Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, as lawful, while she, herself, as the direct descendant
of Henry's sister, Margaret, stood next in succession.
395. Mary marries Darnley; his Murder.
A few years later Mary married Lord Darnley. He became jealous of Rizzio, her private secretary, and, with the
aid of accomplices, seized him in her presence, dragged him into an antechamber, and there stabbed him. The
next year Darnley was murdered. It was believed that Mary and the Earl of Bothwel, whom she soon married,
were guilty of the crime. The people rose and cast her into prison, and forced her to abdicate in favor of her
infant son, James VI, who eventualy became King of England and Scotland (1603).
396. Mary escapes to England (1568); plots against Elizabeth and Protestantism.
Mary escaped and fled to England. Elizabeth, fearing she might pass over to France and stir up war, confined her
in Bolton Castle, Yorkshire. During her imprisonment in another stronghold, to which she had been transferred,
she was accused of being implicated in a plot for assassinating the English Queen and seizing the reins of
government in behalf of herself and the Jesuits (S378).
It was, in fact, a time when the Protestant faith seemed everywhere marked for destruction. In France evil
counselors had induced the King to order a massacre of the Reformers, and on St. Batholomew's Day thousands
were slain. The Pope, misinformed in the matter, ordered a solemn thanksgiving for the slaughter, and struck a
gold medal to commemorate it. Philip II of Spain, whose cold, impassive face scarcely ever relaxed into a smile,
now laughed outright. Stil more recently, Wiliam the Silent, who had driven out the Catholics from a part of the
Netherlands, had been assassinated by a Jesuit fanatic. Meanwhile the Pope had excommunicated Queen
Elizabeth (1570) and had released her subjects from alegiance to her. A fanatic nailed this bul of
excommunication to the door of the Bishop of London's palace. This bold act, for which the offender suffered
death, brought matters to a crisis.
Englishmen felt that they could no longer remain halting between two opinions. They realized that now they must
resolve to take their stand by the Queen or else by the Pope. Parliament at once retaliated against the Pope by
passing two stringent measures which declared it high treason for any one to deny the Queen's right to the crown,
to name her successor, to denounce her as a heretic, or to say or do anything which should "alienate the hearts
and minds of her Majesty's subjects from their dutiful obedience" to her. Later, the "Association," a vigilance committee, was formed by a large number of the principal people of the realm to protect Elizabeth against
assassination. Not only prominent Protestants but many Catholic noblemen joined the organization to defend the
Queen at al hazards.
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397. Elizabeth beheads Mary, 1587.
The ominous significance of these events had their ful effect on the
English Queen. Aroused to a sense of her danger, she signed the
Scottish Queen's death warrant, and Mary, after nineteen years'
imprisonment, was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle.[1]
[1] Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire, demolished by James I.
As soon as the news of her execution was brought to Elizabeth, she became alarmed at the political
consequences the act might have in Europe. With her usual duplicity she bitterly upbraided the minister who had
advised it, and throwing Davidson, her secretary, into the Tower, fined him 10,000 pounds, the payment of
which reduced him to beggary.
Not satisfied with this, Elizabeth even had the effrontery to write a letter of condolence to Mary's son, James VI,
declaring that his mother had been beheaded by mistake! Yet facts prove that Elizabeth had not only determined
to put Mary to death, but that she had urged those who held Mary prisoner to kil her privately.[2]
[2] See "Elizabeth" in the "National Dictionary of (British) Biography."
398. The Spanish Armada.
Mary was hardly under ground when a new and greater danger threatened the country. At her death, the
Scottish Queen, disgusted with her mean-spirited son James,[3] bequeathed her dominions, including her claim
to the English throne, to Philip II of Spain (S370). He was then the most powerful sovereign in Europe, ruling
over a territory equal to that of the Roman Empire in its greatest extent.
[3] James had deserted his mother and accepted a pension from Elizabeth.
Philip II, with the encouragement of the Pope, and with the further help of the promise of a very large sum of
money from him, resolved to invade England, conquer it, annex it to his possessions, and restore the religion of
Rome. To accomplish this, he began fitting out the "Invisible Armada," an immense fleet of warships, intended to carry twenty thousand soldiers, and to receive on its way reenforcements of thirty thousand more from the
Spanish army in the Netherlands.
