bout 18 years of age, and had almost every advantage England. which a prince can have on his accession. He had a well-stored treasury and indisputed title, and was at A. D. 1514. peace with all the powers in Europe. Commerce and arts had been some time introduced into England, where they met with a favourable reception. The young prince himself was beautiful in his person, expert in all polite exercises, open and liberal in his air, and loved by all his subjects. The old king, who was himself a scholar, had instructed him in all the learning of the times, so that he was an adept in school-divinity before the age of 18.

England. present civilized state of the English nation. He had all along two points principally in view; the one to A. D. 1509. depress the nobility and clergy, and the other to exalt [251] and bumanize the populace. In the feudal times every English nation civi- nobleman was possessed of a certain number of vassals lized by over whom he had, by various methods, acquired an Henry. almost absolute power; and, therefore, upon every slight disgust, he was able to influence them to join him in his revolt or disobedience. Henry considered, that the giving of his barons a power to sell their estates, which were before unalienable, must greatly weaken their interest. This liberty therefore he gave them; and it proved highly pleasing to the commons, nor was it disagreeable to the nobles themselves. His next scheme was to prevent their giving liveries to many hundreds of their dependents, who were thus kept like the soldiers of a standing army to be ready at the command of their lord. By an act passed in this reign, none but menial servants were allowed to wear a livery; and this law was enforced under severe penalties. With the clergy, Henry was not so successful. The number of criminals of all kinds who found protection in monasteries and other places appointed for religious worship, seemed to indicate little less than an absolute toleration of all kinds of vice. Henry used all his interest with the pope to get these sanctuaries abolished, but to no purpose. All that he could procure was, that if thieves, murderers, or robbers, registered as sanctuary men, should sally out and commit fresh offences, and retreat again, in such cases they might be taken out of the sanctuary and delivered up to justice.

In 1500, the king's eldest son Arthur was married to the Infanta Catherine of Spain, which marriage had been projected and negotiated seven years. But the prince dying in a few months after marriage, the princess was obliged to marry his younger brother Henry, who was created prince of Wales in his room. Henry himself made all the opposition which a youth of 12 years of age is capable of: but as the king persisted in his resolution, the marriage was by the pope's dispensation shortly after solemnized.-In the latter part of this king's reign, his economy, which had always been exact, degenerated into avarice, and he oppressed the people in a very arbitrary manner. He had two ministers, Empson and Dudley, perfectly qualified to second his avaricious intentions. They were both lawyers, and usually committed to prison by indictment such persons as they intended to oppress; from whence they seldom got free but by paying heavy fines, which were called mitigations and compositions: but by degrees the very forms of law were omitted; and they determined in a summary way upon the properties of the subjects, and confiscated their effects to Death of the royal treasury-Henry VII. died of the gout in his Henry VII. stomach, in the year 1509, having lived 52 years, and reigned 23; and was succeeded by his son Henry VIII. In Henry VII.'s reign was built a large ship of war called the Great Harry, which cost 14,000l. This, was, properly speaking, the first ship in the English navy. Before this period, when the king wanted a fleet, he had no other expedient than to hire ships from

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All these advantages, however, seemed to have been lost upon the new king. Being destitute of a good heart and solid understanding, he proved a tyrant.. Being always actuated, not by reason, but the passion which happened to be uppermost in his mind, he behaved in the most absurd and contradictory manner; and however fortunate some of his measures proved at last, it is impossible that either his motives, or the means he took for the accomplishment of his purposes, can be approved of by any good man.

One of Henry's first actions in his royal capacity was to punish Empson and Dudley, who were obnoxious to the populace on account of their having been the instruments of the late king's rapacity. As they could not be impeached merely on account of their having strictly executed the will of the king, they were accused of having entered into a treasonable conspiracy, and of having designed to seize by force the administration of government; and though nothing could be more improbable than such a charge, the general prejudice against them was so great, that they were both condemned and executed.

