Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Part 25

[745] _Ordinances_, iii. 322.

[746] Cotton MS., Vespasian, C. xiv. f. 118, contains the original warrant. Rymer, IV. iv. 150; _Cal. Rot. Pat._, 275; _Ordinances_, iv. 14.

[747] Rymer, IV. iv. 151.

[748] Gregory, 168. Fabyan, 599-601, gives a detailed account of the banquet. _Eng. Chron._, 54; _St. Albans Chron._, i. 44.

CHAPTER VI

GLOUCESTER AS FIRST COUNCILLOR

The coronation of Henry VI. had its significance at home as well as abroad; for Gloucester it meant the abandonment of the t.i.tle which he had held since the death of Henry V. The festivities were barely over when Parliament declared that, since the King was now crowned, he had taken the responsibility of the government on himself, and that therefore the Protectorate was at an end: on November 15 Humphrey resigned his office, stipulating that by this action he did not prejudice the right of his brother Bedford.[749] In this premature ending of the Protectorate we cannot fail to see the hand of Beaufort and the jealousy of the Regency Council. To say that a child, who had not attained the age of eight, had become capable of governing the country simply because a ceremony, which might have been performed with equal justice seven years earlier, had taken place, was on the face of it absurd. It may be that Beaufort had suggested the coronation to Bedford when he was in France with this end in view; certainly this summary ending of the Protectorate shows that the Council were determined to limit the power of the man who was nominally at the head of affairs, thereby hoping to increase their own importance. The lords had just told Gloucester that the t.i.tle of Protector was nothing but a t.i.tle, and now they proceeded to take away even that, and to reduce him to the rank of First Councillor. There was neither logic nor policy in this action. Whilst it could not serve to help on the good government of the kingdom, it only added another reason for the discontent and factiousness of the man it was meant to curb.

We find Gloucester's protest against his compulsory resignation of the Protectorate in this very same Parliament, when it was questioned whether a cardinal had a right to be a member of the Council. Beaufort secured another victory when the Lords decided that not only was it allowable but very desirable that he should attend the meetings of the Council on all occasions, except when matters connected with the Papal See were under discussion.[750]

1430] THE FORTY SHILLING FRANCHISE

The Bishop of Winchester had now considerably more power than his rival, and we may see traces of the antipathy to Gloucester prevalent amongst the Lords of Parliament in a famous measure pa.s.sed in the second session of this same Parliament. The representatives of the counties in Parliament were chosen in the County Court, and Henry IV. had taken steps to make this representation adequately reflect the wishes of all who had access to that court. A reaction against this wide qualification for the franchise now set in, and it was ordained that none but those who possessed a freehold of the value of forty shillings a year, and resided within the county, could vote for the knights of the shire who sat in Parliament.[751] It is to be noticed that, whilst driving the theory of const.i.tutional government to an extreme, Parliament was now limiting the possibilities of its claim to represent the nation: the reason is obvious. The more limited the franchise, the more powerful would be the lords who desired to rule the country, and the less powerful would be Gloucester, who numbered his supporters amongst the rank and file of the commonalty now excluded from the franchise. The Bill spoke of the riot and disturbance caused 'by great attendance of people of small substance and no value whereof every of them pretended a voice equivalent, as to such elections, with the most worthy knights and squires resident,'[752] and the true meaning of this complaint does not lie far below the surface. Humphrey may be indicted on many counts, but he cannot be said to have championed the lords against the people. What strength he had was based on his personal popularity with the 'people of small substance,' and his opponents were the men who, working under the pretence of desiring a stronger Parliament, were attempting to secure absolute domination over the country. Having secured a preponderance in the kingdom, they proceeded to quarrel among themselves, since the inevitable result of conciliar government was at this time civil war.

