172 Constitutional History. [chap.
Conditions the task only in obedience to the king and the peerage of
ance. the land, in whom, by reason of the king’s infirmity, ‘resteth
the exercise of his authority.’ He requested further the advice
and assistance of the lords, which was graciously promised, and
a definition of his functions and commission. These were de-
scribed as constituting him chief of the king’s council, and as
comprised under the title of protector and defender, ‘which
importeth a personal duty of intendance to the actual defence
of this land, as well against the enemies outward, if case
require, as against rebels inward, if any hap to be, that God
forbid, during the king’s pleasure and so that it be not pre-
judice to my lord prince1.’ Precedents were to be searched
to determine the amount of the protector’s salary. The reso-
lution of the lords was embodied in an act, which received
the assent of the commons and passed on the 3rd of April;
by this the duke was constituted protector until the prince
chancellor ∙ came aSe; 0r as ɪθŋo as ɑ'6 pleased 2. On the previous
day he had placed the great seal in the hands of his brother-
in-law, the earl of Salisbury3 ; on the 9th the monks of
Canterbury had a licence to elect the primate, and their choice,
directed by the protector and confirmed by the pope, fell on
archinhhr Th°mas Bourchier, bishop of Ely, a grandson of duke Thomas
of Gloucester and half-brother of the duke of Buckingham4.
The same day the council recommended George Neville, the
chancellor’s son, a young man of twenty-three, for the next
Poiicyofthisvacant bishopric5. Although these appointments indicate a
ment. determination in the victorious faction to strengthen, wherever
it was possible, their hold on power, their position was not by
any means assured, and their administration, whether it were
guided by policy or by an honest wish to be fair, was one
of compromise. The appointment of the archbishop, although
he afterwards showed himself a faithful Yorkist, was one to
1 Bot. Part v. 242 ; above, p. ɪɪo.
2 Rot. Part. v. 242, 243 ; Rymer, xi. 346.
3 Rymer, xi. 344, 345 ; Rot. Part v. 449.
4 On the 30th of March the council determined to nominate Bourchier
for the primacy; Ordinances, vi. 168, 170. lie was elected April 23;
Λng. Sac. i. ɪ 23.
5 Ordinance=!, vi. ι68 ; Rot. Parl. v. 450.
XViII.] DoinffH in Parliament, 1454. 173
which no objection could be raised on the ground of incom-
petency or partisanship, and was perhaps intended to secure
the support of the Staffords and Bourchiers1. Tiptoft was
not removed from the treasury. The mixed composition of the
parliament prevented any extreme measures. No attempt was No extreme
made in parliament to bring Somerset to trial ; a fact which attempted,
perhaps his near relationship to the Nevilles2 might account
for. He was, as a matter of course, deprived of the govern-
ment of Calais, which the duke of York took upon himself3,
and he remained in prison, as did the Lord Cobham, who was otɪɪer trans-
in disgrace as a partisan of York’s4. The provision which parliament,
had been made by the king for his two half-brothers was con-
firmed, and the rights of the queen and the little heir-apparent
were scrupulously guarded wherever they were supposed to
be affected. Owing to the confused way in which the acts
of this long parliament have been enrolled, it is difficult to
assign to the particular session the several financial acts to
which no date is appended ; but it may be presumed that they
formed part of the closing business of the parliament. The act
of 1450, which assigned .£20,000 to the king, was repealed5,
and a new provision was made for the expenses of the house-
hold ; the subsidies appropriated to Calais were vested in the
earls of Salisbury, Shrewsbury, Wiltshire, and Worcester, and
the Lord Stourton6. On the 28th of February a graduated
1 Anne of Gloucester, daughter of duke Thomas of Woodstock, married
first Edmund earl of Stafford who died in 1403, and secondly William
Bourchier earl of Eu who died in 1420. By her first husband she had
Humfrey earl of Buckingham, Hereford, Stafford, Northampton, and
Perche, lord of Brecon and Holderness, who was in 1444 created duke
of Buckingham ; by her second husband she had Henry Bourchier, created
viscount in 1446, Thomas archbishop of Canterbury 1454-1486, and other
sons. The duke of Buckingham had married Anne Neville, sister of the
earl of Salisbury. He attempted, as we shall see, to mediate in the
first years of the struggle. His eldest son, the earl of Stafford, fell at
the first battle of S. Alban’s, and he himself at Northampton in 1460.
2 The earl of Salisbury was, it will be remembered, son of Ralph Neville
earl of Westmoreland, by Johanna Beaufort, Somerset’s aunt.
3 Rot. Parl. v. 254.
4 lb. v. 248.
ð lb. v. 247. The amount assigned to the household was £5183 6s. 8d.
6 lb. v. 243. These lords were relieved from their office in the next
Parliament; ib. p. 283. The duke of York was made captain of Calais