ENGLAND
UNDER
HENRY VIII
EXAMINATIONAL ESSAY BY
NOVIKOV SERGEI
10th "B" GRADE, SCHOOL NO. 1276
MOSCOW - 1999
ENGLAND UNDER
HENRY THE EIGHTH.
Henry VIII Tudor (1491-1547)
was the second son of Henry VII.
His brother Arthur, being only 15, married to Catherine,
the daugter of the Spanish monarch.
But in a very few month he sickened and died.
Henty VII arranged that the young widow
should marry his second son Henry,
then 12 years of age, when he too should be 15.
A few years after settling this marriage, in 1509,
the King died of the gout.
King Henry the Eighth was just eighteen
years of age when he came to the throne.
People said he was a handsome boy, but
in later life he did not seem handsome at
all. He was a big, burly, noisy, small-eyed,
large-faced, double-chinned fellow, as we
know from the portraits of him, painted by
the famous Hans Holbein*.
The king was anxious to make himself
popular, and the people, who had long dis-
liked the late king, believed to believe that
he deserved to be so.
He was extremely fond of show and display, and so were they. There-fore there was great rejoicing when he married the Princess Catherine, and when they were both crowned. And the King fought at tournaments and always came off victorious - for the courtiers took care of that - and there was a general outcry that he was a wonderful man.
The prime favourites of the late King, who were engaged in money-raising matters, Empson, Dudley, and their supporters, were accused of a variety of crimes they really had been guilty; and they were pilloried, and
then beheaded, to the satisfaction of the people, and the enrichment of the
King.
The Pope, so indefatigable in getting the world into trouble, had mixed
himself up in a war on a continent of Europe, occasioned by the reigning
Princes of little quarrelling states in Italy having at various times married
into other royal families, and so led to their claiming a share in those petty
Governments. The King, who discovered that he was very fond of the Pope, sent a herald to the King of France, to say he must not make war
upon the father of all Christians. As the French King did not mind this relationship in the least, and also refused to admit a claim King Henry made to certain lands in France, war was declared between the two coun-
tries.
England made a blundering alliance with Spain, and got stupidly taken in by that country, which made its own terms with France when it could,
and left England in the lurch. Sir Edward Howard, a bold admiral, son of the Earl of Surrey, distinguished himself by his bravery against the French
in this business; but, unfortunately, he was more brave than wise, for, skimming into the French harbour of Brest with only a few row-boats, he
attempted to take some strong French ships, well defended with cannons.
The upshot was, that he was left on board of one of them with not more than about a dozen man, and was thrown into the sea and drowned.
***
After this great defeat the King took it into his head to invade France in
person, first executing that dangerous Earl of Suffolk whom his father had left in the Tower, and appointing Queen Catherine to charge of his king-dom in his absence. He sailed to Calais, where he was joined by Maximi-lian, Emperor of Germany, who pretended to be his soldier, and who took
pay in his service. The King might be successful enough in sham fights, but his idea of real battles chiefly consisted in pitching silken tents of bright colours that were ignominiously blown down by the wind, and in
making a vast display of a gaudy flags and golden curtains. Fortune, however, flavoured him better than he deserved: he gave the French battle, and they took such an anaccountable panic, and fled with such
swiftness, that it was ever afterwards called by the English the Battle of
Spurs**. Instead of following up his advantage, the King, finding that he had had enough of real fighting, came home again.
The Scottish King, though nearly related to Henry by marriage, had taken part against him in this war. The Earl of Surrey, as the English gene-
ral, advanced to meet him when he came out of his own dominions and crossed the river Tweed. The two armies came up with one another when
the Scottish King had also crossed the river Till, and was encamped upon
the Hill of Flodden. Along the plain below it, the English, when the hour of battle came, advanced. The Scottish army, which had been drawn up in five great bodies, then came steadily down in perfect silence. So they, in their turn, advanced to meet the English army, which came on the one long line; and they attacked it with a body of spearman, under Lord Home.
At first they had the best of it; but the English fought with such valour, that, when the Scottish King had almost made his way up to the Royal standart, he was slain, and the whole Scottish power routed. Ten thousand Scottish men lay dead that day on Flodden Field. For a long time after-wards, the Scottish peasantry used to believe that their king had not been
really killed in this battle, because no Englishman had found an iron belt he wore about his body as a penance for having been an undutiful son. But, whatever became of his belt, the English had his sword and dagger, and the ring from his finger, and his body was recognized by English gent-lemen who had known the Scottish King well.
