Thomas of Gloucester

“ Having taken some part in crushing the rising of the peasants in 1381, Buckingham became more friendly with Lancaster; and while marching with the king into Scotland in 1385 was created duke of Gloucester, a mark of favour, however, which did not prevent him from taking up an attitude of hostility to Richard. Lancaster having left the country, Gloucester placed himself at the head of the party which disliked the royal advisers, Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk and Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, whose recent elevation to the dignity of duke of Ireland had aroused profound discontent. ”

“ Gloucester left no issue by Jacqueline or Eleanor. Two bastards of his are mentioned: Arthur, already referred to, and Antigone, who married Henry Grey, earl of Tankerville (Sandford, p. 319; Doyle, iii. 511) . A portrait of Gloucester from the Oriel College MS. of Capgrave's `Commentary on Genesis' is engraved in Doyle's 'Official Baronage,' ii. 22. Another picture, from a window in old Greenwich church, is engraved in the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Bodleian, 1697. He is usually described as handsome. ”

“ He claimed the regency, both on grounds of kinship and the will of Henry V. Parliament rejected his pretensions. At last royal letters patent, confirmed by act of parliament, provided that Gloucester, during his brother's presence in England, was only to act as principal counsellor after him, but that when Bedford was absent Gloucester was to be himself protector and defender of the kingdom and church, and chief counsellor to the king. As Bedford was likely to be fully occupied in France, Gloucester at once became protector, with a salary of eight thousand marks a year. ”

“ Richard's brother William died from the effects of the draught, and the earl only escaped with the loss of his nails, teeth, and skin (Matt. Paris, pp. 704, 738; Stubbs, ii. 82; Burt. Ann. p. 460) . In January 1259 Gloucester swore the king of the Romans to observe the new constitution.
From this point Gloucester's career is full of contradictions. Now in attendance on the king, now at variance with De Montfort, and now with Prince Edward, it seems impossible to find any consistency in his conduct. He was present at the London parliament of 9 Feb. ”

“ Gloucester's first acts fully justified the caution of Henry V and the council. Before June 1421 Jacqueline of Bavaria fled to the English court, where she was given a pension and allowed to act as godmother to Henry VI. Born on 25 July 1401, she was the only daughter of William IV, count of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand, and lord of Friesland, and of Margaret of Burgundy, sister of John the Fearless. ”

“ But he had reckoned without one man's ambition and jealousy. His youngest uncle, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, was an unscrupulous and domineering prince, who had hoped to succeed to John of Gaunt's position, and to have the chief part in ruling his nephew's realm. Richard knew him well, and had no intention of employing him. Seeing this, Duke Thomas began to gather a party among the greater nobles, persuading them that the king was putting the rule of England into the hands of mere upstarts and favourites, and that de la Pole and de Vere were no better than Gaveston Pg 208 or the Despensers. ”

“ In about half an hour the messenger returned, whom he had sent to order the arrest of Thomas de Clare.
"My lord," said the page, "they are not to be found."
"They!" exclaimed the Earl.
"Lord Thomas left the castle an hour ago," replied the page, "and his servants are all gone likewise."
"So I thought, so I thought!" said De Montfort; "'Trust not soft seeming' is a good old saw. I might have been wiser than to put faith in one of the brood of Gloucester."
"But of the Ashbys, boy--speak of the Ashbys!" cried Lord Ralph Basset. "My heart is no true prophet if they play us not false likewise." ”

“ CLARE, GILBERT de, seventh Earl of Clare, fifth Earl of Hertford, and sixth Earl of Gloucester (d. 1230) , was the son of Richard, sixth earl of Clare and Hertford (d. 1217?) , by his wife Amicia, one of the three coheiresses of William, earl of Gloucester. On the death of his mother and the failure of issue to her two sisters, Mabel and Isabella (the divorced wife of King John, afterwards married to Geoffrey de Mandevil and Hubert de Burgh) , he succeeded to the vast Gloucester estates apparently in the year 1217 (Annals of Margam, p. 33) . ”

“ Some of those seven are dried by nature's course, Some of those branches by the Destinies cut; But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester, One vial full of Edward's sacred blood, One flourishing branch of his most royal root, Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spilt; Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all vaded, By envy's hand and murder's bloody axe. Ah, Gaunt! his blood was thine: that bed, that womb, That metal, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee, Made him a man ”

