Henry Of Beaufort, an English prelate and statesman, born about 1370, died at Winchester, April 11,1447. He was a legitimatized son of John of Gaunt by his mistress, afterward his third wife, Lady Catharine Swynford, who had been governess in his family, and he was a half brother of Henry IV. He studied in Oxford and Aix-la-Chapelle, became bishop of Lincoln in 1397, chancellor of the university of Oxford in 1399, bishop of Winchester as successor of William of Wyckham in 1404, and lord chancellor in the parliaments of 1404-'5 and on other occasions. Subsequently he was appointed cardinal of St. Eusebius by Pope Martin V., whose election he had promoted, and who made him legate a latere in England for raising a crusade against the Hussites. The pope's good will, however, was lost by his alleged appropriation of the funds for the crusade toward the expenses of the war with France. He was president of the court which sentenced Joan of Arc to death. The wealth amassed in the see of Winchester enabled him to advance nearly £30,000 to his nephew Henry V., and over £10,000 to the infant Henry VI., who was brought up under his care.

After the death of Henry V. in 1422, and during the minority of Henry VI., when the duke of Gloucester became regent in the absence of the duke of Bedford, and Beaufort was a member of the council of regency, a struggle for supremacy between Gloucester and Beaufort disturbed the public tranquillity, embarrassed England in her conflict with France for over 20 years, and well nigh culminated in civil war, Bedford and others vainly attempting to reconcile the two rivals, A court of arbitration effected an apparent reconciliation, but Beaufort took umbrage at the terms of their decision, resigned the chancellorship, and went with Bedford to France. He escorted Henry VI. on his coronation in Paris in 1429, and induced parliament to put an end to Gloucester's regency, after which he became so omnipotent that Gloucester put himself at the head of a formidable opposition, renewing former and bringing forward new charges affecting his integrity, questioning the legal compatibility of his cardinal's hat with his episcopal functions, and making his position so untenable that Beaufort could only sustain himself by bills of indemnity from parliament (1432 and 1437) exempting him from punishment for his alleged crimes.

Eventually he wreaked his revenge on Gloucester by having him indicted for treason at St. Edmundsburv, and arrested. The duke was found dead on the day appointed for his vindication, and though no signs of violence were detected upon his body, it was not believed that he came to a natural end, and Beaufort, who died about five weeks afterward, was generally supposed to have hastened his death. Shakespeare, in the "Second Part of King Henry VI.," represents the cardinal as having-died in an agony of remorse and despair. He bequeathed his property to charitable purposes, endowed the still existing hospital of St. Cross at Winchester, and was buried in the chantry of Winchester cathedral which bears his name.