Gloucester, with all his faults, stood for the rights of the people, not perhaps from disinterested motives, but because the people were ready to support him. Neither lords nor commons had an exclusive right to govern the kingdom during a minority, nor had they the political capacity to do so, but this limitation of the franchise was a measure aimed by the n.o.bility at Gloucester and the commons at once. Supported by Beaufort, who thought himself able to control them, the lords shut the door on those who alone could check their turbulence, and weakened the position of a man, who with a less limited power might have given strength to the kingdom and dynasty, even although he was almost entirely selfish in his aims. Beaufort was not able to control them, and the ultimate result of their quarrels was civil war.

1430] GLOUCESTER MADE REGENT

While these measures to prevent the ascendency of Gloucester in the councils of the nation were being taken, preparations were being made for the journey of the young King to France; they were pervaded by a spirit of precaution. The articles for the regulation of the Council, which had been made in the first Parliament of the reign, were re-enacted and expanded so that there should be no possibility of the conciliar government being weakened by the machinations of the First Councillor.[753] At the same time careful arrangements were made for the government of the kingdom in the King's absence; all were agreed that it was impossible to leave the kingdom in the hands of any one but Gloucester, yet his powers as Regent must be limited. Cardinal Beaufort was induced to escort Henry VI. to France, and the Council was divided into two parts, one to accompany the King, the other to remain in England. These two divisions were to be independent of one another except in matters of the greatest importance, but the Regent of England was prevented from turning the English Council into a body composed of his own supporters by the provision that no councillor could be dismissed save with the consent of both Councils.[754] At the same time the weakness of the Council as a governing body was made manifest by the steps taken to prevent the Duke of Norfolk and the Earls of Huntingdon and Warwick from attacking one another whilst accompanying the King.

Humphrey took his own precautions to prevent armed dissensions in this Council, and exacted an oath from these three lords that they would not in person resent any injury done them, but bring any dispute among themselves before the Council.[755]

In spite of the proceedings of his opponents, it is evident that the abolition of the Protectorate had not shorn Gloucester of all his power.

In this quarrel of the lords he had successfully a.s.serted his right to impose order and to keep the peace, and on December 23 of the previous year he had secured a handsome allowance for his exertions as First Councillor. For his attendance at the Council whilst the King was still in England, he was paid at the rate of two thousand marks a year, and as Regent in the King's absence he was to receive double that sum. A proviso was also added that if he should be put to extra expense or trouble in some matter in which he had the consent of the Council, he was to have an extra grant, and if, by reason of the urgency of the matter, he should be compelled to act without the consent of that body, he was to be paid therefor at their next meeting.[756]

Whilst the last preparations for the journey were being made, Gloucester had accompanied his nephew as far as Canterbury on his way to the coast.

There Easter had been kept, and it was there also that Gloucester took the steps already recorded towards securing peace amongst the lords who were to accompany their young sovereign to France.[757] There, too, in his capacity of Warden of the Cinque Ports, he had prepared for the transhipment of the expedition by ordering ships to be in readiness to carry the King across the Channel.[758] On April 23 his commission as Regent during the King's absence was signed. By it he was authorised to hold Parliaments and Councils, and with their a.s.sent to ordain such things as were necessary for the welfare of the King and the realm. He might also exercise the royal authority in all matters pertaining to ecclesiastical elections, but he was to do everything by the advice of the Council and not otherwise.[759] Next day the little King set sail on his way to secure the empty honour of the crown of France, whilst his uncle turned back to undertake the cares of that other kingdom, which was in the end to prove an almost equally illusory possession.[760]

The first year of Gloucester's regency pa.s.sed without any incident of interest. The government was quietly conducted, and the discussions which continually arose when Beaufort was in the country were for the time forgotten. Negotiations were carried on with Scotland, in which Lord Scrope, a supporter of Gloucester, seems to have acted with energy and ability.[761] But despite several journeys to the north, and a seeming readiness on both sides to come to an understanding,[762] no definite settlement was made, and he was again sent to Scotland in November.[763] Thus the year pa.s.sed quickly away, and there was found to be no need for the summoning of Parliament till early in 1431.[764]

