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 p. 58). His adhesion to Beaufort seems to have become less complete. In February 1443 he joined with Gloucester in very lame recommendations as to the conduct of the French war (Ord. P. C. v. 223). He was, however, a zealous supporter of the Anjou marriage, and in July 1445 was closely associated with Suffolk in receiving the important embassy of the Count of Vendôme and the Archbishop of Rheims. It is plain from the French relation of the proceedings that he was one of the king's chief confidants, and that, though anxious for peace, he did not neglect English interests (, i. 104–157). In 1447 he was repaid a loan of five hundred marks which he had lent the king (Fœdera, xi. 174). He was one of Cardinal Beaufort's executors. After the death of Gloucester and Beaufort his political attitude seems to have altered still further. In 1448 he was in sharp opposition to Suffolk. Kemp's nephew, Thomas Kemp, and Suffolk's friend, the treasurer, Marmaduke Lumley, were rival candidates for the bishopric of London, and Pope Eugenius IV appointed Thomas Kemp (Beckington Correspondence, i. 155–159). Relations between Suffolk and the cardinal seem to have remained strained. Yet, when the unpopularity of the duke had become extreme and Stafford gave up the chancellorship, Kemp was again entrusted with the seals on 31 Jan. 1450. His appointment was the prelude to Suffolk's fall. It is not impossible that he was more or less on an understanding with enemies of Suffolk on the council, such as Lord Cromwell, who, like him, was an old partisan of Beaufort and enemy of Gloucester.

On 7 Feb. 1450 Kemp as chancellor was sent by the king to the commons to hear the charges brought against Suffolk, which were largely based on his peace policy with France, for which Kemp was almost equally responsible. On 17 March Kemp pronounced the final sentence, which removed Suffolk without the risks involved in a regular trial. The result made Kemp by far the most important of the king's ministers. But Kemp was old and infirm, and hardly equal to so great a charge. He showed, however, plenty of energy in the crisis of the Kentish rebellion. After Henry VI had fled from London to Kenilworth, the chancellor remained in the Tower with Bishop Waynflete. By sending pardons to the captain and his followers Kemp broke up the insurrection (Three Fifteenth-century Chronicles, p. 68; Gregory's Chronicle, p. 193). In September he went on a commission of oyer and terminer to Kent to try the leaders of the revolt (Paston Letters, i. 139, ed. Gairdner). While at Rochester he sealed the patent which appointed Somerset constable of England (Fœdera, xi. 276). This brought the controversy between Somerset and York to a crisis. Parliament met in November. Kemp as chancellor urged the necessity of putting down riots and defending the coasts from France. But attacks on Somerset occupied the whole session. As the controversy grew fiercer and threatened civil war, Kemp became somewhat helpless. Yet he was the mainstay of the king's party. In 1452 he was translated from York to Canterbury as the successor of Archbishop Stafford. He was duly elected by the monks of Christ Church, but the final appointment was by papal provision, dated 21 July (Anglia Sacra, i. 123). He obtained restitution of his temporalities on 6 Sept., and on 24 Sept. received the pallium from Nicholas V. He was enthroned on 11 Dec. (ib. i. 123). Kemp also received a peculiar distinction from Pope Nicholas, who created in his favour an extraordinary cardinal bishopric, by separating the see of Porto from that of Selva Candida, or Santa Rufina, to which it had been annexed since 1138. Porto remained occupied by Francis Condulmer, nephew of Eugenius IV, while Kemp was transferred from the cardinal priesthood of Santa Balbina to the bishopric of Santa Rufina (, Trésor de Chronologie, p. 1157). The two sees were reunited after Kemp's death.

Kemp's appointment to Canterbury was a great triumph of Somerset's influence. The parliament which met at Reading in March 1453 was also decidedly on the Lancastrian side. But ill-health kept Kemp in London, so that the Bishop of Lincoln had to open the estates in his stead (Rot. Parl. v. 227). He was, however, present before Easter to convey to the commons the thanks of the king for their liberal grants, and duly presided at the later session in Westminster. In August Henry VI went mad. On 14 Oct. Kemp stood godfather to the king's son, Edward (English Chronicle, 1377–1461, p. 70). But the crisis was becoming too severe for the aged chancellor. Suitors denounced him as the ‘cursed cardinal’ (Paston Letters, i. 275). On 14 Jan. 1454 a tumultuous deputation of London and Calais merchants, headed by the mayors, visited him at Lambeth to complain of Lord Bonville. ‘The chancellor gave them none answer to their liking; wherefore the substance of them with one voice cried aloud “Justice, justice!” whereof the chancellor was so dismayed that he could no more say to them for fear’ (ib. i. 267–8). All the nobles were now arming, and on 19 Jan. ‘the cardinal