“ Gloucester became anxious to assist her. He broke his promise to his brother, and in July persuaded the council to grant him five thousand marks with which to aid Jacqueline in Holland (Fœdera, x. 374) . But the council insisted that no aggressions should be made without the consent of parliament. In January 1428 the pope annulled the marriage of Humphrey and Jacqueline.
In January 1428 the parliament, which had already assembled in the autumn before, held a second session. On 3 March Gloucester requested the lords to define his powers as protector. ”

“ A riot between their supporters took place in London on 30 Oct. The council implored Bedford to return to heal the feud, and on 10 Jan. 1426 he arrived in London [see Beaufort, Henry, bishop of Winchester, d. 1447] . It was the first time that Gloucester had seen him since Henry Vs death. Gloucester signed a bond of unity, in which he agreed to form no alliance without his brother's consent (Beckington Correspondence, i. 139-45) , but efforts to reconcile his feud with Beaufort at first failed. On 18 Feb. parliament, however, met at Leicester, and the peers arbitrated between nephew and uncle. ”

“ GLOUCESTER’S ARMS, BADGES, AND SEALS I. ARMS
Like his brothers, the Duke of Gloucester adopted the arms of England and France quarterly, but whereas their arms were differentiated with various labels, his own were surmounted with a border argent (Garter Types, College of Arms) . At this period the arms of France, as borne by the English Kings, were changed from ‘azure semée of fleur de lys or’ to ‘azure three fleur de lys or,’ and this is the only difference which marks Humphrey’s arms from those of a predecessor in the Gloucester title, Thomas of Woodstock. ”

“ Men imbued with the scholastic spirit had journeyed to Italy before the days of Duke Humphrey, but they had not understood the message which the Italians taught them. Richard of Bury had been the friend of Petrarch, but had entirely failed to understand his point of view, and when the future Duke of Gloucester was but five years old, a certain Augustinian monk, known in Italy as Thomas of England, was lecturing in Florence, but was said by Leonardo Bruni to have loved Humanism only so far as an Englishman could understand it. ”

“ About 1385 the earl joined the baronial party led by the king’s uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, and in 1386 was a member of the commission appointed to regulate the kingdom and the royal household. Then came Richard’s rash but futile attempt to arrest Arundel, which was the signal for the outbreak of hostilities. The Gloucester faction quickly gained the upper hand, and the earl was one, and perhaps the most bitter, of the lords appellant. ”

“ Bedford remained in England and acted as protector. 'Let my brother govern as he list whilst he is in this land,' Gloucester said to his friends, 'for after his going over into France I will govern as me seemeth good.' He also boasted that 'if he had done anything that touched the king in his sovereign state he would not answer for it to any person alive, save only to the king when he came of age' (Ord. P. C. iii. 241) . Before Bedford's departure Gloucester, who was seriously ill at his house, was visited by the council, and swore that he would obey its commands. ”

“ Just now, when Lollardism was “walking in silver slippers,” my Lord Marquis of Dorset was a Lollard. Rome rarely persecutes men of this sort, for she makes them useful in preference.
And now the herald cried—“Sir Thomas Le Despenser, Baron of Cardiff!”
The Earls of Northumberland and Suffolk were the supporters of Le Despenser, who walked forward with a slow, graceful step, to receive from the King’s hand an earl’s coronet, accompanied by the ominous name of Gloucester—a title stained by its last bearer beyond remedy. ”

“ This was indignantly resented by Bedford, and rejected by the council. The young king endeavoured to restore harmony. But Bedford at once withdrew to France, joined in the great conference at Arras, which Gloucester persistently opposed, and died on 14 Sept. 1435. His death made Gloucester next heir to the throne.
The defection of Burgundy had just taken place, and the event stirred up the warlike feeling in England, which Gloucester dexterously used to his own advantage. On 1 Nov. he was appointed in parliament captain of Calais for nine years (Rot. Parl. iv. 483) . ”

