Thomas Bourchier (140430 March 1486) was a medieval English
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
, and
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
of England.
Origins
Bourchier was a younger son of
William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu
William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu (137428 May 1420), was an English knight created by King Henry V 1st Count of Eu, in Normandy.
Origins
He was born in 1374, the son of Sir William Bourchier (d.1375), (the younger son of Robert Bourchier, 1st ...
(died 1420) by his wife
Anne of Gloucester
Anne of Gloucester, Countess of Stafford (30 April 1383 – 16 October 1438) was the eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III), by h ...
, a daughter of
Thomas of Woodstock (1355–1397), youngest son of King
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
. One of his brothers was
Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex
Henry Bourchier, 5th Baron Bourchier, 2nd Count of Eu, 1st Viscount Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, KG ( – 4 April 1483), was the eldest son of William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu, and Anne of Gloucester. On his mother's side, he was a g ...
(died 1483), and his great-nephew was
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (1467 – 19 March 1533) was an English soldier, statesman and translator.
Family
John Bourchier, born about 1467, was the only son of Sir Humphrey Bourchier (d.1471 at the Battle of Barnet) and Elizabeth Ti ...
, the translator of
Froissart.
Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham was his half-brother.
He was educated at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, after which he entered the church and obtained rapid promotion.
Career
After holding some minor appointments he was consecrated
Bishop of Worcester
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
on 15 May 1434. In the same year of 1434 he was
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, and in 1443 was appointed
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nor ...
. In April 1454 he was made
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
, and became Lord Chancellor of England in March 1455.
Bourchier's short term of office as chancellor coincided with the start of the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...
, and at first he was not a strong
partisan, although he lost his position as chancellor when
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Planta ...
, was deprived of power in October 1456. In 1458 he helped to reconcile the contending parties as part of
The Love Day, but when the war was renewed in 1459 he had become a decided
Yorkist. He crowned Duke Richard's son
Edward Plantagenet, 4th Duke of York as King
Edward IV
Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...
in June 1461, and four years later he crowned Edward's queen,
Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile;Although spelling of the family name is usually modernised to "Woodville", it was spelt "Wydeville" in contemporary publications by Caxton, but her tomb at St. George's Chapel, Wind ...
.
In 1457 Bourchier took the chief part in the trial for heresy of
Reginald Pecock
Reginald Pecock (or Peacock; c. 1395– c. 1461) was a Welsh prelate, scholastic, and writer.
Life
Pecock was probably born in Laugharne and was educated at Oriel College, Oxford.
Having been ordained priest in 1421, Pecock secured a masters ...
,
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
. In 1473 he was created a cardinal, not after some delay as this honour had been sought for him by King Edward IV in 1465. In 1475 he was one of the four arbitrators appointed to arrange the details of the
Treaty of Picquigny
The Treaty of Picquigny was a peace treaty negotiated on 29 August 1475 between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. It followed from an invasion of France by Edward IV of England in alliance with Burgundy and Brittany. It left Lou ...
between England and France. After the death of King Edward IV in 1483 Bourchier persuaded the queen to allow her younger son,
Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...
, to join his elder brother King
Edward V
Edward V (2 November 1470 – mid-1483)R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, ''A New Dictionary of British History'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963, p. 286. was ''de jure'' King of England and Lord of Ireland fr ...
in (supposedly protective) residence in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. Although Bourchier had sworn, before his father's death, to be faithful to King
Edward V
Edward V (2 November 1470 – mid-1483)R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, ''A New Dictionary of British History'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963, p. 286. was ''de jure'' King of England and Lord of Ireland fr ...
, he nevertheless crowned King
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Bat ...
in July 1483.
The third English king crowned by Bourchier was King
Henry VII (1485–1509), whom he also married to
Elizabeth of York in January 1486.
Death and burial
Bourchier died on 30 March 1486 at the palatial residence he had transformed,
Knole House, near
Sevenoaks in Kent, and was buried in
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
, where his monument can be found.
Citations
References
*
*
External links
Biography: Thomas Bourchier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourchier, Thomas
Lord chancellors of England
Archbishops of Canterbury
Bishops of Worcester
Bishops of Ely
15th-century English cardinals
Chancellors of the University of Oxford
1411 births
1486 deaths
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
Burials at Canterbury Cathedral
Alumni of the University of Oxford