Beaufort, HENRY, Cardinal, born in 1377, was a natural son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford, and was thus half-brother to Henry IV. His parents were married in 1396, and their children were legitimated next year by Richard II. He studied at Oxford and at Aix-la-Chapelle, was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln in 1398, and in 1405 succeeded William of Wykeham in the see of Winchester. He thrice filled the office of chancellor, and was involved in all the most important political movements of his times. At the Council of Constance (1417) he voted for the election of Pope Martin V., by whom in 1426 he was made a cardinal. He strongly opposed Henry V.'s proposition to levy a new impost on the clergy, in order to raise money for carrying on the war against France; but nevertheless he lent the monarch, out of his own private purse, £28,000—in 1416, £14,000, and as much in 1421—an almost incredibly large sum in those days, and one which justifies the belief that he was the wealthiest subject of his time in all England. In 1427 the pope sent him as legate into Germany, there to organise a crusade against the Hussites. This undertaking failed; and the cardinal, having expended, in levying an English army against France, the moneys granted from Rome for other purposes, fell under papal displeasure. In 1431 he conducted the young king, Henry VI., to France, to be crowned in Paris as king of France and England. Here, too, he endeavoured, but vainly, to reconcile the Duke of Bedford with the offended Duke of Burgundy. He died at Winchester in 1447, within seven weeks of the murder of his great political rival, the Duke of Gloucester, who headed the lay opposition to the despotism of ecclesiastical statesmen; that he had a hand in that murder, there is not a tittle of evidence. In Bishop Stubbs's words, Beaufort 'guided the helm of state during a period in which the nation tried first the great experiment of self-government with any approach to success; was merciful in his political enmities, enlightened in his foreign policy, devotedly faithful and ready to sacrifice his wealth and labour for the king. From the moment of his death everything began to go wrong, till all was lost.'

END OF VOL. I.

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The following Articles in this Volume are Copyrighted by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY in the United States of America :

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BOSTON (city).

BROOKLYN.

BROWN, JOHN.

BROWNE, CHARLES FARRAR.

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BUCHANAN, JAMES.

BUFFALO (city).

BUTLER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

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CAMBRIDGE (Mass.).

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