THE LIFE OF HENRY CHICHELE Archbishop of Canterbury Who lived in the Times of HENRY the V. and VI. Kings of England Written in Latin by ARTH. DUCK LLD. Now made English And a Table of CONTENTS Annexed LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCIX The most Reverend D r. HENRY CHICHELE Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury MBurghers delin et sculp To the most Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan My Lord WHILE the World is so fond of Voyages and the Discoveries of Unknown Countries I hope it will not be unacceptable to bring into view one of the best Lives of one of the Greatest Prelates of this Church writ in Latin with great Judgment by a Man very eminent in his Profession If this Prelate had lived in happier Times he would probably have exerted those great Talents which he carried far in so dark an Age in Services of a high nature He had a true Judgment and firm Courage with a generous Temper and was a great Patron and Promoter of Learning He despised Wealth was free from aspiring and asserted the Rights of the Crown and the Liberties of this Church against Papal Usurpations These were great Qualities and so much the greater because the Corruptions of the Clergy from the Papacy down to the Begging Orders were then to an insupportable degree In any other Age the publishing a Life which has so great a Relation to the most Glorious part of our History might have lookt like a reproach of the Time in which it came out But the Present Age may well bear it in which if we have not carried our Conquest into France as was then done yet we see a GREAT PRINCE who has far out-done the Performances of that time Then a Feeble King and divided Court made the Work as easy in it self as it looks great in History But we have seen a Mighty and United Power managed by Wise Counsels flush'd with a long course of Success that gave Law to All about it stopt in its full career by a King born to be a Blessing to the present Age and a Wonder to all Succeeding ones to Whose Reign the most renouned Pieces of our History are but foiles to set it off and make it shine the brighter My Lord I could not be long in suspence for the choice of a proper Patron to my small Interest in this Work which is only the care of the Translation of it into English The See that you do now govern with so Apostolical a Temper and in none of the easiest Times is not the chief reason of my addressing to Your Grace the Life of one of the most Eminent of all Your Predecessors I could give many more Reasons for the choice that relate immediately to Your Self but I will rather leave it to the Reader to find out than offer a thing so ingrateful to Your Lordship I pay Your Grace so profound a Reverence that I will not venture on that which I know will offend You for I am with the truest Zeal and the highest Respect possible My Lord Your Grace's most Humble and most Obedient Servant THE LIFE OF HENRY CHICHELE Archbishop of CANTERBURY HENRY CHICHELE was Born at Higham-Ferrars an ancient Town in Northamptonshire so call'd from the Ferrars who were formerly Lords of it His Father's Name was Thomas Chichele his Mother 's Agnes The Family was but mean and obscure but through his Virtue it became illustrious in after-ages In his Youth he applied himself to the Study of the Civil and Canon Law at Oxford being made Fellow of New-College by William Wyckam then Bishop of Winchester who had lately at a vast Charge founded and endow'd with large Revenues two stately Colleges one at Oxford and the other at Winchester In these Studies of the Law he improv'd his good natural Parts by his great Industry and commenc'd Doctor in that Faculty He left the University at the instance of Robert Medeford Bishop of Salisbury who took him first into his House and Family and afterwards communicated also to him his most private and important Concerns with whom he ever after preserv'd a strict and intimate Friendship He was preferr'd by him to the Archdeaconry of Salisbury which was his first step to Ecclesiastical Promotions But one Walter Fitzpers a Priest commenc'd a Suit against him for this Dignity claiming it by vertue of a Grant from King Henry the Fourth under the Great Seal The Cause being brought by Appeal before Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury the Archdeaconry was adjudg'd to Henry Chichele by the Auditor of the Archbishop's Court who was deputed with full Power to determine this affair This was about the Years 1402 and 1403 in the Reign of King Henry the Fourth He held this Dignity for about two years and with great diligence perform'd the Duty of his Office after which he was made Chancellor of Salisbury For Walter Medeford the Bishop's Brother who enjoy'd that Place made an exchange with him which was allow'd to be lawful according to the Constitutions of the Canon Law and having both quitted their several Dignities Henry was made Chancellor by the Bishop and Walter Archdeacon There was annexed