen. Still the scruples of His Hohness
could not be overcome without an exacted present of 10,0001.
sterling. This is said to have compeUed the Archbishop to lead,
¦ for some time, a very mean and penurious fife, and unjustly to
incur the censure of covetousness ; but having reached extreme
old age, and been archbishop forty years, he not only contributed
much to the ornamenting of the cathedral, but he annexed the
manor of Thorpe, in Yorkshire, to the archiepiscopal see, and
-bought York Place, in Westminster, of the Dominicans, which
remained the town residence of his successors tiU it was made
over, by Cardinal Wolsey, to Henry VIII.
The next ChanceUor after Walter de Gray, was r 1014.1
Richard de Marisco* Dean of Salisbury, Arch- ^A' I>' ¦¦*
deacon of Northumberland, and afterwards Bishop of Durham,
who twice held the office. His first ChanceUorship ceased in
about a year, when the King going into Poitou, Peter de Rupibus,
Bishop of Winchester, was appointed Chief Justiciar and Regent,
and the Great Seal was delivered to be held under him to Ralp
de Neville.t
The King soon returned to England, and continuing his tyran
nical and oppressive measures, the insurrection of r .
¦the Barons took place, which ended in their obtaining lA- D- * i(i-l
Magna Charta. No one witnesses it as ChanceUor, , . ,
and it does not clearly appear in whose keeping the '•A' D' 1^la-J
Great Seal then was, there being no farther entry in the records
on the subject during the rest of this reign ; but there is great rea
son to believe that it remained in the hands to Ralph de NeviUe,
' solemnly yielded by the king and the legislature; not only King John, but King
Henry 111. did homage to the pope as liege lord ; the stipulated tribute or render
as the badge of dependence was paid for ages, even by such a prince as Edward I,.
— and there has never at any time been a renunciation of the claim by the court
of Rome.
* Rot. Cart. 16 John, m. 7.
* Nomo die Octobris anno regni Domini Regis quinio decimo lileravit Magister
Ricardus de Marisco, Archidiaconus Richemundia; et Northumbrian Domino Regi
sigillurn apud Ospreng. Vicesimo secundo die Deccmbris liberatuin fuit sigillurn
apud Wrndlesor Radulpho de Nevill sub Domino Wiutoniensi Episcopo deferen-
dum. — Pat. 16 J. m. 8. n. m. 28. m. 6. n. 18.

132 REIGN OF KING JOHN.
— the NeviUes, already a powerful family, taking part with the
King, and Hugh de Neville being mentioned among the barons
who appeared on his side at Runnymede*
Whoever might then be ChanceUor or Keeper of the Great Seal,
he had nothing to do with the framing of Magna Charta. There
was no negotiation as to terms. Archbishop Langton and the in
surgent barons dictated whatever clauses they deemed desirable ;
and it is considered a great proof of their moderation and wisdom,
that they merely guarded against abuses, and introduced useful
reforms, without touching on the essential prerogatives of the
Crown. The Bishop of Winchester and the Bishop of Worcester,
who had been the King's Chief Justiciar and ChanceUor, certainly
were with him at Runnymede, and one of them might have acted
as ChanceUor on this occasion. At all events, the Great Seal was
in due form affixed either by the King personaUy, or by some one
under his authority, not only to the original, but to various copies
of the Great Charter sent to archbishops, bishops, and priors, to be
safely kept in perpetuam rei memoriam.i
From this time till his death, John could scarcely have had any
counsellors near him, and he seems merely to have acted accord
ing to the impulses of his own capricious mind ; aU regular gov
ernment must have been at an end, and the administration of jus
tice entirely suspended. We may, therefore, consider the office
of Chancellor as in abeyance till the autumn of the following year,
when John, after a long agony of body and spirit, closed his wicked
and disgraceful career.
The Chancellors during this reign did nothing to be entitled to
, ipiri the gratitude of posterity, and were not unworthy of
lA- D- -1 themaster whom they served. The guardians of law
were the feudal barons, assisted by some enlightened churchmen,
and by their efforts the doctrine of resistance to lawless tyranny
was fully established in England, and the rights of all classes of
the people were defined and consolidated.
We here reach a remarkable sera in our constitutional history.
National councils had met from the most remote times ; but to the
end of this reign their acts, not being preserved on record, are sup
posed to form a part of the lex non scripta, or common law.f Now
begins the distinction between common and statute law, and hence
forth we can distinctly trace the changes which our juridical sys
tem has undergone. These changes were generally introduced by
the Chancellor for the time being ; and I shall hereafter consider
it my duty to notice them in each successive reign.
* This was after the famous fine paid by his wife to the king, of 200 hens, that
she might be allowed to sleep with Ralph one night."— Madd. Exch. 326.
t 4 Inst. Proeme. Some of them arc still extant. See Bl. Ed. of Charters, p.
303. X It was in the interval between the Conquest and the end of the reign of King
John, that what we call the Common Law of England, which differs essentially
from the Anglo-Saxon law, must have been framed —See Hallam's Middle Ages,
ii. 122.

RICHARD DB MARISCO, CHANCELLOR. 138

CHAPTER VII.
chancellors during the reign of HENRY III. TILL the appoint
ment OF QUEEN ELEANOR AS LADY KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL.
Henry III. on his accession, being still a child, the valiant Earl
of Pembroke, who had held the office of Mareschal r 1015 i
at the conclusion of the late reign, was elected Pro- *¦ J
tectorwith royal authority, and he appointed Richard de Marisco
ChanceUor* The conduct of these two men was wise and con
ciliatory. They immediately summoned a parliament, in Which
the Great Charter, with a few alterations, was confirmed in the
name of the infant sovereign.
For three years aU grants passed under the seal of the Protec
tor, although in the King's name.t A new Great Seal was then
madef, hut that it might not be abused to the King's disherison,
an act was passed that " no charter or letters patent of confirma
tion, alienation, sale, or grant of any thing in perpetuity, -should be
sealed with the King's Great Seal until his full age ; and that if
any such were sealed with that seal they should be void." In the
ninth year of his reign the Great Charter was again confirmed, as
it now appears at the head of the statute law of England.
De Marisco had for his Vice-chancellor Ralph de NeviUe, an
unprincipled man, who was constantly intriguing against him, and
finally supplanted him.
In the year 1226, a national council was held at Oxford, at
which, contrary to the advice of the Chancellor, and by the insti
gation of Hubert de Burgh and De Neville, the King, after declar
ing himself, resolved to take the management of pubhc affairs into
his own hands, canceUed and annulled the Great Charter and the
Charter of the Forest, which he had previously confirmed and di
rected to be observed throughout the kingdom, — now aUeging that
they were invalid, having been granted during his minority, when
there was no power in his own person or his seal to infringe the
prerogatives of the Crown.
This was foUowed up by another arbitrary act, with a view to
fill the treasury, for which a precedent in Richard's reign was cited.
AU persons enjoying liberties and privileges were required to take
a fresh grant under the Great Seal, the King being now of age,
and they were compeUed to pay for these renewals according to
the extortionate discretion of the Justiciar and the Vice-chanceUor,
who were the authors of the measure.
The insolence, of Vice-chanceUor NeviUe, backed by Hubert de
* Pat. Rol. 3 H. 3. m. 14. Spel. Gloss. 100. Or. Jur. .8.
t " In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras sigillo comitis mariscalli rectoris
nostri sigillatas, quia nondum sigillurn habuimus, vobis mittimus, teste Wu.likl,-
mo comite Mariscallo." — 1 Hale's Pleas of the Crown, ch. xvi.
X Claus. 3 H. 3. m. 14. hie incepit sigillurn regis currere.
VOL. I. 12

134 REIGN OE HENRY III.
Burgh who was now rising rapidly to the uncontroUed power he
afterwards possessed, grew to such a pitch, that he entirely, super
seded De Marisco in aU his functions, and in writing to him styled
him merely " Bishop of Durham," without deigning to give him
his title of " ChanceUor." _
This conduct drew forth the foUowing reprimand:—
-' Richard by the grace of God Bishop of Durham, ChanceUor
of our Lord the King, to his beloved Ralph de NeviUe, Dean of
Lichfield, greeting. It is marveUous in our eyes, and it must be a
subject of general astonishment, that in your letters you have
omitted to address us by the title of ' ChanceUor,' since you must
be weU aware that we were solemnly appointed to that office, and
that by God's grace we are still resolved to enjoy its powers and
pre-eminence, the attempts of our enemies recoiling upon them
selves, and in no respect shaking our constancy. However much
they may strive to partition me, I am resolved to remain entire.
" Know, that in letters with which I have been lately favoured
from our lord the Pope and several of his cardinals, they have all
saluted me by the title which you suppress, and you are bound to
foUow, or rather to worship their footsteps.
" Be advised then by me for the future to act a discreeter part,
and having a proper respect for others when you write to them,
give them the appellations of honour to which they are entitled.
Reverence for the law requires that every one should be caUed by
the name of his dignity. Accius the poet, being addressed at sup
per by his own proper name, brought his action of damages*
" We might consider this suppression of our title by you as a
premeditated injury, and act accordingly ; but we are contented
with this remonstrance forthe present, in the hope of your amend
ment. Farewell."!
* See " Rhetoricorum ad Herennium," lib. i. 14, where the case being put that
' the fact is admitted and the law is disputed," Cicero, or whoever the author may
be, gives this illustration : " Mimus quidam nominatim Accium poetam compellavit
in scena : cum eo Accius iujuriarum agit : hie nihil aliud defendit, nisi licere nomi-
nari eum, cujus nomine scripta dentur agenda." The Chancellor has changed
" scena " into " coenaculo." " Scena cum eo " had, probably, been first turned into
¦' scoenaculo." This is a specimen of the perils to which manuscript literature is
exposed. However, the familiarity of the Mediaeval writers, from Bede downwards,
with the Latin classics is often very striking.
t " Ricardus Dei gratia Dunelmensis Episcopus Domini Regis Cancellarius di-
lecto suo Radulpho de Neville Decano Lichefeldensi Salutem. Mirabile fuit in
oculis nostris et satis admirari dignum vos nomen Cancellarii in Uteris vestris no
bis destinatis suppressisse ; cum experientiam vestram non lateat nee conscientiam
vestram latere debeat, nos dicta; dignitatis officio fuisse et esse sollempniter assig-
natos, ejusdem prserogativse preeminentia gratia Dei ulterius gavisuros, oblatran-
tium morsibus in se ipsos redeuntibus, et nostri constantiam in nullo contaminan-
tibus. Quia quid me dimidiant integer esse volo. Dominus autem Papa, et Car-
dinales sui quamplures, nos pridie literarum suarum beneficiis memoratae dignita
tis appellatione minus suppressa gratia sui visitarunt, et vos eorum non solum e-
qui'sed potius adorare vestigia tenemini. Et de consilio nostro de castero non n-
tercepto discretion judicio teneamini, reverencia locum suum decenter etiam sorti-
ta inter csetera attribute persona? de jure, et ratione convenientia nequaquam in li-

DE NEVILLE, CHANCELLOR. 16b
If any such hope was really entertained it was disappointed.
De NevUle not only did aU the duties of Chancellor, but took
every opportunity of insulting his superior, and refused to give
him any account of fees received. De Marisco, finding that he
could obtain no redress, sent in the long-wished resignation, and
titired to his diocese, where he soon after died.J
The title of ChanceUor was conferred on De Ne- r 12g„ ,
ville, who had for some time enjoyed the powers 1 ' '
and the profits of the office.*
This ambitious man was now also Bishop of Chichester, and
was bent upon engrossing the highest civil and ecclesiastical dig
nities. That he might be secure in the office of ChanceUor
against such acts as he himself had practised, he obtained a char
ter from the King, dated the 12th of February, in the 1 1th year of
the reign, " granting and confirming to him the King's Chancery,
to hold during his whole life, with aU the issues, liberties, and
other things thereto belonging, as freely, quietly, entirely, and
honourably as the ChanceUors of former Kings, his predecessors.
held the same."
Four years after he received a renewal and confirmation of this
grant, " with power that he might bear and keep the r 1991
Seal, either by himself in person as long as he pleas- '¦A' D
ed, or by some other discreet, sufficient, and fit assignee ; which
assignee should be sworn to the King for his faithful service for
the true and faithful keeping of the said Seal, in the room of the
said Ralph, before receiving it into his custody ; and if such as
signee died, or became professed in religion, or should be put out
for any reasonable cause, either by the King or the ChanceUor, or
if the assignee refused to keep the Seal any longer, then the
Chancellor, in the room of such assignee, was to substitute some
other discreet, sufficient, and fit person, who should be sworn to
the King for his faithful service, in like manner as the first as
signee was before he received the Seal into his keeping."t For
some reason, which we do not understand, this grant was twice
teris vestiis exterminata. Legis enim reverencia est quemvis nomine dignitatis
nuncupare, et Accium Poetam in coenaculo proprio nomine compellatum injuria-
ruru egisse. Et nos sepedictas suppressionis occasione licet condigna et consimili
ratione injuriarum agere possimus in prsesentiam dignum duximns sub expecta-
tione melioris subticere Valete." — Ex Orig. in Turr. Lond.
t He was interred in his own cathedral, where a monument was erected to his
memory with the following curious epitaph : —

Culminis qui cupi
Et sedata si
Qui populos regi
Quod mors immi
Vobis prseposi
Quod sum vos eri
* Rot. Cart. 11 Hen. 3.

laudes pompasque sui
si me pensare veli
memore super omnia si
non parcit honore poti
similis fueram bene sci
tad me currendo veni

tis.

t This is an exact translation of the clause giving a power to appoint a deputy,
which shows that the multiplication of words in legal instruments is not a very
modern invention.

13& REIGN OF HENRY III.
renewed, nearly in the same words. According to Matthew Paris,
these grants were confirmed in Parhament, so that the Chan
cellor was not to be deposed from the custody of the Seal un
less it were so ordained by the consent and advice of the whole
realm.* De Neville's cupidity was not yet satisfied, and in the eigh-
r 1 2SS 1 teentn Year °f tne reign> the King " granted and
LA' D' 'J confirmed for himself and his heirs to Ralph Bishop
of Chichester, then his Chancellor of England, the Chancellor
ship of Ireland, to hold during the life of the Chancellor, with all
the appurtenances, liberties, and free customs to the said Chancel
lorship of Ireland belonging. And the King sent a writ patent,
dated at Gloucester the 21st May, in the eighteenth year of his
reign, to Maurice Fitzgerald, his Justiciar of Ireland, reciting the
said grant of the Chancellorship of Ireland,, and ordering " that
G. de TurviUe, Archdeacon of Dublin, should be admitted Vice-
Chancellor, the Chancellor having deputed him thereto."! This,
I believe, is the only instance of the office of Chancellor of Eng
land and ChanceUor of Ireland being held at the same time by
the same individual.
Neville for a while enjoyed the additional dignity of Guardian
of the realm. The King, going into Gascony with Hubert de
Burgh, and taking the Great Seal with him, appointed the Chan
cellor and Stephen de Segrave to govern the kingdom during his
absence, directing aU writs and grants to be sealed with another
seal, which he gave into the Chancellor's keeping.^
This insatiable lover of preferment stUl longed for higher eccle
siastical dignity, and had nearly reached the summit of his ambi
tion, for, upon a vacancy in the see of Canterbury, he was elect
ed Archbishop ; but the Pope thought him too much attached to
the Crown by his civU offices, and assumed to himself the power
of annulling the election. In the hope of better success by bri
bery another time, the Chancellor went on amassing immense
wealth by the plunder of England and Ireland.
Hubert de Burgh was no check on his rapacity, for the Chief
Justiciar had obtained a similar grant for Ufe of his own office, al
though it had hitherto been always held during pleasure. His
grant likewise was confirmed in Parliament ; and, to support these
corrupt jobs, the plausible maxim was relied upon, that judges
ought to be independent of the Crown.
But little respect was paid to charters or acts of parliament
making judges for life when the opposite faction prevailed, and
Peter de Rupibus or des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, at the head
of it, succeeded to absolute power in the name of the feeble
Henry.
rZZZl^lcZ^0™*™ ab 6JUS BigilU custodia «" '°ti- «H o^i-
t Rot. Cart. 17 Hen. 3. m. 8. j Pat. u Hen_ 3 m 3

DE NEVILLE, CHANCELLOR. 137
As soon as this revolution was accomplished, an attempt was
made to remove De NeviUe from his office, and the r ios^ 1
Great Seal was demanded from him in the King's LA' '
name; but he refused to deliver it up, aUeging, that as he had re
ceived it from the common council of the realm, he could not re
sign it without theirauthority.*
Sometime after this the ChanceUor was elected by the monks
of Winchester bishop of that see, in preference to the King's half-
brother, who was a candidate for it on the court interest. Here
upon, the King's indignation being beyond control, he bitterly re
proached both the ChanceUor and the monks ; he banished the
ChanceUor from court, and forcibly taking possession of the
Great Seal, deUvered it into the custody of Geoffrey, a Tem
plar, and John de Lexton.! De NeviUe, residing in his diocese,
retained tbe title of ChanceUor, and the emoluments of the
office. He was then summoned to return to court and to perform his
official duties ; but he refused, as his enemies had a complete as
cendancy there, and he felt that, although he might as a priest be
safe from personal violence, he must be exposed to perpetual mor
tification and insult. For this contumacy he was superseded.
He was succeeded, if not by a very learned or able, by a very
honest man, " Simon the Norman," who was celebrated among
the few who have lost the office of ChanceUor by refusing to
comply with the royal wiU, and to do an unconstitutional act. He
was a great favourite at court, and seemed likely to have a long
official career, but is said to have incurred the King's displeasure
(more probably Queen Eleanor's) because he would not put the
Great Seal to a grant of fourpence on every sack of wool to the
Earl of Flanders, the Queen's uncle. He was too good for the
times in which he lived, and we hear no more of him, except that
he was '• expeUed from court."$
The Great Seal was then sent into the temporary keeping of
Richard Abbot of Evesham : but before a new ChanceUor was
appointed a sudden counter-revolution took place at court. Hubert
de Burgh, who, on his disgrace, had been obliged to take sanctu
ary in a church, and, being dragged thence by the King's orders,
had been confined in the castle of Devizes, — contrived to make
his escape, — immediately found himself at the head of a great
confederation, — put all his enemies to flight, and was once more
* M. Par. 294. 319.
t " Cum autem videret Rex, iterum instantiam precum suarum effectu caruisse.
justse postulationi monachorum adversando, multa convitia congessit in eundem
Episcopum ; dicens eum impetuosum, iracundurn, perversum ; vocans omnes fa-
tuos, qui eum in Episcopum postularunt. Insuper sigillurn suum quod idem Epis
copus universitatem regni receperat custodiendum Rex violenter abstulit et fratri
Salfrido Templario, et Johanni de Lexirsbuna commisit bajulandum ; emolumen
ts tamen ad Cancellariam spectantibus Episcopo quasi Cancellario redditis et as-
signatis." — M. Paris, 320.
X Spel. Gloss. 10. M. Par. 320. 12*

138 REIGN OE HENRY III.
lord of the ascendant, — although he declined to resume his own
office, thinking that he could irregularly enjoy more power with
out it. By his influence, the Great Seal was restored to De Ne
viUe, who continued in the undisturbed possession of the office of
Chancellor tiU his death. Notwithstanding increasing infirmities,
he was afraid to employ a Vice-chanceUor, lest he should be the
victim of the same poficy which he had practised against his pre
decessor De Marisco. He expired in November, 1244, in his epis
copal palace, which he had built in Chancery Lane, now the site
of Lincoln's Inn.*
Notwithstanding the unscrupulous means he employed to ad
vance himself, and the rapacity of which he was guUty, he is said
to have made a good judge. Matthew Paris, in relating the man
ner in which the Great Seal was forcibly taken from ham, speaks
of him as one " who long irreproachably discharged the duties of
his officef," and afterwards warmly praises him for his speedy and
impartial administration of justice to all ranks, and more especially
to the poor.t
Under the presidency of De NeviUe, in the twentieth year of
the King's reign, was held the famous parliament at Merton Abbey.
in Surrey, where he was overruled upon a proposal brought for
ward, " that children born out of wedlock should be rendered le
gitimate by the subsequent marriage of their parents." AU the
prelates present were in support of the measure ; but aU the earls
and barons with one voice answered, " We will not change the
laws of England hitherto used and approved."^
Shortly before De NeviUe's death, a national assembly had been .
summoned to meet at Westminster for the purpose of obtaining a
pecuniary aid. But the bishops and the barons took time to con
sider, and the result of their deliberations was to give to the King
a statement of grievances, which if he would redress, the aid re
quired should be granted to him. The chief grievance was, that
* " Venerabilis Pater Episcopus Cicestrensis Redulphus de Neville, Cancellarins
Angliae, vir per omnia laudabilis, et immota columna in regni negotiis, fidelitatis
liondini m nobili palacio suo, quod a fundamentis non procul a Novo Templo con-
struxerat vitam temporalem terminavit, perpetuam adepturus."— M. Par a d
1244. Dug. Or. Jur. 230. .»¦¦»¦
" Qui iireprehensibiliter officium diu ante administraverat."— M Par 328
J ™„ Pw' de.Ne^!Ile 9ui. em EeSis fidelissimus Cancellarius et inconcussa
indXte^M Par^Sl!?™ 3U™' ^'^ PauPeribus> ™^ juste reddens e'
§ We have not a list of the lords spiritual and temporal at this parliament to
ascertain their comparative numbers : but we have such « u,T J ??,£= . lament' *°
to and present at various subsequent' par^i^^X" ^ ZSvevs
sometimes considerably outnumbered the temporal; and th difficulty Parses X
KVnX^^^^^^
ing of laws, so that although the\i7hop an mitre IzZl^ZV *° ^ ""*"
rous, they Could not carry a law against^ wilUf fhela^ Z! baro™" "^

RANULPH BRITON, CHANCELLOR. 139
by the King's interference with the Great Seal the course of justice
had been interrupted, and they therefore desired that both the
ChanceUor and Justices should be elected "per solemnem et uni-
versalem omnium convocationem et liberum assensum," and that, if
upon any occasion the King shoidd take his Seal away from the
ChanceUor, whatever might be sealed with it should Jie consider
ed void and of none effect tiU it should be re-delivered to the
Chancellor. The King negatived the petition, and would go no further than
to promise that he would amend any thing he might find amiss.
This refusal raised such a storm, that, to quiet it, he was obliged
to grant a charter, by which he agreed that the ChanceUor should
be elected by the common consent of the great council. But this
was soon disregarded ; tor popular election was found quite as bad
as appointment by court favour or corruption, and the complaints
against the venality and extortion of the Chancery were louder
than before*
A rapid succession of Chancellors followed during the remain
der of this reign, few of them much distinguished for learning
or ability; and the personal contests in which they were engaged
were of no permanent interest. We shall therefore do little more
than enumerate their names. " History," says Hume, "being a
collection of facts which are multiplying without end, is obliged
to adopt arts of abridgment, — to retain the more material events,
and to drop all the minute circumstances -which are only interest
ing during the time, or to the persons engaged in the transactions.
This truth is no where more evident than with regard to the reign
of Henry III. What mortal could have patience to write or read
a long detail of such frivolous events as those with which it is
fiUed, or attend to a tedious narrative which would foUow, through
a series of fifty-six years, the caprices and weaknesses of so
mean a prince ? " We must be consoled by the reflection that we
are uow approaching the period when our representative constitu
tion was formed, and the administration of justice was established
on the basis upon which they remained through nearly six cen
turies to our own time.
The next Chancellor was Ranulph Briton, Bishop of Bath
and WeUs, of whom we know little, except that almost immedU
ately after he received the Great Seal, he is said to have died of
apoplexy, — without any insinuation that his days were shortened
by remorse at having deserted his party in agreeing to accept it.
He is represented likewise as having been Chancellor to the
Queen, an office I do not find mentioned elsewhere, the Queen
Consqrt being considered sufficiently protected by being privi
leged as a feme sole, and having a right to sue by her attorney -
general.-f *M. Par. 564. DIad. Ex. 43.
t " Hamulus Brito Regi et Regime Cancellarius lethali apoplexia corruit. M.

140 REIGN OE HENRY III.
He was succeeded by Silvester de Everdon*,w1io had been
the King's chaplain and Vice-chanceUor, and who
[a. d. 1244. J very. goon retire(j from state affairs against the wishes
of the King, being elected Bishop of Carlisle, and choosing to de
vote himself to the superintendence of this remote see.
Next came John Maunsel-t, who held the office of Lord Chan-
, ceUor for nearly two years. He had gained some
[a.d. 1^4o.J distinction as an ecclesiastical judge while Chancel
lor to the Bishop of London. While he held the Great Seal, he
was promoted to be provost of Beverley ; but he does not seem to
have obtained any farther preferment. This could not have
arisen from the want of courtly compliance ; for it was in his time
that the dispensing power was first practised by a King of Eng
land since the Conquest, and he introduced the non obstanate
clause into grants and patents. The ChanceUor might have urged
by way of extenuation, that till this reign the prerogative could
hardly be said to be under the restraint of law. The novelty
being objected to, the defence actuaUy made was, "that the Pope
exercised a dispensing power, and why might not the King imit
ate his example ? " — which made Thurkesley, one of the King's
justices, exclaim, " Alas, what times are we fallen into? Behold,
the civil Court is corrupted in imitation of the ecclesiastical, and
the river is poisoned from that fountain." These irregularities
becoming more grievous, they were made the subject of solemn
remonstrance to the King by the great men assembled in Parlia
ment, who, complaining of the conduct of the ChanceUor, de-
cired " that such a Chancellor might be chosen as should fix the
state of the kingdom on its old basis." The King promised " that
he would amend what he had heard was amiss," but did not far
ther attend to the remonstrance.
If Maunsel did not reach the mitre, he was a considerable plu
ralist, as he is computed to have held at once 700 ecclesiastical
livings, having, I presume, presented himself to all that feU vac
ant, and were in the gift of the Crown, while he was Chancellor.
Matthew Paris observes of him, that "it may be doubted whether
he was either a wise or a good man who could burthen his con
science with the care of so many souls."$
f a d 1249 1 JoHN DE Lexington, who had been entrusted with
the custody of the Great Seal during his absence on
an embassy, succeeded him as Chancellor^ and continued in the
office four years, having for his keepers of the Seal Peter de Ri-
valhs and Wilham de Kilkenny, Archdeacon of Coventry.
Great disputes now arose respecting the King's partiality to
foreigners, and the national discontents were loud and deep. Yet
Paris, p. 719. n. 40. Spelman doubts whether he was more than Keeper of the
Great Seal under De Neville. — Gloss. 110.
* Rot Pat. 29 Hen. 3. m. 20. t Rot. Pat. 31 Hen. 3. m. 2.
X M. Pans, 856. § Eot. Ciaug -33 Hen g m %

LADY KEEPER QUEEN ELEANOR. 141
the Chancellor at first was not blamed as author of the bad meas -
ures of the government; and, on the contrary, regret was express
ed that he was not more consulted. In an answer by the Parlia
ment to a demand of the King for supplies, they complained,
among many other grievances, " that he had neither ChanceUor,
Chief Justiciar, nor Treasurer in his council, as he ought to have,
and as his most noble predecessors had before him." — " The King,
when he heard all this, was much confounded within himself, and
ashamed," says M. Paris, "because he knew it all to be very true.''
The Parliament obtaining no redress, afterwards petitioned for
the removal of the present ChanceUor, Chief Justiciar, and Treas
urer, and the appointment of others deserving to be employed and
trusted. This roused the indignation ofthe King, who said, " The servant
is not above his lord, nor the disciple above his master ; and what
is your King more than your servant, if he is to obey your com
mands? Therefore my resolution is neither to remove the Chan
cellor, Justiciar, nor the treasurer at your pleasure, nor wiU I ap
point any other." The Barons unanimously replied, that their pe
tition being refused, they would no longer impoverish themselves
to enrich foreigners, and the Parliament being dissolved without
any supply, the King was obliged to raise money by the sale of
his plate and jewels.*
Lexington continued Chancellor till he was succeeded by a
Lady Keeper.

CHAPTER VIII.
LIFE OF QUEEN ELEANOR, LADY KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL,
In the summer of the year 1253 King Henry, r „
being about to lead an expedition into Gascony to ^A' D' ^""'•J
queU an insurrection in that province, appointed . Queen Eleanor
Lady Keeper of the Great Seal during his absence, with this
declaration — "that if any thing which might turn to the detri
ment of the Crown or realm was sealed in the King's name whilst
he continued out of the realm with any other seal, it should be
utterly void." The Queen was to act with the advice of Rich
ard Earl of Cornwall, the Ring's brother, and others of his council.!
* 1 Pari. Hist. 23. 25.
t The commission to her as " Ladt Keeper'' is extant, and curious. " De
Magno Sigillo commissio. Rex omnibus, &c, salutem. Noverit universitas vestra
quod Nos in Vasconium profiscentes dimisimus Magnum Sigillurn nostrum in
custodia dilectse Regina? nostra sub sigillo nostro privato et sigillis dilecti fratris et
fidelis nostri Ricardi Comitis Cornubise et Quorundum aliorum de consilio nostro ;
tali conditione adjecta quod si aliquid signatum fuerit nomine nostro, dum extra

142 REIGN OF HENRY III.
She accordingly held the office nearly a whole year, performing
all its duties, as weU judicial as ministerial. I am thus bound to
include her in the list of " ChanceUors and Keepers of the Great
Seal," whose fives I have undertaken to delineate.
Eleanor was the second daughter of Berenger, Count of Prov
ence, and his wife Beatrice of Savoy. From infancy she was
celebrated for her wit and her beauty. While only thirteen years
old she had written an heroic poem in the provencal tongue, and
it was sung by troubadours, who added verses of their own, prais
ing the unparalleled charms of " Alienora la bella."
In the year 1235 Henry III. had agreed to marry Joanna, a
daughter of the Count de Ponthieu, but broke off the match on
hearing so much of the attractions of Eleanor of Provence, and
sent an embassy to solicit her to share his throne. He would trust
no layman on such a delicate mission, but chose for his ambassa
dors four sober priests — the Bishops of Ely and Lincoln, the
Master of the Temple, and the Prior of Harle. After some diffi
culties about dower had been surmounted, the contract was joy-
fuUy signed, although Henry was more than double the age of the
" Infanta;" — and she was delivered, with all due solemnity, to the
very reverend plenipotentiaries.
The royal bride began her journey to England, attended by all
the chivalry and beauty of the south of France, " and foUowed
by a stately train of nobles, demoiselles, minstrels, and jongleurs."
Having been feasted with great distinction by Theobald King of
Navarre, himself a poet, and welcomed, on crossing the French
frontier, by her elder sister, Queen of St. Louis, she landed safe
ly at Dover, and, on the 4th of January, 1236, she was united to
Henry, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, before she had complet
ed her fourteenth year*
We have the following description of her from Piers of Lang-
toft :— " Henry owre Kynge at Westmonster tuke to wyfe
Th' Earle's daughter of Provence the fayrest Maye in life,
Her name Elinore of gentle nurture
Beyonde the sea there was no suche creature."
The contemporary chronicles are fiUed with accounts of the fes
tivities with which she was received in the City of London, and
the jewels and rich dresses which she wore at her coronation—
particularly of the wedding present of her sister, the Queen Jof
France— a large silver peacock, whose train was set with sap
phires and pearls, and other precious stones, wrought with silver
and gold, used as a reservoir for sweet waters, which were forced
out of its beak into a chased silver basin for the use of the guests
at the banquet.
regnum A.nglia3 fuerimus, alio sigillo quam illo, quod vergere poterit in corona
nostra, vel regni nostri detrimentum vel diminutionem, nulling sit moment etviribus
careat omnino." — T. &c. pat. 37 H. 3. m. 8.
* Matthew of Westminster, p. 295.

LADY KEEPER QUEEN ELEANOR. 143
Although Eleanor conducted herself with great personal propri
ety at the Enghsh court, her popularity was short-lived. Unfortu
nately she was accompanied by an immense number of relations
and countrymen,— and the King's half-brothers, sprung from his
mother's second marriage with the Count de la Marche, coming
over soon after and obtaining great preferment, it was said that
" no one could prosper in England but a Provencal or a Poicte-
vien." She enriched one uncle, Peter of Savoy, by a large grant of
land between London and Westminster, a part of which still
bears his name ; and for Boniface, another uncle, she obtained the
Archbishopric of Canterbury by writing, with her own hand, a
very elegant epistle in his behalf, " taking upon herself," indig
nantly says Matthew of Westminster, " for no other reason than
his being of kin to her, to urge the suit of this unfit candidate in
the warmest manner ; and so my lord the Pope named to the pri
macy this man, who had been chosen by a woman !"
She likewise soon commenced an unextinguishable feud with
the citizens of London, by requiring that all vessels freighted with
corn, wool, or any valuable cargo navigating the Thames, should
unlade at her hithe or quay caUed " Queenhithe," where she levi
ed an excessive tax upon them, which she claimed to be due to
the Queen-consort of England.
In spite of such extortions, so poor were she and her husband by
their largesses to foreigners*, that they ceased to put on their roy
al robes, and unable to bear the expense of keeping a table, they
daily invited themselves, with a chosen number of their kindred
or favourites, to dine with the rich merchants of the city of Lon
don, or the great men of the court, and manifested much discon
tent unless presented with costly gifts at their departure, which
they took, not as obhgations and proofs of loyal affection to their
persons, but as matters of right.
Eleanor never made any attempt to acquire the slightest know
ledge of Enghsh, the use of which was stiU confined to the low
est ranks, — Norman-French or Provencal being spoken at Courtt,
— and Latin being the language of the church.
There were great rejoicings when she gave birth to an heir
to the throne, afterwards Edward I, one of the r ^3 9
bravest and wisest of our sovereigns ; and we ought 1 ' '
to honour her memory for the skilful manner in which she con
ducted his education, notwithstanding the indiscreet interference
of her imbecile husband.
* Her finances had likewise been very much deranged by a large bribe she had
found it necessary to give to the Pope for his decree declaring null the precontract
of Henry with Johanna of Ponthieu, on account of which the validity of her own
marriage had been questioned.
t Proclamations to preserve the peace were read in three languages, French,
Latin, and Saxon. We still have the commencement in the first Oyez ! Oyez !
Oyez 1 corrupted into O yes ! 0 yes 1 O yes !

144 REIGN OP HENRY III.
But while Henry was generally liked, her manners were so
haughty and overbearing, that she quarreUed with Hubert de
Burgh, Peter des Roches, Simon Montfort, and the leaders of all
parties, — as well as being odious to the populace from her ill-con
cealed contempt for English barbarism. She acquired, however,
a great ascendant over the mind of the King, who had sufficient
sense to value her superior understanding and accomplishments.
In the prospect of his going into Gascony in 1253, having in
trusted her with the custody of the Great Seal, on the 6th of Au
gust he sailed from Portsmouth for Bordeaux to take the command
in person of an army there assembled, and the Queen was left in
the full exercise of her authority as Lady Keeper.
The sealing of writs and common instruments was left, under
her direction, to Kilkenny, Archdeacon of Coventry ; but the more
important duties of the office she executed in person. She sat as
judge in the Aula Regia, beginning her sittings on the morrow of
the nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary.*
These sittings were interrupted by the accouchment of the
pudge. The Lady Keeper had been left by her husband in a state
of pregnancy, and on the 25th of November, 1253, she was deli
vered of a princess, to whom the Archbishop of Canterbury, her
uncle, stood godfather, and baptized by the name of Catherine,
being born on St. Catherine's day.t
The Lady Keeper had a favourable recovery, and being church
ed!', resumed her place in the Aula Regia.
She now avafied herself of the King's absence, not only to en
force rigorously her dues at Queenhithe, but by demanding from
the city of London a large sum which she insisted they owed her
for " aurum reginse" or " queen gold," — being a claim by the
Queens of England on every tenth mark paid to the King on the
renewal of leases on crown lands or the granting of charters, —
matters of grace supposed to be obtained from the powerful inter
cession of the Queen§. Eleanor in this instance demanded her
•' queen gold" on various enormous fines that had been unrighte
ously extorted by the King from the plundered citizens. For the
nonpayment of this unjust demand, the Lady Keeper, in a very
summary manner, committed the Sheriffs of London, Richard Pi-
card and John de Northampton, to the Marshalsea Prison, and she
soon after sent Richard HardeU, the Lord Mayor, to keep them
company there, for the arrears of an aid unlawfully imposed to
wards the war in Gascony.
* " Placita coram Domina Regina et consilio Domini Regis in Crastino Nativi-
tatis Beat. Maria?."— Rot. Thes. 37 Hen. 3.
t _" Et nomen aptante et baptizante infantulam Archiepiscopo, vocata est Ca-
therina, eo quod die Sanetaa Catherina: nata, aera hauseart primitivum.','— M.
X One of the grandest scenes ever seen in England was the queen's churching
after the birth of her eldest son,— all the great ladies of the land being summoned
to attend the queen to church ;— but the ceremony on this occasion was conducted
very privately.
§ IBI. Com. 221.

LADY KEEPER QUEEN ELEANOR. 145
These arbitrary proceedings caused the greatest alarm and con
sternation ; for the city of London had hitherto been a sort of free
republic in a despotic kingdom, and its privileges had been re
spected in times of general oppression.
In the beginning of 1254 a parliament was caUed, and the
Queen being present and making a speech, pressed r
for a supply ; but, on account of her great unpopu- lA' D- 4-
larity, it was peremptorily refused.
A new arrangement was then made for carrying on the govern
ment ; the Great Seal was transferred into other hands, and on
the 15th of May she sailed from Portsmouth with a courtly retinue
of ladies, nobles, and knights, and joined the King at Bordeaux.
They then visited Paris, where Queen Eleanor had the happiness
of meeting her three sisters, all splendidly married*, and where a
banquet was given, much celebrated by the chroniclers, at which
the kings of France, of England, and of Navarre, with aU their
prime nobility, were present, trying to outvy each other in courte
sy as weU as splendour.
Eleanor and her husband landed at Dover on the 5th of January,
1255, and on the 27th of the same month made their r .
pubhc entry into London with extraordinary pomp ; ^A- D' l,i55-i
but notwithstanding the display of banners and tapestry by the
different companies, it was evident that hatred of the Queen was
stiU rankling in the hearts of the citizens.
She disdained to take any step to mitigate their resentment.
AUthe violations of Magna Charta were imputed to her, and she
was charged with instilling her own political opinions into her
eldest son.
The following is a specimen of the baUads published upon
her : — " The queen went beyond the sea, the king's brethren also,
And ever they strove the charter to undo ;
They purchased that the pope should assoil I wis
Cf the oath and the charter, and the King and all his.
" It wa3 ever the queen's thought, as much as she could think,
To break the charter by some woman's wrencket ;
And though Sir Edward}: was proved a hardy knight and good,
Yet the same charter was little to his mood."§
Li the foUowing year, whUe residing in the Tower, she was
threatened with violent treatment by the citizens of London, and!
she resolved for safety to proceed by water to the Castle of Wind
sor ; but as she approached London Bridge the populace assempled
to insult her. The cry ran, " Drown the Witch," and besides abus-
* Dante, in celebrating Ramondo Berlinghieei, seems to have been most o!
all-struck with the elevation of his daughters : —
" Quattro figlie ebbe, e ciascuna reina." — Parad. c. vi.
t Wrenching or perverting the meaning ofthe charter.
t Prince Edward. § Robert of Gloucester.
tol. I. 13

14£ REIGN OP HENRY III.
ing her with the most opprobrious language, and pelting her with
dirt and rotten eggs, they had prepared great stones to sink her
barge when she should attempt to shoot the principal arch. She
was so frightended that she returned to the Tower. Not consid
ering herself safe in this fortress, she took sanctuary at night in the
Bishop of London's palace, within the precincts of St. Paul's. She
was thence privately removed to Windsor Castle, where Prince
Edward was at the head of a military force. He never forgave
the Londoners the insult they had offered to his mother.
In the civil wars that took place at the close of her husband's
reign, Eleanor often showed great determination and courage, and
after repeated disasters still made head against the impetuous
Earl of Leicester. At last, when the confederated barons were
triumphant and Henry was made a prisoner, she took refuge with
her younger children in France ; but after the battle of Evesham
she returned to England and had her revenge upon the citizens of
London, who for their ill behaviour to her were fined 20,000 marks
to her use. She continued to act a conspicuous part during the re
mainder of this reign.
Soon after the accession of her son to the crown, she renounced
the world and retired to the monastery of Ambresbury, where, in
the year 1284, she actuaUy took the veil. She had the satisfaction
of hearing of the brilliant career of her son, and she died in 1292,
when he was at the height of his glory, having subdued Wales,
pacified Ireland, reduced Scotland to feudal subjection, and made
England more prosperous and happy than at any former period.
Although the temper and haughty demeanour of Eleanor were
very freely censured in her own time, I believe no imputation was.
cast upon her virtue till the usurper Henry IV., assuming tfj be
the right heir of Edmund her second son, found it convenient to
question the legitimacy of Edward her first-born, and to represent
him as the fruit of an adulterous intercourse between her and the
Earl Marshal. Then was written the popular baUad representing
her as confessing her fraUty to the King her husband, who, in the
garb of a friar of France, has come to shrive her in her sickness,
accompanied by the Earl Marshal in the same disguise.
" Oh, do you see yon fair-haired boy*
That's playing with the ball 1
He is, he is the Earl Marshal's son,
^ And I love him the best of all.
* " Oh, do you see yon pale-faced boy t
That's catching at the ball ?
He is King Henry's only son,
And I love him the least of all."
But she was a very different person from her successor; Isabella
of Fiance, Queen of Edward IL, and there is no reason to doubt
tiiat she was ever a faithful wife and a loving mother to aU her
•hildren. •Princ* Edward. 1 Prince Edmund.

HENRY DE WENGHAM, CHANCELLOR. 147
Although none of her judicial decisions, while she held the
Great Seal, have been transmitted to us, we have very fuU and
accurate information respecting her person, her career, and her
character, for which we are chiefly indebted to Matthew Paris, who
often dined at table with her and her husband, and composed
his history of those times with their privity and assistance*

CHAPTER IX.

LORD CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF LADY KEBPHR QUEEM
ELEANOR TILL THE DEATH OP HENRY III.
On Queen Eleanor's resignation of the office of the Lady Keeper,
William de Kilkenny, who had been employed by r .„^. ,
her to seal writs whfie she held the Great Sealt , was '•A' D' 1"04-J
promoted to the office of Chancellor.
He did not continue in it lopg, and in his time nothing memor
able occurred, except the representation from the clergy respect
ing alleged encroachments by the Crown upon their order. A dep
utation, consisting of the Primate and the Bishops of Winchester,
Salisbury, and Carlisle, came to the King with an address on the
frequent violation of their privileges, the oppressions with which
he had loaded them and all his subjects, and the uncanonical and
forced elections which were made to vacant ecclesiastical dignities.
Lord ChanceUor Kilkenny is said to have written the King's cel
ebrated answer, — " It is true I have been faulty in this particular :
I obtruded you, my Lord of Canterbury, on your see : I was ob
liged to employ both entreaties and menaces, my Lord of Win
chester, to have you elected. My proceedings, I confess, were
very irregular, my Lords of Salisbury and Carlisle, when I raised
you from the lowest stations to your present dignities. I am de
termined henceforth to correct these abuses ; and it wiU also be
come you, in order to make a thorough reformation, to resign your
present benefices, and try again to become successors of the
Apostles in a more regular and canonical manner."^
On St. Edward's day, in the year 1255, WUliam de Kilkenny J
resigned his office of ChanceUor, but he was stiU in such favour,
that, though suspected of having misapplied funds that came
* Mat. Par. 562. 719. 799. 884. 9S9. 1172. 1200. 1202. Miss Strickland's
Lives of the Queens of England— tit. " Eleanor."
t Rex dilectae consorti sua? A, eadem gratia Reginse salutem. Mandamus vobii
quod cum delectus cleircns noster W. de Kilkenni, Archidiaconus Coventrensis ad
vosvcnerit, liberatis ei sigillurn scaccarii nostribajulandum et custodiendum usque
ad reditum nostrum de partibus Wasconia?, &c. — Pat. 37. H. 3. m. 5.
} Mat. Par. a. d. 1253.
$ Rot. Pat. 39 H. 3. m. 16.

148 REIGN OE HENRY III.
officially into his hands, the King granted him letters patent, where
by he declared that Wilham, having long served him diligently
and acceptably, should be quit of all reckonings and demands for
the whole time that he had been Keeper of the King's Seal in
England. He was afterwards sent on an embassy to Spain, where
he died on the 21st of September, 1256. He is said to have been
a very handsome person, eloquent, prudent, and weU skilled in the
municipal laws of the realm, as weU as in the civil and canon law.
On the day of his resignation, the Great Seal was delivered to
r 19„ -. Henry de Wengham, afterwards Bishop of London,
[a. d. l^oo.j _ and> ^^ -ry^gj. de Merton for his deputy, he
remained ChanceUor tiU he was removed by the mutinous Barons
who for some time established an oligarchy in England.*
The Ul-humour of the nation was manifested at a General
Council caUed to meet in London at Easter, 1255, when the at
tempt was renewed that the Chancellor and other great officers
should be appointed by the Prelates and Barons, as was said an
ciently to have been the custom, and that those officers might not
be removed, except upon notorious faults, without the common
assent. The King refusing these demands, a resolution was carri
ed to postpone the further consideration of supply tiU Michael
mas, t
Simon de Montford was now taking advantage of the unpopul
arity of the government for his own aggrandisement, and attempts
ing successfuUy to wrest the sceptre from the feeble hand which
held it. hi June, 1258, met "the Mad Parliament," where, not
withstanding the resistance of the ChanceUor and the King's
other ministers, were passed the famous "Provisions of Oxford,"
by which twenty-four Barons were appointed, with unlimited
power, to reform the Commonwealth, and. annually to choose the
ChanceUor and other great officers of state.J The King for the
time submitted, and even Prince Edward was obliged to take an
oath to obey their authority.
De Wengham was for some time permitted by them to retain
the office of Chancellor, having made oath that he would duly
keep the King's Seal under their control.^
However, to give a fuU proof of their prerogative, they subse
quently removed him, and elected in his place Nicholas de Ely,
Archdeacon of ElylT, a mere creature of their own.
* i ?*£ ?™ -xl9" t M- Paris> 904- l ^rl. Hist. 27.
{Rot. Pat. 39 H. 3. m. 16.
, The oath made by the Chancellor was to this effect —"That he would not
leal writs without the command of the King and his Council, and in the presence
of some of them, nor seal the grant of any great wardship, great marriage, or es-
cheat, without the assent of the Council or the maior part of it, nor would seal any
thing contrary to the ordinances made or to be made by the twenty-four, or the
greater part of them, nor would take any reward but only such as other Chan
cellors have formerly received ; and if he should appoint a deputy, it should he
only according o the power to be provided by the coxmciV'-Annal. Burton, 413.
TT Rot. Pat. 44 H. 3. m. 2.

WALTER DE MERTON, CHANCELLOR. 149
The old Great Seal, surrendered up by De Wengham, was brok
en in pieces and a new one was delivered to the Chancellor of the
.Barons We have a very circumstantial account of this cere
mony, showing that the King was present as a mere puppet ofthe
twenty-four After relating the oath of the now ChanceUor, and
that he forthwith sealed with the new seal, it says that "the King
delivered the pieces of the old broken seal to Robert WaUerand,
to be presented to some poor religious house of the king's gift."* '
But the nation was soon disgusted by the arbitrary and capric
ious acts of Montfort and his associates : there was a strong reac
tion in favour ofthe King, and for a time he recovered his author
ity. Before proceeding to resume the full exercise of his royal
functions, he applied to Rome for a dispensation "the Provisions
of Oxford," which he had very solemnly sworn to observe. This
was readily promised him; but, unluckily, Alexander the Pope
died before the dispensation was sealed, and considerable delay
was likely to arise before a successor could be elected.
Henry or his advisers, to take advantage of the present favour
able state of the public mind, called a Parliament to meet in the
castle of Winchester. There he openly declared that he would
no longer be bound by " the Provisions of Oxford," which had
rendered him more a slave than a King. He then called before
him the Chancellor and Justiciar appointed by the Barons, and
demanded from them the seals and the rolls of their respective
offices. They answered that they could not lawfuUy obey him,
without the consent of the Council of twenty-four. The baronial
officers were, however, in his power : they were obliged to submit,
and the Great Seal was delivered up to Henry.
He appointed Walter de Merton as ChanceUor.t r 19fi1 ,
At the same time, to put on an appearance of mode- 1 ' ' -J
ration, the following Letters Patent were passed under the Great
Seal, in compliment to the Ex-chancellor thus forcibly displaced : —
" The King to aU whom, &c. Know ye that our beloved clerk,
Master Nicholas, Archdeacon of Ely, did, on the day of St. Luke
the Evangelist, in the 44th year of our reign, receive from us our
Great Seal to be kept, which said seal we received from him on
Tuesday next after the Feast of the Translation of St. Thomas
the Martyr, in the 45th year of our reign. We have therefore
specially to recommend him for his good services to us. In wit
ness, &c. Witness the King, at the Tower of London, on the 14th
day of July."$
De Wengham would probably have been restored to the office ;
but he had fallen into bad health, and he died soon after. De
Merton's appointment was by patent, with an express declaration
that it was "without the consent ofthe Barons." At the same time
* Pat. 44 H. 3. n. 2. Claus. Rol. 44 H. 3. n. 2.
t Rot. Pat. 45 H. 3. M. 8.
t Pat 45 H. 3. m. 7. Liberata 45 H. S. m. ». Pftt. 49 H. 3. m. 16.
13*

150 REIGN OP HENRY III.
a grant was made to him of 400 marks a year for support of him
self and the Chancery, so long as he should remain in office*
Walter de Merton is the most considerable man we have found
in the office during the present reign. He gained great distinction
as a student at Oxford, where he afterwards founded Merton Col
lege. He had been appointed to act as Vice-chancellor from his
knowledge of law and capacity for business. He was twice Lord
ChanceUor, and, being appointed to the see of Rochester, he was
distinguished as a prelate for his sanctity and good works.
In 1262 the King went abroad, and was accompanied by John
de Mansel, his secretary, appointed Keeper of the Seal, whUe
Walter de Merton remaining at home, was continued in the office
of Chancellor.! Henry returned to England in a few months,
and Walter de Merton continued for some time to act as his minis
ter, under the title of Chancellor, employing Keepers of the Seal
to do the laborious duties of the office. Of these the only dis
tinguished man was John de Chishull, who was afterwards Chan
ceUor. Not only " the Provisions of Oxford," but the Great Charter,
and the Charter of the Forest, were now disregarded, and the doc
trine was promulgated, which had abettors among lawyers down
to the revolution of 1688, that no royal grants or acts of the legis
lature are binding on the Sovereign if they infringe his essential
prerogatives, the nature and extent of which are to be judged of
by him and his ministers.
The bold and artful Montfort, in exile, hearing of the discontents
occasioned by these arbitrary measures, came over secretly from
France, again collected the forces of his party, and commenced
an open rebellion. He seized and imprisoned John de Mansel,
the Ex-keeper of the Great Seal, because he had published the
buU at last obtained from Rome, absolving the King and kingdom
from their oaths to observe "the Provisions of Oxford;" and he
threatened the utmost vengeance against WUliam de Merton, and
* This sum would be equal to about 4000L of present money. An addition of
100 marks was made to the salary of his successor. Out of this the Chancellor
had to pay the chancery clerks or Masters in Chancery, and to defray other expen
ses ot the Chancery; but he had besides as we have seen, high fees on grants from
the crown, and he generally held large ecclesiastical benefices, so that he must have
bad a revenue and maintained a state equal to the great hereditary Barons. Id the
reign of Henry II. the Chancellor was allowed " five shillings a day, two demean
^ ZnT.f .5 ?M. S6^tary °£Cl6ar Wine' one sextar7 of •»«* expansabile
MS? ?Lr* an,d/°rlT P'e,Cf °f candle-" The five »^S» oer diem would
flu lvalue , J Z nib •? about '40(W P* *»™, but it is impossible to estimate
M Paris it a™Lr5<i TV Fro™Aa ^hedule found in the chamber of accounts
ra™-PrtSF Z\ *ai rPhli'.ppe dAntoigni, Chancellor to St. Louis, a contempO-

NICHOLAS DE ELY, LORD CHANCELLOR. 151
the other adherents of the King, as soon as they should fall into
his power. Deserted by aU ranks, they found it prudent to set on
toot a treaty of peace, and to make an accommodation with him
on terms the most disadvantageous. " The provisions of Oxford"
were confirmed,— even those which entirely annihi- ,
lated the royal authority, and the Barons were LA- D- 1263-J
again reinstated in the sovereignty of the kingdom. Their first,
step was to remove Wilham de Merton from the office of Chancel
lor, and to restore it to their partisan, Nicholas de Ely*
He continued to hold the Great Seal as ChanceUor till the famous
parliament assembled by Simon Montfort, in the 49th
of Henry III, which was summoned by writs in lA- D- 1265-J
the form now used, — which was attended by representatives from
counties, cities, and boroughs and which was the model of aU suc
ceeding parhaments in England.
Under this last settlement an interval of quiet arose, during
which Henry crossed the Channel, to confer with the French
monarch, who then holding a meeting of his states at Boulogne.
The Great Seal remained in the custody of Archdeacon Nicholas,
who, during the King's absence, put it only to instruments of
course.t Henry returned to celebrate the feast of the Translation of St.
Edward, and to hold a Parliament at Westminster. Here a party
sprung up for the King and an attempt was made to repeal " the
Provisions of Oxford," and to restore to the Crown the power of
appointing the ChanceUor ; but the Earl of Leicester still had a ma
jority of spiritual and lay Peers. Several treaties were attempted
between the moderate men of both parties, and, according to the
custom of the age, it was at last agreed to refer " the Provisions
of Oxford," and aU other matters in difference, to the arbitration
of the French King.
The royal arbitrator, having taken upon himself the burthen of
the reference, and having patiently heard both sides in fuU assem
bly of his nobility, gave judgment in favour of the King of Eng
land, by declaring " the Provisions of Oxford" null and void, and
adjudging that the King might nominate his ChanceUor, and the
other great officers of the kingdom, according to his own pleasure.
The King was proceeding to act upon the award ; but the Bar-
* The entries in the Close Roll are still worded as if the government had been
regularly procceeding under the royal authoiity. Here W. de Merton departed
from court, and on Thursday next before the feast of St. Margaret the Virgin, in
the presence of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and of the other nobles of
England, Master Nicholas, Archdeacon of Ely, took at Westminster the custody of
the King's Sea], and he immediately sealed with it." — Rot. CI. 47 H. 3.
t Memorandum, that on the 18th of September the Lord the King departed from
Westminster towards foreign parts, and the King's Great Seal remained in the cus
tody of Nicholas, Archdeacon of Ely, who acted during the the King's stay beyond
the sea. He however sealed nothing but writs which were attested by H. le. Des
penser, Justiciar of England, &c. — Pat. 47 H. 3. m. 1.

152 REIGN OP HENRY III.
ons refused to be bound by it, aUeging that it was contradictory
on the face of it, and that the arbitrator had exceeded his an-
thority. Both parties again flew to arms, and soon after was fought the
" Mise " or " battle of Lewes," which ended in the captivity of
Henry, of his brother the King of the Romans, of Prince Edward
his son, and of Comyn, Bruce, and all the chief opponents of Mont
fort who survived the perils of that bloody field.
The parliament was called in the King's name, the King being
apparently on the throne, the Lords spiritual and temporal attending
and the commonalty of the realm fully represented by the knights,
citizens, and burgesses who had been elected under the new-fash
ioned writs which Montfort or his Chancellor had framed. This as
sembly, however, had merely to register the decrees of the usurper.
An Act was passed (the first professing to have the sanction of
the third estate), according to the following tenour : — " This is the
form of the peace unanimously approved of by our Lord the King,
and the Lord Edward his son, and aU the Prelates and Barons ;
together with the whole community of the kingdom of England'' — the
leading enactment being, that, for the reformation of the state of
the kingdom, there should be chosen three discreet and faithful
men who should have power and authority from the King of choos
ing nine counseUors, out of whom three at the least, by turns,
should always be present at Court, and the King, by the advice
of those nine, should make his Justiciar, ChanceUor, Treasurer,
and all the other great and small officers connected with the gov
ernment of the kingdom*
For some reason not explained, Nicholas de Ely was removed
by De Montfort from the office of ChanceUor. He was probably
suspected of having temporised between the two parties, and of
having countenanced the reference to the King of France. He is
to be had in remembrance as the first Chancellor who ever sealed
writs for the election of knights, citizens, and burgesses to Par
liament.! Whether he, as a native of England, suggested the
measure — foreseeing the benefits it might confer upon his country
— or De Montfort, who had been born and educated abroad, intro
duced it from some country in which the third estate was admitted
to grant supplies and have a share in legislation, — or whether the
two thought of nothing but a present expedient for enlarging and
confirming their power, by taking advantage of the popularity they
then enjoyed with the classes on whom the elective franchise was
* Pari. Hist 31.
t Some writers have attempted to give a much earlier date to the popular repre
sentation m England, but I think without success ; for not only are there no earlier
writs for the election of representatives extant, but there is no trace of the exist
ence of such a body in accounts of parliamentary proceedings, where, if it had ex
isted, it must have been mentioned,— as the trial of Thomas a. Becket, which is a»
minutely reported as the impeachment of Warren Hastings. The great council of
flie nation hitherto consisted of the prelates and barons, assisted by the officers of
states and the judges.

THOMAS DE CANTILUPE, CHANCELLOR. 153
bestowed, without looking to precedent or regarding distant con
sequences, it would now be vain to conjecture. Although there
was much of accident with respect to the time when the institu
tion first appeared among us, yet it could not have continued to
flourish if it had not been suited to the state of society and the
wants of the nation. In spite of violence and oppression, in spite
of continued foreign or domestic war, commerce made advances,
wealth increased among the middling orders, the feudal system be
gan gradually to decline, and both the King and the people favour
ed a new power which was more submissive than the Barons to
the regular authority of the Crown, and at the same time afforded
protection against their insolence to the inferior classes of the com
munity. Nicholas de Ely seems, after Montfort's faU, to have reconcUed
himself to the Court, for though he did not again hold any civil
office he was made Bishop of Worcester in 1268, and before the
end of that year translated to the see of Winchester, which he
held tiU his death in 1280.
The new Chancellor appointed by the twenty -four Barons now
vested with supreme power, was Thomas de Can- r .. ,
tilupe.* He was of noble extraction, being son of *- A' D' l<db!i\
Wilham Baron de Cantilupe, of an illustrious Norman family.
Being destined for the church, he studied at Oxford, where he
made great proficiency in the Canon Law : he took the degree of
Doctor of Laws, and became ChanceUor of that University, then
an annual office ; but he had not yet reached any higher ecclesi
astical dignity than that of Archdeacon of Stafford.
Lord ChanceUor Cantilupe had a grant of 500 marks a-year,
payable at the Exchequer at four terms in the year, for the support
of himself and the clerks of the King's Chancery t, so long as he
should continue Archdeacon of Stafford.
* The entry on the record, however, shows that the government was still decent
ly carried on in the King's name. " On Wednesday next after the feast of St. Pe
ter in cathedra, Master John de Chishull, Archdeacon of London (who had been
sigillifer), restored to the King his Seal, and he on the same day committed the
custody of it to Master Thomas de Cantilupe, who immediately sealed with it." —
Claus 49 H. 3. m. 9.
t This document is still extant, and is curious as recognising the election of the
Chancellor by parliament, and showing the form observed when a grant was to pass
under the Great Seal in favour of the Chancellor himself. " Rex omnibus, &c, sa-
lutem Cum dilcclus nobis in Christo Magister Thomas de Cantilupo, per nos et
magnates nostros qui sunt de Concilio nostro, electus sit in Canccllariam Regni
nostri, et nos ipsum ad officium illud gratanter admiserimus, nos sustentationi sua?
et clericorum Cancellariae nostrse providere volentes, concessimus ei quingentas
ntarcas, singulis annis percipiendas ad Scaccarium nostrum, &c, ad sustentationem
suam et Clericorum Cancellariae nostrse predicta? quamdiu steterit in officio. In
cujus, &c. Teste Rege apud Westmon. xxvj<= die Marcii. Et sciendum quod
Dominus Rex manu sua propria plicavit istud breve et in prescntia sua fecit con-
signari, presentibus similiter H. le Dispenser, Justiciario Anglise," &c. — Pat. 49 II.
3. m. 18. This grant was continued to his successors, as we several times find
credit given to sheriffs for payments made to the Chancellor by the King's order in
discharge of the allowance of 500 marks for the sustentation of himself and the
clerks of the Chancery. — Mag. Rot. 53 H. 3. 50 H. 3.

154 REIGN OP HENRY III.
He had a very short and troubled possession of his new office.
Prince Edward had escaped from imprisonment, and was again in
the field at the head of a numerous and well appointed army.
Cantilupe's services were wanted to assist in opposing him at a
distance from London, and the Great Seal was temporarily trans
ferred to Ralph de Sandwich, Keeper of the Wardrobe, to be kept
by him till Thomas de Cantilupe should return, under the superin
tendence, and to be used with the concurrence, of Peter de Mont
fort, Roger St. John, and Giles de Argentine* Ralph de Sand
wich was probably a personal attendant on the King in whom no
confidence was reposed. The three superintendents were devoted
adherents of the party, who now kept the King prisoner, and ruled
in his name.
Before Thomas de Cantilupe did return the battle of Evesham
, was fought, — Simon de Montfort was slain, and
[Aug. 4. l^JbS.J hig party was for ever extinguished.
Prince Edward is celebrated for the merciful disposition he now
displayed. No blood was shed on the scaffold, and all who sub
mitted were pardoned. Cantilupe, though removed from his office
was afterwards taken into favour, made Bishop of Hereford, and
employed in an embassy to Italy, where he died in 1282. Not
withstanding the political factions in which he was engaged, he
acquired a character for extraordinary sanctity ; miracles were said
to be wrought by his dead body. He was canonised by Pope
John XXII. ; and all his successors, the Bishops of Hereford, out
of respect to his memory, have used his family arms as the herald
ic bearings of their see.
The victory of Evesham having fully re-eslablished the royal
r a in 19firi authority during the remainder of this reign, Wal-
IAug. io. i^oo.j ter GlPPARD) who had aiways steadily adhered
to the court party, was appointed to the office of Chancellor.!
He was of a good family, and of great abilities. Having mas
tered all that was to be learned in England, he completed his edu
cation in Italy, where he was ordained priest and made private
chaplain to the Pope. On his return to Ms own country, mixing
in secular affairs, he rose to be Lord Treasurer, an office which he
* The following memorandum of this transfer is to be found in tbe Patent Roll ;
— " That on Thursday next after St. John Port Latin Master Thomas de Canti
lupe, the King's Chancellor, delivered the King's seal to Ralph de Sandwich, the
keeper of the wardrobe, in the presence of the King and of Hugh le Despenser,
Justiciar of England, and Peter de Montfort, to be kept by him until Thomas
should return ; — to be used in this manner — Ralph to keep it in the wardrobe under
the seal of Peter de Montfort, Roger de St. John, and Giles de Argentein, or one
ef them — when taken out, Ralph to seal the writs of course in the presence of the
person under whose seal it had been then inclosed, or in his absence if he was not
minded to be there, but mandatory writs only in the presence of such person and
with his assent; and when the writs either of course or mandatory were sealed,
then the King's Seal was to be sealed up under the seal of one of the three persons
above named, and to be carried by Ralph into the wardrobe, to be there kept in form
aforesaid, until Thomas de Cantilupe should return." — Rot. Pat. 49 H. 3. m. 16.
t Rot. Pat. 49 H. 3. m. 10.

JOHN DE CHISHULL, CHANCELLOR. 155
lost by a sudden revolution in the state. In 1264 he reached the
secure elevation of the prelacy, being made Bishop of Bath and
Wells. This dignity he held when he received the Great Seal.
In about a year after, the Archbishopric of York faUing vacant, he
aspired to it, and had the court interest ; but Wilham de Langton,
Dean of York, was elected by the Chapter. Both parties appealed
to the Pope, and, after a keen struggle, Giffard succeeded through
his superior interest. As soon as he was installed Archbishop, he
voluntarily resigned the Great Seal, and devoted himself to the
government of his new see, which he held above ten years. He
left behind him the reputation of great learning, as well as of in
tegrity and piety.
He was succeeded in the office of ChanceUor by Godfrey Gif-
faed, Archdeacon of WeUs*, another member of the r iorri
same family, who, through his mother, was related to '-A' ' ' '¦'
the King, and seems to have owed his promotion entirely to court
favour. He was removed from the office after he had held it a
very short time, without any turn in politics, and without any ad
vancement in the church, — whence it is inferred that he was found
whoUy incompetent for secular duties. Nevertheless he was after
wards considered sufficiently qualified for high ecclesiastical pre
ferment, and in 1269 he was appointed to the see of Worcester,
which he held without reproach for 24 years. While he was Chan
cellor, in the 52d year of the King's reign, a parliament assembled
at Marlbridge, where many useful laws were passed for restrain
ing the abuse of Distresses, regulating the incidents of tenure,
and improving civil and criminal procedure. Several of these dis
play great discrimination, and an acquaintance with the general
principles of Jurisprudence greatly above the comprehension of
the Chancellor; and if he introduced them, they must have been
framed by superior men whom he had the wit to employ.}:
The next ChanceUor was a man of much renown in his day, John
de Chishull, Dean of St. Paul's. He had risen from r 1268 1
an obscure origin by his own powers, and being well >- ' J
skified in the civil and common law, with a great readiness for
business, he had been found very useful to Lord ChanceUor de
Merton, who made him his Vice-chanceUor4 Having always
taken the royalist side, he was persecuted by the Barons ; but
they being now crushed, his fidelity was rewarded with the office
of ChanceUor, which he fiUed with great applause tiU the year
1270, when he exchanged it for that of Treasurer. In 1274 he
w,as made Bishop of London, and he spent the remainder of his
days in works of charity, and in seeking to expiate the sins he
had committed in his political career.^
* Rot. Pat. 51 H. 3 m. 22. 52 H. 3. m. 30. Rot. Claus. 52 H. 3. m. 10,
t See Stat. Marlb. 52 H. 3.
J There is an entry in the Charter Roll, 49 A.3 , which has induced ome tod
suppose that Chishull was Chancellor before Can tilupe, but though he delivere
fee Great Seal to tbe King, he had not before held it as Chancellor.
§ Matthew of Westminster.— The family of de Chishull was settled for severs

156 REIGN OP HENRY III.
His successor in the office of Chancellor was Richard de Mid-
. , dleton, of whom so little is known that it has been
a. d. l<!b .J questioned whether he was a layman or an ecclesi
astic ; but there can be little doubt that he was one of the active
aspiring priests who, in those troublous times, were employed as
secretaries to the King, and were intrusted with the Great Seal as
a step to high promotion in the church. While he was Chancel
lor he certainly provided for the expenses of the King's chapel
out of the profits of his office, and no doubt officiated in it as
chaplain*. He died while Chancellor, on Sunday before the Feast
of St. Lawrence, in the year 1272, before any other provision had
been made for him,t and the Great Seal was deposited in the
King's wardrobe to abide the disposal of the Council who now
governed the kingdom.
Prince Edward, having crushed De Montfort and the associated
Barons, — seduced by his avidity for glory, and by the passion of
the age for crusades, had undertaken an expedition, in conjunction
with St. Louis, to recover the Holy Sepulchre, and, after the death
of that pious and romantic sovereign, was now signalising himself
by acts of valour in Palestine, and reviving the splendour of the
Enghsh name among the nations of the East. King Henry, over
come by the cares of government and the infirmities of age, was
visibly declining, and could no longer even appear to take a part
in the government. Letters were written in his name to the
Prince, urging his immediate return, and pointing out the dangers
to which the state was exposed from the mutinous Barons, who
centuries at Little Bardfield in Essex ; and in the parish register of that place there
is the following entry respecting him, which seems to have been written about the
year 1539- — "John de Chi .hull, archdeacon of London, and treasurer of England,
was made Keeper of the Great Seale in the yeare of our redemption one thou-
sande two hundred sixtie and four, being the eight and fortie yeare of the raigne of
King Henry the Third. This man was consecrated Bishopp of London in the
yeare of Christ one thousand two hundred seventie and foure, the third kalendea
of May. He died in the yeare that the word of the father became flesh one thou
sand two hundred seventie and nine, the fourth ides of February, in the seventh
yeare of the scourge of the Scotts and Welshmen." — Extracted from the parish re
gister by my son Hallyburton.
* In the fifty-fifth year of King Henry III., John le Faueonei, receiver of the
fees of the Great Seal, rendered to De Middleton his account, which is still extant,
and in which he is allowed certain disbursements for the King's chapel, among oth
er expenses to be defrayed by the Chancellor. " Compoius Johannis le Fauconer
Receptons denariorum proveniencium de cxitibus Sigilli Regis, a festo Apostolo-
rum Simonis et Judse, anno Liiij usq ; ad idem festum anno Lvj incipiente, videli
cet per duos annos.— Summa summarum, DCCCCLxxiij 1. xvj s. In thesauro
nichii Among the credits, "Et Johanni Partejoye custodi summarum Regia
Cancellarn pro vadiis suis per CCCxxx dies vj 1. iij s. ix d. per idem breve [Regis].
bt in perenmeno ad opus clericorum Canoellariaj predictse, et aliis minutis expen
ds ejusdem Cancellarias et Capellas Regis xiij 1. ij s. vi d. per idem breve." Mag.
Rot. 55 H. 3. Rot. 1. a. in Rot. Compotor. The amount of these fees is conside
rable, regard being had to the value of money in those times.
t Die Dominica proxima ante festum Sancti Laurentii obiit Ricardus de Mid
dleton quondam Cancellarius Regis et Sigillurn Regis liberatum fuit in Gardero-
ham Regis. — Chart. 56 H. 3. m. 2.

STATE OE THE LAW. 157
were again commencing their machinations and disorders. In the
meantime the Council did not venture to appoint a new Chancel
lor, but delivered the Great Seal to John de Kirby
with the title of Vice-chancellor, that he might seal la- d- 1272.
writs with it, and do what was requisite for the ordinary rou
tine of government tiU the Prince's arrival.
Kirby was a churchman, eager for promotion; — as yet only
Dean of Winburn and Archdeacon of Coventry, but active, cun
ning, and unscrupulous. His conduct in this emergency gave
such satisfaction, that in the ensuing reign he was made Bishop
of Ely and Lord Treasurer. But he is accused by contemporary
writers of having neglected his spiritual for his temporal duties,
and of having taken but little notice of the flocks committed to
his charge, except when he was to shear them.
He held the Great Seal from the 7th of August, 1272, to the
16th of November foUowing, the day that closed the inglorious
reign of Henry III. The moment that the King had breathed Iris
last, Kirby surrendered it to Walter Archbishop of York and the
rest of the Council assembled to take measures for securing the
accession of the new Sovereign.*
During this reign there were sixteen ChanceUors, and many
Keepers t of the Great Seal besides ; but none of them of much
historical importance. Learning was very low, and was confined
entirely to the clergy. Not only were the ChanceUors of this
order, hut many dignitaries of the Church were Justices in the
Courts at Westminster and in the Eyre. Nay, the advocates in
the secular courts were ecclesiastics, and from them only could
any competent Judges be selected. There was a canon published
about this time, " Nee advocati sint clerici, vel sacerdotes, in foro
seculari, nisi vii proprias causas vel miser abilium prosequantur."
The exception excused their appearance in Westminster HaU,
and their violation of the rule was, from necessity, connived at.t
After the Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest had
been confirmed, the King's ministers were too much occupied in
counteracting the plots and resisting the violence of the mutinous
Barons to have much leisure for legal reform, and the only at
tempts at it by legislation were the statutes of Merton I and Marl-
bridge. II Several provincial and legatine constitutions were pass
ed by convocations of the clergy, at the instigation or with the con
currence of clerical ChanceUors, for exempting ecclesiastics from
all secular jurisdiction, and effecting those objects which had been
* Rot. Claus. and Pat. 57 H. 3. m. 1.
t In the longer reign of George III. there were only eight. .
j But the inns of court for education in the common law were about this time
established, and a separate order of laymen learned in the common law sprung up
and flourished. . r ._„•*.
§ 20 H. 3., the chief enactment of which was to encourage the inclosure ot waste
land. I 52 H. 3., for regulating the rigrht of distress.
YOL. I. 1*

158 REIGN OF HENRY III.
defeated by the constitutions of Clarendon and the vigorous ad
ministration of Henry II.
It is curious that, in the most disturbed period of this turbulent
reign, -when ignorance seemed to be thickening and the human
intellect to decline, there was written and given to the world the
best treatise upon law of which England could boast till the publi
cation of Blackstone's Commentaries, in the middle of the eight
eenth century.* It would have been very gratifying to me if this
work could have been ascribed, with certainty, to any of the
Chancellors whose lives have been noticed. The author, usuaUy
styled Henry de Bracton, had gone by the names of Brycton,
Britton, Briton, Breton, and Brets ; and some have doubted whe
ther all these names are not imaginary. From the elegance of
his style and the familiar knowledge he displays of the Roman
law, I cannot doubt that he was an ecclesiastic who had addicted
himself to the study of jurisprudence ; and as he was likely to
gain advancement from his extraordinary proficiency, he may have
been one of those whom I have commemorated, — although I
must confess that he rather speaks the language hkely to come
from a disappointed practitioner than of a ChanceUor who had
been himself in the habit of making Judges.t For comprehen
siveness, for lucid arrangement, for logical precision, this author
was unrivaUed during many ages. Littleton's work on Tenures,
which illustrated the reign of Edward IV., approaches Bracton;
but how barbarous, in comparison, are the Commentaries of Lord
Coke, and the Law treatises of Hale and of Hawkins ! X
Towards the end of this reign the office of Chief Justiciar,
which had often been found so dangerous to the Crown, feU into
disuse. Hugh le Despenser, in the 49th of Henry III., was the
last who bore the title.} The hearing of common actions being
fixed at Westminster by Magna Charta, the Aula Regia was grad
ually subdivided, and certain Judges were assigned to hear crim
inal cases before the King himself, wheresoever he might be, in
England. These formed the Court of King's Bench. They were
eaUed "Justitiarii ad placita coram Rege," and the one who was
to preside " Capitalis JusticiariusA' He was inferior in rank to the
* Thf b.°okJlnllB,t have been written between the vears 1262 and 1267, for it cites
Marlhrfridedv\the 471} -°f ?¦ 3"' and takes no "°tice whatwer of the Stetuteof
Marlbridge, which passed in the 52d of H. 3.
1 Describing the judges of his time he calls them, "Insipientes et minus docti
quicathedramjudicandiascenduntantequam leges dedicerint" '
the* EnXh have been vervadi'Sid-Cal ^g *l .\deP«'™nt of literature in which
FrenchTrhe German", InL^nTtC Scotch Th!^ "* grea"y e^Ued by ^
law mav now nrnhahW ho hl*> ij . a fcotch- , The present state of the common
on SerieaM WilHams's no,Pa ™ l™^/"*™ ^ the notes of Patteson aD<* Williams
ehL»theindiS 2^^%£££Z<!£» H- 3" ^ V*'.
" Justic. ad plac. coram Rege." Jn"'«:s from Justicianorum Anglije" to

LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL. 159
Chancellor, and had a salary of only 100 marks a year* whUe the
ChanceUor had generally 500. Henceforth the ChanceUor in
rank, power and emolument, was the first magistrate under the
the°law UP t0 aS the great h6ad °f the Professi011 of
There are some cases decided in this reign which are still quoted
as authority in Legal Digests ;— the writs and summonses to Si
mon de Montfort's parliament are now given in evidence on ques
tions of peerage,— and the England in which we live might be
described.

CHAPTER X.

CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OP THE GREAT SEAL DURING THE
REIGN OP EDWARD I. TILL THE DEATH OP LORD CHANCELLOR
BURNEL.
Edward being proclaimed King, whfie still ab- rlv .
sent from England, the Council, as an act of pow- 1J>|0V- M> l*'2\
er authorised by the urgency of the case, resolved to appoint a
Chancellor. After nine days' deliberation they selected Walter
de Merton, who had filled the office in the preceding reign, and
who, having always been a zealous royalist, they had every reason
to beheve would be agreeable to the new Sovereign.
The letters addressed to the Prince requiring his presence had
produced the desired effect, and he had reached Sicily on his re
turn from the Holy Land, when he received intelligence of the
death of his father. Learning the quiet settlement of the king
dom, he was in no hurry to take possession of the throne ; but
from France he wrote a letter dated the 9th of August, in the first
year of his reign — ' To his beloved Clerk and ChanceUor, Walter
de Merton," confirming his appointment, and requesting him to
continue to discharge the duties of the Chancellorship.t
* Dugd. Or. Jur. p 104. The puisnes had only forty pounds a year. The chief
justice of Common Pleas had one hundred marks, the Chief Baron forty marks,
and the puisne barons twenty 2 Reeve's Hist, of Law, 9 1 . This is certainly
poor pay, and I am afraid may have induced the judges to be guilty of the corrupt
conduct for which they were punished in the following reign. The work was, how
ever, very light till the times when salaries were so much increased. In the reign
of Henry VI. the judges never sat more than three hours a day, from eight in the
morning till eleven, employing the rest of their time in reflection, reading, and con
templation, while the councillors and serjeants went to the parvise at Paul's to
meet their clients. — Fort, de Laud.
t " Edward, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke
of Aqutaine, to his beloved Clerk and Chancellor, Walter de Merton, greeting.
" We give you special thanks for the diligence you have applied to our affairs
and those of our kingdom, beseeching that what you have so laudably begun you

160 REIGN OF EDWARD I.
The nobles assembled at the " New Temple" in London* had
ordered a new Great Seal to be made, having the name and style
of Edward inscribed upon it, and in the attestation of public doc
uments by the guardians of the realm during the King's absence
the words occur, — " In cujus, <fcc, has literas sigiUo Domini Regis
quo utimur in agendis, eodem absente, fecimus consignari." — De
Merton displayed extraordinary abUity as Chancellor, and materi
ally contributed to the auspicious commencement of the new
reign. To the great joy of the people the King at last arrived, was
r 1 974. 1 crowned an(i took the government into his own
la' ' '' hands. He ordered another Great Seal, under which
he confirmed the grants made in his absence, by " inspeximus" —
according to the following form : — " Is erat tenor prsedictarum lite-
ratum quas prgedicto sigiUo nostro fecimus quo prsedicti locum nos
trum tenentes utebantur, quod quia postmodum mutatum est, te-
norem literarum prajdictarum acceptantes prsesenti sigiUo nostro
fecimus consignari."!
De Merton was now removed from the office, — not because his
conduct was at all censured, but the King wished to promote to it a
personal friend who had followed him in aU his fortunes, and for
whose abnities and character he had the highest respect. The
bishopric of Rochester was bestowed on the Ex-chancellor, and
he employed his time in building, endowing, and making statutes
for Merton CoUege, Oxford, where his memory is still revered.
He died in 12774
will happily take care to continue, causing justice to be done to every one in mat
ters which belong to your office, inducing others also to do the same, not sparing
the condition or rank of any person, so that the rigour of justice may control those
whom the sense of equity cannot restrain from injuries. Those things which you,
shall have rightly done in this matter we, God willing, will cause to be fully con
firmed. *' Given at Mellune on Seine, 9th of August, in the first year of our reign."
This letter shows thst the king clearly conceived he had a right to remove the
Chancellor if he had thought fit, though he had been appointed by the council.
This appointment is adduced by Prynne in his " Opening of the Great Seal," as a
proof that the Chancellor was the officer of the parliament, not of the king; but
the appointment of De Merton was an act of power exercised in the King's name
and demanded by necessity, as at the decease of Henry HI. there was no Chancel
lor, and the Seal was deposited in the wardrobe. Unless some one had been ap
pointed Chancellor writs could not have been sealed, and the government of the
country could not have been conducted till the king should return or manifest his
pleasure upon the subject.
* Mat. West 401 t Pat. Rot . Ed. I.
Jni £ \l*»™l * QU6e5 f'?a^eth' hi9 tontb b^ng much dilapidated, it was re
paired by the Warden and Scholars of Merton, who supplied an epitaph giving a
these HneT * **" mi dignitieS °f 'heir F°™der' -d concluding with
" ^a?"e senex titulis Musarum sede sacrata
Major Mertonidum maxime progenie.
Aasc tibi gratantes post secula sera nepotes
Et votiva locant Marmora, Sancte Parens."

LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL. 161
On the day of St. Matthew the Apostle* 1274, the office of
Chancellor was conferred on Robert Burnel, rQ 01
and he continued to hold it with great applause ltoEPT- dl- 1^74-l
for eighteen years, during all which time he enjoyed the favour
and confidence of Edward, and was his chief adviser in all public
affairs. He is a striking example of the unequal measure with
which historical fame has been meted out to English statesmen.
Although intimately connected with the conquest and settlement
of Wales ; although he conducted Edward's claim to the superi
ority over Scotland, and pronounced the sentence by which the
crown of that country was disposed of to be held under ah Eng
lish liege Lord ; although he devised a system for the government
of Ireland upon liberal and enlightened principles ; although he
took the chief part in the greatest reforms of the law of England
recorded in her annals, — and there can be no doubt that he occu
pied a considerable space in the public eye during his own age, —
his name has since been known only to a few dry antiquaries in
capable of appreciating his merits.!
Robert Burnel was the younger son of Robert de Burnel, of a
powerful family settled from time immemorial at Acton Burnel, in
the county of Salop.J Here the future Chancellor was born$ ;
here, he afterwards, by the King's licence, erected a fortified cas
tle ; and here, to Ulustrate his native place, he prevailed on the
King to hold a parliament at which was passed the famous law,
" De Mercatoribus," called "the Statute of Acton Burnel."
As his elder brother, Hugh, was to inherit the paternal estate,
and was, of course, to do military service as a knight and baron,
Robert was destined to rise in the state by civU and ecclesiastical
employments, which were then generally combined. He early
distinguished himself by his proficiency not only in the civil and
canon law, but in the common law of England ; and there is rea
son to think that after he had taken holy orders, he practised as
an advocate in the Courts at Westminster. During the Barons'
wars, while stiU a young man, he was introduced to Prince Ed
ward, who was about his own age, and was much pleased with
his address and social qualities, as weU as his learning and ability.
He became chaplain and private secretary to the heir apparent,
suggested to him the counsels which enabled him to triumph
over Simon de Montfort, and attended him in his expedition to the
Holy Land.ll
When appointed Chancellor he had reached no higher ecclesi-
* Sept. 21.
t In Hume's very superficial history of the reign of Edward I., Lord Chancellor
Burnel is not once named or alluded to.
t The little village of Acton Burnel, picturesquely placed near the foot of the
northernmost Caer Caradoc in Shropshire, and contiguous to a Roman road origi
nally connecting Wroxeter with Church Strettbn, is remarkable both for its early
history and its architectural remains. — Hartshorne.
i Rot. Pat. 12 Ed. 1. m. 7. m. 18.
II Rot. Claus. 2 Ed. 1. m. 4. Rot Pat. SO H. 3. ra.
14*

162 REIGN OF EDWARD I.
astical dignity than that of Archdeacon of York. He was soon
after raised to the see of Bath and Wells, — with which he remain
ed contented, devoting the whole of his energies to affairs of state.
He presided at the Parliament which met in May, 1275, and
rivr 127^T Passea- "tne Statute of Westminster the First,"
[May, l,i7o.j <3.eservmg t^e name of a Code rather than an act of
Parliament. From this chiefly, Edward I. has obtained the name
of "the Enghsh Justinian" — absurdly enough, as the Roman Em
peror merely caused a compilation to be made of existing laws,~-
whereas the object now was to correct abuses, to supply defects,
and to remodel the administration of justice. Edward deserves
infinite praise for the sanction he gave to the undertaking ; and
from the observations he had made in France, Sicily, and the
East, he may, like Napoleon, have been personaUy useful in the
consultations for the formation of the new Code, — but the execu
tion of the plan must have been left to others professionally skill
ed in jurisprudence, and the chief merit of it may safely be as
cribed to Lord ChanceUor Burnel, who brought it forward in par
liament. The statute is methodically divided into fifty-one chapters.
Without extending the exemption of churchmen from civil juris
diction, it protects the property of the Church from the violence
and spoliation of the King and the nobles, to which it had been
exposed. It provides for freedom of popular elections, then a mat
ter of much moment, as sheriffs, coroners, and conservators of the
peace were still chosen by the freeholders in the county court, and
attempts had been made unduly to influence the election of knights
of the shire, almost from the time when the order was instituted.
It contains a strong declaration to enforce the enactment of Mag
na Charta against excessive fines which might operate as per
petual imprisonment. It enumerates and corrects the great abuses
of tenures, — particularly with regard to the marriage of wards. It
regulates the levying of tolls, which were imposed in an arbitrary
manner, not only by the Barons, but by cities and boroughs. It
corrects and restrains the powers of the King's escheator and oth
er officers under the Crown. It amends the criminal law, putting
the crime of rape on the footing- to which it.has been lately restor
ed, as a most grievous but not a capital offence. It embraces the
subject of " Procedure " both in civil and criminal matters, intro
ducing many regulations with a view to render it cheaper, more
simple, and more expeditious.
Having gone so far, we are astonished that it did not go farther.
It does not abolish trial by battle in civil suits,— only releasing the
demandant's champion from the oath (which was always false)
that he had seen seisin given of the land, or that his father, when
dying, had exhorted him to defend the title to it. But if total and
immediate abolition of this absurd and impious practice had been
proposed, there would have been sincere and respectable men who
would have stood up for ancestral wisdom,— asserting that England

LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL. 163
owed all her glory and prosperity to trial by battle in civil suits,
and that to abolish it would be impiously interfering with the pre
rogative of Heaven to award victory to the just cause.
Lord Chancellor Burnel was soon to appear in a very different
capacity. Llewyllyn, Prince of Wales, had given
great assistance to the Montfort faction, and though <-*¦¦ D- 128L]
he was included in the general amnesty published after the bat
tle of Evesham, there was a lurking resentment against him for
his past misdeeds, and a strong desire to curb and curtail his pow
er^ that he might be less dangerous in future. By the Chancel
lor's advice he was summoned to this parliament to do homage for
his principahty, which he admitted that he held of the British
Crown. The Welsh Prince neglected the summons and sent for
excuse, — " that the King, having shown on many occasions an ex
treme animosity against him, he would not trust his person with
his declared enemy." Nevertheless, he offered to come, provided
Edward would give him his eldest son in hostage, with the Earl
of Gloucester and the Lord Chancellor. We may believe that
Burnel, known to be very unfriendly to the Welsh, would not
have been very willing to trust himself among these savage men
in the recesses of Snowdon.
The prince was peremptorily summoned to appear at a parliament
held in 1276, — and, making default, — after a solemn hearing of
the matter in his absence, he was adjudged by the mouth of the
ChanceUor to be guilty of felony, and war was im- r , „„„ ,
mediately proclaimed against him. Llewellyn being ^A' Dl l4'°'i-i
soon after slain in battle, the principality of Wales was complete
ly subjugated, and Burnel was employed to devise measures for
its pacification and future government. He was stationed at Bris
tol, where he held courts of justice for the southern counties, and
gave general directions for the introduction of Enghsh institutions
among the natives, who, notwithstanding their boast of ancient
independence and love of poetry, had made very little advance in
civilisation or the common arts of fife. He then prepared a Code
under which Wales was governed till the reign of Henry VIII.,
when it was allowed to send members to parliament, and was
fully included within the pale of the English constitution. This
was first, in the form of a charter, to which the Great Seal was
affixed, but being confirmed in a parliament held at Ruthlan
Castle, it is generally called " Statutum Wallise/'Jor " the Statute of
Rutland* ;" reciting that Wales, with its inhabitants, had hither
to been subject to the King jure feudali, but had now by divine
providence fallen in proprietatis dominum, — it introduces the Eng
lish law of inheritance, — regulates the jurisdiction of the " Justi-
ciarius de Snaudon," — establishes sheriffs and coroners, — and
provides for the administration of civil and criminal justice. Sec
onded by the immense castles erected by Edward, which now give
* 10 Ed. 1.

164 REIGN OF EDWARD I.
us such a notion of his wealth as well as of his wisdom, this Code
had the effect of preserving tranquillity, and gradually preparing
the way for greater improvements.
In May, 1282, the King paid his Chancellor a visit of three days
at Acton Burnel, and the foUowing year spent six weeks with him
there, from the 29th of September to the 12th of November, during
the trial of Prince David for high treason before the Parliament at
Shrewsbury, from which, as an affair of blood, aU prelates were
absent. After the disgraceful sentence passed on the last of a
princely line, — that for bravely defending his own rights and the
independence of his country, he should be dragged at horses' heels
through the streets of Shrewsbury, hanged, beheaded, and divided
into four quarters, to be distributed through the four chief towns
of England*; the King, to gratify his host, adjourned the parlia
ment to Acton Burnel, and it is said that the prelates, barons,
knights, citizens, and burgesses assembled in the great haU of the
strong castle which, by royal license, the Chancellor had buUt in
his native place.f Here was passed the most admirable statute,
" De MercatoribusJ," for the recovery of debts, — showing that
this subject was fully as weU understood in the time of Chancel
lor Burnel as in the time of Chancellor Eldon or ChanceUor
Lyndhurst. The grievance (which is peculiar to England) of
being obliged to bring an action and have a debt established by
the judgment of a court of law before enforcing payment of it,
where there is not the smallest doubt of the validity ofthe instru
ment by which it is constituted, has always been a reproach to the
administration of justice in this country. To mitigate the evU, the
Statute of Acton Burnel enacts, that where a debt has been
acknowledged before the Mayor of a town, — immediately after
* There was a keen controversy between York and Winchester for his right
shoulder, which was awarded to the capital of Wessex.
t Pro Roberto Burnel Bathon et Well' ) Rex omnibus ad quos etc. salutem.
Episcopo de manso Kernellando. J Sciatis quod concessimus pro nobis et
heredibus nostris venerabili patri Roberto Burnel Bathoniensi et Wellensi Episcopo
Cancellario nostro quod ipse et heredes sui mansum suum de Acton Burnel muro
de petra et calce firmare et Carnellare possint quandocumque voluerint, et mansum
illud sic firmatum et carnellatum tenere sibi et heredibus suis in perpetuum ; sine
occasione vel impedimento nostri othcredum nostrorum Justiciariorum et ministro-
rum nostrorum quorumcunque. In cuius etc. T. R. apud Lincolniam, xxviii die
Januani. Pat. 12. Ed. 1.
The remains of the castle still attract the curious in mediaeval architecture. It
is a quadrangular structure, enclosing an arrear of 70 feet by 47, with engaged
square towers at each angle. The interior has been much disturbed, and is now
so cnoked up with modern erections, that the dimensions and uses of the original
chambers can no longer be ascertained. However, there had certainly been a spa-
°? J1?11 °n the f.rst fl°°r, lighted by three large windows to the south, in which,
L?»i» & * P3r iament asselnbled- There seems to be no doubt that the three
E.™ *, fVi!?i,rea "", were ,not then separated as has been supposed into two cham
bers but deliberated together, and formed one legislative assembly.-Sce Rymer,
Castle^f4k^BPS»le °f "' Eartthone ™ " Ancient &»*»«*«<!
1 11 Ed. 1.

LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL. 165
default of payment, there shall be execution upon it, and that by
an application to the Chancellor the creditor may obtain satisfac
tion by sale of the debtors goods and alienable lands ;n any part
of England* 1
As long as Burnel continued in office, the improvement of the
law rapidly advanced, — there having been passed in the sixth
year of the King's reign the Statute of Gloucester ;" in the sev
enth year of the King's reign the " Statute of Mortmain ;" in the
thirteenth year of the King's reign the " Statute of Westminister
the second," the " Statute of Winchester," and the " Statute of
Circumspecte agatis ;" and in the eighteenth year of the King's
reign the " Statute of Quo Warranto," and the Statute of Quia
Emptores." With the exception of the establishment of estates
tail, which proved such an obstacle to the alienation of land till
defeated by the fiction of Fines and Common Recoveries, — these
laws were in a spirit of enlightened legislation, and admirably ac
commodated the law to the changed circumstances of the social
system -which ought to be the object of every wise legislator. The
provisions for checking the accumulation of property in the pos
session of ecclesiastical corporations, for defining the jurisdiction
of the ecclesiastical courts, for preventing subinfeudation by en
acting that on every transfer of land it shaU be held of the chief
lord of the fee, and for the appointment of the circuits of the
judges, such as we now have them, deserve particular commenda
tion. But we must not conclude the brief notice of the legislation
of this period, under the auspices of the Chancellor, without men
tioning the " Ordinatio pro Statu HiberniEB,t" for effectually in
troducing the English law into Ireland, and for the protection of
the natives from the rapacity and oppression of the Ring's officers ;
— a statute framed in the spirit of justice and -wisdom, which, if
steadily enforced would have saved Ireland from much suffering,
and England from much disgrace.
The ChanceUor, being so deeply engaged in state affairs, was
often unable to attend to his judicial duties, and he was obliged
from time to time to intrust the Great Seal to the custody of a
Keeper, who acted under him. This was generally John de Kirby,
who had been in possession of the Great vSeal, as Keeper, without
any Chancellor over him, at the conclusion of the last reign. In
1278 there is an entry that, on the ChanceUor going abroad, he de
livered the King's Seal into the King's wardrobe', to be kept under
the seal of Kirby, whom the ChanceUor had appointed to expedite
the business of the Chancery. t There is an original letter extant
in the Tower, written in the following year by the King to Kirby,
in which he is desired to come to the King, and to leave the Seal,
* I have repeatedly, but ineffectually, attempted to extend the principle of this
measure to modern securities, — bonds, and bills of exchange, — and to assimilate
our law in this respect to that of Scotland, of France, and of every other civilised
country. f n Ed 1. t Rot Clause. 6 Ed. 1. m. 12.

166 REIGN OE EDWARD I.
sealed up under his own seal, in the custody of Thomas Bek.
„„q -, From the 25th of May to the 19th of June the Chan-
[a. d. l<i/y.j ce]ior was with the King in France. During this
time the Seal was in the joint keeping of Kirby and Bek, and it was
restored to Burnel on his return* There are likewise entries of
the Seal being delivered to Kirby when the Chancellor was about
to visit his diocese, or to retire to his country house (ad partes
proprias).f Kirby, for his good services, was in 1287 made Bishop
of Ely. The subsequent Keepers of the Seal, under Burnel, were
Hugh de Hendal, Walter de Odiham , $ and William de Marchia.
However, the Chancellor himself, as head of the law, exercised
r 19Q01 a vigilant superintendence over the administration
tA- D- -J 0f justice, and in the parliament held at Westmin
ster, in the beginning of the year 1290, brought forward very seri
ous charges against the Judges for taking bribes and altering the
records, — upon which they were all convicted except two, whose
names ought to be held in honourable remembrance — John de
Eatingham and Elias de Bekingham. Sir T. Wayland, Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, being found the greatest delinquent,
had all his goods and estate confiscated to the King, and was ban
ished for life out of the kingdom. Sir A. de Stratton, Chief Bar
on of the Exchequer, was fined 34,000 marks. Sir R. de Heng-
ham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was let off with a fine
of 7000 marks, for although he had improperly altered a record, it
was not supposed to have been from corrupt motives. The taint
had spread into the Court of Chancery, and R. Lithebury, Master
of the RoUs, was fined 1000 marks. These sentences, pronounced
in parliament by the Chancellor, had upon the whole a very sal
utary effect, but are supposed, for some ages, to have induced
the Judges to adhere too rigorously to forms and the letter of the
law. The Chancellor was now engaged in assisting the King in the
most memorable transaction of his reign, the settlement of the
dispute respecting the succession to the Crown of Scotland, which
arose on the death of Alexander III. The ambitious scheme of
getting possession of Scotland by a claim of feudal superiority
when the hope of accomplishing the object by marriage had failed,
is, no doubt, to be ascribed to Edward himself; but the manner
in which it was conducted was chiefly devised by Burnel. He
r ]vjAy 1291 i accompanied the King to Norham, and there. ad
dressed the Scottish Parliament, assisted Roger
de Brabacon, the Chief Justice.
It is remarkable that the English Chancellor spoke to the Scotch
* Rot. Vase. 7 Ed. 1. Rot. Claus. 7 Ed. 1. m. 6. Rot. Pat. 6 Ed. I. m. 15.
t Rot. Pat. 4 Ed. 1. m. 16. Rot. Pat. 10 Ed. 1. m. 18. m. 14. Rot. Claus. 10
Ed. 1. m. 6. 11 Ed. 1. m. 8. Rot Pat. 12 Ed. 1. m. 7. 18. Madd. Exch. 49. Rot.
Clans. 12 Ed. l.m. 4.
X He on one occasion delivered the seal to these two as early as 1284 at Aber
conway, when he was going to Acton Burnel. Rot. Claus. 12 Ed. l.m. 47.

LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL. 167
parliament in French* ; but this was then the court language, not
only of England, but of Scotland, where almost the whole of the
nobility were of Norman extraction, — superior knowledge and
address having established the iUustrious descendants of RoUo in
the northern part of the island, as superior bravery had in the
southern. Nothing can exceed the dexterity with which the competitors
for the crown were induced to submit themselves to the arbitra
ment of Edward, and the whole Scottish nation to put themselves
in his power. These results were chiefly ascribed to the manage
ment of the Chancellor. The Prelates, Barons, and Knights of
Scotland, representing the whole community of that kingdom,
having met in a green plain on the left bank of the Tweed, direct
ly opposite to the castle of Norham, in pursuance of the leave
given them to deliberate in their own country, — Burnel went to
them in his master's name, and asked them " whether they would
say any thing that could or ought to exclude the King of England
from the right and exercise of the superiority and direct dominion
over the kingdom of Scotland which belonged to him, and that they
woujd there and then exhibit it if they believed it was expedient
for them ; — protesting that he would favourably hear them, — al
low what was just, — or report what was said to the King and his
council, that what justice required might be done." Upon repeat
ed demands, the Scots answered nothing ; whereupon the Chan
ceUor recapitulated all that had been said at the last meeting re
lative to the King's claim ; and a public notary being present, the
right of deciding the controversy between the several competitors
for the crown of Scotland was entered in form for the King of
England. After which the ChanceUor, beginning with Robert
Bruce, Lord of Annandale, asked him in the presence of all the
Bishops, Earls, Barons, &c, " whether, in demanding his right, he
would answer and receive justice from the King of England as
superior and direct Lord over the kingdom of Scotland ?" Bruce,
in the presence of them all, and of the public notary, none contra
dicting or gainsaying, answered " that he did acknowledge the King
of England superior and direct Lord of the kingdom of Scotland,
and that he would before him, as such, demand answer and receive
justice. The same question was successively put to all the other
competitors, who returned the like response. Not contented with
this, Burnel required that they should sign and seal a solemn in
strument to the same effect, — which they accordingly did, —
quickened by bints thown out that the candidate r 1292 1
who. was the most complying would have the best L • ¦ 1
chance of success.!
* Rymer, vol. ii. 643. It is hardly possible that, like Chancellor Longchamp, he
knew no other language than French, — the vernacular tongue, ppringing from the
AngIo;Saxon, being now generally spoken in England and in the lowlands of
Scotland. /
t 1 Pari. Hist. 40.

168 'REIGN OF EDWARD I.
Eighty commissioners were appointed from both nations to as
sist in taking evidence, and hearing the arguments of aU who
were interested. Their meetings were held at Berwick, and the
English ChanceUor presided over their deliberations.
Edward being obliged to return to the south to attend the fune
ral of his mother, Queen Eleanor (Ex-Lady- Keeper of the Great
Seal), left Burnel behind at Berwick to watch over the grand con
troversy, which was now drawing to a close. The claims of all
the competitors, except two, were speedily disposed of; and as
between these the doctrine of representation prevailed over prox
imity of blood. The judgment was accordingly in favour of Ba-
liol, the grandson of the elder sister, against Bruce, the son of the
younger, — the judge being probably influenced as mnch by a con
sideration of the personal qualities of the competitors as by the
opinion of the great jurists in different parts of Europe who were
consulted. Baliol had already exhibited that mixture of subser
viency and obstinacy, of rashness and irresoluteness, which made
him such a desirable vassal for a Lord, resolved by all expedients,
as soon as a show of decency would permit, to get the feud, by-
pretending forfeiture, into his own hands.
Lord Chancellor Burnel died at Berwick on the 25th day of Oc
tober, 1292, and was buried in his own cathedral at Wells. He
surely well deserves a niche in a gallery of British statesmen.
He was censured for the great wealth he amassed ;* but he
employed it nobly, for he not only erected for his family the cas-
teUated dwelling in which he received the King and parliament,
but likewise a splendid episcopal palace at Wells, long the boast
of his successors. Nepotism was another charge against him,
from his having done so much to push forward two brothers and
other kindred. This however must be regarded as a venial failing
in churchmen, whose memory could not be preserved in their own
posterity.! If he was rather remiss in the discharge of his epis-
* It appears from the inquisition held in the year after his death (21 Ed. 1.),
that the extent of his temporal possessions was commensurate with his .dignities,
as he held more than thirty manors, besides other vast estates in nineteen different
counties. — Cal. Lug. p. m. I. p 115.
m.\ The wliole of tUe family possessions centered in the Chancellor's nephew,
Philip who was summoned lo parliament as a Baron by writ in 131 1. The male
line of tbe family soon after failed ; but in the reign of Edward III. the Chancelltir
was represented, through a female, by Nicholas Lord Burnel, who gained great re
nown in the French wars, and had a keen controversy respecting the Burnel arms
with the renowned warrior Robert de Morley. It happened that they both were at
the siege of Calais under Edward III., in 1346, arrayed in the same arms. Nich
olas Lord Burnel challenged the shield as belonging to the Burnels only, he hav
ing at that time under his command 100 men, on whose banners were his proper
arms, hir Peter Corbet, then in his retinue, offered to combat with Robert de
Morley in support of the right which bis master had to the arms, but the duel nev
er took place, probably because the king denied his assent. The suit was then re
ferred to the court of chivalry, held on the sands of Calais, before William Bohun,
*¦ w Northampton high constable of England, and Thomas Beauchamp, Earl
of Warwick, earl marshal. The trial lasted several daysmen Robert, apprehend-
nig that the cause would go against him, took an opportunity, in presence of the

LORD OHANCELLOR BURNEL. 169
copal duties, he is to be honoured for the rational and moderate
system he pursued in ecclesiastical affairs, — neither encroaching
on the rights of the clergy, nor trying to exalt them above the
control of the law. As a statesman and a legislator, he is worthy
of the highest commendation. He ably seconded the ambitious
project of reducing the whole ofthe British Isles to subjection un
der the crown of England. With respect to Wales he succeeded,
and Scotland retained her independence only by the unrivaled
gallantry of her poor and scattered population. His measures for
the improvement of Ireland were frustrated by the incurable
pride and prejudices of his countrymen. But England continued
to enjoy the highest prosperity under the wise laws which he in
troduced.*

CHAPTER XI.

CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE DEATH
OF LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE
REIGN OF EDWARD I.
On the death of Burnel the Great Seal was, for a short time, in
the keeping of Wilham de Hamilton,! a man of business and of
moderate abilities, who subsequently became ro ~, .„„„,
ChanceUor. But if he expected to succeed to L ' ' ' '*
the envied office on this occasion, he was disappointed ; for soon
king, to swear by Cod's flesh, that if the arms in question were adjudged from
him, he never more would arm himself in the king's service On this the king,
out of personal regard for the signal services he had performed in those arms, and
eonsidering the right of Nicholas Lord Burnel, was desirous to put an end to the
contest with as little offence as possible. He, therefore, sent the Earl of Lancaster,
and other lords, to Nicholas, to request that he would permit Robert de Morley to
bear the arms in dispute for the term of his life only, to which Nicholas, out of
respect to the king, assented. The king then directed the high constable, and. earl
marshal, to give judgment accordingly. This they performed in the church of St.
Peter, near Calais, and their sentence was immediately proclaimed by a herald in
the presence of the whole army there assembled " — Pennant's North Wales.
* Edward I., returning from the Holy Land, at Bologna engaged in his service
Pranciscus Accursii, a very learned civilian, whom he employed as his ambassador
1,0 Prance and to Pope Nicholas III., — but, as far as I can trace, — not in his law
reforms, or in any part of his domestic administration. A hall at Oxford was apt
propriated to the use of this Italian,— from which some have supposed, that he
there gave lectures on tbe civil law. When he left England in 1281, he received
frqrn. the king 400 marcs, and the promise of an apnuityof 40 njarcs.— See Palg.
on Conned note L. p. 134. Duck xxii.
t There is an entry in the Close Roll, 20 Ed. 1., stating that this Great Seal was
in the keeping of Walter de Langton, keeper of the wardrobe, under the seal pt
William de Hamilton ; but it is certain that Hamilton sealed the writs, and did tne
business of the Great Seal, which was probably ordered to be kept in the King a
wardrobe, under tjie superintendence of the keeper of the wardrobe.
T0L. I. 15

170 REIGN OF EDWARD I.
after the King heard of the loss he had sustained, he named as
, the new ChanceUor John de Langton, a per-
[Dec. 17. l^y^.J son wn0, though much inferior to his predeces
sor, acted a considerable part in this and the succeeding reign.
He was of an ancient family in Lincolnshire, which produced
Cardinal Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, so illus
triously connected with Magna Charta, and of which Bennet
Langton, the friend of Dr. Johnson, was the representative in the
reign of George III. He early distinguished himself by his tal
ents and industry, and rendered himself useful to Lord Chancellor
Burnel. Being introduced into the Chancery as a clerk, he rose to
be Master of the RoUs, and showed qualities fitting him for the
highest offices in the state*
He continued ChanceUor for ten years to the entire satisfaction
of his royal master, who required no ordinary zeal and activity in
his ministers.
Immediately upon his appointment he published an ordinance
in the King's name for the more regular despatch of business,
" that in aU future parhaments all petitions shaU be carefully ex
amined, and those which concern the chancery shall be put in one
bundle, and those which concern the exchequer in another, and
those which concern the justices in another, and those which are
to be before the King and his Council in another, and those which
are to be answered in another."!
A parliament was caUed at Westminster soon after, when the
I T> 1 20^1 1 new ChanceUor had to begin the session with dis-
*¦ ' ' 'J dosing of a very novel appeal, which was entered by
the Earl of Fife against Bahol King of Scotland as vassal of Ed
ward King of England ; — and the question arose, whether the ap
peal lay? This was immediately decided by Lord ChanceUor
Langton, with the unanimous concurrence of lhe Lords, in the af
firmative ; and the respondent was ordered to appear. Formerly
* The following is a true copy of a letter of congratulation to him on his ap
pointment as Chancellor, lately discovered in the Tower : —
" Domino suo reverendo suus devotus in omnibus si quid melius sit salutem
Immensa Dei dementia quae sua? virtutis gratia gratis interdum occurrit homin.
non quassita vos ad regni gubernaculum in regia; Cancellarias officio feliciler promi
ovit non est diu. Super quo Ei regratior a quo fons emanat indeficiens totius ap-
lentise salutans. Sed ecce Domine vos qui in parochia de Langeton originem
duxistis sicut placuit Altissimo et ibidem refocillati fuistis maternis sinibus nutrit-
ms. Qua? immenso gaudio vos post doloris aculeos pariendi refocillavit ad hon-
orem Dei ct Regni gubernaculum quo prseestis in quo ipse placeat qui vos ad cul-
en honoris hujusmodi evocare dignatus est ut ei primo secundario domino Regi
et populo possitis complaceread honorem Jesu Christi, ut autem ei fiducialius
obsequamini qui vos sicpromovit de gratia sua special; ut ei visceralius obsequa-
^rT VaCf ' P°terli;.s affe«ione pleniori portitorium quoddam non extra septa
ST P°T. tanj *m/obis mitto rogans quatcnus exilitatcm tanti munusculi ex-
SSrJ^^J?6 Rd™,11t.t6ntcs.^"i'i'"n divinum in eodem exercere et discere
i^rsalte ra,U "n°^ ' ™1u\°m™ creavil ex nichilo et retribute est »n-
ru„ ^o ™ , T aZi'"h?r Lett"'< »™P- Edward I. 65. xx. S.
t Claus. 21 Ed. I. m. 7. This shows the Aula Regia to have become familiar.

JOHN DE LANGTON, LORD CHANCELLOR. 171
in the English parliaments there had always been placed on the
right hand of the throne, and on the same level with it, a chair for
the King of Scotland, who came to do homage for Cumberland
and his other possessions in England, — as the Kings of England
did homage to the Kings of France for Normandy and Guienne.
Baliol now claimed the place and precedence of his royal prede
cessors ; but the Chancellor, in the name of the House, announced
the resolution of their Lordships, " that he should stand at the
bar as a private person amenable to their jurisdiction, and that
having been guilty by his contumacy of a breach of feudal aUe-
giance, three of his principal castles should be seized into the
King's hands till he gave satisfaction."*
Baliol, seeing the degradation to which he had reduced himself
and his country, soon after renounced his allegiance as unlawfully
extorted from him, and in the vain hope of effectual assistance
from France, set Edward at defiance. " And now," says Daniel,
" began the contests between the two nations which spilt more
Christian blood, did more mischief, and continued longer, than any
wars that we read of between any two people in the world."!
Lord Chancellor Langton had the proud satisfaction of presiding
at a parliament held at Berwick in 1296, after Edward had overrun,
and for the time subjugated, Scotland. There he administered the
oaths of allegiance to aU the Scottish nobUity, who were reduced
to the sad necessity of swearing fealty to the haughty conqueror,
and of binding themselves to come to his assistance at any time
and place he might prescribe. But Wallace soon arose ; — Robert
Bruce was to foUow , — and amid the general gloom the Highland
seers could descry in the distant horizon shadows of the glories of
Bannockburn. We must confine ourselves to events in which Lord Chancellor
Langton was more immediately concerned. The fol- r 10071
lowing year Edward, thinking that he had conquered •-•*¦• ' 'J
Scotland, determined to carry on war against France, that he might
take vengeance for the perfidy of the monarch of that country, by
which he asserted he had been tricked out of Guienne. Having
assembled his fleet and army at Winchelsea, then the great port of
embarkation for the Continent, he hastened thither himself to meet
them, accompanied by the Chancellor, who on board the ship " Ed
ward" delivered the Great Seal into his own hand as he was set
ting sail for Flanders. X The King carried it abroad with him, hav
ing appointed John de Burstide, who attended him as his secretary,
to keep it. But Langton still remained ChanceUor, and on his way
back to London, at Tonbridge Castle, another seal was delivered
to him by Prince Edward, appointed guardian of the realm in the
King's absence.
* 1 Pari. Hist. 41. t Dan. Hist. p. 111.
X Rot Pat. 25 Ed. 1. n. 2. m. 7. Rot. Claus. m. 7.

172 REIGN OP EDWARD I.
A parliament was soon after held wltile the King remained
T 1297 1 aDroad> nominally under the young Prince, but ac-
[a. d. .j tuaUy under Langton. Here broke out a spirit of
liberty which could not be repressed, and the Chancellor was
obliged to allow the statute to pass both Houses, called " The
Confirmation of the Charters," whereby not only Magna Charta
and Charta de Foresta were confirmed , but it was enacted
that any judgment contrary to them should be void ; that copies
of them should be sent to the cathedral churches throughout the
realm, and read before the people twice every year* ; that sentence
of excommunication should be pronounced on all -who should in
fringe them ! ; and that no aids should be taken without the con^
fcent of parliament.:):
The statute was in the form of a charter, but the ChanceUor
conceived that he had no power to give the royal assent by put
ting the seal to it, and it was sent to Flanders by messengers from
both Houses, to be submitted to Edward himself. After much eva
sion and reluctance, he ordered De Burstice to seal it with the
Great Seal which he had brought along with him.
The king, baffled in his military operations against France, and
alarmed by the news of an insurrection in Scotland under Wal
lace, found it prudent to return to his own dominions, and (accord
ing to the Close Roll) on Friday, the 14th of March, 1298, he land
ed at Sandwich from Flanders, and the next day, about one o'clock,
John de Langton, the Chancellor, came to the King's bed-cham
ber at Sandwich, and there, in the presence of divers noble per
sons, by the King's bedside, he delivered up to the King the seal
that had been used in England during his absence, and the King
immediately after, with his own hand, delivered to the Chancel
lor the Great seal which he had taken with him to Flanders.^
Edward, having obtained (it is to be feared by the advice of
[a d 1298 1 the deeper of his conscience) a dispensation from
J the Pope from the observance of " the confirmation
ofthe Charters" to which he had given his assent when out of
the realm, the Parliament the following year passed the statute of
" Articuli super Chartasll," which introduced the new enactment,
" that the commonalty should choose three persons in every county
to be authorised by the King's letters patent under the Great Seal,
to hear and determine such complaints as should be made of those
who offended m any point againit the Charters, as weU the King's
officers as others, and to punish. them by imprisonment, ransom,
or amercement, according to the trespass." To this statute the
King gave his royal assent in person from the throne, " the Chan
cellor and the Judges sitting on the woolsacks," and from this
f tKJ' Sk% i , l C,' 3- , t C. 4. C. 6 and 6. 2 Inst. 525.
« « ™ , . . i' K mm- 23- 12- in dorso- 26 Ed- 1- Rot. 57. a.
II Jo -hid, i. stat. 3.

JOHN DE LANGTON, LORD CHANCELLOR. 173
time no sovereign of England has denied that the Charters are
law,, however in practice they may have been violated*
The chancellor was now involved in a dispute in which he was
personaUy interested, and which caused him. great trouble and
anxiety for some years. He had not had the good luck to be pro
moted to the episcopal bench, — when the see of Ely becoming
vacant, he thought he was secure of it. But while some of the
monks voted for him according to the wishes of the government,
others gave their voices for their own Prior, who, they said, would
have much more leisure to attend to the duties of a faithful over
seer of the church of Christ.
The court then lay at York, the Chancellor, as usual, attending
the King. He posted off to Lambeth to consult the Archbishop of
Canterbury, leaving the Seal with three persons, John de Cran-
combe, John de Caen, and WiUiam de Birlay, to be kept by them
in their joint custody on the King's behalf until he should return.!
The Archbishop advised him to proceed in person to Rome, the
Prior of Ely having already appealed to the Pope. Langton, with
out resigning his office of ChanceUor, had leave of obsence to pros
ecute his suit, and on the 14th of February, 1299, delivered up the
Great Seal, to be held during his stay abroad, by John de Burstid6
as Keeper. He landed at Dover on his return, on the 11th of June
following, and on the 16th ofthe same month the Seal was re-de
livered to him by the King.J He had not succeed- , 1 „„„ .
ed at the Vatican, notwithstanding all the influence L • • -1
exerted in his favour. The Holy Father, taking this opportunity
to show the plenitude of his power, entirely set aside the election
of the monks, consecrated the Bishop of Norwich to the see of Ely,
bestowed Norwich on the Prior of Ely, and, by way of consolation
to the Enghsh Chancellor, made him Archdeacon of Canterbury.
On the 12th day of August, 1302, Langton resigned his office
of Chancellor for some reason not explained to us. This occur
rence certainly did not proceed from a desire to sacrifice him to a
rival, for the King was much perplexed in the appointment of a
successor. The Close Roll gives a very circumstantial account of
the ceremony of the resignation : —
" Be it remembered that in the 30th year of King Edward, on
Monday after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, about the
hour of vespers, in the chamber wherein the King then lodged, in
the Hostel of the Archbishop of York, near Westminster, imme
diately after the King rose from council, Lord John de Langton,
the ChanceUor of England, restored to the King his Great Seal,
and the King in the presence of Amadio Earl of Savoy, John de
Bretagne, and divers others of his council, delivered the same to
the Lord John de Drakensford, then Keeper of his wardrobe, to be
kept there."$
* 1 Pari. Hist. 43.
t Rot. Pat. 26 Ed. 1. m. 27,, and Rot. Claus. 26 Ed. 1. m. 10.
X Rot. SI. 27 Ed. 1. m. 11. § CI. Rol. 30 Ed. I. m. 8.
15*

174 REIGN OP EDWARD I.
After a lapse of ten days, the King had not yet made up his
mind who should be Chancellor, but there being a necessity that
the judicial business connected with the office should proceed, the
Great Seal was given under certain restrictions into the keeping
of Adam de Osgodebey, Master of the Rolls, of Which we have
the following entry : —
" On the 23d of August, in the 30th year of the King, in the
King's chamber at Kensington, in the presence of Otho de Grah-
dison, Amadio Earl of Savoy, John de Bretagne, and others of the
King's Council, the King's Great Seal was delivered by the King's
order by the hand of Lord John de Darkensford, Keeper of the
wardrobe, to Lord Adam de Osgodebey, Keeper of the RoUs of
the Chancery, who was enjoined to keep it under the seal of Mas
ter John de Caen, and the Lords WUliam de Birlay and Robert de
Bardelley, until the King should provide himself with a Chancellor.*
The Seal being so disposed of, the King set forward on his jour-
ney to Dover by the way of Chichester."
At last, on the 30th of September foUowing, a new ChanceUor
r 1S02 1 was declared in the person of William de Grene-
"• '¦' field, Dean of Chichester. The reader may be
gratified by the record of the appointment and installation : —
" On Sunday the morrow of St. Michael, in the same year, in
the King's Chapel, at St. Redegund, immediately after mass, in
the presence of Lord John de Darkensford and others, chaplains
and clerks of the said chapel of the King, Lord Adam de Osgood
bey delivered the Great Seal to our Lord the King, who then re
ceived it into his own proper hands, and straightway delivered it
to Master Wilham de Grenefield, Dean of Chicester, whom he
had chosen for his Chancellor, to keep, and the said ChanceUor
delivered the said Seal again to the said Adam, to be carried with
him the said Chancellor to Dover ; and on the same day at Dover,
the Chancellor received it back from the said Adam, and the hext
day sealed writs with it in the House of God there."!
Langton, the Ex-chancellor, remained some years without any
promotion ; but in 1305 he was made Bishop of Chichester, and
he obtained quiet possession of that see, which he continued to
govern with great credit till he was again restored to the office of
Chancellor in the succeeding reign.
William de Grenefield (sometimes caUed Grenevill), now his
successor, was descended from an ancient family in the West of
England, represented by the present Duke of Buckingham. He
entered the Church when very young, and was a Caiion of York
before he was Dean of Chichester. He frequented the court of
Edward I, and had shown qualities which induced the belief that
he would make a useful servant to the Crown. When raised to
his new dignity he is said to have been •• eminent in counsel, and
very eloquent."
t —inousque Dominus Rex sibi de Cancellario proVidisset. CI. 30 Ed. 1. ro. 6.
t CI. Rol. 30 Ed. 1. m. 5.

DE GRENEFIELD, CHANCELLOR. 175
He and Edward's other ministers were excessively unpopular,
insomuch that at a parhament caUed soon after this appointment,
an attempt was made to carry a favourite scheme several times
brought forward in weak reigns about this period of Enghsh His
tory, but which we should not have expected to find proposed to
him who had conquered Wales, and led his victorious armies to
the extremity of Scotland, — " that the Chancellor, Chief Justice,
and Treasurer should be chosen or appointed by the community
of the kingdom." The King, by the Chancellor's advice, return
ed for answer, — " I perceive you would at your pleasure make your
King truckle to you and bring him under subjection. Why have
you not asked the Crown of me also ? whfist at the same time
you look upon that as very fit and necessary for yourselves which
you grudge me that am your King ; for it is lawful for every one
of you, as master of his own family, to take in or turn out what
Servant he pleases ; but if I may not appoint my ChanceUor,
Chief Justice and Treasurer, I wiU be no longer your King : yet
if they or any other officers shaU do you any wrong or injustice,
and complaint be made of it to me, you shall then have some rea
son to grumble if you are not righted." This firmness had such
ah effect, that the Barons humbly begged the King's pardon for
their presumption.*
The only other public matter in which Lord Chancellor Grene
field was concerned, was in framing an answer to a letter which
the Pope had written to Edward, remonstrating with him upon his
invasion of Scotland, and claiming that kingdom as a right be
longing to the see of Rome ; but his Holiness was gravely as
sured that " ever since the coming of Brute and his Trojans into
this island, Scotland had been under feudal subjection to the
Kings of England, who had frequently made gift of it to one of
their subjects, and resumed the gift at their pleasure." The Bar
ons of England, to the number of 112, unanimously concurred in
" an address to the Pope, devoutly kissing his blessed feet," in
which they told him " that he had no right to interfere in the af
fairs of Scotland, which belonged exclusively to the Crown of
England." It is curious that although this address was voted in
Parhament and appears on the Parliament RoU, subscribed by all
the Barons, it is not subscribed by the Chancellor or any spiritual
Peer. De Grenefield had great reason to avoid appearing too openly
in this controversy, and notwithstanding his caution, he seems to
have given offence to the Roman Pontiff On the 4th of Dec
ember, 1303, he was elected Archbishop of York, and on the 24th
of the same month the royal assent was given to his election ; but
although he was not liable to any reasonable objection, the Pope
refused to allow his consecration. Letters and proxies being inef
fectual, the Archbishop elect resolved to go in person to Rome ;
* 1 Pari. Hist. 48, 49.

176 REIGN OP EDWARD I.
and, to show his devotedness to his spiritual duties, he absolutely
¦resigned the office of ChanceUor before his departure.
The journey of the Ex-chancellor to Rome must have been
very rapid, and the energy of his personal application extraord
inary, for having delivered up the Great Seal at Westminster on
the 29th of December, 1304, he was consecrated there on the 30th
of January following, — his representations on the equity of his
case being fortified by a present to the Pope of 9500 marks. He
was admitted to the temporalities ofthe see on the 31st of March,
1305 ; but he is said to have been reduced to such poverty by the
exactions of the Court of Rome, that he was twice forced to have
recourse to the clergy of his diocese for subsistence, first by way
of " benevolence," and the second time of " subsidy." He is cele
brated for his support of the Knights Templars, then persecuted
by the Pope and Philip of France. In the year 1311 he sat in
the Council of Vienna, caUed to quiet the disputes which then
agitated the church, and representing the clergy of England he
was aUowed precedence next after the Prince, Archbishop of
Treves. He died in 1315*
During a temporary absence of De Grenefield, when he had
been sent on an embassy, Osgodebey, the Master of the RoUs,
had acted as Keeper of the Seal ; but on his resignation a new
ChanceUor was appointed, — William de Hamilton, Dean of
York.! At the time of his nomination, being absent from court, the
1 1304 1 Cheat Seal was delivered into the king's wardrobe
¦-A' ' '¦! to be kept by John de Burstide ; and on the 16th of
January foUowing it was delivered to the new ChanceUor, who
continued to hold it above two years. Soon after he was appoint
ed there was an admonition given to him by the King in full par
liament (probably in consequence of a petition from the Com-
* While he was Chancellor, the practice was established of members of the
House of Commons being allowed their wages. At the end of the session, writs
out of Chancery under the Great Seal were delivered to them, certifying their at
tendance, and requiring the sheriff by assessment, to raise the necessary sum for
paying them — Rolls of Parliament, 38 Edward I.
t Rot. Claus. 33 Ed. 1. m. 22. " Master William de Grenefield, Canon of York
and the king's Chancellor, being elected Archbishop of York, did in the king's
chamber at Lincoln, on Tuesday next after the feast of the Lord's nativity, to wit,
on the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr, in the thirty-third year of the king's reign,
say to the king before his council, that it behoved him to go to Rome on the Thurs
day following relative to the business of the said election, and begged the King to
ordain what was to be done with the Great Seal ; and the king then nominated and
elected William de Hamilton, Dean of York, Chancellor and Keeper of the Seal,
and commanded the Archbishop elect to deliver the Seal the next day into tbe
wardrobe to Sir John de Burstide, to remain there under the seals of Sir Adam
de Osgodebey, &c, until the arrival of the new Chancellor ; and the archbishop
elect the next day, at the sealing time, delivered the Seal to the king in bed." On
the 16th of January following, by virtue of a writ of privy seal the Great Seal was
delivered to Sir William de Hamilton, so chosen Chancellor, and the same day
after dinner he sealed a writ for Master William de Grenefield, elect of York, the
Ex-chancellor.— Rot. Pat. 33 Ed. 1. p. 1. m. 29.

DE BALDOCK, CHANCELLOR. 177
mons) against granting letters of protection from suits to persons
absent in Ireland*
In 1306 the ChanceUor put the Great Seal to the famous statute
" De TaUagio non concedendo !," framed in the form of a charter,
which had become necessary from the King, of his own authority,
having taken a taUiage of all cities, boroughs, and towns, and
which finally put an end to the direct claim of the kings of Eng
land to impose any tax, and drove those who, in future, wished to
rule without a parliament, to resort to such subterfuges as " be
nevolences," and " ship-money."
Any credit which De Hamilton might have had in inducing the
King to agree to this concession was outweighed by f iqn^l
the disgrace which he allowed to be brought upon *-A- D- d dJ
the King and the nation from the mock trial and murder of Sir
WiUiam Wallace, who, owing no allegiance to the King of Eng
land, was tried at Westminster under a commission r pq i qni 1
sealed by an English Chancellor, and was executed '•A ' ' , '
on Tower Hill as a traitor, for having defended, against a public
and oppressive enemy, the liberties of his native land with signal
conduct, intrepidity, and perseverance, entitling him to be placed
in the highest class of heroes and patriots.
De Hamilton did not live to see the effect of this barbarous poli
cy in the rising of the Scottish nation, headed by Robert Bruce, —
aU ready again to brave every danger in the hope of freedom and
vengeance. He died in possession of the office of Chancellor on
the. 20th of April, 1307, while in attendance on the King near the
Scottish border, — not having reached any higher dignity in the
church than that of Dean of York.
The Great Seal was found in a purse sealed up under the pri
vate seal of the deceased Chancellor. The King immediately de
clared his resolution to bestow the vacant office on Ralph de Bal
dock, Bishop of London, then in the South, and r^pRIL 21 1307 ]
the foUowing day, as the Great Seal could not *- '
be personally delivered to him, his appointment was made out in
the foUowing form : —
" Edward, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ire
land, and Duke of Aquitaine, to the Treasurer or his deputy, and
to the Barons of our Exchequer, health. Forasmuch as William
de Hamilton who was our Chancellor is now with God, we com
mand and ordain that the Bishop of London be our Chancellor,
and that he come without delay to London to our said Exchequer
to receive in your presence our Great Seal, which we now send
thither by our dear clerks Adam de Osgodeby, Master John de
Caen, and Robert de Bardelley. We command you that you cause
* Rot. Pari. 38 Ed. 1. Memorandum quod vj. die April a. 33. Dominus Rex
in pleno parliamento suo apud Westm. inhibuit Wilhilmo de Hamilton, Cancella-
rio suo ne de cctero concedat alicui literas Regis de protectione in Hibn.
t 34 Ed. 1. 2 Inst. 531. Its genuineness has been questioned,— without sum-
cient reason.

178 REIGN OP EDWARD I.
the said Seal to be delivered to the said Bishop, and that you re
ceive from him the oath of office belonging to the said office.
Given under our Privy Seal at CornhiU the 21st day of April, in
the 35th year of our reign."*
" Hereupon on the vigil of the Ascension nexl following, Ralph
de Baldock, in the Court of Exchequer at Westminster, before
WiUiam de Carleton, Baron of the Exchequer, Deputy of the
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, the King's Treasurer, then with
the King in the Marches of Scotland, before the other Barons, and
also Roger de Brabancon, the King's Justiciary for Pleas before
the King himself, and Ralph de Hingham, Justiciary of the Bench,
took the oath well and faithfully to demean himself in the office of
ChanceUor, and the impressions of the private seals with which
the purse containing the Great Seal was guarded, being broken, it
was taken therefrom and delivered to the said Ralph de Baldock,
to be kept by him as Chancellor."!
De Baldock, by industry and ability, had reached his present
high station from an obscure origin. He studied at Merton CoUege,
Oxford, and made himself master of aU the learning of the times.
He wrote in Latin " Annals of the English Nation," a work which
was praised in his lifetime, although it has not come down to us.
When appointed Bishop of London, he gained great fame by the
splendid repair of St. Paul's Cathedral at his cost, and it was on
this occasion that the immense collection of ox skulls were dug
up, which fortified the tradition that here had stood a great temple
of Diana.
Having received the Great Seal he remained stationary, devote
ing himself to his official duties, till news reached London of the
death of the King. Edward, at the head of a mighty army, was
marching for Scotland to take vengeance for the defeat which
his General, Aymer de Valence, had sustained from Robert Bruce,
and (as he hoped) finally to subjugate the Scottish nation ; but he
sickened and died at Burgh on Sands, near Carlisle, on the 7th of
July 1307, in the 69th year of his age, and the 35th of his reign.
In the present day such an event as the demise of the Crown
would be known in a few hours all over the kingdom ; but for a
period of eighteen days the news of the death of Edward I. did
not reach the Chancellor in London, who down to the 25th of
July, continued to seal writs as usual, unconscious that a new-
reign had commenced. Letters of Privy Seal were then receiv
ed from the new King, ordering that his father's seal should be
sent to him under the seal of the Chancellor, and accordingly he
received it into his own hands at Carlisle, on the 2d of August.!
His eagerness to change the Chancellor in whom his father had
confided, showed that the influence of personal favourites was
* Pas. Commun. 35 Ed. 1. Rot. 46.
t Rot. Fin. 35 Ed 1. m. 1 . Rot. Pat. 35 Ed. 1. m. 1.
X Rot, Fin. I Ed. 2. m. 11.