***
When King Henry was making ready to renew the war in France, the French King was contemplating peace. His Queen, dying at this time, he proposed, though he was upwards of fifty years old, to marry King Henry's sister, Princess Mary, who, becides, being only sixteen, was bet-
rothed to the Duke of Suffolk. As the inclinations of young Princesses were not too much considered in such matters, the marriage was conclu-ded , and the poor girl was escorted to France, where she was immidiately left as the French King's bride, with only one of her English attendants. That one was a pretty young girl named Anna Boleyn, niece of the Earl of
Surrey, who had been made Duke of Norfolk after the victory of Flodden
Field.
The French King died within three month, and left the young Queen a young widow. The new French monarch, Francis I, seeing how important
it was to his interests that she should take for her second husband no one but an Englishman, adviced her first lover, the Duke of Suffolk, when King Henry sent him over to France to fetch her home, to marry her. The
Princess being herself so fond of that Duke, as to tell him that he must either do so then, or lose her forever, they were wedded; and Henry after-
wards forgave them. In making interest with King, the Duke of Suffolk had addressed his most powerful favourite and adviser, Thomas Wol-sey*** - a name very famous in history for its rise and downfall.
Wolsey was the son of a respectable butcher at Ipswich, in Suffolk, and
recieved so exellent education that he became a tutor to the family of Mar-
qius of Dorset, who afterwards got him appointed one of the late King's
chaplains. On the accession of Henry VIII, he was promoted and taken into great favour with the King - whether he were a foreign monarch or an English nobleman - was obliged to make a friend of the great Cardinal Wolsey.
He was a gay man, who could dance and jest, and sing and drink. He was wonderfully fond of pomp and glitter, and so was the King. He knew a good deal of the Church learning of that time, much of which consisted of finding artful excuses and pretences for almost any wrong thing, and in
arguing that black was white, or any other colour. This kind of learning pleased the King too. For many such reasons, the Cardinal was high in estimation with the King, and, being a man of greater ability, knew how to manage him. Never had there been seen in England such state as that Lord Cardinal kept. His wealth was equal, it was reckoned, to the riches of the Crown. His palaces were as splendid as the King's, and his retinue was eight hundred strong. He held his Court, dressed out from top to toe in flaming scarlet; and his very shoes were golden, set with precious stones.
His followers tode on blood-horses, while he, with wonderful affectation of humility in the midst of his great splendour, ambled on a mule.
Though the influence of his stately priest, a grand meeting was arranged to take place between the French and English Kings in France, but on ground belonging to England. A prodigious show of friendship was to be made on the occation, and heralds were sent to proclaim with brazen trumplets through all the principal cities of Europe, that, on a certain day, the Kings of France and England, as companions and brothers in arms,
each attended by 18 followers, would hold a tournament against all knights who might choose to come.
Charles, a new Emperor of Germany (the old one being dead), wanted to prevent that aliance between the two sovereigns, and came over to Eng-
land and secured Wolsey's interest by promising that his influence should make him Pope when the next vacancy occured. On the day when the Em-
peror left England, the King and the Court went over to Calais, and thence
to the place of meeting, commonly called the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
There were sham castles, temporary chapels, fountains running wine, great cellars full of wine free as water to all comers, silk tents, gold lace and gilt lions, and such things without end. And, in the midst of all, the rich Cardinal outshone and outglittered all the noblemen and gentlemen assembled. After a treaty had been made between the two Kings with as much solemnity as if they had intended to keep it, the lists - 900 feet long,
and 320 broad - were opened for the tournament. Then, for ten days, the
two sovereigns fought five combats every day, and always beat their polite adversaries.
***
Of course, nothing came of all these fine doings but a speedy renewal of the war between England and France, in which the two Royal com-panions longed very earnestly to damage one another. But, before it broke out again, the Duke of Buckingham was shamefully executed on Tower Hill, on the evidence of a discharged servant - really for nothing, except the folly of having believed in a friar of the name of Hopkins, who had pretended to be a prophet, and who had mumbled and jumbled out some nonsense about the Duke's son being destined to be very great in the land. It was believed that the unfortunate Duke had given offence to the great Cardinal by expressing his mind freely about the expense and absurdity of the whole business of the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
The new war was a short one, though the Earl of Surrey invaded France again, and did some injury to that country. It ended in another treaty of peace between the two kingdoms, and the discovery that the Emperor of Germany was not such a good friend to England in reality, as he pretend-ed to be. Neither did he keep his promise to Wolsey to make him Pope, though the King urged him. So the Cardinal and King together found out that the Emperor of Germany was not a man to keep faith with. They broke off a projected marriage between the King's daughter Mary, Prin-cess of Wales, and that sovereign, and began to consider whether it might not be well to marry the young lady, either to Francis himself, or to his eldest son.
