Editing House of Lancaster (section)

===Religion, education and the arts===
[[File:Cambridge King's College Chapel 2011 03.jpg|right|thumb|[[King's College Chapel, Cambridge]]]]

The Lancastrians were both pious and well read. Henry IV was the first English king known to have possessed a vernacular Bible, supported the canonization of [[John Twenge]], gave a pension to the anchoress Margaret Pensax and maintained close relations with several Westminster recluses. His household accounts as king record conventional payments to large numbers of paupers (12,000 on Easter day 1406) and the intercession for him of twenty-four oratores domini regis at 2d each per day. However, his reliance on the church was both personal and political. [[Thomas Arundel|Archbishop Arundel]] gave the Lancastrians vital support and carried other bishops with him. In return the church required support for religious orthodoxy against heresy. [[Lollards]] were suppressed and heresy was made a capital offence in England under the statute of [[De haeretico comburendo]] even though Henry could not afford to overly antagonize his supporters with Lollard sympathies, including those among his Lancastrian retainers.<ref name="Brown2010"/>

According to the author of the Gesta Henrici quinti, Henry V aimed "to promote the honour of God, the extension of the Church, the deliverance of his country and the peace and tranquillity of kingdoms". He was deeply religious, engaged with ecclesiastical issues and saw that his role as king was to honour God, extend the church, fight heresy and defend the established social order. All his victories, especially Agincourt, were attributed to divine intervention. Henry V founded [[Syon Abbey]] in 1415, as penance for his father's execution of Archbishop Scrope, and three monasteries in London: for [[Carthusian]], [[Bridgettine]] and [[Celestines|Celestine]] orders.<ref name=H5>{{harvnb|Allmand|2010|p=1}}</ref> The equally devout Henry VI continued the architectural patronage begun by his father, founding [[Eton College]] and [[King's College, Cambridge]] and leaving a lasting educational and architectural legacy in buildings including [[King's College Chapel, Cambridge|King's College Chapel]] and [[Eton College Chapel]].<ref name=Eton>{{harvnb|Weir|1995|p=94}}</ref>

The Lancastrian regime was founded and legitimised by formal lying that was both public and official. This has been described as "a series of unconstitutional actions" based "upon three major acts of perjury".<ref name=Sherbourne>{{harvnb|Sherborne|1994|pp=218, 239}}</ref> The historian [[K.B. McFarlane]] found it hard "to think of another moment of comparable importance in medieval English political history when the supply of information was so effectively manipulated as it was by Henry IV on this occasion".<ref name=McFarlane>{{harvnb|McFarlane|1972|p=94}}</ref> The Lancastrians patronised poets for [[panegyric]] purposes for years before Henry IV ascended the throne, including [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] who dedicated [[The Book of the Duchess]] to Blanche of Lancaster around 1368. In 1400, poets in the pay of Henry IV were directed to [[propaganda]] purposes. [[John Gower]] based his [[Cronica Tripertita]] on the official Lancastrian accounts of the usurpation:"The Record and Process of the Deposition of Richard II" from 1399. Gower also produced a number of further favourable works including "In praise of peace" which was dedicated to Henry IV.<ref name=Brewer>{{harvnb|Brewer|2012|p=4}}</ref>