In 1510, the king entered into a league with Pope Julius II. and Ferdinand king of Spain, against Louis XII. of France. In this alliance Henry was the only disinterested person. He expected nothing besides the glory which he hoped would attend his arms, and the title of Most Christian King, which the pope assured him would soon be taken from the king of France to be conferred upon him. The pope was desirous of wresting from Louis some valuable provinces which he possessed in Italy, and Ferdinand was desirous of sharing in the spoil. Henry summoned his parliament, who very readily granted him supplies, as he gave out that his design was to conquer the kingdom of France, and annex it to the crown of England. It was in vain that one of his old prudent counsellors objected, that conquests on the continent would only drain the kingdom without enriching it; and that England, from its situation, was not fitted to enjoy extensive empire. The young king, deaf to all remonstrances, and hurried away by his military ardour, resolved immediately to begin the war. But after several attempts, which were rendered unsuccessful only by the mismanagement of those who conducted them, a peace was concluded with France on the 7th of August 1514.

Cause of

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when it took place: and what was worse, he had long England. foreseen, from what he knew of the king's capricious and obstinate temper, that it certainly would happen A. D. 1527. one time or other. The cause of this final overthrow 256 was the desire King Henry began to entertain of ha- Wolsey's ving his queen Catharine divorced. The doctrines of disgrace. the reformation, propagated by Luther in 1517, had gained considerable ground in England, and many professsed a belief in them, notwithstanding the severe persecution which had been carried on against heretics during some of the preceding reigns. The clergy had become so exceedingly corrupt, and were immersed in such monstrous ignorance, that they were universally hated even by their own party; while no regard at all was paid to their decisions, or rather they were looked upon with the utmost abhorrence, by the reformers. Even the papal authority, though still very great, had, in no greater a space of time than ten years (viz. from 1517, when Luther first began to attack it, to the present year 1527), declined very sensibly. The mar- Scruples riage of King Henry, therefore, being looked upon by concerning all parties as in itself illegal, and only sanctified by the legality a dispensation from the pope, had been frequently of Henry's objected to on different occasions. We are informed marriage. by some authors, that when Henry VII. betrothed his son, at that time only 12 years of age, he evidently showed an intention of taking afterwards a proper opportunity to annul the contract; and that he ordered Prince Henry, as soon as he should come of age, to enter a protestation against the marriage; charging him on his death-bed not to finish an alliance so unusual, and liable to such insuperable objections. Some members of the privy-council, particularly Warham the primate, afterwards declared against the completion of the marriage; and even after it was completed, some incidents which in a short time took place were sufficient to make him sensible of the general sentiments of the public on that subject. The states of Castile had opposed a marriage betwixt the emperor Charles and the English princess Mary, Henry's daughter, urging among other things the illegitimacy of her birth. The same objection afterwards occurred on opening a negotiation with France for a marriage with the duke. of Orleans.

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vorce.

If these accounts are to be depended upon as au- Other reathentic, we can scarce perceive it possible but Henry sons for himself must have been somewhat staggered by them; Henry's de though it is by no means probable that they were his sire of a dionly motives. The queen was six years older than the king, her personal charms were decayed, and his affection lessened in proportion. All her children had died in infancy except one daughter, the princess Mary above mentioned; and Henry was, or pretended to be, greatly struck with this, as it seemed something like the curse of being childless, pronounced in the Mosaic law against some evil doers. Another point of the utmost importance was the succession to the crown, which any question concerning the legitimacy of the king's marriage would involve in confusion. It was also supposed, with great reason, that should any ob stacles of this kind occur, the king of Scotland would step in as the next heir, and advance his pretensions to the crown of England. But, above all, it His love for is probable that he was influenced by the love he had Anne Bonow contracted for Anne Boleyn, who had lately leyn.

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Rome to obtain a divorce.

England. been appointed maid of honour to the queen. In this station Henry had frequent opportunities of seeing A. D. 1527. her, and soon became deeply enamoured; and finding that his passion could not be gratified but by marriage, it is not to be doubted that he was thus obstiSends to nately set upon the divorce; for which purpose he sent his secretary to Rome to obtain from Clement a bull for dissolving his marriage with Catharine. That he might not seem to entertain a doubt of the pope's prerogative, he insisted only on some grounds of nullity in the bull granted by his predecessor Julius for the accomplishment of the marriage. In the preamble to this bull, it had been said, that it was granted only upon the solicitation of Henry himself; though it was known that he was then a youth under 12 years of age: it was likewise asserted, that the bull was necessary for maintaining the peace between the two crowns; though otherwise it is certain that there was no appearance of a quarrel betwixt them. These false premises seemed to afford a very good pretence for dissolving it; but, as matters then stood, the pope was involved in the utmost perplexity. Queen Catharine was aunt to the emperor, who had lately made Clement himself a prisoner, and whose resentment he still dreaded: and be sides, he could not with any degree of prudence declare the bull of the former pope illicit, as this would give a mortal blow to the doctrine of papal infallibility. On the other hand, Henry was his protector and friend; the dominions of England were the chief resource from whence his finances were supplied; and the king of France, some time before, had got a bull of divorce in circumstances nearly similar. In this exigence he thought the wisest method would be to spin out the affair by negotiation; and in the mean time he sent over a commission to Wolsey, in conjunction with the archbishop of Canterbury, or any other English prelate, to examine the validity of the king's marriage and of the former dispensation; granting them also a provisional dispensation for the king's marriage with any other person.

