THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE LIFE O F HENRT CHICHELE, THE LIFE O F HENRT C HIGH RLE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, FOUNDER OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. WALTER, CHARING-CROSS. M.DCC.LXXXIU. :BR TO THfc WARDEN AND FELLOWS F ALL SOULS COLLEGE, THIS LIFE OF THE FOUNDER, IS INSCRIBED, WITH GRATITUDE AND RESPECT, B Y THEIR OBLIGED, HUMBLE SERVANT, O. L. SPENCER, FELLOW OF THAT SOCIETY* 852,357 t trii PREFACE. OF the Life which is the fubjecT: of the following pages the earliefl account extant is to be found in the Statute Book of All Souls College, in the pofleffion of his Grace the Archbifhop of Canterbury -, from which it has been copied into the Statute Book belonging to the warden of the college. Neither the date of this little treatife, nor the name of the author, is mentioned. A paflage [ via J paflage in it, implying that it was drawn up foon after the fuppreflion of the mo- nafteries, has given occafion to afcribe it to Dr. Warner, warden of the college in the reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI. and Elizabeth : but the grofs errors with which it abounds will hardly per- mit us to lay any great ftrefs upon a con- jecture, which attributes it to a perfon whofe fituation necefiarily gave him op- portunities of obtaining more accurate information. Another account of the fame life was written not many years later than this, fubject, though in a lefs degree, to all the objections which affect the former : it is mort, incorrect, and unfatisfactory : the author was Robert Hoveden, warden of the college from 1571 to 1614. THE THE defe&s of thefe fuperficial {ketches have been amply compenfated by a work of a very different caft, " The life of archbifhop Chichele, by Arthur Duck, fellow of the college and doctor of civil and canon laws," publimed in 1617. la compiling this work he has drawn his materials from the beft authorities both in print and manufcript. THE induftry and difcernment with which he has collected thefe materials, and the perfpicuity with which he has arranged them, have rendered that taik, which his very concife mention of Chi- chele's earlier years, and his almoft total filence refpefting the fpirited oppolition of that prelate to the ufurpations of Martin V. feemed to require, neither very intricate nor laborious. $ THE THE authors of the Biographia Bri- tannica have likewife given a life of Chichele, borrowed, with little variation or addition, from that of Duck. From the elevated rank which he held, and the important fcenes in which he was engaged, he has been incidentally men- tioned in moft of the hiftories and pub- lic records of the age in which he lived. The regiilers of the cathedral churches of Salifbury and St. David's, the Har- leian manufcripts, thofe in the archie- pifcopal palace at Lambeth, and the ar- chives of New College and All Souls, have fujnimed many fupplemental me- morials. FROM thefe fources I have derived whatever information I have been able to communicate in the following meets. As 9 As I made Duck's life the ground-work of my narrative, I have not thought it necefTary to fpecify my obligations to him by particular references j but where- ever I have introduced any thing for which I had not the fandtion of his name, I have regularly cited the authority from which I took it. THE THE LI F E o i? Archbidiop C H I C H E L E. SECTION I. IN the hiftory of a life extenlively SECT. I. beneficial the moft minute incidents obtain a degree of importance. From contemplating with pleafure the great outlines of it, we are naturally led to take an intereft in every fubordinate cir- cumftance ; and we feel a fenfible difap- B pointment, SECT. I. pointment, if events fo indifferent as the genealogy of a family, or the date of a birth, cannot be afcertained with pre- cifion. IN thefe two articles, however remote- ly connected with his perfonal character, it is to be regretted, that the memorials relating to HENRY CHICHELE are not fo full and explicit, as we find them in the more advanced parts of hir life, WE are not, however, entirely def- titute of information upon thefe ar- ticles. Higham-ferrers, the place of the Archbifhop's nativity, had been the re- fidence.of the Chicheles for more than two generations (a). Thomas, his fa- (a) Harleian MSS, N 1408, pag. 61, 62. 3 thcr, [ 3 1 ther* was at leaft the fccond in defcent SECT I. ^^^/^^ after their fettlement in that town. His mother, Agnes, was a gentleman's daugh- ter of the name of Pyncheon (&)-. As no mention is made of any landed pro- perty fo early in the family, an alliance thus creditable furnimes a prefumption that the immediate anceftor of Henry had been enabled to make provifion for his children by the emoluments of fome reputable trade* Of three fons two raifed themfelves by their induftry to offices of the higheft truft and dignity in the me- tropolis of the kingdom (c). Robert, a grocer, lived to be chofen twice mayor, (Z>) Ibid. The Pyncheons bore arms, or, a bend, three plates with a border counterchanged azure and fable. See pref. to Stemmata Chichel. p. viii. (<:) Fabian's Chron. p. 386, 388. B 2 arrived [ 4 ] SECT. I. arrived at the honourable diftindion of *| ^ r ~M ' knighthood, and at his death bequeathed a large portion of a very plentiful for- tune to charitable ufes. William, in the fame line of life, bore the office of fherifF and obtained the rank of alder- man. THESE deftinations, and that of Hen- ry, are hardly confiftent with the pro- fpecl: of hereditary wealth : though, at the fame time, the fuccefs with which they were attended implies an affiflance derived from no fcanty fource. UPON the whole it may be fairly pre- fumed, that his parents were fully in a capacity to afford his talents every necef- fary fupport, though unable to advance him to the elevated ftation he filled, by the influence [ 5 3 influence of their own rank or connexions. SECT. I. This defect the native independence of fuperior abilities could eafily compen- fate ; and we furvey him with admira- tion opening his own way to the highefl eccleiiaftical dignities. THE want of more ample materials leaves us at a lofs as to the particular day of his birth : but there is fuf- ficient evidence to warrant the placing of it about the fixty-fecond year of the fourteenth century ; fince in 1442 he 1362. defcribes himfelf as having either com- pleted or entered upon his eightieth year ( anc ^ October 8, 1406. In the April following he was again honoured with the public character of embafla- (#) Al. Pub. torn. iv. p. 100, 102. dor f '5 I dor to Gregory XII. (y) ; a pontiff, of SECT. L whom the Italian fzj writers have con- defcended to record, that, in the expences of his houmold, the fmgle article of fugar amounted to more than the food arid raiment of feveral of his prede- ceflbrs. IN this embaiTy Chichele acquitted himfelf fo much to the Pope's fatisfac- tion, who then held his court at Sienna, that he received a very fubftantial proof of his efteem within few weeks after his arrival. Guy de Mona, biihop of St. David's, having deceafed the latter end of Auguft, the news no fooner reached the court of Gregory, than he prefented Chichele to the vacant fee by (y) A&. Pub. torn. iv. 113. (z) Muratori aad others ; fee Annali d'ltalia, p. 37, torn, ix. way [ 16 ) ECT. I. way of provifion. There is fome tirU certainty about the time of his confe- c'ration (a) ; but it is very probable, as the Pope quitted Sienna (b) in the 1408. January enfuing, that Chichele, who accompanied him to Lucca, and refided fome months there in his retinue, was confecrated early in May the fame year in that city. He arrived in England about the middle of Auguft, arid was inverted by the archbifhop of Canterbury (a) The regifter of St. David's mentions his con- fecration as performed on May 1 7 ; but the place and the year are not legible : yet the dates of thofe parts of the regifter, which are in better prefervation, correfpond fo uniformly with the date of his confe- cration there given, that one can hardly doubt its accuracy. Duek y who is in general remarkably cor- recl:, is probably mifinformed when he fays, that Chichele was confecrated in October 1407. (b) Chronicle of Sienna. Murat. coll. torn. xix. p. 421. with [ '7 1 with the fpiritualities of his bifhopric SECT. I. bri the 26th. Letters patent for the refutation of his temporalities had, at the pope's felicitation, been made out before his return, under the cuftomary ' obligation of renouncing every claim prejudicial to the king's prerogative. To underhand in wnat manner thefe papal prefentations interfered with v the fovereign rights of the crown of England, it may not be improper to take a view of the matter a little more at large. That the catholic church, of which the popes claimed the fole direction and fuperin- tendence, might not be injured by neglect of fervice, or the appointment of unfit minifters, thefe holy fathers af- fumed the privilege of difpoling of the mofl valuable ecclefiaftical benefices by way of provijion : a term originally C confined E i* ] SZCT. I. confined to the alignment of a benefice before it became vacant, but applied in- difcriminately in procefs of time to any prefentation of the pope. This privi- lege was collaterally fecured> by the long- eftablifhed cuftom of drawing to their own tribunals every caufe that was in any wife connected with fpiritual mat- ters. Edward III. endeavoured to flem this torrent of papal encroachments by the flatutes of provifors and praemunire,. which prohibited the fubjedt from ac- cepting any benefice at the pontiff's hands without the royal licence, and- from profecuting any fuit in a foreign court. Thefe flatutes were revived by Richard II. and continued through this and feveral fucceeding reigns ; though ineffectual for the purpofe of retraining, papal ufurpation. The pope frill afferted his pretenfions, and his provifions took place : t 19 1 place" : only the claimant under" them SECT. I. was obliged to renounce all title con- ferred by them to the temporalities, and every expreffion contained in the bull that could be conftrued in prejudice of the crown. SECTION H 1 SECTION II. S acknowledged talents for ne- gotiation did not allow the new- made bifhop of St. David's to go through all the ceremonies that concur to the completion of the epifcopal character. He was not yet inthroned when he was 1409* fummoned to a fynod, called by arch- bifhop Arundel, to deliberate upon the choice of proper perfons to reprefent the Englifh nation at the council of Pifa. THIS council was convened with a view to the fettlement of a fchifm that had divided the Roman church, and dif- graced the apoftolic chair, by the double claim of rival pretenders, for more than thirty years. Gregory had been raifcd to I 21 J to that chair, by one party of pious SECT. fticklers for the integrity of the fuc- \ -^ . ceffion of St. Peter, on condition of his refigning, if, by a general decree of the Chriftian church, his competitor Bene- dift mould be judged to have the cleared title to it. BY the unanimous fuffrages of the fynod, Robert Hallum, bifhop of Sa- lifbury, Thomas Chillingdon, prior of Canterbury, and Chichele, were deputed to attend the Pifan council : and, to de- fray their expences, every beneficed clergyman was taxed in the proportion of four pence in the pound for all his ecclefiaftical pofleffions. The fpiritual envoys took their journey through France, and in their progrefs were fplen- didly entertained by the univerlity of Paris, and treated with every other mark of the mofl flattering attention. On C 3 the [ 22 ] SECT, the 27th of April they arrived at Pifa, t.jr^, j and were witneffes to the depofition of Gregory and the antipope Benedict, both of whom had adted a very fubtle and difingenuous part through the whole bufinefs. On the yth of July the car- dinals made their election of the arch- bimop of Milan, who, on his acceffion to the papal throne, took upon him the name of Alexander V. His hiftory is. fliort and fingular. He was by birth a Cretan. His parents have not been fo clearly afcertained. Thrown young upon the world, he fuftained for a time the hardmips of a vagabond life and precarious fubfiftence : till a Minorite friar, touched with his diftrefs, and ob-. ferving in him fymptoms of a genius that promifed to repay the cultivation, removed him to the friendly {belter cf a convent, and the comforts of a re- gular provifion. Having procured him, admiffion, [ *3 1 i admiffion into his own order, he in- SECT. ftrudted him in the elements of gram- ^.