BEDFORD, JouN PLANTAGENET, Duke of (1390-1435). Regent of France, and third son of Henry IV. of England. During his father's lifetime, he was Governor of Berwiek-upon-Tweed, and Warden of the Scottish marehes. In 1414, the second year of the reign of his brother, Henry V., he was created Duke of Bedford. Ile was com mander-in-chief of the forces in England while Henry was carrying on the war in France. After the death of Henry V. (1422). Bedford, in ac cordance with the dying wish of the king, left the affairs of England in the hands of his brother, Gloucester, and went to France to look after the interests of the infant prince, Henry V1., his nephew. In compliance with the request of his deceased brother, he offered the regency of France to the Duke of Burgundy, who refused it; he then assumed it himself, but not without con sulting the Duke of Burgundy as to the. best method of carrying out the Treaty of Troyes, by which Charles VI. had declared Henry V. next heir to the French crown. On the death of Charles V1., a few months after Henry V., Bed ford had his nephew proclaimed King of France and England as Henry Vl. In the wars with Charles V11. \Odell followed, Bedford displayed great generalship, and defeated the French in several battles—most disastrously at Verneuil, in 1424. But, in consequence of the parsimonious
way in which men and money were doled out to him from England, and the withdrawal of the forces of the Duke of Burgundy, he was unable to take full advantage of his victories. The appearance of Joan of Arc was followed by dis aster to the English arms, notwithstanding the utmost energy of Bedford; and in 1435 lie was mortified by the treaty of peace negotiated at Rouen between Charles All. and the Duke of Burgundy, which effectually ruined English in terests in France. The death of the Regent, which took place September 19, 1435, may have been occasioned by his anxiety and vexation on account of the union thus formed. Bed ford, who was a patron of letters, purchased and removed to London the Royal Library of Paris, consisting of 900 volumes. In 1469 George Neville was made Duke of Bedford; later the Count of Pembroke, Jasper Tudor, who died in 1495, had this title. For the present family of Bedford, see RussELL, HOUSE OF.