399. Drake's Expedition; Sailing of the Armada (1588).
Sir Francis Drake (S392) determined to check Philip's preparations. He heard that the enemy's fleet was
gathered at Cadiz. He sailed there, and in spite of al opposition effectualy "singed the Spanish King's beard," as he said, by burning and otherwise destroying more than a hundred ships.
This so crippled the expedition that it had to be given up for that year, but the next summer a vast armament set
sail. Motley[1] says it consisted of ten squadrons, of more than one hundred and thirty ships, carrying upwards
of three thousand cannon.
[1] Motley's "United Netherlands," II, 465; compare Froude's "England," XII, 466, and Laughton's "Armada"
(State Papers), pp. xl-lvi.
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The impending peril thoroughly roused England. Both Catholics and
Protestants rose to defend their country and their Queen.
400. The Battle, 1588.
The English sea forces under Lord High Admiral Howard, of Effingham, a zealous patriot, with Sir Francis
Drake, who ranked second in command, were assembled at Plymouth, watching for the enemy. Whe nthe long-
looked-for Spanish fleet came in sight, beacon fires were lighted on the hils to give the alarm.
"For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war flame spread;
High on St. Michael's Mount it shone: it shone on Beachy Head.
Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire,
Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire."
—Macaulay's "Armada."
The enemy's ships moved steadily toward the coast in the form of a crescent seven miles across; but Howard,
Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh, and other noted captains, were ready to receive them. With their fast-sailing cruisers
they sailed around the unwieldy Spanish warships, firing four shots to the enemy's one, and "harassing them as a
swarm of wasps worry a bear." Several of the Spanish vessels were captured and one blown up. At last the
commander sailed for Calais to repair damages and take a fresh start. The English folowed. When night came
on, Drake sent eight blazing fire ships to drift down among the Armada as it lay at anchor. Thoroughly alarmed at
the prospect of being burned where they lay, the Spaniards cut their cables and made sail for the north.
401. Destruction of the Armada, 1588; Elizabeth at Tilbury and at St. Paul's.
They were hotly pursued by the English, who, having lost but a single vessel in the fight, might have cut them to
pieces, had not Elizabeth's suicidal economy stinted them in body powder and provisions. Meanwhile the
Spanish fleet kept moving northward. The wind increased to a gale, the gale to a furious storm. The commander
of the Armada attempted to go around Scotland and return home that way; but ship after ship was driven ashore
and wrecked on the wild and rocky coast of western Ireland. On one strand, less than five miles long, over a
thousand corpses were counted. Those who escaped the waves met death by the hands of the inhabitants. Of
the magnificent fleet which had sailed so proudly from Spain only fifty-three vessels returned, and they were but
half manned by exhausted crews stricken by pestilence and death. Thus ended Philip II's boasted attack on
England.
When al danger was past, Elizabeth went to Tilbury, on the Thames below London, to review the troops
colected there to defend the capital. "I know," said she, "that I have but the feeble body of a woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too." Unhappily the niggardly Queen had half starved her brave
sailors, and many of them came home only to die. None the less Elizabeth went with solemn pomp to St. Paul's
Cathedral to offer thanks for the great victory, which was commemorated by a medal bearing this inscription:
"God blew with his winds, and they were scattered." The date of the defeat of the Armada, 1588, was a turning point in English history. From that time England gradualy rose, under the leadership of such ilustrious
commanders as Drake, Blake, and Nelson, until she became what she has ever since remained—the greatest sea
power in the world (SS459, 557).
402. Insurrection in Ireland (1595).
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A few years later a terrible rebelion broke out in Ireland. From its partial conquest in the time of Henry II
(S159), the condition of that island continued to be deplorable. First, the chiefs of the native tribes fought
constantly among themselves; next, the English attempted to force the Protestant religion upon a people who
detested it; lastly, the greed and misgovernment of the rulers put a climax to these miseries. Sir Walter Raleigh
said, "The country was a commonwealth of common woe." What made this state of things stil more dangerous
was the fact that the Catholic rulers of Spain considered the Irish as their natural alies, and were plotting to send
troops to that island in order to strike England a deadly side blow when she least expected it.
