The History of the Worthies of England, Part 2 · County 14 · Section 10
Cardinalls.
THOMAS BOURCHIER was son to Sir William Bourchier, who (though but an English Knight) was a French Earl of Ewe in Normandy, Created by King Henry the fifth, and had a great▪estate in this County, with many Mansion-houses, *Camdens Brit. in Essex.Hawsted being the place of their▪principall residence, where I presume this Prelate was born.
He was bred in the University of Oxford, whereof he was Chancellour 1454. Dean of Saint Martins, then successively Bishop of Worcester, Ely, Arch-bishop of Ca…terbury, and Cardinall by the title of Saint Cyriacus in the Baths. A Prelate, besides his high birth aforesaid, and brotherhood to Henry Bourchier, first Earl of Essex of that Surname, remarkable on many accounts.
First, for his vivacity, being an old man, and proportionably, an older Bishop.
1. Being consecrated Bishop of *Godwin in his Catal. of Bishops.Worcester 1435. the fourteenth of Henry the sixth.
2. Dying Arch-bishop of Canterbury 1486. the second of K. Henry the seventh. Whereby it appeareth, that he wore a Mitre full fifty one years, a term not to be paralleld in any other person.
Secondly, he saw strange revolutions in State, the Civil-wars between Lancaster and York, begun, continued, and concluded. For, though Bishop Morton had the happiness to make the match, Arch-bishop Bourchier had the honour to marry King Henry the seventh, to the Daughter of King Edward the fourth, so that his hand first solemnly held that sweet posie, wherein the White and Red Roses were tied together.
Thirdly, for his wary compliance, that he lost not himself in the labyrinth of such intricate times, applying himself politiquely to the present predominant power. However it may be said of him,
Praestitit hic Praesul nil tanto sanguine munere tempore dignum.
He left no monument to posterity proportionable (what was an hundred pounds, and a chest given to Cambridge?) to his great blood, rich place, and long continuance therein. But this my *Idem in the Arch-bishops of Canterbury.Author imputeth unto the troublesomeness of the times, seeing peace was no sooner setled, and the land began to live, but he died March 30. 1486.
I know not what generous planet had then influence on the Court of Rome, this I know, that England never saw such a concurrence of noble Prelates; who, as they were Peers by their places, were little less by their descent. I behold their birth a good buttress of Episcopacy in that age, able in Parliament to check and crush any Antiprelaticall project, by their own relations. But let us count how many were contemporaries with Thomas Bourchier, from his first consecration at Worcester, till the day of his death.
John Stafford, son to the Earl of Stafford, Arch-bishop of Canterbury. Robert Fitz-Hugh
Bishop of London.
Henry Beauford, son to John Duke of Lancaster, Bishop of Winchester.
William Gray, son to the Lord Gray of Codnor, Bishop of Ely.
Marmaduke Lumley, extracted from the Lord Lumley, Bishop of Lincoln.
Richard Beauchamp, brother to the L. Saint Amand, Bishop of Sarum.
Lionel Woodvile, son to the Earl of Rivers, Bishop of Sarum.
Peter Courtney, extracted from the Earls of Devon, Bishop of Exeter.
Richard Courtnee, of the same extraction, Bishop of Norwich.
John Zouch, descended of the Lord Zouch, Bishop of Landaffe.
George Novile, brother to the MakeKing Earl of Warwick, Arch-bishop of York.
William Dudley, son to the Lord Dudley, Bishop of Durham.
William Piercy, son to the Earl of Northumberland, Bishop of Carlile.
But after the death of Bourchier, I meet with but three Bishops of noble extraction, viz. James Stanley, Edmond Audley and Cardinall Pole. However, they were, though of lower image, of no less learning and religion.