^^ mar and logic, the prevailing fludies of the age. On this ban's Alexander raifed a fuperflru&ure of exteniive eru- dition. Having applied himfelf clofely to ethics and divinity at Oxford, and read lectures in thofe fciences with great reputation at Paris, he was in the courfe of few years promoted to the fee of Milan. This poft he filled when the fentence of the conclave pronounced him the legitimate fuccefTor of St. Peter ; a ftation to which he brought the rare qualifications of profound learning and incorruptible fimplicity of manners - t but he brought them allayed by the indo- lence of monaftic habits, and the love of literary eafe. The vexations of a life repugnant to his natural bent of mind operating on the ordinary infir- C 4 mities SECT, mities of age (a) once more vacated <^-J-^j the apoftolic chair within the revolu- tion of twelve months (b) : if that chair could with propriety be termed vacant, to which Gregory and Benedict perfifted in avowing their claim. CHICHELE' did not remain long in Italy after Alexander's inauguration. He returned to England in the winter of the fame year ; and, refuming his pa- ftoral cares, diligently applied himfelf to a confcientious difcharge of them, during a refidence of feveral months fcj. (a) John XXIII. was fufpefted of having contri- buted to his death by poifon. L'Enfant. Hift. de concile de Coriftance, Liv. ii. chap. 77 : but his death was more probably the natural effe& of age. (b) Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. vii. p. 123. (<) Regifter of St. Pavid's. IT IT is to this period that we muft re- SEC T. fer a propofal from him of refigning cer- t _^ tain preferments, which he held in com- mendam, if he might be permitted to prefent to them ; a requeft that the pope and the king made no difficulty of granting (dj. The latter end of May 1410. he was again fent to France with Sir John Cheyne, Cattryck, and Henry Lord Beaumont, to negotiate a renewal of the truce between the two kingdoms. By letters dated December 2 3d, the object of their negotiation appears to have been happily effected : but the jealoulies of the borderers made it necefTary to invert the commimoners with frefh powers the year following, for the fettlement of 1411. fome fubfequent infractions (e). After the adjuftment of this affair Chichele (d) (t) Aft. Pub. torn. \v. p. 171. i o revifited [ *6 J S i c T. revifited his diocefe, and was inthroncd c, - y ^., May the nth with the ufual ceremo- nies (f). IN this and the next year we find him frequently refident at his epifcopal pa- 1412. l ace > an d an adjoining manor (g). In one of thefe vifits to his diocefe he collated William Chichele to a prebend in his cathedral (b), probably the elder fon of his brother \Villiam ; who, it appears, was bred a clergyman, attained confider- able preferment in the church, and died at Rome on an embafly to the pope fij. From the dates of his injunctions with- in the laft eighteen months (k) we may colled:, that he refided at intervals (f) Regifter of St. David's. (g) (b) Ibid. (i) Pref. to Stemm. Chichel. p. ic. (t) Regifter of St. David's. in In the metropolis, which the death of SECT. his royal mafter foon rendered a fcene of ^- r -^ more than ordinary bufinefs and im- portance. HENRY IV. clofed the weary courfe of a turbulent reign on the 2Oth of March 1413. He had wrefted the fcep- ?4 X 3 tre by violence from the hand of the rightful poiTdfTor, and maintained it in a hard and doubtful ftruggle againft the moft formidable enemies; whofe open revolt and hoftile defiance fublided only in the fufpicious ftillnefs of fupprefled refentments and covered treafon. IF the church loft a powerful protestor jn this prince, they felt no diminution of their authority in the fucceilion of his heir. Henry of Monmouth, while- he favoured the interefts of the clergy at large, repofed a particular SECT, particular confidence in Chichele. The i_ w -^ fpace of very few weeks intervened be- tween the demife of the late, and his employment under the reigning, fove- reign. With the bifhop of Exeter he was appointed to determine a fuit be- tween the city of Bayonne and one Pe- ter de Conties (I). The circumftances of this caufe are not upon record ; but the exprefs refervation of the final fen- tence to the king himfelf implies, that it was not of a trivial nature. THERE cannot be produced a more convincing argument of Chichele's fu- perior fkill in the management of great political objects, than his repeated pub- lic charges. After a very fhort inter- miffion of national bufinefs, he was again called out in the fervice of his (1) Aft. Pub. torn. iv. part. 2. p. 31. country, [ 29 ] country, in conjunction with the Earl SECT. of Warwick, Lord Zouch, and other uv commiflloners, to lay before the court of France fome conditions of treaty ; the chief of which was a renewal of the truce that had fubfifted, with fre- quent interruptions, from the 2Oth of Richard II. (m). They had it alfo in their inftrudtions,^ to conclude an alliance of perpetual peace with the duke of Bur- gundy. The former only of thefe was effectuated : and the ratification of a truce for eight months was iignified by letters from the embafladors, dated Sep- tember, at Lenlingham (n) y a frontier town, and the ufual place of conference. It is evident, from thefe various renewals of the original truce, that the faith of trea- ties was not very religioufly obferved by (m) (n) Aft, Pub, torn, iv. part ^. p. 40, 41, 48. either t 3<> ] SECT, either party. The poffeflions of the Eng~ v^. ,-../ lifh on the ancient territories of France, fubniitted to with impatience, and main- tained with captious exactnefs, admini- ftered perpetual matter for contention. THIS was the laft political character in which Chichele appeared as bifhop of 1414. St. David's: in the fpring of 1414, he was tranflated to the fee of Canterbury, va- cant by the death of archbimop Arundel. The prior and monks of that churchy having obtained the king's conge d'elire,- proceeded to make their election : and the votes being unanimous in favour of Chichele, two of the chapter were de- puted to acquaint him with their choice* and to beg his approbation. He was then in London ; and, on the arrival of the delegates, having taken a mort time for deliberation, he the next morning, i in in prefence of the Duke of York and SEC r. the Bifhop of Norwich, delivered his i__ - < -,j i fentiments to this effect : That, confider- ing himfelf as united in the bonds of fpi- ritual matrimony to the church of St, David's, he could not look forward to new engagements till thefe bonds were cancelled by the pope. The prior and brotherhood made immediate application for that purpofe, and their petition was Arongly feconded by the crown. AT once to preferve the honour of the apoilolic fee, and to confult its interefls, required no fmall addrefs. The old papal claim of providing to vacancies in the church could not confidently be waved : and to offend the Englifh mo- narch, by an obftinate oppofition to his- wifhes, was by no means fafe. A court kfs fruitful in expedients than that of Rome might have been embarrafled how to [ 3* 1 to ad: in fo delicate a conjuncture : to obviate every difficulty, a middle plan was adopted : the pontiff infifted upon his right of provifion -, but at the fame time took care to gratify the humour of the petitioners, by providing the perfon of their choice. CHICHELE' received the pall from the hands of the bimop of Winchester, after having profeffed obedience to the Pope in the cuftomary forms. Inverted with the fpiritualities he repaired to the king at Leicester; and, having prayed the restitution of his temporalities, and, formally renouncing every claim under the papal provifion derogatory from the rights of the crown, was put in full (o) pofleffion of them May 1 3th. As (o) Duck and Godwyn fay, that Chichele com- pounded for the temporalities during the vacancy of the f 33 ] As he now begins to move in a more SECT. enlarged fphere, it will be requifite to i ., carry our attention back to forhe pre- ceding events, on which much of the perfpicuity of the enfuing account muft neceflarily depend. the fee by a prefent of fix hundred marks. This in- ftrument of reftitution in the Acla Publica takes no notice of this compofition. Chichele's petition there recited extends to all the iflues and profits of the fee during its vacancy, and the king's proclamation fays only " reilituimus prout moris eft." D SECTION -*- 34 } SECTION III. SECT. rr^H E fpirit of bold fpeculation and free inquiry, introduced by Wick- liffe, and propagated with zeal by his difciples, had, in the two laft reigns, made great ftrides, if not towards weak- ening the authority of the church, at leaft in abating the refpecl: paid to it. THE natural confequence of viewing the facerdotal order with diminimed veneration was a defire to deprive its members of a part of the plentiful reve- nues they at that time enjoyed ; and which feemed the more exorbitant, from. being confidered as ufelefs defalcations from the general flock. Few years had elapfed fince the commons, aflembled t 35 ] in parliament, prefented a bill for con- SECT. verting to the relief of the national ne- y_ T ^n ceffities the temporal polTeffions of the church. Thefe, they alledged (p) y would maintain 15 earls, as many hundred knights, 1 6,000 elqutres, 100 new almf- houfes, and leave' a furplus of 20,000 marks for the contingent expences of the crown. According to their eftimate, the clergy pofleffed a yearly income of* - 322,000 (q) marks ; a fum that mufl have appeared enormous, when the fuffi- cient provifion of a priefl was computed at the annual ftipend of 7 (r) marks. THE prudence of the king had check- ed the progrefs of this violent proceed- (p) Fab. Chron. p. 386. (q) Ibid* equal to about 2 1 4,000 /. (r) Ibid*. by the fame computation, the number of priefts adequate to the fervice of religion through? out England was calculated at 15,000. D * ing j [ 36 1 SECT, ing 3 but the difpofition which dictated uy*^J it flill prevailed. WE have already feen fome overtures of peace between France and England* The former kingdom had been long har-^- raffed with the moft cruel inteftine divi- fions : Charles VI. the reigning mo- narch, was, from frequent and lafting paroxyfms of infanity, rendered inca- pable of attending to the government of the realm ; and this rich and popu* lous country was become a facrifke to the factious pride and deep refentments of the two powerful houfes of Orleans and Burgundy. DELUSIVE hopes of a reconciliation were, for a confiderable time, confident- ly entertained, and true patriots hailed the aufpicious omen with unfeigned [ 37 ] joy; when, in the year 1412, according SE ^ to the fimple manners of the age, the v v two dukes were feen riding through the ftreets of Auxerre, mounted on one horfe (f); but thefe flattering appear- ances were of fhort duration ( t J. Henry IV. whofe friendship they had alternately folicited, politically foment- ed their diflenfion, forefeeing that it mufl eventually tend tp the advantage of his dominions, SUCH was the relative (ituation of the kingdom, fuch the temper of the people, (f) Villaret's Hiftory of France, torn. vii. p. 107. (t) A French memorialift has afcribed the origin of this quarrel to a very unwarrantable vanity in the duke of Orleans ; who, that he might have the re- putation of an intrigue with the duchefs of Bur- gundy, placed her portrait in a cabinet of beauties fuppofed to have fallen victims to his gallantry. Gollut. Mem. of the Houfe of Burgundy, p. 616, D ? when t 38 ] SECT, when Chichele entered upon the admi- ts- v ' niflration of the metropolitan fee -, and in that capacity became peculiarly en- gaged in the fupport of the eftablifhed religion, and the protection of a nume- rous body of regular and fecular clergy, He could not have undertaken this charge at a more critical juncture ; the parliament, now convened at Leicefter, revived the old attack upon the tempo- ralities of the church, and warmly ex- horted the king to take them into his own hands. The embafladors of France were actually in England, and Henry- had fignified to them demands on their court, which amounted to little lefs than an open declaration of hoflilities. In fuch a pofture of affairs, every propofal that promifed a fupply could not fail of being attentively liftened to : and the king began to confider the meafure fug- gefted [ 39 ] Celled to him by his faithful commons SECT. III. as equally convenient and practicable. ^ ' THIS was a dreadful alarm to the clergy ; and it required all their pru- dence to parry a blow aimed fo directly at the vitals of their conftitution. After frequent confutations, they reiblved to divert the impending danger, by the vo- luntary cemon of a part of their poffef- fions. Chichele undertook to lay this offer before the king in parliament. In a ftudied harangue upon the occafion, he earnefUy urged the recovery of Henry's hereditary dominions in France, and fpoke very largely and learnedly upon the falique law. The old chronicles at- tribute the king's fixed refolution of car- rying his arms into France to the influ- ence of this fpeech. It is certain, how- ever, that this refolution was taken pre- D 4 vioufly [ 4 ] vioufly to Chichele's oration (u)- y which feems rather to have been framed, in or- der to bring the parliament into the king's views. Ralph Neville, earl of Weftmoreland, is faid to have oppofed fpme articles of this fpeech, affirming that the war mould continence with Scotland ; and to have been fully an- fwered on thefe points by the duke of Exeter -, a pobleman who had acquired, in the academies of Italy, a tafle for let- ters very uncommon amongft the laity ir; this century (w.J* JF ^he revenues of the Englifh clergy efcaped, the alien priories were given up without hefitation, a nd veiled in the (u) See Claiips of Henry on the Crown of Francq, 1413, AdlaPub. and Rapin. (w) Thefe fpeeches are of fufpicious authority, though given by all the old chroniclers. 