DE BALDOCK, CHANCELLOR. 179
already felt, and was a prelude to his own misfortunes and the
disgrace which he brought upon the country.
De Baldock, freed from the cares of office, spent the remainder
of his days in the pursuit of literature, and the services of religion
He died on the 24th of July, 1313.
Although we have no trace of the decisions of the Chancellors
of Edward I., we know, from recent discoveries in the Tower of
London, that they exercised important judicial functions, both in
the King's council and in their own court, where they sometimes
had the assistance of others, and sometimes sat alone. No case
of importance was heard in the Council when the Chancellor was
absent ; and cases were referred by the Council for his considera
tion in Chancery, either by himself, or with the advice of specifi
ed persons whom he was to summon to assist him. Sometimes
the subject of these suits was such as would now only be taken
cognisance of in courts of common law, — as disturbance of right
of pasture ; — but others were of a nature that would now be
properly considered in a court of equity, — as assignment of dower
a discovery of facts by the examination of the defendant, and
the exercise of the visitatorial power of the ChanceUor represent
ing the Sovereign.
AU writers who have touched upon our juridical history have
highly extoUed the legal improvements which distinguished the
reign of Edward I., without giving the slightest credit for them to
any one except the King himself; but if he is to be denominated
the English Justinian, it should be made known who were the
Tribonians who were employed by him : and the English nation
owes a debt of gratitude to the ChanceUors, who must have framed
and revised the statutes which are the foundation of our judicial
system, — who must, by explanation and argument, have obtained
for them the sanction of Parliament, — and who must have watch
ed over their construction and operation when they first passed
into law. I shaU rejoice if I succeed in doing tardy justice to the
memory of Robert Burnel, decidedly the first in this class, and if
I attract notice to his successors, who walked in his footsteps. To
them, too, we are probably indebted for the treatises entitled
" Fleta* " and " Britton !," which are said to have been written
at the request of the King, and which, though inferior in style and
arrangement to Bracton, are wonderful performances for such an
age, and make the practitioners of the present day, who are be
wildered in the midst of an immense legal library, envy the good
* Fleta 'must have been written after the thirteenth year of the King, and not
much later; for it frequently quotes the statute of Westminster the second, with
out referring to the latter statutes of the reign. The title is taken from its having
been written in the Fleet Prison.
t Britton has been attributed to John Breton, Bishop of Hereford ; but this can
not be correct, for he died in the third year of the King, and the Treatise quotes,
the statutes of the thirteenth. It set the example of writing law books in French
which was followed for four centuries.

180 REIGN OF EDWARD II.
fortune of their predecessors, who, in a few manuscript volumes,
copied by their own hand, and constantly accompanying them,
could speedily and clearly discover all that was known on every
point that might arise.
We now approach a period when civil strife and national mis
fortune suspended all improvement and when a career of faction
and violence terminated in the deposition and murder of the
Sovereign.

CHAPTER XII.
CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF EDWARD II.
It is not certainly known from records or otherwise, how the
young King disposed of the Great Seal from the time when he
received it at Carlisle till his return to London in the autumn of
the year 1307. He probably carried it with him into Scotland in
the short and inglorious campaign which he then made in that
country, — forgetting alike what the exigencies of justice requir
ed in his own dominions, and the dying injunctions of his father
to lead on the expedition with the utmost energy, and never to de
sist till he had reduced the Scottish nation to complete subjection.
From the hour of his accession to the throne, he betrayed an utter
incapacity for government, and an unconquerable aversion to all
serious business. He seems for a long time to have appointed
neither Chancellor nor Keeper of the Seal. He retreated without
striking a blow, — disbanded his army, and thought* of nothing
but conferring power and places on his favourite, Piers Gaeston.*
WhUst the Barons, from the beginning, showed the utmost in
dignation at the advancement of this upstart, John de Langton,
Bishop of Chichester, who had been ChanceUor in the late reign,
formed a coalition with him, and in recompense was restored to
his former office. It was thought, even by the Gascon youth
himself, that it would have been too great an outrage at once to
have made him Chancellor, although, as we shall see, he was ere
long intrusted with the Seal as Keeper.
The two years during which John de Langton was now Chan
ceUor, were chiefly occupied with the disputes between the King
and the Barons on account of the preference shown to the foreign
favourite. Edward continued occasionally to find a respite beyond sea from
the factious proceedings of his native subjects. In the beginning
* A charge was afterwards brought against Gareston of having about this time
put the Great Seal to blank charters, which he filled no according to his fancy.

CHANCELLOR. 181
of 1308, going to Aquitaine, he left the Chancellor guardian ofthe
realm, and delivered to him a new seal to be used for certain
necessary purposes. The Great Seal was intrusted to the keep
ing of William Melton, the King's secretary, who accompanied
him. On Edward's return, the ChanceUor delivered to him the
Seal which had been in use during his absence, and the King de
livered back to the Chancellor the Great Seal which he had carri
ed with him abroad.*
Soon after, the King paid a short visit to Boulogne, when the
ChanceUor seems to have accompanied him, for Piers Gaveston
was left with a seal to be used for the sealing of writs and other
necessary business. In the Close Roll we have a very circum
stantial account of the manner in which this seal was dealt with
in the Court of Exchequer on the King's return.!
Edward was in the habit of occasionally taking the Seal into
his own custody, and using it without any responsible adviser.
Thus, on the 13th of June, 1308, at the New Temple in London,
the Bishop elect of Worcester, the Treasurer, ordered the Chan
ceUor, pursuant, he said, to the verbal commands he had received
from the King, to send the Great Seal to Windsor by Adam de
Osgodebey, — which was accordingly done, — and it remained with
the King tiU the 20th of the same month, when it was again re
stored to the ChanceUor in London. In this interval, , ^ 131qi
by the personal command of the King, was sealed L J
the patent appointing Gaveston Lieutenant of Ireland, contrary
to the sentence pronounced against him in Parliament.^
In May, 1310, John de Langton was obliged to yield to the
storm raging against him and the favourite. A petition was pre
sented in Parliament, which, being backed by an armed force,
was equivalent to a command, praying that Edward would dismiss
his ministers, and devolve on a junto the whole authority of the
Crown, with power, for a limited time, to enact ordinances for the
government of the kingdom and the regulation of the royal house
hold. ¦ • ii. n o i
Gaveston was banished, and Langton, resigmng the Great Seal,
retired to his bishopric* He did not again mix with the factious
t " Whereupon William de Melton, controller of the King's wardrobe, came and
brought into the Exchequer the King's seal used in England at the time when the
Kfag was in foreign pans ; which Seal was used for sealing the writs that issued
™?nV the Kind's Chancery in England, at that time under the teste of Peter de
Gave ton fafof Cornwall then th! King's lieutenant in England, and the said
Seal beinff in a bag or purse of white leather, sealed with the Privy Seal of John
de Langfon? Bishop of Chichester, Chancellor of England, was by him delivered
in atX Exchequer in the presence ofthe Chancellor of the same Exchequer, and
ne Barons andqthe Remembrance, And straightway the sa id S-l being in h
t Se^Mem m CI R. 1 Ed 2, which the Chancellor is supposed to have en er-
edtoshowThaJhewas not to be considered answerable for Gaveston's appomt-
ment. «, May 11, 1310.
VOL. I. 16

182 REIGN OF EDWARD II.
disputes which long continued to convulse the kingdom. He
seems to have been a man unscrupulous as to the means by which
he reached power, but, as far as he thought consistent with the
safety of his tenure of it, disposed to promote beneficial meas
ures, and to restrain irregularities and excesses in the government.
Having assisted the zeal of the first Edward for the public good,
he continued, while he remained in office, to a certain degree, to
mitigate the son's evil propensities, which at last produced conse
quences so tragical. Lord Coke relates the following anecdote,
to show that " this Lord Chancellor of England was of a great
spirit, and feared not the face of great men in that dangerous time
to do that which he ought. Earl Warren, though married to the
King's niece, carried off* the Countess of Lancaster from her hus
band to his castle of Ryegate, in Surrey, and there lived with her
in open advoutry. Langton, as Bishop of Chichester, according
to his office and duty, called the said Earle Warren in question
for the said shameful offence, and by ecclesiastical censures ex
communicated him for the same ; in revenge whereof, the Earle
adding a new offence to the old, came with many of his foUowers,
weaponed for the purpose, towards the Bishop to lay violent hands
upon him ; but the Bishop being well attended with gentlemen
and other his household servants issued out, and not only manful
ly defended himself against that barbarous attempt, but valiantly
overcame the Earle, and laid him and his gaUants in prison : ar-
maque in armatos sumere jura sinunt."*.
For some time after Langton's resignation of the Great Seal
there was great difficulty as to the disposal of it. As the person
holding it necessarily came so much into the royal presence, even
the Barons felt a delicacy in putting it into the hands of any one
personally obnoxious to the King. For about two months it re
mained in the custody of Ingelard de Warlegh!, with power merely
to seal writs with it in the presence and with the concurrence of
three persons specified ; and then Osgodebey, the Master of the
Rolls, held it for a short time under similar restrictions. X
r 1S10 1 At last, on the 6th of July, a compromise took
' ' j. j piac6j an(j Walter Reynolds -was declared Chan
ceUor $, he having on the occasion advanced 1000/., said to have
been lent to the King, but probably divided between the King and
the Barons.
Reynolds, by his parts and address, had gained the favour of
that discerning prince, Edward I, who made him tutor to his son,
a Privy CounciUor, and Bishop of Worcester. He cannot be held
accountable for the defective character or conduct of his royal
pupil, who, though he might have been expected to have inherited
* 2 Inst. 574. He died 9th July, 1337, and he was buried in the cathedral of
Chichester, under the great south window, which remains to this day a monument
of his taste as well as of his magnificence.
1 Rot. CI. 4 Ed. 2 M. 6. 1 Rot. CI. 4 Ed. 2. M. 26. $ Ibid.

WALTER REYNOLDS, CHANCELLOR. 183
stendi^Tn8 fr°mf b0ti MS PTntS' Was by nature of a» ^der-
1 Inw 7' frlV0l™s,and incapable of cultivation or correc
tion. Edward was nevertheless attached to his preceptor in spite
of profiting so httle by his tuition, and was much gratified by the
forbearance of the Barons in allowing one he loved to hold the
office which was substantially in their gift
Reynolds continued Chancellor till the 28th of September 1311
having twice during that time given the Seal to be kept by 'OsSo-
clebey, the Master of the Rolls ;-once when he attended the Kino-
to Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the second time when he went to
assist at a general council of the western church held at Vienne
in Dauphiny. Soon after his return he resigned the office of
Chancellor, or, more properly, he was driven from it by the dis
putes between the King and the Barons, which now raged with
more violence than ever. Edward had the indiscretion to recall
Gaveston, and again to load him with favours at court. This
proceeding excited such general disgust, that he was compeUed to
agree to an act, to confer permanently upon a committee of Par
liament the power of appointing to all the great offices of state ; 
and Gaveston being taken prisoner, his head was struck off by the
hand of the executioner.
While these things were going on, the Barons, for expediting
judicial business, arranged that the 'Great Seal rT c
should remain with the Master of the Rolls. L UNE U' 1312-i
Twice the King got possession of it ; but he was obliged to return
it to the same custody.
The unpopular favourite being put to death, the Barons became
more moderate, and there was a reaction in the nation against a
parliamentary commission for carrying on the government, which,
in experience, had always been found to aggravate the confusion
whence it had arisen.
A settlement accordingly took place, upon the understanding
that there should not, for the present, be a Chancellor, but that the
King should appoint a Keeper to do all the duties of the office,
under the superintendence of three persons, to be named by the
Barons. Walter Reynolds was the new Keeper* and he is a singular
instance of a person holding the Great Seal with r.-. . .„.,,
the title after having held it as " Chancellor," >¦ ' "''J
while there are very many instances of a person holding it as
" Chancellor" after having held it as " Keeper."
Reynolds was translated from Worcester to the see of Canter
bury, by Papal permission, on the 1st of October, 1313;! but he
had a keen controversy for this dignity with Thomas Cobham,
Dean of Salisbury. He at last prevaUed, and, in April, 1314, he
* Rot. CI. 6 Ed. 2. m. 26.
t In December, 1313, Edward went on a pilgrimage to a statue of Our Lady
at Boulogne, still famous. During his absence, the Great Seal remained in lhe
custody of the Archbishop elect.— -R. CI. 7 Ed. 2.

184 REIGN OF EDWARD II.
Was instaUed in the archbishopric with extraordinary magnifi
cence. He still continued Keeper, with the same restrictions ; the
Great Seal being deposited in a purse, under the seals of the
Stiperintendents, and, after each day's sealing, restored to the
purse in their presence.
Intestine feuds now ceased for a time, that the nation might
r 1S14 1 *a"£e vengeance on the Scots, who not only had re-
l ' ' 1 conquered their own country, but, under Robert
Bruce, had made successful inroads into England, enriching them
selves by the plunder of the northern counties. The Barons, for
getting their paltry differences about the appointment of the Chan
cellor, rallied round Edward, and he marched to the frontier with
a well-equipped army, amounting to a hundred thousand men. It
is weU known that this expedition ended in the fatal battle of
Bannockburn, the greatest defeat which England has sustained
since the Norman conquest.
According to the English authorities, which I think may be re-
I June 18 1314 1 ^ec* uPon> no one na(^ attended the King to the
I ' J North as Chancellor or Keeper; but Hume of
Goldscroft, in his " History of Scotland and of the House of
Douglas," relates that the Lord Keeper was among the slain, and
thai the Great Seal being taken as a trophy of the victory, was
restored to the English by Robert Bruce* Reynolds, who had
probably remained, with the Great Seal, in London, went to York
to be present at the Parliament, or rather Council of the prelates
and nobility, which Edward called on his arrival there, after his
precipitate flight. However, the nation was in such consternation
from their late calamity, that no business was conducted at this
assembly except the exchange ofthe wife of Robert Bruce against
some English prisoners of war.
Reynolds did not long retain the Great Seal after his return to
the South, having finally resigned it on the 26th of September,
1314. *. " The English king did bring into the field all that he was able to make,
not only of English, but of his beyond-sea dominions ; neither of those that were
his own subjects only, but he was also aided and assisted by his friends and con
federates in Flanders, Holland, Zealand, Brabant, Picardy, Gascony, Normandy,
Guienne, Bullonois, and Bourdeaux ; of these and of his own countrymen he had
in all 150,000, intending to have exterminated the whole nation of Scots, with so
confident a presumption of victory, that he brought with him a Carmelite friar (a
poet according to the time) to commit his triumph to writing. He was defeated
by 30,000, or 35,000 at the most (as all agree), and that in a plain and open field,
where there was slain of his men 50,000." " The Carmelite also changed his
note, singing their victory whose overthrow he came to set forth, and chanting
their discomfiture whose praises he was hired to proclaim- He thus began his
ditty : — " De planctu cudo metrum cum carmine nudo,
Risum detrudo, dum tali themate ludo.' "
Among the slain he enumerates " Sir Robert Northbrooke (Lord Keeper of the
Broad Seal) and Sir Ralph Mortimer, who had married the king's sister." He
adds, " Mortimer was dimitted ransome free, and obtained tbe king's Broad Seal
at Brace's hands."— pp. 32—35.

CHANCELLOR. 185
He is much blamed for his subsequent conduct. He now took
part with the Court of Rome in its encroachments on the prero
gatives of the Crown, and he obtained no fewer than eight buUs
from the Pope, conferring upon himself privileges and jurisdic
tions of a novel and invidious nature. But what was much worse,
he took part against the King, his former pupU, who had treated
him with so much personal kindness, and had exalted him to his
present height of greatness. By abetting the profligate Queen
and her associates, he was supposed to have hurried the unhappy
Edward to a prison and a grave.
The Ex-chancellor became more superstitious as he became
more unprincipled, and he is said to have died of fear, because
the Pope had threatened him with spiritual censures for having
somewhat irregularly consecrated Berkeley, Bishop of Exeter,
with a view to please the Queen and her favourite.
WhUe he was Chancellor there was published an ordinance by
the King, relating to the chapel at Windsor, which shows that the
ChanceUor for the time being was still considered chief of the
Chapel Royal, and bound to see that it was provided with proper
ornaments.* On his resignation of the Great Seal he was succeeded by
John de Sandale, then Treasurer of the Exchequer, who was
declared Chancellor!, and held the office near four years. He
had the good luck to be speedily promoted to the Bishopric of
Winchester. He was present at the parliament held at Lincoln on the 28th ol
January, 1315, and superintended the judicial rgEPT 26, 1314. J
business there transacted — when the Justices
of both Benches brought in briefs of such matters as were prop
erly determinable in parliament* ; but the King himself declared
the cause of the summons to be for advice and assistance against
the Scots. _,, ,, j
During almost the whole time he was Chancellor, there were
t ^arfe/ was Mde' by the Lords that the Chancellor and the other judges
SS" rtUv?" eaTl gl thrown 'upoi ^hisTry £ proxies in the Houseof
Lords^Et tofancramft.it Johi. de Sandale, Cencellar. quod ipse recuperet procnr-
Set^ZatU =i ;^=ersnTctrs ^T^^-^r^sr^
16*

186 REIGN OF EDWARD II.
concurrently Keepers of the Great Seal, whether to assist or con
trol him, may be doubtful. In the entries in the RoUs, a reason
is generally assigned for the appointment of these Keepers, — as
that the ChanceUor was going to the Earl of Lancaster at Kenil
worth on the King's business, — or was absent from Court about
his election to his diocese, — or was employed on a foreign mission
for the King.
De Sandale at last incurred the displeasure of Hugh le Despen
ser, the new favourite, and was removed from the office of Chan
ceUor on the 11th of June, 1318. He hved in obscurity about two
years, and fortunately died before the transactions occurred which
brought such a reproach on the memory of his predecessor.
Little is to be found respecting his character, conduct, or tastes,
except that he appears to have been somewhat of an epicure. In
the lOthyear ofthe King's reign (1316), he sent two famous poul
terers, Adam Fitz Rupert and Thomas de Duston, into divers parts
of the realm to purchase delicate poultry for his table, and he for
tified them with letters patent of intendance and safe conduct un
der the Great Seal, for which he obtained a warrant under the
King's sign-manual*
His successor was John de Hotham, who rose to the dignity of
n 11 1Q1R1 ChanceUor by the successive steps of King's
[June ii, idi».j chaplain; Provost 0f QUeen's College, Oxford,
ChanceUor of that University, ChanceUor of the Exchequer, and
Bishop of Ely. He is said to have been a prudent and pious
man, but of no learning ; yet he now held the office of Chancel
lor till the beginning of the year 1320, and he was restored to it
at the commencement of the succeeding reign.
During his first ChanceUorship he nominally presided at a par-
if-O 131 9 1 nament ne^ at York, where the Earl of Lancaster,
¦•' ' '•' at the head of a military force, dictated all the laws
that were passed. One of these was, " that the ChanceUor should
make a charter under the Great Seal, absolute and without con
dition, pardoning the Earl of Lancaster himself, and all such as
he should by his letters name to the ChanceUor, of all treasons
against the King, and other crimes of which they might at any
time hitherto have been gmlty." Here likewise a parliamentary
sanction was given to an indenture which the King had been forc
ed to sign, providing that two Bishops, one Earl, one Baron, nam
ed by parhament, and one Baron or Banneret of the family of the
Earl of Lancaster acting in his name, should be present and re
main with the King, to dehberate with and advise him in due
* Adam filius Robertiet Thomas de Duston, Prelatarii venerabilis Patris J Wyn-
toniensis Episcopi Cancellarii Regis, quos idem Carcellarius ad preletriam pro
sustentatione ipsius Cancellarii et Clericorum Regis de eadem Cancellaria pro-
denariis ipsius Cancellarii emendam et providendam ad diversas partes regni
mittat, habent literas Regis omnibus ballivis et fidelibus suis, quod eisdem pre-
letariis in prsemissis intendentes sint et respondentes quociens et quando &c, per
unum annum duraturas. T. R. apud Westm. primo die Junii.  Pat. 10 Ed. 2.
part ii. m. 10.

JOHN DE SALMON, CHANCELLOR. 187
lf^^T and dt was ordered that this indenture should be carried
¦rarif-i ChanceUor t0 the Chancery, and enrolled there*
Whde De Hotham continued Chancellor, it ;s difficult to say
wnether he was to be considered the minister of the King or of
the Earl of Lancaster. There are three different entries in the
Ulose Roll of his going from court, being sent by the King to the
Earl of Lancaster, and of the appointment of Keepers of the
Great Seal in his absence ; but the object of these missions must
have been to receive the commands of the haughty Baron, who
was now master of the kingdom.
A new parhament was held in the beginning of 1320, the Earl
of Lancaster stiU maintaining his ascendancy, — when De Hotham,
disgusted with the irksomeness of his position, or frightened by
the perils that were thickening round aU who were connected with
the Court, resigned his office of ChanceUor!, and withdrew from
secular affairs tiU Edward III. was placed on the throne.
The new ChanceUor was John de Salmon, Bishop of Norwich!,
who is stated in the Close RoU to have been fT
" made in fuU parhament," meaning, I presume, >- ANl b' X6M-\
by the body of the Barons, on the recommendation of the Earl of
Lancaster, — the authority ofthe committee, which he ruled by his
proxy, being suspended while parliament was sitting, — although
in ordinary times a creation in " full parliament" only means an
exercise of the royal prerogative in the presence of the three es
tates of the realm, for the sake of greater solemnity, and to do
honour to the object of the royal favour.
There was now an interval of tranquillity in England, and the
ChanceUor went to France with the King, who was summoned to
do homage for the Duchy of Aquitaine. The Great Seal was not
carried abroad with the King as had been usual, but was ordered
to be kept close in some secure place during his absence, and the
little seal which had been before used when the King was absent
in France, was to be again used in England while he remained
abroad. The Chancellor sealed up the Great Seal and delivered
it to the King, and gave the little seal to the Master of the Rolls,
to be assisted by Robert de Bardeley and William de Clyff. He
returned to England in about two months, when the Great Seal
was restored to him.
He was soon after absent from court visiting his diocese, and
he made a journey to the marches of Scotland on a public embassy
* 1 Pari. Hist. 65. t 23d Jan. 1320.
X Rot. Claus. 13 Ed. 2. m. 9. It is there stated that the King had commanded
Hotham not to execute any mandate under the Great Seal, in consequence of the
messages of any person of whatever rank who might come to him in his Majesty's
name, unless he had verbally, or under the Privy Seal declared to him his
pleasure thereupon ; that on the 23d of January, 1320, the Chancellor delivered
the Great Seal to the King at York, who with his own hands placed it at the head
of his bed, but subsequently intrusted it to three clerks in Chancery, and on the
following day the Bishop of Norwich, who had been appointed Chancellor, in full
parliament received it from the King.

188 REIGN OP EDWARD II.
on which occasions, by Ms appointment, the Master of the Rolls
held the Great Seal and acted for him ; but in the end of July,
1321, being grievously indisposed, he surrendered the Great Seal
to the King, that his majesty might dispose of it as to him should
seem good. The King forthwith sent it by Richard Camel, his
Chamberlain, to the Queen, with directions that it should remain
in her custody, and that she should deliver it daily to the Master of
the Rolls who should return it to her after each day's sealing. Im
mediately on the Queen's receiving it, she delivered it to the Lady
Elizabeth de Montibus, lady of her bed-chamber, to be enclosed
in a casket, and every day on which the seal was required for use,
the Master of the Rolls had it from the hands of the Queen, or
the Lady Elizabeth, and returned it to them to be placed in the
n oqi i casket when the sealing was finished* But I can-
[July, ld^i.j not fajjiy mcm(ie Queen Isabellamore than the Lady
Elizabeth de Montibus in my list of " Keepers," whose fives are
to be written, as, unlike Queen Eleanor's her functions were
merely ministerial ; she had no commission, and she was not in
trusted with any portion of judicial power. I am not permitted,
therefore, to attempt to enliven my tedious narrative by entering
into the details of her character or her actions — spirit, her enter
prise, her deadly antipathies, her guilty loves, her share in her
husband's murder, or her punishment by her heroic son.
On the 5th of November the Queen restored the Great Seal to
the King, and it remained a considerable time in his own keeping ;
his majesty intrusting it daily to persons who were to use it, and
receiving it back from them after each day's sealing. At the end
of some months De Salmon, who was still considered ChanceUor,
having recovered his health, returned to Court and resumed the
discharge of his duties.
He now took a decided part against the Earl of Lancaster, who,
become generally odious by his violent and arbitrary conduct, had
raised the standard of revolt. The King, acting by the Chancel
lor's advice, displayed more energy and conduct at this juncture
than during any other part of his reign. Suddenly coUecting an
army, he marched against the rebels, took their castles, dispersed
their forces, got possession of the person of Lancaster, tried him
by a court-martial, and ordered him to be led to instant execu
tion. But the Chancellor in vain attempted to prevail on Edward to
IMarch 22 1322 1 ^e8'n a new plan °f government, on the princi-
L ' " '-1 pie of an impartial administration of justice to
aU his subjects. The banished Spensers were recalled and load
ed with new favours. Not only were the forfeitures of the Lan
castrian party bestowed upon them, but tb enrich them, royalist
barons were stripped of manors inherited from a long line of an-
* CI. Rol. 15 Ed. 2.

JOHN DE SALMON, CHANCELLOR. 189
cestors, and the insolence of the younger Spenser was enframed
by success to a pitch insupportable to aU who approached him.
The ChanceUor, although he had not opposed the recaU of the
Spensers, whose banishment had taken place under an arbitrary
ordinance of the Barons, in which neither the Prelates nor the
Commons had concurred, strenuously resisted the influence they
were now acquiring, and their iUegal acts in the King's name.
Finding his resistance ineffectual, he resolved to retire from polit
ical hfe, and his resignation was hastened by a severe recurrence
of his former malady. He finally resigned the Great Seal on the
5th of June, 1323* He died on the 6th of July, 1325, without hav
ing violated his purpose to spend the rest of his days in retirement.
He is chiefly celebrated by his biographers for having built the
hall and chapel of the episcopal palace at Norwich, and for having
settled a maintenance for four priests there to pray for the pardon
of his sins.
The Spensers now for a time carried every thing their own way
without the slightest check to their authority, and they appointed
for Chancellor one on whose fidelity, pliancy, and zeal they entire
ly relied, Robert de Baldock, Archdeacon of Mddlesex.
Dreadful storms were impending, but such tranquillity prevailed
for a brief space as allowed the usual amusements of r D ^23.]
the King to proceed. It is related that the Court
being at Windsor, and field sports going on in which the new
ChanceUor did not take much delight, he obtained leave from the
King to return home for more suitable recreation. Impatient to
escape, he delivered the Great Seal to the King, while his Majesty
was engaged in hunting ; and when the chase was over, it was
placed in the custody of Wilham de Ayremynne, then Keeper of
the Privy Seal.! From the 16th of November tiU the 12th De
cember the Chancellor was absent on a journey to York to treat
with the Scots, during which time the Great Seal was m the keep
ing of Richard de Ayremynne, who had succeeded his brother Wil
liam as Master of the Rolls.:): _ .
Soon after his return the troubles began which terminated fatal
ly for him as well as his royal master. Those troubles were main
ly caused by the misconduct of Lord ChanceUor Baldock, who
seems to have been a very profligate man, and to have been un
scrupulous in perverting the rules of justice, regardless of public
opinion, and reckless as to consequences, so long as he S^ified
the royal favourites. It was his maladmimstration which made
the nation blind to the enormity of the conduct of the Queen now
combined with Mortimer, her paramour, against the King her nus-
baWhen she landed in Suffolk with her small army from HoUand,
* Rot. CI. 17 Ed. m. 39. t Hot. CI. 18 Ed. *. m. 88.
X Rot. CI, 18 Ed, 2. m. 28.

190 REIGN OP EDWARD II.
„2fi , three princes of the blood, the Earls of Kent, Nor-
[a. d. 1320.J £Q^ an(j Leicester, joined her, with all their follow
ers. Three Prelates, the Bishops of Ely, Lincoln, and Hereford,
brought her both the force of their vassals, and the authority of then-
character. She rallied all ranks round her standard by the decla
ration " that the sole purpose of her enterprise was to free the
King and kingdom from the tyranny of the Spensers, and above
all of their creature Lord Chancellor Baldock !"
Edward, after ineffectually trying to rouse the citizens of Lon-
1 O ^9fi 1 ^on t0 some sense of duty, having departed for the
I CT- -J West, where he vainly hoped to meet with a better
reception, the rage of the populace broke out without control
against him and his ministers. Having seized the Bishop of Ex
eter, a loyal prelate, as he was passing through the streets, — be
headed him, and thrown his body into the river Thames, — they
made themselves masters of the Tower, in the hope of there
finding the Chancellor, whom they threatened with a similar fate ;
but he had fled to the King, carrying the Great Seal along with
him. Before long Edward was a prisoner in KenUworth Castle, and
rD l^fil tne two Spensers and Lord ChanceUor Baldock feU
l ' '-¦ into the hands of the insurgents. Spenser, the fath
er, without form of trial, was immediately condemned to death by
the rebellious Barons and hanged on a gibbet, his head being af
terwards set on a pole, and exposed to the insults of the populace.
The younger Spenser, the great favourite of the King and patron
of Baldock, was arraigned before Sir WiUiam Trussel, a special
Justiciar, and, without witness or proof of any sort, sentence of
death was instantly pronounced upon him. The learned Judge's
address to this prisoner is equaUy bitter against the Chancellor, and
shows how he would have been dealt with had he been a lay
man : — \
" Hugh, your father, Robert BaLtock, and other false traitors
your adherents, taking upon you royal power, you caused the King
to -withdraw himself, and carried him out of the realm, to the dan
ger of his body and dishonour to him and his people, feloniously
taking with you the treasure of the realm, contrary to the Great
Charter. Hugh, all the good people of the kingdom, great and
small, rich and poor, by common assent do award that you are
found as a thief, and therefore shall be hanged, and are found as a
traitor, and therefore shaU be drawn and quartered; and for that
you have been outlawed by the King and by common consent,
and returned to the Court without warrant, you shall be beheaded ;
and for that you abetted and procured discord between King and
Queen, and others of the realm, you shall be embowelled and your
bowels burnt; and so go to your judgment, attainted, wicked
traitor ! "* * 1 St. Tr. 36.

EDWARD II. DEPOSED. 191
Baldock being a priest, he could not with safety be so suddenly
despatched ; but he was sent to the Bishop of Hereford's palace
in London, and the populace were informed of his arrival, and re
minded of his misdeeds. As his relentless enemies foresaw, the
palace was broken open by a riotous mob,— he was seized, and,
after many indignities, thrown into Newgate, — where he soon after
expired from the cruel usage he had sustained. There seems a
considerable resemblance between his fate and that of his suc
cessor, Lord Chancellor Jeffreys, at a distance of 360 years ; but,
though not chargeable with the same degree of cruelty, his sys
tematic perversion of justice had excited a still greater degree of re
sentment against him, or the rage of the people would have given
way to their reverence for the sacerdotal character. He had reach
ed no higher dignity in the Church than Archdeacon of Middlesex.
When he received the Great Seal a few months before, he no
doubt confidently expected that he should long hold it, and that it
would lead to the primacy.
On the 20th of October, 1326, the King having gone away with
Hugh le Despenser to Ireland, and left the realm without any gov
ernment, the prelates, earls, barons, and knights assembled at
Bristol, and chose Edward, the King's son, Custos of the kingdom
whilst his father continued absent. On the same day the Prince
assumed the government, and issued the necessary legal proceed
ings under his privy seal, "because he had no other seal for the
purpose." When the King returned from Ireland he found himself already
dethroned. The Queen was now in the enjoyment of supreme
power. She kept her husband in close confinement, hypocritically
pretending to lament his misfortunes. She pretended to associate
the Prince her son with herself in the government ; and she con
trived to get the Great Seal into her possession, — which considera
bly facilitated her proceedings, for less respect was paid by the
multitude to the privy seal, which she had hitherto used.
The Bishop of Hereford was sent to the King, at Kenilworth,
with a deceitful message, to request that he would given such
directions respecting the Great Seal, as were neces- , d ig26 -,
sary for the conservation of the peace, and the due >¦ •
administration of justice. The King, without friend or adviser,
said he would send the Seal to his -Queen and son, not only for
these purposes, but likewise for matters of grace. He then hand
ed the Great Seal to Sir William le Blount, who, on the 30th of
November, delivered it to the Queen and tbe Prince : but the
Queen had the uncontroUed dominion over it. She pretended to
hand it over to Ayremynne, the Master of the Rolls,- as Keeper,
and she employed it to summon a parliament at Westminster, in
her husband's name, for the purpose of deposing him. According
to the tenour of the writs under the Great Seal, the parliament
was to be held before the King, if he should be present; and if

192 REIGN OF EDWARD II.
not, before Isabel, the Queen-consort, and Edward, the King's
son. The sympathies of the people beginning to be excited in favour
of the Kmgj and her scandalous commerce with Mortimer being
published to the world, she was under some apprehension of a
counter-revolution ; but she uttered a proclamation, setting forth the
misgovernment of fhe Spensers and the late Lord ChanceUor
Baldock, to the great injury of Holy Church and the dishonour of
the King and his heirs, and she gathered a strong army round her
to overawe the metropolis.
At the parliament which met on the 7th of January, 1327, no
Chancellor was present. Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford,
acted as Prolocutor, and put the memorable question to the as
sembled Lords and Commons, — "Whether King Edward the
father, or his son Edward, should reign over them ?"
The articles against the King contained no specific charge of
misrule to give any colour to the proposed deposition, and no proof
was adduced in support of them. Nevertheless, no one ventured
to raise a voice in his behalf; and a deputation sent to Kenilworth
extorted from him a resignation of the Crown. Then Sir Wil
ham Trussel, of whose oratory we have had a specimen, in the
name of the whole Parhament, renounced their allegiance in the
following form : —
" I, William Trussel, procurator of the prelates, earls, and bar-
r . 007 -1 ons> an(i other people in my procuracy named, hav-
* ' '' ing for this full and sufficient power, do surrender
and deliver up to you, Edward, heretofore King of England, the
homage and fealty of the persons in my procuracy named, &c. ;
and do make this protestation in the name of all those that will
not, for the future, be in your fealty or allegiance, nor claim to
hold any thing of you as King, but account you as a private per
son, without any manner of royal dignity."
On the 20th of January, 1327, the deposition of Edward II. be
ing completed, Edward III., then a youth of fourteen years of age,
was proclaimed King, and was supposed to begin his reign, al
though it was not till the 21st of September foUowing that, in
Berkeley Castle, were heard the agonising shrieks caused by the
horrid deed of Gournay and Montravers.
Without any formal appointment as Chancellor, after the death
of Baldock, Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, must be con
sidered as having acted in that capacity under the Queen. He is
famous not only for having conducted the proceedings in par
liament on the deposition of Edward, but for being supposed to
have counselled his murder by the equivocal Une which he com
posed and sent to his keepers,
" Edwardum occidere nolite timere ; — bonum est. "
although he contended that his words, by a proper punctuation or
pause, conveyed a strong injunction against regicide*
* Edwardum occidere nolite j — timere bonum est.

ADAM DE OIRLETON, CHANCELLOR. 198
No important change was introduced into the law during .the
reign of Edward IL, but the institutions of his father were .stead
ily maintained by his successive ChanceUors, and having stood
the shock of such convulsions, might now be considered perma-
anently established for the administration of justice in England. It
has been suggested that the office of Master of the RoUs, ,so
©early connected with that of Chancellor, was now created, and
-that WUliam de Ayremynne was the first who hore that tide*;
hut John de Langton had been caUed " Custos Rotulorum Cancel-
larite Domini Regis." ! Adam de Osgodebey is expressly stated to
have filled the office in the same reign, and as there ,r
were clerks in the Chancery from the most remote >-A' D- 1327J
aaaitiquity to assist the ChanceUor, who were afterwards denomin
ated "Masters in Chancery," I have little doubt that the senior or
chief of them had for ages before had the particular care of the
Tecoids of the Court, and being so often intrusted with the cus
tody of the Seal in the Chancellor's absence, had gradually been
^permitted ,to actias his deputy.
Towards "the conclusion of this reign, under Lord ChanaelloT
Baldock, there -were heavy complaints in parliament of -the delays
of justice, and that when petitions for redress were presented to
ipaaliameiit, tthey were sometimes referred to the King and some-
limes to the ChanceUor, without any thing being ever done upon
timmJX From petitions and answers lately discovered, it appears that
-during ithis aeign the jurisdiction of the 'Court of Chancery was
ictmsidBrably . extended, and the " Consuetudo Cancellarias " is often
(familiarly omentianed. We .find petitions referred to the Chancel
lor in his Court, either separately or in conjunction with the King's
-Justices or the Ring's .Serjeants — on disputes respecting the ward
ship -of infants, partition, dower, rent-charges, tithes, a>nd goods iof
felons. The Chancellor was in full possession of his jurisdiction
-lover charities, ;and he superintended the conduct of coroners.
Mere wrongs, such as malicious prosecutions and trespasses ito
¦personal property, are sometimes the subject of proceedings before
¦him.; but I. apprehend that those were cases where, from powerful
•combinations and confederacies, redress could not be obtained in
the courts of common law.
There was now and during some succeeding reigns the exercise
*>f a prerogative of the Crown vested in the Court of Chancery,
which we should have expected to find reserved for the King's ex
ecutive government, viz. the power of granting letters Of marque
and reprisals against the subjects of a foreign state that, refused to
* 'Reeve's Hist, of the.Law, vol. ii. p. 362.
! See Discourse on Office of M. R.
X Et auxint Sire firent vos ligesgentz que par la ou iis ont note leur airant.lour
petitions au diverses .parliaments des diverses.grievances et les nnes gout ajournes
devant leRoi, et les autres devant le Ghancellier dount nul issue n'est iaitqil
plaise a vautre haute, se,ignurie cowaader remedie. .Resp. Jl.plest an Roi.— rat.
'Rol. 19 Ed. 2.i. 430.
VOL. I. 17

194 REIGN OF EDWARD II.
render justice to the subjects of the Crown of England.* Thus,
in 2 Edward IL, certain English merchants plundered by Flemish
pirates, not obtaining redress from the Earl of Flanders, they pe
titioned the King, and they were referred by him to the Court of
Chancery, there to pursue their remedy as was accustomed in
similar cases.! Again, in the 8th year of this reign, Adam le
Clerk, having complained that his ship and merchandise had been
captured and carried into the town of Perth in Scotland, it is or
dered that he should apply to the ChanceUor, and that justice
should be done to him according to the custom of the Chancery.^
Now begins the series of reports of cases decided in the supe
rior courts, the grand repertory of law in England; but the " Year
Books " are now rather curious for their antiquity than valuable
for their contents, being chiefly the notes taken by the reporters in
Court, without being properly digested or revised.
In the 9th year of the King, while Sandale was ChanceUor, was
passed a statute, still acted upon, by which it was enacted that
Sheriffs who were formally chosen by the freeholders, should be
assigned by the ChanceUor and Judges, and the power of appoint
ing them was vested in the Crown.$
At the close of the reign, at the Parhament held under Lord
Chancellor Baldock, the statute " De Prerogativa Regis " was
passed, giving to the King the profits of the lands of idiots II, the
probable foundation of the Lord Chancellor's jurisdiction in lunacy
under the royal sign manual.
The only law book imputed to this reign is the " Mirror of Jus
tices," which, though often quoted by Lord Coke, is a wretched
compilation, and shows an increasing degeneracy among Enghsh
juridical writers.
The Chancellors were still aU churchmen, and from this order
only could good lawyers hitherto be selected ; but there was now
rising up a class of laymen who, devoting themselves to the study
of the municipal law of England, and educated at the Hostels or
Inns of Court (of which Lincoln's Inn then was, and ever has
continued to be, the most eminent,!) were attracting pubhc con
sideration and confidence, and from among whom, in the succeed
ing reign, ChanceUors were chosen, to the great content of the na
tion. * It appears from Grotius and Puffendorf, that down to their time letters of re
prisal were considered rather in the nature of a private remedy, and did not by
any means amount to war between two nations. The capture was rather in the na
ture of a security to obtain justice.
t Resp. " Adeant Cancellariam et perquirant remedium sicut consuevit fieri in
consimilibus casibus, secundum formam petitionis."
X Resp. " Sequatur in Cancell. et ostendat processum inde habitum et literas tes-
timon. si quas habeat de defen. exhibitionis justitia? et tunc sequatur secundum pro
cessum, &c, et fiat ei justitia secundum consuetudinem Cancellarise "
§ 9 Ed. 2. stat. 2. || 17 Ed 2. c. 9.
f The Society of Lincoln's Inn was founded in the commencement of this reign,
under the patronage of William Earl of Lincoln, who, for the accommodation of
the members, gave up to them his hostel, which he held under the Bishops of Chi
chester. r

HENRY DE BURGHERSH, OHANCELLOR. 195

CHAPTER XIII.
CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OP THE GREAT SEAL PROM THE COM
MENCEMENT OP THE REIGN OF EDWARD III. TILL THE APPOINTMENT
OP SIR RICHARD BOURCHIER, THE FIRST LAY LORD CHANCELLOR.
The Parliament which continued irregularly to sit under writs is
sued in the name of Edward IL, commenced the r
new reign by the appointment of a council of re- ljan- Z5> 1327.]
gency, consisting of twelve persons — five prelates and seven tem
poral peers — with the Earl of Lancaster as President or Protect
or ; — and John de Hotham, Bishop of Ely, was called from his re
treat to be made Chancellor. But he only consented to hold the
office tiU a settlement of the kingdom should take place ; and he
finally resigned it on the 1st of March following.
In this interval acts of parliament were passed indemnifying the
Queen and her partisans for all they had done, and enabling them
to carry on the government in the name of the young King. As
yet all went smoothly, for he was not of competent age to under
stand the -wrongs done to his father, his mother's shame, or the
usurpation of his own rights.
Hotham joyfuUy returned to his diocese, where he occupied him
self in repairing and ornamenting the cathedral, till he was struck
with the palsy. After being bed-ridden two years, he died in
1336. He is said to have been pious, and naturally shrewd, though
of little knowledge acquired from books. He is gratefuUy remem
bered by his successors in the see of Ely for the princely munifi
cence with which he enriched it.
Till the 12th of May, the Great Seal remained in the keeping
of Henry de Clyff, Master of the Rolls ; and on that day it was
delivered to Henry de Burghersh, or Burwash, as Chancellor*
He was of noble birth, and nephew of Bartholomew de Badisli-
mer, Baron of Leeds, a man of great power and fame in the reign
of Edward II. Having been educated at Oxford, — in 1320, while
yet a young man, he obtained, through his uncle's interest, the
rich bishopric of Lincoln. He soon after quarreUed with the King,
and the temporalities of his see were sequestered. They were
restored in 1324, and he was again taken into favour at court. But
he subsequently took the Queen's part against her husband, and
was active in bringing about the ruin of this unhappy prince.
Along with the other chief conspirators, he was promoted at the
commencement of the new reign, and enjoyed power tiU the young
King discovered their plots and avenged the memory of his father.
The Great Seal of Edward IL, which had likewise been that of
Edward I., continued to be used till the 5th day of October, 1327,
* Rot. CI. 2 Ed. 3. m. 26.

I9fj REIGN OE EDWARD III.
when a new Great Seal, with the effigies and style of Edward
III., was put into the hands of the Chancellor.*
The business of the parliament being finished, he accompanied
the Queen-mother to Berwick. During his absence the Seal was
left with the Master of the RoHs, and it was restored to him on
his return to court. He went abroad with the King on the 26th of
May, 1329, and returned on the 11th of* June following, still con
fident of continuing prosperity.
But the termination of his official eareer was at hand. Morti
mer, the paramour of Isabella, had quarrelled with the Earl of
Lancaster and the Princes of the blood, and had made a victim of
the Earl of Kent, the King's uncle. For a short time Mortimer
enjoyed a sort of dictatorship. He threw the Earl of Lancasteu
into prison, and prosecuted many of the prelates and nobility.
The immense fortunes of the Spensers and their adherents were
mostly converted to his own use. He affected a state and dignity
not inferior to the royal. His power became formidable to every
one, and aU parties, forgetting past animosities, conspired in a wish
for his overthrow.
r 1^0 1 Edward, now in his 18th year, feeling himself ca-
¦¦ ' "¦' pable of governing, repined at his insignificance, and
resolved to free himself from the fetters of this insolent minister.
By an extraordinary combination of courage and dexterity on the
part of Mortimer's enemies, the minion was seized in the castle of
Nottingham, in an apartment adjoining the Queen-dowager's, at a
moment when he thought himself absolute and permanent master
of the kingdom.
LN looni A parliament was immediately summoned, before
l ' ¦ '1 which he -was accused of having procured the death
of the late King, and of various other crimes, and upon the sup
posed notoriety ofthe facts, — without hearing his answer, or ex
amining a witness, he was convicted and executed.
Instead of the Chancellor, the young King himself is said to
have made a speech at the opening of this parliament, complain
ing much of the conduct of the Queen and Mortimer, and intimat
ing that with the consent of his subjects, he designed to take the
reins of government into his own hands*
IN v 28 1330 1 Burghersh being an ecclesiastic, was safe from
I ' ° ' ' J corporal punishment, but he was deprived of the
* Rot. CI. 1 Ed. 3. m. 1 1 . "When the King dies, the Great Seal of the last King
continues the Great Seal of England till another be made and delivered. Ed
ward HI., who began his reign 25th January, on the 3d of October following
directed a proclamation to all the sheriffs of England, signifying that he had made
a new Great Seal, sent them an impression of the new seal in wax, and command
ed them, after the 4th of October, to receive no writs but under the new Seal. On
the 4th of October, being Sunday, the Bishop of Ely, Chancellor, producing the
new Seal, declares the King's pleasure that it should be from thenceforth used.
The Monday after the old Seal is broken, precipiente rege, and the pieces delivered
totheSriGORNAL." — 1 Hale's Pleas of the Crown, 176. The Spigurnal was an
officer whose place was to seal the King's writs. — Camb. Rem. 26.
t 1 Pari. Hist. 33.

HENRY DE BURGHERSH, CHANCELLOR. 197
inr^L^ea!'* aTnd °n thl day before Mortimer's execution it was
wETrl +rN DE ST3ATr0RDt, Bishop of Winchester, by
^volntior, ^ V°lVng Knng ^ a°ted in brin8i»g about this
SS; ^° Ex:°ha*cell°r diedin ^ile at Ghent about ten
a wf v 1S ? Mt that " he Was a c°vetous man, and easily
abused his power to the oppressing of his neighbours."*
lhe new Chancellor was a native of Stratford in Essex from
which place he took his name according to the custom of the aee
He and his brother Robert, of whom we shall have to speak
very soon, were instances then not uncommon of persons of tal
ents, enterprise, and perseverance, raising themselves from obscu
rity to the highest offices in the state. He studied at Oxford and
there acquired great reputation for his proficiency in the civil and
canon law. It is curious to observe that the law in those times,
not less than m the present, was the great avenue for new men
to political advancement. In the struggle for power which was
ever going on, those who were distinguished for their learning and
their subtlety were found useful to the Crown, to the barons, and
to the great ecclesiastics — were confidentially employed by them
on occasions of difficulty, and were rewarded with ecclesiastical and
temporal offices in which they had often more influence than the
great hereditary noblest John de Stratford was early promoted
to the deanery of Lincoln, and giving earnest of the talents which
he afterwards displayed, he was promoted to the judicial office of
Dean of the Arches, which has continued down to our own times
to be filled by men of the greatest learning and ability. Here he
showed such knowledge of the laws, and such judgment and pru
dence in deciding causes, that he was made a Privy Councillor to
Edward IL, and was admitted to an important share in the govern
ment of the kingdom.
In 1323 he was sent ambassador to the Pope, then established
at Avignon, to settle various points of controversy of great deli
cacy, which had arisen between the Crown of England and his
Holiness. It happened that at that time the Bishop of Winches
ter died, and the Pope, at the earnest request of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, without the sanction of the King, somewhat irregT
* One of the charges against him was the abuse of his ecclesiastical patronage.
lt seems the livings in the Chancellor's gift were intended as a provision for the
clerks of the different courts of justice who were then all in orders, and lhat Burg
hersh had been in the habit of selling them or giving them to favourites; where
upon an order was made by parliament, that " the Chancellor should give the liv
ings in his gift, rated at twenty marks and under, to the King's clerks in Chancery.
the Exchequer, and the two Benches, according to usage and to none others." —
Rolls, 4 Ed. 3. vol. ii. 136.
t Rot. CI. 4 Ed. 3. m. 20.
X See L. C. 26. .
§ The two Stratfords, who successively held the office of Lord Chancellor in the
14th century, may aptly be compared to the two Scotts, Lord Eldon and Lord
Stowell, in the 19th. 17*

198 REISN OF EDWARD III.
ularly consecrated his Exeellency the English minister Bishop of
the vacant see.
Baldock, then Lord Chancellor, having intended this preferment
for himself, was mortaUy offended, and took violent steps to pre
vent the new Bishop from deriving any benefit from the elevation.
Avery severe proclamation was issued against Stratford in the name
of the King, " so that none should harbour or relieve him," and
the fruits of the bishopric were confiscated to the Crown. The
Pope and the Archbishop, however, stiU befriended him, and Bal
dock' s influence declining, he was again taken into favour and em
ployed in several important embassies. In the last year of Edward
II. he was made Lord Treasurer, and he adhered with great constan
cy and zeal to his unhappy master. Probably this was the reason
why, when the regicides were punished and the youthful Sove
reign took upon himself the government of the realm, Stratford was
appointed to the office of Chancellor.
Under his advice the Queen-motheiv was confined to he* own
house at Castle-Rising , and to prevent her from again forming a
party which might be formidable to the Sovereign, her revenue
was reduced to 4000Z. a-year, so that she was never able to rein-
State herself in any credit or authority.
Effective measures -were taken to restore order and tranquillity
throughout the realm. Writs under the Great Seal were directed
to the Judges, enjoining them to administer justice without paying
any regard to the arbitrary orders they might receive from any
great men or officers of state. As robbers, thieves, murderers, and
criminals of all kinds, had during the late convulsions multiplied
to an enormous degree, and they sometimes enjoyed high protec
tion, a promise was exacted from the Peers in parliament that they
would break off all connection with such malefactors ; and the
ministers of justice Were urged to employ the utmost diligence in
discovering, pursuing, and punishing them.
There was likewise introduced about this time a great improve-
imentinthe administration of justice, by rendering the Court of
Chancery stationary at Westminster. The ancient kings of
England were constantly migrating — one principal reason for
which was, that the same part of the country, even with the aid
of purveyance and pre-emption, could not long support the Court
and all the royal retainers, and the render in kind due to the King
could be best consumed on the spot. Therefore, if he kept Christ
mas at Westminster, he would keep Easter at Winchester, and
Pentecost at Gloucester, visiting his many palaces and manors in
rotation. The Aula Regis, and afterwards the courts into'which
it was partitioned, were ambulatory along with him — to the great
vexation of the suitors. This grievance was partly corrected by
Magna Charta, which enacted that the Court of Common Pleas
should be held " in a certain place," — a corner of Westminster
HaU being fixed upon for that purpose. In point of law, the Court
of King's Bench and the Court of Chancery may stiU be held in

JOHN DE STRATFORD, CHANCELLOR. 199
any county of England —« wheresoever in England the King
TJi™ P^T0611?"?1^ Down to the commencement of the
L„T Ed-wanim., the King's Bench and the Chancery actually
had continued to follow the King's person, the Chancellor and his
wJL^mgrf o^t0 Part °f the Purveyance made for the royal
Sf f ^ £y 2.8 Edw-!.L C- 6" the Lord Chancellor and the Jus
tices of the King's Bench were ordered to follow the King, so that
he might have at all times near him sages of the law able to ad
vise him. But the two Courts were now by the King's command
toed in the places where, unless on a few extraordinary occasions
7 c.on£nued t0 be held dowh to our own times, at the upper
end of Westminster Hall, the King's Bench on the left hand, and
the Chancery on the right, both remaining open to the HaU, and a
bar being erected to keep off the multitude from pressing on the
Judges. The Chancellor, on aceount of his superior dignity, had placed
for him a great marble table, to which there was an ascent by five
or six steps, with a marble chair by the side of it. On this table
writs and letters patent were sealed in the presence of the Chan
ceUor sitting in the marble chair. Here he received and examined
the petitions addressed to him. On the appointment of a new
Chancellor, he was inaugurated by being placed in this chair*
John de Stratford continued Chancellor under his first appoint
ment nearly four years, during which time he ap- r ,
pears to have been almost constantly absorbed in lA' D- 1S(ili
political business, and to have hardly ever attended personally to
the judicial duties of his office. From the 4th to the 20th of
April, 1331, he was in Normandy with the King.
1m the year 1331, a parliament met at Westminster, the day
after Michaelmas-day. The ChanceUor declared the cause of the
summons, and applied himself to the prelates, earls, and barons
for their advice, whether they thought it best for the King to
proceed by war or by an amicable treaty with the King of France
for the restitution of Aquitaine ? t The parliament agreed to the
latter as the least dangerous process, and the ChanceUor, accom
panied by the Bishops of Worcester and Norwich, and others,
went on an embassy to the court of Franee for this purpose.
They set sad on the 21st of November, and succeeded in preserv
ing for a time the relations of amity between the two nations.
* The marble table and chair are said to have been displaced when the Court
was covered in from the Hall But till the Courts were finally removed out of
Westminster .Hall, there were easy means of communication between the Chancery
and King's flench, which enabled Sir Thomas More to ask his father's blessing in
one Court before he took his seat in the other ; and I myself remember, when a
student of Law, that if the Chancellor rose while the King's Bench was sitting, »
curtain was drawn and the „ udges saluted him — Orig Jurid. tit. " Chancery.''
In the " Lives of Lord Clarendon, &c." published in 1712, it is said, " This marble
table is now covered with the Courts there erected, to which there are four or five
steps to go up."
t 1 Pari. Hist. 88.

200 REIGN OE EDWARD III.
The Chancellor's return is not recorded, but it must have been
before the 12th of March in the following year, for on that day a
r iQ"oi new parliament was opened at Westminster by a
[a. d. 16o^.\ Speecn from j^mj m which he intimated that the
King wished for the advice of the parliament " Whether he should
comply with a request from the King of France and many other
kings and princes, to accompany them to the Holy land against
the common enemy of Christendom?"* A subject of greater
urgency on which the advice of parliament was asked was " whe
ther the King might go over to the French court to settle in per
son the differences between the two crowns?" Edward had be
gun to talk of his preposterous claim to the throne of France
through his mother IsabeUa, and Philip de Valois had threatened
to declare forfeited all the fiefs which Edward held in France, as
Edward, questioning his title, had declined to do homage to him
as his liege lord. It is remarkable that after the ChanceUor's
oration, Sir Jeffrey Scroop, by the King's command and in his
presence, harangued the parhament, and enforced the topics on
which the Chancellor had dwelt.t
The Lords and Commons objected to the expedition to the Holy
r iqqii Land; but consented to the proposed meeting with
lA' B' J the French King. It is remarkable that the knights,
citizens, and burgesses "withdrew to a separate chamber to deliber
ate, and this is the first instance of their doing so. There seemed
then a probability that there might have been three houses of par
liament, one for either of the three estates of the realm, as there
always had been in France till the memorable meeting of the
States General at Versailles in 1789, — forthe Lords spiritual like
wise on this occasion retired to a separate chamber, and came in
the first instance to a separate vote, although aU the branches of
the legislature were finally unanimous in the advice they gavet.
We may remark as we pass, that notwithstanding the great jeal
ousy afterwards displayed by the Tudor sovereigns of parhament
ever interfering with the functions of the executive government, in
the time of the Plantagenets nothing was more common than for
the Bang expressly and specifically to consult parliament on ques
tions of peace and war, and even as to the manner in which war
was to be carried on. It was probably found that lOths and 15ths
were more readily voted from this seeming cordiality and confi
dence, and privilege had not yet acquired any independent sway
by which it seemed likely ever to become formidable to preroga
tive. Edward called another parliament to meet on the 9th of Sep
tember, 1332, where Lord Chancellor Stratford declared, " that the
cause of their meeting was about the affairs of France and the
King's expedition thither, and to put an end to the success his
* Ibid- 89- t 1 Pari. Hist. 90.
X Ibid. 91.

RICHARD DE BURY, CHANCELLOR. 201
enemies gained in- those parts."* The Lords and commons, did
each by their several petitions advise the King not then to go into
France, but to use all his efforts to bring to a conclusion the war
that had broke out with Scotland after the death of Robert Br-uee,
and the attempt of Edward Baliol on the Scottish crown. This
war lasted till after the termination of John de Stratford's, frst
chancellorship. Such satisfaction had he given to the King up. to
this time, that in the beginning of 133.4 he was raised to the metro
politan see of Canterbury.
Being so much occupied with political and ecclesiastical affairs
while he retained the office of Chancellor, he intrusted the custody
of the Great seal successively to Robert de Stratford his brother,
to Henry de Clyff, M. R, to William de Melton, Archbishop of
York, and for a short time jointly to Henry de Edenstowe, Thomas
de Baumburgh, and John de St. Paul, probably masters in Chan-
eery, and these persons sealed writs and charters, and despatched
the other business of the court. The fees of the office, as was
usual when the custody of the Great Seal was thus deputed, were
brought to the credit of the absent Chancellor, t
On the 28th of September, 1334, Archbishop Stratford ceased to
be Chancellor (whether from any quarrel with the . ..„„, ,
¦King we are not informed,) and the office sas con- >- ' ' ' J
ferred on Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham^, one of the most
eminent scholars and wits who cast a lustre on the reign of Ed
ward HI, and made it distinguished for literature as well as for
mditary glory. From a most interesting book written by this esti
mable man, which is a sort of autobiography, his " Philobiblon,"
we are made fanuliarly acquainted with his history, his habits, and
his characthr.
He was bom in the year 1287, in the house of his father, near
Bury St. Edmunds.^ Although the son of Sir Richard de Angra-
ville, of an ancient knightly family, he, according to the custom of
the age, took his name from the place of his birth. Having lost
his father when very young, he was educated by his maternal uncle,
a priest, descended from the noble house of Willoughby. He
Studied at Oxford, where he gained great distinction from his pro
ficiency both in philosophy and divinity, and was eminent at once
for the brilliancy of his conversation and the sanctity of his life.
* 1 Pari. Hist. 91. , „ »,„.,..,¦
t Among these was a verv liberal supply of wine from the King s vineyards in
Grasconv In the Close Roll, 3 Ed. 3. we find the following memorandum respeet-
inrr what was to be done by the customer of Southampton :— " Quod de vino blaneo
BeU liberan. sex dolia at qnatuor pip*." The few bottles of Constantia, till very
lately given by the Crown to the Chancellor and the other great officers of state,
may be considered the last remnant of such gratuities.
While Stratford was Chancellor, it was resolved in parliament "that the Chan
cellor is the Ordinary of the free chapels of the King, and that it belongs to him to
visit them by virtue of his office." -Rolls, 8 cd. 3. vol. ii. p. 77.
t Rot. CI. 8 Ed. 3. m. 10.
\ " In quadam villula." ADgl. Sax. vol. ii. p. 765.

202 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
In the work referred to, which was the amusement of his old
age, he gives a delightful picture of his college days, showing the
enthusiasm with which he had sought improvement* " From an
early age we attached ourselves with most exquisite solicitude to
the society of masters, scholars, and professors of various arts,
whom wit and learning had rendered most conspicuous ; — encour
aged by whose agreeable conversation, we were most deliciously
nourished, sometimes with explanatory examination of arguments,
at others with recitations of treatises on the progress of physics —
as it were with multiplied and successive dishes of learning. Such
were the comrades we chose in our boyhood ; such we entertained
as the inmates of our chambers and the companions of our jour-
nies ; such the messmates of our board, and such our associates in
all our fortunes. "t
Being considered a very accomplished scholar, he was selected
as tutor for Edward III. when Prince of Wales, and to him may
be traced the love for literature and the arts displayed by his pupil
when on the throne. He was rewarded with the lucrative appoint
ment of treasurer of Gascony.
When the civil disturbances arose towards the end of the reign
of Edward IL, he took part with the Queen, and supplied her with
money out of the royal revenue, -which she made use of to the
prejudice of her husband. He -was questioned for this during the
ascendancy of the opposite faction, and having fled to Paris, and
being demanded from the French government, it is said that he
was glad to hide himself for several days in the belfry of a church
there. Edward III., on coming to the throne, with his own hand wrote
a letter to the Pope, praying that the stalls in the cathedrals of
Hereford, London, and Chichester, lately held by GUbert de Mid
dleton, might be conferred on his tutor, whom he says he loves
beyond all the clerks in his realm : " Eo quod nostro assidue late-
ri assistendo, novimus ipsum virnm in consiliis providum, conver-
sationis et vitse munditia decorum, literarufn scientia prseditum, et
in agendis quibuslibet circumspectum." His Holiness complied
and De Bury was now rapiily promoted in the state as weU as in
the church, being appointed cofferer to the King, then treaiurer of
the wardrobe, and soon after keeper of the Privy Seal. This of
fice he held five years, during which time he twice visited Italy,
made the acquaintance of Petrarch, and was treated with great
honour and distinction by the Supreme Pontiff, John XXII., who
nominated him chaplain to his principal chapel, and took upon
himself to appoint him, by a special bull, to the first see which
should become vacant in England.
From the offices and preferments he already enjoyed, he was en-
* It is written in very indifferent Latin. I have chiefly followed an English
translation published anonymously in the year 1832 ; printed for that very learned
and worihy bookseller, my friend, " Thomas Rodd, Great Newport Street."
t Phil. ch. viii.

RICHARD DE BURY, CHANCELLOR. 203
abled to display great magnificence and splendour : and when he
appeared in the presence of the Pope or Cardinals, he -was attend
ed by twenty clerks and thirty-six esquires, attired in the most
expensive and sumptuous garments*
Soon afterwards the see of Durham became vacant, and the
Prior and Chapter elected as bishop, Robert de Greystones, a monk
and subprior of Durham, who was actually consecrated by the
Archbishop of York. But at the request of the King the election
was set aside by the Pope, De Bury was substituted, and on the
19th of December, 1333, the ceremony of his consecration was
performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The following year
he was personally installed at Durham. On this occasion he gave
a magnificent entertainment to the King and Queen, her mother,
and the King of Scotland, at which were present two archbishops,
five bishops, seven earls and their countesses, and all the nobility
north of Trent, besides a great number of knights and esquires, and
also many abbots and other ecclesiastics.
Soon after this he was raised to the dignity of Chancellor.
We have no account of his procession to West- r o 2a i Q04 i
minster, or of the festivities on his being seated ^ ' '
in the marble chair at the upper end of the hall, but we need not
doubt that they were distinguished by their taste and sumptuous-
ness. De Bury fiUed the office of Chancellor only from the 28th of
September, 1334, to the 5th June, 1335, when he exchanged it for
that of Treasurer. During this interval he held the Great Seal
himself, and did all the duties belonging to it, without the assist
ance of any Vice-chancellor, and he seems to have given satis
faction to the public.
A parliament met at Whitsuntide, and he presided at it ; but
we cannot celebrate him as a legislator, for at this parhament only
one act passed, which was " to regulate the herring fishery at Yar
mouth ;" and the time was occupied in obtaining a supply to en
able the King to carry on war against the Scots. Edward having
gained the battle of Hallidown Hill, in which Douglas the Scot
tish leader fell, was sanguine in the hope of being able to reduce
the whole of Scotland to subjection; but he was soon driven
back by the spirit which had baffled all the efforts of his father
and grandfather, and he came to the conclusion that he must look
out for an easier field in which he might gain distinction as a con-
^De Bury went thrice to Paris as ambassador from Edward to
the King of France respecting his claim to the crown of that
country and afterwards visited Antwerp and Brabant, with a view
of forming affiances for the coming contest. But before the
French war had made much progress he resigned the Great Seal
and retired from public hfe.
* His last journey to Rome is said to have cost hiin 5000 marks.

204 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
He now shut himself up in his palace at Bishops Auckland
among his books, which he preferred to all other human enjoy
ments, — still, however, exercising a most splendid hospitality*
He employed himself ardently in the extension of his library,
which, whether out of compliment to him, or as a satire on his
brother ecclesiastics, was said to " contain more volumes than
those of aU other bishops in the kingdom put together." By the
favour of Edward he gained access to the hbraries of all the
great monasteries, where he shook off the dust from volumes pre
served in chests and presses, which had not been opened for many
ages. Not satisfied with this privilege, he extended his researches
by employing stationers and booksellers, not only in England, but
also in France, Germany, and Italy, regardless both of expense
and labour. I
To solace his declining years, he wrote the " Phildbiblon," in
praise of books ; a treatise which may now he perused with great
pleasure, as it shows that the author had a most intimate acquain
tance with the classics, and not only a passion for books exceed
ing that of any modern collector, but a rich vein of native hu
mour, which must have made him a most delightful companion.
An extract from chapter viii., entitled " Of the numerous Oppor
tunities of the Author of collecting Books from all Quarters,"
may bring some suspicion upon his judicial purity ; but the open
avowal of the manner in which his library was accumulated
proves that he had done nothing that would not be sanctioned hy
the public opinion of the age :
" While we performed the duties of Chancellor of the "most in
vincible and ever magnificently triumphant King of England, Ed
ward III., (whose days may the Most High long and tranquilly
deign to preserve!) after first inquiring into the things that con
cerned his Court, and then the public affairs of his kingdom, an
easy opening was afforded us, under the countenance of royal
favour, for freely searching the hiding-places of books. For the
flying fame of our love had already spread in all directions, and it
was reported not only that we had a longing desire for books, and
especially for old ones, but that any body could more easily obtain
our favour by quartos than by money. Wherefore, when supported
by the bounty ofthe aforesaid Prince of worthy memory, we^were
enabled to oppose or advance, to appoint or discharge ; crazy^quar-
tos and tottering folios, precious however in our sight as well as in
our affections, flowed in most rapidly from the great and the small,
hrstead of new-year's gifts and remunerations, and instead of
* This appears from the roll df his domestic expenses, preserved among the
muniments of the bishopric.
1 "Pecuniam lasto corde dispersimus, nee cos (sc. libraries et stationariosl ulla-
tenus impedivir distantia, neque furor maris abaterruit, nee eis aut aes pro expenso
deficit, quim ad nos optatos libros transmitterent vel afferent. Sciebant cnim pro
certorquod spos eorum in sinu nostro reposita defraudari non poterat, sed restabat
apud nos eopios a redemptis cum usuris."

RICHARD DE BERT, CHANCELLOR. 185
presents and jewels. Then the cabinets of the most noble mon
asteries were opened; cases were unlocked; caskets were un
clasped ; and astonished volumes which had slumbered for long
ages in their sepulchres were roused up, and those that lay hid in
dark places were overwhelmed with the rays of a new light.
Books heretofore most delicate, now become corrupted and nau
seous, lay lifeless, covered indeed with the excrements of mice
and pierced through with the gnawing of worms ; and those that
were formerly clothed with purple and fine linen, were now seen
reposing in dust and ashes, given over to oblivion, the abodes of,
moths. Amongst these nevertheless, as time served, we sat down
more voluptuously than the delicate physician could do amidst his
stores of aromatics; and where we found an object of love, we
found also full enjoyment. Thus the sacred vessels of science
came into our power — some being given, some sold, and not a
few lent for a time.*
" Without doubt, many who perceived us to be contented with
gifts of this kind, studied to contribute those things freely to our
use. We took care, however, to conduct the business of such so
favourably, that the profit might accrue to them : justice therefore
suffered no detriment.
" Moreover, if we would have amassed cups of gold and silver,
exceUent horses, or no mean sums of money, we could in those
days have laid up abundance of wealth for ourselves ; but indeed
we wished for books, not bags ; we delighted more in folios than
florins, and preferred paltry pamphlets to pampered palfreys.
" In addition to this, we -were charged with the frequent em
bassies of the said Prince, of everlasting memory, and, owing to
the multiplicity of state affairs, were sent first to the Roman Chair,
then to the Court of France, then to various other kingdoms of
the world, on tedious embassies and in perilous times, carrying
about with us, however, that fondness for books which many
waters could not extinguish ; for this, like a certain drug, sweet
ened the worm-wood of peregrination ; this, after the perplexing
intricacies, scrupulous circumlocutions of debate, and almost in
extricable labyrinths of public business, left an opening for a little
while to breathe the temperature of a milder atmosphere. O
blessed God of gods in Sion ! what a rush of the flood of pleasure
rejoiced our heart as often as we visited Paris, the paradise ofthe
world ! There we longed to remain, where, on account of the
greatness of our love, the days ever appeared to us to be few. In
that city are delightful libraries in cells redolent of aromatics ;
* A modern deceased Lord Chancellor was said to have collected a very complete
law library by borrowing books from the bar which he forgot to return. If so, he
only acted on the maxims of his predecessor De Bury.
" Quisquis theologus, quisquis legista peritus
Vis fieri ; multos semper habeto libros.
Non in mente manet quicquid non vidimus ipsi.
Quisque sibi libros vendicet ergo. Vale." — p. 151.
VOL. I. 18

206 REIGN OE HENRY III.
there flourishing green-houses of aU sorts of volumes ; there
academic meads trembling with the earthquake of Athenian peri-
patetips pacing up and down ; there the promontories of Parnassus
and the porticos of the Stoics. There, in very deed, with an open
treasury and untied purse-strings, we scattered money with a light
heart, and redeemed inestimable books from dirt and dust.
" Again. We wUl add a most compendious way by which a
great multitude of books, as well old as new, came into our hands.
Never indeed having disdained the poverty of religious devotees,
assumed for Christ, we never held them in abhorrence, but admit
ted them from aU parts of the world into the kind embraces of
our compassion ; we aUured them with most familiar affability
into a devotion to our person, and having allured, cherished them
for the love of God with munificent liberality, as if we were the
common benefactor of them all, but nevertheless with a certain
propriety of patronage, that we might not appear to have given
preference to any, — to these under aU circumstances we became
a refuge ; to these we never closed the bosom of our favour.
Wherefore we deserved to have those as the most peculiar and
zealous promoters of our wishes, as weU by their personal as
their mental labours, who, going about by sea and land, surveying
the whole compass of the earth, and also inquiring into the gen
eral studies of the Universities of the various provinces, were
anxious to administer to our -wants, under a most certain hope of
reward. " Amongst so of the keenest hunters, what leveret could he
hid? What fry could evade the hook, the net, or the trawl of
these men ? From the body of divine law, down to the latest
controversial tract of the day, nothing could escape the notice of
these scrutinisers. If a devout sermon resounded at the fount of
Christian faith, the most holy Roman court, or if an extraneous
question were to be sifted on account of some new pretext; if the
dulness of Paris, which now attends more to studying antiquities
than to subtly producing truth ; if English perspicacity Overspread
with ancient lights, always emitted new rays of truth — whatso
ever it promulgated., either for the increase of knowledge or in
declaration of the faith — this, while recent, was poured into our
ears, not mystified by imperfect narration nor corrupted by absurd
ity, but from the press of the purest presser it passed, dregless,
i&ftt the fcatvof our memory."*
riHe^Oe^litfttMKiSelf-seem to have been much acquainted with
G*oiHP]»fe,tout49rSotaij fttUy convinced of its value, and he says,
CnrMian ^*^\f -SMlSWS^ m^S? we
have taken care to provide for our scholars a Greek as weU as a
Hebrew grammar, wiithq ceri^HuadJBBot^rtiM atM-i'rielo of which
.ao-idiIol9dBd •isqm-js aotliim ; rioil siV r u'
¦iaqi enrnibi? "o* fefjpayj£^gnnrn oSnom ni noPI
. f 51 .fj — ".olnV .o\£ra rassbitw 2<Mi\ it'ia a»(2iuQ
81 .1 .JOV

RICHARD DE BURY, CHANCELLOR. 207
studious readers may be instructed in writing, reading, and under
standing those languages, although hearing them spoken can alone
give a perfect knowledge of their idiom."
He is nowhere more entertaining than in describing and repro
bating the ill-usage to which the clasp-books of his time were
liable : " You will perhaps see a stiff-necked youth, lounging slu<r-
gishly in his study : while the frost pinches him in winter time,
oppressed with cold, his watery nose drops, — nor does he take the
trouble to wipe it with his handkerchief till it has moistened the
book beneath it with its vile dew. For such a one I would substi ¦
tute a cobbler's apron in the place of his book. He has a nafi
like a giant's, perfumed with stinking ordure, with which he points
out the place of any pleasant subject. He distributes innumer
able straws in various places, with the ends in sight, that he may
recall by the mark what his memory cannot retain. These straws
which the stomach of the book never digests, and which no
body takes out, at first distend the book from its accustomed clos
ure, and being carelessly left to oblivion, at last become putrid.
He is not ashamed to eat fruit and cheese over an open book, and
io transfer his empty cup from side to side upon it : and because
he has not his alms-bag at hand, he leaves the rest of the frag
ments in his books. He never ceases to chatter with eternal gar
rulity to his companions ; and while he adduces a multitude of
reasons void of physical meaning, he waters the book, spread out.
upon his lap, with the sputtering of his saliva. What is worse, he
next reclines with his elbows on the book, and by a short study
invites a long nap ; and by way of repairing the wrinkles, he twists
back the margins of the leaves, to the no small detriment of the
volume. He goes out in the rain, and returns, and now flowers
make their appearance upon our soil. Then the scholar we are
describing, the neglecter rather than the inspector of books, stuffs
his volume with firstling violets, roses, and quadrifoils. He will
next apply his wet hands, oozing with sweat, to turning over the
volumes, then beat the -white parchment all over with his dusty
gloves, or hunt over the page, line by line, with his fore-finger
covered with dirty leather. Then, as the flea bites, the holy book
is thrown aside, which, however, is scarcely closed once in a
month, and'is so swelled with the dust that has faUen into it, that
it will not yield to the efforts of the closer." *
I can only venture on one other extract, which goes to show why
the ChanceUors in those days were ecclesiastics, and exposes the
gross ignorance which prevailed among laymen, who, being unable
to read, did not know how to hold a book, and are coupled with
" dirty scuUions : " " Farthermore, laymen, to whom it matters not
whether they look at a book turned wrong side upwards or
spread before them in its natural order, are altogether unworthy of
any communion with books. Let the clerk also take order that
the dirty scullion, stinking from the pots, do not touch the leaves
of books, unwashed."!
* Pp 97, 98. t P. ioo.

208 REIGN OP EDWARD III.
Like a Bishop and an Ex-chancellor, he properly concludes by
supporting his doctrine with the highest authorities. " The most
meek Moses instructs us about making cases for books in the neat
est manner, wherein they may be safely preserved from all dam
age. Take this book, says he, and put it in the side of the ark of
the covenant of the Lord your God. O befitting place, made of
imperishable Shittim wood, and covered all over, inside and out,
with gold ! But our Saviour also, by his own example, precludes
all unseemly negligence in the treatment of books as may be read
in Luke iv. For when he had read over the scriptural prophecy
written about himself, in a book delivered to him, he did not re
turn it till he had first closed it with his most holy hands ; by which
act students are most clearly taught that they ought not, in the
smaUest degree whatever, to be negligent about the custody of
books."* He might well say of himself — " ecstatico quodam
librorum amore potenter se abreptum."t
From his book-buying propensity, then much more costly than in
our time, he got into pecuniary difficulties, and he was obliged to
pledge to Lord NeviUe of Raby, for 1001, a set of gorgeous church
vestments, of red velvet, embroidered with gold, and pearls, and
imagery. X
He died at Bishops Auckland on the 14th of AprU 1345, fuU of
years and of honours. Fourteen days after his death he was
buried " quodammodo honorifice, non tamen cum honore satis con-
gruo," says Chambre, before the altar of the blessed Mary Magda
lene, in his own cathedral. But the exalted situation he ocupied
in the opinion and esteem of Petrarch and other eminent literary
men of the fourteenth century, shed brighter lustre on his memo
ry than it could have derived form funeral processions, or from
monuments and epitaphs. " What can be more delightful to a
lover of his country's intellectual reputation, than to find such a
character as De Bury in such an age of war and bloodshed, unit
ing the calm and mild conduct of a legislator with the sagacity of
a phUosopher and the elegant mind of a scholar ? " §
# P. 101. Luke, iv. 20. "And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the
minister, and sat down."
t As it was said that Garth did not write his own " Dispensary," the Philobiblon
haB been attributed to Holcot, a Dominician friar, who was the author's amanuensisl,
— but without any reason, for it bears the strongest internal evidence of being the
composition of the Chancellor De Bury himself; it was attributed to him by his
contemporaries, and a notice on an early copy of it says : — " Quod opus (Philobi
blon) Auclandiae m habitatione sua complevit 24 die Januarii, anno a communis
salutis ongine 1344, setatis suae 58, et 11 sui pontificatus "
X After his death, Lord Neville being informed of his intention to leave these
vestments to his successors, generously restored them, -and they remained the
boast of the see of Durham till the Reformation.
§ Dibdin , Bibliomania p. 247. — I am rather surprised that a " De Burv Club"
the oTtot England "^ Philobibli3ts- « he was unduly ?«,] ffoLder of
1 See "Bibliographic and Retrospective Miscellany," Art. De Bury.

ROBERT DE STRATFORD, CHANCELLOR. 209
On De Bury's resignation of the Great Seal in 1335, it was re
stored to the Archbishop Stratford, whose second r 1QQ, ,
Chancellorship extended to 1337* <¦ JUNE' 1660' J
From the groundless claims set up by the Plantagenets to the
crown of France against the house of Valois, now began the
bloody wars which lasted above a century, and which laid the
foundation of that jealousy and hostile rivalry between the two na
tions, which unfortunately has never since entirely subsided.
While the great bulk of the people of England eagerly supported
the warlike measures of the King, it ought to be recorded to the
immortal honour of this ChanceUor, that he dissuaded the enter
prise in its commencement, and always strove for the restoration
of peace at the hazard of offending the King, and with the certain
ty of incurring public odium by combating the popular delusion.
It must be confessed, that on this occasion we not only -were
the aggressors, but that there was not even any plausible or col
ourable pretence for going to war. No national grievance could
be urged, for the French had merely assisted the Scotch in fulfil
ment of ancient treaties. Then, as to the family dispute, — by the
Salic law which had regulated the descent of the crown of France
from the foundation of the monarchy, no female could wear the
crown, so that no claim to the crown could be made through a
female, and the title of PhUip de Valois, which Edward himself
had, though reluctantly, recognised by doing homage to him as
his liege Lord, was unquestionable, both by hereditary right and the
general consent of the French people. But the glaring absurdity in
the claim was, that if the Salic law were entirely disregarded, and
female descent were admitted in France as in England, there were
females in existence, and males descended through females, whose
title was clearly preferable to that of Edward.t
Archbishop Stratford resigned the Great Seal the second time
just before Edward assumed the title of King of France with the
armorial bearings of that crown, and set out on his first expedi
tion to support his title. There is great reason to think that it was
the chanceUor's pacific policy which led to his retreat. Still, how
ever, he was on good terms with the King, and his brother was
appointed to succeed him.t
Robert de Stratford appears to have been almost as much
distinguished for ability, and to have had a career r D 1337 -,
almost as briliant as John, and they exhibit the single
instance of two brothers holding successively the office of Lord
ChanceUor. He, too, had studied at Oxford, and had gained the
highest honours of the University. When the Great Seal was
* Rot. CI. 9 Ed. 3. m. 28.
t This was the sensible view of the question taken by the Chancellor, who gave
very different advice to Edward III. from that which, according to Shakspeare, was
given by Archbishop Chicheley to Henry V. .
K. Hen. — " May I with right and conscience make this claim 1
Archb. — " The sin upon my head, dread Sovereign."
X Rot. CI. II Ed. 3. m. 29. 18 *

210 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
delivered to him his rank in the Church was only that of Archdea
con of Canterbury, but he was soon after raised to the see of Chi
chester ; and he was elected Chancellor of the university of Oxford,
probably as much from hopes excited by his present power as from
the recollection of his academical proficiency. He had several
times previously been intrusted with the custody of the Great Seal
as Vice-chancellor, and he must have been familiar with the duties
of the office ; but, on account of his many avocations, soon after
his elevation he delivered the Great Seal into the keeping of St.
Paul, the Master of the Rolls, who was to act as his deputy.*
He continued ChanceUor till the 6th of July, 1338, when he re
tired for a time, and was succeeded by Richard de Bynteworth,
or Bentworth, or WentworthI, Bishop elect of London. What
was the reason of this change I have not been able to discover.
The Stratfords do not seem then to have lost the favour of the
King, and while he was engaged in preparing to prosecute the
French war, they still assisted him with their counsels, however
much they might disapprove of his measures.
I find little respecting the history of the new Chancellor except
that he had been a prebendary of St. Paul's. He enjoyed for a
very short time his new dignities. Having received the Great
Seal and been sworn in as Chancellor at Walton, he immediately
returned the Seal to the King, being obliged to go to London to be
consecrated. It was then given in charge to St. Paul and Baum-
burgh, to keep until the ChanceUor should be returned to court.
The King left England for France on the 11th of July, having
sent them a new Great Seal, which he wished to be used in Eng
land during his absence, he taking abroad with him the Great
Seal before in use. The temporary Seal was delivered to the
Chancellor on the 19th of July!, and continued in his possession
till the 7th of December in the following year, — when he sud
denly died.
The Seal was delivered the next morning, by two of the offi
cers of the deceased Chancellor to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who immediately sent it to the Council appointed by the King
to administer the government in his absence. They handed it
over to three persons to be used for sealing necessary writs, and
on the 16th of February following it was placed in the sole custo
dy of the Master of the RoUs, by virtue of a letter of Prince Ed
ward, Guardian of the realm.
The King having returned to England in about a fortnight after,
he delivered to the Master of the Rolls a new Seal, which he had
* Rot. CI. 11 Ed. 3.
t Rot. CI. 12 Ed 3. This is an instance of B and W being interchangeable, of
which we have another in tbe Bicestre at Paris, built by the Bishop of Winchester,
yincester-Bincester, Bicestre. So in some parts of England walnuts are called
balnuts or bannets. In the Spanish language every v is convertible into b. Hence-
he felicitous pun : — " Beati quibus wivere est Where "
* Rot. CI. 12 Ed. 3. m. 22.

JOHN DE STRATFORD, CHANCELLOR. 211
brought with him from France, with the fleur-de-lys engraved
upon it, — impressions of which were sent into every county in
England for the purpose of making it generally known*
On the 28th of April, 1340, John de Stratford, Archbishop of
Canterbury, was made Lord Chancellor for the third time. The
King was again to pass beyond the seas, and he placed this old
public servant at the head of the CouncU to govern in his absence,
in the belief that he was the fittest man that could be selected to
obtain supplies from Parliament, to levy the subsidies that might
be voted, and to raise men for the war now carrying on to win the
crown of France.
While Edward lay at the siege of Tournay a parliament was
held by commission at Westminster, and the Chan- ,- 1 „ » n i
cellor, on the 7th of July, the first day of the session, 1A- • -J
declared that it had been summoned " to consult what farther
course was best for the King and his aUies to take against France."!
Liberal supplies in money and provisions were voted, and not
withstanding the charge of treachery or remissness afterwards
brought against the Archbishop, he seems to have exerted himself
to the utmost to render them available to the public service.
On account of his infirmity of body he again resigned the office
of Chancellor, and the King again appointed Robert Stratford,
Bishop of Chichester, as his successor.^
The two brothers continued jointly to manage the King's affairs
in England without the slightest suspicion of any change in his
sentiments towards them tiU his sudden wrathful return, when
they were dismissed from their employments, and, but for their
sacred character as ecclesiastics, would have been in great danger
of losing their heads.
Edward had derived no fruits from the great naval victory he
had lately gained on the coast of Flanders, and though he had
commanded a more numerous army than ever before or since
served under the banner of an English sovereign, he had been
able to make no progress in his romantic enterprise. He had in
curred immense debts with the Flemings, for which he had even
pawned his own person. The remittances from England came in
much slower than he expected, and he found it convenient to throw
the blame on those he had left in authority at home.
He escaped from his creditors, and after encountering a violent
tempest, arrived at the Tower of London in the middle of the
night of the 30th of November. He began by committing to prison
and treating with unusual rigour the constable and others who had
charge of the Tower, on pretence that it was negligently guarded.
* Bot. CI. 14 Ed. 3 m. 42. t 1 Pari. Hist. 99.
X Rot. CI. 14 ed. 3. m. 13. Upon this occasion the Great Seal was broken on
account of a change in the King's armorial bearings, and another Seal, with an im
proved emblazonment of the fleur-de-lys, was delivered by the King, when embarit-
cing for France, to St. Paul, the Master of the Rolls, to be carried to the new t/han-
cellor.

212 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
His vengeance then fell on the Lord ChanceUor, whom next day
he deprived of his office, and ventured for some time to detain in
prison. Nay more, he inveighed against the whole order of the priest
hood as unfit for any secular employment, and he astonished
the kingdom by the bold innovation of appointing a layman
as Chancellor. Considering how ecclesiastics in those ages
had entrenched themselves in privileges and immunities, so
that no civil penalty could regularly be inflicted upon them
for any public malversation, and that they "were so much in the
habit, when once elevated to high station by royal favour, of
preferring the extension of priestly domination to gratitude or
respect for temporal authority, it seems at first sight wonderful
that the great offices of states were ever bestowed upon them.
On the other hand, there were peculiar causes which favoured
their promotion. Being the only educated class, they were best
qualified for civil employments requiring knowledge and address ;
when raised -to the prelacy they enjoyed equal dignity with the
greatest barons, and gave weight by their personal authority to the
official powers intrusted to them, while at the same time they did
not excite the envy, j ealousy, and factious combinations which al
ways arose when laymen of obscure birth were elevated to power.
They did not endanger the Crown by accumulating wealth or in
fluence in their families, and they were restrained by the decency
of their character from that open rapine and violence so often prac
tised by the nobles* These motives had hitherto induced Ed
ward to follow the example of his predecessors, and to employ ec
clesiastics as his ministers, at the risk of their turning against him
and setting him at defiance. But, finding that by the Clementine
Constitutions he was obliged immediately to release the dismissed
ChanceUor from prison, and that the Archbishop, whom he like
wise wished to call to account, fulminated an excommunication
against him, he resolved in future to employ only men whom he
could control and punish.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL, FROM THE AP
POINTMENT OF SIR ROBERT BOURCHIER TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF
OF WILLIAM DE WICKHAM.
The first lay Lord Chancellor appointed by an Enghsh king was
[Deo. 14, 1340.] ^SdieT"7 E°URCHIEIi-' K^ghtt,— a distinguish-
Hewas the eldest son of Sir John Bourchier, a Judge of the
* Hume's Hist. vol. ii. p. 409. t Bot. CI u Ed 3 m 1Q

SIR ROBERT BOURCHIER, CHANCELLOR. 213
Court of Common Pleas, — the representative of a family long
seated at Halstead, in Essex. His education was very slender,
being engaged in military adventures from early youth ; but he
showed great capacity as well as courage in the field, and was a
particular favourite of King Edward III., whom he accompanied
in all his campaigns. In 1337 he was at the battle of Cadsant,
and had lately before Tournay witnessed the discomfiture of all
Edward's mighty preparations for the conquest of France. He
joined in the loud complaints against the ministers who had been
appointed to superintend the supplies and levies at home, and in
the advice that the Stratfords should be punished for their sup
posed misconduct.
The resolution being taken to put down the ascendancy of ec
clesiastics, — from the shrewdness and energy of this stout knight,
he was thought a fit instrument to carry it into effect, and not only
was the Great Seal delivered to him, but he was regarded as the
King's chief councillor.
After Robert de Stratford, the late Chancellor, had been released
from prison, he made submission, and it was agreed to take no
farther steps against him. He appears now to have retired from
politics, and we read no more of him except that he acquired great
applause for the prudence with which he suppressed a mighty se
dition in the University of Oxford, arising from the opposite fac
tions of the northern and southern scholars, — the former, by rea
son of the many grievances they complained of, having retired for
a time to Stamford in Lincolnshire. He afterwards resided en
tirely in his diocese. His life was prolonged to the 9th of April,
1392. But it was determined to take ample vengeance on Ex-chan-
ceUor John de Stratford, to whose mismanagement was imputed
the bad success of the war, and who continued to defy the power
of the Crown.
First came a proclamation under the Great Seal, framed by
Lord Chancellor Bourchier, and ordered to be read in all churches
and chapels, — charging the Ex-chanceUor with having intercepted
the supplies granted to the King, and either with having appro
priated them to himself, or having diverted them from their legit
imate objects. To this Stratford opposed a pastoral letter, victo
riously refuting the accusation.
But a parliament was always considered the ready engine of
vengeance in the hands of the dominant party, and one was
summoned to meet at Westminster, in April, 1341. Still some
apprehensions were entertained from the sacred character of the
party to be accused, and from his eloquence and influence if he
were regularly heard in his own defence. The King and his mili
tary Chancellor therefore resorted to the unconstitutional step of
withholding from him a writ of summons, thinking that he might
thus be prevented from appearing in the Upper House. The
Ex-chancellor, nothing appaUed, sent a remonstrance to the King,

214 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
stating (among other things,) " that there were two powers by
which the world was governed, the holy, pontifical, apostolic
dignity, and the royal subordinate authority ; that of these two
powers the clerical was evidently the supreme, since priests were
to answer at the tribunal of the Divine judgment for the conduct
of Kings themselves ; that the clergy -were the spiritual fathers of
all the faithful, and therefore of Kings and Princes, and were en
titled by a heavenly charter to direct their wills and actions, and
to censure their transgressions ; and that Prelates had heretofore
cited Emperors before their tribunal, had sat in judgment on their
life and behaviour, and had anathematised them for their obsti
nate offences."*
On the day -when parliament met the Archbishop showed him
self before the gates of Westminster Hall, — arrayed in his ponti
fical robes, — holding the crozier in his hand, and attended by a
pompous train of priests. This ceremony being finished, he was
proceeding to the chamber where the Peers "were assembled, but
he was forbid by the captain of the guard to enter. WhUe de
manding admittance, he was seized by officers and carried to the
bar of the Court of Exchequer, -where he was called upon to
plead to an information which had been filed against him by the
Attorney- General, and which treated him as a great pecuniary de
faulter to the Crown. He then stationed himself in Palace Yard,
and solemnly protested that he -would not stir from that place till
the Bang gave him leave to come into parliament, or a sufficient
reason why he should not. Standing there in this manner, with
the emblems of his holy office, some that were by began to revile
him, saying to him, " Thou art a traitor : thou hast deceived the
King and betrayed the realm." He answered them, " The curse
of Almighty God and of his blessed Mother, and of St. Thomas,
and mine also, be upon the heads of them that inform the King
so. Amen, amen."
During two days the King rejected his application ; but he
petitioned the Peers against the injury thus offered to the first
Peer in the realm, and the House took it up as a matter of privil
ege. The King agreed to a personal conference with him in the
Painted Chamber, and after some discussion, consented to his
taking his seat in the House, but his Majesty then abruptly with
drew, and employed Sir John Darcy and Sir William Killesby to
accuse him before the citizens of London and the House of
Commons.
h34o  1341 | The Lords, alarmed for the rights and honour
of their body, prayed the King to acknowledge,
that when a Peer was impeached by the Crown for high crimes
and misdemeanours, he could not be compelled to plead before
any other tribunal than the House of Peers ; and when Edward
objected that such an acknowledgment would be prejudicial to the
* l St. T. R. 57.

SIR ROBERT BOURCHIER, CHANCELLOR. 215
public interests, and derogatory to the royal prerogatives, they re
quested his permission to refer the matter to a committee of four
prelates, four earls, and four barons. The committee reported, as
an undeniable principle, "that no Peer could be arraigned or
brought to judgment, except in parliament and by his peers."
This was unanimously approved of by the House, and embodied
in an address to the King.*
The apprehension of serious consequences from this rupture, and
the necessity of procuring a supply, induced Edward to declare
that he was willing that the charge should drop. The triumph of
the Primate was complete, for he now desired that, " whereas he
had been publicly defamed through the realm, he might be arraign
ed in open parliament before his peers ;" but the King adjourned
the matter to the next parliament, and then he ordered all the pro
ceedings against him to be annulled and vacated. In truth, the
Ex-chancellor's crime consisted in expostulating with the King
about his profuseness, and in persuading him to make peace with
France. He lived seven years afterwards, universally honoured and be
loved ; and at his death, after founding and endowing a college at
his native place, he left all his estate to his servants and domes
tics. He is said to have been " a man of a mild and gentle nature,
more inclinable to pardon the guilty than to punish them with se
verity, and very charitable to the poor."t
Bourchier, during his short Chancellorship, was entirely occupied
with the King's political business, particularly in the management
of his diplomacy, — the duties of foreign secretary of state, which
were transacted by the Chancellor, being at this time very onerous.
He transferred the Great Seal almost always into the custody of
the Master of the Rolls or the King's Chamberlain, who sealed
writs, and ordinarily sat in the Court of Chancery, — although, on
great occasions, the Lord Chancellor himself, notwithstanding his
inexperience, attended in person, and decided according to his
own notions of law and equity.
The king sometimes took the Seal into his own keeping, with
out meaning to make any change in the office of Chancellor. On
the 7th of August in this year, Bourchier having experienced no
* 1 St. Tr. 65. They further insisted that no peer who had been employed in
the great offices of the Crown should, in respect of his office, be called before any-
other court of justice, and that in such a case he ought not to be arraigned at the
prosecution of the King, nor lose his temporalities, lands, tenements, goods or
chattels, nor be arrested, imprisoned, or outlawed, nor plead nor receive judgment,
except in full parliament and before his peers, although they admitted that a peer
in receipt of the King's monies ought to account in the Exchequer, and also that a
Peer if he pleased might plead before another court, but without prejudice to the
rights of the peerage, as far as regarded others or himself, on future occasions.
This early case of privilege by no means settted the law on the subject, for it is
only in cases of treason and felony that a Peer is entitled to be tried by his peers,
and this immunity is restricted to Peers noble by blood, so that the prelates are
triable in all cases by jury. — See 1 St. Tr. 57.
t See 1 Pari. Hist. 101.

216 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
loss of favour, and not meaning to resign his office, under an order
he received to that effect, sent the Seal to the palace by Ralph
Lord Stafford and Philip de Weston. The King kept it in his own
possession till the next day, and having sealed some grants with it,
he returned it to the Chancellor*
If there had been complaints of ecclesiastical ChanceUors, this
experiment of conferring the office on an illiterate layman who
neglected its duties, caused unprecedented dissatisfaction ; and
there was an agitation in favour of the plan for restraining the
prerogative of the Crown in the appointment of its officers, which
had distracted the weak reigns of Henry III. and Edward II.
The matter was taken up by the legislature, and the Commons,
by petition to the King, prayed (tantamount to passing a bill) " that
the Chancellor, together with the other great officers, might be
chosen in open parliament, and that, at the same time, they should
be openly sworn to obey the laws of the land and Magna
Charta." The ferment in the public mind was so great, and such was the
necessity for soothing the Commons with a view to a supply, that
the King did not venture to put a direct veto upon this proposal,
and he yielded thus much, " that if any such office, by the death
or other failure of the incunbent, become void, the choice to re
main solely with the King, he taking therein the assent of his
Council, but that every such officer shall be sworn at the next
parliament, according to the petition ; and that every parliament
foUowing, the King shall resume into his hands all such offices, so
as the said officers shall be left liable to answer all objections."t
The Commons expressed themselves satisfied with this conces-
, 1„,1 -. sion, and the Prelates and Barons approving of the
' •¦*¦' D' 'J arrangement or the periodical resumption of offices,
with a view to facilitate charges against those -who had filed them,
the three estates made a request to the King, that the petition and
answer might be reduced into the form of a statute. This being
done, the statute was read aloud ia the King's presence, and he
publicly assented to it, having secretly entered a protest against it.
His officers who were present were then called upon to swear
to observe the statute ; and to render the oath more binding, it
was required to be taken on the cross of Canterbury, then in at
tendance on the Archbishop. Several took the oath without hes
itation ; but when it came to the turn of Lord Chancellor Bourchier
he refused it, as contrary to his former oath of allegiance and to
the laws of the realm. Nevertheless, he exemplified the statute
under the Great Seal, and delivered it to the Lords and Commons.*
This was only to delude them ; for no sooner was parhament dis
solved than, by his advice, the King attempted to revoke the con-
* Rot. CI. 15 Ed. 3 m. 34.
t Rot. Pari. 15 Ed. 3. See also stat. 15 Ed. 3. H. 1 cc 3 &. 4
X 1 Pari. Hist. 104.

SIR ROBERT BOURCHIER, CHANCELLOR. 21T
cession by a proceeding more extraordinary than that by which he
had submitted to it. An order in council was made abrogating the
obnoxious statute, — on the ground that the King by force had
suffered it to pass into law : and special writs were directed to ali
the peers and to aU sheriffs of England, declaring it to be null and
void, and ordering proclamation to be made to that effect. The
preamble of these writs (no doubt the composition of the gaUant
Lord Chancellor) must be allowed to be very simple and plain-
spoken : " Whereas some time since, in our parhament at West
minster, there was a certain petition made contrary to the laws
and customs of England, and not only very prejudicial but re
proachful also to our royal dignity, which, if we had not permitted
to be drawn into a statute, the said parliament had been without
success, and dissolved in discord, and so our wars with France and
Scotland had very likely (which God forbid) been in ruin ; and
we, to avoid such dangers, permitting protestations of revoking
those things, when we could conveniently, that had been so ex
torted from us against our will, yet permitted them to be sealed
with our seal at that time, and afterwards, by the advice and
assent of certain earls, baroni, and other wise men" (meaning the
privy council,) " for lawful causes, because we never consented to
the making of the statute, but as it then behoved us, we dissem
bled in the premises, we have declared it null, and that it ought
not to have the name and force of a statute, we willing, &c."
The Ex-chanceUor John Stratford showed great zeal on the
opposite side, and considering that an oath had been taken on his
cross of Canterbury to observe the statute, he summoned a pro
vincial council for the purpose of hurling excommunication against
all who should dare to infringe it.
Lord Chancellor Bourchier then sent him a writ of prohibition
under the Great Seal in the King's name, in these words : —
" We understand you have summoned a provincial council to
meet at London on the morrow of St. Luke next coming, in which
you intend to excite the bishops of your province against us, and
to ordain and declare some things prejudicial to us about confirm
ing the said pretended statute, and for the enervation, depression,
and diminution of our royal- jurisdiction, rights, and prerogatives
for the preservation whereof we are bound by oath ; and that you
intend to promulge grievous censures concerning these things;
we, willing to prevent so great mischief, do strictly forbid that in
that council you dare to propound, or any way attempt, or cause
to be attempted, any thing in derogation or diminution of our royal
dignity, power, or rights, or ofthe laws and customs of our kingdom,
or in confirmation ofthe pretended statute, or otherwise in con
tumely of our name and honour, or to the grievance or disad
vantage of our counsellors or servants : and know ye, that if ye
do these things, we will prosecute you as our enemy and violator
of our rights with as much severity as lawfuUy we may."
A violent crisis seemed now at hand, and men speculated dif-
vol. i. 19

218 REIGN OF EDAVARD III.
ferently upon the probable triumph of the mitre or the crown ;
but Edward dexterously avoided the danger by sacrificing the
Chancellor whose unpopularity and imprudence had involved him
in such difficulties, and by appointing a successor who must unite
the suffrages of the whole kingdom in his favour.
On the 28th of October, 1341, Bourchier was dismissed from the
r 1^4.1 i °^ce °f Chancellor, and on the following day, to the
[a. d. .j greaj. j0y Q£ ^g pe0pie; ^ was conferred on a man
who had been regularly bred to the bar, who had already filled
judicial offices with great credit, and who enjoyed the highest rep
utation for integrity as well as for learning and ability* This ex-
ceUent appointment operated instantly to allay the storm. t All
discontents were appeased; the Archbishop's power was gone,
and the obnoxious statute was no more thought of tiU two years
afterwards, when it was in due form repealed by the parliament,
then in good humour from the admirable conduct of the new
Chancellor.* John de Stratford died soon after. He must have had extraor
dinary talents and tact to raise himself from low degree first to be
the favourite and friend, and then the rival for sway, of his heroic
sovereign. We need not -wonder that the elevation of Bourchier had been
so unfortunate, notwithstanding his prior reputation. Most of his
predecessors had been regularly trained in the civil and canon
law, and had risen in the gradual progress of official advancement,
whUe he was taken from camps in which he had spent his life to
be placed in the marble chair in Chancery, and on the woolsack in
the House of Lords. In this assembly likewise he was under a
great disadvantage, as he sat there without being, like the Prelates
who had preceded him, a member of the House, — and being
merely permitted to put the question as prolocutor, — so that the
office which he filled was shorn of its dignity and influence.
Being restored to his proper sphere he soon recovered and in
creased his reputation. He was with Edward the Black Prince in
the heat of the battle of Cressy, and was afterwards one of the
ambassadors to treat with France for a peace. As a reward for
his services he was summoned as a Peer to parhament, and his
family thus ennobled was long very flourishing, and became allied
to the crown. He died of the plague in the year 1349, leaving
as his heir and successor in the peerage, John his son, by his wife
Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas de Preyers.
He obtained from Edward III., in 1330, a grant of free warren
in his twenty-one lordships in Essex, —in 1336, a licence to im
park his woods at Halstead, — and in 1341. while he was Chan-
* Rot. CI. 16 Ed. 3. m. 19.
t  " Simul alba nautis
Stella refulsit,
Defluit axis agitatus humor."
t Cott. Abr. 38, 39.

SIR ROBERT PARNTNGE, CHANCELLOR. 219
cellor, a warrant to convert his house there into a battlemerated
castle. Sir Robert Paenynge, who now held the Great Seal, was the
first regularly bred common lawyer who was ever r~
appointed to the office of Chancellor in England. l°ot- 29> 1341-l
I do not find any account of his parentage or early education. He
was probably of obscure origin, owing his rise to his talents and
his industry. Having distinguished himself greatly for his pro
ficiency in the study of the common law as a member of the inns
of court, and as an utter barrister, he took the de
gree of the coif in the 8th of Edward III, and was •> D' lo-J'3 i
soon made a King's Serjeant* " For his profound and excellent
knowledge of the laws," he was, in Trinity term, 14 Ed. 3., creat
ed Chief Justice of England. On the 15th of December follow
ing he was made Lord Treasurer of England, and he remained
in that office till he was constituted Lord Chancellor.!
The equitable jurisdiction of Chancery had been greatly extend
ed, and to the duties of his own Court the new Chancellor sedu
lously devoted, himself. But he thought, as did Lord Eldon and
the most celebrated of his successors, that the best qualification
for an Equity Judge is not the mere drudgery of drawing bills and
answers, but a scientific knowledge of the common law ; and lie
further thought it essential that his knowledge of the common
law should be steadily kept up by him when Chancellor. " This
man," says Lord Coke, " knowing that he that knew not the com
mon law, could never well judge in Equity (which is a just correc
tion of law in some cases), did usually sit in the Court of Com
mon Pleas (which court is the lock and key of the Common law),
and heard matters in law there debated, and many times would
argue himself as in the Roport, 17 Ed. 3., it appears. "X
It was only once, and for a very short time, that the Great
Seal was out of his own custody while he "was Chancellor. On
the 16th of May, 1342, it was delivered to two great Barons,
Henry de Lancaster, Earl of Derby, and William de Bohun, Earl
of Northampton, not, as may weU be supposed, for any judicial
purpose, but to give effect to a proceeding "which the Chancellor
probably condemned and resisted. The Close Roll, 16 Ed. 3.,
states, that '* immediately after the Earls above named had obtain
ed possession of the Seal, they caused divers letters of pardon,
' sectcs pads regis,' for homicide to be sealed, and ordered the same
charters to be inrolled in Chancery without the payment of any
fee, and afterwards the King re-delivered the Seal to the Chan
cellor." On the 4th of October, 1342, when the King. was on board
the George, at Sandwich, bound for Brittany, Lord ChanceUor
Parnynge delivered the Great Seal into his Majesty's hands, and
another seal was delivered to him to be used in England during
* Orig. Jur. p. 43. t 4 Inst. 79. t i Inst. 79.

220 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
the King's absence.* On the 4th of March following, the King
being returned, delivered to the Chancellor the Great Seal which
he had taken with him into Brittany, and at the same time receiv
ed back the seal which had been used in the interval, t
, . „„ 10401 There was only one parliament held while
[April , .j parnyng6 wag Chancellor, in which he presided
with dignity, although the inconvenience was still felt of the
Speaker not being a member of the House of Peers. The Com
mons, not from any dissatisfaction with him, but rather, I pre
sume, with a view that he might be raised to the peerage, peti-
r 1 14.1 1 tioned the King " that the Chancellor may be a peer
lA' ' 'J of the realm, and that no stranger be appointed
thereunto, and that he attend not to any other office." Edward,
much nettled, chose to consider this a wanton interference with
his prerogative, and returned for answer : " Le Roi poet faire ses
ministres come lui plaira, et come lui et ses ancestres ont fait en
tut temps passez." $
However, with the exception of this little breeze, there was
great tranquillity during the session, and the Chancellor, by order
of the House, having examined before them some of the King's
officers respecting the war and the negotiation with France, the
three estates concurred in advising the King to adhere to the truce
which had been concluded with Philip, and to try to convert it
into a permanent pease, though, if this should be unattainable,
they would maintain his quarrel with all their power.§
Parnynge's last appearance in public was in the august cerem
ony of the King creating his eldest son Prince of Wales in full
parliament, investing him with a coronet, a gold ring, and a silver
rod. It was now generally expected that he himself would be made
a peer; but on the 26th of August, 1343, he suddenly died while
enjoying the full favour of his Prince and the entire confidence of
his fellow-subjects.
I cannot find any trace of his decisions while Chancellor ; but
we know that he is to be honoured as the first person who held
the office with the requisite qualifications for the proper discharge
of its imporant duties, and he must have laid the foundation-stone
of that temple to justice, afterwards reared in such fair proportions
by an Ellesmere, a Nottingham, and a Hardwicke.
The Great Seal was now for a short time (according to mo
dern phraseology) "in commission," that is to say, — without the ap
pointment of a Chancellor, it was intrusted to the Master of the
Rolls and two others, jointly, for the despatch of all business con
nected with it II, and they held it till Michaelmas-day following.
* Rot. CI. 16 Ed. 3. m. 32. XVb\c\
1 1 Pari. Hist. 105. Rol. P. vol. ii. 140,b $ 1 Pa',1. Hist. 106
II The entry of this commission on the Close Roll, is curious, as almost the only
one not in Latin. Le Koy a ses chers Clercs Maistre de Thoresby, Johan de St Paul
et Thomas de Brayton, salutz. Come Mons. Robert Parnyng votre Chancellor soit

ROBERT DE SAYDINGTON, CHANCELLOR. 221
Oil that day the Earl of Warwick, by the King's command, sealed
five charters of pardon with it, and it was then delivered by the
King to Robert de Sadyngton as Chancellor*
He was descended from a family of great emimence in the lav,'.
the members of which had been successively Justi- r QO
ces in Eyre to Henry III, Edward I, and Edward II. L A' D- 1Mo' J
I do not find any account of his early career, except that he studied
at the inns of court, and was regularly bred to the bar. He was
appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer 20th of March, 11 Ed
ward III, Vice -treasurer of England 25th of June, 13 Edward III,
and Lord Treasurer 2d of May, 14 Edward III.
He seems to have turned out a very indifferent equity judge,
and to have disappointed public expectation. Lord Coke, eager
to praise Chancellors taken from the common law, while he cele
brates the merits of Parnynge and Knyvet, the contemporaries of
Lord Chancellor Sadyngton, j has not^a word to say in his praise ;
and he performed so indifferently as to reconcile the nation to the
old practice of making eclesiastical Chancellors.
He presided at a parhament which met on the 7th of June, 1344,
and in the presence of the King and the Prince of Wales, declared
the cause of this summons to be " concerning the late truce with
France, and the breach of it by the French King, of which he
gave seven particular instances ; and he desired the three estates
of the realm to consider of those things and that they would give
him such advise and assistance as was necessary for the saving of his
and their own rights and honours."! They answered, by the mouth
ofthe ChanceUor that they " prayed him to make a speedy end ofthe
war, either by battle or a proper peace, if such might be had ; and
that when he had embarked to cross the seas he should not, fpjr
the letters or command of the Pope, or any other, lay aside his
voyage until he had made an end one way or another."
WhUe Sadyngton -was Chancellor, the King several times took
the Great Seal from him for the purpose of sealing a charter of par
don ("which seems to have been considered as the direct act of
the Sovereign,) and then restored it to him.
When the King -was sailing on his expedition to France, Sad
yngton delivered the Great Seal to him at Sand- , j 1344 .
wich, and received it back on Edward's return to >• > ° • J
England. The entry on the record of this ceremony is curious, as
showing that the ChanceUor now regularly sat in his court in
Westminster Hall, surrounded by the Masters in Chancery as his
assessors.* a Dieu, mandez nous assurantz de vos sens ei loialtez ; nous mandiins que vous re
ceives notre Grant Seal en la presence de notre conseil a Londres, et facez ceo que
a 1'ofBce du dit Seal appeint come gardeins dicel tamque nous eut eoms autremont
ordeinez. Done souz notre secre seal a West, le xxvj. jour d' Augst, Pan de notre
regne d'Engleterre disseptisme etde Prance quartrieine." — 17 Ed. 3. m. 24.
* Rot. CI. 17 Ed. 3. m. 20. t 1 Pari. Hist. 109.
j '¦ Quod quidem sigillurn idem Dominus Hex a Roberto de Sadyngton Cancel-
19*

222 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
Sadyngton was soon after obliged to give up the Great Seal al
together, having been found inefficient both in parliament and in
the court of chancery, and the complaints against him becoming so
loud that the King was afraid the commons might renew their ef
forts to wrest from the Crown the appointment to the office of
Chancellor. But a job was done for the Ex-chancellor, who had
exerted himself to please his party. Chief Baron Stenford being
induced to resign, Sadynton was reinstated as head of the Court
of Exchequer, where he continued to preside till his death.*
The last experiment of a legal ChanceUor had succeeded so in
differently that the King resolved, for his next choice to return to
the Church. There had been murmurs from the prelates, who
considered the office of Chancellor as belonging to their order ;
and it was perhaps thought that the causes of summoning a par
liament, and the topics for a liberal supply would come with more
effect from the holy lips of a mitred occupant of the woolsack
than from a profane lawyer, known to have practiced as a retained
advocate in Westminster HaU.
On the 26th of October, 1345, in the room called " the Cage
Chamber," in the palace at Westminster, the King delivered the
Great Seal to John de Offord, Dean of Lincoln, to be held by
him as Chancellor, and, having taken the oaths, on lhe following
day he sealed writs and letters patent with it in the Court of Chan
cery in Westminster Hall.f
He was of noble extraction, being a younger son of Robert Earl
of Suffolk. He was early dedicated to the church, and, as usual
with those who hoped to rise in it, applying himself diligently to
the study of the civil and canon law, he took the degree of Doc
tor utroque jure. From family interest, as well as personal merit.
he soon got preferment, and being Dean of Lincoln, while still a
young man he had a promise of the next vacant bishopric.
He held the office of Chancellor, with great credit for five years,
and would probably have been continued in it much longer but
for his untimely death.
At the parliament held in the beginning of the year 1347 he had
the satisfaction of announcing the victory of Cressy, and of ob
taining supplies larger than ever before voted, to enable the King
to push on the siege of Calais. $
The Commons, finding no fault with him as an equity judge,
made an effort to reduce the fees payable upon writs out of Chan
cery, which were represented to be contrary to the words of Mag
na Charta, " Nulli vendemus justitiam ; " but these constituted a
branch of the royal revenue, which the King would not suffer to
larto suo super passagio suo versus dictas partes Flandrias prius recessit eidemqne
Oancellano >n quadam bursa mclusumm Magna Aula Regis apud Westmonasterium
in loco ubi idem Cancellarius commumter sedet inter Clericos Cancellariai pro officio
anoexecrendomprsBsentiaeorundera clericorum liberaTit."— Rot. CI. 19 Ed 3 ti 2
* Or. Jur. 47. . . j . •
1Rflt.CLm.-J*. t I Pari. Hist. 111.

JOHN DE OFFORD, CHANCELLOR. 223
be touched, and he returned for answer, " Unto the poor it shall be
given for Gods sake, and it is reasonable that those who can afford
to pay should pay, as they have been accustomed."*
Offord remained in great favour with the King, and in Septem
ber, 1348, while Chancellor, he was promoted to the ( „., .
see of Canterbury. He had both the royal commen- <¦ A' D' '
dation and the Papal provision for his elevation; but he died be
fore his consecration, and in all proceedings during the latter part
of his time, he is designated " Archbishop of Canterbury elect,
and ChanceUor." t
Lord Chancellor Offord seems to have had the Great Seal al
ways in his own keeping, unless when he parted with it for some
temporary purpose. On the 28th of October, 1348, he delivered
it to the Master of the Rolls to take to the King at Sandwich, then
about to sail for the Continent. As soon as the King received it,
he ordered certain commissions to be sealed with it, and then gave
it to Andrew de Offord to carry to his brother the Chancellor X,
who did not afterwards part with it.
He had got possession of the temporalities of his see, and was
making great preparations for his inauguration, when he was sud
denly struck with a disease of which he died on the 26th of Au
gust, 1348.
* Rot. Pari. 21 Ed. 3.
t One of the most curious, of these is a writ which he sent in the King's name
to the sheriffs of London, commanding them to make proclamation to different
classes of suitors how respectively they were to obtain justice, and is supposed to
show that the distinction between common law and equity was then fully establish
ed, and that the latter was not exclusively administered by the Chancellor, but by
him or the Keeper of the Privy Seal, subject to the control of the King in Council.
" Rex Vicecomit. London, Salutem Quia circa diversa negotia nos et statum regni
nostri Angl. concernantia sumus indies multipliciter occupati, volumus quod qusslibet
negotia tam communem legem regni nostri Angl. quam gratiam nostram specialem
concernantia penes nosmetipsos hab' prosequend' eadem negotia, videlicet negotia ad
communem legem penes venerab' virum elect' Cantuar' confirmat' Cancellarium
nostrum per ipsum expediend et alia negotia de gratia nostra concedenda penes
eundem Cancellarium seu dileetum clericum nostrum Custodem sigili nostri privati
prosequantur. Ita quod ipsi vel unuseorum petitiones, negotiorum qua? per eos nobis
inconsultis expediri non poterunt, una cum advisamentis suis inde ad nos transmit-
tant vel transmittal, absque alia prosecutione penes nos inde faciend' ut his inspec
ts ulterius prsefato Cancdilario, seu Custod inde significamus velle nostrum, et quod
nullus alius hujusmodi negotia penes nosmetipsos de cfetero prosequantur, vobis pras-
cipimus quod statim visis prassentibus prsemissa omnia et singula in civitato pradicta
in locis ubi expediri videritis publice proclamari faciatis in forma pra?dicta et hoc
nullatenus omittatis. Teste Rege apud Langley, 13 die Januar. Anno regni 22
Ed. 3. Claus. p. 2. m. 2. in dorso per ipsum Regem." — Where it is said that com
mon law business was to be prosecuted before the Chancellor, I presume this can
only mean that application should be made for original writs out of chancery. Or
may " matters concerning the common law" mean disputes between subject and
subject to be decided judicially by the Chancellor, and " matters concerning one
special grace cognisable before us" mean grants and matters of favour depending
an the pleasure of the Crown ?
{ The learned and accurate Hardy represents Andrew de Offord to have been a
Keeper of the Great Seal ; but with great deference, he was not intrusted to use it.
and was merely a messenger to convey it to London. — Hardy's Chancellors,™
Rot. CI. 22 Ed. 3. m. 8.

224 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
He was more a statesman than a lawyer or a divine ; but he
left behind him a considerable reputation for assiduity and discre
tion in the discharge of his official duties.
On his death, the Great Seal remained in the custody of the
n ifi H49 1 Master 0I> the Rolls and three others for about a
I UNE > -1 month, while the King deliberated about a suc
cessor, and things having gone on so smoothly under a clerical
Chancellor, he at last appointed to the office John de Thoresby,
Bishop of St. David's*, who held it for seven years.
This man, very eminent in his own time, had studied at Ox
ford, where he not only became a deep divine, but very knowing
in the civil and canon law. While still young, he wrote many
tracts both in Latin and in English, now beginning to be cultivat
ed by men of learning. His most popular work was " A Com
mentary on the Lord's Prayer, the Decalogue, and the Gteed;" but
none of them were considered to be of sufficient value to be pre
served and printed. He early took orders, and was made a master
in Chancery. On the 21st of February, 15 Ed. Ill, he was ap
pointed Master of the RoUs. He rose into high favour with the
King, and, showing an aptitude for state affairs, was intrusted
with the custody of the Privy Seal, and sworn a member of coun
cil.! He was elected Bishop of St. David's in September, 1347.
and was translated to Worcester in November, 1349.
Although considered the most learned man of his time, he was
very deficient as an orator, and while he held the Great Seal, as
often as parliament met the causes of the summons were declared
by the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, supported by the King's
Chamberlain or Some other courtier.
The most memorable proceeding in parliament whUe he presided
there, was the passing of the famous Statute of Treasons. $ For
the first time in any European monarchy, the law gave a definition
of the acts against the state which should amount to lese-majesty
and subject the offender to the high penalties which must be en
acted against those who aim at the life of the Sovereign, >pr who
attempt by violence to bring about a revolution in the established
government of the country. This statute, which did more for the
liberties of England than Magna Charta itself, continues in force
to the present day. It has been considerably extended by judicial
construction beyond its original terms. Where the King's life is
not directly aimed at, no act of a public nature, short of levying
war against the King in his realm, being expressly declared to be
treason, the judges have been driven to decide that any revolu
tionary movement or plot is constructively a compassing of the
King's death. It would have been better if the deficiency had
* Rot. CI. 22 Ed. 3. m. 8.
¦ t In the Rolls in which he is mentioned about this time, he is sometimes styled
'¦ Magister, and sometimes " Dominus," but the one title seems to have been con
sidered quite as high as the other.
X 25 Ed. 3. c. 2.

JOHN DE THORESBY, CHANCELLOR. 225
been supplied by the legislature ; but it would be too late now to
resort to a strict interpretation of the statute, although the judges
of the present day would hardly hold with some of their prede
cessors, that an insurrection to destroy all dissenting meeting
houses, or all inclosures, or all brothels, would be a compassing of
the death of our Lady the Queen.
Lord Chancellor Thoresby, if he did not bring forward, must
have acquiesced in the passing of this memorable reform of the
law, for which we owe some respect to his memory ; for he has
had successors who not only originated no good measure, but have
zealously supported every legal abuse.
While Thoresby was Chancellor, the Commons renewed their
attempt to reduce the fees payable on writs out of Chancery, —
the King returning to their petition this soft and evasive answer :
" It pleases the King, that the Chancellor shaU be as moderate as
he can touching fees on writs, having regard to the condition of
the persons who purchase them."
The commons then made an attack on the equitable jurisdiction
of the Council and the Chancellor, but in such gen- r „, .
eral terms that their petition could not be negatived. *-A- D- 1
Citing Magna Charta, that " no man shall be prejudged of his
freehold or franchises save by the law of the land," they prayed
that no one might be put to answer for such matters but by due
process at the common law, and that any thing to the contrary
should be held null and void. The answer was, " it pleases our
Lord the King that the petition be granted."*
He appears to have interfered very little with the judicial du
ties of the office, for during almost the whole of his time the
Great Seal was in the hands of Keepers, — either of several joint
ly, or of one under the seals of two others, — in whose presence
alone it could be used. The necessity for the Chancellor's at
tendance in his diocese is several times the reason assigned in the
Close RoU for the King gaving him leave of absence from Lon
don and the appointment of Keepers till his return.
In November, 1356, Thoresby being promoted to the Archiepis-
copal see of York, resigned the Great Seal. We have many in
stances of Archbishops of Canterbury holding the office of Chan
cellor, as they had only to cross the Thames in their state barge
from Lambeth to Westminster Hall ; but the duties of the North
ern metropolitan were generally considered incompatible with a
continued residence in London, although Wolsey, and a few
others, unscrupulously sacrificed them to gain their ambitious
ends. Thoresby died on the 6th of November, 1373, leaving behind
him a great reputation for piety and charity as well as learning.
* " II plest a ure. Seigr le Roi, q. la petition soit oltroie." — Rot. Pari. 25 Ed. 3.
" Oitroyer" or " Oetroyer" was the proper French word to designate a royal grant.
Hence the " Octroi" or municipal tax granted by the King.

226 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
While he was Archbishop of York, the presidency of the two
archbishops which hitherto had been contested was settled, and
the title of " Primate of all England," since borne by the Arch
bishop of Canterbury, was invented.
On Archbishop Thoresby's resignation, the Great Seal was de-
, 1S56 1 fi-vered to William de Eddington, Bishop of Win-
' • ¦ ' -J chester, as Chancellor, and he held it above six years.
This individual, highly distinguished in his own time though so
little known in ours, took his name from the place of his birth,
Edington, in Wiltshire, where he afterwards founded the priory of
" Bons Hommes." He studied at Oxford, and there acquired
great reputation for his skill in law and divinity.
He was warmly patronized by Adam de Orleton, Bishop of
Winchester, who presented him to the living of Cheriton, in
Hampshire, and introduced him at Court. Gaining the goodwill
of Edward III., he Was appointed to the see of Winchester on
the death of his patron, and was the first of four prelates, who,
. being all Chancellors, successively held it for near 150 years*
While Eddington remained Chancellor, he himself did aU the
duties of the office without the assistance of any "Keeper or Vice-
chancellor. According to the accustomed form, it was twice sur
rendered up by him to the King on his going beyond seas, and on
his Majesty's return exchanged for the seal used during his ab
sence. In his time England was at the height of military glory, the
Black Prince having gained the battle of Poictiers, and John
King of France and David King of Scots being fellow prisoners
in London. Nevertheless he had to set the Great Seal to the
[May 8 1360 1 ire3,ltY °f Bretigni in 1360, by which Edward,
L ' after all his victories, renounced his claim to
the Crown of France, in consideration of being allowed to hold
certain provinces in that kingdom in full sovereignty.
There was now an interval of repose for domestic improve
ment, and in 1362 the Chancellor carried through parliament the
famous statute, whereby it was enacted that all pleadings and
judgments in the courts of Westminster should for the future be
in Englisht, whereas they had been in French ever since the
Conquest ; — and that all schoolmasters should teach their scholars
to construe in English, and not in French as they had hitherto
been accustomed. Although the French language no longer en
joyed any legal sanction, it had such a hold of legal practitioners,
that it continued to be voluntarily used by them down to the mid
dle of the eighteenth century. Their reports, and treatises, and
abridgments are m French, and if we would find any thing in
Chief Baron Comyn's Digest composed in the reign of George
II. about " Highways," " Tithes," or " Husband and Wife," we
* Edington, Wm. of Wickham, Cardinal Beaufort, and Wnvnflete
t 36 Ed. 3. c. 15. '

WILLIAM DE EDDINGTON, CHANCELLOR. 227
must look to the titles " Chemin," " Dismes," and " Baron &-
Feme."* Edington might have been raised to the primacy if he had
pleased, — but he refused the preferment, saying " That indeed the
rack of Canterbury was higher, but the manger of Winchester was
larger." When Lord Treasurer, in 1350, he had incurred great odium by
debasing the coin ; but he seems to have passed through the office
of Chancellor without reproach. He concurred in passing seve
ral very salutary statutes for correcting the oppressive abuses of
purveyance, whereby it was enacted, that " if any man that feel-
eth himself aggrieved contrary to any thing contained in these
statutes will come into the Chancery, and thereof make his com
plaint, he shall there have remedy." The process, no doubt, was
by petition, on which the Chancellor, in a summary manner, in
quired and gave judgment.
He resigned the Great Seal in February 1363, and died at Win
chester on the 8th of October, 1366. He acquired great reputa
tion for piety by the monastic institution which he founded in his
native place ; but perhaps his best claim to the gratitude of pos
terity was, his patronage of William of Wickham, — the architect
of Windsor Castle, — his successor in the see of Winchester, —
twice Lord Chancellor, — and founder of Winchester School an d
New College, Oxford.
* The law, having spoken French in her infancy, had great difficulty in changing
her dialect. It is curious that acts of parliament long continued to be framed in
French, and that Prench is still employed by the different branches of the legisla
ture in their intercourse with each other. Not only is the royal assent given to
bills by the words " La Reigne le voet," but when either House passes a bill there
is an indorsement written upon it, " Soit baile" aux Seigneurs," or " aux Com
munes ;" and at the beginning of cveiy parliament the Lords make nn eniry in
their Journals, in Prench, of the appointment of the Receivers and Triers of peti
tions, not only for England, but for Gascony. E. g.: Extract from Lords' Journal.
24th August, 1841 :—
" Les Recevours des Petitions de Gascoignc et des autres terres et pays de par
la mer et des isles.
" Le Baron Abinger, Chief Baron de l'Excbequer de la Reyne.
" Messire James Parke, Chevalier.
'¦ Messire John Edmund Dowdeswell, Ecuycr.
" Et ceux qui vjulent delivre letir Petitions les Baillent dedans six jours prochein-
ment ensuivant.
" Les Triours des Petitions de Gascoigne et des autres terres et pays de prr la
mer et des isles. " Le Due de Somerset,
L: Le Marquis d' Anglesey.
" Le Count de Tankerville.
"Le Viscount Torrington.
"Le Baron Campbeil.
"Tout eux ensemble, ou quartre des seigneurs avant-ditz, appellant aut cnx le.-
Sejeants de la Reyne, quant sera besoigne, tiendront lenr place en la ehambre du
Chambcllan. " Recevours et Triours des Petititions de la Grande Bretagne et d'lreland," were
appointed the same day.

228 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
The next Chancellor was Simon de Langham, Bishop of Ely*
x , I cannot find out the origin of this aspiring and
[Veb. 19, 13bd.j unamiable man. He first appears as a monk in
the Abbey of Westminster ; but under his cowl he concealed un
bounded ambition and very considerable talents. He is one of
the few instances of the regular clergy attaining to great emi
nence in England. He was always rising in the world. From a
great reputation to piety he was eagerly resorted to as a Confes
sor, and he acquired much influence over his penitents, which he
turned skUfully to his own account. He could adapt his manners
to all classes and characters, and the monk who recommendid
himself to some by fasting and penance gained the favour of Ed
ward III. by his courtly manners, and the aptitude he displayed
for civil business. Though generally somewhat stern, and rather
unpopular with those who depended upon him, he courted his su
periors so assiduously and so successfully, that he was successive
ly Treasurer of Wells, Archdeacon of Taunton, Prior and Abbot
of Westminster, Bishop of Ely, and treasurer of England. He
had been elected Bishop of London ; but Ely falling vacant be
fore his consecration, he preferred it as being richer, though infe
rior in rank.
Being now Chancellor he was, in 1366, translated to the see of
Canterbury, uniting in his own person the two offices of highest
civil and ecclesiastical dignity. But if we may credit a waggish
distich which was then penned upon him, this translation caused
equal joy in one quarter and consternation in another : —
" Lastantur eceli, — quia Simon transit ab Ely,
Cujus in adventum — flent in Kent millia centum."
Among those with whom he quarrelled at Canterbury was the fa
mous John WicklifFe, then a student at the College there erected
by Islip his predecessor. This ardent youth being unjustly expel
led, and finding no redress for the wrong he suffered, turned his
mind to clerical usurpation and oppression, and prepared the way
for that reformation in religion which blessed an after age.
r iQr«-| Langham was installed in his office of Chancel-
'' lor with extraordinary pomp and magnificence. Be
ing appointed on Sunday, 19th February, the record says that
on Tuesday next following, taking the Great Seal with him to
Westminster, " et in sede marmorea, ubi Cancellarii sedere sunt
assueti, sedens, &c, litems patentes, &c, consignari fecif't
All the parliaments called in his time were opened by an oration
from him. We may give as a specimen his performance on the
4th of December, 1364. He set the example, long followed on
* Rot. CI. 37 Ed. 3. m. 39.
1_ Rot. CI. 37 Ed. 8 m. 39. See Sugd. Or. Jur. 37. He adds that the marble
chair remained to his day, being fixed in the wall over against the middle of the
marble table.