261 Extreme perplexity of the pope.

262

The pope's message was laid before the council in England: but they considered, that an advice given by the pope in this secret manner might very easily be disavowed in public; and that a clandestine marriage would totally invalidate the legitimacy of any issue the king might have by such a match. In consequence of this, fresh messengers were dispatched to Rome, and evasive answers returned; the pope never imagining that Henry's passion would hold out during the tedious course of an ecclesiastical controversy. But in this he Henry's was mistaken. The king of England had been taught controversy to dispute as well as the pope, and valued himself not with him. a little on his knowlege in theology and to his ar guments he added threats; telling him, that the English were but too well disposed to withdraw from the holy see; and that if he continued uncomplying, the whole country would readily follow the example of their monarch, who should always deny obedience to a pontiff that had treated him with such falsehood and duplicity. The king even proposed to his holiness whether, if he were not permitted to divorce his present queen, he might not have a dispensation for having two wives at once?

:

The pope, perceiving the king's eagerness, at last sent Cardinal Campegio his legate to London; who

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with Wolsey, opened a court for trying the legitimacy England. of the king's marriage with Catharine, and cited the king and queen to appear before them. The trial comA. D. 1529, menced the 31st of May 1529; and both parties pre- Trial of the sented themselves. The king answered to his name king and when called: but the queen, instead of answering to queen behers, rose from her seat, and, throwing herself at the fore the king's feet, made a very pathetic harangue; which her pope's le gate, dignity, her virtue, and misfortunes, rendered still more affecting. She told her husband, "That she was a stranger in his dominions, without protection, without counsel, and without assistance; exposed to all the injustice which her enemies were pleased to impose upon her: That she had quitted her native country, without any other resource than her connections with him and his family; and that, instead of suffering thence any violence or iniquity, she had been assured of having in them a safeguard against every misfortune: That she had been his wife during 20 years; and would here appeal to himself, whether her affectionate submission to his will had not merited other treatment than to be thus, after so long a time, thrown from him with indignity: That she was conscious,—he himself was assured, that her virgin honour was yet unstained when be received her into his bed; and that her connections with his brother had been carried no farther than the mere ceremony of marriage: That their parents, the kings of England and Spain, were esteemed the wisest princes of their time, and had undoubtedly acted by the best advice when they formed the agreement for that marriage, which was now represented as so criminal and unnatural: And that she acquiesced in their judgment, and would not submit her cause to be tried by a court whose dependance on her enemies was too visible ever to allow her any hopes of obtaining from them an equitable or impartial decision." Having spoken these words, the queen rose; and, making the king a low reverence, left the court; nor would she ever again appear in it. The legate having again summoned the queen to appear before them, on her refusal, declared her contumacious, and the trial proceeded in her absence. But when the business seemed to be nearly decided, Campegio, on some very frivolous pretences, prorogued the court, and at last transferred the cause before the see of Rome.

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All this time Cardinal Wolsey seemed to be in the Embarrasssame dilemma with the pope, and indeed much worse; ment of as he could not boast of the same independence which Cardinal his holiness possessed. On the one hand, he was very Wolsey. solicitous to gratify the king bis master, who had distinguished him by so many and extraordinary marks of favour; on the other, he feared to offend the pope, whose servant he more immediately was, and who likewise had power to punish his disobedience. He had long known that this affair was certainly to end in his ruin; and by attempting to please all parties, he fell under the displeasure of every one; so that he was at last left without a single friend in the world. The king was displeased on account of his not entering into his cause with the warmth he thought he had reason to expect; Anne Boleyn imputed to him the disappointment of her hopes; while even Queen Catharine and her friends expressed the greatest indignation against him on account of the part he had openly taken in the affair of her divorce. In this miserable situation the

and perseented.