7 king [ 4i ] king by parliament ; except fuch as were conventual, or where the power of electing their own head rendered them lefs neceflarily dependent on foreign ibbies. GHICHELE', in concurrence with thefc meafures, confirmed in convocation (x) an order of the council, prohibiting any future promotion of a foreigner to fpiri-r tual dignity or benefice, before he had given fecurity that he would neither di- vulge the fecrets of government, nor in any manner abet the defigns of the enemy. The fame regard to the conftitutional interefts of his own country prompted him to propofe the abolition of all im- munities and exemptions granted by au- thority of the pope (y). (x) Hollingfhed. torn. ii. p. 54.7. (y) Walfingham, Hypod. Heuft. p. 579. THE [ 42 ] SECT. THE fpring of 1415 opened with the ^ _ Y ^I moft unequivocal appearances of a French il5 * war. No preparation was neglected that could forward the favoufite fcheme of invafion. The next object of impor- tance was the adminiftration of the realm during the fovereign's abfence. Chichele, who held the highefl rank in the coun- cil fzj appointed to execute this truft, was inverted likewife with the autho- rity to mutter (a) all the clergy, as well regular as fecular, throughout his dio- cefe, for the defence of the coafl - y a manifeil indication, that the kingdom was greatly depopulated by the levies for a continental war. Orders of the lame import were fent to moil of the other bimops : and the temporal peers (z) Act. Pub. tom iv. part 2d. p. 1 12. (a) Jbid. utfupra, p. 123. were [ 43 1 were impowered to raife the militia of- SECT. the different counties. u ^ WE fhall obtain fome flight idea of the quarters that were moft open to in- curfion, if we add the difpofition of the regular forces left for home fer- vice (b). Of thefe, 200 lances and 400 archers were affigned for the guard of the eaft and weft marches towards Scotland ; 100 lances and 200 archers for that of North and South Wales - y and for the fea coaft in general 1 50 lances, 300 archers, and double mipping. THE internal defence of England be- ing thus arranged, the king looked for- ward with the more fecurity to the embarkation of his troops for France : (b) Aft. Pub. torn, iv, part ad. p. 112. but [ 44 ] S z c T. but he did not engage in this important c v~-j enterprise unprepared for an event, which the hazardous nature of his expedition rendered neither very improbable, nor perhaps very diftant. In the will, which he executed prevjoufly to his departure, Chichele was affectionately remembered, in the bequeft of a crimfqn embroidered velvet robe (c). IN this ilate of affairs the French embaffadors returned, to prevent, if pof- iible, the projected attack, by more ample conceffions on the part of their court. They were feafted at the royal table in the caftle of Winchefler -, and Chichele, by command of the king, paving given them a peremptory anfwer, they departed, under fafe conduct, the (c) Aft, Pub. torn, iv, part zd. p. 138. unwelcome [ 45 1 unwelcome harbingers of Henry's arrival, SECT. who with a formidable army quickly i^-,^- appeared at the gates of Harfleur. WHEN the whole, almoft, of the lands in England was held by military tenure, we mall not be furprized to find the pay of the army regulated, in a great nieafure, by the civil rank of the perfons who compofed it. But whilft a duke receiv- ed a mark a day, an earl half a mark, a baron 4 millings, and an efquire 2, we {hall be led to conclude very unfavour- ably of the philofophy and fcience of the age, on finding the fervices of a phy- fician rated no higher than at i milling a day, the eftablimed wages of a man at arms (d). THE progrefs of the royal army, and (d) Aft. Pub. torn. iv. part 2d. p. 112. 116. the { 46 ] SECT, the glorious day of Azincourt, are too v^.-^ ,i well known to need a particular defcrip- tion. To the trophies that crowned the victorious furvivors of that hard-fought field I find a fingular privilege added, and confirmed in the year 1417 by an ac~r. (e) 9 which forhade any perfon to wear a coat of arms, without hereditary right, or gift of lands to which arms be- longed, unlefs he had fought at the battle of Azincourt; a title deemed equivalent to every other. To return to the archbifhop; in con- formity to his prince's commands, he enjoined all the ecclefiaflics in the dio- cefe of Canterbury to hold themfelves in readinefs to repell the enemy, if they made any incurfions on that coaft. (t) Aa. Pub. torn. iv. part ad. p. 201. 6 THE t 47 1 THE king reviiited England in No- SECT, vember; and Chichele, on the 28th of y^,.- y the fame month, fummoned a provincial fynod at London. The firft day was devoted to the duties of religion. The archbifhop performed mafs at the great altar of St. Paul's. On the fucceeding days, the upper and lower houfes of convocation went into a difcuffion of ecclefiaftical matters - t and having de- creed two tenths to be paid, within two years, towards the fupport of the war, and commanded the religious obfervance of the anniverfaries of St. David, St. Chad, St. Winifred, and St, George, the archbiihop diflblved the afTembly. IT was during this fynod that Chi- chele, together with the bimops of Winchefter and Durham, and Sir John Rotherhale, was appointed to receive all the t 48 ] the profits arifing from wardmips, and marriages of wards of the crown, and to apply them to the expences of the king's voyage (f). ANOTHER convocation was afTerhbled by Chiehele on the firft of April fol- lowing, to deliberate about the nominal tion of fre{h delegates for the council of Conftance (g) ; which the death of fome (f) Aft. Pub. torn. iv. part ad. p. 150. (g) The depofition of John XXIII, who was accufed of every crime that {hocks and difgraces human na- ture ; the confirmation of the practice, which had pre- vailed in the Roman church about two centuries, of giving the laity the facrament only in one kind, left (amongft other reafons) they might defile the cup by dipping their long beards in ; and the firft admiflion of the Englifh on an equal foot with France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, which hitherto had enjoyed the exclufive privilege of being ftyled nations by the court of Rome ; were no indonfiderable part of the bu- fmefs that occupied the fathers of the council of Conftance, from its commencement 14135 to its dif- folution 1417. who [ 49 ] who had been fent thither two years be- s T T C T T * fore, and the increafed number of agents <- / 1416. from other courts, made neceflary; The bimop of London, twelve doctors, and the chancellors of the two univerfities, were named to anfwer this requifition ; and their expences were defrayed, as ufual, by an afTeflment on the church. In the fame meeting the rapid advances of heretical doctrines became a fubjecl: of alarming confideration ; as we may infer from a conftitution for the repreffion of them, published by Chichele in the fummer of the current year. ABOUT this period the emperor Si- gifmund vifited England, and, in con- junction with the French embafTadors, endeavoured to effect a peace between the two belligerant powers. But the news of the fiege of Harfleur under the E direction [ 5 ] SECT, direction of the conftable Armagnac, in- ^_ - T ^ _i terrupted the negotiations; and the king, having defpatched the duke of Bedford to fuccour the befieged, after a fhort in- terval accompanied the emperor on his road to Conftance as far as Calais. HITHER Chichele, having brought the fynod to a conclufion, followed his fovereign j and at the head of a delegacy appointed to treat with the archbimop of Rheims and others, on the old and unpromifing bufmefs of peace, accom- plifhed the fecondary object of a four months truce (h), to be obferved by land through the marches of Picardy and all weftern Flanders, and by fea from Mo- rocco to Norway. (b) At. Pub. torn. iv. part 2d. p. 179. DURING [ 5' ] SECT. DURING the abode of the Englifh _- r court at Calais, king Henry had an in- terview with the duke of Burgundy -, on which occafion Gloucefter, the king's brother, became an hoffcage to count Charolois, the duke of Burgundy's fon; at whofe firft viiit, as a contemporary (i) writer of credit has obferved with fome refentment, the Englim prince, inftead of advancing to meet him, con- tinued feveral moments in difcourfe with his domeftics, and at length, making him only a flight bow, added coldly, " Fair " coufin, welcome." LATE in November Chichele re- turned in the king's train to England, and, having fummoned, by his order, an aflemblyof the clergy at London, obtained (i) Monftrelet, chap. clxi. vol. i._] E 2 a grant t 5* ] a grant of two tenths for the profecution of the war (k)\ and fettled the annual ce- lebration of the feafts of St. Crifpin and St. John of Beverley : the latter of thefe faints was believed to have taken an un- common intereft in the toils of the com- batants at Azincourt, his tomb having been remarked by fome devout pilgrims to have diftilled large drops of oil during that bloody conflict. The injunction for the obferving of thefe feafts, dated at the archbifhop's manor of Otteford (IJ, clofes this year. (k) A&. Pub. torn. iv. part 2d. p. 189- (I) The manor of Otteford was exchanged by archbifhop Warham with Henry VIII. continued in the crown till the time of the civil war ; was then granted to colonel Robert Gibbons, and is now in the Leicefter family. Philpot, and Harris's Survey of Kent. Phil. pag. 263. Har. 238. SECTION [ 53 SECTION IV. THE king, whofe thoughts were SECT. wholly fixed upon the French war, embarked for Normandy the latter end of the fummer ; and, on his depar- ture, Chichele ordered prayers to be of- fered up in all the churches throughout his province, for the fafety of his royal perfon, and a bleffing on his arms. In December he held a convocation at London, in which the clergy, at his in- ftance, granted the king a further fum of two tenths. At this fynod the interefls of the univerfity of Oxford became a principal topic of debate. Robert Gil- bert, warden of Merton College, in an elegant and mafterly fpeech expatiated upon the deplorable condition that feat E 3 of [ 54 I SECT, of learning was reduced to : where thofe IV. T_- r -o_j candidates for preferment, who had qua- ' lified themfelves by a long courfe of ftu- dy, were too frequently fuffered to lan- guifh in neglect and obfcurity within the narrow verge of their college walls; while adventurers of lefs experience in the fields of fcience obtained rewards due only to the perfevering virtue of ve- terans. To remove a grievance that appeared