Family of Courtenay.-Family of Bohun.-William Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devon, born in the parish of St. Martin's, Exminster.— Educated at Stapledon Hall, Oxford.-A Doctor Decretorum.Chancellor of the University.-Peculiar circumstances of his election. -His preferments.-Bishop of Hereford in his 28th year.-State of parties. His conduct in convocation anti-papal.-Translated to London.-Unjustifiable conduct towards the Florentines.-Violent conduct of John of Gaunt.-Courtenay resents the insult offered to William of Wykeham.-Courtenay prosecutes Wiclif.-Scene between him and John of Gaunt in St. Paul's.-Disturbances in London. Courtenay's conduct with respect to Hawle.-Change of views in Courtenay.-His translation to Canterbury. Receives the cross from Canterbury, under protest.-Made Lord Chancellor. -Opens Parliament.-Infamous conduct of Parliament.-Courtenay officiates at the marriage and coronation of the Queen.-Receives the pall. His proceedings against Wiclif.-Court of Inquiry at Black Friars.- Earthquake.- Procession to St. Paul's. Courtenay's proceedings against Oxford.-He officiates at the King's second coronation. Visitation at Leicester. His provincial visitation.Visitation of St. Augustine's, Bristol.-Opposed by the Bishops of Salisbury and Exeter.-Constitution against Choppe Churches.-Schism in the Church of Rome.-Boniface IX. acknowledged in England.Sale of indulgences.-Statutes of provisors renewed.-Unconstitutional conduct of Courtenay.-Jubilee.-Royal proclamation against the jubilee. Boniface IX. implores pecuniary assistance from the clergy of the Church of England in vain.—The Archbishop censured by the Government. He makes a strong anti-papal protest in favour * Authorities:-Walsingham; Pseudo-Knyghton; Fasciculi ZizanioDies Obituales Archiepisc. Cantuar.; Political Songs; Lambeth Register. rum; CHAP. XVI. William of the liberties of the Church of England.-Provisions of the Act of Præmunire.-Difficulties at Canterbury and Romney.-Simple tastes of Courtenay.-His benefactions. To attempt a description of the family of Courtenay, after the splendid digression upon its fortunes, appended by Courtenay. Gibbon to his sixty-first chapter, would be superfluous or 1381-96. an impertinence. If from a regard to truth and time, we are to give no credence to the grateful or venal monks of Ford, when they represent the Courtenays of Devonshire as descended from Prince Florus, the second son of Peter, and the grandson of Louis the Fat; yet the concession, that the fable was believed in the time of Edward III., is sufficient to account for the pride of birth which was imputed, whether correctly or not, to the cadet of that family, who, in the fourteenth century, sat in the marble chair of Canterbury, the successor of Augustine, or, as he preferred to describe himself, of St. Thomas the Martyr. In the stirring events of the Third Edward's reign, Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, took an active part; and among the first Knights of the Garter his name is enrolled. His wife was Margaret, the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford; and she was a granddaughter of Edward I. The founder of the family of Bohun in England was Humphrey "of the Beard," who came over with William the Conqueror. William de Bohun, the brother of Margaret, was created Earl of Northampton in 1337, when the Black Prince was advanced to the dukedom of Cornwall. Of Edward III. and his illustrious son he was the constant companion; and was in the second battalion of the English army at the battle of Cressy. He was one of the original Knights of the Garter.* The authority for these statements is Dugdale. The family of Bohun has become extinct. That of Courtenay still exists. The present Earl of Devon is the thirty-first earl. XVI. William The eldest son of Hugh Courtenay and of Margaret de CHAP. Bohun was also named Hugh; and, distinguishing himself, early in life, by his valour and martial spirit, he became, Courtenay. like his father, a Knight of the Garter, and participated in 1381-96. the glories of Cressy. At the great tournament held at Eltham, the king presented him with a hood of white cloth, embroidered with dancing men and buttoned with large pearls. He married a daughter of Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, by Juliana his wife, commonly called the fair maid of Kent, who was also a granddaughter of Edward I. On the death of the Earl of Kent, she became the wife of the Black Prince, and was mother of King Richard II. William, the fourth son of the Earl and Countess of Devon,* was born in the parish of St. Martin's,† a suburb of the city of Exeter, or Exminster, about the year 1342. He was educated in his father's house, and was trained to the knightly accomplishments of the age, until he was sent to the University of Oxford. That attachment to their county, and to all that pertains to it, by which Devonshire men are to this hour distinguished, induced his parents to select for his place of residence in the University a hall lately founded by Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter; of whom, himself the son of a Devonshire knight, we have had occasion already to speak. Young Courtenay was sent to Stapledon Hall, "conveniently situated in St. Mildred's parish, under and against the north wall of the city, that is to say, in the lane going from the place, where Turl or Thorold Gate now is, to the north end of School Street." * His mother, Margaret, bequeathed to the archbishop a gilt chalice and a missal. Dugdale, 640. Testamenta Vetusta, i. 127. † In his will, which is given in Somner, though not in the Testamenta Vetusta, Archbishop Courtenay says, "Paroch. S. Martini ubi natus fueram." I infer the date of his birth from a statement, probably correct, in Le Neve, which represents the archbishop as 28 years old in 1370. Wood, Colleges, 104. CHAP. XVI. Thus minutely is described the situation of that hall which was father to Exeter College. Courtenay was William entered as the son of the Earl of Devonshire, and as 1381-96. descended from the royal blood of England. As a stu Courtenay. In dent William Courtenay was not distinguished; for his The office of chancellor had now become, from an increase of labour, an office of great dignity and importance. He was a magistrate, and required assistance in the administration of justice; his duties were multifarious, and some of them must of necessity be performed by deputies. These were appointed under various titles; sometimes they were called vicegerents, sometimes com * Fasc. Zizan. 286. † Wood, Fasti, 28. XVI. William 1381-96. missaries; at last, they were vice-chancellors. They were CHAP. called vice-chancellors even when the chancellors were resident officers. They corresponded to what are now Courtenay. called pro-vice-chancellors. The chancellor was, at this time, surrounded with the apparatus of dignity. Six beadles attended him when he appeared in public; and a verger carrying a silver staff preceded him, when he entered the house of assembly, or appeared at church. Just before he entered upon his office, a controversy had taken place between the University and the mendicants; or rather the University was constrained by the Government to make concessions, which were very unwillingly yielded. The University was compelled to annul all statutes which had been made to enforce conformity upon the friars; and the friars, on their part, stipulated that they should not avail themselves of this relaxation to obtain bulls from Rome, to the detriment of the University or of any person dwelling in it. The king reserved to himself and his council the power to reform abuses, and to settle any differences that might arise between the contending parties. Dr. Courtenay took part with the University against the friars, and was supported in his proceedings by Dr. Wiclif. On Courtenay's election to the chancellorship, in 1367, the friars were violent in their indignation against him, and violated their part of the compact by citing the chancellor of the University to Rome. The king interposed, and prohibited the citation, leaving Courtenay not a little exasperated against the friars and the court of Rome.* The powerful friends of Courtenay had not been unmindful of his pecuniary interests; and the Chancellor of Oxford had, at an early period of life, been instituted to prebends in the cathedrals of Exeter, Wells, and York. * Par. 41, Edw. III. 1. m. 13. Wood's Annals, 480. |