without their knowledge with a
body of five thousand men. In a few months he succeeded in restoring
Hainault to Jacqueline, and Philip at once grew lukewarm in his adherence
to the English cause. Though Bedford's efforts prevented any final break,
the Duke withdrew his forces from France to aid John of Brabant in the
recovery of Hainault and Holland. Gloucester challenged Philip to decide
their claims by single combat. But the enterprise was abandoned as hastily
as it had been begun. The Duke of Gloucester was already disgusted with
Jacqueline and enamoured of a lady in her suite, Eleanor, the daughter of
Lord Cobham; and in the summer of 1425 he suddenly returned with her to
England and left his wife to defend herself as she might.

[Sidenote: Henry Beaufort]

What really called him back was more than his passion for Eleanor Cobham
or the natural versatility of his temper; it was the advance of a rival in
England to further power over the realm. This was his uncle, Henry
Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester. The bishop had already played a leading
political part. He was charged with having spurred Henry the Fifth to the
ambitious demands of power which he made during his father's lifetime; he
became chancellor on his accession; and at his death the king left him
guardian of the person of his boy. He looked on Gloucester's ambition as a
danger to his charge, withstood his recognition as Regent, and remained at
the head of the Council that reduced his office of Protector to a name.
The Duke's absence in Hainault gave fresh strength to his opponent: and
the nomination of the Bishop to the Chancellorship marked him out as the
virtual ruler of the realm. On the news of this appointment Gloucester
hurried back to accept what he looked on as a challenge to open strife.
The Londoners rose in his name to attack Beaufort's palace in Southwark,
and at the close of 1425 Bedford had to quit his work in France to appease
the strife. In the following year Gloucester laid a formal bill of
accusation against the bishop before the Parliament, but its rejection
forced him to a show of reconciliation, and Bedford was able to return to
France. Hardly was he gone however when the quarrel began anew. Humphrey
found a fresh weapon against Beaufort in his acceptance of the dignity of
a Cardinal and of a Papal Legate in England; and the jealousy which this
step aroused drove the Bishop to withdraw for a while from the Council and
to give place to