to the Chancellorship the Parsonage of Odyham in the Diocess of Winchester which was then void and was given to him by the Bishop and he was immediately put in possession of it by the Custos Rotulorum of the See of Winchester which was then vacant by the Death of William Wyckam who on the 27 th of September chang'd a Life which he had spent very gloriously in the Service of that Church for Immortality These Preferments he obtain'd by the favour of the Bishop of Salisbury who always highly esteem'd him and when he died which was about three years after made very honourable mention of him in his Will and left him a golden Cup with a Cover and made him the Chief of his Executors which were named in the same Will His eminent Qualifications began now to be generally taken notice of and particularly by King Henry the Fourth who afterwards employ'd him in many Negotiations For besides his extraordinary Learning he had a sharp and piercing Wit which with his Experience and Skill in Civil Affairs rendred him very dextrous in the management of Business The first publick Employment that he had beside those Affairs which he dispatch'd for the King here at home with great Commendation was in an extraordinary Embassy which was sent by the King to Pope Gregory the Twelfth to Congratulate his late Advancement to the Papacy or to reconcile him to Benedict the Thirteenth who assumed the Pontifical Dignity at Avignon The Ambassadors arriving in Italy took their Journey towards Rome but in their way thither they met with the Pope at Siena which is a very pleasant and noble City of Tuscany at that time
upon the death of Thomas Arundel fell to the Exchequer were by a particular favour granted him by a Patent under the Great Seal after he had paid Six hundred Marks He came to Leicester upon the account of the Parliament which the King had call'd there that he might consult with his Prelates Lords and Commons about making new Laws raising Money and the State of the Kingdom in general In this Parliament the Archbishop by his great Wisdom averted a terrible Storm from the Church which was rais'd against it by the envy of the Nobility and Commonalty at the Wealth of the Prelates which had shewed it self at several times during the Reign of Henry the Fourth but now seem'd to threaten them more nearly in this new Government For ten years before this in a Parliament holden at Coventry in the Year 1404. when King Henry the Fourth demanded Money of them for his Wars with the Scots the Welsh the Bretons the Flemings and the French the House of Commons replied that there was no other way of supplying the necessities of the Publick but by diminishing the excessive Wealth of the Clergy and that such was the Condition of the People of England that they not only advanc'd Money continually for the Service of the War but also expos'd their persons to the common Enemy while the Clergy staid at home and neither serv'd their Country with their Persons nor their Estates To this Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury briskly replied That the Clergy granted Tenths oftner than the Laity did Fifteenths and that more of their Tenants and Domesticks serv'd in the Wars than of those of the Nobility beside their Prayers which they pour'd out to God day and night for the prosperity of the Kingdom And presently turning himself to the King he fell upon his Knees and besought him that he would be mindful of his Oath by which he had solemnly promis'd before God and Man to preserve the Rights and Privileges of the Church entire and unviolated by which and by engaging those of the Nobility whom he thought to favour his Cause he prevail'd so far that the Demands of the Commons were thrown out by a publick Act. Six years after this in another Parliament holden by Henry the Fourth at Westminster the Commons in an Address presented to the King set forth that the Revenues of the Prelates and Monks which they consumed in Debauchery and Excess were sufficient to supply the Necessities of the King and Kingdom that out of them might be maintain'd Fifteen Earls Fifteen hundred Knights Six thousand two hundred Esquires and One hundred Hospitals and therefore they besought the King that he would seise them into his own hands and out of them would defray the necessary Expences of the Kingdom To which Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury again replied That the Commons did not desire the Lands of the Clergy to enrich the Exchequer but to repair their own Fortunes which were wasted by their Prodigality out of the rich Spoils of the Church as it had formerly happened to the Monasteries in France which in the Wars between the English and the French were brought into the Treasury out of which said he the King has not now so much as a Noble left At that time also the King rejected the Petition of the Commons whether it were that he fear'd an eternal Infamy would attend him if he should rob the Church or because he thought that the