Born 1406; died 1486, Cardinal, was
the third son of William Bourchier, Earl of Eu, and of Lady Anne
Plantagenet, a daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester,
youngest son of Edward III. At
an early age he entered the University of
Oxford, and in due course, embracing a clerical
career, was collated to the living of Colwich, Staffordshire, in the
Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, on 24 May, 1424. His next
promotion was to the Deanery of St. Martin-le-Grand in London, 1
December, 1427, and he was likewise inducted to the prebend of
West Thurrock; it was not till 24 September, 1429, that he was ordained acolyte and
sub-deacon. This rapid promotion was doubtless due to his high
birth, and though no evidence exists of any special attainments as a
scholar, he was further appointed Chancellor of the University of
Oxford in 1434, a post which he held for three years; in 1433,
notwithstanding his youth, he was recommended for the then vacant See of
Worcester. The pope had,
however, already made another choice, but interest was exerted with
the result that the previous nomination was
cancelled, and Eugenius IV by
a Bull dated 9 March,
1434 appointed Bourchier Bishop of Worcester, the
temporalities of the see being
restored to him on 15 April, and on 15 May he received episcopal consecration.
Not long after, the Bishop of Ely died, and
the Benedictine Cathedral
Chapter desiring Bourchier for their pastor, sent
to Rome to
procure Bulls for his
translation. These were expedited; but the King of England
steadily refused to restore the temporalities to him, so Bourchier
renounced the election. Ely was kept vacant till 1443, under the
administration of Louis de Luxembourg, Archbishop of
Rouen. This
arrangement, sanctioned by the pope, had been
made in order that Louis de Luxembourg might enjoy the revenues, a
convenient form of reward employed by the English sovereigns at that
time, since it proved no
burden to the royal exchequer. On the death of the Archnbishop of Rouen,
Bourchier, this time nominated by the king, was at once elected by
the Chapter of Ely, the Bulls for the
translation, dated 20
December, 1443, procured, and after the usual confirmation he
received the temporalities on 27 February, 1443-44, but it seems
that he was not enthroned till
another two years had elapsed. Both as Bishop of Worcester and
of Ely he
was frequently called to the royal councils. The Archbishopric of Canterbury
fell vacant early in 1454, and Bourchier was recommended for the primatial see.
To this he was translated on 22 April, and was enthroned in
February, 1454-55. On 5 March following he was appointed Lord
Chancellor and received the Seals from Henry VI during that
monarch's temporary recovery from the inanity that was settling on
him. The troubles between the rival factions of the Yorkists and
Lancastrians were then fomenting, and it was hoped that Bourchier
might possibly keep the balance even between them. When the Yorkists
marched south, their leaders informed the chancellor that their
objects were peaceable; but though Bourchier endeavoured to inform
the king of their assurances, his communication never reached the
sovereign, and the hostile forces met in battle at St. Albans, 22
May, 1455, when Henry VI was defeated and taken prisoner. This
action marks the commencement of the Wars of the Roses. A Parliament
was summoned for July, when the Duke of York received pardon. The
meeting was then prorogued till November, but in the meanwhile Henry
relapsed into imbecility, and the Duke of York was named Protector.
Bourchier resigned the Great Seal in October, 1456, when Queen
Margaret obtained possession of the king, and with him the chief
power fell into her hands. Although the archbishop and
Waynflete, as peacemakers, drew up terms of agreement between the
parties, dissensions soon broke out again, and after hearing the
Yorkists' grievances, Bourchier undertook to accompany them to the
king, then at Northampton,
with a view to securing a settlement. The king refused them
audience, and a battle was then fought at Northampton
(July, 1460), when Henry found himself once more a prisoner. The
Duke of York now claimed the throne, but a compromise was effected
whereby he was to succeed Henry to the exclusion of the latter's
son, Edward. Bourchier seems to have accepted this solution; and
when Queen Margaret again opened hostilities, he threw in his lot
definitely with the Yorkists, and was one of the lords who agreed to
accept Edward (IV) as rightful king. As archbishop, he
crowned
Edward on 28 June, 1461, after Edward's marriage with Elizabeth
Woodville, also crowned his
consort (May, 1465). Edward besought Pope Paul II
to bestow a cardinal's hat
on Bourchier in 1465; but delays occurred, and it was not till 1473
that Sixtus
IV finally conferred that honour upon
him. In 1475 Bourchier was employed as one of the arbitrators on the
differences pending between England and France.
Growing feeble, in 1480 he appointed as his coadjutor William
Westkarre who had been consecrated in
1458 Bishop
of Sidon.
In 1483, on the death of Edward IV, he formed one of the deputation
who persuaded the queen-dowager, then in sanctuary with her family at Westminster,
to deliver her second son Richard to his uncle Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, to be with his brother the boy-kind Edward V. Bourchier
had pledged his honour to the
distrustful queen for the lad's security; yet, three weeks later he
was officiating at the coronation of
the usurper, Richard III. He performed the like solemn office for
Henry VII in 1485 after the death of Richard on the field of
Bosworth; and, as a fitting close to the career of a man who was
above all a peacemaker, he married Henry VII to Elizabeth of York on
18 January, 1485-86, thus uniting the factions of the Red and White
roses. He died on 6 April, 1486, as Knowle, a mansion he had
purchased for his see, and was
buried in Canterbury cathedral. It
fell to his lot as archbishop to
preside in 1457 at the trial of Reginald Peacock, Bishop of Chichester,
charged with unorthodoxy. Though the incriminated bishop
withdrew his works condemned as unsound, he was kept in custody by
Bourchier till the death two years later, although he had been
compelled to resign his see.
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