The will of Henry, Cardinal Beaufort. 1443

Dealings with the Dead
Vol 2

Project Gutenburg

"Henry Beaufort was the second son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Katherine Swinford, a bastard born, but with his brothers and sister, legitimated by act of Parliament, 20 Rich. II., became Bishop of Lincoln 1397—translated to Winchester, 1404, and made a Cardinal. He was remarkable, for his immense wealth, prudence, and frugality. He was four times Chancellor of England. He is reported to have clung to life with a remarkable tenacity. Rapin says, he died for grief, that wealth could not save him from death. The death bed of this Cardinal is admirably described by Shakspeare, in the second part of King Henry VI., Act III., Scene III.:

K. Henry.	How fares my lord? Speak Beaufort to thy Sovereign.
Cardinal.	If thou best Death, I'll give thee Englands treasure, Enough to purchase such another island, So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain.
	*******
Warwick.	See how the pangs of death do make him grin.
Salisbury.	Disturb him not, let him pass peaceably.
K. Henry.	Peace to his soul, if Gods good pleasure be! Lord Cardinal, if thinkst on Heavens bliss, Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope. He dies, and makes no sign; Oh God forgive him!
Warwick.	So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
K. Henry.	Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all— Close up his eyes, and draw the curtains close.

The Cardinals will, though without date, was made about 1443.—“I will that ten thousand masses be said for my soul, as soon as possible after my decease, three thousand of requiem, three thousand of de rorate cœli desuper, three thousand of the Holy Ghost, and one thousand of the Trinity. * * * *

Item, I bequeath to my Lord, King Henry, a tablet with reliques, which is called the tablet of Bourbon, and a cup of gold with a ewer, which belonged to the illustrious prince, his father, and offered by him on Easter Eve, and out of which cup he usually drunk, and for the last time drank. * * * *

Item, I bequeath to my Lord the King, my dish or plate of gold for spices, and my cup of gold, enamelled with images.”

In two codicils to this will, Cardinal Beaufort refers to certain crown jewels, and vessels of silver and gold, pledged to him by the King and Parliament, for certain sums lent. When the King went into France and Normandy, and upon other subsequent occasions, the Cardinal had loaned the King £22,306 18s. 8d. It appears in Rymer, vol. x. page 502, that the King redeemed the sword of Spain and sundry jewels, pledged to the Cardinal, for £493 6s. 8d."

Granite Cross - Saint Andrew, Trowse

Granite Cross - Saint Andrew, Trowse

The Parish Churchyard

In Search Of Gravestones Old And Curious

W.T. (William Thomas) Vincent

Project Gutenburg

The simple Breton people are deeply religious, and their veneration for the dead is intense. They are frequently to be seen—men, women, and children—kneeling on the ground in their churchyards, praying among the graves. It may therefore be well believed that in the period of burial reform which overspread the Continent in the earlier part of the nineteenth century there was great opposition in Brittany to the establishment of remote cemeteries. The thought of burying elsewhere than in the parish churchyard was to the minds of the parishioners a species of impiety.

When reasoned with they would answer:

"Our fathers were buried here, and you would separate us from our dead. Let us be buried here, where our kinsfolk can see our graves from their windows, and the children can come at evening to pray."

In vain they were shewn the danger of accumulating corpses in a place which was usually in the centre of the population. They shook their heads and cried:

"Death comes only by the will of God."

Possibly, to some extent, this feeling is universal among mankind. There is in our hearts an innate reverence for the burial-place; we tread by instinct lightly over the sleeping-places of the dead, and look with silent awe upon their tombs. The feeling being part of our humanity, we might suppose it to be universal, and be apt to conclude that, in our more primitive churchyards at least, we should find some effort to preserve the whole or a large proportion of the memorials which are there dedicated to departed merit, hallowed by love and made sacred by sorrow. But it may truthfully be said that of all the headstones (not to speak alone of decorated headstones) which were set up prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century, by far the greater number have disappeared! Indeed the cases in which the old churchyards have been the objects of any care whatever are lamentably few, while attempts to preserve the old gravestones are almost unknown. The ordinary experience is to find the churchyard more or less neglected and forgotten, and the grey and aged stones either sinking into the earth or tottering to their fall. It cannot be imagined that the clergy, the wardens, and the sextons have failed to see these things; but they have, presumedly, more pressing matters to attend to, and it seems to be nobody's business to attend to such ownerless and worthless objects".

War Dead - Alex Anderson 24th May 1918



Buried - Kalkara, Malta [Link]

© Godric Godricson



Captain J. Boxhall, J McDonald and Mr Bonner Died 1917

Buried - Kalkara, Malta [Link]

© Godric Godricson