1431] MEETING OF PARLIAMENT

The session which then began was even more uneventful than that of the preceding year, though Beaufort came over to attend it,[765] and the lack of political quarrels speaks for the good government of the Regent and the powerlessness of the Cardinal when his turbulent supporters were absent in France. Only one event in Parliament is worthy of record, and this points to the financial distress of the country and to the waning affection for the war. In response to the Pope's efforts in the direction of peace, the Lords and Commons joined with hearty goodwill in an attempt to further his wishes by appointing the King's three uncles, Bedford, Gloucester, and Beaufort, to treat of peace with the envoys of France and of Rome, and by instructing them to agree to any terms they might think reasonable, saving the liberties of the King's subjects.[766] According to a later chronicler the powers thus conferred were the occasion of an amicable meeting between the Regent and the Cardinal on matters of foreign policy.[767] At any rate, Beaufort returned to France without any fresh cause of dispute having arisen between him and his nephew.

1431] SEDITION OF 'JACK SHARPE'

When Parliament had been dissolved Gloucester went down to Greenwich to spend Easter, and on St. George's Day he presided at a Chapter of the Order of the Garter at Windsor.[768] He was suddenly called away by disturbances in the Midland Counties. A certain William Perkyns, otherwise known as William Maundyvyll, who for the purposes of his agitation called himself 'Jack Sharpe of Wygmoreland,' had lately been distributing pamphlets in London, Coventry, and Oxford, which took the form of a pet.i.tion to the King and Lords of Parliament, showing the waste which ensued from the possession of temporalities by the bishops, abbots, and priors of the Church, and praying for their resumption by the Crown. It was suggested that the proceeds of this confiscation should be devoted to the endowment of a hundred almshouses and the financing of a certain number of earls, knights, and squires, but that the confiscations themselves should only affect the high dignitaries of the Church.[769] The mention of 'Wygmoreland' savoured too much of the House of Mortimer for the Regent to ignore the movement, while the prelates were in a frenzy at this attack on their coveted possessions.

The idea thus propounded was no new one, for in the Parliament of 1410 this resumption of ecclesiastical temporalities had been suggested, and the future Henry V. had opposed it,[770] while at a later date Oldcastle had circulated pamphlets recommending such a course.[771] In remembrance of this incident the cry of heresy and Lollardy was raised, and it was declared that Jack Sharpe with his 'fals feleshipp' wished to destroy the Church.[772] Thus political security and religious orthodoxy both summoned Gloucester from his ease, and he hastened to Abingdon, in which neighbourhood the malcontents were said to be a.s.sembled. By the help of one William Warberton, Jack Sharpe with many of his a.s.sociates was found in hiding at Oxford, where the Chancellor and bailiffs arrested him on the Thursday before Whitsunday.[773] Brought before the Regent, he was condemned to death and executed at Abingdon, and his head was placed on London Bridge.[774]

In the part he took in the suppression of 'Jack Sharpe' Gloucester was actuated as much by a desire to enforce the arm of the law on all disturbers of the peace, and on all who might be thought to threaten the House of Lancaster, as by the claims of the higher clergy to be protected. About this time, however, he further countenanced the extinction of heresy by being present at the burning at Smithfield of an old priest who denied the validity of the sacraments of the Church.[775]

In this he was merely carrying out the general policy of the Government, for instances of the execution of Lollards and other heretics were of comparatively frequent occurrence.

The danger to Church and State was over, and the movement of the man of 'Wygmoreland' had been suppressed by the Regent's quick and decided action, yet the very a.s.sumption of this name showed that the House of Lancaster was not free from the danger which had threatened in the Southampton conspiracy of 1415, and in the later pretensions of the Earl of March. The inevitable dynastic struggle was only postponed till a time when a weak and vacillating king in the hands of unintelligent advisers should find himself unable to cope with a movement which this time had been nipped in the bud.