England. king sent him a message by the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, demanding the great seal; the cardinal refu A. D. 1529.sed to deliver it without a more express warrant; upon 165 which Henry wrote him a letter, and on receipt of this Is disgraced it was instantly given up. The seal was bestowed on Sir Thomas More; a man who, besides elegant literary talents, was possessed of the bighest capacity, integrity, and virtue. Wolsey was next commanded to depart from York-place palace which he had built in London; and which, though it belonged to the see of York, was now seized by the king, and afterwards became the residence of the British sovereigns, under the name of Whitehall. All bis furniture and plate, the richness of which seemed rather proper for a monarch than a subject, was seized for the king's use. He was then commanded to retire to Esher, a country-seat which he possessed near Hampton-court, and there to wait the king's pleasure. One disgrace followed another; and his fall was at length completed by a summons to London to answer a charge of high treason. This summons he at first refused to answer, as being a cardinal. However, being at length persuaded, he set out on his journey; but was taken ill, and died by the way. See the article WOLSEY.

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All the uni

consulted

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After the death of Wolsey, the king, by the advice versities of of Cranmer †, had the legality of his marriage debated Europe in all the universities of Europe; and the votes of these about the were obtained in his favour by dint of money. The delegality of bursements made on the occasion have even been preserthe king's ved to this day. To a subdeacon he gave a crown, to marriage. a deacon two crowns, and so to the rest in proportion + See Cran-to the importance of their station or opinion.-Being thus fortified by the opinions of the universities, and even of the Jewish rabbies (for them also he had Henry's & consulted), Henry began to think he might safely opnal quarrel pose the pope himself. He began by reviving in parliament an old law against the clergy, by which all those who had submitted to the authority of the pope's legate were condemned to severe penalties. The clergy, to conciliate the king's favour, were obliged to pay a fine of 118,000 pounds. A confession was likewise extorted from them, that the king, and not the pope, was the supreme head of the church and clergy of England. An act was soon after passed against levying the first-fruits, or a year's rent of all the bishoprics that fell vacant. After this the king privately married his be loved Anne Boleyn; and she proving with child soon after marriage, he publicly owned her for his wife, and passed with her through London, with a greater magnificence than had ever been known before. The streets were strewed with flowers, the walls of the houses hung with tapestry, and a universal joy seemed to be diffused among the people. The unfortunate Queen Catharine, perceiving all further opposition to be vain, retired to Amphthill near Dunstable, where she continued the rest of her days in privacy and peace. Her marriage with Henry was at last declared invalid, but not till after the latter had been married to Anne Boleyn, though this declaration ought undoubtedly to have preceded it. See BOLEYN.

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that his subjects were entirely at his command, resolved England. to separate totally from the church of Rome. In the year 1534, he was declared head of the church by parliament; the authority of the pope was completely abo- Is declared lished in England; all tributes formerly paid to the head of the holy see were declared illegal; and the king was en-church, trusted with the collation to all ecclesiastical benefices. The nation came into the king's measures with joy, and took an oath called the oath of supremacy; all the credit which the popes had maintained over England for ages was now overthrown at once; and none seemed to repine at the change, except those who were immediately interested by their dependence on Rome.

England. much reverenced among big-bellied women; some relicks, an excellent preservative against rain, others A. D. 1536.against weeds in corn, &c. Some impostures, however, were discovered, which displayed a little more ingenuity in the contrivance. At Hales in the county of Gloucester had been shown, during several ages, the blood of Christ brought from Jerusalem. The veneration for this precious relick may easily be imagined; but it was attended with a most remarkable circumstance not observed in any other relicks. The sacred blood was not visible to any one in mortal sin, even when set before him; nor could it be discovered till he had performed good works sufficient for his absolution. At the dissolution of the monastery, the whole contrivance was discovered. Two of the monks who were let into the secret, had taken the blood of a duck, which they renewed every week: they put it into a phial, one side of which was thin and transparent crystal, the other thick and opaque. When any rich pilgrim arrived, they were sure to show him the dark side, till masses and offerings had expiated his offences; after which they made him happy, by turning the phial. A miraculous crucifix had been kept at Boxely in Kent, and bore the appellation of the rood of grace. The lips, eyes, and head of the image, moved on the approach of its votaries. Helsey bishop of Rochester broke the crucifix at St Paul's cross, and showed to all the people the springs and wheels by which it had been secretly moved. A great wooden idol, called Darvel Gatherin, was also brought to London and cut in pieces and, by a cruel refinement of vengeance, it was employed as fuel to burn Friar Forest; who was punished for denying the king's snpremacy, and for some pretended heresies. A finger of St Andrew, covered with a thin plate of silver, had been pawned for a debt of 50 pounds; but as the king's commissioners refused to release the pawn, people made themselves very merry with the poor creditor on account of his security. On this occasion also was demolished the noted shrine of Thomas à Becket, commonly called St Thomas of Canterbury. The riches of it were inconceivable when broken down, the gold with which it was adorned filled two large chests that eight strong men could scarcely carry out of the church. The king, on the whole, suppressed 645 monasteries, of which 28 had abbots who enjoyed seats in parliament. Ninety colleges were demolished in several counties; 2374 chantries and free chapels, and 110 hospitals. The whole revenue of these establishments amounted to 161,100 pounds.