SIMON DE LANGHAM, CHANCELLOR. 229
such occasions by ecclesiastical ChanceUors,* of beginning with a
text from the Holy Scriptures as a theme. He now selected the
saying of the Royal Prophet — " Faithful judgment doth adorn
the King's seat;" — whence he took occasion to extol the great
valour of the King, his master, and the many victories which, by
God's assistance, he had gained in his youth ; not forgetting the
constant and dutiful goodwill and ready concurrence of the King's
loyal subjects towards the furtherance of those his important
undertakings : " For all which, as the King did now by him return
them his hearty thanks, so he let them know that for his part he
was resolved to seek the common peace and tranquUlity of all his
people, especially by enforcing a due observance of all good and
wholesome laws, and amending such of them as should be thought
defective ; as also by establishing new ones as necessity should
require." Notwithstanding these smooth words, there were heavy com
plaints against the ChanceUor for increasing the fines in Chanceiy
payable to the King, and the Commons prayed that these fines
should not be higher than they were in the time of the King's
father, or at the King's first coronation. It would appear that the
new practice was agreeable as well as profitable to the King, who
was determined to continue it by returning this answer : — " The
King wills that fines be reasonable to the ease and quiet of his
people." In the beginning of 1367 Langham's ambition was further grat
ified, as he was made a Cardinal by Pope Urban r D 1367 i
V. ; and there being nothing further in England L
which he could covet, he aspired to the triple crown itself. It was
probably with tins view, that he soon after resigned the office of
ChanceUor, and went to Avignon to intrigue among the Cardinals.
There he lived eight years in great credit and splendour. In
1371 he came to London as a legate from the Pope to negociate a
peace between France and England. But while speculating at
Avignon about a vacancy in the papacy, all his ambitious schemes
were for ever terminated by an attack of palsy, of which he im
mediately died. He is celebrated more for his liberality to the
abbey and moDks of Westminster, than for his just administration
of the law, or any improvements in legislation.
* " "When a bishop was Lord Chancellor he took a text of Scripture, which he
repeated in Latin, and discoursed upon the same. Bnt when a judge was Lord
' Chancellor, he took no text, but in manner of an oration showed summarily the
causes of the parliament." — 4 Inst. 8.
VOL. I. 20

230 REIGN OE EDWARD III,

CHAPTER XV.
CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE AP
POINTMENT OF WILLIAM OF WICKHAM TILL THE DEATH OF ED
WARD III.
The successor of Langham was a man whose memory is stUl re
garded with high respect by the English nation, the famous Wil
liam of Wickham.
This distinguished man, who was twice Lord Chancellor, was
„fi7 -, born in the year 1324, at the viUage in Hampshire
Kept. 1/, lcib/.j from which he took his name, — of poor but hon
est parents, being the son of John Long and Sibyl his wife * He
probably never would have been known to the world had he not,
when almost quite a child, attracted the notice of Nicholas TJvedale,
Lord of the Manor of Wickham, and governor of Winchester,
who put him to school in that city. He is likewise said to have
been sent to study at Oxford ; but there is great reason to doubt
whether he ever was at any university, and his splendid founda
tions for the education of youth probably proceeded less from
gratitude, than from a desire to rescue others from the disadvan
tages under which he had himself laboured, for he never possessed
scholastic learning, and he owed his advancement to the native
fervour of his genius and the energy -which enabled him to sur
mount all difficulties. While still a youth, he became private sec
retary to his patron, and was lodged in a high turret in Winchester
Castle, of which TJvedale was Constable. Here he imbibed that
enthusiastic admiration of Gothic architecture which was the
foundation of his fortune. Ere long there was no cathedral, an
cient church, baronial hall, or Norman castle many miles round
that he had not visited and studied ; and he set to work to consider
scientifically how such stately structures were erected, and to
figure in his imagination others grander and of finer proportions.
He was first noticed by Edington, the Bishop of Winchester, then
* It has been lately asserted that Wickham, or Wykeham, was his /amity name
because it is said to have belonged to several relations born elsewhere ; but all the
earliest accounts of him concur in the statement I have adopted. Por example —
¦' Qua capit australes comitate Hamptona Britannos,
Wichamia est vicus, nee nisi parvus ager.
Vixit Iohannes illic cognominc Longus,
Cui fuit in custi parte Sibylla thori.
Hanc habuit patriam Gulielmus et hosce paremet.
Wichamus, augurio nee tamen absque bono ;
Namque loci ut nomen, sic vim matrisque patrisque
Haud dubie in vitam transtulit ille suam,
Longus enim ut longo duraret tempore caute
Et bene prospiceret cuncta, Sybilla dedit."
Ortus et Vita Gul. de Wiclmm.

WILLIAM D E WICKHAM, CHANCELLOR. 231
Lord Chancellor, — little thinking that he was himself to be Bishop
of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. But from him he had only
fair words and good cheer.
TJvedale afterwards happened to mention to the King the re
markable young man he had for his secretary, and Edward, ever
ready to avail himself of efficient service and to encourage merit
in every department, desired that he might be presented to him.
He was accordingly brought to Court, and instantly made a most
favourable impression by his modest and insinuating manners,
and his great knowledge of the subject to which he had devoted
himself. First he was made " Clerk of all the King's works in
his manors of Henle and Yelhampsted*," and then " Surveyor of
the King's works in the castle and park of Windsor." t
Edward, after his great victories, now meditated the erection of
a palace where, according to the taste of the age, he might enter
tain the flower of European chivalry of which he was the acknow
ledged head, — affording his brother knights a full opportunity to
display their prowess in the tournament, and to lead the dance
with their lady-loves in the brilliant hall at night. Windsor, the
destined site, had been occasionally the residence of our sove
reigns since the Conquest ; but what was then called " the Castle,''
consisted of a few irregular buddings, with pepper-boxes at the
corners of them.
Wickham furnished the designs for the new Castle such nearly
as we now behold it — suitable to its noble position, and for sim
plicity and grandeur superior to any royal residence in the world.
He showed corresponding vigour in carrying the plan into execu
tion. By a stretch of prerogative every county in England was
obliged to send a contingent of masons and other workmen, and
in a surprisingly short period the structure was completed.
The King, to celebrate the event, founded the illustrious order
ofthe Garter, which now adds to the patronage r 13491
of the Prime Minister, and furnishes the object of L ¦ ¦ '
highest ambition to our greatest nobles.
It is said that the architect gave deep offence to his royal master
by placing on one of the gates the inscription, " This made Wi-
i-hem," which was construed into an arrogant appropriation to him
self of all the glory of the edifice. But he insisted that the
words were to be read as a translation of " Wichamum fecit hocf
— not of " Hoc fecit Wichamus," — that according to the usual
idiom of the English language, " Wichem" was here the accusa
tive case, instead of the nominative — and that he only wished
posterity to know that his superintendence of the work had gain
ed him the royal favour, and thus had raised him from low degree
to exalted fortune. Edward was appeased, and ever afterwards
delighted to honour him.
* Patent, dated 10th May, 1356. t Patent, 30th Oct. 1356.
t This use of " ficere," to make a man, rather strengthens the presumption that
he did not study at Oxford.

232 REIGN OE EDWARD III.
Except the common law, the only road to wealth and power
open to a non-combatant in those days — was the church. It was
now too late for Wilham to begin the study of Bracton, Fleta, and
the year Books, and to try to obtain practice in Westminster Hall;
but he was prevailed upon to take orders, and ecclesiastical pre
ferments were showered upon him. It has been supposed that
he had early taken deacon's orders, because in 1352 he was styled
" clericus" or clerk, but this designation was given to men in civil
employments*, although not in the church ; and hitherto he had
no ecclesiastical function or benefice. On the 5th of December,
1361, he was admitted to the order of " acolyte;" — he was ordain
ed subdeacon on the 12th of March, 1362, and priest on the 12th
of June following. He was now inducted into the rectory of Pal-
ham in Norfolk, — he was presented to a prebend in the cathedral
at Lichfield, and he received the King's grant of the deanery of
the royal free chapel or collegiate church of St. Martin's-le- Grand,
London, — with other pluralities. His secular preferment likewise
stiU proceeded, as he was appointed ¦' chief warden and surveyor
of the King's castles of Old and New Windsor, and sundry oth
ers, with the parks belonging to them," for which he had, besides
many fees and perquisites, an assignment of 20s. a day out of the
Exchequer. He now likewise entered the field of politics ; on the 1 1 th of
May, 1364, he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal, and soon af
ter he is styled " secretary to the King," performing the functions
of the officer afterwards designated " Principal Secretary of State."
In May, 1365, he was commissioned along with others to treat of
the ransom of David II. King of Scotland, taken prisoner at Ne
ville's Cross, and the prolonging of the truce with the Scots.
Under the bull of Pope Urban V. against pluralities, he was re
luctantly compelled to make a return of his ecclesiastical benefi
ces, in which he calls himself " Sir William of Wykeham, clerk,
Archdeacon of Lincoln, and secretary of our lord the illustrious
King of England, and keeper of his Privy Seal," — and in which
he reduces the total produce to 873/. 6*. 8d.
He did not attend much to his spiritual duties, but he showed
great dexterity in civil business, and a natural aptitude for every
situation in which he was placed, — so that he escaped the envy
that might have been expected to attend his elevation, and was a
general favourite. Conscious how much he owed to his delicate
attention to the feelings of others, when he had from the Heralds
a grant of arms, he took for his motto, " Manners makyth man."t
* Thus in the contemporary poem of the " Wife of Bath's Prologue" by Chaucer,
" My fiftne husbande, God his soule blesse
Which that I toke for love and no riehesse,
He sometime was a Clekk of Oxenforde,
And had left scole and went at home at borde."
Of course the clerk had not taken orders, or ho could not have entered into this
matrimonial alliance.
t We must not infer defective education from the seeming ungrammatical strtic-

WILLIAM DE WICKHAM, CHANCELLOR. 238
At last, on the death of Ex-chancellor Edington, Bishop of
Winchester, in 1366, at the earnest recommendation of the King,
he was elected by the prior and convent to succeed him in that
see. This promotion in his native county must have been partic
ularly gratifying to him, and as he was only in his forty-second
year,' we may hope that his parents were still alive, and walked
from the village of Wickham to Winchester to see him enthroned.
The resignation of the Great Seal by Archbishop Langham in
pursuit of the triple crown, threw the King into rc, „. ,
considerable perplexity, there being neither law- LtoEPT- ^b/.j
yer nor churchman whom he considered perfectly well qualified
for the office of Chancellor. He yielded to personal inclination
and appointed to it his favourite, William of Wickham, whose in
stallation he graced by delivering to him a new Great Seal, with
the lilies engraved upon it, in consequence of a resolution
of parliament that he should resume the title of King of France."
This appointment, in spite of William's abilities and popularity,
must have been generaUy condemned, and shows that while the
King -was all-powerful from the success of his arms abroad, he
disregarded public opinion in the acts of his domestic government
The jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery had been greatly ex
tended during the last forty years, and Parnynge while presiding
there must have given something hke system to its practice. The
result soon showed that no one -who was an entire stranger to le
gal pursuits and habits, could decently discharge the duties even of
an equity judge, discretionary as they were then deemed to be.t
The ChanceUor no doubt invited those "who practised in his
court to sumptuous banquets at his palace in South- r 10„_ ,
i i i • tj? f, ¦ • . a. d. 136/.
wark ; — made himself very agreeable m society ; — L
avaUed himself discreetly of the talents and experience of those
around him ; — and, that he might not give unnecessary trouble
to himself nor offence to others, affirmed in aU cases brought be
fore him on appeal ; — but the], suitors complained bitterly of bis
ture of this motto, for our ancestors, like the Greeks, put a singular verb to a plural
neuter substantive, as Pnrchass —
" Little corn, but cragges and stones
Maketh pilgrims weary bones."
' Rot. CI. 43 Ed. 3. m. 18.
t His promotion to be a judge was ascribed to his skill as an architect.
" Windesora fuit pagus celeberrimus, illic
Hex statuit castri mcenia magna sui,
Wicamus huic operi praeponitur : inde probatum est
Ingenio quantum, polluit, arte, fide.
Ergo fit Edwardo charus Custosque Sisilli
Non ita post maltos incipit esse dies." — Ort. et. Vit. Guide Wick.
The analogous case would be, if Mr. Barry, as a recompence for his excellent plan
for the new houses of parliament, were now to be made Lord Chancellor._ Wick-
liffe, in revenge for being questioned by Wickham as a heretic, complained that
oromotion fell " only on kitchen clerks and men wise in building castles."
P 20*

234 REIGN OP EDWARD III.
delays and inefficiency, and, as their wrongs gradually excited
the sympathy of the public, at last parliament interfered. In
1371, when William had been Chancellor four years, the " Earls,
Barons, and Commons of England," (the Lords spiritual, as might
have been expected, not joining in the vote,) petitioned the King,
" that thenceforth none but laymen should be appointed Chancel
lor or other great officer or governor of the realm, for the state had
been too long governed by churchmen queux ne sont mye justicia-
bles en touz cas."*
The altered posture of the King's affairs rendered it impossible
r 1 "371 1 ^or n^ln ^° s^an(i out against the wishes of parliament
lA- D- 'J and the people. All the efforts of his younger son
to gain the crown of Castile had failed ; and the treaty of Bre-
tigni being broken, new expeditions against France were to be
undertaken, and fresh supplies were indispensable. Accordingly,
on the 24th of March, the Great Seal was taken from William of
Wickham, and two days after, it -was delivered to the man univer
sally considered the best qualified to perform the duties belonging
to it, — Sir Robert Thorpe, who had been regularly bred to the
bar, and for some time had, with great applause, filled the office
of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
He was of obscure origin, and took his name from Thorpe, in
Norfolk, the place of his birth. He was bred at Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge, then lately founded, of which he became the second
master. He laid the foundation of the divinity schools at Cam
bridge, with the chapel over them, which were afterwards comp
leted by his brother Sir William. Instead of going into orders, he
transferred himself to the inns of court, and became a very dili
gent student of the common law. We do not exactly know when
he began to practise at the bar, but as early as 1330 we find him
employed as a Justice Itinerant. t In 1344 he was appointed a
King's Serjeant, and he was summoned with the judges to attend
in the House of Lords. For ten years he continued at the head
of the bar in Westminster Hall, taking precedence of the At
torney and Solicitor General, and having the chief practice in all
the courts. On the 27th of June, 30 Ed. Ill, he was raised to the
office of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, which he held with
the highest character for learning, industry, and integrity, till, to
gratify the Commons who had petitioned that none but a layman
should be Chancellor, and to soothe the growing discontents of
the people, the Great Seal was delivered to him.
His elevation was universaUy hailed with joy, and even Wil
liam of Wickham, his predecessor, gracefully assisted not only at
the ceremony of his being sworn in before the King but at his
pubic installation m Westminster Hall.t Thorpe, as Chancellor,
* Rot. Pari. 45 Ed. 3. t Rot ci 4 Pd 3
t "In Magna Aula Westmonasterii ubi Placea Cancellarii habetur'praLitibus
r-Ro^Cl^sla 3mernS1^leri™ CanCelIari* d^™ bursain a"''
&c.-Hot. CI. 45 Ed. 3. m. 35. There is a curious entry on the 28th of

SIR ROBERT THORPE, CHANCELLOR. 235
fully equalled public expectation, and introduced some very useful
reforms into the Court of Chancery; but, unfortunately, when he
had held the office little more than a year, he fell into a mortal
distemper, and he died on the 29th of June, 1372.
There is not preserved any report of his equitable decisions,
and no parliament met during the short time he held f
the office of Chancellor; but from his addresses to ^ D- lo7'- I
the Lords and Commons, while Chief Justice during the Chan
cellorship of Bishop Thoresby, he seems to have been eloquent.
and Lord Coke pronounces him " a man of singular judgment in
the laws of this realm," and dwells with great complacency on his
elevation to the woolsack, evidently much sympathising with " the
complaint of the Lords and Commons, that the realme had bin of
long time governed by men of the Church in disherison of the
Crown." * It is to be deeply deplored that of a virtuous magis
trate, like Thorpe, such slender memorials remain, as it is so much
more agreeable to relate what is honourable than what is dis
graceful to human nature — to praise rather than to condemn ; but
1 find from my laborious researches, that while a Chancellor is go
ing on in the equal and satisfactory discharge of his duty, little
notice is taken of him, and that he is only made prominent by
biographers and historians when he takes bribes, perverts the law,
violates the constitution, oppresses the innocent, and brings min
on his country : —
" The evil that men clo lives after them ;
The good is oft interr'd with their bones.''
Thorpe, approaching his end, while he lay in the palace of the
Bishop of Sarum, in Fleet Street, " languens in extremis, videns
se circa ea quse ad officium Cancellarii pertinent, ulterius laborare
non posse prout moris est," says the Close Roll, — enclosed the
Great Seal in a bag under his own private seal and that of Chief
Justice Knyvet. There it was found -when he expired, and the
following day it was delivered by his servants to Sir William
Latymer the Chamberlain, Sir Richard le Scrope the Treasurer,
and Sir Nicholas de Carew, Keeper of the Privy Purse, who
carried it to the King at Westminster, and on the 5th of July fol
lowing he sent it by his son, John of Gaunt, then styled " King of
Castile and Leon, and Duke of Lancaster," to Chief Justice Kny
vet, as ChanceUor, with power to administer the oaths to him
— a ceremony which was performed with great solemnity in
the King's Chapel. t
Sir John Knyvet seems to have been the first important mem-
March, intimating that on that day the late Chancellor, in the presence of Chan
cellor Thorpe, surrendered up to the King two other Great Seals and two Privy
Seals lately in use, which the King had placed in the Bishop's custody, and which
was then delivered to the Lord Treasurer. — Ibid.
* 4 Inst. " Chancery." t Rot. CI. 46 Ed. 3. m. 20

236 REIGN OE.EDWARD III.
l 1079 1 ber of his family. Camden, speaking of it in a sub-
[a. d. 1614. J geqUent generation, calls it " an ancient house ever
since Sir John Knyvet was Lord ChanceUor under Edward III."
In 1357 he was called to the degree of Serjeant-at-law; he was
soon after appointed a Justice of the Common Pleas, and he so
continued till 1357, when he was advanced to the Chief justice
ship of the King's Bench, which he held with high credit.
Lord Coke calls him " a man famous in his profession," and dur
ing four years and a half he presided in the Court of Chancery
to the general contentment of the people. Lord Coke, speaking
of him and his predecessor, says with honest pride: — " In perus
ing the rolls of parliament in the times of these Lord Chancellors,
we find no complaint at all of any proceeding before them. But soon
after, when a Chancellor was no professor of the law, we find a
grievous complaint by the whole body of the realm, and a petition
that the most wise and able men within the realm might be chosen
Chancellors, and that the King seek to redress the enormities of
the Chancery."*'
In November, after Knyvet's appointment, a parliament was
held at Westminster, but for some reason not explained to us the
Chancellor did not preside at the opening of it, and by the King's
command the causes of the summons were declared by Sir Henry
Bryan, one of the King's council. t No business of importance
was transacted except the grant of a supply, and this being clone
the Lords and Commons met the King in the White Chamber,
when the Chancellor declared to the King, — " how kind the parlia
ment had been to him in granting such a supply" and " the King very
humbly thanked them for their great aid." The petitions of the
Commons were then read and answered according to custom. A
proceeding then occurred, which shows that the House of Com
mons had not yet with any certainty taken its place in the consti
tution with defined powers and privileges. The Knights of
shires had leave to depart, and writs for their wages and expenses
were made out for them by the Chancellor's order ; but he com
manded the citizens and burgesses to stay, and they being again
assembled before the Prince, Prelates, and Lords, granted for the
safe conveying of their ships and goods, 2s. on every tun of wine
imported or exported out of the kingdom, and 6d. in the pound on
all their goods and merchandise for one year.t
Another parliament was summoned to meet at Westminster in
r d 1373 1 N°vember; 1373. It is amusing to observe the re-
^A' J J quired qualifications of the members to be returned
to the House of Commons by the new-fangled writs which the
Chancellor framed. The sheriff of every county was ordered " to
cause to be chosen two dubbed knights, or the most honest, wor
thy, and discreet esquires of that county, the most expert in feats
qf arms, and no others, and of every city two citizens, and of eve-
* 4 Inst. 78. t 1 Pari. Hist. 136. | Rot. Pari. 46 Ed. 3.

SIR JOHN KYNVET., CHANCELLOR. 237
ry burough two burgesses, discreet and sufficient, and such as had
the greatest skill in shipping and merchandising." * There was
no express exclusion of lawyers any more than of non-combatant
country gentlemen, but no individual of either class could well be
brought within either category in the writ.
The Lords and Commons being assembled in tbe Painted
Chamber, Lord Chancellor Knyvet, in the presence of the King,
declared the causes of the summons. Being a layman, he did not
take a text of Scripture as the theme of his discourse, but he
spoke with great eloquence of the negotiations with France, — of
the military exploits of the king's son, " King of Castile and
Leon," — and of the duty of refreshing and comforting with force
and aid the lords and others who had ventured their lives and for
tunes to defend the nation from their enemies. " Wherefore the
King charged andbesought them, considering the dangers that might
happen to the kingdom for these causes, that they would speedily
consult on the matter, and give the King such advice as might be
for the safety of him, the nation, and themselves. "J
The required supply was granted, a favourable answer was re
turned to the petitions of the Commons, and all separated in good
humour. But a very different scene was presented at the next parliament,
which met in April, 1376, and was long known r r^fi I
among the people by the name of " the Good Parlia- *-A'
ment." The King's fair fortune had begun to fail, and, no longer sur
rounded by the splendour of victory, those who had formerly
cheerfully yielded to Ms wishes and liberally supplied his wants,
now sharply criticised the measures of his government, blamed
his ministers, and for every grant of money wrung from him some
new concession. Much scandal had likewise been excited by the
ascendancy of Alice Pierce, the King's mistress, who, though
said to be of great wit as -well as beauty, had been so indiscreet
as openly to interfere in the disposal of all offices civil and eccle
siastical, and even to appear and sit in the courts of justice, and
publicly to favour those suitors -who had bribed her for her sup
port. On one occasion, at a tournament in Cheapside, to the
great consternation of the citizens of London, she came among
them on a white palfrey, in splendid attire, as "lady of the sun,
and sovereign of the day."
The Chancellor escaping personally any suspicion of being in
fluenced by her, was well aware of the deep discontent which now
universally prevailed. Nevertheless, he opened the session in a
speech framed as if nothing were to be expected but submission
and gratitude. In declaring the causes of the summons, he said,
" the first and principal was to advise about the good government.
and peace of the realm ; — for the defence and safety of the King,
t 1 Pari. Hist. 137. t 1 Pari. Hist 138.

238 REIGN OF EDWARD III.
as well by sea as land ; — to take order for the maintenance of the
war with France and elsewhere ; — and how and in what manner
it might be clone for the best profit, quickest despatch, and great
est honour of the King and kingdom." He then expressly told
them, that what the King had hitherto done was always with their
advice and assistance, for which his Majesty entirely thanked
them, and desired that they would diligently consult about these
matters,— the Prelates and Lords by themselves, and the Com
mons by themselves, and give in their answers as soon as they
conveniently could.
The Commons, in answer to the Chancellor's harangue, after
they had voted a supply, not contented, in the modern courtly
style, to praise all the ministerial measures of the session, enume
rated the plentiful aids which the King had obtained from his
people, and asserted their firm conviction, that if the royal revenue
had been faithfully administered, there could have been no neces
sity for laying additional burdens on the nation. They intimated
a want of confidence in the King's present ministers ; they im
peached several of his favourites of extortion, of selling illegal
grants, and raising loans for their own profit ; and they requested
that ten or twelve new members might be added to the council.*
It was admitted that the conduct of the Chancellor -was without
reproach ; but a charge was brought against an Ex-chancellor,
William of Wickham, who, labouring under a strong suspicion of
being protected by Alice Pierce, was accused of several misde
meanors in his office of Chancellor. Contrary to the claim of
privilege so lately asserted, he was handed over to common-law
process, and, without being heard, was condemned to forfeit his
temporalities, and to keep himself at the distance of twenty miles
from the King's person.
Knyvet, the Chancellor, attempted in vain to allay the storm.
Lord Neville, Lord Latimer, and several other of his colleagues
were dismissed, and the Commons insisted on an ordinance, or
act, being passed " forbidding women to pursue causes and actions
in the King's Courts, by way of maintenance, for hire and reward,
and particularly Alice Pierce, under the penalty of forfeiting all that
she can forfeit, and of being banished out of the realm." This
ordinance, to which the Chancellor intimated the royal assent, runs
in the King's name, and, considering the relation which subsisted
between him and the object of it, must be considered a very cu
rious specimen of the legislation of the age.
During all these storms, Knyvet continued in his high office,
bat his health was so severely injured by his application to busi-
1a d 1377 1 neSS tllat lle was obuged to retire, carrying with him
1 ¦ ' 'J the respect of all classes of the community. He re
signed the Great Seal into the King's hands on the 11th of Janu
ary, 1377, and died soon after, t
* 1 Pari. Hist. 140. j- R0t. CI. 50 Ed. 3. m. 7.

ADAM DE EOCGHTON, CHANCELLOR. 239
As he and his predecessor, taken from the common-law courts,
had given such satisfaction, we may wonder that the Great Seal
should ever have been delivered to men of any other class ; yel
the next regularly bred lawyer appointed Chancellor, was Sir
Thomas More, in the middle of the reign of Henry VIII., an
interval of above 150 years.
England had been advancing with unexampled celerity in
wealth and refinement, but a long period of adversity was at hand.
All the glories of the third Edward's long reign had passed away,
and it was concluding in misfortune and sorrow. " The sable
warrior was fled ;" the foreign conquests which had so much grat
ified the national pride were lost; and deep discontents and -mis
ery prevailed at home. Alice Pierce, the King's mistress, as soon
as " the Good Parliament," was dissolved, again had the chief
disposal of places and preferment, and through her interest a
clerical Chancellor was now announced, to the great disgust of
the public. This was Adam de Houghton, Bishop of St. David's.*
One feels little disappointment in not being able to trace the
origin or education of this individual, although he accidentally
fiUed the office of Chancellor during two reigns, ,-¦,• ,, ,,„,
„ i ., • + c i ¦ -\ Jan. 11, lo//.
for he was neither eminent for his virtues nor L
his vices, and he must have been promoted for his mediocrity, to
exclude abler men whose superiority might have created jealousy
and alarm.
He was educated at Oxford, where he took the degree of doctor
of laws. By Papal mandate he was placed in the see of St.
David in 1361, and the purchased patronage of Alice Pierce is the
only solution of the mystery, that he who for sixteen years had
been a Welsh bishop suddenly became Lord Chancellor of En
gland. A parliament was held at Westminster on the 27th of Jan
uary, which was opened by Lord Chancellor Houghton with a
speech from this text, " Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing that yon
yourselves are wise." The application of his subject was, " that
they, being wise, desired to hear him who was the contrary."
From thence he took occasion to argue, that God loved the King
and tbe realm; — the King because "quos diligit castigat ;" —
" Uxor tuo sicut vilis abundans in lateribus," " ut videos flios filio-
rum,"  which the King now had the pleasure to see. That God
loved the realm, he proved from the recovery of so renowned a
prince, the said recovery happening in • the fiftieth year of his
reign.t The Commons now made another attempt to abolish fines to
the King on writs out of Chancery, as a sale of justice contrary
to Magna Charta ; but the answer was, " Let it be in this case in
the discretion of the Chancellor for the time being, as it has been
hitherto used."t
* Rot. CI. 51 Ed. 3. m. 7. t 1 Pari. Hist. 142. + Rot. Par. 51 Ed. 3.

240 REIGN OE EDWARD III.
The Chancellor soon after went abroad on an embassy to
France, and BurstaU, the Master of the Rolls, and two others,
were constituted Keepers of the Great Seal till his return* While
the Chancellor was still abroad, Edward expired on the 21st of
June, 1377, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and the fifty-first of
his reign.
Hume observes, that " the domestic government of this prince
is really more admirable than his foreign victories," and he cer
tainly deserves to be celebrated for " his vigorous and impartial ad
ministration of justice. While he wisely adhered to the laws and
system of tribunals framed by his grandfather, he conferred an
unspeakable benefit on the suitors by making the Chancery and
the King's Bench stationary at Westminster, instead of- following
the person of the Sovereign " wheresoever in England," as they
had before practically donet, and are still by fiction of law sup
posed to do, — and his appointment of Chancellors, upon the
whole, did great credit to his good intentions and his discernment.
The jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery was now established
in all matters where its own officers were concernedt, on petitions
* Rot. CI. 51 Ed. 3. m. 7.
t The officers of the Chancery lived or lodged, together in an inn or hospitium,
which .when the King resided at AVestminster was near the palace, and from very
early times tbe marble table at the upper end of the great hall of the palace was
appropriated for the sealing of writs and letters patent. When the King travelled,
he was followed by the Chancellor, masters, clerks, and records. On these occa
sions it was usual to require a strong horse, able lo carry the rolls, from some reli
gious house bound to furnish the animal, and at the towns where the King sto- pcd
during his progress an hospitium was assigned to the Chancery. In the 20 Ed. 1.
the Abbot of Kingswood paid forty shillings to buy a horse to cnrrv tho rolls of
Chancery, but the money, by order of the Chancellor, was paid over to William le
Marchant, of Dover, in part discharge of certain debts due to him from the King.
In 3 Ed 2. the Alibot of Beaulieu was commanded to provide a strong pack horse,
to carry the rolls of Chancery to Stamford, where tho parliament was about to
assemble, the King stating in lhe mandate that he vvasin great need of such an ani
mal. 2
X 18 Ed. 3. ii. 154. The Clerks in Chancery petition the King and Council,
that whereas the Chancellor and Keepers of the Great Seal for the time being
ought to have the cognisance of all pleas of trespass done by the said Clerks or
their servants, in cities, towns, or elsewhere where lhe Chancery is ; yet notwith
standing the sheriffs of London had attached Gilbert de Chishull, one of the Clerks
of the said Chancery, at the suit of Thomas de Theslingbury, a draper, upon a bill
of trespass, whereupon Gilbert brought a supersedeas of privilege to the sheriffs
but which they would not allow, and drove him to find sureties. The clerk j there
fore pray remedy and maintenance of their liberties
This petition was answered with the assent of the parliament The claim was
allowed, and writs were ordered to be sent to the mayor of London to attach the
sheriffs and others, who were parties and maintainers of the quarrel, to appear before
the King in Chancery at a day certain, to answer as well to the contempt of the
process as to the breach of the liberty and damage of the party.
! " Memorandum quod decimo octavo die mensis. Januarii, qaadraginta solidi
qnos Abbas de Kingeswode liberavitin Cancellaria in subvencionem cuiusdam equi
emendi ad portandum rotulos Cancellaria?, liberati fuerunt per prEeceptum Cancel-
arn, per manus Domini Johannis de Langeton, Willielmo le Marchaunt de Dovorr',
in partem soludionis debitorum in quibus Rex ei tenetur." — Rot. Claus. 21 Ed.
l.m. 11. a. 2 Par. Writs, IL part i. p. 20. No. 2, ,3.

STATE OP THE LAW. 241
of right, where an injury was aUeged to be done to a subject by
the King or his officers*, in relieving against judgments of the
courts of law t, and generally in cases of fraud, accident, and trust.
The qualifications of the Chancellor now became of great im
portance to the due administration of justice, not only from the in
crease of his separate jurisdiction, but from the practice for the
common-law judges, when any question of difficulty arose before
them in their several courts, to take the advice of Parliament upon
it before giving judgment. In a case which occurred in the King's
Bench, in the 39th of Edward III, Thorpe, the Chief Justice,
says, " Go to the Parliament, and as they will have us do we will,
and otherwise not." The foUowing year Thorpe himself, accom
panied by Sir Hugh Green, a brother judge, went to the House of
Lords, where there were assembled twenty-four bishops, earls,
and barons, and asked them, as they had lately passed a statute of
jeofails, what they intended thereby. Such questions, which were
frequent in this reign, must have been answered by the Chan
ceUor. J
In the forty-second year of this reign, while WiUiam of Wick
ham was ChanceUor, occurred the first instance of a parliamentary
impeachment. Criminal jurisdiction had been before exercised by
the Lords, but not on the prosecution of the Commons. Sir John
Lee was now impeached by the Lower House for malpractices
while steward of the household, and the punishment not extend
ing to life or member, the Chancellor, though a priest, was not dis
qualified from presiding. Before the close of the reign the Com
mons preferred impeachments against many delinquents for polit
ical and other offences, and the practice of impeachment, accord
ing to the present forms of proceeding, was fully established.
* Thomas de Berkelei petitions the King that he may have a writ to the Abbey
of St. Austin, Bristol, to have deliverance of his monuments, &c, which were
arrested by Richard Lovel and others of the King's officers.
Let a writ be issued out of Chancery to those who have arrested the things men
tioned in the petition, and let them certify in Chancery the cause of the arrest, and
upon their eertificate let right be done. — Temp. Ed. 3. ii. 385.
t Margaret de Jonehill complains of a judgment in the Court of Common Pleas.
Let this petition be referred to the Chancery, and let the Chancellor cause to be
summoned before him the counsel of Madame to appear in Chancery on a certain
day, and also the king's serjeants and some of the justices, and if nothing be shown
or said which may reasonably disturb the judgment, or if the counsel of Madame
do not choose to appear, then let a writ issue to the justices where the plea was de
pending before judgment, to proceed according to the law and usages of the land.
21 & 22 Ed. 3. ii. 206.
Geoffrey de Lacer complains of a judgment at law.
Let the petition be referred to the Chancery, and there let the evidence which the
said Geoffrey saith he bath to manifest the loss of the aforesaid commodities be re
ceived, and that justice was not done him in his suit for recovery of losses in these
parts, and therefore let speedy remedy be ordained him according to the law used
in such cases. — Temp. Ed. 3. ii. 437.
X T. B. 39 Ed. 3. Y. B. 40 Ed. 3. If the Lords were still liable to be so inter
rogated, they would not unfrequently be puzzled, — and the revival of the practice
might be a check to hasty legislation.
VOL. I. 21

242 REIGN OE EDWARD III.
In this reign the Chancellor acquired that most important and
delicate function of appointing Justices of the Peace, — a magis
tracy peculiar to the British Isles, the judges having a most exten
sive criminal jurisdiction, being generaUy without legal education,
and serving without any remuneration except the power and con
sequence which they derive from their office.
The ChanceUors in the latter part of this reign, following the
example of the distinguished philobiblist De Bury, prided them
selves on their attainments in literature, and their protection of
literary men, and they must have had a powerful influence in di
recting the pursuits and developing the genius of Chaucer and
Gower. They encouraged the use of the English language, not
only by the statute against the use of French in the courts of law,
but by their own example on the most public occasions. In the
36 Edward III. we find the earliest record ofthe use of Enghsh in
any parliamentary proceeding. The roll of that year is found in
French, as usual, it expressly states that the causes of summon
ing parhament were declared "en Englois."* The precedent then
set by Lord Chancellor Edington was followed in the two succeed
ing years by Lord ChanceUor Langham t, and from this time viva
voce proceeding in parliament were generaUy in Enghsh, with the
exception of giving the royal assent to bills, although the entry
of some of these proceedings in the reign of Queen Victoria is
stiU in Norman FrenchJ

CHAPTER XVI.
CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE COM
MENCEMENT OE THE REIGN OF RICHARD II. TILL THE SECOND
CHANCELLORSHIP OF WILLIAM OF WICKHAM.
Richard was a boy, only eleven years old, when, on the death of
f June 22 1377 1 grandfather, he was proclaimed King. The
¦¦ ' '-1 Keepers of the Great Seal, who had been ap
pointed during the absence of the Chancellor abroad nevertheless
surrendered it into the royal stripling's own hand when he was
seated on the throne, and surrounded by his nobfiity and great
officers of state. The Duke of Lancaster, acting as Regent, al
though formaUy no Regent or Protector had been appointed, then
took it from him, and handed it to Nicholas Bonde, a knight of the
King's chamber, for safe custody. De Houghton, the Bishop of
St. David's returned to England in a few days after, and on his
arrival at Westminster the King, by his uncle's direction, deliver-
* Hot. Pari. 36 Ed. 3. f Rot. Pari. 37 Ed. 3. 38 Ed 3.
X Ante, p. 227.

ADAM DE HOUGHTON, CHANCELLOR. 243
ed the Great Seal to him, and he again took the oath of office as
ChanceUor* There was no intention of continuing him in the
office beyond the time when a satisfactory arrangement could be
made for the appointment of a successor.
Richard being crowned on the 4th of August, writs were issued
for the calling of a parliament to meet fifteen days after the feast
of St. Michael. On the appointed day, the cause of summons was
declared by the ChanceUor in a speech founded on the text,
" Rex tuus venit tibi." The language introduced at the Conquest
was still used on most public occasions, and he thus began :
" Seigneurs et Sires, ces paroles que j'ay dit, sont tant a dire en
Franceys, Voster Roy vient a toy."X He then divided the subject
into three parts, showing the causes of joy for the King's accession,
with his usual quaintness. But he raised a great laugh by an un
lucky quotation from scripture — observing that " a man's heart
leaps for joy when he hears good tidings, like Elizabeth, the moth
er of John the Baptist : — Et exultavit infans inutero ejus." X
This harangue does not seem to have given perfect satisfac
tion; for the next day Sir Richard Scrope, steward of the King's
household, who was rapidly rising into favour, made another
speech on behalf of the king, asking the Commons " to advise
him which way his and the kingdom's enemies might be resisted,
and how the expences of such resistance were to be borne with
the greatest ease to the people, and profit and honour to the king
dom?" The Commons having, for the first time, chosen a Speaker, set
about reforming the abuses of the state in good earnest, and tried
to provide for the proper conduct of the government during the
King's minority. They obtained the banishment of Alice Pierce,
and the removal of the late King's evil councillors. They then
proposed, " that, till the King was of age, the Chancellor, High
Treasurer, Chief Justice of one bench, and the other the Chief
Baron of the Exchequer, and other officers, might be made by
parliament." This the Lords modified to their own aggrandise
ment by an amendment, " that while the King was under age, the
Councillors, ChanceUor, Steward of the Household, and Cham
berlain, should be chosen by the Upper House, and that the King-
should make the other officers with the assent of his Council."
The Commons acquiesced in this arrangement.^
At the parhament which met in the Abbey of Gloucester on the
20th of October, 1378, the young King being seated on the throne,
attended by his three uncles, Lancaster, Cambridge, and Bucking
ham, — the Lord Chancellor de Houghton, in a long speech, ex
plained to the Lords and Commons the causes of their being
summoned, entering with some prolixity into the subsisting rela
tions of England with France and Scotland. But he gave no sat-
* Rot. CI. 1 R. 2. m. 46. t Kolls of Pari. iii. 3.
t 1 Pari. Hist. 158. § Ibid, 162.

244 REIGN OP RICHARD II.
isfaction ; and Sir Richard le Scrope the next morning again ad
dressed the two Houses on the same topics, and by way of urging
a supply, pointed out the enormous expence which the crown in-
r i^7«i curred in keeping up garrisons in Brest, Cherbourg,
[a.d. 13 /S.J CalaiS) Bourdeaux, and Bayonne. While the par
liament sat, which was only a few days, Sir Richard le Scrope
seems to have taken the entire lead, and by his good management
the desired subsidy was voted.*
On the 28th of October, as a reward for his services, he was
actually made Lord Chancellor on the resignation of the Bishop
of St. David's, who seems to have been much hurt at the dis
respectful treatment he had experienced.! The Ex-chancellor
retired to his see, and there peaceably ended his days at a dis
tance from the strife which marked this unhappy regin. He surv
ived tiU April 1389.
Richard le Scrope, the new Chancellor, was the third son of
Sir Henry le Scrope, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and
Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the regin of Edward II. and
Edward III., and was bom in the year 1328. Instead of being
trained in the university, the inns of court, and Westminster Hall,
he was a soldier from his early youth, and served during the whole
course of the late wars in France. He was at the battle of
Cressy in 1346, and serving under Lord Percy, he was knighted
on the field for his gaUantry in the battle of Durham, fought the
same year, where the Scots were signally defeated. In the fol
lowing year he served at the siege of Calais, where he was oblig
ed to maintain his right to his crest — a crab issuing from a ducal
coronet. He was in the memorable sea-fight off Winchelsea in
August, 1350, when Edward III. and the Black Prince defeated a
greatly superior fleet under Don Carlos de la Cerda. He was
with Edward III. at the rescue of Berwick in 1356. In October,
1359, he served under John of Gaunt in the army which invaded
France, and in the April foUowing approached close to the walls
of Paris, where he was engaged against the family of Grosvenor
in another heraldic dispute about his right to certain bearings in
his shield. In the parliament which met in 1364, he was elected
representative for the county of York. In 1366, he accompanied
the Duke of Lancaster into Spain, and the foUowing year was in
the decisive battle of Najarre in that country, where the Black
Prince commanded in person.
On the renewal ofthe war with France, in 1369, he again went
to France with the Duke of Lancaster, and continued in that
country tiU near the conclusion of the reign of Edward III. In
1371 he was appointed Treasurer of the King's Exchequer. On
the accession of Richard II. he was promoted to be Steward of
* The Close Roll contains a very minute account of this transfer of the Great
Seal in the house of the Abbot of Gloucester. — 2 R 2 m 95
t 1 Pari. Hist. 163. ' ' '

SIMON DE SUDBURY, CHANCELLOR. 245
the King's household, and it was in this capacity that he was em
ployed to address the two Houses, and that he so much distin
guished himself in the last two parliaments. Although with lit
tle book-learning, he had so much natural talent, and had seen so
much of the world, and had such a quick insight into character,
that he was reckoned a consummate practical statesman, as weU
as a distinguished military commander ; and his appointment to
the office of Chancellor, if it astonished, did not much offend the
public. The Close Roll teUs us that the following day he held a Seal
in the church of St. Mary le Crypt at Gloucester, and I read no
more of his judicial exploits* That he might more effectually
assist the government in the House of Lords, he was raised to
the peerage by the title of Baron Scrope of Bolton, in the county
of York. Here he had a large domain, and, under a licence from
the Crown, he erected a strong castle, which stood several sieges,
and was afterwards more illustrated by being one of the prisons
of Mary Queen of Scots.
In the parliament which met at Westminster on the 14th of
January, 1379, he very ably expounded the causes of the sum
mons, was much applauded for his eloquence, and obtained a
large supply for the King. The Commons prayed that there
might not be another parliament till a year after that time, and
that the ChanceUor, the Treasurer, Keeper of the Privy Seal,
Chief Chamberlain, and Steward of the household might be
changed in the meanwhile.! At the same time they made a com
plaint of the interference of the Court of Chancery and of the
CouncU with the course of the common law. The answer was,
" that parties should be sent to the proper court to answer accord
ing to due course of law ; provided always, that where the King
and his CouncU should be credibly informed that by maintenance,
oppression, and other outrages, the common law could not have
due course, the Council in such case might send for the party
against whom the complaint is made, and put him to answer for
the misprison.^
We are not informed of the particulars of the intrigue which,
on the 2d of July, 1379, put an end to the first Chan- , ^„n i
ceUorship of Lord. Scrope ; and we only know, 1A- • '1
from the Close RoU, that on that day he surrendered the Great
Seal, and that on the 4th of July the King delivered it to Simon
de Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, — who, having taken the
oaths, was the day following installed as ChanceUor in Westmin
ster Hall. $
Simon de Sudbury assumed that name from the town in Suf
folk where he happened to be born. Yet was he of noble extrac
tion, being the son of Nigel Theobald, of a baronial family whose
* Rot. CI. Ric. 2. m. 25. t 1 Pari. Hist. 169, 170.
X Rot. Pari. 2 Ric. 2. § Rot. CI. 3 Ric, 2. m. 22.
21*

246 REIGN OP RICHARD II.
founder had come over with the Conqueror. Having been care-
fuUy educated in England, he was sent by his father beyond sea
to study the civil law, of which he became a doctor after disputa
tions in several Continental universities. — Such was his fame as
a wrangler, that he was admitted of the Council to Innocent VI.
and Auditor of the Rota in the court of Rome. On the recom
mendation of the Pope, he had great promotion when he returned
home to his own country, being made ChanceUor of Sarum,
then Bishop of London, and, in 1375, translated to the see of Can
terbury. He caUed forth some censure by accepting the Great Seal ; for,
though there were many precedents of a ChanceUor becoming
Archbishop of Canterbury, it was not thought consistent with the
dignity of the church that an Archbishop of Canterbury should
become Chancellor. It would have been well if he had confined
himself to the discharge of his ecclesiastical duties, as, by engag
ing in politics, he was brought to an untimely and violent end.
He opened the parliament, which met at Northampton, at the
r 1380 1 fe^t of AU Saints, 1380, and, after much difficulty
[a. d. .j an(j managemeirt, prevailed upon the Commons to
grant the fatal " capitation tax," which was to be " three groats
of every person of the kingdom, male or female, of the age of
fifteen, of -what state or condition soever." This -was denounced
as " a new and strange subsidy," and HoUingshead writes, that
" great grudging and many a bitter curse followed on the levying
of this money, and that much mischief rose thereof, as after did
appear." IT the insult had not been offered by the tax-gatherer
to the daughter of Wat Tyler, some other accidental spark would
probably have thrown the whole country into a flame.
The ChanceUor, being the author of the abhorred tax, in the
rebeUion which it excited, he was the first victim. John Ball, the
famous seditious preacher, inveighed bitterly against him by
name ; and, in reference to his aristocratic birth, the often-quoted
lines were made which, Hume says, " in spite of prejudice, we
cannot but regard with some degree of approbation."
" When Adam delv'd and Eve span,
Where was then the gentleman ?
The army, or rather mob, 100,000 strong, under Tyler and
Strw, having taken post at Blackheath, and threatening general
destruction — more especially to lawyers*, and all who were sup.
* Walsingham, in his interesting relation of Wat Tyler's rebellion, says ;—
" Voluit namque ad alia commissionem pro se et suis obtinuisse, ad decollandum
omnes jundicos et universos qui vel in lege docti fuere vel cum jure ratione officii
communicavere. Mente nempe conceperat, doctis io lege necatis, universa juxta
communis plebis scitum de cajtero ordinari, et nullam omnino legem fore futuram
Tel si fiitnra foret esse pro suorum arbitrio statuenda." — Walsingham, p. 361.
So in Cade's rebellion, Temp. Hen. 6. : — sir
" Dick. The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
"Cade. Nay, that I mean to do." (And proceeds to give his reasons.)
— Shak. Second Part Hen. VI. a. iv. s. 2.

SIMON DE SUDBURY, CHANCELLOR. 247
posed to have been instrumental in imposing the tax, or who re
sisted the demands for its repeal, the Chancellor took refuge in
the Tower of London. They pursued him thither, attacked this
fortress, and it being feebly defended, they soon stormed it.
They instantly seized him, and dragged him to Tower Hill, with
the declared intention of executing him there as a traitor.
In this extremity he displayed great courage and constancy,
and addressing the multitude, reminded them ri/l+Vl T ,„„,,
of his sacred character, and tried to rouse L 4til JlrNE' idbi-J
them to some sense of justice and humanity.* All these appeals
were ineffectual ; after, many blows his head was struck off, and
his dead body was trehted with barbarous indignity.
But it was believed that miracles were worked to punish his
murderers, and to show that he had been received in heaven as a
Saint. It is gravely related, that the executioner who had com
mitted the horrid sacrilege went mad, and was struck with blind
ness ; that a man, blind for many -years, on praying to be cured
for his sake, was immediately restored to sight ; and (as we may
weU believe) that a -woman who had been long in difficult labour,
having prayed for his intercession, was the same day delivered of
three fine boys, — all received into the church by baptism.! The
same historian, who "was his contemporary, and speaks from per
sonal knowledge, gives him the character of being " very elo
quent, and incomparably wise above all the great men of the
kingdom." The rebeUion having been queUed by the gallantry of Sir Wil
liam Walworth and the presence of mind and ad- r isri 1
dress of the youthful King, which raised a disap- L ' ' -1
pointed expectation of his qualifications for government, — the
Great Seal was given into the temporary custody, first, of Rich
ard Earl of Arundel, and then of Hugh de Segrave " tiU the
King could conveniently provide a Chancellor.":}: On the 10th of
August, Segrave restored the Seal to the King, who immediately
In the riots of 1780, a similar spirit was displayed, and siege was laid to the
inns of court, with the intention of exterminating the whole race of lawyers, that
" the skin of an innocent lamb might no longer be converted into an indictment."
I have heard Judge Bui rough relate that siege being laid to the Temple, he and
many other lawyers armed themselves, and headed by a serjeant of the Guards
took post in Inner Temple Lane ; there they stood valiantly till a pannel of the
gate was forced in from Fleet Street ; they then became rather nervous, but the
serjeant having hallooed out, " Take care no gentleman fires from behind !" they
all burst into a loud laugh ; whereupon the mob, fearing there was a stratagem
suddenly made off, and the Temple was saved.
*;Quid est clarissimi filii, quid est quod proponitis facere ? Quod est peccatum
meiim quod in vos commisi, propter quod me vultis occidere ? Cavendum est ne
me interfecto, qui pastor, prtelatus et archiepiscopus vester sum, veniat super vos
indignatio justi vindicis, vel certe pro tali facto, tota supponatur Anglia interdicto."
— Wals. 262.
t " Mulier quasdam qua3 impregnata fuerat et parere nullo modo poterat, postulate
ejus auxilio, eodem die deliberata est de tribus puerulis, qui omnes baptizati sunt."
— p. 263.
J Rot. CI. 5 Ric. 2. m. 25.

248 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
delivered it with the title of Chancellor to William Courtenay,
Bishop of London.
The office of Chancellor appears, in this age, to have been an
object of ambition to men of the most illustrious descent. Wil
liam was a younger son of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, hav
ing in his veins the blood of French kings and of Emperors of the
East, as well as of the Plantagenets.* While yet a youth, he had
made great proficiency in the civil and canon law, and taking or
ders, he rose rapidly in the church from personal merit and family
interest. After holding almost innumerable prebends and livings, he was
made Bishop of Hereford, and then translated to London. He was
very popular with the Londoners, who stood by him in a dispute
with John of Gaunt, and could hardly be restrained by him from
pulling down the Duke's house. He was made a Cardinal, and
he succeeded De Sudbury as Archbishop of Canterbury as well
as Lord Chancellor.
He sat in Chancery himself, without the assistance of the Mas
ter of the Rolls, or any other Keeper ; but he appears to have' ex
cited great dissatisfaction as a judge, and the cry against delays
and corruption in his court soon became very loud and general.
A parhament met in September, and it was opened by the Chan
cellor in a speech from this text, " Rex convenire fecit concilium." t
He declared the chief cause of the summons to be to punish the
authors of the late horrible tumults, and to do away with the char
ters of liberty and manumission -which the King had been forced
to grant to bond-tenants and villains under the Great Seal of Eng
land.:!: But the parliament immediately proceeded to inquire into
the abuses in the government of the country, and the Commons
petitioned for the appointment of a new ChanceUor and other
judges. In consequence of these proceedings, Archbishop Cour
tenay was removed from the office of ChanceUor, and Lord le
Scrope, who had been leader of the opposition, was placed in it
the second time. The Ex-chanceUor devoted the rest of his days
to his ecclesiastical duties. He held a celebrated synod at Lon
don, in which the doctrines of Wickliffe were solemnly condemned.
A httle before his death he obtained a grant by a papal bull of the
sixtieth part of the income of all the clergy within his province ;
but the Bishop of Lincoln refusing to pay, and appealing to the
Pope, the Archbishop died while the matter was depending, July,
31, 1396.
* His mother, Margaret de Bohun, was a grand-daughter of Edward I.
t In the Parliament Roll the Chancellor is said to have mad» un bone collacion
en Engleys.— B,ot. Pari. 5 Ric. 2. Although the formal written proceedings in par
liament were, and are still, in Prench, I conceive that from the time when represen
tatives from cities and buroughs were admitted, a liberty must have been allowed
to speak in English, and the use of the Prench in debate must have been gradually
laid aside.
X It appears by the Close Roll that the Great Seal had been a short time in the
King's own keeping, and I presume these charters were sealed with his own hand.

ROBERT DE BRAYBKOKE, CHANCELLOR. 249
During this last transfer of the Great Seal the King had it a
short time in his own possession, and himself sealed a commission
by which he appointed John de Holland, his brother by the moth
er's side, John de Montague, Steward of his household, and Simon
de Burle, Ms Chamberlain, to proceed to Germany, there to receive
the Lady Ann, the sister of the Emperor, as his future Queen, and
to conduct her to his presence. This might be excusable, as mat
ter personally relating to himself, but he at the same time sealed
several other commissions and important charters with his own
hand, which gave him a taste for acting without any responsible
adviser, and contrary to the opinion expressed by his ministers.
The Commons now made another effort to abolish aU fines on
writs out of Chancery, as contrary to the Great Charter ; but the
King answered, " that such fines had always been received in
Chancery as weU since as before the Great Charter, by all his no
ble progenitors, Kings of England." *
As soon as parliament was dissolved, the King quarrelled with
Lord le Scrope, the new Chancellor, who resisted the gross job of
conferring upon some worthless favourites the land which, on the
death of the Earl of March, had faUen to the Crown. Richard
became incensed at his behaviour, and at the instigation of the
disappointed parties, sent messenger after messenger to demand
the Great Seal from him ; but he refused to deliver it except to
the King himself. At length the King got possession r .„„„ •,
of it on the 11th of July, and gave it into the keep- L • ¦'¦ -1
ing of Hugh de Segrave and others, to be used by them for the
sealing of writs and charters till a new ChanceUor should be
found.t On the 20th of September, Robert de Braybroke was made
Chancellor. He was of a noble family, the Braybrokes, of Bray
broke Castle, in the county of Northampton. Having studied at
Cambridge, and become a licentiate in laws, he entered the church,
was made canon of Lichfield, and in 1381 was consecrated Bishop
of London. At this time he was high in favour with John of
Gaunt, who was the means of his being made Chancellor from
the capacity for pohtical intrigue which he was supposed to have
displayed. Pie was not created in the usual manner by the King-
delivering the Seal to him, but by writ, addressed to those who
had it in their keeping.}
During his short tenure of office, two parliaments were called
* Rot. Par. 5 Ric. 2. t Rot CI. 6 Hie. 2. m. 24.
X " De par le Roy.
•' Treschers et foialx, nous avons ordinez et valons que le Reverent Pere en Dieu,
et notre trescher Cosin, levesque de Londres, eerra notre Chancellor Denglitcre,
pur le grand affiance que nous avons en luy. Si vous mandons et chargeons que
veues cestes, vouz facez delivrer a luy notre Grand Seal esteant ore en votre garde,
over le trouble de son cherge et toutes autres a ly appurtienantz come a notre Chan-
celler. Et cette lettre vous ent serre garrant. Donnez, &c." — Rot. CI. 6 R. 2.

250 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
and opened by speeches from the Chancellor; but they were
chiefly occupied with measures to put down the heresy of Wick-
liffe, and no civil business of any importance was transacted at
them.* This ChanceUor is celebrated for having resorted to a pious fraud
for what he considered the good of the church. In the parliament
held in the 5 Richard IL, he introduced a bill authorising the Lord
Chancellor to issue commissions to sheriffs to arrest and imprison
such as should be certified into Chancery to be heretics. This
was approved of by the Lords, but thrown out by the Commons.
Nevertheless the Chancellor at the end of the session caused it to
be inscribed on the parliament roll, and it was vigorously acted
upon — to the great vexation of the subject. When parliament
again met, the Commons in a fury passed a bill to which the Lords
agreed, declaring the former act to be null. " But in the parlia
mentary proclamation of the acts passed in anno 6 Richard II,
the said act of Richard II. , whereby the said supposed act of 5
Richard II. was declared to be null, is omitted, and afterwards the
said supposed act of 5 Richard II. was continually printed, and the
said act of 6 Richard II. hath, by the craft of the prelates, been
ever from time to time kept from the print." t
Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the favourite of Richard II.,
being raised to the title of Duke of Ireland, was now engrossing
aU power into his own hands, and he resolved to intrust the Great
Seal to a layman who, if from his education unfit for its judicial
duties, was eminent for talents, address, and suppleness — quahties
sometimes as much considered in filling up the office of Chancel
lor. On the 13th of March 1383, the Great Seal was taken from
r iqqqi Robert de Braybroke, and given to Michael de la
[a. d. 16V,6.\ pOLE The close j^p saySj that the Bishop earnestly
desired to be relieved from the office of Chancellor X \ but there
can be no doubt that he parted with it very unwillingly, and thought
himself very ill used in being deprived of it. He lived more than
twenty years afterwards, but never had more than this taste of po
litical power. He died in 1404, having seen the family of Lancas^
ter seated on the throne.
Michael de la Pole was the son of Sir William de la Pole, a
merchant, and Mayor of Kmgston-upon-HuU.§ He had served
* 1 Pari. Hist. 176.
t Lord Coke's Reports, part xii. 58. 4 Inst. 51. The sham act is still to be found
in the Statute Book as 5 Ric. 2 stat. 2. c. 5. Lord Coke adds, that by colour of
the supposed act certain persons that held that images were not to be worshipped
were holden in strong prison until they, to redeem their vexation, miserably
yielded to take an oath, and did swear to worship images, which was against the
moral and eternal law of Almighty God."
X "Desiderans cum magna instantia de officio Cancellarii exoneravi." — Rot. CI.
6 Ric. 2.
§ The founder of this illustrious family was the Chancellor's father, who, when
Edward III. was lying at Antwerp very destitute of money, lent him lOOOi. in

MICHAEL DE LA POLE, CHANCELLOR. 251
Edward III. both as a civilian and a soldier, and had acquired the
friendship of that monarch. In the growing troubles of the pres
ent reign his support was coveted by both parties, and he was es
teemed the person of greatest experience and capacity among
those who were attached to the Duke of Ireland. He was sworn
in Chancellor on the 13th of March, 1383*
He did not at first resort to the expedient of handing over the
Seal to a legal Keeper to act as his judicial deputy ; and as he is
said to have performed weU in the Court of Chancery, he must
have been like some of the military Chancellors in our West
India Islands, who, by discretion, natural good sense, taking hints
from the clerks in courts, and giving no reasons for their decreest,
have very creditably performed the duties of their office.
On the 1st of November in the same year, he made his first ap
pearance on the woolsack, when he had to open parliament by an
oration in the presence of the King and both Houses. $ He be
gan with great modesty, excusing his own unfitness for the place
he held, and declaring that he was forced to accept it, though he
had pleaded his incapacity. He then presented a very able expo
sition of the King's wars with Scotland and with France, and
pressed for a subsidy, which was readily granted. $
gold, in recompense whereof (26th Sept. 13 Ed. 3.) he was constituted second
Baron of the Exchequer, and advanced to the degree of a banneret, with an allow
ance, for the better support of that dignity, payable out of the customs at Hull. —
He died, 40 Ed. 3, seised of large estates, which descended to the Chancellor. —
Dugdale. * Rot. CI. 2 Ric. 3. m. 12.
t According to the advice of Lord Mansfield to a military man going to sit as
Chancellor of Jamaica : Your decision may be right, but your reasons must be
Wrong." X 1 Pari. Hist. 176.
§ I give a specimen from the rolls of parliament of this modest oration : — " Mons.
Michel de la Pole, Chivaler, Chancellor d'Engleterre, per eommandement nre Sr.
le Roi avoit les paroles de la pronunciation des causes de la somonce de cest present
parlimint, y dist. Vous Mess. Prelatz et Seignrs Temporal*, et vous mes com-
paignons les chivalers et autres de la noble Coe d'Engleterre cy presentz, deinez
entendre, Qe combn. q. je ne soie digne, mes insufficient de seu de tout autre
Cre., toutes voies pleust a nre. Sr. le Roi nalgairs de moy creer son Chanceller,
et sur ce ore moy ad commandez, q'ore en vos honorables presences je vous soie
de par luy exposer les causes de la somonce de son present Parlement. Et par-
tant purra clerement apparoir q. si haute busoigne come ce est de pier si chargeante
matire devant tantes et tielles si nobles et sages persones q. vous estez, je ne
ferroie mye par presumption ou sur guidere de moymesmes, einz. soulement par
deux enchesons resonable. L'une est q. longement et eoement. ad este accustumee
deinz mesme le Roilme q. les Chancellers d'Angleterre devant moy si ont fait
chescun en son temps pronunciation de par le Roy desemblables parlimentz dc-
vaunt ore tenuz ; et nevorroie, si pleust a Dieu q. en mon temps defaute dc mon dit
office, si avaunt come je le purroie meintenir en tout bien et honour. La secondc
cause est purquoy je assume de present si grant charge sur moy devant touz les
autres sages cypresentez; gar le Roy nre. Sr. ligeycy present m'adcommandez de
l'faire, a qi me faut a fyn force en ce et en touz autres ses commandementz q. pur-
roient tournir au pfit. de lui et de son roialme obeire. Et issint ne ferroie ceste
chargeante busoigne en aucun manere, sinon constreint par re»on de mon office,
et eommandement de mon Sr. lige come dist est." — Roll. Pari. 7 Ric. 2. vol. iii. 1 49.

252 REIGN OE RICHARD II.
While this parhament sat, an unjust charge was brought against
him of taking a bribe. He was acquitted, and John Cavendish,
his accuser, was fined 1000 marks for defamation.
At the parliament held in November in the following year, he
f 1SR4.1 was considerably bolder, and he ventured to give
[a. d. idb4.j goo(j a(jvice to the two chambers, telling them,
" there were four ways or means which would greatly speed their
consultations. First, to be early in the house ; next, to repel all
melancholy passions; the third, to begin always on the most need
ful inquiries, and to proceed without mixture of any orders ; and,
lastly, to avoid all maintaining and partaking."*
The Commons made a complaint to the King for commissions
issued by the Chancellor, but they could not obtain a more favour
able answer than that "those who felt themselves aggrieved
should show their special grievance to the Chancellor who would
provide a remedy." t
On the 6th of August, 1386, he was created Earl of Suffolk, the
. „„,. -. first instance of a Lord Chancellor, wlfile in office,
[ a. d. .j kemg raised to tins rank in the peerage. He had, at
the same time, a grant of 1000 marks a year from the public reve
nue to support his new dignity.
A parliament was held soon after. We have an account from
Speed, of a debate which took place in the house of Lords at the
opening of the session, — the earliest which I find reported, and
giving us a lively picture of the eloquence and manners of the
age. The Bishop of Norwich, the famous " Fighting prelate,"
had led an army into Flanders : being obliged to return with dis
comfiture, he had been charged with breach of the conditions on
which a sum of money was granted to him, and the temporalities
of his see were sequestered. A motion was now made by Thom
as de Arundel, Bishop of Ely, then rising into notice, and after
wards five times Lord Chancellor, that the temporalities should be
restored to him, which he said — " would be a small matter for the
King." This was warmly opposed by the new Earl of Suffolk,
Lord Chancellor, who <rose up, and thus addressed the bishop of
Ely, " What is that, my Lord, which you ask of the king ? Seems
•it to you a small matter for him to part with that Bishop's tempo
ralities, when they yield to his coffers above lOOOi a year ? Lit
tle need hath the King of such councillors, or such friends as ad
vise him to acts so greatly to his disadvantage." To which the
Bishop of Ely replied, " What says your lordship, my Lord Mi
chael ? Know that I ask not from the King what is his own, but
that which he, drawn thereunto by you, or such as you are, with
holds from other men, upon none of the justest titles, — which, as
I think, wiU never do him any good. As for yourself, if the
King's advantage be the tiring you drive at, why did you so greed-
* 1 Pari. Hist. 180. " Maintenance and champerty ," — the corruption of those
days, when " rail-road shares" were unknown.
t 1 Pari. Hist. 185.

MICHAEL DE LA POLE, CHANCELLOR. 253
of Suffolk ? " " The Chancellor," adds our authority, " was hit so
home by this round retort, that he offered no farther to cross the
restitution of the Bishop's temporalities."*
This year the Earl of Suffolk went abroad upon an embassy,
and the Great Seal was given into the custody of '
John do Waltham, Master of the Rollst, celebrated LA- D- 1386-J
for his invention of the writ of subpoena, on which the equitable
jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery has been supposed to be
founded. The faction of the favourite, De Vere, had now become
veiy odious, and there were loud complaints among the people
against misgovernment. What was more formidable, there was a
strong combination among the Barons, who were resolved upon a
change. The King's necessities, however, required the sum
moning of a new parliament. The two Houses met on the first
of October, 13864 The session was opened as usual by a speech
from the Lord Chancellor, in which he said that the principal cause
of calling them together at that time was " to acquaint them that
it had been determined the King should cross the seas in person
with an army royal, and that they were to debate in what manner
and how it was to be done." But the Commons, instead of inti
mating any intention of granting a supply, expressed in the royal
presence their resolution to impeach the Lord Chancellor for divers
crimes and misdemeanours. We are informed that the King
thereupon retired, lest he might seem to countenance their pro
ceedings. He -went to his palace at Eltham where he spent his
time in vain amusements, while transactions were going on which
before long led to his dethronement. Both Houses, with joint
consent, thought proper to send this message to him : " That the
Chancellor and Treasurer ought to be removed from their offices,
because those men -were not for the advantage of himself and
kingdom." Adding, " that they had matters to treat of relating to
the Lord Michael de la Pole, which could not be safely done while
he remained in the office of Chancellor." The King admonished
them to proceed forthwith to the business for which they were
summoned, and told them " that he would not for them, or at their
instance, remove the meanest scullion in his kitchen." The Lords
and Commons were not to be so daunted, and they returned their
joint answer to the King, " That they neither could, nor by any
means would, proceed in any business of parliament, or despatch
so much as the least article of it, till the King should come and
show himself among them, and remove the said Michael de la
Pole from his office." Remonstrances and refusals of redress be
ing some time continued, the King threatened to call in the advice
of the King of France, to whom he would sooner submit than
truckle to his own subjects. In their address in answer, the two
Houses said, " We have an ancient constitution, and it was not many
ages experimented1? (it grieves us that we must mention it), taht
* Speed in Ann. 1356 t Rot. CI. 9 Ric. 2. m. 12.
X See 1 Pari. Hist. 185. § Referring to the deposition of Edward II.
vol. i. 22

254 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
if the King, through any evil counsel, or weak obstinacy, or con
tempt of his people, or out of a perverse and froward wilfulness,
or by any other irregular courses, shall alienate himself from his
people, and refuse to govern by the laws and statutes of the realm,
but will throw himself headlong into wild designs, and stubbornly
exercise his own singular arbitrary will, — from that time it shall
be lawful for his people, by their full and free assent and consent,
to depose that King from his throne, and in his stead to establish
some other of the royal race upon the same."*
Richard was obliged to yield; and laying aside his passion, he
promised that after three days he would come to the parliament,
and with mature advice willingly acquiesce in their petitions.
rn 9 a i^ftfil Accordingly he came at the time appointed, and
I t. ' ldbb-J consented to an entire change of ministers.
The Earl of Suffolk was romoved, and his enemy Thomas de
Arundel, Bishop of Ely, made Chancellor in his stead.
Not contented with his dismissal, the Commons prayed that
all manner of charters and letters made in the time of the late
Chancellor, contrary to law, be annulled and repealed in the
present parhament, to which the answer was, " Le Roi le voet par
advys de son conseil."t
They then proceeded to impeach him ; but his official integrity
was established by the frivolous nature of the offences -which his
enemies, in the present plenitude of their power, thought pro
per to object against him. J
this is the first instance of the impeachment of a Chancellor,
and it created great interest from the elevated rank and distin
guished personal character of the accused. The biU of impeach
ment was divided into seven heads, charging the Earl, while
Chancellor, with having enriched himself by defrauding the
Crown, and. with having put the Great Seal to illegal charters and
pardons. He had intrusted his defence to his brother-in-law, Lord
le Scrope, likewise an Ex-chancellor : but the Lords observed that
it would be more to his honour if he should conduct it himself.
He thereupon went through the different charges in order, con
tending that those which -were fit ground of impeachment were
unfounded in fact, and that the others did not amount to any legal
offerece. " As to his deserts he would be silent, but hoped that
what he had suffered for the King would not be forgotten." Here
Scrope was aUowed to interpose. " The individual now accused
of misconduct as Chancellor," he remarked, " had served in war
thirty years as a knight banneret without disgrace or reproof, had
thrice been a captive in the hands of the enemy, and had been
Governor of Calais, Admiral of the fleet, and oftentimes Ambas
sador from the King to foreign states,— in all which capacities he
had conducted himself with the purest honour as weU as with the
highest abUity."
* 1 Pari. Hist 186. t Rot. Par. 10 Ric. 2.
X 1 Pari. Hist. 189.

THOMAS ARUNDEL, CHANCELLOR. 255
The managers for the Commons were heard in reply, and
chiefly dwelt upon the charge, that, being Chancellor, and obliged
by his oath to consult the King's profit, he had purchased lands
from the King below their true value. He proved that he had
made no purchase from the Crown while he was Chancellor, and
that all the bargains referred to had been concluded before he was
raised to that office. Nevertheless he was found guUty of having
defrauded the Crown, and adjudged to forfeit several large sums
of money, and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure. He
was accordingly committed to the custody of the Lord High Con
stable, and sent close prisoner to Windsor Castle, where he re-
mainded tiU this parliament was dissolved, — when he was taken
into favour, and was able again to make head against his enemies.
This prosecution is memorable as it confirmed to the Commons
their new claim of impeaching the ministers of the Crown, and
showed how the power might be abused to the purposes of fac
tion. De la Pole, the Ex-chanceUor, was actively engaged in the
struggle -which soon arose from the attempt to subject Richard,
like Henry III. and Edward II., to a council of Barons, armed
with the powers of royalty. Upon the defeat of the party who
resisted these proceedings he was obliged to go into exile. He
was kindly received by the King of France, but died r - „„„ .
soon after of a broken eart, said to have been pro- 1 ' ' 'J
duced less by his private misfortunes than by the calamities he
saw impending over his country. That he was fit for the office of
Chancellor, which had been held by Parnynge and Knyvet, it is
impossible to assert; but he seems to have filled it with unspotted
integrity, and he certainly displayed high qualities as a statesman
as well as a soldier. His descendants were nearly allied to the
throne, and several of them are among the most distinguished
characters in English history.
The new Chancellor, Thomas Arundel, was of illustrious de
cent, being the son of Robert Earl of Arundel and Warren. He
very early displayed great talents, and he had a respectable share
of the learning of the times. Taking orders, he was made Arch
deacon of Taunton when scarce twenty-two years of age, and it
was not long before he entered parliament as a prelate, where we
have seen he was the antagonist of De la Pole the Chancellor,
with whom he had a long-continued rivalry. Supported by Glou
cester, the King's uncle, he was now completely in the ascendant ;
for the two houses were willingly ruled by him, and the King could
make no resistance. He used his power with no moderation ;
for, not contented with crushing his predecessor, he attempted per
manently to make himself master of the King and the kingdom.
An Act was passed, to which the royal assent was nominally given,
appointing a councU of fourteen persons, to whom the sovereign
power was transferred for a twelvemonth, — and the King was in
reality dethroned The Chancellor was the first named in this
commission.

256 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
But although Richard had taken an oath never to infringe it, at
the end of the session he publicly entered a protest that the pre
rogatives of the Crown, notwithstanding his late concession, should
still be deemed entire and unimpaired. The Commissioners, dis
regarding this declaration, took possession of the government, —
but they were not long allowed to exercise their authority without
disturbance. Richard was sensible of the contempt into which he
had faUen, and, instigated by the Earl of Suffolk, -whom he restor
ed to liberty, he made a bold effort to recover his authority. He
assembled Tressilian, the Chief Justice of England, and the other
Judges, at Nottingham, and obtained an opinion from them that
those who procured the late commission, or advised the King to
consent to it, were punishable with death, and that those who
should persevere in maintaining it were guilty of treason ; and that
the House of Commons cannot, without the King's consent, im
peach any of his Ministers or Judges.
Gloucester and the Chancellor flew to arms as soon as they
heard of this consultation, and met Richard near Highgate with a
force which he and his adherents could not resist. They accused
the Earl of Suffolk, the Duke of Ireland, Sir Robert Tressilian,
and others who impugned the commission, as public and danger
ous enemies to the state.
A new parhament was called in February, 1388*, which was
opened by a speech from the Bishop of Ely, the Chancellor, in
veighing against the opposite faction. An appeal of treason, con
sisting of many articles, was preferred against the discomfited
leaders of it, and, as a matter of course, they were found guilty.
Tressilian, the Chief Justice, being discovered in an apothecary's
shop in Palace Yard, where he had some time lain concealed, was
hanged at Tyburn, and his fate seems to have excited little
compassion, for he had shown himself ready to mete out like in
justice to others, and he had extra-judicially pronounced opinions
which, if acted upon, would have been for ever fatal to public
liberty. It seemed as if those now in power never could be deprived of
it. Thomas of Arundel, the Chancellor, had been made Arch
bishop of York, and he no doubt expected to hold the Great Seal
without interruption for many years. But in the beginning of
May, 1389, Richard unexpectedly and peaceably recovered his
authority, and nU those who had been concerned in the late plots
against him were dismissed from their employments. This change
seems to have been brought about merely by a reaction in public
opinion, and a dislike in the English nation to power remaining
long in the same hands.
Richard, on this occasion, conducted himself with great mod-
Ta d 1389 1 eration' aud ne confirmed by proclamation the gen-
1 • ' ¦J earl pardon which the parliament had passed for all
offences. * 1 Pari. Hist, 196. 1 St. Tr. 89.

WILLIAM OE WICKHAM, CHANCELLOR. 257

CHAPTER XVII.
CHANCELLORS and keepers of the great seal prom the second
CHANCELLORSHIP OF WILLIAM OF WICKHAM TILL THE END OF THE
REIGN OF RICHARD II.
William of Wickham, Bishop of Winchester, after a retirement
from office of eighteen years, was again made rM . .„„„ ,
Chancellor, as a person likely to be generally ac- LivlAY 4> iMy-i
ceptable. After his resignation of the Great Seal in 1371, he had employ
ed himself in repairing the twelve castles, or manorial residences,
belonging to him as Bishop, on which he spent 2.0,000 marks ; —
in rebuilding the cathedral at Winchester; — and in reforming
abuses in the monasteries and religious houses within his diocese,
particularly the ancient hospital of St. Cross, founded by the fa
mous Bishop Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen* Having
been appointed by " the Good Parliament," which met in 1376,
one of the council established to superintend the conduct of pub
lic affairs, he had the misfortune to incur the displeasure of the
Duke of Lancaster, who then wished to engross all power into his
own hands. By his contrivance, eight informations were filed
against the Bishop in the beginning of the next Michaelmas term,
charging him with various acts of pecuniary defalcation oppres
sion, and perversion of the law whUe he was Keeper of the Privy
Seal and Lord Chancellor. The cause was tried before a partial
commission of Bishops, Peers, and Privy Councillors, and although
convicted only on one charge, which amounted at most to an irregu
larity, he was heavily fined, an order was issued for sequestering
the revenues of his bishopric, and he was forbidden to come with
in twenty miles of the Court. When, on the petition~of the Com
mons the general pardon was issued by the King in consideration
of its being the year of his jubilee, the Bishop of Winchester
alone was exempted from its benefit. His enemies contrived to
throw an imputation upon him that he was patronised by Alice
Pierce, and that he instigated her to withstand the parliament. In
spite of this scandal, his brethren of the clergy now assembled in
convocation, manfully took up his cause, and his temporalities were
restored to him on condition of his fitting out three ships of war
for the defence of the kingdom. The mulct was remitted on the
accession of Richard II. ; but the prosecution subjected him to a
loss of of 10,000 marks.
During the minority of Richard the Ex-chanceUor had not inter
fered with politics, except that after the suppression of Wat Ty
ler's rebellion he was one of the seventeen persons appointed by
* Under a regulation then made, every traveller who visits the hospital is now
presented with a cup of ale and a small loaf, — ut gustavi.
22*

258 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
the Commons to confer with them on the condition of the king
dom, and that in 1386 he was one of the fourteen appointed by
the parhament, at the instigation of the King's uncle, the Duke of
Gloucester to be a council to the King for one year, and to exercise
aU the powers of government. In this capacity he conducted him
self with so much mildness and moderation, that when Richard
recovered his authority he still wished to have him near his person.
His restoration to the office of Chancellor under the present cir
cumstances was generally approved of; for if his judicial qualifi
cations for it were slender, the people were pleased to see it once
more filled by a man of moderate opinions and unsuUied integrity.
In January, 1390, a parliament met, which he opened with a
,.., speech, "declaring the King to be of full age, and
| a. d. ldyo.j that he jnten(jed to govern his people in peace and
quiet, and to do justice and right to all men."*
The Chancellor, then, to gain popularity, went through a cere
mony prescribed by a repealed statute of Edward III. ; — he sur
rendered the Great Seal to the King before both houses of par
liament; — the Bishop of St. David's, the Lord Treasurer, at the
same time delivered up the keys of the Exchequer ; and they
prayed that they might be discharged, — " complaining of the great
labour and costs to which they were continuaUy put in their said
offices, and praying that other good and sufficient persons might
be appointed in their stead." After this resignation it was openly
proclaimed in fuU parliament, " that if any person eould justly
complain of any illegal action, or any thing done amiss by them
in, their several offices, he should come forth and he should be
heard, for they now stood upon their deliverance." Both the Lords
and Commons answered " that they knew nothing amiss against
them, and that they had behaved themselves weU in their respec- .
five offices." Whereupon the King re-instated the Bishop of
Winchester in the office of ChanceUor, and re-delivered to him
the Great Seal, and the Bishop of St. David's in the office of Treas
urer, and re-delivered to him the keys of the Treasury.
Nevertheless the Commons showed suspicion and jealousy of
the future proceedings of the Chancellor, for they prayed the
King " that neither the Chancellor nor the King's Council, after
the parliament is ended, may make any ordinance against the
common law nor the ancient customs of the land, nor against the
statutes heretofore passed in the present parliament, and that no
judgment rendered be annuUed without due process of law " An
evasive answer being given, the Commons returned to the attack,
and prayed " that if the Chancellor should compel the King's
lieges to appear before him to answer any thing that may be re
covered at common law, he shaU be liable to a penalty of 100? ¦'
but the answer stiU was-" The King wiUeth, as his progenitors
have done, saving his regality."! *uuSeuii,uia
Wilham of Wickham remained ChanceUor, the second time,
* 1 Pari. Hist. 216. t Eot. Par. 13 Ric

THOMAS ARUNDEL, CHANCELLOR. 259
till the 27th of September, 1391, — when he was sue- . .,„ .
ceeded by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of York, LA- D- -^M
who had been his immediate predecessor.* This change took
place without any convulsion, and seems to have been the result
of an amicable compromise between the contending parties. The
Duke of Gloucester was restored to his place in the council, and,
for a short time, there was a prospect of public tranquillity.
Here we must take leave of Lord Chancellor Wickham. From
this date he seems to have interfered little in public affairs. He
was in some danger in 1397, when the Duke of Gloucester was
put to death, and several of his associates were attainted for their
former resistance to the royal authority ; but, at the intercession
of the Commons, it was declared by the King, from the throne,
that the Bishop of Winchester had not been implicated in what
his fellow-commissioners had then done. He was present in the
parliament held the 30th of September, 1399, when Richard was
deposed, and in the first parliament of Henry IV., summoned a
few days after; but this was the last -which he attended. He now
devoted himself to his episcopal duties, and the superintendence
of his two noble foundations at Winchester and Oxford, which
have contributed so much to the cause of sound education in Eng
land, and have rendered his name so illustrious.t
He expired on the 27th of September, 1404, in the eighty-first
year of his age>, having presided over the see of Winchester above
thirty-eight years.
None of his decisions as Chancellor have come down to us, but
he left a greater name to posterity than many of his successors of
much higher juridical authority. We are to admire in him not
only his unrivalled skill in one of the fine arts, but his extraordi
nary aptitude for all civil business, his equal and benevolent tem
per, his enlightened munificence, ancl his devoted love of learn
ing. X
We are now in the tranquil period of Richard's reign, in which
he was permitted to give free scope to his love of rgEPT iqqi i
indolence, low pleasures, and frivolous company. *¦ ' '*¦
Thomas de Arundel's second Chancellorship lasted about five
years, without being marked by any striking events till the close
of it. Parties continued pretty equally balanced, and what has
since been caUed a. juste milieu government prevaUed.
* Rot. CI. 15 Ric. 2. m. 34.
t The bull of Pope TJrbanus VI. for founding Winchester school, was granted
1st June, 1378 The building ofthe college at Oxford, which he called "St.
Mary College of Winchester, at Oxford," afterwards " New College," was begun
in 1380, and finished in 1386; the papal bull confirming its statutes is dated 19th
July, 1398. — I have a great kindness for the memory of William of Wickham,
when I think' of his having produced such Wickhamists as my friends Baron
RoMeuand Professor Empson.
" Hactenus ire libet, tu major laudibus istis
Suscipe conatus, Wieame Dive, meos."
X See Hist. Descrip. Gul. Wick. Life by Lowth.

260 REIGN OE RICHARD II.
During this time the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery was
o-reatlv extended, and the famous writ of subpoena came into use
as Invented or improved by John de Waltham who was Master
of tbe Rolls, and several times intrusted with the custody of the
Great Seal as deputy to the Chancellor, though he never held it
in his own right *
* Blackstone is entirely mistaken in asserting that John do Waltham irr« .Chan-
cellor to Richard lit, and as he never was Chancellor, »ort.hpdf.gJh"f<^)8^
Keeper in his own right, ho does not properly come into the list ot lliose wnose
K nnderUkln to write. Yet^sWname is ^o distinguished i "the history
of the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, the reader may be desirous
of being informed of what is known concerning him. „„„i„„- ,-„
His birth and place of education have not been traced. He was an ecclesiastic
who devoted himself to the study of the civil and canon law, in which he matte
great proficiency. He was early introduced as a clerk in Chancery, and soon rose
fo be b Master/ Rendering himself usefnl to Lord Chancellor Courtenay he was
bv his interest appointed one of the Receivers of Pennons for England Ireland,
Wales and Scotland, in the parliament which met in 5 Ric. 2 and in the same
vear was created Master of the Rolls.2 The following year, under Lord Chancel-
lor Scrope, he was a Keeper of the Great Seal along with Hugh de Segrave, the
Treasurer of England, and William de Dighton, Keeper of the Privy Seahand he
was a joint Keeper of the Great Seals likewise, under the two succeeding Chancel
lors. But in April, 1386, he was appointed sole Keeper of the Great Seal under
Lord Chancellor de la Pole4, and again in September, 1394, under Lord Chancellor
Arundel.s He was afterwards consecrated Bishop of Salisbury, and finally was
made Lord Treasurer of England.6 _ _
But the great disgrace or glory imputed to him, was ihe invention ot the wnt;ot
subkesa in Chancery, and some have represented him by the sale ot his new-
writ, and his extension of the jurisdiction of the Chancellor, in derogation ot the
common law, to merit the denunciation,
" Vendidit hie auro patriam, dominumque potentem
Imposuit, fixit leges pretio atque refixit ,"
while others would inscribe his name among those
" Inventas — qui tarn excoluere per artes,
Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo."
In censuring and extolling him there has been much exaggeration. While ob-
curity veils the honour due to the first happy discoverers of the latitat and quo
minus, the indignant complaint of the Commons " that the subpoena in Chancery had
never been known before the time of Sir John de Waltham," has fixed upon him
the responsibility of being the author of this writ. In reality, he first framed it in
its present form, when a clerk in Chancery, in the latter end of the reign of Ed
ward III. ; but the invention consisted in merely adding to the old clause Quibus'
dam certis de causis, the words " Et hoc sub poena centum librarum nullatenus
omittas7;" and I am at a loss to conceive how such importance was attached to it,
or how it was supposed to have brought about so complete a revolution in equi
table proceedings ; for the penalty never was enforced, and if the party failed to
appear, his default was treated (according to the practice prevailing to our own
time) as a contempt of court, and made the foundation of compulsory process.
John de Waltham continued to hold the office of Lord Treasurer till his death
in September, 1395. By the command of Richard II. he was buried in the chapel
royal of Westminster Abbey, among the Kings of England.
i Bl. Com. iii. 52.
2 Rot. Pat. 5 Ric. 2 m. 22. Rot. Pari. 3 Hen. 5. m. 2.
3 Rot. CI. 6 Ric. 2. m. 12. Rot. CI. 9- Ric. 2.
4 Rot. CI. 9 Ric. 2. m. 5. 5 Rot. CI. 18 Ric. 2. m. 31.
5 14 Ric. 2. Or. Jur. 54. , p. i. m. 15. Rot. Claus. 20 Ed. 3. p. ii. m. 4. d.

EDMUND STAFFORD, CHANCELLOR. 261
These innovations were highly unpopular, and vigorous at
tempts were made to check them ; but nothing more could be ef
fected in this reign than passing stat. 17 Rich. 2. c. 6., entitled,
" Upon an untrue suggestion in the Chancery, Damages may be
awarded," whereby, after reciting " that forasmuch as people be
compelled to come before the King's counsel or in the Chancery
by writs grounded on untrue suggestions," it is enacted, " that the
Chancellor for the time being, presently after that such sugges
tions be duly found and proved untrue, shall have power to ordain
and award damages, according to his discretion, to him which is
so troubled unduly, as aforesaid."
This remedy, which was referred to the discretion of the Chan
cellor himself, whose jurisdiction was to be controlled, proved, as
might have been expected, wholly ineffectual, but it was used as
a parliamentary recognition of his jurisdiction, and a pretence for
refusing to establish any other check to it.
In the month of September, 1391, the Chancellor attended the
King into Ireland, when the Great Seal was committed to the
custody of John de Waltham, who had now risen to the dignity
of Bishop of Salisbury and Treasurer of England ; but when he
likewise went to Ireland, it was handed over to John Searle, who
had succeeded him as Master of the RoUs. It was thrice again
in the keeping of the same person before the next revolution of
the government, on occasions when the Chancellor, now translat
ed to the see of Canterbury, was too much occupied with his
other avocations to attend to his judicial duties.*
The Duke of Gloucester, to whose party Arundel had attached
himself, was making a struggle to grasp the whole power of the
state, and, according to Froissart, aimed at the crown itself, al
though Richard had declared in parliament ' that, in case of Ins
decease without issue, the house of March, descended from the
Duke of Clarence, the second son of Edward III, were his true
heirs. Richard for a short time showed some energy in defence of his
rights. Arundel, thej Chancellor, was removed r ^oy 2g 1396 -,
from his office, and replaced by Edmund Staf- l
ford, Bishop of Exeter, who had sided with Gloucester's enemies,
and Gloucester himself was arrested and sent over to Calais as a
state prisoner. The Dukes of Lancaster and York, the King's
other uncles, concurred in these measures, and aU who had oppos
ed them were now at the mercy of the ruling faction.
As usual on such occasions, a parliament was called to register
decrees of vengeance, and acted with the expected vigour and una
nimity. Some objection might safely be made to a particular
measure which did not excite the passions of men as it passed
through either House ; but a regular parliamentary opposition
was unknown, and no division ever took place on a biU of attain -
* Rot. CI. 19 Ric. 2. m. 12. 20 Ric. 2. m. 28.

262 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
der or forfeiture, — for this plain reason, that the names of the mi
nority would have been immediately introduced into the bill, and
they would forthwith have found themselves entering through the
Traitor's Gate into the Tower, shortly to tread the scaffold on
Tower Hill, if not assassinated before the day fixed for their exe
cution. Lord Chancellor Stafford opened the session with a speech
from the words of Ezekiel, " Rex unus erit omnibus." He pre
pared men for a little wholesome severity, by saying, " That laws
ought to be executed, appears by the common example of a good
father who uses to strike as well as stroke his child ; for the bet
ter execution of them, the King has appointed new judges and
officers through the realm."*
The first step of the Commons was to impeach the Ex-chan-
celkfr Arundel, for treason, in respect of what he had done when
Bishop of Ely, in procuring the Commission in the tenth year of
the King's reign. Knowing that defence was useless, and that
being a churchman his life was safe, he confessed the charge.
Upon this, the King and the Lords temporal, and (strange to say)
the Prelates, by a lay commoner who held their proxy, " adjudged
and declared the said article which the Archbishop had confessed
to be treason, and that it touched the King himself ; for which
they also adjudged and declared him a traitor, and it was award
ed that he should be banished out of the kingdom, have bis tem
poralities seized, and forfeit all his lands and goods to the King."
However, he had six weeks allowed him to pass by the port of
Dover into France.!
The Earl of Arundel, his brother, to the same charge pleaded
the pardon granted by act of parliament as well as by proclama
tion ; but the plea was overruled, and he was convicted and exe
cuted. The new Chancellor, the Bishop of Exeter, who presided over
these atrocities, was of illustrious descent, being of the family of
the Staffords, which from the Conquest till the reign of Hemy
VIII. flourished at the head of the English nobility. He was a
younger brother of the present Earl. The men of obscure origin,
however great their talents, generally worked their way slowly up
to the high ecclesiastical dignities, which were often bestowed on
youths of high birth, almost before they were of canonical age to
take orders. Edmund Stafford was consecrated Bishop of Exe
ter, possessing little theological learning, and was now made Lord
Chancellor without any knowledge of the law. But he was a
daring and reckless politician.
It is to be hoped that he did not counsel the murder of the D like of
Gloucester at Calais, although Hume rather justifies this coup
d etat, on the ground that a person of such influence could not have
been safely brought to trial in England ±, but the Chancellor open-
* l Pari. Hist. 221. f 1 St. Tr. 123. j Vol. iii 32.

EDMUND STAFFORD, CHANCELLOR. 263
ly sanctioned the banishment of Henry of Bolingbroke and the
Duke of Norfolk, together with the other hasty and tyrannical
measures which were precipitating the fate of the unhappy Rich
ard. On the death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster the King,
with the concurrence ofthe Chancellor, seized all r ,
the possessions and jurisdictions of this powerful lA- D- 1,JJ9i
family as forfeited to the Crown, although the sentence against
Henry of Bolinbroke had only been banishment for ten years, and
it had been expressly stipulated that he should be entitled by his
attorney to enter into possession of any succession that might fall
to him in the mean time. This act of injustice made Henry des
perate, and led to his invasion of England and his claim of the
crown. Edmund Stafford, the Chancellor, did not accompany Richard
in his ill-judged expedition to Ireland, and he seems to have re
mained in possession of the Great Seal in London till after Henry
had landed at R-avenspurg, — had been joined by the Duke of
York at St. Alban's, — had taken Bristol, — had put to death the
Earl of Wiltshire and others of the Bang's ministers whom he
found there, — had got possession of Richard's person on his return
from Ireland, — and was de facto the master of the kingdom.
As might be expected, the records at the conclusion of this
reign are very defective, and historians and antiquaries have been
much puzzled respecting the manner in which the office of Chan
cellor was then disposed of. There is no entry to be found of any
transfer of the Great Seal under Richard from the time when
Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, was first sworn in ; but from Privy
Seal bills still extant, it is certain that before Richard's formal
deposition, and the elevation of Henry to the throne, Thomas de
Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and John Searle, who had
been made Master of the Rolls in 1394, were successively invest
ed with the office of 'Chancellor.
The transfer of the Seal to Arundel must have been between
the 15th of July and the 23d of August, the former being the last
date of the Privy Seal bills addressed to the Bishop of Exeter,
and the other the earliest date of those addressed to the Arch
bishop of Canterbury; and on the like evidence Searle's appoint
ment must have been between the 3d and 5th of September.
The learned and acute Mr. Duffus Hardy conjectures that
Richard had recalled the Archbishop from banishmeut, and again
made him Chancellor*; but, with the greatest respect for this
high authority, I think it certain that the change was made, though
in Richard's name, yet without his privity, and by those who were
about to dethrone him.
When Bolingbroke and the Duke of Norfolk were banished,
it was prescribed that they should have no intercourse with Arch
bishop Arundel, then in exile, and considered a very dangerous
* Hardy's Chancellors, 46.

264 REIGN OF RICHAED II.
man ; but as soon as Bolingbroke had renounced all thoughts of
reconciliation with Richard, he entered into a close alliance with
the Archbishop, and they jointly planned the invasion of England
during Richard's absence in Ireland. The Archbishop, with his
nephew the young Earl of Arundel, embarked with Henry at
Nantes, landed with him in Yorkshire, advised and supported him
in all his proceedings, and actually placed the crown upon his
head. From the time when Richard surrendered himself to the
Earl of Northumberland at Conway, which was on the 18th of
August, he was a prisoner, and having been forced to issue writs
for the calling of a parliament to depose him, he was carried to
London, and kept in close custody in the Tower. We may con
jecture that an order was extorted at the same time for delivering
the Seal to the Archbishop, and that by him the writs were sealed.
It seems at first sight more difficult to account for Arundel's
parting with the office so suddenly; for Searle was certainly
Chancellor by the 5th of September, and Richard's reign nominal
ly continued till the 30th of the same month, when parliament
met, and his deposition was pronounced. Searle was in the inte
rest of Henry, and was continued by him in office.
The probability is, that the Archbishop, who cast all the parts
in the drama of the revolution, intending that he himself, as me
tropolitan and first in precedence in the realm, should lead Henry
to the vacant throne in Westminster Hall, and crown him in
Westminster Abbey, conceived that it would have a better effect
if he should appear only in his sacred character, and the civil
office of Chancellor should for the time be filled by another. He,
therefore, may have handed it over to Searle, his creature, in the
belief that he should be able to resume it at pleasure.
I do not find Seaiie's name mentioned as taking any active part
in the parliamentary proceedings on this change of dynasty, and
he was probably only permitted to sit on the woolsack in the House
of Lords, and to put the question as Speaker.
On Michaelmas-day, the Archbishop accompanied Henry to the
Tower, Richard, while a prisoner there, having said that, " he was
willing to resign as he had promised, but that he desired to have
some discourse with his cousin the Duke of Lancaster and the
Archbishop of Canterbury before he fulfilled such his promise."
The record of the deposition on the Parliament Roll relates that
" the King, having had discourse with the said Duke and Arch
bishop, exhibiting a merry countenance as appeared to those that
stood round about, holding the schedule of renunciation in his hand,
very willingly read the same and subscribed it, and absolved all
his subjects from their allegiance to him." When this instrument,
supposed to have been so freely and cheerfully executed, was read
in parliament next day, " it was demanded by the Chancellor of
the estates and people then present, —to wit, first, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, to whom, by reason of the dignity and prerogative
of his metropolitan church it belongs in this behalf to have the

JOHN SEARLE, CHANCELLOR. 265
first voice amongst the rest of the prelates and nobles of the realm,
whether for their interest, and the utility of the kingdom, they would
be willing to admit such renunciation and cession ?" This being car
ried with great applause, the Archbishop thought it would be weU
to have another string to Ms bow, lest hereafter the free agency of
the act of resignation should be doubted by some suspicious per
sons, and he caused articles to be exibited against Richard for
misgovernment, and a solemn sentence of deposition to be pro
nounced against him.*
The throne thus being declared vacant, Henry of Bolingbroke,
who had taken his seat at the head of the temporal lords, rose
and made his memorable claim, " in the name of Fader, Son, and
Holy Ghost," having humbly fortified himself with the sign of
the cross on his forehead and on his breast.
The states, with the whole people, having consented that the
said Duke should reign over them, the Archbishop, taking him by
the right hand, led him to the royal chair of state, which had been
placed at the upper end of the hah; and when the new King
kneeling down before it, had prayed a little while, the Archbishop
caused him to sit in the royal seat, and delivered an oration from
the text, Vir dominabitur populo " A man shall reign over my people,"
1 Sam. ix. 17. ; in which he pointed out the evils of the rule of
children, and the abuses of the late reign, and the blessings to be
expected from the mature wisdom of him who was now to wield
the sceptre ; concluding with these words — " And so, in the stead
of a child wantoning in foolish stubborn humours, a man shall
reign — and such a man, that it shall be said of him, A king shall
reign in wisdom, and he shall execute judgment and do justice in the
earth."i On the 6th of October following, a new parhament met under
writs of summons issued under Henry's Great Seal, to ratify these
proceedings. Lord Chancellor Searle -was still silent, and the session was
opened by a speech from the Archbishop, who took for his text
these words out of Maccabees, " Incumbit nobis ordinare pro
regno," — propounding the constitutional doctrine, " that a King is
not to rule by his own will or humour, but to be governed by the
honourable, discreet, and sage men of the realm."t
His motion for confirming -what had been done in the deposition
of Richard and the elevation of Henry, was passed with the dis
sentient voice of one, who strenuously resisted it, and earned the
bright testimony " that he was the only honest man in this parha
ment, scorning life and fortune in respect to his Sovereign's right
and his own allegiance."- The noble speech of the Bishop of
Carhsle on this occasion, as given by Sir John Hayward, greatly
exceeds, not only in boldness, but in lucid arrangement, close rea
soning, and touching eloquence, any thing that could be expected
*lSt.Tr. 135, I Pari. Hist. 242. t 1 P«l. Hist. 849. X Ibid 286.
TOL. I. 23

266 REIGN OF RICHARD II.
from that age* The oration was listened to ; but as soon as the
orator had concluded it, he was attached of high treason, and sent
prisoner to the Abbey of St. Alban's. Though his life was safe,
he was deprived of his bishopric. The Pope, as a testimony to
his integrity, made him titular Bishop of Samos.
The Archbishop then moved that the King should be prayed to
create his eldest son Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and
Earl of Chester, which was carried unanimously ; and thereupon
the King, sitting in his royal seat in full parliament, put a coronet
on the head of Prince Henry, and a ring of gold on his finger, and
gave him a golden rod in his hand, and kissed him.t
The Archbishop had next to manage a very delicate matter —
" the disposal of Richard's person in order to his keeping in safe
custody, for the King would have his fife saved." Twenty-two
spiritual and thirty-six lay lords being aU who were present, were
severally asked their opinion, and they all assented to the resolu
tion, " that he should be put under a safe and secret guard, and
that no person who had been familiar with him should be about
his person, and that it should be done in the most secret manner
that could be devised."t
We must not enter into the controversy how the unhappy Rich
ard came to his end, — "whether by violence or famine ; — and be
fore passing on to the Chancellors of his successor, we can only
make a few observations on the equitable jurisdiction ofthe Court
of Chancery during his reign.
The practice of referring matters by parliament to the Chancel
lor still occasionally prevailed. Thus in 15 Rich. II. two petitions
were addressed to the King and the Peers, and the answer to
each was the same, — " that the petition be sent to the Chancery,
— the Chancellor to hear both parties, — and further let there be
done by authority of parliament that which right and reason and
good faith and good conscience demand."}
But the circuity of a petition to parliament or to the Council
was now seldom resorted to. I have shown the opinion to be un
founded, that the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery
was not of earlier date ; but there can be no doubt that about this
time, it was very much extended. The petitions of the Commons
in the 13th of Richard IL, " that the Chancellor might make no
order against the common law, and that no one should appear be
fore the ChanceUor where recovery was given by the common
law," carry in them an admission that a power of judicature did
reside in the Chancellor, so long as he did not determine against
the common law, nor interpose where the common law furnished
a remedy The King's answer, " that it should continue as the
usage had been heretofore," clearly demonstrates that such anau-
WitJJnf'miVI4!' -efoa be^«f«l abstract of it at the conclusion of Hume's
History of Etc 2 vol. m. 43., and see Shak. Ric. 2. act. iv. scene 1.
t 1 Pari. Hist. 273. t Ibid. 274. § EqL parl> vo,_ ..._ 29?_

STATE OF THE LAW. 267
thority, restrained within due bounds, was recognised by the con
stitution of the country.
The use of the writ of subpcena to compel an appearance by
the defendant, gave new vigour to the process of the Court, and
the necessity for previously filing a written statement ofthe griev
ance alleged to require relief in equity, introduced the formal pro
ceeding by " Bill and Answer," instead of a mere loose petition
to be heard in a summary way, ore tenus. In fact, the practice of
addressing bills directly to the Chancellor had become quite com
mon, and many of them are still extant.
The greatest indignation broke forth in this reign against the
Masters in Chancery, who were considered overgrown and op
pressive sinecurists. In 5 R. II. a complaint was exhibited against
them in parliament, " that they were over fatt both in boddie and
purse, and over well furred in their benefices, and put the Kinge
to veiry great cost more than needed*," — -yet nothing effectual was
done to reform them.
The execution of Tressilian, and the punishment of the other
common-law judges under Lord Chancellor Arundel, was attend
ed -with much violence, but had a powerful influence in creating a
respect for parliamentary privilege, which they had attempted ut
terly to subvert.
Upon the whole, down to the accession of the House of Lan
caster, our juridical institutions, including the Court of Chancery,
had gone on with a steady improvement, but they remained near
ly stationary from this time till the union of the Roses in the reign
of Henry VIl.t

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL DURING THE
REIGN OF HENRY IV.
John Searle, who had nominally been Chancellor to Richard
II, and presided on the woolsack as a tool of rgEpT 30 logo i
Archbishop Arundel, was for a short time con- 1 ' • ' -J
continued in the office by the new Sovereign.
Little is known respecting his origin or prior history/ He is
supposed to have been a mere clerk in the Chancery brought for
ward for a temporary purpose to play the part of Chancellor.
Having strutted and fretted his hour upon the stage, he was heard
of no more. It proved convenient for the Staffords, the Beau-
* Harg. Law Tracts, 314.
t See Cooper on Public Records, ii. pp. 359, 360. 377.

268 REIGN OE HENRY IV.
forts, and the Arundels, that he should be thus suddenly elevated
and depressed.
Henry began his reign by summoning a parliament to meet at
Westminster on the 21st of January, 1401. On that
[a. d. 1401. J day the ]jnigilts and burgesses were called into the
Court of Chancery in Westminster HaU before the Chancellor,
and by the King's authority he put off the meeting of the parha
ment till the morrow* The Lords and Commons then met the
King in the Painted Chamber, but on account of incapacity for
public speaking the Chancellor was silent, and the speech ex
plaining the causes of calling parliament, was, by the King's
command, delivered by Sir William Thyrning, Chief Justice of
the King's Bench.
On the 9th of March following Lord ChanceUor Searle surren
dered the Great Seal to the King in full parliament, and his Ma
jesty immediately delivered it to Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Ex
eter, who had held it towards the end of the preceding reign, and
had been a special favourite of Richard, but had joined in the vote
for deposing him.
We are left entirely ignorant as to the fate of Ex-chancellor
Searle. Had he been a prelate we should have traced rum in the
chronicles of his diocese, but we have no means of discovering
the retreat of a layman, unconnected with any considerable fami
ly and of no personal eminence. He was probably fed in the
buttery of some of the great barons whom he had served, hardly
distinguished while he lived or when he died from their other idle
retainers. He may enjoy the celebrity of being the most incon
siderable man who ever held the office of ChanceUor in Eng
land.! Edmund Stafford, restored to the office of ChanceUor, now
found his situation very irksome, and very different from what it
had been under the feeble Richard. Henry looked with jealousy
and distrust even on those who had helped him to the crown, and.
confined aU whom he employed strictly to their official duties.
The Chancellor's disgust was increased by an attack which the
Commons now made on the jurisdiction of his court. They com
plained by petition to the King of the new writ of subposna, and
prayed " that people might be only treated according to the right
laws of the land anciently used ;" but the King's answer tended
to confirm the jurisdiction complained of : " Such writs ought not
- to issue except in necessary cases, and then by the discretion of
the Chancellor or King's council for the time being."
A considerable improvement, however, was effected in the
mode of proceeding when issues were joined upon controverted
facts in the court of Chancery. The custom seems to have been
* 1 Pari. Hist. 285.
+ His name appsars in the new House of Lords among the Chancellors, but it
has baffled the research of the most learned antiquaries to discover his armorial
bearings. Doubts are entertained even whether his name -was " Searle" or " Searle "

EDMUND STAFFORD, CHANCELLOR. 269
for the Chancellor himself to try them, calling in common-law
judges to his assistance ; but the Commons now prayed " that be
cause great mischiefs happen in the court of Chancery by the dis
cussion of all pleas in matters traversed in the said court, and by
the judges of the two benches being taken out of their courts to
assist in the discussion of such matters, to the great delay of the
law and to the damage of the people, the King would ordain that
traverses in the court of Chancery be sent and returned either
into the King's Bench or Common Pleas, and there discussed and
determined according to law." The King's answer was, " The
Chancellor, by virtue of his office, may grant the same, and let it
be, as it has been before these times, at the discretion of the
Chancellor for the time being."* Ever since, when an issue of
fact is joined on the common-law side of the court, the Chancel
lor hands it over to be tried in the court of King's Bench, and
controverted facts in equity proceedings he directs to be tried by
a jury in any of the common-law courts at his discretion.
Stafford held the Great Seal only tiU the end of February,
1403. The office stript of its power had lost its at- ^-p .„ .
traction for him, and he, who differed very little from <¦ EB' '•'
the warlike baron his elder brother, had no inclination to sit day
by day as a judge in the court of Chancery, for which he felt him
self so unfit, — under the vigilant superintendence of the unman
nerly Commons. He therefore willingly resigned the Great Seal
into the King's hands, and retired to his diocese to exercise baro
nial hospitality, and to enjoy hunting and the other sports of the
field, in the vain hope that some revolution in politics would again
enable him to mix in the factious strife which still more delighted
him. But he continued to languish in tranquillity, and before the
war of the Roses began, which would so much have suited his
taste, he was gathered to his fathers.
Upon this vacancy the Great Seal was given to the King's half-
brother, Henry Beaufort!, who was four times r-fl/Tgxc\, 10 14qq 1
Lord Chancellor, who was created a Cardinal, *¦ ' '*
and who made a distinguished figure as a statesman during three
reigns. He was the second son of John of Gaunt, by his mistress Cath
erine Swinford, afterwards his wife, and with the other issue of
this connection, he had been legitimated by act of parliament in
the 20th of Richard II, under the condition of not being entitled
to succeed to the crown. He studied both at Oxford, at Cam
bridge, and at Aix la ChapeUe. Taking orders, he rose rapidly in
the church, and while stUl a young man, he was, in 1397, made
Bishop of Lincoln by his royal cousin. He gained great celebrity
by assisting at the Council of Constance, and by r \iQ4t 1
making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he first <- ' "
obtained the Great Seal he stiU remained Bishop of Lincoln.
* Rot. Par. 2 Hen. 47- t Privy Seal Bills, 4 Hen, 4.
23*

270 REIGN OF HENRY IV.
The following vear he was translated to Winchester, where he
succeeded the famous William of Wickham, and he continued
till his death to hold this see, then considered the best in England
to accumulate wealth,— which was through life his ruling passion,
great as was his love of power.
During this reign, the King was Ins own minister, and neither
the present nor any of his other Chancellors had much influence
in the affairs of government. They were in the habit of deliver
ing a speech at the opening of every parhament; but it was rather
considered the speech of the King, which could not be censured
without disloyalty.
Three parliaments met in Henry Beaufort's first Chancellorship,
at which nothing very memorable was effected ; but at the last of
them an attempt was made by the Commons (probably at the in
stigation of the King), which, if it had succeeded, would have
greatly altered both the ecclesiastical and civil history of the coun
try. All who are friendly to a weU- endowed church ought to ex
claim, " Thank God we have had a House of Lords." The Chan
ceUor, in a Speech from the text, " Rex vocavit seniores terras,"
having pressed most urgently for supplies, the Commons came in
a body, and the King being on the throne proposed, " That with
out burthening his people, he might supply his occasions by seizing
on the revenues of the clergy ; that the clergy possessed a third
part of the riches of the realm, which evidently made them negli
gent in then duty ; and that the lessening of their excessive in
comes would be a double advantage both to the church and the
state." Archbishop Arundel, being now free from the trammels of office,
said to the King, who seems to have been addressed as the presi
dent of the assembly, " That though the ecclesiastics served him
not in person, it could, not be inferred that they were unservicea
ble ; that the stripping the clergy of their estates would put a stop
to their prayers night and day for the welfare of the state ; and
there was no expecting God's protection of the kingdom if the
prayers of the church were so little valued." The Speaker of the
Commons standing at the bar, smiled, and said openly, " that he .
thought the prayers of the church a veiy slender supply." To
Which the Archbishop answered, with some emotion, " that if the
prayers of the church were so slighted, it would be found difficult
to deprive them of their estates without exposing the kingdom to
great danger ; and so long as he were Archbishop of Canterbury,
he would oppose the injustice to the utmost in Iris power." Then
suddenly falling on his knees before the King, " he strongly press
ed him in point of conscience, and endeavoured to make him sen
sible that of all the crimes a Prince could commit, none was so
heinous as an invasion of the church's patrimony " The King
seeing the impression made upon the Peers, declared " that he
had made a firm resolution to support the church with all his pow
er, and hoped by God s assistance to leave her in a better state

THOMAS LONGLEY, CHANCELLOR. 271
than he found her." The Archbishop, construing this as aperemp-
tory veto on the proposal of the Commons, turned to them and
made them a most insulting speech, telling them their demand was
built wholly on irreligion and avarice ; "and verily," added he,
" I wUl sooner have my head cut off than that the church should
be deprived of the least right pertaining to it." Such a scene is
very inconsistent with our notions of parliamentary decorum. The
Commons not convinced, — on their return to their own chamber
passed a bill to carry their scheme into effect ; but the solicitations
of the Archbishop and the other Prelates were so powerful with
the Lords that they threw it out*
The recklessness of the Commons may have arisen from their
not having had a single lawyer among them. Lord ChanceUor
Beaufort, in framing the writs of summons, illegally inserted a pro
hibition, " that no apprentice or other man of the law should be
elected," — grounded on a most unconstitutional ordinance of the
Lords in the 46th of Edward III, to which the Commons had
never assented, and which had not been acted upon. In return
for such a slight, our law books and historians have branded this
parhament with the name of " parliamentum indoctum," or " the
lack-learning parliament;" and Sir Edward Coke observes with
some spleen, that " there never was a good law made thereat :" —
adding that as these writs were against law, lawyers ever since
(for the great and good service of the commonwealth) have
been eligible.!
At the end of two years Henry Beaufort appears to have lost
his royal brother's favour, for he was removed ._, 0„ ij.n'il
from his office, and he did not recover it during ^ EB' ' 14UG-I
the remainder of this reign.
He was now succeeded by an ecclesiastic, Thomas Longley,
who then having high church preferment, was likewise Keeper of
the Privy Seal, — was soon raised to the See of Durhamf, — was
afterwards made a Cardinal}, — and had the fortune to be Chan
cellor under three successive Sovereigns.
This minion of fortune was of obscure origin, being the son of
a yeoman, who lived at Longley, in the county of York. We
first hear of him as chaplain in the family of John of Gaunt, who,
by a will made in 1388, appointed him his executor. In the course
of three years he became canon of York, and he soon rose rapidly
in the church. He then recommended himself to Cardinal Beau
fort, by whose interest he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal.
Longley's first Chancellorship lasted little more than a year.
During that time he presided at a parliament call- [T!, . , . . . _ ,
ed by the King, chiefly for the purpose of in- ^EB' i0, 14UbJ
troducingthe Salic law into England, whereby, although the Crown
* 1 Pari. Hist. 294.
t 1 Bl. Com. 177. 4 Lust. 48. Some writers say that the prohibition wai con
tained in letters written by the King himself to the Sheriffs.
X May, 1406. $ By Pope Joha XXIII. in 1411.

272 REIGN OF HENRY IV.
had come to the house of Plantagenet through a female, it was
to descend only to males, — with a view of superseding the claim
ofthe descendants of the daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence,
one of whom , according to the doctrine of legitimacy, was now
entitled to occupy the throne. The Chancellor, to prepare the
minds of the members of both Houses of Parliament for this
measure, opened the session with a very learned and conciliatory
speech from the text, " Multorum consilia requirantur in magnis,"
and he compared the King to Ahashuerus, Qui interrogavit sap-
ientes ct illorum cautafaciebat consilia.
An act was accordingly passed in due form for entailing the
Crown on the present King and the heirs male of his body, tacitly
excluding females ; but this act was so much disliked by the na
tion, who during the -wars for fifty years arising out of the claim
of Edward III. to the Crown of France, had fought for the con
trary doctrine, and who dreaded future civil wars from any change
in the law of succession, that it was almost immediately after re
pealed, and the Crown -was settled upon the King and his descend
ants according to the ancient rules of inheritance.*
The House of Commons took the opportunity to enquire dil
igently into all abuses, particularly in the administration of justice,
and complained of the encroachments and delays in the Court of
Chancery, which was denounced as a great public grievance.
There had been heavy complaints of abuses both with respect to
the Great and Privy Seal, and " it was agreed by the King and par
liament, that for the presievation of the laws of the kingdom the
Chancellor and the Keeper of the Privy Seal should not allow any
warrant, grant by patent, judgment, or any other thing to pass un
der the seals in their custody, which by law and right ought not to
pass, and that they should not unduly delay such as ought to
pass."t The Commons then presented articles to the King, " That wor
thy councillors and officers be appointed, and not to be removed
without good proof of their ill-management. That two certain
days in the week be appointed for all suitors to present their pe
titions to the King. That none of the Council hold pleas of mat
ters determinable at common law, and that all the King's great
officers of every Court shall maintain the common law." There
is added an article which seems to us a strange mode of preserv
ing the independence and purity of the judges : " That no judicial
officer m any of the Courts enjoy any office but at will." This
was probably aimed at the sale of these offices, whereby it was
thought, by reason of a supposed vested right in the purchaser,
they were placed beyond the control of parliament. The Kins'
who on account of the infirmity of his title, was obliged to court
popularity, not only agreed to all these articles- himsilf, but after
a stout resistance from the Upper House, prevailed on the Arch-
*1 Pari. Hist. 298. t Rot. Pari. vol. iii. p. 586.

THOMAS ARUNDEL, CHANCELLOR. 273
bishop of Canterbury, and all the Lords spiritual and temporal, to
swear to observe them, " whereby they became statutes binding
in law and conscience."*
Archbishop Arundel's compliance was quick- rT
ened by the prospect of recovering the Great l " ' 1407J
Seal, and in the beginning of 1407, he became Chancellor the
fourth time.t
The first proceeding before him was the trial of William
Thorpe, a priest, for heresy, of which we have a very interesting
report by the defendant himself. He says : " Being brought before
Thomas Arundel, Archebyshope of Canterbury and ChanceUor of
Ingland, when that I came to hym he stoode in a great chamber
and moche people aboute hym ; and when that he sawe me he
went faste into a closett, bydding all secular men that followed
hym to go forth from hym-" There is then a long account of the
heresies imputed to the defendant, with his answers, filling many
pages, in which he gives himself greatly the advantage over his
judge. At last, allusion being made to the Archbishop's banish
ment, his Grace said, " I shall assaye if I can make thee as sor-
rowfull, as it was tolde me thou waste gladde, of my laste going
out of Ingland; by Seynt Thomas I shaU tourne thy joye into sor-
rowe." The narrative continues — "And I sayde, 'There can no
body proue lawfully that I ioyed ever of the manner of your go-
ynge out of this land. But, Sir, to say the sothe, I was joyfuU
when ye were gone.' — The Archebishoppe said to me, 'Be this
thinge well known to the, that God (as I wot well) hath called me
agayne, and brought me into this lande for to destroye the, and the
fasle secte that thou arte of, as, by God, I shall persue you so nar-
roulye that I shall not leave a steppe of you in thys lande.' — And
I said to the Archebishoppe, 'Sir, the holy prophete Jeremy saide
to the false prophete Anany, ' Wlian the worde that is the prophecye
of a prophete is know en or fulfilled, than it shall be kncnven that the
Lorde sente the prophete in treuth ! ' — And the Archebishoppe, as if
he hadde not been pleased with my sayinge, turned him awaye
ward hyther and thyther, and sayde, 'By God, I shall sette upon
thy shynnes a pair of perlis, that thou shalt be gladde to chaunge
thy voice.' "| This keen encounter ended in Thorpe being "led
forth and brought into a foul unhonest prison," — where he is sup
posed to have died ; for he was no more heard of.$
The Chancellor now remained in high favour with the King for
three years On one occasion during this pe- [Maroh lfJ 1409]
nod, His Majesty bestowed his bounty upon L '
him in a manner that at first caused him much alarm. The Great
Seal was abruptly demanded from him ; the King kept it only a
' 1 Pari Hist. 290. t Rot. CI. 8 Hen. 4. m. 23.
X It appears also by the report of Lord Cobham's trial, that his Grace was much
given to swearing, even when acting judicially in a capital case. His favourite oath
on that occasion was, "By our Lady." — 2 St. Tr. 219.
6 2 St. Tr. 175.

274 REIGN OF HENRY IV.
few hours, while he caused a charter to be sealed granting the lord
ship of Queenbury to the Chancellor for life, and immediately
after the Seal was restored to him .*
However, it was taken from him in good earnest on the 21st of
December, 1409 1, when he must have had some serious difference
with the King concerning the business to be brought forward at
the parliament then about to assemble. Henry kept it in his own
hands till the 19th of January following, during which time
several charters, letters patent, and writs were sealed by himself.
It was then delivered to John Wakering, Master of the Bolls, as
Keeper, for the despatch of judicial business. X
In the mean time the parliament met, and, there being no
Chancellor, the session was opened by a speech from Ex-chancel
lor Henry Beaufort, the King's brother, from the text "De;et nos
implere omnem justitiam," in which he reminded the parliament
of Aristotle's answer to Alexander when asked the best mode of
defending a city — " that the strongest walls were the hearty good
will of his subjects;" but gave them a strong hint that a supply
was expected, by reminding them that benevolence was due from
subjects to a Sovereign as -well as reverence. $
The Commons now eagerly pressed their expedient of seizing
the property of the church, which they estimated at. 485,000 marks
a year, and which they proposed to divide among 15 earls, 1500
knights, 6000 esquires, and 100 hospitals, besides 20,000/. a year
which the King might take for his own use ; and they insisted
that the clerical functions would be better performed than at pres
ent by 15,000 parish priests paid at the rate of 7 marks a piece of
yearly stipend.
The King was violently suspected of secretly favouring this
project, but finding that it could not be carried, he threw all the
blame upon the poor Lollards, and, to satisfy the church, ordered
a Lollard to be burnt while the parliament was still sitting.ll
We have now a lay Chancellor, but not a lawyer, — another half-
T T n S1 14-10 1 kr°ther of the King,. Sir Thomas Beaufort, who
'' could not have been very fit for the office, but
who reached the highest dignity in the peerage of any man who
ever held the Great Seal. He was bred a soldier, and in the
reign of Richard II. had gained considerable credit by opposing
his bad counsels. He was created successively Earl of Dorset
and Duke of Exeter.
He continued Chancellor two years, during which time he must
often have sat in the marble chair at the marble table ; but he
seems to have been much engaged in political business, and he
had the assistance of Sir John Wakering, the Master of the Rolls.
fp^ri'i1,0,?6"'.4™- 18 tRot- C1- ll Hen-4- m-8
t ??, ? .,- 4' Su-8- § 1 Parl- Hi*t- 312.
II 1 Jr'arl llist. 308. Inu was the beginning of burning heretics in England, a
practice whi.h became more common till after the violent struggle excited bv the
Reformation had subsided. J

SIR THOMAS BEAUFORT, CHANCELLOR. 275
On one occasion he declared that he was so much occupied with
other business, that he had no time to attend to the duties of his
office. ( Quod circa alai negotia adco occvpatus erat id sigillutiom
vacare non posset.) Political Chancellors have not always been
so plain-spoken.
After his surrender of the Great Seal, he remained inactive for
the remainder of this reign ; but he afterwards made a most dis
tinguished figure in the wars of Henry V., and upon the untimely
death of that Sovereign he was constituted guardian of the per
son of his infant successor, then crowned King of r , ,
France as well as of England. Although he comes ^ A' D' ' "" -¦
in the list of Chancellors, he had little to do with the duties of
the office or the profession of the law, and I should not be justifi
ed in narrating his campaigns or entering more circumstantially
into his history. He died at Greenwich in 1425, without issue,
leaving his immense wealth to his royal ward.
We have no certain explanation of tbe reason why he ceased
to be Chancellor any more than why he was first appointed.
Henry, though now only forty-five years of age, had fallen into
a mortal distemper, and felt serious compunction for the manner
in which he had acquired the Crown, as well as for some of his
acts in the exercise of his royal authority. Perhaps, as his strength
declined, he wished to have a spiritual " keeper of his con
science" who had been his chief councillor and accomplice and
who might be expected to be a lenient and absolving confessor.
On the 5th of January, 1412, the Great Seal was transferred to
the aged Archbishop Arundel*, who became Chancellor for the
fifth time. While Henry languished under his malady, nothing
memorable occurred. He had long expected death, and in one of
his fits was supposed to be dead. At last, on the 20th of March,
1413, he expired, in the Jerusalem Chamber, at Westminster, hav
ing been taught to believe that he had made a fuU atonement for
all his transgressions, by vowing that, if he recovered, he would
lead an army to the East and reconquer the Holy Land, and that
his death under these circumstances was tantamount to a fulfil
ment of his vow.
He had appointed all his Chancellors merely from political con
venience, -without any regard to their fitness for the judicial duties
of the office, and our jurisprudence is under no obligation to them.
They showed great vigour, however, in enforcing the dne admin
istration of justice. While Cardinal Beaufort was Chancellor, the
Archbishop of York had been guilty of an overt act of high treason,
by joining in open rebellion and levying war against the King.
Being taken prisoner, he claimed to be set at liberty on account
of his sacerdotal character, but the government ordered him to be
brought to trial. Sir William Gascoigne, Chief Justice of the
King's Bench, who had courage to commit the Prince of Wales to
*Ilot. CI. 13 Hen. 4. m. 1.

276

REIGN OF HENRY V

orison for a contempt, was afraid to try an archbishop^ There
upon a commission passed the Great Seal for his tnal before an
other iudU Sir William Falthorpe, and he was convicted and
executed to the great horror of all churchmen and many of the
laity although clerical exemptions and privileges were now re
garded with much less respect than at any prior asm.*
The Chancellors at this time successfully resisted an attempt dj
the Commons to participate in the appeUate jurisdiction of parlia
ment, and obliged them to be contented with a resolution that then
consent was necessary to all legislative acts.t

CHAPTER XIX.
chancellors during the reign of henry v.
We now come to a reign for military exploits, one of the most
brilliant in our annals, but by no means distinguished for juridical
improvement, although during the course of it the office of Chan
ceUor was filled by very eminent men.
Henry V. being proclaimed King, to the great joy of the people,
n — the first act of his reign was to take the
| March 21, 141o.J Great geal from Archbishop Arundel, and deliv
er it to his uncle Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, the Car
dinal, who now entered on his second Chancellorship. The young
Kino-' was not actuated by any desire to change his father's minis
ters.0 Contrary to the expectations of his dissolute companions,
and of the nation generally, his plan was to continue in their
offices all who had faithfully served the Crown. | Perhaps he was
* As civilization advanced, it was desirable that the power and exclusive privi
leges of the clergy should be curtailed ; but their ascendancy during the darker
ages had been highly beneficial to lhe community. Not only - were they the sole
depositaries of learning, but they were often the protectors of the people against
the tyranny cf the King and the nobles. The enlightened reformers at Runny
mede therefore made it the first article of Magna Charta, " quod Ecclesias Angli-
cana libera sit, et habcal omnia jura sua integra, et libertates suas illesas."
t See Hale's Jurisd House of Lords. There is a curious entry in the Parliament
Roll, showing the hours when the two Houses now met for the despatch of busi
ness. At the parliament wbif-h assembled in 1406, after the choice of the speaker
had been confirmed, " Et sur ceo le Chancellor d'Engleterre dona en charge de par
le Roi as ditz Communes, q. pur l'esploit du dit parlement iis soient assemblez en
lour maison aceonstemez dcinz l'Abbcie de Westm' chescun jour durant le parle
ment a sept del clocke; et semblable charge il dona as seignrs. du parlement, qu'ils
de lour partie pur mesme l'esploit se assemblent en lour lieu accus'ume a noef des
clocke." — Roll. Par. iii. 5(S8.
X We might have expected to see the Great Seal now delivered to Sir John
Falstaff, that he might play the part of " Chancellor," as he bad done that of
" King ;" but instead of this, tho stern order was given : 
" Go, carry Sir John FallstafF to the Fleet :
Take all his company along with him."