to be equally the lot of the fitter univerfity, Chichele publifhed a conftitution, decreeing, that in the fu- ture difpofal of ecclefiaftical benefices regard mould be had to the academical rank of the candidate j and the value of the living conferred be in proportion to the proficiency of the prefentee. The falutary effects of this decree were de- feated, for theprefent, by the jealous ob- flinacy of the lower order of graduates ; who [ 55 ] who, when the queftion came to be SECT. formally agitated before the univerii- ^__ _ T - ^ ties, were by their fuperior numbers enabled to reject it; willing to lofe every beneficial effect of this constitution, ra- ther than be inftrumental to the advance- ment of any members of their own body jn preference to themfelves. IN the fame affembly Chichele announ- ced the election of the cardinal Colonna to the government of the catholic church. The fchifm which had long impaired the authority of the papal fee was now finally terminated ; and Martin V. (for that was the title afTumed by the new pontiff) was not of a temper to neglect any advantages which the plenary domi- nion revived in his perfon offered to his ambition. He in two years filled 13 bimoprics in the province of Canter- bury by provifion. E 4 BEFORE [ 56 ] SECT. w _ y _^ BEFORE the archbimop difmifled the 1 + 1 7' fynod he gave a mandate to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's to denounce, in the moil public manner, a folemn ana- thema againft certain perfons unknown, who had murdered three priefts within the fan&uary of that cathedral. And that no formality might be wanting to give it weight, the bells were to be toll- ed, and the burning tapers ufed in the ceremony caft on the ground and tram- pled under foot, at the delivery of the awful fentence (a). A tranfaction of a lefs favage complexion, but attended with (a] An eye-witnefs of the fat mentions a fimilar form of excommunication obferved at the reconcilia- tion of the emperor Frederick I. and pope Alexan- der III. in the church of St. Mark at Venice. The pope ordered lighted tapers to be given to the em- peror, the clergy, and the laity prefent, and then pronounced this anathema , " In the name of God, |he bleffed Virgin, the holy apoitles Peter and Paul, and [ 57 1 with very aggravating circumftances, had SECT. called for Chichele's animadverfion in the preceding fpring. Lord Strange having, at the inftigation of his wife, entered into a difpute with Sir John TrufTel, had wreaked his refentment by an open attack on him in St. Dunftan's church during the performance of divine fervice ; and a citizen, named Petwardin, had in the affray fallen a facrifice to his friendly interpofition. The archbifhop, upon a full invefligation of the matter, fentenced Lord Strange to walk through the public ftreets, from St. Paul's cathe- and all the faints, we cut off from the bofom of the church all who (hall dare to infringe this peace, and, as thefe tapers are extinguifhed, fo may their fouls he deprived of the light of eternal vifion." Then the tapers being caft on the floor and trampled under foot, the emperor cried out " Amen." Romualdo of Salerno. Sec Muratori's Colled*, of Ita- lian Writers, torn. viL p. 239, 240. dral [ 58 ] SECT, dral to St. Dunftan's church, bearing in IV. ,_- y -^ his hand a wax taper of a pound weigh t; 4 * 7 ' and, as a further mark of his contrition, to offer in the facred edifice he had pol- luted a pyx of filver gilt. His lady, in addition to the humiliating talk of ac- companying her lord in the fame peni- tential manner, was at the purification of the church compelled to fill with her own hands the water veflels employed on the occafion, and to prefent at the altar an ornament worth ten pounds. So mortifying an atonement made by per- fons of exalted rank is no trifling evi- dence of the force of eccleiiaftical cen- fures at this asra (b). SINCE his arrival in France Henry had made rapid advances towards the (b) Hollingfhed, vol. ii. p. 562 ; and Wilkin's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 385. 2 reduction [ 59 ] redu&ion of Normandy. In September SECT. his army was occupied in the fiege of L T - Rouen -, where, after a regular vilitation of the diocefe of Rochefter, and the ap- pointment of a vicar general during his ab fence, Chichele joined the Englifh camp. WHEN the calamities of war are miti- gated by the generous fpirit of chivalry, the detail of martial fcenes becomes lefs grating to the humane ear. In their march to Pont de 1'Arche, a fmall but advantageous poft in Normandy, a de- tachment of Englim had orders to pafs a part of the Seine. " To-morrow," fays Cornwall, their gallant leader, to the captain of a petty fortrefs on the oppo- fite bank, " to-morrow I pafs the river, '* and you mall pay my paffage with the " befl charger in your ilables: if I hold " not [ 60 ] SECT. " not my word, my cap of fteel mall t^-^u 1 " anfwer the forfeit, but it mall coft " you five hundred French nobles." The challenge was accepted, and Corn- wall gained the pafs the next morning. A TREATY at this time in agita- tion made Chichele's prefence the more necefTary in France. The propofals however of a young monarch flufhed with conquefl were not of a nature to fucceed, even under the direction of the ableft negotiator. Cardinal Urfmi, who adted as mediator between the two courts, endeavoured to foften Henry in his de- mands, by mewing him the portrait of the French princefs, Catherine (c). His heart was not infenfible to the attrac- tions of beauty, but he had ambition (c) Monftrelet, chap. 193. above t 61 ] above the control of any rival pafiion. SECT. IV. At a fubfequent conference near Meu- c^, Ian the queen, at her firft vifit, brought the princefs with her. This interview confirmed the favourable impreffion Henry had received from the fight of her portrait, without inducing him to abate a fingle article of his pretenfions on the crown of France. Finding the conceffions on the part of that crown by no means anfwerable to his expecta- tions, he faid angrily to the duke of Burgundy, " Fair coufin, be it known " to you, that I am determined to have " your fovereign's daughter, and all that " I have demanded with her, or to " drive both him and you out of his do- " minions (d)" (d) Monftrelet, chap. 200. 207. THE [ 6 2 ] SECT. THE liege of Rouen was frill profe* IV. T_ - T -,J cuted with unremitting efforts, and the defence as vigoroufly maintained. Being reduced to extremity, the befieged fent to their king and the duke of Burgundy for fuccours ; and remonftrated on the fcandalous neglect they had experienced with a freedom and fharpnefs highly cha- racteriftic of their determined courage* *' If," faid they, " we are driven to the " harm neceflity of furrendering to the " arms of England, the feeble govern^ " ment that is unable to afford us pro- " teclion mail find in us the fierceft and *' moft implacable enemies (e)" Their remonftrance was ineffectual : all the ca- lamities of famine and war were fuftain- ed with the moil invincible fortitude; nor did the garrifon make any overtures of capitulation, till above fifty thoufand (f) Monftrelet, chap. 200. of of the inhabitants had perifhed by him- SECT. IV. ger and difeafe. A herald at length en- >_ - yr -.^ tered the Englifh camp, and demanded a fafe conduct for fix perfons, two of the church, two gentlemen, and two of inferior rank. Henry, irritated by their obftinate valour, would at firfl liften to nothing fliort of unconditional fubmif- fion. In the eyes of men who had al- ready made fo noble a ftand in defence of their liberties, any event appeared pre- ferable to the abjedt terms of fur render- ing at difcretion ; and they formed the defperate refolution of fetting fire to the town, and forcing their way in the con- fuiion through the Englifh lines (f). This wild enterprize was prevented by the more liberal proceedings of a fecond conference, wherein Chichele, and the (f) Monftrelet, cfrap. 202. commiffioner* commiffioners joined with him for that purpofe, having opened a negotiation with the fix deputies from Rouen, it was finally agreed (g) that the citizens mould pay 365,000 crowns of gold, and fwear allegiance to the Englifh fove- reign : and that the garrifon mould take an oath not to appear in arms againfl him for the fpace of one year. Thefe preliminaries being adjufted, the royal army entered the city in triumph Janu- 1419. bry-i RELIEVED from the long miferies of a defolating fiege, even the conquered muft have partaken in the exultation of the victors. Their joy was reprefTed for a fhort interval by the intrufion of one fanguinary acl: : from the general pardon (g) Monftrelet, chap. 202. (b) Ibid. Henry's Henry's indignation referved a iingle SECT. victim. Alain Blanchard, whofe patrio- v_-. tic virtue had protracted the glorious re- fiftance of his fellow citizens, clofed a life, deferving of a far different fate, under the hands of the executioner (i). CHICHELE' continued in France till the latter end of the fummer (k) : the care of his province then called him home. On his arrival he ifTued letters mandatory to his fuffragans, to order pub- lic prayers throughout their feveral dio- cefes for the king's fafety. He foon after fummoned a convocation, in which, on his reprefentation of the necemty of frefh fupplies, the clergy granted half a tenth ; with the addition of fix fhillings and eight pence to be aflefTed upon every (i) Monftrelet, 202. (k) Aft. Pub. torn. iv. part ad. p. 124. F perfon [ 66 ] perfon pofleffed of a chapel or chauntry, or who enjoyed a regular ilipend for the fervice of a church j under a formal proteft, that this addition mould not be drawn into a precedent. The other bu- finefs of the meeting was the cenfure of a prieft accufed of witchcraft, and the re- prehenfion of ibme difciples of Wick- liffe (I), who on their recantation were 1420. difmifled with impunity. In the May following he devolved the government of his diocefe on his vicar general, and repaired to Troyes, to congratulate his fovereign in perfon on the conclufion of a peace with France, and a marriage with (I) The difciples of Wickliffe were generally dif- tinguifhed by the appellation of Lollards, a name borrowed from a fet in the low countries, and derived to them from the cuftom of fmging a requiem to the fouls of the deceafed ; the German word Idler fignify- ing to lull orfooth. Mofheim Ecckf. Hift. vol. i. p, 744. Catharine ; [ 67 ] Catharine fmj; two events that were hap- SECT. pily accomplished at this time, and which gave Henry the title of Regent of France with the authority of king. From Troyes Chichele attended Henry to the lieges of Montereau and Melun. The latter of thefe places was defended by the Dauphin's party for more than four months, and every poft difputed with the moft unrelaxing obftinacy. The prefence of the king and queen of France gave the camp, amidft all the hurry and confufion incident to fuch a fcene, more fplendor and feftivity than any other in Henry's wars. They held their court in a pavilion removed beyond the reach (m) The marriage was performed by the archbi- fhop of Sens, whom Henry, after the capture of that city, reinftated in his fee with thefe words, " Vous and in this affectionate and forrowful ad: of conjugal duty took a laft farewell of her native country and earlieft connec- tions. FROM Henry Vth's death we may date the decline of England's fhort-lived power in France. The {lately fabric erected by his active prowefs gradually mouldered away under the feeble and unfettled admin iftratkm of his unfortu- nate heir. To every lover of his country the condition of the French dominions mufl have appeared truly deplorable. The in- ceffant ravages of feven years of war had reduced a great part of that realm to the (t) Stowe, p. 363. moft I 77 1 moft ruinous ftate : exclufive of fome SECT. villages, which were rather military ports < / - 1422. than the peaceful habitations of peafants, from the banks of the Loire to the fea coaft all was defert. Agriculture, the mofl neceffary of human inventions, fuffered in the common wreck of every ufeful art : the few labourers who re- mained t9 till the foil retired from -fields infefled by nightly marauders at the found of the evening bell, a warning that even the cattle inftinclively obeyed (u) . To add to the horror, the wolves were fo multiplied that officers were appoint- ed exprefsly for the deftrudion of them ; and they were entitled to levy a contri- bution on every family within . two leagues of the fpot on which a wolf was (u) Meyer, quoted by Gollut in his Memoirs of the Houfe of Burgundy, pag. 717. killed SECT, killed (x) j an extent that implies a great . ^ T -^ want of population* 1422. ANY attempt to draw the charade? of a prince fo well known as Henry V. might in this place be confidered as im- pertinent. One of the leading features in it feems to have been inflexible firm* nefsj of which Hollingfhed may be thought, perhaps, to have given a whim- iical example, when he tells us, " that " he was never feen to turn his nofe " from an evil favour, nor clofe his eye* " from fmoke or duft." (x) A61. Pub. torn. iv. part 3d. p. 158. SECTION I 79 3 SECTION V. BY the late king's appointment the SECT* goverment of England devolved up- _ - T _ on Humphry duke of Glocefter/^, who fummoned without delay a meeting of Parliament at Weftminfter. Chichele opened to the aflembly the reafons of their being called together j and, after paying a grateful tribute of praife to the memory of his deceafed fovereign, rifked fome fanguine prefages of the profperous reign of his infant heir : intimating, in the quaint and pedantic eloquence of (a) His falary as prote&or was fixed by parlia- ment, in 1423, at eight thoufand marks a year. A&. Pub. torn, iv. part ^th, p. 86. 