he nailed to the door of the church of Wittenberg that famous series of denunciations which started the movement
that ultimately protested against the authority of Rome, and gave the name of Protestant to al who joined it.
A few years later Henry published a reply to one of Luther's books, and sent a copy bound in cloth of gold to
the Pope. The Pope was so delighted with what he termed Henry's "angelic spirit" that he forthwith conferred on him the title of "Defender of the Faith." The English sovereigns have persisted in retaining this title to the present time, though for what reason, and with what right, even a royal intelect might be somewhat puzzled to explain.
With this new and flattering title the Pope also sent the King a costly two-handed sword, intended to represent
Henry's zeal in smiting the enemies of Rome. But it was destined by fate to become to tsymbol of the King's final
separation from the power that bestowed it (S349).
341. Victory of Flodden (1513); "Field of the Cloth of Gold" (1520).
Politicaly, Henry was equaly fortunate. The Scotch had ventured to attack the kingdom during the King's
absence on the Continent. At Flodden, on the borders of Scotland and England, they were defeated by the Earl
of Surrey, with great slaughter. (See map facing p. 120.) This victory placed Scotland at Henry's feet.[1]
[1] See Scott's "Marmion."
The King of France and the Emperor Charles V of Germany now vied with each other in seeking Henry's
aliance. The Emperor visited England in order to meet the English sovereign, while the King of France arranged
an interview in his own dominions, known, from the magnificence of its appointments, as the "Field of the Cloth
of Gold." Henry held the balance of power by which he could make France or Germany predominate as he saw
fit. It was owing to his able diplomatic policy, or to that of Cardinal Wolsey, his chief counselor, that England
reaped advantages from both sides, and advanced from a comparatively low position to one that was fuly
abreast of the foremost nations of Europe.
342. Henry's Marriage with his Brother's Widow.
Such was the King at the outset. In less than twenty years he had become another man. At the age of twelve he
had married at his father's command, and solely for political and mercenary reasons, Catharine of Aragon, his
brother Arthur's widow (S333), who was six years his senior. Such a marriage was forbidden, except in certain
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cases, by the Old Testament and by the ordinances of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Pope, however, had granted his permission, and when Henry ascended the throne, the ceremony was
performed a second time. Several children were the fruit of this union, al of whom died in infancy, except one
daughter, Mary, unhappily fated to figure as the "Bloody Mary" of later history (S374).
343. The King's Anxiety for a Successor; Anne Boleyn.
No woman had yet ruled in her own right, either in England or in any prominent kingdom of Europe, and Henry
was anxious to have a son to succeed him. He could not bear the thought of being disappointed; in fact he sent
the Duke of Buckingham to the block for casualy saying, that if the King died without issue, he should consider
himself entitled to receive the crown.
It was while meditating this question of the succession, that Henry became attached to Anne Boleyn, one of the
Queen's maids of honor; she was a sprightly brunette of nineteen, with long black hair and strikingly beautiful
eyes.
The light that shone in those eyes, though hardly that "Gospel light" which the poet cals it,[1] was yet bright enough to effectualy clear up al difficulties in the royal mind. The King now declared that he felt conscientiously
moved to obtain a divorce from his old wife, and to marry a new one. In that determination lay most momentous
consequences, since it finaly separated England from the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome.
[1] "When love could teach a monarch to be wise,
And Gospel light first dawned from Bulen's [Boleyn's] eyes."
—Gray.
344. Wolsey favors the Divorce from Catharine.
Cardinal Wolsey, Henry's chief counselor,—the man who thought that he ruled both King and Kingdom,[2]—
lent his powerful aid to bring about the divorce, but with the expectation that the King would marry a princess
from France, and thus form an aliance with that country. If so, his own ambitious schemes would be forwarded,
since the united influence of the two kingdoms might elevate him to the Papacy.
[2] The Venetian ambassador in a dispatch to his government, wrote of Cardinal Wolsey: "It is he who rules both
the King and the entire Kingdom. At first the Cardinal used to say, `His Majesty wil do so and so'; subsequently
he went on, forgetting himself, and commenced saying, `We shal do so and so'; at present (1519) he has
reached such a pitch that he says, Ì shal do so and so.'"
When Wolsey learned that the King's choice was Anne Boleyn (S343), he fel on his knees, and begged him not
to persist in his purpose; but his entreaties had no effect, and the Cardinal was obliged to continue what he had
begun.
345. The Court at Blackfriars (1529).
The King had applied to the Pope to annul the marriage with Catharine (S342) on the ground of ilegality; but the
Emperor Charles V, who was the Queen's nephew, used his influence in her behalf. Vexatious delays now
became the order of the day. At last, a court composed of Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian,
as papal legates, or representatives, was convened at Blackfriars, London, to test the validity of the marriage.
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Henry and Catharine were summoned. The first appeared and answered to his name. When the Queen was
caled she declined to answer, but throwing herself at Henry's feet, begged him with tears and sobs not to put her
away without cause. Finding him inflexible, she left the court, and refused to attend again, appealing to Rome for
justice.
This was in the spring (1529). Nothing was done that summer, and in the autumn, the court, instead of reaching a
decision, dissolved. Campeggio, the Italian legate, returned to Italy, and Henry, to his disappointment and rage,
received an order from Rome to carry the question to the Pope for settlement.
346. Fal of Wolsey (1529).
Both the King and Anne Boleyn believed that Wolsey had played false with them. They now resolved upon his
destruction. The Cardinal had a presentiment of his impending doom. The French ambassador, who saw him at
this juncture, said that his face had shrunk to half its size. But his fortunes were destined to shrink even more than his face.