Elizabeth's government began a war, the object of which was "not to subdue but to destroy." The extermination was so merciless that the Queen herself declared that if the work of destruction went on much longer, "she
should have nothing left but ashes and corpses to rule over." Then, but not til then, the starving remnant of the Irish people submitted, and England gained a barren victory which has ever since carried with it its own curse.
403. The First Poor Law (1601).
In Elizabeth's reign the first effective English poor law was passed. It required each parish to make provision for
such paupers as were unable to work, while the able-bodied were compeled to labor for their own support.
This measure relieved much of the distress which had prevailed during the three previous reigns (S354), and
forms the basis of the law in force at the present time (S607).
404. Elizabeth's Death (1603).
The death of the great Queen (1603) was as sad as her life had been briliant. Her favorite, Essex, Shakespeare's
intimate friend, had been beheaded for an attempted rebelion against her power. From that time she grew, as
she said, "heavy-hearted." Her old friends and counselors were dead, her people no longer welcomed her with
their former enthusiasm. She kept a sword always within reach. Treason had grown so common that Hentzner, a
German traveler in England, said that he counted three hundred heads of persons, who had suffered death for
this crime, exposed on London Bridge. Elizabeth felt that her sun was nearly set; gradualy her strength declined;
she ceased to leave her palace, and sat muttering to herself al day long, "Mortua, sed non sepulta!" (Dead, but not buried).
At length she lay propped up on cushions on the floor,[1] "tired," as she said, "of reigning and tired of life." In that sulen mood she departed to join that "silent majority" whose realm under earth is bounded by the sides of the grave. "Four days afterward," says a writer of that time, "she was forgotten."
[1] See in the works of Delaroche his fine picture of "The Death of Queen Elizabeth."
One sees her tomb, with her ful-length, recumbent effigy, in the north aisle of Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster
Abbey, while in the south aisle he sees the tomb and effigy of her old rival and enemy, Mary Queen of Scots
(S397). The sculptured features of both look placid. "After life's fitful fever they sleep wel."
405. Summary.
The Elizabethan period was in every respect remarkable. It was great in its men of thought, great in its literature,
and equaly great in its men of action. It was greatest, however, in its successful resistance to the armed hand of
religious oppression. "Practicaly the reign of Elizabeth," as Bishop Creighton remarks, "saw England established as a Protestant country."[2]
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[2] See "The Dictionary of English History" ("The Reformation"), p. 860.
The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 gave renewed courage to the cause of the Reformation, not only in
England, but in every Protestant country in Europe. It meant that a movement had begun which, though it might
be temporarily hindered, would secure to al civilized countries, which accepted it, the right of private judgment
and of liberty of conscience in matters of religion.
General Reference Summary of the Tudor Period (1485-1603)
I. Government II. Religion III. Military Affairs. IV. Literature,
Learning and Art. V. General Industry and Commerce. VI. Mode of
Life, Manners, and Customs
I. Government
406. Absolutism of the Crown; Free Trade; the Post Office.
During a great part of the Tudor period the power of the Crown was wel-nigh absolute. Four causes contributed
to this: (1) The destruction of a very large part of the feudal nobility by the Wars of the Roses.[1] (2) The
removal of many of the higher clergy from the House of Lords.[2] (3) The creation of a new nobility dependant
on the king. (4) The desire of the great body of the people for "peace at any price."
[1] In the last Parliament before the Wars of the Roses (1454) there were fifty-three temporal peers; at the
beginning of the reign of Henry VII (1485) there were only twenty-nine. [2] Out of a total of barely ninety peers,
Henry VIII, by the suppression of the monasteries, removed upwards of thirty-six abbots and priors. He,
however, added five new bishops, which made the House of Lords number about fifty-nine.
Under Henry VII and Elizabeth the courts of Star Chamber and High Commission exercised arbitrary power,
and often inflicted cruel punishments for offenses against the government, and for heresy or the denial of the
religious supremacy of the sovereign.
Henry VII established a treaty of free trade, caled the "Great Intercourse," between England and the
Netherlands. Under Elizabeth the first postmaster-general entered upon his duties, though the post office was
nott fuly established until the reign of her successor.