3 that [ 8 ] that aera, t( that whereby God had madd " all things in fix days, fo he would 1422. " accomplish all the good beginnings of " the famous fifth Henry in the fixth *' Henry his fon (b) " a declaration that certainly was not dictated by the' fpirit of prophecy. On the difTolution of this parliament Chichele retired to his diocefe, and, difengaged from politi- cal occupations, dedicated his whole time j 2 - to the duties of his province. In 1423 he made a progrefs through the diocefes of Chichefter and Salilbury. The fee of Lincoln was referved for the follow-* 1424. ing year. A diligent inquiry into the morals and religion of the inhabitants, and a careful reform of feveral abufes that through indolence or inattention had eluded the notice of his predecefTors, (I) Cotton's Abridgment, pag. 560. marked t i ] marked the courfe of the archbimop's S fe c t; paftoral journies. The lively imprefiion t * j 1424. of early pleafures is hardly ever oblite- rated by the bufieft fcenes of a maturer age. The opportunity offered to Chi- chele, in this laft vifitation, of again be- holding a fpot familiar to him in his youth, was not neglected, and the fight of Higham-ferrers revived within him all his former partialities. His munifi- cence there will find a place more pro- perly in the fequel of thefe meets. FROM this furvey his attention was Within a fhort time called to another fy- nod, in which the biihops of Winchefter and Bath exerted all their powers of elo- cution to obtain a grant for the fervice of the war. But, whether the refources of the clergy were exhaufted by the li- beral fupplies already granted, or all cori- G fidence fidence of victory was buried in the grave with Henry the Vth. this unpromifing point was laboured in vain. William Lyndewode, who was deputed by the fynod to deliver their fentiments, argued, that the pofTemons had been fo much im- poveriihed by repeated exactions, that the refidue was inadequate to the decent fupport of the members in general, while the fmaller benefices were fo reduced by continual drains as to be fcarce worth acceptance (cj. The fynod was pro- 1426. rogued to February in the enfuing year, when Chichele and the bimop of Win- chefler urged the old topic of a fubfidy (c ) In the current- year Chichele was relieved by ordeY of council from the charge of Robert Girefme,. a French prifoner committed to his cuftody by the late king. This practice of intruding prifoners of note to private cuftody was not uncommon. Aft. Pub. torn. iv. part 4. pag. 105. with [ 83 ] frith great warmth : but, as the interefb s of the ecclefiaftical body at large could < be preferved only by a ftricl: correfpond- ence between the conflituerit parts, the upper houfe of convocation would en- gage in no meafures which were not ap- proved by the delegates of the lower order, and thefe remained inexorable. CHICHELE', defpairing from the tern* per of this aflembly of any fuccefs, ap- pointed a frefh fynod to be convened in May $ yet fo inconfiderable was the change of fentiments wrought by this expedient, that neither entreaties nor menaces could prevail on the repre- fentatives of the clergy to contribute more to the affiftance of government than half a tenth. The fame co-operation could not fail of accompanying the pro- ceedings of the fynod, when they were G .2 directed [ 84 ] directed folely to the maintenance of re- ligion and the cenfure of herefy. Two fecular priefts, Hoke and Drayton, were convicted of holding heretical opinions -, but, as in cafes of this nature the readiefl path to pardon was abjuration, the cri- minals were abfolved on formally re- nouncing their errors at St. Paul's crofs. William Ruflel, a friar minorite, to the crime of deviating from the eftablimed do&rines of the church added an attack upon its privileges j he had not only taught publicly, that a free intercourfe of the fexes was not incompatible with the purity of a monaftic life, but had afTerted from the pulpit that tithes were not of divine inftitution. He efcaped imme- diate punimment by abfconding. Mean- time this deviation from eftablimed te- nets drew upon him the indignation of the two univerfitiesof Oxford and Cambridge; and [ 85 1 and the former pafTed a decree, prohibit- SECT. ing the prefentation of any perfon to an academical degree, who had not folemnly declared his abhorrence of RufTel's opi- nions (d). To obviate any dangerous impreffion upon the minds of the illite- rate from thefe novel doctrines, Chichele commanded the Francifcans, an order of friars who enjoyed the greatefl popu- larity as preachers, to inculcate the di- vine right of the church to tithes in their conftant difcourfes. The office of pro- locutor or fpeaker of the lower houfe of convocation was, for the firft time, regu- larly fettled by this fynodj and, at the archbifhop's recommendation, that of- fice was given to William Lyndewode, a man every way qualified for the dif- charge of it. In the fame year Lynde- (4) A. Wood. Hift. Univ. Oxon. L. i. p. 210. G 3 [ 86 ] wode was deputed by Chichele to vifit the colleges in Oxford fubjedl to his ju- 2426. rifdiction, an undertaking in which he was affifted by Thomas Bronns. They be- gan their viiitation with Merton college, and, having made feveral ordinances for the government of that fociety, extended their furvey to the whole univerfity ex- cept queen's and new college fej. WHILST the clergy had been unwill- ingly granting their quota in convoca- tion, the king, then under three years of age, took his feat in the great afiembly of the nation. The royal child had been brought by eafy journies from Windfor. The firfl night he retted at Stanes - 3 on the fecond he reached Kingfton ; the third he patted at his manor of Kenning- (t) A, Wood. L, i. p. 217. ton > and on the fourth entered Weft- SECT. minfter fitting in the queen's lap ; who u. y 1426. from an open carnage held out their in- fant fovereign to the eager gaze of his loyal AN unhappy difference between the protector and the bifhop of Winchester called aloud at this feafon for the friendly interpofi tion of fome powerful mediator. The diflenfion of thefe noble adverfaries had attained to fuch a height, that the ge- neral peace and welfare of the metropolis was in the moft imminent danger. The ihops were fhut, all traffick obftrucled, and the citizens occupied in keeping watch and ward, to prevent the mifchiefs which the hoftile appearance of the partizans in this alarming quarrel hourly threat- (f) Fabian's Chron. fol, 410. G 4 ned. t 88 ] ned. Neither the benevolence of his heart, nor the dignity of his ftation, would fuffer Chjchele to remain an in^ different fpedtator of an occurrence preg^- nant with fuch difaftrous confequences. With the duke of Coimbra prince of Portugal, then on a vifit to the Englifli court, he rode eight times in one day between the two competitors, to bring their difpute to an accommodation. This timely interference reftrained the vio- lence of their animolity, but did not extinguifh their fecret refentments. In a letter to the duke of Bedford the bi- fliop of Wincheiler exprefTed himfelf in terms that by no means inipHed a fincere reconciliation. " Hafte you hither" (fays the biihop) " for by my truth, if you *'* tarry, wefhall put this land in adverir '* ture with a field, fuch a brother have .- you [ 89 ] " you hereby/." Bedford thought it SECT, too urgent a bufinefs to admit of any de- v * - lay, and haftening over fummoned a parliament at Leicefter. Articles were here exhibited by Glocefter againft the bifhop, and referred to the arbitration of Chichele and a committee of temporal and fpiritual peers ; who, upon a candid and deliberate difcuffion of them, judged that the duke and bifhop mould, after reciprocal concern" on s in a form of words prefcribed to them for that purpofe, take each other by the hand, and exchange forgivenefs in prefence of the king and parliament (h)* We need not look for the origin of this difagreement in any particular infult ; perfonal provocations, however trivial, foon inflame a mifunder- landing occaiioned by rivalfhip. The (g) Hollingflied, vol. ii. p. 591. (h) Ibid. p. 595. haughty [ 9 ] haughty prelate of Winchefter could ill brook the fuperior power of a youthful protector; and Glocefler was not inclin- ed by any fhew of deference to gratify the pride or conciliate the friendship of an overbearing churchman. The effects of an imprudent attachment had re- cently given too folid a plea for com- plaints againft the protector, who had weakened the few forces left for the de- fence of the kingdom by a confiderable levy of men for the profecution of his wife's claims in the Netherlands -, and eftranged from the intereft of the Englifh government the duke of Burgundy, its moft powerful ally. But while we con- demn the Protestor for a marriage highly unjuftifiable in a political light, we iliould temper the feverity of our cen- fures by a recollection of the temptations that folicited Glocefter to this connection. I Jaqueline [ 91 ] Jaqueline of Hainault, the object of his SEC T. paffion, poflefled attractions fufficient to ^.. v - have inflamed a bofom lefs fufceptible pf love and ambition than that of this prince. The only daughter and heirefs of William duke of Bavaria, fhe was born to the rich reverfion of the provinces of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand. With her perfon a joint intereft in all thefe hereditary poiTeffions was firft conferred Upon a fon of France. His death foon left her at liberty to beftow them elfe- where. Contiguous dominions and the requeft of a dying parent, rather than any perfonal affection, induced her to make choice of the duke of Brabant for her fecond hufband. Difference of age and fentiments, and a wide difproportion in their abilities, combined to produce a coolnefs which fhortly terminated in fe- paration. He was of tender years, of a fickly SECT, flckly conftitution, and a flow and dull * v^ intellect -, indolent and unimpaffioned in private life, and blindly abandoned to the guidance of a worthlefs fet of favourites in his public capacity. Jaqueline was in every refpect the reverfe : in the bloom of health and full vigour of age, me poflfefTed an underftanding fuperior to that of any contemporary of her fex. Her perfonal charms did not difparage the endowments of her mind ; a beauti- ful and expreffive countenance, an ele- gant mape and winning manners, gave a commanding influence to the diclates of a high fpirit and flrong paflions fij. Having under pretext of their nearnefs in blood quitted the fociety of her huf- band, (he fled into England, and was received in a manner fuitable to her rank (1) Henaeus Annal. of Brabant, pag. 399, 400^ 401, 402. and [ 93 ] and the dignity of that crown. She was s t c T. y married in the courfe of a few months to ^_ * f the duke of Glocefter, and in 1423 ac- companied him into Hainault* On his return me was left at Mons to the pro- tedtion of the inhabitants, who had fworn to defend the perfon