ENGLAND. 



645 



Proceedings 

 in parlia- 

 ment. 



riage. 





History, r.tw in public his promise to espouse the Princess Eliza- 

 ^r"~" beth ; but that he might not seem to derive his claim 

 from her right, or to depend upon her life for the dura- 

 tion of his authority, he determined to postpone the alli- 

 ance till his own coronation should be finished, and his 

 title recognised by parliament. He was crowned king of 

 England on the 20th of October 1485, with the usual 

 pomp and ceremonies; and, to heighten the splendour 

 of the spectacle, he bestowed the rank of knights banneret 

 on twelve persons, and conferred peerages on three. 



When the parliament assembled in the beginning of 

 the following month, it was found that many members 

 of the House of Commons, who were his most zealous 

 partisans, had been attainted in the preceding reign. 

 These persons he required to abstain from taking their 

 seats, till an act should be passed to reverse their attain- 

 der, and thus exhibited a degree of regard to the laws hi- 

 therto unknown in England. The same parliament, 

 however, gratified the king's resentment towards the ad- 

 herents of the York family, by passing an act of attain- 

 der against the Duke of Norfolk, and thirty other per- 

 sons who had fought under Richard at Bosworth, a 

 measure which could only have been prompted by ava- 

 rice or revenge, and which excited considerable de- 

 bates in the House, as well as murmuring among the peo- 

 ple. At the same time, Henry issued a royal proclama- 

 tion, offering pardon to all who had taken part against 

 him, upon condition that they submitted by a certain 

 day, and took the usual oath of allegiance. 



Perceiving that the delay of his marriage rendered the 

 nation more suspicious of his proceedings, and having 

 been petitioned by parliament to fulfil the wishes of his 

 people, he espousi-d the Princess Elizabeth on the 18th 

 of January I486. The public rejoicings (in this occasion, 

 were greatly superior to those which bad taken place at 

 his own accession and coronation ; a circumstance which 

 Henry regarded with jealous displeasure, as the testimo- 

 ny of general favour to the house of York, and which 

 pave rise to suspicions in his mind subversive at mice of 

 his own tranquillity, and of that tenderness which lie ow- 

 ed to his amiable consort. Having taken due care to 

 prolong the continuance of peace abroad, particularly 

 with the kingdoms of France and of Scotlan. , he resol- 

 ved to secure more effectually the internal quiet of his 

 own dominions. In this view, he set out on a journey 

 to the northern districts, where the friends of the late 

 king and of the house of York were most numerous, in 

 the hnpe of either awing the malcontents by his pre- 

 sence, or conciliating them by his condescension. 



Upon his arrival at York, he received intelligence that 

 Lord Level was approaching at the head of three or four 

 thousand men, and that Sir Humphrey and Thomas 

 Stafford had marched with another army to besiege the 

 city of Worcester. Tlioueh in the midst of disaffected 

 rounties, Henry found resources in his own active cou- 

 rage, and having hastily collected a small body of troops, 

 he gave the command to his uncle the Duke of Bedford, 

 with orders, when he approached the rebels, to publish a 

 general promise of pardon to all who should lay down 

 their arms. Lovel, dreading the desertion which this 

 proclamation might produce among his troops, suddenly 

 withdrew in the night, and made his escape to Flanders. 

 His army submitted to the king's clemency ; and the 

 ether insurgents, intimidated by the surrender of their 

 confederates, instantly dispersed. The two Staffords 

 having sought refuge in some obsr rc church, which had 



Insurrec- 

 tion nip. 



not sufficient privileges to protect them, were dragged History, 

 from the altar, and Humphrey, the elder, was executed ^""V^ 

 at Tyburn, but the younger, upon the plea of his youth, 

 received a pardon. 



This success was followed by the birth of a son, to Prince Ar- 

 whom Henry gave the name of Arthur, in memory of thur born, 

 the celebrated British king of that name, from whom the ^* Se P t 

 house of Tudor was held to be descended. But neither 

 the recent triumph over his enemies, nor the acquisition 

 of a prince, who united all the claims of York and Lan- 

 caster, could reconcile the hearts of the English to their 

 sovereign. By a long course of civil war, the people 

 were become so turbulent and factious, that no king could 

 please them ; and this rooted disposition to insurrection, 

 was still farther inflamed by Henry's open animosity to 

 the house of York. The undisguised preference which 

 lie gave on all occasions to the Lancastrians ; his frequent 

 acts of severity against the opposite party ; his reported 

 hai sh treatment of the Queen ; his refusing her, even 

 after the birth of a son, the honour of a public corona- 

 tion ; his imprisonment of the young Earl of Warwick 

 in the Tower ; and his own reserved and haughty address, 

 all conveyed the idea that his prepossessions against the 

 Yorkists were inveterate, and contributed to render his 

 government generally unpopular. 



In the'midst of these discontents, a report was propa- Imposture 

 gated among the people, that Richard Duke of York, of Lambert 

 second son of Edward IV. had saved himself from the simueL 

 cruelty of his uncle Richard III. and was concealed 

 somewhere in England. This story was received with 

 great avidity, and suggested to a priest in Oxford, named 

 Richard Simon, the scheme of raising, upon this ground, 

 a pretender to the crown. Aided and advised, as has 

 been generally supposed, by some persons of higher rank, 

 he fixed upon a youth called Lambert Simnel, about fif- 

 teen years of age, who was the son of a baker, but who 

 possessed an understanding and address above his con- 

 dition, and whom he instructed to personate the son of 

 Edward, who was now rumoured to be alive. Hearing, 

 however, a new report, that the young Earl of Warwick 

 had made his escape from the Tower, and observing that 

 this was a subject of equally general satisfaction, he chan- 

 ged the plan of his imposture, and taught Simnel to re- 

 present that unfoi Innate prince. Sensible at the same 

 time that the counterfeit could not stand a very close 

 insertion, he carried his pupil to Ireland, as the most 

 I TI'II er theatre f .r opcn.ng the scene. In this country, 

 the people were all devoted to the family of York ; and 

 the whole officers of Mate appointed in the preceding 

 reign, had been improvidently allowed to retain their au- 

 thority. Here the pretender experienced the most fa- 

 vourable reception from persons of the highest rank, 

 whose example was eagerly followed by the lower orders; 

 mid Simnel, having been proclaimed king ot Ireland, was 

 lodged with great pomp in the castle of Dublin. 



Henry, alarmed by so unexpected a revolution, was at 

 first inclined to fare his enemies in person ; but suspect- 

 ing the conspiracy to lia\e been framed in England, he 

 directed his own exertions to the discovery of its promo- 

 ters in that kingdom ; while at the same time he did not 

 fail to provide the most rigorous means of suppressin; 

 the revolt in Ireland. After frequent consultation:; with 

 his confidential friends, lie commanded the queen-dowa- 

 ger to be seized, an:! closely confined in the nunnery of 

 Bermondesey ; but, unwilling to charge so near a relative 

 with treason, he assigned, as the cause of this sever* 