Promoters of this Design were secret Favourers of the Doctrine of John Wickliff to which he had always a great aversion From that time during the Reign of Henry the Fourth there was nothing attempted against the Church But in this Parliament at Leicester the House of Commons in an Address petition'd the new King that their demands against the Clergy which were represented four years ago might be taken into consideration again and voted in both Houses The Archbishop was extremely troubled at this for he was very sollicitous that the Church should receive no prejudice under his Government his greatest fear arose from the consideration of the King's Youth which is generally bent upon hasty Designs and Innovations Having therefore communicated this Affair to the Bishops it was determin'd by them that the Clergy should offer the King a great Sum of Money and excite him to make war with the French and to assert his Title to that Crown which falling to Edward the Second by Marriage was by him transmitted to his Successors Most of the Writers of that Age relate that the Archbishop upon this occasion presently call'd a Synod at London yet none of their Decrees are now to be found among the publick Records Now our Kings claim'd the Crown of France by this Title Charles the Fair King of France who was the only surviving Male-Heir of the Line of Philip the Fair his Father dying without Issue Edward the Third King of England Son to Edward the Second by Isabella Daughter of Philip the Fair by his Ambassadors demanded the Crown of France of the Estates of that Kingdom as next of kin to Philip the Fair his Mother's Father and Charles his Unkle On the other side Philip de Valois Son to Charles de Valois who was Brother to Philip the Fair maintained that he was next Heir by right of Succession as Cousin German to the late King Charles the Fair whereas Edward claim'd only in right of his Mother as being Grandson to Philip the Fair by his Daughter and Nephew to Charles the Fair by his Sister which Claim was contrary to the Laws and Constitutions of France by which the Crown is to descend upon the Male-line only alledging the words of the Salick Law that no Woman should inherit in Salick Land which Salick Land he affirm'd to be the Kingdom of France The French therefore rejected King Edward's Claim and acknowledg'd Philip for their King whereupon Edward presently assum'd the Title of King of France which our Kings have us'd ever since and having invaded France successfully he left the Quarrel entail'd upon his Successors together with the Crown of England After him Richard the Second a weak Prince desisted wholly from the War with the French and Henry the Fourth though he were a Valiant Prince yet being taken up partly with the Rebellions of the Welch and partly with the Intestine Divisions of his own Nobility he could not employ the whole Force of the Kingdom against them But in Henry the Fifth all opportunities concurr'd for carrying on the War a vigorous Age a great Courage Riches and Peace at home Beside which the Archbishop was of opinion that the fierce and restless Disposition of the Young King ought to be employ'd in some difficult Enterprize and that the only way to keep him from making any Disturbances at home was to shew him an Enemy abroad as there is no other way to stop the fury of
abroad again some Opinions which he had recanted in the Synod two years before for which he was said to be relaps'd into Heresy His Tenets were these That God alone was to be invok'd by the Prayers of the Faithful that that Worship was due to Christ himself not upon the account of his Human Nature but of his Divine Nature only that it was not lawful to pray to Saints or any other created Being that those that offer'd Gifts to the Image of the Cross or of the Saints were guilty of Idolatry that a Monastick Life was contrary to the Institutions of Christ that the Administration of Civil Affairs and all Secular Government was forbidden to Priests by Christ himself and that many of those Opinions that were condemn'd as impious by the Council of Constance were Orthodox All these Assertions were referr'd by the Archbishop as Judge in this Affair to the four Orders of Mendicant Fryers who were to examine whether they were agreable to the Holy Scriptures and the Sense of the Fathers and the Lawyers were order'd to consider what punishment was to be inflicted on one relapsed into Heresy The Divines deliver'd their Opinion That the Tenets maintain'd by him were impious and contrary to the Holy Scriptures and the Decrees of the Church of Rome As to matter of Law William Lyndewood Official of the Court of Arches Thomas Brown Dean of the same Court and the other Lawyers answer'd That one suspected of Heresie was to be debarr'd from the Communion of the Church for a year and if after this probation he repented of his Errors he was to be receiv'd again into the bosom of the Church but if he relaps'd into Heresy again he was to be reputed