After the execution of 'Jack Sharpe' Gloucester visited several other places in the kingdom, making inquisitions concerning certain heretics, traitors, and rebels, and punishing them according to their demerits.[776] Indeed during the Regency executions for illegal acts and Lollardy were frequent; now it was a courtier punished for the misuse of a patent seal, now a Lollard who by his faith threatened the House of Lancaster. All through Humphrey's justice seems to have been firm and true, and during the time of his government of the kingdom one chronicler at least appears to hint at a more drastic and organised government by the number of executions that he records.[777] At the same time there is no record of any serious disturbance in the kingdom, and the rising of Jack Sharpe is peculiar, not because of its existence, but because of the summary justice meted out to it. By November Humphrey was back again to London and in attendance at the Council. The days of the Regency were now drawing to a close. The King was now, after many delays, on the eve of his coronation in Paris,[778] and his return to England at the beginning of the New Year was certain. With him would come Beaufort and his supporters in the Council, and Gloucester feared that fresh attacks would be made on his position. He therefore prepared to meet them by a counter-movement, to be made whilst he was still governing the country and had a complete ascendency over the Council, and it was to this end that the question of Beaufort's cardinalate was again raised.

1431] INTRIGUE AGAINST BEAUFORT

At a meeting of the Council on November 6 the King's Serjeant and Attorney presented a pet.i.tion which requested that Beaufort should be deprived of his see of Winchester on the ground of his having accepted a cardinal's hat. In support of this pet.i.tion it was argued that Archbishops Langham and Kilwardby had been deprived for this reason, and that the good of the kingdom demanded compliance with these precedents.

The Regent, who evidently inspired this action on the part of the legal officials of the Crown, asked the Bishop of Worcester whether it was true that the Cardinal had procured from Rome an exemption for himself, his city, and his see from the jurisdiction of the Primate. After much hesitation the Bishop was compelled to acknowledge that the Bishop of Lichfield had told him that he had acted for Beaufort in the purchase of such an exemption from the Pope. After debate the matter was referred to the judges, who were instructed to search the records and give their decision on the legal point. Meanwhile nothing further was to be done till the Cardinal returned to justify his action.[779]

Though to us this attack may seem trivial, and its occurrence, at a time when its object was not in the country to defend himself, unfair, we must not forget that the Cardinal had laid himself open to the gravest suspicion by invoking the interference of Rome in a matter of purely English importance. It is also to be noticed that Beaufort had realised the probability of losing his English benefices when created cardinal, as at the time of his appointment he had procured a papal Bull which enacted that 'he schuld have an reioyse all the benefyces spirituell and temporell that he hadde had in Englond.'[780] Thus he had laid himself open to the pains and penalties of the statute of Provisors, which forbade the acceptance of letters from the Pope appointing people to benefices in England, and showed that Gloucester's suspicion that he was using the papal alliance for furtherance of his ambitions at home was fully justified. Jealousy of papal power had ever been one of the chief tenets of the Englishman's creed, and had a less powerfully connected ecclesiastic than Beaufort ventured on such a step, his punishment would have been swift and sure. Indeed the only voice raised in protest against the action of the Council in this matter was that of the Bishop of Carlisle,[781] a man well known to be a minion of the Beaufort party, and one to whose appointment to his present see both Gloucester and Lord Scrope had objected strongly only a few years before.[782] The decision of the judges seems to have been hostile to the Cardinal, for on November 20 the Council ordered writs of Praemunire and attachment upon the Statute to be sealed against him, though they were not to be executed till the King came back.[783]

Thus Gloucester thought that he had successfully clipped the wings of his rival, and his ascendency in the Council was still further emphasised by a movement to increase his salary as Regent. According to the existing arrangement he received two thousand marks per annum as First Councillor, and four thousand marks whilst he was Regent in the King's absence. It was the Treasurer, Lord Hungerford, who now proposed in the Great Council, on the same day as the writ of Praemunire was issued, that in consideration of the great expenses that Gloucester had incurred in the past, both in preserving the kingdom from the malice of rebels and traitors, and 'especially of late concerning the taking and execution of the most horrible heretic and impious traitor to G.o.d and the said Lord King, who called himself John Sharp, and of many other heretical malefactors his accomplices,' he should receive an increase of two thousand marks per annum for his services as Regent, returning to his usual salary when the King came back.[784]

1431] GLOUCESTER'S SALARY INCREASED

That this was an evasion of a demand for increased pay by Gloucester seems to be evident, as the Regency was drawing to a close, and therefore no material benefit would accrue to the Regent by this motion.

