the Wednesday arrived, the Archbishop took, as his
advisers and assistants, so great a number of the bishops and nobles
of the land, that (in the words of his own record) it would be a task
to enumerate them: among others, however, the names of Edmund Duke of
York, John Earl of Westmoreland, Thomas Beaufort Chancellor of
England, and Lord Beaumond, are recorded.[261] Prince Henry, though
present in London, and actively engaged with some of the same noblemen
as members of the council, was not present at Badby's examination,
either on the Saturday or on the Wednesday.[262] In all his
examinations Badby seems to have conducted himself throughout with
great firmness and self-possession, and, at the same time, with much
respect towards those who were then his judges. Looking to the
circumstances in which he was placed, it is almost impossible for any
one not to be struck by the weight and pointedness of his answers. He
openly professed his belief in the ever blessed Trinity, "one
omnipotent God in Trinity;" and when pressed as to his belief in the
sacrament of the altar, he declared that, after consecration, (p. 341)
the elements were signs of Christ's body, but he could not believe
that they were changed into the substance of his flesh and blood.
"If," he said, "a priest can by his word make God, there will be
twenty thousand Gods in England at one time. Moreover, I cannot
conceive how, when Christ at his last supper broke one piece of bread,
and gave a portion to each of his disciples, the piece of bread could
remain whole and entire as before, or that he then held his own body
in his hand." At his last appearance before the large assemblage of
the hierarchy and the temporality, when asked as to the nature of the
elements, he said, that "in the sight of God, the Duke of York, or any
child of Adam, was of higher value than the sacrament of the altar."
The Archbishop declared openly to the accused that, if he would live
according to the doctrine of Christ, he would pledge his soul for him
at the last judgment day.

[Footnote 261: De Roos, Master of the Rolls, was at
the first meeting, and a large number (multitudo
copiosa) of the laity and clergy.]

[Footnote 262: The house (the Friars' Preachers)
where they met, was a place in which the Prince at
this time often presided at the council. On the