guilty of a capital Crime and deliver'd over to the Secular Power whereupon by the Sentence of the Synod he was declar'd a Heretick and solemnly devested of his Orders Soon after the end of this Synod the whole Kingdom was seiz'd with the greatest consternation imaginable upon the News of the King's death who having pursued the Dauphin with too much heat as far as Bourges on the 31 st of August died at Bois de Vinciennes about three Miles from Paris of a violent Fever which he had contracted by his excessive Fatigues He died in a very unlucky time for King Charles his Father-in-Law pin'd away with grief for the death of his Son King Henry who was very dear to him and died within twenty days after The King's Body was brought over into England and buried at Westminster The Inheritance of both Kingdoms descended to Henry the Sixth who was then an Infant the government of which was left by the late King in his Will to his two Brothers that of England to Humphry Duke of Glocester and that of France to John Duke of Bedford till his Son should come of Age the care of whose Education was committed to Henry Beaufort Bishop of Winchester and Thomas Beaufort Duke of Exeter his Great Uncles Certainly no King of England ever excell'd King Henry the Fifth in all vertuous Qualifications nor was there any one whose death was so prejudicial to the Kingdom He was adorn'd with all the Accomplishments both of Body and Mind that could be desir'd in a Prince with Prudence Courage Constancy Modesty Bounty Eloquence Beauty and Strength all which being attended with a singular good Fortune procur'd him a wonderful esteem amongst Foreigners and are celebrated as well by the French Writers as by those of our own Nation The Duke of Glocester that he might settle the Affairs of the Kingdom according to the Injunctions of his Brother King Henry call'd a Parliament at Westminster on the 9 th of November and first of all he commanded the Archbishop of Canterbury to declare to both Houses the cause of their meeting for Thomas Bishop of Durham upon the death of the King had resign'd the Seal and other marks of the Chancellorship to which this Office belongs to the Duke of Glocester at Windsor and had laid down the Place The Archbishop having spoken largely in praise of the Vertues of King Henry the Fifth and made honourable mention of his Actions in France came to speak of the Young King and affirm'd that it was by the special favour of Almighty God that a Son of such promising hopes should succeed so great a Father that his very Title of the Sixth was attended with a lucky Omen for as the number Six was the most compleat of all the rest because in so many days God Almighty had made this vast Fabrick of the World so this King Henry the Sixth of that Name would be the greatest of all his Predecessors that he would compleat what his Father had so prosperously begun in France and that as he was descended both from the Kings of England and France so he would at length enjoy both those Crowns which were devolv'd to him by lawful Inheritance That he in the King's Name did declare to the Peers and all the People that they should enjoy all the Privileges and Immunities granted to them by his Highness's Predecessors and that he was commanded to give them three Reasons for calling this Parliament Which were That Governors might be assign'd the King by a publick Act that they might consult about the Peace of the Realm and the Administration of Justice and that they might provide for the defence of the Kingdom against the Insults of Foreign Enemies Lastly He exhorted them by the Example of Jethro Moses's Father-in-law to make choice of the best and wisest of the Nobility to take upon them the government of the King and Kingdom and besought them that they would use their utmost endeavours for the safety of the King and the benefit of their Country When the Archbishop had done speaking the Protectorship was unanimously confirm'd to the Duke of Glocester and some of the most Eminent of the Bishops and Nobility were appointed to be of the Privy Council till the King should come of Age of which the Archbishop was nam'd first But he having lost his King and Patron who had advanc'd him to the highest Honors and who dearly lov'd him when the Parliament was dissolv d retir'd within the Bounds of his Province in which he perform'd the Duties of his Function with great diligence For the Year after the death of Henry the Fifth by his Metropolitical Authority he visited the Diocesses of Chichester and Salisbury and the next year that of Lincoln in which Visitations he revers d all those things that had been acted amiss by the Ordinaries and examin'd into the Faith and Manners of the People In his journy through the Diocess of Lincoln he came to Higham Ferrers the Town where he was born in which out of a pious and commendable design of adorning the Place of his Nativity he dedicated a Noble College which he had formerly begun there to the Honour of