Moreover, the excuse of the expense of putting down the rising of John Sharp was merely a formal plea, as a payment of five hundred marks had already been made in this respect on July 17.[785] It was not to be expected that Hungerford should propose any measure of great advantage to the Regent, for he had sided throughout with the Chancellor in opposing Gloucester, even as he had been intended to do when appointed to office by the influence of the Beaufort faction. Now he evidently wished to conciliate Humphrey at small expense. Lord Scrope, however, who was a steady supporter of the Regent, proposed an amendment to the effect that Gloucester should have five thousand marks a year in his capacity of First Councillor after the King's return, as well as the six thousand marks of his proposed salary as Regent. After considerable discussion this last suggestion was agreed to, though it was strongly opposed by Chancellor Kemp, the Bishop of Carlisle, and Lords Harrington, De la Warr, Lovell, and Botreaux. The Treasurer accepted the amendment, probably in the hope of conciliating one who proved to have such strong supporters. One qualification, however, was secured by Gloucester's opponents, when it was arranged that the salary now voted should cover all expenses he might incur in the King's service.[786]

The result of all this was a decided victory for the Regent, and he was made secure of an exceedingly handsome allowance, which he felt to be necessary owing to his expensive and luxurious habits, and the charges which he incurred as a patron of letters. The sum was not excessive, for in the past both Bedford and himself had received annual salaries of four to eight thousand marks as First Councillors.[787] Nevertheless this was not a time to wring money from an already depleted exchequer.

The Lancastrians had always been poor, and now especially the constant sinking of money into the bottomless mora.s.s of the French wars had reduced the dynasty and kingdom to a very low financial state. Once more Gloucester showed that personal gratification was more to him than patriotic considerations. Throughout his regency he had shown the same traits of character we have found in other parts of his career.

Administrative power, good government, a determination to punish sedition and violence speedily and efficiently, all may be seen in this brief tenure of office. Criminals were brought to justice; in the face of seething discontent and the growing violence of the barons, peace reigned. Yet, despite all this, the government was subordinate in Humphrey's eyes to his own personal aggrandis.e.m.e.nt. He had used his spell of power to strengthen his position in the kingdom irrespective of his executive duties, which were treated more as isolated incidents than as part of a constructive policy. He had taken advantage of the Cardinal's absence to direct an attack on his position in the kingdom; he had struck at the very foundation of Beaufort's power when he had tried to deprive him of some of his possessions; he had levelled against him a charge which, if successful, would entail his banishment from the kingdom. At the same time he had taken steps to strengthen his own position by increasing his income, and these monetary considerations remind us of the new era that was dawning, the approach of that time when no longer birth or hereditary position were to define a man's power, but the length of his purse and his capacity to command the services of others by purchase. Humphrey's Regency, therefore, is important partly for the added indications of his power of administration, but more so for the stage it marks in his attempt to undermine the power of his great enemy.

1432] RETURN OF HENRY VI.

The increase of his income was the last important event for Gloucester before the return of the King, who landed at Dover on February 9,[788]

and on Thursday 21 entered London in triumph. The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen, clad in their fur-lined scarlet cloaks, were there to receive him, and amid song and pageant, in which champions with drawn swords and 'maidens very celestialle' took part, Gloucester escorted his nephew to St. Paul's and thence to Westminster.[789] A bright interlude this in the struggles for ascendency which surrounded the boy-king's throne, struggles which, dating from Henry V.'s untimely death, were to continue with varied success, now to this side, now to that, for so long a period. The rivalry of Gloucester and Beaufort had been the central thread of the tangled web of the King's minority, and now that Henry was a crowned King and claimed personal obedience in two countries, this rivalry did not lose its importance. The internal history of England is still the history of the faction fight which had marred the peace of the first nine years of the reign.

