Henry Beaufort
- March 01, 2017
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Beaufort (Henry, half-brother of Henry IV. He was made cardinal in 1426, and in 1430 he crowned Henry IV. at Notre Dame. He presided over the tribunal that sent the Maid of Orleans to the stake, and is supposed to have participated in the murder of the Duke of Gloucester), 1370-1447. "I pray you all pray for me." Some authorities give his last words thus: "And must I then die? Will not all my riches save me? I could purchase a kingdom, if that would save my life! What! is there no bribing death? When my nephew, the Duke of Bedford, died, I thought my happiness and my authority greatly increased; but the Duke of Gloucester's death raised me in fancy to a level with kings, and I thought of nothing but accumulating still greater wealth, to purchase at last the triple crown. Alas! how are my hopes disappointed! Wherefore, O my friends, let me earnestly beseech you to pray for me, and recommend my departing soul to God!"
Harpsfield: Hist. Eccles. edit. Duaci, 1622, p. 643.
A few minutes before his death, his mind appeared to be undergoing the tortures of the damned. He held up his two hands, and cried—"Away! away!—why thus do ye look at me?" He seemed to behold some horrible spectre by his bedside
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