Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/37

 ii. 575, 595, 597). On 6 Nov. 1325 he was appointed lieutenant of the treasurer for William de Melton [q. v.], and on 30 Sept. 1326 joined with the archbishop of Canterbury in publishing an old bull against invaders of the realm (''Chron. Edward I and Edward II'', i. 315).

Stratford was willing to take the risk of offering his mediation between the king and queen, but could get no one to support him (, Hist. Roffensis, p. 366). He then yielded to necessity, and on 15 Nov., as treasurer, swore at the Guildhall to observe the liberties of London (Chron. Edward I and Edward II, i. 318). When parliament met in January 1327 Stratford acquiesced in the election of Edward III, preaching on the text, ‘Cujus caput infirmum cætera membra dolent’ (, p. 367). He drew up the six articles giving the reasons for the king's deposition, and was one of the three bishops sent to obtain from the king his formal abdication (Chron. Lanercost, pp. 257–8;, pp. 27–8).

Stratford was a member of the council for the young king's guidance, and on 22 Feb. was appointed to go on a mission to France (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward III, i. 16). But his own sympathies were constitutional, and he could not join cordially with the new government, by whom he was himself regarded with suspicion. He withdrew without permission from the parliament of Salisbury in October 1328 (Fœdera, ii. 753), and at Christmas attended the conference of Henry of Lancaster and his friends at London (Chron. Edward I and Edward II, i. 343–4). Like others of Lancaster's supporters, Stratford incurred the enmity of Mortimer, and Birchington (Anglia Sacra, i. 19) relates that during the Salisbury parliament Mortimer's supporters counselled that he should be put to death, and that the bishop owed his safety to a timely warning and had for a while to remain in hiding.

Immediately after the overthrow of Mortimer, Stratford was appointed chancellor on 30 Nov. 1330, and for the next ten years was the young king's principal adviser. In April 1331 he accompanied Edward abroad, both assuming the disguise of merchants to conceal the real purpose of the expedition. Stratford attended the parliament in September, but in November again crossed over to the continent to treat with Philip of France concerning the proposed crusade, and to negotiate a marriage between the king's sister Eleanor and the Count of Gueldres (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward III, ii. 188, 218, 223, 250). He returned for the parliament in March 1332, but was soon afterwards again commissioned to treat with France (ib. ii. 273). In the autumn of 1333 the archbishopric of Canterbury fell vacant, and, Stratford being favoured by king and pope, the prior and chapter postulated him on 3 Nov. The royal assent was given on 18 Nov., and on 26 Nov. (, p. 19;, p. 70, says 1 Dec.) the pope, disregarding the postulation by the chapter, provided Stratford to the archbishopric. Stratford received the bull at Chertsey on 1 Feb. 1334, and on 5 Feb. the temporalities were restored to him. In April he went abroad on the business of Ponthieu (Cal. Pat. Rolls, ii. 532, 534), and the pall was delivered to him by Bishop Heath of Rochester at Rue in Ponthieu on 23 April. He returned to England for the summer, and on 28 Sept. resigned the chancellorship. During September he held a convocation at St. Paul's, and on 9 Oct. he was enthroned at Canterbury. Almost immediately afterwards he crossed over to treat with Philip of France concerning Aquitaine and the proposed crusade (ib. iii. 30). He returned to England in January 1335, and visited his diocese in February. Stratford was made chancellor for the second time on 6 June 1335, and during almost the whole of the next two years was engaged with the king in the north of England and in Scotland (, pp. 75–6; cf. Litt. Cant. ii. 76, 96–100, 140). He came south for the funeral of John of Eltham on 13 Jan. 1337. On 24 March he resigned the great seal. About the end of November the cardinals whom the pope had sent to negotiate peace between England and France arrived in England, and were received by the archbishop. Their mission proved fruitless, and on 16 July 1338 Stratford accompanied the king to Flanders. He remained abroad till September 1339, taking part in the negotiations with France (, pp. 83, 85, 90). On 28 April 1340 Stratford was for the third time made chancellor, but, when the king refused to accept his advice against the proposed naval expedition, he finally resigned the seal on 20 June (Fœdera, ii. 1126;, p. 311, where the king is said to have restored the archbishop to office).

Up to this time Stratford had been foremost among the king's advisers, and even now he was left as president of the council in Edward's absence. But there was a strong party hostile to his influence. Stratford had perhaps opposed the French war, and this circumstance, combined with the king's ill-success, gave his enemies their opportunity. Under their advice, Edward returned from Flanders suddenly on 30 Nov. 1340, and on