Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/385

 and other terms (, 1st edit. xii. 677). But Warbeck must have quitted Scotland by about the time the commissioners arrived there, and peace between the two countries was ultimately made in September by other commissioners, of whom Warham still was one. From 1496 to 1499 he was on frequent commissions for making treaties or settling commercial disputes with Burgundy and with the town of Riga. In March 1499 he was engaged at Calais, along with Fitzjames, bishop of Rochester, and Richard Hatton, in negotiating with commissioners of the Archduke Philip a treaty for the export of wool to Flanders. In May he was again sent oversea with Dr. Middleton on a mission to Maximilian, king of the Romans. In September 1501 he was sent with Charles Somerset (afterwards Earl of Worcester) [q. v.] on another mission to Maximilian, who had intimated his willingness to renew a league with England, and his strong desire for fifty thousand crowns for a war against the Turks. This Henry was for his part inclined to grant if he could only bind Maximilian to give up English refugees, especially Edmund De la Pole [q. v.] The negotiations were prolonged into the following spring, and continued with Maximilian's commissioners in the Low Countries, but only led at last to a treaty on 20 June 1502. Warham meanwhile had been elected bishop of London in his absence (October 1501), but he was not consecrated till 25 Sept. 1502, and it was only on 1 Oct. following that the temporalities were formally restored to him, though virtually he enjoyed them by a special grant of 25 Dec. 1501. While bishop-elect he resigned the mastership of the rolls on 1 Feb., and was made on 11 Aug. keeper of the great seal, a title which he exchanged for that of lord chancellor on 21 Jan. 1504. By that date, again, he had become archbishop-elect of Canterbury, having been translated by a bull of Julius II on 29 Nov. 1503. He took his oath to the pope at St. Stephen's, Westminster, on 23 Jan. 1504, and received the pall at Lambeth on 2 Feb. following (, Anglia Sacra, i. 124). He was enthroned with great magnificence on 9 March.

In February 1506, when Philip, king of Castile, driven on the English coast by tempest, was entertained by Henry VII at Windsor, invested with the Garter, and compelled to make a treaty, the archbishop took part in the different functions. On 20 March he was principal negotiator in the treaty for Henry VII's marriage to Margaret of Savoy. On 28 May of the same year he was elected chancellor of Oxford University, an office which he held till his death. On 3 Feb. 1508 he promulgated a code of statutes for his court of audience, calculated to check abuses. In December following he had again ceremonial duties thrust upon him in receiving the great Flemish embassy for the marriage of the king's daughter Mary to Prince Charles of Castile (‘The Spouselles of the Lady Marye’ in Camden Miscellany, vol. ix., Camden Soc.). He was always a good orator on such occasions; and his speeches, or sermons, as chancellor, at the opening of the first three parliaments of Henry VIII (in 1510, 1512, and 1515) appear to have given very great satisfaction.

On 24 June 1509 he crowned Henry and Catherine of Arragon at Westminster. In 1510 he was appointed by Julius II to present the golden rose to the king, and in 1514, when Leo X sent Henry a cap and sword, the archbishop received the ambassador, and, after singing mass, put the cap on the king's head and girt the sword about him. Meanwhile, in 1512, he was involved in a controversy with his suffragans, who complained of new encroachments on their jurisdiction by the prerogative of Canterbury. In this the lead was taken by Richard Foxe [q. v.], bishop of Winchester. Warham was no doubt jealous of the rights of his see, and the controversy is said to have been a hot one. The case was referred to Rome, and afterwards, by agreement, to the king, who seems to have arranged a compromise. But whatever may have been Warham's conduct in this matter, there is no doubt of his private munificence, especially in the case of Erasmus, to whom in 1509 he sent 5l. (a large sum then) and the promise of a living to induce him to come and settle in England. He afterwards sent Erasmus repeated presents of 10l., 20l., and even 40l. at a time—the lowest of these sums being quite equal to 100l. now. On Sunday, 13 Aug. 1514, he preached a sermon at the proxy marriage of the king's sister Mary to Louis XII of France. It was from his hands that Wolsey in November 1515 received his cardinal's hat at Westminster Abbey; and when the new-made cardinal left the church with his cross borne before him the archbishop followed, no longer preceded, as usual, by the cross of Canterbury. Another change very shortly followed. On 22 Dec. he delivered up the great seal, and Wolsey was made lord chancellor in his place. For years he had been seeking to resign the burden, and both he and Foxe, who about the same time resigned the office of privy seal, disliked the king's policy in secretly aiding the emperor against France and Venice.

In 1518 Warham received Cardinal