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, CHANCELLOR. 277
induced to make an exception in the case of the Archbishop, on
account of the active part which this Prelate had taken in the de
thronement of Richard II Henry expressed the deepest sorrow
for the fate of that unhappy Prince, did justice to his good quali
ties, performed his funeral obsequies with pomp and solemnity,
and cherished all those who had distinguished themselves by their
loyalty and attachment to him. The Archbishop, while in exile,
and on his return to England, had devised and prosecuted the
plans which led Richard to his grave, and he might now be an ob
ject of personal dishke to the new King, who did not go so far as
to resign his Crown to the true heir, but affected much to favour
the doctrine of legitimacy.
We must now take our final leave of Ex-chancellor Arundel.
Reheved from official duties, he occupied himself in carrying on a
violent prosecution against the Lollards, whom the King was rather
disposed to screen, and he presided on the trial and condemnation
of Sir John.Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, their leader, who had incur
red the peculiar hatred of the clergy, by actively supporting the
proposal to encroach on the revenues of the church. This in
triguing Prelate and Chancellor does not fill so great a space in the
eye of history as might have been expected, from the important
part he acted in the revolutions of his age ; but such was his rep
utation for ability with his contemporaries, that when impeached
for high treason in 1397, the Commons having finished their case,
— as he began to answer for himself, Sir John Busby, the Speaker,
entreated the King that this might not be allowed him, " lest he
might, by his subtlety and great wit, bring persons over to believe
him innocent," — so that he was forced to remain silent* Of his
judicial character no author makes mention. He died in January,
1413. Cardinal Beaufort, two days after his appointment, sealed writs
for a new parliament to meet at Easter ; and r-iyr _ 2o 14.1^1
when the time came, opened the session with a L > ¦!
speech from the text, " Ante omne actum consilium stabilire." t
The Commons made an attempt to reform the Ecclesiastical Courts
and other abuses, but exhausted themselves in attacks on the Lol
lards. These were renewed in a parliament which met the fol
lowing year, when laws were passed, at the sugges- r \a-\a ]
tion of the Chancellor and other Prelates, against I • ' -J
reading Wickliffe's translation of the Bible, and against other such
enormities. X But the church was alarmed by the Commons again
urgently pressing that the revenues of the clergy should be applied
to the purposes of the State, and passing a bill which, says HaU,
" made the fat abbots to sweat, the proud priors to frown, the poor
monks to curse, the sUly nuns to weep, and indeed aU to fear that
Babel would fall down."
It is said by some historians, that it was to divert this storm from
f [>i.Tr. 226. t 1 Pari. Hist. 319. } 1 Pari. Hist. 324.
VOL. i. 24

278 REIGN OE HENRY V .
the church, that Chicheley, the new Archbishop of Canterbury,
strongly advised the King to claim the crown of France, and to lead
an army across the seas in support of his pretended right. Certainly
there is extant a long and very extraordinary speech of his, ad
dressed to the King in the House of Lords, making out the title of
Edward III, notwithstanding the Salic law, and insisting that what
ever title that Sovereign had was now vested in his present Majes
ty. He thus concluded, " Consider the just title you have to this
Crown, devolved on you by Queen Isabella your great-grandmother,
sister and heir to three successive kings of France, who died with
out children, and take up noble arms to assist so just a cause. Ad
vance your standard into France, and with assured hopes of vic
tory march to conquer those dominions which are your own by in
heritance. There is no true Englishman but is ready to devote
his hfe and fortune to so glorious a service of his King. And in
fuU persuasion of the justness of the war, we the clergy have giv
en such a sum of money to maintain it as was never granted to
any of your predecessors, and will join aU our prayers for the suc
cess of your arms." His Grace found it convenient to forget not
only the objections to the claim of Edward III, but the awkward
fact, that supposing this monarch to have been entitled to the
crown of France, — if the succession to it was not regulated by the
Salic law, the true heir was the Earl of March, descended from
his second son the Duke of Clarence, and not Henry V. descended
from his third son, the Duke of Lancaster ; — and if the parliament
of England could change the descent of the Enghsh crown, trans
ferring it lo a younger branch of the royal family, it could have no
such power over the crown of another country, which could not be
considered, like the Isle of Man, as appurtenant to the crown of
England* But the Primate was warmly supported by the Ex-
chancellor Thomas Beaufort, then Earl of Dorset, afterwards
Duke of Exeter, and his arguments prevailed with the King and
the royal brothers, who, being young and thirsting for glory, were
impatient to signalise their courage against the old enemies of
their native land. The same gallant spirit diffusing itself through
the minds of the other nobles, they all declared for a war with
France. The Ecclesiastical Revenues Bill was aUowed to drop,
and as soon as a supply was voted, the parliament was prorogued.
The successive ecclesiastical Chancellors who presided in the
House of Lords fr,m this time till the quarrel with Rome in the
reign of Henry VIII, contrived to prevent the subject being again
brought forward in parliament.
But the clamours against the abuses of the Court of Chancery
could not be silenced. Cardinal Beaufort was now extending its
jurisdiction m a manner that greatly alarmed the common lawyers,
ho^oT itrsffl^^
^^fflct0 make wt thek <- -^ ^Wft

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, CHANCELLOR. 279
and caused the most lively remonstrances from the House of
Commons. As soon as the King returned to England, after his
glorious campaign, commenced by the capture of r ,
Harfleur, and crowned by the battle of Agincourt, — ^A- D' 141 .1
a parliament was called, and the Chancellor, in his speech with
which the session was opened, tried to divert attention from all
domestic grievances, by a glowing description of the martial glory
the nation had won. He strongly urged them to be content with
nothing less than the conquest of France, endeavouring to dem
onstrate " that a thing well begun, and continued with diligence,
must have a prosperous event, according to the saying, Dimidmm
facti qui bene cavpit habet."*
There were, of course, warm congratulations on account of the
splendid success of the royal arms ; but the first real business was
a petition from the Commons to the King (the usual mode of leg
islating in that age) against the recent encroachment of Courts of
Equity, — praying that no causes should be drawn thither which
might be determined in the Courts of common law. The petition
is curious, as containing a full exposition of the opinion of the
great body of the nation upon the subject of equitable juris
diction, t
* 1 Pari. Hist. 331.
t "Also the Commons pray, that inasmuch as many persons of your kingdom
feel themselves greatly aggrieved in this, that your writs, called writs of subpoena
and certiorari, are made and sued out of your Chancery and Exchequer for mat
ters determinable by your common law, which never were granted or used before
the time of the late King Richard ; when John Waltham, heretofore Bishop of
Salisbury, of his craft, invented, made and commenced such innovations against
the form of the common law of your realm, as well as to the great loss and
hindrance of the profits which ought to arise to you, Sovereign Lord, in your courts,
as in tbe fees and profits of yonr seals, fines, issues, and amerciaments, — and
divers other profits, coming to your other Courts, in causes in which the matters
might be sued and determined by the common law, because no profit arises to you
from such writs, except only 6d". for tbe seal: And whereas, by reason that your
Justices of either Bench, when they ought to attend in their places, to enter pleas
and to take inquests for the deliverance of your people, are occupied upon examina
tions upon such writs, to the great vexation, loss, and costs of your liege subjects,
who are long time delayed in the sealing of their writs, sued in your Chancery, by
reason of the great occupation upon the said examinations, which things are not
profitable to you, most Sovereign Lord, nor to your liege subjects, on which ex
aminations there is great clamour and noise by divers persons not aware of the
law, without any record thereupon entered in your said places : And in which pleas
they cannot make fine but by examination and oath of the parties, according to the
form ofthe civil law and the law of Holy Church, in subversion of your common law :
And in causes which the said parties cannot be convicted by their examination there,
they are sent to find sureties for your peace, which they are not able to find in their
counties without coming to your said courts; or otherwise they are encouraged to
treat and agree with their adversaries who sue such writs, or otherwise to abide
elsewhere, in ward or on bail, until they shall so do : That it please our most
Sovereign Lord to ordain, in this present parliament, that every person who shall
sue such writs shall put all the cause and matter of his suit in the said writs, and
that all such writs, in the Courts out of which they shall issue, shall be enrolled in
the said Courts, and made patent, and shall remain for the defendants therein, with
out beinw returned in the said Courts. And in cases in which any one shall feel

280 REIGN OF HENRY V.
The royal veto was put upon the measure, the response being,
" Le Roy s'avisera."* The chief grievance now complained of
was afterwards remedied in practice, by the plaintiff being oblig
ed to put upon the file of the Court a bill specifying his cause of
suit before the subpoena issued.
In the following year, the Commons renewed the complaint
r 14.1R1 aSamst arbitrary proceedings contrary to the course
[a. d. .J Qji tjie common iaWj although the Chancellor had
tried to tranquillise them by an opening speech from the text,
" Operam detis . ut quieti sitis."* There had, as we have seen,
been an early practice of presenting petitions to parliament com
plaining of private grievances. After the separation of the two
Houses, these were reserved for the consideration of the Lords,
and were first submitted to the triers of petitions, who were ap
pointed at the commencement of every session. Such of them
as disclosed matters only fit for the ordinary tribunals of the coun
try, were in regular manner referred to those tribunals, and some
were not improperly allotted to the Chancellor, or the Privy Coun
cil. But this course was resorted to chiefly by suitors who knew
they had no chance of success in the courts of common law ; —
himself aggrieved or vexed by such manner of writs, for any matter determinable
by the common law, then the person so aggrieved or vexed shall have an action of
debt for 40Z. against him, wherefore he sued the said writs, upon which writ the
cause of the action by how much he was vexed by such writ, of the matter which
was determinable by the common law. And in cases which appear to the court in
such writ for which the debt is sued and the matter contained in such writ was de
terminable by the common law, which they maintained in pursuance of such writ,
shall be condemned towards such person, being so vexed, in the said sum of 40/.
And moreover to ordain by authority of the said parliament, that in writs called in
formations, which are issued out of your Exchequer, the names of those ou whose
iuggestion or information such writs issued shall be sent in tbe said writs. And that
all such writs so issuing at your suit, or at the suit of the party, shall be enrolled and
made patent, and shall remain for the defendant therein, without being returned
into your Exchequer, and in like manner to declare concerning writs called sub
poena and certiorari. And in cases which after those who are made to come into
your Exchequer, by force of such writs, may be sufficiently excused, acquitted, or
discharged, of the suggestions and matters on them so surmised, upon such writs,
then they shall have an action of debt for 40/. against the said suggestors and in
formers, declaring against them upon the said writs the cause of their action, by
s.° "".J* as the sa,d suggestions or informations are of record not proved true.
And if it may appear by the record to the Court on such writs which suit they shall be
«ued for the debt which the plaintiffs in the said writ were acquitted, excused, or dis
charged, of the matters and. suggestions having been by them surmised, that then
the said informers and suggestors shall be condemned to the prosecutor of the said
writs of debt in the said sum of 40/. And furthermore that as well the pain con-
nThlnV TnH ,7 ' 3S f the Pr0cess there»P°». ^all be void and holden for
shall bt sJa ?L1 nf LSU Tn"' CaUed SubpCEna and certiorari, and informations
he laid writs and IZ °Tt8' *S™St tW,s °^^ce, in time to come, that
SffiSS' Pr°CCedlDg9 dePendinS thereupon, shall be wholly void

"S-
* Rot, Pari 3. Hen. 5.

t 1 Pari. Hist. 333.

1 Rot. Pari. 3 Han. 5, part ii. vol iv. p. 84.

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, CHANCELLOR. 281
and, as an expedient for securing themselves a hearing before
those by whom the rules of the common law were disregarded,
they presented petitions to parliament, and themselves indorsed
upon them a supposed -reference to the Council or the Chancellor,
—which was considered as giving the Council or Chancellor ju
risdiction, although the subject-matter was properly cognisable at
conimon law.
The House of Commons now prayed the King " that if any
man shaU indorse his bill or petition with these words by authority
qf parliament, let this bill or petition be sent to the Council of the
King, or to the Chancellor of England, to execute and determine
what is contained therein, by which the said bill or petition be not
by the Commons of the parliament inquired into, affirmed, or as
sented unto, (which no one can indoe.se on any such bill
OR PETITION, WITHOUT THE ASSENT AND REQUEST OP THE COM
MONS op parliament,) let him be sent to answer for disobeying
the laws of the kingdom of England."
The King's answer still was, " Le Roy s'avisera*," — which I
can only account for from the parenthetical claim of privilege set
up by the Commons, that they were to join in hearing and dispos
ing of petitions to parhament respecting the administration of jus
tice, and that, without their concurrence, the Lords could neither
themselves determine the matter nor refer it to another tribunal.
The simple condemnation and prohibition of the unauthorised
practice of individuals so indorsing their petitions without the
sanction of either House, could not have been refused ; but a
great jealousy has always been manifested of an encroachment
by the Commons on the judicial powers of the Upper House.
The Chancellor had now a very delicate matter to negotiate ;
and he had to encounter a very formidable struggle between
his avarice and his love of power. The King was reduced to the
greatest necessity for money to carry on the war with France.
Tenths and fifteenths were voted to him, but a long time was re
quired to collect them ; and cash to pay the mutinous troops was
indispensable. A sum was raised upon the personal responsibili
ty of the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford, and Gloucester, who made
themselves liable if the King should die ; but this was quite in
sufficient for the present exigency, and there was no hope except
in the Lord Chancellor. He had amassed immense riches from
the profits of his see and of his office ; but he refused to make
any gift, and even to lend on the security with which others had
been satisfied. At last the King offered to pawn to him the
Crown itself. Thereupon, taking the pledge into his custody, the
Chancellor advanced a very large loan, and the war was vigorous
ly prosecuted.
At the last parliament over which Cardinal Beaufort presided
during the present reign, an act was passed with r 14.171
his concurrence, and probably with the great ap- <¦ ¦ ¦ 1
* Roi. Par. 4 Hen. 5.
24*

282 REIGN OE HENRY V.
plause of the English nation, — who for many centuries hated, and
despised, and oppressed their Irish fellow subjects, — " That none
of the Irish nation should be elected an Archbishop, Bishop, Ab
bot, or Prior ; and that whoever promoted such to those ecclesias
tical preferments, or brought any such Irish rebels to parliaments,
councils, or other assemblies among the English, should have all
their temporal estates seized into the King's hands till they have
paid the fines due for such offences."
On the last day of the session, the King, sitting on his throne
in full parliament, created Thomas Beaufort, who was Earl of
Dorset and Ex-chancellor, Duke of Exeter, with a pension of
1000/. a year. The Lords, with a proper respect for Ex-chancel
lors, so much approved of the King's liberality, that they said no
objection could be made, but only that it was too little, and not
proportionable to the merits and services of that noble person*
Cardinal Beaufort, in this Chancellorship, never parted with
the custody of the Great Seal, except from the 5th of September
to the 12th of October, 1416, during which time he was absent
with the King in France, and the Great Seal was intrusted by
him to the keeping of Simon Gaunstede, Master of the Rolls, to
be re-delivered to him on his return.! We have slender means
of knowing how he performed his judicial duties; but we may,
from his general disposition, not uncharitably believe that he was
assiduous in business, and encouraged suitors that he might mul
tiply fees. He resembled the fallen angel, whose
- "looks and thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than aught divine or holy."
His avarice, however, was now to receive a heavy and unex
pected blow. From the hard bargain he made when he advanced
money for the public service, or his importunity to be repaid, he
disgusted the King. The Close Roll, 5 Hen. V., records, that,
[July 23 1417 1 " °n tlle 23d of July' 1417' HemT Beaufort,
*- ' '-' Bishop of Winchester, dehvered up the Great
Seal of gold to the King, on which day it was given to Thomas
Longley, Bishop of Durham, who became Chancellor the second
timet," but no writer gives us the particulars of the intrigue which
brought about this change.
The Ex-chanceUor now visited the councU of Basil, and con
trived to get himself named by Pope Martin V. Cardinal and
Apostolic Legate in England and Ireland ; but, upon the remon
strance of Archbishop Chicheley, the King forbade him to accept
these dignities, and he was not gratified with wearing the red hat
till after he had finally resigned the Great Seal in the succeeding
reign. * Pari. Roi. 4 & 5 Hen. 5. 1 Pari. Hist. 335. r t Rot. CI. 4 Hen. 5. m 13
X Hot. CI. 5 Hen. 5. m. 15.

CARDINAL BEATJEORT, CHANCELLOR. 283
A parliament was soon after called, which was opened by the
new Chancellor with a speech from the text, Comfortamini etviri-
liter agite et gloriosi eritis* The most remarkable transaction dur
ing tins parliament, — throwing particular discredit on the Chan
cellor, — was the order by the Lords that Sir John Oldcastle, Lord
Cobham, should be burnt under the sentence passed against him
as a heretic, He was the first English peer who ever suffered
death for religion.!
About the same time the Ex-chancellor Beaufort, Bishop of
Winchester, managed to get a private bill of his smuggled through
both Houses, that a security given to him for a loan on the cus
toms of Southampton, should be confirmed by parliament.1;
Nothing memorable connected with the office of Chancellor,
occurred till 1421, when Henry's victories having led , ,9 .
to the treaty of Troyes, by which he was to marry LA- D' 14"1J
the Princess Catherine, and was declared regent of France and
heir to that kingdom, he called a parhament to ratify the treaty.^
This parhament was opened by a speech from the King's own
mouth, the first instance I have found of the Sovereign himself
declaring the causes of summoning his great council. Henry rep
resented to them the state of affairs, — " what conquests he had
made in France, and what supplies were necessary to continue
the war ; — assuring them that the Dauphin and his party, who
maintained some cities and provinces, being Subdued, that king
dom might be entirely united to the English crown."
The Lord Chancellor, by order of the King, read the articles of
the treaty of Troyes, which had been sworn to by the two Kings
of England and France, and ratified also by the three estates of
France ; whereupon both Houses of Parliament avowed that they
approved and accepted it as most conducive to the good of both
nations, and of all Christendom ; and every one promised for him
self, his heirs, and successors, that they would inviolably observe
it.ll It is marveUous that such men as Longley and the spiritual
Peers, whose blood was not heated by being personally engaged
in the conflict, should have sanctioned a treaty which nothing but
the power of the sword could carry into execution, and which, if
it had taken effect, must have proved equally pernicious to Eng
land and to France.
At this parliament the Commons made another unsuccessful at
tempt to put an entire stop to the writ of subpoena in Chancery,
as well as to Privy Seals bringing matters of private right before
the Council ; but they had a limited and temporary triumph by
carrying an act to endure until the next parliament, " that the ex
ception how that the partie hath sufficient remedy at the common
law, shall discharge any matter in Chancery."1I The act was nev
er renewed, so that the concurrent jurisdiction of the courts of
* 1 Pari. Hist. 335. t Ibid. 337.
X Ibid. § Ibid. 339.
11 1 Pari. Hist. 339. If Roi. Pari. 9 Hen. 5.

284 REIGN OE HENRT VI.
equity and courts of common law in partition, dower, account, and
many such matters, has continued.
Henry, leaving the government in the hands of his brother the
„ .,„-, Duke of Bedford, and of the Chancellor, return -
[Aug. 61, I4^.j ed tQ Francej — espoused Catherine, — got pos
session of Paris, — had his infant son proclaimed heir of both
kingdoms, and died at Vincennes in the thirty-fourth year of his
age. His last parliament had been held in his absence, the Chancel
lor opening the session with a formal speech. After voting a sup-
m 14.91 1 P^' ^le chief business was regulating the coin-
I- EC- ' 'J age, which had fallen into great disorder from
the short-sighted fraud of adulteration, first begun in the reign of
Edward III ; — and it was enacted, " that the Chancellor of Eng
land should deliver to those who would have them good and just
weights of the noble, half noble, and farthing of gold, to prevent
the people being abused by such as were counterfeit."*
During this reign the equity jurisdiction of the Chancellor was
so actively enforced, that some have ascribed its origin to the
chancellorship of Cardinal Beaufort. He first exercised a control
over the marriage of infants, and along with uses and trusts he
took cognisance of many miscellaneous matters, which -would now
be referred to courts of common law either civil or criniinal.t
It may be remarked, that at this period of our history there was
an unusual ferment in men's minds, and the Commons showed a
strong spirit of innovation both in church and state, so that there
seemed a great probability that important changes would be in
troduced -with respect to the maintenance of the clergy and the
administration of justice ; but the absorbing foreign war in which
the country was engaged preserved all our institutions untouched
by legislation during the whole reign of Henry V.

CHAPE R XX.

CHANCELLORS FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF
HENRY VI. TILL THE DEATH OF CARDINAL BEAUFORT.
Henry VI. was, at his father's death, an infant of nine months
old. The Duke of Gloucester, his uncle, having been named
[Sept. 1, 1422.1 ^fSent of England by the late King, was at first
aUowed to assume the government under that
title At the end of a month a council was held at Windsor at
which the baby monarch in his nurse's arms was present, and was
supposed to preside. Longley, Lord Chancellor to the late King,
* 1 Pari. Hist 340. t See 2 Cooper on Records, 361.

CARDINAL BEAUEORT, CHANCELLOR. 285
put the Great Seal into the royal lap, and placed upon it the hands
of the child, who was too young even to be amused with it as a
toy. The Regent then, in the King's name, delivered it to Simon
Gaunstede, the Master of the Bolls, for the despatch of necessary
business* But the Regent soon found that he could not exercise his auth
ority without the sanction of the legislature, and a commission
passed the Great Seal for a new parliament to be held before him.
The session was opened, by his command, with a speech from
Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury. Business ™ .,<-,.->,
being begun, it is stated in the Parliamentary His- ^ ' '"'"'
tory, that the two bishops of Durham and London, the former hav
ing been Chancellor of England in the late reign, and the other
Chancellor of the Duchy of- Normandy, who had both delivered
up the several seals of their offices, prayed to be discharged by
act of parliament, and that the same might be enrolled, — which
was granted. It was then also enacted, that the King's style and
titles should be changed, and that upon all his seals should be
engraven, " Henricus Rex Francia- et Anglise, et Dominus Hi-
bernige." At the request ofthe Commons, the Duke of Gloucester
declared that the King had appointed the Bishop of Durham to
be his ChanceUor, which appointment was confirmed by parlia
ment, t
In reality, the whole administration was arranged by the Lords
and Commons, who had been gradually extending their influence
during the reigns of the Lancastrian Princes. Disregarding the
wiU of the late King, they declined altogether the name of
"Regent" for England. They appointed the Duke of Bedford
"Protector" of that kingdom, a title which they thought implied
less authority ; they invested the Duke of Gloucester with the
same dignity during the absence of his elder brother — with a
council of nine, by whose advice he must act ; and the guardian
ship of the person of the infant King was given to the two Ex-
chancellors, the Bishop of Winchester and the Duke of Exeter,
with whom it was thought he must be safe, as, from the stain on
their birth, they themselves could never aspire to the crown.J
In this parliament, a vigorous effort was made to limit the
jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery. The Commons presented
a petition to the King, which, if agreed to, would very effectually
have preserved the supremacy of the common law, but would
* Prsefatas Dominus Rex nunc sigillurn illud per manus prsefati Ducis pruedicto
Simoni liberavit custodiendum," &c. Rot. CI. 1 Hen. 6. m. 15. — This was the pre
cedent chiefly relied upon for the fictitious use of the Great Seal during the insani
ty of George III.
t 1 Pari. Hist 345. Roi. Pari. Hen. 6. vol. xv. 170.
{ In Nov. 1422, a new Great Seal was made, because the King's style in the in
scription on lhe former seals was not suited to the reigning monarch. The order in
council recited, that " great peril might ensue to the King if the said seals were not
immediately altered,'' and required the keepers of all the King's seals to cause them
to be altered forthwith. — Rot. Pari. 1 Hen. 6.

286 REIGN OE HENRY VI.
have deprived the country of many benefits derived from equit
able interference. They proposed, that to prevent persons being
called upon to answer in Chancery for any matter for which there
is remedy provided by the common law, no one should be allowed
to sue any process before the Chancellor till the complainant had
sent a bill, containing all the matter of his plaint or grievance, to
be approved of by two judges of the King's Bench, or •Common
Pleas, and they should have certified that for such matter he could
not have any action or remedy by the common law. but the
answer returned in the King's name, by the advice of the Council
of Regency, was, " Let the statute on this subject, made in the
17th year of the reign of King Richard II. , be observed and in
due execution," * which was, in fact, a veto, and left the Chancel
lor without control to determine the limits of his own jurisdiction.
Lord Chancellor Longley opened another parhament in October,
1423, with a speech from the text, " Deum timete, Regemhonor-
ificate," showing that peculiar honour ought to be rendered to the
present King, notwithstanding his tender years, since now this
realm had attained their wish, which was that the King«of Eng
land might also be King of France, and that the love due to the '
father was due to the son, for omnis qui diligit eum quigenuit diligit
eum qui genitus est A
The petition or bill against the Court of Chancery, which had
for some time been nearly annual, was now dropped ; and nothing
more memorable was transacted at this parliament than passing an
act, " to secure those persons who had only the late King's jewels
in pawn, and that the Bishop of Winchester, who had lent the
King 20,000 marks on the crown, should have letters patent to re
ceive the said sum out of the customs "X
The great struggle for power between Humphry, Duke of Glou-
1 n 1494 1 cester, the Protector, and the Bishop of Winchester,
1 ' ' 'J his uncle, which produced such calamities, and which
ended so fatally to both, was now begun, and the Bishop, from his
superior shrewdness and vigour, was gaining the ascendant, al
though his rival, as Protector, claimed to exercise aU the preroga
tives of the crown.
Beaufort by intriguing with the Council, contrived to resume
the office of Chancellor, which added both to his wealth and his
authority. On the 6th of July, 1424, the Great Seal was deliver-
ed to him for the third time.$
f-JL01- ™rl- l$T 6- f 1 Parl- Hist 347" t Ibid. 348.
,A !,.? n ?L T-teS w,'th much gravity that tbe Bishop of Durham sur
rendered the Great Seal into the hands of the King (not then two years old) and
that the King delivered it to the Bishop of Winchester » eujus sacramentum de
., ?T'. ellua™ b™e eV 6delltf faciencl° praefatus Dominus Rex reeepit." We
are told that the Bishop then took it with him to his hospitium of St. Mary Ovcrey,
in Southwark, and on the following Monday sat for the despatch of business "iri
domo capitulan Fratrum Predicatoruni infra Ludgate Londoniffi." Rot. CI. 2 Hen.

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, CHANCELLOR. 287
Longley, who was then forced to resign it, retired to the duties
of his diocese, which he fulfilled very reputably till 1437, when
he died. He was buried in that beautiful structure at the west end
of Durham Cathedral, called the Galilee, on the restoration of
which he had expended a large sum of money. As an ecclesias
tic, he is said to have possessed a love of learning, which he tes
tified by princely donations of books to both the universities, and
by legacies to establish public libraries in Durham, Leicester, and
Manchester ; but he never gave much proof of ability for civil
affairs, and his promotion, like that of many others, was porbably
owing to his mediocrity and his pliancy.
The Bishop of Winchester, as Chancellor, opened a new par
liament in the spring of the following year, un- r. ,
der very extraordinary circumstances. With a L-Ap:ri:l> 14^0-J
view probably of throwing into the shade the lustre of the office of
Protector, he on this occasion produced the King himself, a chUd
of three years old, as ruler of the realm. On the day of meeting,
the royal infant was carried on a great horse from the Tower of
London through the city to Westminster. Having taken some
pap at the palace, he was from thence conducted to the House of
Lords, and sat on his mother's knee on the throne. " It was a
strange sight," says Speed, " and the first time it ever was seen
in England, an infant sitting in his mother's lap, and before it
could teU -what English meant, to exercise the place of sovereign
direction in open parliament."
The Chancellor took for his text, " Gloria, honor, et pax, omni
operant! bonum." He slyly threw out various sarcasms on his op
ponents in the Council, under pretence of inculcating the duty of
the people to obey those who are set over them, although not
good in themselves. "But a real good councill" (meaning him
self ) " he compared to an elephant for three properties ; the one
in that he -wanted a gaU, the second that he -was inflexible and
could not bow, and the third that he was of a most sound and
perfect memory."*
The foUowing day the King was again placed on the throne,
when the Commons presented Sir Thomas Nanton r 1 .„r ,
as their elected Speaker, who, as usual, disqualified >¦ A' D' °*
himself. But the Chancellor, in the King's name, would not allow
of his objections, confirmed the choice of the Commons, and grant
ed to them all their ancient privileges.
At this parliament an act was passed throwing upon the Chan
cellor a duty very aliene to his judicial functions. The exporta
tion of butter and cheese being generally prohibited, — " for the
encouragement of husbandry the Chancellor of England was em
powered, at his discretion, to grant licences to such persons as
should desire to vend the said articles in foreign parts, as well as at
the great staple at Calais."! While it was acted upon, it must
* 1 Pari. Hist. 351. t 1 Pari. Hiit. 353.

288 REIGN OP HENRY VI.
have considerably increased the fees and emoluments of office,
and must have been highly agreeable to the present Chancellor.
The rivalry between him and the Protector now became dan
gerous to the public tranquillity, and each mustering his adherents
and dependents, a civil war was apprehended. The former had
added to his power and insolence by obtaining for himself the ap
pointment of legate to the Pope in England, and on many occa
sions he asserted his superiority to the Protector, who, though vest
ed with that high title, he contended had no authority beyond oth
ers of the Council. The Protector, on the contrary, affected royal
pomp, assumed much on his prospect of succeeding to the crown,
and insisted that, during the minority of his nephew, he was en
titled to exercise all the royal prerogatives under the control of
parhament. The citizens of London were of the party of the Protector. To
, overawe them, the Chancellor strengthened the
i 14"s-l garrison of the Tower, which had been intrusted to
a creature of his own. The Protector was refused admission into
this fortress, and the gates of the city were shut against the Chan
cellor. The next morning, the retainers of the Chancellor attempt
ed to force the gate at London Bridge. The citizens flew to arms,
and bloodshed was with difficulty averted by the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Prince of Portugal, who, it is said, were
obliged to travel eight times in one day between Lambeth and the
City of London to act as peace-makers. By their interposition,
the rival parties were prevailed upon to suspend their feuds till
the arrival of the Duke of Bedford, the Regent of France, who
was coming over in the hope of establishing a reconciliation be
tween them. There is extant a letter then written by the Chan
cellor to the Duke, for the purpose of unfairly gaining his favour:
" I recommend me unto you with all my heart ; and as you de
sire the welfare of the King our Sovereign Lord, and of his realms
of England and France, and your own health and ours also, so
haste you hither ; for, by my troth, if you tarry, we shall put this
land in a jeopardy with a field — such a brqlher you have here.
God make him a good man. For your wisdom knoweth that the
profit of France standeth in the welfare of England. Written in
great haste on Allhallow even, by your true servant to my lives
end. — Hen. Winton."
Bedford hastened over from Paris, and called an assembly of the
chief nobility at St. Alban's; but the time was spent in hot con
tests between the hostle factions, and nothing was concluded.
The assembly was adjourned to Northampton, but to as little pur
pose ; — till at last the resolution was formed to refer the- whole
I a n 14261 mat1;er to a full parliament, to meet at Leicester on
I a. d. i^o.j the lgth of Febmary #
Much care was taken to prevent tumults between the great
* 1 Pari. Hist. 354.

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, CHANCELLOR. 289
trains of the Protector and the Chancellor, by strictly prohibiting
any person whatever to come thither with swords, or any other
warlike weapon. The order was literally obeyed ; but the Lords
and their attendants came armed with bats or great clubs on their
shoulders, from which this meeting got the name of " The Parlia
ment of Bats."
These weapons, as soon as they were observed, were forbidden
also : and the Lords and Commons, being peaceably seated in the
great hall of the Castle of Leicester, the young King, now in his
fifth year, was placed upon the throne. " His Majesty, from a
little previous drilling, having graciously returned the salutes of
the Lords and Commons, was decorously quiet, and the Lord
Chancellor declared the cause of the summons in a very short
manner."* It had been probably stipulated that, on this occasion,
he should abstain from all party and personal reflections. His text
was, " Sic facite ut salvi sitis ; " and without any particular allusion
to the existing differences, he recommended the protection of the
church, the giving of good counsel, and the granting of needful
subsidies. But as soon as a speaker had been chosen, and business had
begun, articles were regularly exhibited by the Protector against
the Chancellor, which -were answered with recrimination. We
may take as a specimen the manner in which a charge of
the crime of assassination was bandied between them.- Article
II.: —
" That the Chancellor laid wait for the Protector by placing
armed men at the end of London Bridge, and in the windows of
the chambers and cellars in Southwark, to have killed him if he
had passed that way."
Answer —
" That, indeed, it is, that he did provide a certain number of
armed men, and set them at the foot of London Bridge and other
places, without any intention to do any bodily harm to the Duke
of Gloucester, but merely for his own safety and defence, being
informed by several creditable persons that the Duke had propos
ed bodily harm to him, and gathered together a company of citi
zens for that end."t
The Commons having expressed their " much dislike" to the
dissensions between these great men, and moved for their recon
cilement, the farther examination of the charges and answers was
devolved by the two Houses upon a select committee of peers
and bishops, — both parties having agreed, by formal instruments,
to submit to what should be awarded. The Duke of Bedford,
who presided in the court of arbitration, reported in open parlia
ment " that the Chancellor was innocent of the charge alleged
against him, of having procured a person to murder the late King
when he was Prince, and having advised the Prince to depose
* 1 Pari. Hist. 355. Ibid. 357.
VOL. I. 25

290 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
Henry IV his father ; but pronounced judgment, that in respect
of the incivilities that had passed between them, he should, in a
submissive manner, ask pardon of the Duke of Gloucester ; that
the Duke of Gloucester should freely forgive him : and, in token
of a thorough reconciliation, each should take the other by the
hand, so that they should be firm friends for the future." They
accordingly shook hands, and parted with all outward signs of
perfect love and concord, " which yielded a mighty satisfaction to
aU people, both of the clergy and laity ; " and, by the advice of
the Council, a magnificent feast was given, in the name of the
King, in honour of this supposed reconciliation.
It is not stated by historians that it was part of this arrange
ment that Beaufort should give up his office of Chancellor, the
better to preserve the equilibrium between him and his rival; but
it may be fairly presumed that he would not have voluntarily part
ed with such a source of power and of profit. However this may
be, we find him immediately petitioning parliament to be discharg
ed of the Great Seal, which, by common consent, was granted*
He delivered it to the Duke of Bedford, — who himself sealed
some letters patent with it in the presence of the King's CouncU,
but soon went through the form of putting it into the hands of the
infant King, — and, on the 18th of March, it was given in full par
liament, to John Kempe, Bishop of London, as Lord Chancel
lor.! Beaufort never resumed the Great Seal, and we can only give
a slight sketch of his subsequent history. On his resignation he
went abroad, and -was declared Cardinal priest of St Eusebius.
Then he was first regularly raised to the purple ; — although we
have occasionally called him Cardinal, the title by -which he is
best known. At the same time he "was appointed by the Pope
Captain- General of the Crusaders, destined to oppose the Hus
sites, in Bohemia. On his return to England, he obtaind leave to
raise an army of 500 lancers and 5000 archers for the expedition ;
but for a bribe of 1000 marks, he consented that the men whom
he had raised for the crusade should be led against the King's
enemies in France.
He was constantly on the watch for an opportunity to regain his
political influence, and in 1429, he succeeded in humbling Glou
cester, by having the young king crowned, and inducing the par
liament to declare on the occasion that the office of Protector was
at an end. Gloucester was thus reduced to his rank as a peer,
and the Cardinal from this time to his death bore chief sway.
In 1431, he again went abroad, and at Rouen he assisted at the
tnal of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, and joined in the sen
tence that she should be burnt alive for heresy and witchcraft.
„flT,r ^hfrtlVl ™nt°V°r SUndry causes- P™yed to »» discharged from the
office of the Great Seal, and he was consequently discharged." - Hot. Pari. 4 Hen.
6. Rot. CI. 4 Hen. 6. m. 8. f Rot cl 4 Hen g_

CARDINAL BEAUFORT, CHANCBLLOR. 291
He was the only Englishman who was concerned in this atrocity,
and our neighbours the French, when they so eagerly impute it to
us as a national disgrace, should remember that the Bishop of
Beauvais and all her other judges were Frenchmen ; and that she
was brought to trial under an arret of the parliament of Paris.
The Duke of Gloucester, though no longer Protector, was still
formidable, and from time to time seemed on the point of recover
ing his authority. He accused the Cardinal of having incurred the
penalties of a praemunire, by accepting papal bulls, — of having
amassed immense wealth by dishonest means, — of having usurped
the functions of sovereignty by appointing embassies and releas
ing prisoners of his own authority, — and of estranging all but his
own creatures from the person of the young King. The Cardinal
caused an accusation to be brought against the Duke's wife, to
whom he was much attached, that she was guilty of witchcraft,
by melting, in a magical manner, before a slow fire, a waxen figure
of the King, with the intention of making the King's force and
vigour waste away by like insensible degrees. The Duchess was
condemned to do public penance, and to suffer perpetual imprison
ment. But this proceeding was ascribed solely to the malice of
the Duke's enemies, and the people increased their esteem and af
fection towards a Prince who was thus exposed without protection
to such mortal injuries. The manifestation of these sentiments
made the Cardinal sensible that it was necessary to destroy a man
whose popularity might soon become dangerous, and from whose
resentment every thing was to be apprehended, if be should ever
be in a situation to gratify it.
To effect this purpose, a parliament was called to assemble, —
not at London, which was supposed to be too well r-p _ 1447 i
affected to the Duke, — but at Bury St. Edmund's, L '-1
where it was supposed he would be helpless. As soon as he ap
peared, he was thrown into prison on a charge of treason. He
was soon after found dead in his bed ; and though it was pretended
that his death was natural, no one doubted that he had fallen a
victim to the vengeance of his arch-enemy.
The Cardinal himself died six weeks after the murder of his
nephew, which, it is said, gave him more remorse r^j,^ -1^47 i
in his last moments than could naturally have been L
expected to be felt by a man hardened, during the course of a long
life of violence, in falsehood and in religious hypocrisy. His
death-bed is described in harrowing terms by our great dramatic
bard : — " Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on Heaven's bliss,
Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope !
— He dies anil makes no sign "
And the agony of his despair is, if possible, made more dreadful
by the lofty conception and successful execution of the scene in
the masterpiece of Reynolds.
But volumes have been written to prove that his life was mno-

292 REIGN OE HENRY VI.
cent and his end pious, by arguments which may carry conviction
to the mind of those who believe that Richard III. was a remark
ably straight and handsome man, with a very tender heart. The
Cardinal's enormous wealth was applied, according to his will, in
founding oratories for priests to pray for his soul, and these may
account for the attempts which have been made to vindinate his
memory.*

CHAPTER XXI.

CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. FROM THE APPOINT
MENT OF CARDINAL KEMPE TILL THE DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR
WAYNFLETE.
We have had a succession of Chancellors of high birth, some of
them nearly allied to the Crown. Cardinal Beaufort's successor
was one of that other class who have won their way in this coun
try to high distinction from an obscure origin. He was born in
Kent, of parents in a very low condition of lifet, and educated as
a poor scholar at Merton College, in Oxford. Here, amidst all the
evils of penury, he applied himself with ardour to study, and
made particular proficiency in the civil and canon law. In due
time he took the degree of Doctor in both faculties, after dispu
tations which attracted the notice of the whole university, and
were talked of all over England.
After practising for some time as an advocate in the ecclesiasti
cal courts, — on account of his high reputation as a jurist he was
* Cardinal Beaufort is not only a favourite with ignorant chroniclers, but with tho
enlightened Dr. Lingard, who says that we owe to the imagination of Shakspeare the
fiction of his dying agonies. But it is well known that Shakspeare, in his histori
cal plays, most strictly followed history or tradition, and embodied the belief of his
time. Dr. Lingard himself quotes a passage from Hail, stating ''that the Cardinal
lamented on his death-bed that money could not purchase life, and that death
should cut him off when he hoped, now his nephew Gloucester was gone, to pro
cure the purple tiara," — which the historian tries to discredit, merely on the
ground of improbability, because the Cardinal was so old and infirm, and had his
funeral rehearsed while he was yet alive. Dr. Lingard even denies his avarice, be
cause he did not receive interest on his loan9 to the crown, and only looked to be
benefitted by the forfeiture of the pledges which he took by way of security, and
being paid back in gold coin the sums he seems to have advanced in silver. He
thus demanded;-' that payment be maad in golde of the coigne of Eno-land of just
weighte, elles I not to be boundc to delyver ayene the seide weddes (pledges),
though the seide paiement were offered to be maad in silver." A usurer stipulating
for ten per cent interert would not show a more intense love of money. — Acts of
Coun. iv. 234. 248. Ling. v. 124. '
1 I have since ascertained that at the time of his birth his father and mother
were living in the parish of St. Gregory in Wye, where he founded a college of
,rXP-^0r3Ti^r8erV,C9and iMt™*y°«h in grammar and other

CARDINAL KEMPE, CHANCELLOR. 293
made Dean of the Arches and vicar-general to the Archbishop of
Canterbury. Rising rapidly in the church, he was consecrated
Bishop of Rochester ; from whence he was translated to Chiches
ter, and thence to London, the see he filled when he was appoint
ed Lord Chancellor ; finally, he was promoted to the Archbishopric
of York, and a cardinal's hat was bestowed upon him.
Soon after his high civil appointment, he was called upon to
take a decisive part in checking the arrogance of the Duke of
Gloucester, who having for a time got rid of Cardinal Beaufort,
avowed his purpose to rule in an arbitrary manner, although the
Duke of Bedford had not yet relumed to France, exclaiming, "Let
my brother govern as him lusteth, whiles he is in this land ; after
his going over into France, I woll govern as me seemeth good."
The Chancellor and" the other members of the Council made a
representation on the subject to the Duke of Bedford, and both
brothers being present, the Chancellor delivered an address, stat
ing " that the young Prince "was the rightful King of England, and
entitled to the obedience of all his subjects, of whatever rank they
might be ; that, young as he -was, he yet possessed by law all the
authority which would belong to him at a more mature age; that
as, during his infancy, he could not exercise such authority, it was
vested in the Lords spiritual and temporal assembled in parliament,
or in the great council, and at other times in the Lords appointed
to form " The continued council',' and that this Council, represent
ing the King's person, had a right to exercise the powers of gov-
erment, " ivithouten that any one person may or might to ascribe to
himself ihe said rule and government!'*
Kempe's first chancellorship lasted six years. During, this time
several parliaments were held, which he opened with suitable
speeches, except that held in January, 1431, when, on account of
his sickness, the Duke of Gloucester sitting in the chair of state
in the Painted Chamber, commanded William Linewood, Doctor
of Laws, to explain the cause of the summonst, which was done
with infinite divisions and subdivisions ; but the only important
business transacted at these parliaments, was passing the famous
statute which regulates county elections, and enacts that no free
holder shall vote who cannot spend from his freehold at least 10s.
* Hot. Par. v. 409. 41 1. Acts of Coun. iii. 231. 242.
f There is a curious entry of this in the Parliament Roll, showing a great anxiety to
rreserve the Chancellor's right to address the two Houses on the opening of parlia
ment. After stating the meeting of lords and Commons under the Duke of
Gloucester, Custos Anglias, it proceeds, "Pro eo quod Venerabilis Pater Johannes
Archiepiseopus Ebor. Cancelhrius Anglie, cui ratione officii sui secundum consuetudi-
nem laudabilum in Regno Anglie antiquilus usitalam pertinuit causam summonitionis
parliament) predict! pronunciare et declarare, tali et tanta detenebatur infirmatate
quod circa deelarationem et pronunciationemprcdictas adtunc intenderenon valebat,
Reverendus vir Magister Willielmus Lynwoode, Legum Doctor, causam summoni-
tionix ejusdem parliament! de mandate prefati custodis egregie declaravit." — Vol.
iv. 367. So in 31 & 32 Hen. 6., Bishop of Lincoln stated causes of summons.
" johanne Arch. Cant. Cancellario Anglia; tunc absente." — Roll. v. 227.
25*

294 REIGN OP HENRT VI.
a year*, — all freeholders having before voted for knights of the
shire, as they still may for coroners.
A change in the office of Chancellor now took place, the rea
sons for which have not been explained to us, and all we know of
it -we learn from the Close Roll, which records
" That the Lord Cardinal, Archbishop Kempe, on the 25th of
r March 4 14°2 1 February, 1432, delivered up to the King the
^ > ° J gQi^ anci g^ygj. geaiSj and the Duke of Glou
cester immediately took them and kept them till the 4th of March,
on which day he gave them back to the King, and they were de
livered by his Majesty to John Stafford, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, who took the oath of office, and used the silver seal for
the despatch of business."t
The new Chancellor was of illustrious descent, being the son
of the Earl of Stafford by the Lady Anne Plantagenet, daughter
and heir of Thomas of Woodstock, sixth son of Edward III., and
fie was equally distinguished for his learning and industry. Hav
ing with great reputation taken the degree of Doctor of Civil
Law at Oxford, he practised for some time as an advocate in Doc
tors Commons, and rose into considerable business, when Chiche-
ley, Archbishop of Canterbury, elevated him to be Dean of the
Arches, and obtained for him the deanery of St. Martin, and a
prebend in Lincoln Cathedral. He then became a favourite of
Henry V., who made him successively Dean of Wells, Prebenda
ry of Sarum, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and Treasurer of Eng
land. He attached himself to the party of Cardinal Beaufort, by
whose interest, in 1425, he was appointed Bishop of Bath and
Wells. He filled the office of Chancellor till 1450, a longer period
than any one since the Conquest had continuously held the
Great Seal.
From the 22d of April to the 23d of May, 1433, he was absent
on an embassy to Calais, and the silver Seal was in the custody
of John French, Master of the Rolls, for the sealing of writs and
the despatch of necessary business, but it was restored to the
UianceUor on his return without any re-appointment, or new oath
of orhce, the Master of the Rolls, as upon similar occasions, being
merely considered as his deputy.
™iw14*36'!an fciwas Passed with the concurrence of the Chan-
Snfenl Y WMlt°n fibnS of bills in Chancery in disturb-
nrlvaUir^T ^ W°CeSS, The Commons, after reciting the
Lra^ex^rcTanceT 0; S^^lT T***
mon law Ins™ o„+,-~ • 2-,- matter determinable by the com-
Samagt''6 ThT gTSJf t "??** ^ ^ reC0W
be ffrantea herenfW tin anfwf ed> ^at no writ of subpoena
be granted hereafter tiU security be found to satisfy the party so
X 10 Hen. 6. * Rot. CI. 10 Hen. 6. m. 8.

JOHN STAFFORD, CHANCELLOR. 295
vexed and grieved for his damages and expenses, if it so be that
the matter may not be made good which is contained in the bill."*
We find few subsequent complaints against Lord Chancellor
Stafford, and he seems to have diligently and quietly applied him
self to the duties of office, not aiming at political ascendancy him
self, and bending submissively to the varying pressure of the times.
In opening parliaments, and urging supplies, he had no victories
to announce ; but he had to tell of the raising of the siege of Or
leans by the sorceress Joan of Arc, and of successive disasters
rapidly succeeding each other, till after the defection of the Duke
of Burgundy, and the death of the Duke of Bedford, . 14401
the English were driven from Paris ; — Guienne and LA- D- * -I
Normandy were lost, and there was not left to the English a rem
nant of the conquests of Henry V. in France.
The Parliament Roll and the contemporary chroniclers give us
a very slender account of this Chancellor's harangues in parlia
ment : but from the specimen we have of them, they seem to
have been very dull and quaint. His maiden exhibition was on
the 12th of March, 1432, when the infant King being on the
throne, he took for his text, " Denm timete, Regem honorificate :"
on -which words he remarked two points : — 1. A general Counsel
to Princes, that they might learn knowledge : — 2. A commandment
to subjects to learn to obey and honour the Prince. Which points
he learnedly enlarged upon, and endeavoured to prove by many
quotations, examples, and similitudes, that the King and realm of
England might easily attain to the height of peace and prosperity,
if true fear of God and honour to the Prince were in the hearts of
the subjects.!
He had a more delicate task to perform the following day. The
Duke of Gloucester rose in his place and declared, r 14101
for the contentment of the Commons, who, he was *¦ ¦ ¦ "-"--I
informed, had expressed some uneasiness on the subject, that al
though he was Chief President of the council, yet he -would act
nothing without the consent of the majority of them. This decla
ration was communicated to the Commons by the Chancellor
when they produced John Russel as their Speaker for the King's
approbation; and it so much pleased them, that they immediate
ly granted tonnage and poundage, with a new subsidy on wools. J
The ChanceUor' s text the following year was Suscipiant montes
pacem populo et colles justiciam. " This subject he ,-»»¦ 14.QQ 1
divided," we are told, " into three parts, according *¦ "' 'J
to the three estates of the realm ; by mountains, he understood
bishops, lords, and magistrates ; by the lesser hills, he meant
knights, esquires, and merchants ; by the people, he meant hus
bandmen, artificers, and labourers. To Which three estates, he
endeavoured to prove, by many examples and authorities, that a
triple political virtue ought to belong ; to first — the unity, peace,
* Erom the petition and answer was framed stat. 15 Hen. 6. c. 4.
t I Pari. Hist. 365. X Ibid. 366.

296 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
and concord, without dissimulations ; to the second — equity, con
sideration, and upright justice, without partiality ; to the third — a
due obedience to the King, his laws and magistrates, without
grudging."* During the same session, he seems gracefully to have express
ed to the Duke of Bedford the confidence which all felt in his
gallantry and honour, notwithstanding the reverses of the English
arms in France. The Duke having said " that he had come oyer
to clear himself from some slanders which were cast upon him,
as that he had been the occasion of the late great losses by his
default and negligence, and offered to take his trial for the same,"
— the Chancellor, by the King's command, declared, " That his
Majesty took him for his true and faithful subject and most dear
uncle, anrl that for his coming at that time gave him most hearty
r -. thanks." This was followed up by a compliment
[a. d. 116o.\ £rom tke 0Liier house, communicated in a way rather
different from our present forms. The Commons came before the
King and Lords, and by their Speaker praised the Duke of Bed
ford for his warlike behaviour and notable deeds done in France,
and particularly for his conduct in the battle of Verneuil.t
In 1 135, the King sitting in his chair in the Painted Chamber,
the Chancellor delivered a most violent invective against the de
fection of the Duke of Burgundy, his text being " Soliciti servare
sitis unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis." This performance is plain,
forcible, and eloquent. But he probably piqued himself much more
on his speech the next year from the words Corona Regni inmanu
Dei : —
" On which he demonstrated that three sorts of men are crowned,
viz. all Christians in their baptism, in token whereof they are an
ointed ; all clerks in their orders, in token whereof they are shaven ;
and all kings in their coronation, who in token thereof wear a
crown of gold set about with flowers and precious stones. The
erecting and standing of the flowers in the upper part ofthe crown
denoteth the King's 'pre-eminencT over his subjects, -which ought
to be garnished with four cardinal virtues, that is to say, in the
fore part ought to be wisdom, adorned with three precious stones,
viz. memory of things past, circumspection of things present, and
prudence in things to come. On the right hand ought to be for
titude — accompanied with courage in attempting, — patience in
suffering, — and perseverance in well meaning. On the left side
ought to be justice distributing her arms three ways, to the best,
mean, and lowest. On the hinder part ought to be temperance,
with her trinity, viz. restraint of sensuality in fear, silence in
speech, and mortification in will; all which proceeding from God
fully proved that the crown ofthe King was in the hand of God'.'*
In 1439, the Chancellor, being a friend to free trade, passed an
act lessening his duties and his emoluments,— " that cheese and
* Ibid. 363. t 1 Earl. Hist. 3-,'J. f Ibid. 374.

JOHN STAFFORD, CHANCELLOR. 297
butter might be exported to foreign parts without the Chancellor's
licence." After an interval of some years, in which we have no account
of any parliamentary proceeding, in February, 1445, the parlia
ment met which was to sanction the King's marriage wilh Mar
garet of Anjou, daughter of the titular King of Sicily and Jerusa
lem, and the Chancellor put forth all his strength in painting the
felicity of this happy union, selecting for his text, '-Justitia et Pax
osculataj sunt."*
But a great difficulty arose respecting the peace with France,
which had been negotiated at the same time with the marriage,
and the conditions of -which were so humbling to England. An
act had been passed in the late King's time forbidding any treaty
with the Dauphin of France, now Charles VII., without the assent
of the three estates of both realms, and the Chancellor was afraid
that the peace being unpopular, he might be impeached for an in
fraction of this statute. To evade the danger, — in the presence
of the King and the whole parliament, Stafford made a protesta
tion " That the peace about to be made with France was merely
of the King's own motion and will, and that he was not instigated
thereto by any one whatsoever." This protest was enrolled, and
thereupon the statute referred to was repealed, and it was declar
ed " that no person whatsoever should be impeached at any time to
come for giving counsel to bring about this peace with France."!
It should be stated to the honour of the Chancellor, who cordi
ally seconded the liberal intentions of the King, that in this par
liament he proposed and carried an act to confirm the foundation
of Eton CoUege, -where —
" Grateful Science still adores
Mer Henry's holy shade."
By concealing an article in the treaty with France, that the
province of Maine, which was still in the possession of the En
glish, should be delivered up, ministers contrived to obtain a vote
of thanks from both Houses for concluding the treaty ; and for
some time the Chancellor's tenure of office seemed more secure
than ever. But after the murder of Gloucester and the death of
Cardinal Beaufort, when the stipulated cession of Maine was
made known, and France insisted on the strict performance ofthe
treaty, there was a general burst of indignation throughout the
country, and the greatest impatience was testified to bring to
punishment the Duke of Suffolk, the Queen's favourite who had
negotiated the treaty, together with the Lord Chancellor, and all
who were concerned in it.
The assembling of a parliament was delayed as long as possi
ble. The Queen, who had gained a complete ascendant over her
husband, apprehensive of danger to Suffolk, long prevented the
* 1 Pari. Hist. 378. t Ibid. 379.

298 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
writs from issuing, and, under pretence of the plague, contrived
to have the opening of the session several times adjourned.
At length both Houses met in the beginning of the year 1450.
. Lord ChanceUor Stafford, who had been lately made
1 A- D- 1450-J Archbishop of Canterbury, appeared on the wool
sack, and tried to brave the storm, but soon found himself obliged
to yield to it. Although he was the organ of announcing several
prorogations, he was not permitted to deliver the usual address
explaining the reasons for summoning parliament ; and the two
Houses seem to have insisted, before beginning any business, that
he should be dismissed from his office.
Ou the 31st of January, 1450, the day that parliament met pur
suant to the last adjournment, " the Archbishop of Canterbury
was discharged from the office of Chancellor, and John Kempe,
Cardinal and Archbishop of York, was put in his place."* I con
jecture that, to appease the two Houses, this transfer actually took
place in their presence. From the entry in the close Roll, it ap
pears that there were three seals delivered to the new Chancellor,
all which, it is said, he took with him to his country house at
Charing Cross. t
Ex-chancellor Stafford was not further molested. He retired
from politics, and died at Maidstone, in Kent, on the 6th of July,
14-52. He was par negotiis neque supra, one of those sensible,
moderate, plodding, safe men, who are often much relished by the
leaders of political parties, as they can fill an office not discredita
bly, without any danger of gaining too much eclat, and with a
certainty of continued subserviency.
Cardinal Kempe succeeded him likewise as Archbishop of Can
terbury, and continued Chancellor till he died in the office on the
2d of March, 1454. Any knowledge of the law he had acquired
when he before held the Great Seal' had utterly evaporated during
his eighteen years' retirement from the office, and he must no
doubt .have now been very unfit for its judicial duties ; but civil
war was at hand, and the interests of justice were little regarded
in the struggles of the different factions who were preparing- for
hostilities. He had first to preside on the impeachment of the Duke of
Suffolk, who, declaring " that he was as innocent as the child
still in the mother's womb," instead of claiming to be tried by his
peers threw himself without reserve on the will of his sovereign.
Chancellor. — " Sir, since you do not put yourself on your peerage
for trial, the King will not hold you either guilty or innocent of the
treasons with which you have been charged, but as one to whose
control you have voluntarily submitted (not as a Judge advised by
the Lords) :— he commands you to quit this land before the 1st of
May, and forbids you ever to set your foot during the five next
years on his dominions either in this kingdom or beyond the sea."t
* 1 Pari. Hist. 386. t Rot. Cl. 28 Hen. 6. m. 7. J Rot. I'ar. vol. v. 182.

CARDINAL KEMPE, CHANCELLOR. 299
It is well known how the unfortunate Suffolk, who the cunning
man in calculating his nativity had prophesied was to die by
" water," had his head struck off by " Walter" Whitmore, as he
was crossing the sea under this illegal sentence*
Then broke out Jack Cade's rebellion, which was specially aim
ed against the Chancellor and all concerned with the profession of
the law. The measures at first taken to suppress it were most
inefficient, and the King and his court were obliged to seek pro
tection in Kenilworth Castle, London opening its gates to the in
surgents. The Chancellor took the chief management of affairs,
and the rebels having received a repulse, he succeeded in dispers
ing them by offering a general pardon and setting a price on Cade's
head, which was earned by Iden of Kent.t
Many supposed that Cade had been set on to try the disposition
of the people towards the right heir to the crown. He pretended
to be a son of Mortimer, who had married the daughter of the
Duke of Clarence, elder brother of John of Gaunt ; and in this
belief thousands flocked to his standard. The Duke of York, the
real heir through a daughter of Mortimer, at last openly set up
his claim — for which there was now a very favourable opportun
ity from the intellectual weakness of the King ; — from the ex
treme unpopularity of the Queen, whose private character was
open to great suspicion, and who was considered a devoted par
tisan of France ; — from the loss of the foreign possessions which
had so much flattered the pride ofthe English nation ; — from the
death and discomfiture of the ablest supporters of the reigning
dynasty; — from the energy and popularity of the pretender him
self; and from the courage, the talents, and the resources of his
numerous adherents.
The claims of the rival houses being debated in the Temple
Gardens, the red and the white roses there plucked became the
opposing emblems,! and men took different sides according to their
judgment, their prejudice, or their interest.
When the next parliament met at Reading in the spring of 1353,
it was found that the Duke of York had a powerful party in both
Houses, although many who preferred his title were very reluc
tant to take active measures to support it, on account of the mild
virtues of the reigning Sovereign. The Chancellor, being unable
to attend, the session was opened by a speech from the Bishop of
Lincoln, -who contented himself with declaring " the cause of
summoning the parliament to be chiefly for the good government
* Shahs. Part. II. Hen. VI. act. iv. sc 1. t Shaks. Part. II. Hen. VI.
X "Plantagenet. Let him that is a true born gentleman
And stands upon the honour of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
.From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
" Somerset. Let nim that is no coward nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me."

300 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
of the realm and safe defence of the same ; to which end he bid
the Commons choose their Speaker and present him at the bar."*
The Speaker chosen was Thomas Thorpe, Chief Baron of the
r ..„, Exchequer, whose imprisonment gave rise to the
LA" D' '-I famous case of parliamentary privilege, in which the
judges declared that such questions did not belong to them to con
sider. On the 22d of July the Chancellor prorogued the parlia
ment to the 7th of November, to meet at Reading, and it was
farther prorogued to the 11th of February following, to meet at
Westminster. Before this day arrived, public affairs had fallen into a state of
the greatest confusion. The King had been attacked by an illness
which affected his mind and made him unfit for business, and his
ministers seem to have been wholly at a loss what course they
should adopt. The Duke of York did not yet venture formally to
claim the crown ; but he contrived to get almost all the power
of the executive government into his own hands. A commission
under the Great Seal was produced, appointing him to hold the
parliament in the King's absence. Thorpe the Speaker being of
the opposite party, and being imprisoned for damages recovered
against him by the Duke of York, the Commons were prevailed
upon to choose another Speaker, and the Chancellor announced
to them the royal approbation of the choice.
This was the last act of Lord Chancellor Kempe ; while still in
possession of his office he suddenly sickened, and died on the 22d
of March, 1454. He had showed himself always ready to go with
the ruling power, and recently, even to join the Yorkists if neces
sary, a disposition which may account for the continued stream of
promotion which flowed upon him through life. Besides being
twice Lord Chancellor, he had held three bishoprics and two
archbishoprics. He was first created cardinal by the title of St.
Albinits, which afterwards, when he came to be Archbishop of
Canterbury, he changed by the authority of the Pope for that of
St. Rufiims. A barbarous line has been handed down to us de
scribing his ecclesiastical preferments —
" Pis primas, ter prseses, et bis cardinale functus."
Amidst the difficulties which arose in carrying on the govern-
Ia. d 14g4 -i ment on the Chancellor's death, a committee of the
Lords was appointed to go to the King lying sick at
Windsor, to learn his pleasure touching two articles ; the first, to
know who should be Archbishop of Canterbury, and who Chan
cellor of England in the place of John Kempe, by whose death
they lay in the King's disposal! ; the second, to know whether
* 1 Pari. Hist. 391.
t The entry in the Parliament Roll affords a curious specimen of the English
language in the middle of the fifteenth century.
" Memorand' that on the xxiii day of Marche, forasmuche as God hath called to
his mercy and shewed his will upon Maister John Kempe, late Cardinall Archebishop
ot Caunterbury, and Chaunceler of Englond, whoos soule God assoile.and by whose

CARDINAL KEMPE, CHANCELLOR. 301
certain Lords there named to be of the Privy Council were agree
able to him or not. On the 25th of March, the said committee
reported to the whole House " that they had been to wait upon
the King at Windsor, and after three several repairs thither, and
earnest solicitations to speak with the King, they could by no
means have answer, or token of answer, being only told the King
was sick." Two days afterwards the Lords appointed the Duke
of York Protector of the realm, so long as the same shall please
the King. The Duke, stUl hesitating about the assertion of his
own right, with a view to the pains of treason to which he might
afterwards be subjected, obtained a declaration of the House,
" that he took upon him the said office by the particular appoint
ment of the Lords, and not of his own seeking or desire." Let
ters patent, to which the Duke must himself have affixed the
Great Seal, were read in the House, appointing him Protector
during the King's pleasure, or until such time as Edward the
Prince, then an infant a few months old, should come to the age
of discretion. The Duke, in full parliament, then swore faithful
ly to perform the duties of his high office*
His first judicial appointment must have caused considerable
astonishment in Westminster Hall. The Close Roll of this year
informs us, that " on the 2d of April the King's three Great Seals,
one of gold and two of silver, were brought into parliament ; and
the Duke of York, Lieutenant of the kingdom, delivered them to
Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, as Chancellor."!
He was the most powerful Peer who has ever been ChanceUor
of England ; and if military prowess -were the great requisite for
the office, none could be better qualified to fill it. He was one of
the chiefs of the family of Neville, " which," says Hume, " was
perhaps at this time the most potent, both from their opulent
deth tb' office of Chaunceler of Englond stondeth now voide, the which office, of
force and necessite for the ease of the people and processe of the lawe, must be oc
cupied , it was advised, ordeigned, assented, and thurroughly agreed by the Duke of
York, the Kinges lieutenaunt in this present parlement, and all the Lords Spiritualx
and temporalx assembled in the parlement chamber at Westr., that certain Lordef,
that is to seie, &c, shoulde ride to Wyndesore to the Kynges high presence, to
shewe and declare to his Highnesse the seid materes," &c. The instructions are
then set out, and there is a long account of the whole transaction — v. 244.
* 1 Pari. Hist. 393. — Historians have been much at a loss to account for Rich
ard's reluctance to throw off his allegiance, even when his party had all the power
of the state in their hands. The reason may be, that while the King was childless
he would not run the risk of civil war, as he hoped that his family would succeed
to the throue without any dispute, on failure of the line of Henry IV. The war of
the Eoses may perhaps be ascribed to the birth of the Prince of Wales, which was
considered so auspicious. There can be no doubt that had it not been for the birth
of another Prince of Wales, the son of James II , William and Mary would have
waited to claim the crown by right of blood.
f Another account states, that on the second of April the coffer containing the
Seals was brought into the parliament chamber, placed on the bench where the
Duke of York sat as Lieutenant, and after an interval opened by the Earl of
Salisbury himself, who took possession of them, and assumed the office of Chancel
lor. — Rymer, t. ii. 344.
VOL. I. 26 "

302 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
possessions, and from the characters of the men, that has appear
ed in England." This Earl of Salisbury was the son of the Earl
of Westmoreland, and inherited by his wife, daughter and heir of
Montacute Earl of Salisbury, killed before Orleans, the estates
and title of that great house. In the 11th of Hen. VI. he was
made warden both of the east and west marches, and gained
great distinction in repressing incursions of the Scotch. He then
served with gallantry in France, having under his own pennant 7
knights, 49 men at arms, and 1046 archers. He early espoused
the interest of Richard Duke of York. Having contributed his
assistance to make him Protector, he was now rewarded with the
office of Lord Chancellor, and seemed in the possession of per-
TF b 2 14R1 1 marie]Qt P°wer and felicity, though actually destin-
L ' 'J ed to finish his career by the hands of the com
mon executioner, — his head being stuck upon a pole erected over
one of the gates of the city Of York.
He retained the office exactly one year. During this time the
T n 14'i'i 1 -^nS so far recovered from his distemper as to be
*¦ '-' able to carry the appearance of exercising the royal
prerogative ; and the Duke of York, not having boldly seized the
Crown as his right, Margaret, in her husband's name, resumed the
royal authority, annulled the protectorship, released the Duke of
Somerset, the principal leader of the Lancastrians, from the Tower,
and committed the administration into the hands of that noble
man. The Duke of York, and his Chancellor, saw that if they
submitted to this revolution, they would soon be brought to trial
for treason. They flew to arms, and employed themselves in
levying forces in the counties where they were most potent.
On the 7th of March, 1455, Thomas Bourchiek, Archbishop of
Canterbury, was made Lord Chancellor by the Queen's new gov-
fMAECH 7 1455 1 ernment- There is an entry in the Close Roll of
'J the surrender of the Seals*; but, in reality, the
same seals were not used by the different ChanceUors of the op
posing parties, and it was objected to the Earl of Salisbury that
the true Great Seal had never been in his custody.
The new Chancellor holds a distinguished place in Enghsh his
tory, having been Archbishop of Canterbury under five succes
sive reigns, and having exercised a considerable influence upon
the events of his time. He was of high lineage, being a descen
dant of Lord ChanceUor Bourchier, and son of William Bour
chier, Count of Eu in Normandy, by Anne, daughter of Thomas
of Woodstock, sixth son of Edward III, and relict of Edmund
Earl of Stafford. He early discovered that love of letters for
which he was noted through life, and which induced him to take
an active part in introducing the art of printing into England. In
1434, while he was stiU a young man, he was elected Chancellor
of the University of Oxford, where he had been educated. He
* Hot. CI. 33 Hen. 6. m. 9.

CARDINAL BOURCHIER, CHANCELLOR. 303
fiUed successively the sees of Worcester and Ely. In April, 1454,
on the death of Cardinal Kempe, we was promoted to the Arch
bishopric of Canterbury ; and in December following he received
the red hat from Rome, being created Cardinal-priest of St. Cyri-
acus in Thermis.
Soon after his appointment as Chancellor was fought the great
battle at St. Alban's, in which his predecessor rM ,
had a leading command, and in which the York- L ' 14S5-J
ists were superior, having, without any material loss on their part,
slain 5000 of their enemies. Among these were the Duke of
Somerset and several other of the most distinguished Lancastrian
leaders, so that Margaret's party seemed almost annihilated.
The Duke of York still thought it the most politic course to ex
ercise power in the name of the King, who had been taken pri
soner, and for whom all outward respect was testified. As a proof
of moderation, the Archbishop of Canterbury was allowed to re
tain the office of Chancellor, and a parliament, -which met in July
at Westminster, was opened by a speech from him. rT 14. « i
There was some mistrust, however; as to what he *¦ ' '-'
might say if left to himself to declare the causes of the sum
mons, and his speech was settled at a conference between the
two parties. It is related that " the Chancellor caused certain
articles to be read before the Houses containing the causes of
the summons, which were divided as follows — to take order for
the expenses of the King's household ; for the due payment of
the garrison at Calais ; for keeping the seas against any invasion
of the French ; to guard against the Scots, -who had besieged Ber
wick ; to procure a perfect accord and unity among the Lords,"
&c*
The Earl of Salisbury, the late Chancellor, "was present at this
parliament, and produced a charter of pardon, under the Great
Seal, to himself and his confederates for having taken arms and
fought at St. Alban's, and all other acts which could be construed
into treason. This charter was confirmed by both Houses, but
was found a very feeble protection -when the opposite party re
gained their superiority.
On Ihe 31st of July the Archbishop of Canterbury, as Chancel
lor, in the King's presence and in his name, pro- r . . „ ,
rogued the parliament to the 12th of November. LA.. .j
In the interval he seems to have been entirely gained over by
the Yorkists ; for, when the parliament again met, he concurred
with them in measures for utterly subverting the royal authority.
A deputation from the Commons prayed the Lords that a Protect
or might be again appointed. The Lords consequently held a con
sultation, when it was resolved that the Duke of York was the
most worthy for the office, and a request was made to him by the
whole House, that he would assume the protectorship. The Duke
* 1 Pari. Hist. 395.

304 REIGN OP HENRY VI.
excused himself, and desired time to consider of it. The deputa
tion from the Commons expressed some impatience ; to which the
Lord Chancellor answered, that the King, with the assent of the
Lords, had requested the Duke of York to be Protector. At the
proper moment the Duke relented, but he accepted the office with
the like protestation as on a former occasion — that it had been
forced upon him by the King and the two Houses.*
This farce must have been somewhat disgusting to the people,
who probably -would have been better pleased had the right heir
boldly seated himself on the throne under the title of Richard III.
The Queen watched her opportunity ; and, thinking that the York
ists had incurred unpopularity, availed herself of the Duke's ab
sence from London, produced her husband before the House of
Lords, and made him declare his intention of resuming the gov
ernment, and putting an end to the Protectorship. The manoeuvre,
being unexpected, was not resisted by the opposite party, and the
House of Lords, who had unanimously appointed the Protector,
unanimously assented to the immediate termination of his au
thority. Bourchier the Chancellor rejoined his old friends, and a -
writ under the Great Seal was addressed to Richard Duke of
York, in the King's name, superseding him as Protector, and at
the same time the King, by proclamation, committed the whole
estate and governance of the realm to the Lords of his council —
meaning the Lancastrian leaders with whom the Chancellor co
operated. The King's son was now created Prince of Wales,
with a splendid provision for his maintenance during his minority.
The Parliament was prorogued by Archbishop Bourchier, which
seems to have been the last act which he did as Chancellor.! He
rather affected neutrality in the struggle that was going forward,
and he was always desirous of preserving peace between the con
tending parties. Maintaining his allegiance to the King, he re
fused to enter into the plots that were laid for the destruction of
[Oct 11 14561 tlle Yorkists- The Great Seal was therefore now
taken from him, and transferred to William
Waynflete,:!: Bishop of Winchester, a most determined and un
compromising Lancastrian.
The Record states that the Court being at Coventry, in the Pri
ory there, on the 11th of October, the Lord Chancellor Bourchier,
in the presence ofthe Duke of York, who, with the Earls of Salis
bury and Warwick, had been invited to attend, and of many Lords
spiritual and temporal produced to the King in his chamber the
three royal seals which had been intrusted to him, two of gold
and one of stiver, m three leather bags under his own seal, and
caused them to be opened; that the King received them from his
* 1 Pari. Hist. 398. . + , p , tt. t „QQ
JJfXnwrtwJ^^W iS a ™-take;as1She 'certainly always

WILLIAM -WAYNFLETE, CHANCELLOR. 305
hand, and immediately delivered them to the Bishop of Winches
ter, whom he declared Chancellor, and that Waynflete, after tak
ing the oath of office and setting the silver seal to a pardon to the
late ChanceUor for all offences which could be alleged against
him, ordered the seals to be replaced, and the bags to be sealed
with his own signet by a clerk in Chancery, and was thus fully in
stalled in his new dignity.*
Waynflete was the son of Richard Pattent, a gentleman of re
spectable family residing at Waynflete, in Lincolnshire. His bi
ographers are at great pains to refute an imputation upon him that
he was a foundling, and relate with much exultation that not only
was his father " worshipfully descended," but that his mother,
Margery Brenton, was the daughter of a renowned military lead
er, who for his gallantry in the French wars had been made gov
ernor of Caen. Young Patten was educated in the noble semina
ries established by William of Wickham, — first at Winchester,
and then at Oxford, and acquired very great reputation for his pro
ficiency in classical learning.
He was ordained priest at an early age, and according to a very
usual custom, even with those of good birth, he then exchanged
his family name for that of the place where he was born. In
1429 he was made head master of Winchester school. Here he
acquired high fame as a teacher, and in consequence gained the
favour of Cardinal Beaufort, then bishop of the diocese, who intro
duced him to the King- " Holy Henry was now r ... ,
employed in founding his illustrious establishment '¦A' ' '*
for education at Eton, and prevailed on Waynflete to consent to
be named in the charter one of the original Fellows for three
years ; he was promoted to the office of Provost, and he not only
superintended the studies of the place with unwearied industry,
but largely contributed to the expense of the buildings from his
private means.
On the death of Cardinal Beaufort, by the unanimous election
of the Chapter and the royal consent, he was appointed Bishop of
Winchester. In compliance with the fashion of the times he pro
tested often, and with tears, against the appointment, tiU he was
found about sunset in the church of St. Mary, — when he consent
ed, saying, he would no longer resist the divine will. He repeat
ed often that verse of the Magnificat, " Qui potens est fecit pro
me magna ; et sanctum nomen ejus ; " X which also he added to
his arms as his motto.
He showed great energy in assisting in the suppression of Jack
Cade's rebellion. He had a personal conference with Cade, and
advised the publication of the general pardon, which drew off
many of his foUowers.
# Rot. CI. 35 Hen. 6. m. 10.
t His father was sometimes called Bardon. At this time the surnames of fami
lies were very uncertain.
j: St. Luke, i. 49. 26$

206 REIGN OP HENRY VI.
The war ofthe Roses beginning, he took a most decided part in
favour of the Lancastrians. The two armies being first arrayed
against each other on Blackheath, the King sent Waynflete to the
Duke of York to inquire the cause of the commotion ; and the
Lancastrians being indifferently prepared, a temporary reconcilia
tion was brought about by his efforts.
He was selected to baptize the young Prince, who, to the great
joy of the Lancastrian party, was born on St. Edward's day, 1453 ;
and he so won the King's heart, by framing statutes for Eton and
King's College, Cambridge, that his Majesty added a clause with
his own hand, ordaining that both colleges should yearly, within
twelve days preceding the- Feast of the Nativity, for ever after
Waynflete's decease, celebrate solemn obsequies for his soul,
" with commendations and a morrow mass ; " a distinction not
conferred on any other person besides Henry V. and Queen
Katherine, the father and mother of the founder; and Queen
Margaret, his own -wife, for whom yearly obits are decreed, with
one quarterly for the founder himself.
The prudence of the Bishop was now to be " made eminent, in
warlike wielding the weight of his office " * of Lord Chancellor.
For its judicial duties he must have been very unfit : and as he
had not the assistance of a Vice-chancellor, the defective admin
istration of justice must have given great cause of complaint ;
but in such troublous times, these considerations were little attend
ed to. His first act was to bring to trial, on a charge for publish
ing Lollardism, Peacock, Bishop of Chichester, inclined to York-
ism, if not to heterodoxy, — who was sentenced to sit in his pon
tificals, and to see his books delivered to the flames in St Paul's
churchyard, and then to retire to an abbey on a pension.
WhUe the Yorkists renewed their efforts to shake the Lancastri
an power, and the two parties continued to display mutual ani
mosity, the peaceful King found consolation in his ChanceUor.
He sometimes, it is related, would bid the other Lords attend the
council, but detain him to be the companion of his private devo
tion ; to offer up with him in his closet prayers for the common
weal.f However, the Chancellor, in reality, exerted himself to
the utmost to depress the Yorkists, although he was sometimes
obhged to dissemble, and to make the King assume a tone of mod
eration and almost of neutrality.!
By the mediation of Archbishop Bourchier, a seeming reconcil-
[ March 24, 1458.1 at*on was Drought, about, and a formal treaty
, . , concluded, constising of eight articles, to
which the new Chancellor, with no very sincere intentions, affixed
• Hollinsh, vol. ii. p. 628.
ofilff«P,!nP,.0L^imiam-8anctim-OI,ialn in Penetrate regium adhibitus, cseteroque
£^3^ »gn" neg0U,S consiliBm init«ro, (Sin abite (inquit Princeps)
Bidden^ 16. Can°ellarms mms Pro sal^ 'jeipublicce vota Deo nuncupabimus/-
t Chandler's Life of Waynflete, >:. iv. t.

WILLIAM WAYNFLETE, CHANCELLOR. 307
the Great Seal. In order to notify this accord to the whole
people, a solemn procession to St. Paul's was appointed, where the
Duke of York led Queen Margaret, and the chiefs of the opposite
parties marched hand in hand. Chancellor Waynflete, I presume,
had for his partner Ex-chancellor the Earl of Salisbury. The less
that real cordiality prevailed, the more were the exterior demon
strations of amity redoubled on both sides.*
Had the intention of the leaders been ever so amicable, they
would have found it impossible to restrain the animosity of their
followers ; and a trifling quarrel between one of the royal retinue
and a retainer of the Earl of Warwick, the son of the Earl of
Salisbury, and soon famous under the title of " the King-maker,"
renewed the fiamesof civil war. The battle of Blore Heath was
fought, in which the Earl of Salisbury acquired the most brilliant
renown for his generalship ; but this was soon followed by a heavy
disaster to the Yorkists, arising from the sudden desertion of a
body of veterans the night before an 'expected engagement, so
that they were obliged to disperse ; and the leaders flying beyond
sea, for a time abandoned the kingdom to their enemies.
The Queen, under the advice of the Chancellor, took this op
portunity of holding a parliament to attaint the Duke of York and
his adherents. Both Houses met at Coventry on the 20th of No
vember, 1459. No temporal Peers were summoned, except staunch
supporters of the House of Lancaster. On the day of meeting,
the King, sitting in his chair of state in the Chapter House be
longing to the Priory of our Lady of Coventry, the Lords and
Commons being present, it is said that " William, Bishop of Win
chester, then Chancellor, made a notable declaration why this par
liament was called." But we have no account either of his text
or his topics ; and we are only told that he willed the Commons
to choose their Speaker, and present him the next day to the
King.t The desired attainders were quickly passed; the members of
both Houses were sworn to support the measures r D 1460 i
taken to extinguish the Yorkists ; and the Chancel
lor, in the presence of the King and of the three estates, and by
his Majesty's command, after giving thanks to the whole body,
dissolved the parliament.!:
But in a short time the Yorkists again made head; and the
youthful Earl of March, afterwards Edward IV., gained the battle
of Northampton, in which above 10,000 of the Queen's forces
were slain. The King was again taken prisoner, and a Yorkist
parliament was' held at Westminster.
Preparatory to this, the Great Seal was demanded in the King's
name from Bishop Waynflete, and he resigned it on the 7th of
July, 1460, having held it three years and nine months.} He took
# 1 Pari Hist 401 t 1 Parl" Hist. 40 1.
X Ibfd 463 *.**. CI. 38 Hen. 6. m. 5.

308 REIGN OE HENRY VI.
the precaution of carrying away -with him a pardon, under the Great
Seal, which he might plead if afterwards questioned for any part
of his conduct. He likewise induced the King to write an auto
graph letter to the Pope, to defend him from the calumnies now
propagated against him.*
Wilham, Bishop of Sidon, a monk of the order of St. Austin,
had acted for him as his suffragan while he was Chancellor, but
he now returned to the personal discharge of his episcopal duties,
and occupied himself for the rest of his days in founding Mag
dalen College, Oxford, that spendid monument of his munificence.
Although always at heart an affectionate partisan of the House
of Lancaster, when Edward IV. had been firmly established on
the throne, he submitted to the new dynasty ; but he was allowed
frequently to visit his ancient master, who, while a prisioner in
the Tower, being indulged in the freedom of his devotions, hardly
regretted the splendour of royalty. During Henry's short restor
ation, Waynflete assisted 'in re-crowning him ; but after he andhis
son had been murdered, and Edward was restored and re-crowned,
the Ex-chancellor again submitted, swore allegiance to the young
Pi ince, who had been born in the sanctuary at Westminster, and
accepted the office of Prelate to the Order of the Garter.
He -was famed for the hospitable reception he gave to Richard
III. in his new College. This Sovereign, "who seems not to have
been by any means unpopular while on the throne, having inti
mated an intention of visiting the university of Oxford, Wayn
flete invited him to lodge at Magdalen, and went thither to enter
tain him. On his approach from Windsor on the 24th of July,
1483, he was honourably received, and conducted in procession
into the newly erected College by the founder, the president, and
scholars, and there passed the night with his retinue, consisting of
many prelates, nobles, and officers of state. f
Next day two solemn disputations were held by the King's
order in the College hall, the first in moral phUosophy, the other in
divinity, — the disputants receiving from the King a buck, and a
* This curious episile is of considerable length, and I shall content myself with
extracting one sentence as a specimen. " Animo nobis est, vehementer et cordi,
clarissimo viro fortasse per emulos tracto in infamiam, nostro testimonio quantum
in nobis est omnem adimere culpam, huie presertim quem plurimum carum habe-
mus Reverendo in Christo patri Winton Episcopo ; cujus cum opera et obsequiis,
in regni negotiis gerendis non parum usi sumus, in nichilo tamen eum excessisse
testamur quo juste demigrari possit aut debeat tanti fama Prelati, quam hactenus
omnium ore constat intemeratam cxtitisse." — MS. C. C. C. Cambridge, Budden,
p. SO.
tit puzzles us much to understand how not only the King and his court, but the
Jimg and both Houses of Parliament, were anciently accommodated when assembled
m a small town ; but it appears that a great many truckle beds were spread out in
any apartment, and with a share of one of these a luxurious baron was contented,
the less refined not aspiring above straw in a barn. Both Charles I. and Cromwell
slept in the same bed wifh their officers. Bv Waynfiete's statutes for Magdalen
J-oltege, each chamber on the first floor in ordinary times was to contain two truckle
beds.

GEORGE NEVILLE, CHANCELLOR. 309
present in money. He bestowed likewise on the president and
scholars two bucks, with five marcs for wine. Such good will
was created by his condescension and generosity, that the entry
in the college register made under the superintendence of Wayn
flete, ends with " Vivat Rex in eternum."
The Ex-chancellor lived to see the union of the Red and White
Rose, and died on the 11th of August, I486*
His character and conduct are not liable to any considerable re
proach, and his love of learning must ever make his memory re
spected in England.!

CHAPTER XXII.

CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. FROM THE APPOINT
MENT OF GEORGE NEVILLE, BISHOP OF EXETER, TILL THE DEATH
OF LORD CHANCELLOR FORTESCUE.
When the Great Seal was taken from Waynflete in 1460, from
the 7th to the 27th of July it was in the custody of r . . .- -,
Archbishop Bourchier, but only till it could be in- '-A' D' '-'
trusted to one in whom the Yorkists could place entire confidence.
This prelate had lately much favoured the Yorkists, but still they
recollected his former vacillation.
On the 25th of July a new Chancellor was installed, about whose
fidelity and zeal no doubt could be entertained ; — George
Neville, Bishop of Exeter, the son of the Earl of Salisbury, and
brother of the Earl of Warwick.^ He had studied at Baliol Col
lege, Oxford, and taking orders, had such rapid preferment, that
he was consecrated a bishop before he was twenty-five, and he
was made Lord ChanceUor before he had completed his thirtieth
year. The parliament met on the 7th of October. We are told that,
in the presence of the King sitting in his chair of state, in the
Painted Chamber at Westminster, and of the Lords and Com
mons, George Bishop of Exeter, then Chancellor of England,
made a notable declaration, taking for his theme, " Congregate
populum et sanctificate ecclesiam." But we are not informed how
he prepared the two Houses for the solemn claim to the crown now
to be made by his leader, to which he was undoubtedly privy. J
The Duke of York, on his return from Ireland, having entered
the House of Lords, he advanced towards the throne, and being
* It is remarked as a curious fact that three prelates in succession held the bish
opric of Winchester for 119 years, the time between the consecration of William
of Wickham and the death of Waynflete.
t Budden's Life of Waynflete. Chandler's Life of Waynflete.
X Rot. CI 38 Hen. 6 m. 7. § 1 Pari. Hist. 404.

310 REIGN OP HENRY VI.
by Archbishop Bourchier whether he had yet paid his respects to
the King, he replied " he knew none to whom he owed that title."
Then, addressing the Peers from the step under the throne, he
asserted his right to sit there, giving a long deduction of his ped
igree, and exortating them to return into the right path, by doing
justice to the lineal successor. It might have been expected that
he would have concluded the ceremony by taking his seat on the
throne, which stood empty behind him ; but he immediately left
the House, and the Peers took the matter into consideration with
as much tranquillity as if it had been a claim to a dormant barony.
They resolved that the Duke's title to the crown should be argued
by counsel at the bar, and they ordered that notice should be
given to the King that he likewise might be heard. The King
recommended that the Judges, the King's Serjeants, and the At
torney General should be called in and consulted. They were
summoned, and attended accordingly ; but the question being pro
pounded to them, they -well considering the danger in meddling
with this high affair, utterly refused to be concerned in it.
Nevertheless counsel were heard at the bar for the Duke ; the
matter was debated several successive days, and an order was
made that every Peer might freely and indifferently speak his
mind without dread of impeachment. Objections to the claim
were started by several Lords, founded on former entails of the
crown by parliament, and on the oaths of fealty sworn to the
House of Lancaster ; while answers were given derived from the
indefeasibility of hereditary right, and the violence by which the
House of Lancaster had obtained and kept possession of the
crown* The Chancellor, by order of the House, pronounced judgment,
" that Richard Plantagenet had made out his claim, and that his
title was certain and indefeasible ; but that in consideration that
Henry had enfoyed the crown without dispute or controversy
during the course of thirty-eight years, he should continue to
possess the title and dignity during the remainder of his life ;
that the administration of the government, meanwhile, shonlcl re
main with Richard, and that he should be acknowledged the true
and lawful heir of the monarchy." This sentence was, by order
of the House, communicated to the King by the Chancellor, who
explained to him the Duke's pedigree' and title ; and thereupon
the King acquiesced in the sentence. All this was confirmed by
u tT1 1censent of parliament, and an act was published declaring
the Duke of York to be right heir on a demise of the crown t
* 1 Pari. Hist. 405.
t The entry of this proceeding on the Parliament Roll is very curious.
Memorand that on the xvi day of Oetobr', the ixth daye of this present parlement,
he counsel of the right high and mighty Prynce Richard Due of York brought into
he parlement ehambre a wryting conteignyng the elayme and title ofthe right that
the said Due pretended unto the corones of England and ofFraunce, and lordship of
Irelond.and the same wrytmg delyvered to the Right Reverent Fader in God,
George Bishop of Excestre, Chaunceller of Englond, desirying hym that the same

GEORGE NEVILLE, CHANCELLOR. 311
But Margaret refused to be a party to this treaty, and was again
at the head of a formidable army. The battle of r„ on , .rn -,
Wakefield was fought, in which Richard Plan- LDeo- *°- 1460-1
tagenet fell, without ever having been seated on that throne to
which he was entitled by his birth, and which had repeatedly seem
ed within his reach. Here bravely fighting by the side of his leader
was taken prisoner, overpowered by numbers, the Ex-chancellor,
the Earl of Salisbury. He was immediately tried by martial law
and beheaded. His head remained stuck over one rT-, .
of the gates of York till it was replaced by that ^EB' *> 14faLJ
of a Lancastrian leader after the battle of Mortimer's Cross.
For the dignity of the Great Seal I ought to give some account
of the illustrious progeny of Lord Chancellor Salisbury. His sons
were Richard Earl of Warwick, " the King-maker," John Marquis
of Montagu, Sir Thomas, a great military leader, and George, the
Bishop, made Chancellor in his father's lifetime. His daughers
were, Joan, married to the Earl of Arundel; Cicily, to Henry
Beauchamp Earl of Warwick; Alice, to Henry Lord Fitzhugh of
Ravenfroth; Eleanor, to Thomas Stanley, the first Earl of Derby
of that name ; and Katherine, to John de Vere Earl of Oxford,
and afterwards to Lord Hastings, chamberlain to King Edward
IV. There is no entry in the Reords respecting the Great Seal from
the 25th of July, 1460, when George NevUle was created Chan
cellor nominally to Henry VI., but really under the house of York,
till the 10th of March, 1461, when he took the oaths to the new
King, and, according to Dugdale, he continued Chancellor all the
while ; but it is impossible that he should have been allowed to
exercise the duties of the office during the whole of this stormy
interval, as for a portion of it Margaret and the Lancastrians were
in possession of the metropolis, and had a complete ascendancy
over the kingdom, although it does not appear by the RoUs or any
contemporary writer that any other Chancellor was appointed.
If the celebrated Sir John Fortescue, author of the admirable
treatise — " De Laudibus Legum Angliaj," ever ^bb 17 1461 1
was de facto ChanceUor of England, and in the L ' ' '-1
exercise of the duties of the office, it must have been now, after
the second battle of St. Alban's, and at the very conclusion of the
reign of Henry VI.
wryting might be opened to the Lordes spiritualx and temporalx assembled in this
present parlement, and that the seid Due myght have brief and expedient answere
therof: Whereupon the seid Chaunceller opened and shewed the seid desire to the
Lords spiritualx and temporalx, asking the question of theym, whither they wold
the seid writyng shuld be openly raddc before theym or noo. To the which ques
tion it was answered and agreed by all the seid Lords : Inasmuch as every pcrsone
high and lowe suying to this high court of parlement, of right must be herd, and
bis desire and petition understaude, that the seid wryting shuld be radde and herd,
not to be answered without the Kyng's commaundment, for so moche as the matter
is so high and of so grete wyghte and poyse. Which writing there than was radde
the tenour whereof followeth in these wordes," &c.
Then follow all the proceedings down to the King's confirmation of the Concord.

312 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
Fortescue is generaUy by his biographers mentioned as having
been ChanceUor to this Sovereign. In the introduction to his great
work, after describing the imprisonment of Henry VI., and the
exile of Prince Edward his son, he says, " Miles quidam grand-
ebvus, frjedicti Regis Anglle Cancellarius, qui etiam sub hac
clade exulabat, principem sic affatur ; " and throughout the dial
ogue he always denominates himself " Cancellarius."
I suspect that he only had the titular office of Chancellor in
partibus — when he accompanied the young Prince his pupil as an
exfie to foreign climes, and that he never exercised the duties of
the office in England * ; but under these circumstances I am cal
led upon to offer a sketch of his history, — and it is delightful,
amidst intriguing Churchmen and warlike Barons who held the
Great Seal in this age, to present to the reader a lawyer, not only
of deep professional learning, but cultivated by the study of clas
sical antiquity, and not only of brilliant talents, but the ardent and
enlightened lover of liberty, — to whose explanation and praises of
our free constitution we are in no small degree indebted for the
resistance to oppressive rule which has distinguished the people
of England.
Sir John Fortescue was of an ancient and distinguished family,
being descended in the direct male line from Richard Fortescue,
who came over with the Conqueror. The family was seated first
at Winston, and then at Wear Giffard in Devonshire, which still
belongs to them.t He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford,
and called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. Unfortunately there is no
further memorial of his early career, and we are not informed of
the course of study by which he acquired so much professional
and general knowledge, and reached such eminence.
In 1441 he was called to the degree of the coif, and was made
a King's Serjeant, and the year following he was raised to the
office of Chief Justice of the King's Bench, the duties of which
he discharged with extraordinary ability. In the struggle for the
Crown he steadily adhered to the House of Lancaster while any
hope seemed to remain for that cause, — being of opinion that
Richard II. was properly dethroned for his misgovernment ; — that
parliament then having the power to confer the crown upon another
branch of the royal family, hereditary right was superseded by the
* Spelman, in his list of Chief Justices, under head Jo. Fortescu. writes, " Notior
more omnium nomine Cancellarii quam Justiciarii, diu tamen functus est hoc
munere j lllo vix aliquando. Constitui enim videtnr Cancellarius, non nisi a victo
et exulame apud Scotos Rege, Hen. 6., nee referri igitur in archiva regia ejus in-
stilutio, sed cognosci maxime c libelli sui ipsius inscriptione." — Glossarium Justi
ciaries. And under Spelman's Series Cancella riorum, he says, " Jo. Fortescue
Justtcianus Banci Regi exulante Hen. 6, in Scotia videtur ejus constitui Cancella
rius eoque usus titulo ; sed nulla de eo mentio in Rott. patentibus. Quidam vero
contendum eum non fuisse Cancellarium Regis sod filii ejus primogeniti ; contra-
num vero mamfeste patet lib. suo de L. L. Ang. in introduclione, ubi sic de se ait,
Quidem Miles grandsevus, &c.
1 1 have been favoured with a sight of the pedigree by Earl Fortescue, and it is
perfect in all its links.

SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, CHANCELLOR. 313
will of the nation, — and that the parliamentary title of the House
of Lancaster was to be preferred to the legitimist claim of the
House of York.
Although advanced in years, and long clothed with the ermine,
he seems, according to the fashion of the age, to have accompa
nied his party in their headlong campaigns, and to have mixed in
the moody fight. By the side of Morton, afterwards Archbishop
of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor, he displayed r-^ .... ,
undaunted valour at Towton, where a great part *¦ AECH> -J
of his associates were put to the sword, and the crown was fixed
on the brow of Edward IV. Still he refused to send in his ad
hesion to the new Sovereign, and having vainly tried to strike
another blow in the county of Durham, he was attainted for treason
by act of parliament with other Lancastrian leaders.
After the fatal adventures which reduced the Queen and her
son to the society of robbers in a forest, he accompanied the ex
iled family into Scotland, where it is said by some that the title of
Chancellor was conferred upon him. While there he wrote a
treatise to support, on principles of constitutional law, the claim of
the House of Lancaster to the crown. Edward being firmly seated
on the throne, and King Henry a prisoner in the r 14 63 1
Tower, he embarked with Margaret and her son for *¦ -1
Holland, and continued several years in exile with them, intrusted
with the education of the young Prince. He conceived that he
was pursuing a judicious course for securing the future happiness
of the English nation in forming the character of the heir-apparent
to the throne* and acquainting him with the duties of a patriot
king — a task which in later times even Hampden did not look
upon as derogatory to his talents or incompatible with his indepen
dence.* With this view Fortescue now employed himself in the compo
sition of his book " De Laudibus," for the instruction of his royal
pupil, in which he fully explains the principles ofthe English con
stitution and English jurisprudence, and points out the amend
ments to be introduced into them by the Prince on recovering the
throne, t
He afterwards accompanied the Queen back to England, but the
cause of the House of Lancaster appearing at last utterly despe
rate, and parhament and the nation having recognised the title of
the new dynasty, he expressed his willingness to submit himself
to the reigning monarch.
Edward, with some malice, required that as a condition of his
pardon he must write another treatise upon the disputed question
of the succession, in support of the claim of the House of York
against the House of Lancaster. The old lawyer complied, show-
* Preface to Amos's translation of the " De Laudibus.''
1 So minute is he in his law reforms, that he even recommends new ornaments
or the robes of the judges. — Ch. 51.
VOL. I. 27

314 REIGN OE HENRY VI.
ing that he could support either side with equal ability ; and after
wards, in a new petition, assured the King " that he had so clearly
disproved all the arguments that had been made against his right
and title, that now there remained no colour or show of reason to
the hurt thereof, and that the same stood the more clear and open
on occasion of the writings hitherto made against them."*
The pardon was then agreed to, and expedited in due form.
As he had been attainted by act of parhament, it was necessary
that the attainder should be reversed by the same authority. He
accordingly presented a petition for his restoration in blood, to
which the Commons, the Lords, and the King assented, and
which, according to the forms then prevailing, thus became a
statute, t
* Rot. Pari. vi. 26. 69. He tried to ride off on a point of fact. In his first work
he maintained that Phillippa, daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence, through whom
the House of York claimed, had never been acknowledged by her father ; in the
second, that her legitimacy had been cleared up beyond all controversy. — See
Ling. v. 217. m
t By the favour of Earl Fortescue, his lineal representative, an exemplification of
it under the Great Seal of Edward IV. now lies before me, and I copy it for the
curious in historical antiquities.
" Edwardus dei gra. Rex Anglie, Francie, ct Dominus Hibnie Omibz ad quos
psentes Ire prvint, saltm. Inspeximz. quandam petiScm in parliamento nro apud
Westm. sexto die Octobr. Anno regni nri duodecimo sumonito et tento et p.
diusas progacoes vsqz ad et in sextum diem Octobr. Anno re^ni nri tci»-
deeimo continuanto et tunc tento nob. in eodem parliamento dco sexto die Octobr
dco Anno regni nri triodecimo p. Johem Fortcscu ftlilitem exhibitum in hee vba :
To the kyng ourre soureyne lord, In the most humble wise sheweth vnlo yor most
noble grace, your humble subget and true liegeman, John Fortcscu, knyght, which is
and eid. shalbe dnrynghis life yor true and feitbfull subget and liegeman, soureigne
lord by the gee of God. Howe be it tbe same John is not of power, ne haunoir to
doo your highnes so goode suice as his hert and uille wold doo, for so moche as in
your parlement holden at Westm. the iiijth day of Novcmbr, the first year of your
most noble reigne, it was ordeyned, demed and declared by auctoi ite of the same
parlement, that the seid John, by the name of John Foitescue, knyght, among
other psones should stond and be conuicted and attainted of high treason, and for
feit to you, soureyn lord and your heires, all the castelles, manes, lordshippes, londes,
tentes, rentes, suices, fees, advousons, hereditaments, avid possessions, with their ap
purtenances, which he had of estate of inheritance, or any other to his vse had the
xxx day of December next afore the first yere of your moost noble reigne, or into
which he or any other psone or psones, feofles to the vse or behofe of the same John,
had the same xxx day lawfull cause of entre within Englond, Irelond, Wales, orCa-
les, or the marches thereof, as more at large is conteyncd within the same acte or
actes, pleas it your highnes, forasmoch as your seid suppliaunt is as repentaunt and
sorrowfull as any creature may be of all that which he hath done and eomitted to the
displeasure of your highnes, con trie to his ditetie and leigannce, and is and pseaant-
ly shalbe to you, soueigne lord, true, feitbfull, and humble subget and liegeman, in
wille, worde, and dede, of your moost habundai.t gne, by thaduis and assent of the
lordes spiell and temporell, and the coens in this your pscnt parlement assembled,
and by auctonte of the same, to enacte, erdeyne, and stablish that the seid acte
and all actes of atteyndre or forfeiture made ayenst the same John and his feoffes,
to the use of the same John, in your seid pa. lenient holden at Westm. the seid
liijtn day of Novembr as ayenst them and eucry of them, by what name or names
the same John be named or called in the same acte or acres, of, in, or by reason of
>e pmisses, be vtterly voide and of noon effecte ne force : And that the same John
his heirs in no wise be purdiced or hurte by the same acte or actes made ayenst
Tie John : And that by the same auctorit© your said suppliaunt and his heires

SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, CHANCELLOR. 315
He retired to Ebrington, in Gloucestershire, an estate which he
had purchased before his exile, and which now giv<3S the title of
viscount to his descendants.
Here he quietly spent the remainder of his days, and here he
died, leaving a great and venerable name to his posterity and his
country. He was buried in the parish church at Ebrington, where a
monument, with the following inscription, was erected to his
memory : —
have possede, joy, and inhcritn all mam of possessions and hereditaments in like
man' and fourme, and in as ample and large wise as the said John shuld haue done
if the same acte or actes neir had be made ayenst the same John : And that the
seid John and his heires haue, hold, joy, and inherit all castelles, manes, lordship-
pes, lundes, tentes, rentes, suiees, fees, advousons, and all other hereditaments and
possessions, with their appurtenances, which come or ought to haue come to
yor handes by reason of the same acte or actes made ayenst the same !ohn and
feoffes to his vse : And unto theym and eny of theym to entre, and theym to haue,
joy, and possede in like man"-, fourme, and eondioion, as the same John shuld have
had or doon if the same acte or actes neu*' had been made ayenst the seid John and
his seid feoffes, to his vse, withoute suying theym or any of theym oute of your
handes by peticion, lyne, or otherwise, by the course of your lawes. And that all
lres pattentes made by your highnes to the seid John, or to any psone or psones of
any of the pmisses he voide and of noon efFecte, sauing lo uny persone such title,
right and lawfull entre as they or any of theym had at the tyme of the said acte or
actes made ayenst the same John, or any tyme sith other then by means and vtue
of oure lres patentes made sith the iiijih day of March, the first yere of your reigne,
or any lime silh: And that no psone or psones be empeched nor hurt of or for
takyng of any issues or pfittes, nor of any offenses doon in or of any of the pmisses
afore the iijth of the moneth of Aprill, the xiij yere of your reigne, or at any time
sith the seid iiijth day of Marche by the seid John or any feoffes to his vse by way
of act-ion or otherwise. Provided alway, that no psone nor psones, attenynted, nor
their heires. take, haue, or enjoy any avauntage by this psent acte, but oonly the
seid John and his heires in the pmises. And also the feoffes to the use of lhe seid
John, oonly for and in the pmisses which the same feoffes had to the vse of the
seid John, the seil xxx day or any tyme sith. And yonr said suppliaunt shall
pray to God for the pseruauion of your moost reiall astate, consideryng soueigne
lord tliat y'mr seid suppliaunt louyth so and tendrith the goodeof your moost noble
estate, that be late by large and clere wriiyng delyued vnto your highness hath so
declared all ihe mat™ which were writen in Scotland and elles where ayen your
right or title, whteh wriiynges haue in any wise comen vino his knowledge, or that
he at any tyme hath be pryne vnlo theym : And also hath so clearly disproved all
the argumentes that haue be mad*, ai/en the same right and title, that nowe there re-
mayneth no colour or matr of argument to tlie hurt or infayme of the same right and
tide stonlen naive ihe more clere and open by that any suth tvntyngts haue be made
ayen km lnspeximus eciam quendam assensum eidem peticoi p coitates regni nri
Angl. in deo parliamento existen sem. et dcapeticoe specificat. in hee verba a cest
billb les coenz sont essentcz. lnspeximus in-iup. quandam responsionem
eidmu peticoi p nos de acusamento et assessu dnoq. spualiu et temporaliu in dco
parliamento similit. exisien ac Coitates pdee necnon aucto itate eiusdem parlia-
munii ft am et indorso eiusdem pclicois assensus et respnnsionis predic. ad requisi-
cocm |.fate Johis duximus exemplifieand. p psentes. In cuius rei testimoniu. has
Iras mas fieri fecimus patentes Teste me ipo apud Westm. quartodecimo die
Februaij Anno regni nri quarto decimo. Gdnthorp.

Exa p. 1 J°HEM ChWTHORP, j Ctieog.
1 [ Ihomam Jvo. J

316 REIGN OF HENRY VI.
"In felicem et immortalem memoriam
Clarissimi viri Dni Johannis Fortiscuti militia grandsevi,
Angliae Judicis primarii et processu temporis sub Henrico VI.
Rege et Edwardo principi surnmi Cancellarii Consiliarii Regis
Prudentissimi, Legum Anglise erritissimi, necnon earundem
Hyperaspistis fortissimi, qui corporis exuvias lsetam
Kesurrectionem expeetantes hie deposuit."
In 1677 this monument was repaired by Robert Eortescue, Esq.,
the then representative of the family, -who added to it these quaint
verses : — " Angligenas intra cancellos Juris et Equi
Qui tennit, cineres jam tenet urna viri. '
Lux viva ille fuit patr'iEe, lux splendida legis,
Forte bonis Scutum, sontibus et scutica.
Claras erat titulis, clarus majoribus, arte
Clams, virtute ast clarior emicuit.
Jam micat in tehebris, veluti carbunculus orbis,
Nam virtus radios non dare tanta nequit.
Vivit adhuc Fortescutus laudatus in sevum
Vivet et in legum laudibus ille suis."*
As a common-law jduge he is highly extolled by Lord Coke,
and he seems to have been one of the most learned and upright
men that ever sat in the Court of King's Bench.
He laid the foundation of parliamentary privilege, to which our
liberties are mainly to be ascribed. He had the sagacity to see,
that if questions concerning the privileges of parliament were to
* I insert the following re-lease of the manor of Ebrington as a curious specimen
of conveyancing, and of the English language in the reign of Henry VI. See
145/. To alle men to whom this wrytyng shal come, Robt. Corbet, knyght, sende
gretyng in oure Lord. For asmuch as I have solde to Sir John Fortescu, knyght,
in fee symple, the reuversion ofthe Manour of Ebryghton,in the Counte of Glouces
ter, with the appurtenances, to be had after the decesse of Joyes, late the Wif of
John Grevyle, Esquier, for Cli pounds, to be payed to me in certayn fourme be-
twene vs. accorded by reason of which sale I have by my dede enrolled and sub
scribed with myne owne hande, graunted the same rcuersion to the said Sir John,
and other named with him, to his vse in fee by vertu of which the said Joycs hath
attourned to the said Sir John ; and also I have delyured to the same Sir John alle
the evydences whiche euer come to myne handes concernyng the said Manour ; I
wol and desire as welle the f-.rcsaid Joyes the abbot of Wynchecombe. and all
other personnes in whose handes the said Sir John or his heirs can wete or aspye
any of the forsaid evydences to be kepte, to deluyer the same evydences to ham
for the ri}rht and title of the reuersion of the said Manour is now clerely, trewly,
and lawefully in the said Sir John, his cofcoffees and theyre heyres, and from me
and myno heyres for euyer moore, and the said Manour, nor the reuersion therof,
was neuer tayled to me nor none of my Auncestrcs, but alway in vs hathe he pos
sessed in fee symple. as far as cure I cooude knowe, by any evydence or by any
manner, sayyng by my trouthe. Wherefor I charge Robt. my sone and myne
heyre his issue, and alle ihos that shal be myne heyres herafter, vppon my blessyng,
that they neure veve, implode, ne greve the forsaid Sir John, his said cofcoffees,
theyre heyres, nor asS1gnees, for the forsaid Manour; and if they do, knowing this
my prohilucion I wote wcl they shal haue the curse of God, for theyre wrong? and
owr trouthe, and also they shal haue my curse, Witnysyng this my writing vnder my
seale, and subscribed with: myne owne hande, Wreten the v day of decembr, the
yere of the reigne of King Herry vH° after the conqueste xxxv".
(L. S.) Sir Roberd Corbet, Knyth.

SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, CHANCELLOR. 317
be determined by the common-law judges appointed and remova
ble by the Crown, these privileges must soon be extinguished, and
pure despotism must be established. He perceived that the
Houses of parliament alone were competent to decide upon their
own privileges, and that this powi r must be conceded to them,
even in analogy to the practice of the Court of Chancery and
other inferior tribunals. Accordingly, in Thorpe's case, he expres
sed an opinion which, from the end of King Henry VI. till the
commencement of the reign of Queen Victoria, was received with
profound deference and veneration.
Thorpe, a Baron of the Exhequer, and speaker of the House of
Commons, being a Lancastrian, had seized some harness and mili
tary accoutrements which belonged to the Duke of York, who
brought an action of trespass against him in the Court of Exche
quer to recover their value. The plaintiff had a verdict with large
damages, for which tbe defendant, during a recess of parliament,
was arrested and imprisoned in the Fleet. When parliament re
assembled, the Commons -were without a Speaker; and the ques
tion arose whether Thorpe, as a member of the Lower House and
Speaker, was not now entitled to be discharged ?
The Commons had a conference on the subject with the Lords,
who called in the Judges, and asked their opinion. " The said
Lords, spiritual and temporal, not intending to impeach or hurt the
liberties and privileges of them that were coming for the com
merce of this land to this present parliament, but legally after the
course of law to administer justice, and to have knowledge what
the law will weigh in that behalf, opened and declared to the Jus
tices the premises, and asked of them -whether the said Thomas
Thorpe ought to be delivered from prison by, for, and in virtue of
the privilege of parliament or no ?" " To the whole question,"
says the report, " the Chief Justice Fortescue, in the name of all
the Justices, after sad communication and mature deliberation had
amongst them, answered and said : that they ought not to answer
to that question ; for it hath not been used aforetime that the Jus
tices should in anywise determine the privilege of this high court
of parliament ; for it is so high and so mighty in its nature, that it
may make law ; and that that is law, it may make no law ; and
the determination and knowledge of that privilege belongeth to
the Lords of the parliament and not to the Justices."*
In consequence of this decision the two Houses of parliament
were for many ages allowed to be the exclusive judges of their
own privileges ; liberty of speech and freedom of inquiry were
vindicated by them ; the prerogatives of the Crown were restrain
ed and defined ; and England was saved from sharing the fate of
the monarchies on the Continent of Europe, in which popular as
semblies were crushed by the unresisted encroachments of the
executive government.
* Thorpe's Case, 31 Hen. 6. a.d. 1452. 13 Eep. 63. 1 Hatsell, 29. Lord
Campbell's Speeches, 225. 27*

318 REIGN OF HENRY V 1.
What acquaintance Fortescue had with equity we have no
means of knowing ; but it is clear that he was not a mere techni
cal lawyer, and that he was familiar with the general principles of
jurisprudence. As a writer, his style is not inelegant, though not free from the
barbarisms of the schools ; and he displays sentiments upon lib
erty and good government which are very remarkable, considering
the fierce and lawless period when he flourished. His principal
treatise has been celebrated, not only by lawyers, but such wri
ters as Sir Walter Raleigh, and not only by Englishmen, but by
foreign nations. " We cannot," says Chancellor Kent, in com
menting upon it, " but pause and admire a system of jurispru
dence which in so uncultivated a period of society contained such
singular and invaluable provisions in favour of life, liberty, and
property, as those to which Fortescue referred. They were un
precedented in all Greek and Roman antiquity, and being preserv
ed in some tolerable degree of freshness and vigour amidst the
profound ignorance and licentious spirit of the feudal ages, they
justly entitle the common law to a share of that constant and usual
eulogy which the English lawyers have always liberally bestowed
upon their municipal institutions."*
Notwithstanding his tardy submission to the House of York, he
is to be praised for his consistency as a politician. Unlike the
Earl of Warwick and others, who were constantly changing sides
according to interest or caprice, he steadily adhered to the House
of Lancaster till it had no true representative, and the national
will had been strongly expressed in favour of the legitimate heir.
We must, indeed, regret the tyranny of Edward, who would not
generously pardon him on account of his fidelity to his former
master ; but his compliance with the arbitrary condition imposed
upon him should be treated with lenity by those who have never
heen exposed to such perils.
Lord Coke rejoiced that his descendants were flourishing in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth ; and I, rejoicing that they still flourish
in the reign of Queen Victoria, may be permitted to express a
confident hope that they will ever continue, as now, to support
those liberal principles which, in the time of the Plantagenets,
were se powerfuUy inculcated by their illustrious ancestor.
We must here take a short review of the law under Henry
VI. ; for although after languishing ten years as a prisoner in the
Tower, he was again, for a short time, placed as a puppet on the
throne, we may consider that his reign reaUy closed when, upon
the military disasters of his party, his queen and son went into
exile, all his supporters were either slain or submitted, and a rival
sovereign was proclaimed and recognised.
After the maniage of the King's mother, Catherine of France;,
with a Welsh gentleman, Owen ap Tudor, whereby the royal fami
ly was supposed to be much disparaged, a statute was passed!
* Kent's Commentaries. f A. D. 1418, 6 Hen. 6.

STATE OF THE LAW- 319
enacting, that to marry a Queen Dowager without the licence of
the King, should be an offence punishabb by forfeiture of lands
and goods. Some doubted whether this statute had the full force
of law, because the prelates, asserting a doctrine still cherished
by some of their successors, that " it belongs to the Church alone
to regulate all matters respecting marriage," assented to it " only
as far forth as the same swerved not from the law of God and the
Church, and so as the same imported no deadly sin ;" but Lord
Coke clearly holds it to be an act of parliament*, and it continues
law to the present day.f
The only other statute of permanent importance, passed under
Henry VI., was that for regulating the qualification of the elec
tors of knights of the shire. X
The Chancellors of this reign, particularly Cardinal Beaufort,
the Earl of Salisbury, Archbishop Bourchier, and Bishop Wayn
flete, were men of great note, and had much influence upon the
historical events of their age. Under them, assisted by John
Frank, Master of the Rolls, the Court of Chancery grew into new
consideration. The doctrine of uses was now established, and it
was determined that they might be enforced without going to par
hament. So low down as the 7th of Henry VI, this kind of pro
perty was so little regarded, that we find it stated by one of the
judges as " a thing not allowed by law, and entirely void, if a man
make a feoffment with a proviso that he himself should take the
profits^ ;" but in the 37th year of the same reign, in the time of
Lord Chancellor Waynflete, a feoffor " to such uses as he should
direct," having sold the land and directed the feoffees to convey
to the purchaser, it was agreed by all the judges in the Exchequer,
when consulted upon the subject, that the intention of the feoffor
being declared in writing, the feoffees were bound to fulfil it ; and
they intimated an opinion, that where a testator devised that his
feoffees should make an estate for life to one, remainder to anoth
er, the remainder-man should have a remedy in Chancery, to com
pel a conveyance to himself, even during the continuance of the
life interest.ll Very soon after, the distinction between the legal
and equitable estate was fully settled on the principles, and in the
language which ever since have been applied to it.1T
On other points, Equity remained rather in a rude plight. For
example, — in a subsequent case which came before Lord Chancel
lor Waynflete, the plaintiff having given a bond in payment of
certain debts -which he had purchased, filed his bill to be relieved
from it, on the ground that there was no consideration for the bond,
* 4 Inst. 34.
t A vain attempt was made (as was supposed by the clergy) to do away with it
by cutting ofl and stealing the membrane of the parliament roll on which it was
inscribed. See 5 Ling. 105.
X 8 Hen. 6. c. 7.
$ Y. B. 7 Hen G. 436. ]| Bro. Ab. Garde, .5.
IT See Y. B. 4 Ed. 4. 3.

320 REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
as he could not maintain an action to recover the debts in his own
name. This case being adjourned into the Exchequer Chamber,
the Judges, instead of suggesting that an action might be brought
for the benefit of the purchaser, in the name of the original credi
tor, held, that the bond was without consideration, and advised a.
decree that it should be cancelled, which the Chancellor pronounc
ed. An action was, nevertheless, brought upon the bond in the
Common Pleas, which prevailed, — that Court holding that the
only power the Chancellor had of enforcing his decrees, was by
inflicting imprisonment on the contumacious party, who might still
prosecute his legal right in a court of law, notwithstanding the
determination in Chancery, that the bond was unconscionable.*
To remedy this defect, injunctions were speedily introduced, rais
ing a warfare between the two sides of Westminster Hall, -which
was not allayed till after the famous battle between Lord Coke
and Lord Ellesmere, in the reign of James I. Bills were now
filed for perpetuation of testimony, the examination being taken
by commissioners, and certified into Chancery. Possession was
quieted by the authority of the Court, and its jurisdiction was
greatly extended for the purpose of affording relief against fraud,
deceit, and force.

CHAPTER XXIII
CHANCELLORS IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
Edward IV. having been proclaimed King on the 5th of March,
[March 5, 1461.1 if 61' °n t£elOth of the same month George
J Neville, Bishop of Exeter, was declared Chan
cellor, t He had been an active leader in the tumultuary proceed
ings which took place in the metropolis during the late crisis.
Without calling a parliament, first by a great public meeting in
St John's Fields, and then by an assemblage of bishops, peers,
and other persons of distinction at Baynard's Castle, he had con
trived to give a semblance of national consent to the change of
dynasty. The new King, after the decisive battle of Towton, in which
36,000 Englishmen were computed to have fallen, but which firm-
[Nov. 1461 1 ly estaDhshed his throne, having leisure to hold a
parliament, it met at Westminster in November,
* Y. B. 36 Hen. 6. 13.
t Feed, xi 473. A difficulty arose about having a Great Seal to deliver to him.
At the commencement of a new ,cign the Great Seal of the preceding Sovereign
is used for a time, but that of Henry VI. was not forthcoming, and be had been de
clared an usurper. A new Great Seal, with the effigies of Edward IV., was speedi
ly manufactured, though m a rude fashion.— 1 Hales Pleas of the Crown 177

GEORGE NEVILLE, CHANCELLOR. 321
and -was opened in a notable oration by Lord Chancellor Neville,
who took for his theme " Bonas facite vias.;" but we are not in
formed whether he exhorted them to make provision for the repair
of the high ways,. greatly neglected during the civil war, or to find
out ways and means to restore the dilapidated finances of the
country, or what other topics he dwelt upon. After a speaker had
been chosen by the Commons, who addressed the King, com
mending him for his extraordinary courage and conduct against
his enemies, — the Chancellor read a long declaration of the King's
title to the crown, — to which was added a recapitulation of the
tyrannous reign of Henry IV., and his heinous murdering of Rich
ard II*
The required acts of attainder and restitution being passed
against Lancastrians and in favour of Yorkists, the King, accord
ing to modern fashion, closed the session with a gracious speech,
delivered by himself from the throne. t After his Majesty had
ended his speech, the record tells us that " the Lord Chancellor
stood up and declared, that since the whole business of this parl
iament was not yet concluded, and the approaching festival of
Christmas would obstruct it, he therefore, by the King's command,
prorogued the parliament to the 6th of May next ensuing. At the
same time he told them of certain proclamations which the King
had issued against badges, liveries, robberies, and murders, and
which " the Bishops, Lords and Commons promised to obey."$
Neville was made Archbishop of York, and continued to hold
the office of Chancellor till the 8th of June, 1467; but I do not
find any transaction of much consequence in which he was after
wards engaged. The parliaments called were chiefly employed
in reforming the extravagant fashion prevailing among the people
of adorning their feet by wearing pikes to the shoes, so long as to
encumber them in their walking, unless tied up to the knee with
chains of gold, silver, or silk. There was a loud outcry against
these enormities, and this appears to have operated as a diversion
in favour of the Court of Chancery, which now enjoyed a long
respite from parliamentary attack. Several statutes were passed,
regulating the length of pikes of shoes, under very severe penal
ties ; but the fame of reformers is generally short-lived, and I can
not affirm that the Lord Chancellor gained any distinction by
bringing forward or supporting these measures.
In 1463 the pleasing and novel task was assigned to Lord
Chancellor Neville, of announcing 'to the Commons that, from the
flourishing state of the royal revenue, the King released to them
parcel of the grant of a former session.
* 1 Pari Hist 419.
t A little specimen of the language anil style may be interesting. " James Stran-
way ami ye that be comyn foi* the common of ihis my lond, for tbe true hertes
and tender considerations that ye have had unto the i-oronne of this reame, the
which from us have been long time withholde." — 1 Pari. Hist. 419.
t 1 Pari. Hist. 422.

322 REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
For several months in the autumn of this year he -was abroad,
on an embassy to remonstrate against the countenance given to
Lancastrians at foreign courts ; and during his absence the Great
Seal was in the custody of Kirkham, the Master of the Rolls*
On the 10th of April, 1464, the Chancellor being about to leave
London for Newcastle on public business, the Great Seal was
again intrusted to the Master of the Rolls, who -was directed by
writ of privy seal to keep it till the 14th of May, and on that day
to deliver it to Richard Fryston and William Moreland, to be con
veyed to the Chancellor. They accordingly delivered it back to
the Chancellor at York, on his return to London.
Things went on very smoothly for several years, till the quarrel
rM U64 1 °^ -Edward IV- with the house of Neville, arising
L ' 'J out of his marriage with the fair widow, the
Lady Elizabeth Grey, while the Earl of Warwick, by his autho
rity, was employed in negotiating an alliance between him and
the Lady Bona of who, regarding the Nevilles as her mortal
enemies, was eager to depress them, and to aggrandise her own
kindred. In consequence, George Neville was dismissed from the office
of Lord Chancellor. On the 8th of June, 1467, the King abruptly
demanded the Great Seal from him, and gave it to John de Aud
ley to carry to the palace. The next day it was delivered to the
Master of the Rolls, without any Chancellor over him, but with a
declaration, " that he was not to use it except in the presence of
the Earl of Essex, Lord Hastings, Sir John Fagge, and Sir John
Scotte, or of one of them ; and after each day's sealing, it was to
be put into a bag, which was to be sealed with those who were
present at the sealing, and the Master of the Rolls was every
day, before night, to deliver the seal so enclosed to one of the
persons above mentioned, and to receive it again the next morn
ing, to be used in the manner here recited*
The ruling party had not determined who should be the new
Chancellor when Neville was dismissed, and an interval of ten
days elapsed before the choice was made — employed no doubt in
intrigues among the Queen's friends, from whom he was to be
[June 20 1467 1 selected- At last> on the 20th of June, it was an-
" 'J nounced that Robert Stillington, Bishop of
Bath and Wells, was appointed Chancellor, and the Great Seal
was delivered to himt.
But before entering on his history, we must take a final leave
of Ex-chancellor Neville. He now harboured the deepest resent
ment against Edward, and entered into all the cabals of his brother
the " King-maker," who was secretly leagued with Queen Mar-
* Rot. CI 4 Ed. 4.
t Rot CI 4 Ed. 4 m. 12. It had not been unusual to impose such restrictions-
on persons holding the seal without being Chancellor, hut the Chancellor always
had he unllr"'ted use of it, upon his responsibility to the King and to Parliament.

ROBERT STILLINGTON, CHANCELLOR. 323
garet and the Lancastrians, and wished to unmake the king he had
made. Both brothers, however, attempted to conceal their wishes and
designs, and at times pretended great devotion for the reigning
Sovereign. In 1469, Edward, in a progress passing through York,
was invited by the Archbishop, his Ex-chancellor, to a great feast
at the archiepiscopal palace. He accepted the invitation ; but as
he sat at table he perceived symptoms which suddenly induced
him to suspect that the Archbishop's retainers intended to seize
his person, or to murder him. He abruptly left the entertainment,
called for his guards, and retreated.
When in the following year the civil war was openly renewed,
and the Earl of Warwick, by one of the most sudden r 1 . „„ -.
revolutions in history, was complete master ofthe lA- •D- I
kingdom, it is said that Edward was for a time in the custody of
the Archbishop, who, however, used him with great respect, not
restraining him from the diversions of hunting and walking abroad,
by -which means Edward made his escape, and soon after recover
ed his crown. Upon the counter-revolution, the Arch- j- 14711
bishop was surprised in his palace at Whitehall, and *-A' ' J
sentto the Tower; but on account of his sacred character was soon
after set at liberty, although he had been repeatedly guilty of high
treason, by imagining the King's death, and levying f 14791
war against him in his realm. Being detected in ^A' ' "'
new plots, about a year after his enlargement, the King again
caused him to be arrested on a charge of high treason, seized his
plate, money, and furniture, to the value of 20,000/., and sent him
over to Calais, then often used as a state prison. There he was
kept in strict confinement till the year 1476, when on the score of
his declining health he was liberated, and he died soon after.
During the seven years he held the Great Seal, I do not find any
charge against him of partiality or corruption ; and his sudden
changes in politics, and the violence with which he acted against
his opponents, must be considered rather as characteristic of the
age in which he lived, than bringing any great reproach upon his
personal character.
Robert Stillington, his successor, had the rare merit of being
always true to the party which he originally espoused. He ap
pears to have been of humble origin, but he gained a great name
at Oxford, where with much applause he took the degree of Doc
tor of Laws. He was a zealous legitimist, and on the succession
of Edward IV. he was a special favourite with that Prince, who
successively made him Archdeacon of Taunton, Bishop of Bath
and Wells, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and finally Lord Chancellor.
He held this office for six years, with the exception of the few
months when Edward was obliged to fly the kingdom, and the
sceptre was again put into the feeble hand of Henry VI.
He had been appointed during a session of parlia- r ..„„ -.
ment. This was brought to a close on the 5th of *¦ ' '*

324 REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
July, when it was stated, that having in the presence of the King,
Lords, and Commons, first answered certain petitions from the
lower House, he thanked them in the King's name for the Statute
of Resumption which they had passed, — told them that the King
had provided for Calais, and had taken care for Ireland and
Wales,— and assured them that his Majesty desired there might
be a due execution of the laws in all his dominions. After which,
in the King's name, he prorogued the parliament*
At the opening ofthe following session, in -May, 1468, Lord
Chancellor Stillington, departing from the custom of delivering a
quant discourse from a text of Scripture, with infinite divisions
and subdivisions, — delivered a very eloquent and statesmanlike
speech, which made a deep impression, if we may judge from the
liberal supplies which were voted. After some observations in
praise of the government of England by Kings, Lords, and Com
mons, " He put them in mind in what poor estate the King found the
crown; despoiled of the due inheritance; wasted in its treasures;
the laws wrecked ; and the whole by the usurpation in a manner
subverted. Add to this the loss of the crown of France : the
Duchies of Normandy, Gascoigny, and Guienne, the ancient patri
mony of the crown of England, loss also ; and further he found it
involved in a war with Denmark, Spain, Scotland, Brittany, and
other parts, and even with their old enemy of France. Then, de
scending, he told them that the King had appeased all tumults
within the realm, and planted such inward peace that law and jus
tice might be extended. That the King had made peace with
Scotland ; that the Lord Wenters was negotiating a league with
Spain and Denmark, so as to open a free commerce with those
countries. But what was stiU the greatest, he had allied himself
to the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, two most powerful princes
in such sort as they had given the King the strongest assurance of
acting vigorously against France for the recovering of that king
dom and other the King's patrimonies ; of which, since they made
little doubt, the King thought fit not to omit such an opportunity,
and such a one as never happened before. And that his Majesty
might see this kingdom as glorious as any of his predecessors did,
he was ready to adventure his own person in so just a cause.
Lastly, he told them that the King had called this parliament to
make them acquainted with these matters, and to desire their
advice and assistance." t
The announcement of a French war was a certain mode of
opening the purse-strings of the nation ; a large subsidy of two
tenths and two fifteenths was immediately granted, and a renewal
of the glories of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt was confidently
anticipated. But these visions were soon dispelled by the landing of the
* I Pari. Hist. 426. f Ibid 427.

ROBERT STILLINGTON, CHANCELLOR. 325
Earl of Warwick, now the leader of the Lancastrians, with the
avowed object of rescuing Henry from the Tower, where he him
self had imprisoned him, and replacing him on the throne from
which he had pulled him down as an usurper. " The scene which
ensues," says Hume, " resembles more the fiction of a poem or
romance than an event in true history." It may be compared to
nothing more aptly than the return of Napoleon r Q „ ,
from Elba. In eleven days from Warwick's land- LbEPT- 1470-J
ing at Dartmouth, — without fighting a battle, Henry was again set
at libery and proclaimed king, and Edward was flying in disguise
to find a refuge beyond the sea.
The Lord Chancellor Stillington certainly did not submit to the
new govornment ; but I cannot find whether he rri .„- ,
followed Edward into exile, or where he re- lUcTOBER> 1470-J
sided during " the hundred days." Most of the leading Yorkists
fled to the Continent, or took to sanctuary, like the Queen — who,
shut up in Westminster Abbey, while assailed by the cries of the
Lancastrians, was delivered of her son, afterwards Edward V.,
murdered by his inhuman uncle. Stillington probably relied for
safety on his sacred character, and retired to his see.
A new ChanceUor must have been appointed, as a parliament
was called and the government was regularly conducted in Hen
ry's name, this being now styled "the 49th year" of his reign; but
there is no trace of the name of any one -who was intrusted with
the Great Seal till after the restoration of Edward IV.
It is chiefly on the public records that we ought to rely for the
events of those times, and as soon as Edward was again on the
throne, the records of all the transactions which had taken place
during his exile were vacated and destroyed. " There is no part
of English history since the Conquest so uncertain, so little au
thentic or consistent, as that of the wars between the two Roses;
and it is remarkable that this profound darkness falls upon us just
on the eve of the restoration of letters, and when the art of print
ing was already known in Europe. AU that we can distinguish
with certainly through the deep cloud which covers that period,
is a scene of horror and bloodshed, savage manners, arbitrary-
executions, and treacherous, dishonourable conduct in all parties."*
Thus we shall never know who was the ChanceUor that stated
the causes for calling, in the name of Henry VI, the parliament
which met at Westminster on the 26th of November, 1470, —
when Edward IV. was declared a traitor and usurper of the-
Crown, — all his lands and goods were confiscated, — all the stat
utes made by him were repeated, — all his principal adherents
were attainted, — and sentence of death was passed on the ac
complished Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, though, struck with the
first rays of true science, he had been zealous by his exhortation
and example to propagate the love of polite learning among hii
* Hume.
tol. I. 28

326 REIGN OP EDWARD IV.
unpolished countrymen* The strong probability is, that George
NevUle, King-maker Warwick's brother, at this time had the Great
Seal restored to him, and took the oaths as Chancellor to King
Henry VI
But Edward soon returned to recover his lost authority, and to
wreak vengeance on his enemies ; the battles of Barnet and
Tewkesbury were fought ; the Earl of Warwick fell ; Edward the
Prince of Wales was assassinated; and the unhappy Henry,
" after life's fitful fever slept well," — whether relieved from his
sufferings by the pitying hand of nature, or by the " weeping
sword " of the inhuman Gloucester.
When King Edward had gone through the ceremony of being
re-crowned^ we find Stillington in possession of the Seal as Chan
cellor. There is no entry in the records of its being again deli
vered to him, and he was probably c.onsidered as holding it under
his original appointment.
A parliament was soon afterwards called, which was opened
and prorogued by a speech from the Chancellor, but at which no
thing memorable occurred. The late parliament held in the name
of Henry VI was not then even recognised so far as that its acts
were repealed, and the course was adopted as preferable of obli
terating all rolls recording its proceedings. Had things so remain
ed, it would have been difficult for lawyers to determine whether
a statute then passed is now law.
I find nothing more related respecting StUlington while he con
tinued Chancellor. He ceased to hold the office, not from having
lost the favour of his master, but from having fallen into iU health,
which incapacitated him from performing its duties. Being very
unwell, on the 20th of September, 1472, John Alcock, Bishop of
Rochester, himself afterwards Chancellor in the reign of Henry
VII, was appointed to keep the Seal until the Chancellor should
become convalessent; and on the 8th of June, 1473, being still un
able- to attend to business, he resigned his office.t
Leisure and freedom from anxiety soon restored his health.
He would not again resume judicial duties, but he was still zeal
ous to serve his royal patron, and he went upon an embassy to the
Duke of Brittany, to persuade that prince to give up the Earl of
Richmond, who was considered heir ofthe Lancastrian family, and
was afterwards King of England under the title of Henry VII.
Stillington left nothing unessayed to accomplish his object, but
was obliged to return without success.
A stain has been cast upon his memory by the imputation that
he was privy to the crimes by which Richard III. mounted the
throne. To show the invalidity of his brother's marriage with the
Lady Elizabeth Grey, Richard asserted that Edward, before
espousing her, had paid court to the Lady Eleanor Talbot, daugh
ter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, and being repulsed by the virtue
* 1 *«!• Hist- 428. f Kc>t. C1< 12 Ed. 4, m u

LAWRENCE BOOTH, CHANCELLOR. 327
of that lady, he was obliged, before he could gratify his passion,
to consent to a private marriage, which was celebrated by Stilling
ton, Bishop of Bath and Wells ; but the Bishop never confirmed
this story, and although he was one of the supporters of the usur
per at his coronation, there is no proof that he assisted in bastard
ising the issue of his benefactor, much less in their murder*
Henry VII. being crowned king, Stillington showed his never-
dying enmity to the House of Lancaster, by taking up the cause
of Lambert Simnel, the pretended heir of the House of York.
Being detected in this conspiracy, the King, who had naturally a
particular spite against him, resolved to show him no mercy. The
Ex- Chancellor endeavoured to conceal himself at Oxford, but the
University agreed that he should be delivered up on an under
standing that his life should be spared. He was conducted to
Windsor, where he remained a prisoner till his death, in June, 1491.
On Stillington's resignation of the Great Seal, it was placed in
the hands of the Master of the RoUs, who kept it r .. .7g i
till the 23rd of June, on which day, by the King's *¦ ' *
command, he delivered it to Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex.
This stout Earl was Lord Keeper only for one month, but as he
held the Great Seal during all Trinity Term in his own right for
all purposes, and must for a time, though short, have transacted
the business belonging to the office, judicial as well as political, —
according to the plan of this "work some account ought to be
given of him.
He was a brother of Archbishop Bourchier, and so descended
from the Earl of Eu, in Normandy, and nearly related to the roy
al family.
He had been bred a soldier, and, like many others, he had
changed sides in the late -wars as suited his interest. He was
now high in the confidence of Edward IV. and at mortal enmity
with all Lancastrians.
We have no information respecting his performances as Lord
Keeper, but he must have found his seat in the marble chair very
uncomfortable, for without any difference with the King, he re
signed it on the 27th of July, and was then made a Knight of the
Garter. He died in 1483.
Qn his resignation, the Great Seal was delivered to Lawrence
Booth, Bishop of Durham, with the title of r j_LY 07 1473 1
Chancellor.! "• » • J
* See Horace Walpole's Doubts. It is curious to observe that the precontract
with the daughter of another nobleman was the only ground for contending that
the issue of Edward's marriage were not entitled to inherit the throne, and that the
continental doctrine of royal messalliance never sprung up in England, that proud
monarch, Henry VIII., having four wives who were without royal blood, and two
of their descendants succeeding him. England differed from the Continent in a
more important particular, to which her greatness may be chiefly traced — the ab
sence among us of castes — or the custom by which the younger sons of a peer
were commoners, and the son of a peasant might rise to the highest rank of nobility"
t Hot. CI. 13 Ed. 4.

