Thomas Bourchier (bishop)

His Eminence Thomas Bourchier
Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of All England
1909 stained glass depiction in Sevenoaks Church, Kent, of Thomas Bourchier, wearing a cardinal's hat. His residence of Knole House, which he built, was situated opposite the church
Appointed	23 April 1454
Installed	26 January 1455
Term ended	30 March 1486
Predecessor	John Kemp
Successor	John Morton
Orders
Ordination	1433
Consecration	15 May 1435
Created Cardinal	18 September 1467
Rank	Cardinal priest
Personal details
Born	c. 1404
Died	30 March 1486 Knole House
Buried	Canterbury Cathedral
Nationality	English
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Coat of arms

Thomas Bourchier (c. 1404 – 30 March 1486) was a medieval English cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor of England.

Bourchier was a younger son of William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu (d. 1420) by his wife Anne of Gloucester, a daughter of (1355–1397), youngest son of King Edward III. One of his brothers was Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex (d. 1483), and his great-nephew was John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, the translator of Froissart. Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham was his half-brother.

He was educated at the University of Oxford, after which he entered the church and obtained rapid promotion.

After holding some minor appointments he was consecrated Bishop of Worcester on 15 May 1434. In the same year of 1434 he was Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and in 1443 was appointed Bishop of Ely. In April 1454 he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and became Lord Chancellor of England in March 1455.

Bourchier's short term of office as chancellor coincided with the start of the Wars of the Roses, and at first he was not a strong partisan, although he lost his position as chancellor when Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, was deprived of power in October 1456. In 1458 he helped to reconcile the contending parties, but when the war was renewed in 1459 he had become a decided Yorkist. He crowned Duke Richard's son Edward Plantagenet, 4th Duke of York as King Edward IV in June 1461, and four years later he crowned Edward's queen, Elizabeth Woodville.