General Notes

REFN: 1240
Cardinal and bishop of Winchester and a dominant figure i
n English politics throughout the first 43 years of the 15t
h century. From about 1435 until 1443 he controlled the gov
ernment of the weak King Henry VI.
Beaufort's father was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, so
n of King Edward III, and his mother was Catherine Swynford
. During the reign of his cousin King Richard II, he becam
e chancellor of Oxford University (1397) and bishop of Linc
oln (1398).
With the accession of his half brother, Henry IV, in 1399
, Beaufort was guaranteed a prominent place in politics. I
n 1403 he became chancellor of England and a royal councill
or. In the following year he was appointed bishop of Winche
ster, one of the richest sees in the country. He then resig
ned his chancellorship and led the opposition within the co
uncil to Henry IV's chief minister, Thomas Arundel, archbis
hop of Canterbury. When Beaufort's nephew and political all
y became king as Henry V in 1413, Beaufort again received t
he chancellorship. In order to climb still higher, the ambi
tious bishop sought a position with the papacy. Pope Marti
n V made him a cardinal and papal legate in 1417, but the k
ing, fearing that Beaufort would be an all too effective sp
okesman for papal policies, soon forced him to resign thes
e ecclesiastical offices.
Upon the accession of the infant Henry VI in 1422, however
, Beaufort's talents were allowed to flourish. Already weal
thy, he enriched himself further by lending money to the in
solvent crown at high interest rates. Beaufort's financin
g of the state solidifed his power; there was little his en
emies could do against the man on whom the solvency of th
e government depended. Beaufort was made cardinal of St. Eu
sebius and papal legate in 1426, a move for which he was co
ntinually attacked by his uncle, Humphrey, duke of Gloucest
er, who criticized him for simultaneously holding high posi
tions in church and state. But Beaufort survived Gloucester
's sniping, and with the support of the young Henry VI, b
y the mid-1430s the government was firmly back in his hands
. In 1435 and 1439 he attempted without success to negotiat
e an end to the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between Engl
and and France, and in 1443 he retired from politics. Beauf
ort was arrogant, self-serving, and greedy to the point o
f rapacity, but his political and financial acumen were unr
ivaled in the England of his time. His career is authoritat
ively recounted in L.B. Radford's Henry Beaufort (1908).