“ Meanwhile De Montfort on his return was coming to terms with Prince Edward, and the latter was even suspected of aiming at the crown (Royal Letters, pp. 150, 155; Burt. Ann.; Wint. Ann. p. 98) . Gloucester seems to have crossed before the king, who on reaching England (c. 23 April) flung himself into the city of London, keeping the gates closed and only giving admittance to Gloucester and other of his particular friends (Liber de Ant. Leg. ii. 44) . ”

“ Though Gaveston was banished, Thomas and the other earls still continued distrustful of the king, and on 24 May 1309 the king had to authorise Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, and others to assure the safety of Thomas when coming to him at Kennington (Rymer, ii. 75) . After Gaveston's return from banishment in the summer of 1309, he further offended Lancaster by causing one of his particular adherents to be turned out of his office in favour of one of his own creatures (Monk of Malmesbury, ii. 161–2) . Thomas and four other earls refused to attend a council summoned for 18 Oct. ”

“ Wheathampsted tells us that the Duke died intestate (Whethamstede, i. 74) , and on March 24, 1427, a commission was issued to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Say de Sele, Sir Thomas Stanley, John Somerset, and Richard Chester, empowering them to dispose of the goods and chattels of the late Duke of Gloucester, since he had died intestate (Rot. Pat., 25 Henry VI., Part ii. m. 35; Rymer, V. i. 171) . On the other hand, there is a strong presumption that a will did really exist, and that the Duke’s enemies suppressed it. ”

“ On 30 April 1416 Gloucester received the Emperor Sigismund at Dover (Elmham, p. 133) , and, if a late authority can be trusted (Holinshed, iii. 85) , rode into the water with naked sword in hand and obtained from the emperor a promise that he would exercise or claim no jurisdiction in England. In September the emperor's zeal for peace caused the assembling of a conference at Calais. John of Burgundy would only be present if Humphrey were handed over as a hostage for his safety. ”

“ When Gloucester, Arundel, and Warwick were arrested, Henry took a decided part against his old associates; but he avoided the violence of Nottingham, earl-marshal. He was not a party to the marshal's new appeal, and had no share in the getting rid of Gloucester. But he joined his father and the Duke of York after 28 Aug. in gathering troops to protect the king (Fœdera, viii. 14) . When the new parliament met on 17 Sept. ”

“ On his deathbed Henry warned Gloucester not to selfishly prefer his personal interests to those of the nation (Waurin, Chron. 1399-1422,p. 423) . The dying king appointed him deputy for Bedford during the latter's presence in France. Humphrey at once entered into this position. On 28 Sept. he received the seals from the chancellor in the name of his little nephew, Henry VI. But the council exercised the executive power, and he did not venture to gainsay their acts. In the end the question of the regency was referred to parliament, which Gloucester opened on 9 Nov. ”

“ Soc. 51) . Gloucester next year accompanied Prince Edward in his expedition against the Cinque Ports-a movement probably induced by the fact that it was to this neighbourhood that De Montfort had escaped-and, at the fall of Pevensey (c. 7 March 1266) , saved the life of a rebel knight (whom Edward would have hanged) in the hopes of inducing others to surrender by such an act of mercy (War, 369) . ”

“ At Wallingford she issued on 15 Oct. a violent proclamation against the Despensers (Fœdera, ii. (645-6) . On the same day London rose in revolt in her behalf, the king's minister. Bishop Stapleton, was murdered, and a revolutionary government was established under her second son, John of Eltham. Isabella now advanced to Gloucester, where she was joined by a northern army under Lords Percy and Wake, and a strong force from the Welsh marches. She then marched from Gloucester to Berkeley, restoring the castle, which the younger Despenser had held, to Thomas of Berkeley, the lawful heir. ”

“ Parl. v. 26) . Gloucester, although chiefly occupied with literature, still urged his old policy, and seems to have pressed the Armagnac marriage as a counter-scheme to the plan of Beaufort to marry Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou. But he reconciled himself to the triumph of his enemies, welcomed Margaret on her arrival in England, and even proposed in the House of Lords a vote of thanks to Suffolk for his exertions in concluding the match (ib. v. 73) . He made, however, a long oration in the parliament of 1445 urging the violation of the truce (Polydore Vergil, pp. 69-70, Camden Soc.) ”