Henry Beaufort

Henry Beaufort ( * 1375 in Anjou, † April 11, 1447 in Winchester ) was the second illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Catherine Swynford of. Even as a child the ecclesiastical career was provided for him.

Him and the three siblings told the cousin Richard II in 1390 legitimized after their parents had married. In 1398 he became Bishop of Lincoln. His half-brother Henry Bolingbroke, who in 1399 as Henry IV came to the throne, appointed him Lord Chancellor in 1403, which he resigned in 1405 to become Bishop of Winchester. This was not only a respected religious position, but so rewarding that they made ​​him the richest man in England.

Between 1411 and 1413 the bishop fell into disgrace, he turned on the part of Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales, against the king. After Monmouth was crowned as Henry V, he made him in 1413 again to the Registrar, whereupon Beaufort in 1417 renounced again.

Pope Martin V. offered him a cardinal's hat, but had to Beaufort to pressure the king refuse. When Henry V died in 1422, succeeded him as the teenage son of Henry VI. according to. As rulers of the great-uncle Bishop Beaufort and the uncle Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, were and John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, used in 1424 Beaufort was the third time Lord Chancellor, in 1426 he was forced to cede due to differences with the co-regent.

The pope made ​​him a cardinal in 1427 and finally to the papal legate for Germany, Hungary and Bohemia. He was told to direct the fourth "crusade " against the Hussite heretics in Bohemia. Meanwhile, the Catholic troops in 1427 were defeated by Tachov.

Cardinal Henry Beaufort led in 1431 to chair that " tribunal ", the Joan of Arc sentenced to death.

He died on April 11, 1447 and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Henry Beaufort was the illegitimate daughter of Jane, who was probably born in 1402, and in 1424 married Edward Stradling. Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, to be stated as Jane's mother is unproven, attributable rather to a legend of Jane.

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