sustained by the diversion of the revenues derivable from their possessions in England. It was consequently in prosecution of his father's design, and with due papal licence, that Henry VI assigned the revenues of some of the suppressed alien houses to the endowment of his new colleges. The preservation of the religious character of these revenues was secured by grafting the educational establishments on to collegiate churches of secular priests, which mixed character Eton still retains.[1]
In 1433 Henry condemns the independent attitude of the Council of Basle in strong terms. He protests against the language of the assembly regarding the Pope, which has shocked the minds of the faithful. "In the sacred Synod," he says, "some people lacking in all modesty had given free rein to their ungoverned tongues, and have uttered unworthy, indecent, and injurious words against Our Holy Father the Lord Eugenius, the supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. They, the sheep, have irreverently attacked the Shepherd; being sons, they have raised their heads against their father; being sub-
- ↑ Beckynton Correspondence, Introd., p. lxxxix.