of their mif- trefs at all hazards. Their allegiance was not proof againft the menaces of the duke of Burgundy, to whom the garri- fon foon furrendered her, having received no reinforcement from England. She had fent repeated intelligence of her ca- lamitous fituation to Glocefter, and omit- ted in her letters no confideration that could urge him to come to her relief: me calls upon him, by the tender and endearing addrefs of lord and father, to fuccour the diftrefs of a forrowful and beloved child, whofe only confolation is that me fuffers on his account; me af- 6 , fures [ 94 J fures him that to do his pleafure has been, and ever mall be, her chief happi- nefs, and that me is ready to meet death for his fake (k). Language like this mud have been either the refult of warm and fincere affedlion, or of womanifli fears ; her fubfequent condud: will fcarcely per- mit us to adopt the latter fufpicion. After a fhort confinement at Ghent me made her efcape in man's clothes, and mount- ing a horfe in this difguife did not alight till me reached Antwerp. Here fhe re- fumed the habit of her fex, and purfued her journey to Holland. The duke of Burgundy followed her with a formi- dable power. Undaunted me appeared at the head of her troops, led them in perfon to the fiege of Haerlem, and un- derwent all the fatigues of a fevere (k) Monftrelet, vol. ii. fol. 24- campaign, [ 95 ] campaign, with a refolution that amply s E c compenfated for the abfence of mafcu- < * line ftrength and a more robuft frame. Glocefter's deiertion of her, and the death of the duke of Brabant, releafed her at once from all engagements ; and me furvived about ten years, in peace and fecurity, a treaty, by which (he inftitu- ted her coufin the duke of Burgundy heir to all her poiTeffions (I). To return to a fubject from which I have been drawn into an unwar- rantable digreffion *. Chichele quitted the (I) Harseus Ann. Brab. as above. * In apology for this digreflion I have nothing to offer but the popularity of Jaqueline's chara&er, whofe imprifonmcnt not only drew a bold remon- ftrance from " a large body of females of good ac- " count and well apparelled," fays Stowe, but was taken up in a high ftrain by the commons, who peti- tioned the parliament at Leicefter in May, and repairing to London 1 aflembled a fynod there. The fame parcimonious maxims that regulated the proceedings of the laft meeting flill prevailed, ahd the eccle- fiaftics paid with relu&ance what they had granted fparingly (m). tloned for her relief; and, to give the greater weight to their petition, tacked it to the grant of a fubfidy.- Parl. Hift. vol. ii. p. 212, 213. (m) It was in this year that Chichele received by an a& of council a falary of 300 marks a year for his attendance as one of that body. The bifhop of Win- chefter had the fame appointment, and inferior mem- bers, both fpiritual and temporal, ftipends propor- tionate to their rank. A6t. Pub. torn. iv. part 4* p. 122. SECTION. t 97 M SECTION VI. ART IN the fifth, one of the ftur- SECT. VI. dieft pontiffs that ever filled the ,__ ' m papal chair, had long regarded with a jealous eye thofe falutary barriers againft the encroachments of the court of Rome, the ftatutes of provifors and pras- munire. The reftrictions which thefe adts laid him under grew every day more irkfome to him, and he had particularly exerted himfelf in the courfe of the lafl year to obtain a repeal of them. His remonftrances, however preffing, were in- effectual j and, as he conceived his defigns to have mifcarried from Chichele's dif- affeftion to the caufe, his refentments H were t 98 ] SECT. were m re immediately levelled at him. ^^J^ The correfpondence which this variance introduced between the pope and the archbifhop throws no inconfiderable light on the character of them both : and though it was productive of much fevere treatment of Chichele, the honourable teftimony borne to his integrity and abi- lities by the nation in general was a re- compence equivalent to any mortification he could fuffer in the progrefs of this affair. From the imperfect records that have reached us relative to this tranfac- tion it appears, that Martin's intention of fufpending the legatine power (aj y hi- () This fufpenfion of the legatine power, for which Martin had actually iflued a bull, I conjecture to have been the hardfhlp which Chichele complains of in the courfe of his controverfy, as never having been attempted from the firft foundation of the fee. Wilkins's Concil. torn. iii. pag. 474, 484. therto t 99 1 therto annexed to the metropolitan fee, SECT. VI. had been intimated to Chichele fo early y^- y -^ as the commencement of the prefent year. Upon this information he on the twenty-fecond of March made a formal appeal to the firft general council that mould be afTembled, from all decifions which Martin or his fucceflbrs might make prejudicial to his rights as primate. On the twenty-feventh of the fame month the archbifhop, then in his palace at Canterbury, was prefented, by the hands of John de Obizis, the pope's nun- tio, with certain bulls, the contents of* which he was yet a ftranger to, when the lieutenant of Dover caftle brought him orders to fend any packets he had re^- ceived from Rome immediately to the protector* This verbal injunction was foon followed by a writ, commanding him, on the reception of any future bulls H 2 Of I I0 ] SECT, or public letters from the pope, to tranf- u-- y ; mit them unopened to the council. THOUGH thefe meafures are a proof that Chichele wanted neither fpirit to af- fert the privileges of the Englifh church, nor the fupport of his fovereign in the maintenance of them, he neverthelefs felt himfelf by no means eafy in his fi- tuation.. Papal cenfures were ftill for- midable, and the belief of the fundamen- tal doctrines of the catholic religion was fo clofely interwoven in vulgar minds with a firm perfuafion of the fupreme minifter's infallibility, that no prudent friend to the former would have endea- voured to degrade or weaken the autho- rity of the latter. The archbifhop faw the full force of this confideration, and, unwilling to afford the flighteft fhadow of encouragement to the unorthodox no- tions [ ,01 ] tions which had of late been promul- SECT. VI. gated by the lollard fe<5taries, inftead of ,__ v '. j open refinance to the pontiff's will, tried the gentler method of foothing intreaties and humble reprefentation. In a letter dated the tenth of March he had endea- voured to blunt the edge of Martin's re- fentment by the moft fubmiflive profef- fions of duty. By the fame opportunity he addrefled an epiftle to feveral cardi- nals, to beg their interceffion. The pope in anfwer to thefe applications informs him, that an immediate compliance with his requeft, to have the execrable ftatutes in queftion repealed, would be the moft convincing argument he could employ to prove the fincerity of his profeflions. He adds, that the archbi- fhop had been reported to him to have fpoken very irreverently of his zeal in this holy caufe, as arifing from motives of covetoufnefs and " a defire of enrich- H 3 " ing " ing himfelf at the expence of the na- " tion ;" and cautions him not to beftow that reproach on others, which would appear upon reflection more fuitable to his own conduct. Chichele, in return, complains of the mifreprefentations he labours under at his holinefs's court from the calumny of his enemies, and the impoffibility, from age and infirmities, of his exculpating himfelf in perfon ; he alludes likewife to fome fteps that were in contemplation againfl the rights of the fee of Canterbury, never before at- tempted, at leaft as he collects from report : fince, as he was under a prohi- bition from opening his holinefs's public difpatches, he could not gain more cer- tain knowledge of his intentions. CHICHELE' was not thus expofed to the perfecution of the apoilolic fee without interefting the nation in his caufe t The eccleiiaftics ecclefiaftics were the firft who flood SECT. VI. forth in his defence : a very dutiful let- i_ - r -_ ter was addrefled to Martin, fubfcribed by iixteen bifhops, in which they afTure him that the archbiihop had been grofsly flandered; that he was, contrary to the iniinuations of his enemies, confidered by the bulk of the nation as a faithful and prudent fleward; while that part of it which was more immediately connect- ed with him by profemon, which had more opportunities, and more interefted motives jealoufly to watch his conduct, had ever looked up to him as a father. The univerfity of Oxford were not lefs warm in their vidication of him. They tell the pope, " that Chichele ftood in the fanctuary of God as a firm wall that he- refy could not make nor fimony under- mine; that he was the darling of the people, and the fofter-parent of the H 4 clergy." SECT, clergy/' To thefe flattering teftimonies i_^- y -^j was added that of feveral temporal lords, who, after exculpating him on the gene- ral heads of accufation, to obviate the. pope's imputation of covetoufnefs, par- ticularize his fmgular liberality in hav- ing conftantly reftored the whole of the fpiritualities which he might, during the vacancy of the bifhoprics within his province, juftly have -in part detained. They further mention, that in cafes of poverty he frequently affifled from his own purfe fuch commiffaries, and officials, mould be < , * 1438. chofen out of the graduates in civil and common law, THE next convocation that Chichele' affembled he opened by an enumeration of the hardships the clergy fuffered, from an erroneous construction and undue application of the act of praemunire. After ftating the feveral abufes which had obtained under colour of enforcing this law, in terms of great energy and fenfibility, he begged the aflernbly to take the menacing pofture of affairs into their moil ferious confideration. The refult was a petition to the crown, that the ftatutes in queflion mould be taken to extend only to thofe who commenced any fuits, or procured any writs or public *inilruments, at Rome or elfewhere out K 3 of SECT, of England (p), agreeable to the ori- ^ r 4_f ginal purport and defign of them. Chi* chele and his fuffragans prefented this petition ; and the king gracioufly anfwer^- ed, that he would have their recjueft laid before the parliament, anjl in the inte- rim would give orders that no writ of praemunire mould be iffued till he had in council been more fully advifed. The augmentation of fmall vicarages was like- \vife fuggefted and adopted in this fynod. The constitution which Chichele pub- limed, for carrying fo defirable a meafure into execution, is framed with that atten- tion to the interefts of the inferior mem- bers of the clerical order, which befpeaks him the common father of the whole body. The general falary of vicars was therein fettled by a rate proportioned (p) Blackftone's Comment, book iv. p. 113. both both to the value of the re&ory and the SECT. fervice attending it ; and no {Upend lefs ^ than an annual income of twelve marks was admitted as an adequate endowment of a vicarage, unlefs the rents of the reftory did not amount to that fum (q). THIS was the laft fynod Chichele's feeble ftate permitted him to attend in perfon. From this time to his death he feems, if we except the examination of Eleanor (r) duchefs of Glocefler, to 1441 (l} Wilkins's Cone. p. 535. (r) The duchefs of Gloceftcr was examined be- fore Chichele, the cardinals Beaufort and Kempe, and others, in St. Stephen's chapel, on a charge of having attempted the king's life by witchcraft. The moft material circumftance relative to this affair is, that in confequence of her condemnation a ftntute parted for trying peerefles by their equals ; a privilege not extended to the wives of peers till that period. Stowe and Parl. Hiftory. K 4 have have declined all interference in public bufinefs : finking beneath the oppreffive weight of fourfcore years, and no longer equal to the fatigues which his flation as primate impofed on him, he wi{hed to refign his office into more able hands ; defirous of preparing himfelf for his ap- proaching diiTolution he languished for retirement. His application to Euge- 1442. nius in fourteen hundred and forty-two, to obtain this indulgence, is fraught with many ftrokes of piety and goodnefs of heart. " Praife be to the living God," (fays the venerable prelate) " by whofe " bleffing I have attained to that