of the minds of mankind; and those accusations, which by the enlightened
part of the species would now be regarded as worthy only of contempt,
were then considered as charges of the most flagitious nature. While
John, Duke of Bedford, the eldest uncle of King Henry VI., was regent of
France, Humphrey of Gloucester, next brother to Bedford, was Lord
Protector of the realm of England. Though Henry was now nineteen years
of age, yet as he was a prince of slender capacity, Humphrey still
continued to discharge the functions of sovereignty. He was eminently
endowed with popular qualities, and was a favourite with the majority of
the nation. He had, however, many enemies, one of the chief of whom was
Henry Beaufort, great-uncle to the king, and Cardinal of Winchester. One
of the means employed by this prelate to undermine the power of
Humphrey, consisted in a charge of witchcraft brought against Eleanor
Cobham, his wife.
This woman had probably yielded to the delusions which artful persons,
who saw into the weakness of her character, sought to practise upon her.
She was the second wife of Humphrey, and he was suspected to have
indulged in undue familiarity with her before he was a widower. His
present duchess was reported to have had recourse to witchcraft in the
first instance, by way of securing his wayward inclinations. The Duke of
Bedford had died in 1435; and Humphrey now, in addition to the actual
exercise of the powers of sovereignty, was next heir to the crown in
case of the king's decease. This weak and licentious woman, being now
Duchess of Gloucester, and wife to the Lord Protector, directed her
ambition to the higher title and prerogatives of a queen, and, by way of
feeding her evil passions, called to her counsels Margery Jourdain,
commonly called the Witch of Eye, Roger Bolingbroke, an astrologer and
supposed magician, Thomas Southwel, Canon of St Stephen's, and one John
Hume, or Hun, a priest. These persons frequently met the duchess in
secret cabal. They were accused of calling up spirits from the infernal
world; and they made an image of wax, which they slowly consumed before
a fire, expecting that, as the image gradually wasted away, so the
constitution and life of the poor king would decay and finally perish.
Hume, or Hun, is supposed to have turned informer, and upon his
information several of these persons were taken into custody. After
previous examination, on the 25th of July 1441, Bolingbroke was placed
upon a scaffold before the cross of St Paul's, with a chair curiously
painted, which was supposed to be one of his implements of necromancy,
and dressed in mystical attire, and there, before the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Cardinal of Winchester, and several other bishops, made
abjuration of all his unlawful arts.
A short time after, the Duchess of Gloucester having fled to the
sanctuary at Westminster, her case was referred to the same high
persons, and Bolingbroke was brought forth to give evidence against her.
She was of consequence committed to custody in the castle of Leeds, near
Maidstone, to take her trial in the month of October. A commission was
directed to the lord treasurer, several noblemen, and certain judges of
both benches, to inquire into all manner of treasons, sorceries, and
other things that might be hurtful to the king's person, and Bolingbroke
and Southwel as principals, and the Duchess of Gloucester as accessory,
were brought before them. Margery Jourdain was arraigned at the same
time; and she, as a witch and relapsed heretic, was condemned to be
burned in Smithfield. The Duchess of Gloucester was sentenced to do
penance on three several days, walking through the streets of London,
with a lighted taper in her hand, attended by the lord mayor, the
sheriffs, and a select body of the livery, and then to be banished for
life to the Isle of Man. Thomas Southwel died in prison; and Bolingbroke
was hanged at Tyburn on the 18th of November.
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