ARUNDEL, THOMAS, Archbishop of Canterbury, born in 1353, was the second son of Robert, earl of Arundel and Warren. At 22 years of age he was raised to the bishopric of Ely, to the church and palace of which he was a great benefactor. In 1386, after the deposition of the earl of Suffolk, he was appointed lord chancellor of England; he was deprived of this office in 1389, but again reinstated. In 1388 he was translated to the see of York, and in 1396 was advanced to the primacy of Canterbury, when he resigned the chancellorship. This was the first instance of the translation of an archbishop of York to the see of Canterbury. Scarcely was he fixed in this see when he had a contest with the University of Oxford about the right of visitation. The affair was referred to the king (Richard II.), who determined it in favour of the archbishop. At his visitation in London he revived an old constitution, by which the inhabitants of the respective parishes were obliged to pay to their rector one halfpenny in the pound out of the rent of their houses. While bishop of Ely, Arundel had taken a leading part in forcing the king to consent to the commission of regency ; Richard never forgave this, and in 1397 the parliament, with the king's leave, impeached the archbishop, with his brother Richard earl of Arundel, and the duke of Gloucester, on a charge of high treason. He was sentenced to be banished, and to depart the kingdom within forty days on pain of death. He retired, first to France, and then to the court of Rome, where Pope Boniface IX. gave him a kind reception, and nominated him to the Scottish archbishopric of St Andrews. He was actively engaged in the plot to depose Richard, and place the duke of Lancaster on the throne ; and on Henry's accession, he was restored to the see of Canterbury. Two years after, the Commons moved that the revenues of the church might be applied to the public service, but Arundel opposed the measure with such vigour that it was thrown out. In the year 1408 his zeal for the suppression of heresy was directed against the followers of Wycliffe. Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, was arrested by his orders, and sentenced to the flames, but contrived to escape from prison. The archbishop also procured a synodical constitution, which prohibited the translation of the Scriptures into the vulgar tongue. He died at Canterbury on the 20th February 1413 of inflammation of the throat, with which he was seized, as was affirmed by the Lollards, while pronouncing sentence upon Lord Cobham.