Editing Thomas Bourchier (cardinal)

{{Short description|English archbishop and lord chancellor (1404–1486)}}
{{For|the sixteenth-century English martyologist|Thomas Bourchier (Franciscan)}}

{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]]
| type = cardinal
| name = Thomas Bourchier
| title = [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]<br />[[Primacy of Canterbury|Primate of All England]]
| image = Cardinal Thomas Bourchier.jpg
| image_size = 175px
| alt = Cardinal Thomas Bourchier
| caption = 1909 stained glass depiction in [[Sevenoaks]] Church, Kent, of Thomas Bourchier, wearing a cardinal's [[galero]] (a broad-brimmed hat). His residence of [[Knole|Knole House]], which he built, was situated opposite the church
| appointed = 23 April 1454
| term_start = 26 January 1455
| term_end = 30 March 1486
| predecessor = [[John Kemp]]
| successor = [[John Morton (archbishop)|John Morton]]
| ordination = 1433
| ordinated_by = 
| consecration = 15 May 1435
| consecrated_by = [[Henry Beaufort]]
| cardinal = 18 September 1467
| rank = [[Cardinal priest]]
| birth_date = 1404
| birth_place = 
| death_date = 30 March 1486
| death_place = [[Knole House]]
| buried = [[Canterbury Cathedral]]
| nationality = English
| coat_of_arms = SeeOfCanterbury Impaling ThomasBourchier TawstockChurch.PNG
| education = [[University of Oxford]]
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Paul II|Paul II]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| signature = Thomas Bourchier Signature.svg
}}

'''Thomas Bourchier''' (1404{{snd}}30 March 1486)<ref>{{cite ODNB |last=Clark |date=2004 |first=Linda |title=Bourchier, Thomas (c. 1411–1486) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2993 |type=online |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2993 }}</ref> was a medieval English [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], and [[Lord Chancellor]] of England.<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian) |last=Miranda |first=Salvador |title=BOURCHIER, Thomas (c. 1412-1486) |url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1467.htm#Bourchier|work=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church |publisher=[[Florida International University]]|oclc=53276621}}</ref>

==Origins==
Bourchier was a younger son of [[William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu]] (died 1420) by his wife [[Anne of Gloucester]], a daughter of [[Thomas of Woodstock]] (1355–1397), youngest son of King [[Edward III of England|Edward III]]. One of his brothers was [[Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex]] (died 1483), and his great-nephew was [[John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners]], the translator of [[Jean Froissart|Froissart]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} [[Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham]] was his half-brother.

He was educated at the [[University of Oxford]], after which he entered the church and obtained rapid promotion.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Career==
After holding some minor appointments he was consecrated [[Bishop of Worcester]] on 15 May 1434.{{sfn|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1996|p=280}} In the same year of 1434 he was [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[University of Oxford]], and in 1443 was appointed [[Bishop of Ely]].{{sfn|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1996|p=245}} In April 1454 he was made [[Archbishop of Canterbury]],{{sfn|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1996|p=234}} and became Lord Chancellor of England in March 1455.{{sfn|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1996|p=87}}

[[File:Canterburycathedralthomasbourchiertomb.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Tomb of Thomas Bourchier in [[Canterbury Cathedral]]]]

Bourchier's short term of office as chancellor coincided with the start of the [[Wars of the Roses]], and at first he was not a strong [[partisan (political)|partisan]], although he lost his position as chancellor when [[Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York]], was deprived of power in October 1456. In 1458 he helped to reconcile the contending parties as part of [[The Love Day]], but when the war was renewed in 1459 he had become a decided [[House of York|Yorkist]]. He crowned Duke Richard's son [[Edward IV of England|Edward Plantagenet, 4th Duke of York]] as King [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]] in June 1461, and four years later he crowned Edward's queen, [[Elizabeth Woodville]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1457 Bourchier took the chief part in the trial for heresy of [[Reginald Pecock]], [[Bishop of Chichester]]. In 1473 he was created a cardinal, not after some delay as this honour had been sought for him by King Edward IV in 1465. In 1475 he was one of the four arbitrators appointed to arrange the details of the [[Treaty of Picquigny]] between England and France. After the death of King Edward IV in 1483 Bourchier persuaded the queen to allow her younger son, [[Richard, Duke of York (Prince in the Tower)|Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York]], to join his elder brother King [[Edward V of England|Edward V]] in (supposedly protective) residence in the [[Tower of London]]. Although Bourchier had sworn, before his father's death, to be faithful to King [[Edward V of England|Edward V]], he nevertheless crowned King [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] in July 1483.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The third English king crowned by Bourchier was King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] (1485–1509), whom he also married to [[Elizabeth of York]] in January 1486.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[File:Knole, Sevenoaks in Kent - March 2009.jpg|thumb|Knole House, Kent]]

==Death and burial==
Bourchier died on 30 March 1486{{sfn|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1996|p=234}} at the palatial residence he had transformed, [[Knole House]], near [[Sevenoaks, England|Sevenoaks]] in Kent, and was buried in [[Canterbury Cathedral]], where his monument can be found.

==Citations==
{{reflist|40em}}

==References==
{{commons category|Thomas Bourchier (bishop)}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fryde |first1=E. B. |last2=Greenway |first2=D. E. |author-link2=Diana Greenway |last3=Porter |first3=S. |last4=Roy |first4=I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third Edition, revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Bourchier, Thomas|volume=4|page=329}}

==External links==
* [http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1467.htm#Bourchier Biography: Thomas Bourchier]

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Gilbert Kymer]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Chancellors of the University of Oxford|Chancellor of the University of Oxford]] |years=1433–1437}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Carpenter (bishop of Worcester)|John Carpenter]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury|The Earl of Salisbury]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lord Chancellor]] |years=1455–1456}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Waynflete]]}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Brunce]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Worcester]] |years=1434–1443}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Carpenter (bishop of Worcester)|John Carpenter]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lewis of Luxembourg]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Ely]] |years=1443–1454}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Grey (Bishop of Ely)|William Grey]] }}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Kemp]] }}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]] |years=1454–1486}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Morton (archbishop)|John Morton]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Dénes Szécsi]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Cardinal priest]] of [[San Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane]] |years=1467–1486}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bernardino Lunati]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{House of Lancaster Lord Chancellors}}
{{Bishops of Worcester}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Bishops of Ely}}

{{Authority control}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourchier, Thomas}}
[[Category:Lord chancellors of England]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Bishops of Worcester]]
[[Category:Bishops of Ely]]
[[Category:15th-century English cardinals]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:1411 births]]
[[Category:1486 deaths]]
[[Category:Bourchier family|Thomas]]
[[Category:Burials at Canterbury Cathedral]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]