148 Comtihdional History. [chap.
Jiome too the prospect was becoming very threatening. A second
parliament was called in November. War had broken out with
Scotland and the earl of Northumberland had suffered an
alarming defeat1.
Parliament
of x449-50.
General
disaffection.
Financial
ruin.
Archbishop
Kemp again
chancellor.
The session was opened 'on the 6th of November 1449, and
continued at Westminster or at Blackfriars, by prorogation,
until Christmas, when it was again prorogued to the 22nd of
January 14502. Little is known of the proceedings during
these weeks, but they were probably stormy ; for on the 9th of
December bishop Moleyns, who next to the duke of Suffolk
was regarded as responsible for the surrender of Maine, re-
signed the Privy Seals. Bishop Lumley of Carlisle, Suffolk’s
ally, who had been treasurer since 1446, had in October 1449
made way for the lord Say and Sele, who immediately became
unpopular. The dissatisfaction of the country would no doubt
have resulted in a rebellion, if there had been any one to lead
it : the cession of Maine and Normandy had produced a violent
reaction against Suffolk ; the finances of the country had gone
to ruin ; the king’s debt, the debt of the nation, had since
Beaufort’s death gone on increasing, and now amounted to
.£372,000 ; lɪis ordinary income had sunk to .£5000 ; the house-
hold expenses had risen to £24,0004. Stafford, the chancellor,
who was growing old, might be expected to give way under
the circumstances ; he had been eighteen years in office, and
if he had done little good he had done no harm : as soon
as the parliamentary attack on Suffolk began, he resigned,
and archbishop Kemp, the faithful coadjutor of Beaufort, now
a cardinal ε, was called again into the chancery, too late how-
ever to restore the falling fortunes of his master. Suffolk had
ɪ Henry was charged with conniving at the breach of the truce with the
Scots, when visiting Durham in 1447 ; Chr. Giles, p. 35.
2 Rot. Part. v. ɪɪi- John Popham was speaker. The parliament met
at Westminster, and was adjourned at once to Blackfriars, returning
Dec. 4 to Westminster. On the 17th it was adjourned to Jan. 22 ; and
on March 30 adjourned to Leicester for April 29. It sat until May 17.
3 Rymer, xi. 255. 4 Rot. Parl. v. 183.
s Kemp was made cardinal, with the title of S. Balbina, by Eugenius IV,
Dec. 18, 1439 (Panvin. Ep. Vit. Paparum, p. 300), and cardinal bishop of
S. Rufina July 2i, 1452 (Ang. Sac. i. 123). There is a high panegyric
upon him in a letter of Henry VI to the pope on the occasion of his pro-
motion; Beckington, i. 39. Itis possible that Kemp had, although attached
XVIlI.]
Fall of SvffolJ-.
149
not acted cordially with Kemp, and tlɪe cardinal’s return to
office was one sign that the duke’s influence oveι∙ the king was
already weakened.
345. The Iiistorv of tlɪe trial and fall of Suffolk, although Obecure
*7 ° history of
more fully illustrated by documentary evidencej is scarcely less Siiffoik1b
obscure, in its deeper and more secret connexion with the
politics of the times, than is that of the arrest and death of
Gloucester. Looked at in the light of the parliamentary
records, the attack seems to be a spontaneous attempt on the
part of the commons to bring to justice one whom they con-
ceived to be a traitorous minister; and, if it were indeed so,
it would be the most signal case of proper constitutional action
by way of impeachment that had occurred since the days of
the Good Parliament. That it was not so is sufficiently proved Prosecution
- 1 . OfSnffolk,
by the fact, recorded by a strong antι-Lancastrιan partisan, occasioned
that the commons were urged to the impeachment by a mem- success,
ber of the council who was a personal enemy of Suffolk, and
by the circumstances of the duke’s death, which proved that
bitterer enemies than the commons were secretly at work
against him. Yet there is no difficulty in understanding the
causes of the great ruin which befel him. The loss of Maine
and Anjou had been followed, by the loss of great part of
Normandy. Maine and Anjou had been surrendered by the
policy of Suffolk. Normandy was being lost by the incapacity
or ill Iifck of Somerset. Both were in the closest confidence
of the king and queen. It was not easy for the rough
and undisciplined politicians of the country to discriminate
between the policy of Suffolk and the incapacity or ill !Ack
of Somerset. The easiest interpretation of the phenomena prompted
was treason, and there were not wanting men like lord Cromwell Cromwell.
to guide the commons to that conclusion. Cromwell repre-
to Beaufort, opposed himself to the influence of Suffolk. In 1448, when
the see of London was vacant, Henry applied for the appointment of
Thomas Kemp, the nephew of the cardinal ; Suffolk, however, procured
letters in favour of Marmaduke Lumley, the treasurer, and called the
earlier application surreptitious. The pope administered a serious rebuke
to the king and appointed Kemp; Beckington, Letters, i. 155 sq. It will
be observed that Lumley’s resignation of the treasureτship just preceded
the attack on Suffolk.