BEAUFORT 425 obliged to return to England, where subse- quently lie drew up many maps, and was hy- drographer of the admiralty from 1832 to 1855. Geographical and maritime explorations were greatly promoted by his labors, and he was a prominent fellow of the royal society, rnd member of the astronomical and geograph- ical societies, and a commissioner of the pilot service. He became honorary rear admiral in 1846, and was knighted in 1848. BEAUFORT, Franfois de Venddme, duke of, son of Cesar de Vendome and grandson of Henry IV. of France, born in Paris in January, 1616, died June 25, 1669. He served with some distinction during the 30 years' war, and med- dled in the conspiracy of Cinq-Mars against Cardinal Richelieu. In consequence of this last affair he was obliged to seek a refuge in England. On the accession of Louis XIV., the queen regent, Anne of Austria, showed him great favor, which he repaid with in- solence. Implicated in a plot against the life of Mazarin, he was imprisoned in the chateau of Vincennes. Escaping in 1648, he joined the Frondeurs, became extremely pop- ular with the Parisian populace, and was called the king of the markets. He killed his brother-in-law, the duke of Nemours, in a duel, and at the same time one of his seconds, Hericourt, was killed by the marquis de Vil- lars, a second of Nemours. Becoming tired of civil war, he made his peace with the court ; and, Louis XIV. having taken into his hands the reins of government, Beaufort was ap- pointed to the command of the navy. In 1664 and 1665 he successfully led attacks against the corsairs of Africa; in 1666 he was at the head of the fleet which was to join the Dutch in the war against England; and in 1669 he went to the assistance of the Venetians, then besieged by the Turks in the island of Candia, where he was killed in a sally. BEAl'FORT, Henry of, an English prelate and statesman, born about 1370, died at Winches- ter, April 1 1, 1447. He was a legitimatized son of John of Gaunt by his mistress, afterward his third wife, Lady Catharine Swynford, who hud been governess in his family, and he was a half brother of Henry IV. He studied in Ox- ford and Aix-la-Chapelle, became bishop of Lincoln in 1397, chancellor of the university of Oxford in 1399, bishop of Winchester as suc- cessor 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. Ensebius by Pope Martin V., whose election he had promoted, and who made him legate d 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 cru- Kade 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 tranquilli- ty, embarrassed England in her conflict with France for over 20 years, and well nigh culmi- nated in civil war, Bedford and others vainly attempting to reconcile the two rivals. A court of arbitration effected an apparent recon- ciliation, but Beaufort took umbrage at the terms of their decision, resigned the chancel- lorship, 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 him- self 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 posi- tion so untenable that Beaufort could only sustain himself by bills of indemnity from par- liament (1432 and 1437) exempting him from punishment for his alleged crimes. Eventu- ally he wreaked his revenge on Gloucester by having him indicted for treason at St. Edmundsbury, and arrested. The duke was found dead on the day appointed for his vindi- cationj 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, way 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. BEAUFORT, Henry Charles Fltzroy Somerset, 8th duke of, an English soldier and politician, born in Paris, Feb. 1, 1824. He studied at Eton, and became successively aide-de-camp to Wel- lington, Hardinge, and the duke of Cambridge, retiring from active service in 1861 as lieuten- ant colonel. He was a tory member of par- liament for Gloucestershire from 1846 to 1853, when on the death of his father, who had ex- ercised great political influence by his immense wealth, he succeeded to the peerage. BEAUFORT, Margaret, countess of Richmond and of Derby, born at Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, in 1441, died in 1509. She was a daughter of the duke of Somerset, great-grandson of Edward III., and was married to the earl of Richmond, half brother to Henry VI., by whom at the age of 18 years she had one son, afterward king of England under the title of Henry VII. After [ the death of the earl of Richmond she married