The struggle between, the two uncles enters at this period on a new phase. Hitherto it had been chiefly confined to the sphere of Parliament and the Council Chamber, now the interest centres more in the King's person. Henry VI., though only ten years old, was beginning to a.s.sert his position, for he was 'growen in yeares, in stature ... and also in conceyte of his hiegh and royale auctoritee,' as his tutor, Warwick, complained to the Council,[790] and under these circ.u.mstances it became every year more necessary for each party to gain the King's ear.

Beaufort had not come back with the royal escort, so Gloucester had an opportunity to use the King's return for his own ends. He was not at all satisfied with the officers of state whom his opponents had placed in office. Chancellor Kemp had opposed the increase of his salary, and Hungerford, the Treasurer, had only a.s.sented to the measure at the last moment; the first step, therefore, was to secure their dismissal, which he had been unable to procure before under the terms of his regency patent. No time was lost; on February 28, only four days after Henry's arrival in London, Archbishop Kemp resigned the Seals to Gloucester, who for the moment became Lord Keeper. On March 1 they were delivered to the King, who handed them forthwith to the Bishop of Bath and Wells.[791]

Lord Scrope, the ardent supporter of Gloucester, succeeded Lord Hungerford as Treasurer, while care was taken to displace men of Beaufort sympathies from positions which entailed personal attendance on the King. Accordingly Lord Cromwell was dismissed from the post of Chamberlain in favour of Sir William Philip, and Lord Tiptoft, the Steward of the Household, made way for Sir Robert Babthorp, who had instructions to make all haste to take up his office at once.[792] Thus with the greatest expedition possible the _personnel_ around the King was changed, and the new officers were chosen, as far as possible, from amongst those who would support Gloucester's claim to a preponderance in the politics of the kingdom.

These changes in the crown officials were safely effected before Parliament met on May 12, by which date Beaufort had arrived in England.

The turbulence of the great n.o.bles is ill.u.s.trated by the fact that writs were issued to the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Suffolk, Huntingdon, Stafford, Northumberland, and Salisbury, together with Lord Cromwell, enjoining them not to come to Parliament with more than their usual number of retainers.[793] To say that this 'intimation under the circ.u.mstances must have sounded very like a declaration of war' on the part of Gloucester[794] is a total misreading of the matter. Precautions of much the same nature had been taken by Bedford at the Parliament of Leicester without provoking comment, and it was well known that at least two of those to whom the writs were addressed were at enmity with one another, and that Lord Cromwell was enraged at his loss of office. Added to all this, Huntingdon was certainly not of the Beaufort faction, as he subsequently appears as the supporter of Duke Humphrey.[795] It was merely a precautionary measure, and serves to prove the unreliability of those by whom the government of the kingdom was supposed to be dominated, for these lords, with the exception of Salisbury, were all Councillors.

1432] DISCUSSIONS IN PARLIAMENT

When Parliament did meet, Beaufort was there to look after his own interests. On the second day Gloucester addressed the Lords, saying that it was desirable that the Commons should know that the Lords spiritual and temporal were in agreement, and that, therefore, a declaration to this effect should be made. So far as he himself was concerned, though by right of birth and by Act of Parliament he was First Councillor to the King whilst Bedford was absent yet he would never do any state business except with the consent of the Lords, or of a majority of them.