328

REIGN OF EDWARD IT,

He had risen by merit from obscurity. He studied at Cam
bridge, where he gained high distinction for his proficiency in lit
erature, law, and divinity, while still a young man he was elect
ed head, of his house and Chancellor of that University. In 1457
he was made Bishop of Durham, while Henry VI was nominal
ly King, but under the influence of the Yorkists, to whom he con
tinued steadily attached. It seems strange to us that an individu
al, who for sixteen years had been occupied in superintending a
remote diocese, should in his old age be selected to fill the office
of Lord Chancellor, now become one of great inportance in the
administration of justice ; but there were, no doubt, political rea
sons for the appointment, and the interests of the suitors were not
much regarded. It is possible that the Bishop might have been
thought capable of silencing a noisy opponent in parliament, or that
he was of that moderate, decent, unalarming character, which
so often leads to promotion.
His appointment turned out a great failure. He was equally
inefficient in the Court of Chancery and in parliament. Except
that he did not take bribes, he had every bad quality of a judge,
and heavy complaints arose from his vacillation and delays.
While he presided on the woolsack in the House of Lords, he
never ventured to open his mouth, unless in the formal addresses
which he delivered by the King's command at the commencement
and close of the session, and these were so bad as to cause gen
eral dissatisfaction. On the 1st of February, 1474, he summoned
the Commons to the Upper House, and told them " that they were
then assembled to consult which way the King might proceed in
the wars; but because his Majesty had yet heard nothing from
his brother, the Duke of Burgundy, relating to that affair, whereon
much depended, it was the King's command that this parliament
should be prorogued to the 9th of May ensuing."*
When the two Houses again met, his incompetency became
more glaring, and it was found that he had not the requisite skill,
by eloquence or management, to carry the measures of the Court,
or to obtain the supplies. He was accordingly dismissed from the
office of Chancellor. To console him, he was soon after translat
ed from Durham to York. He died after having quietly presided
over this province between three and four years? during which
s1 iritaal^utiesT ltlCS' h6 exclusively c°nfined himself to his
There is no record of the delivery of the Great Seal to Roth-
[.7514 .D a.] ?*AW' hls distinguised successor ; but we know from
- *, a e£\ lVJ S<3al Bllls extant> that he was Chancellor
onlv fort IS ^ !,75'* Alth°Ugh he held the Great Seal
ffi^EJT °n +S °CCaS1°n' * WaS aft«wards restored
to him and he acted a most conspicuous part in the troubles which
ensued on the death of Edward IV. wmcn
*1 Pari. Hist. 432. t Privy Seal Bills, 14 Ed. 4. J L. C. 56.

THOMAS ROTHERAM, CHANCELLOR.
He owed his elevation to his own merits. His famfiy name was
Scot, unillustrated in England at that time, and instead of it, he
assumed the name of the town in the West Riding of Yorkshire
in which he was born .* He studied at King's College, Cambridge,
and was one of the earliest fellows on this royal foundation which
has since produced so many distinguished ment He was after
wards Master of Pembroke Hall, and ChanceUor of this Univer
sity. For his learning and piety he was at an early age selected
to be chaplain to Vere, thirteenth Earl of Oxford, and he was then
taken into the service of Edward IV. Being a steady Yorkist, he
was made Bishop of Rochester in 1467, and translated to Lincoln
in 1471. To finish the notice of his ecclesiastical dignities, I may
mention here that, in 1480, he became Archbishop of York, and
that he received a red hat from the Pope with the title of Cardinal
St.e Cicili^;4
Soon after his elevation to the office of ChanceUor he was call
ed to open a session of parliament after a prorogation, and by
holding out the prospect of a French war he contrived to obtain
supplies of unexampled amount. In the beginning of the follow
ing year he passed a great number of bills of attain- r 147fi i
der and restitution, with a view to the permanent de- *¦¦*-¦ D' >
pression of the Lancastrians. On the 14th of March, by the King's
command, he returned thanks to the three estates, and dissolved
the parliament, which had lasted near two years and a half.§
Since the beginning of parliaments no one had enjoyed an exis
tence nearly so long. Formerly there was anew parhament every
session and the session did not last many days. But as the power
of the House of Commons increased, it was found of great impor
tance to have a majority attached to the ruling faction, and disposed
ot grant liberal supplies. When such a House was elected there
was a reluctance to part with it, and prorogations -were graduaUy
substituted for dissolutions ; but the keeping of the same parlia
ment in existence above a year was considered a great innovation.
Atcommon law, however, the demise of the Crown was the only
limit to the duration of parliaments, — which accounts forthe first
parhament of Charles II having lasted eighteen years, and there
being sometimes no dissolution of the Irish parliament dining a
long reign.
The history of Croyland points it out as something very remark -
# We are not to suppose from this that he was ashamed of his descent. Edward
I., to introduce surnames, still rare, and to give variety to them, had directed that
people might take as a name the place of their birth. Evenfprinces ofthe blood were
called by the place of their birth, as " Harry of Monmouth," " John of Gaunt," ' Tho
mas of Woodstock," &c. Priests being mortui sceculo, very frequently relmo.uished
their family nam :-s on their ordination.
t Three Chancellors, — Eotheram, Goodrich, and Camden, and many most emi
nent lawyers, — as Chief Justice Sir James Mansfield, Chief Justice Sir Vicary
Gibbs, Mr. Justice Patterson, Mr. Justice Dampier, and his son, the present Judge
of the Stannary Court.
X Fuller's Worthies, 214. Godwin Willis, 42. Wood's Ath. i. 147.
§ 1 Pari. Hist. 433.

330 REIGN Ol EDWARD IV.
able; that during this parliament of Edward IV. no less than three
several Lord Chancellors presided. " The first," adds that author
ity," was Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath, who did nothing but
by the advice of his disciple, John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester ;
the next was Lawrence Booth, Bishop of Durham, who tired him
self with doing just nothing at all ; and the third was Thomas
Rotheram, Bishop of Lincoln, who did all, and brought everything
to a happy conclusion."
Although Rotheram had given such satisfaction as ChanceUor,
— on the 27th of April, 1476, John Alcock, who had been form
erly keeper of the Great Seal under Stillington, was sworn in
Chancellor, and held the office till the 28th of September follow
ing, when Rotheram was reinstated in it.* We have no certain
information respecting the cause of this discontinuance, or how he
employed himself in the interval ; but there is a strong probability
that he accompanied the King in his inglorious expedition to claim
the crown of France, which.ended in the peace of Pecquigni, and
that the negotiations with the Duke of Burgundy and Louis XI
were chiefly intrusted to him.
He continued Chancellor and chief adviser of the Crown dur
ing the remainder of this reign. Edward, immersed in pleasure
and indulging in indolence, unless excited by some great peril,
when he could display signal energy as well as courage, — threw
upon his minister all the common cares of government.
A parliament met at Westminster in January, 1477, when Lord
P 1477 1 Chancellor Rotheram, in the presence of the King,
<- ' ' '-I Lords and Commons, in the Painted Chamber, de
clared the cause of the summons from this text, " Dominus regit
me et nihil mihi deerit ;" upon which he largely treated of the
obedience which subjects owe to their Prince, and showed, by
many examples out of the Old and New Testament, what griev
ous plagues had happened to the rebeUious and disobedient, partic
ularly that saying of St. Paul, Non sine causa Rex gladium portat.
He added, that " the Majesty of the King was upheld by the
hand and counsel of God, by which he was advanced to the throne
of his ancestors."-!
Lord Chancellor Rotheram now found it convenient to pass an
act repealing all the statutes, and nullifying aU the proceedings of
the parliament which sat during the '100 days, " aUeged to have
been held m the 49th year of Hen. VI, but which," it was said,
« was truly the 9th of Ed. IV." He then obtained great popular
ity by an act showing the disUke to Irishmen, which still lingers
m England, and which, with little mitigation, was long handed
down from generation to generation,— " to oblige all Irishmen
born, or coming of Irish parents, who reside in England, either to
repan to and remain in Ireland, or else to pay yearly a certain sum
there rated for the defence of the same.'' We fear this was not
* Privy Seal Bills, 15 Ed. 4. u Paa Hist, 434

THOMAS ROTHERAM, CHANCELLOR. 331
meant as an absentee tax for the benefit of Ireland, but was, in
™«7' "? °PPressiy,f ,levY °n obnoxious aliens, such as was im-
] ? K^l 1WS llR ih?-y Were finally Vanished from the realm.
tn £Y Ag?n . ^^^sensions in the royal family which led
to the destruction of the House of York and
the extinction of the name of Plantagenet [jANU-Ainr> 1477.
There is reason to think that the Chancellor did all that was pos-
rliVnf A UhedlsP"^ between the King and his brother, the
Duke of Clarence. When the trial for treason came on in the
House of Lords, the Duke of Buckingham presided as Lord Stew-
aift\anl , g aPPearinS Personally as accuser, the field was
left to the two brothers ; " no one charging Clarence but the Kina;,
and no one answering the King but Clarence"*
According to the universal usage, the Bill of At- [Feb' u78-]
tainder passed both Houses unanimously ; but the Chancellor, as
a churchman, could not vote in this affair of blood. We may sup
pose that it was at the merciful suggestion of " the Keeper of his
conscience," that the King was so far softened as to give his bro
ther the choice of the mode of dying, and consented to his being
drowned in a butt of his favourite malmsey.
On the 20th of January, 1482, the Chancellor opened Edward's
last parliament with a speech from the text, Dominus illuminatio
mea.et salus mea ; but we are not told on what topics he enlarged;
and nothing was brought forward during the session except a code
or consolidation of the laws touching " excess of apparel," with
a new enactment, " that none under the degree of a Lord shall
wear any mantle, unless it be of such a length that a man stand
ing upright, il lui voilera la queucf ; — so that, instead of appearing
in flowing robes, and with_a long train, the privilege of the nobili
ty now was to show the contour of their person to the multitude.
In " Cotton's Abridgement" is to be found a list of the peers
summoned to attend another parliament at West- r ,
minster in the beginning of the following year ; but lA' d' i4:ii6-l
there are no proceedings of such a parliament on record, and, if
summoned, it was probably prevented from meeting by the last
sickness and death of the King, which happened on the 9th of
April, 14-83, in the forty-second year of his age and the twenty-
third of his reign.
There are to be found in the Year Books and Abridgements
various cases decided by the Chancellors of Edward IV., showing
that their equitable jurisdiction still required much to be improved
and strengthened. Lord Chancellor Rotheram was considered
the greatest equity lawyer of the age. While he held the Great
Seal, a bill was filed by a person who had entered into a statute
merchant (that is, had acknowledged before the mayor of a town
that he owed a sum of money), who had paid the debt without
* 1 Pari. Hist. 435.
X Translated in the statute-book, " it shall cover his buttocks." 22 Ed. 4. c. 1.

332 REIGN OE EDWARD IV-
taking a written discharge, and who was afterwards sued at law
for the amount. The question was, whether he should have re-
Uef ? The ChanceUor, having great doubt, caUed in the assist
ance of the Judges in the Exchequer Chamber,— where, after
much argument, he pronounced that a statute merchant, being
matter of record, no relief could be given, though it would have
been otherwise in the case of a bond. And he decreed accord
ingly.* But it is not to be wondered at that he proceeded warily, and
that he stood in awe of the common-law Judges ; for they appear
to have formed a combination against him. In the same year in
which the last case was decided, he had granted an injunction
after verdict in a case depending in the Court of King's Bench,
on the ground that the verdict had been fraudulently obtained.
Hussey, the Lord Chief Justice, who had probably presided at the
trial, was very indignant, and asked the counsel for the plaintiff
" if they would pray judgment according to the verdict ?" and they
declared their dread of infringing the injunction. One of the
puisne Judges argued, that " though the party himself against whom
the injunction was directed might be bound by it, his counsel or
attorney might pray judgment with safety." But this distinction
being over-ruled, the Lord Chief Justice said " they had talked
over the matter among themselves, and they saw no mischief that
could ensue to the party if he prayed judgment, for the pecuniary
penalty mentioned in the injunction was not leviable by law, so
that there remained nothing but imprisonment ;" and as to that he
said, " If the Chancellor commits any one to the Fleet, apply to
us for a habeas corpus, and upon the return to it we will discharge
the prisoner, and we will do all to assist you." To avoid the im
pending collision, another puisne Judge said " he would go to the
ChanceUor, and ask him to dissolve the injunction ;" but they all
stoutly declared that " if the injunction were continued, they
would nothingtheless give judgment and award execution," —
taking much credit to themselves for then moderation in refus
ing damages for the loss occasioned by the proceedings in Chan-
cery.t Yet the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery may
be considered as malting its greatest advance in this reign. The
point was now settled, tha't there being a feoffment to uses, the
cestui que use, or person beneficiaUy entitled, could maintain no
action at law, the Judges saying.that he had neither jus in re nor
jus ad rem, and that their forms could not be moulded so as to af
ford him any effectual rehef, either as to the land or the profits.
The Chancellors, therefore, with general applause, declared that
they would proceed by subpoena against the feoffee to compel him
to perform a duty which in conscience was binding upon him, and
gradually extended the remedy against his heir and against his
* Y. B. 22 Ed. 4. 6. * Y. B. 22 Ed. 4. 87.

THOMAS ROTHERAM, CHANCELLOR. 833
alienee with notice of the trust, although they held, as their suc
cessors have done, that the purchaser of the legal estate for valu
able consideration without notice might retain the land for his own-
benefit*. They therefore now freely made decrees requiring the
trustees to convey according to the directions of the person bene
ficially interested ; and the most important branch of the equita
ble jurisdiction of the Court over trusts was firmly and irrevocably
established. A written statement of the supposed grievance being required
to be filed before the issuing of the subpoena, with security to pay
damages and costs, — bills now acquired form, and the distinction
arose between the proceeding by bill and by petition. The same
regularity was observed in the subsequent stages of the suit,
Whereas formerly the defendant was generally examined viva voce
when he appeared in obedience to the subpmna, the practice now
was to put in a written answer, commencing with a protestation
against the truth or sufficiency of the matters contained in the bill,
stating the facts relied upon by the defendant, and concluding with
a prayer that he may be dismissed, with his costs.
There were likewise, for the purpose of introducing new facts,
special replications and rejoinders, which continued till the reign
of Elizabeth, but which have been rendered unnecessary by the
more modern practice of amending the bill and answer. Pleas
and demurrers now appear. Although the pleadings were in Eng
lish, the decrees on the bill continued to be in Latin down to the
reign of Henry VIILt Bills to perpetuate testimony, to set out
metes and bounds, and for injunctions against proceedings at law,
and to stay waste, became frequent.}:
The common-law Judges at this time were very bold men, hav
ing of their own authority repealed the statute De Donis, passed
in the reign of Edward I, which authorised the perpetual entail
of land, — by deciding, in Taltarum's case,§ that the entail might
be barred through a fictitious proceeding in the Court of Common
Pleas, called a " Common Recovery ; — the estate being adjudged
to a sham claimant, — a sham equivalent being given to those who
ought to succeed to it, — and the tenant in tail being enabled to
dispose of it as he pleased, in spite of the will of the donor. One
of these judges was Littleton, the author of the Treatise on Te
nures, a work of higher authority than any other in the law of
England. Fortescue is the only individual in the list of Chancel
lors who wrote in this reign, and his Dialogue " De Laudibus "
was not published till long after.ll
* See Bro. Feoff, al. Uses, pi. 45. Saunders on Uses, p. 20.
f They were now sometimes expressed to be " habita deliberatione cum justicia-
riis et nib's rle dicti Domini Regis concilio peritis ad hoc evocatis et ibidem tunc
prassentibus." X See Calendar, and Reports of Record Commissioners, Temp. Ed. 4.
§ 12 Ed. 4.
|| The general principles on which the equity jurisdiction of the Court of Chan
cery was exercised in the time of Edward IV., may be favourably judged from the

334 REIGN OF EDWARD IV-
In the old " Abridgements of the Law " there are various de
cisions of Edward IV.'s ChanceUors referred to under the heads
" Conscience," " Subposna," and " Injunctions," — the only prior
ones being a few in the time of Henry VI ; but they show equity
to have been slUl in the rudest state, without systematic rules or
principles.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGNS OF EDWARD V. AND
RICHARD III.
Before Edward IV. was laid in his grave, disputes began between
, the Queen's family and the Duke of Gloucester,
[April 9,. 148.1 J her brother-in-law, who from the first claimed the
office of Protector, and soon resolved at all hazards to seize the
crown. Lord Chancellor Rotheram sided with the Queen, and
when with her daughters and her younger son she had taken sanc
tuary within the precincts of the Abbey at Westminster, where on
a former distress during the short restoration of Henry VI she had
been delivered of the Prince of Wales, he interfered in his sacred
character of Archbishop to prevent her and the objects of her af
fection from being forcibly laid hold of by Richard, who contended
that the ecclesiastical privilege of sanctuary did not apply to them,
as it was originally intended only to give protection to unhappy
men persecuted for their debts or crimes. A messenger came from
Richard to Rotheram, to assure him " that there was no sort of dan
ger to the Queen, the young King, or the royal issue, and that all
should be well , " to which he replied, — " Be it as weU as it will, I
assure him it will never be as well as -we have seen it." Being at
a loss how to dispose of the Great Seal, which he no longer had a
right to use, he went to the Queen and unadvisedly delivered it up
instructions to Kirkeham when made Master of the Rolls. " The King willed and
commanded there and thanne, that all manere maters, to be examyned and discuss
ed in the Court of Chauncery, should be directed and determyned accordyng to
equite and conscience, and to the old cours and laudable custume of the same
Court, so that if in any such maters any difBcultie or question of lawe happen to
ryse, that he herein take th' ad vis and difBcultie or counsel of sume of the Kynge' s
Justices ; so that right and justice may be duely ministered to every man."l This
document, which must have been framed under the directions of Lord Chancellor
Neville, shows that there was then a great anxiety to keep equity in subjection to
the common law ; that it was usual to call in the assistance of the common-law
Judges when any point of difficulty arose in the Court of Chancery , and that this
privilege then belonged to the Master of the Rolls, as well as to the Lord Cha»cel-
lor himself.

1 CI. Bol. 7 Ed. 4.

CHANCELLOR. 335
to her, who certainly could have no right to receive it ; — but re
penting his mistake, he soon sent for it back, and it was restored
to him.
Rotheram has escaped all suspicion of being knowingly impli-
cated in the criminal projects of Richard; but he was unfortunate
ly made the instrument of materially aiding them. The Queen
still resisted ail the importunities and threats used to" get posses
sion from her of the infant Duke of York, observing " that, by
living in sanctuary, he was not only secure himself, but gave se
curity to his brother, the King, whose life no one would dare to aim
at, while his successor and avenger remained in safety."
Richard, with his usual art and deceit, applied himself to Roth
eram and another Ex-chancellor, Archbishop Bourchier, and con
trived to persuade them that his intentions -were fair, and that his
only object in obtaining the release of the young Prince was, that
he might keep the King, his brother, company, and walk at his
coronation. These holy men at last prevailed with the Queen to
give a most reluctant assent. Taking the child by the hand, and
addressing Rotheram, she said : — " My Lord Archbishop, here he
is ; for my own part I can never deliver him ; but if you wUl
needs have him, take him : I will require him at your hands."
She was here struck with a kind of presage of his future fate ; she
tenderly embraced him, she bedewed him with her tears, and
bade him an eternal adieu.
Rotheram appears soon after to have surrendered the Great Seal
into the hands of the Protector. There is no record of the trans
fer or delivery of it during the reign of Edward V. But we know
that while the young King still lived and his name was used as
sovereign, John Russell -was appointed to the office, and must
have sworn fidelity to that Sovereign. Sir Thomas More, after
giving an account of Richard taking upon himself the office of
Protector, says : — " At which counsayle also the Archebischoppe
of York, ChaunceUore of Euglande, whiche had delivered uppe
the Greate Seale to the Queene, was therefore greatly reproved,
and the Seale taken from hyme, and delivered to Doctour Russell,
Byschoppe of Lincolne."* Moreover, there is an original letter
extant in the Tower of London, addressed in the name of Ed
ward V. to " John Bishop of Lincoln, our Chancellor," and dated
" the seconde daie of Juyn, in the furste yere of oure reigne."
And Spelman t says, though without citing his authority, — "Hie
mortuo rege Edwardo IV. sigillurn tradidit (Thomas Rotheram)
Reginse Matri, de qua receptum Io. Russell datur, vivente adhuc
Edwardo V."
But before entering on the life of the new Chancellor, we must
conclude our account of the two Archbishops, who for the rest of
their days confined themselves to the discharge of their ecclesi
astical functions. Bourchier performed the marriage ceremony
* Sir T. More's Hist. Eic. 3. p. 46. t Glos. 11.

336 REIGN OE EDWARD V.
between Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, by which the red
and white roses were united; but his great glory is, that he was
one of the chief persons by whose means the art of printing was
introduced into Eugland, and that he was a zealous and enligh
tened patron of reviving learning. He died at his palace of Knowle
near Sevenoaks, on the 30th of March, 1486, and was buried at
Canterbury, where his tomb still remains on the north side of the
choir, near the high altar.
Rotheram did not take any active part in the struggles which
ensued, but he was so strongly suspected by Richard III. that he
was detained in prison till near the end of this reign, when the
Lady Anne had been made away with. He was then liberated
on account of his great influence over the Queen Dowager, that
he might persuade her to agree to a marriage between her daugh
ter Elizabeth and the murderer of her sons — which would have
taken place if Richmond had been repulsed. After the battle of
Bosworth, the Ex-chancellor quietly submitted to the new govern
ment, but he was looked upon with no favour by Henry VII, who
to the last retained his Lancastrian prejudicies, and was desirous
to depress all the partisans of the House of York. He died of
the plague, at Cawood, in the year 1500, aged 76, and was buried
in his own cathedral.* He was founder of Lincoln College, Ox
ford, and showed his affection to the place of his nativity by
building a college there, with three schools for grammar, writing,
and music.
The Protector was wading through slaughter to a throne when
he appointed John Russell to the office of Chancellor to the young
King whom he had doomed to destruction. Yet this Prelate,
though he did not altogether escape suspicion, appears to have been
unstained by the crimes of his patron ; and he is celebrated by
most of the chroniclers of that period for uncommon learning,
piety, and wisdom. He was probably selected by Richard as a
man -who, from his miid disposition, -would not be dangerous to him,
and whose character miaht bring some credit to his cause.
I clo not find any distinct account of this John Russell's paren
tage. He was most likely of the Bedford family, who, having
held a respectable but not brilliant position in the West of Eng
land since the Conquest, were now rising into eminence.! He
was bom in the parish of St. Peter, in the suburbs of the city of
Winchester, in the beginning of the reign of Henry VI. $ Hav
ing studied some years at the school recently established by Wil-
* In 1735 his vault was opened, and a head of good sculpture in wood was found,
supposed to be a resemblance of him.— Will. York. 156. 180.
t John Russell, a lineal am-estor ofthe present Ilukc, was Speaker of the House
ol Commons in the second parliament of Henry VI., which met in 1432. Widen,
in his " His ory of the House of Russell," does not mention lhe Chancellor, — per
haps Irom a shyness to acknowledge him on account of his connection with Richard
III., and the suspicion under which he unjustly laboured of having betrayed two
sovereigns to whom he had sworn allegiance.
X Wood, Hist, et Ant. Oxon. 413.

CHANCELLOR. 337
liam of Wickham in the place of his birth, he was removed to the
University of Oxford. Here he made particular proficiency in the
canon law, and took the degree of Doctor in this faculty. In 1449
he was elected a fellow of New College, and residing there he
still increased his academical reputation.* He was made a pre
bendary of Salisbury, and Archdeacon of Berkshire, — when he
removed to Court, and was much noticed by Edward IV. In 1476
he was consecrated Bishop of Rochester, and in 1480 he was trans
lated to the see of Lincoln. He was a man of very blank man
ners, and as he rose in the world, made himself still very accept
able to those above him, and popular with all ranks. He was left
by Edward IV. one of his executors, and his appointment as
Chancellor to the infant Soveieign was generally approved of.
We are not informed how the new Chancellor employed him
self in the short interval during which the government was allow
ed to be carried on in the name of Edward V. ; but as he is not
mentioned in connection with the scenes of open violence which
ensued, and no serious charge of treachery was urged against
him when the Lancastrians triumphed, we are bound to believe
that the usurpation was planned and effected without his privity,
though, like most others in the kingdom, he was not unwilling to
recognise the usurper. We must remember that the revolution
proceeded on the ground that Richard was the right heir; — that
the two young Princes, though set aside, still survived when he
gave in his adhesion ; — and that there is great reason to think
that Edward actually walked at the coronation of his cruel uncle.f
Two days after the ridiculous farce acted at Guildhall, under the
management of Buckingham, which Shak- rJuNE 2s 1483 1
speare has made so familiar to us, John Rus- *¦ ' ''
sell had the Great Seal again delivered to him, as Chancellor to
Richard III., and he swore allegiance to the new King. The cer
emony took place at Baynard's Castle, in Thames Street, the
residence of the Duchess of York, where the usurper first kept
his Court. The record teUs us, " that the Chancellor having there
received the Great Seal from the King, carried it to his inn called
the Old Temple, in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, and that on
the 20th of June following he sat here, assisted by Morton the
Master of the Rolls, and three Masters in Chancery." X We have
no further account of the exercise of his judicial functions.
Richard was soon obhged to take the field that he might put
down the insurrection of the Duke of Buckingham. The Chan
cellor was then confined to his bed in London by a severe fit of
sickness. When Richard reached Lincoln at the head of his-
army, he sent to the Chancellor the foUowing letter, the original
of which is still preserved in the Tower : —
* Ibid. 413,414
t So far Horace Walpole, I think, succeeds, although he fails egregious!/ in
making Richard both handsome and virtuons.
X Rot. CI. 1 Ric. 3. n. 100.
vol. I. 29

838 REIGN OE RICHARD III.
" By the King,
" Right Reverend Fadre in God, and right trusty and well-be
loved, We grete you well, and with our hertiest wyse thank you
for the nianyfoid Presentes that your servants in your behalve
have presented unto us at this oure being here : which we assure
you we toke and excepted with good herte : and so we have cause.
And whereas we, by Goddes grace, intend briefly to avaunce us
towards our rebel and traitor, the Due of Buckingham, to resist
and withstand his malicious purpose, as lately by oure other let
ters We certifyed you oure mynde more at large : For which cause
it behoveth us to have our Grete Sele here, We being enfourmed
that for such infirmities and diseases as ye susteyne nc may in
your per on to your ease conveniently come unto us with the
same: Wherefore we wil, and nath eless charge you that forth
with upon the sight of thies, ye saufly do the same oure Grete
Sele to be sent unto ns ; and such of the office of our Chanucery
as by your wisedome shall be thought necessary, receiving these
oure letters for your sufficient discharge in that behalve. Geven
undre oure signet, at our cite of Lincolne the xii. day of Octo-
bre." The letter, so far, is in the handwriting of a secretary, Then
follows this most curious postscript in the handwriting of Rich
ard himself : —
"We wolde most gladly ye came your selfF, yf that you may, and
yf ye may not, we pray you not to fayle, but to accomplyshe in al
dillygence our sayde commaundmente, to send our Seale inconti
nent upon the syght hereof as we truste you with such as ye
truste and the officers parteyning to attende with hyt ; praying
you to uscerteyn us of your News ther. Here, loved be God, is
al wel and trewly determyned, and for to resiste the malyse of
him that had best cause to be trew, the Due of Eokyngam, the
most uutrew creature lyvynge. Whom, with God's grace, we
shall not be long til that we wyll be in that parties and subdew
his malys. Wee assure you there was never falsre traitor pur-
vayde for, as this Berrerr Gloucestre shall shew you."*
The Great Seal was accordingly sent to the King, who retained
it in his own custody till the 26th of November, when having re
turned in triumph to London, he restored it to Lord ChanceUor
Russell.t There had as yet been no parliament since the death of Edward
[ a. d. 1484. ] 7'' ]^llt one was now summoned bv writs under,
„, Jhe Great Seal. The two Houses met in Jat.uaiy
1484 and the Kmg bemg seated on the throne, tbe Lord Chancel
lor addressed them, and as soon as a Speaker was chosen, propos
ed a bill whereby it was declared, pronounced, decreed, confirm
ed, and established, that our Lord Richard III. is the true and un-
* Sco Kcnnct> *• °32' n- t Rot. CI. 1 Ric. 3. u. 101.

JOHN RUSSELL, CHANCELLOR. 339
doubted King of this realm, as well by right of consanguinity and
heritage, as by lawful election and coronation."
The issue of Edward IV. being bastardised, and the Earl of
Richmond and all the Lancastrian leaders attainted, the parlia
ment, at the suggestion of the government, set to work in good
earnest to reform the law and to improve the institutions of the
country. This policy, prompted by the King's consciousness of
his bad title to the .crown and his desire to obtain popularity, was
warmly promoted by the Chancellor.
From the destruction and obliteration of records which follow
ed upon the change of dynasty, we have very imperfect details of
the proceedings of parliament; but looking to the result of its de
liberations as exhibited in the Statute Book, we have no difficulty
in pronouncing it the most meritorious national council for pro
tecting the liberty of the subject and putting down abuses in
the administration of justice which had sat since the time of Ed
ward I.
I will fondly believe, though I can produce no direct evidence
to prove the fact, that to " John Russell" the nation was indebt
ed for the Act entitled — " The Subjects of this Realm not to be
charged with Benevolence," the object of which was to piit down
the practice introduced in some late reigns of levying taxes under
the name of " Benevolence," without the authority of parliament
The language employed would not be unworthy of lhat great
statesman bearing the same name, who in our own time framed
and introduced Bills " to abolish the Test Act," and " to reform
the Representation of the People in Parliament :"
" Remembering how the Commons, by new and unlawful inno
vations against the laws of this realm, have been put to great
thraldom and exactions, and in especial by a new imposition call
ed Benevolence, be it ordained that the Commonalty of this realm
from henceforth in no wise be charged therewith, and that such
exactions aforetime taken shall be for no example to make the
like hereafter, but shall be damned and annulled for ever."*
When the session of parliament was over, the Chancellor was
employed to negotiate a peace with Scotland. At rgBPT 1484.]
Nottingham he met commissioners from the Scot- •-
tish Km", and it was agreed, that to consolidate the amity be
tween the two countries, Anne de la Pole, the niece of King
Richard and sister to the Earl of Lincoln, declared to be heir pre
sumptive to the crown, should be married to the eldest son of
James III. The parties were then infants, and this marriage did
not take place ; but afterwards another English Princess, eldest
daughter of Henry VII, did become the bride of James IV,
and°was the means of uniting the whole island under one sove
reign.! * Stat. 1 Ric 3. c. 2,
t Hall n-ives a detailed account of this negotiation ; " At which tyme came thether

340 REIGN OF RICHARD III.
The Chancellor was next employed in a negotiation of a more
difficult and delicate nature. Jane Shore, celebrated for her beau
ty, her frailties, and her amiable qualities, — after the death of her
lover, Edward IV., having tried to support the title of his children
to the throne, and having put herself under the protection of Has
tings — on the fall of that nobleman, Richard was resolved to be
revenged of her, and, complaining that she had conspired against
him, caused her to be prosecuted in the ecclesiastical court for
adultery and witchcraft, — her husband, the goldsmith of Lombard
Street, being induced to join in the prosecution and to sue for a
divorce. She had been found guilty, sentenced to penance, and
imprisoned in Ludgate. While there she was considered a state
prisoner, and, according to a custom which was acted upon in
many succeeding reigns, the law officers of the Crown were sent
to interrogate her, for the purpose of obtaining information res
pecting the movements of the Lancastrians, with whom she was
now suspected to be in correspondence. It so happened that Sir
Thomas Lynom, the Solicitor General, after two or three private
interviews, was so smitten with her " pretty foot, cherry lip, bonny
eye, and passing pleasing tongue," that he actually offered her
for the Kynge of England, John, Byshop of Lincoln, Chauncellor of England,"
&c. — Chro. p. 398.
We have have a still more curious statement respecting it in Lesly's History of
Scotland, lately published by the lianatyne Club : — " Ther wes no peace kepit on
tbe bourdouris of Scotland and Ingland; but divers incursionis and raides wer
made on ather syde, with greyt spoiles and prayes of guidis brocht furth of Ingland
aU the nixt winter, sua that thair wes greit appeirance of weir to ensue bctwix
thame. Innocentius Octavius, than Pope, hering thairof, send ane legat callit James
Bischop of Imola, to baith the Kinges for ane treaty of peace to be made amangis
thame; at quhilk tyme Kinge Richard, considering his awin unquiet state within
his realme, be civill sedicione attempted aganis him be his nobles, thoucht it was
the neirast way to appease the same be contracling of peace with the King of
Scotland his nierast nychtbour ; and thairfoir be persuatione of the same legat,
Commissionaris were appointit, wha met at Nutlinghame, the sevint of S3ptember:
Q,uaha were for Scotland Coline Erie of Argyle, Lord Campbell and Lome, the
Lord Chancellar of Scotland, &c. : Eor Ingland wer appointit Johne Bishop of
Lincolne, Chancellar of Ingland, &c. Thir Commissioneris did sex tymis meit,
and efter lang debaitting, demanding, and denying, in the end of September thay
fully concludit, and maid a determinaeione, le the quhilkis there was ane perfytte
amitye and inviolable peace conlractit betwix the realmes of Scotland and Ingland
for three yeiris, to begine at the sone rysinge, the 29 dav of September, 1484, and to
indure to the sone setting the 29 September, 1487," &c — Les Hist. p. 52.— In
Rymer we find the warrant addressed to Lord Chancellor Russell for a safe conduct
under Great Seal to the Scottish ambassadors: — " Memorandum quod vicesimo
nono Die Novembris anno Regni Regis Ricardi Tertii primo ista Billa liberata fuit
m™R r ellano AnSllaj aP«d Wcstmonasterium excqucnda :
"Rex universis ct singulis Admirallis salutem. Sciatis," &c. The safe conduct
was to be under cond.lion that the ambassadors should attempt nothing to the
prejud.ce of the King ot England, and contained a declaration ''quod ipse sic at-
tcmptans pro eo juxta ejus demerita puniatur.-' — Rym E. xii 207 The full
powers to the Scottish ambassadors are also given, and show that the head of my
clan was then Chancellor of Scotland: " Confisi ad plenum de fidelitate prudentia
legahtate, sciemia, et prob.late nobilis et potentis Domini Colini Comitis do Er«ile
Domini Campbell et Lome, Cancellarii nostri," &c. — Rym. E. xxii. 234. ° '

JOHN RUSSELL, CHANCELLOR. 341
his hand. Richard hearing of this extraordinary courtship, and
thinking it indecent that his Solicitor General should marry a -wo
man whose immodesty had been made so notorious, wrote the fol
lowing letter to the Lord Chancellor, for the purpose of breaking
off the match, yet (good naturedly, so as to furnish an argument
for Horace Walpole to prove that the supposed bloody tyrant was
a very worthy fellow) — with the intention that, if Mr. Solicitor
was incurable, he might be put in the way of making Mrs. Shore
Lady Lynom with as little discredit as possible :
" By the King.
" Right revCrend fadre in God, &c. Signifying unto you, that
it is shewed unto us, that our servaunt and sollicitor, Thomas
Lynom, merveillously blinded and abused with the late (wife) of
William Shore, now living in Ludgate by our commandment,
hath made contract of matrmony with hir (as it is said) and in-
tendith, to our full grate merveile, to proceed to th' effect of the
same. We for many causes wold be sory that hee soo shulde be
disposed. Pray you therefore to send for him, and in that ye
goodly may, exhorte and stirre hym to the contrarye. And if ye
finde him utterly set for to marye hur, and noon otherwise will be
aduertised, then if it stand with the law of the churche* We be
content (the tyme of marriage deferred to our comyng next to
London) that upon sufficient suretie founde of hure good abering,
ye doo send for hure Keeper and discharge him of our said com
mandment by warrant of these, committing hur to the rule and
guiding of hure fadre or any othre by your discretion in the mene
season. Geven, &c.
" To the right reverend fadre in God &c. the Bishop of Lincoln
our Chauncellour."t
The particulars of the conference between the two legal digni
taries are no where mentioned ; but the Chancellor must have
succeeded in persuading the Solicitor General of the imprudence
of a match which the world would censure, and which might hurt
his advancement ; for we know that the unfortunate lady never
was married again, and that she died in the reign of Henry VIII,
still bearing the name of Jane Shore. t
John Russell continued Chancellor till the 29th of July, 1485,
having the Great Seal always in his own custody, r D 14g5 -¦
except from the 19th of October to the 26th of No- L
v ember, 1483, on the occasion I have referred to.
We have no information as to the cause of the good Bishop's
* The doubt was whether, notwithstanding the divorce, a second valid marriage
could be contracted.
t Harl. MS. 433. fol. 340. b. Walpole's Hist. Doubts, 118., when there is a
wrong reference to the Kind's letter, which I have corrected after examining the MS.
X She was seen by fir Thomas More, poor, decrcpid, and shrivelled, without the
least traces of that beauty which once commanded the admiration of a King and all
his court. The story of her dying of tiunger in a ditch, supposed, after her it
called SAorcditch, is a fable. 29*

342 REIGN OP RICHARD III.
dismissal from the office of ChanceUor. There was no party cri
sis or change of measures at the time, and there was no rival for
the office who was to be preferred to him. It is possible that
Richard, marching to meet the Earl of Richmond, acted as he
had done in his expedition against Buckingham, and desired to
take the Great Seal into the field with him, intending to restore it
to the former keeper of his conscience when he returned victori
ous ; but, on the other hand, it had been supposed that Richard
suspected the Chancellor of being in correspondence with the
Earl of Richmond, and that he meditated a dreadful revenge upon
him when he had vanquished his enemy.
Ex-chanceUor Russell retired to his palace at Buckden, where
he heard of the Battle of Bosworth and the accession of Henry
VII. He mixed no more in politics, and spent the remainder of
his days in the care of his diocese and superintending the disci
pline of the University of Oxford.
He is celebrated as the first perpetual ChanceUor of that learn
ed body. Hitherto the office had been held only for a year, and
frequently by some resident member of no very high rank. In
1483 when Russell was appointed Chancellor of England, — on
account of the inconvenience arising from annual elections, and
the great confidence reposed in him, he was elected ChanceUor of
the University for life.
Tired of the dignity, he resigned it in 1487 ; but great confu
sion being Ukely to arise from this step, " the Academicians earn
estly desired him to take upon him the office again, which he
promising, they proceeded to election."* A keen contest took
place, Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Winchester, being put up
against him ; but he was re-elected, and held the office tUl his
death, when he was succeeded by Lord ChanceUor Cardinal
Morton. In 1488 he published certain " Aubry Statutes for the
Goverment of the University," which were supposed to have
made it a model for aU universities.
He died January 30, 1494, and was buried in his cathedral, at
the upper end on the south side, in a chapel where he had founded
a chantry, under an altar tomb, with this inscription : —
" Qui sum quae nihi Sors futrat narrabo, Johannes
Russel sum dictus servans nomen gehitoris.
Crbs Ventana parit, studium fuit Oxoniense :
Uoctorem juris, me Sarisburia donat
Archidiacono ; legatum raittit in orbem
Hex, et privatum mandat deferre Sigillurn ;
Cancellarii Regni tunc denique functus
Urhcio, cupu dissolvi, vivere Christo.
kcelesiasque duas suscepi Pontificales
Rorfa Sacrum primo, Lincolnia condit in unum
Anno milleno ; C. quater quater atque viceno
Bis septem junctis vitalia Lumina claudo."t
* Fast. Ox. 64.
t Willis's Cathedrals, Bishops of Lincoln, vol. iii. pp. 7. 59.

JOHN RUSSELL, CHANCELLOR. 343
But the most valuable memorial to his fame is the character given
of him by Sir Thomas More, — "A wyse mane & a good, & of
much experyence, & one of the best learned menne undoubtedly
that Englande hadde in hys time."*
He left behind him considerable reputation as an author, his two
greatest works being " A Commentary on the Canticles," and a
treatise " De Potestate summi Pontificis et Imperatoris." Had
they been written a few years later we should have been able to
pass judgment upon them ; but they never were printed, and they
have not come down to us. He appears to have been a great en-
courager of reviving learningt, but he is more loudly extolled for
his "re-edification of the episcopal palace at Buckden. "X
No other Chancellor was appointed by Richard during the short
remainder of his reign. The invasion of the Earl of Richmond
was now impending. The discontented were flocking to -him, as
a deliverer, from all parts of the kingdom ; and there was a gen
eral feeling among the people, that the man stained with so many
crimes ought not longer to be permitted to occupy the throne
which he had usurped. The Great Seal was given by Richard
into the temporary keeping of Thomas Barrowe, Master of the
Rolls§, for the despatch of necessary business, and it probably re
mained with him till the conclusion of the reign, although some
accounts represent that Richard carried it with him when he
marched against Richmond, and had it in his tent at Bosworth
Field, — in which case it must at once have fallen into the hands
of the victor, and, next to the crown "worn by Richard in the fight,
have been his earlist emblem of royalty.ll
We do not find any equity decisions in these two short reigns,
although, amidst arms, the laws seem to have been regularly ad
ministered; and there have been handed down to us Reports in
the Year Books, beginning '' De Termino Trinitatis Anno primo
Edwardi Quinti." Lord Chancellor Russell appears to have been
perplexed by the cases -which came before him respecting uses ;
and, to obviate the necessity for a BUI in Chancery, it was enacted
* Life of Ric. 3. p. 529.
1 On a manuscript of Mathew Paris (Royal MSS. 14. C. vii.) now in the British
Museum, there is an inscription in Latin, dated June 1, 1488, in the handwriling
and with the signature of John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, in which whosoever
shall obliterate or destroy the Bishop's memorandum respecting the ownership of
the volume is solemnly declared to be accursed. — Warton's Dissertation on Intro
duction of Learning in England, p. 111. lt appears from an inscription in the
author's own band, to have been a presentation copy from himself, probably to some
church or monastery. — Sketches of the History of Literature and Learning in Eng
land, vol. ii. 168. Knight's Weekly Volume, No. XVIII.
X God. de Prses. Line. Although Lord Chancellor Russell has considerable his
torical interest, he is not mentioned by modern historians, and many of my well-in
formed readers may never have heard of his existence. 1 consider him one of the
" Cancellarian mummies" I have dug up and exhibited lo the public.
§ Rot. CI. 3 Rie. 3 n. 1. Rym. E. xii. 272.
|| See Nichols' Lit. Anec. vi. 47. VI alpolt-'s Hist. Doubts. Antiq. Bish. Roches
ter. Hard. MSS. No. 2578. Buck's Life of Richard III. in Kennet, vol. i.

344 REIGN OE HENRY VII.
that the person entitled to direct the trustee to convey should him
self be entitled to execute a conveyance to carry the estate* ; but
this new expedient to remedy the inconvenience of uses only pro
duced the additional confusion which must necessarily follow when
two persons have an equal legal right to dispose of the same land,
and the deduction of title, by tracing the legal estate, on which the
security of tenure in England depends, became impossible.

CAPTER XXV.

CHANCELLORS AND LOUD KEEPERS FROM THE ACCESSION OF HEN
RY VII. TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF ARCHBISHOP WARHAM AS
LORD KEEPER.
King Henry VII, returning from Bosworth Field, appointed for
, his first Chancellor John Alcock, now Bishop of Wor-
|a. d. 1485. J cester| wi10 f01- a few months, while Bishop of Roch
ester,! had filled the office under Edward IV., and an account of
whom I have reserved for this place. He was born at Beverley,
in the county of York, of no distinguished family, and raised him
self entirely by his own merits. He studied at Cambridge, where
he obtained great distinction, particularly for his knowledge of the
civil and canon law. He was patronised by Lord Chancellor Stil
lington, — was extremely useful to him, — and, as his deputy, per
formed most of the duties belonging to the Great Seal. In 1471,
as a reward for his services, he was made Bishop of Rochester
and Master of the Rolls. He contrived to ingratiate himself
equally with Lord Chancellor Rotheram, through whose interest
he was translated to Worcester, and intrusted, for a short time,
with the Great Seal, under the title of Chancellor.
Now was the triumph of his powers of insinuation and versa
tility ; having been brought forward and employed by the House
of York, and never having had any open rupture with Richard, he
at once gained the confidence of Henry, who hardly ever favoured
any one who had not fought with the Lancastrians in the field, or
had been engaged in plots to promote their ascendancy.
There is no record of the day of the delivery of the Seal to
him : but in the Parliament Roll of the 1st of Henry VII. it is
* 1 Ric. 3. c. 1. It is remarkable that this is the first statute in the English lan
guage, the statutes hitherto having been all in Latin or French, and it was taken as
a precedent, fur all statutes afterwards are in English. It is curious that in this
reign, which we regard with so much horror, laws weie given to the people of Eng
land, for the first time since the Conquest, in their own language, and acts of par.
Kament were lor the first time printed. — JMacpherson's Annals of Commerce,!.
704. But it would appear that they were still entered ou the parliament roll in
Prench. — Tomliu's Ed. of Statutes, p. 638.
t Rot. Pari, I Hen. 7. p. 1.

345
stated, that " on the 7th of November, in the first year of the
King's reign, the Reverend Lord and Father in God John Alcock,
Bishop of Worcester, Cancellarius Magnus Anglic, declared
the cause of summoning parliament."
Great reliance must have been placed on his learning and expe
rience for settling the delicate points which were to be brought for
ward. One of these was the effect of the attainder, by a parlia
ment of Richard, of a great number of the temporal Peers now
summoned. Could they, at the commencement of the session,
take their seats in the House of Lords? The Chancellor asked
the opinion of the Judges, who held that they ought not to sit till
their attainder had been reversed, — thereby recognising the princi
ple that " any statute passed by a parliament under a King de fac
to is ever after to be taken for law till repealed." But a more
puzzling question arose as to the effect of the attainder of Henry
himself, as Earl of Richmond ; for how could this be reversed
without an exercise of the prerogative in giving the royal assent ?
and could the royal assent be given till the outlawry was reversed?
The Chancellor again consulted the Judges, and they cut the knot
by unanimously resolving, " that the descent of the Crown of it
self takes away all defects, and stops in blood by reason of at
tainder,"* which has ever since been received as a maxim of con
stitutional law ; and no doubt was relied upon by the Jacobites,
who attempted to restore the Princes of the House of Stuart, at
tainted under King William, Queen Anne, and George I.
The Chancellor gave great satisfaction to his wary master by
the dexterity with which he met such difficulties, ^ 1 ..„,
and he -was translated to the rich see of Ely as a ^ ' ' '-'
reward for his services ; but there does not seem to have been any
intention to employ him after the new government was fairly start
ed ; and the King reserved his real confidence for John Morton,
who had been in exile with him, who had been attainted for ad
hering to him, who had mainly contributed to his elevation, and
whom he resolved to make his chief adviser for the rest of his
reign. The exact date of the transfer of the Great Seal to him is
unknown, as it is not recorded in the Close Roll ; but it is supposed
to have happened in August, 1847, and was certainly before No
vember in that year, when there were bills addressed to him as
Chancellor, which are still extant*
Bishop Alcock, the Ex-chancellor, lived in the enjoyment of his
new diocese till the 1st of October, 1600 ; when, according to a
quaint authority I have consulted, " he was translated from this to
another life." He had in his latter days a great character for piety,
abstinence, and other religions mortifications. He built a chapel
at Beverley, founded a chantry to pray for the souls of his parents,
and turned St. Rudegunda's old nunnery at Cambridge, founded
* Pari. Roll. 1 Hen. 7. 1 Pari. Hist. 450.
t See Philpot, p. 68. Rot. Pari. 3 Hen. 7.

346 REIGN OE HENRY VII.
by Malcolm, King of Scots, into the flourishing foundation of Je
sus' s College.
In the two first reigns of the House of Tudor, the Great Seal
may be considered in its greatest splendour : for the Chancellor
was generally the first minister of the Crown, and by his advice
the Lord Treasurer, and the other high officers of state, were ap
pointed. Henry, whose darling object was to depress the power
ful barons hitherto so formidable to his predecessors, was deter
mined to rule by men more dependent oil him than the nobility,
who enjoyed, by hereditary right, possessions and jurisdictions
dangerous to royal authority. The new Chancellor was, in all re
spects, such a man as the King wishqd for his minister.
John Morton was born in the year 1410, at Bere, in Corsetshire,
of a private gentleman's family. He received his earliest educa
tion at the Abbey of Cerne, from whence he was removed to
Balio! College, Oxford, where he devoted himself to the study of
the civil and canon law, and took with great distinction the degree
of LL.D. He then went to London, at all times the best field for
talents and energy, and practised as an advocate in Doctors' Com
mons. Ia the Court of Arches, and the other ecclesiastical Courts,
there was then much business, producing both fame and profit ;
and success at the civil law bar frequently led to promotion both
in church and state. Morton was soon the decided leader ; and
he rose to such distinction by his learning and eloquence, that he
gained the good opinion of Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Can
terbury, who recommended him to Henry VI. He -was sworn of
the Privy Council by that Sovereign, -was made Prebendary of
Salisbury, and had the valuable living of Blakesworth bestowed
upon him.
In the struggles which ensued between the rival families, he
adhered with the most unshaken fidelity and unbounded zeal to
the Lancastrian cause, — till Edward IV. was firmly seated on the
throne, — when he thought it not inconsistent with the duties of
a good citizen to submit to the ruling powers, without renouncing
his former attachments. He petitioned for pardon at the same
time as Fortescue. Edward was so much struck with his honour
able conduct, that without requiring from him any unbecoming
concessions, he continued him a Privy Councillor, appointed him
Mister of the Rolls* conferred upon him great ecclesiastical pre
ferment crowned with the Bishopric of Ely, — and, by his last
will, mule him one of his executors. Some of the biographers of
Morton state, that he was likewise Lord Chancellor to Edward
IV, but this is a Mistake. In the year 1473, during the illness of
Lord Chancellor Stillington, he for a short time was intrusted
with the custody of the Great Seal, and no doubt did the duties
of the offise, but he then only acted as deputy to the Chancellor.
Being executor of Edward IV., and enjoying the entire confi-
* 1473.

CARDINAL MORTON, CHANCELLOR. 347
deuce of the Queen, he had a sort of guardianship of the royal
children, and Richard thought it would be a great point gained to
corrupt him as he had corrupted- Buckingham and others; but
Morton rejected all his overtures with scorn and indignation, and
thereby incurred the special hatred of the usurper.
On the very clay when Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan, the Queen's
relations, were executed by the orders of Richard, at Pomfret,
there was acted in the Tower of London the scene which is so
admirably and truly described by our immortal diamatist. Morton.
along with Hastings and the other councillors, took his place at
the council-table, according to the summons sent to them, — when
Richard, who was capable of committing the most bloody and
treacherous murders with the utmost coolness and indifference,
appearing among them in an easy and jovial humour, entered into
familiar conversation with them before proceeding to business, and
complimenting the Bishop on, the good and early strawberries
which he raised in his garden at Holborn, he begged the favour of
having a dish of them.* A messenger was immediately des
patched for the fruit, but before he returned, Hastings was be
headed, and Morton was a close prisoner in the Tower.
The University of Oxford petitioned King Richard for Morton's
libeiation, saying, "the bowels of our mother, the University, like
Rachel weeping for her children, are moved with pity over the
lamentable distress of this her dearest son. For if a pious affec
tion be praiseworthy, even in an enemy, much more is it in our
University, professing the study of all virtues. Upon the re-ad
mittance of so great a prelate into your favour, who is there that
will not extol your divine clemency ? Thus gloried the Romans
to have it marshalled among their praises, that submissive wights
they .'•pared, but crusht the proud" t
Richard would have cared little for these, remonstrances; but
lest the confinement of a popular prelate in the Tower might stir
up a mutiny among the Londoners, he was given in ward to the
Duke of Buckingham, and was shut up by him in the castle of
Brecknock. X Prom thence, however, he escaped, and after lying
disguised for some time in the Isle of -Ely, he contrived to pass
* " Glo. My lord of Ely, when 1 was last in Holborn
I saw f:ooil Mrawbcnics in your garden there,
I clo beseech you, send for some of tlnm.
'• Ely. Marry, and will, my Lord, with all my heart.
* * # *
Where is my Lord Protector ? I have sent
Por these strawberries
•' IJusl His Grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning :
There's some corn-oil or oilier likes him well
When he doth bid good-morrow with such spirit "
King liiiluud 111. act. iii. scene 4.
t Ath Ox. i. 4. "Parcere subjectis et dcbellarc superhus "
t In v-ir Thomas Morn's Life of Richard 111. there is a very long and rather
amusing, but cvidenily a fictitious dialogue, between Morton and the Duke of
Buckingham, upon the character and conduct of the usurper.

348 REIGN OF HENRY VII.
beyond sea and joined the Earl of Richmond, he was attainted
by Richard's parliament, which met soon after. He assisted in
planning Richard's invasion, and is said first to have suggested
and pressed upon him the plan of putting an end to the civil wars
by marrying Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. , who had be
come the heiress of the House of York.
He did not accompany Richmond's expedition, not being of the
class of fighting bishops, now nearly extinct, but remained in the
Netherlands to watch the event. Immediately after the battle of
Bosworth, Henry recalled him, — on the death of Cardinal Bour
chier raised him to the see of Canterbury, — procured a Cardinal's
hat for him from Pope Alexander VI — and now made him Lord
Chancellor. He continued in this office, and in the unabated favour and con
fidence of his royal master, down to the time of his death, a peri
od of thirteen years ; — during which he greatly contributed lo the
steadiness of the government, and the growing p-osperity of the
country. Although he appeared merely to execute the measures
of the King, he was in reality the chief author of the system for
controlling the power of the great feudal barons, and he may be
considered the model, as he was the precursor, of Cardinal Rich
elieu, who in a later age accomplished the same object still more
effectually in France.
The first parliament at which he presided was that which met
Ta d 1488 1 on tlie 3c^ °^ November, 1488. Lord Bacon in his
'¦" " History of Henry VII," gives a very long account
of the speech delivered by the Lord Chancellor on this occasion.
The custom of taking a text from the Holy Scriptures was drop
ped by him, and he rather conformed to the modern fashion of a
king's speech, though with more of detail and of reasoning than
woLild now be considered discreet on such an occasion. He thus
begins :
" My Lords and Masters, the King's Grace, our Sovereign Lord,
hath commanded me to declare unto you the causes that have
moved him at this time to summon this his parliament, which I
shall do in few words, craving pardon of his Grace, and of you all,
if I perform it not as I would. His Grace doth first of all let you
know that he retaineth in thankful memory the love and loyalty
shown to him by you at your last meeting in establishment of his
royalty; freeing and discharging of his partakers and confiscation
of his traitors and rebels; more than which could not come from
subjects to their Sovereign in one action. This he taketh so weU
at your hands, as he hath made it a resolution to himself to com
municate with so loving and well approved subjects in all affairs
that are of public nature at home or abroad. Two, therefore
are the causes of your present assembling ; the one a foreien busi
ness, the other matter of government at home. The French King
(as no doubt you have heard) maketh at this present hot war upon
the Duke of Bnttaine." 1

CARDINAL MORTON, CHANCELLOR. 349
He then enters at great length into the disputes between these
two Princes, and the manner in which England was affected by
them ; whereupon the King prayed their advice, whether he should
enter into an auxiliary and defensive war for the Brittons against
France, pretty clearly intimating an opinion, that this would be
the expedient course, but stating that in all this business the King
remitted himself to their grave and mature advice, whereupon he
proposed to rely. He next comes to the government at home, and
states, that no King ever had greater cause for the two contrary
passions of joy and sorrow than his Grace, — joy in respect of the
rare and visible favours of Almighty God in girding the imperial
sword upon his side, — sorrow for that it hath not pleased God to
suffer him to sheathe it as he greatly desired, otherwise than for
the administration of justice, but that he hath been forced to draw
it so oft to cut off traitors and disloyal subjects. He then enters
into topics of political economy, strongly inculcating the doctrine
oi protection, and above all exhorting parliament to take order that
the country might not be impoverished by the exportation of
money for foreign manufactures. He concludes by urging liberal
supplies —
" The rather for that you know the King is a good hushand,
and but a steward in effect for the public, and that what comes
from you is but a moisture drawn from the earth, which gathers
into a cloud and falls back upon the earth again."*
On the recommendation of the Chancellor, several important
statutes were passed for suppressing riots, and for the orderly gov
ernment of the kingdom. Lord Bacon and Lord Coke particular
ly celebrate that contrived to extend the jurisdiction of the Star
Chamber, which they call " a Court of Criminal Equity," and
which, not being governed by any certain rules, they consider su
perior to any other Ccurt to be found in this or any other nation.
It was certainly found a very useful instrument of arbitrary gov
ernment during the whole continuance of the Tudor dynasty ; but
its authority being stiU stretched in opposition to growing love of
freedom, it mainly led to the unpopularity of the Stuarts, andtheir
expulsion from the throne. t
Another law of Morton's, of an extrordinary nature, respecting
real property, was weU adapted to the then existing state of affairs ;
but we must wonder that it should have been aUowed to continue
in force down to our own times. From the attainders, forfeitures,
and acts of violence which had prevailed during the war of the
Roses, property had changed hands so frequently that the title to'
it had become very uncertain, if it were to be traced backwards
according to the common rules of conveyances and pedigree.
* 1 Pari. Hist. 451.
t 3 Hen. 7. c. 1. I wish that there had been preserved to us the debates on th«
abolition of the Star Chamber. I make mo doubt that its advocates ascribed to it
all the prosperity and greatness of the country, and prophesied from its aboUtion
the speedy and permanent prevalence of fraud, anarchy, and bloodshed in England.
VOL. I. 30

350 REIQN OF HENRY VII.
A power was now given to a person in possession as owner of the
fee to go through certain ceremonies in the Court of Common
Pleas, and in five years after the time when these were concluded,
his title was good against all the world* Morton introduced sev
eral acts showing a great jealousy of foreigners, and particularly
one " for avoiding all Scottishmen out of England."
But the most important piece of legislation -with which he was
connected, was the famous statute protecting from the pains of
treason all who act under a de facto King. On proofs, which even
stagger inquirers in our times, a belief had become very prevalent
among the people, that the Duke of York, younger son of Ed
ward IV., stUl survived, and the apprehension that, if he were
restored, those who fought for the present King, whose title was
so defective, might be tried for treason, or be attainted by act of
parliament, deterred many from joining the royal standard. To
r ..„„ , meet this difficulty the Chancellor, in the parhament
LA- D- -J which assembled in October, 1497, introduced and
passed an actt, " that no person that did assist, in arms or other
wise, the King for the time being, should afterwards be impeached
therefor, or attainted either by the course of the law or by parha
ment ; but if any such attainder did happen to be made, it should
be void and of none effect." " The spirit of this law," says Lord
Bacon, " was wonderfully pious and noble; being like, in matter
of war, unto the spirit of David in matter of plague, who said,
If I have sinned, strike me ; but what have these sheep done? Neith
er wanted this law parts of prudent and deep foresight, for it did
the better take away occasion for the people to busy themselves
to pry into the King's title ; for that howsoever it feU, their safety
was already provided for." Had there been a counter-revolution,
the law would probably have been very little regarded, and future
parliaments would not have been bound by it. It has never been
pleaded in a court of justice, unless by the regicides on the restor
ation of Charles II, who in vain contended that they came with
in the equity of it, having acted in obedience to an ordinance of
the existing supreme power of the state. However, it still remains
on the statute book, and we shall undoubtedly be entitled to the
benefit of it if the Duke of Modena, the lineal heir of the mon
archy, should be restored, notwitstanding our zealous defence of
the throne of Queen Victoria.^
There are no other parliamentary proceedings of any interest
connected with this Chancellor. His great effort was to extract
subsidies from the Commons, and when he could not do this in a
sufficient degree to satisfy the avarice of his royal master, who
wasnowbent upon accumulating treasure as if it had been the chief
end of government, he resorted to the most culpable expedients
A,?J ^M^wl 24/ ™S Was rePealed b7 an act which I had the honour to intro
duce, establishing twenty years as lhe uniform period of limitation, which before
had in some cases been five years, and in others might extend to fivetandred
T " Hen- 7- c- 1- * HaU. Const. Hist. i. 12.

CARDINAL MORTON, CHANCELLOR. 351
for levying money upon the subject. Notwithstand- r ,_. .
ing the law of Richard III. so recently passed, for- "-A' D' lauuJ
bidding, in the most express and emphatic language, any taxation
without authority of parliament, and more particularly the tax
called "a Benevolence," — on pretence of a French war, he issued
a commission for levying a " Benevolence" on the people accord
ing to their pecuniary ability ; — and that none might escape, he
ingeniously instructed the commissioners to employ a dilemma in
which every one might be comprehended : " If the persons ap
plied to for the benevolence live frugally, tell them that their par
simony must necessarily have enriched them ; if their method of
living be hospitable, tell them they must necessarily be opulent on
account of their great expenditure." This device was by some
called " Chancellor Morton's fork," and by others his " crutch."
Not-withstanding some discontents, there was perfect internal
tranquillity during the administration of Morton, with the exception
of the rebellion caused by the imposture of Lambert Simnel,
which was wisely terminated by making the pretended Plantage ¦
net a scullion in the King's kitchen.
In 1494, Morton's dignities were further increased by his being
elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford.
But he became much broken by age and infirmities, and after a
lingering illness he died on the 13th of September, 1500, leaving
behind him, notwithstanding some arbitrary acts of government,
which should be judged of by the standard of his own age, a high
character for probity as "well as talents. His munificence was
great, and he was personally untainted by the vice of avarice
which disgraced the Sovereign. Not only did he liberaUy expend
money in raising early strawberries in Holborn, but the great cut
or drain from Peterborough to Wisbech, now known by the name
of Morton's Leame, -was made entirely at his expense while he
was Bishop of Ely.* His literary attainments reflect still greater
splendour upon him, and he is to be considered the author of the
first classical prose composition in our language, if the supposition
be well founded that the English Life of Richard III, usually at
tributed to Sir Thomas More, was written by his predecessor Chan
cellor Morton.
More had, when a youth, been brought up in his family as a
page, a id his introduction to the Utopia has left us a very interest
ing, though rather flattering, character of his patron. " I was then
much obliged to that reverend prelate, John Morton, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Cardinal and Chancellor of England, a man who was
no less venerable for his wisdom and virtue than for the high rep
utation he bore. He was of a middle stature, in advanced years,
but not broken by age: his aspect begot reverence rather than fear.
He sometimes took pleasure to try the menial qualities of those
# He likewise founded four scholarships in St. John's Hospital, which are now-
enjoyed by St. John's College, Cambridge.

352 REIGN OF HENRY VII.
who came as suitors to him on business, by speaking briskly though
decorously to them, and thereby discovered their spirit and self-
command ; and he was much delighted with a display of energy,
so that it did not grow up to impudence, as bearing a great resem
blance to his own temperament, and best fitting men for affairs.
He spoke both gracefully and mightily ; he was eminently skilled
in the law ; he had a comprehensive understanding, and a very re
tentive memory ; and the excellent talents with which nature had
furnished him were improved by study and discipline. The King
depended much on his counsels, and the government seemed to be
ehiefiy supported by him ; for from his youth he had been constantly
practised in affairs, and having passed through many changes of
fortune, he had, at a heavy cost, acquired a great stock of wisdom,
which, when so purchased, is found most serviceable." *
The day after the death of Cardinal Morton, the King sent mes-
rc, 1 . - ,„„ -. sengers with a warrant to Knoll in Kent, where
' ' ' '¦'he expired, to bring the Great Seal to him at
Woodstock, t His Majesty received it from them there on the
19th of September, and kept it in his own custody till the 13th of
October foUowing — much puzzled as to how he should dispose of
it. He wished to pay the compliment to the church of having an
ecclesiastic for Chancellor, and there was no one at that time in
whom he could place entire confidence as he had done in Morton,
the companion of aU his fortunes. He at last fixed upon Henry
Deane, Bishop of Salisbury, as a safe if not a very able man, and
to him he delivered the Great Seal, but with the title of Keeper
only.t I do not find any trace of Deane's origin, or any account of him
till he was at New College, Oxford. Here he was a diligent stu
dent, and before he left the University he took the degree of
S. T. D.
In 1493, he was made Prior of Llanthony Abbey, in Monmouth
shire ; but he resided very little there, liking better to push his
fortune at the court of Henry VII. He continued to make him
self useful to Cardinal Morton, by whose interest, in September,
1495, he was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland. I have not been
able to£find how his appointment was received in that country, or
how he conducted himself there ; but, more lucky than some of
his successors, he held the office for two years, and only resigned
it for apiece of preferment which brought him back to this island,
T^rf. I ^C °f B™S°r- From that see he was translated, in
1500, to Salisbury. The experience he had had as Chancellor in
Ireland, was supposed to be the reason for his new elevation
He continued to hold the Great Seal of England as keeper dur-
* Htop. lib. i.
t The seal is stated to have been found " apud Knoll, infra Hospicium dci nuper
Card.nalis, in quadam alta camera ibidem vocat. Le Rake chamber, in quadam Wa
de albo cono inclusum." — Rot. CI. 16 Hen 7 4 udm DaSa
X Rot. CI. 16 Hen. 7.

WILLIAM WARHAM, CHANCELLOR. 353
ing two years, decently discharging the duties of his office, but
not rising in favour with the King, nor gaining much reputation
with the public.
During this time no parliament sat. Instead of the good old
custom of the Plantagenets to call these assemblies yearly, or of
tener " if need were," the rule now laid down was to avoid them,
unless for the purpose of obtaining money. The King was at
first occupied with his inglorious French "war, which, although he
did not once carry an army across the sea, he used as an instru
ment of extorting a pecuniary supply from the King of France,
who was willing to buy him off on any terms, to be set at liberty
to prosecute his expedition into Italy, and claim the crown of
Naples. The Lord Keeper assisted in negotiating the treaty with Scot
land, by which, after near two centuries of war, or of truces little
better than war, a perpetual peace was concluded between the
two kingdoms, one of the articles being the marriage of Margaret,
Henry's eldest daughter, -with James, the Scottish King, which in
another age brought about the union of the whole island under
the House of Stuart.
But the court was soon thrown into mourning by the untimely
death of Prince Arthur, a few months after the celebration of his
marriage with Catherine of Aragon.
Before the question arose respecting Prince Henry's marriage
with his brother's widow, Deane was removed from r 1 „_ .
his office of Lord Keeper, and he escaped the re- *¦ ' '
sponsibility of that inauspicious measure. In January, 1502, he
was advanced to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, and feel
ing himself oppressed by his new duties, and his health declining,
he resigned the Great Seal on the 27th of July following.* He
died at Lambeth, on the 15th of February, 1503, having displayed
a mediocrity of talent and of character, neither to be greatly ex-
toUed or condemned.
The King seems again to have been at a loss how to dispose of
the Great Seal, as it was allowed to remain near a month in the
keeping of Sir Wtiliam Barons, the Master of the Rolls, who
was a mere official drudge, and was restricted in the use of it to
the sealing of writs, and the despatch of routine business.
At last, on the 11th of August, it was given to William War
ham, the Bishop of Londont, well known in Enghsh history, —
who retained it during the rest of this reign and the early years
of the next, — till, his infiurnce being undermined by the arts
of a greater intriguer, it was clutched from him by the hand of
Wolsey. * Rot. CI. 17 Hen. 7. n. 47.
t This ceremony took place at Pulham, under a warrant from the King then at
Langley, in the forest of Wychewoode. — Rot. CI. 17 Hen. 7.
30*

354 REIGN OF HENRY VII.
CHAPTER XXVI.
LIFE OP ARCHBISHOP WARHAM, LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.
William Warham was born at Okely, in Hampshire, of a small
gentleman's famUy in that county. He studied at Winchester
school, and afterwards at New College, Oxford, of which he was
chosen fellow in 1475. Having greatly distinguished himself in
the study of the civil and canon law, he took the degree of LL.D.,
and practised as an advocate in the Court of Arches in Doctors'
Commons. Following in the footsteps of Morton, he attracted the
notice and gained the patronage of this prelate, who recommend
ed him for employment to Henry VII He was accordingly sent on
a very delicate mission to the court of Burgundy, to remonstrate
against the countenance there given to Perkin Warbeck, the pre
tended Duke of York, younger son of Edward IV. The Duchess
of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV., had a deep dislike to Henry
as a Lancastrian, and having formerly patronised Lambert Simnel,
now professed to receive Perkin as her nephew, and " the White
Rose of England."
HoUinshead gives us an account of a speech supposed to have
been delivered by the ambassador on his, arrival at Bruges, in the
presence of the Duchess as well as of the Duke ; but, from its
very uncourtly terms, it must surely be the invention of the chron
icler. " William Warram made to them an eloquent oration, and
in the later end somewhat inveighed against the Ladie Margaret,
not sparing to declare how she now, in her later age, had brought
foorth (within the space of a few yeares together) two detestable
monsters, that is to saie, Lambert and this same Perkin War-
beeke ; and being conceived of these two great babes, was not de
livered of them in 8 or 9 moneths, as nature requireth, but in 180
months, for both these, at the best, were fiftene yeeres of age yer
she would be brought in bed of them, and shew them openlie ;
and when they were newlie crept out of hir wombe, they were no
infants, hiit lustie yoonglings, and of age sufficient to bid battel to
wS' , Tnese tawnts angred the Ladie Margaret to the hart." *
warham could not succeed in having the Pretender delivered
up or dismissed but gained highly useful information respecting
ms history and designs; and gave the King such satisfaction, that
LonrL W h6 TS Td& MaSter of the Rolls an* Bishop of
Sa ,H° ^ntmued at the Rolls nine years, during which time
bv ml ZV the council;board, and he was looked forward to
of the kingdom. SUCCesSor of Morton in managing the civil affairs
When he received the Great Seal he held it at first with the
* Hollinsh. iii. 506.

STATE OP THE LAW. 355
title only of Lord Keeper; and it was not till two years after
wards, when being translated to Canterbury, that he was invested
with the full dignity of Lord Chancellor. His installation now
took place with extraordinary pomp, the Duke of Buckingham,
the first peer of the realm, acting as steward of his household.
Notwithstanding all the cares of the primacy, he applied very
diligently to the discharge of his judicial duties. His experience
as an advocate must now have been of essential advantage to
him ; and, besides being assisted by the Masters in Chancery, he
prudently continued the practice of calling in the assistance of the
common-law Judges in all difficult cases. Thus, without the ap
pointment of any Vice-chancellor or deputy, he contrived to keep
down the arrears of causes in his Court, and to give general satis
faction. As a statesman, he gained great credit by protesting against the
proposed marriage between Prince Henry and the Princess Dow
ager of Wales, pointing out the objections to the legality of such
a union, and the serious difficulties in which it might afterwards
involve the affairs of the nation ; but his advice was neglected on
account of the cupidity of Henry, 'who was not only unwilling to
refund that half of the lady's large dowry which he had received,
but was impatient to have the remaining half of it in his coffers.
Lord ChanceUor Warham was not connected with any parlia
mentary proceedings of much importance during this reign. Hen
ry, calling parliaments very rarely, when they did meet, had intro
duced the custom of opening the session with a speech of his
own, instead of trusting to his Chancellor, and there was nothing
like free discussion in either House while he was upon the throne.
With the assistance of Warham, and other such dexterous men
whom Henry had selected for his tools, he contriv- rjAN lgQ4 -,
ed, in the latter part of his reign, to render himself L
nearly absolute. Thus in his last parliament, the Commons being
desired by the Chancellor to choose a Speaker, they found them
selves under the necessity, on his recommendation, of electing
Dudley, the Attorney General, who was then universally execrate
ed, and who was afterwards hanged, to the great joy of the na
tion. The Chancellor confirmed the election with much commen
dation of the new Speaker.
Perkin Warbeck being taken, and the Earl of Warwick, the
last male ofthe Plantagenet line, being murdered under the forms
of law, there was a gloomy tranquillity at the conclusion of this
reign, Henry leaving nothing to the Chancellor, or any of his
Council, but the discharge of the routine duties of their office.
After the death of the Queen, the Court was a little amused
by negotiations for a second marriage ; but, on the r D 150g -i
22d of April, 1509, the selfish tyrant was carried off L
by a sudden fit of illness, in the fifty-second year of his age, and
the twenty-fourth of his reign; and his courtiers and subjects did
not affect to disguise their satisfaction at the event.

356 REIGN OF HENRY VII.
Although no transfer of the Great Seal immediately followed
the demise of the Crown, we must here pause to take a short re
trospect of jurisprudence during this reign. Although it be look
ed upon as an era in our annals, and the commencement of mod
ern history, it was not marked by any important legislative acts, or
by any change in the constitution of our tribunals, beyond the re
modelling of the Star Chamber.*
Henry's common-law Judges were men of ability ; but they
rendered themselves most odious by their rigorous enforcement of
obsolete penal laws, for the purpose of swelling the revenue.
The Chancellors exercised, without disturbance, tbe equity ju
risdiction which had been so much attacked in preceding reigns ;
but we cannot much admire their reasoning in deciding the cases
which came before them.
A judgment of Lord Chancellor Morton's may be given as a
specimen. Two persons being appointed executors, one of them
released a debt due to the testator without the assent of his com
panion, who filed a bill in Chancery, suggesting, that on this ac
count the will could not be penbrmed, and praying relief against
the other executor and the debtor, to whom the release was grant
ed. Objection -was made that there -was no ground for interfer
ence, as one executor, by the common law, may release a debt.
Archbishop Moreton, Lord Chancellor. — " It is against reason that
one executor should have all the goods, and give a release by
himself. I know very well that every law should be consistent
with the law of God ; and that law forbids that an executor,
should indulge any disposition he may have to waste the goods of
the testator ; and if he does, and does not make amends, if he is
able, he shall be damned in hell."t
Equity decisions at this time depended upon each Chancellor's
peculiar notions of the law of God, and the manner in which
Heaven would visit the defendant for the acts complained of in
the Bill ; and though a rule is sometimes laid down as to where
" a subprena will lie," that is to say, where there might be relief
in Chancery, it was not till long after that authorities were cited
by Chancellors, or that there was any steady reference by them to
" the doctrines of the Court."
In this reign no attention was paid to the improvement of the
laws or the administration of justice, except with a view to ex
torting money from the subject and amassing treasure in the Ex
chequer, and the Chancellors were much employed in assisting
inferior agents to enforce dormant claims of the Crown against
the owners of estates, and in compelling corporations to accept
new charters for the sake of fees.
A brighter prospect was now supposed to open on the nation.
[a. d. 1509 1 Instead of a monarch jealous, severe, and avaricious,
who receded from virtue as he advanced in years, a
* 3 Hen. 7. c. I. tY.B.4 Hen. 7. 4. b.

LORD CHANCELLOR WARHAM. 357
young prince of eighteen had succeeded to the throne, who, even
in the eyes of men of sense, gave promising hopes of his future
conduct, and was possessed of qualifications in a high degree to
dazzle and captivate the multitude. He nominally took upon
himself the government without Protector or Regent, but War
ham the Chancellor had the chief sway, till it gradually waned
under the superior ascendancy acquired by Wolsey over the youth
ful sovereign.
There is no memorandum of the delivery of the Great Seal by
Henry VIII. to Warham, but there can be no doubt that he con
tinued Chancellor from his appointment in the preceding reign
until his resignation in the year 1515. He js said to have been
now placed at the head of the Council, as the least unpopular of
the ministers of the late King, by the advice of Margaret Coun
tess of Richmond, who still survived, and being much celebrated
for prudence and virtue, had great influence over her royal grand
son. The Chancellor in his capacity of Archbishop of Canterbury,
placed the crown on Henry's head, and there being then no Prince
of the blood, was the first subject in rank at the ceremony unit
ing in himself the highest ecclesiastical and civil offices in the
realm. A great question immediately arose which divided the Council,
and the Chancellor, adhering to his original opinion, stood alone
against all the other members : this was the completion of the
King's marriage with Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his
brother, Prince Arthur. The virtues of the Princess and the ad
vantages of the match were universally admitted; but Warham,
as a churchman, still doubted its validity, and, as a statesman,
foresaw the momentous consequences of its being afterwards
questioned, and therefore he now strongly remonstrated against it,
though if broken off a large dowry was to be returned, and the
King of Spain, from being a firm and valuable ally, might be con
verted into a bitter and formidable enemy. Had the Chancellor's
opinion prevailed, England might have remained a Roman Catho
lic country; but the Countess of Richmond took part with the
majority ; Henry, not much inclined to this arrangement of con
venience, thought he -was bound to fulfil the promise given in his
father's lifetime, and the marriage took place which produced our
boasted Reformation.
Things went on very smoothly with the Chancellor for some
years. Not much to his credit, he concurred in the punishment of
Empson and Dudley, whose obnoxious proceedings he had coun
tenanced in the former reign, and for which indeed he was re
sponsible, as being at the head of the administration of justice ;
but he did not choose to oppose the strong cry for their execution,
and he saw them suffer for actual offences to which he was privy,
on a pretended charge of treason of -which he must have known
that they were innocent.

332 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
Parliament assembling on the 21st of January, 1510, and the
n1 King being on the throne, the Chancellor by his
[a. d. lot .J commarid opened the session according to ancient
fashion with a speech from the text, — " Deum timete, Regem ho-
norificate."* After various commentaries upon fear and honour,
he said it behoved Kings to govern wisely, and explained the du
ties of the different officers trusted with the affairs of the public.
The Judges rightly and duly administering justice, he said, were
the eyes of the Commonwealth ; the learned expositors of the
laws he styled the tongues of it. Others were the messengers of
government, as the sheriffs-and magistrates of cities and counties ;
the former of which who did not execute their offices rightly, he
compared to Noah's raven. Others were the pillars of the gov
ernment, as juries of twelve men are. " Lastly," says the re
porter, " cum magno audientium plausu, he went upon the state of
the whole kingdom, and urged that it was the real interest of each
separate body, spiritual, temporal, and commonalty, to unite in
supporting the Crown ; that justice which is the queen of virtues
may be auspicious in the nation ; that both bishop and peer may
join in reforming the errors of past times ; in utterly abolishing all
iniquitous laws ; in moderating the rough and severe ones ; in en-
r i aio i acting good and useful statutes, and when made to
1 ' >- ' ' see that they should be faithfully, honestly, and in
violably observed ; — which if this parliament will perform, then
he affirmed that there was no one could doubt but that God should
be feared, the King honoured, and for the future the Common
wealth served with good councillors every way useful to the King *
and kingdom."!
The great applauses of the audience arose from the belief that
the Chancellor, in his conclusion, alluded to the harsh laws and
the harsh administration of them which had characterised the late
reign. In a few days he carried through the House of Lords the
act for the attainder of Empson and Dudley, and it passed nemine
contr adicente.
Lord Chancellor Wairham again opened the parliament which
met on the 4th of February, 1512, with a speech in the King's
presence from this text, — "Justitia etpax osculatse sunt," in which
rather whimsically for an Archbishop, he explained how war was
to be carried on successfully: " He added further, what was ab
solutely necessary in those that took the field and hoped for vic
tory, first, that they should walk in the ways of the Lord, and in
him alone place their dependence ; — that every man should keep
the post he was ordered to, — and that each individual should be
content with pay and should avoid plunder." On a subsequent
day the Lord Chancellor went down to the Commons and made
them another speech, explaining the treacherous proceedings of
the King of France, and pressing for a supply.^
* 1 Pari. Hist. 575. t 1 Pari. Hist. 476. f Ibid. 479.

LORD CHANCELLOR WARHAM. 359
The last parliament in which Warham presided, was that which
met on the 5th of February, 1514, when he took for his text, —
" Nunc Reges intelligite, erudimini qui judicatis terram." Hav
ing dwelt at great length on the duties of a King, " he added what
qualities belonged also to good counciUors, viz. that they should
give such counsel as was heavenly, holy, honourable to the King
and usful to the Commonwealth ; that they should be speakers of
truth and not flatterers ; firm and not wavering, and neither covet
ous nor ambitious."*
A Speaker being chosen and approved, — a few days afterwards
the Lord Chancellor, attended by the Archbishop r 1,1 . -,
of York, the Bishop of Winchester and Durham, LA- D- 10i4-l
the Earl of Surrey, Lord Treasurer, with other Peers, went down
to the House of Commons, and made another speech to induce
them to grant a liberal supply. These visits appear to have been
¦well taken by the Commons, instead of being treated as a breach
of privilege, and they rescue the memory of Wolsey from the
imputation of having done a violent and unprecedented act when,
being ChanceUor, he paid a visit to the Commons and remonstrat
ed -with them on their tardiness in voting money for the King's
use, — which has been considered by some almost as great an out
rage as that committed h77 Charles, when he burst into the House
to arrest the five members in their places. On the present occa
sion Lord Chancellor Warham, to take advantage of national an
tipathy, and to stimulate the liberality of the Commons, told them
" that the Scotch had lately at several times done great injuries to
the King's subjects, both by land and sea, and were daily meditat
ing more ; by which attempts His Majesty, being sufficiently pro
voked, had determined to declare war against them." Therefore
he exhorted the Commons " diligently to consider these things,
and the King's necessary expenses in the defence of the king
dom."! Soon after, he had a matter of great delicacy to decide in the
Lords. Thomas Earl of Surrey, the eldest son of the Duke of
Norfolk, being called to the Upper House in his father's lifetime,
claimed there the precedence over all Earls, to which he was en
titled out of parliament, a claim which was most resolutely resist
ed. Garter King at Arms and the other heralds were called in ;
but they declared that, " though well skilled in the r,*- . ,1 , ,
genealogy of Peers, — as concerning superiority •• ' '-'
of seats in parliament they could not determine." Whereupon,
the question was referred to the Lord Chancellor, who, after time
taken to consider and to negotiate between the parties, declared
and decreed, " that the Earl of Surrey, with much humUity and dis
cretion, had agreed to content himself with his place in parliament
according to his creation, and not dignity; provided always, that
his place of honour and dignity out of parliament should be reserv-
* 1 Pari. Hist. 478. t Ibid. 481.

360 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
ed to him, and that, if hereafter any ancient records should be
found in the Tower of London, or elsewhere, proving the said
pre-eminent place in parliament to belong to the said Earl, then
the said seat should be restored unto him, notwithstanding this
present decree."* We need not wonder that great interest was
taken in this controversy, and that no small discretion waf re
quired to bring it to a peaceable termination, when we remember
that the claimant was warmly supported by his father, who was
lately returned from Flodden Field, where, by his superior general
ship, the King of Scotland and all the prime nobility of that king
dom had bit the dust, and the Scottish nation had sustained the
most fatal defeat recorded in their annals.
This is the last memorable act of Warham, as Chancellor. He
had for some time been carrying on an unequal contest which he
could support no longer. Wolsey had completely established him
self in the favour of the King, was already prime minister with
unlimited power, and, having obtained a cardinal's hat, with the
appointment of legate a latere from the Pope, even in ecclesiasti
cal matters affected supremacy. Nothing in England was want
ing to his ambition, except the possession of the Great Seal.
Warham had conducted himself so unexceptionably, that there
was great difficulty in forcibly depriving him of it, and Wolsey's
policy therefore was by a series of affronts and disgusts to induce
him to resign it. When they were together in public, he assum
ed greater state and splendour ; he irregularly paraded the cross
of York, in the province of Canterbury ; he interfered with the
patronage and the jurisdiction of the Great Seal ; and he caused
the retainers and officers of the Chancellor to be insulted.
Warham, conscious that it would be in vain to appeal to the
King, who was weary of his services, on the 22d of December,
1515, resigned the Great Seal into his Majesty's hands, and the
same day it was bestowed on the haughty Cardinal, who now pos
sessed greater power than has ever belonged to any subject in
England. Warham left behind him in Westminster Hall a high reputa
tion for strictly watching over the administration of justice. It is
said of him that " in his own Court no Chancellor ever discovered
greater impartiality or deeper penetration of judgment, and that
none of his predecessors who were ecclesiastics had equalled him
in a knowledge of law and equity."!
He now wholly retired from politics, employing himself in the
duties of his diocese and in literary pursuits, which he soon found
more agreeable than judicial drudgery, or the anxieties of office.
He not only resumed with ardour the studies in which he had
once gained distinction, and which he had long been obliged to
suspend, but he became famous as a patron of learning and the
learned. So much was he now respected and admired, that he
* 1 Pari. Hist. 482. 1 Stowej 504,

LORD CHANCELLOR WARHAM. 361
excited the envy of Wolsey, who, though himself in the posses :
sion of supreme power, still tried to vex and humble him by ex
tended usurpation on his metropolitan jurisdiction and increased
insolence when they necessarily met. Wolsey, with legatine au
thority, acted as if he had actually worn the triple crown, and as
if the Pope were vested with absolute authority to dispose of all
ecclesiastical preferment in England, and to tyrannise both over
the clergy and the laity. Warham, meek as he r .,.„ .
was, found himself compelled to make complaint to •- A' ' ' '
the King, and to inform him of the discontents of the people.
Henry displayed a gracious manner, professed his ignorance of
the whole matter, and said, " The master of the house often
knows least what is passing in it. But do you, -father, go to Wol
sey, and tell him if any thing be amiss that he amend it." The
royal command was obeyed, and an admonition so administered
(as might have been expected,) only served to augment Wolsey's
enmity to Warham.
For years the Ex-chancellor was obliged quietly to submit to *he
ill-usage he experienced ; but at last, as the con- r „„ ,
sequences of a measure which he himself, had so L '-I
strenuously opposed, he had the satisfaction of seeing his rival
disgraced and ruined. The controversy arose respecting the va
lidity of the King's marriage with Catherine of Aragon. Along
with all the English prelates, except Fisher, Bishop of Rochester,
Warham concurred in the opinion that the Pope's licence to permit
a man to marry his brother's widow was ultra vires, and that the
marriage, being uncanonical, Henry was entitled to a divorce.
When Wolsey's duplicity and finesse at last terminated in his
downfall, it is said that the office of Chancellor was again offered
to Warham ; but that he declined it on account of his age and in
firmities* I doubt this offer ; for Henry had now testified a great
inclination to break with Rome, and Warham openly declaring
himself a champion of the papal see, had latterly shown himself
adverse to the divorce, unless with the full consent of his Holi
ness. He continued to five at a distance from the Court, and to asso
ciate with those who were for supporting the papal supremacy.
Shortly before his death he even weakly countenanced the impos^
ture or delusion of the Holy Maid of Kent. The vicar of the
parish where she lived went to Warham, and having given him
an account of Elizabeth's pretended revelations, wrought so far
on the aged and superstitious Prelate, as to receive orders from.
him to watch her in her trances, and carefuUy to note down aU her
future sayings. The regard paid her by a person of such high
rank, who was supposed to be very discerning from having so long
held 'the office of Lord Chancellor, rendered her more than ever
an object of attention, and persuaded the multitude that her rav-
•^Erasfflns, Ep. 1151.
VOL. I. 31

362 REIGN OE HENRY VIII.
ings were the inspirations of Heaven, — till the fraud was exposed
in the Star Chamber, and she and her chief associates were hanged
at Tyburn. No attempt was made to include Warham in the
prosecution. In 1532, he died at St. Stephen's, near Canterbury; and, accord
ing to his own desire, without funeral pomp was buried in a small
chapel which he had erected in the cathedral for his tomb.
When on his death-bed, he asked his steward what money he
had in the world, and was answered, " Thirty pounds ; " he ex
claimed, " Satis viatici in ccelum." His effects were found hardly
sufficient to pay his debts and the small expense of his funeral.
His great glory was his connection with Erasmus. He had
early formed a friendship with this distinguished scholar — had con
stantly corresponded with him — had induced him to visit England
— had given him church preferment here, — and had made him mu
nificent presents.
Erasmus .showed his gratitude by dedicating to his palron his
Edition of the works of St. Jerom, in terms the most flattering ;
and by celebrating his praises in letters addressed to literati on the
Continent of Europe.- I offer the translation of one of these writ
ten shortly after the Archbishop's death, as the best account of his
character and his manners : —
"¦ I have the most tender recollection of a man worthy to be held
in perpetual honour, William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury,
and Primate of all England. He was a theologian in reality as
weU as by title, and profoundly versed both in the civil and canon
law. He early gained reputation by his skilful conduct of foreign
embassies intrusted to him ; and, on account of his consummate
prudence, he was much beloved and esteemed by King Henry VII.
Thus he rose to be Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest eccle
siastical dignity in the island. Bearing this burden, itself very-
weighty, one heavier still was imposed upon him. He was forced
to accept the office of Chancellor, which among the English is at
tended with regal splendour and power. As often as he goes into
public, a crown and sceptre are carried before him* He is the
eye, the mouth-piece, and the right hand of the Sovereign ; and
the supreme Judge of the whole British empire. For many years,
Warham executed the duties of this office so admirably, that you
would have supposed he was born with a genius for it, and that he
devoted to it the whole of his time and thoughts. But all the
wtule he was so constantly watchful and attentive with respect to
religion, and aU that concerned his ecclesiastical functions, that
you would have supposed he had no secular cares. He found
leisure for the strict performance of his private devotions— to ccle-
?n£Zl * dail!~to hear Prayers read several times a d iy
-to decide causes ,n his Court-to receive foreign ministers- - to

LORD CHANCELLOR WARHAM. 363
attend cabinets — to adjust all disputes which arose in the church
— to give dinners to his friends, whom he often entertained in par
ties of two hundred — and, along with all this, for reading all tbe
interesting publications which appeared. He proved himself suf
ficient for such a multiplicity of avocations, by wasting no portion
of his time or his spirits in field sports, or in gaming, or in idle
conversation, or in the pleasures of the table, or in any profligate
pursuit. His only relaxation was pleasant reading, or discoursing
with a man of learning. Although he had bishops, dukes, and
earls at his table, his dinners never lasted above an hour. He ap
peared in splendid robes becoming his station; but his tastes were
exceedingly simple. He rarely suffered wine to touch his lips ;
and when he was turned of seventy, his usual beverage was smaU
beer, which he drank very sparingly. But while he himself ab
stained from almost everything at table, yet so cheerful was his
countenance, and so festive his talk, that he enlivened and charm
ed all who were present. He was the same agreeable and ration
al companion at all hours. He made it a rule to abstain entirely
from supper ; yet, if his friends (of whom I had the happiness to
be one) "were assembled at that meal, he would sit down along
with them and promote their conviviality, but -would hardly touch
any food himself. The hour generally devoted to supper he was
accustomed to fill up with prayers or reading, or with telling witty
stories, of which he had great store, or freely exchanging jests
with his friends, — but ever without ill-nature or any breach of de
corum. He shunned indecency and slander as one would a ser
pent So this illustrious man made the day, the shortness of which
many allege as a pretext for their idleness, long enough for aU the
various public and private duties he had to perform." *
* " Hie mihi succurrit vir omni memoria seculorivm dignus Guilhelmus Waramus,
Arch. Cant, totiiis Anglia; primas : non ille quidem titulo, sed re theologus; erat
enim juris utriusque doctor. Legationibns aliquot feliciter obeundis inclaruit, et
Henico Septimo, summa? prudentia? principi, gratus carusque factusest. Hisgradi-
bus evectus est ad Cantuarensis ecclesiie f'astigium, cujus in ea insula prima est
dignitas. Huic oneri, per se gravissimo, additum est aliud gravius. Coactus est
suscipere Cancellarii munus, quod quidem apud Anglos plane regium est; atque
huic uni honoris gratia, quotics in publicum procedit, regia corona scpplro regio
impnsito gestatur. Nam hie est velut oculus, os, ac dextra regis, supremusque
totius regni 3ritanniei judex. Hanc provinciam annis compluribus tantadexteritate
gessi ut iliceres ilium ei negotio natum, nulla alia teneri eura. Sed idem in his quae
speetabant ad religionem et ecclesiasticas functiones, tam erat vigilans et attenius,
ut diccres eum nulla externa cura distringi. Sufficiebat illi tempus ad religiose
persolvendum solcnne precum pensum, ad sacrificandum fere quotidie, ad audien-
dum prosteruaduo aut tria sacra, ad cognoscendas causas, ad excipiendas legationes
ad consulcnilum regi si quid in aula gravius extitisset, ad visendas ecclesias, sicubi
natum esset aliquid quod modcratorem postularet, ad excipiendos convivas ssepe
ducentos; denique lectioni suum dabatur otium. Ad tam varias curas uni sufficie
bat et animus et tempus, cujus nullum portionem dabat venatui, nullam alese, nul-
lam inanibus fabulis, nullam luxui aut voluptatibus. Pro his omnibus obleetamen-
tis erat illi vel amoena qusepiam lectio vel cum erudito viro colloquium, duanquam
interdum opiscopos duces et comites haberet convivas, semper tamen prandium intra
spatium horaa finiebatur. In splendido apparatu, quem ilia dignitas postulat, dicta
incredibile quam ipse nihil deliciarum attigerit. Raro gustabat vinum, plerumque

364 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
Warham was much flattered by the compliments which in his
lifetime he knew that Erasmus had paid him, and thus expresses
his acknowledgments : —
" Since through you I am to enjoy lasting fame, a boon denied
to many great kings and commanders who have utterly vanished
from the memory of mankind, unless that their names may be
found in some dry catalogue, — I know not what in this mortal life
I can offer you in return for the immortality you have conferred.
I am overwhelmed when I think of the nattering mention you
have made of me in conversation, in letters, and in the works you
have given to the world. You would set me down for the most
ungrateful of men if I did not show a deep sense of your kind
ness, however unworthy I may be ofthe praises you have shower-
apon me." *
Although Warham does not occupy the great space in the eye
of posterity which he had fondly anticipated, he must be re
garded with respect as a man who had passed through the highest
offices with general applause, — and who, if he did not by any ex
traordinary talents influence the events of his age and improve the
institutions of his country, could not be accused of any public de
linquency, or (the prosecution of Empson and Dudley excepted)
of ever having treated any individual with injustice.
jam turn septuagenarius bibebat pertenuem cerevisiatn quam illi biriam vocaut,
eamque ipsam perparce. Porro, quum quam minimum ciborum sumeret, tamen
comitate vultus ac sermonum festivitate omne convivium exhilarabat. Vidisses
eandem pransi et impransi sobrietatem. A coenis in totum abstinebat; aut si con-
tigissent familiares amici, quorum de numeronos eramus, accumbebat quidem, sed
ita, ut pene nihil attingeret ciborum : si tales non dabantur, quod temporis ccenae
dandum erat, id vel precibns, vel lectioni impendebat, atque ut ipse leporibus scate-
bat mire gratis , set citra morsum atque ineptiam, ita liberioribus jocis amicorum
delectabatur : a, scurrilitate et obtrectatione tam abhorrebat quam quisquam ab an-
gue. Sic ille vir eximius sibi faciebat dies abunde longos, quorum brevitatem
multi causantur." Erasmus likewise delivers an elaborate panegyric on Warham
in his commentary on 1 Thess. ii. 7., and several of his other letters, but without
descending to such interesting particulars of his private life as are here disclosed. ^
* " Quum non illaudati nominis aeternitatem per te sim consecutus, qua multi
praeclari reges et imperatores carent, et a memoria hominum penitus excidcrunt,
nisi quod tantum vix nominum eorum catalogus, et id jejune quidem fiat, noil video
quod satis sit in hac mortali vita quod pro immortaiitate redilam. Cogito enim
quanta mihi tribueris ubique, vel praesens per colloquia, vel absens per literas, aut
communitcr per volumiua: qua? quidem sunt majora, quam sustinere valcam.
Judicabis ergo Cantuariensem ingratissimum nisi tui sit habiturus rationem coii-
stantissimam, licet meritis inasqualem et inferiorem."  a. d. 1516.

LORD CHANCELLOR CARDINAL WOLSEY. 365

LIFE OP CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HIS APPOINT
MENT AS LORD CHANCELLOR.
We now come to the life of the man who enjoyed more power
than any of his predecessors or successors who have held the of
fice of Chancellor in England.
Thomas Wolsey, destined to be Archbishop of York, Legate
u latere, Lord Chancellor, and for many years master of the King
and kingdom, was born at Ipswich, in Suffolk, in the year 1471,
and though " fashioned to much honour," was " from an humble
stock," being the son of a butcher in that town.*
'From his cradle he is said to have given signs of those lively
parts which led to his buoyant career, but we possess no parti
culars of his early domestic life to throw light on the formation of
his character ; and, till he was sent to the University, nothing has
* Some of his admirers have, without reason, questioned the particular vocation
of his father ; for that he was the son of a low tradesman in a country town is ad
mitted It cannot detract from his merit that his father was a butcher, and the
fact stands on slrong evidence. In his own lifetime he was called " the butcher's
dog j" and Shakspeare, who must have conversed with persons who well recollect
ed the Cardinal, puis these words into the mouth of Buckingham : —
" This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I
Have not the power to muzzle him."
His origin from the " boucher's stall" is distinctly averred in the contemporary-
satire of " Mayster Skelton, poete laureate:" —
" He regardeth Lordes
No more than pot shordes,
He ruleth al at will
Without reason or sky 11,
Howbeit they be prymordyall :
Of his wretched original!,
And his base progeny,
And his gresy genealogy,
He came out of the sanke roiall
That was cast out of a boucher's stall."
Luther in his colloquies, calls him "a butcher's son." Polydore Virgil sreaks of
his father as " >i butcher:" and Puller, in his Church History, observes, that " to
humble the Cardinal's pride, some person or other had set up in a window belong-
in"- to his college, at Oxford, a painted mastiff dog gnawing the spade bone of a
shoulder of mutton, to remind him of his extraction." Codwyn says, " Patre
lanio paupcrculo prognatus est." If his father had been of any other trade, the
fact might have been easily established ; but Cavendish, his gentleman usher and
bio'Tap'tier, who must have heard the assertion hundreds of times, is contented with
saying that "he was an honest poor man's son," and the only supposed contradic
tion is the father's will, showing that be had houses and properly to dispose of,
which he might as well have acquired by slanghtering cattle, as by any other occu
pation. — The will shows him to have been a very pious Christian. After leaving
his soul to "Almighty God, our Lady Sent Mary and to all the company of Hevyn,"
he says, " itm, [ wyll that if Thomas my son be a prest wtin a yer next after my de-
eesse, yan I will lhat he syng for me and my frends be the space of a yer, and he for
to haue lor his salary x marc." The will bears date September 1486, and was prov
ed in the month of October following. The testator signs himself Robert Wuley
and by this name the son was known, till he changed it euphonia causa.
#31

366 LIFE OE
reached us respecting his studies, except a statement that the in
dications of genius he displayed induced some of his townsmen
to assist his father in maintaining him at Oxford. He was enter
ed of Magdalen CoUege when still of tender years, and he made
such proficiency that, when only fifteen, he took his Bachelor's
degree with great distinction, gaining the honourable soubriquet of
" the boy Bachelor." In the very zenith of his fortune he used to
boast with laudable vanity of this appellation, as the best proof of
his early devotion to literature.
At an early age he was elected a fellow of Magdalen, and there
being a school connected with the college, according to the usage
then prevailing, he -was appointed head master. He dedicated
himself with much diligence and success to the duties of this
humble office. While so occupied, he formed an acquaintance
with Sir T. More, then an undergraduate, and with Erasmus, who
had taken up his residence at Oxford.
The probability at this time was, that he would spend the rest
of his days in the University, and that his ambition (which could
not have aspired higher) might be crowned with the headship of
his coUege. But it so happened that he had for pupils three sons
of the Marquess of Dorset, and during a Christmas vacation he
accompanied them to the country seat of their father. Wolsey
was now in his twenty-ninth year, of great acquirements, both so
lid and ornamental, — remarkably handsome in his person, insin
uating in his manners, and amusing, in his conversation. The
Marquess was so much struck with him, that he at once proffered
him his friendship, and as a token of his regard presented him to
the rectory of Lymington, in Somersetshire, which then happened
to faU vacant* Wolsey accordingly took orders, and was insti
tuted as parson of this parish on the 10th of October, 1500. He
immediately renounced his school and other college appointments,
— the more readily on account of a charge brought against him,
that he had misapplied the college funds. While bursar, he had
erected the tower of Magdalen CoUege chapel, known by the
name of " Wolsey's tower," still admired for the chaste simplicity
and elegance of its architecture, and he was accused of having
clandestinely diverted a porton of the revenue, over which his of
fice of bursar gave him control, to the expense of this edifice, — a
heinous offence in the eyes of the fellows, while lamenting their
diminished dividend. He certainly seems to have been betrayed
mto considerable irregularity in this affair from his passion for
building, which adhered to him through life; but there is no rea
son to suspect that he personally derived any pecuniary advan
tage from it. J
Suddenly emerging from the cloisters of Magdalen, in which he
the'loca^t^has bee^*' 'Y™ h ™J P'aC,e- °f this uame in Somersetshire, and
the locality has been changed in a very arbitrary manner to Hampshire- but I
have ascertained that there is a very small parish called Lymington near Chester
in Somersetshire,- with the stocks still standing near the church Uciiester

LORD CHANCELLOR CARDINAL WOLSEY. 367
had been hitherto immured, — when he took possession of his liv
ing, he seems for a time to have indulged in levities not becoming
his sacred calling. By his dissolute manners, or perhaps by his
superior popularity, he incurred the displeasure of Sir Amyas
Paulet, a neighbouring justice of the peace, who lay by for an op
portunity to show his resentment. This was soon afforded him.
Wolsey, being of " a free and sociable temper," went with some
of his neighbours to a fair in an adjoining town, where they aU
got very drunk, and created a riot. Sir Amyas, who was present,
selected "his Beverence" as the most guilty, and convicting him
" on the view," ordered him to be set in the stocks, and actually
saw the sentence carried into immediate execution. " Who," says
Cavendish, in relating this adventure, "would have thought then
that ever he should have attained to be Chancellor of England !
These be wonderful works of God and fortune." *
Wolsey afterwards had his revenge of Sir Amyas. " For when
the schoolmaster mounted the dignity to be Chancellor of Eng
land, he was not oblivious of the old displeasure ministered unto
him by Master Pawlet, but sent for him, and after many sharp and
heinous words, enjoined him to attend upon the Council until he
were by them dismissed, and not to depart without licence upon
an urgent pain and forfeiture."! According to this writer, — for
having so affronted the country parson, " Sir Amyas was in reali
ty detained a prisoner in his lodging, in the Gate House of the
Middle Temple, next to Fleet Street, for the space of five or six
years, although he attempted to appease the Chancellor's displea
sure by re-edifying the house, and garnishing the outside thereof
sumptuously with hats and arms, badges and cognizances of the
Cardinal, with other devices in glorious sort." This anecdote,
which rests on undoubted testimony, is not very honourable to
Wolsey, who, even if he had been wrongfully put in the stocks,
ought not, when Chancellor, to have perverted the law to revenge
the -wrongs of the country parson. The discipline he then under
went seems to have had a salutary effect upon him ; for although
he did not by any means reform so far as to become faultless in
his manners, we do not find him afterwards guilty of any public
breach of decorum.
This mischance happened when Wolsey had been about two
years resident at Lymington, and he soon after left r 1 „„ ,
the country,— as some assert from the scandal it had 1 ' ' 'J
caused, — but I believe from the necessity he felt of finding a new
patron, the Marquis of Dorset, to whom he looked for promotion,
having suddenly died. We may suppose that, conscious of his
powers, he was glad to leave this rural retreat where they could
so little be appreciated, Storer, who published his biographical
poem of Wolsey in 1599, describes his feelings on this occasion
with some felicity :
* Cavendish, 69. t Ibid. 68.

368 LIEE OF
" This silver tongue methought was never made
With rhetoric's skill to teach each common swain ;
These deep conceits were never taught to wade
In shallow brooks ; nor this aspiring vein
Pit to converse among the shepherd train.
" Just cause I saw my titles to advance,
Virtue my gentry, priesthood my descent,
Saints my allies, the cross my cognizance,
Angels the guard that watch'd about my tent,
Wisdom that usher'd me where'er I went."
He was soon received as chaplain in the family of Deane, Arch-
r IO'} 1 Dish°P °f Canterbury, — a proof that his fame had
lA- D- -1 not sustained any permanent blemish, and he was
gaining the goodwill of those around him when he was again
thrown upon the world by the death of the primate.
However, he was almost immediately after engaged as domes
tic chaplain by Sir John Nanfant, " a very grave and ancient
knight," a special favourite of Henry VII. Sir John held the im
portant office of Treasurer of Calais, and Wolsey now behaved
himself so discreetly, that he obtained the special favour of his
new master, and all the charge of the office was committed to
him. He resided for a considerable time at Calais, and must have
materially improved his knowledge of mankind by the variety of
company with whom he here mixed. But he panted still for a
larger sphere of action, and, through the interest of his employ
er, he was at last gratified with the appointment of chaplain to
the King, and he was transferred to the Court. " He cast anchor
in the port of promotion," says his biographer, or rather, he " got
his foot in the stirrup, resolved to outstrip every competitor in the
race." He had now occasion to be in the presence of the King daily,
— celebrating mass before him in his private closet ; and fie after
wards gave attendance upon the courtiers who he thought bore
most rule in the Council and were highest in favour. These
were Fox, Bishop of Winchester, Secretary and Lord Privy Seal,
and Sir Thomas Lovel, Master of the King's wards and Consta
ble of the Tower. They soon perceived his merit, and were dis
posed to avail themselves of his services. He is said now to
have displayed that "natural dignity of manner or aspect which
no art can imitate, and which no rule or method of practice will
ever be able to form."* He was eminently favoured by nature in
dignity of person, and winning expression of countenance. Ac
cording to Cavendish, he was celebrated for " a special gift of
natural eloquence, with a filed tongue to pronounce the same, so
that he was able to persuade and allure all men to his purpose.;"
or, in the words of Shakspeare, he was " exceeding wise, fair
spoken, and persuading." He had, besides, a quick and correct
perception of character and of the secret springs of action, and a
* Fiddes' Life of Wolsey, p. II.

LORD CHANCELLOR CARDINAL WOLSEY. 369
singular power of shaping his conduct and conversation according
to circumstances. The consequence was, that, placed among men
of education and refinement, he seemed to exercise an extraordi
nary influence over them, amounting almost to fascination, — and
this influence was not the less powerful and enduring, that before
superiors it was unostentatious, and seemed to follow where it
led the way. Fitting himself to the humours of all, we need not
doubt, that, with the cold-blooded, calculating, avaricious founder
of the Tudor dynasty, he tried to make himself remarkable for
the laborious assiduity, regularity, steadiness, and thriftiness of
his habits.
However, he did not contrive to make any progress in the per
sonal intimacy of Henry, till he was recommended to him by Fox
and Lovel to conduct a delicate negotiation, in which the King
took a very lively interest, and which he was desirous to see
brought to a speedy conclusion.
Henry was a widower, with one surviving son and two daugh
ters, and being only fifty years of age, he wished to enter into an
other matrimonial alliance, in the hope of strengthening the suc
cession in his dynasty ; and regardless of the question as to the
right to the throne, which if his son by Elizabeth, the daughter of
Edward IV., should die without issue, might arise between a son
by a second marriage, and his eldest daughter of the first marriage,
who would ha've been "the white rose of England." The object
of his suit was Margaret, Duchess dowager of Savoy, only dang-
ter ofthe Emperor Maximilian. They having been sounded, were
not unfavourable to the alliance, and it -was necessary to employ
a person of great address to adjust with the Emperor in person
some delicate matters connected with the marriage. Wolsey
being pointed out by Fox and Lovel, the King, who as yet had
scarcely ever personally conversed with him, " and being a Prince
of excellent jndgment, commanded them to bring his chaplain
whom they -so much commended before his Grace's presence.
At whose repair thither, to prove the wit of his chaplain, the King
fell in communication with him, in matters of weight and gravity,
and perceiving his art to be very fine, thought him sufficient to be
put in trust with this embassy."* While the preparations were
going forward, " he had a due occasion to repair from time to time
to the King's presence, who perceived him more and more to be a
very wise man and of good intendment"!
Wolsey, having at last got his despatches from the wary mon
arch, performed the journey with a celerity which even astonishes
us, accustomed to steam-packets and railways, and which in that
slow-travelling age must have appeared almost equal to the
boasted exploit of Ariel. J The Court was then at Richmond, and
there taking leave of the King after dinner, he arrived in London
* Cavendish, 10. t Ibid. 12.
X "I'll put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes." — Shaksp.

370 LIFE OE
on a Sunday afternoon about four o'clock. The Gravesend barge
was ready to sail with a prosperous tide and wind, and by her he
arrived ;>.t Gravesend in little more than three hours. There he
tarried only till post-horses were provided, and travelling all night
he came to Dover next morning, just as the passage-boat for Calais
was about to sail. He stepped on board, and in less than three
hours he landed at Calais. Here he immediately got post-horses,
and galloping off he arrived that night at Bruges, where the im
perial Court lay. Maximilian, " whose affection for Henry VII.
was such that he rejoiced when he had occasion to show him
pleasure," received the ambassador forthwith, and the next day
he was despatched with all the King's requests fully accomplish
ed. He was conducted back to Calais "with such a number of
horsemen as the Emperor had appointed, and arrived at that city
at day-break, as the gates were opened. The passage-boat for
England was about to sail, and before ten o'clock on Wednesday
forenoon he was at Dover. He had ordered post-horses to be in
readiness for him, and that night he reached Richmond. He now
took some repose, but rising early next morning he knelt before
the King going from his bed-chamber to his closet to hear mass.
Tbe King saw him with some surprise and displeasure, and
checked him for not having set out on his journey. " Sir," quoth
he, " if it may stand with your Highness's pleasure, I have al
ready been with the Emperor, and despatched your affairs, I trust,
to your Grace's contentation.," Thereupon he delivered to the
King the Emperor's letters. The King demanded of him whether
he encountered not his pursuivant whom he had sent after him
yesterday, supposing him to be scarcely out of London, with let
ters concerning an important matter neglected in his commission
and instructions which he courted much to be sped. " Yes, for
sooth, Sire," quoth he, " I encountered him yesterday by the way,
and having no information by your Grace's letters of your pleasure
therein, had notwithstanding been so bold upon mine own discre
tion (perceiving that matter to be very necessary) to despatch
the same. And for as much as I exceeded your Grace's commis
sion, I most humbly require your gracious remission and pardon."
The King rejoicing, replied, — " We do not only pardm you there
of, but also give you our princely thanks, both for the proceeding
therein, and also for your good and speedy exploit," — command
ing him for that time to take his rest, and to repair again to him
after dinner, for the farther relation of his embassy. At the ap
pointed time he reported his embassy to the King and Couticrl
with such a graceful deportment, and so eloquent language, that
he received the utmost applause, — all declaring him to be a per
son of so great capacity and diligence that he deserved to be far
ther employed.*
* Cavendish declares that he had all these circumstances as above related, from

LORD CHANCELLOR CARDINAL WOLSEY. 371
The deanery of Lincoln, reckoned one of the most valuable
preferments in the church, was immediately bestowed upon him :
— he was marked as a rising favourite, — and, had the King's life
been prolonged, there can be no doubt that, accommodating him
self to his inclinations, Wolsey would have been promoted under
him to the highest offices both civil and ecclesiastical.
But Henry, meditating his second marriage, was attacked by a
disease which carried him to the tomb, and Wol- r . 1 ,„„ ,
sey had to concert fresh plans for his own advance- •- > " -J
ment under a new monarch, only eighteen years of age, gay and
frolicsome, fond of amusement and averse to business, though not
uninitiated in the learning of the schools. The royal chaplain,
while resident at Court, must have seen the Prince from time to
time, but hitherto had made no acquaintance with him, — cautious
in showing any accordance with the tastes of the son, lest he
should give umbrage to the father.
It luckily happened that the young Marquess of Dorset had
been a very intimate friend of Prince Henry, and by his former
pupil he was introduced to the new King. This introduction is
usually attributed to Bishop Fox, who, jealous of his rival, the
Earl of Surrey, the late King's High Treasurer, is supposed to
have intended Wolsey as an instrument to keep up the interest of
his own party at Court ; but in reality all the old ministers had
penetrated the Dean of Lincoln's character, and become jealous
of his influence.
Wolsey at once conformed to the tastes of the youthful Sove
reign, and won his heart. He jested, he raUied, he sang, he danc
ed, he caroused with the King and his gay companions, and in a
very short time, by his extraordinary address, he not only sup
planted Surrey in the royal favour, but also Fox his patron. He
was sworn a Privy Councillor, and appointed King's almoner, an
office which kept him in constant attendance on the person of the
Monarch in his hours of relaxation, and thereby enabled him to
acquire over the mind of Henry an ascendancy which was imput
ed to the practice of the magical art. It is said, however, that al
though Wolsey, for the purposes of ambition, countenanced irre
gularities at Court unsuitable to the presence of a priest, he was
careful, when any proper opportunity offered, to give good advice
to the King, as well in respect to his personal as his political con
duct, and highly tending on both accounts to his advantage and
Wolsey's own mouth, after his fall. — Life, p 78. Storer's metrkal Life of Wol
sey has the following stanza on this expedition: —
" The Argonautic vessel never past
With swifter course along the Colchian main,
Than my small bark with small and speedy blast
Convey'd me forth and reconvey'd again ;
Thrice had Arcturus driven his rollcss wain,
And Heaven's bright lamp the day had thrice reviv'd.
Prom first departure till I last arriv'd,"

372 LIFE OF
improvement. He would instil into his mind a lesson on the art
of government over a game at primero, and after a roistering party
with him at night, he would hold with him in the morning a dis
putation on a question out of Thomas Aquinas.
As yet without any higher appointment about the Court than
that of Almoner, he soon made himself Prime Minister, and exercis
ed supreme power in the state. " The King was young and lusty,
disposed to all mirth and pleasure, and to follow his desire and
appetite, nothing minding to travail in the busy affairs of the realm ;
the which the Almoner perceiving very well, took upon him there
fore to disburden the King of so weighty a charge and troublesome
business, putting the King in comfort that he shall not need to
spare any time of his pleasure for any business that necessarily
happens in the Council as long as he being there, and, having the
King's authority and commandment, doubted not to see all things
sufficiently furnished and perfected, wherewith the King was won
derfully pleased. And whereas the other ancient counciUors
would, according to the office of good councillors, persuade the
King to have some time an intercourse into the Council, there to
hear what was done in weighty matters, the which pleased the
King nothing at all, for he loved nothing worse than to be con
strained to do any thing contrary to his royal will and pleasure,
and that knew the Almoner very well, having a secret intelligence
of the King's natural inclination, and so fast as the other council
lors advised the King to leave his pleasures and to attend to the
affairs of his realm, so busily did the Almoner persuade him to
the contrary, which delighted him much, and caused him to have
the greater affection and love for the Almoner."*
Wolsey pushed his advantages ; and not contented wilh secret
influence, was determined to chase from office those to whom
the public had looked with respect as the ministers ofthe Crown,
r i^no  1 a°d openly to engross all ower in hispown person.
1 ' ' 1 He observed to the King, that while he intrusted
r n 1 '5 Til his affairs to his father's councillors, he had the ad-
"- '¦' vantage of employing men of wisdom and expe
rience, but men who owednot their promotion to his own personal
favour, and who scarcely thought themselves accountable to him
for the exercise of their authority ; — that by the factions, and
cabals, and jealousies which prevailed among them, they more
obstructed the advancement of his affairs than they promoted it,
by the knowledge which age and practice had conferred upon
them ; — that while he thought proper to pass his time in those
pleasures to which his age and royal fortune invited him, and in
those studies which in time enable him to sway the sceptre with
absolute authority, his best system of government would be, to
intrust Ins authority into the hands of some one person who was
the creature of his will, and who could entertain no view but that
* Cavendish, 82.

LORD CHANCELLOR CARDINAL WOLSEY. 378
of promoting his service ; — and that if the minister had also the
same relish for pleasure with himself, and the same taste for lit
erature, he could more easily, at intervals, account to him for his
own conduct, and introduce his master gradually into the know
ledge of public business, and thus, without tedious restraint or
application, initiate him in the science of government*
Henry said, he highly approved of this plan of administration,
and that he knew no one so capable of executing it as the person
who proposed it. The two rival ministers of Henry VII, the
Duke of Norfolk and Rishop Fox, — who had been continued in
office by the advice of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the
young King's grandmother, — were now treated with neglect and
di:- respect, and retired from Court. " Thus," says Cavendish, " the
Almoner ruled all them that before ruled him ; such things did his
policy and wit bring to pass. Who was now in high favour but
Master Almoner ? Who had all the suit but Master Almoner ?
And who ruled all under the King but Master Almoner ? Thus
he proceeded still in favour. At last, in came presents, gifts, and
rewards, so plentifully that he lacked nothing that might either
please his fantasy or enrich his coffers."
The first earnest of Henry's bounty to his favourite was the
grant, on the attainder of Empson, of a magnificent , .,.„,
mansion, with gardens, in Fleet Street, which had I ' ' ''
belonged to that minister. He was soon after made r . -. - i
Canon of Windsor, Registrar and ChanceUor of the I A- ¦ -J
Order of the Garter, and Reporter of the proceedings in the Star
Chamber, and various rectories, prebends, deaneries were con
ferred upon him, — having obtained an unlimited dispensation
from the Pope to hold pluralities in the church. On the resigna
tion of the Duke of Norfolk, in 1512, he was made Lord Treasur
er, — and with the exception of Warham, the Lord Chancellor,
who still carried on an unequal struggle against his ascendancy, all
who filled the offices of state were his creatures and dependents.
The Life of Wolsey henceforth becomes the History of Eng
land and of the European states ; but I propose to confine myself
to those events and circumstances which may be considered to
belong to his personal narative.t
# Lord Herbert, Pol. Virg. „
t " The variety and splendour of the lives of such men render it often difficult
to distinguish the portion of time which ought to be admitted into history from that
which should be reserved for biography Generally speaking, these two parts are
So distinct and unlike, that they cannot be confounded without much injury to bothi
cither when the biographer hides the portrait of the individual by a crowded and!
confined picture of events, or when the historian allows unconnected narratives of'
the lives of men to break the thread of history. Perhaps nothing more can be
universally laid down than that the biographer never ought to introduce public
events, except as far as they are absolutely necessary to the illustration of character,
and that the historian should rarely digress into biographical particulars, except as
far as they contribute to the clearness of his narrative of political occurrences " —
Sir James Mackintosh.
vol. I. 32

374 LIFE OF
In the year 1513, Henry going to war with France, Wolsey
was specially appointed by him to direct the supplies and pro
visions for the use of the army, — or " Commissary General," — a
situation which gave him an opportunity of amassing great
wealth, and which, though seemingly inconsistent with his clerical
functions, he justifies himself for accepting, on the ground that
the Pope approved of the expedition against Louis XII. then at
enmity with the See of Rome.
He accompanied the King to the Continent, witnessed the bat
tle of " the Spurs," and assisted at the siege of Tournay. When
this city surrendered, it was found that the Bishop had lately
died, and that a new bishop had been elected by the r .,.„.
chapter, but had not yet been installed. Henry L A- • -1
claimed by right of conquest the disposal of the office, appointed
Wolsey to it, and put him in immediate possession of the tempo
ralities. This step was directly at variance with the canons of the
church, and at another time would have been resented by the su
preme Pontiff as a sacriligious usurpation. Wolsey became
Bishop de facto, but his title to the see was afterwards question
ed, and was made the subject of long and intricate negotiations.
On his return to England he was legitimately placed in the
episcopal order, by being elected and consecrated Bishop of
Lincoln. He is reproached for having been gutity of great rapac
ity in seizing the goods which had belonged to his predecessor,
Bishop Smith ; and bis gentleman usher is obliged to admit that
he had frequently seen with shame some of the stolen furniture
of the late Bishop in the house of his master*
A few months after, Bambridge, Archbishop of York, dying,
Wolsey was elevated to this archiepiscopal see. He was farther
allowed to unite with York — first the see of Durham, and next
that of Winchester. He farmed besides, on very advantageous
terms, the Bishoprics of Bath, Worcester, and Hereford, filled by
foreigners who gladly compounded for the indulgence of residing
abroad by yielding up to him. a large share of their English in
comes. The rich Abbey of St Alban's, and many other church
preferments, he held in commendam.
There was only one individual in the kingdom on whom he
now looked with envy, Warham, who, as Archbishop of Canter
bury and Lord ChanceUor, had precedence of him both ecclesias
tically and civilly ; but though he could not aim at the primacy
during the life of his rival, he resolved that he himself should be
the first subject under the King in rank as well as in power.
Pope Julius II, styled the " Incendiary of Christendom," being
dead, he was succeeded by the celebrated Leo X, who closely
resembled Wolsey in his love of pleasure and love of literature,
and was desirous of cultivating the friendship of England against
* Cavendish, 88.

LORD CHANCELLOR CARDINAL WOLSEY. 375
the ambition of France. One of his first acts was to confer a
Cardinal's hat on the favourite of Henry, with a Bull creating
him Legate h latere over the whole kingdom of England, and ena-»
bling him to call convocations, and to exercise supreme ecclesiasti
cal authority. The Pope's messenger, conveying these emblems
of spiritual precedence and authority, -was met on Blackheath by
" a great assembly of prelates, and lusty gallant gentlemen, and
from them conducted through London with great triumph." The
new Cardinal and Legate was confirmed in his dignity in West
minster Abbey by a numerous band of Bishops and Abbots, in rich
mitres, copes, and other costly ornaments, "which," says Caven
dish, " was done in so solemn a wise as I have not seen the like,
unless it bad been at the coronation of a mighty prince or king." *
He was now armed with effectual means of annoying and mor
tifying Warham. As Cardinal he took place of him t, and as Le
gate he was entitled to interfere with his jurisdiction within the
province of Canterbury. " Wherefore remembering as well the
taunts and checks before sustained of Canterbury which he in
tended to redress, and having respect to the advancement of world
ly honour, he found the means with the King that he was made
Chancellor, and Canterbury thereof dismissed." X
The transfer of the Great Seal as we have seen in the life of
Lord Chancellor Warham, took place on the 22d of December,
1515.§ The affair was conducted with exterior decency, as if there
* Cavendish, 91.
t This point was settled by the Pope in the case of Cardinal Kempe, Archbishop
of York, and author* are mistaken who represent the precedence now assumed by
Wolsey an usurpation dictated by his arrogance.
t Cavendish, 93. . .
5 The reader may be amused with a translation of the Latin entry in the Close
Roll upon the occasion. " Be it remembered that on Sunday, the 22d of Decem
ber in the seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII, about the hour of one in the
afternoon, in a certain high and small room in the King's palace at Westminster,
ne-ir the Parliament Ch.imber, tho Most reverend Father in Christ, William Arch
bishop of Canterbury, then Chancellor of England, the King's Great Seal in the
custody of the siid Chancellor then being inclosed in a certain bag of white
leather and five times sealed with the signet of the said Arclibnliop, into the hands
of our said lord the King surrendered and delivered up in the presence of the
most reverend Father in Christ, Thomas, by divine compassion' Cardinal Priest ot
the Holy Roman Church, by the title ' Sancti Ariaci in Tennis,' Archbishop of
York Primate of England, and legato of the Apostolic See, of Charles Duke ot
Suff.ilk and of William Throgmorton, prothonotary of the Chancery of our Lor
the Kin'" And our said Lord the King, the said seal in the said bag so inclosed,
so surrendered and delivered up by the said Archbishop, then and there caused to
be opened and taken out, and being opened and taken out, saw and examined the
same And our said Lord the King then immediately, in the presence of those be
fore mentioned caused the said »eai to be again inclosed in the said bag, and the
said seal inclosed in the said bag, sealed with the signet of the said most reverend
Cardinal delivered to the said most reverend Cardinal, to be by hun kept anuusca
by the said most reverend Cardinal, wliom he then and there constituted his Chan
cellor, with all diets, fees, profits, rewards, robes, commodities, and advantages to
1 Miseracione divina-.

