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THOMAS ARUNDEL (1353-1414)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 709 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:ARUNDEL (1353-1414)  , See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, was the third son of See also:Richard Fitzalan, See also:earl of See also:Arundel and See also:Warenne, by his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of See also:Henry See also:Plantagenet, earl of See also:Lancaster . His See also:family was an old and influential one, and when See also:Thomas entered the See also:church his preferment was rapid . In 1373 he became See also:archdeacon of See also:Taunton, and in See also:April 1374 was consecrated See also:bishop of See also:Ely . During the See also:early years of the reign of See also:King Richard II. he was associated with the party led by Thomas, See also:duke of See also:Gloucester, Henry, earl of See also:Derby, afterwards King Henry IV., and his own See also:brother Richard, earl of Arundel, and in 1386 he was sent with Gloucester to Eltham to persuade Richard to return to See also:parliament . This See also:mission was successful, and Arundel was made See also:lord See also:chancellor in See also:place of See also:Michael de la See also:Pole, duke of See also:Suffolk, and assisted to make See also:peace between the king and the supporters of the See also:commission of regency . In April 1388 he was made archbishop of See also:York, and, when Richard declared himself of See also:age in 1389, he gave up the See also:office of chancellor, to which, however, he returned in 1391 . During his second See also:tenure of this office he removed the courts of See also:justice from See also:London to York, but they were soon brought back to the See also:metropolis . In See also:September 1396 he was translated from York to Canterbury, and again resigned the office of chancellor . He began his new See also:rule by a vigorous See also:attempt to assert his rights, warned the citizens of London not to withhold See also:tithes, and decided appeals from the judgments of his suffragans during a thorough visitation of his See also:province . In See also:November 1396 he had officiated at the See also:marriage of Richard and See also:Isabella, daughter of See also:Charles VI., king of See also:France, and his fall was the sequel of the king's sudden attack upon the lords appellant in 1397 . After the See also:arrest of Gloucester . See also:Warwick and Arundel, the archbishop was impeached by the See also:Commons with the king's consent, although Richard, who had not yet revealed his hostility, held out hopes of safety to him .

He was charged with assisting to procure the commission of regency in derogation of the royal authority, and See also:

sentence of banishment was passed, See also:forty days being given him during which to leave the See also:realm . Towards the end of 1397 he started for See also:Rome, and See also:Pope See also:Boniface IX., at the urgent See also:request of the king, translated him to the see of St See also:Andrews, a step which the pope afterwards confessed he repented bitterly . This See also:translation virtually deprived Arundel of all authority, as St Andrews didnot acknowledge Boniface . He then became associated with Henry of Lancaster, but did not return to See also:England before 1399, and the See also:account which See also:Froissart gives telling how he was sent by the Londoners to urge Henry to come and assume the See also:crown is thought to refer to his See also:nephew and namesake, Thomas, earl of Arundel . Landing with Henry at Ravenspur, he accompanied him to the See also:west . He took his place at once as archbishop of Canterbury, witnessed the See also:abdication of Richard in the See also:Towel of London, led the new king, Henry IV., to his See also:throne in presence of the peers, and crowned him on the 13th of See also:October 1399 . The See also:main See also:work of his later years was the See also:defence of the church, and the suppression of See also:heresy . To put down the See also:Lollards, he called a See also:meeting of the See also:clergy, pressed on the See also:statute de haeretico comburendo, and passed sentence of degradation upon See also:William See also:Sawtrey . He resisted the attempt of the parliament of 1404 to disendow the church, but failed to induce Henry to See also:pardon Archbishop See also:Scrope in 1405 . In 1407 he became chancellor for the See also:fourth See also:time, and in 1408 summoned a See also:council at See also:Oxford, which See also:drew up constitutions against the Lollards . These he published in See also:January 1409, and among them was one forbidding the translation of the See also:Bible into See also:English without the consent of the bishop of the See also:diocese, or of a provincial See also:synod . In 1411 he went on an See also:embassy abroad, and in 1412 became chancellor again, his return to See also:power being accompanied by a See also:change in the See also:foreign policy of Henry IV .

In 1397 he had sought to vindicate his right of visitation over the university of Oxford, but the dispute remained unsettled until 1411 when a See also:

bull was issued by Pope See also:John See also:XXIII. recalling one issued by Pope Boniface IX., which had exempted the university from the archbishop's authority . In 1413 he took a leading See also:part in the proceedings against See also:Sir John See also:Oldcastle, Lord See also:Cobham, and in the following See also:year he died on the 19th of See also:February, and was buried at Canter-See also:bury . A See also:legend of a later age tells how, just before his See also:death, he was struck dumb for preventing the See also:preaching of the word of See also:God . The See also:chief authorities are T . See also:Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, ed. by H . T . See also:Riley (London, 1863—1864) ; Eulogium historiarum sive temporis, ed. by F . S . See also:Haydon (London, 1858—1863) ; the See also:Monk of See also:Evesham, Historia vitae et regni Ricardi II., ed. by T . See also:Hearne (Oxford, 1729) ; W . F . See also:Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. iv .

(London, 186o-1876) .

End of Article: THOMAS ARUNDEL (1353-1414)
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