HENRY VIII. 



691 



middle ranks, was highly salutary ; and it was 

 especially advanced by the statute which allowed 

 the breaking of entails, and the alienation of landed 

 estates. Many other beneficial provisions also date 

 from this reign, which, however, was very arbitrary ; 

 and the power lost by the aristocracy for a time gave 

 an undue preponderance to that of the crown. 



HENRY VIII., king of England, son of the 

 preceding, was born in 1491, and succeeded his 

 father in 1509. His education had been rather 

 that of a scholar than of a prince ; but a hand- 

 some person, and a frank and spirited manner, 

 rendered him the object of popular attachment, es- 

 pecially as successor to a sovereign so little beloved 

 as Henry VII. No prince could succeed to a throne 

 under happier circumstances, possessing an undis- 

 puted title, a full treasury, and a kingdom flourish- 

 ing in the bosom of peace. His disposition for 

 show and magnificence soon squandered the hoards 

 of his predecessor ; and his vanity and unsuspicious 

 openness of character made him an early object of 

 foreign artifice. He was prevailed upon by pope 

 Julius II. and his father-in-law, Ferdinand, to join 

 in a league formed against Louis XII. of France. 

 Some campv?ns in France followed, but the success 

 of the English at the Battle of the Spurs, so called 

 from the flight of the French, being succeeded by no 

 adequate result, the taking of Toiirnay was the only 

 fruit of this expensive expedition. Meantime, more 

 splendid success attended the English arms at home. 

 James IV., king of Scotland, having made an incur- 

 sion with a numerous body of troops into England, 

 was completely defeated, and slain, at the battle of 

 Flodden-field. Henry, however, granted peace to 

 the queen of Scotland, his sister, and established an 

 influence which rendered his kingdom long secure on 

 that side. Finding himself amused by his allies, he 

 soon after made peace with France, retaining Tour- 

 nay, and receiving a large sum of money. The 

 aggrandizement or Wolsey now began to give a 

 leading feature to the conduct of Henry. The ne- 

 glect of Wolsey by Francis I., produced hostilities 

 from the emperor Maximilian, assisted by English 

 gold ; and when Charles V. succeeded to the Spanish 

 crown, Francis found it expedient to gain Wolsey, 

 who, in consequence, induced his master to resign 

 Tournay, and enter into an amicable correspondence 

 with Francis. In order to cement this new friend- 

 ship, the two monarchs had an interview near Calais, 

 the magnificence of which gave the place of meeting 

 the denomination of the field of the cloth of gold. 

 Notwithstanding these indications, a prospect of the 

 papacy being artfully held out to the cardinal by the 

 young emperor Charles, his interest at length gained 

 a preponderancy in the English councils. The prin- 

 ciples of the reformation, propagated by Luther, 

 were now making rapid strides, and Henry himself 

 wrote a Latin book against the tenets of Luther, 

 which he presented to pope Leo X., who favoured 

 him, in return, with the title of defender of the faith. 

 Luther published a reply, in which lie treats his op- 

 ponent with little ceremony. Charles V. paid a 

 visit to England in 1522, and induced Wolsey and 

 Henry to declare war against France, which was 

 again invaded by an English and Flemish army, 

 under the earl of Surrey. The defeat and capture 

 of Francis, at the battle of Pavia, gave sucli a pre- 

 ponderancy to the power of the emperor, that the 

 alarm produced thereby, added to a discovery, on the 

 part of Wolsey, that Charles was only amusing him 

 on the subject of the papacy, produced not only a 

 peace with France, but a declaration of war against 

 the emperor, which prepared the way for the most 

 important event in Henry's reign his divorce from 

 Catharine of Arragon. (For the proceed in rs which 



terminated in the divorce from Catharine, the mil of 

 Wolsey which they involved, with the subversion of 

 the papal claims, see Catharine of Arragon, ffbltey, 

 and Great Britain.) In 1532, the king ventured 

 privately to marry Anne Boleyn, and, in the next 

 year, an open avowal of the marriage followed. 

 Henry was excommunicated by the pope, and pro- 

 ceeded to break off all allegiance to the Roman see, 

 and to declare himself supreme head of the English 

 church. Thus was effected the great revolution, by 

 which, in ecclesiastical annals, this reign is so much 

 distinguished. The birth of a daughter by the new 

 queen, produced a bill for regulating the succession, 

 which settled it on the issue of this marriage, and 

 declared the king's daughter by Catharine illegiti- 

 mate. But, although Henry discarded the authority 

 of the Roman church, he adhered to its theological 

 tenets. While, on the one hand, he executed bishop 

 Fisher and Sir Thomas More, for refusing the oath of 

 supremacy, he displayed an aversion to the principles 

 of the reformers, and brought many of them to the 

 stake. His temper also grew more stern and arbi- 

 trary as he advanced in years, and his reign, from 

 this period, was that of a despot who sacrificed every 

 obstacle to his capricious will. Finding that the 

 monks and friars in England were the most direct 

 advocates of the papal authority, and that they 

 operated most influentially to create dissatisfaction 

 among the people, he suppressed the monasteries by 

 act of parliament, and thereby inflicted an incurable 

 wound upon the Catholic religion in England. The 

 revenues of these opulent establishments were 

 granted to the crown, which, however, was not pro- 

 portionably enriched, as Henry lavished many grants 

 of land upon his courtiers, and, besides settling pen- 

 sions upon the retained abbots, friars, and monks, 

 erected six new bishoprics. Another step which 

 promoted the reformation, was the translation of the 

 Scriptures into the vernacular tongue. The fall of 

 Anne Boleyn, was, however, unfavourable, for a 

 time to the reformers. Henry married Jane Sey- 

 mour ; and the birth of prince Edward, in 1537, 

 fulfilled his wish for a male heir, although his joy 

 was abated by the death of the queen. It was not 

 until 1538, that the dissolution of all the religious 

 houses took place ; and the peculiar indignation of 

 Henry fell upon Thomas a Becket, as the oppugn er 

 of royal authority. He cited the saint into court, had 

 him condemned as a traitor, his name expunged from 

 the calendar, and his bones burnt to ashes. The fate 

 of Lambert, a poor schoolmaster, who, being con- 

 demned for heresy, appealed to the king, was more 

 deserving of compassion. Henry, seated on his 

 throne, attended by the lords spiritual and temporal, 

 interrogated him concerning the real presence, and 

 undertook to refute his errors from the Scriptures and 

 the schoolmen. Six bishops followed ; and in con- 

 clusion, Lambert was asked whether he would recant 

 or die. He chose death, and was executed with 

 circumstances of unusual cruelty. Henry now re- 

 solved to marry again, and Cromwell, a favourer of 

 the reformation, recommended Anne of Cleves. The 

 marriage took place in 1540, and Henry created 

 Cromwell earl of Essex ; but his dislike to his new 

 wife hastened the fall of that minister, who was con- 

 demned and executed upon a charge of treason. At 

 the same time, Henry procured, from the convocation 

 and parliament, a divorce from Anne of Cleves. He 

 then married Catharine Howard, niece to the duke 

 of Norfolk a union which brought him more under 

 the influence of the Catholic party ; and a rigorous 

 persecution of the Protestants followed. Papists 

 who denied his supremacy were treated with equal 

 severity. Henry now found that his new queen, of 

 whom he was very fond, had proved false to his bed, 

 2x2 



