t70 Constitutional History. [chap.
Possible
design of
the queen.
New attack
on Somerset.
Parliament
meets in
February
1454∙
York de-
clared IoyaL
of the advice of lɪis personal counsellors1. It is not improbable
that the queen on this occasion proposed to assume the regency
during her husband’s illness2; and the duke of Norfolk per-
haps took the same opportunity of presenting his charges
against Somerset ; the arrest and imprisonment of the luckless
minister followed early in December 3. He was not friendless,
and both parties prepared to appear with armed force at the
ensuing parliament4. The influence however of the duke of
York had already made itself felt in the council. The place
of meeting was altered; the earl of Worcester on the nth of
February, 1454, prorogued the assembly to the 14th at West-
minster 5 ; and on that day the duke of York opened the
proceedings under- a commission from the king and council.
He was already in possession of supreme power, although not
yet nominally regent ; the influence of Somerset in the council
was paralysed by his arrest ; an indictment against the earl
of Devonshire for high treason, in consequence of his action
in 1452, failed, and the duke of York, conceiving himself to
be attacked, claimed and received from the lords an assurance
of their belief in his loyalty 6. The house of commons in vain
demanded the release of their speaker. He had been arrested
at the suit of the duke ; the privilege of the commons was
ɪ See the curious document printed by Mr. Gairdner, Paston Letters,
i. cxlviii, from the Kot. Pat. 32 Hen. VI, m. 20; Lanibard, Archeion,
p- ɪsɪ-
a One of the Paston Letters (i. 265) mentions a bill of five articles in
which the queen claimed the regency, the patronage in church and state,
and the expenditure of the sum allowed to the king for livelihood.
3 The petition of Norfolk against Somerset is in the Paston Letters, i.
259. He had delivered some charges before ; to these Somerset had
replied, and Norfolk had answered the reply. He contends that the
duke’s acts have justified the charges ; he has used bribery to prevent
the charges being brought home, t some saying that the cases by him
committed be but cases of trespass, and other taking a colour to make
universal peace;’ but he is guilty of the loss of Guienne and Normandy;
he demands a full inquiry.
* Paston Letters, i. 264, 265.
5 Rot. Parl. v. 238, 239. The duke of Norfolk had attempted to in-
fluence the elections in Suffolk, and the sheriff made a return that he
dared not proceed on account of the menaces of the duke’s servants ; on
which account the duke afterwards had him summoned before the council ;
Ord. vi. 183.
6 Rot. Parl. v. 249.
XVIII.]
First Protectorate of York.
171
asserted on his behalf : the question of privilege was referred Question of
7 ɪ . privilege.
to the judges, who denied that they had power to decide such
high matters, and the lords determined that he should remain
in prison1. The commons had to make the best of it, and ʌ new
ɪ ∕ni speaker.
elected a new speaker, Sir Thomas Charlton, member for
Middlesex2. Through him on the 19th of March they ad- Address
dressed the lords with a request that measures might be taken commons,
for the defence of Calais, for which an outlay of £40,000 was
required, and that the promise which the chancellor had made
at Reading, to appoint a sad and wise council, might be
fulfilled. Cardinal Kemp replied to the address, promising
a good and comfortable answer3. That answer he did not
live to furnish. He died three days after, on the 2 2nd of Death of
_ _ 1 ττ _ p . Cardinal
Maren. He was about seventy-four, a man ol great experience, Kemp,
moderation and fidelity ; the friend and coadjutor of Beaufort,
and yet thoroughly respected by the opposite party. He knew
however that he himself must be the next victim ; the duke
of Norfolk, the pliant agent of the duke of York, had already
begun to threaten him, and his death may have been hastened
by the alarm and excitement4. He left the two most im-
portant posts in church and state vacant, and removed the
most powerful influence that might have curbed the ambition
of the duke of York.
A message sent by the lords, to inquire the royal pleasure Continned
as to the appointment of a new archbishop and a new chan- the king,
cellor, revealed Unmistakeably the present condition of the 1'b4'
king. It was impossible to attract his attention or to get
a word from him. On the 23rd a committee of the lords
visited him at Windsor; on the 25th they reported the failure
of their mission5. Nothing now could be done without the
appointment of a regent. On the 27 th the lords chose the The duke of
duke of York to be protector and defender of the realm6. The protector,
duke accepted the election with a protest that he undertook
1 Rot. Part. v. 239, 240. 2 lb. v. 240. 3 lb. v. 240.
4 ‘ Eo quod ɪioluɪt in aliquo a veritate declinare, sic ab aliquibus dominɪs
et Specialiter a duce Norfolkiae ɪninatur, quod citius elegit mori quam
vitaɪɪɪ ducere mortis ; ’ Chron. Giles, p. 45.
5 Rot. Parl. v. 240-242.
6 lb. v. 242.