Henry Beaufort | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal,Bishop of Winchester | |
1856 painting byPaul Delaroche showing Beaufort interrogatingJoan of Arc in prison | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Diocese | Winchester |
| Installed | 1404 |
| Term ended | 1447 |
| Predecessor | William of Wykeham |
| Successor | William Waynflete |
| Other posts | |
| Previous posts |
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| Orders | |
| Consecration | 14 July 1398 |
| Created cardinal | 24 May 1426 byPope Martin V |
| Rank | Cardinal Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1375 |
| Died | 11 April 1447 (aged 71–72) |
| Buried | Winchester Cathedral |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Parents | John of Gaunt andKatherine Swynford |
| Coat of arms | |

Henry Beaufort (c. 1375 – 11 April 1447) was an EnglishCatholic prelate and statesman who held the offices ofBishop of Lincoln (1398),Bishop of Winchester (1404) andcardinal (1426).[1] He served three times asLord Chancellor and played an important role in English politics.
Beaufort was a member of the royalHouse of Plantagenet,[2] being the second son of the four legitimised children ofJohn of Gaunt (third son of KingEdward III) by his mistress (later wife)Katherine Swynford.
Beaufort is often claimed to have been born at Beaufort, an English domain in France, but England, John of Gaunt specifically, had already lost that land holding, which had come to him through his grandmother Blanche of Artois. He was educated for a career in the Church. After his parents were married in early 1396, Henry, his two brothers and one sister were declared legitimate byPope Boniface IX and a royal proclamation read in Parliament on 9 February 1397, but they were barred from the succession to the throne.[3][4][5]
On 27 February 1398, he was nominatedBishop of Lincoln, and on 14 July 1398, he was consecrated.[6] After Henry of Bolingbroke deposedRichard II and took the throne as Henry IV in 1399, he made Bishop BeaufortLord Chancellor of England in 1403,[7] but Beaufort resigned in 1404 when he was appointedBishop of Winchester on 19 November.[8]
Between 1411 and 1413, Bishop Beaufort was in political disgrace for siding with his nephew, thePrince of Wales, against the king,[9] but when King Henry IV died and the prince became KingHenry V, he was made Chancellor once again in 1413, but he resigned the position in 1417.[7]Pope Martin V offered him the rank of Cardinal, but King Henry V would not permit him to accept the offer.
Henry V died in 1422, two years after he had marriedCatherine of Valois, daughter of KingCharles VI, who had disowned his sonCharles in favour of Henry in theTreaty of Troyes. Henry and Catherine's infant sonHenry VI, the Bishop's great-nephew, succeeded Henry as King of England, and, in accordance with the Treaty, succeeded Charles as King of France. Bishop Beaufort and the child king's other uncles formed theRegency government,[10] and in 1424, Beaufort became Chancellor once more, but was forced to resign in 1426 because of disputes with the king's other uncles, in particularHumphrey, Duke of Gloucester.[7]
Pope Martin V finally appointed Beaufort as Cardinal in 1426.[7] In 1427, he made him thePapal Legate forGermany,Hungary andBohemia, and directed him to lead thefourth "crusade" against the Hussites heretics in Bohemia. Beaufort's forces were routed by the Hussites at theBattle of Tachov on 4 August 1427.[11]
After the capture ofJoan of Arc in 1431, legend has it that Beaufort was present to observe some of the heresy trial sessions presided over by BishopPierre Cauchon ofBeauvais. However, the full record of the trial, which lists all those who took part in her trial on a daily basis shows that he was not there.[12] His sole appearance is on the day of her abjuration (26 May 1431). The formal record does not include Beaufort's presence at her execution but legend has it that he wept as he viewed the horrible scene as she was burned at the stake. This legend derives from what is now known as the Rehabilitation Trial of Joan of Arc which culminated in an examination of numerous witnesses in 1455 and 1456 in which one of the 27 Articles of Enquiry was that Joan had died in "such a manner as to draw from all those present, and even from her English enemies, effusions of tears."[13] A number of witnesses at this re-trial inferred or declared his presence including one of the original trial judges, one Andre Marguerie, Canon of Rouen, who asserted that Beaufort had reprimanded his chaplain for complaining that theBishop of Beauvais's sermon was too favourable to Joan. However, it is not clear to which sermon Marguerie was referring.[13]
In a spirit of contrition and reconciliation, in 1922 a statue of Joan of Arc (carved under the supervision of SirNinian Comper) was placed beside the entrance to the Lady Chapel inWinchester Cathedral diagonally facing Cardinal Beaufort's tomb and chantry chapel.[14]
Beaufort continued to be active in English politics for years, fighting with the other powerful advisors to the king.[citation needed] He died on 11 April 1447.[8]
When Henry was Bishop of Lincoln, he had an illegitimate daughter, Jane Beaufort, with an unknown woman, sometimes thought to be the daughter ofAlice Cherleton, Baroness Cherleton: "Henry fathered an illegitimate daughter, Jane Beaufort, in 1402, who some make Alice's daughter. Both Jane and her husband, Sir Edward Stradling, were named in Cardinal Beaufort's will. Their marriage about 1423 brought Sir Edward into the political orbit of his shrewd and assertive father-in-law, to whom he may have owed his appointment as chamberlain ofSouth Wales in December 1423, a position he held until March 1437".[15]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Lord Chancellor 1403–1405 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Chancellor 1413–1417 | |
| Preceded by | Lord Chancellor 1424–1426 | Succeeded by |
| Catholic Church titles | ||
| Preceded by | Dean of Wells 1397–1398 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Lincoln 1398–1404 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Winchester 1404–1447 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Cardinal Priest ofS. Eusebio 1426–1447 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1397–1399 | Succeeded by |