***
There now arose at Wittemberg****, in Germany, the great leader of the mighty change in England which is called The Reformation*****, and which set the people free from their slavery to the priests. This was a learned Doctor, named Martin Luther******, who knew all about them, for he had been a priest, and even a monk, himself. The preaching and writing of Wickliffe******* had set a number of men thinking on this subject, and Luther, finding one day to his great surprise, that there really was a book called the New Testament which the priests did not allow to be read, and which contained truths that they suppressed, began to be very vigorous agains the whole body, from the Pope downward. It happened, while he was yet only beginning his work or awakening the nation, that a friar named Tetzel came into his neighbourhood selling what were called Indulgences, by wholesale, to raise money for beautifying the St. Peter's Cathidral at Rome. Those who bought an Indulgence of the Pope were supposed to buy themselves from the punishment of Heaven for their offences. Luther told the people that Indulgences were worthless bits of paper.
The King and the Cardinal were mightly indignant at this presumption; and the King (with the help of Sir Thomas More********, a wise man, whom the afterwards repaid by striking off
his head) even wrote a book about it, with
which the Pope was so well pleased that he
gave the King the title of Defender of the
Faith. The King and Cardinal also issued
flaming warnings to the people not to read
Luther's books, on pain of excommunica-
tion. But they did read them for all that; and
the rumour of what was in them spread far
and wide.
When this great change was thus going
on, the King began to show himself in his
truest and worst colours. Anne Boleyn, the pretty little girl who had gone abroad to France with her sister, was by this time grown up to be very
beautiful, and was one of the ladies in attendance on Queen Catherine. Queen Catherine was no longer young or pretty, and it is likely that she was not particularly good-tempered, having been always rather melan-choly, and having been made more so by deaths of four of her children when they were very young. So, the King fell in love with the fair Anne Boleyn. He wanted to get rid of his wife and marry Anne.
Queen Catherine had been the wife of
Henry's brother Arthur. So the King called
his favourite priests about him, and said
that he thought that it had not been lawful
for him to marry the Queen.
They answered that it was a serious busi-
ness, and perhaps the best way to make it
right, would be for His Majesty to be de-
vorced. That was the answer the King was
pleased with; so they all went to work.
Many intrigues and plots took place to
get this devorce. Finally, the Pope issued
a commission to Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio (whom he sent over from Italy for the purpose), to try the whole case in England. It is supposed that Wolsey was the Queen's enemy, because she had reproved him for his manner of life. But, he did not at first know that the King wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, and when he did know it, he even went down on his knees, in the endeavour to dissuade him.
The Cardinals opened their court in the Convent of the Black friars, in
London. On the opening of the court, when the King and Queen were call-
ed on to appear, that poor lady kneeled at the King's feet, and said that she had come, a stranger, to his dominions, that she had been a good and true wife for him for 20 years, and that she could acknowledge no power in those Cardinals to try whether she should be considered his wife after all that time, or should be put away. With that, she got up and left the court, and would never afterwards come back to it.
It was a difficult case to try and the Pope suggested the King and Queen to come to Rome and have it tried there. But by the good luck for the King , word was brought to him about Thomas Cranmer, a learned Doctor of Cambridge, who had prospered to urge the Pope on, by referring the case to all the learned doctors and bishops, and getting their opinions that the King's marriage was unlawful. The King, who was now in a hurry to marry Anne Boleyn, thought this such a good idea, that sent for Cranmer.
It was bad for cardinal Wolsey that he had left Cranmer to render this help. It was worse for him that he had tried to dissuade the King from marrying Anne Boleyn. Such a servant as he, to such a master as Henry, would probably have fallen in any case; but he fell suddenly and heavily. Soon he was arrested for high treason, and died on his way to Tower. Sir Thomas More was made Chancellor in Wolsey's place.
***
Meanwhile, the opinions concerning the divorce, of the learned doctors
and bishops and others, being at last collected, were forwarded to the Pope, with an entreaty that he would now grant it. The unfortunate Pope, who was a timid man, was half distracted between his fear of his authority being set aside in England if he did not do as he was asked, and his dread of offending the Emperor of Germany, who was Queen Catherine's neph-ew. In this state of mind he still evaded and did nothing. So, the King took the matter into his own hands, and made himself a head of whole Church.