The second son of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford, Beaufort was born in Anjou, an English domain in France, in about 1374 and educated for a career in the Church. Subsequently their cousin Richard II of England declared he and his two brothers and one sister legitimate about 1390. On 1 September 1396, Pope Boniface IX declared his parents married and legitimated their offspring. Parliament issued letters patent on 9 February 1397/98 legitimating the three sons of John of Gaunt and Kathering Swynford. On 27 February 1398 he was nominated Bishop of Lincoln and on 14 July 1398 he was consecrated. When his half-brother deposed Richard and took the throne as Henry IV of England, he made Bishop Beaufort Lord Chancellor of England in 1403. Beaufort resigned that position in 1404