376 REIGN OE HENRY VIII.
had been a voluntary resignation on the one side and a reluctant
acceptance on the other.
A contemporary letter of Sir Thomas More might lead to the
belief that Warham was really eager to retire, and Wolsey afraid
of farther promotion. Writing to Arnmonius, he says, " The Arch
bishop of Canterbury hath at length resigned the office of Chan
cellor, which burthen as you, know he had strenuously endeavoured
to lay down for some years ; and the long wished-for retreat being
now obtained, he enjoys a most pleasant recess in his studies, with
the agreeable reflection of having acquitted himself honourably in
that high station. The Cardinal of York, by the King's orders,
succeeds him." Arnmonius, writing to Erasmus, says, in the same
strain, " Your Archbishop, with the King's good leave, has laid
down his post, which that of York, after much importunity, has ac
cepted of, and behaves most beautifully." Nay, Warham, himself,
in a letter to the same correspondent, says, he desired to give up
this magistracy, " quem Eboracensis Episcopus impendio rogatus
suscepit." But the testimony of Cavendish, and the internal evidence on
the other side, greatly preponderate. Warham, although like other
Chancellors resolved to cling to office as long as possible, may from
time to time have expressed a wish to be rid of it, and when the
crisis actually came, the parties themselves and their friends deem
ed it best to avoid, as much as possible, the appearance of compul
sion on the retiring Chancellor, or of any intriguing by his succes
sor ; but there can be no doubt that Wolsey, from the time of his
obtaining the rank of Cardinal with the legatine authority, had
taken every opportunity to insult Warham, with a view of driving
him from Court, and that the Great Seal had long been an object
of ambition to him, on account of the profit and power it would
bring him, — and perhaps likewise from the opportunity it would
afford him to add to his reputation for learning, ability, and elo
quence. The parade which he immediately made of the trappings of the
office of ChanceUor, and the manner in which he devoted himself
to the discharge of its duties, showed that he had clutched it as
eagerly, and that he enjoyed it as intensely, as any preferment ever
bestowed upon him.*
the office of Chancellor of England of old due, belonging or appertaining, and
the said said most reverend Cardinal, the said seal in the presence of the persons
before mentioned then and there received from the aforesaid most invincible
™trv'„7t£°r£» R n\ i!"' '• 2" ,he 2-"h of December following there is an
entry on the Close Roll of the new Chancellor being sworn in by the King at ^
palace at Eltham The tenor of the oath is set out In English.
* Cavendish, 93. b

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 37T

CHAPTER XXVIII.
LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS APPOINTMENT AS LORD
CHANCELLOR TILL HIS FALL.
Wolsey was now in the zenith of his greatness. At this period,
the Crown was absolute in England, and he alone r
wielded all its power. He was in consequence court- *-A- D' 15la-J
ed with the greatest obsequiousness by Francis I. and Charles V.,
the rival monarchs, who were contending for superiority on the
continent of Europe, and who felt that the result of the struggle
depended to a considerable degree on his friendship. They not
only flattered him by letters and embassies, but settled large pen
sions upon him, which there was no law or etiquette then prevail
ing to prevent him from accepting. The Doge of Venice, like
wise, sent him a large pecuniary gratification, with letters contain
ing the most fulsome adulation.* " In aU things the Chancellor
was honoured like the King's person, and sat always at his right
hand. In all places where the King's arms were put up, the Chan
cellor's appeared alongside of them, so that in every honour the
Sovereign and his minister were equal."t The money coined with
the Cardinal's hat upon it was now current without objection,
though made the ground of one of the charges against him on his
faU. The University of Oxford is supposed to have exceeded all
the rest of the nation in servility towards him, and to have almost
committed treason, by styling him in their addresses, " Your Majes
ty ;" X but this appeUation had not then been exclusively appropri
ated to kings, and it had been applied by the same University to
Lord Chancellor Warham.S
Perhaps the strongest proof of his ascendancy is to be found in
the private confidential letters written to him by the King's sis
ters. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, by the battle of Flodden left
a widow, with an infant son, and every way destitute, thus con
cludes a letter asking his interference in her favour, " for next to
the King's Grace, my next trust is in you, and you may do me
most good of any." Mary, Queen of Louis XII., thus addresses
him, " for the payne ye take remembering to write to me so often
I thanke you for it wh al my hert." She wrote him another letter
pressing him to use his influence with the King to permit Lady
* As a specimen : " Incrcdibilis vestrse reverendissimaj Dominationis virtus
et aapientia." Again, using the third person : " Ut nihil tam arduum dirlicileque
foret (. si modo id honestum esset et conducibile) quod non ipsa sua bonitate ultro
vcllct ; sapientissime ac providentissime disponcret ; auctoritate quam meritissime
in re^no isto supremum tenet, optime possit conficere."
t Bcllay, the Prench ambassador, an eye-witness.
X" Consultissima lua Majestas; reverendissima Majestas; inaudita Majestatis
benignitas; vest™ ilia sublimis et longe reverendissima Majestas."
§ " Et diu felicissime vivat, tua Majestas." — Fiddes, 178.
32*

378. REIGN OF HENRY Till.
Guildeford to live with her in France, as one of her ladies of hon
our. On the death of her husband, she communicates the intelli
gence to Wolsey, saying, " My Lord, my trust is in you for to re
member me to the Kyng my brother, for now I have none to put
my trust in but the Kyng my brother, <md you. And so I pray you,
my Lord, to show hys Grace, saying, that the Kyng, my house-
bande, ys departed to God, of whos sole God pardon. And wher
as, you avyse me that I shoulde make no promas, my Lord, I trust
the Kyng my brother and you wole not reckon in me soche chyld-
hode." In spite of the pledge here given against her well-known
inclination for her lover, Sir Charles Brandon, afterwards Duke of
Suffolk, she married him in a few weeks, but as he was a person
exciting no political jealousy, Wolsey pardoned them, and they
were kindly received in England.
The homage universally paid to the Chancellor had such an ef
fect upon him, that he gradually in his own letters assumed an
equality with the King, which was afterwards made a subject of
his impeachment,*
The fame of his influence was so, great that he had many sofir
citations from other countries for his patronage. Thus, the Earl
of Argyle wrote him a very humble letter, asking his interest with
the Pope, that Dougall CampbeU, the Earl's brother, might be ap
pointed Abbot of Cowper : " I beseech ye to forther ye promo-
tinnne of my saed brother in the best manner as your Grace thinks
expedient ; and my lord, geif that there be any service or labcrre.
that I canne do your Graice in this realme, truly there shalbe nane,
ip it yat sail accompleis ye same wt bettir hart nor mynd nor J
sall."t This DougaU CampbeU was appointed Abbot pf Cowpe?
accordingly, although before entering into religion he had been
married, and had a surviving son.
Wolsey's manner of living now eclipsed the splendour of the
King's court. His household consisted of eight hundred persons,
comprehending one Earl (the Earl of Derby), nine barons, and
many knights and squires of great figure and worship. He had a
high-chamberlain, a vice-chamberlain, a treasurer, a controller, and
Other officers corresponding to those of royalty, bearing white
staves. He had in his hall-kitchen two master cooks, with many
assistants, and in his private kitchen, a master cook, who went
daily in damask, satin, or velvet, with a chain of gold about his
neck. We should never finish if we were to enumerate aU the
yeomen, grooms, pages, and purveyors that he had in his larder,
* Thus, in his correspondence with Pace, the secretary, and others, he says, "His
S8?™^ a"- $U y?U- hG-arty thanks" " Neither "'e King's Highness nor I will
tl ll/Tnr "M™hit's<o the King's and ^y comfort.'' "The King's High-
whnm LvitS H-ally klao^^-" "Arrived here the Archbishop of Capua,
whom the King s Highness and I like." " The King's Highness and I be always qf
the same mind that the Emoeror i<s " " Tbp Tf ir,o.'= r-r;„i,S„ «•¦*«• * "v nmojsa v*
lodgings to him." -MS. lEk Bntk^eV^™' «** ' ^ ** °*n
t MSS. Cott. Lib.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 379
scalding house, scullery, buttery, pantry, ewery, cellar, chaundery,
wafery, wardrobe, laundry, bakehouse, wood-yard, gainer, garden,
stable, and almoserie, with the yeoman of his barge, yeoman of
his chariot, his master of the horse, saddler, farrier, and muleteer.
" Also he had two secretaries, and two clerks of his signet, and
four councillors learned in the laws of the realm."* Now that he
was Chancellor, he was constantly attended by all the officers of
the Court, and by four footmen apparelled in rich ermine coats, —
and whensoever he took any journey, by a herald at arms, a ser
jeant at arms, a physician, an apothecary, four minstrels, a keeper
of his tents, and an armourer. Three great tables "were daily laid
in his hall for this numerous retinue. Many of the nobility plac
ed their children in his family, and for the purpose of winning
his favour, allowed them to act as his servants, although they
had a separate table, called " the mess of lords," and had nume
rous menials to attend them.
" When it pleased the King's Majesty, for his recreation, to re
pair unto the Cardinal's house, such pleasures were then devised
for the King's comfort and consolation as might be invented or by
man's wit imagined. The banquets were set forth with masks
and mummeries, in so gorgeous a sort and costly manner, that it
was a heaven to behold. There wanted no dames or damsels
meet or apt to dance with the maskers, or to garnish the place for
the time with other goodly disports. There was there all kinds
of music and harmony set forth, with excellent voices, both of
rnen and children."!
* Cavendish, 97.
t Cavendish, who goes on to give an account of the King's coming with maskers
like shepherds, fiom which Shakspeare has taken the 4th scene of the 1st act of
Hen. VIII. In one particular the dramatist differs from the biographer. (Th«
twelve maskers, habited like shepherds, being ushered in as foreigners who could
not speak English.) " Wolsey. Pray tell them thus much from me ;
There should be one amongst them, by his person,
More worthy this place than myself, lo whom
If I hut knew, with ray love and duly
I would surrender it.
Chamberlain. Such a one they all confess
There is indeed, which they would have your Grace
Pino nut, and he will take it.
Wolsiy. Let me see then ; here I'll make
My royal choice.
King Henry (unmasking.) You have found him, Cardinal."
But Cavendish relates, " My Lord Chancellor said to my Lord Cardinal, " Sir,
they confess that among them there is such a noble personage, whom if your Grace
can appoint him from the others, he is contented to disclose himself and to accept
your place most worthily." With that the Cardinal, taking a good advisement
among them, at the last quoth he, ' Me seemeth the gentlemen with the black beard
should be even he." And with that he arose out of his chair and offered the same
to the gentleman in the black beard, with liii cap in his hand. This turned out lo be
Sir Edward Neville, a comely knight of a goodly personage, that much resembled
the King's person in that mask. The King, perceiving the cardinal so deceived in
his estimation and choice, could not forbear laughing, but plucked down, his vi&or,

380 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
We have likewise very picturesque descriptions of his march
to the Court at Greenwich on Sundays, — riding through Thames
Street on his mule, with his crosses, his pillars, his hat, and the
Great Seal, till he came to Billingsgate, where he took his barge,
— and of the gorgeous celebration of mass in his chapel, where
he was attended by Bishops and Abbots. Such was his haughti
ness, that he made Dukes and Earls to serve him with wine, and
to hold the bason and lavatories.
But for our purpose, the most interesting pageant he exhibited
was his procession from York House to the Court of Chancery in
Westminster Hall, which is minutely described to us by an eye
witness. Having risen by day-break, and heard mass, he return
ed to his private chamber ; and his public rooms being now filled
with noblemen and gentlemen attending his levee, —
" He issued out unto them apparaled all in red, in the habit of a
cardinal, which was either of fine scarlet, or else of crimson satin,
taffety damask, or caffa, the best that he could get for money ; and
upon his head a round pillion, with a noble of black velvet set to
the same in the inner side ; he had also a tippet of fine sables
about his neck ; holding in his hand a very fine orange, whereof
the meat or substance "within was taken out, and filled up again
with the part of a sponge, wherein was vinegar and other confec
tions against the pestilent airs, the which he most commonly smelt
unto passing among the press, or else "when he was pestered with
many suitors. There was also borne before him — first, the Great
Seal of England, and then his Cardinal's hat, by a nobleman or
some worthy gentleman, right solemnly, bare-headed. And as
soon as he was entered into his chamber of presence, where there
was attending his coming to -wait upon him to Westminster Hall,
as well noblemen and other worthy gentlemen, as noblemen and
gentlemen of his own family ; thus passing forth with two great
crosses of silver borne before him ; with also two great pillars of
silver, and his pursuivant at arms with a great mace of silver gilt.
Then his gentlemen ushers* cried, and said, ' On my Lords and
Masters, on before ; make way for my Lord's Grace.' Thus pass
ed he down from his chamber to the Hall ; and when he came to
the Hall door, there was attendant for him his mule, trapped alto
gether in crimson velvet and gilt stirrups. When he was mount
ed, with his cross-bearers and pillar-bearers, also upon great horses
trapped with fine scarlet. Then marched he forward, with his
train and furniture in manner as ITiave declared, having about
him four footmen with gilt poll-axes in their hands ; and thus he
went until he came to Westminster Hall door. And there he
alighted, and went after this manner up through the Hall into the
Chancery ; howbeit, he would most commonly stay awhile at a
and Master Neville's also, and dashed out with such a pleasant countenance and
cheer, that all noble estates there assembled, seeing the King to be there amongst
them, rejoiced very much." — Cavendish, 112. fa
* Cavendish being one of them.

CHANCELLOR. 381
bar made for him a little beneath the Chancery on the right hand,
and there commune some time with the Judges, and some time
with other persons. And that done he would repair into the Chan
cery, sitting there till eleven of the clock, hearing suitors, and de
termining of divers matters. And from thence he would divers
times go into the Star Chamber, as occasion did serve ; where he
spared neither high nor low, but judged every one according to
their merits and deserts."
His crosses, pillars, and poll-axes are likewise celebrated by
Cavendish in the metrical autobiography which he imputes to
Wolsey : — " My crossis twayne of silver long and greale
That dayly before me were carried hyghe,
Upon great horses openly in the ,«treett,
And massie pillers gloryouse to the eye,
With poll-axes gylt that no man durst come nyghe
My presence, I was so princely to behold
Ryding on my mule trapped in silver and golde."*

* We have likewise a metrical description of the Cardinal's equipage from Wil
liam Roy, styled by Bale, "vir aetatis sua; non ineruditus," in a satire published
about 1530, in the form of a dialogue between two priests' servants, with the motto
•' Rede me and be not wrothe
For I saye no thynge but trothe."
" Wat. Doth he use then on mules to ryde 7
"Jeff. Yes; and that with so shnmfull pryde
That to tell it is not possible,
More like a God cclestiall
Than any creature mortall
With wordly pomp incredible.
" Before hym rideth two prestes stronge,
And they beare two crosses right longe,
Gapynge in every man's face :
After theym followe two laymen secular
And each of theym holdynge a pillar
In their hondes, steade of a mace.
" Then followeth my Lord on his mule
Trapped with gold under her cule
In every point most curiously ;
On eache syde a pollaxe is borne
Which in none wolher use arc worne
Pretendynge some hid mystery.
" Then hath he servante fyve or six score,
Some bchynde and some before,
A marvellous great company :
Of which are lords and gentlemen,
Willi many glomes and yemen,
And also knaves amongc.
" Thus daily he proceerleth forthe,
And men must lake it at worthe
Whether he do right or wronge.
A great carl he is, and a fait,
Wcarynge on his hed a red hatt
Procured with angel's subsidy." Supp. to Harl. Misc. 1612.

382 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
This pageantry, although regarded with great reverence by de
pendent courtiers, called forth many gibes from the vulgar ; and it
was a common saying, that " the two crosses showed that the
Cardinal had twice as many sins to repent of as any other pre
late." The pulpit likewise occasionally resounded with invectives
against him. Doctor Barnes, afterwards burnt for heresy, having
showed his independent spirit by inveighing against the pomp and
luxury of the Cardinal, was summoned before him, and received
this admonition : " What, Master Doctor ! had you not a sufficient
scope in the Scriptures to teach the people but yon ; but that my
golden shoes, my poll-axes, my pillars, my golden cushions, and
my crosses did so far offend you, that you must make us ridiculum
caput amongst the people ? We were jollily that day laughed to
scorn. Verily, it was a sermon more fitter to be preached on a
stage than in a pulpit." Barnes answered, that he had spoken
nothing but the truth out of the Scriptures, according to his con
science, and was for the time discharged. With the exception of
his prosecution of Buckingham, Wolsey showed no inclination to
blood or cruelty.
We must now consider him in the capacity of a Judge.
Unfortunately none of his decisions have come down to us ;
but it seems to be generally allowed that his elevation to the
judgment-seat, by proving the extent of his capacity, seemed to
exalt his personal character ; — that no Chancellor ever discovered
greater impartiality ; — that he showed much discrimination and
shrewdness in discussing the principles of law and equity, — and
that a strict administration of justice took place during his enjoy
ment of this high office.*
We are rather at a loss to imagine how, with all his tact, he was
able to get through the business without committing serious errors,
and exposing himself to ridicule from his ignorance of legal dis
tinctions. The fashion of a Chancellor having a Keeper of the
Seal, or Vice-chancellor, to act for him had passed away, — and
Wolsey, although he had probably paid some attention to the civil
and canon law while resident at Oxford, had never, like Morton
and many other ecclesiastical Chancellors, practised in the Arches,
or been a clerk or master in Chancery, or assisted a prior Chancel
lor. The coming event of his Chancellorship had long cast its
shadow before, and he probably had, by a course of study, in some
degree prepared himself for his office ; and he no doubt had the
address to avail himself of the assistance of the four lawyers who
formed a part of his establishment, as well as of the clerks and
other officers of the court. " In examining cases," says Fiddes,
" which came before the Cardinal as Chancellor, he would take
* He is extravagantly praised by Sir Thomas More, writing to Erasmus. " Ita
se gerit ut spein quoque omnium, quanqu tm pro reliquis ejus virtulibus maximam,
lon-e tamen exsupcrct; et, quod est diffiVillimum, post optimum prteleeessorem
valde probatur et pUceat." And Arnmonius, writing of the offi c of Chancellor,
coming to Wolsey, says, " Quem M.igistratum Eboracensis pulcherime gerit '

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 383
associates with him learned in the laws, and ask their opinions ;
but in such matters as came before him, and were not very intri
cate, but might be determined in a rational way of arguing from
the common principles of equity, he would often give sentence ac
cording to the light of his own understanding."
However he may have managed it, such reputation did he gain
as a judge, that some have ascribed to him the establishment of
the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery; and, from the
confidence reposed in him, the number of bills and petitions in
creased so much that he was obliged to refer some of them to the
Master of the Bolls, and to have a commission of common-law
Judges to assist him.
Bishop Godwyn, who is severe on many parts of Wolsey's con
duct, gives him unqualified praise for improvements he introduced
in the administration of justice, and the purity he displayed as a
Judge* Wolsey presided as Chancellor in a session of parliament in the
end of 1516; but no account is preserved of any of , i^ifi 1
its proceedings in which he was concerned, except 1 ' ' I
of a very anomalous one, — a biU for a subsidy brought into the
House of Lords, and being passed there, ordered to be carried to
the Commons by the Lord Chancellor. He, no doubt, appeared in
the Lower House with his crosses, his pillars, and his poll-axes,
and delivered an eloquent discourse on the duty of supplying the
wants of the King. But the bill is supposed to have been thrown
out by the Commons ; and this may be tlie reason why no other
parliament was called for seven years, and that very arbitrary
methods of raising money were resorted to.
In 1518 Wolsey received an addition to his legatine jurisdiction,
which gave him the plenary power of the Pope in England, and
which he grievously abused by setting up a new Court for the
proof of wills, and for the trial of all spiritual offences in the prov
ince of Canterbury, and by presenting to all ecclesiastical benfices
which became vacant, — in derogation of the rights of chapters
and patrons. When Archbishop Warham wrote him a respectful
letter on the subject, signed "your loving brother," Wolsey com
plained of his presumption, in thus challenging an equality with
the Lord Cardinal Legate. This distinction he valued more than
the Great Seal itself, as we may judge from his observation to
Cavendishon his fall : " My authority and dignity legatine is gone,
wherein consisted aU my honour." Warham was himself un
moved by the insolence of his rival, and having remonstrated in
vain, oily observed, " Know ye not that this man is drunk with
* " Multa ordinavit in rebus civilibus popularibus grata, ac nobis in hunc usque
diem usurpata. Quibus virum se ostendit sapientissimum necnon Rcipubliia?
amanteni. Certe qui illis lemporibus vixerunt asserere non duhitarunt, cuiii hoc
regno nunquam felicius actum, quam cum florente Wolseo, cujus cousihis pacem
opulcntam et securam qua fruebatur, tt jusliiiam equo Jure civibns omnibus admin-
stratam, tribuebatnr." — God. Ann. 14.

384 REIGN OE HENRY VIII.
too much prosperity?" But the Judge of his Legatine Court,
whom, for a private purpose, he had appointed with a knowledge
that he had been guilty of perjury, — having been convicted of
some gross malversation, the King himself expressed such dis
pleasure to the Cardinal as made him ever after more cautious in
exerting his authority.
These follies would have left no lasting stain on the memory of
Wolsey, but he was now instrumental in the violent death of a
j- .,01 -I rival through the forms of law. The Duke of Buck-
•-A' . 'J ingham, representing the ancient family of Stafford,
and hereditary High Constable of England, stood the first in rank
and consequence among the nobility. He viewed with envy and
jealousy the elevation of the butcher's son, who was at no pains
to gain his good will, and on several occasions they had passed
affronts on each other. Buckingham's character was marked by
levity and indiscretion, as well by ambition and arrogance. Being
descended through a female from the Duke of Gloucester, young
est son of Edward III., he pretended that he had a right to the
Crown if the King should die without issue, — passing over the
claims of the King's sisters, the dowagers of Scotland and France,
and their descendants.
Wolsey worked upon Henry's hatred of all collaterally con
nected with the blood royal, which he showed during the whole
course of his reign, and caused Buckingham to be arrested and
brought to trial for high treason. The evidence against him con
sisted almost entirely of idle and vaunting language held with
servants who, if they spoke true, betrayed his confidence, — and
of certain dealings with soothsayers, -who had foretold that he
should be King. The apologists of Wolsey have insisted that the
sentence against Buckingham was jivst, because it was unanim
ously pronounced by a Court consisting of a Duke, a Marquis,
seven Earls, and twelve Barons, — forgetting that in that age, and
for long after, no one charged by the Crown for high treason was
ever acquitted, and that trial before a jury, and still more before
the Lord High Steward and a selection of Peers, was an empty
form. Buckingham, who was a great object of affection with the
vulgar, was considered a victim to the resentment of the Cardinal.
After the Duke of Norfolk, with hypocritical tears, had condemn
ed him to suffer the death of a traitor, he was ordered to be car
ried by water from, Westminster Hall to the Tower; but owing to
the state of the tide at London Bridge, he was landed at the
Temple Stairs, and conducted through the city. On this occasion,
as well as at nis execution, the curses were loud and deep upon
the " venom-mouthed cur " who was alleged to be the cause of his
death. But in those days slight account was made of the heads of
men* and legal murders were so usual that they were not long
# I may mention, as an instance of the levity with which cutting off heads was
talked of, —the manner in which Henry raised the supplies when there was some

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 385
remembered against those who perpetrated them. The Cardinal's
power was rather greater than before, by thus intimidating the
great families from whom so much disquietude had formerly been
exprienced, and his popularity soon revived.
The excitement of a new object of ambition extinguished any
feeling of remorse which might have disturbed his own bosom.
He now aimed at the triple crown. The Emperor rlvr .„.,
Charles V., when visiting England, suggested to IMay> 1£li:uJ
him his fitness to be the successor of St. Peter, and promised him
his interest on a vacancy, — with the less scruple as Leo X., the
reigning Pope, was in the flower of his age.
Francis I. tried to do away the effects of this intrigue by con-
tt 1CTn triving the famous interview with Henry in "the
[June, 15^0. fieM of the doth of gold „
" When those suns of glory, those two lights of men,
Met in the vale uf Ardres."
But Wolsey was invited to visit Charles at Bruges, and went thi
ther in the character of ambassador from England. Cavendish is
eloquent in describing the splendour of his train and the sumptu-
ousness of his reception ; —
" His gentlemen being in number very many, clothed in heavy
coats of crimson velvet of the most purest colour that might be in
vented, with chains of gold about their necks, and all his yeomen
and other mean officers were in coats of fine scarlet guarded with
black velvet a hand broad. Also the Emperor's officers every
night went through the town from house to house, where as any
Englishmen lay or resorted, and there served their liveries for all
night, which was done after this manner: — first, the Emperor's
officers brought into the house a cast of fine manchet bread, two
great silver pots, with wine and a pound of fine sugar, white lights
and yellow ; a bowl or goblet of silver, to drink in, and every
night a staff-torch. Thus the Emperor entertained the Cardinal
and all his train for the time of his embassy there ; and that done
he returned home again into England with great triumph."
Charles on this occasion again encouraged Wolsey to aspire to
the tiara, and the sincerity of his promise of sup- , D lg22 ,
port was soon unexpectedly put to the test by the L J
sudden demise of his Holiness. Wolsey was immediately in the
field with high hopes of success, as the Imperial party was decid
edly the strongest in the conclave. Charles wrote a friendly letter
to Wolsey, inclosing the copy of one he had written to his ambas
sador at Rome, enjoining him to urge the Cardinals to elect Wol
sey to the papal chair. There were twenty votes for Wolsey, and
reluctance to grant them. He sent for Mr. Montague, an opposition leader in the
Commons, and said to him, " Ho, man ! will they not suffer my bill to pass 1 and
laviii" his liand on the head of Montague, who was then on his knees before him,
"Cet'mv bill passed by to-morrow, or else to-morrow this head of yours shall b,e
ofl " This bill was passed, or some trumped-up charge of treason might have cost
him his life, and made a nine-days' wonder.
vol. I. 33

386 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
twenty-six would have been sufficient to carry the election in his
favour ; but there can be no doubt that he was trifled with, and,
to save appearances, the Conclave having sat an unusual length
of time, the Emperor's own tutor was raised to the Popedom, un
der the title of Adrian VI.
Charles, dreading the loss of the English alliance from Wolsey's
disappointment, immediately after made him another visit in this
country, augmented his pension, and renewed the promise of aid
ing his pretensions on the next vacancy, an event which, from
Adrian's age and infirmities, could not be far distant. Wolsey
suppressed his resentment, adhered to the Imperial party, and de
voted himself to measures for strengthening his interest with the
College of Cardinals at Borne. •
Adrian died in about a year and a half after his elevation.
r t W* 1 Wolsey again entered the lists with his characteris-
[ ne, '-I tic zeal. Henry, at his request, wrote in the most
urgent terms to the Emperor, reminding him of his repeated prom
ises, and calling upon him now to fulfil them, as he valued his
friendship ; — and the English ambassadors and agents at Rome
were instructed to spare among the members of the conclave
neither bribes nor promises,* But Wosley was again deceived, and
Cardinal Giulio de Medici, with the concurrence of the imperial
party, was elected Pope, under the title of Clement VII.
He secretly resolved to be revenged of the perfidy of Charles,
by for ever forsaking his alliance ; but, meanwhile, he concealed
his disgust ; and, after congratulating the new Pope on his promo
tion, applied for a continuation of the legatine powers which the
last two Popes had conferred upon him. Clement, knowing the
importance of gaining his friendship, granted him the commission
for hfe ; and Wolsey was thus reinvested with the whole Papal
authority in England.
He now showed, in a striking manner, that devoted love of
learning and ardour for good education which distinguished him
through life, and by which his memory has been redeemed from
the failings and vices he exhibited. Though ashamed of his low
* Wolsey's letter on this occasion to Lord Bath, ambassador at Rome, very un-
disguisedly exhorts him to exert himself to the utmost among the Cardinals, " nor
sparing any reasonable offers, which is a thing that amongst so many needy per
sons is more regarded than per-case the qualities of the person ; ye be wise, and
ye wot what I mean. The King thinketh that all the Imperials shall clearly be
with you, if faith be in the Emperor. The young men, which for the most part
being needy, will give good ears to fair offers, which shall be undoubtedly perform
ed. The King willeth you neither to spare his authority or his good moneyor sub
stance." — Pidd. Col. 87. The letter is still preserved in which Wolsey informs
the King of his disappointment, which he ascribes entirely to intimidation. Afier
stating the threats of violence held out to the Cardinals he says, "Albeit they were
in manner principally bent upon me, yet for eschewing the said danger and murmur
by inspiration of the Holy Goste, without farther difficulty, the xixth day of ihe
last month, in the morning, elected and choose Cardinal de Medicis, who immedi
ately was published Pope, and hath taken the name of ClementVII." — Pidd.
Col. 82.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 387
origin if girded by the ancient nobility, — he looked back with
satisfaction on that part of his career when he was master of
Magdalen school at Oxford, and tutor to the sons of the Marquess
of Dorset ; and he was at all times willing to render available the
experience he then acquired. He superintended, with assiduous
care, the training of the Earl of Richmond, his godson (natural son
of the King) : and in his own handwriting drew up, with the ut
most minuteness, a plan for the household and for the tuition of
the boy when entering his sixth year.
The domestic education of the Princess Mary was likewise un
der the care of the Prime Minister ; and in the height of his pow
er and ambition, • after deciding a great cause in Chancery, or dic
tating a treaty which was to change the face of affairs in Europe,
he stooped to determine whether or not the Princess should have
" spice plates and a ship of silver for the almes dish ;" and whether
" a trumpet and rebuks were a fitting toye for her pastime hours at
the solempne fest of Christmas." He framed the regulations for
St. Paul's School, founded by Dean Collet; and he caused a new
Latin Grammar to be composed, to which he himself wrote an in
troduction. He revised and remodelled the statutes of his own
and several other colleges at Oxford ; and he likewise introduced
very salutary reforms at Cambridge, under a power conferred up
on him by the senate of that University. Having suppressed a
number of smaller monasteries, instead of appropriating their re
venues to himself, or bestowing them on some rapacious courtier,
lie employed them in endowing splendid establishments, -which
he hoped would spread the blessing of knowledge, with his own
fame through distant generations.
 " Ever witness for him
Those twins of learning that he rais'd in you,
Ipswich and Oxford, one of which fell with him,
The other  so famous,
So excellent in art, and still so rising,
That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue."
After an interval of seven years a parliament was called,
as the irregular modes of filling the Exchequer, rApKIL ig23 i
which had been resorted to, had proved ineffectu- L ' '
al. On the first day of the session, on the King's right side, at
his feet, sat the Cardinal of York ; and at the rail behind stood
Tunstall, Bishop of London, who made an eloquent oration to the
parliament on the office of King. Wolsey, it seems, had thought
it more for his dignity to depute the task of delivering the speech
to another ; but he took the lead in all the subsequent proceed
ings.* At the same time he called a convocation of the clergy, at
which, by virtue of his legatine power, he presided, and from
which he readily obtained the required grant of one half their
revenues spiritual, to be paid in five years.
* 1 Pari. Hist. 484.

REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
The Commons, however, were by no means so complaisant.
Fr.m them was demanded a subsidy of 800,000£, which they de
clared to be more than the whole current coin of the realm.
Now we have the first instance of a complaint of the publica
tion of debates in parliament. This, I presume, was merely by
verbal narration ; but certain smart sayings of the opponents of
the grant, and certain gibes levelled at the ChanceUor, had been
generally circulated ; and reaching his ears, had given him high
r n /-pq -i displeasure. He made formal complaint to the
[a. d. .J Lords • and insisted, that for any member to repeat
out of the House what had passed in the House, was a breach of
privilege and a misdemeanour — " whereas, at this parliament no
thing was so soon done, or spoken therein, but that it was imme
diately blown abroad in every alehouse." Not contented with
this, he resolved to pay a visit of remonstrance to the Commons,
— and in such style that they should be completely overawed by
the splendour of his appearance. He calculated, likewise, on the
complaisance of the Speaker, whom he had been instrumental in
placing in the chair ; but the speaker was Sir Thomas More,
the most courageous as weU as the mildest man then in Eng
land. As the Chancellor -was approaching the house with his immense
retinue, a debate arose " whether it was better with a few of his
Lords (as the most opinion of the House was), or with his whole
train, royally to receive him ?" " ' Masters,' quoth Sir Thomas
More, ' forasmuch as my Lord Cardinal latelyTye wot well, laid
to our charge the lightness of our tongues for things uttered out of
this House, it shaU not in my mind be amiss to receive him with
all his pomp, with his maces, his pillars, his crosses, his poll-axes,
his hat, and Great Seal too, to the intent that if he find the like
fault with us hereafter, we may be the bolder from ourselves to
lay the blame on those whom his Grace bringeth here with him.'
Whereunto the House wholly agreeing, he was received accord
ingly. When after he had, by a solemn oration, by many reasons,
proved how necessary it was the demand then moved to be grant
ed, and farther showed that less would not serve to maintain the
Prince's purpose ; he seeing the company sitting still silent, and
thereunto nothing answering, and, contrary to his expectation,
showing in themselves towards his request no towardness of in
clination, said to them, — ' Masters, you have many wise and learn
ed men amongst you, and sith I am from the King's own person
sent hither unto you, to the preservation of yourselves and of all
the realm, I think it meet you give me some reasonable answer.'
Whereat, every man holding his peace, he then began to speak to
one Master Marney, afterwards Lord Marney. ' How say you,'
quoth he, ' Master Marney ?' who making him no answer nei
ther, he severally asked the question of divers others, account
ed the wisest of the company, to whom, when none of them all
would give so much as one word, being agreed before, as custom

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 389
was, to give answer by their Speaker ; — ' Masters,' quoth the Car
dinal, ' unless it be the manner of your House, as of likelihood it
is, by the mouth of your Speaker, whom you have chosen for
trusty and wise (as indeed he is), in such cases to utter your
minds, here is, without doubt, a marvellously obstinate silence ;'
and thereupon he required answer of Mr. Speaker, who first reve
rently, on his knees, excusing the silence of the House, abashed
at the presence of so noble a personage, able to amaze the wisest
and best learned in a realm, and then by many probable argu
ments proving that for them to make answer was neither expedi
ent nor agreeable with the ancient liberty of the House ; in con
clusion for himself, showed, that though they had all with their
voices trusted him, yet except every one of them could put into
his own head their several wits, he alone in so weighty a matter
was unmeet to make his Grace answer. Whereupon the Cardi
nal, displeased with Sir Thomas More, that had not in this parlia
ment in aU things satisfied his desire, suddenly arose and de
parted."* The conduct of More on this occasion is supposed to have set
the example followed by Lenthall on the visit by Charles I. to ar
rest the five members in the House, and to have established the
rule, that the House can only communicate with others by the
mouth of the Speaker, who can only speak and act by order of
the House.
On the Cardinal's departure a debate arose, which was adjourn
ed, and lasted fifteen or sixteen days. The result was that a sub
sidy was voted of half the amount required, to be paid by instal
ments. Wolsey and the King were so angry, that, contrary to
usage, they compeUed the people to pay up the whole subsidy at
once: and, resolving henceforth to rule entirely by prerogative,
no other parhament was caUed for seven years. When the ses
sion was closed, Wolsey, in his gallery at York Place, said to
More, " I wish to God you had been at Rome, Mr. More, when I
made you Speaker." " Your Grace not offended, so would I too,
my Lord," replied Sir Thomas, " for then should I have seen the
place I long have desired to visit."
Two years after Wolsey made a deliberate attempt to levy a
general tax of a sixth part of every man's substance r a d 1525 ,
without the authority of the parliament. This de- L " ' J
mand he announced in person to the Mayor and chief citizens of
London. They attempted to remonstrate, but were warned to
beware, " lest it might fortune to cost some their heads." The
rich and poor agreed in cursing the Cardinal as the subverter of their
laws and liberties ; and said, "if men shall give their goods by a
commission, then it would be worse than the taxes of France,
and England would be bond, und not free." Happily the commis
sioners met with forcible resistance in several counties ; and such
* 1 Pari. Hist. 487.
33*

390 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
a menacing spirit was generally displayed, that the proud spirit of
Wolsey quailed under it, and he was obliged not only to pardon aU
concerned in these tumults, but on some frivolous pretext, to re
cede altogether from the illegal exaction. This was a great
crisis in our constitution ; for if Wolsey could have procured the
submission of the nation to the yoke he attempted to impose,
there would have been an end of parliaments for all ordinary pin-
poses, although, like the States- General of France, they might
still have been convoked to ratify certain acts of state originating
with the executive government. But the courage and love of
freedom natural to the English Commons, speaking in the hoarse
voice of tumult, and resorting to the last right of insurrection, pre
served us in so great a peril*
Various attempts were made to open the eyes of the King to
r 1527 1 the misconduct of the minister, — and even the stage
'-' was resorted to for this purpose. There being a
grand entertainment given to the King and his Court by the So
ciety of Grey's Inn, Serjeant Roo, a great lawyer of that time,
more eager to shew his wit than to be made a Judge, composed
for the occasion a masque, which, not withstanding his asseverations
to the contrary, must have been intended as a satire on the Lord
Chancellor. Of this Hollinshead, who affects to believe that it
was not " miching mallecho," and that it did not " mean mischief,"
gives us the following account : —
" The effect of the play was, that ' Lord Gouvernance' was ruled
by ' Dissipation' and ' Negligence,' by whose misgouvernance and
eviU order ' Lady Public Weale' was put from ' Gouvernance.'
Which caused 'Rumor Populi,' ' Inward Grudge,' and ' Disdaine
of Wanton Sovereignties to rise with great multitude, to expell
' Negligence' & ' Dissipation,' and to restore ' Publike Welth again
to hir estate, — which was so doone. This plaie was so set foorth
with rich and costlie appareU, with strange devises of maskes and
morishes, that it was higlie praised of all men, saving of the Car
dinall, which imagined that the plaie had been devised of him,
and in great furie sent for the said Master Roo, and tooke from
him his coife and sent him to the Fleet ; and after he sent for the
yooung gentlemen that plaied in the plaie, and them highly re
buked and threatened, and sent one of them, called Thomas Maile
of Kent, to the Fleet, but by means of friends Maister Roo and -
he were delivered at last. This plaie sore displeased the Cardinall,
and yet it was never meant to him. But what will you have of.
a guilty conscience but to suspect all things to be said of him (as
if aU the worlde knew his wickednesse) according to the old verse,
" ' Conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia diei V "t
Wolsey, now hated by all ranks, began to lose favour even with
the King, and tottered to his fall ; but before we come to the
cause which immediately led to that catastrophe, we must accom-
* Hall. Const. Hist. 29. -f Hollinsh. iii. 714.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 391
pany him in the last scene of his greatness — negotiating a treaty
of alliance with France. The Emperor having defeated his rival
Francis at Pavia, and after the sack of Rome having made the
Pope his prisoner, had become master of all Italy, and ai ;ied at
universal dominion. What weighed still more in English councils
than a regard to the balance of power, was the consideration that
with his consent there was no chance of Wolsey being raised to
the Popedom. For these reasons it was resolved that England
should put herself at the head of a league to check the ambition
of Charles, and Wolsey was sent on a grand embassy to Paris,
accompanied by many. Bishops, Lords, and Knights, for the pur
pose of establishing it. Cavendish was in his suite, and has left
us a very amusing account of his adventures : —
" Then marched he forward out of his own house at Westmin
ster, passing through all London over London Bridge, having be
fore hjm of gentlemen a great number, three in rank, in black vel
vet livery coats, and the most part of them with great chains of
gold about their necks. And all his yeomen, with noblemen's and
gentlemen's servants following him in French tawny livery coats ;
having embroidered upon the backs and breasts of the said coats
the letters T. C. under the Cardinal's hat. His sumpter mules,
which "were twenty in number and more, with his cart's and other
carriages of his train, were passed on before, conducted and guard
ed with a great number of bows and spears. He rode like a Car
dinal, very sumptuously, on a mule trapped with crimson velvet
upon velvet, and his stirrups of copper and gilt, and his spare
mule following him with like apparel. And before him he had
his two great crosses of silver, two great pillars of silver, the Great
Seal of England, his Cardinal's hat, and a gentleman that carried
his valaunce, -which -was made altogether of fine sc riet cloth em
broidered over and over with cloth of gold very richly, having in
it a cloak of fine scarlet."*
He by no means travelled so rapidly now as on his mission
from Henry VII. to Maximilian. He passed the first night at a
gentleman's house near Dartford, the second in the Bishop's palace
at Rochester, the third in the abbey at Feversham, and the fourth
in the priory at Canterbury. Here he stopped some days, during
which there was a grand jubilee — with a fair in honour of St.
Thomas. A solemn office was celebrated in the cathedral for the
deliverance of the Pope from captivity, during which it is said that
Wolsey, conscious of the instability of his own grandeur, and an
ticipating his fall, wept tenderly.
Hence Cavendish was sent forward with letters to Calais, and
after two days the Cardinal arrived in the haven, " where he was
received in procession by all the most worshipfullest 'persons ofthe
town in most solemn wise. And in the Lantern Gate was set for
him a form with carpets and cushions, whereat he kneeled and
* Cavendish, 150.

392 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
made his prayers before his entry any further in the town ; and
there he -was censed with two great censers of silver, and sprink
led with holy water."* After an account of his receiving the Cap
tain of Boulogne, with a number of gallant Frenchmen who dined
with him, we have a long speech which he adressed to the noble
man and gentlemen of his train, instructing them respecting the
royal honours to be paid to himself,, and how they were to conduct
themselves to the French whom they were to visit. " For my part
I must, by virtue of my commission of Lieutenantship, assume
and take upon me in all honours and degrees, to have all such
service and reverence as to His Highness's presence is meet and
due, and nothing thereof to be neglected or omitted by me that to
his royal estate is appurtenant. Now as to the point of the
Frenchmen's nature ye shaU understand that their disposition is
such, that they will be at their first meeting as familiar with you
as they had been acquainted with you long before, and commence
with you in the French tongue as though you understood every
word they spoke : tnerefore, in like manner, be ye as familiar with
them again as they be with you. If they speak to you in the
French tongue, speak to them in the English tongue ; for if you
understand not them, they shall no more understand you." Then,
addressing a Welshman, " Rice," quoth he, " speak thine Welsh
to him, and I am well assured that thy Welsh shall be more dif
fuse to him than his French shall be to thee." He concludes with
good advice to them all, to practise gentleness and humanity for
the honor of their prince and country, t
He left the Great Seal at Calais with Dr. Taylor, the Master of
the Rolls, until his return, as he could not regularly take it beyond
the dominions of England, although he thought himself at liberty
to use it in this place. We have a very curious description of his
departure from Calais with a train above three quarters of a mile
long, and of his march to Boulogne, Montreuil, and Abbeville,
where there were divers pageants for joy of his coming, and he
was hailed as " Le Cardinal Pacifique." In his journey he re
leased prisoners, distributed his blessing, and proclaimed indul
gences. The French Court came to Amiens to receive him. " In
came Madame Regent, the King's mother, riding in a very rich
chariot ; and in the same with her was her daughter, the Queen of
Navarre, furnished with a hundred ladies and gentle- women, or
more, following, riding upon white palfreys, over and besides divers
other ladies and gentlewomen, that rode, some in rich chariots,
and some in horse litters. Then follows the King, with his Bour-
gonyan guard, his French guard, and 'the third pour le corps, which
was of tall Scots, much more comelier persons than all the rest.' "I
Wolsey required that Francis should meet him as a sovereign, on
equal term ; and, both alighting at the same time, embraced in the
midway, between their respective retinues. Francis having placed
Wolsey on his right, each Enghsh gentlemen was marshalled with
* Cavendish. 152. t Ibid. 155. J Cavendish, 163.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 393
a Frenchman of equal rank, and the procession extending nearly
two miles in length, proceeded to Amiens. After a few days stay
there, the conferences were removed to Compiegne.*
Much artifice and chicanery were displayed by the French
negotiators, although they were exceedingly desirous to conciliate
England. Wolsey became indignant ; and one evening, while
Francis himself was present, he lost all patience ; and, starting
from his seat, said to his brother Chancellor of France, " Sir, it
becomes you not to trifle with the friendship between our Sove
reigns; and if your master follows your practices, he shall not fail
shortly to feel what it is to war against England." Upon that he
left the room; and it was only at the earnest entreaty of the
Queen-mother that he renewed the discussion. By this bold con
duct the object of his mission was soon satisfactorily accomplish
ed, and he returned to England.
The French alliance not being much relished, — on the first day
of next term he called an assembly in the Star chamber of noble
men, judges, and justices of the peace of every shire, and there
made them a long oration ; " declaring to them the cause of his
embassy to France, and assuring them that he had concluded such
an amity and friendship, as never had been heard of in our time
before. All which things shall be perfected at the coming of the
great embassy out of France. This peace thus concluded, there
shall be such an amity between gentlemen of each realm, and in
tercourse of merchants with merchandise, that it shall seem to all
men the territories to ne bnt one mon.a_rcriy- Gentlemen, may
travel from one country to another for their recreation and pastime ;
and merchants being arrived in each, country, shall be assured to
travel about their affairs in peace and tranquillity, so that this
realm shall joy and prosper for ever."
The expected embassy sent to ratify the treaty according to the
prevailing forms of diplomacy at length arrived, " in number above
fourscore persons, of the most noblest and worthiest gentlemen in
all the Court of France, who were right honourably received from
place to place after their arrival, and so conveyed through London
into the Bishop's palace in Paul's Churchyard, where they were
lodged."* The Lord Mayor and City of London supplied them
* Cavendish describes very minutely the banquets, balls, masses, and boar hunts
which took place; but lie is m<>si amusing in relating his own visit to the
Cha-tel de Crequi, where the Countess received him most genlly, having a train of
twelve gentlewomen. "And when she with her train came all out, she said to me,
1 Forasmuch," quo'h she " as ye be un Englishman, whose custom is in your country to
kiss all ladies and gentlewomen, without offence, and although it be not so here in
this realm, yet will 1 be so bold to kiss yon, und so shall all mi/ maidens," By means
whereof I kissed my lady and all her women." Erasmus celebrates the same cus
tom as then prevalent in England. " Est praeterea mis nunquam satis laudatus;
sive quo venias omnium osculis exciperis ; sive discedas aliquo osculis dimitteris ;
redis ? rcdduntnr suavia: venitur ad te ? propinantur suavia : disceditur abs te ?
dividuntur ba.sia: ocruritur alicubi '! bnsiatur affalim : denique quocunque te
movcas, suauiornm plena sunt omnia.'' — Erusmi Epist. p. 315. ed. 1B42.
t Cavendish, 190.

394 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
with " wine, sugar, wax, capons, wild fowl, beefs, muttons, and
other necessaries, in great abundance." They were royally enter
tained by the King at Greenwich, where they invested him with
the insignia of the Order of St. Michael ; and he declared Francis
a Knight of the Order of the Garter. A solemn mass was sung
at St. Paul's, where my Lord Cardinal associated with twenty-four
mitres of Bishops and Abbots, attending upon him by virtue of
his legatine authority; "and the Grand Master of France, the
chief Ambassador, kneeled by the King's Majesty, between whom
my Lord divided the sacrament, as a firm oath and assurance of
this perpetual peace." The mass being finished, the Cardinal
read the treaty openly, both in French and English, before the
King and the assembly, both French and English. The King
then subscribed it with his own hand, and the Grand Master for
the French King. Last of all, it was sealed with seals of fine
gold, and interchanged. The King and the ambassadors rode
home with Wolsey to his house at Westminster, and dined with
him. But to give them a just notion of the magnificence of England,
it was arranged that, before their departure, he should make them
a supper at Hampton Court. Two hundred and eighty beds, with
furniture of the costliest silks and velvets, with as many ewers
and basons of silver, were prepared for the guests. The halls
were illuminated with innumerable sconces and branches of plate.
The most celebrated cooks, belonging to the King and the nobili
ty, joined -with the Cardinal's in' preparing the entertainment.
Supper was announced by the sound of trumpets, and served with
triumphal music. But the master was not yet come. He had
been detained in the Court of Chancery hearing a long cause, and
concluded that he should best exalt his country in the eyes of for
eigners, by showing them that the due administration of justice
was with him the highest consideration.
The desert, consisting of a representation of St. Paul's Cathe
dral, in confectionary, with castles and tournaments, and other
emblems of ecclesiastical pomp and pageants of chivalry, was on
the tables, when he suddenly entered, "booted and spurred."
Having cordially and gracefully welcomed the guests, he called
for a golden bowl, filled with hypocras : the French ambassadors
were, at the same time, served with another, and they reciprocal
ly drank to the health of their respective Sovereigns. He then
retired to dress ; and returning speedily to the company, exerted
those convivial talents which had first contributed to his attain
ment of this excessive grandeur. " Then went cups merrily about,
that many of the Frenchmen were fain to be led to their beds.
They were all delighted with their reception, and doubted which
most to admire,— the mansion, the feast, or the master."*.
Next morning, after mass and an early dinner, they departed to
* Cavendish, 198.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 395
hunt at Windsor; and, it being in the midst of the term, Wolsey
returned to Westminster.
" Thus passed the Cardinal his life and time, from day to day,
and year to year, in such great wealth, joy, and triumph and glory."
" But," adds the gentleman usher, " Fortune, of whose favour no
man is longer assured than she is disposed, began to wax some
what wroth with his prosperous state, and thought she would de
vise a mean to abate his high port; wherefore, she procured
Venus, the insatiate goddess, to be her instrument, and, to work
her purpose, she brought the King in love with a gentlewoman,
who, after perceiving his good will towards her, and how diligent
he was to please her, and to grant all her requests, wrought the
Cardinal much displeasure." *
 " When love could teach a monarch to be wise,
And Gospel-light first dawn'd from Boleyn's eyes."
Henry's passion for Anne Boleyn certainly produced the fall of
Wolsey. But there is a general mistake as to the part which he
took in this affair, it being supposed by many lhat he disapproved
of the King's divorce from Catherine ; that he intrigued for the
purpose of delaying and preventing it; that he opposed, to the
last, the elevation of Anne Boleyn to the throne, because she was
favourable to the Reformation ; and that he fell a sacrifice to his
love for the ancient Church. In truth, it will be found that he
favoured the divorce ; that he promoted it as far as the forms
would permit which he was bound to observe ; that though, for a
time, from motives merely political and personal, he opposed the
King's union with Anne, he would at the last have willingly con
sented to it ; and that he feU because, from circumstances over
which he had no control, he was unable to gratify the inclination of
.his master.
Before Wolsey's departure on his embassy to France, the King
had imparted to him his scruples which he professed to entertain
respecting the validity of his marriage with Cathe- rjyrAY 1527 I
rine — scruples which had been greatly quickened L ' '
by the progress of her maid of honour in his affections. Wolsey
was previously acquainted with the King's new passion, and, at
his request, had judicially dissolved the pre-contract between Anne
and Lord Percy; but he had then no notion of her becoming
Queen, and expected that she would only add to the list of his
mistresses, in which the name of her sister Mary is said to have
stood. To strengthen the French alliance, on which the Cardinal
was bent, he intended that Renee, sister of Louis XII., should be
the Queen ; and a divorce being proposed by Henry, he immedi
ately offered his aid, and promised complete success to the project
from his influence at Rome.
On Wolsey's return from his embassy, " the cunning chastity "
of Anne Boleyn having made her resist the royal solicitations in
•Ibid. 118.

396 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
the hope of reaching a throne, Henry told him he did not want a
French princess, for that Anne Boleyn should be his wife as soon
as the papal dispensation could be obtained. The Cardinal threw
himself upon his knees before the King, and used every argu
ment to dissuade him from a step which he represented as calcu
lated to cover him with disgrace. But religion did not enter into
the consideration, for although Anne had been represented as a
convert to the new faith, she was no more a Lutheran than Henry
himself, who, to the last, adhered to all the doctrines of the Church
of Rome, with the exception of making himself Pope in England,
and who continued to burn and behead his subjects for doubting
the dogma of transubstantiation.
Henry being inexorable, Wolsey became a convert to the mea
sure which he could not avert, and laboured, by his subsequent
services, to atone for the crime of having dared to dispute the
pleasure of his Sovereign. The particulars of the conference
being disclosed to the young lady and her family, they became
implacable enemies of Wolsey ; and, although they dissembled
their resentment, and at times treated him -with apparent courtesy,
they always suspected that he was plotting against them, and
they secretly vowed his destruction. In truth, however, there is
the best reason to believe, that from this time he did aU in his
power that the divorce might be obtained, and the wished-for un
ion completed.
All opinions agreed that, as Henry's marriage with his brother's
widow had been celebrated under a dispensation from Pope Julias
II. , it could not be set aside without the sanction of the papal see.
Clement VII. had been liberated from captivity by Henry's good
offices, and was disposed to oblige him as far as he prudently could
from a remaining dread of the Emporor ; but Charles strenuous
ly supported the cause of Catherine his aunt, and his Holiness, to
use his own language, was "between the hammer and the forge."
Wolsey wrote a long letter to him, vindicating the character of
Anne Boleyn, and asserting that the suit of Henry proceeded
from sincere and conscientious scruples.
Clement so far complied with Wolsey's application as to grant
T a. d. 1528 1 t0 Henry a conditional licence to marry again, nice-
' ly adapted to the case of Anne Boleyn* upon the
dissolution of his first marriage ;— and to examine the validity of
that marriage, he granted a joint commission to Wolsey and Car
dinal Campeggio, an Italian ecclesiastic, who was supposed to be
gained over by being appointed Bishop of Salisbury, but who re
mained an instrument of chicanery under the control of his Holi
ness. * ',' ctiamsi talis sit qua; prius cum alio contraxerit, dummodo illnd carnali
copula non fue.it consummatum ; etiamsi ilia tibi alias sccundo aut remotiore con-
sanguinitatis aut primo affinitatis gradu etiam ex quocunque licito seu illictlo coita
proveniente inv.cem conjuncta sit, dummodo relicta fratris tui non fuerit." The
ST Hr. t0 A'"!08 Prccolltract with Lord Percy, and to Henry's liai
son with Mary Boleyn, and in fact assumed the power denied to Julius II

CARDINAL WOLSEY CHANCELLOR. 397
Although the commission was granted in the month of April,
1528, Campeggio did not reach London till the month of October
following. In the mean time there had been great alarm in Eng
land from the sweating sickness. Anne Boleyn was sent from
Court and had a smart attack of it ; the King, abandoning for the
time his " secret matter," joined the Queen in her devotional ex
ercises, confessing himself every day, and receiving the commu
nion every Sunday and festival. During the time of the pesti
lence he sent regulations to Wolsey for his diet, insisted on receiv
ing daily an account of his health, and invited him to lodge in a
house at a short distance, so that if either fell ill they might hear
from each other in the space of an hour, and might have the bene
fit of the same medical attendance. The Cardinal, beginning to
" order himself aneut to God," made his will, — sent it to Henry, —
and assured him, " as truly as if he were speaking his last words,
that never for favour, mede, gyfte, or promysse, had he done or
consented to any thing that myght in the least poynte redownde
to the King's dishonour or disprouffrt."
But the sickness passed away; Anne Boleyn returned to Court
more beautiful and enticing than ever, and Campeggio's proceed
ings appeared so dilatory that Wolsey was suspected to be in
league with him to defeat the King's wishes, and he daily declin
ed in the royal favour*
Notwithstanding all the efforts of Wolsey, who now saw that
despatch was essential for his own safety, months were consumed
in preliminary forms after Campeggio's arrival in England.
In the beginning of the following year, when Wolsey had been
in daily danger of disgrace, he was very near reach- r q ,
ing the grand object of his ambition, the triple ¦• A' D' 1&<i9-J
crown. Clement VII. had a dangerous fit of iUness, and for
some time his recovery was despaired of. Historians are agreed
that if he had actually died at this juncture, Wolsey, in aU proba-
ibility, would have been his successor. Charles had made him
self odious to the great majority of the college of Cardinals by his
imprisonment of the Pope ; the sack of Rome, and the licentious
conduct of the Imperial troops in Italy, had rendered his cause
generally unpopular ; his arms had recently sustained some disas-
* It is curious that, even down to this time, Anne's letters to the Cardinal a e
full ot kindness and gratitude. " All the days of my life I am most bound of all
creatures, next to the King's Grace, to love and serve your Grace, of the which I
beseech you never to doubt that ever I shall vary from this thought as long as any
breath is in my body. And as for the coming of the legate I desire that much,
and, if it be God's pleasure, I pray him to send this matter shortly to a good end,
and then I trust, my Lord, to recompense pari of your great pains. I assure you
that, after this matter is brought to pass, you shall find me, as I am bound in the
mean time, to owe you my service : and then look what thing in the world I can
imagine to do you pleasure in, you shall find me the gladdest woman in the world
to do it, and next unto the King's Grace, of one thing I make you full promise to
be assured to have it, and that is my hearty love, unfeignedly, during my life." — 1
Burnet, 55. Eiddes, 204, 205. There can be no doubt that her uncle, the Duke of
Norfolk, with her knowledge, was then meditating Wolsey's overthrow.
vol. I. 34

898 REIGN OE HENRY VIII.
ters ; and the Kings of France and England, who had stood by
the supreme Pontiff in all his misfortunes, were in general favour.
Both these Sovereigns, to serve their own ends, now exeited all
their influence to secure the election of Wolsey in case of a va
cancy, and they calculated on success.
This event would have had a most powerful influence on the
fate of the Western Church, and might have entirely changed the
history of our country. Wolsey, a much abler and more enlight
ened man than Clement, would probably have stopped the Refor
mation, or given it a new direction ; and he certainly would have
kept England true to the Papal see by granting Henry his divorce,
and conferring new honours upon him. as Defender of the Faith.
But Clement arose, as it were by miracle, from the grave, Wolsey
was disgraced, and England became protestant*
It was not till the month of May, 1529, that the Lpgates opened
their court in the hall of the Blackfriars' Convent in London,
where the parliament in those days usually assembled. The King
sat at the upper end in a chair of state, on an elevated platform.
The Queen was seated at some distance a little lower. Wolsey
and Campeggio were placed in front of the King, three steps be
neath him, the one on his right, the other on his left ; and at the
same table sat the Archbishop of Canterbury, and all the Bishops.
At the bar appeared as counsel for the King, Dr. Sampson, after
wards Bishop of Chichester, and Dr. Bell, afterwards Bishop of
Worcester ; — for the Queen, Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who
was afterwards beheaded on Tower Hill, and Dr. Standish, a grey
friar, Bishop of St. Asaph, — all very distinguished civilians and
canonists. The Court being constituted and the Pope's commission read,
the apparitor, by Wolsey's order, called the parties. To the sum
mons, " King Henry of England,- come into Court," the King an
swered, " Here, my Lords." The Queen protested against the
competency of her judges, as holding benefices in the realm of lhe
* Wols«y received the first news of Clement's illness by a letter from Peter
Vannes, his watchful and zealous agent at Rome. '• Dum (le Pontiflcis valetudme
bene sporaremus, ecce ex secretissimo eertissimoque loco nobis nunciatur illius mor-
bum ita ingravescere ad delirium usque et vomilum, ut desperanda sit illius sales.
Scrip, imus ad comitem Srti. Pauli ut apud C'tianisimum efficiat, quod Galliii Car-
dinales quam primum ad confinia advolent, ut creationi novi PontifiVis, quam vcreor
plus nimio mature instare. queant interesse, nam nisi factionis nostra? creetur Pon-
tifex, aetaj sunt Gallorum actiones." — Eid. Col. 21 1. Wolsey thereupon instant
ly wrote a despatch to Gardyner, the King's minister at Rome, in which, after
showing that he himself is the fittest person to be Tope for the good of Christen
dom, " aosit verbum jactantise," he implores him to exert his utmost efforts, "ut
tsta res ad _effectu.m perduri possit , nullis parcendo sumptibns, pollicitationilms sive
labonbus, ita ut horum videns ingenia et affectiones sive ad privata sive ad puulica
ita occommodes actiones tnas. Non deest tibi et collegis tuis amplissima potestas,
nullis terrmnis aut conditionibus limitata sive reslricta et quicquid ieecria scho
omnia apud huncregem et me esse gr.Ha et rata " This was written with his own
^¦¦JJ" /if sa u"s et amPli'«dirtis enpidissimus T. Car'lis Ebor propria mauu."
— Eidd. Coll. 211. " e

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 399
gift of her adversary, but they overruled her plea. She then knelt
before the King, made a pathetic appeal to him for justice, and
withdrew. She was pronounced contumacious, and the suit pro
ceeded;— but very slowly, Wolsey urging despatch, and Campeg
gio resorting to every artifice for delay.
Henry's impatience and suspicions increasing, he one day at the
rising of the Court ordered the Cardinal to attend him at the palace
of Bridewell adjoining, and there showered on the head of the de
voted minister the most vehement abuse for his supposed miscon
duct in not bringing the proceeding to a speedy close. The Bishop
of Carlisle, who entered the Chancellor's barge with him at Black-
friars to escort him to York Place, seeing him, contrary to custom,
eilent and moody, observed, " it was a very hot day." " Yes," re
plied Wolsey, " and if you had been as much chafed as I have
been within this hour, you would indeed say it was very hot." On
his arrival at home he was so much exhausted and heart-broken,
that he -went " incontinent to his naked bed ;" but he was soon
compelled, by a royal message brought by Anne Boleyn's father, to
return -to Bridewell, and to try to induce the Queen voluntarily to
retire into a convent. The interview which then took place be
tween them shows strikingly the spirit as well as the dignity of Ca
therine. He wished to confer with her in private. " My Lord,"
quoth she, " if you have any thing to say, speak it openly before
all these folks." He then began to speak to her in Latin, " Nay,
good, my Lord," quoth she, " although I understand Latin, speak
to me in English, I beseech you." She listened to him, but re
jected his proposal ; and he had the additional mortification this
unlucky day to relate to the King the hopelessness of any volun
tary separation from Catherine, who ever pleaded her love for her
daughter Mary, the heir presumptive to the Crown.
At last the proofs in the suit were completed, and at a meeting
of the Court held on the 23d of July, the King attending in a neigh
bouring room, from which he could see and hear the proceedings,
his counsel in lofty terms required that sentence should be pro
nounced. But Campeggio replied that judgment must be deferred
till the whole of the proceedings had been laid before the sovereign
Pontiff; that he attended there to do justice, and that no considers
tion should divert him from his duty. Thereupo t the Duke of
Suffolk, coming from the King and by his commandment, in a loud
and angry tone, spoke these words : " It was never merry in Eng
land whilst we had Cardinals among us." Although Wolsey pri
vately regretted the delay, his spirit would not brook this insult to
his order. Rising with apparent coolness, he said, " Sir, of all
men living, you have least reason to dispraise Cardinals ; for if I
a poor Cardinal had not been, you would not at this present have
had a head upon your shoulders wherwith to make such a brag in
disrepute of us who have meant you no harm, and have given you
no cause of offence."*
* I presume he referred to the Duke's marriage with the King's sister, which

400 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
The King now made a progress in the midland counties with
Anne, who was using all her arts, under the guidance of her uncle.
her father, and other courtiers, to bring about Wolsey's disgrace.
There was much apprehension of his influence over the King if
they should meet, and the policy adopted was to keep them apart
as much as possible.
The Court was fixed for some weeks at Grafton, in Northamp
tonshire. Wolsey stationed himself at the Moore, a country
house a few miles distant ; but he -was never invited to Court. On
matters of state his opinion was seldom asked, and then only by a
special messenger. His ruin was seen to be at hand ; wagers
were laid that the King would never again speak to him, and his
opponents openly threatened " to humble the pride of all church
men, and to ease them of that load of wealth which encumbered
Ihe successors of the apostles*
Wolsey rested his hopes on the result of a personal interview
with the King, and, after many disappointments, he at last obtain
ed permission to accompany Campeggio, when that prelate was to
take leave on setting off for Rome. The Italian was received by
the officers of the Court with the attention due to his rank ; the
falling minister found, to his extreme mortification, that though an
apartment had been ordered for his companion, none was provided
for himself. He was, in some degree, relieved from his embarrass
ment by the delicate attention of Sir Henry Norris, a young knight
(afterwards executed as one of the lovers of Anne Boleyn), who
begged him to accept of his chamber, — affecting to ascribe the
premeditated affront put upon Wolsey to the limited arrangement
of the King's present residence. The ChanceUor was, however,
admitted into the presence hall, and the sun of his fortune cast a
parting ray upon him before it set for ever.
" Having knelt before the King standing under the cloth of state,
then he took my Lord up by both arms and caused him to stand
up, and with as amiable a cheer as ever he did called him aside,
and led him by the hand to a great window, where he talked with
him, and caused him to be covered. Then to behold the counte
nance of those that had made their wagers to the contrary it would
have made you smile ; and thus were they all deceived." After
some conversation the King said to him, " My Lord, go to your
dinner, and all my Lords here will keep you company."
without the Cardinal's good offices, might have been suddenly dissolved by the de
capitation of the bridegroom.
* "La fantaisie de ces seigneurs est que, lui mo.* ou ruine", iis deferrent inconti
nent icy l'estat de l'eghse et prendront tous leur biens. lis le crient en pleine
table. —Letter of M de Bella j/, Bishop of Bayonne. Singer's edition of Caven
dish, vol. n. 275.
* Cavendish, who was an eye-witness of this scene, adds, that in a long and ear
nest com muntcation between them, he heard the King say, " How can that bel
Is not this your own hand ?" but that Wolsey satisfied the King. This is probably
the foundation for the second scene of the third act of Shakspeare's Henry VIII,
turning upon a paper disclosing secrets, which the Cardinal is supposed by mistake
to have sent to the King. ^* '

CARDINAL WOLSEY, CHANCELLOR. 401
" the King dined that same day with Mrs. Anne Boleyn in her
chamber, who kept there an estate more like a Queen than a sim
ple maid." The alarmed courtiers now strove through her to
break off all further intercourse between Henry and their victim.
Prompted by them she said during dinner : — " Is it not a marvel
lous thing to consider what debt and danger the Cardinal hath
brought you in with all your subjects ?" " How so, sweetheart ?"
quoth the King. She mentionei the illegal taxation, which the
King attempted to justify. "Nay, Sir," quoth she, "besides all
that, what things hath he wrought within this realm to your great
slander and dishonour ? There is never a nobleman within this
realm that if he had done but half as much but he were well wor
thy to lose his head." " Why, I then perceive," quoth the King,
" ye are not the Cardinal's friend." " Forsooth, Sir, then quoth
she, " I have no cause, nor any other that loveth your Grace, no
more hath your Grace if ye consider well his doings."* He had
received the promise of another audience next day, but the same
night a solemn engagement was extorted from the King by Anne
that he never again would admit the Cardinal into his pres
ence. t
Wolsey had a lodging provided for him that night by his own
servants at Euston. When he returned in the morning he found
that the King had rode out with the Lady Anne to hunt in Hart-
weU Park, where she had made provision for the King's dinner,
lest he should return before the Cardinal was gone. They never
met more.
When the Chancellor found that he was finally cast off by his
master, who -was now under the entire management of other fa
vourites, and that he must soon bid adieu to all his greatness, —
for a time he lost all fortitude ; — " he wept like a woman and wail
ed like a child." On his return to London, however, his spirits
rallied, and he resolved with decency to meet the impending
blow. On the first day of Michaelmas term, which then began in the
middle of October, he headed the usual grand procession to West
minster Hall, riding on his mule, — attended by his crosses, his pil
lars and his pole-axes, and an immense retinue to defend the
Great Seal and the Cardinal's hat It was remarked that in the
procession, and while sitting in the Court of Chancery, his man
ner was dignified and coUected, although he, and all who beheld
him, knew that he had touched the highest point of all his great
ness, and from the full meridian of his glory he hastened to his
setting. This was his last appearance in public as Chancellor.
# Cavendish relates this curious dialogue from the report made to him at the
time by those who waited on the King at dinner.
t This fact is not mentioned by Cavendish, but is proved by a letter from the
French ambassador, who was then at Grafton. " Mademoiselle de Boulen a faicf
promettre a son amy q'il ne l'escoutera jamais parler." — Letters of Bishop of
Bayonne, 375. 34*

402 REIGN OE HENRY VIII-
That same evening he received a private intimation that the
King had openly announced his immediate disgrace. The next
dav he remained at home, hourly expecting the messenger of fate,
but it passed on without any occurrence to terminate his suspense.
The following day, however, came the Dukes of Norfolk and Suf
folk from the King, " declaring to him how the King s pleasure
was that he should surrender and deliver up the Great Seal into
their hands." He demanded of them " what commission they
had to give him any such commandment?" They answered,
"thev were the King's commissioners in that behalf, having or
ders by his mouth so to do." He denied that this was sufficient
without further manifestation of the King's pleasure, and high
words passed between them.
The Dukes were obliged to take then departure without ac-
, complishing their object. But the next morning
[Oct. 17, 1529.] they brought from Windsor letters from the King,
under the Privy Seal, demanding the surrender of the Great Seal;
whereupon, expressing great reverence for the King's authority so
exercised, he delivered it up to them inclosed in a box, of which
he gave them the key. They at the same time signified to him
his Majesty's pleasure that he should surrender up York Place and
all his possessions, and retire to his country-house at Esher *

CHAPTER XXIX.
LIFE OP CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS FALL TILL HIS DEATH.
The utter destruction of Wolsey had been determined upon im
mediately after his departure from Grafton ; and,
TOct. 1529-J some days before the Great Seal was taken from
him, Hales, the Attorney-general, had filed an information against
him, charging him with having, as legate, transgressed the act of
Richard II., commonly called " the statute of praemunire," in re
ceiving buUs from Rome, and acting upon them, without the
King's consent, whereby he was out of the King's protection, his
lands and goods were forfeited, and he might be imprisoned at the
King's pleasure. Nothing could be more iniquitous than this pro
ceeding, for Henry himself had joined in soliciting the legatine
grant to him, and rejoiced in the greatness which the exercise of
it conferred upon him. But Wolsey knew the stern and irritable
temper of his prosecutor. To have maintained his innocence
would have excluded all hope of forgiveness ; and there was,
moreover, " a night crow," to use his own expression, " which
possessed the royal ear, and misrepresented the most harmless of
* Cavendish, 247.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 403
his actions." He therefore pleaded guilty to the information, and
threw himself upon the royal clemency. He caused inventories
to be made of his plate, furniture, and valuables, showing the im
mense riches which he had accumulated. These he formally
made over to the King, with York Place, — which thenceforth, un
der the name of Whitehall, became the chief town residence of
the Kings of England, and so continued till it was burnt down, in
the reign of William and Mary. Some time before he had vol
untarily made a gift of Hampton Court to the King, in the vain
hope of recovering his favour.
When he entered his barge to proceed to Esher, he found the
river Thames covered with above a thousand boats, full of men
and women of the city of London, who expected to witness the
spectacle of his being carried to the Tower, and there landing at
the Traitor's Gate. It is confessed that he was now greatly hated
by people of all degrees, and that there was a general disappoint
ment -when the head of his barge was turned towards Lambeth,
and when he -was seen rowed up the river to Putney.
Here he landed and mounted his mule, — when a horseman was
seen descending the hill, who turned out" to be Sir Harry Norris,
with a message to him from the King, " willing him in any wise
to be of good cheer, for he was as much in his Highness's favour
as ever he had been, and so should continue to be." And, in to
ken of the King's kindness, he delivered him a ring of gold with
a rich stone, being the privy token between the King and him
when any important secret communication took place between
them. Wolsey was so transported with joy at this gleam of re
turning good fortune, that he instantly dismounted, knelt in the
mud, and returned thanks to God his Maker, and to the King his
sovereign Lord and Master, who had sent him such comfort. He
added, " Gentle Norris, if I were lord of a realm, the one half
thereof were an insufficient recompence for your pains and good
comfortable news. But, good, good Master Norris, consider with
me that I have nothing left me but my clothes on my back.
Therefore I desire you to take this small reward at my hands."
He then gave him a gold chain, with a cross of gold enclosing a
piece of the veritable wood of the true cross, which he continual
ly wore round his neck, next his skin.
When Norris was gone a little way he called him back, saying,
" I am sony that I have no condign token to send to the King ;
but if you would present the King with this poor fool, I trust his
Highness would accept him weU ; for surely, for a nobleman's
pleasure, he is worth a thousand pounds." This fool, whose name
was " Patch',' was so much attached to his master, that it requir
ed six tall yeomen to force him to accompany Norris to Windsor,
although he knew that he was to be transferred from disgrace and
want to royalty and splendour. It is a pleasure to be told that
the King received him most gladly.*
* A fool was so necessary to the establishment of a Lord Chancellor, that we

404 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
Wolsey, on his arrival at Esher, found the house without beds,
q , sheets, tablecloths, cups, or dishes, — which he was
[a. d. 1529. J 0kijged to borrow in the neighbourhood; but here he
remained, with a numerous train of attendants, tiU the commence
ment of the following year.
A letter from Erasmus, written at this time to a correspondent
on the Continent, though chargeable with some inaccuracies, gives
a lively representation of the fallen favourite. " The Cardinal of
York has incurred the royal displeasure to such a degree, that,
stript of all his dignities, and all his wealth, he is confined, not
literally in a prison, but in one of his country houses, attended, or
rather guarded, by about thirty servants. Innumerable charges are
brought forward against him, so that it is thought he can hardly
escape capital punishment. Behold the sport of fortune. From
being a schoolmaster, he is made ruler of a kingdom ; for he, in
truth, reigned more than the King himself: feared by all, loved by
few — I might say, by no human being."*
The King continued, from time to time, to send him consoling
messages and tokens of affection, though generally by stealth, and
during the nightt ; but, at the urgent request of his enemies, who
shall find one in the household of Sir Thomas More. It is very doubtful when
Chancellors ceased to have about them any such charader.
* " Cardinalis Eboracensis sic offendit animum regium, ut spoliatus bonis Jet
omni dignitate, teneatur, non in carcere, sed in quodam ipsius prsedio, adhihitis
triginta duntaxat seu famulis seu cuslodibus. Proferuntur in ilium querelas in-
numerai, ut vix existiment effugere posse capitis supplicium. Hie est fortunse
ludas ; ex ludi magistro subvectus est ad regnum ; nam plane regnabat verins
quam ipso rex, metuabatu, ab omnibus, amahatur a paucis, ne dicam a nemine."
— Ep. 1151. Erasmus thought himself ill-used by Wolsey, who in return for a
flattering dedication of the Paraphrase on the Epistles of St. Peter, and in perform
ance of magnificent promises, had only given him a prebend at Tournay, which pro
duced nothing On another occasion the disappointed wit writes, "Cardinalis per-
benigne pollicetur ; verum hxc aetas non moratur lentas spes " — Ep. 352.
t Cavendish gives a curious account of one of these nocturnal missions, — Sir
John Russell, the chief founder of an illustrious house, being the messenger. He
was sent off from the Court at Greenwich after dark, with orders to be back be
fore day. It was a dreadfully rainy and tempestuous night, and the Cardinal and
his household were all in bed before he arrived at Esher. After loud knot-king at
the gate he was admitted, and saying he came from the King, was conducted to
the bedchamber of the Cardinal, who had risen and put on his night gown. " When
Master Russell was come into his presence, he most humbly reverenced him upon
his knees, and delivering him a great ring of gold with a turkis for a token, said
bir the llmg commandeth him unto you, and willeth you to be of good cheer:
who loveth you as well as ever he did, and is not a little disquieted for your
troubles, whose mind is full of your remembrance, insomuch ns his Grace, before he
sat to supper, called me unto him and commanded me to take this journey secretly
cZlSt IZ'v t0 y,?,r-COmi;ort,the best of my P°wer- And sir, if !it please yo«,
i„ ,t^iv vi » tblS mght the soresl J°urney for so ]ittle a way that ever I had
l'™mfT'- A Sreat firc wa3 liShtcd and refreshments prepared, but Master
snvin?, th u AmF Snme '!me ln secret communication with my Lord, took leave
?W, ?°d mUln3i he would *« <* V" Court at Greenwich again before day,
for he would not for any thing it were known his being with my Lord that night.' "
which Xtra„!fr Ie<ie,Ved \visit frora his C°Pital enemyfthe Duke of?Norfolk,
1 in the Til » S,,tr£k",gWle miTers 0f the liraes- A» ^is yeomen were drawn
up in the hall, and he and his gentlemen went to the gates and thjre received my

CARDINAL WOLSEY. - 405
were under a perpetual apprehension that he might be again
taken into favour, and avenge himself upon them, permission was
given to institute a proceeding against him in the Star Chamber,
— and this being attended with some difficulty, — to prosecute
him by parliamentary impeachment, or by a bill of pains and
penalties. Parliament, after a long interval, met in November in this year ;
and a Committee of the Lords, over which More, the new Chan
cellor, presided, prepared, "articles of impeachment," as they
were called, against Wolsey. These were forty-four in number,
and were generally of a frivolous description. His illegal com
missions to raise taxes without the authority of parliament, and
his other unconstitutional acts, were entirely passed over ; and he
was charged with naming himself with the King, saying, " the
King and I ;" and, in Latin, " Ego et Bex metis ;"* — with receiv
ing, first, all letters from the King's ministers abroad — requiring
to be the first visited by foreign ministers — and desiring that all
applications should be made through him ; — practices hardly to be
avoided, unless the King were his own minister and his own sec
retary. Then he is accused of illegally exercising the legatine
authority ; and of interfering, in an arbitrary manner, with the ad
ministration of justice, and drawing into Chancery questions prop
erly cognisable in the Courts of common law. One of the gravest
Lord of Norfolk bare-headed. '¦ They embraced each other, and the Duke compli
mented the Cardinal's attendants on their fidelity to him in his misfortunes. The
Cardinal praised the magnanimity of his guest, who he said properly had the lion
for his cognizance. " Parcere prostrutis scit nobilis ira Leonis.
Tu quoque fac simile, quisquis regnabis in orbem.
" Water being brought into the dining chamber for them to wash before dinner,
the Cardinal asked the Duke to wash with him, but the DuUe said, " it became him
not to presume to wash with him any more now than it did before in his glory."
"Yes, forsooth," quoth my Lord Cardinal, "for my authority and dignity legatine
is gone, wherein consisted all my high honour." ' A straw,' quoth my Lord of
Norfolk, ' for your legacy. I never esteemed your honour the more or higher for
that. But I regarded your honour for lhat you were Archbishop of York, and a
Cardinal, whose estate of honour surmounteih any Duke now being within this
realm ; and so will I honour you and bear you reverence accordingly. Therefore
I beseech you content yourself, for I will not presume lo wash with you, and
therefore I pray you hold me excused.' So they washed separately." — Another
dispute arose as to whether the Duke should sit inside or outside the table at dinner.
" The Cardinal wished him to sit inside but he refused the same with much hum
bleness. There was then set another chair for my Lord of Norfolk, over against
my Lord Cardinal, on the outside of the table, the which was bynny Lord of Nor
folk based something beneath my Lord Cardinal.'' — Stowe shows us what store
was set upon the nasty compliment of washing together, in his account of a ban
quet during the visit of Charles V. to Henry VIII. — "The Emperor, the King,
and the Queen did wash togelher, the Duke of Buckingham giving the water, the
Duke of Suffolk holding lhe towel. Next them did wash the Lord Cardinall, the
Queen of Fraunce, and the Queen of Arragon." On this occasion the Carginal
sat on the Emperor's right hand, between the Queen of England and the Queen of
Arragon. — Stow's Annals.
# A. mode of expression justified by the Latin idiom.

406 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
charges is, that he whispered in the King's ear when he knew that
he laboured under a particular distemper, then supposed to be
communicated by the breath.* Lord Herbert goes so far as to af
firm, that no man ever fell from so high a station who had so few
real crimes objected to; and we are mortified by finding that the
articles were subscribed by the virtuous Sir Thomas More, as
Chancellor, and presented by him to the King.t
Without any proof, they were unanimously agreed to by the
House of Lords, where the Ex-chancellor was particularly odious
on account of his haughty bearing to the ancient nobility, and even
to his brother prelates ; but when they came down to the House
of Commons, they were rejected on a speech made by Thomas
Cromwell, formerly a servant of the Cardinal who defended his
unfortunate patron with such spirit, generosity, and courage, as
acquired him great reputation, and mainly contributed to his own
subsequent extraordinary rise. The King still having returning
fits of kindness for his old favourite, royal influence was suppos
ed to have contributed to this result of the parliamentary proceed*
ing against Wolsey ; and the French ambassador, unable to fore
see what might be the final issue of the struggle, advised his
Court to render to the fallen minister such good offices as, without
giving cause of offence to the existing administration, might be
gratefully remembered by Wolsey, if he should finally triumph
over his enemies.
At home, however, he was neglected and slighted, even by
those whom' his bounty had raised.}: He was unable to pay or
to support his dependents who still adhered to him, and he begged
them to provide themselves a new master till fortune should prove
more auspicious. Tears were copiously shed on both sides, and
most of those he addressed refused to leave " so kind a master"
* Shakspeare dwells upon several other articles equally treasonable.
 "that, without the knowledge
Either of King or Council, when you went
Ambassador to the Emperor, you made bold
To carry into Flanders the Great Seal. —
That, out of mere ambition, you have caus'd
Your holy hat to be stamp'd on the King's coin.
Then, that you have sent innumerable substance
To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways
You have for dignities, to the mere undoing
Of all the kingdom." Hen. VIII. act. iii. scene 2.
t 1 Pari. Hist. 492. '
X Storer, in his metrical history of Wolsey, in describing his feelings at this
time, uses one of the most pathetic and original images in poetry, —which would
have been worthy of Shakspeare :
" I am the tomb where that affection lies
That was the closet where it living kept'
Yet wise men say affection never dies.
No, hut it turns ; and when it long hath slept
Looks heavy like the eye lhat long hath wept.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 407
in his adversity* A subscription among the chaplains and others
of most substance, whom he had promoted, provided a fund from
which the most urgent necessities of the establishment were
supplied. These mortifications preyed so much upon his mind that, about
-Chrislmas, he fell ill and was supposed to be dying. Henry ex
claimed, " God fordid that he should die, I would not lose him for-
twenty thousand pounds;" — sent his own physicians to attend
him; — conveyed to him assurances of unaLated attachment, and
even insisted on Anne Boleyn presenting to him a tablet of gold
for a token of reconciliation.
Through the management of Cromwell a settlement of his af
fairs was made with the King, whereby he received a general
pardon on making over all his revenues of every description, ex
cept those of the Archbishopric of York, and 1000 marks a year
from the Bishopric of "Winchester, which he was to be allowed to
retain for his sustentation.t
As a further mark of kindness, the King permitted him, for a
change of air and better accommodation, to remove from Esher to
Richmond, where his health greatly improved, and he again began
to gather some society round him.
His enemies, more alarmed than ever by his vicinity to the Court
at Windsor, prevailed on Henry to issue a peremptory order that
he should thenceforth reside within his archiepiscopal see, and he
was supplied with a sum of money to bear the charges of his
journey to York.
In is amusing to observe that, this journey, which may now be
* Cavendish's picture of th's scene is very touching. " Afterwards my Lord com
manded me to call all his gentlemen and yeomen np into lhe great chamber, com
manding all the gentlemen to stand on lhe right hand, and the yeomen on the left;
at last my Lord caine out in his rochet upon a violet gown like a bishop, who went
with his chaplains to the upper end of lhe chamber, where was a great window.
Beholding his goodly number of servants, he could not speak to them uniil ilic tears
ran down his cheeks, which being perceived of his servarts, c«used fountains of
tears to gush out of their sorrowful eyes, in such sort as would make any heart to
relent."— Cavendish, 2C5.
t A difficulty arose respecting the title to York House, which the King had
taken possession of, and which belonged to the archiepiscopal fee from lhe gilt of a
former Archbishop, who bad been Lord Chancellor To sanction this palpable
spoliation, — by jhe discreditable advice of all ihe Judges and the new Chancellor,
the form was gone through of a fictitious recovery in the Court of Common Pleas,
and Wolsey was required to execute a recopr.isance lhat the right was in the King.
Judge Shelley was sent to Esher to obtain this from him, but found him very re
luctant — on ihe ground that the property was not bis, and that he was robbing
his successors of it. At last he said, " Muster Shelley, ye shall make report to the
King's Highness that I am his obedient subject and faithful chaplain anil bonds
man, whose royal commandment and request I will in no wise disobey, but most
gladly fulfill and accomplish his princely will and pleasure in all things, and in
especial in this malter, inasmuch as ye, the fathers ofthe laws, say that 1 may law
fully do it. Therefore I charge your conscience and discharge mine. Howbeit, I
pray you show his Majesty from me that I most humbly desire his Highness to
call to his most gracious remembrance that there is both heaven and hell." — We
may well believe that Master Shelley did not venture to sound this salutary warn
ing in the royal ear.

40$ REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
performed in four hours, was then considered as formidable as if
it had been to a distant foreign land. Some of Wolsey's servants,
though much attached to him, " of their own mind desired him of
his favour to tarry still here in the south, being very loath to aban
don their native country, their parents, wives, and children." *
Wolsey, notwithstanding his reduced fortune, had still a train of
160 persons, and twelve carts to carry his baggage. He made short
stages, sleeping at different religious houses, where he was hospi
tably entertained. On Maundy Thursday, being at the abbey of
Peterborough, he washed, wiped, and kissed the feet of fifty-nine
beggars, on whom he bestowed liberal alms. Having paid a visit
to Sir William Fitzwilliam, a wealthy knight of that country, he
spent the summer and autumn at Southwell, Scroby, and Cawood
Castle, near York, — acquiring immense popularity by his conde
scension, his kindness, his hospitality, and his piety. " He set an
example to all church dignitaries, a right good example how they
might win men's hearts." On Sundays and holidays he rode to
some country church, celebrated mass himself, ordered one of his
chaplains to preach to the people, and distributed alms to the poor.
He spent much of his time in adjusting differences in families and
between neighbours. His table, plentifully but not extravagantly
supplied, was open to all the gentry of the country, and he gave
employment to hundreds of workmen in repairing the houses and
churches belonging to his see. t
Wolsey had appointed his installation as Archbishop to take
place in York Minster on the 7th of November, and preparations
were made to perform the ceremony with great pomp and magni
ficence. Presents of game and other provisions poured in from all
quarters for the entertainment he was that day to give, and on the
morrow he had agreed to dine with the Lord Mayor of York,
when the greatest efforts were to be made to clo him honour. But
before the time arrived he was a prisoner on a charge of high
treason, and he had sustained a mental shock which soon brought
him to his grave.
Henry, who had recommended to the northern nobility to be
courteous to Wolsey, was not a little startled when he heard of
the following which the Cardinal now had, independently of the
royal favour. The courtiers were still more astounded, and the
'rr ,ulg ,C1W>" as he stvled Anne Boleyn, uttered notes of fear.
llie divorce suit was still dragging on, and there seemed no
chance of bringing it to a favourable conclusion without a rupture
with the Court of Borne, which Wolsey might very seriously
have impeded. J
On Friday the 4th of November, about noon, when the Cardi.
nal was sitting at dinner in his hall with his officers, suddenly en
tered the Earl of Northumberland, who had been his Page, and
whom he had divorced from Anne Boleyn. Wolsey apologised
* Cavendish, 328. -j Il)i(j

UARDINAL WOLSEY. 409
to him that dinner was nearly over, and seeing him attended by
the old servants of the family, said : — " Ah, my Lord, I perceive
well that ye have observed my old precepts and instructions which
I gave you when you were abiding with me in your youth, — to
cherish your father's old servants, whereof I see here present
with you a great number. They will live and die with you, and
be true and faithful servants to you, and glad to see you prosper
in honour, the which I beseech God to send you with long life."
The Cardinal then conducted the Eari to a chamber, where, no
one else being present but Cavendish himself, who kept the door
as gentlemen-usher, " the Earl, trembling, said with a very faint
soft voice unto my Lord (laying his hand upon his arm), — My
Lord, I arrest you for high treason." He refused to submit without
seeing the warrant, which was refused ; but he surrendered to
Walshe, a privy councillor, who he admitted, had authority to ar
rest him by virtue of his office.
When he had a moment's time to recover from the stupor caus
ed by this blow, he wept bitterly, — more for the sake of others
than himself. He particularly lamented the fate of Cavendish,
about to be thrown destitute on the wide world, "who," quoth he,
" hath abandoned his own country, his wife and children, his
house and family, his rest and quietness, only to serve me." At
the next meal he summoned firmness to appear in the hall ; but
" there was not a dry eye among all the gentlemen sitting at table
¦with him."
The particular charge to be brought against Wolsey has never
been ascertained ; the general opinion is, that Henry had been
induced to believe that he -was carrying on some clandestine cor
respondence of a suspicious nature with the Court of France, and
that Augustine, a Venetian in his service, had given some false
information against him*
The next day after his arrest, he was committed to the special
custody of five of his domestics, and sent off under the escort of
the Earl of Northumberland's train towards London. But the
population of the adjoining county, hearing of his misfortune, met
him by thousands as he journeyed on, calling out with a loud
voice, " God save your Grace, God save your Grace. The foul
evU take all them that have thus taken you from us ! We pray
God that a very vengeance may light upon them."
Thev afterwards obliged him to travel in the night time to es
cape public notice. He expressed deep regret for the loss of a
sealed parcel he had left behind him at Cawood. This being
sent for was found to contain hair shirts, one of which he now
always wore next his skin.
The first night he was lodged in the abbey at Pontefract. In
* A few days before, the silver cross of York standing in the hall, was upset by
the velvet robe of the Venetian, which at the moment Wolsey said was malum omen.
vm.. i. 35

410 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
journeying thither he felt great apprehension lest his destination
should be Pontefract Castle, where so many had suffered violent
ly ; and he said, " Shall I go to the Castle, and die like a beast?"
On the Thursday he reached Sheffield Park, where he was eigh
teen days very kindly entertained by the Earl of Shrewsbury till
orders should be received from Court for his ulterior destination.
At the end of this time arrived Sir William Kingston, Keeper
of the Tower, with a guard of twenty-four beef-eaters, to conduct
him to London. When the name of this officer was mentioned to
him, — "Master Kingston!" qnoth he, — "rehearsing his name
once or twice ; and with that clapped his hand on his thigh, and
gave a great sigh." He no doubt then recollected the prophecy
by some fortunetellers, respecting which Cavendish is silent, but
which is mentioned by Fuller and other writers, that he should have
his end near Kingston. This had induced him always to make
a wide circuit to avoid Kingston-on-Thames when he approach
ed that town, and the emotion he had now displayed is accounted
for by his anticipation that he was about to finish his career on
Tower Hill, in the custody of Kingston, "too late perceiving him
self deceived by the father of lies." *
For some days he was afflicted with a dysentery ; but, as soon
as he was able to travel he set forward for London, although so
much reduced in strength, that he could hardly support himself on
his mule. When his servants saw him in such a lamentable
plight, they expressed their pity for him with weeping eyes ; but
he took them by the hand as he rode, and kindly conversed with
N v 2f 11 t'lem- In ^le evening of the third day, after dark, he
'¦'¦' arrived with difficulty at the Abbey of Leicester. The
Abbot and Monks met him at the gates, with many torches. As
he entered he said, " Father Abbot, I am come to lay my weary
bones among you."
He was immediately carried to his chamber, and put into a bed,
from which he never rose. This was on Saturday night, and on
Monday he foretold to his servants, " that by eight of the clock
next morning they should lose their master, as the time drew near
that he must depart out of this world."
Next morning, about seven, when he had confessed to a priest,
Kingston asked him how he did. " Sir," quoth he, " I tarry but
• the will and pleasure of God, to render my simple soul into his
divine hands. If I had served God as diligently as I have done
the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.
Howbeit, this is the just reward lhat I must receive for my world
ly diligence and pains that I have had to do him service ; only to
satisiy his main pleasure, not regarding my godly duty Where
fore I pray you, with all my heart, to have me most kindly com
mended unto Ins royal majesty; beseeching him, in my behalf, to
Call to his most gracious remembrance aU matters proceeding be-
* Fuller's Church History, book r.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 411
tween him and me, from the beginning of the world unto this day,
and the progress of the same, and most and chiefly in the weighty
matter yet depending* ; then shall his conscience declare, wheth
er I have offended him or no. He is a sure prince, of a royal
courage, and hath a princely heart : and rather than he will either
miss, or want any part of his will or appetite, he will put the loss
of one half of his realm in danger. For, I assure you, I have
often kneeled before him in his Privy Chamber, on my knees, the
space of an hour or two, to persuade him from his will and appe
tite ; but I could never bring to pass to dissuade him therefrom.
Therefore, Master Kingston, if it chance hereafter you to be one
of his Privy Council, as for your wisdom and other qualities ye
are meet to be, I warn you to be well advised and assured what
matter he put in his head, for ye shall never put it out again."
After a strong admonition to the King to suppress, the Lutheran
heresy, he thus concludes : " Master Kingston, farewell. I can
no more, but wish all things to have good success. ,„ 9q ,
My time draweth on fast. I may not tarry with ¦• ov' '
you. And forget not, I pray you, what I have said and charged
you withal ; for, when I am dead, ye shall, peradventure, remem
ber my words much better."t
He was then annealed by the Father Abbot ; and, as the great
Abbey clock struck eight, he expired — " Kingston" standing by
his bedside.
His body was immediately laid in a coffin, dressed in his ponti'
ficals, with mitre, crosses, ring, and pall ; and, lying there all day
open and barefaced, was viewed by the Mayor of Leicester and
the surrounding gentry, that there might be no suspicion as to the
manner of his death. It was then carried into the Lady Chapel,
and watched, -with many torches, all night; — whilst the monks
sung dirges and other devout orisons. At six in the morning mass
was celebrated for his soul ; and as they committed the body of
the proud Cardinal to its last abode, the words were chaunted,
" Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust !" No stone was
erected to his memory; and the spot of his interment is un
known. *' Here is the end and fall of pride and arrogancy."J:
I shall not attempt to draw any general character of this emi
nent man. His good and bad qualities may be best understood
from the details of his actions, and are immortalised by the dia
logue between Queen Catherine and Griffith, her secretary, which
is familiar to every reader.§
But the nature of this work requires that I should more deliber
ately consider him as a Judge ; for, although he held the Great
Seal unterruptedly for a period of fourteen years, and greatly ex-
* The divorce, t Cavendish, 392.
| Ibid. 39*. 4 Hen. VIII. act, iv. sc. 2.

412 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
tended its jurisdicton, and permanently influenced our juridical in
stitutions, not only historians, but his owiijbiographers, in des
cribing the politician and the churhman, almost forget that he
ever was Lord Chancellor.
|& From his conference with Justice Shelley respecting York Place,
we know exactly his notions of the powers and duties of the
Chancellor as an Equity Judge. When by the legal opinion up
on the question, he took the distinction between law and con
science, and said, " it is proper to have a respect to conscience be
fore the rigour of the common law, for laus estfacere quod decet
non quod licet. The King ought of his royal dignity and prerog
ative to mitigate the rigour of the law where conscience has the
most force; therefore, in his royal place of equal justice he hath
constituted a Chancellor, an officer to execute justice with clem
ency, where conscience is opposed to the rigour of the law. And
therefore the Court of Chancery hath been heretofore commonly
called the Court of Conscience, because it hath jurisdiction to
command the high ministers of the Common Law to spare execu
tion and judgment, where conscience hath most effect."* With
such notions he must have been considerably more arbitrary than
a Turkish Kadi, who considers himself bound by a text of the
Koran in point, and we are not to be surprised when we are told
that he chose to exercise his equitable authority over every thing
which could be a matter of judicial inquiry.
In consequence, bills and petitions multiplied to an unprecedent
ed degree, and notwithstanding his despatch there was a great
arrear of business. To this grievance he applied a very vigor
ous remedy, without any application to parliament to appoint Vice-
chancellors; — for of his own authority he at once established
four new Courts of Equity by commision in the King's name.
One of these was held at Whitehall before his own deputy; an
other before the King's almoner, Dr Stoherby, afterwards Bishop
of London ; a third at the Treasury Chamber before certain
members of the Council ; and a fourth at the Rolls, before Cuth
bert Tunstall, Master of the Bolls, who, in consequence of this
appointment, used to hear causes theie in the afternoon. t The
.Master of the Rolls has continued ever since to its separation for
hearing causes in Chancery. The other three Courts fell with
their founder.
Wolsey himself used still to attend pretty regularly in the Court
of Chancery during term, and he maintained his equitable juris
diction with a very high hand, deciding without the assistance of
* Cavendish, 283.
t In Reeve's History of the Law, it is said that this is the first instance of the
Master of the Rolls ever hearing causes by himself, he having been before only
the principal of the council of Masters assigned for the Chancellor's assistance:
but there have lately been found in the Tower of London, bills addressed to ihe
Master of the Rolls as early as the reign of Edward IV. — See 4 Reeves 3C9

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 413
common law judges, and with very little regard to the maxims of
the common law.
If he was sneered at for ignorance of the doctrines and prac
tice of the Court, he had bis revenge by openly complaining that
the lawyers who practised before him were grossly ignorant of the
civil law and the princples of general jurisprudence; and he has
been described as often interrupting their pleadings, and bitterly
animadverting on their narrow notions and limited arguments. To
remedy an evil which troubled the stream of justice at the foun
tain-head, he, with his usual magnificence of conception, project
ed an instituion to be founded in London, for the systematic study
of all branches of the law. He even furnished an architectural
model for the building, which was considered a masterpiece, and
remained long after his death as a curiosity in the palace at Green
wich. Such an institution is still a desideratum in England ; for,
with splendid exceptions, it must be admitted that English bar
risters, though very clever practitioners, are not such able jurists
as are to be found in other countries where law is systematically
studied as a science.
On Wolsey's fall his administration of justice was strictly over
hauled ; but no complaint was made against him of bribery or
corruption, and the charges were merely that he had examined
many matters in Chancery after judgment given at common law ;
— that he had unduly granted injunctions ; — and that when his
injunctions were disregarded by the Judges, he had sent for those
venerable magistrates and sharply reprimanded them for their ob
stinacy. He is celebrated for the vigour with which he repressed
perjury and chicanery in his Court, and he certainly enjoyed the
reputation of having conducted himself as Chancellor with fidelity
and ability, — although it was not till a later age that the found
ation was laid of that well-defined system of equity now estab
lished, which is so well adapted to aU the wants of a wealthy and
refined society, and, leaving little discretion lo the Judge, disposes
satisfactorily of aU the varying cases within the wide scope of its
jurisdiction. I am afraid I cannot properly conclude this sketch of the Life
of Wolsey without mentioning that " of his own body he was til,
and gave the clergy ill example." He had a natural son, named
Winter, who was promoted to be Dean of Wells, and for whom
he procured a grant of " arms" from the Herald's College. The
38th article of his impeachment shows that he had for his mis
tress a lady of the name of Lark, by whom he had two other
children : there were various amours in which he was suspected
of having indulged, — and his health had suffered from his disso
lute life. But we must not suppose that the scandal arising from
such irregularities was such as would be occasioned by them at
the present day. A very different standard of morality then pre-
vatied • churchmen debarred from marriage, were often licensed
35*

414 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
to keep concubines, and as the Popes themselves were in this re
spect by no means infallible, the frailties of a Cardinal were not
considered any insuperable bar either to secular or spiritual pre
ferment.* In judging him we must remember his deep contrition for his
backshdings ; and the memorable lesson which he taught with his
dying breath, that, to ensure true comfort and happiness, a man
must addict himself to the service of God, instead of being mis
led by the lures of pleasure and ambition.
The subsequent part of Henry's reign is the best panegyric on
Wolsey ; for, during twenty years, he had kept free from the stain
of blood or violence the Sovereign, who now, following the natu
ral bent of his character, cut off the heads of his wives and his
most virtuous ministers, and proved himself the most arbitrary ty
rant that ever disgraced the throne of England.!

CHAPTER XXX.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND, FROM
HIS BIRTH TILL THE END OF THE REIGN OF HENRY VII.
The Great Seal having been surrendered, as we have seen, by
[Sept. 19 15291 Cardmal Wolsey, into the hands of the Dukes
J of Norfolk and Suffolk, they delivered it to Tay
lor, the Master of the Rolls, to carry to the King ; who having
himself sealed certain letters patent with it, enclosed it in a bag
under his own signet and under the seals of the Master of the
Kohs and Stephen Gardyner, afterwards the famous Bishop of
Winchester.^ Considerable difficulty arose about the appointment of a new
OhanceUor Some were for restoring the Great Seal to Ex-chan-
M°l ^hblsh°P Warham ; and Erasmus states that he refused
it* , but there is reason to think that a positive resolution had been
oASS; ^^^ £¦ ^sptchS t™ condtt"
w " I'll startle you
Worse than the sacring bell, when the brown wench
Lay kiSS,ng m.yonr arms, Lord Cardinal "
fwtt;ChIwroVIea,S-!r0bably °Dly emb0d*inS in *hl™ ** common talk of the
" Tnhe g°ods that he thus gaddered
Wretchedly he hath scattered,—
Jo make windows, walles, and dores,
And to maratian bauds and whores.
tft aSS^' &li0' 1724' ball's ^ife of Wolsey, 4to. 1812.
$Ep. p. 1347.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 415
before taken by Henry and his present advisers, that it should not
be again intrusted to any churchman*
There was an individual designated to the office by the public
voice. To give credit to the new administration, there was a
strong desire to appoint him, for he was celebrated as a scholar in
every part of Europe ; he had long practised with applause as a
lawyer ; being called to Court, he had gained the highest credit
there for his abilities and his manners ; and he had been employ
ed in several embassies abroad, which he had conducted with
dexterity and success. The difficulty was that he had only the
rank of a simple knight ; and there had been no instance hitherto
of conferring the Great Seal on a layman who was not of noble
birth, or had not previously gained reputation by high judicial of
fice. In consequence, there was a struggle in favour of the selec
tion of one of the chiefs of the Common Law Courts at West
minster. But the hope that the person first proposed was the best
fitted to manage the still pending negotiation for the divorce, came
powerfully in aid of his claims on the score of genius, learning,
and virtue ; and, on the 25th of October, in a Council held at
Greenwich, the King delivered the Great Seal to Sir Thomas
More, and constituted him Lord Chancellor of England.!
This extraordinary man, so interesting in his life and in his
death, was born in the year 1480, near the end of the reign of Ed
ward IV. He was the son of Sir John More, a Judge of the
Court of King's Bench, who lived to see him Lord Chancellor.
The father's descent is not known, but he was of " an honourable
though not distinguished family," and he was entitled to bear
arms, a privilege which showed him to be of gentle blood, and of
the class which in every other country except ours is considered
noble. The old Judge was famous for a facetious turn, which he
transmitted to his son. There was only one of his sayings hand
ed down to us, and this, we must hope, was meant rather as a
compliment to the good qualities of his own partner for life than
as a satire on the fair sex. " He would compare the multitude of
women which are to be chosen for wives unto a bag full of snakes,
having among them a single eel: now, if a man should put his
hand into this bag, he may chance to light on the eel ; but it is a
hundred to one he shall be stung by a snake. "X The future
Chancellor sprung from that rank of life which is most favourable
to mental cultivation, and which has produced the greatest num
ber of eminent men in England ; for, while we have instances of
gifted individuals overcoming the disadvantages of high birth and
affluence as well as of obscurity and poverty, our Cecils and Wal-
poles, our Bacons and Mores, have mostly had good education
and breeding under a father's care, — with habits of frugality, and
* On the 22d October the Bishop of Bayonne writes to his court, " On ne scait
encore qui aura le sceau. Je croy bien que les prestres n'y toucheront plus, et que
en ce parliament iis auront de terribles alarmes."
t Rot. CI. 21 Hen. 8. m. 19. X Camden's Remains, p. 251.

416 LIFE OP
the necessity for industry, energy, and perseverance to gain dis
tinction in the world.
The lawyers in those days, both judges and barristers, lived in
the City, and young More first saw the light in Milk Street,
Cheapside, then a fashionable quarter of the metropolis. He re
ceived the early rudiments of his education at St. Anthony's
school, in Threadneedle Street, a seminary which gained great and
well-deserved repute, having produced Archbishop Heath, Arch
bishop "Whitgift, and many other eminent men. In his fifteenth
year, according to the custom of which we have seen various ex
amples, he became a page in the family of Cardinal Morton, Arch
bishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor under Henry VII.
Here, along with sons of the best families in England, he waited
at table, and was instructed in all learning and exercises. His
lively parts soon attracted the notice of his master, who, though
turned of eighty, and filling such dignified offices, still encouraged
amusement, and had the sagacity to discover the extraordinary
merit, and to foretell the future celebrity of his page. " For the
Cardinal often would make trial of his present wit, especially at
Christmas merriments, when having plays for his recreation, this
youth would suddenly step up among the players, and, never
studying before upon the matter, make often a part of his own in
vention, which was so witty and so full of jests, that he alone
made more sport than all the players besides ; for which his to-
wardliness, the Cardinal much delighted in him, and would often
say of him, unto divers of the nobility who at sundry times dined
with him, " This child here, waiting at the table, whosoever shall
live to see it, will prove a marvellous rare man.' "* The youthful
page was not behind in penetration of character, and duly appre
ciated the qualities of the wary courtier, who, the model for fu
ture Talleyrands, had continued to flourish amid all the vicissi
tudes of the state, and having united the Red and the White
Roses, still enjoyed without abatement the confidence of the
founder of the House of Tudor. The historian of Richard III,
drawing the character of Morton, says (no doubt from early recol
lections), " He was a man of great natural wit, very well learned,
honourable in behaviour, lacking in no wise to win favour. "X
But, by the kind advice of his patron, who had great care of
[a. d. 1496.1 his Drmging "P. and was afraid that he might not
profit in sound learning so much as might be desired
amid the distractions of the archiepiscopal palace, he was remov
ed to the University of Oxford. He lodged at New Hah, but
studied at Canterbury College, afterwards Christ Church. He
must now have led a very different life from what he had enjoy
ed at Lambeth ; for, " in his aUowance, his father kept him very
* More's Life, 19. Roper, 4.
u t In bis Vtojna he praises him more liberally, hut still with a touch of satire, as
ol ltK-ompai able judgment, a memory more than credible, eloquent in speech,
and, which is more to be wished in clergymen, of singular wisdom and virtue."

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 417
short, suffering him scarcely to have so much money in his own
custody as would pay for the mending of his apparel ; and, for
his expenses, he would expect of him a particular account."*
Though much pinched, and somewhat dissatisfied at the time, he
often spoke of this system with much praise when he came to
riper years ; affirming, that he was thereby curbed from all vice,
and withdrawn from gaming and naughty company. t
Here More remained above two years, devoting himself to study
with the utmost assiduity and enthusiasm. Erasmus, invited to
England by Lord Mountjoy, who had been his pupil at Paris, was
now residing at Oxford, and assisting in spreading a taste for
Greek literature recently introduced there by Grocyn, Linacre, and
Collet, who had studied it in Italy under Politian and Chalcondy
las. More and Erasmus, resembling each other in their genius,
in their taste, in their acute observation of character and manners,
in their lively,, sense of the ridiculous, in their constant hilarity,
and in their devotion to classical lore, soon formed a close friend
ship which lasted through life -without interruption or abatement,
and which was fostered during absence by an epistolary corres
pondence still extant, affording to us the most striking sketches of
the history and customs of the times in which they lived.
At the University, while More " profited exceedingly in rhetoric,
logic, and philosophy," he likewise distinguished himself very
much by the composition of poems, both Latin and English.
Some of these are to be found in collections of his works ; and,
though inferior to similar efforts in the succeeding age, they will
be found interesting, not only as proofs of his extraordinary pre
cocity, but as the exercises by which he became the earliest dis
tinguished orator, and the earliest elegant prose-writer using the
English language. X
* More's Life of Sir T. More, IS.
1 His great grandson, who wrote in the reign of Charles I., more than two centu
ries ago, in desoiibing how his ancestor when at College escaped " play and riot,"
adds, '• wherein most young men in these our lamentable days plunge themselves
too timely, to the utter overthrow as well of learning as all future virtue."
(Asa specimen [ will give a few extracts from that which is considered the
most successful of bis poetical effusions in Lalin. it proceeds on the idea, that be
come an old man, he sees again a lady whom he had loved when they were both
very young, and who is still charming in his eyes.
'¦ Gralulatur quod earn reperit incolumem quam olim ferine puer amaverat.
" Vivis adhuc, primis 6 me mihi charior annis,
Redderis atque oculls Elizabetha meis :
Quaj mala dislinuit mihi te fortuna tot annos,
Pene puer vidi, pone reviso senex.
Tempora quae tenet's numquam nun invida format
Te nipuere tibi, non rapuere mihi."
He afterwards refers in touching language to their first interview,'and gives a de
scription of her charms, after the fashion of the Song of Solomon : —
"Jam subit ilia dies qua? ludentcm obtulit olim
Inter virgineos te mihi prima choros.

418 LIFE OF
More had been destined by his father to wear the long robe;
and, having completed his course at Oxford, he was transferred to
London, that he might apply to the study of the law. According
to the practice then generally followed, he began at New Inn, "an
Inn of Chancery," where was acquired the learning of writs and
procedure; and he afterwards belonged to Lincoln's Inn, "an Inn
of Court," where were taught the more profound and abstruse
branches of the science. With us a sufficient knowledge of juris
prudence is supposed to be gained by eating a certain number of
dinners in the hall of one of the Inns of Court, whereby men are
often called to the bar wholly ignorant of their profession; and,
being pushed on by favour or accident, or native vigour of mind,
they are sometimes placed in high judicial situations, having no
acquaintance with law beyond what they may have picked
up as practitioners at the bar. Then the Inns of Court and
Chancery presented the discipline of a -well-constituted Univers
ity ; and, through Professors, under the name of "Readers," and
exercises, under the name of " Mootings," law was systematically
taught, and efficient tests of proficiency were applied, before the
degree of barrister was conferred, entitling the aspirant to practise
as an advocate.
More so much distinguished himself, that he was early appoint
ed Reader to Furnival's Inn, an Inn of Chancery, under the su
perintendence of Lincoln's Inn; and there he delivered lectures,
with great applause, for three years.
It rather puzzles us to understand the nature of his next ap
pearance in public. " After this, to his great commendation, he
read for a good space a public lecture of St. Augustine, De Civit-
ate Dei, in the church of St. Lawrence, in the Old Jewry ; where-
unto there resorted Doctor Grocyn, an excellent cunning man, and
all the chief learned ofthe city of London."* We cannot under
stand a parish church converted into a lecture-room; and a young
lawyer mounting the pulpit, and discoursing to a large congrega-
Lactea cum flavi deciierunt colla capilli,
Cum gena par nivibus visa, labella rosis.
Cum tua perstringunt oculos duo sydera nostras,
Peique oculos intrant in mea corda meos."
Their flirtation was very marked : —
" Cum sociis risum exhibuit nostrisque tuisque
Tam rudis et simplex et male tectus amor.''
Now comes the constancy of his attachment: 
"Ergo ita disjunctas diversaque fata secutos
Tot nunc post hyemes reddidit ista dies.
Ista dies qua rara meo mihi laitior a;vo,
Conligii aceursu sospilis alma tui.
Tu praBilata meos olim sine crimiue sensus,
Nunc quoquo non alio crimine chara manes."
Let it be rernemhered that these verses were written in the middle of the reign
of Henry VII., when the war of the Roses had almost extinguished in Englaad
the remembrance of Chaucer, and no other poetical genius had yet arisen.
* Kopcr, 16. •¦ j

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 419
tion on things sacred and secular. It is said, that he did not so
much discuss points of divinity, as moral philosophy and history.
He was run after by the great, the learned, and the fashionable ;
and Collect, his Oxford friend, now Dean of St. Paul's, and the
future founder of St. Paul's School, was wont to say at this time,
that " there was but one wit in England, and that was young
Thomas More." *
Though called to the degree of barrister, he had not begun to
plead in Court ; and he was now disposed for ever to renounce the
pomp and vanity of the world, and to bury himself in a convent.
His modern biographers very improperly shrink from this passage
of his life ; for if it were discreditable to him (which it really is
not), still it ought to be known, that we may justly appreciate his
character. He was so transported with the glory of St. Augus
tine, and so enraptured with the pleasures of piety, and so touch
ed with the peace, regularity, and freedom from care of a monastic
life, that he resolved to enter the order of St. Francis. But before
taking the irrevocable vow of celibacy, shaving his crown, putting
on the grey serge garment fastened by a twisted rope, and walking
barefoot in quest of alms, he prudently made an experiment how
strict monastic discipline would permanently suit him. " He be
gan to wear a sharp shirt of hair next his skin. lie added also to
his austerity a whip every Friday and high fasting days, thinking
that such cheer waf- the best alms that he could bestow upon
himself. He used also much fasting and watching, lying often
upon the bare ground or upon some bench, laying a log under his
head, allotting himself but four or five hours in a night at the most
for his sleep, imagining, with the holy saints of Christ's church,
that his body was to be used as an ass, with strokes and hard fare,
lest provender might pride it, and so bring his soul, like a head
strong jade, to the bottomless pit of hell."t Wilh this view he
took a lodging close by the Carthusian monastery, now the sile of
the Charterhouse school, and as a lay brother practised all the
austerities which prevail in this stern order. He found these af
ter a time not edifying to his piety, and he, a rigidRoman Catholic,
doubted the advantages supposed to be conferred on religion by
the monastic orders, which a certain section of professing Protes
tants are now so eager to re-establish. X
He then wished to become a priest ; and, as such, he might, ac
cording to received notions, have enjoyed, with little restraint, all
* " Augustini libros de civitate Dei publico piofcssus'est. adlmc penc adolescens
auditorio frcquenti ; nee pcenilutt sacerdotes ac seno ajuvcue pi ofano sacra dis-
cere." — Eras Ep.
f More, p. 25.
X Although Sir Thomas More thenceforth renounced most of these austerities, he
appears to have worn a hair shin next his skin for the rest of his life. A few davs
before his execution he gave one which he had been wearing to his daughter Marga
ret. She bequeathed it to her cousin, Margaret Clements, an Augustinian nun, at
Louvaine. There it remained till the French revolution, and it is now carefully
preserved as a relic in a convent established at Spilsburg, near Ulandf'ord.

420 LIFE OF
the pleasures of the world ; but he was too conscientious to avail
himself of licences or dispensations, or to consider custom an ex
cuse for violating the engagements of the clerical state if he
should enter into it. Finding that these would not permanently
suit him, he resolved to marry, and, having returned to his pro
fession, to exert all his energies in it, that he might rise to distinc
tion and be able creditably to maintain his family. " God had
allotted Mm for another state, — not to live solitary — but that he
might be a pattern to reverend married men how they should
carefully bring up their children ; how dearly they should love
their wives ; how they should employ their endeavours wholly for
the good of their country, yet exceUently perform the virtues of
religious men, as piety, humility, obedience, yea conjugal chastity."*
Owing to the tenderness of his nature, the sweetness of his dis
position, his equal flow of mirthful thoughts, as well as his habits
of regularity and industry, he was singularly well adapted to do
mestic Ufe; and no one ever more exquisitely enjoyed its bless
ings. From his descendant we have the following curious account of
his courtship. " Sir Thomas having determined, by' the advice
and direction of his ghostly father, to be a married man, there was
at that time a pleasant conceited gentleman of an ancient family
in Essex, one Mr. John Colt, of New Hall, that invited him unto
his house, being much delighted in his company, proffering unto
him the choice of any of his daughters, -who were young gentle
women of very good carriage, good complexions, and very relig
iously inclined ; whose honest and sweet conversation and virtuous
education enticed Sir Thomas not a little ; and although his affec
tion most served him to the second, for that he thought her the
fairest and best favoured, yet when he thonght with himself that
it would be a grief and some blemish to the eldest to have the
younger sister preferred before her, he, out of a kind of compas
sion, settled his fancy upon the eldest, and soon after married her
with all her friends' good liking."!
Some have said that he selected a rustic girl whom he might
fashion according to his own notions of female propriety X\ but the
probability is, that he was exceedingly delighted to exchange the
company of the Carthusian brethren for that of the " Mistress
Colts," having been long a stranger to female society; — that he
preferred the conversation and manners of Jane, the eldest, al
though the second was a more showy beauty ; and that, although
he had a good deal to teach his bride when he brought her to Lon-
I ?.Iore' 2fi- " Maluit maritus esse castus quam sacerdos impuras." — Eras. Ep.
t More, 39. ' '
X This notion is an improvement on Erasmus, who is silent on the sacrifice of in
clination to compassion. ' Virginem duxit admodum pucllam, claro genere-
natam, rudom adhuc utpote ruri inter paientcs ac sorores semper ha'iitam, quo magis
illi liccret illam ail suos mores fingere. Hanc et Uteris ins truentlam curvit, et
ornni musices genere doctam reddidit." —Eras. Ep.

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 421
was as well educated and accomplished as country Squires
daughters generally were in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
There never was a happier union. He settled her in a house
in Bucklersbury, where they lived in uninterrupted harmony and
affection. He now applied himself with unremitted assiduity to the bu
siness of his profession, being stimulated, and cheered, and com
forted, and rewarded by her smiles. When he was Lord High
Chancellor, he must have looked back with a sigh to this portion
of his career. He rose very rapidly at the bar, and was particu
larly famous for his skill in international law.
It seems strange to us that he at the same time accepted and
retained the office of under-sheriff of the city of Lon- r 1 ,„„¦¦
don. This office was then judicial, and of considerable L ' ' J
dignity. I conjecture that the under-sheriff, besides his other du
ties, sat in the Court of the Lord Mayor and of the Sheriffs, in
which causes of importance were then determined, and the juris
diction of which, by the process of foreign attachment, was very
extensive. Erasmus, after stating that his Court was held every
Thursday, observes, that no judge of that Court ever went through
more causes ; none decided them more uprightly, — often remitting
the fees to which he was entitled from the suitors. His deportment
inthis capacity endeared him extremely to his fellow-citizens.*
But he was now to make a figure in a new line. After an in
termission of parliaments for about seven years, one was called in
the beginning of the year 1504, for the purpose of obtaining a
subsidy on the marriage of Margaret, the King's eldest daughter,
with James IV., King of Scots. More was returned to the House
of Commons, "for many had now taken notice of his sufficiency;"
and he is recorded as the first member of that assembly who gain
ed celebrity by public speaking, and who, as a successful leader
# Eras. Ep. Although Roper, himself a lawyer, distinctly narrates, that his
father-in-law was under-sheriff, some from an afectcd regard lor lhe dignity ofthe
Chancellor, have tried to deny that he held an office which would now be declined
by an eminent solicitor; but in bis epitaph, prepared by himself, we find these
words : " In urbetua pro Sbvrevo dixit;" and an eniiy has been found in the records
ofthe common council, " that Thomas More, gent., one if the under-sheriffs of
London, should occupy his office and chamber by a sufficient deputy during his ab
sence as the King's ambassador in Flanders." Edward Dudley, Attorney-General
to Henry VII., was one of the under-sheriffs, and Thomas Marrow, one of Ihe
greatest lawyers of his day, filled the office about lhe same time. More himself
set the highest value on this office; for he informs Erasmus that, on his return fiom
Flanders, he declined a handsome pension offered him by the King, which he
could not hold without resigning his under-sheritiship, for in case of a controversy
with the King about the privileges of the city, he might be deemed by bis fellow-
citizens to be disabled by dependence on the Crown from securely and manfully
maintaining their rights. — Moms Erasrno, 1516. In the first edition of lhe Utopia,
printed at Louvain by Theodore Martin in 1516, lhe work is stated to be "Per
clarissimum et eruditissimum Vinim D. Thomam Morum, Civcm ct Vice-comittm
Londinenscm," — from which some supposed that be had reached the dignity of
High Sheriff; but this designation must have proceeded from ignorance of the dif
ferent degrees of clerical dignity in England.
vol. i. 36

422 LIFB o:p
of opposition, incurred the enmity of the Court. Henry was en
titled, according to the strictest feudal law, to a grant on this occa
sion * ; but he thought it a favourable opportunity for gratifying his
avarice, and he required a much greater sum than he intended to
bestow upon the Scottish Queen. " When the consent of the
Lower House was demanded to these impositions, most of the
rest either holding their peace or not daring to gainsay them,
though they seemed unwilling, Sir Thomas, making a grave
speech, pronounced such urgem arguments why these exactions
were not to be granted, that thereupon all the King's demands
were crossed, and his request denied ; so that Mr. Tyler, one of
the King's Privy Chamber, went presently from the House, and
told his Majesty that a beardless boy had disappointed him of all
his expectations." t " Whereupon the King, conceiving great in
dignation towards him, could not be satisfied until he had some
way revenged it."$
According to the Tudor practice established in subsequent
reigns, More ought to have been sent to the Tower for his pre
sumption ; but Hemy had always a view to his Exchequer, " and
forasmuch as he, nothing having, nothing could lose, his grace de
vised a causeless quarrel against his father, keeping him in the
Tower tiU he had made him pay to him a hundred pounds fine.
Shortly hereupon it fortuned that Sir Thomas More coming in a
suit to Dr. Fox, Bishop of Winchester, one of the King's Privy
Council, theBishop called him aside, and pretended great favour
towards him, promised that if he would be ruled by him he would
not fail into the King's favour again to restore him, — meaning, as
it was afterwards conjectured, to cause him thereby to confess
his offences against the King, whereby his Highness might with
the better colour have occasion to revenge his displeasure against
him ; but when he came from the Bishop he fell into communica
tion with one Maister Whitforde, his familiar friend, then chap
lain to that Bishop, and showed him what the Bishop had said,
praying for his advice. Whitforde prayed him by the passion of
God not to follow the counsel, for my Lord, to serve the King's
turn, will not stick to agree to his own father's death. So Sh
Thomas More returned to the Bishop no more."§ To show that
More acted wisely in not making confessions to the King in the
hope of pardon, it is related that when Dunley was afterwards led
to execution, along with Empson, meeting Sir Thomas More, he
said to him,—" Oh, More, More ! God was your good friend that
* The King like every feudal lord, could claim an aid to knight his eldest son, to
marry his eldest daughter, or to ledcem himself from captivity.
t More, 45. To add to the marvel of this brilliant success in the House of Com
mons, More s biographers roundly assert that he was then only twenty-one years
of age; but it appears from the Statute Book and the Parliament Roll, that this
parliament met on the 16th of January, 1504, so that he was full twenty-four, and
as old as W llliam Pitt when Prime Minister of Great Britain
tKopcr,7. § Ibid. 8.

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 423
you did not ask the King's forgiveness, manie would have had you
do, for if you had done so, perhaps you should have been in the
like case with us now."
Henry VII. continued to regard the young patriot with an evil
eye, and watched for an opportunity of effectually wreaking his
vengence upon him, insomuch that " he was determined to have
gone over sea, thinking that being in the King's indignation he
could not live in England without great danger."* f „„ ,
In the meanwhile he almost entirely withdrew from I A' D' lo0J'J
his practice at the bar, and devoted himself to study, "perfecting
himself in most of the liberal sciences, as music, arithmetic, ge
ometry, and astronomy, and growing to be a perfect historian."!
With a view to his foreign residence, " he studied the French
tongue at home, sometimes recreating his tired spirits on the
viol."t — But while he was meditating exile, the death of the ty
rant preserved him to his country.

CHAPTER XXXI

LIFE OF. SIR THOMAS MORE FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY Vllt.
TILL HIS APPOINTMENT AS LORD CHANCELLOR.
More hailed the commencement of the new reign in a Latin
poem, which contained«lines not only prais- r . 9„ .,.Q1
ing the good qualities of the youthful sove- LAPRIL •"> i^y.\
reign, but reflecting -with great bitterness on the oppression from
which the nation had escaped : —
¦' Meta hsec servitii est, ha?c libcrtatis origo,
Tristitiaj finis, lastiiiaaque caput.
Nam juvenem scdi decus O memorabile nostri
Ungit ct in Rcgem prselicit isla tuum.
Repcm qui cunctis laehrymas detergat ocellis,
Gaudia pro longo substituat gemitu.
Omnia discussis nnident pectoris curis,
Ut solet, exiussa nube, nitere dies. —
Leges invalidse prius, into noccre coaclce,
Nunc vires gaudent obtinuissc suas.
Non melus occultos insibilat aure susurros ¦ >
Nemo quod taceat, quodve susurrer, habet."
Little did the poet foresee that this was to be the most tyranni
cal and bloody reign in the annals of England, and that he him
self was to be doomed to a cruel death by him whose clemency
he celebrates.}
* Roper, 9. t More, 47. J Roper, 9.
§ A poem on the union of the red and white roses, entitled " De utraque Rosa
in ununi Coiilitn," wrilien by him soon after, he thus prophetically concludes
(through accident or second sight, 1 know not):
"At qui tam ferns est, ut non amet, ille timebit.
tiempe etiam spinas flos habet iste suus."

424 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
Meanwhile, More resumed his profession, and rose in Westmin
ster Hall to still greater eminence than he had before attained.
" There was at that time in none of the Prince's Courts of the
laws of this realm, any matter of importance in controversy where
in he was not with the one party of counsel."* " He now gained,
without grief, not so little as 4001. by the year," an income which,
considering the relative profits of the bar and the value of money,
probably indicated as high a station as 10,000/. a year at the pres
ent day.
He was ere long introduced to the young King and to Wolsey,
now the prime favourite riring rapidly to greatness. They were
both much pleased with him, and were desirous that he should
give up the law for politics, and accept an office at Court, — the
Cardinal thinking that from his retired habits and modest na
ture, he never could be dangerous as a rival. More long resist
ed these solicitations, truly thinking his situation as an eminent
barrister more independent as well as more profitable.
He was about this time engaged in a cause celibre, of which a
circumstantial account has come down to us. A ship belonging to
the Pope having been seised at Southampton, as forfeited to the
Crown for a breach of the law of nations, the Pope's Nuncio at
the Court of London instituted proceedings to obtain restitution,
and retained More, " at which time there could none of our law
be found so meet to be of counsel."
"The hearing was in the Star Chamber before the ChanceUor,
the Chief Justices, the Lord Treasurer, and other officers of state.
To plead against the Crown before such a tribunal was rather an
arduous task ; but More displayed great firmness and zeal, and,
availing himself not only of his own learning, but of the authori
ties and arguments furnished to him by his client (himself a great
civilian), he made such an unanswerable speech for his Holi
ness that the judgment was in his favour, and restitution was
decreed. The King was present at the trial ; and to his credit be it spoken,
instead of being mortified by the loss of his prize, and indignant
against the counsel who had been pleading against him, he joined
all the hearers in praising More for " his upright and commendable
demeanor therein ; and for no entreaty would henceforth be induc
ed any longer to forbear his services."!
In the early part of his reign, Henry VIII. was one ofthe most
popular Sovereigns that ever filled the throne of England, and de
served to be so ; for, beyond bis fine person, his manly accom
plishments his agreeable manners, and the contrast he presented
to his predecessor he showed a disposition to patronise merit
wherever it could be found ; and his Court was the resort of the
learned and the witty, as weU as the high born and chival-
*Eoper'9- t Roper, 11.

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 425
More still retained his office in the city, but was prevailed upon
to give up his practice at the bar. He was made r .,..,
Master of the Requests, knighted, and sworn of the ^A' D' i0i4-J
Privy Council.*
He now removed from Bucklersbury, and took up his residence
at Chelsea, i i what might then be considered a country-house,
which he built for himself, and where he amused himself with an
extensive garden and a farm. To his inexpressible grief, he had
lost his first wife after she had brought him four children; and he
had entered into a second matrimonial union, not of sentiment but
convenience, with Mrs. Alice Middleton, a widow lady, " of good
years, and of no good favour or complexion." She was seven
years older than himself, and it is to be feared not always of the
sweetest disposition. " This he did because she might have care
of his children ; and she proved a kind step-mother to them."
Erasmus, who was often an inmate in the family, speaks of her as
a keen and watchful manager, with whom More lived on terms of
as much respect and kindness as if she had been fair and young.
" No husband ever gained so much obedience from a wife by au
thority and severity, as More by gentleness and pleasantry.
Though verging on old age, and not of a yielding temper, he pre
vailed on her to take lessons on the lute, the. cithara, the viol, the
monochord, and the flute, which she daily practised to him." t
Yet from some of their conjugal dialogues, recorded by members
of the family, -we are made to doubt whether the sweetness of
their intercourse was not occasionally flavoured with a little acid.
He would say of her, " that she was penny-wise and pound-
foolish, saving a candle's end and spoiling a velvet gown." She
rated him for not being sufficiently ambitious ; and because he
had no mind to set himself forward in the world, saying to him,
" Tillie vallie ! Tillie vallie ! Will you sit and make goslings in the
ashes : my mother hath often said unto me, it is better to rule than
to be ruled." — "Now, in truth," answered he, " that is truly said,
good -wife ; for I never found you yet willing to be ruled."$
* Roper, 13. tErasm.Ep.
X Rop. More. In the metrical inscription which he wrote for his own monu
ment, there is a labored commendation of Alice, which in tenderness is outweighed
by one word applied to Jane, the beloved companion of bis youth :
"Clara ThomEejacet hie Joanna uxorcula Mori."
On the other hand the following epigram, which he composed after his second mar
riage, shows a bitter feeling towards Alice as a shrew :
" Some men hath good,
But children hath he none;
Some man hath both.
But he can get none health;
Some haih all three,
But up to honour'3 throne
Can he not creep by no manner of stealth.
To some she sendeth children,
Riches, Wealth, 36*

426 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
He had soon a very numerous household ; for, his daughters
marrying, they and their husbands and their children all resided
under his roof, and constituted one affectionate family; which he
governed with such gentleness and discretion that it was without
broils or jealousies.
The course of his domestic life is minutely described by eye
witnesses. " His custom was daily (besides his private prayers
with his children) to say the seven psalms, the litany, and the suf
frages foUowing; so was his guise with his wife and children, and
household, nightly, before he went to bed ; to go to his chapel, and
there on his knees ordinarily to say certain psalms and collects
with them."* Says Erasmus, " You might imagine yourself in the
academy of Plato. But I should do injustice to his house by com
paring it to the academy of Plato, where numbers and geographi
cal figures, and sometimes moral virtues, were the subjects of dis
cussion; it would be more just to call it a school and exercise of
the Christian religion. All its inhabitants, male or female applied
their leisure to liberal studies and profitable reading, although piety
was their first care. No wrangling, no angry word was heard in
it ; no one was idle ; every one did his duty with alacrity, and with
a temperate cheerfulness."!
But the most charming picture of More as a private man is
carelessly sketched by himself in a hurried Latin letter to Peter
GUes, his friend at Antwerp, lamenting the little time he could de
vote to literary composition :—
" For while in pleading, in hearing, in deciding causes, or com
posing disputes as an arbitrator, in waiting on some men about
business, and on others out of respect, the greatest part of the, day
is spent on other men's affairs, the remainder of it must be given
to my family at home; so that I can reserve no part to myself,
that is, to study. I must gossip with my wife and chat with my
children, and find something to say to my servants X ; for ah these
things I reckon a part of my business, unless I were to hecome.a
stranger in my own house; for with whomsoever either nature or
choice or chance has engaged a man in any relation of life, he
must endeavour to make himself as acceptable to them as he pos
sibly can. In such occupations as these, days, months, and years
shp away. Indeed all the time which I can gain to myself is that
which I steal from my sleep and my meals, and because that is
not much I have made but a slow progress.S"
Honour, worship, and reverence all his life,
But yet she pincheih him
With a shrewd wife.
Be content
*Ho er With SU°h reward as fortune hath you sent."
t Eras'.' Ep. Sir Thomas More.
liShm^ntUr-r,!rnafapted<'hi5S1C0,;verSati0n to the different members of his estab-
cum ministris "&e ^andum est, garriendum cum liberis, colloquendum
I Mortis Aegedio.