He therefore called upon his hearers to give their best advice, and he would abide by it. To this suggested declaration the Lords a.s.sented, promising their advice, and praying Gloucester 'for the reverence of G.o.d and the good of the King and the realm to observe his part of the agreement to the best of his ability.' The Commons were accordingly solemnly informed of the state of absolute concord existing amongst those whom they knew to be turbulent and divided.[796] The object that Humphrey had in view was to secure an acknowledgment of his position, and an acceptance of the state of things as they then stood. His position was one of greater importance than he had enjoyed for some years, and he wished it to be clearly understood that he would not abandon that position without a determined struggle. At the same time, if his power was not a.s.sailed, he would not ignore the opinions of others. He could point to his recent successful regency as evidence of the good results of his rule, yet he definitely promised not to go outside his powers so long as his preponderance in the councils of the nation was accepted. He had warned the turbulent n.o.bles in the writ addressed to them with respect to their retinues, and he now wished to impress upon them collectively, that he stood for good government against the divided rule of the Council. Whether this declaration was entirely disinterested may well be doubted, and that his government would be good in our sense of the word was hardly probable, but he was choosing the least turbulent way of a.s.serting himself, and his administration could not well be worse than that of the faction that opposed him.

1432] BEAUFORT'S COMPLAINTS

This warning Beaufort took as a challenge, and retorted in Parliament by an a.s.sumption of injured innocence. He rose in his place and explained that whilst on his way to Rome, a journey undertaken by the permission of the King, he had been told that he had been accused of treachery to his royal nephew. He now demanded that he should be confronted with his accuser, and declared himself ready to meet him, however exalted his rank might be--a broad hint at his rival, for no one but Gloucester in England at that time was of superior rank to the Cardinal. The matter was discussed in the King's presence, and finally Gloucester, as representing the Councillors there present, declared the King's entire belief in Beaufort's loyalty, and emphatically announced that no one had accused him of anything, nor to the best of their knowledge did any one desire to do so.[797] Whether there was any truth in the Cardinal's statement, or whether he was referring to the writ of Praemunire issued against him, must remain uncertain. At all events his attempt to make a scene failed, and with it his first attack on Gloucester's new position.

But the Cardinal had another cause of complaint, and he proceeded to ventilate this second grievance. Certain of the King's jewels pledged to him for a loan had been seized by the royal officials when he landed at Sandwich, and he now demanded their restoration.[798] On what plea these jewels were confiscated we cannot discover, but that the Regent had some just cause for his action may be argued from the fact that Parliament only agreed to this restoration on condition that 6000 more were deposited for them, and a promise made by the Cardinal to lend the King thirteen thousand marks in addition.[799] Beaufort had undoubtedly not suffered any loss from the sums he had lent to the King in the past, and it is possible that he had overreached himself in his desire for increased profit; moreover, Gloucester himself seems to have had some personal claim on the jewels,[800] which had probably been pledged to him at some former time, but not fully redeemed, as had been the case when four years earlier he had received a belated payment for the campaign of 1415. If there was any insinuation that the Regent had been robbing under the shadow of the law, it failed to reach the mark, and the jewels were only secured by a heavy payment, though ultimately the Cardinal managed to creep out of the engagements he had made.[801]

Taking all this into consideration, it is hard to deduce from these proceedings in Parliament that Beaufort gained a victory over his rival,[802] though he did secure an exemption from all liabilities incurred by him under the Acts of Provisors and Praemunire.[803]

Yet another attack on Gloucester was made in this Parliament by his opponents, when on June 10 Lord Cromwell complained before the Lords that he had been dismissed from his office of Chamberlain contrary to the Ordinances of 1429. He declared that it was a slight on his honour, as no reason had been a.s.signed for this action,[804] and he demanded to be told for what fault he had been dismissed. It was not likely that, where the Cardinal had failed, his follower would succeed, and Cromwell was politely told by Gloucester that he had done no wrong, but was removed merely because he himself and the Council wished it.[805] Thus Gloucester had been successful all along the line. The various, scarcely veiled, attacks made upon him in this Parliament had been repulsed, and his power had been in no way lessened by the return of the King. His position was recognised, and in October of the same year we even find him described as 'Custode Angliae' in an official doc.u.ment,[806] a t.i.tle of considerably greater importance than that of 'First Councillor.'