II. Religion
407. Establishment of the Protestant Church of England.
Henry VIII suppressed the Roman Catholic monasteries, seized their property, and ended by declaring the
Church of England independent of the Pope. Thenceforth he assumed the title of Supreme Head of the National
Church. Under Edward VI Protestantism was established by law. Mary led a reaction in favor of Roman
Catholicism, but her successor, Elizabeth, reinstated the Protestant form of worship. Under Elizabeth the Puritans
demanded that the National Church be completely "purified" from al Catholic forms and doctrines. Severe laws were passed under Elizabeth for the punishment of both Catholics and Puritans who failed to conform to the
Church of England.
III. Military Affairs
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408. Arms and Armor; the Navy.
Though gunpowder had been in use for two centuries, yet ful suits of armor were stil worn during a great part of
the period. An improved matchlock gun, with the pistol, an Italian invention, and heavy cannon were introduced.
Until the death of Henry VIII foot soldiers continued to be armed with the long bow; but under Edward VI that
weapon was superseded by firearms. The principal wars of the period were with Scotland, France, and Spain,
the last being by far the most important, and ending with the destruction of the Armada.
Henry VIII established a permanent navy, and built several vessels of upwards of one thousand tons register.
The largest men-of-war under Elizabeth carried forty cannon and a crew of several hundred men.
IV. Literature, Learning, and Art
409. Schools. The revival of learning gave a great impetus to education. The money which had once been given
to monasteries was now spent in building schools, coleges, and hospitals. Dean Colet established the free
grammar school of St. Paul's, several coleges were endowed at Oxford and Cambridge, and Edward VI
opened upwards of forty charity schools in different parts of the country, of which the Christ's Hospital or "Blue-Coat School," originaly established in London, is one of the best known. Improved textbooks were rpepared for
the schools, and Lily's "Latin Grammar," first published in 1513 for the use of Dean Colet's school, continued a standard work for over three hundred years.
410. Literature; the Theater.
The latter part of the period deserves the name of the "Golden Age of English Literature." More, Sydney,
Hooker, Jewel, and Bacon were the leading prose writers; while Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, and Jonson
represented the poets.
In 1574 a public theater was erected in London, in which Shakespeare was a stockholder. Not very long after, a
second was opened. At both these, the Globe and the Blackfriars, the great dramatist appeared in his own plays,
and in such pieces as "King John," "Richard the Third," and the Henrys, he taught his countrymen more of the true spirit and meaning of the nation's history than they had ever learned before. His historical plays are chiefly
based on Holinshed and Hal, two noted chroniclers of the period.
411. Progress of Science; Superstitions.
The discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, Magelan, and other navigators, had proved the earth to be a globe.
Copernicus, a Prussian astronomer, now demonstrated the fact that it both turns on its axis and revolves around
the sun, but the discovery was not accepted until many years later.
On the other hand, astrology, witchcraft, and the transmutation of copper and lead into gold were generaly
believed in. In preaching before Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Jewel urged that stringent measures be taken with
witches and sorcerers, saying that through their demoniacal acts "your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
death, their color fadeth, their flesh rotteth." Lord Bacon and other eminent men held the same belief, and many
persons eventualy suffered death for the practice of witchcraft.
412. Architecture.
The Gothic, or Pointed, style of architecture reached its final stage (the Perpendicular) in the early part of this
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period. The first examples of it have already been mentioned at the close of the preceding period (S324). After
the close of Henry VII's reign no attempts were made to build any grand church edifices until St. Paul's
Cathedral was rebuilt by Wren, in the seventeenth century, in the Italian, or classical, style.
In the latter part of the Tudor period many stately country houses[1] and grand city mansions were built,
ornamented with carved woodwork and bay windows. Castles were no longer constructed, and, as the country
was at peace, many of those which had been built were abandoned, though a few castelated mansions like
Thornbury, Gloucestershire, were built in Henry VIII's time. The streets of London stil continued to be very
narrow, and the houses, with their projecting stories, were so near together at the top that neighbors living on
opposite sides of the street might almost shake hands from the upper windows.
[1] Such as Hatfield House, Knowle Hal, Hardwick Hal, and part of Haddon Hal; and, in London, Crosby
Hal and other noble mansions.
