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THOMAS BOURCHIER (c. 1404-1486)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 329 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:BOURCHIER (c. 1404-1486)  , See also:English See also:archbishop, See also:lord See also:chancellor and See also:cardinal, was a younger son of See also:William See also:Bourchier, See also:count of Eu (d . 1420), and through his See also:mother, See also:Anne, a daughter of See also:Thomas of See also:Woodstock, See also:duke of See also:Gloucester, was a descendant of See also:Edward III . One of his See also:brothers was See also:Henry, See also:earl of See also:Essex (d . 1483), and his See also:grand-See also:nephew was See also:John, Lord See also:Berners, the translator of See also:Froissart . Educated at See also:Oxford and then entering the See also:church, he obtained rapid promotion, and after holding some See also:minor appointments he became See also:bishop of See also:Worcester in 1434 . In the same See also:year he was chancellor of the university of Oxford, and in 1443 he was appointed bishop of See also:Ely; then in See also:April 1454 he was made archbishop of See also:Canterbury, becoming lord chancellor of See also:England in the following See also:March . Bourchier's See also:short See also:term of See also:office as chancellor coincided with the opening of the See also:Wars of the See also:Roses, and at first he was not a strong See also:partisan, although he lost his position as chancellor when See also:Richard, duke of See also:York, was deprived of See also:power in See also:October 1456 . Afterwards, in 1458, he helped to reconcile the contending parties, but when the See also:war was renewed in 1459 he appears as a decided Yorkist; he crowned Edward IV. in See also:June 1461, and four years later he performed a similar service for the See also:queen, See also:Elizabeth Woodville . In 1457 Bourchier took the See also:chief See also:part in the trial of Reginald See also:Pecock, bishop of See also:Chichester, for See also:heresy; in 1467 he was created a cardinal; and in 1475 he was one of the four arbitrators appointed to arrange the details of the treaty of Picquigny between England and See also:France . After the See also:death of Edward IV. in 1483 Bourchier persuaded the queen to allowher younger son, Richard, duke of York, to See also:share his See also:brother's See also:residence in the See also:Tower of See also:London; and although he had sworn to be faithful to Edward V. before his See also:father's death, he crowned Richard III. in See also:July 1483 . He was, however, in no way implicated in the See also:murder of the See also:young princes, and he was probably a participant in the conspiracies against Richard . The third English See also:king crowned by Bourchier was Henry VII., whom he also married to Elizabeth of York in See also:January 1486 .

The archbishop died on the 3oth of March 1486 at his residence, Knole, near See also:

Sevenoaks, and was buried in Canterbury See also:cathedral . See W . F . See also:Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (186o-1884) .

End of Article: THOMAS BOURCHIER (c. 1404-1486)
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