fulnefs " of years, which has enabled me to ga- " ther myfelf as it were into my own bo- " fom,and, with a perfect indifference for " the world and its vanities, employ my " whole thoughts and care on my own " prefervation -, I am now, holy father, " heavy [ '37 1 , aged, in beyond meafure ; infomuch thathence- heavy laden, aged, infirm and weak SECT. <' forth I mall be totally unequal and ?' incompetent to the charge I have " fo long borne and ftill continue to 5* bear. For the welfare, therefore, and " fafety of that flock, which is. equally " the object of your attention as of ) MS. Statutes in Archives of A. S. Coll. ceafed [ 15' 3 ceafed (qj, and who might increafe the SECT. number of the minifters of religion, and ._ promote by their itudies the knowledge of theology and of the civil and canon law. THE firil purchafe (r) for the fite of this college was made on the i4th of (q) They were more efpecially to pray for the good eftate of Henry VI. and the archbiflaop during their lives, and for their fouls after their deceafe ; alfo for the fouls of Henry V. and the duke of Cla- rence, together with thofe of all the dukes, earls, ba- rons, knights, efquires, and other fubjects of the crown of England who had fallen in the war with France. See Chart of Incorp. Appendix N IV. (r) The piece of ground conveyed to the college by this purchafe was one hundred and feventy-two feet in length, and one hundred and l~'.xty-two in breadth, meafured from the corner neareft to the eaft end of St. Mary's church, and contained a melTuage called Hereford Hall, and fix (hops Ibid. The fite was enlarged by the purchafe of fome ad- ditional tenements and ground adjoining, during the progrefs of the building, which are particularly fpeci- fied in the Appendix N" IV. L 4 December t 15* ] SECT. December 1477, by Thomas Chichele VIII. L - T -l' archdeacon of Canterbury, Henry Pen- wortham, clerk, and Robert Danvers, feoffees to the ufe of the archbifhop. The building was begun under the in- fpection of John Druell, clerk, on the loth of February in the fame year fsj. In the May following the charter of foundation was publimed by letters pa- tent, in which the king, at the felicita- tion (t) of the archbimop, takes upon himfelf the title of founder : the full e^ercife of legiflative authority, and every (s) Original deeds in Archiv. of A. S. C. (t) Chichele has given his reafon for foliciting the king's patronage as founder in the following words ; " Sic enim fperavimus quod eo felicius piurn A< hoc noftrae intentionis propofitum ad optatum per- " veniret effe6tum, fecuriufque ac quietius in perpe- " tuum confifteret, quo ipfum tantas majeftatis regiae '* fpcciale patrocinium muniret." Preface to Statutes in Archiv. of A. S. C. other [ '53 1 other effential right belonging to that cha- SECT. rafter, being ftill referved to the archbi- J]^ {hop, under the defcription of co-founder. By this charter a warden and twenty fel- lows, of Chichele's election, are firft ap- pointed, and a power lodged in the warden (u) of augmenting the fociety to the number of forty. The charter then grants them, by the name of T^he Warden and College of the Souls of all the Faithful deceafed, a common feal, and the other ufual privileges of corporate bo- dies. Of the whole fociety thus confti- (u) By the ftatutes Chichele transfers this power from the warden to the fellows of the college j a cir- cumftance that gave rife to a difpute in the fociety foon after his death, fome of the original members urging that the warden's appointment was contrary to the ftatutes : upon an appeal to archbifhop Staf- ford the vifitor, he confirmed the warden's nomina-r tion, as authorized by the charter of foundation be- fore any ftatutes were made. See chart, in Appen- dix; and Regift. ift, fol. 103, in Archly, of A. S. C, tuted, SECT, tuted, fixteen were to ftudy the civil and T _, ' i canon laws, and the reft were to apply themfelves to philofophy (or the arts) and theology. The names of the firfl twenty fellows are given in the note be- low (z/?0/tf HENRICI CHICHLEY, Cant.Ar- chiepifcopi, ad Pap am. POST humiliores quas ulla creatu- A p rarum Domino fuo praeftare poterit gbedientir.s, ac terrse ofcula ante pedes, dimittite me, beatiifime pater, ut plan- gam paululum dolorem meum antequam vadam, ut reqogitem annos meos in ama- ritudine animae meas. Non irafcatur quaefo fandtitas veftra, fi, cum pulvis et cinis [ '7* I A p p. cLnis fim, domino meo loquar. Loquar u, . v -^ quidera, quoniam ipfa fides, quam fem- per in dulciffima benignitate veftra repo- fui, nequaquam finit, ut quas corde gero a facie patris abfcondam. Pater benig- niffime, pofleaquam plufculum quam fex annos in adminiftratione Menevenfis ec- clefiae coniummavi, viginti jam et o<5to funt anni, quod fandam fedem Cantua- rienfis ecclefiae, licet minifter indignus, prout ex alto mihi datum eft, vexi ; et nunc odtogenarius aut circiter vigefli- mum nonum minifterii di ipfum quod agrefluri jam fumus negotium magnum certe at- que mirabilem intra nos conflidhim parit. Adeo ut, propter pugnantes in mente caufas, idipfum quod devote petituri fu- mus velle et non velle videri poflumus, Neque rnirum: dum enim ad varias con- N fiderationes fideratkmes animum flectimus, in contra- rias pene trahimur voluntates. Ecce enim affidue et inceiTanter nos rogat, et maximis precum inftanter defatigat, antif- tes et Deo et nobis cariflimus, devotif- fimus films verier, Henricus Cant. Ar- chiepifcopus, ut pro impetranda apud^ fandtitatem veflram fuae dignitati curas Archipontificali in facras manus veftras cedendi licentia,. precibus fuis addamus et noftras. In iftam facile fententiarn pietas et compaffio grandaevitatis 4ebili~ tatifque fuas nos trahunt. In adverfum verb utile ac fumme laudabile et pacifi- cum Temper regimen.,, quo a primo limine ingrefius fui, jam viginti et oto funt an- ni, provinciam fuam rexit, nos mo vet. Profecto nullis unquam temporibus fe- dem Cant, ecclefiae occupare vifus eft, qui facro-fanctas Romans eccleiiie et praefidentibus in ea^ atque fancliffimas perfbnas t 179 ] perfonae veftrjE, dignitatique et honor! A p p. ejufdem, fidelior aut devotior extiterit; < "-J neque quifquam qui benignior pater fuerit, aut benignius, fuavius, dulcius, tranquillius, provinciam illam modera- verit. Sed vincit nos pietas. Dum enim -maximam feneftutem, et, qua? Temper fe- nio cognata eft, debilitatem hujus carif- fimi patris contemplamur ad oculum, miferatione quadam interiora noftra li- quefcunt ; et cum jam onus tants curas per tot annorum curricula, ita ut jam vi- geffimus nonus annus tranflationis fuae ad fedem praefatam in foribus aftet, probif- {ime geflerit ; neque alium quempiam pene meminerimus qui fedem S. Thomas tot rexerit annis -, juftum plane et bene congruum atque Deo placabtle judica- mus, quod jam parcatis astati, ut vel aptum aliquod fpatium refpirandi, et fancl:o fe otio conferendi, aliquando ha- N 2 beat, [ i8o ] A P P. beat, qui in laboribus, in vigiliis, in i v-J serumnis, tantas curas, tanti oneris, tot fascula trivit. Propterea, benignimme atque clementimme pater, rem hanc quam poftulat exaudire dignemini, ut vel in fenectute bona ex nunc pace frua- tur, qui omni fseculo fuo omnibus pacem dedit. Precamur demum, quatenus, con- cefla hujufmodi cedendi licentia, quam.- primum cemo ipfa fuerit per fanditatem veftram admilTa, de portione congrua ex praefata Cant, ecclefia didlo reverendim- mo patri annuatim quoad vixerit red- denda, de qua ftatum fuum honorifice fuflentare queat, cum nullum aliunde patrimonium nofcatur habere, eadem fanclitas veftra providere velit : quodque de memorata Cantuarienfi, necnon Ba- thon et Sarum ecclefia, juxta deliberatio- nem mentis noftrae in certis aliis noflris defuper confcriptisliteris,et fecreto noflto aquilae figneto fignatis apertis declara- tam, quas dile&us et fidelis procurator nofter, M.Andreas Hole, eidem fanditati veftras praefentaturus eft, et nullo aliter modo, ipfa beatitude veftra, ad benignos et praecordiales rogatus hos noftros, or- dinet atque difponat. Et almam perfo- nam ejufdem fandlitatis veftras, omnipo- tens Pater, in multa oramus faecula falvam et incolumem ecclefise fua2 confervare dignetur. Scriptum apud caftrum nof- trum de Wyndefora, fub figneto noftro vicefima quarta die Aprilis anno Domi- ni MCCCCXLII. N 3 A P P E N- APPENDIX, N' II. Excufatio Cantuarlenjls Archiepifiopi fu~ per Dilatione et Criminatione ejufdem fer JEmnlosfuos Pa A P P. TTJEATISSIME pater, &c. mifera- in in, IL^J -*-^ bills mundi in maligno pofiti in- faelix iila conditio ubique pene inolita eft, ut obtred:atorum malitia venenofos invidiae fua? flimulos fuperba quadam praefumptione exerceat in majores - y et quanto innocentioris funt vitae, potiorif- que authoritatis et fidei refplendeant dig- nitate, tanto crudelius celebrem eorum opinionem ferpentinis a tergo quaerunt ct fatagunt morfibus lacerare. Quocun- que me verto, quantumlibet bene gefta JQ componam, t 183 ] componam, mordaces canum hujufmodi dentes excipio ; et, quod durum eft, quicquid ftudiofe et cura pervigili conor in bonum id totum perverfa interpreta- tione in contrarium tranfponunt, qui fupra dorfum meum fabricant affidue pifcatores. Nuper liquidem, benignif- fime pater, non abfque cordis amaritudi- ne pro maxima, audivi et didici, quod quidem Jacobus, dudum cum litteris fanclitatis veftra ad dominum noftrum regem et reverendimmum in Chrifto pa- trem et dominum D. Cardinalem Anglian ab eadem fanditate tranfmiflus, ea qua? ego et casteri quidem in regno cum omni maturitate et circumfpecTione optimo more noftro agere nifi fumus, prave interpretans, et valde male reportans, non erubuit etiam in facra beatitudinis veftrae audientia fuggerendo pervertere et pervertendo fuggerere, licet falfb, quod ubi N 4 clerus [ 1 84 ] * F * clems Anglias in extirpationc haeretico- J.1* -Y -> rum Bohemiae quoddam notabile fubfi- dium concumfTet, confrater meus Ebo- racenfis et ego caeterique epifcopi de re- gis concilio exiftentes, votum ipforum in hac parte confpiravimus et procuravi- mus impedire ; tam fanctam et toti Chriftianitati profuturam fidei expeditio- nem quantum in nobis extitit irrumpen- do ; quodque idem confrater meus et ego, cum certis praelatis ad regis conii- lium affumptis, csteros de concilio do- minos temporales conducimus prout li- bet ^ et breviter, quod nemo crederet nifi infaniret, quod nos totum regnum Ang- liae, ut volumus, gubernamus. Appo- fuit peccare adhuc ille arrofor meus, et, quod nefandum eft impudenter afierere, quod faepe dicl:us confrater meus et ego in Anglia libertatum ecclefias praemaximi oppreflbres. Benignifiime pater, non- nunquam mmquam, cum tot tantifque semulorum A p p. ktratibus infeftor, et oblocutionibus in- u^ y . volvor, longe amplius mente confterna- rer ; nifi Deus et confcientia, immo et ipfe mundus, affifterent innocentiae meae teftes ; nifi infuper fatis adverterem, quod nil praeter folam miferiam fit invi- dia cariturum. Nuper detraxere mihi majores. Nunc autem per inferiores de- * trahor et diftrahor in immenfum - y et ta- men in his omnibus non peccavi, fed conftanter in cunctis quas mendaces viri conati funt mihi impingere, meam au- deo innocentiam ja&itare, et eandem tarn regis quam omnium fide dignorum regni teftimonio edocere. Immo et ipfas rei geftae veritas fe loquitur, ie oftendit. Nihil equidem in negotio praefati fubfi- dii fa amplietur 3 amplietur j nuper fiquidem ad fupplica- tionem venerabilis fratris noftri Henrici Chichele, archiepifcopiCantuarienlis, to- tius Anglian primatis, et apoftolicas fedis legati, ere&ionem et fundationem cujuf- dam collegii Animarum omnium fideli- um defunctorum nuncupati, in villa Oxonienfi, Lincolnienfi dioceii, in qua litterarum ftudium viget generale, de bo- nis difti archiepifcopi tune conftrui et a3dificari laudabiliter inchoati et in parte dotati, pro uno cuftode et quadraginta pauperibus fcholaribus didtis, per carifii- mum in Cbrifto filium noftrum Henri- cum regem Anglix illuflrem tune factas ex certa -icientia confirmavimus, aliaque fecimus prout in noftris defuper confec- tis literis plenius continetur. Nos igi- tur, ut in dido collegio cultus divinus ad Altiffimi laudem et gloriam, necnon fidelium animarum falutem, diclique col- P 4 legii 3 A p p. tegii confervationem et ftatum falubrem, u L_f continue vigeat, quantum cum Deo pof- fumus providere, volentes archiepifcopi praefati, qui alter, cum dicfto