HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



in this step, Thomas Cranmer, who had been ap- 

 pointed archbishop of Canterbury, pronounced 

 (1533) the marriage with Catharine to have been 

 void from the beginning. Henry now became, 

 after a fashion, a Reformer. In the same year, 

 I 533, it was declared, by the Statute of Appeals, 

 that there should be no appeals to the pope or to 

 any authority outside the kingdom ; the king was 

 declared to be the supreme head of the Church 

 of England, which was thus withdrawn from the 

 authority of the pope. 



In 1536, Henry became as anxious to put away 

 )ueen Anne as he had ever been to rid himself of 

 )ueen Catharine. He had contracted a passion 

 jr Jane Seymour, the daughter of a Wiltshire 

 light. In order to gratify this new passion, he 

 :cused Anne, truly or falsely, of infidelity ; and 

 rithin a month from the time when she had been 

 honoured queen, she was beheaded (May 19) 

 the Tower, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth. On 

 ic very next day, he married Jane Seymour, who 

 xm after died in giving birth to a son (afterwards 

 Edward VI.). His daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, 

 rere declared illegitimate by act of parliament, 

 id therefore excluded from the succession. 

 Hitherto, though professing independence of 

 tome, Henry still maintained, and even enforced 

 severe and bloody laws, the most of its doc- 

 mes. He now took measures for suppressing 

 ic numerous monasteries throughout the country, 

 many as 645 monasteries, 2374 chantries and 

 lapels, 90 colleges, and no hospitals, enjoying 

 Itogether a revenue of .161,000, were broken up. 

 'art of the revenues thus acquired he kept to him- 

 If ; part went to some of his courtiers ; while 

 le remainder was used in founding new bishop- 

 rics, and fortifying the coast. By this act, which 

 jok place in 1 539, the Reformation was completed 

 England, although for many years Henry so 

 icillated in his opinions that many persons of 

 3th religions were burnt as heretics. 

 After the death of Jane Seymour, Henry married 

 (1540) Anne of Cleves, a German princess, with 

 vhose looks, however, he was not pleased ; and 

 therefore divorced her by an act of parliament. 

 le next married Catharine Howard, niece to the 

 )uke of Norfolk ; but had not been long united 

 her when he discovered that she had committed 

 serious indiscretion before marriage. This was 

 jnsidered a sufficient reason for beheading the 

 ifortunate queen (1542), and attainting all her 

 stations. He succeeded in obtaining for his sixth 

 rife (1543) Catharine Parr, widow of Lord Lati- 

 icr, who, it is certain, only contrived to escape 

 sstruction by her extraordinary prudence. Al- 

 lost all who ever served Henry VIII. as minis- 

 ;rs, either to his authority or to his pleasures, 

 rere destroyed by him. Wolsey died of a broken 

 heart ; Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, who 

 chiefly aided the king in bringing about the 

 Reformation, being styled for his zeal in sup- 

 pressing monasteries, ' The Hammer of the 

 Monks ' Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor, the 

 ablest, most virtuous, and most consistent man of 

 his time the Earl of Surrey, who was one of the 

 most accomplished knights of the age, and the 

 first poet who wrote the English language with 

 perfect taste all suffered the same fate as Anne 

 Boleyn and Catharine Howard. 



When James IV. died at Flodden, in 1513, the 

 Scottish crown fell to his infant son, JAMES V. 



His uncle. Henry VIII. endeavoured to bring 

 him into his views respecting religion ; but James, 

 who was much in the power of the Catholic 

 clergy, appears to have wished to become the 

 head of the popish party in England, in the hope 

 of succeeding, by their means, to the throne of 

 that country. A war latterly broke out between 

 the two monarchs ; and the Scottish army having 

 refused to fight, from a dislike to the expedition, 

 James died (December 1542) of a broken heart, 

 leaving an only child, MARY, then not above 

 a week old. Henry immediately conceived the 

 idea of marrying his son Edward to this infant 

 queen, by which he calculated that two hostile 

 nations would be united under one sovereignty, 

 and the Protestant Church in England be sup- 

 ported by a similar establishment in Scotland. 

 This project, however, was resisted by the Scots, 

 of whom very few as yet were inclined to the 

 Protestant doctrines. Henry, enraged at their 

 hesitation, sent a fleet and army, in 1544, to 

 inflict vengeance upon them. The Scots endured 

 with great patience the burning of their capital 

 city, by Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, 

 brother of Queen Jane Seymour, and many other 

 devastations, but still refused the match. The 

 government of Scotland was now chiefly in the 

 hands of Cardinal Beaton, a man of great energy, 

 although a religious bigot, who zealously applied 

 himself to suppress the Reforming preachers, and 

 regarded the English match as likely to bring 

 about the destruction of the Catholic religion. 

 Henry was also twice at war with France, having 

 mixed himself up with the continental quarrels of 

 Francis I. of France and Charles V. Emperor 

 of Germany ; but nothing came of two invasions 

 except the capture in 1544 of Boulogne, which 

 by a subsequent arrangement was given back in 

 eight years on payment of a sum of money. 



During this reign, considerable attention was 

 paid to the navy, the Admiralty and Navy Office 

 being constituted. In 1536, Wales was incor- 

 porated with England; and in 1542, Ireland, from 

 being a lordship, was made a kingdom. 



EDWARD VI. QUEEN MARY. 



Henry died January 28, 1547, leaving the throne 

 to his only son, a boy of ten years of age, who was 

 immediately proclaimed king under the title of 

 EDWARD VI. The Duke of Somerset, maternal 

 uncle to the young king, became supreme ruler 

 under the title of Protector, and continued to 

 maintain the Protestant doctrines. Under this 

 reign, the Church of England assumed its present 

 form, and the Book of Common Prayer was com- 

 posed nearly as it now exists. Somerset being 

 resolved to effect, if possible, the match between 

 Edward VI. and Mary of Scotland, invaded that 

 country in the autumn of 1547, and was met at 

 Pinkie, near Musselburgh, by a large army under 

 the governor, the Earl of Arran. Somerset gained 

 an easy victory, and wasted a portion of the country, 

 but failed in attaining his original object. Previous 

 to this period, Cardinal Beaton had been assas- 

 sinated by religious opponents ; but the Scotch 

 were encouraged to persevere by the court of 

 France, to which they now sent the young queen 

 (the betrothed of the Dauphin, afterwards Francis 

 II.) for protection. 



In the reigr of Edward VI. the government was 