* Sce

Becket.

It is easy to imagine the indignation which such an uninterrupted course of sacrilege and violence would occasion at Rome. In 1535, the king had executed Bishop Fisher, who was created a cardinal while in prison, and Sir Thomas More, for denying or speak ing ambiguously about his supremacy. When this was reported in Italy, numerous libels were published all over the country, comparing the king of England to Nero, Domitian, Caligula, and the most wicked tyrants of antiquity. Clement VII. died about six months after he had threatened the king with a sentence of excommunication; and Paul III. who succeeded him in the papal throne, entertained some hopes of an accommodation. But Henry was so much accustomed to domineering, that the quarrel was soon rendered totally

3

The

excommu.

incurable. The execution of Fisher was reckoned such England. a capital injury, that at last the pope passed all his censures against the king, citing him and all his adherents A. D. 1539. to appear in Rome within 90 days, in order to answer 270 The king for their crimes. If they failed, he excommunicated them; deprived the king of his realm; subjected the nicated. kingdom to an interdict; declared his issue by Anne Boleyn illegitimate; dissolved all leagues which any Catholic princes had made with him; gave his kingdom to any invader; commanded the nobility to take up arms against him; freed his subjects from all oaths of allegiance; cut off their commerce with foreign states; and declared it lawful for any one to seize them, to make slaves of their persons, and to convert their effects to his own use. But though these censures were then passed, they were not openly denounced. pope delayed the publication till he should find an agreement with England totally desperate, and till the emperor, who was then hard pressed by the Turks and the Protestant princes of Germany, should be in a condition to carry the sentence into execution. But in 1538, when news arrived at Rome that Henry had proceeded with the monasteries as above related, the pope was at last provoked to publish the censures against him. Libels were again dispersed, in which he was anew compared to the most furious persecutors of antiquity, and the preference was now given on their side. Henry, it was said, had declared war with the dead, whom the Pagans themselves respected; was at open enmity with heaven; and had engaged in professed hostility with all the saints and angels. Abové all, he was reproached with his resemblance to the emperor Julian, whom (it was said) he imitated in his apostasy and learning, though he fell short of him in his morals. But these terrible fulminations had now lost their effect. Henry had long ago denied the supremacy of the pope, and therefore had appealed from him to a general council; but now, when a general council was summoned at Mantua, he refused to be subject to it, because it was called by the pope, and lay entirely under subjection to that spiritual usurper. He engaged his clergy to make a declaration to the like purpose, and prescribed to them many other alterations with regard to their ancient tenets and practices. It was expected that the spirit of His absurd opposition to the church of Rome would have at last and tyranmade him fall in with the doctrines of the reformed; duct. but though he had been gradually changing the theological system in which he was educated, ever since he came to the years of maturity, he was equally positive and dogmatical in the few articles he retained, as though the whole fabric had continued entire and unshaken: and though he stood alone in his opinion, the flattery of courtiers had so much inflamed his tyrannical arrogance, that he thought himself entitled to regulate by his own particular standard the religious faith of the whole nation. The point on which he chiefly rested his orthodoxy was the most absurd in the whole popish doctrine; namely, that of transubstantiation. All departure from this he held to be a damnable error; and nothing, he thought, could be more honourable for him, than, while he broke off all connections with the Roman pontiff, to maintain, in this essential article, the purity of the Catholic faith.

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