rege, funda- tor et patronus exiftit, in hac parte fup- plicationibus inclinari, fibi et cuftodi pro tempore exiftenti, ac praefentibus et futu- ris fociis et fchohribus diU collegii, auc- toritate apoftolica tenore prsefentium. Concedimus pariter et indulgemus, quod ipfi unam capellam feu oratorii domum pro miffis etaliis divinis officiis inibi cele- brandis et audiendis, necnon unum cimi- terium pro eorum ac etiam praefentium et futurorum ipfius collegii preibyterorum, clericorum, familiarium, fervientium, miniftrorum, et perfonarum pro tempore decedentium, corporibus tumulandis, in- fra fepta praediclii collegii, in locis tamen ad hoc congruis et honeftis, conftruere, crigere et ordinare, feu conftrui, erigi et ordinari 9 ordinari, ipfamque capellam per quern- A p ?. cunque maluerint catholicum antiftitem, ^_, % ^ gratiam et communionem apoflolicse fe- dis habentem, dedicare feu facere confe- crari, ac in ea tune conftru&a et confer crata, quotiefcunque de csstero villam praedictam ecclefiaftico interdidto fupponi forfan contigerit, claufis januis, excom- municatis et interdidtis exclufls, non pulfatis campanis, fubmifla voce per fe ac praedidtos aliofque idoneos prefbyteros ac clericos, in fua, ac etiam prasfentium et futurorum familiarium, fervientium, miniftrorum et perfonarum eorundem, prsefentia, dummodo ipfi vel illi caufam interdidlo non dederunt, nee id eis vel illis fpecialiter interdici contigerit, miffas et officia hujufmodi celebrare et celebrari fa- cere ; ipiique cuftos pro tempore, ac pras- fentes et futuri focii, fcholares, prelbyteri, clerici, familiares, miniflri, fervientes, et perfonas pcrfonaeomnes et fmguli/etiamabfque or- dinarii loci, necnon praepofiti et fociorum aula? regalis,ac vicarii parochialis ecclefiae Beatae Maria? ejufdem villas, infra cuj us ec~ clelias parochialis metas collegium hujuf- modi confiflit, pro tempore exiftentium, et aliorum quorumlibet confenfu feu li- centia, tarn interdictis hujufmodi, quam aliis quibuflibet temporibus ac diebus, eafdem milTas et officia in capella feu oratorii domo hujufmodi audire, et, quo- ties expediens fuerit, a fingulis facerdoti- bus idoneis, ad id per ipfum cuftodem de numero fociorum fcholarium vel prefby- terorum prasdicTiorum praefentium et fu- turorum, feu alias pro tempore eligendis ac deputandis, eucarifticas, olei fancli, ac alia facramentalia et eccleilaflica quas- cunque recipere -, necnon idem pro tempore cuftos facerdotes prasfatos ad facramenta et facramentalia hujufmodi, ut prsemitti* tur, [ 219 ] tur,miniftrandaquotiesoportuenteligere A r P. ac deputare ; capellam infuper feu domum i^-v j prasfatam, quoties illam per fanguinis effuiionem, aut feminis pollutionem, vel alias quomodolibet violari contlgerit, per fe vel alium facerdotem idoneum, quem duxerit, eligendum, aqua, prius per fimi- lem antiftitem, eandem gratiam et com- munionem habentem, ut moris eft, be- nedidH reconciliare, ipfique facerdotes icramenta vel alia facramentalia hujuf- modi ut prajfertur miniftrare perpetuis futuris temporibus libere et licite va- leant atque poiTmt. Rurfus eifdem auc- toritate ac tenore ftatuimus decernimus et ordinamus, quod de caetero ullo un- quam tempore cuftos, focii collegii, fcho- lares, clerici, fervientes, miniftri, et per- form praefentes et futuri hujufmodi, feu aliquis ex eis, miffas vel alia divina officia ii> didta ecclefia audire, feu illis inibi interefle, [ 220 ] A P Pf interefTe, aut facramenta et facramentalia ._ r \_f hujuimodi ab aliis quam a prasfatis pro tempore eleftis facerdotibus fufcipere, feu oblationes vel contributiones quaf- cunque prsepofito aut fociis aulae, vel vicario, praedi&is facere feu exhibere, aut alia onera quaecunque et qualiacunque fupportare, quavis ratione, occafione, vel caufa, minime teneantur, nee ad id per praepofitum, focios aulas, et vicarium, pragdidios, vel eorum aliquem aut alium quemcunque inviti compelli poffint. Pra^terea quod omnia et iingula oblati- ones, obventiones, legata, relidta et do- nata, ac alia emolumenta quascunque, in quibufvis bonis mobilibus et immobi- libus, ac pecuniis et rebus aliis ilia con- fiftant, tarn ratione cuilodis, fociorum collegii, fcholarium, familiarium, fer- vientium, et miniflrorum prasfentium et futurorum prazdidlorum, quam alias quo- 3 modolibet rhodolibet eifdem capellas feu domui A i p. V. collegio proventura, abfque eo quod il- i_- T _^ lorum vel alicujus eorum media feu quarta aut alia qusecunque pars prsepo- fito, fociis auls&, ecclefise et vicario, prae- di&is, vel aliis quibufvis locis feu per^ fonis, aut eorum alicui, etiam fi ilia eis de jure vel confuetudine forfan tune debita fuerit, perfolvatur feu affignetur, aut folvi vel affignari debeat, ad colle- gium et capellam feu domum, nee non cuftodem pro tempore, ac prasfentes ac futuros focios collegii, et fcholares hu- jufmodi, integre et cum efFe&u fpedent et pertineant, ac fpedtare et pertinere debeant, de illifque cuflos pro tempore, focii collegii, et fcholares hujufmodi, libere difponere, ac ea in fuos et didti collegii ufus utilitatemque convertere poffint, ex nunc eofdem cuftodem pro tempore, ac prsefentes et futures focios collegii^ [ 222 ] A p P. collegii, fcholares, clericos, miniftros, fer-s u ^,-j vientes, et perfonas a miflarum divino- rumque in di&a ecclefia auditione, feu illis inibi intereffentia, ac facramentorum et facramentalium fufceptione, nee non oblationum feu contributionum exhibi- tione onerumque fupportatione, ac mediae feu quarts vel alterius partis folutione feu affignatione hujufmodi auctoritate praefata harum plenarie eximentes, et totaliter liberantes, nee non decernen- tes omnes et fingulos proceflus quofcun- que, excommunicationis, fufpenfionis, ct interdict, aliafque fententias, cenfuras et paenas in fe continentes, quos et quas ac quicquid contra tenorem praefentium forfan haberi feu fulminari contigerit, irrita et inania exiftere, nullitifque ro- boris vel momenti ; non obftantibus fe- licis recordationis Clementis et pre- deceflbris noftri, et aliis apoftolicis, nee non [ "3 ] non bonae memoriae Ottonis et Ottoboni, A P P. olim in regno Anglias fedis apoftolicae i_ ,->_ legatorum, ac in generalibus, provincia- libus et fmodalibus conciliis editis, con- ftitutionibus et ordinationibus, ftatutis quoque et confuetudinibus localibus cae- terifque contrariis quibufcunque. Nulli ergo omnino hpminum liceat hanc pagi- nam noftrorum conceflionis, flatuti, con- ftitutionis, ordinationis et liberationis,in- fringere, vel ei aufu temerario contra-ire. Si quis autem hoc attemptare praefump- ferit, indignationem omnipotentis Dei, et beatorum Petri et Pauli apoftolorum ejus fe noverit incurfurum. Dat. Flo- rentias, anno incarnationis Domini mille- fimo quadrageffimo triceffimo-nono, un- decimo kalendarum Julii, pontificatus noftri anno nono. Poggius. APPENDIX, APPENDIX, N VI, A Lift of the Pur chafes and Grants mads for the original Site of the College. A P P. r^ERFORD HALL, purchafed of u - y - -> ^-* John Brome fenior and John Brome junior, of Warwick, by Thomas Chichele, Henry Penwortham, and Ro- bert Danvers, I4th of December, i6th of Henry VI ; and granted by the king to the college aoth of May following. Skibbowes Tenement, in the High ftreet, purchafed of Roger Skibbowe by Thomas Chichele, John Birkhede, John Bold, [ 225.1 Bold, and Robert Danvers, 4th of July, A p 1 6th of Henry VI -, made over by them u v~ to Henry VI. I3th of January, 2Oth of his reign ; and granted by the king to the college 24th of April in the fame year. It formerly belonged to the mo- naftery of St. John of Scyreburne ; and the referred rent then paid to that mo- naftery has fince, I believe, been paid to Univerfity college. Between this tenement and Berford Hall two tenements intervened, one be- longing to the convent of St. Fridefwide, the other to a chantry of St. Mary's church. The former, which joined Ber- ford Hall, was granted by that convent to the college, under a referred annual rent, now payable to the dean and chap- ter of Chrifl Church, by a deed dated nth of September, 2ift of Henry VI. : the [ 226 ] A P P. the latter, which belonged to Oriel col- c v ~> lege, was granted by that fociety to the college of All Souls under a fmall re- ferved rent, ift of November, 22d of Henry VI. Sf. Thomas s Hall, in Cat-ftreet, fitu- ated next to Berford Hall, granted to the college by the convent of Ofney, 1 1 th of September, 2ift of Henry VI. re- ferving an annual rent, now payable to the dean and chapter of Chrifb Church : it was the fite of the chapel, as the deed fpecifies, " fuper quod tenementum ca- " pella collegii antedicli asdincatur." : To the north of this, in the fame ftreet, was Berford's Tenement ; it was purcha- fed of Joan the widow, and John the fon of John Berford, by Thomas Chi- chele', John Birkhede, John Druell, and Robert [ 227 ] Robert Danvers, 5th May, 17th of Hen- A P p. ry VI. conveyed by them to the king I_^- T -_ 1 3th of January ; and granted by the king to the college 24th of April, 2Oth of his reign. yngfwick Inn, early alienated by Ni- cholas de Tyngfwyck to the univerfity, and granted by them to the college about the year 1440; as the rationarium fun- dationis, fo often quoted before, men- tions a referved rent paid for it to the univerfity in that year, *' Solut. univer- " fit. pro tenem. vocat. Tyngfwick v Inn." Next to this was a tenement belonging to the convent of St. Fridefwyde, and purchafed under one deed, together with another tenement in High-ftreet, men- tioned before, nth September, 2ift of Qj? A p p. Henry VI. upon which two tenements, ^_^ r ^_ f as the deed exprefles, a part of the col- lege was then built; " Super quae duo " tenementa parcella collegii modo con- " flituitur et fundatur." THESE feveral tenements contained the original fite of the college, and were all either rented or purchafed at the time of the foundation. From MS. abftracl: of charters made by order of Gilbert Sheldon, warden in 1640. APPENDIX, APPENDIX, N'VII. THE flone employed in the build- ings of the college was brought from the quarries of Hedington, Teyn- ton, Sherborn, Henxey, and Sunning- well. The woods of Shotover, Stow- wood, Horfham, Eynfham, Cumner, and Beckley fupplied the timber: of which Without particularly marking the references, I fhall give the following entries from the Ratitna- rium fuKdctionis, in the lame order in which they are alluded to in die text. " Lapses empti apud Edyngdon, Teynton, " Sherborn, Sunningwell, Henxey." " Pro proftratione arborum in Schottore et Stou- " wode, pro 3 acris meremii querc. empt. in ne- " more de Horfham, pro 6 peciis mertm. querc. empt. A P p. which the king prefented the arch-* 1 _ r _ bifhop with twelve trees from his park of Beckley, and the abbot of Abingdon twenty from Cumner. THE workmen were the ablefl that could be procured. Mafons were hired in the fourth year of the building of the college, from London, and the diftant counties of Norfolk and Suffolk : who appear to have been well-fkilled in their art, fince they were foon fent for by the king's mandate, to aflift in repairing his caftle " empt. in quodam nemore juxta Eynfham. Pro " cariagio de 20 arbor, de dono de abbat. de Abyng- " don in nemore de Cumpnore. Pro cariagio de <{ 12 arbor, dat. per regem in parcode Beckley." " Pro expenfis lathomiorum venient. a London, " pro expenfis lathomiorum venient. a Northfolcia " et Southfolcia : ad cariandum harnef. lathomior. " ufque ad Wyndfore per mandatum regis arrefta.- " torum ad ejus reparationem." " Solut. caftle of Windfor. The wages of the ' A p VII. different perfons occupied in carrying L _-^~ on this work, were, to carpenters and fawyers, fix pence a day mafons, eight pence ftone-diggers and common la- bourers, four pence halfpenny joiners, from fix pence to eight pence dawber, five pence mailer - carpenter, three millings and four pence a- week carvers and image makers, four millings and eight pence a- week, bed and board found them. A woman-labourer, three pence a-day. The windows were glazed at one milling a-foot. FROM u Solut. carpentariis fmgulis capient. per diem " 6d. Solut. farratorib. fmg. capient. per diem 6 d. " Solut. operariis fmg. cap. per diem $- 4 d. Solut. " latomiis per diem 8 d. Solut. lapifodiatori per " diem 4^ d. Solut. egidio joynor per diem 8 d. " alio joynor per diem 6 d. Solut. Johanni Marche " dawber per diem 5 d. Solut. J. Branch carpent. " princip. per ebdomad. 3*. 4