V. General Industry and Commerce
413. Foreign Trade.
The eographical discoveries of this period gave a great impulse to foreign trade with Africe, Brazil, and North
America. The wool trade continued to increase, and also commerce with the East Indies. In 1600 the East India
Company was established, thus laying the foundation of England's Indian empire, and ships now brought cargoes
direct to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope.
Sir Francis Drake did a flourishing business in plundering Spanish settlements in America and Spanish treasure
ships on the sea, and Sir John Hawkins became wealthy through the slave trade,—kidnaping negroes on the
coast of Guinea, and seling them to the Spanish West India colonies. The domestic trade of England was stil
carried on largely by great annual fairs. Trade, however, was much deranged by the quantities of debased money
issued under Henry VIII and Edward VI.
Elizabeth reformed the currency, and ordered the mint to send out coin which no longer had a lie stamped on its
face, thereby setting an example to al future governments, whether monarchical or republican.
VI. Mode of Life, Manners, and Customs
414. Life in the Country and the City.
In the cities this was an age of luxury; but on the farms the laborer was glad to get a bundle of straw for a bed,
and a wooden trencher to eat from. Vegetables were scarcely known, and fresh meat was eaten only by the wel
to do. The cottages were built of sticks and mud, without chimneys, and were nearly as bare of furniture as the
wigwam of an American Indian.
The rich kept several mansions and country houses, but paid little attention to cleanliness; and when the filth and
vermin in one became unendurable, they left it "to sweeten," as they said, and went to another of their estates.
The dress of the nobles continued to be of the most costly materials and the gayest colors.
At table a great variety of dishes were served on silver plate, but fingers were stil used in place of forks. Tea and
coffee were unknown, and beer was the usual drink at breakfast and supper.
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Carriages were seldom used, except by Queen Elizabeth, and most journeys were performed on horseback.
Merchandise was also generaly transported on pack horses, the roads rarely being good enough for the passage
of wagons. The principal amusements were the theater, dancing, masquerading, bul and bear baiting (worrying a
bul or bear with dogs), cockfighting, and gambling.
Ninth Period[1]
"It is the nature of the devil of tyranny to tear and rend the body which he leaves."—Macaulay
Beginning with the Divine Right of Kings and Ending with the Divine
Right of the People
King or Parliament?
House of Stuart (1603-1649, 1660-1714)
James I, 1603-1625
Charles I, 1625-1649
"The Commonwealth and Protectorate," 1649-1660
Charles II, 1660-1685
James II, 1685-1689
Wiliam and Mary,[2] 1689-1702
Anne, 1702-1714
[1] Reference Books on this Period wil be found in the Classified List of Books in the Appendix. The
pronunciation of names wil be found in the Index. The Leading Dates stand unenclosed; al others are in
parentheses. [2] House of Orange-Stuart.
415. Accession of James I.
Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor family (S376). By birth, James Stuart, only son of Mary STuart, Queen of
Scots, and great-grandson of Margaret, sister of Henry VIII, was the nearest heir to the crown.[3] He was
already King of Scotland under the title of James VI. He now, by act of Parliament, became James I of England.
By his accession the two countries were united under one sovereign, but each retained its own Parliament, its
own National Church, and its own laws.[4] The new monarch found himself ruler over three kingdoms, each
professing a different religion. Puritanism prevailed in Scotland, Catholicism in Ireland, Anglicanism or
Episcopacy in England.
[3] See Genealogical Table, p.207. [4] On his coins and in his proclamations James styled himself King of Great
Britain, France, and Ireland. But the term "Great Britain" did not properly come into use until somewhat more than a hundred years later, when, by an act of Parliament under Anne, Scotland and England were legaly united.
The English Parliament refused to grant free trade to Scotland and denied to the people of that counttry, even if
born after James I came to the English throne (or "Post Nati," as they were caled), the rights and privileges possessed by natives of England.
416. The King's Appearances and Character.
James was unfortunate in his birth. Neither his father, Lord Darnley, nor his mother had high qualities of
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character. The murder of Mary's Italian secretary in her own palace, and almost in her own presence (S395),
gave the Queen a shock which left a fatal inheritance of cowardice to her son. Throughout his life he could not
endure the sight of a drawn sword. If we can