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 427
His time was now more than ever broke in upon by visits from
distinguished foreigners, who were eager to see him from his great
reputation abroad, and whose opinion of him he still farther exalted
by the charms of his manner and conversation.
To his great grief he was often obliged to lodge in the palace,
and his favour with the King and the Court threatened utterly to
interfere with all his domestic enjoyments, and to ruin his literary
projects. " The King's custom was, upon holydays, when he had
done his own devotions, to send for Sir Thomas into his traverse,
and there, sometimes in matters of astronomy, geometry, and di
vinity, and such other faculties, to sit and confer with him ; other-
whiles also, in the clear night, he would have him walk with him
on the leads, there to discourse with him of the diversity of the
courses, motions, and operations ofthe stars; and, because he was
of a very pleasant disposition, it pleased his Majesty and the
Queen, after the council had supped, commonly to call for him to
hear his pleasant jests." There was no remedy but to be dull.
" When Sir Thomas perceived his pleasant conceits so much to
delight them that he could scarce once in a month get leave to go
home to his wife and children, and that he could not be two days
absent from the Court but he must be sent for again, he much
misliking this restraint of his liberty, began therefore to dissemble
his mirth, and so little by little to disuse himself, that he from
thenceforth at such seasons was no more so ordinarily sent for." *
,In spite of all these distractions he not only most creditably per
formed all his public duties, but wrote works which gained the
highest degree of celebrity in his own time, and are now interest
ing and instructive.
Between the years 1514 and 1523 More was repeatedly employed
on embassies to the Low Countries, chiefly to setlle disputes about
trade and to negotiate commercial treaties, an employment which
he seems particularly to have disliked. On the first occasion he
was consoled for a long detention at Bruges by the company of his
colleague, Tunstal, then Master of the Rolls, and afterwards Bkh-
op of Durham, whom he celebrates as one not only fraught with
all learning, and sincere in his life and morals, but inferior to no
man as a delightful companion. Subsequently he had no one as
sociated with him ; and although he was pleased to meet the
friends of Erasmus, and was struck by the wealth and civilisation
he saw among the Flemings, he longed much for the repose of
his retreat at Chelsea, and for the embraces of his children.
He was much annoyed by being stationed a long time at Calais,
a place from which negotiations could be conveniently carried on
with the Continental states. On this occasion Erasmus writes to
Peter Giles, their common friend, " More is still at Calais, of which
he is heartily tired. He hves at great expense, and is engaged in
business most odious to him. Such are the rewards reserved by
* More.

428 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
kings for their favourites."* Afterwards More himself writes to
Erasmus : " I approve your determination never to be engaged in
the busy trifling of princes : from -which, as you love me, you must
wish that I were extricated. You cannot imagine how painfully I
feel myself plunged in them, for nothing can be more odious to
me than this legation. I am here banished to a petty seaport, of
which the air and the earth are equally disagreeable to me. Ab
horrent as I am by nature from strife, even when it is profitable, as
at home, you may judge how wearisome it is here, where it actu
ally causes a loss to me." He must have been much relieved by
the agreeable society of Wolsey, who crossed the Channel, for a
short time, to superintend the King's negotiations and his own.
In 1519 he was reluctantly obliged to resign his favourite office
r ir-iqi of under-sheriff the city being tired of giving him
1 ' ' 'J leave of absence when he went upon the King's
r 1 rc?. -, business ; but in 1521 he was rewarded with the of-
•• '¦¦''¦ I gce 0f Treasurer of the Exchequer, -which was of
considerable profit as well as dignity!
The next step in More's advancement "was the chair of the
r 1 ,„., i House of Commons. The great, or rather the only,
*- '* object of calling the parliament which met in April,
1523, being to obtain money, some management was thought ne-
cessary to provide against the parsimonious turn always shown by
the representatives of the people ; for, though generally willing to
comply with any other demand of the Crown, — when their pock
ets were touched, they were stern and resolute, granting only
moderate temporary supplies.! A good deal depended on the
Speaker, who not only exercised influence over the assembly as
president, but himself was in the habit of taking an active part in
the discussions. Although the choice of Speaker was nominally
with the Commons themselves, in reality it was dictated by the
Court; and on this occasion Sir Thomas More was selected from
his great fame and popularity, and from his having hitherto co-op
erated in the administration of Wolsey, as yet not liable to much
exception, and from the dread of his again acting the part of a
popular leader. The Commons were much gratified by the re
commendation, and joyfully presented their favourite as their
Speaker to the King sitting on his throne in the House of Lords.
More disqualified himself, referring to the story of Phormio the
* Eras. Ep.
_ t This appointment gave great satisfaction to all More's friends. Erasmus writ
ing to Binlams, says, " tst quod Moro gratuleris, nam Rex ilium nee ambientem
nee llag.tantem munere mamfico homestavil, addito salario nequaquum penitendo,
est eni.n pnncip. sno a thesauris." Ho adds, "Nee hoc contcntus, equitis aurati
dignitatem ndjecit. I'.ut Roper, who could not be mistaken, slates that he was
knighted within a month af cr he was made Master of Requests.
* Io tins snnginessof the Commons we must ascribe tbe liberties of Eng-
S'lr •S?i?n' ,Pt>r,nu,nent gran's would have led to the disuse of national
assemblies in this island, as well as on the Continent of Europe. Except the Cus
toms, no permanent tax was imposed before the middle of the seventeenth century

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 429
philosopher, " who desired Hannibal to come to his lectures,
which, when he consented to and came, Phormio began to read
De Re Militari — of chivalry ; but. as soon as Hannibal heard this,
he called the philosopher an arrogant fool to presume to teach him
who was already master of chivalry and all the arts of war."
" So," says Sir Thomas, " if I should presume to speak before
his Majesty of learning and the well ordering of the government,
or such like matters, the King, who is so deeply learned, such a
master of prudence and experience, might say to me as Hannibal
to Phormio." Wherefore he humbly besought his Majesty to or
der the Commons to choose another Speaker.
To this the Chancellor, by the King's command, replied, that
" His Majesty, by long experience of his service, was well ac
quainted with his wit, learning, and discretion, and that therefore
he thought the Commons had chosen the fittest person of them all
to be their Speaker "*
More then delivered a prepared speech, which was published
by his son-in-law, as is supposed from the original MS., and which
is curious as an authentic specimen of the state of the English
language in the beginning of the 16th century, and ofthe taste in
oratory which then prevailed :—
" Sith I perceive, most redoubted Sovereign, that it standeth
not withtyour pleasure to reform this election, and cause it to be
changed, but have, by the mouth of the most reverend father in
God, the Legate, your Highness's Chancellor, thereunto given
your most royal assent, and have of your benignity determined far
above that I may bear for this office to repute me meet, rather than
that you should seem to impute unto your Commons that they had
unmeetly chosen, I am ready obediently to conform myself to the
accomplishment of your Highness's pleasure and commandment."
Having begged a favourable construction on all his own words
and actions, he apologises for the rusticity of the Commons, and
prays privilege of speech. He says that great care had been taken
to elect discreet men according to the exigency of the writs, and
thus proceeds : —
" Whereby it is not to be doubted but that there is a very sub
stantial assembly of right, wise, meet, and politique persons ; yet
most precocious Prince, sith among so many wise men, neither is-
every man wise alike, nor among so many alike well witted, every
man well spoken ; and it often happeth that as much folly is
uttered with pointed polished speech, so many boisterous and rude
in language give right substantial counsel ; and sith also in matters
of great importance the mind is often so occupied in the matter
that a man rather stu dieth what to say than how ; by reason
whereof the wisest man and best speaker in a whole country
fortuneth, when his mind is fervent in the matter, somewhat to
speak in such wise as he would afterwards wish to have been ut-
* 1 Pari. Hist. 486.

480 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
tered otherwise, and yet no worse will had when he spake it, than
he had when he would so gladly change it. Therefore, most
generous Sovereign, considering that in your high court of par
liament is nothing treated but matter of weight and importance
concerning your realm and your own royal estate, it could not fail
to put to silence from the giving of their advice and counsel many
of your discreet Commons, to the great hindrance of your common
affairs, unless every one of your Commons were utterly discharged
of all doubt and fear how any thing that it should happen them to
speak should happen of your Highness to be taken. And in this
point, though your well known and proved benignity putteth every
man in good hope, yet such is the weight of the matter, such is
the reverend dread that the timorous hearts of your natural sub
jects conceive towards your Highness our most redoubted King
and undoubted Sovereign, that they cannot in this point find them
selves satisfied, except your gracious bounty therein declared put
away the scruple of their timorous minds, and put them out of
doubt. It may therefore like your most abundant Grace to give
to all your Commons here assembled, you most gracious license
and paulon freely, without doubt of your dreadful displeasure,
every man to discharge his conscience, and boldly in every thing
incident among us to declare his advice ; and whatsoever hap-
peneth any man to say, that it may like your noble Majesty, of
your inestimable goodness, to take all in good part, interpreting
every man's words, how uncunningly however they may be
couched, to proceed yet of good zeal towards the profit of your
realm and honour of your royal person ; and the prosperous estate
and preservation whereof, most excellent Sovereign, is the thing
which we all, your Majesty's humble, loving subjects, according to
the most bounden duty of our natural allegiance, most highly de
sire and pray for."*
This address has been blamed for servility ; but the epithets
applied to the King are merely in conformity to the established
usages of the times, and in pleading for the necessity of liberty
of speech More shows considerable boldness, while he indulges
in a few sarcasms on the country squires over whom he was to
preside. To please him still more, and to ensure his services in the sub
sidy, Judge More, his father, in spite of very advanced age, was
named in the Lords one of the " Triers of Petitions for Gascogny,"
an office which is still filled up at the commencement of every
parliament, and which, although become a sinecure, was then sup
posed to confer great dignity.
We have seen in the life of Wolsey! the independent spirit
which, in spite of these blandishments, in a few days after, More
displayed ; and the noble stand he made for the privileges of the
House of Commons. A reasonable supply, constitutionally ask-
* Roper, 13. t Ante, p. 389.

LORD CHANCELLOR- SIR THOMAS MORE. 431
ed, he was willing to have supported; but the extortionate de
mand which Wolsey thought, by his personal appearance in the
House, surrounded by all his pageantry, violently to enforce, was
dexterously resisted, to the disgrace and ridicule of the chief actor
in the scene. Well might the wish have been entertained, " that
More had been at Rome when he was made Speaker."*
Wolsey who, according to Erasmus, had " rather feared than
loved More" after this time, became seriously jealous of him as a
rival!; and meditating a refined vengence, attempted to banish
him to Spain under the title of ambassador, with strong profes
sions of admiration for the learning and wisdom of the proposed
diplomatist, and his peculiar fitness for a conciliatory adjustment
of the difficult matters which were at issue between the King and
his kinsman the Emperor. The overture being made to More, he
immediately perceived the artifice of it ; but resisted it on the al
legation that the Spanish climate would be fatal to his constitu
tion, beseeching Henry "not to send a faithful servant to his
grave." It is believed that the King saw into Wolsey's motives,
and -wished to have near him a man, whom he destined, at some
¦ future period, to become his chief minister. He kindly answered,
therefore, " It is not our meaning, Mr. More, to do you any hurt ;
but to do you good we should be glad. We shall, therefore, em
ploy you otherwise."!
He continued in great favour with the King ; and in the end of
the year 1525, on the death of Sir R. Wingfield he r 1 t.c>r ,
was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- ^ • <- -j
caster an office illustrated by distinguished lawyers and states
men down to our own timeS, and which More continued to hold
tUl he received the Great Seal of England.
As he was reluctant to visit the Palace, and seemed not quite
happy when he was there, " the King would on a sudden, come
over to his house at Chelsea, and be merry with him — even dining
with him without previous invitation or notice." On such occa
sions, from a true sense of hospitality, More did his best to enter
tain his royal guest, and put forth all his powers of pleasing. Ro
per particularly celebrates one of these visits, when the King was
so much delighted with his conversation that, after dinner he
walked with him in the garden by the space of an hour, holding
his arm about his neck. As soon as his Majesty was gone, Roper
congratulated his father-in-law on the distinguished honour that
* Roper, 20.
t More has been censured for having, while comparatively obscure, flattered lhe
great man; but I ihink without reason, as he confined bis commendation to Wol
sey's love of learning and patronage of the learned. Thus :
" Unice doctorum pater ac patrone virorum,
Pieridum pendet cujus ab ore chorus "
X Roper, 21.
§ Be it rcmembersd that I wrote the text in the year 1843, before I held, and
when I little expected ever to hold this office. — Note to Third Edition, 1848.

432 ,R E I G N OF HENRY VIII.
had been paid to him ; saying, "how happy must he be with
whom the King -was so lovingly familiar, the like of which had
never been seen before except once, when he walked arm in arm
with Cardinal Wolsey." " I thank our Lord," quoth he, " I find
his Grace my very good Lord indeed ; . and I believe he doth as
singularly favour me as any subject within this realm. Howbeit,
son Roper, I may tell thee I have no cause to be proud thereof;
for if my head would win him a castle in France, it should not
fail to go."*
This authentic anecdote shows, in a very striking manner, how
More had early penetrated the intense- selfishness, levity, heart-
lessness, and insensibility to remorse which constituted the char
acter of the King, while these bad qualities were yet disguised
by a covering of affability, hilarity, and apparent good humour,
and before they had shed the blood of a wife or a friend. The
world could little anticipate that Henry would actually one day
cut off More's head, even without any such substantial advantage
as the winning of a castle. Forthe present his Majesty delighted
to honour him.
On account of his facetiousness and his learning he was gen
erally obliged to attend the Court in the royal progresses, and at,
Oxford and Cambridge he was always the person appointed to
answer the Latin addresses to the King by the University orators-
Attending Henry to France, he was employed to make the speech
of congratulation when the English and French monarchs em
braced. So, when the Emperor landed in England, he welcomed
him in the King's name with such eloquence and grace, as to call
forth the admiration of Charles as well as of all his Flemish and
Spanish attendants.
More's European reputation was now at its height. He had
published his " Epigrams," his " Utopia," and his " Refutation of
the Lutherans," all of which bad been frequently reprinted in Ger
many and France. He carried on an epistolary correspondenqe
with all the most celebrated foreign literati, and he had spread
his fame in a way of which we can now have but an imperfect
notion, by academical disputations. Visiting every university
which he approached in his travels, " he would learnedly dispute
among them, to the great admiration of the auditory." " On one
occasion, when at Bruges, he gained no small applause by putting
down an arrogant pedant, who published a universal challenge to
dispute with any person "in omni scibili ct de quolibet ente."
lhe Englishman who studied at Lincoln's Inn, proposed the ques-
^°rrw~ w averiacarucm capita in vetito namio sint irreplegibilia?
' ihis ihraso or braggadocia not so much as understanding those
terms of our common law, knew not what to answer to it, and so
he was made a laughing-stock to the whole city for his presump
tuous bragging."! .
*Eoper'22- t 3 Black. Com. 148.

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 433
Now began the controversy about the King's divorce, which en
tirely changed the aspect of affairs, both civil and ecclesiastical in
England, and had a lasting effect upon the destinies of the nation.
More lies under the suspicion of some dissimulation or culpable
concealment of his sentiments upon this subject. When consult
ed by Henry respecting the legality of his marriage with his
brother's widow, he said it was a question only fit for theologians,
and referring him to the writings of St. Augustine and other lu
minaries of the Western Church, never would give any explicit
opinion from himself. It is possible that, unconsciously to himself,
More dissembled from prudence or ambition, and that he cherished
a secret hope of farther advancement, which would have been ex
tinguished by a blunt opposition to the royal inclination; but it is
likewise possible that he sincerely doubted on a question which
divided the learned world, and we are not hastily to draw infer
ences against him fromhis subsequent condemnation ofthe King's
union with Anne Boleyn before his marriage with Catherine had
been canonically dissolved according to the rules of the Bomish
Church, which he most potently believed to be binding on aU
Christians.* While the suit for the divorce was going on at Rome through
negotiations with Clemen, and before the Legatine Court opened
its sitting after the arrival of Campeggio, More appears to have
observed a strict neutrality, and he enjoyed the confidence of both
parties. Queen Catherine said, — " The King had but one sound
councillor in his kingdom, Sir Thomas More and as for Cardinal
Wolsey, then the greatest subject in the realm, for his own ben
efit or end not what counsel he gave." On the other hand, the
Duke of Norfolk, the uncle of Anne Boleyn, the Earl of Wiltshire,
her father, and Anne herself, who now secretly directed the King's
councils, had great hopes of bringing More into their designs as
an active partisan, and intended that he should be the successor
to Wolsey, whom they doomed to destruction if the divorce was
not speedily pronounced.
The Chancellor of the Duchy was still very submissive to the
Lord High Chancellor ; but we have an account of a scene at the
council-board about this time, which proves that there was no
love lost between them. "The Cardinal showed Sir Thomas the
draught of a treaty with a foreign power, asking his opinion of it,
and pressing him so heartily to say " whether there were any
thing therein io be misliked," that he believed there was a desire
to hear the truth, and pointed out some great faults committed in
* In his gratulatory verses on the King's accession, he had pronounced this mar
riage to be most auspicious :
" Conjugio, superi quod decrevere benigni,
Quo tibi, quoque tuis consulucre bene."
He then goes on to compare Catherine to Penelope, Cornelia, and the most meri
torious matrons of antiquity, showing that she excelled them all.
vol. I. 37

434 REIGN OS HENRY VIII-
it. Whereupon the Cardinal, starting up in a rage, exclaimed,
 »By the Mass, thou ar the veriest fool of the Council;" at
which Sir Thomas, smiling .said— " God be thanked, the King our
Master hath but one fool ir his Council."
Nevertheless, being aga u associated with Tunstal, now Bishop
of Durham, he was sent Ambassador to Cambray to treat of a
general peace between England, France and the extensive states
ruled over by Charles V. Ii: this his last foreign mission he was
supposed to have displayed the highest diplomatic skiU, "he so
worthily handled himself, that he procured far more benefits unto
this realm than by the King or the Council had been thought pos
sible to be compassed."* During his stay abroad he became very
homesick, but wrote thus merrily to Erasmus: — " I do not like
my office of an ambassador ; it doth not suit a married man thus
to leave his family ; it is much fitter for you ecclesiastics, who
have no wives and children at home, or who find them wheresoever
you go."X
Soon after his return he paid a visit to the King at Woodstock,
where he heard of the great misfortune of the principal part of
his house at Chelsea, and all his outhouses and barns filled with
corn being consumed by a fire, raised by the negligence of a
neighbour's servant. The letter he wrote to his old wife on this
occasion excites our admiration of him more than all his learned
works, his -public despatches, or his speeches in parliament. I
must likewise observe, that for style it is much better and much
nearer the English of the present day than the elaborate composi
tions which he wrote for publication. But besides the delightful
glance that it gives of the manners and customs of private life in
a remote age, its great charm will be found in the unaffected piety,
in the gaiety 'of heart, and in the kindness of disposition which it
evinces :
" Mistress Alyce, — In my most harty will, I recommend me
to you. And whereas I am enfourmed by my son Heron of the
loss of our barnes, and our neighbours also, wi aU the come that
was therein, albeit (saving God's pleasure) it is gret pitie of so
much good come lost, yet sith it hath liked hym to send us such a
tation w6 ™USt not only be content, but also be glad of his visi-
such a cCceW-Pn >* ^ We have lost: and sith he hath by
us never gru^e ther^fTT ff^16' his P^asure be fulfilled. Let
thank him, as" well fo ' adveSt,^ "' £°°d WOrth> and hartely
adventure we have more cause to th **! ?¦ ProsPe'itie-. And Par
for our winning, for his wi^r? \haak hun for our losse, than
us than we do ourselves Thl , etIer seeth what is good for
and take aU the howsold with ™ ° t & , Pmy ?on be of g°°d cheere'
both for that he hath givel is m d ? Cl]uIch' and there thank God
S S' and ior tha* he hath left us, which
* Roper, 36.
t « Qui primum uxores »c liberos aut domi „„„ habetis aut I ¦
"metis aut ubique reperitis? —

LORD CHANCELLOR SIR THOMAS MORE. 435
if it please hym, he can increase when he will. And if it please
him to leave us yet lesse, at hys pleasure be it. I praye you to
make some good ensearche what my poor neighbours have loste,
and bidde them take no thought therefore, and if I shold not leave
myself a spone, there shall no poore neighbour of mine bere no
losse by any chance happened in my house. I pray you be with
my children and household mery in God. And devise somewhat
with your friends, what way wer best to take, for provision to be
made for come for our household and for sede thys yere coming,
if ye thinke it good that we keepe the ground still in our handes.
And whether ye think it good yl we so shall do or not, yet I think
it were not best sodenlye thus to leave it all up, and to put away ¦
our folk of our farme, till we have somewhat advised us thereon.
Howbeit if we have more nowe than ye shall neede, and which
can get the other maister's, ye may then discharge us of them.
But I would not that any man wer sodenly sent away he wote
nere wether. At my coming hither, I pereived none other, but
that I shold tary still with the kinges grace. But now I shall (I
think), because of this chance, get leave this next weke to come
home and se you ; and then shall we further devise together upp
on all thinges, what order shall be best to take-, and thus as hart-
ely fare you well with all our children as you can wishe. At
Woodstok the thirde daye of Septembre, by the hand of
'' Your loving husband,
" Thomas Moke, Knight."
The Court was now sojourning at Woodstock after its return
from Grafton, where Henry had taken his final leave of Wolsey.*
More having rendered an account of his embassy was allowed to
visit his family at Chelsea, and Henry, with the Lady Anne, first
moved to Richmond, and then to Greenwich, where, as we have
seen, Wolsey being deprived ofthe Great Seal and iqc_ 35 1
qanished to Esher, the new arrangements were com- *¦
pleted, and Sir Thomas Mure was sworn in Lord Chancellor.t

CHAPTER XXXIL

LIFE 01" SIR THOMAS MORE FROM HIS APPOINTMENT AS LORD CHAN
CELLOR TILL HIS RESIGNATION.
The merit of the new Lord Chancellor was universally acknow
ledged, and Wolsey himself admitted " that he was r0cT 15S9 ,
the fittest man to be his successor ;" X but there was »¦ 'J
*Ante, p. 400. tAnte, p. 415.
t Shakspeare has ralher lowered the terms of the compliment, although ho

436 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
ft great apprehension lest, having no ecclesiastical dignity, no crosses
to carry before him, no hereditary rank, and no judicial reputation
beyond what he had acquired when under-sheriff of London, —
from the prejudices of the vulgar, the office might be considered
lowered in dignity after being held by a Cardinal- Archbishop, the
Pope's Legate, and prime minister of the Crown.
To guard against this impression, a very splendid pageant was
got up for More's installation. The procession was headed by the
Duke of Norfolk, the first Peer in the realm, and the Duke of Suf
folk, the King's brother-in-law, — all the nobility and courtiers in
and near London, and all the judges and professors of the law fol
lowing. When they had reached Palace Yard the new Chancellor, in his
robes, was led between the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk up
Westminster Hall to the Stone Chamber, at the south-west corner
of it, where were the marble table and marble chair, — and there
being placed in the high judgment seat of Chancellor, the Duke
of Norfolk, by the command of the King, spoke thus unto the
people there with great applause and joy gathered together:
" The King's Majesty (which I pray God may prove happy and
fortunate to the whole realm of England) hath raised to the most
high dignity of Chancellorship Sir Thomas More, a man for his
extraordinary worth and sufficiency well known to himself and the
whole realm, for no other cause or earthly respect, but for that he
hath plainly perceived all the gifts of nature and grace to he
heaped upon him, which either the people could desire, or himself
wish for the discharge of so great an office. For the admirable
wisdom, integrity, and innocency, joined with most pleasant fa-
cUity of wit, that this man is endued withal, have been sufficiently
known to all Englishmen from his youth, and for these many years
also to the King's majesty himself. This hath the King abun
dantly found in many and weighty affairs, which he hath happily
despatched both at home and abroad ; in divers offices, which he
hath borne in most honourable embassages, which he hath under
gone, and in his daily counsel and advices upon all other occasions.
He hath perceived no man in his realm to be more wise in de
liberating, more sincere in opening to him what he thought, nor
more eloquent to adorn the matter which he uttered. Wherefore
because he saw in him such excellent endowments, and that of his
especial care" he hath a particular desire that his kingdom and
makes the Cardinal behave very gracefully when he hears of the new appointment.
" Crom.  Sir Thomas More is chosen
Lord Chancellor in your place."
" Wols. That's somewhat sudden :
But he's a learned man. May he continue
Long in his Highness' favour, and do justice
For truth's sake and his conscience; that his bones
When he has run his course, and sleeps in blessings,
May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on 'em."
Hen. VIII. act. iii. scene 2.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 437
people might be governed with all equity and justice, integrity
and wisdom : he of his own most gracious disposition hath created
this singular man Lord Chancellor ; that by his laudable perform
ance of this office, his people may enjoy peace and justice, and
honour also and fame may redound to the whole kingdom. It may
perhaps seem to many a strange and unusual matter, that this dig
nity should be bestowed upon a lay-man, none of the nobility, and
one that hath wife and children ; because heretofore none but sin
gular learned prelates, or men of greatest nobility, have possessed
this place ; but what is wanting in these respects, the admirable
virtues, the matchless gifts of wit and wisdom of this man doth
most plentifully recompense the same. For tiie King's majesty
hath not regarded how great, but what a man he was : he hath not
cast his eyes upon the nobility of his blood, but on the worth of
his person ; he hath respected his sufficiency, not his profession;
finally he would show by this his choice, that he hath some rare
subjects amongst the gentlemen and lay-men, who deserve to
manage the highest offices of the realm, which bishops and noble
men think they only can deserve : which the rarer it is, so much
he thought it would be to you the more acceptable, and to the
whole kingdom most grateful. Wherefore receive this your Chan
cellor with joyful acclamations, at whose hands you may expect
all happiness and content."
" Sir Thomas More," says his great-grandson, " according to his
wonted modesty, was somewhat abashed at this the Duke's speech,
in that it sounded so much to his praise; but recollecting himself
as that place and time would give him leave, he answered in this
sort: —
" Although, most noble Duke, and you right honourable Lords,
and worshipful gentlemen, I know all these things which the King's
majesty, it seemth, hath been pleased should be spoken of me at
this time and place, and your Grace hath, -with most eloquent
words thus amplified, are as far from me as I could wish wilh aU
my heart they were in me for the better performance of so great
a charge : and although this your speech hath caused in me greater
fear than lean well express in words, yet this incomparable favour
of my dread Sovereign, by which he showeth how well, yea how
highly he conceiveth of my weakness, having commanded that
my meanness should be so greatly commended, cannot be but
most acceptable unto me ; and I cannot chose but give your most
noble Grace exceeding thanks, that what his Majesty hath willed
you briefly to utter, you of the abundance of your love unto me
have in a large and eloquent oration, dilated. As for myself, I
can take it no otherwise but that his Majesty's incomparable favour
towards me, the good will and incredible propension of his royal
mind (wherewith he hath these many years favoured me contin
ually) hath alone, without any desert of mine at all, caused both
this my new honour, and these your undeserved commendations
of me ; for who am I, or what is the house of my father, that the
3.7*

438 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
King's highness should heap upon me, by such a perpetual stream
of affection, these so high honours ? I am far less than any the
meanest of his benefits bestowed on me ; how can I then think
myself worthy or fit for this so peerless dignity ? I have been
drawn by force, as the King's majesty often professeth, to his High
ness's service, to be a courtier ; but to take this dignity upon me,
is most of all against my will ; yet such is his Highness's benig
nity, such is his bounty, that he highly esteemeth the small du-
tif ulness of his meanest subjects, and seeketh still magnificently
to recompense his servants ; not only such as deserve well, but
even such as have but a desire to deserve well at his hands. In
which number I have always wished myself to be reckoned, be
cause I cannot challenge myself to be one of the former ; which
being so, you may all preceive with me, how great a burden is
laid upon my back, in that I must strive in some sort with my
diligence and duty to correspond with his royal benevolence, and
to be answerable to that great expectation which he and you seem
to have of me ; wherefore those high praises are by so much the
more grievous unto me, by how much I know the greater charge
I have to render myself worthy of, and the fewer means I have
to make them good. This weight is hardly suitable to my weak
shoulders ; this honour is not correspondent to my poor deserts ;
it is a burthen, not glory ; a care, not a dignity ; the one therefore
I must bear as manfuUy as I can, and discharge the other with as
much dexterity as I shall be able. The earnest desire which I
have always had, and do now acknowledge myself to have, to
satisfy by all means I can possible the most ample benefits of his
Highness, will greatly excite and aid me to the dUigent performance
of all ; which I trust also I shall be rnore able to do, if I find all
your good wills and wishes both favourable unto me, and conform
able to his royal munificence ; because my serious endeavours.-to
do well, joined with your favourable acceptance, will eastiy pro
cure that whatsoever is performed by me, though it be in itself but
small, yet will it-seem great and praiseworthy, for those things, are
always achieved happily which are accepted willingly ; and those
succeed fortunately which are received by others courteously. As
you therefore do hope for great matters, and the best at my hands,
so though I dare not promise any such, yet do I promise truly and
affectionately to perform the best I shall be able." — When Sir
Thomas had spoken these words, turning his face to the high
judgment-seat of the Chancery, he proceeded in this manner:
" But when I look upon this seat, when I think how great and
what kind of personages have possessed this place before me,
when I call to mind who he was that sat in it last of all ; a man
of what singular wisdom, of what notable experience, what a
prosperous and favourable fortune he had for a great space, and
how, at last dejected with a heavy downfall, he hath died inglorious;
I have cause enough, by my predecessor's example, to think honour
but slippery, and this dignity not so greatful to me as it may seem

LORD CHANCELLOR. 439
to others ; for both it is a hard matter to follow with like paces or
praises a man of such admirable wit, prudence, authority, and
splendour, to whom I may seem but as the lighting of a candle
when the sun is down ; and also the sudden and unexpected fall
of so great a man as he was doth terribly put me in mind that this
honour ought not to please me too much, nor the lustre of this glis
tering seat dazzle mine eyes. Wherefore I ascend this seat as
a place full of labour and danger, void of all solid and true hon
our ; the which by how much the higher it is, by so much greater
fall I am to fear, as well in respect of the very nature of the thing
itself, as because I am warned by this late fearful example. And
truly I might even now at this very firsK entrance stumble, yea
faint, but that his Majesty's most singular favour towards me, and
all your good wills, which your joyful countenance doth testify in
this most honourable assembly, doth somewhat recreate and re
fresh me; otherwise, this seat would be no' more pleasing to me
than that sword was to Damocles, which hung over his head, and
tied only by a hair of a horse's tail, seated him in the chair of state
of Denis, the tyrant of Sicily: this, therefore, shallbe always fresh
in my mind; this will I have still before mine eyes — that this
seat will be honourable, famous, and full of glory unto me, if I
shall with care and diligence, fidelity and wisdom, endeavour to
do my duty, and shall persuade myself that the enjoying thereof
may change to be but short and uncertain ; the One whereof my
labour ought to perform, the other, my predecessor's example may
easily teach me. All which being so, you may easily perceive
what pleasure I take in this high dignity, or in this noble Duke's
praising of me."*
More's elevation was not only very popular in England, but was
heard with great satisfaction by the learned in foreign countries.
To prove this it will be enough to copy a single sentence addres-
* These inaugural speeches, as here given, are taken from More's Life by his
great-grandson, and are adopted without suspicion by his subsequent biographers, —
among others by the acute Sir James Mackintosh ; — but there is reason lo ques
tion their genuineness. Unless tbe expression, " dejected with a heavy downfall,
he hath died inglorious," means, by way of figure, his political death, it belrays fab
rication and a gross anachronism, for Wolsey was now alive (if not merry) at
Esher, and he did not meet his natural death at Leicester Abbey till late in the fol
lowing year. The Chancellor's great grandson is exceedingly inaccurate about
dates, and ignorant of history. He really does suppose that Sir Thomas More
was not made Chancellor till after Wolsey's death (edition 1828, by Hunter, p.
169.), which may afford a fair inference that the speeches are of his manufacture.
Roper gives a very brief sketch of the Duke of Norfolk's speech, being charged by
the King to make declaration "how much all England was beholden to Sir Thomas
More for his good service, and how worthy he was to have the highest room (office)
in the realm, and how dearly his Grace loved and trusted him." In return, Sir
Thomas " disabled himself to be unmeet for that room, wherein considering how
wise and honorable a Prelate had lately before taken so great a fall, be had no
canse thereof to rejoice." Mure, the great-grandson, had so much degenerated in
historical lore as to assert that his ancestor was the first layman who ever held the
Great Seal, forgetting not only the Scrope s and the Arundels, but the Patynges
and the Knyvets, celebrated by Lord Coke, his own contemporary.

440 REIGN OF HENRT VIII.
sed by Erasmus to John Fabius, Bishop of Vienna. " Concerning
the new increase of honour experienced by Thomas More, I
should easily make you believe it, were I to show you the letters of
many famous men, rejoicing with much alacrity, and congratulat
ing the King, the realm, himself, and also me, on his promotion to
be Lord Chancellor of England."*
When the fleeting flutter of pleasurable excitement from the
first entrance into high office had passed away, More himself must
have looked back with regret to the period of his life when he
was first making way in his profession as an advocate, or when he
was quietly engaged in his literary pursuits ; and as nothing hap
pened which might not easily have been foreseen, we may rather
feel surprise that, with a delicate conscience, and a strong sense
of duty, he should accept this dangerous office, and associate him
self with such unscrupulous colleagues. He well knew the vio
lent and reckless character of the King ; he must have expected
very painful work in the pending proceedings against his pre
decessor; he was sure that the divorce would be prosecuted; and
other subjects of dispute were springing up with the See of Rome
to cause a conflict between his interest and his duty. He prob
ably hoped, either that the divorce would be finally sanctioned and
decreed by the Pope, or that Henry, tired of Anne Boleyn, would
abandon the project of making her his -wife; and that all minor
difficulties might disappear or be overcome.
During the two years and a half he held the Great Seal, he
must have enjoyed the most solid satisfaction in the assiduous
honest, admirable discharge of his duties as a Judge; but, except
when sitting in the Court of Chancery, his mind must have been
filled with doubts, scruples, apprehensions, and antagonist wishes
— sometimes overborne by an inclination to support the plans of
the King, and sometimes struck with the conviction that they
were inconsistent with his allegiance to the Head of the Church;
— sometimes thinking that he should add to the splendour of his
reputation, by directing, in high office, the government of a great
empire, and sometimes dreading lest the fame he had already ac
quired should be tarnished by his acquiescence in measures which
would be condemned by posterity; — sometimes regarding only
the good he did by the improved administration of justice, and
sometimes shocked by the consideration that this might be greatly
overbalanced by the sanction he might be supposed to give to
tyrannical acts in other departments of the government over
which he had no control; — sometimes carried away by the desire
to advance his family and his friends, and at last seeing that he
could only continue to have the means of serving them by sacri
ficing Ms country.
* Eras. Epist. More. 177. In a letter to another correspondent, wriften at the
same time, Erasmus, after stating that on Wolsey's disgrace the office of Chancel
lor was declined by Warham, says, " liaque piovincia dclcgata est Thomae Moro
rnagno omnium applausu, nee roinore bonorum omnium lauitia subvectus, quam
dejectaus Cardinalis " — Ep. 1115.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 441
A few days after his installation he was called upon, as Chan
cellor, to open the parliament, which had been sum- rlvr , ,9„ 1
moned for the impeachment of Wolsey. The King "- J
being on the throne, and the Commons attending at the bar, the
new Chancellor spoke to this effect * : —
" That, like as a good shepherd, who not only tendeth and keep
eth well his sheep, but also foreseeth and provideth against every
thing which either may be hurtful or noisome to his flock, or may
preserve and defend the same against all chances to come ; so the
King, who was the shepherd, ruler, and governor of this realm,
vigilantly foreseeing things to come, considered how divers laws,
by long continuance of time and mutation of things, were now
grown insufficient and imperfect ; and also that, by the frail con
dition of man, divers new enormities were sprung up amongst the
people for the which no law was made to reform the same, he said,
was the very cause why, at this time, the King had summoned his
High Court of Parliament. He resembled the King to a shepherd
or herdsman also for this cause ; if a King is esteemed only for
his riches, he is but a rich man ; if for his honour, he is but an
honourable man ; but compare him to the multitude of his people
and the number of his flock, then he is a ruler, a governor of might
and power ; so that his people maketh him a prince, as of the mul
titude of sheep cometh the name of a shepherd. And as you see
that amongst a great flock of sheep some be rotten and faulty,
which the good shepherd sendeth from the- sound sheep, so the
great wether which is late fallen, as you all know, juggled with
the King so craftily, scabbedly, and untruly, that all men must
think that he imagined himself that the King had no sense to per
ceive his crafty doings, or presumed that he would not see or un
derstand his fraudulent juggling and attempts. But he was de
ceived ; for his Grace's sight was so quick and penetrable, that he
not only saw him but saw through him, both within and without ;
so that he -was entirely open to him. According to his desert, he
hath had a gentle correction ; which small punishment the King
would not should be an example to other offenders ; but openly
declareth that whosoever hereafter shall make the like attempt,
or commit the like offences shall not escape with the like punish
ment."! It must be confessed that he does not here mention his prede
cessor with the same generosity and good taste as in his inaugural
discourse in the Court of Chancery, but he might feel obliged to
consult the feelings of those whom he addressed, particularly the
members of the Upper House, to whom the Ex-chancellor's name
was most odious, and who were impatient to see a severe sentence
pronounced upon him.
Sir Thomas Audley, the future Lord Chancellor, being elected
Speaker, the business of the session began by the appointment of
# 1 Pari. Hist. 491. t 1 Pari. Hist. 490.

442 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
a committee, of which Lord Chancellor More was chairman, to
prepare articles of charge against Wolsey. It is a curious fact,
that the two Chief Justices, Fitzherbert and Fitzjames, were call
ed in to serve on this committee, and signed the articles. These,
to the number of forty-four, were immediately agreed to by the
House of Lords, and sent down to the Commons. I have already
observed that, considering how many of these articles were frivo^
lous or were unfounded in fact, and that Wolsey's violations ofthe
law and constitution by raising taxes without the authority of par
liament, and other excesses of the prerogative, were entirely pass
ed over, the proceeding is not very creditable to the memory of Sir
Thomas More ; and seeing the subsequent fate of the accusation
in the o'her House, we cannot help suspecting that he was privy
to a scheme for withdrawing Wolsey from the judgment of parlia
ment, and leaving him entirely at the mercy of his arbitrary mas
ter. We must give praise to the Chancellor, however, for having
r 1 ,„q  1 _„„ -, suggested several statutes, which were now pass-
•¦ 'J ed, to put down extortion on the probate of wills*,
and in the demands for mortuariesf, and to prevent clerical per
sons from engaging in trade. t Other ecclesiastical reforms were
loudly called for, but he did not venture to countenance them ;
and, to his great relief, on the 17th of December, the session was
closed. Not being a member of the House, he did not openly
take any part in the debates, but he was named on committees,
and the proceedings of the Lords -were entirely governed by
him. He had now leisure to attend to the business of Chancery.
Notwithstanding the great abilities of Wolsey as a judge, abuses
had multiplied and strengthened during his administration, and a
very loud cry arose for equity reform. To the intolerable vexa
tion of the subject, writs of subpoena had been granted on pay
ment of the fees, without any examination as to whether there
were any probable cause for involving innocent individuals in a
Chancery suit ; a heavy arrear of causes stood for adjudication,
some of which were said to have been depending for twenty
years ; and the general saying went, that " no one could hope for
a favourable judgment unless his fingers were tipt with gold ;"—
which probably arose, not from the bribes received directly by the
Chancellor himself, but from the excessive fees and gratuities de
manded by his officers and servants.
The new Chancellor began by an order that " no subpoena
should issue till a bill had been filed, signed by the attorney ; and,
he himself having perused it, had granted a fiat for the commence
ment of the suit."
It is related that, acting under this order, he showed his charac
teristic love of justice and jesting. When he had perused a very

* 21 Hen. 8. c. 5. t Ibid. u. 6.

X Ibid. c. 13.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 443
foolish bill, signed " A. Tnbbe," he wrote immediately above the
signature the words " A tale of." The luckless attorney being
told that the Lord Chancellor had approved his bill, carried it joy
fully to his client, who, reading it, discovered the gibe.*
Having heard causes in the forenoon between eight and eleven,
— after dinner he sat in an open hall, and received the petitions of
all who chose to come before him ; examining their cases, and
giving them redress when it was in his power, according to law
and good conscience ; and " the poorer and the meaner the sup
pliant was, the more affably he would speak unto him, the more
heartily he would hearken to his cause, and, with speedy trial,
despatch him."t This was louked upon as a great contrast to the
demeanour of the haughty Cardinal.
The present Chancellor not only himself refused all corrupt of
fers that were made to him, but took effectual measures to prevent
any one dependent upon him, or connected with him, from inter
fering improperly with the even march of justice. This rigour
called forth a remonstrance from his son-in-law, Dancey, who, on
a time, merrily said unto him : " When Cardinal Wolsey was Lord
Chancellor, not only divers of his Privy Chamber, but such also
as -were his door-keepers, got great gains by him ; and sith I have
married one of your daughters, I might of reason look for some
commodity ; but you are so ready to do for every poor man, and
keep no doors shut, that I can find no gains at all, which is to me
a great discouragement ; whereas else, some for friendship, some
for profit, and some for kindred, would gladly use my furtherance
to bring them to your presence ; and now, if I should take any
tiling of them, I should do them great wrong, because they may
daily do as much for themselves ; which thing, though it is in you,
sir, very commendable, yet to me I find it nothing profitable."
The first part of the Chancellor's answer can only be accounted for
by supposing that he wished not only to mollify, but to mystify his
son-in-law ; or, that such practices as would now be matter of severe
censure or impeachment, wera then considered praiseworthy by
the most virtuous : he winds up, in a manner to convince us, that
in no particular, however small, he would have swerved from what
he considered right : " I do not mislike, son, that your conscience is
so scrupulous^; but there be many other ways wherein I may
both do yourself good, and pleasure your friends ; for sometime,
by my word, I may stand your friend in stead ; sometime I may
help him greatly by my letter ; if he hath a cause depending be
fore me, I may hear it before another, at your entreaty ; if his
cause be not all the best, I may move the parties to fall to some rea
sonable end by arbitrament. But this one thing I assure thee, on
my faith, that if the parties will at my hands call for justice and
equity, then, although it were my father, whom I reverence dear-
*More, 132. t Ibid 178.
t That is, not taking a bribe when he could do no service for it.

444 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
ly, that stood on the one side, and the devil, whom I hate ex
tremely, were on the other side, his cause being just, the devil of
me should have his right."*
Of this stern impartiality he soon after gave a practical proof:
for another son-in-law. Heron, having a suit depending before him,
and refusing to agree to any reasonable accommodation, because
the Judge was the most affectionate father to his children that
ever was in the world, " then made he, in conclusion, a flat decree
against him."t
He was cautious in granting injunctions, yet granted and main
tained them with firmness where he thought that justice required
his interference with the judgments of the Courts of common
law. Differing from Lord Bacon in the next age, he -was of opin
ion that law and equity might be beneficially administered by the
same tribunal, and he made an effort to induce the common-law
Judges to relax the rigour of their rules, with a view to meet the
justice of particular cases ; but, not succeeding in this, he reso
lutely examined their proceedings, and stayed trials and execu
tions whereve'r it seemed to him that wrong would be done from
their refusal to remedy the effects of accident, to enforce the per
formance of trusts, or to prevent secret frauds from being profita
ble to the parties concerned in them.
These injunctions issued, however cautiously, from the Court
of Chancery, having on the other side of the Hall caused much
grumbling, which reached the ears of the Chancellor, through
Boper his son-in-law and bioprapher, — " thereupon caused he one
Master Crooke, chief of the Six" Clerks, to make a docket, con
taining the, whole mumber and causes of all such injunctions, as
either in his time had already passed, or' at present depended, in
any of the King's Courts at Westminster, before him. Which
bone, he invited all the Judges to dine with him in the Council
Chamber at Westminster; where, after dinner, when he had
broken with them what complaints he had heard of his injunc
tions and moreover showed them both the number and causes of
every one of them, in order so plainly, that upon full debating of
those matters they were all enforced to confess that they, in like
case, could have done no otherwise themselves."J At this same
compotation, he again offered, "that if the Justices of every Court
unto whom the reformation! of the rigour of the law, by reason of
their office, most especially appertained, would, upon reasonable
considerations, by their own discretions (as they were as he
thought m conscience bound,) mitigate and reform the rigour of
the law themselves, there should from thenceforth, bv him no
more injunctions be granted." They still refusing, he said to them,
Forasmuch as yourselves, my Lords, drive me to that necessity
for awarding out injunctions to relieve the people's injury, you
cannot hereafter any more justly blame me."f
* More, 179. t Ibid. 180. t Roper, 42. {Ibid.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 445
When these reverend sages had swallowed a proper allowance
of Gascony wine, and taken their departure, the Chancellor inti
mated to Boper his private opinion that they were not guided by
principle, and merely wished to avoid trouble and responsibility.
" I perceive, son, why they like not so to do. For they see that
they may, by the verdict of the jury, cast off all quarrels from
themselves, and therefore am I compelled to abide the adventure
of all such reports."*
The commissions for hearing causes issued in Wolsey's time
Were not renewed, and very little assistance was required from
Taylor, the Master of the Rolls ; yet the Chancellor himself, from
his assiduity, quickness and early experience as a judge, in the
course of a few terms, completely subdued aU the arrears, and
during the rest of his Chancellorship every cause was decided as
soon as it was ripe for hearing. Nor did he acquire a reputation
for despatch by referring every thing to the Master, but, on the
contrary, "he used to examine all matters that came before him,
like an arbitrator ; and he patiently worked them out himself to
a final decree, which he drew and signed."!
One morning before the end of term, having got through his
paper, he was told by the officers that there was not another cause
or petition to be set down before him; whereupon, with a justifi
able vanity, he ordered the fact to be entered of record, as it had
never happened before ; — and a prophecy was then uttered which
has been fully verified :
" When More sometime had Chancellor been
No more suits did remain ;
Tbe same shall never more be seen,
Till Moke be there again."
But there is no circumstance during his Chancellorship that
affects our imagination so much, or gives us such a lively notion
of the manners of the times, as his demeanour to his father. Sh
John More, now near ninety years of age, was hale in body and
sound in understanding, and continued vigorously to perform the
duties of senior puisne Judge in the Court of King's Bench.
Every day during term time, before the Chancellor began business
in his own Court, he went into the Court of King's Bench, and,
kneeling before his father, asked and received his blessing.} So
if they met together at readings in Lincoln's Inn, notwithstanding
* Ibid. 43. I know not whether the art had been then invented which is said in
later times to have been occasionally practised by Judges for the purpose of "' cast-
inn- off quarrels," i. u. avoiding bills of exceptions and motions for new trials, —
of°deciding fact themselves, and leaving the law to the jury, — or of mixing up the
law and the fact so ingeniously as to render it difficult at the trial to discover what
the direction to the jury was, and afterwards very easy for the Judges to give any
convenient representation of it. t Roper, 44.
t I am old enough to remember that when the Chancellor left his Court, if the
Court of King's Bench was sitting, a curtain was drawn, and bows were exchang
ed between him and the Judges, so that I can easily picture to myself the " bless
ing scene" between the father and son.
vol. I. 38

446 REIGN OF HENRT VIII.
his high office, he offered the pre-eminence in argument to his
father, though, from a regard to judicial subordination, this offer
was always refused.
In about a year after Sir Thomas's elevation, the old Judge was
seized with a mortal illness — (as it was supposed) from a surfeit
of grapes. " The Chancellor, for the better declaration of his
natural affection towards his father, not only while he lay on his
death-bed, according to his duty, ofttimes with kindly words came
to visit him, but also, at his departure out of the world, with tears
taking him about the neck, most lovingly kissed and embraced
him, commending his soul into the merciful hands of Almighty
God."* Instead of imitating Wolsey's crosses, pillars, and pollaxes, More
was eager to retreat into privacy, and even in public to comport
himself with all possible simplicity. On Sundays, while he was
Lord Chancellor, instead of marching with great parade through
the city of London to outrival the nobles at the court at Green
wich, he walked with his family to the parish church at Chelsea,
and there, putting on a surplice, sung with the choristers at matins
and high mass. It happened one day that the Duke of Norfolk,
coming to Chelsea to dine with him, found him at church, with a
surplice on his back, singing. As they walked homeward together
arm in arm, after service, the Duke said, " God's body ! God's body !
My Lord Chancellor a parish clerk ! a parish clerk ! You dishon
our the King and his office." "Nay," quoth he, smiling ;" your
Grace may not think that the King, your master and mine, will,
with me, for serving his Master, be offended, or thereby account his
office dishonoured."!
In religious processions he would himself carry the cross; and
in " Bogation Week," when they were very long, and he had to
follow those who carried the rood round the parish, being coun
selled to use a horse for his dignity, he would answer, '' It beseem-
eth not the servant to follow his master prancing on cockhorse,
his master going on foot."
After diligently searching the books, I find the report of only one
judgment which he pronounced during his chancellorship, and this
I shall give in the words of the reporter : —
" It happened on a time that abeggar-woman's little dog, which
she had lost, was presented for a jewel to Lady More, and she had
kept it some se'nnight very carefully ; but at last the beggar had
notice where the dog was, presently she came to complain to Sir
Thomas, as he was sitting in his hall, that his lady withheld her
dog from her. Presently my Lady was sent for, and the dog
brought with her ; which Sir Thomas, taking in his hands, caused
his wife, because she was the worthier person, to stand at the up
per end of the hall, and the beggar at the lower end, and saying
that he sat there to do every one justice, he bade each of them
* More, 184. t Roper, 49.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 447
call the dog; which, when they did, the dog went presently to the
beggar, forsaking my Lady. When he saw this, he bade my Lady
be contented, for it was none of hers ; yet she, repining at the
sentence of my Lord Chancellor, agreed with the beggar, and gave
her a piece of gold, which would well have bought three dogs,
and so all parties weie agreed ; every one smiling to see his man
ner of inquiring out the truth."*
It must be acknowledged that Solomon himself could not have
heard and determined the case more wisely or equitably, t
But a grave charge has been brought against the conduct of
More while Chancellor, — that he was a cruel and even bloody
persecutor of the Lutherans. This is chiefly founded on a story
told by Fox, the Martyrologist — "that Burnham, a reformer, was
carried out of the Middle Temple to the Chancellor's house at
Chelsea, where he continued in free prison awhile, till the time
that Sir Thomas More saw that he could not prevail in perverting
him to his sect. Then he cast him into prison in his own house,
and whipped him at the tree in his garden called ' the tree of
Troth] and after sent him to the Tower to be racked." X Burnet
and other very zealous Protestants have likewise countenanced
the supposition that More's house was really converted into a soit
of prison of the Inquisition, he himself being the Grand Inquisi
tor; and that there was a tree in his grounds where the Beformeis
so often underwent flagellation under his superintendence, that it
acquired the appellation of " the tree of Troth'' But let us hear
what is said on this subject by More himself — allowed on all
hands (however erroneous his opinions on religion) to have been
the most sincere, candid, and truthful of men : —
" Divers of them have said, that of such as were in my house
when I was Chancellor, I used to examine them with torments,
causing them to be bound to a tree in my garden, and there
piteously beaten. Except their sure keeping, I never else did
cause any such thing to be done unto any of the heretics in all my
life, except only twain : one was a child, and a servant of mine in
mine own house, whom his father, ere he came to me, had nursed
up in such matters, and set him to attend upon George Jay. This
Jay did teach the child his ungracious heresy against the blessed
sacrament of the altar; which heresy this child, in my house, be
gan to teach another child. And upon that point I caused a ser
vant of mine to strip him, like a child, before mine household,
for amendment of himself and ensample of others. Another was
one who, after he had fallen into these frantic heresies, soon fell
into plain open frenzy; albeit that he had been in Bedlam, and
afterwards, by beating and correction; gathered his remembrance.
* Moro, 121.
t For some cases in pari materia, vid. Rep. Barat Tern. Sanch. Pan.
X Mirt. vol. ii. Hist. Reform, vol. iii. " When More was raised to the chief in
the ministry, he became a persecutor even to blood, and defiled those hands which
were never polluted with bribes."

448 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
Being therefore set at liberty, his old frensies fell again into his
head. Being informed of his relapse, I caused him to be taken by
the constables, and bounden to a tree in the street, before the
whole town, and there striped him till he waxed weary. Verily,
God be thanked, I hear no harm of him now. And of all who ever
came in my hand for heresy, as help me God, else had never any
of them any stripe or stroke given them, so much as a fillip in the
forehead." *
We must come to the conclusion that persons accused of heresy
were confined in his house, though not treated with cruelty, and
that the supposed tortures consisted in flogging one naughty boy,
and administering stripes to one maniac, according to the received
notion of the times, as a cure for his malady.t The truth is, that
More, though in his youth he had been a warm friend to religious
toleration, and in his " Utopia" he had published opinions on this
subject rather latitudinarian, at last, alarmed by the progress of
the Beformation, and shocked by the excesses of some of its vo
taries in Germany, became convinced of the expediency of un
iformity of faith, or, at least, conformity in religious observances;
but he never strained or rigorously enforced the laws against Lol-
terdy. " It is," says Erasmus, " a sufficient proof of his clemency
that while he was Chancellor no man was put to death for these
pestilent dogmas, while so many, at the same period, suffered for
them in France, Germany, and the Netherlands." X That he was
present at the examination of heretics before the Council, and
concurred in subjecting them to confinement, cannot be denied;
for such was the law, which he willingly obeyed $ ; but we ought
rather to wonder at his moderation in an age when the leaders of
each sect thought they were bound in duty to Heaven to perse
cute the votaries of every other. It was not till More had retired
from office, and was succeeded by the pliant and inhuman Audley,
that heresy was made high treason, and the scaffold flowed with
innocent blood.
But More's great stumbling block — which he encountered on
entering into office, and which caused his fall — was the divorce.
The suit had been evoked before Clement VII., himself at Borne,
and there it made no progress, the only object of his Holiness be
ing delay, that he might not offend the Emperor on the one hand,
nor, on the other, tempt Henry to set the Papal supremacy at de
fiance. * Apology, <;. 36. English Works, 902.
t At the Common Law moderate chastisement of a servant might be justified, —
and (o an action of assault, battery, and false imprisonment, it was a good pica
that the plaintiff, being a lunatic, the defendant arrested him, confined him, and
whipped htm. '
X Erasm. Ep.
§ He did not disguise his earnest wish to put down the new doctrines in religion.
Thus m the epitaph which he wrote for his own tomb, he describes himself as
"funbus, homicidis, hmetiasque molestus ,-" and afterwards, in writing to Erasmus,
he justifies this expression: "Quod in epitaphio profiteer hareticis Tme molesUm
fuisse, ambitiose feci.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 449
The first expedient resorted to, with More's concurrence, was to
obtain the opinions of foreign Universities, as well as Oxford and
Cambridge, against the legality of a marriage between a man and
Ins brother's widow, the first marriage having been consummated* ;
and, under the title of fees or honoraries, large bribes were offered
for a favourable answer. Bologna, Padua, Ferrara, and other Ital
ian Universities responded to Henry's wishes ; but he met with no
success in Germany, where the influence of the Emperor was felt,
and Luther had his revenge of " The Defender of the Faith,"
by declaring, " that it would be more lawful for the King to have.
two wives at the same time than to separate from Catherine for
the purpose of marrying another woman."! From France the
opinions were divided. Thus the hope of influencing Clement by
the universal voice of the Christian world was abandoned.
The next experiment, in which More joined, was a letter to the
Pope, subscribed by the Lords spiritual and temporal, ,- T 1 -„„ ,
and certain distinguished Commoners, in the name of ^ ' '*
the whole nation, complaining in forcible terms of Clements's par
tiality and tergiversation. " The kingdom was threatened with the
calamities of a disputed succession, which could be averted only
by the King being enabled to contract a lawful marriage ; yet the
celebration of such a marriage -was prevented by the effectual de
lays and undue bias of the Pontiff Nothing remained but to ap
ply the remedy without his interference. This was admitted to be
an evil, but it would prove a less evil than the precarious and
perilous situation in which England was now placed."t
Clement mildly and plausibly replied to this threat, that the dan
ger of a disputed succession in England would be augmented by
proceedings contrary to right and justice; that he was ready to
proceed with the cause according to the rules of the Church ; and
that they must not require of him, through gratitude to man, to
violate the immutable commandments of God.
Thomas CromweU had effectually insinuated himself into Hen
ry's confidence by his boldness, versatility, and un- r 153-1 1
scrupulousness ; and be strongly counselled an im- L ' ' "J
mediate rupture with Borne, which the King resolved upon, unless
Clement should yield to his menaces.
With this view, parliament was assembled. Cromwell had so
weU managed the elections, that he had a clear rpEB 4 1532 1
majority in the Lower House ready to second his L ' J
# This fact was introduced by Henry into his case, but was strenuously denied
by Catherine.
t Luther had a great leaning towards polygamy, and thought that it .would be
better that a priest should be allowed several wives than none at all, and that
the practice of the Jewish Kings might be safely followed. He gravely writes on
this occasion, " Antequam tale repudium probarcm, potius Regfpermitterem alte
ram reginam quoque ducere, et exeraplo Patrium et Regum duas simul uxores seu
Reginas habere." — Luth. Epist. Halas.
1 Herbert, 331. 38*

450 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
purposes ; and, among the Peers, no one hazarded any show of re
sistance. The plan was to make it apparent to the world, that the King
had both the courage and the power to throw off all dependence
upon the See of Borne, if such a step should be necessary for the
dissolution of his marriage ; but, at the same time, not to run the.
Serious hazard to the stability of the throne and the public tran
quillity, which might arise from shocking the religious feelings of
the people, and suddenly changing an ecclesiastical polity as old as
the first introduction of Christianity into England.
Lord Chancellor More was now in a very difficult dilemma.
The great offices to which he had been raised by the King, the
personal favour hitherto constantly shown to him, and the natural
tendency of his gentle and quiet disposition, combined to disincline
him to resistance against the wishes of his friendly master. On
the other hand, his growing dread and horror of heresy, wilh its
train of disorders, and his belief that universal anarchy would be
the inevitable result of religious dissension, made him recoil from
designs which were visibly tending towards disunion with the Ro
man Pontiff, the centre of Catholic union, and the, supreme magis-.
trate of the spiritual commonwealth. His opinions, relating to Pa>
pal authority, continued moderate and liberal ; but he strongly
thought that it ought to be respected and upheld as an ancient and
venerable control on licentious opinions, and that the necessity for
it was more and more evinced by the increasing distractions in the
Continental states, where the Reformation was making progress;
He resolved to temporise as long as possible. — perhaps foreseeing
that, if he retired from the King's councils, all restraint would be
at an end, and the dreaded catastrophe would be precipitated.
He agreed to an Act, which was actually passed, for preventing
appeals to the Court of Borne * ; and other measures of the same
tendency being postponed, he was prevailed upon by the King and
Cromwell, at the close of a short session, to go down with twelve
spiritual and temporal Peers to the House of Commons, and there
to deliver the following address, meant, to prepare the world for
what might follow :—
" You, of this worshipful House, I am sure you he not so ig^
[March 30 1532 1 norant> Dllt You- know well that the King, our
' Sovereign Lord, hath married his brother's wife;
for she was both wedded and bedded by his brother Prince Arthur,
and therefore you may surely say that he hath married his brother's
wife if this marriage be good— as so many clerks do doubt. Where
fore the King, like a virtuous Prince, wiUing to be satisfied in his
conscience, and also for the surety of his realm, hath with great
deliberation consulted with great clerks, and hath sent my Lord of
London, here present, to the chief Universities of all Christendom,
to know their opinion and judgment in that behalf. And although
* 24 Hen. 8. c. 12.

SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR. 451
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had been sufficient to
discuss the cause, yet they being in his realm, and to avoid all sus
picion of partiality, he hath sent into the realms of France, Italy,
the Pope's dominions, and the Venetians, to know their judgment
in that behalf, which have concluded, written, and sealed their de
terminations, according as you shall hear read."
A box was then opened, and many opinions were read — aU on
one side, holding the marriage void. Whereupon the Chancellor
said — " Now, you of this Common House may report in your coun
tries what you have seen and heard, and then all men shall per
ceive that the King hath not attempted this matter of will or
pleasure, as some strangers report, but only for the discharge of his
conscience and the security of the succession of his realm. This
is the cause of our repair hither to you, and now we will depart."*
Whoever reads this address must perceive the Chancellor's great
embarrassment and his distressing anxiety to appear to have spoken
on this subject without saying any thing by which he might be
compromised, either with the King or the Church.
His state of mind at this time may be gathered from a dialogue
between him and his son-in-law, who thus relates it : — " Walking
with me along the Thames' side at Chelsea, he said unto me,
' Would to our Lord, son Boper, on condition that three things were
weU established in Christendom, I were put into a sack, and were
presently cast into the Thames.' ' What great things be those,
sir,' quoth I, ' that should move you so to wish ? ' 'In faith, son,
they be these,' said he. ' The first is, that whereas the most part
of Christian princes be at mortal war, they were at universal peace.
The second, that -where the Church of Christ is at present sore
afflicted with many errors and heresies, it were weU settled in per
fect uniformity of religion. The third, that the matter of the
King's marriage were, to the glory of God and quietness of all
parties, brought to a good conclusion.' "t
He had great misgivings as to the progress of the reformers, and
even anticipated the time when, in England, those who adhered to
the old faith might be denied religious liberty. " I pray God," said
he, " as high as we sit upon the mountains, treading heretics un
der our feet like ants, live not the day that we gladly -would wish
to be at league and composition with them to let them have their
churches, so that they would be contented to let us have ours qui-
etly-" After the prorogation of parhament, he enjoyed a little respite
from the divorce ; but being again moved by the King to speed
this great matter, he fell down on his knees, and, reminding Henry
pf his own words on delivering the Great Seal to him, " First look
upon God, and after God upon me," added, that nothing had ever
so pained him as that he was not able to serve his Grace in that
matter without a breach of that original injunction which he had,
* 1 Pari. Hist. 515. # Ropery S4.

452 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
received on the acceptance of his office. The King affected
to promise that he would accept his service otherwise, and would
continue his favour; — never with that matter molesting his con
science afterwards.
But More soon perceived that there was no chance of the di
vorce being granted by the court of Rome ; that the King's mar
riage with Anne Boleyn would nevertheless be celebrated ; and
that measures were resolved upon which he could not, by remain
ing in office, have the appearance of countenancing without an
utter sacrifice of his character.
He therefore made suit, through his " singular good friend the
Duke of Norfolk," that he might have leave to resign the Great
Seal, — the plea of declining health being urged to soften the
King's displeasure. After much hesitation the King consented,
and on the 10th day of May, 1532, the ceremony took place at
Whitehall, when " it pleased his Highness to say to him, that for
the good service which he before had done him, in any suit which he
slwuld after have unto him, that should either concern his honour (for
that word it pleased his Highness to use unto him), or that should
appertain unto his profit, he should not fail to find him a good and
gracious Lord." " But," says his great-grandson, " how true these
words proved let others be judges, when the King not only not
bestowed upon him the value of one penny, but took from him
and his posterity all that ever he had either given him by himself,
or left him by his father, or purchased by himself."*

CHAPTER XXXIII

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE FROM HIS RESIGNATION OF THE GREAT
SEAL TILL HIS DEATH.
It is said that the two happiest days of a man's life are the day
f a d 1532 1 wnan ne accepts a high office, and the day when he
L -J resigns it; and there can be no doubt that with Sir
Thomas More the resignation day was by far the more delightful.
He immediately recovered his hilarity and love of jest, and was
" himself again."
He had not consulted his wife or family about resigning, aud he
concealed from them the step he had taken till next day. This
was a holiday ; and there being no Court Circular or Newspaper
on the breakfast-table, they all went to church at Chelsea, as if
* More, 200. It seems rather strange that the pious biographer should not have
thought it worth while to introduce the chopping off of his ancestor's head on the
most frivolous of pretexts, as an item in the bill of particulars to prove his High
ness s ingratitude and breach of promise.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 453
nothing extraordinary had happened. " And whereas upon the
holydays during his High Chancellorship one of his gentlemen,
when the service at the church was done, ordinarily used to come
to my Lady his wife's pew-door, and say unto her " Madam, my
Lord is gone', he came into my Lady his wife's pew himself, and
making a low courtesy, said unto her, ' Madam, my Lord is gone',
which she imagining to be but one of his jests, as he used many
unto her, he sadly affirmed unto her, that it was true. This was,
the way he thought fittest to break the matter unto his wife who
was full of sorrow to hear it."t
He immediately set about providing for his officers and servants
who were to leave him, and he succeeded in placing them with
bishops and noblemen. His state barge, which carried him to
Westminster Hall and Whitehall, he transferred, with his eight wa
termen, to his successor. His Fool, who must have been a great
proficient in jesting, practising under such a master, he made
over to the Lord Mayor of London, with a stipulation that he
should continue to serve the office of fool to the Lord Mayor for
the time being.!
After this he caUed together all his children and grandchildren
who had dwelt with him, and asked then advice how he might
now, in the decay of his ability, bear out the whole charges of
them all, as he gladly would have continued to do. When they
were all silent — " Then wtil I (said lie) show unto you my mind:
I have been brought up at Oxford, at an Inn of Chancery, at Lin
coln's Inn, and in the King's Court, front the lowest degree to the
highest ; and yet have I, in yearly revenues at this present, little
left me above a hundred pounds by the year : so that now, if we
wish to live together, you must be content to be contributaries to
gether- But my counsel is, that we fall not to the lowest fare first :
we wtil not therefore, descend to Oxford fare, nor to the fare of
* Roper, 54.
f " This fool whose name was Pattison, appears in Holbein's famous picture of
the More family. One anecdote of him has been often related. When at a dinner
at Guildhall, the subject of his old master having refused to take the oath of
supremacy was discussed, the fool exclaimed,' Why, what aileth him that he will
not swear ? Wherefore should he stick to swear f I have sworn the oath myself."
In the " II Moro," an Italian account of Sir Thomas More, printed at Florence,
and dedicated to Cardinal Pole, there is another anecdote of this jester, supposed
to be related by the Chancellor himself, giving us not a very exalted notion of the
merriment caused by these simpletons. " Yesterday, while we were dining, Patli-
son seeing a guest with a very large nose said ' there was one at table who had
been trading to the promontory op noses." All eyes were turned to the great
nose, though we discreetly preserved silence, that the good man might not be
abashed. Pattison, perceiving the mistake he had made, tried to set himself right,
and said, ' He lies who says the gentleman's nose is large for on lhe faith of a true
knight it is rather a small one." At this all being inclined to laugh, I made signs
for the fool to be turned out of the room. But Pattison, who boasted that he
Drought every affair that he commenced to a happy conclusion, resisted, and placing
himself in my seat at the head of the table said aloud with my tone and gesture,
'There is one thing I would have you to know. That gentleman there has not
the least bit of nose on his face.' "

454 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
New Inn, but we will begin with Lincoln's Inn diet, where many
right worshipful men of great account and good years, do live full
well ; which, if we find ourselves the first year not able to main
tain then will in the next year come down to Oxford fare, where
many great, learned, and ancient fathers and doctors are continu
ally conversant ; which, if our purses stretch not to maintain nei
ther, then may we after, with bag and wallet, go a begging togeth
er, hoping that for pity some good folks will give us their charity,
and at every man's door to sing a salve Regina, whereby we shall
still keep company, and be merry together."*
In those times there was no pensions of 5000£ a year for Ex-
chancellors, nor sinecures for their sons ; and More might truly
have said — " Vii-tute me involvo, probamque
Pauperiem sine dote quasro "
He certainly never repented the step he had taken, although,
after severe sufferings, it led him to the scaffold ; and, but for the
persecutions of the tyrant whom he refused to serve, there can be
no doubt that he would have spent most happily the remainder of
his days in the bosom of his family, ardently engaged in those
literary and philosophical pursuits which professional avocations
and official duties had so often interrupted. He had not treated
the law as a mere trade ; and when the first day of term after
wards came round, he had no inclination to join in the procession
to Westminster Hall — not participating the feelings of the retired
tallow-chandler, who could not keep away from his old shop on
" melting duys." He now experienced the delightful calm which
he describes in his letter of congratulation on the resignation of
Lord Chancellor Warham : —
" I have always esteemed your most reverend fatherhood happy
in your courses, not only when you executed, with great renown
the office of Chancellorship, but also more happy now, when, being
rid of that great care, you have betaken yourself to a most wished
quietness, the better to live to yourself, and to serve God more
easily ; such a quietness, I say, that is not only more pleasing
than all these troublesome businesses, but also more honourable
far, in my judgment, than all those honours which you there en
joyed. Wherefore many, and amongst them myself do applaud
and admire this your act, which proceeded from a mind, I know
not whether more modest in that you would willingly forsake so
magnificent a place, or more heroical in that you would condemn
it, or more innocent in that you feared not to depose yourself from
it ; but, surely, most excellent and prudent it was to do so ; for
which, your rare deed, I cannot utter unto you how I rejoice for
your sake, and how much I congratulate you for it, seeing your
fatherhood to enjoy so honourable a fame, and to have obtained
so rare a glory, by sequestering yourself far from aU worldly
* More, 203.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 455
businesses, from aU tumults of causes, and to bestow the rest of
your days, with a peaceable conscience for all your life past, in
a quiet calmness, giving yourself wholly to your book, and to
true Christian philosophy."*
Writing now to Erasmus, he says that " he himself had obtain
ed what, from a child, he had continually wished — that, being
freed from business and public affairs, he might five for a time
only to God and himself."
Accordingly, he passed the first year of his retirement in reviv
ing his recollections of favourite authors, in bringing up his ac
quaintance with the advancing literature of the day, in retouching
his own writings, and planning new works for the further increase
of his fame and the good of his fellow-creatures. His happiness
was only alloyed by witnessing the measures in progress under
his successor and Cromwell, which he had the sagacity to foresee
would soon lead to others more violent and more mischievous.
The threats to break off all intercourse with Bome having prov
ed ineffectual, it was at last openly resolved to carry r 1532 1
them into effect, and, without any divorce from Ca- >¦ ¦ • -1
therine by the Pope's authority, that the King should marry Anne
Boleyn. In September, 1532, she was created Marchioness of
Pembroke, and, notwithstanding the gallant defence of Burnet
and other zealous Protestants, who think that the credit of the
Eeformation depends upon her purity, it seems probable that
Queen Catherine, having been banished from Court, and taken
up her abode at Ampthill, Anne, in the prospect of the perfor
mance of the ceremony, had, after a resistance of nearly six years,
consented to live with Hemy as his wife.t On the 25th of Janu
ary, 1533, she being then in a state of pregnancy, they were pri
vately married.:):
The marriage was kept secret till Easter following, when she
was declared Queen, and orders were given for her coronation J
The troubles of the Ex-chancellor now began. To give coun
tenance to the ceremony, he was invited to be pres- r D 1533 ,
ent by three Bishops as the King's messengers, who L ' ' J
likewise offered him 20/. to buy a dress suitable to the occasion.
He declined the invitation, and thereby gave mortal offence to the
new Queen, who ever afterwards urged violent proceedings against
* More, 207.
1 1 must be allowed to say that I consider still more absurd the attempts cf
Romish zealots to make her out to have been a female of abandoned character from
her early youth. See Lingard, vol. vi. ch. iii.
t An attempt has been made to show a marriage on the 14th Nov 1532, nine
months before the birth of Queen Elizabeth, which happened on the 7th Sept.
1533 ¦ but this is disproved by the testimony of Cranmer himself. See 1 Hallani's
Const' Hist. p. 84. ,.,,.,
$ It is curious that Shakspeare, living so near the time, places the marriage and
coronation of Anne in the life time of Cardinal Wolsey, who died three years before ;
but the dramatist is not more inaccurate as to dates than most of our prose histo
rians of that period. — See Hen. VIII. act. iv.

456 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
him. But instead of considering him disloyal or morose, we ought
rather to condemn the base servility of the clergy and nobility who
yielded to every caprice of the tyrant under whom they trembled,
and now heedlessly acquiesced in a measure which might have
been the cause of a civil war as bloody as that between the
houses of York and Lancaster. There had as yet been no sen
tence of divorce, nor act of parliament, to dissolve Henry's first
marriage ; all lawyers, in all countries, agreed that it was valid til
set aside by competent authority ; and the best lawyers were
then of the opinion, at which I believe those most competent
to consider the question have since arrived, that even upon the
supposition of the consummation of Catherine's marriage with
Arthur, (which she, a most sincere and pious lady, always sol
emnly denied, and which Henry when she appealed to him* did
not venture to assert,) the marriage was absolutely valid; — as^
according to the then existing law, the Pope's dispensation was
sufficient to remove the objection of affinity ; and there is no
ground for saying that the Pope, in granting the dispensation, ex
ceeded his powers by expressly violating any divine precept.
Little weight is to be attributed to the divorce pronounced by
Cranmer, holding his court at Dunstable, whether Catherine ap
peared in it or not ; for there was another suit for the same cause,
which had been regularly commenced in England before Wolsey
and Campeggio, still pending at Borne. But all doubt as to the
legitimacy of Elizabeth was removed, not only by a subsequent
marriage between her parents after Cranmer's divorce, and a
judgment by him that their marriage was valid, but by an act of
the legislaturet, which in our country has always been supreme,
notwithstanding any opposition of bishops, popes, or councils.
The first attempt to wreak vengeance on More for his obstinacy,
T n 1 H4 1 was ^Y summoning him before the Privy Council to
•- ' ' 'J answer a charge of having been guilty of bribery
while he was Lord Chancellor. One Parnell was induced to com
plain of a decree obtained against him by his adversary Vaughan,
whose wife, it was alleged, had bribed the Chancellor with a gilt
cup. The accused party surprised the Council at first by owning
h^ " ^e had recei^ed the cup as a new-year's gift." Lord Wilt
shire, the King's father-in-law, indecently but prematurely exulted,
frnP '" °L int * teI1/°"j my Lo*ds, that you would find this matter
mv tale 1%1?Z / r,epHed More> " hear the other part of
MAt7m^ h-, °f wine, with which my but-
to her, and would hst'en toIo refu'n. "f Pledged ^ I'e8toredlt
The only other cases nfh/v, v
were his acceptance of ,J Y rbrou»h* forward against him

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 457
in exchange ; and his acceptance from a Mrs. Croker for whom he
had made a decree against Lord Arundel, of a pair of gloves, in
which were contained 4.01. in angels ; but he had told her with a
smile, that though it were ill manners to refuse a lady's present,
and he should keep the gloves, he must return the gold, which he
forced her to carry back*
The next proceeding against him, equally without foundation,
wore a more alarming aspect ; and, at one time, seemed fraught
with destruction to him. A bill was introduced into parliament to
attaint of high treason Elizabeth Barton, a woman commonly call
ed " the Holy Maid of Kent," and her associates, upon the sug
gestion, that, under pretence of revelations and miracles, she had
spoken disrespectfully of the King, and insisted that Catherine
was still his lawful wife. She had obtained a great reputation for
piety ; and some sensible men of that age were inclined to think,
that supernatural gifts were conferred upon her by heaven.
Among these were Archbishop Warham, Fisher, Bishop of Eoch-
ester, and, probably, Sir Thomas More.t Being in the convent at
Sion, More was prevailed upon to see and converse with her there ;
but he most studiously prevented her from saying a word to him
about the King's divorce, the King's marriage, or the King's su
premacy, or any such subject. However, this interview being re
ported at Court, More's name was introduced into the biU of at
tainder as an accomplice ; not with the intention at first of mak
ing him a sacrifice, but in the expectation that, under the impend
ing peril, his constancy would yield. He begged to be heard, to
make his defence against the bill openly at the bar ; but this propo
sal raised great alarm from his legal knowledge and his eloquence,
and the influence of his name. It was resolved, therefore, that
he should only be heard privately before a committee named by
the King, consisting of Cranmer, the new Archbishop, Audley, the
new ChanceUor, the Duke of Norfolk, and Cromwell.
When he came before them, in respect of the high office he had
filled, they received him courteously, requesting him to sit down
with them ; but this he would on no account consent to. Having
got him among them, instead of discussing his guilt or innocence,
on the charge of treason made against him by the bill of attainder,
they tried to make a convert of him to the King's views. They
began quietly — telling him how many ways the King's Majesty-
had showed his love and favour towards him — how gladly he
would have had him continue in his office — how desirous he was
to have heaped still more and more benefits upon him — and, final
ly, that he could ask no worldly honour or profit at his Highness's
hands but that he should obtain it, so that he would add his con-
* Ibid. 222.
t We need not wonder at the credulity of the most eminent men of that age
when in our own day a nobleman, distinguished by his talents and his eloquence
as well as by his illustrious birth, has published a pamphlet to support two contem
poraneous miraculous maids, the " Estatica" and the " Adolorata."
vol. i. 39

458 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
sent to that which the King, the Parliament, the Bishops, and
many Universities had pronounced for reason and scripture.
The Ex-chancellor fuUy admitted the many obligations the
King had laid upon him : but mildly observed, that he hoped never
to have heard of this matter any more, as his Highness, like a
gracious Prince, knowing his mind therein, had promised no more
to molest him therewith ; since which time, he had seen no reason
to chanre; and if he could, there was no one in the whole world
would be more joyful.
Seeing that persuasion would not move him, " then began they
more terribly to threaten him; saying, the King's Majesty had
given them in command expressly, if they could by no gentle
means win him, they should, in his name, with great indignation
charge him, that never there was servant so villanous to his Sove
reign, nor any subject so traitorous to his Prince, as he." — And
what was this terrible accusation? — that More had provoked the
King to set forth the book on the seven sacraments, and the main
tenance of the Pope's authority, — whereby the title of "Defender
of the Faith " had been gained, but in reality a sword had been
put into the Pope's hand to fight against him, to his great dis
honour in all parts of Christendom.
His answer lets us curiously into the secret history of Henry's
refutation of Luther. "My Lords," answered he, "these terrors
be frights for children, and not for me : but to answer that where
with you chiefly burthen me, I believe the King's Highness, of his
honour, will never lay that book to my charge ; for there is none
that can, in-that point, say more for my clearance than himself,
who right well knoweth that I never" was procurer, promoter, nor
counsellor of his Majesty thereunto; only after it was finished, by
his Grace's appointment, and the consent of the makers of the same.
I only sorted out, and placed in order, the principal matters there
in; wherein, when I had found the Pope's authority highly ad
vanced, and with strange arguments mightily defended, I said thus
to his grace : ' I must put your Highness in mind of one thing —
the Pope, as your Majesty well knoweth, is a prince, as you are,
in league with all other Christian princes : it may hereafter fall out
that your Grace and he may vaiy upon some points of the league,
whereupon may grow breach of amity between you both; there
fore I think it best that place be amended, and his authority more
slenderly touched.' 'Nay,' said the King, 'that shall it not; we
are ^o much bound to the See of Borne, that we cannot do too
much honour unto it. Whatsoever impediment be to the contrary,
we will set forth that authority to the uttermost; for we have re
ceived from that See our Crown imperial ! ' which tiU his Grace
with his own mouth so told me, I never heard before. Which
things well considered, I trust when his Majesty shall be truly in
formed thereof, and call to his gracious remembrance my sayings
and doings in that behalf, his Highness will never speak more of
it, but will clear me himself." Thereupon they, with great dis-

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 459
pleasure, dismissed him; and knowing whom, in the defence of
his innocence, he taunted and defied, he well knew the price he
was to pay for his boldness. *
Nevertheless, he was in high spirits, and taking boat for Chel
sea, his son-in-law, Boper, who accompanied him, believed, from
his merriment by the way, that his name had been struck out of
the bill. When they were landed, and walking in the garden,
Boper said, " I trust, sir, all is well, you are so merry." " It is so,
indeed, son, thank God." " Are you, then, sir, put out of the
bill?" " Worthiest thou know, son, why I am so joyful ? In good
faith I rejoice that I have given the devil a foul fall; because I have
with those Lords gone so far, that ivithout great shame I can never
go back." This heartfelt exultation at having, after a struggle to
which he felt the weakness of human nature might have been
unequal, gained the victory in his own mind, and, though with the
almost certain sacrifice of life, made it impossible to resile, — be
stows a greatness on these simple and familiar words which be
longs to few uninspired sayings in ancient or modern times.!
The result of the conference with the four councillors being re
ported by them to Henry, he flew into a transport of rage, swore
that More should be included in the attainder, and said, when the
bill was to be discussed, he himself should be personally present
to ensure its passing. They then all dropped down on their knees
before him, and implored him to forbear ; for if, sitting on the
throne, he should receive an overthrow, it would not only encour
age his subjects ever after to contemn him, but also redound to
dishonour among foreign nations — adding, that " they doubted not
they should find a more meet occasion to serve his turn, for that in
this case of the Nun he was well known to be clearly innocent."
Henry -was obliged to yield, and once in his reign his thirst for
blood was not immediately gratified.
Cromwell having next day informed Boper that his father-in-
law was put out of the bill, this intelligence reached More himself
by the lips of his favourite daughter, when he calmly said, " In
faith, Meg, quod differtur non avfertur, — what is postponed is not
abandoned." A few days afterwards the Duke of Norfolk made a last attempt
upon him, saying, " By the mass, Master More, it is perilous striv
ing with princes ; therefore I could wish you, as a friend, to in
cline to the King's pleasure, for, by God's body, Master More, in-
dignatio principis mors est." " Is that all ?" said Sir Thomas ;
" why then there is no more difference between your Grace and
me, but that I shall die to-day and you to-morrow." Norfolk, it is
well known, was attainted, ordered for execution, and only saved
by Henry's death.
But More's other prophecy of the same sort was literally fulfill
ed. Having asked his daughter Boper how the world went, and
# More, 225. t More, 228.

460 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
how Queen Anne did, " In faith, father," said she, " never bet
ter ; there is nothing else in the Court but dancing and sporting."
" Never better !" said he. " Alas ! Meg, it pitieth me to remember
unto what misery, poor soul, she will shortly come. These dances
of hers will prove such dances that she will spurn our heads off
like footballs ; but it will not be long ere her head will dance the
like dance."*
The policy of Henry and his ministers now was to enforce sub
mission by compelling people to swear to conform to the new re
gime, a course which More had anticipated with apprehension
when he was told by Boper of the King's marriage and final rup
ture with Borne, saying, " God give grace, son, that these matters
within a while be not confirmed with oaths!'
The Lord Chancellor, Cranmer, Cromwell, and the Abbot of
Westminster were appointed commissioners to administer the re
quired oath, drawn up in a form which the law did not then au
thorise. Statutes had been passed to settle the succession to the
crown on the issue of the King's present marriage, and to cut off
intercourse with Borne by prohibiting the accustomed payment of
first fruits, or Peter's pence, and forbidding appeals to the Pope or
dispensations from him ; but no statute had passed to constitute
the King supreme Head of the Church, or to annex any penalty
to the denial of his supremacy.t Nevertheless an oath was fram
ed " to bear faith and true obedience to the King, and the issue of
his present marriage with Queen Anne, to acknowledge him ihe
Head of the Cliurch of England, and to renounce all obedience to
the Bishop of Rome, as having no more power than any other
bishop" The administration of this oath began a few days after the
Holy Maid of Kent and her associates, under the act of attainder
against them, had been hanged and beheaded at Tyburn ; and it
was taken very freely by the clergy. It had not yet been pro
pounded to any layman, and the commissioners resolved to begin
with Sir Thomas More, knowing that if he should submit, no fur
ther resistance need be apprehended.
For a considerable while he had been expecting a summons be
fore the inquisitors, and that his family might be alarmed as little
as possible when it should really come, he hired a man dressed as
a poursuivant suddenly to come to his house, while they sat at
dinner, and knocking loudly at his door, to warn him to appear
next day before the commissioners. They were at first in great
consternation ; but he soen relieved them by explaining the jest.
* More, 231.
t All the biographers of More, from Roper downwards, have fallen into a mistake
upon this subject, although they have recorded More's own declaration that the
warrant of this commitment was bad in point of law ; but a reference to the
Statute Book makes the matter clear beyond all question ; for he was committed to
the Tower in April, 1534, and the session of parliament in which the act of
supremacy was passed did not meet till the month of November following. 26 H.
8. c. 1. 6

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 461
In sad earnest early in the morning of the 13th of April, 1534,
the real poursuivant entered the house, and summoned him to ap
pear before the commissioners that day at Lambeth. According
to his custom when he entered on any matter of importance, (as
when he was first chosen of the Privy Council, sent ambassador,
chosen Speaker, made Lord Chancellor, or engaged in any weigh
ty undertaking,) he went to church " to be confessed, to hear mass,
and to be houseled ;" but from a foreboding mind he could not
trust himself to take leave of his family with his usual marks of
affection : " whereas he evermore used before, at his departure
from his wife and children, whom he tenderly loved, to have them
bring him to his boat, and there to kiss them and bid them all
farewell, — then would he suffer none of them forth of the gate
to follow him, but pulled the wicket after him, and shut them all
from him, and with a heavy heart took boat towards Lambeth."
On the way he whispered into the ear of his son-in-law who ac
companied him, " I thank our Lord the field is won,"* — indicating
an entire confidence in his own constancy.
Being brought before the commissioners, and the oath being
tendered to him, he referred to the statute and declared his readi
ness to swear that he would maintain and defend the order of
succession to the crown, as established by parliament; he dis
claimed all censure on those who had simply taken the oath ; but
it was impossible that he should swear to the whole contents of
it without wounding his conscience. He was commanded to walk
in the garden awhile, and the oath was administered to many oth
ers. When called in again, the list of those who had taken it
was shown to him, and he was threatened with the King's special
displeasure for his recusancy without any reason assigned. He
answered, that "his reasons might exasperate the King stiU
more ; but he would assign them on his Majesty's assuiance, that
they should not offend him nor prove dangerous to himself." The
commissioners observed, that such assurances could be no defence
against a legal charge. He offered to trust himself to the King's
honour ; but they would listen to no qualification or explanation.
Cranmer, with some subtlety, argued that his disclaiming all blame
of those who had sworn, showed that he thought it only doubtful,
whether the oath was unlawful ; whereas the obligation to obey
the King was absolutely certain. He might have replied, that an
oath on matter of opinion might be lawfully taken by one man,
and could not be taken without perjury by another ; but he con
tented himself with repeating his offer to swear to the succession,
and his refusal to go further. Thereupon he was given in ward to
the Abbot of Westminster, in the hope that the King might re
lent: It is said that a council being held, the qualified oath would
have been accepted had it not been that " Queen Anne, by her
* More, 70.
39*

462 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
importunate clamours, did exasperate the King," and at the end
of four days, the oath containing an acknowledgment of the King's
supremacy, and an abjuration of the Bishop of Borne being again
tendered and refused, More was committed close prisoner to the
Tower of London.
Having delivered his upper garment as garnish to the porter
, . „ , standing at the Traitor's Gate, by which he entered,
[April .j j^ wag conducted by " Master Lieutenant" to his
lodging, where he swore John a Wocd, his servant appointed to
attend him, " that if he should see or hear him at any time write
or speak any matter against the King or the state of the realm,
he should open it to the Lieutenant, that it might incontinent be
revealed to the Council."
The Lieutenant apologising for the poor cheer the place fur
nished, his prisoner waggishly answered, "Assure yourself I do
not mislike my cheer ; but whenever I do, then spare not to thrust
me out of your doors."
In about a month he was permitted to receive a visit from his
dearly beloved daughter, whom he tried to comfort by saying, " I
beheve, Meg, they that have put me here when they have done
me a high displeasure ; but, I assure thee on my faith, mine own
good daughter, if it had. not been for my wife, and ye that be my
children, I would not have failed, long ere this, to have closed my
self in as straight a room, and straighter too. But since I am come
hither without mine own desert, I trust that God, by his goodness,
wtil discharge me of my care, and, with his gracious help, supply
my lack among you." Having pointed out to her the tilegallity of
his imprisonment, there being then no statute to authorise the re
quired oath, he could not refrain from expressing some indigna
tion against the King's advisers. " And surely, daughter, it is a
great pity that any Christian Prince should, by a flexible Council
ready to foUow his affections, and by a weak clergy, lacking grace
constantly to stand to their learning, with flattery be so shameful
ly abused."
It unluckily chanced while she was with him on another occa
sion, that in their sight Beynolds, the Abbot ' of Sion, and three
monks of the Charterhouse were marched out for execution on
account of the supremacy. He exclaimed, " Lo ! dost thou not
see, Meg, that these blessed Fathers be now as cheerfully going
to their deaths as bridegrooms to their marriage ; " and he tender
ly tried to strengthen her mind for the like destiny befaUing him
self Having conceived, from some expression she used, that she
wished him to yield, he wrote her a letter, rebuking her supposed
purpose with the utmost vehemence of affection, and concluding
Z ^^,ln+as,surafce." that none of the terrible things that might
SPH V f T^^ h1^ S° near' or were so Srie™us to him,
™W? £ , i/T 7 bel°Ved cMld' Wh0se Judgment he so much
l»™ t £ °W !? Pe/suade hi^to do what would be con
trary to his conscience." Margaret's reply was worthy of herself.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 463
" She submits reverently to his faithful and delectable letter, the
faithful messenger of his virtuous mind," and almost rejoices in
his victory over all earth-born cares. She subscribes herself,
" Your own most loving, obedient daughter and bedeswoman, Mar
garet Boper, who desireth, above aU earthly things, to be in John
Wood's stede, to do you some service.' ,
He had a very different subject to deal with when he received
a visit from his wife, who had leave to see him, in the hope that
she might break his constancy. On her entrance, like a plain
rude woman, and somewhat worldly, she thus saluted him, " What,
the goodyear, Mr. More, I marvel that you, who have been hitherto
always taken for a wise man, will now so play the fool as to lie
here in this close, filthy prison, and be content to be shut up thus
with mice and rats, when you might be abroad at your liberty,
with the favour and good will both of the King and his Council, if
you would but do as the Bishops and best learned of his realm
have done ; and, seeing you have at Chelsea a right fair house,
your library, your books, your gallery, and aU other necessaries so
handsome about you, where you might, in company with me, your
wife, your children and household, be merry, I muse what, a God's
name, you mean, here thus fondly to tarry." Having heard her
out, — preserving his good humour, he said to her, with a cheerful
countenance, " I pray thee, good Mrs. Alice, tell me one thing."
" What is it ?" saith she: " Is not this house as near heaven as
my own'? " She could only come out with her favourite interjec
tion, which she used, like Dame Quickly, to express impatience,
" Tilly vally ! Tilly vally ! " * By pointing out the short time he
could enjoy his house compared with the long and secure tenure
of heaven, and various other arguments and illustrations, he, to no
purpose, tried to convince her that it was better to remain in the
Tower than to dishonour himself. He was little moved by her
persuasions, thinking (but not saying) as Job, when tempted by
his wife, " Quasi una ex stultis mulieribus locuta es."
We must render her the justice to recoUect, however, that she
continued actively to do what she could for his comfort ; and in a
subsequent part of his imprisonment, when all his property had
been seized, she actually sold her wearing apparel to raise money
to provide necessaries for him.t
The parliament, which had answered Henry's purposes so slavish
ly that it was kept on foot for six years, met again r 15„ . •¦
on the 4th of November, and proceeded to pass an '¦A' ' '
act of attainder for misprision of treason against More, and Fish
er, Bishop of Bochester, the only surviving minister of Henry
*" Hostess [addressing Falstoff ) Tillyfallyl Sir John. Never tell me, your
ancient swaggerer comes not in my doors," — 2d Part Hen. IV, act ii. scene 4.
t See her letter to Cromwell, in which she says, " I pass weekly 15 shillings for
the bord-wages of my poure husband and his servant, for the mayntaining whereof
I have been compellyd of verey necessyte to sell part of myn apparell for lack of
other substance to make money of." — App. to Hunter's ed. of More.

464 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
VII. , and the son's early tutor, councillor, and friend, — on the
ground that they had refused to take the oath of supremacy, — for
which aUeged offence, created by no law, they were to forfeit all
their property, and to be subject to perpetual imprisonment* But
this was insufficient for the royal vengeance ; and soon after, not
only was an act passed to declare the King the Supreme Head of
the Church t, but authority was given to require an oath acknow
ledging the supremacy X, and it was declared to be high treason by
words or writing to deny it. $
As More was now actually suffering punishment by imprison
ment and forfeiture of his property for having refused to take the
oath, it was impossible to make the enactment about oaths the
foundation of a new prosecution, and the plan adopted was to in
veigle him into a verbal denial of the supremacy, and so to pro
ceed against him for high treason.
With this view, the Lord Chancellor, the Dukes of Norfolk and
Suffolk, Cromwell, and others of the Privy Council, several times
came to him in the Tower, " to procure him by all means and
policies they could, either to confess precisely the King's suprem
acy, or plainly to deny it." But he was constantly on his guard,
and they could get nothing more from him than " that the statute
was like a two-edged sword; if he should speak against it, he
should procure the death of his body ; and if he should consent
unto it, he should procure the death of his soul."
The next contrivance was plotted and executed by one who has
brought a greater stain upon the bar of England than any member
of the profession to which I am proud to belong, — a profession
generally distinguished, even in bad times, for integrity and inde
pendence, and never before or since so far degraded as to have its
honours won by palpable fraud, chicanery, and perjury. Bich (hor-
resco referens), — afterwards Lord ChanceUor, — had just been made
Solicitor General, on an understanding that he was effectually to
put in force the recent acts against all recusants, and most espe-
ciaUy against the refractory Ex-chancellor. Accordingly, fortified
by an order of the Council, he accompanied Sir Bichard SouthweU
and a Mr. Palmer to the Tower for the avowed purpose of depriv
ing More of the small library with which he had hitherto been
permitted to soothe his solitude. While they were packing up the
books, Bich, under pretence of ancient friendship, fell into conver
sation with him ; and in a familiar and confidential tone, after a
compliment to his wisdom and learning, put a case to him : " Ad
mit that there were an act of parliament made, that all the realm
* This act is not in the statutes at large, but will be found in the Statutes of the
Realm, vol. iv. 527, 528
f 26 Heu. 8. c. 1. j 26 Hen. 8. c. 2.
§ 2(i Hen. 8. c. 3. The offence described in this last act applicable to the
supremacy, is to " desire io deprive the King of his dignity, title, or name of his
royal estate ;" — and " Supreme Head of tho Church" coming within this descrip
tion, to deny the supremacy was urns ingeniously made high treason.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 465
should take me for King, would not you, Mr. More, take me for
King ?" " Yes, sir," said Sir Thomas, " that I would." Bich,
much elated, said, " I put the case further, — that there were an act
of parliament that all the realm should take me for Pope, would
you not then take me for Pope ?" " For answer," said Sir Thomas,
" to your first case, — the parliament may well meddle with the
state of temporal princes ; but to make answer to your other c^se,
— Suppose the parliament should make a law that God should not
be God, would you then, Mr. Bich, say so ?" " No, sir," said Mr.
Solicitor, " that I would not ; for no parliament could make such a
law." More, suspecting his drift, made no reply ; the conversation
took another turn ; and, the books being carried off, they soon after
parted. Trusting rather to partial judges and a packed jury than the evi
dence which, could be brought forward against him, a special com
mission was issued for bringing Sir Thomas More to r 1535 1
a solemn trial, — the commissioners being the Lord l 'J
ChanceUor Audley, the Duke of Norfolk, Fitzjames and Fitzher-
bert, the Chief Justices, and several puisne Judges. They sat in
the Court of King's Bench, in Westminster Hall* The arraign
ment took place on the 7th of May, but the trial was postponed
till the 1st of July, in the hope of strengthening the case for the
Crown. On the morning of the trial, More was led on foot, in a coarse
woolen gown, through the most frequented streets, from the Tower
to Westminster Hall. The colour of his hair, which had become
grey since he last appeared in public, his face, which though stiU
cheerful was pale and emaciated, his bent posture and his feeble
steps, which he was obliged to support with his staff, showed the
rigour of his confinement, and excited the sympathy of the people,
instead of impressing them, as was intended, with dread of the
royal authority. When, sordidly dressed, he held up his hand as a
criminal in that place, where, arrayed in his magisterial robes and
surrounded by crowds who watched his smile, he had been accus
tomed on his knees to ask his father's blessing before mounting
his own tribunal to determine, as sole Judge, on the most impor
tant rights of the highest subjects in the realm, — a general horror
and commiseration ran through the spectators : — and after the lapse
of three centuries, during which, statesmen, prelates, and kings
have been unjustly brought to trial under the same roof, — consid
ering the splendour of his talents, the greatness of his acquire
ments, and the innocence of his life, we must stiU regard his mur
der as the blackest crime that ever has been perpetrated in Eng
land under the forms of law.
Sir Christopher Hale, the Attorney General, who conducted the
prosecution, with some appearance of candour, (strongly contrasted
* From this circumstance it has been erroneously stated that this was a trial at
bar in the Court of King's Bench.

466 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
with the undisguised asperity of Mr. Solicitor Bich, who assisted
him,) began with reading the indictment, which was of enormous
length, but contained four principal charges :— 1st, The opinion the
prisoner had given on the King's marriage. 2dly, That he had
written certain letters to Bishop Fisher encouraging him to resist.
3dly, That he had refused to acknowledge the King's supremacy ;
and, 4thly, That he had positively denied, it, and thereby attempted
to deprive the King of his dignity and title. When the reading of
the indictment was over, the Lord Chancellor made a last attempt
to bend the resolution of the prisoner by saying, " You see how
grievously you have offended his Majesty, yet he is so merciful,
that if you will lay away your obstinacy and change your opinion,
we hope you may obtain pardon." More calmly replied, " Most
noble Lords, I have great -cause to thank your Honours for this
your courtesy ; but I beseech Almighty God that I may continue
in the mind I am in, through his grace, unto death."
The last was the only charge in the indictment which was at aU
sufficient in point of law to incur the pains of treason ; and it was
unsupported by evidence. The counsel for the Crown at first con
tented themselves with putting in the prisoner's examinations,
showing that he had declined answering the questions propounded
to him by the Privy Councillors, with his answer, " that the stat
ute was a two-edged sword." An excuse was made for not prov
ing the supposed letters to Fisher, on the ground that they had
been destroyed.
The Lord Chancellor, instead of at once directing an acquittal,
called upon the prisoner for his defence. A deep silence now pre
vailed—all present held their breath — every eye was fixed upon
the victim. More was beginning with expressing his apprehen
sion " lest, his memory and wit being decayed with his health of
body through his long imprisonment, he should not be able prop
erly to meet all the matters alleged against him," when he found
that he was unable to support himself by his staff, and his judges
evinced one touch of humanity by ordering him a chair-, When
he was seated, after a few preliminary observations, he considered
the charges in their order. " As to the marriage," he said, " I con
fess that I always told the King my opinion thereon as my con
science dictated unto me, which I neither ever would, nor ought to
have concealed ; for which I am so far from thinking myself guilty
of high treason, as that of the contrary, I being demanded my
opinion by so great a Prince on a matter of such importance,
whereupon the quietness of a kingdom dependeth, I should have
basely flattered him if I had not uttered the truth: then I might
have been accused as a wicked subject, and a perfidious traitor to
God If herein I have offended the King, it must be an offence
to tell one s mind plainly when our Prince asketh our advice."
2 As to the letters to Fisher, he himself stated the contents of
them, and showed that they were free from all blame. 3 On the
charge that he had declined to declare his opinion, when interro-

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 467
gated, respecting the supremacy, he triumphantly answered, " that
he could not transgress any law, or incur any crime of treason, by
holding his peace, God only being judge of our secret thoughts."
Here he was interrupted by Mr. Attorney, who said, " Although
we had not one word or deed to object against you, yet have we
your silence, when asked whether you acknowledged the King to
be Supreme Head of the Church, which is an evident sign of a
malicious mind." But Mr. Attorney was put down (and, notwith
standing the gravity of the occasion, there was probably a laugh
against him) by More quietly reminding him of the maxim among
civilians and canonists — " Qui facet, consentire videtur." " He
that holdeth his tongue is taken to consent." 4. On the last charge
he argued, that the only proof was his saying that " the statute
was a two-edged sword," which was meant as a reason for his de
clining to answer, and could not possibly be construed into a posi
tive denial of the King's supremacy. He concluded with a solemn
avowal, that " he never spake word against this law to any living
man." The jury, biased as they were, seeing that if they credited all
the evidence, there was not a shadow of a case against the prison
er, were about to acquit him : the Judges were in dismay — the At
torney-General stood aghast — when Mr. Solicitor, to his eternal
disgrace, and to the eternal disgrace of the Court who permitted
such an outrage on decency, left the bar, and presented himself as
a witness for the Crown. Being sworn, he detailed the confiden
tial conversation he had had with the prisoner in the Tower on the
occasion of the removal of the books ; — and falsely added, that
upon his admitting that " no parliament could make a law that God
should not be God," Sir Thomas declared, " No more could the
parliament make the King Supreme Head of the Church."
The prisoner's withering reply must have made the mean and
guilty wretch feel compunction and shame, for which his subse
quent elevation must have been a miserable recompence : " If I
were a man my Lords, that did not regard an oath, I needed not
at this time in this place, as is well known unto every one, to
stand as an accused person. And if this oath, Mr. Bich, which
you have taken be true, then I pray that I never see God in the
face ; which I would not say were it otherwise to gain the whole
world." Having truly related the whole conversation, he continu
ed, " In good faith, Mr. Bich, I am more sorry for your perjury than
for mine own peril. Know you that neither I, nor any man else
to my knowledge, ever took you to be a man of such credit as
either I or any other would vouchsafe to communicate with you
in any matter of importance. As you well know, I have been ac
quainted with your manner of life and conversation a long space,
even from your youth upwards ; for we dwelt long together in
one parish; where as yourself can well tell (I am sorry you com
pel me to speak it) you were always esteemed very light of your
tongue, a great dicer and gamester, and not of any commendable

468 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
fame either there or in the Temple, the Bin to which you have be
longed. Can it therefore seem likely to your honourable Lord
ships, that, in so weighty a cause, I should so unadvisedly over-
shoot'myself as to trust Mr. Bich, a man always reputed of me for
one of so little truth and honesty, about my sovereign Lord the
King, to whom I am so deeply indebted for his manifold favours,
or any of his noble and grave counsellors, that I should declare
only to him the secrets of my conscience, touching the King's su
premacy, the special point and only mark so long sought for at my
hands, which I never did nor ever would reveal after the statute
once made, either to the King's Highness himself, or to any of his
noble counsellors, as it is well known to your Honours, who have
been sent for no other purpose at sundry times from his Majesty's
person to me in the Tower. I refer it to your judgments, my Lords;
whether this can seem a thing credible unto any of you."
This address produced a deep effect upon the by-standers, and
even on the packed jury ; and Mr. Solicitor was so much alarmed,
that resuming his capacity of counsel for the Crown, he caUed
and examined Sir Bichard Southwell and Mr. Palmer, in the hope
that they might be as regardless of truth as himself, and corrobo
rate his testimony ; but they both said they were so busy in trus
sing up the books in a sack, they gave no ear to the conversation.
The Chief Commissioner, however, gallantly restored the for
tune of the day : and in an ingenious, animated, and sarcastic
summing up, pointed out the enormity of the offence charged; —
the danger to the King, and the public tranquillity from the courses
followed by the prisoner : — that the evidence of the Solicitor Gen
eral, which he said was evidently given with reluctance and from
a pure motive, stood uncontradicted, if not corroborated, as the
denial of the prisoner could not be taken into account ; — that as
the speech related by the witness undoubtedly expressed the real
sentiments of the prisoner, and was only drawing a necessary in
ference, there was every probability that it was spoken: — and
that, the witness was believed, the case for the Crown was estab
lished. The jury retired from the bar, and in about a quarter of an hour
(to the horror, if not the surprise, of the audience) brought in a
verdict of guilty ; " for," says his descendant, " they knew
what the King would have done in that case."* But it is possible
that being all zealous Protestants, who looked with detestation on
our intercourse with the Pope, and considering that the King's
supremacy could not be honestly doubted, they concluded that,
by convicting a Papist, they should be doing good service to reli
gion and the state, — and that, misled by the sophistry and elo-
* It is nardly possible to read without a smile the statement of the verdict by
Erasmus in his " Epistle de Morte Thomse Mori :" ¦' Qui [duodecim viri] quuffl
per horas quartam partem secessissent, reversi sunt ad prineipes ac judices delegates!
ac pronunciarunt kiixim, hoe est dignus est morte."

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 469
quence of the presiding Judge, they believed that they returned
an honest verdict.
Audley was so delighted, that, forgetting the established forms
of proceeding on such an occasion, he eagerly began to pronounce
judgment. More interrupted him, and his pulse stiU beating as temperately
as if sitting in his library at Chelsea talking to Erasmus, " My
Lord," said he, " when I was towards the law, the manner in such
cases was to ask the prisoner before sentence whether he could
give any reason why judgment should not proceed against him."
The Chancellor in some confusion owned his mistake, and put
the question.
More was now driven to deny the power of parliament to pass
the statute transferring the Headship of the Church from the Pope
to the King, and he took some exceptions to the frame of the indict
ment. The Chancellor, being loth to have the whole burden of
this condemnation to lie upon himself asked openly the advice of
my Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir John Fitzjames, "whether
this indictment were sufficient, or no ?" — Fitzjames, C. J. '.' My
Lords all, by St. Gillian (ever his oath), I must needs confess, that
if the act of parliament be not unlawful, then the indictment is not,
in my conscience, insufficient."*
Lord Chancellor. " Lo ! my Lords, lo ! You hear what my Lord
Chief Justice saith. Quod adhuc desideramus testimonium ? Reus
est mortis." He then pronounced upon him the frightful sentence
' in cases of treason, concluding with ordering that his four quarters
should be set over four gates of the city, and his head upon Lon
don Bridge.
The prisoner had hitherto refrained from expressing his opinion
on the question of the supremacy, lest he might appear to be wan
tonly courting his doom ; but he now said, with temper and firm
ness, that, after seven years' study, he never could find that a
layman could be head of the church. Taking the position to
mean, as we understand it, — that the Sovereign , representing the
civil power of the state, is supreme, — it may easily be assented
to; — but in Henry's own sense, that he was substituted for
the Pope, and that all the powers claimed by the Pope in
ecclesiastical affairs were transferred to him, and might be law-
fuUy exercised by him, — it is contrary to reason, and is unfound
ed in Scripture, and would truly make any church Erastian in
* Sharon Turner, actuated by his sense of the "mild and friendly temper"
of Henry VIII., (taking a very different view of his character from Wolsey or
More, when they were most familiar and in highest favour with him,) is desirous of
palliating this prosecution ; and a full copy of the indictment not being forthcom
ing, supposes that there were other charges against More of which we know noth
ing; but the whole course of the proceeding, as well as all contemporary evidence,
shows, that he was tried under 26 H. 8. c. 13., for "imagining to deprive the King
of his title and dignity," — the denial of the supremacy being the overt act relied
upon. — See Turn. Hist. Hen. VIII.
VOL. I. 40

470 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
which it is recognised. I therefore cannot say with Hume, that
More wanted " a better cause, more free from weakness and su
perstition." The Lord ChanceUor asked him if he -was wiser than all the
learned men in Europe. He answered, that almost the whole of
Christendom was of his way of thinking.
The Judges courteously offered to listen to him if he had any
thing more to say. He thus answered : — " This farther only
have I to say, my Lords, that like as the blessed apostle St. Paul
was present and consenting to the death of the protomartyr St.
Stephen, keeping their clothes that stoned him to death, and yet
they be now twain holy saints in heaven, and there shall continu
friends together for ever ; so I verily trust, and shall therefore
heartity pray, that, though your Lordships have been on earth my
judges to condemnation, yet that we may hereafter meet in heaven
merrily together to our everlasting salvation ; and God preserve
you all, especially my Sovereign Lord the King, and grant him
faithful councillors."*
Having taken leave of the Court in this solemn manner, he was
conducted from the bar, — an axe, with its edge now towards him,
being carried before him. He was in the custody of his particu
lar friend, Sir William Kingston, who, as Lieutenant of the Tower,
witnessed the last moments both of Wolsey and More, and ex.
tended to both of them all the kindness consistent with obedience
to the orders of his stern master.
They came back by water, and on their arrival at the Tower
wharf a scene awaited the iUustrious convict more painful to his
feelings than any he had yet passed through. Margaret, his best-
beloved child, knowing that he must land there, watched his ap
proach, that she might receive his last blessing ; " whom, as soon
as she had espied, she ran instantly unto him, and, without con
sideration or care of herself, passing through the midst of the
throng and guard of men, who with bills and halberds compassed
him round, there openly, in the sight of them aU, embraced him,
took him about the neck, and kissed him, not able to say any word
but ' Oh, my father ! Oh, my father !' He gave her his fatherly
blessing, telling her that ' whatsoever he should suffer, though he
were innocent, it was not without the will of God, and that she
must therefore be patient for her loss.' After separation she, aU
ravished with the entire love of her dear father, suddenly turned
back again, ran to him as before, took him about the neck, and di
vers times kissed him most lovingly ; a sight which made even
the guard to weep and mourn."+ So tender was the heart of that
* This speech, which seems to me to be so much in the true spirit of the Christian
religion is censured by Sharon Turner as showing that More presumptuously
compared himself with St. Stephen. — Turner's Hist, vol x p 302 n
t More, 276. r' ' '

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 471
admirable woman, who had had the fortitude to encourage her fa
ther in his resolution to prefer reputation to life !*
After this farewell he felt that the bitterness of death was over,
and he awaited the execution of his sentence with a cheerfulness
that, with severe censors, has brought some reproach upon his
memory. But it should be remembered that he had long foreseen
the event, and with all humility, sincerity, and earnestness had
submitted to all the observances which, according to his creed,
were the fit preparations for the change he was to undergo.
From the notion that more would be gained by his recantation
than his death, fresh attempts were made to bend his resolution;
and, these failing, a warrant was issued for his execution, all parts
of the frightful sentence, as to the manner of it, being remitted,
except beheading, in respect of his having filled the high office of
Lord Chancellor. On receiving this intelligence, he expressed a
hope " that none of his friends might experience the like mercy
from the King."
The day before he was to suffer, he wrote, with a piece of coal,
the only writing implement now left to him, a farewell letter to
his dear Margaret, containing blessings to all his children by name,
with a kind remembrance even to one of her maids. Adverting
to their last interview, at which the ceremonial which then regu
lated domestic intercourse had been so little observed, he says, —
" I never liked your manner towards me better than when you
kissed me last, for I am most pleased when daughterly love and
dear charity have no leisure to look to -worldly courtesy."
Early the next day, being Tuesday the 6th of July, 1535,t came
to him his " singular good friend," Sir Thomas Pope, with a mes
sage from the King and Council that he should die before nine
o'clock of the same morning. More having returned thanks for
these " good tidings," Pope added, " the King's pleasure farther
is, that you use not many words at your execution." " I did pur
pose," answered More, "to have spoken somewhat, but I will
conform myself to the King's commandment, and I beseech you
to obtain from him that my daughter Margaret may be present at
my burial." " The King is already content that your wife, chil
dren, and friends shall have liberty to be present thereat." Pope
* Rogees has pathetically interwoven with his theme the story of this
 " blushing maid,
Who through the streets as through a desert stray'd,
And when her dear, dear father pass'd along
Would not be held ; but bursting thro' tbe throng,
Halberd and battle-axe, kiss'd him o'er and o'er,
Then turn'd arid wept, then sought him as before,
Believing she should see his face no more." Human Life.
t More recent biographers, by erroneously fixing his trial on the 7th of May,
make an interval of two months instead of six days between that and his execution ;
but it is quite certain that although he was arraigned on the 7th of May, he was
not tried till the 1st July. — 1 St. Tr. 385.

472 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
now taking leave, wept bitterly ; but More said to him, " Quiet
yourself, Mr Pope, and be not discouraged, for I trust we shall yet
see each other full merrily, where we shall be sure to live and
love together in eternal bliss." Then, to rally the spirits of his
friends (in reference to a medical practice then in great vogue,) —
as if he had been a fashionable doctor giving an opinion upon the
case of a patient, he took his urinal in his hand, and, casting his
water, said in a tone of drollery, " I see no danger but this man
may live longer if it please the King."*
Being conducted by Sir "William Kingston to the scaffold, it
seemed weak, and he had some difficulty in mounting it. Where
upon he said merrily, " Master Lieutenant, I pray you see me safe
up, and for my coming down let me shift for myself."
Having knelt and pronounced the " Miserere " with great devo
tion, he addressed the executioner, to whom he gave an angel of
gold, saying, " Pluck up thy spirit, man, and be not. afraid to do thy
office ; my neck is very short : take heed, therefore, that thou strike
not awry for saving thy honesty." When he had laid his head on
the block he desired the executioner " to wait till he had removed
his beard, for that had never offended his Highness." t One blow
put an end to his sufferings and his pleasantries.
What zealot shall venture to condemn these pleasantries after
the noble reflections upon the subject by Addison, who was never
suspected of being an infidel, a favourer of Bomanism, or an
enemy to the Protestant faith? " The innocent mirth which had
been so conspicuous in his life did not forsake him to the last.
His death was of a piece with his life ; there was nothing in it
new, forced, or affected. He did not look upon the severing of
his head from his body as a circumstance which ought to produce
any change in the disposition of his mind, and as he died in a fix
ed and settled hope of immortality, he thought any unusual degree
of sorrow and concern improper." $
" Lightly his bosom's Lord did sit
Upon its throne, unsoften'd, undismay'd
By aught that mingled with the tragic scene
Of pity and fear; and his gay genius play'd
Willi the inoffensive sword of native wit,
Than the bare axe more luminous and keen."§
More's body was interred in the chapel of the Tower of London,
but to strike terror into the multitude, his head stuck on a pole
was placed on London Bridge. The affectionate and courageous
Margaret, however, procured it to be taken down, preserved it as
a precious relic during her life, and, at her death, ordered it to be
laid with her in the same grave.ll
* This anecdote, which so strikingly illustrates the character of More and the
manners of the age, is omitted by his modern biographers as indelicate!
T More 287. t Spectator, No. 349. § Wordsworth.
II As tor lus head, it was set upon a pole on London Bridge, where abiding
about fourteen days, was then privily bought by the said Margaret and by her for
a time carefully preserved in a leaden box, but afterwards, with great devotion,

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 473
When news of the execution was brought to Henry, who was
at that time playing at tables with the Queen, turning his eyes
upon her he said, " Thou art the cause of this man's death;" and,
rising immediately from his play, shut himself up in his chamber.
But if he felt any remorse, recollecting the times when he put his
arm round More's neck in the garden at Chelsea, or was instruct
ed by him in the motion of the heavenly bodies from the house
top, or was amused by his jests at supper, — the feeling was tran
sitory; for he not only placed the head where it must have been
conspicuous to his own eye, in passing between Whitehall and
Greenwich, but he immediately expelled Lady More from the
house at Chelsea, seizing whatever property More left behind
him; he even set aside assignments which, for the purpose of
making some provision for the family, had been legally executed
before the commission of the alleged offence, thereby giving fresh
evidence of his "mild and friendly temper !*"
The letters and narrative of Erasmus diffused the story of
More's fate over Europe, and every where excited horror against
the English name. Henry's ministers were regarded at every
Court with averted eyes, as the agents of a monster. Charles V.
sent for Sir T. Elliot, the English Ambassador, and said to him,
" We understand that the King, your master, has put to death his
wise councillor, Sir" Thomas More." Elliot abashed, pretended
ignorance of the event. " Well," said the Emperor, " it is true ;
and this we will say, that if he had been ours, we should sooner
have lost the best city in our dominions than so -worthy a council
lor." Holbein's portraits of More have made his features familiar to
all Englishmen. According to his great-grandson, he was of " a
middle stature, well proportioned, of a pale complexion; his hair
of chestnut colour, his eyes grey, his countenance mild and cheer
ful ; his voice not very musical, but clear and distinct ; his consti
tution, which was good originally, was never impaired by his way
of living, otherwise than by too much study. His diet was sim
ple and abstemious, never drinking any wine but when he pledg-
'twas put into a vault (the burying-place of the Ropers), under a chapel joyning to
St. Dunstan's Church, in Canterbury, where it doth yet remain, standing on the
said box on the coffin of Margaret his daughter, buried there " — Wood's Ath. Ox.
vol. i. p 86. The Rev. J. Bowes Bunce, a clergyman at Canterbury, who had in-
spected tbe repairs of St. Dunstan's Church in 1835, has made me the following
communication : — Wishing to ascertain whether Sir T. More's skull was really
there, 1 went down into the vault, and found it still remaining in the place where it
was seen many years ago, in a niche in the wall, in a leaden box, something of the
' shape of a bee-hive, open in the front, and with an iron grating before it — Sir
Thomas had prepared a tomb for himself in his parish church at Chelsea, which is
still preserved with great veneration although an empty cenotaph.
* See Turn Hist. Eng. vol. x. 333. W e may be amused by a defence of Richard
HI , but we can feel only indignation and disgust at an apology of Henry VIII.,
whose atrocities are as well authenticated as those of Robespierre, and are less ex
cusable. For trial and execution of More, see 1 St. Tr. 385.-475.
40*

474 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
ed those who drank to him ; and rather mortifying, than indulging,
his appetite in what he ate."*
His character, both in public and in private life, comes as near
to perfection as our nature will permit. Some of his admirers
have too readily conceded that the splendour of his great qualities
was obscured by intolerance and superstition, and that he vol
untarily sought his death by violating a law which, with a safe
conscience, he might have obeyed. We Protestants must lament
that he was not a convert to the doctrines of the Beformation;
but they had as yet been very imperfectly expounded in England,
and they had produced effects in foreign countries which might
well alarm a man of constant mind. If he adhered conscientiously
to the faith in which he had been educated, he can in no instance
be blamed for the course he pursued. No good Boman Catholic
could declare that the King's first marriage had been absolutely
void from the beginning ; or that the King could be vested, by act
of parliament, with the functions ofthe Pope, as Head ofthe Angli
can Church. Can we censure him for submitting to loss of office,
imprisonment, and death, rather than make such declaration ? He
implicitly yielded to the law regulating the succession to the Crown ;
and he offered no active opposition to any other law ; — only re
quiring that, on matters of opinion, he might be permitted to re
main silent.
The English Beformation was a glorious event, for which we
never can be sufficiently grateful to divine Providence : but I
own I feel little respect for those by whose instrumentality it was
first brought about ; — men generally swayed by their own worldly
interests, and willing to sanction the worst passions of the tyrant
to whom they looked for advancement. With aU my Protestant
zeal, I must feel a higher reverence for Sir Thomas More than for
Thomas CromweU or Cranmer.t
I am not permitted to enter into a critical examination of his
writings, but this sketch of his life would be very defective with
out some further notice of them. His first literary essay is suppos
ed to have been the fragment which goes under his name as " the
History of Edward V. and wBichard III.," though some have as
cribed it to Cardinal Morton, who probably furnished the materials
for it to his precocious page, having been intimately mixed up with
the transactions which it narrates. It has the merit of being the
earliest historical composition in the English language ; and, with
* More, 294.
t Although he adhered to most of what we call " the errors of popery," it is de
lightful to find that he was friendly to the circulation of the Holv Scriptures, and
that from them he professed to draw his creed. When Erasmus published his ad
mirable edition of the New Testament, thus More bursts forth : —
" Sanctum opus, ct docti labor immortalis Eeasmi,
Prodit, et o populis commoda quanta vehit !
Tota igitur demptis versa est jam denuo mendis,
Atque nora Chkisti lex nova luce nitet."

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 475
all its defects, several fages elapsed before there was much im
provement upon it, this being a department of literature in which
England did not excel before the middle of the eighteenth century.
More s " Epigrammata," though much admired in their day, not
only in England, but aU over Europe, are now only inspected by
the curious, who wish to know how the Latin language was
cultivated in the reign of Henry VII. The collection in its pres
ent form was printed at Basle from a manuscript supplied by
Erasmus, consisting of detached copies made by various friends,
without his authority or sanction. His own opinion of their merits
is .thus given in one of his epistles to Erasmus : " I was never
much delighted with my Epigrams, as you are well aware ;. and if
they had not pleased yourself and certain others better than
they pleased me, the volume would never have been published."
The subjects of these effusions are very multifarious — the ignor
ance of clergy — the foibles of the fair sex — the pretensions of
sciolists — the tricks of astrologers — the vices and follies of
mankind, — while they are prompted at times by the warmth of
private friendship and the tenderness of domestic affection. Many
of them were written to dissipate the ennui of tedious and solitary
travelling. When rapid movement on the surface of the earth by
the power of steam was less thought of than the art. of flying
through the air with artificial wings, it was the practice of scholars
trudging slowly on foot, or toiling along miry roads on a tired
horse, to employ their thoughts on metrical composition. Erasmus
framed in his own mind, without any assistance from writing
materials, his poem upon Old Age while crossing the Alps into
Italy, — and he devised the plan of the " Encomium Morias" during
a journey to England, "ne totum hoc tempus quo equo fuit insid-
endum u/wvaoig et illiteratis fabulis tereretur." Thus More begins
a beautiful address to Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely, and John, " dul-
cissimis liberis," composed under circumstances which he graph
ically describes — seemingly very unfavourable to the muses :
" Quatuor una meos invisat epistola natos,
Scrvat el incolumes a. patre missa salus.
Dum peragraturiter, pluvioque madescimus imbre,
Dumque luto implieitus sajpius ha?ret cquus,
Hoc tamen interea vobis excogito carmen,
Quod gratum, quanquam sit rude, spcro fore.
Collegisse animi licet bine documents paterni,
Quanto plus oculis vos amet ipse suis :
Quem non putre solum, quem non male turbidus ae'r,
Exiguusque altas trans cquus actus aquas,
A vobis potcrant divellere, quo minus omni
Se memorem vestri comprobet esse loco;
Nam crebro dum nutat equus casumque minatur,
Condere non versus desinit ille tamen."
He then goes on in a very touching manner to remind them
with what delight he had caressed them, and treated. them with
fruit and cakes and pretty clothes; and with what reluctance and

476 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
gentleness he had flogged them. The instrument of punishment,
the application of it, and the effects of it, are all very curious.
" Inde est vos ego quod soleo pavisse placenta
Mitia cum pulchris et dare mala piris.
Inde quod et Scrum textis ornare solebam,
Quod nunquam potui vos ego flere pati ;
Seitis enim quilm crebra dedi oscula, verbera rara,
Elagrum pavonis non nisi cauda fuit.
Hanc tamen admovi timidcque et molliter ipsam,
Ne Vibex teneras signet amara nates.
Ah 1 ferus est, dicique pater non ille meretur,
Qui lachrymas nati non fleat ipse sui."
As a specimen of his satirical vein, I shall give his lines on an
old acquaintance whom he had estranged (seemingly not to his
very deep regret) by lending him a sum of money —
" In Ttndalem debitorem.
"Ante meos qu&m credideram tibi, Tydale, nummos,
Quum libuit, licuit te mihi ssepe frui ;
At nunc si tibi me fors angulas afferat ullus,
Haud secus ac viso qui pavet angue, fugis,
Non fuit unquam animus, mihi crede, reposcere nnmmos ;
Non fuit, at ne te perdere cogar, erit.
Perdere, te salvo, nummos volo. perdere utrumque
Nolo, sat alterutrum sit periisse mihi.
Ergo tibi nummia, aut te mihi redde, retentia :
Aut tu cum nummis le mihi redde meis.
Quod tibi si neutrum placeat, nummi mihi saltern
Eac redeant : at tu non rediture, vale."*
* The following spirited translation is by the accomplished author of Philo-
morus.
" O Tyndal, there was once a time,
A pleasant time of old,
Before thou cam'st a-borrowing,
Before I lent thee gold ;
" When scarce a single day did close
But thou and I my friend,
Were wont, as often as I chose,
A social hour to spend.
" But now, if e'er perchance we meet,
Anon I see thee take
Quick to thy heels adown the street,
Like one who sees a snake.
"Believe me, for the dirty pelf
I never did intend
To ask ; and yet, spite of myself,
I must, or lose my friend.
" To lose my money I consent,
So that I lose not thee;
If one or other of you wont,
Contented might 1 be.
" With or without the gold return, —
I take thee nothing loath ; —
But, sooth, it makes my spirit yearn,
Thus to resign you both.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 477,
More's controversial -writings, on which he bestowed most pains
and counted most confidently for future fame, have long fallen
into utter obtivion, the very titles of most of them having per
ished. But the composition to which he attached no importance,—
which, as v,jeu-d 'esprit, occupied a few of his idle hours when he
retired from the bar, — and which he was with great difficulty pre-
vatied upon to publish,— would of itself have made his name im
mortal. Since the time of Plato, there had been no composition
given to the world which, for imagination, for philosophical dis
crimination, for a familiarity with the principles of government,
for a knowledge of the springs of human action, for a keen obser
vation of men and manners, and for felicity of .expression, could
be compared to the Utopia. Although the word, invented by
More, has been introduced into the language, to describe what is
supposed to be impracticable and visionary, — the work (with some
extravagance and absurdities, devised perhaps with the covert ob
ject of softening the offence which might have been given by his
satire upon the abuses of his age and country) abounds with les
sons of practical wisdom. If I do not, like some, find in it all the
doctrines of sound political economy illustrated by Adam Smith,
I can distinctly point out in it the objections to a severe penal
code, -which have at last prevailed, after they had been long urged
in vain by Bomilly and Mackintosh ; — and as this subject is inti
mately connected with the history of the law of England, I hope I
may be pardoned for giving the following extract to show the law re
forms which Sir Thomas More would have introduced when Lord
Chancellor, had he not been three centuries in advance of his age :
He represents his great traveller who had visited Utopia, and des
cribes its institutions, as saying, " There happened to be at tableau
English lawyer, who took occasion to run out in high commenda
tion of the severe execution of thieves in his country, where
might be seen twenty at a time dangling from one gibbet. Nev
ertheless, he observed, it puzzled him to understand, since so few
escaped, there were yet so many thieves left who were still found
sobbing in all places.* Upon this I said with boldness, there was
no reason to wonder at the matter, since this way of punishing
" If neither please, do thou at least
Send me the money due."
Nor wonder if to thee I send
A long and last adieu."
* " Ccepit accurate laudare rigidam illam justitiam qua; turn illic exercebatur in
fures, quos passim narrabat nonnunquam suspendi viginti in una cruce, atque eo
vehementius dicebat se mirari cum tam pauci elaberentnr supplicio, quo malo fato
fjeret (how the devil it happened) uti tam multi tamen ubique grassarentur." This.
lawyer reminds me exceedingly of the attorney-generals, judges, and secretaries of
state, who in mv early youth eulogised the bloody penal code which then disgraced
England, and predicted that, if it were softened, there would no safety for life or
property. They would not even, like their worthy predecessor here recorded, ad,-
mit its inefficacy to check the commission of crime.

478 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
thieves was neither just in itself nor for the public good; for as
the severity was too great, so the remedy was not effectual ; sim
ple theft was not so great a crime that it ought to cost a man his
life ; and no punishment would restrain men from robbing who
could find no other way of livelihood. In this, not only you, but
a great part of the world besides, imitate ignorant and cruel school
masters, who are readier to flog their pupils than to teach them.
Instead of these dreadful punishments enacted against thieves, it
would be much better to make provision for enabling those men to
live by their industry whom you drive to theft and then put to
death for the crime you cause."
He exposes the absurdity of the law of forfeiture in case of
larceny, which I am ashamed to say, notwithstanding the efforts
I have myself made in parliament to amend it, still' disgraces our
penal code, so that for an offence for which, as a full punishment,
sentence is given of imprisonment for a month, the prisoner loses
all his personal property, which is never thought of by the Court
in pronouncing the sentence. It was otherwise among the Utopi
ans. " Those that are found guilty of theft among them are bound
to make restitution to the owner, and not to the prince. If that
which was stolen is no more in being, then the goods of the thief
are estimated, and restitution being made out of them, the remain
der is given to his wife and children."
I cannot refrain from giving another extract to prove that, be
fore the Beformation, he was as warm a friend as Locke to the
principles of religious toleration. He says that the great legisla
tor of Utopia made a law that every man might be of what reli
gion he pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it by the
force of argument, and by amicable and modest ways, without
bitterness against those of other opinions. " This law was made
by Utopus not only for preserving the public peace, -which he saw
suffered much by daily contentions and irreconcilable heats, but
because he thought it was required by a due regard to the inter
est of religion itself. He judged it not fit to decide rashly any
matter of opinion, and he deemed it foolish and indecent to threat
en and terrify another for the purpose of making him believe what
did not appear to him to be true."*
More had in his visits to Flanders — then far more advanced than
* His most wonderful anticipation may be thought that of Lord Ashley's factory
measure — by " the Six Hours' Bill," which regulated labour in Utopia. " Nee ab
summo mane tamen, ad multam usque noctem perpetuo labore, velut jumenta fati-
gatus; nam ea plus quam servilis ajrumna est; qua) tamen ubique fere opificum
vita est exceptis Uiepiensibus, qui cum in horas viginiti-quatuor sequales diem con-
numerata. nocte dividant, sex duntaxat open deputant, tres ante meridiem, aquibus
prandium ineunt, atque a prandio duas pomeridianas horas quam interquieverunt,
tres deinde rursus labori cletas coena claudunt. Etenim quod sex duntaxat horas
in opere sunt, fieri fortasse potest, ut inopiam aliquam putes necessariam rerum
sequi. Quod tam longe abest ut accidat, ut id temporis ad omnium rerum copiam,
qua; quidem ad vita; vel necessitatem requirantur vel commoditatem, non sufficiat
modo sed supersit etiam." — Utop. vol. ii. 68.

LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. 479
England in refinement as well as in wealth— acquired a great
tondness for pictures, and he was desirous to introduce a taste for
the hne arts among his countrymen. He was the patron of Hol
bein, and it was through his introduction that this artist was taken
into the service of Henry VIII. Hence the pains bestowed on
Holbein s portraits ofthe More family, which are the most de-
hghtful of his works. More was likewise acquainted with Quin
tin Mastys, the celebrated painter of Antwerp ; and he describes,
both in prose and verse, a piece executed for him by this artist.
It represented his two most intimate friends, Erasmus and Peter
Giles,— the former in the act of commencing his " Paraphrase on
the Bomanp," and the other holding in his hand a letter from
More, addressed to him in a fac-simile representation of the hand
writing of his correspondent*
It is to be regretted that we have so few specimens of More's
oratory; his powers as a debater called forth this eulogium from
Erasmus : — " His eloquent tongue so well seconds his fertile in
vention, that no one speaks better when suddenly called forth.
His attention never languishes, his mind is always before his
words ; his memory has all its stock so turned into ready money,
that without hesitation or delay it supplies whatever the occasion
may require."!
But by no grave quality does he seem to have made such an
impression on his contemporaries as he did by his powers of wit
and humour. I therefore introduce a few of his pointed sayings
beyond those which have occurred in the narrative of his life. He
observed, that " to aim at honour in this world is to set a coat of
arms over a prison gate." " A covetous old man he compared to
a thief who steals when he is on his way to the gallows." He
enforced the giving of alms by remarking, that " a prudent man,
about to leave his native land forever, would send his substance
to the far country to which he journey eth." Sir Thomas Man
ners, with whom he had been very familiar when a boy, was cre
ated Earl of Butland about the same time that More was made
Lord ChanceUor, and being much puffed up by his elevation, treat
ed with superciliousness his old schoolfellow, who still remained
a simple knight, but would not allow himself to be insulted. " Ho-
nores mutant Mores," cried the upstart Earl. " The proper trans
lation of which," said the imperturable Chancellor, " is, Honours
change manners."
* Philomorus, 48.
t Erasm. Epist. As they had been personally known to each other from the
time when More was an undergraduate at Oxford, there can be no truth in the
story that the two having met at the Lord Mayor's table, being strangers except by
reputation, and conversing in Latin, More having sharply combated some latiludin-
arian paradox sported by Erasmus, — the latter said, " Aut tu cs Morus aut JNul-
lus," to which the answer was, " Aut tu cs Erasmus aut Diabolus "
In 1523 Erasmus sent his portrait to More from Balse, and More in return sent
Erasmus the famous picture by Holbein of himself and his family, including the
Fool, which is still preserved in the town-hall at Basle.

480 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
He once, while Chancellor, by his ready wit saved himself from
coming to an untimely end : — " He was wont to recreate himself
on the flat top of his gate house at Chelsea, from which there was
a most pleasant prospect of the Thames and the fields beyond.
It happened one time that a Tom-of-Bedlam came up to him, and
had a mind to have thrown him from the battlements, saying,
* Leap, Tom, leap.' The Chancellor was in his gown, and besides
ancient, and not able to struggle with such a strong fellow. My
Lord.had a little dog with him : said he, ' Let us throw the dog
down, and see what sport that will be.' So the dog was thrown
over. ' This is very fine sport,' said my Lord ; ' fetch him "up and
try once more.' While the madman was going down, my Lord
fastened the door, and called for help ; but ever after kept the door
shut."* He did not even despise a practical joke. While he held his
city office he used regularly to attend the Old Bailey Sessions,
where there was a tiresome old Justice, " who was wont to chide
the poor men that had their purses cut for not keeping them more
warily, saying, that their negligence was the cause that there were
so many cut-purses brought thither." To stop his prosing, More
at last went to a celebrated cut-purse then in prison, who was to
be tried next day, and promised to stand his friend if he would cut
this Justice's purse while he sat on the bench trying him. The
thief being arraigned at the sitting of the Court next morning,
said he could excuse himself sufficiently if he were but permitted
to speak in private to one of the bench. He was bid to choose
whom he would, and he chose that grave old Justice, who then
had his pouch at his girdle. The thief stepped up to him, arid
while he rounded him in the ear, cunningly cut his purse, and,
taking his leave, solemnly went back to his place. From the
agreed signal, More knowing that the deed was done, proposed a
small subscription for a poor needy fellow who had been acquitted,
beginning by himself setting a liberal example. The old Justice,
after some hesitation, expressed his willingness to give a trifle, but
finding his purse cut away, expressed the greatest astonishment,
as he said he was sure he had it when he took seat in Court that
morning. More replied, in a pleasant manner, " What ! will you
charge your brethren of the bench with felony?" The Justice
becoming angry and ashamed, Sir Thomas called the thief and
desired him to deliver up the purse, counselling the worthy Justice
hereafter not to be so bitter a censurer of innocent men's negli
gence, since he himself could not keep his purse safe when pre
siding as a judge at the trial of cut-purses.t
* Aubrey's Letters, vol. iii. 462.
t Sir John Sylvester, Recorder of London, was in my time robbed of his watch
by a thief whom he tried at the Old Bailey. During the trial he happened to say
aloud that he had forgot to bring his watch with hjm. The thief being acquitted
tor want of evidence, went with the Recorder's love to Lady Sylvester, and request-

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 481
I am, indeed, reluctant to take leave of Sir Thomas More, not
only from his agreeable qualities and extraordinary merit, but from
my abhorrence of the mean, sordid, unprincipled Chancellors who
succeeded him, and made the latter half of the reign of Henrv
Vill. the most disgraceful period in our annals.

CHAPTEB XXXIV.
LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY.
When Sir Thomas More resigned the Great Seal, it was delivered
to Sir Thomas Audley, afterwards Lord Audley, r,, „.
with the title, first of Lord Keeper, and then of f AY |° ' 1SJ®;\
Lord Chancellor* There was a striking cpntrast, lJan- 2b> 1533-J
in almost all respects, between these two individuals, — the suc
cessor of the man so distinguished for genius, learning, patriotism,
and integrity, having only common-place abihties, sufficient, with
cunning and shrewdness, to raise their possessor in the world,—
having no acquired knowledge beyond what was professional and
official, — having first recommended himself to promotion by de
fending, in the House of Commons, the abuses of prerogative, —
and for the sake of remaining in office, being ever willing to sub
mit to any degradation, and to participate in the commission of any
crime. He held the Great Seal for a period of above twelve years,
during which, to please the humours of his capricious and tyran
nical master, he sanctioned the divorce of three Queens, — the ex
ecution of two of them on the scaffold, — the judicial murder of
Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher, and many others, who, animated
by their example, preferred death to infamy, — the spoliation of the
Church and a division of the -plunder among those who planned
the robbery, — and reckless changes of the estabhshed religion,
which left untouched aU the errors of Popery, with the absurdity
of the King being constituted Pope, and which involved in a com
mon massacre those who denied transubstantiation and those who
ed that she would immediately send his watch to him by a constable he had order
ed to fetch it.
Soon after I was called to the Bar, and had published the first No. of my "Nisi
Prius Reports," — while defending a prisoner in the Crown Court, I had occasion
to consult my client, and I went to the dock, where I conversed with him for a
minute or two. I got him off, and he was immediately discharged. But my joy
was soon disturbed ; putting my hand into my pocket to pay the "Junior" of the-.
circuit my quota for yesterday's dinner, I found that my purse was gone contain
ing several bank notes, the currency of that day. The incident causing much
merriment, it was communicated to Lord Chief Baron Macdonald, the presiding
Jndge, who said, " What ! does Mr. Campbell think that no -one is entitled to take
notes in Court except himself?"
* Rot. 01. 24. Hen. VIII. m. 24
vol. I. 41

482 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
denied the King's spiritual supremacy. Luckily for Audley, he
has not much attracted the notice of historians; but there can be
no doubt that he had a considerable influence upon the events
which disgraced the latter half of this reign ; and we must now
inquire into his origin, and try to trace tbe steps by which he
reached, and the means by which he retained, his "bad enti-
ncncc Thomas Audley was born in the year 1488, at the Hay House,
in the tenure of the Prior of Colne, in Essex* His family was
ancient, though it seems not entitled to bear arms. His ancestor,
Balph Audley, having been seated at Earl's Colne in that county
as early as the 28th of Henry VI, afterwards became possessed
of the Hay House, which his descendants continued to inhabit,
and which was demolished only a few years ago. But it would
appear that they were only of the class of yeomen, and that the
Chancellor was the first of them who could boast of heraldic hon
ours, t
He had a slender patrimony, and he rose from his own industry
and selfish arts. Some accounts represent, that after an indiffer
ent school education he was sent to Magdalene College, Cam
bridge, of which he afterwards became a benefactor; but the re
cords, both of Oxford and Cambridge, have in vain been searched
for his name, and it is doubtful whether he ever had the advantage
of being at a university. While still a youth he was entered of
the Inner Temple, where he devoted himself very steadily to the
study of the common law, and he is said to have discharged the
duties of " Autumn Beadcr" to the society with some reputation.
Being called to the degree of outer barrister, he early rose into
considerable practice from his skill in the technicalities of his pro
fession, and his eager desire to please his clients. He was of a
comely and majestic presence ; and by his smooth manners and
systematic anxiety to give offence to no one, he acquired general
popularity, although known to those who had studied his character
to be unprincipled, false, and deceitful.
In the 12th year of the reign of Henry VIII. he was called to
the degree of Serjeant-at-Law, and, flourishing in Westminster
Hall, he became eager for political advancement. Parliament so
seldom met during this reign, that aspiring lawyers had but rare
opportunities of gaining distinction either as-patriots or courtiers.
But a parliament being at last called in 1523, Audley contrived to
* •' A. d. 1516. Thomas Audley natusjn Colne in Com. Essex. Burgeus."
Oath Book qf Corporation of Colchester.
t The original grant of Arms to Lord Audley, dated 18lh March, 1538, still pre
served at Auillcy End, recites " that not being contynncd in nobilite berynge armes
and ilesccndcdof ancient stocke by his auneestors and predecessors by consanguiiiite
and marriage, and he not willing to use.or bere arr.i.a that should redound unto
damage or reprofe of any of the same name or consangninite, or of any other per
son, he desired the following coat to be assigned to him, &c." The arms differ
from ihose borne by families of the same name, but the motto " Garde la Fey" be
longed to Touchet, Lord Audley.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 483
get himself returned a burgess to the House of Commons, in the
hope of now making his fortune. This was the parliament at,
which Sir Thomas More was Speaker of the House of Commons,
and gained such distinction by preserving the privileges of the
House, and resisting the exorbitant subsidy demanded by Wolsey.
Audley strongly took the side of the Court, defended all the Car
dinal's proceedings, and bitterly inveighed against aU his opponents
as disloyal subjects and favourers of heresy. When the lamenta
tion was uttered by Wolsey that More was not at Borne instead
of being made Speaker*, regret was no doubt felt that Audley had
not been placed in the chair ; and a resolution was formed, that
he should have the Court influence in his favour on a future oc
casion. In the meanwhile he was made Attorney to the Duchy
of Lancaster, and a King's Serjeant, t
In the succeeding interval of six years, during which no parlia
ment sat, he distinguished himself by abetting all the illegal ex
pedients resorted to for raising money on the people. No Hamp
den arose to contest in a Court of Justice, the legality of the com
missions issued under the Great Seal, for levying the sixth of eve
ry man's goods ; b.ut they excited such deep discontents, that a
rebellion was apprehended, and they were recalled. Against such
an arbitrary Sovereign as Henry, with such tools as Audley, the
only remedy for public wrongs was resistance.
On the question of the divorce, Audley was equally subservient
to the King's wishes ; and he -was so high in his favour, as not to
be -without hopes of the Great Seal on Wolsey's disgrace. But
though no doubt was entertained of his pliancy, his character for
integrity was now very low ; and fears being entertained that he
would bring discredit upon the government, the more prudent
course was adopted of preferring Sir Thomas More.
However, More being appointed to the Great Seal, Audley was
named his successor as Chancellor ofthe Duchy r(~. -ima i
of Lancaster; and, at the meeting of parliament, in *¦ ' '*
the beginning of November, 1629, on the recommendation of the
Court, he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons.
Being presented at the "bar of the House of Lords, he made an
eloquent oration, consisting of two points ; first, " that he much
praised the King for his equity and justice, mixed with mercy and
pity;" secondly, "he endeavoured to disable himself, for want of
sense, learning, and discretion, for the taking of so high an office,
beseeching the King to cause his Commons to resort again to their
House, and there to choose another Speaker." To this the Chan
cellor, by the King's command, replied with the usual courtesy,
" that whereas he sought to disable himself in sense and learning,
his own elaborate discourse there delivered testified to the con
trary ; and, touching his discredit and other qualities, the King
himself had well known him and his doings, since he was in his
* See ante, 389. t Orig. Jur. 83.

484 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
service, to be both wise and discreet ; and so as an able man he
accepted him, and admitted him Speaker."*
The King's designs to break with Bome were strongly supported
by Audley, and were well received by the Commons ; but Fisher,
Bishop of Bochester, made a strong speech against them in the
Lords, in which he said, that " our Holy Mother, the Church, was
about to be brought, like a bondmaid, into thraldom ; and that
want of faith was the true cause of the mischiefs impending over
the State." When the Commons heard of this speech, they con
ceived great indignation against the Bishop ; and not suspecting
that there was any irregularity in noticing what was said in debate
by a member of the other House, they sent Audley, the Speaker,
attended by a deputation of their body, to complain of it to the
King, and to let his Majesty know " how grievously they thought
themselves injured thereby, for charging them with lack of faith
as if they had been infidels or heretics."
The King was well pleased with this interference, which he
had most likely prompted, and sent for the Bishop of Bochester
to rebuke him for the licence he had used to the displeasure of
the Commons. The courageous Prelate answered, " that having
seat and voice in parliament, he spake his mind freely in defence
of the Church, which he saw daily injured and oppressed by the
common people, whose office it was not to judge of her manners,
much less to reform them." The King advised him " to use his
Words more temperately."!
Audley had more difficulty, as Speaker, to restrain the impetu
osity of a party in the Commons, who, having imbibed the new
doctrines, wished in earnest for a religious reformation. Trim
ming his own profession of faith by the personal wishes of his
master, he laboured to preserve things in their present condition,
with the exception of transferring the power of the Pope to the
King. During the session of parliament which began in April, 1532,
f a d 1532 1 tnere was displayed among the Commons a strong
1 ""-1 sympathy with Queen Catherine, which the Speak
er found it very difficult to restrain within decent bounds. He
was compelled to put the question " that an humble address
should be presented to the King, praying that .his Majesty would
be graciously pleased to take back the Queen, and live with her
as his wife, according to the admonition of his Holiness the Pope."
We have no account of the debate, which, however guardedly
conducted, must have been most offensive to the King. The mo
ment he heard of it, in a rage he sent for Audley, and said to him,
" That he wondered any amongst them should meddle in busi
nesses which could not properly be determined in their House,
and with which they had no concern." His Majesty then conde
scended to reason the matter with the Speaker, who was to report
* 1 Pari. Hist. 492. t 1 pari. Hist. 493.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 485
to the House " that he was only actuated by a regard for the good
ot His soul ; that he wished the marriage with Catherine were un
objectionable, but, unfortunately, the Doctors of the Universities
having declared it contrary to the word of God, he could do no
less than abstain from her company ; that wantonness of appetite
was not to be imputed to him, for being now in his forty- first year,
it might justly be presumed that such motions were not so strong
in him as formerly*; that, except in Spain and . Portugal, no one
was allowed to marry two sisters ; but that for a brother to many
a brother's wife was a thing so abhorred among all nations, that
he never heard that any Christian did so except himself; whereat
his conscience was sorely troubled. "t
Audley succeeded in convincing the King that he was not per
sonally to blame in the stirring of the marriage question in the
House ; and he executed the commission now intrusted to him to
his Majesty's entire satisfaction.
So much was Henry pleased with his dexterity in managing the
House on this occasion, that he was soon after sent for again to
Whitehall, to consult about preparing the members for a final rup
ture with Rome ; and he was instructed to inform the House that
" his Majesty found the clergy of his realm were but half his sub
jects or scarce so much ; every Bishop or Abbot, at the entering into
his dignity, taking an oath to the Pope derogatory to that of fideli
ty to his Sovereign, which contradiction he desired his parliament
to consider and take away." The Speaker, at the next sitting of
the House, having delivered this message, directed the two oaths
to be read by the clerk at the table, and pointed out the manner in
which they clashed so forcibly, that the Commons were ready to
renounce the Pope's supremacy whenever this step should be
deemed expedient.
Audley was now such a decided favourite at Court that he was
destined to be the successor of Sir Thomas More, when the con
templated measures for the King's new marriage and separation
from Kome determined that virtuous man to resign the Great Seal.
However, a difficulty arose from the disadvantage it would occa
sion to the King's service if he were immediately removed from
the House of Commons, where his influence and dexterity had
been found so useful. The opinion then was, that if he were
made Lord Chancellor, he must immediately vacate his seat in
the House of Commons, and take his place on the woolsack as
* This is one among many proofs that occur, showing that formerly old age was
supposed to come on much sooner than at present; but our ancestors began life
very early, — often marrying nominally when infants, and actually at fourteen, —
and subjecting 'themselves to very little restraint of any kind. This emly decay of
the physical power seems likewise to have prevailed among tbe Romans in the
time of Augustus. Horace says, —
 " Euge suspicari,
Cujus oclavum trepidavit aetas
Claudere lustrum,''
1 1 Pari. Hist. 518. 41*

REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
President of the House of Lords ; but that merely as Lord Keep
er of the Great Seal he might continue a member of the House
of Commons, as if he were Chancellor of the Exchequer, or
were appointed to any other judicial office usually held by a com
moner. Accordingly Sir Thomas More, having surrendered the office of
Chancellor on the 16th of May, 1532, and the Seal having remain
ed four days in the King's hands, enclosed in a bag under the pri
vate Seal of the late Chancellor, on the 20th of May his Majesty
opened the bag and took out the Seal, and after inspecting it, de
livered it, with the title of Lord Keeper, to Audley, on whom he
then conferred the honour of knighthood.*
On Friday, the 5th of June, being the first day of Trinity Term,
after a grand procession to Westminster Hall, he was sworn in
and installed in the Court of Chancery,— the Duke of Norfolk,
who seems always to have acted as master of the ceremonies on
such occasions, delivering an oration, in which, after a becoming
compliment to the late Chancellor, he highly lauded the abilities
and good qualities of the new Lord Keeper. There is no trace to
be found of the reply, but we need not doubt that it turned upon
the conscientious feelings, humanity, and love of true religion
which ever dwelt in the royal bosom.
On the 6th of September following, on account of a change in
r , the King's style, the old Great Seal was broken,
[a. d. 1566. \ and a new one delivered to Audley, still with tha title
of Lord Keeper. T But on the 26th of January, 1533, "about the
* The entry on the Close Roll, after a very circumstantial account of the prior
proceedings, thus goes on : — " Et post inspecconem illam idem sigillurn dilco sibi
Thome Audley traddidit ct deliberavit cui tunc custodiam dci, sigilli sui comisit
Ipsumque Thomam Dmm Custodem Magni Sigilli Regii vocari nuncupari et ap-
pellari ac omnia et singula facre et exerccre tam in Cur. Cancellar. dci. Regis qm.
ia Cama Stellata et consilio ejusdem Dui. Regis prout Cancellarius Angl. facre et
exre solebal, declaravit et expresse mandavit." After staling that he sealed certain
letters patent, the entry records that he restored the Great Seal to its bag under his
own private seal, " sicque Sigillurn illud in eustodia ipsius Thome (quem idem Das.
Rex ordine rotlitari tunc insignavit1) aucioritate regia. prdca. remansit et remanet."
— Rot. Claus. 24 H. 8. m. 24. in dorso.
t The Close Roll gives a very minute description of the figures on the new
Great Seal, " videlt. Dum Regem in Majestate sua sedentem et sceptrum in una-
manu et in altera manu signum Crucis portantem necnon ex ufroque latere prefati
Dni. Regis ejusdem partis sigilli intersignia Anglise cum titulo ordinis garterii circa
eadem insignia et coronam imperialem supra eadem intersignia stantem ac ex altera;
parte ejusdem sigili Dm. Regem armatum manu sua dextera gladium tenentem
sedentemque super equum similiter armatum et in scuto suo intersignia Angliae
ferentem ac quandam rosam2 in dextro latere insculptam ; necnon sub pedibus
regiis canem currcntem."
i This distinction must then have been in high repute, as it 'was not conferred on
Audley when made Chancellor of the Duchy or Speaker of (be House of Commons,
and not till the Great Seal was delivered to him. He was not raised to the peerage
till six years after.
2 It would be curious to know whether the rose was gules or argent. If the King
regarded his title by descent, he must have preferred the white rose.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 487
KW'f n!7° in ^ afte™oon> in a chamber near the chapel in the
Novtoll, tin°rA i?af Gree™h> in the presence of the Duke of
R^S'i w 1ClblSh°P °f Cant«-bmT, the Earl of Wiltshire, the
Bishop of Winchester, and other Councillors, the King, having
ordered the Great Seal to be taken from the bag m which it was
inclosed received it into his hands, and having retained it for the
space of a quarter of an hour, divers weighty reasons moving his
Majesty thereto as he then openly declared, he being well pleas
ed with the faithful services of Sir Thomas Audley as Keeper of
the Great Seal, then and there constituted him his Chancellor of
England. "*
Sir Humphrey Wingfield was chosen Speaker of the House of
Commons in his place ; and henceforth, till his death in 1544, the
Chancellor prompted and presided over the iniquitous measures
brought forward m the Upper House, and was the chief agent in
the homicides committed by the instrumentality of legal process.
In the proceedings of parliament, and in contemporary writers,
I do not discover any censure of him as an Equity r
Judge. The probability is, that, being regularly LA- D-' 15jJ-J
trained to the profession of the law, he did his duty efficiently;
and that where the Crown was not concerned, and he had no
corrupt bias to mislead him, he decided fairly. As a politician, he
is bitterly condemed by all who mention his name.
At the conclusion of the session in which the act was passed
for recognising the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn, and settle-
ing the succession to the Crown on their issuef, — the King being
seated on the throne, Audley delivered a warm panegyric upon it,
saying that " upon the due observance of it the good and happiness
of the kingdom chiefly depended." He then intimated that the
King, by letters patent, had appointed the Lord Chancellor, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Norfolk, and the Duke of
Suffolk, Commissioners to swear the Lords and Common0, and all
others at their discretion, to observe the act. They immediately,
in the King's presence, took the oath themselves, and administered
it to the members of both Houses, introducing into it words re
specting the original nullity of the King's first marriage and the
King's supremacy which the statute did not justify.
We have already seen the part taken by Lord Chancellor Audley,
along with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Nor
folk, in trying to force the oath upon Sir Thomas More, and com
mitting him close prisoner to the Tower of London for refusing to
take it: — the acts which he procured to be passed for the perpet
ual imprisonment of More and Fisher, and for making the denial
of the King's supremacy high treason ; — and his various attempts,
"by going personally to the Tower, to entrap More into such a de-
* " Sioque sigillurn prcdm. in custodia prefati Thome nunc Cancellarii Anglie
remansit et rcmanct."
f 25 Hen. 8. u. 22

488 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
nial of the King's supremacy as might be made the pretence for
putting him to death as a traitor*
Audley now issued, under the Great Seal, a special commision
for the trial of Fisher and More, — placing himself at the head of
, it. As less skill was apprehended from the aged pre-
[a. d. 15o5.J late in defending himself, and there was some colour
of a case against him from the infamous arts of Bich, the Solicitor
General, tlie wary Chancellor judged it most expedient to begin
with him, although the conviction of the Ex-chancellor was deem
ed an object of still greater importance. Accordingly, on the 17th
of June, Audley, with the other Commissoners, being seated in the
Court of King's Bench in Westminster Hall, Fisher, from age and
weakness hardly able to support himself, was placed at the bar,
charged with having traitorously attempted to deprive the King of
his title, by maliciously speaking these words : " The Kyng our
Soveraign Lord is not supreme Hedd yn Erthe of the Churche of
Englande."t The only witness for the Crown was Bich, the Solicitor General,
who, although he was supposed not to have exceeded the truth in
stating what had passed between him and the prisoner, convered
himself with almost equal infamy as when he was driven to com
mit perjury on the trial of More. He had the baseness voluntarily
to swear, that, in a private conversation he had held with the
Bishop when he paid him a friendly visit in the Tower, he heard
the Bishop declare " that he believed in his conscience, and by his
learning he assuredly knew, that the King neither was nor by right
could be supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England."
Fisher, without the assistance of counsel, which could not be
permitted against the Crown,- objected to Audley and the other
Judges that this declaration ought not to be received in evidence,
or be considered as supporting the charge in the indictment, con
sidering the circumstances under which it was elicited from him.
" Mr. Bich," said he, " I cannot but marvel to hear you come and
bear witness against me of these words. This man, my Lords,
came to me from the King, as he said, on a secret message, with
commendati ms from his Grace declaring what good opinion his
Majesty had of me and how sorry he was of my trouble, and many
more words not now fit to be recited, as 1 was not only ashamed to
hear them, but also knew well that I could no way deserve them.
At last he broke to me the matter of the King's supremacy, telling
me that the King, for better satisfaction of his own conscience, had
sent him unto me in this secret manner to know my full opinion in
the matter for the great affiance he had in me more than any other.
When I had heard this message, I put him in mind of the new act
of parliament, which standing in force as it does, might thereby
endanger me very much in case I should utter any thing against
its provisions. To that he made answer, ' that the King wtiled him
* Ante, p. 461. et seq. f 26 Hen. 8. c. 113.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 489
to assure me, upon his honour, and on the word of a King, that
whatsoever I should say unto him by this his secret messenger, I
should abide no peril for it, although my words were ever so direct
ly against the statute, seeing it was only a declaration of my mind
secretly as to his own person.' And the messenger g-ve me his
solemn promise that he never would mention my words to living
soul, save the King alone. Now, therefore, my Lords, seeing it
pleased the King's majesty to send to me thus secretly to know
my poor advice and opinion, which I most gladly was and ever
will be ready to offer to him when so commanded, methinks it
very hard to allow tbe same as sufficient testimony against me to
prove me guilty of high treason."
Bich did not contradict this statement, observing only, that "he
said no more to him than his Majesty commanded," and then, as
counsel for the Crown, argued that assuming the statement to be
true, it was no discharge in law against his Mjesty for a direct
violation of the statute.
Audley ruled, and the other Judges concurred, "that this mes
sage or promise from the King neither did nor could, by rigour of
law, discharge him, but in so declaring his mind and conscience
against the supremacy, yea, though it were at the King's own re
quest or commandment, he committed treason by the statute, and
nothing could save him from death but the King's pardon."
Fisher still argued, that as the statute only made it treason
maliciously to deny the King's supremacy, he could not be guilty
by merely expressing an opinion to the King himself by his own
order; — to -which Audley answered, that malice did not mean
spite or ill-will in the vulgar sense, but was an inference of law;
for if a man speak against the King's supremacy by any manner
of means, that speaking is to be understood and taken in law as
malicious. The right reverend prisoner then took an objection, which seems
to have rather puzzled the Court, — that here there was but one
witness, which in treason is insufficient.
Audley and the Judges, after some hesitation, answered, that as
this wasa case in which the King was personally concerned, the
rule requiring two witnesses did not apply; that the jury would con
sider the- evidence, the truth of which was not disputed, and as
they believed or disbelieved it the prisoner should be acquitted or
condemned. " The case was so aggravated to the jury, by my
Lord Chancellor making it so heinous and dangerous a treason,
that they easily perceived what verdict they must return ; other-
Wise heap such danger on their own heads as none of them were
willing to undergo." Yet many of his hearers, and some of his
judges were melted to tears, to see such a venerable father of the
church in danger of being sentenced to a cruel death upon such
evidence given, contrary to all faith, and the promise of the King
himself. The jury having withdrawn for a short time, brought in a verdict

490 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
of guilty. The Bishop prayed to God to forgive them ; but the
Lord Chancellor, " framing himself to a solemnity of countenance,"
passed sentence of death upon him in the revolting terms used on
such occasions ; ordering that his head and four quarters should be
setup where the King should appoint, and piously concluding
with a prayer, that God might have mercy on his soul. This
wicked Judge had not the apology of having any taste for blood
himself, and he would probably have been much better pleased to
have sustained the objections, and directed an acquittal: he was
merely a tool of the tyrant, who, hearing that Pope Paul III. had
sent Fisher a Cardinal's hat, exclaimed, " I will take care that he
has not a head to put it upon."
Audley's demeanour on the trial of Sir Thomas More, which
took place a fortnight afterwards, we have already commemorated*
The merit has been ascribed to him of favouring the Beforma
tion ; but, in reality, he had no opinions of his own, and he was
now acting merely as an instrument in the hands of the most re
markable adventurer to be met with in English history; whose
rise more resembles that of a slave, at once constituted Grand
Vizier in an Eastern despotism, than of a minister of state pro
moted in a constitutional government, — where law, usage, and
public opinion check the capricious humours of the sovereign.
Thomas Cromwell, the son of a fullert, having had a very slen
der education, — after serving as a trooper in foreign armies, and a
clerk in a merchant's counting-house at Antwerp, had picked up a
little knowledge of the law in an attorney's office in London, —
had been taken into the service of Cardinal Wolsey as a steward,
— had obtained a seat in parliament, — had acquired a great ascen
dancy in the House of Commons by his energy and volubility, —
had insinuated himself into the favour and confidence of Henry
VIII. by his pliancy and dexterity in business ; — and having been
successively made Clerk of the Hanaper in the Court of Chance
ry, Master of the Jewel House, Chancellor of the Exchequer, a
Knight and a Privy Councillor, was now Lord Chamberlain, Chief
Justice in Eyre beyond Trent, Lord Privy Seal, Baron Cromwell
of Okeham, in the county of Butland, Vicar General and Vicege
rent of the King as Head of the Church, with precedence in par
liament above all temporal and spiritual Peers, and with absolute
power in all civil affairs of the realm. To such subordination was
the office of Lord Chancellor reduced, that Audley, unless by
some extraordinary ebullition of baseness, seems to have attract
ed little notice from his contemporaries ; and his name is hardly
mentioned by the general historian. Yet in the detail and execu
tion of the measures which were brought forward by the Vicar-
* Ante, p. 409.
t He is often called the son of a blacksmith, but whoever has curiosity lo investi
gate the point, will clearly see that his father was a fuller. A true life of Thomas
Cromwell might be made as interesting as a fairy tale.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 491
General the Lord Chancellor took a very active and important
part. He framed the bills for completing the separation from
Kome and punishing those who went farther than r
the King, and favoured the doctrines of Luther [a' d' 1536-J
He was very efficient in the suppression of the monasteries, his
zeal being influenced by the hope of sharing in the plunder. He
recommended the commissions, under the Great Seal, for inquir
ing into the immoralities and abuses alleged to exist in those in
stitutions ; and he approved of the plan of first granting to the
King the revenues of all under 200*. a year, and then of all above
that amount. There was never any difficulty in carrying such
bills through parliament. Ministers, in those days, instead of tri
umphing in a good working majority, could command an absolute
unanimity in both Houses. It is a curious fact, that against bills
respecting religion, which must have been most highly distasteful
to the great body of the prelates, and to many lay peers,— after
the execution of Fisher there was not a dissentient voice, or the
slightest audible murmur of opposition*
Audley had his difficulties, but they arose from the King's con
jugal inconstancy. He thought that after witnessing the dissolu
tion of the King's first marriage by the sentence of Archbishop
Cranmer, and his union with her to whom, in spite of all obstacles,
had been for six years a devoted lover, an act of parliament set
ting aside the Princess Mary and settling the succession on the
infant Princess Elizabeth, — holding the Great Seal, he was to en
joy peace and freedom from care for the rest of his days, with
nothing to think of but his own aggrandisement.
Henry, however, had seen Jane Seymour, one of Anne's maids,
more beautiful and attractive than herself, and had resolved that
there should be a vacancy in the office of Queen, that his new
favourite might be advanced to it.
Audley conformed without hesitation to the royal will, and took
a leading part in the proceedings against the unfortunate Anne,
from the first surmise against her at Court till she was beheaded
on Tower Hill. He formed one of the Committee of Council to
whom the " delicate investigation" was intrusted, and he joined
in the report, founded on the mere gossip of the Court, or the rep
resentations of suborned witnesses, " that sufficient proof had
been discovered to convict her of incontinence, hot only with Bre-
* Some of these bills passed both Houses after being read only once in each
House. There was then no certain number of times necessary for a bill lo be read
according to parliamentary usage before passing ; a bill was sometimes read four,
five, six, seven, and eight times, before it passed or v^as rejected. Joum. vol. i.
26. 45. 52. 55, 06. But the marvel is that such bills as those for lhe dissolution of
the monasteries and the transfer of the Pope's supremacy to the King passed the
House of Lords at all, considering that from the reign of Edwaid II. till 1539, the
spiritual Peers were much more numerous lhan the temporal. 'J hen iwcnty-s'x
mitred abbots and two priors being disfranchised, there were forty-one temporal to
twenty spiritual peers. Hut Bishop Fisher's fale bad such an effect on the nerves
of the prelates, that they offered no opposilion to the bills which they abhorred.

492 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
reton, Norris, and Weston of the Privy Chamber, and Smeaton
the King's musician, but even with Lord Kochford, her own
brother." After secretly examining and committing to prison some of the
supposed paramours, Audley planned the arrest of the Queen her
self at the tilting match at Greenwich, and next day in his proper
person went down the river, that he might accompany her to the
Tower, and try to extract something from her which might be per
verted into evidence of her guilt. Having met the barge in which
she was coming up as a prisoner, he informed her that she had
been charged with infidelity to the King's bed, and intimated to
her that it would be better for her to confess; but, falling on her
knees, she prayed aloud, that, " if she were guilty, God might
never grant her pardon ; " and no advantage being then obtained
over her, she was given in ward to Kingston, the Lieutenant of
the Tower.
Having been active as her prosecutor, Audley sat as her Judge.
The trial was nominally before the Ccurt of the Lord High Stew
ard, — the Duke of Norfolk, her uncle, being appointed Lord High
Steward, as Audley was not yet raised to the peerage ; but he
sat as assessor at the Duke's right hand during the trial, and di
rected all the proceedings* The only symptom of humanity ex
hibited was in reluctantly granting the indulgence of a chair to
the Queen's dignity or weakness. Unassisted by counsel, she
repelled each charge with so much modesty, temper, and natural
good sense, that before an impartial tribunal she must have been
acquitted ; for though she had undoubtedly fallen into some an-
justifiable levities, the proof to support the main charge, consist
ing of hearsay and forced confessions by accomplices not produc
ed, were such as in our days could not be submitted to a jury,.
Yet, under the direction of Audley, she was unanimously found
guilty by the Peers " upon their honour ; " and the iron Duke of
Norfolk, with tears in his eyes, condemned her to be '•' burnt or
beheaded at the King's pleasure."*
The next proceeding is, if possible, still more discreditable to
Audley and the other instruments of Henry's vengence. Not sat
isfied with knowing that she whom he had so passionately loved
was doomed in her youth to suffer a violent and cruel death, he
resolved before her execution to have a sentence pronounced dis
solving his marriage with her, and declaring that it had been nuU
and void from the beginning, — not seeing, in the blindness of his
rage, that in this case she could not have been guilty of adultery
or treason. Nevertheless in a divorce suit which lasted only a
few hours, which Audley sanctioned, and in which Cranmer per
sonally pronounced the sentence, — some say on the ground of a
* In all accounts of the trial, he is represented as one of the Queen's Judges,
along with the twenty-six peers who consiituted the Lord high Steward's Court ;
but being only a commoner, it is impossible that he should have voted.
t 1 St. Tr. 409.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 498
pre-contract with the Earl of Northumberland, which he on his
oath denied,— some on the ground that Henry had cohabited with
Mary Jioleyii, the sister of Anne— that marriage was declared
null and void, which Cranmer himself had solemnised, and which
had been declared valid by an act of parliament then remaining
T ji S*alute Book- II is well that Henry did not direct that
Audley should officiate as executioner, with Cranmer as his assis
tant ; for they probably would have obeyed sooner than have giv
en up the seals or the primacy.
The day after the execution the King was married to Jane Sey
mour, and for a short time his happiness was without alloy ; but
he was reminded that by statute the Crown was still settled on
the issue of his last marriage, whom he had resolved to bastardise ;
and he called a new parliament to meet him at Westminster on
the 8th of June, 1537, for the purpose of registering the edicts
which the altered state of affairs rendered necessary.
On the day appointed, the King being seated on the throne, and
the Commons being in attendance, Lord Chancellor Audley de
livered a very singlar harangue, of which the following is said to
be a correct outline : —
" First he told them, that at the dissolution of the last Parlia
ment it did not enter into the King's mind that he should so soon
have occasion to call another ; but that for two especial causes,
very necessary, both for easing the King's scruples and conducive
to the good of the whole kingdom, he had issued a fresh summons
for calling this Parliament. The one was concerning the heirs
and successors of the King's Majesty, who, knowinc- himself ob
noxious to infirmities, and even death itself (a thing very rare for
kings to think of*), and, besides, considering the state of the whole
kingdom, depending, as it were, upon his single life ; but wiUing,
above all things, to have it free from all dangers to posterity, he
had called this parliament to appoint an heir apparent to the
Crown, who, when the present King had resigned to fate, without
children lawfully begotten, might, by their own consent, happily
reign over them. — The second cause for which the present par
liament was summoned -was for repealing a certain act made in the
last, by the tenour and force of which this whole realm is bound to
be obedient to the Lady Anne Boleyn, the King's late wife, and
her heirs between them lawfully begotten. Also, by the force of
the said act, whoever should say or do any ill against her or her
issue should be condemned for high treason. — But now, he said,
that they might more rightly understand the reasons of this sum
mons, his counsel was according to these three proverbs of Solomon
(to whom our most excellent Prince here may be most justly and
worthily compared), ' Operabimini quibus admonemur: 1. prae-
terita in memoria habere; 2. prsesentia intueri; et, 3. obventura
* This reminds us of the dialogue between the Dauphin and his tutor, when to
the question, " Les rois meurent-ils ?" the answer was, " Quelquefois, monseigneur.
VOL. I. 42

494 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
providere.' And as to the first, they very well remembered what
great anxieties and perturbations of mind their most invincible
Sovereign suffered on account of his first unlawful marriage,
which was not only judged so in all the "Universities in Christen
dom, but declared unlawful by the general consent of this kingdorn
in a late act of parliament. Sp also ought they to bear in mind
the great perils and dangers their Prince was under when he con
tracted his second marriage, in regard to the second of Solomon's
proverbs, by considering in what a situation this realm is in by
reason of the oath then made and taken for the support of the said
Anne and her issue. Which said Lady Anne and her accomplices
had been since justly found guilty of high treason, and had re
ceived their due reward for it. What man of middle condition
would not this deter from marrying a third time ? When he re
members that the first was a vast expense and great trouble of
mind to him, and the second ran him into great and imminent
dangers, which hung over him during the whole time of it, — yet
this our most excellent Prince, on the humble petition of the no
bility, and not out of any carnal lust or affection, again condescends
to contract matrimony, and hath at this time taken unto himself
another wife, whose age and fine form denotes her most fit and
likely to bring forth children. And therefore, according to the
third proverb of Solomon, obventura provideamus, we are now
met by the King's command, with unanimous consent, to appoint
an heir apparent to the Crown, that if this our Prince (which God
avert) should leave this mortal life without children lawfully be
gotten, the heir so appointed may lawfully rule and govern this
kingdom after him. Lastly, let us humbly pray to God that he
would bless this our most excellent Prince with some offspring: at
the same time giving him thanks that he has hitherto preserved
him from so many and such imminent dangers. Because, it is his
whole study and endeavour to rule us all in perfect peace and
charity during his life, and to transmit the same happiness to
posterity." The Commons were then ordered to withdraw and choose a
Speaker. As a reward for the services of Richard Bich, the Soli
citor General, as counsel, and still more as witness at the late state
trials, he was recommended by the Government to fill the chair,
When presented at the bar on a subsequent day, he was deter
mined to eclipse the Chancellor in his adulation of the King, and
to show himself worthy to succeed to the Seals on the first fitting
opportunity. After repeating the heads of the Chancellor's dis
course explaining the reasons for calling the parliament, and ex
tolling his Majesty's consideration for the good of his people, "he
took occasion to praise the King for his wonderful gifts of grace'
and nature, and compared him for justice and prudence to Solo
mon, tor strength and fortitude to Samson, and for beauty and come
liness to Absalom. He concluded by observing that the Com
mons, having chosen him, the most unworthy of them aU for

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 495
Speaker, he besought his Majesty that lie would command them
to withdraw again and elect another, for he had neither learning,
experience, nor boldness fit for that office.
To this, Lord Chancellor Audley, by the King's command, re
plied, " that his Majesty had well heard his speech, and was glad
to understand by the first part of it, that the members ofthe House
of Commons had been so attentive to the Chancellor's declaration.
That as to the praises and virtues ascribed to himself, his Ma
jesty thought proper to disavow them, since, if he really had such
virtues, they were the gifts of Almighty God." * Lastly, added he
" as to your excuses, Richard, which the King hath heard, that you
have neither learning, experience, nor boldness fit for such an of
fice, his Majesty hath commanded me to reply, that if he did not
know that you had all these qualifications, he would not, amongst
so many urgent matters as are now depending, admit you into the
office, and therefore he does not look upon your excuses as just."
Audley immediately prepared a bill which rapidly passed both
Houses, the most arbitrary and unconstitutional that had ever yet
been put upon the rolls of parliament. By this, the sentence of di
vorce nullifying the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn ab initio
was confirmed, and she, and all her accomplices were attainted; —
the children of both marriages were declared illegitimate, and it
was even made treason to assert the legitimacy of either of them;
— to throw any slander on the King, Queen Jane, or their issue,
was subjected to the same penalty; — the Crown was settled on the
Kind's issue by his present or any subsequent wife, — in case he
shoull die without legitimate children he was empowered by his will
or letters patent to dispose of the crown; — whoever being required
should refuse to answer upon oath to a belief of every article of
this act, was declared to be guilty of treason, so as to establish a
political inquisition into conscience ;— and the King was empow
ered, by will or letters patent, to create new principalities, and
thereby to dismember the kingdom.!
At the close of the session there was another con- r JuLy lg ,
test between the Chancellor and the Speaker in !
praising the King in his presence, Bich making Audley rather un
comfortable by comparing his Majesty to the Sun, " who exhales
all the noxious vapours which would otherwise be hurtful to us,
and cherishes and brings forth those seeds, plants, and fruits, so
necessary for the support of human life."t
Henry was soon after thrown into ecstacy by the birth of a son,
in the midst of which he felt not very severely the loss of his
Queen, Jane Seymour, who, although married to him, r0cT- 12 1
had the felicity to die without violence or disgrace. L
Audley was much disappointed at not being included m the
* This is a plain admission on the part of his Majesty that by the .Rift of 'God, he
had the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson, and the beau y o Absalom.
t Stat. 28 Hen. 8. c. 7. * l ^arL tUat" 4jd>

496 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
batch of Peers made a few days after on the creation of the infant
Prince of Wales ; but in the following year his ambition was grat
ified by becoming Baron Audley, of Walden, in the county of Es
sex. This honour was conferred upon him that he might preside as
Lord High Steward at the trial of Courtenay Marquess of Exeter,
and De la Pole Lord Montague, who were particularly obnoxious
to Henry as his cousins, and whom he wished to have condemned
for high treason on a charge of being in correspondence with ano
ther cousin of his, Cardinal Pole, now considered by him his cap
ital enemy. Courtenay was grandson to Edward IV., by his
daughter Catherine, and the Poles were grandsons of the Duke
of Clarence, the brother of Edward, by his daughter the Countess
of Salisbury. For this reason both families were regarded with
peculrcr affection by the adherents of the house of York, and ex
treme jealously by the reigning Sovereign. Baron Audley, of
Walden, presiding as High Steward, the Marquess and Lord
Montague were arraigned before their Peers on an indictment
for high tieason. The overt act was, that the former had been
heard to say, and the latter abetted him in saying, " I like well of
the proceedings of Cardinal Pole : I like not the proceedings of
this realm. I trust to see a change in the world. I trust once to
have a fair day on the knaves which rule about the King. I trust
to give them a buffet one day." The natural construction of such
language is, that they did not approve of the policy of the govern
ment, and that by an active opposition they hoped to bring about
a change of ministers ; but the Lord High Steward held that it
showed a conspiracy to use physical force to bring about a revolu
tion and to dethrone the King. Both were found guilty, condemn
ed to suffer death as traitors, and executed accordingly*
Lord Audley was very desirous of having for his services a re
ward from the plunder ofthe monasteries, and wrote many letters
upon the subject to Cromwell who had the distribution of it. The
reader may be amused with a specimen of his epistolary style :
My Lord Chancellor had been favoured with a sight of the young
Prince Edward, then a baby of a few months old, sent to Haver
ing in Essex for change of air ; and in the hope that his begging
letter might be shown to the King, he thus addresses the Vicar-
General : —
" After my right harty comendations to your good Lordship,
with my most harty thankes for your last gen till, letters, I am
required by the Erie of Oxford and Master Chauncelour, to de
sire your good Lordshipp, in all our names, to make our moost hum
ble recommendations to the kynges mageste, and to render ouer
most harty thankes to his Highness for our licens to visite and
see my lord prynces grace, whom, according to our desires and
duteez, we have seen to our most rejoise and comfort, next the
kynges mageste. And I assure your Lordshipp I never saw so
* 1 St. Tr. 479.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 49t
goodly a childe of his age, So mery, so plesaunt, so good and lov-
yng countenaces, and so ernest an eye, as it were a sage jugge-
ment towardes every person that repayreth to his grace ; and as it
semyth to me, thankes be to our Lord, his grace encresith well in
the ayer that he ys in. And albeyt a littell his graces flesche de-
cayeth, yet he shotyth owt in length, and wexith ferme and stiff,
and can stedfastly stond, and wold advalince hymself to move and
go if they would suffir him ; but as me semyth they do yet best,
consideryng his grace is yet tendir, that he should not streyn hym
self as his owen corage wold serve hym, till he cum above a yere
of age. I can not comprehend nor describe the goodly towardly
quahteez that ys in my Lord princes grace. He ys sent of alrnyty
Good for all our comfortes. My dayly and contynual prayer ys
and shalbe for his good and prosperus preservation, and to make
his grace an olde prince, besechyng your good lordeshipp to render
to the kynges mageste thankes in al our names, as ys above sayd."
He then proceeds to the real object of his letter, to obtain a
grant of two abbeys in Essex, — St. John's and St. Osyes'. De
preciating them much, as " St. Johns lakkyth water, and. St. Osyes
stondyth in the mersches;" he offers to give 1000£ apiece for
them. In a " Postscripta " he adds, that to recruit from the labours
of the Court of Chancery, he Was then going on a sporting party,
" to mete the Duke of Norfolk, at Framyngham, to kyll sum of
his bukkes there."*
But the grand object of his ambition was to get the site and
lands of the dissolved abbey at Walden, in Essex. For this pur
pose he writes to Cromwell with much earnestness, and it must be
owned with much candour and simplicity, showing that some ex
traordinary recompence was due to him for having sacrificed even
his character and conscience in the King's service. " I beseche
your good Lordshipp, be my good Lord in this my sute, yf it shaU
plese the Kynge's Mageste to be so good and gracilis lord to me,
it shall sett forth as moche my poor estymacion as the valu of the
thynge. In the besy world I susteyned damage and injury, and
this shall restore me to honeste and comodyte."t Afterwards he
urges his claim on this ground with stiU more force and naiyeto.
" I have in this world susteyned greate damage and infamie in
serving the Kynge's Highness, which this grant shal recompens."%
This appeal was felt to be so weU founded, that in consideration
of the bad law laid down by him on the trials of Fisher, More,
Anne Boleyn, Courtenay, and De la Pole, and of the measures he
had carried through parliament to exalt the royal prerogative and
to destroy the constitution, and of the execration heaped upon him
by the whole English nation— as well as by way of retaining fee
for future services of the like nature,' and recompence for farther
infamy,— he received a warrant to put the Great Seal to the de
sired grant.
* Letters on Suppression of Monasteries, by Camden Society, p. 245.
t Ibid X Dugdale'a Baronage, tit. "Audley.'
42*

498 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
But Henry, never contented with showering favours on those
who please him, tiU, changing his humour, he doomed them to
destruction, likewise bestowed upon him the site and precinct of
the Priory of the Canons of the Holy Trinity of Christ Church,
Aldgate, in the city of London, where the Chancellor erected for
himself a commodious town mansion, with gardens an.l pleasure-
grounds. This was described by a contemporary wag as " the best
cut at the feast of Abbey lands, a dainty morsel and an excellent
receipt to clear his voice and make him speak well for his .Mas-
ten" Still insatiable, he wrote to Cromwell " that his place of Lord
Chancellor being very chargeable, the King might be moved for
addition of some more profitable offices unto him."* There was
no rich sinecure that conveniently could be bestowed upon him at
that moment, but a vacant Blue Biband was offered him to stay
his importunity, and he was installed Knight of the Garter with
all due solemnity, — being the first Lord Chancellor of England,
who, while in office, had ever reached that dignity. Decorated
with the Collar, George, and Garter, Audley showed himself, if
possible, more eagerly desirous to comply with the humours, whe
ther arbitrary, fantastical, or cruel, of his royal benefactor.
On the 28th of April, 1539, a new parliament met to confirm the
rA D 1539 -I dissolution of the monasteries, and to provide severe
1 'J punishment for those inclined to adopt the reformed
opinions, which were as distasteful to Henry as a denial of his su
premacy.! The Chancellor's speech on the first day of the session
is not preserved ; but the Journals state, that on the 5th of May he
informed the House of Lords " that it was his Majesty's desire,
above all things, that the diversities of opinions concerning the
Christian religion in this kingdom should be with all possible ex
pedition plucked up and extirpated." A select committee was
therefore appointed, with the Vicar-General at their head, who
were to report what was fit to be done to produce uniformity of
faith among all his Majesty's loving subjects.
On the 30th of May the Lord ChanceUor declared before the
Lords, that not only the Bishops and other spiritual Peers, but even
the King's Majesty, had taken great pains, and laboured inces
santly to bring about an union, and had at last completed it.
Therefore it was his Majesty's pleasure "that some penal statute
should be enacted to compel all his subjects who were anywise
dissenters to obey the articles agreed on "
On the 7th of June " the bloody Bill of the Six Articles" was
brought into the House by Lord Chancellor Audley*; himself se
cret y inclined to the new opinions, and subjecting all who should
venture to profess them to be burnt or beheaded. By the first ar
ticle,-^ question the doctrine of transubstantiation, or to say that
after the consecration of the elements in the sacrament of the
*Dugdale's Baronage. 1 1 Pari. Hist,. 537 t 1 Pari. Hist. 538.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 499
Lord's Supper there remaineth any substance of bread or wine,
was heresy, punishable with burning and forfeiture of land and
goods, as in case of high treason. The second was levelled against
the doctrine that communion in both kinds was good for the souls
ofthe laity: the third enjoined the celibacy of the clergy: the
fourth the observance of monastic vows : the fifth the efficacy and
propriety of private masses ; — and the sixth, auricular confession.
Each of these four last-mentioned dogmas was enforced by the
milder penalty of death by hanging, with forfeiture of lands and
goods, as in case of felony.
The Chancellor's bill was so arbitrary and cruel, that Cranmer
even had the courage to oppose it ; but it was carried through the
House of Lords in three days ; and, being sent down to the Lower
House by the Attorney and Solicitor General, it passed there with
equal rapidity. The finishing hand was now put to the dissolution
of the monabteri.es, and twenty-seven mitred Abbots and Priors
were ejected from parhament.
There having been some grumbling in the House of Lords on
account of the precedence given to Cromwell, the Lord Chancel
lor brought in a bill enacting, that he should have place in parlia
ment and in the Privy Council next after the blood royal, and reg
ulating the precedence of the Peers and officers of state as it now
exists* But to save all future trouble in calling parliaments, or manag
ing them when refractory, the Chancellor crowned the labours of
the session by bringing in and passing a bill whereby the King's
proclamation, issued with the assent of his Council, was to have
the force and effect of an act of parliament.!
A new session began on the 12th of April, 1540$ ;— through all
the perils of which Audley steered with his usual r D 154Q -,
cunning and success, — but which proved fatal to
Cromwell. A few months previously, Henry, by his Vicegerent's
advice, after remaining a widower two years, and being disap
pointed in a negotiation for a French Princess, had married Anne
of Cleves ; but cruelly disappointed in her person and manners,
and determined not to live with her as his wife, he conceived a
deep resentment against the man who had " put his neck into the
yoke." To render the fall cf the favourite the more grievous, he
was created Earl of Essex, and a Knight of the Garter ; and the
King seemed to trust him with more than wonted confidence.
On the first day of the session the Chancellor complained, in
* 31 Hen. 8. u. 10, which is the only restraint on the power of lhe Crown to
grant precedence, but does restrain lhat power both in the House of Lords and in
the Privy Council. . . . ., .
t 31 lien. 8. c. 8. This was followed by 34 Hen. H. c. 23.., appointing a tribunal
consisting of nine privy councillors, wilh power to punish in a summary manner
all transgressors of such proclamations. To our surprise, there was not perfect
unanimity with respect to this bill, and Bishop Gardiner says, in a letter preserved
by Burnet, that it did not pass without many large words. —Kef. u. 114.
X 1 Pari. Hist. 542.

500 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
the King's name, of the great diversity of religions which still
prevailed among his subjects; a grievance, he affirmed, which
ought to be the less endured, because the Scriptures were now
published in English, and ought universally to be the standard of
belief to mankind. But the King, he said, had appointed some
Bishops and divines to draw up a list of tenets to which the peo
ple were to assent ; and he was determined that Christ, the doc
trine of Christ, and the truth, should have the victory.
Cromwell, sitting on the Bishop's bench, on the King's right
hand, above the Archbishop of Canterbury, made another speech
in the King's name ; and the Peers, believing him- to be still in
high favour, bestowed great flattery on him, saying, " that, by his
desert, he was worthy to be Vicar-general of the universe."*
But Henry's aversion to his new Queen increasing daily, and,
at last, breaking all restraint, prompted him to seek the dissolution
of a marriage so odious to him, and to ruin the minister who had
been the author of it. On the morning of the 10th of June, the
Vicar-general attended in his place in the House of Lords, neither
himself nor those about him suspecting that he was in any peril.
At three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, while attending
a meeting of the cabinet, he was arrested for high treason by the
Duke of Norfolk, and committed to the Tower of London.
Lord Chancellor Audley immediately engaged zealously in the
prosecution of his colleague and chief whom the King resolved to
bring immediately to the block ; for at that time it was considered
almost a matter of course in England that a minister should lose
his head with his office, in the Turkish fashion, — only that, in
stead of the bow-string applied by a mute, the instrument of ven
geance was the verdict of a packed jury, or an act of attainder
passed by a servile parliament.
About a year before, Cromwell, to please Henry, had extorted
an opinion from the Judges, in the case of the Countess of Salis
bury, that persons might be lawfully attainted by bill without be
ing heard in their defence ; and Audley now recommended that
this precedent should be acted upon against Cromwell himself, as
awkward disclosures might take place if he should be tried by
the House of Peers, or in the Court of the Lord Steward ; or if
he should be permitted to plead at the bar against the bill of at
tainder. It contained a strange medley of charges, few of which
even savoured of high treason :— " That he had received bribes,
and encroached on the royal authority by issuing commissions,
discharging prisoners, pardoning convicts, and granting licences
for the exportation of prohibited merchandise ; that as Vicar-gen
eral he had betrayed his duty, by not only holding heretical opin
ions himself, but also by protecting heretical preachers, and pro
moting the circulation of heretical books ; and that he had ex
pressed a resolution to fight against the King, if it were necessary,
* 1 Pari. Hist. 548.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 501
in defence of his religious opinions."* He wrote to the Chancel
lor, demanding a public trial ; but all that was conceded to him
was, that he should be privately heard to defend himself before
Commissioners appointed by the Crown, who should express their
opinion on his case to the two Houses.
After a timid attempt by Cranmer to soften the King on account
of past services, the Bill passed through the House of Lords
unanimously, Cranmer himself attending and voting for the sec
ond and third reading ; and the Peers with one voice, at the re
quest of the King conveyed by the Chancellor, thought proper,
without trial, examination, or evidence, to doom to a cruel and ig
nominious death a man whom, a few days before, they had de
clared worthy to be " Vicar General of the Universe." It can
hardly be supposed that Henry insidiously gave him the garter to
make him more obnoxious to the nobility ; but all accounts agree
in stating that they were more incensed against the fuller's son,
the trooper, the merchant's clerk, and the attorney, when they saw
him bearing the decoration hitherto reserved for nobles and war
riors, than by thinking of the enormities by which he had risen to
greatness. A bill of attainder against Audley himself, proposed
by Cromwell, if the King had so willed, would have passed with
equal unanimity.
The projector of the marriage with Anne of Cleves being dis
posed of, Audley, by the King's orders, took the necessary mea- '
sures for having the marriage itself dissolved, although there was
no better pretext for questioning its validity 'than that Henty had
been deceived by Holbein's too flattering portrait of Anne ; — that
he thought her a Flanders mare ; — that when he did consent to
marry her after he had seen her, he withheld assent in his own
mind in going 'through the ceremony; — that he suspected she was
not a true maid — that she could speak no language but high
Dutch; — and his assertion that though they slept in the same
chamber for many weeks, he had only lived with her as a friend.
On the 6th of July the Lord Chancellor, addressing the House
of Lords, said, " their Lordships very well knew that bloody and
cruel slaughter had formerly been acted in this kingdom by reason
of various contentions occasioned by dubious titles to the succes
sion to this Crown, and since, by the grace of God, all these con
troversies were ceased, and all those titles were united by the di
vine benevolence in the single person of his most serene Majesty,
so that no occasion of discord could arise, unless their only hope,
the noble Prince Edward, undoubted heir to his father's kingdoms,
should, by some sinister accident, be taken from them. In that
case (which God avert) it was necessary forthe general safety
that some other future heir, by the divine goodness, should be
born to them in true and lawful wedlock ; and since this was very
doubtful from the marriage lately contracted between his Majesty
* 1 St. Tr. 433.

502 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
arid the most noble Lady Anne of Cleves, because of some im
pediments which, upon inquiry, might arise to make the validity
of .that marriage dubious, — for the quietness and concord of the
kingdom in succeeding times, he therefore recommended that a
committee of both Houses should be appointed to wait upon his
Majesty, humbly opening to him, as far as decency would admit,
their doubts and scruples in this matter, and humbly entreating
that he would please to acquaint them whether the aforesaid mar
riage was valid or not." He concluded with a motion that a mes
sage be sent to the Commons by certain members of the House,
requesting them to deliberate upon the subject, and that they
would send back six of their body to inform their Lordships of
the result of their consultation.*
The Chancellor's motion was carried with the usual unanimity ;
and the Commons forthwith announced that they had appointed a
committee of twenty to co-operate with the Lords in the proposed
application to his Majesty. All the temporal Lords and this com
mittee accordingly waited on the King, when the Chancellor told
him they had a matter of great moment to communicate, if his
Majesty would pardon their presumption. Henry haying desired
them " to speak their minds freely," the Chancellor delivered the
address of both Houses, " praying his opinion upon the validi
ty of his present marriage." The answer was, " that he would
refer the question to the judgment and determination of grave,
learned, honest, and pious ecclesiastics, viz. the Archbishops and
Bishops." This business was very soon concluded ; for to the unspeakable
disgrace of Cranmer and the other prelates whether inclining to.
the old or the new religion, — on the 10th of June they declared to
the House of Lords that they had examined into the affair of the
marriage, by virtue of the King's commission directed to them,
and that both by divine and human law, they found it invalid.
They then handed to the Chancellor a sentence of nullity ; which,
on the Chancellor's motion, being read and approved of, it was
sent down by two Bishops to lhe House of Commons. The next
day the Chancellor brought in a bill to dissolve the marriage be
tween his Majesty and the Lady Anne of Cleves ; arid, without
hearing what she had to say against it, or receiving any evidence,
it was passed unanimously the following day, and sent down to
the Commons, where it experienced an equally favourable recep
tion. In a few days more it received the royal assent ; and Hen
ry, who had always another wife ready on the divorce, dishonour,
or beheading of a former, was publicly married to the Lady Cath
erine Howard, neice to the Duke of Norfolk.
As eastern despotism was now established in England, there
was introduced a near approximation to the eastern custom of
prostration before the sovereign. We are told that on the last
* Pari. Hist. 546.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 503
d.ay of this session, as often as any peice of flattery pccnliarlv
fulsome was addressed to the King by the Speaker or lhe Chan-
A°k ?76ry man St0od "P alld bowed themselves to the throne,
and the King returned the compliment by a gracious nod from
By the King's commands the Chancellor now dissolved the par
liament, which had sat above six years, and went by the name cf
the Long Parhament," till another obtained that name, and utter
ly abolished monarchy as this had subverted all the free institu-
sions of the country.
Audley was too cautious ever to aim at the station of " prime
favourite and minister," which after the fall of Cromwell was for
a time filled by the Duke of Norfolk. This stern sire of a most
accomplished son inclining strongly to Romanism, commenced a
furious persecution against the Protestants ; and the law of " the
Six Articles " was executed with frightful rigour. Audley would
have screened those of his own way of" thinking if he could have
done so without danger of offending the King; but, while he saw
crowds led to the stake for questioning transubstantiation, he took
care, in the impartial administration of justice, that no mercy should
be shown to Catholics who denied the King's supremacy, beyond
favouring them with a gibbet instead of surrounding them with
fagots ; so that a foreigner then in England said with reason, that
"Henry's subjects who were against the Pope were burned, and
those who were for him were hanged."!
Things went on smoothly enough with Audley, and all who,
like him, had the prudence to conform to the pre- r 1*4.11
vailing fashions in religion, till the autumn of the *-A- D- 1 41J
foUowing year, when a discovery was made which again threw
the whole kingdom into confusion. The present Queen had, " by
a notable appearance of honour, cleanness, and maidenly behav
iour, won the King's heart : "X for more than twelve months he
lavished upon her proofs of his affection ; he had publicly in his
chapel returned solemn thanks to Heaven for the felicity which
the conjugal state now afforded him ; and he directed the Bishop
of Lincoln to compose a form of prayer to the like effect, to be
used in all churches and chapels throughout, the kingdom. But
before this general thanksgiving took place, Archbishop Cran
mer came one morning to the Chancellor, and announced that in
formation had been laid before him, which he could not doubt,
that the Queen, both before and since her marriage, could be
proved to have been and to be one of the most dissolute of her
sex. By Audley's advice a written statement upon the subject
was put into the hands of the astonished husband. He was par
ticularly mortified at the thought that the world would now ques
tion that upon which he so much piqued himself in the case of
* 1 Pari. Hist. 547. — "et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum."
t F02?, vol. ii. p. 529. t Herb. 532.

504 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
Anne of Cleves — his skill in discovering a true maid ; but when
he had recovered from the shock, he directed the necessary steps
to be taken for the Queen's conviction and punishment.
In consequence, the Chancellor assembled the Judges and Coun
cillors in the Star Chamber, and laid before them the evidence
which had been obtained. With respect to Catherine's incon
tinence before marriage no difficulty arose, for this she did not deny,
although she tried to mitigate her misconduct, by asserting that
" al that Derame did unto her was of his importune forcement, and
in a manner violence, rather than of her fre consent and wil;"*
but this did not amount to an offence for which she could be pun
ished by any known law, and she maintained her entire innocence
since the time -when a departure from chastity amounted to trea
son. However, it appeared that since her marriage she had em
ployed Dereham as her secretary, and that she had allowed Cul
pepper, a maternal relation and gentleman of the Privy Chamber,
-who had likewise formerly been her lover, to remain in company
with her and Lady Bochford from eleven at night till two in the
morning. The Judges being asked their opinion, replied that, con
sidering the persons implicated, these facts, if proved, formed a
satisfactory presumption that adultery had been committed.
Fortified with this extra-judicial opinion, Audley immediately
caused these two unfortunate gentlemen to be brought to trial be
fore a jury, and, without any additional evidence, they were both
convicted and executed.
But it was impossible to deal with the Queen herself and the
other parties accused, without that commodious instrument of tyr
anny, a bill of attainder, which obviated the inconvenient require
ments of proofs and judicial forms. Accordingly, a new parlia
ment was summoned to meet at Westminster, on the 16th of Jan-
nary, 1542.
The Lord Chancellor's speech on the first day of the session, is
commemorated in a most extraordinary entry on the Journals by
the clerks of the House of Lords, the only reporters of those days,
— stating that " Thomas Lord Audley, the Lord Chancellor, open
ed the cause of the summons in a grave and eloquent speech, but
of such uncommon immoderate length, that the clerks, being busy
on different affairs could not attend even to take the heads of the
whole speech, which would take three hours to write down and
one to read, and therefore they give an imperfect compendium
orationis. First, the Chancellor declared in what manner David
began his reign over the people of God, the Israelites; he did not
pray that honours and riches might be heaped upon him, but only
that his understanding and wisdom might be enlarged, Give me
understanding that I may search thy law, as it is in the Psalms.
The understanding he asked for, that he might the better learn for
things equally necessary for both prince and people. Such was
?^Archbishop Cranmer's letter to the king. — Stat. Pap. Off. '

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 505
earnest h1SOnn °m So\exefSa L°rd the King, who, when he first
than tint P Cr0W1™hed f°r 110thinS more Gently or fervently
The Almiit Oiad+b,eit0W0n hira WIsdom and understandS?
The Almighty anointed him with the oil of sapience above hfs
fellows, ' above the rest of the Kings in the earth, ana above al
his progenitors, so that no King of whom history makes mention
could be compared to him.' At which words, all the Peers as wen
as Commons stood up and bowed to the throne whh that reTe
rence as plainly showed with what willing minds they owned his
empire over them, and what they owed to God who had commit
ted the government of the kingdom to such a Prince." But the
entry breaks off abruptly just as the orator was coming to the pith
of his oration, — the cause of parliament being then called. Some
have ingeniously conjectured that this was done by design that
the Queen's shame and the King's misfortune might not be bla
zoned on the Journals*
A bill was forthwith brought in by the Lord Chancellor to at
taint of high treason the Queen, and Lady Kochford as her accom
plice, and to subject to forfeiture and perpetual imprisonment the
Duchess of Norfolk, her daughter the Countess of Bridgewater,
Lord William Howard and his wife, and several others of inferior
rank, on the ground that they had been aware of Catherine's an
tenuptial errors, and still had allowed the King to marry her.
For once in his life Audley was now guilty of an indiscretion, by
yielding to the dictates of humanity and justice, and declaring
after the first reading of the bill, " how much it concerned all their
Honours not to proceed to give too hasty a judgment; they were
to remember that a Queen was no mean or private person, but an
illustrious and public one ; therefore her cause was to be judged
with that sincerity that there should be neither room for suspicion
of some latent quarrel, Or that she should not have liberty to clear
herself if perchance, by reason or council, she was able to do it,
from the crime laid to her charge. For this purpose, he thought it
but reasonable that some principal persons, as well of the Lords
as Commons, should be deputed to go to the Queen, partly to
tell her the cause of their coming, and partly in order to help
her womanish fears, by advising and admonishing her to have
presence of mind enough to say any thing to make her cause
better. He knew for certain it was but just that a Princess should
be judged by equal laws with themselves, and he was sure that
the clearing herself in this manner would be highly acceptable to
her most loving husband." A committee was accordingly appoint
ed to wait upon the Queen, and a resolution passed to suspend
further proceedings on the biU till they had made the report.!
But Henry seems to have considered this proceeding very pre
sumptuous ; for two days afterwards the Chancellor was obliged
to declare to the Lords openly, that the Privy Council, on matur«
* 1 Pari. Hist. 550. t Ibid.
vol. I. 43

506 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
deliberation, disliked the message to be sent to the Queen, and
that the parliament might have leave to proceed to give judgment,
and to finish the Queen's cause, that the event might be no longer
in doubt, and that the King would give his assent to the bill by
letters patent under the Great Seal.
The bill was accordingly rapidly run through both Houses, and
the Commons attending in the House of Lords, the Lord Chan
cellor produced it signed with the King's own hand, with his as
sent to it. signified under the Great Seal, — and holding it forth in
both hands that all the Lords and Commons might see it, he de
clared that from thenceforth it had the full force and authority of
law. Then, upon the true principle of " Castigatque dolos subig-
itque fateri," the Duke of Suffolk stated that the Queen had open
ly confessed and acknowleged the great crime she had been guilty
of against the most high God and a kind Prince, and, lastly, against
the whole English nation*
On the third day after this ceremony the unhappy Catherine and
ber companion, Lady Bochford, were led to execution, — bidding
the spectators take notice that they suffered justly for "their of
fences against God from their youth upward, and also against the
King's royal Majesty very dangerously." It mustbe observed that
according to the ideas of the age — for the sake of surviving re
latives, it was not customary or reckoned becoming for persons,
however unjintly condemned, to say any thing at their execution
which should be offensive to the King, and we cannot fairly take
these -words as a confession of more than the irregularities im
puted to Catherine before she had mounted a throne.
To obviate the difficulties now experienced if a similar case
should again occur, the Chancellor, by the King's special orders,
wound up the whole affair by bringing in a bill, which quickly
passed both Houses, and received the royal assent from the King
in person, — whereby it was enacted, that every woman about to
be married to the King, or any of his successors, not being a true
maid, should disclose her disgrace to him under the penalty of
treason ; and that all other persons knowing the fact, and not dis
closing it, should be subject to the lesser penalty of misprision of
treason.! This law, which was afterwards repealed, as " trespassing too
strongly as well on natural justice as female modesty ,"X remained
in force during the remainder of this reign, and so much frighten
ed all the spinsters at Henry's Court, that, instead of trying to
attract his notice, like Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Cathe
rine Howard, in the hope of wearing a crown, they shunned his
approach as if he had been himself the executioner ; and they
left the field open for widows, who could not by any subtlety of
* 1 Pari. Hist. 553.
t Statutes of Realm, iy. 859. x 1 Bl. Comf. 222.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 507
Crown lawyers, be brought within its operation.* r
When the act passed, it had been foretold that the *-A' D- 1543-3
lVing, notwithstanding his passion for maids, would be obliged by
v0'™^ $ W11d0w'. and accordingly, on the 12th of July 1543, he
been w7' k ^ls s!x*h and last wife, Catherine Par, who had
been twice before led to the hymeneal altar.-first by Edward
Latimer1'011 Gainsbourough, and secondly, by Neville Lord
She was inclined to the new doctrines, and the marriage gave
great satisfaction to Audley, Cranmer, and others of the same way
of thinking; while it alarmed the Duke of Norfolk, Gardyner,
and Wriothesley, now considered champions of the ancient faith.
The standard of orthodoxy, however, for the rest of this reign,
was " The King's," which, with the exception of the Pope's su
premacy, rigidly inculcated all the doctrines of the Church of
Borne, and it would have been most dangerous for Queen or
Chancellor to question any thing which it contained.
On the 14th of January, 1544, began the last session of parlia
ment which Audley ever saw ; for, though not ad- f
vanced in years, he was now pressed with infirmi- 1 A- D- 1544- J
ties, and he was threatened by an inexorable King bearing a dart
for his septre, whom no prayers or artifice or subserviency could
appease. The Chancellor's opening speech is no where to be found, so
that we have lost his felicitations to the King on this occasion,
and we know not to what Saint or Hero he compared him for the
extraordinary proof his Majesty had given of his love for his peo
ple in marrying a sixth time.
After a bill had passed ordaining that the royal style should be
" King of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith,
and of the Church of England and Ireland in earth the Supreme
Head," the Chancellor, by the King's orders, introduced a mea
sure of very great importance to regulate the succession to the
Crown. As the law stood, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth
were both excluded as illegitimate, and it was highly penal to say
that the mother of either of them had ever been lawfully married
to the King. In default of his exercising his power of appoint
ing a successor by deed or will, — after Prince Edward the right
would have been in the issue of the King's eldest sister, Marga
ret, married to the King of Scots, and then in the issue of Mary,
his younger sister, married to the Duke of Suffolk. The bill now
introduced, without saying any thing expressly of the King's first
* See Lodge, vol. i. Calh. Par.—" In concluding another match he found a dim
culty ; for is it bad been declared death for any whom the King should marry «
conceal her incontineriey in former time, so few durst hazard to venture into thostt
bonds wilh a Kin» who had, as ihcy thought, so much facility in dissolving them.
Therefore they stood off as knowing in wbat a slippery estate they were if the
King, after his receiving them to bed, should through any mistake declare them no
maids." — Lord Herbert.

508 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
two marriages, enacted, that in default of Prince Edward and the
heirs of his body, and of heirs by the King's present marriage, the
Crown should go to the Lady Mary, the King's eldest daughter,
and the heirs of her body : and then to the Lady Elizabeth, the
King's younger daughter, and the heirs of her body, the power of
appointment by deed or will being still reserved to the King ; —
with a proviso that an oath should be required to maintain the
King's supremacy and the succession according to this act under
the penalties of treason, and that whoever should say or write
anything contrary to this act, or to the peril or slander of the
King's heirs limited in the act, should be adjudged a traitor.* It
immediately passed both houses, and was a suitable conclusion to
Lord Chancellor Audley's performances in the legislative line, as
in one moment he made it high treason to deny that which the
moment before it was high treason to assert, respecting the legiti
macy of the King's children and their right to succeed to the
Crown, — he himself having brought in the bill which bastardis
ed Mary, and settled the Crown on Elizabeth, and the bill which
bastardised Elizabeth as well as Mary, and made it treason to
assert the legitimacy of either.
On the 20th of March, the day when the session was closedf,
Audley was on his death -bed, and the closing speech was made
by the Duke of Norfolk, who referred to the Lord Chancellor's
illness, and regretted the necessity imposed upon himself of dis
solving the parliament in the King's name.
Audley's disease gaining upon him, and the business of Easter
term in the Court of Chancery requiring despatch, on Monday the
21st of April, 1544, he (if we may believe all that is said in the
entry in the Close Boll) spontaneously sent the Great Seal to the
King by Sir Edward North and Sir Thomas Pope, — humbly pray
ing that his Majesty would deign to accept the resignation of it,
as, from bodily infirmity, he was no longer able to perform the du
ties of the office which, by his Majesty's bounty, he had so long
held. His resignation was graciously accepted, but out of delica
cy to him, and holding out a hope that he might recover and be
reinstated in his office, the Great Seal was delivered to Sir Tho
mas Wriothesley merely as Lord Keeper and to be held by him
as Lord Keeper only during the illness of Lord Chancellor
Audley .%
* 35 Hen. 8 c 1. t 1 Pari. Hist 559.
t Mem. qd vicisemo primo die Aprilis, &c. Thomas Audley Miles Uns Audley
teVValden tunc Cancellarius Anglie infirmitate corporis debiliiatus et considorans
se ipm ex occone non valere excere et facre ea^ue ad officium suum tam in minis-
trando leges ddDmni Regis justiceam qmjn supervidendo pcessum per" magnum
sigillurn dcti Dni Regis sigillandum_deum sigillurn in manibus ipsius Thome,
Dmni Cancellarii adtunc existens pifto Dno Regi per Edwardum North Milltcm
et Ihomam Pope Militem misit. Qui quidem Edwardus et Thomas Pope sigillurn
illud in quadam baga de albo corio inclusum et sigillo dci Dni Cancellarii munitum

LIEE OF LORD CHANCELLOR AUDLEY. 509
The following letter, which was lately discovered in the Aug
mentation Office, exhibits a curious picture of the dying Chancel
lor's plans and anxieties. It is written by his secretaries, who af
terwards were his executors, to Sir Anthony Denny, — who did, as
proposed, obtain the wardship of the Lady Margaret after her fa
ther's decease, — although the projected match did not take place,
and she formed much higher alliances :
" After ower righte hartie commendations we shall like yow
tunderstand the phisicions dispaire very mouche in or goode Lorde
Chauncellor his helthe ; and surely for or parts we thinke his Lord
ship to be in greate danger, and that there is small hoope of his
recoverye. Wherfore, forasmouche as before this tyme we know
ing his Lordship's ernest disposition and hartie good wille to joyne
withe yow in mariage betwixte your sonne and his eldest dough-
ter wherin yt hathe pleased hym oftentymes to use oure poore ad
vise, — we have therfore thought goode to signifie his state to yowe
to thentente yow may further declare the same unto the Kings
matie ; and therupon to be an humble surer unto his highnes for
the prefermente of his saide eldest doughter, whome we beleve
he coulde be contente right hartilye amongest other his legasies to
bequethe unto yowe, so he mighte dispose her as he maye other
his possessions and moveables. And thus mooste hartily fare yow
weU. From Crechurche, this Wedynsdaye.
" Your own, most assuredlye,
" Edward North,
" Tho. Pope."
On the 30th of April following, Audley expired in the 56th year
of his age. . .
He is a singular instance of a statesman, in the reign ot Henry
VIII, remaining long in favour and in office and dy- rA D lg44 j
ing a natural death. Beckoning from the time when
regie Maiestati apud novum palacium suum Westm. in camera sua privata circa
noram telciam post meridicn in presentia Thome Heneage, &c, presentarunt esta-
obitulerunt humiliter suppliantes ex parte dni ThomeDui Cancellaru eandemregiam
majestatem quatenus idem Dns Rex sigillurn suum prdm recre et acceptare dlgnr Qui
D~ns Rex sigillurn illud per manus ipsorum Edwardi et_Thome Pope recepit et ac-
cepta vit et penes se retinuit usque in diem proxm. videl^&c. Quo oie circa horam
terciam post meridiem pTfnTs Dns Rex sigillurn suum prdm apud palacium suum
pldrn in cWa prSTin presenii Antonii Denny, 4e. Thome Wriothesley m.hti,
Dno Wriothesley custodiendum et exercendum durante infirmitate dci Thome Dni
Audley Dn~i Cancellarii comisit ipsumque Thomam Dn Wriothesley magm s.gill.
regii durante infirmitate dci Dni Cancellarii ibidem constituit et ordinal cum
Storitat. exclndi et facdi omnia et singula qne Dns Cancellarius Angle prtextu
officii sui pidd fa^e et elre potuisset et valeret &, ^.^^iTX ^U
Close Roll historiographer of tbe .Great Seal f^^^'^^oso presence the
contained. ^

510 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
he was made Speaker of the House of Commons, he had been
employed by Henry constantly since the fall of Wolsey, — under
six Queens, — avoiding the peril of ackowledging the Pope on the
one hand, or offending against the Six Articles on the other. He
enjoyed great power, amassed immense wealth, was raised to the
highest honours and dignities, and reaped what he considered a
full recompense for his " infamy."
Such a sordid slave does not deserve that we should say more
of his vices or demerits. It has been observed, that the best rip-
ology for Wolsey was the contrast between the early and the latter
part of Henry's reign ; and Audley's severest condemnation must
be a review of the crimes which, if he did not prompt, he abetted.
He might have been reproached by his master, in the language of
a former tyrannical sovereign of England,
" Hadst thou but shook thy head, or made a pause,
Or turned an eye of doubt upon my face,
Deep shame had struck me dumb."
But no eunuch in a seraglio was ever a more submissive tool of
the caprice and vengeance of a passionate and remorseless mas
ter than was Lord Chancellor Audley.
According to a desire expressed in his -will he -was buried at
Saffron Walden, in the chancel of the parish church which he had
erected. There an altar tomb of black marble/was raised to him,
the following inscription, which some suppose that, in imitation of
his immediate predecessor, he had himself composed ; and which
Fuller quaintly enough calls " a lamentable epitaph."
"The stroke of Deathe's inevitable Dart . Haih now alas of life bereft the hart .
Of Syr Thomas Audeley of the Garter Knight . Late Chancellour of England under
owrPrinceof Might . Henry Theight wyrthy high renowne . And made by him Lord
Audeley of this town. Obiit ultimo die Aprilis, Anno Domini 1544, Regni Regis
Henrki 8, 36. Cancellariatus sui 13, et suie iEiatis 56."
The Chancellor espoused Lady Mary Grey, one of the daugh
ters of Thomas, second Marquis of Dorset. Any one might have
supposed that he would have been sufficiently proud of such a
noble alliance, whereas he actually sued the King for further rec
ompense, as he expresses himself, "for reparation of my pour mar
riage, wherein his Maj este was the principall doer ."*
Lady Audley, who survived her husband many years, bore to
him two daughters ; Mary, who died in childhood, and Margaret,
who became sole heir to her father's vast possessions. She mar
ried, first, Lord Henry Dudley, who fell at the battle of St. Quin
tin' s : and, secondly, Thomas, fourth Duke of Norfolk, by whom,
amongst other issue, she had Thomas afterwards created Earl of
Suffolk, who built Audley End, in. honour of his maternal grand-
fathert, and from whom are descended the Earls of Suffolk and
Berkshire, and Carlisle, the Earls and Marquises of Bristol, and
* Cottonian MSS.
t"A stately palace," says Dugdale, " not to be equalled, excepting Hampton
Court, by any in this realm." — Bar. tit. " Audley."

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 511
Lo^L?! ^J^de Walden, besides the Earls of Bindon and
T n ^ a Td ?f Esonch. wh°se titles are extinct.
dalenP p,Si 7 ^ ?ei] &lw^8 considered as the founder of Mag-
Jiff fridge, which he endowed with large estates.
"his heti, nSGd the SOdety t0 llse ^ arms; and appointed
tors of thP ^ Possessors °f the late monastery of Walden, visi-
"™t„, . ,f L°llegemperpetuum, with the right of nominating 'the
masteis , which privileges are still exercised by Lord Braybrooke,
the present owner of Audley End * *>i*y oroide,

CHAPTEB XXXV.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY FROM HIS BIRTH TILL
THE DEATH OF HENRY VIII.
The new Chancellor displayed very different qualities from his
predecessor, being a man of principle ; but he was, if possible, a
worse minister ; for, when invested with power, he proved narrow-
minded, bigoted, and cruel. Fortunately, he was likewise rash
and headstrong, so that his objects were generally defeated, and
his political career was short.
Thomas Wriothesley was sprung from a family long distinguish
ed in " Anns," for they were heralds. John, his grandfather, was
Garter King at Arms to Edward IV. Thomas, his uncle, filled the
same office under Henry VII. William, his father, Was Norroy
King at Arms to that Sovereign.
Thomas, the future Peer and Chancellor, early initiated in
heraldic lore was not contented with the prospect of wearing a
tabard, making visitations, examining pedigrees, and marshalling
processions. He therefore abjured the Herald's CoUege, took to
the study of the common law, and was called to the bar. He was
a diligent student, and made considerable proficiency in his legal
studies, but he does not seem ever to have risen into much prac
tice as an advocate ; and he showed a preference of politics to
law. In 1535, having recommended himself to Lord Chancellor
Audley, — through his interest an office of considerable emolument
was conferred upon him in the Court of Common Pleas. Three
years after he was made Secretary of State, a post beginning to
be important, but still very inferior to its present rank, as then the
Lord Chancellor conducted foreign negotiations, and attended to
the internal administration of the country. He was a warm ad-
* I am exceedingly indebted to this descendant of the illustrious House of Ne
ville (several members of which held the office of Lord Chancellor), for informa
tion enabling me considerably to improve my memoir of Lord Audley. — Note to 2d
Edition.

512 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
herent of the old faith, to which Henry himself was sincerely at
tached, except in as far as the " supremacy" was concerned; and
with the Duke of Norfolk and Gardyner, he formed the party ac
tually opposed to the Beformation, who procured the passing of
" the Six Articles."
He was now in such high favour, that he was employed in the
r ' 1 ^R i emDassv sent by Henry during his widowhood, after
LA- D' 'J the death of Jane Seymour, to negotiate a marriage
for him with Christiana, the Duchess Dowager of Milan, then in
Flanders, at the Viceregal Court. This negotiation failed, and so
did another of the same kind, in which Wriothesley was engaged
for an alliance with Mary of Guise, who preferred the youthful
King of Scotland, James V., Henry's nephew. The negotiator, in
consequence, was some time in disgrace : but luckily for him he
had strenuously opposed a match with a German Princess, from
the dread of the introduction of Lutheranism : and the sight of
Anne of Cleves obtained for him warm thanks for the advice he
had given.
After the fall of Cromwell, Wriothesley might be considered
prime minister ; for Audley did not aspire higher than to remain in
office to execute the measures of others. As the chief in the
King's confidence, he went abroad to negotiate in person the treaty
with the Emperor Charles V., which, to his great delight, led to
the restoration of the Princess Mary to her place in the tine of the
royal succession, and opened the prospect of the suppression of
Lutheranism. The bounties of the Crown were now lavished upon him. On
the death of Bobert Earl of Sussex, he was made Chamberlain
of the Exchequer, and Constable of Southampton and Porchester
castles ; the possessions of the dissolved abbey of Tichfield were
granted to him, and he was raised to the peerage by the title of
Baron Wriothesley of Tichfield, in the County of Hants.
The disgrace of Queen Catherine Howard had been a heavy
affliction to him and to all true Boman Catholics, as she was an
avowed protectress of the old failh; and very anxious to have
seen another of the same ecclesiastical opinions succeed her as
consort to the sovereign, he from time to time recommended alli
ances with reigning houses in Europe who remained true to Bome.
Ia d 1544 1 He was exceedingly surprised and shocked, therefore,
when he was told one morning by the King that he
had resolved to marry the Lady Catherine Par, a widow of unim-
peached private character ; but, in religion, regarded as little better
than a Lutheran. He was very much alarmed by apprehension
of the influence she might acquire, and the advantage she might
give to the cause of the Beformation, which in spite of frequent
executions for heresy, was daily gaining ground in England. He
did not venture upon the idle task of combating the King's incli
nation ; and he passively saw the ceremony of the marriage per->
formed by Gardyner, Bishop of Winchester, in the Queen's Privy

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 513
Closet at Hampton Court, although Cranmer, actuated by contrary
lfntv. gS'T ten and secure the match, had granted a special
ordinances81361181^ Wlth ^ publication of banns and a11 contrary
^^v!thieSleiyVne7ertheleSS' nnder the influence of misguided
zeal resolved, tor the good of the Church, to take the earliist op
portunity of making the new Queen share the fate of her prede-
cessors ;— sanguine in the hope that she would be indiscreet, and
that the King would be relentless
The declining health of Lord Audley showed that a vacancy in
the office of Chancellor was at hand, and Wriothesley, without
hesitation, agreed to accept it; for its duties were not considered
at all incompatible with those of prime minister ; and the patron
age and emoluments peculiarly belonging to it, made it always an
object of the highest ambition.
Audley's resignation taking place on the 22d of April, 1544, we
have seen that on the same day the Great Seal was delivered to
Wriothesley,- with the modest title of " Lord Keeper during the
illness of the Chancellor." Having gratefully received it from the
King at Whitehall, he carried it to his house in Cannon Bow, and
there, the following day, " he held a Seal." *
On Friday, the 30th of April, the first day of Easter term, while
Audley was breathing his last, the Lord Keeper publicly took the
oaths in the Court of Chancery in Westminster Hall. His abju
ration of the Pope was very ample, and must have cost him a se
vere pang, unless he had a dispensation for taking it : —
" I, Thomas Wriothesley, Knyght, Lorde Wriolhesley, Lorde
Keeper of the Brode Seale, havynge now the vaile of darkness of
the usurped power, auctoritie, and jurisdiccion of the See and
Bishoppes of Rome clearly taken away from myne eyes, do utterly
testifie and declare in my conscience, that neyther the See, nor the
Bishop of Borne, nor any foraine potestate, hath nor ought to have
any jurisdiccion, power, or auctoritie within this realme, neither
by Godd's lawe, nor by any other juste lawe or meanes ; and
though by sufferance and abusions in tymes passed, they aforesaide
have usurped and vendicated a fayned and unlawful power and
jurisdiccion within this realme, which hath ben supported tyll
fewe yeres passed, therefore, by cause it myght be denied, and
thought thereby that I toke or take it for just and good, I there
fore nowe do clerely and frankeley renounce, refuse, relinquishe,
and forsake the pretended auctoritie, power, and jurisdiccion both
of the See and Bishop of Borne, and of all other foraine powers ;
and that I shall never consent nor agre that the foresaid See or
Bishop of Rome, or any of their successours, shall practise, ex
ercise, or have any manner of auctoritie, jurisdiccion, or power
within this realme, or any other the Kynge's realmes or domynions,
nor any foraine potestate, of what estate, degree, or condiccion
* Rot. CI. 36 Hen. 8.

514 REIGN OE HENRY VIII.
soever he be, but that I shall resiste the same at all tymes to the
uttermost of my power, and that I shall accepte, repute, and take
the Kynge's majestie, his heyres, and successors, when they or any
of them shall enjoy his place, to be the only supreme Head in
earth, under God, of the Churche of England and Ireland, and of
all other his Hignesse's dominions ; and in case any other hathe
ben made by me to any person or persons in maintenance, defence,
or favour of the See and Bishop of Borne, or his auctoritie, juris
diccion, or power, I reporte the same as vague and adnihilate, and
shall holly and trewly observe and kepe this othe. So helpe me
God, all Sainctes, and the Holy Evangelists."*
The old Duke of Norfolk who had so often officiated on such
occasions, attended this installation, but we have no account of
any orations delivered, and probably the ceremony was made as
short and simple as possible, out of delicacy to the dying Audley.
On the third day after his death the Lord Keeper brought the
1 Great Seal to the King at Whitehall, and re-
[May 6, lol'i.j sigrled it int0 his hands. His Majesty, sitting
on his throne, having accepted it, re-delivered it to him, with the
title of " Lord Chancellor," making a speech very complimentary
both to the deceased and the living Chancellor.t
There was then a grand procession from the Palace to West
minster Hall ; and in the Court of Chancery the Duke of Norfolk,
by the King's command, again administered the oaths to the new
Chancellor, and installed him in his office.
Although bred to the law, he had never been thoroughly imbu
ed with its principles nor versed in its forms ; and his scanty legal
learning had been almost entirely forgotten by him since he had
abandoned professional for political pursuits.
He accordingly found himself very inadequate to the discharge
of the judicial duties of his office, and the public complained loud
ly of his delays and mistakes. He continued to sit during Easter
and Trinity terms, pelted by motions which he knew not how to
dispose of, and puzzled by causes the bearings of which he could
hardly be made to understand ; — perplexed by the conflicting as
sertions of the opposite counsel as to the doctrine and practice of
the Court ; — his chief solicitude being to conceal his ignorance
from the bar and the by-standers ; desirous to do what was right
* Rot_Cl. 36 Hen. 8.
t " Dms Rex in solio suo regali sedens et sigillurn prdum in baga predieta inclu
sum manu sua tenens post verla ad prftum Thomam Wriothesley et alios ibidem pres-
tes habita sigillurn illud prefto Thome Dno Wriothesley tanqm Dno Cancellario
Anglie tradidit eddidit et redeliberavit ipsumque Thomam Dmm Wriothesley Can-
ceUarium suum Anglic constituit." The entry then goes on to specify the names
of the Master of the Rolls, and a large assemblage present, and to' state that the
Chancellor having opened the bag, and taken out the seal, sealed a writ with it
and restored it to the bag, carried it off with him, and describes the ceremony of
his swearing in ; but instead of again setting out the oath of supremacy, merely
says, " I, Thomas Wriothesley, Knight, Lorde Chancellor of England, havynge
now the vaile of darkness," &c. ut supra.

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 515
both for his own conscience and his credit, — but with constant ap
prehensions that his decisions were erroneous, and that he was
ridiculed in private, even by those who flattered him in his pre
sence. At last the long vacation came to his relief, during which,
in those times, the tranquillity of the Chancellor was little dis
turbed by motions for injunctions or summary applications of any
sort. He now applied himself to the study of the few cases in the
recent Year Books as to where " a subpoena lies," and tried to
gain information from the officers of the Court to qualify him for
a more satisfactory performance of his part in " the marble chair;"
but as Michaelmas term approached, his heart failed him, and he
resolved not again to expose himself to the anxieties and indigni
ties he had before suffered. Nevertheless, he by no means in
tended to resign the Great Seal, and with the King's consent, on
the 9th of October, 1544*, he issued a commission to Sir Bobert
Southwell, Master of the Bolls, and several others, to hear causes
in the Court of Chancery during his absence. He afterwards
took his seat in court occasionally, as a matter of form ; but on
these Commissioners he, in reality, devolved all the judicial busi
ness of his office during the remainder of the reign of Henry
VIII., and he devoted himself entirely to matters of state and re
ligion. There was now profound peace with France and the Emperor,
and the public attention was absorbed by the struggle between
the favourers and opposers of the new doctrines. The Chancel
lor was at the head of the latter party, and showed the qualities
of a Grand inquisitor, rather than of an enlightened minister to a
constitutional King.
Henry, his pride and peevishness increasing as his health de
clined, was disposed to punish with fresh severity all who presum
ed to entertain a different speculative notion from himself re
specting religion, particularly on any point embraced by the " Six
Articles" framed against Lutheranism ; and the Chancellor, in
stead of restraining and soothing, urged on and inflamed his per
secuting spirit. . . -,
In spite of all these efforts the reformed doctrines gamed
ground, and were even becoming fashionable at Court under toe
secret countenance of the Queen. The alarm was given by the
indiscretion of Anne Ascue, one of her maids, a young ady ol
great beauty, of gentle manners, and warm imagination, who Had
had the temerity to declare in a large company " that m her opin
ion, after the consecration of the elements m the sacrament of the
Lord's supper, the substance of bread and wine still remains m
them." This conversation being reported to the , D 1545 -j
King and the Chancellor, she was summoned and
examined before the CouncU. Being menaced by Bonner, who
* Rot. CI. 36 Hen. 8.

516 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
was beginning to show that disposition which proved so formida
ble in a succeeding reign, she recanted to a certain degree, but
still under qualifications which were not satisfactory, and she was
committed to prison on a charge of heresy. This severity only
heightened her enthusiasm: she now saw the crown of .martyr
dom within her reach, and she resolved to court it by boldly as
serting her religious principles. A letter which she wrote to the
King, saying, " as to the Lord's Supper, she believed as much
as Christ himself had taught or the Catholic church requir
ed, but that she could not assent to his Majesty's explication of
the doctrine," was considered a fresh insult, and as it was sus
pected that she was countenanced by the leaders of the Lutheran
party at court, the Lord Chancellor went himself in person to in
terrogate her in the hope of obtaining some evidence against
Cranmer, or against the Queen herself. Anne freely answered
all the Chancellor's questions respecting her own faith, but she
maintained an inviolable fidelity to her friends, and would give no
information as to her instructors or participators in the heretical
opinions she expressed. According to a custom then common,
defended by high authority as necessary to religion and good gov
ernment, and not entirely abolished in England for near a century
afterwards, she was thereupon ordered to be put to the torture.
This being applied with great barbarity without extorting any
confession, the Chancellor ordered the Lieutenant of the Tower
to stretch the rack still further. The refractory officer refused
compliance, though repeatedly ordered by the highest Judge in
the land, and menaced with the King's displeasure and the utmost
vengeance of the law. Thereupon (such are the enormities
which may be prompted by superstitious zeal!) Wriothesley, —
on ordinary occasions a humane man, — now excited by resistance
and persuading himself that discoveries might be obtained which
would do service to God, — put his own hand to the rack and drew
it so violently, that he almost tore asunder the tender limbs of his
youthful and delicately formed victim. Her constancy still sur
passed the barbarity of her persecutor, and he was obliged to with
draw, baffled and discomfited, lest she should die under his hands
without the form of trial*
"When he made complaint, as he had threatened, of the clem
ency of the Lieutenant of the Tower, it should be recorded that
Henry approved of the conduct of this officer, and refused to dis
miss him. It was resolved, however, to proceed against Anne As
cue, according to the existing statutes ; and she was brought to
trial, with several others, for denying the real presence. A clear
case was proved against them ; and, under the law of the Six Ar-
* I am sorry for the honour of the law to say that Griffin, the Solicitor General,
was present at this scene, and instead of interceding for Anne, recommended him
self to the Chancellor by tightening the rope with his own hand to add to her tor
ture. This is said to be the only instance of a woman being put to the torture in
England. — See Jardine's Reading on Torture, p. 65.

LORD CIIANCELLLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 517
tides, they were duly sentenced to be burnt. Anne was still so
much dislocated by the rack, that she was carried in a chair to the
place of execution.
The Chancellor, in the hope of saving the criminals, or of ag
gravating their guilt, made out a conditional pardon to them, to
which, with the King's consent, he affixed the Great Seal ; and
when they had been tied to the stake, — before the torch was ap
plied to the faggots which were to consume them, he communi
cated to them that the pardon which was shown them should be
instantly handed to them if they would deserve it by a recanta
tion. Anne and her companions only considered this offer a fresh
garland to their crown of martyrdom ; and continuing their devo
tions, calmly saw the devouring flames rise around them.*
Wriothesley soon after thought that he had got into his power
a nobler victim, and that he might offer up a still more acceptable
sacrifice. It should be borne in mind that, during this reign, the
situation of Queen was considered an office at Court to be strug
gled for by contending factions. The Catholics were most active
in the prosecution of Anne Boleyn, and the divorce of Anne of
Cleves ; the Beformers had been equally active in the divorce of
Catherine of Arragon, and the prosecution of Catherine Howard.
Now the Catholics were eager to pull down Catherine Par, in the
hope that a true Catholic might take her place on the throne.
What no saint would promise to the supplicating Wriothesley, and
what the rack would not accomplish for him, he thought that
chance, or rather the good providence of God, had unexpectedly
brought to pass.
Gardyner came to him one morning to announce that the King
had been gravely complaining to him of the Queen, for abetting
Lutheran doctrines in their tete-a-tete conversations, and for secret
ly sinning against the Six Articles; and that his Majesty had fav
ourably listened to the remarks he had hazarded to make to him,
" that such misconduct could not be winked at by a King anxious
for preserving the orthodoxy of his subjects." The Chancellor
flew into the royal presence to take proper advantage of this dis
position, and eargly represented, "that the more elevated the in
dividual was who was made amenable to the law, and the nearer
to his person, the greater terror would the example strike into
every one, and the more glorious would the sacrifice appear to
posterity." Henry was so much touched by these topics that he
directed articles of impeachment to be drawn up against his con
sort, so that she might forthwith be brought to trial and arraigned
and ordered that the following day she should be arrested by the
Chancellor himself, and carried to the Tower of London. Wriot-
esley joyfully drew the articles, and brought them to the King for
his royal signature; without which it was not deemed regula or
safe to take any further step in the prosecution. Henry signed

VOL. I.

* Fox, vol. ii. p. 578. Speed, p. 7S0. Baker, p. 299.
44

518 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
the paper without hesitation, and the execution of another Queen
seemed inevitable.
By some means, the contents of this paper became known to a
friend of Catherine, who instantly warned her of her danger.
She fainted away at the intelligence. On recovering her senses,
she uttered frightful shrieks, and she well might have anticipated,
after a mock trial, a speedy death on Tower Hill ; for hitherto the
King had never relented in any capital prosecution once com
menced against wife or minister. She was told that her only
chance of escape was to seem ignorant of his intentions, and to
try to soothe and to disarm him before there should publicly be
taken against her any step, from which he could not recede with
out risking his reputation for firmness and courage. She showed
much presence of mind, and went to pay the King her usual visit
with a tranquil and cheerful air. He began, as he had lately
done, to challenge her to an argument on divinity, thinking he
should obtain a still plainer avowal of her heterodoxy. But she
said, " she humbly hoped she might be permitted to decline the
conversation, as such profound speculations were ill-suited to the
natural imbecility of women, who, by their first creation, were
made subject to men, the male being created after the image of
God, the female after the image of the male ; it belonged, there
fore, to the husband to choose principles for his wife, the wife's
duty being, in all cases, to adopt implicitly the sentiments of her
husband. As for herself, it was doubly her duty, being blest with
a husband who was qualified by his learning and judgment, not
only to prescribe articles of faith for his own family, but for the
most wise and knowing of every nation." This speech, so artfully
adapted to his peculiar notions of female submission and his own
fancied superiority, delivered with such apparent sincerity, — for he
did not suspect that she was at all aware of the pending prosecut
ion, — so pleased him, that he exclaimed, " Not so! by St. Mary;
you are now become a doctor, Kate, and better fitted to give, than
to receive instruction."
She followed up her success by meekly observing, that she was
little entitled to such praise on the present occasion, as the senti
ments she now expressed she had ever entertained; that, though
she had been in the habit of joining in any conversation proposed
by his Majesty, she weU knew her conceptions on any topics be
yond domestic affairs could only give him a little momentary
amusement ; that, finding their colloquy sometimes apt to languish
when not quickened by some opposition, she had ventured to feign
a difference of opinion, in order to give him the pleasure of refut
ing her, and that all she purposed by this artifice, which she trust
ed he would deem innocent, was to engage him in discussions,
Whence she had herself derived profit and instruction. " And is it
indeed so, sweetheart?" replied the King; "then are we perfect
friends." Luckily for her, there was no fair maid of hers on whom he had

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY., 519
cast an eye of affecti in, and whom he had destined for Queen, —
or all Catherine's eloquence would not have saved her from the
penalties of heresy and treason ; — but having no other inclination,
and having been pleased with her as a companion and nurse, he
sent her away with assurances of his kindness and protection.
Next day Henry and Catherine were conversing amicably in
the garden when the Lord Chancellor, ignorant of the King's
change of intention, appeared with forty poursuivants to arrest
her, and carry her to the Tower. She withdrew to some distance,
saymg that she supposed the Chancellor wished to speak with his
Highness on public business. From where she stood she could
hear the appellations of " Fool, knave, and beast," bestowed with
great emphasis upon the Chancellor, and an order at last given to
him by the King, in a resentful tone, to depart his presence. When
Wriothesley was gone, Catherine ran up to the King, and tried to
soothe him by putting in a good word for the object of his anger.
" Poor soul," cried he, " you little know how ill entitled this man is
to your kind offices."
The orthodox Chancellor was still on the watch to find an oc
casion to do an ill turn to her whom he justly suspected of being
in her heart Lutheran ; but Catherine, cautious after narrowly es
caping so great a peril, never more offended Henry's humour by
any contradiction, and remained in his good graces to the end of
his life.
Wriothesley -was now employed as a Commissioner to conclude
a treaty with Scotland, and conducted the negotiation so much to
Henry's satisfaction, that he was installed a Knight of the Garter,
being the second Chancellor who had reached tbis dignity.
On the 23d of November, 1546, met the only parliament called
while Wriothesley was Chancellor. We do not find any where
his speech at the opening of the.session ; but if we may judge from
what took place at the prorogation, it had not been much applaud
ed ; and certainly it had not flattered the King to his liking.
The first act of the session was to take away from the Chan
cellor a patronage which, the preamble recites, had r D 154g i
been greatly abused, of appointing the Custos Bo- L
tulorum in every county, and to provide that the appointment there
after shall be directly by the King* But the great object of the
King was to have made over to him by -parliament certain colleges,
chantries, and hospitals, with very extensive possessions, which
were supposed to be connected with the Pope as their religious
head, and were now dissolved.! Tbe plunder of the monasteries
was all dissipated, and, notwithstanding large subsidies, the Ex
chequer was empty. But this new fund, managed by the Court of
Augmentations under the Chancellor's superintendence, brought
in a tolerably sufficient revenue during the remainder of Henry's
reign. * 37 Hen. 8. c. t. t 27 Hen. 8 . c. 4.

520 REIGN OP HENRY VIII.
At the close of the session, after the Speaker of the House of
Commons had delivered his oration, the King himself made the
reply, beginning in a manner not quite complimentary to Lord
Chancellor Wriothesley. " Although my Chancellor for the time
being hath before this time used very eloquently and substantially
to make answer to such orations, yet is he not able to open and
set forth my mind and meaning, and the secrets of my heart, in
so plain and ample a manner as I myself am and can do." His
Majesty then, with modest vanity, disclaims the praises bestowed
upon him ; but in such language as shows that he conceived they
were well merited. " But of such small qualities as God hath en
dued me withal, I render to his goodness my most humble thanks,
intending, with all my art and diligence, to get and acquire to me
such notable virtues and princely qualities as you have alleged to
be incorporate in my person."*
This was the last time that Henry ever appeared upon the throne
before Parliament. He had now grown immensely corpulent ; he
was soon after unable to stir abroad, and in his palace he could only
be moved from one room to another by machinery. All began to
look forward to a new reign, and there was intense anxiety as to
the manner in which Henry would exercise the power conferred
upon him by parliament to provide for the government of the
country during the minority of Prince Edward, aid to direct the
succession to the Crown on the death of his own children without
issue. Wriothesley, the Chancellor, had the most constant access to
him, and was eager that a settlement should be made the most fa
vourable to the Catholic faith ; but he was thwarted by the Sey
mours, the young Prince's uncles, who were strong . favourers of
the Beformation, and determined, upon the accession of their
nephew, to engross the whole royal authority into their own hands.
The King's will, drawn by Wriothesley, was at last executed, but
whether with the forms required by law is still a matter of con
troversy.-! By this will Wriothesley himself was appointed one
of the sixteen Executors, to whom was entrusted the government
of the realm till the Prince, then a boy nine years old, should com
plete his eighteenth year, and he counted, with absolute certainty,
upon the Great Seal remaining in his hands during the whole of
that interval.
* 1 Pari. Hist 562.
t On the question, whether the power given to Henry to appoint to the succession
was duly executed, depended in strictness the right of the Stuarts to the throne ,
for he excluded them, preferring the issue of his younger sister, married to the
Duke of Suffolk, whose descendants still exist. The better opinion seems to be
that the signature by the stamp, though affixed by the King's command, was de
fective. Wriothesley was not by any means an accurate lawyer, and in the hurry
in which the instrument was executed, there is no improbability in supposing that
the conditions of the power were not strictly fulfilled. At all events, after aiapse
of 300 years, and the subsequent acts of settlement, our allegiance cannot much
depend on this nicety.— See Hall. Const. Hist. vol. i. p. 393.

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 521
Through the agency of the Chancellor, Henry's reign had a
suitable termination in the unjust prosecution of the Duke of Nor
folk and the Earl of Surrey, the greatest subjects in the kingdom,
the father deserving respect for his devoted services to the Crown,
not less than for his iUustrious birth ; and the son, distinguished
by every accomplishment which became a scholar, a courtier, and
a soldier, refining the language and softening the manners of the
age,— uniting the brilliant qualities of chivalry with the taste and
cultivation of modern times, — celebrating the praises of his mis
tress in the tournament, as well as in the sonnet and r 1 ,.„ ,
the masque. It can hardly be supposed that Wri- LA- D- •l04'-J
othesley planned their downfall, for they were of the same reli
gious faith with himself, unless it may be conjectured thathe him
self wished to be the head of the party, and to guide all its mea
sures in the succeeding reign. But admitting, what is more pro
bable, that the Seymours, dreading the influence of the House of
Howard, were the original instigators of this prosecution, Wrioth
esley, instead of resisting it, sanctioned and promoted it, — making
himself accessory to the murder of the son, — and not having like
wise to answer for that of the father, only by being suddenly freed
from the inhuman master -whose commands he was afraid to diso
bey or to question. He concurred in the commitment of both of
them to the Tower on the same day. Surrey being a commoner,
a commission under the Great Seal was issued for his trial before
a jury ; and this hope of his country, a man of undoubted loyalty
and unsuUied honour, being convicted of high treason on no bet
ter evidence than that he had quartered the arms of Edward the
Confessor on his scutcheon,— by authority of a warrant signed by
the ChanceUor, was immediately executed*
It was necessary to deal with the Duke of Norfolk as a Peer.
A session of parliament being called on the 14th of January,
1547, on the 18th a bill was brought into the House of Lords for
his attainder, and passed that House on the 20th. The overt act
of treason was, that he had said that " the King was sickly and
could not hold out long, and the kingdom was likely to fall into
disorders through the diversity of religious opinions lhe biil
being returned passed by the House of Commons on the 24th, the
Lord Chancellor on the 27th having ordered all the Peers to put
on their robes, and the Commons, with their Speaker to attend at
the bar, declared to both Houses that his Majesty wishing the bill
for the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk to be expedited,, that his
office of Earl Marshal might be fiUed up by another, and being
hindered by sickness from coming to give his royal assent to it in
person, he had directed a commission to pass the Great Seal, au
thorising him and other Peers to give the royal assent to it in .toe
King's rrame. The commission being read, the Lord ChanceUor
commanded the clerk of parliament to pronounce the words. So*
* 1 St. Tr. 453.
44*

522 REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
fait come il est desire ; and so it being passed into a law, a warrant
was issued for the execution of Norfolk on the 29th of January.*
But early in the morning of that day news was brought to the
Tower that Henry had expired in the night, and the lieutenant
gladly suspended the execution of a sentence so unjust and ty
rannical. In the reign of Mary the attainder was reversed, on the ground
that the offence of which he was accused was not treason, and
that Henry had not signed the commission, in virtue of which his
pretended assent had been given to the act of parliament.
On the 31st of January the Lord Chancellor formally announc
ed the King's Death to both Houses : and, says the Journal, " the
mournful news was so affecting to the Chancellor and all present
that they could not refrain from tears ! "t It is impossible that
there should not have been a general joy at the deliverance of
the country from the rule of such a heartless tyrant.^
A few sentences will be sufficient to notice the state of the
equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, and the changes
in the law during this reign. By the Statute of Uses, 27 H. 8. c.
10., it was proposed to confine all controversies respecting land to
the Courts of common law, by preventing a severance between
the legal and beneficial estate ; but the conveyancers and the
Judges repealed the act of parliament by the addition of three
words toa deed; and "uses" being revived under the name
of " trusts," the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery over land
was confirmed and extended. The Statute of Wills, 32 H. 8. c.
1., for the first time gave a genera] power of devising real proper
ty ; and the Statute of Limitations, 32 H. 8. c. 2., conferred an in
defeasible right to it after an adverse possession of sixty years.
The first Special Commission for hearing causes in Chancery
was granted in this reign, while Cardinal Wolsey was sitting on
the trial of Catherine's divorce. It was directed to the Master of
the Bolls, four Judges, six Masters, and ten others, and authorised
* 1 St. Tr. 467. 1 Pari. Hist. 561.
t Several of the successors of St. Swithin have been much given to crying, and
we shall hereafter see one of them weeping so as to recall " the iron tears which
rolled down the cheeks of Pluto."
1 . I must express my astonishment and regret to find the character and conduct
•f Henry defended by such an able writer and excellent man as Mr Sharon Turner,
who thus apologises for his worst acts :— "LNone of these severities were inflicted
without the due legal authorily. The verdict of juries, the solemn judgment of the
Jb-eers, or attainders by both Houses of parliament on offences proved to its satis
faction, pronounced all the convictions, and produced the fatal sentence. Every
one was approved and sanctioned by the cabinet council of the government. The
King is responsible only for adopting the harsh system, for not interposing this pre
rogative of mercy, and for signing the death warrants which ordered the legal sen
tences to be put in force. He punished no one tyrannically without trial or legal
condemnation.' - burner's Hist. Engl. vol. x. p. 632. What difference is there
Detween procuring a house of parliament or a jury to convict an innocent man of
a capital charge, and hiring an assassin to take away his life ? The most danger-
eui speciei of murder is that which is committed under the forms of law.

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 523
them, or any four of them, two being the Masters of the Bolls,
nnnT'- "Rasters, to hear, examine, and finally determine aU
™lL m Chanc«y committed to them by the Chancellor and to
order execution thereon*
Although there are some valuable reports of common-law cases
W wT11' ™-6 1S no trace of any of' the decisions of Chancel
lors Warham Wolsey, More, Audley, or Wriothesley ; and the
rules by which they guided their discretion still remained vague
or unknown. &
In this reign there are several instances of the Court of Chan
cery pronouncing decrees for divorces ; and there seemed a proba
bility that it would assume a jurisdiction to decree the specific
performance of a contract to marry, and a restitution of conjugal
nglits; but it was afterwards held, that the Ecclesiastical Court
alone has cognisance of marriage and divorce.t

CHAPTEB XXXVI
CONCLUSION OP THE LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY.
On the same day that Henry died the young King was proclaim
ed; and the sixteen Executors assembled in the Tower to com
mence their government in his name.
Wriothesley thought he had so arranged matters that the chief
power would be in his own hands. Archbishop rT ,,
Cranmer was the first on the list; but he was not. LJAN- b' '-1
expected to mix much with secular affairs. Next came the Chan
cellor, who would naturally be looked up to as the real head, and
would be enabled to guide the deliberations of the body. He
therefore was most anxious that the King's will should be strictly
observed ; and as soon as they had taken their places at the board,
and the will had been read, he moved "that it be resolved not
only to stand to and maintain the testament of their master the
late King, and every part and article of the same to the uttermost
of their power, wits, and cunning, but also that every one of them
present should take a corporal oath for the more assured and ef
fectual accomplishment of the same." This resolution could not
be decently objected to; the oath was taken, and the Chancellor
thought himself secure.
But the ceremony of swearing had hardly been concluded, when
the Earl of Hertford, the King's uncle, who, as Lord Chamberlain,
was only fourth in precedence in the Council, but who was deter-
* Rym. xiv. 299. This commission has since been followed as a precedent for
delegations of the judicial authority of the Chancellor.
t See Toihill, 124. De Manniville v. De Manniville, 10 Ves. 60. In America
the Court of Chancery still decides in matrimonial suits.

524 REIGN OP EDWARD VI.
mined to get all power into his own hands, suggested that, for the
despatch of business, for the facility of communicating with fo
reign ambassadors, and for the purpose of representing on other
occasions the person of the young Sovereign, it would be necesr
sary to elect one of the Council to preside, with such title as
might be agreed upon ; and that he himself would willingly submit
to any one whom a majority might prefer. Thereupon, according
to a concerted plan, a creature of Hertford's moved that he, as
nearest in blood to the King, and not in the line of succession to
the throne, and eminent for his abilities and virtues, should be ap
pointed governor of the King's person, and Protector of the realm.
Wriothesley rose, and with fury opposed a measure which he
saw would reduce, himself to insignificance. He insisted that it
would be a direct infringement of the late King's will, which, be
ing made under a statute, had all the force of an act of the legis
lature, and could not be altered but by the same authority which
had established it. By the words and the spirit of the instrument
under which they were there assembled, all the executors were
equal, and were intended to remain so during the King's minority;
and it would be monstrous to place one of them over the rest as
Protector, — an undefined and ill-omened title, which the chron'
icles showed was always the forerunner of broils and civil war.
To his astonishment and consternation, however, he found that
he made no impression upon his audience, and that a majority had
been secured by his rival, who had been lavish in his promises in
case he should be elected. Wriothesley was likewise personally
unpopular, and his adherence to the old religion was strongly
against him, — the current now running very strong in favour of
the Beformation. Seeing that opposition would be vain, he ab
stained from calling for a division ; and he pretended to be con
tented with an assurance, which he knew would prove fallacious,
that the new officer should in no case act without the assent of a
majority of the Council.
All the Lords, spiritual and temporal, were now assembled in
the Chamber of Presence, into which the Executors conducted
the young Edward. Each in succession having kissed his hand
kneeling, and uttered the words, " God save your Grace!" the
Chancellor explained to the assembly the dispositions in the will
of their late Sovereign, and the resolution of the executors to
put the Earl of Hertford at their head, — without hinting at his
own disapproval of this step. All present unanimously signified
their assent; the new Protector expressed his gratitude for "the
honour which had been so unexpectedly conferred upon him;" and
Edward, pulling off his cap, said, " We heartily thank you, my
Lords aU ; and hereafter, in all that ye shall have to do with us for
any suit or causes, ye shall be heartily welcome."
In the next measure of the new government, there was the
greatest respect professed for the late King, and it had the unani
mous support of all the executors. There was a clause in Henry's
wiU, requiring them " to see that all the promises he had made in

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 525
statement Sh°rld \ ^^ after his death," 1 without any
Precede J of TTS Wha+t.those Promise« ^re. According to the
- thevnll^ 10fyVaCtmS as executor under the will of Caesar,
pronsd !f 7^^ lenient to themselves had been
with whom L A f ft0r- Three Sentlemen of ^s privy chamber,
SertiS wn h ditMn m°St familiar' and wh0 kne^ ^at their
of Be °tZ £ 1 be questioned, being called before the Board
deatii^thnT'l^ declared they heard Henry say, shortly before his
Wriotneslev V TBf%d i° make Hertford Duke of Somerset,
them thPtIL ¦ ^°f ^hampton, -and so to confer on all of
SeS "i the peerage which they coveted -down to Sir
Sants fo 5 f th T^ t0 b6 T de Bar0n Rich ' ~ with suitable
grants to all of them to support, their new dignities. It should be
recorded to the honour of two of the Council, St. Leger and Dan!
by that they declined the proposed elevation; but aU the rest ac
cepted it and our Chancellor became the Earl of Southampton*
1 hough he gained his title, he speedily lost his office. Notwith
standing a seeming reconciliation, often as he and the Protector
met in council, it was evident that there was a bitter enmity be
tween them. Wriothesley, under pretence that nothing was to be
done by the Protector without the authority of a majority of the
executors, tried to form a party against him, and thwarted him in
all his measures. Somerset, feeling that he then had a decided
majority in the Council, but doubtful how long with such intri
gues it might last, was resolved, as soon as possible, to get rid of
so dangerous a competitor.
The Chancellor soon furnished him with a pretence. We have
seen how, in the time of Henry VIII, disliking judicial business,
and feeling himself incompetent to it, he issued, with the King's
consent, a commission to the Master of the Bolls and others to sit
for him in the Court of Chancery.t Now, that he might enjoy ease,
and devote himself to his ambitious projects, he of his own mere
motion, without royal warrant, or the authority of the Board of
Begency, issued a similar commission to four lawyers, empower
ing them to hear all manner of causes in his absence ; and giving
to their decrees the same force as if they had been pronounced
by himself provided that, before enrolment, they were ratified by
his signature.
Upon the Commissioners taking their seats in the Court of
Chancery were murmurs among the barristers ; and these coming
to the ears of the delighted Somerset, he secretly suggested that a
petition upon the subject should be presented to the Council. This
being received as the spontaneous complaint of " the undersigned,
actuated by a great respect for the constitution, and the due ad
ministration of Justice," a reference was made to the Judges to
* However, he is not known in history by this title, and I shall continue to call
him by his family name.
t Ante, p. 515.

526 REIGN OE EDWARD VI.
pronounce upon the validity of the commission, and the nature of
the offence committed by issuing it, if it were illegal. The Chan
cellor did not resist this proceeding, being in hopes that the Judges
would take part with the head of the profession ; but they, an
ticipating his downfall, returned for answer, that " the Chancellor
having affixed the Great Seal without sufficient warrant to the
commission, the commission was void, and that he had been
guilty of an offence against the King, which, at common law, was
punishable with loss of office, and fine and imprisonment, at the
King's pleasure." He called for a second reference to them, on
the ground that they had not properly considered the question,
thinking that he might procure some of them to retract. They
counted on the firmness of the Protector, and all adhered to their
former opinion. A motion was now made in council to pronounce
judgment against him, of deprivation of his office of Chancellor,
and to sentence him to fine and imprisonment. He spoke boldly
and ably in his defence, treating the opinion of the Judges with
great contempt ; and arguing that the commission was fully jus
tified by former precedents But if it were illegal for want of any
form, he contended that the Council could only revoke it ; and to
avoid dispute, he was willing that it should at once be canceUed.
He added, that if they hesitated to allow him the assistance en
joyed by former Chancellors, he was himself ready to do all the
duties of the office in person ; but that, holding the office by pa
tent, — and the late King's will, made under an act of parliament,
having confirmed the grant, he could not be deprived of it during
the minority of Edward. If there were any charge against him,
he appealed to parliament, which alone could deal with his case.
He found, however, a most determined resolution against him
in a majority of the Council, and he knew not to what extremities
they might resort if he continued to defy them. To avoid going
to the Tower, he said he should submit to their pleasure, and
begged permission (which was granted) that he might return to
his house in Ely Place, Holborn, while they deliberated upon his
fate. It wa sinstantly resolved that he should be removed from the
TMarch 61 on^ce of Chancellor and his seat in the Council. The
same evening the sentence was communicated to him,
with an intimation that he must remain a prisoner in his house till,
upon further deliberation, the amount of his fine should be ascer
tained. Lord Seymour of Sudeley, the Protector's brother, Sir
Anthony Brown, and Sir Edward North, were immediately sent to
demand the Great Seal from him. He quietly surrendered it to
tnem, and they carried it to Somerset, who, on receiving it into
his hands, said to himself, " I am at last Lord Protector."* But,
* Tlieentry of this transaction in the Close Roll is very curious. Mem. qd.
Die Dnica videlt, &c. Magnum Sigillurn ipsius DtTi Regis incu3todia Thome Co-
itis Southampton tunc Cancellar. Anglie existens per mandatum ejusdem Dni

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 527
freed for a time from all rivalry, he played such fantastic tricks
that he raised up fresh enemies, disgusted the nation, and, before
long, was himself brought to the block.
No sooner was Wriothesley removed than the Protectoi caused
the Great Seal to be affixed to letters patent, formally setting aside
the King's will, and conferring on himself the whole authority of
the Crown. A new Council was appointed, from which Wrioth
esley was excluded, with power to the Protector to add to their
number, and to select from the whole body such individuals as he
should think fit to form the Cabinet ; but he was not bound to fol
low their advice, and he was empowered in every case to decide
according to his own judgment till the King should have complet
ed his eighteenth year.
Wriothesley was not further molested, and remained quiet for
two years, till the Protector, by the execution of his brother Lord
Seymour, and the contempt with which he treated all who ap
proached him, and the imbecility and rashness of his measures of
government, had rendered himself universally odious, and was
tottering to his fall.
The Ex-chancellor now contrived to get himself reinstated in
the Council, and he associated himself with Dudley r„ 15401
Earl of Warwick, a man, from his energy and want <¦ 'J
of principle, rising into consequence, and destined soon to fill a
great space in the eyes of mankind. They formed a party, to
which they drew in the Earl of Arundel, Lord St. John, and sev
eral other members of the Council, and, holding their meetings at
Ely House, prepared measures for depriving Somerset of all his
authority. At last the crisis arrived. The Councillors assembled in Hol-
born, assumed to themselves the functions of r October, 1549 1
government, and professed to act under the
powers conferred upon them as executors under the late King's
will.
Regis de avisamento Dni Dueis Somerset psone regie Gubernatoris ac Regn. Protec-
toris necnon aliorum de consilio suo in manus ejusdem Dni regis resumptum est
idemque Comes adtunc de officio Cancellarii jVngl. ob offens. et transgress, pr ipsum
perpetrat. et alias justas et ronabiles causas exonatus et amotns fuit. Sup. quo idem
Mag. Sigill. in quadam baga de corio inclusum_et coopt. alia bagade velveto rubeol
insio-niis regiis ornat. per eumdem Comitem prtextu mandati prdci ajiud Hospit.
ejusdem Comitis in Holbourn London vocat. Ely Place in quadam lntenon Ca
mera ibidem circa horam septimam post meridiem ejusdem diei nobil. Tin, lhome
Seymour sacri ordinis garteri militi Dno. Seymour de Sudley, &c. libitum fuit
Rusquidem Thomas Dns. Seymour, &c. Sigillurn prdm, in baga pred.cta inclusum
et sigillo ips. Comitis munitum de manibus ips Comitis recipiet 1 ud circa horam
nonam post meridiem prci diei in prsencia VVolli Paulet, &c prnobili viro .Edwardo
Duci Somerset Dno f-rotectori prdco in Camera sua infra nov. Palac. West.
prfio Dno Regi prstand. libaverunt."
1 This is the first mention I find of the red velvet bag, with the royal arms, in
which the Great Seal is no now enclosed.

528 REIGN OF EDWARD VI.
The Protector canied off the King from Hampton Court to
Windsor Castle, under an escort of 500 men, and issued orders to
the adjoining counties to come in for the guard of the royal per
son. A manifesto was issued, prepared by Wriothesley, forbid
ding obedience to these orders, detailing the misconduct of the
Protector, and accusing him of a design, after the destruction of
the nobility, to substitute himself in the place of the young Sove
reign. The Lord Mayor and citizens of London took part with
the Council : most of the executors joined them ; the Protector
found himself deserted at Windsor ; and Secretary Petre, whom
he had despatched with a threatening message to Ely House, in
stead of returning, sent him word that he adhered to the lawful
government. Somerset was as abject in his adverse fortune as he had been
insolent in his prosperity. He submitted unconditionally to aU
the demands of his adversaries, abdicated the Protectorship, al
lowed himself to be quietly committed to the Tower, and there
signed a confession of the articles of charge which his enemies
had drawn up against him.
These proceedings had been chiefly conducted by the advice of
Wriothesley, who was now at the height of exultation, not only
from the prospect of being reinstated in his office of ChanceUor,
but (what he really valued more, though a man of great personal
ambition) of being now able to check the Beformation, which
Somerset had so much favoured, and of bringing back the nation
to the true faith. Warwick had hitherto pretended to be of the
same religious principles, and he reckoned without any misgiving,
on his co-operation, — resolved to retain his own ascendancy.
But he suddenly found that he had been made the tool of a
man of deeper intrigue, who was not embarrassed by any regard
to principle or consistency. He saw himself at once drop into in-
signifecance and the Brformation received a new impulse. War
wick had the great advantage of being a man of the sword, and
he had acquired considerable reputation by his military exploits.
He was, besides, of captivating address, while fhe manners of the
Ex-chancellor were cold and repulsive. The councillors, the no
bility, and the common people, therefore, did not hesitate, at this
juncture, to hail him as leader, and his power was absolute. He
is believed really to have been in favour of the Bomish religion ;
but finding that the young King was deeply imbued with the new
doctrines, and that they were becoming more and more popular,
he suddenly turned round, and professed a determination steadi
ly to support all the ecclesiastical reforms introduced since the
commencement of the present reign.
Wriothesley, in anguish, made several bold attempts at resis-
IFeb 1550 1 tance ; but meeting with no support, and Warwick,
*- ' '-' who thought he might become a dangerous rival,
taking every opportunity to affront him, he writhdrew from the
Council, and through disappointment and vexation he fell into a

LORD CHANCELLOR WRIOTHESLEY. 529
dangerous illness, from which he did not recover. Never again
taking any part in public affairs, he languished tiU the end of the
year 1550, and then died of a broken heart.
Shortly before his death he made his will, by which he left his
rich collar of the garter to the King, all his garters and Georges to
the Earl of Pembroke, and his large landed estates to his sons.
Expiring in his town house, where Southampton Buildings now
stand, he was buried in the church of St. Andrew, Holborn; but
there is no monument or inscription to mark the spot where his
dust reposes.
In estimating his character, it would be most unjust to apply to
it the standard of modern times. In his age toleration was as lit
tle sanctioned by the foUowers of the Beformation as by the ad
herents to the Papal supremacy ; and though we deplore the ex
tremes to which he was carried by his mistaken zeal, we must
honour the sincerity and constancy by which he was distinguish
ed from the great body of the courtiers of Henry VIII., and the
leaders of faction in the reign of Edward VI., who were at all
times disposed to accommodate then religious faith to their per
sonal interest. Even Burnet says, that " although he was fiercely
zealous for the old superstition, yet was he otherwise a great per
son."* His descendants continued to flourish in the male line for three
generations, and were men of note both under the Tudors and
Stuarts. His great-grandson, the Earl of Southampton, the per
sonal friend of Charles I., and Lord Treasurer to Charles IL, hav
ing no male issue, the heiress of the family was married to the
unfortunate Lord Bussell, and was the famous Bachel Lady Bus-
sell who behaved so heroically on the trial of her husband, and
whose virtues, extoUed by Burnet, and best Ulustrated by her own
simple, sweet, and touching letters. The present Bedford family
thus represent Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, resembling him in
sincerity and steadiness of purpose, but happily distinguished for
mildness and liberality instead of sternness and bigotry.t
* Reform, i. 342.
t Dugd. Barn. tit. " Southampton." Wiffin's " History of the House of Russell."

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

vol. i. 45

9518

11 Ul|l|lll Will III

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