By a law of Richard II no representative of the Pope had any rightful authority in England[1] (S265). Though the
King had given his consent to Wolsey's holding the office of legate, yet now that a contrary result to what he
expected had been reached, he proceeded to prosecute him to the ful extent of the law.
[1] Act of Praemunire. See S243 and Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xii, S14, and p.
xxxi.
It was an easy matter for him to crush the Cardinal. Erasmus said of him, "He was feared by al, he was loved by
few—I may say by nobody." His arrogance and extravagant ostentation had excited the jealous hate of the
nobility; his constant demands for money in behalf of the King set Parliament against him; and his exactions from
the common people had, as the chronicle of the time tels us, made them weep, beg, and "speak cursedly."
Wolsey bowed to the storm, and to save himself gave up everything; his riches, pomp, power, al vanished as
suddenly as they had come. It was Henry's hand that stripped him, but it was Anne Boleyn who moved that
hand. Wel might the humbled favorite say of her:
"There was the weight that puled me down.
… al my glories
In that one woman I have lost forever."[1]
[1] Shakespeare's "Henry VIII," Act III, scene i.
Thus deprived of wel-nigh everything but life, the Cardinal was permitted to go into retirement in the north; less
than a twelve-month later he was arrested on a charge of high treason. Through the irony of fate, the warrant was
served by a former lover of Anne Boleyn's, whom Wolsey, it is said, had separated from her in order that she
might consummate her unhappy marriage with royalty. On the way to London Wolsey fel mortaly il, and turned
aside at Leicester to die in the abbey there, with the words:
"…O, Father Abbot,
An old man, broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye:
Give him a little earth for charity!"[2]
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[2] Shakespeare's "Henry VIII," Act IV, scene i.
347. Appeal to the Universities.
Before Wolsey's death, Dr. Thomas Cranmer, of Cambridge, suggested that the King lay the divorce question
before the universities of Europe. Henry caught eagerly at this proposition, and exclaimed, "Cranmer has the right pig by the ear." The scheme was at once adopted. Several universities returned favorable answers. In a few
instances, as at Oxford and Cambridge, where the authorities hesitated, a judicious use of bribes or threats soon
brought them to see the matter in a proper light.
348. The Clergy declare Henry Head of the Church, 1531.
Armed with these decisions in his favor, Henry now charged the whole body of the English Church with being
guilty of the same crime of which Wolsey had been accused (S346). The clergy, in their terror, made haste to
buy a pardon at a cost reckoned at nearly $5,000,000 at the present value of money.
They furthermore declared Henry to be the supreme head on earth of the Church of England, adroitly adding, "in
so far as is permitted by the law of Christ." Thus the Reformation came into England "by a side door, as it were."
Nevertheless, it came.
349. Henry marries Anne Boleyn; Act of Supremacy, 1534.
Events now moved rapidly toward a crisis. In 1533, after having waited over five years, Henry privately married
Anne Boleyn (S343), and she was soon after crowned in Westminster Abbey. When the Pope was informed of
this, he ordered the King, under pain of excommunication (S194), to put her away, and to take back Queen
Catharine (S345).
Parliament met that demand by passing the Act of Supremacy, 1534, which declared Henry to be without
reservation the sole head of the Church, making denial thereof high treason.[1] As he signed the act, the King
with one stroke of his pen overturned the traditions of a thousand years, and England stood boldly forth with a
National Church independent of the Pope.[2]
[1] Henry's ful title was now "Henry VIII, by the Grace of God, King of England, France, and Ireland, Defender
of the Faith and of the Church of England, and also of Ireland, on earth the Supreme Head." [2] Attention is
caled to the fact that a controversy, more or less serious in its character, had been going on, at intervals for
nearly five hundred years, between the English sovereigns (or the barons) and the popes. It began with Wiliam
the Conqueror in 1076 (S118). It was continued by Henry I (S136), by Henry II (SS163-170), by John
(S194), by the barons under Henry III (S211), by the Parliament of Merton (S211), by Edward I (S226), and it
may be said to have practicaly culminated under Henry VIII in the Act of Supremacy of 1534 (S349). But after
the formal establishment of Protestantism by Edward VI in 1549 (S362) we find the Act of Supremacy
reaffirmed, in slightly different form, by Queen Elizabeth in 1559 (S382). Finaly, the Revolution of 1688 settled
the question (S497).
350. Subserviency of Parliament.
But as Luther said, Henry had a pope within him. The King now proceeded to prove the truth of Luther's
declaration. We have already seen (S328) that since the Wars of the Roses had destroyed the power of the
barons, there was no effectual check on the despotic wil of the sovereign. The new nobility were the creatures of
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the Crown, hence bound to support it; the clergy were timid, the Commons anything but bold, so that Parliament
gradualy became the servile echo and ready instrument of the throne.
That body twice released the King from the discharge of his just debts. It even exempted him from paying certain
forced loans which he had extorted from his people. Parliament also repeatedly changed the laws of succession
to the Crown to please him. Moreover it promptly attainted and destroyed such victims as he desired to put out
of the way (S351). Later (1539) it declared that proclamations, concerning religious doctrines, when made by
the King and Council, should have the force of acts of Parliament. This new power enabled Henry to pronounce
heretical many opinions which he disliked and to punish them with death.
351. Execution of More and Fisher (1535).
Thomas Cromwel had been Cardinal Wolsey's private secretary; but he had now become chief counselor to the
King, and in his crooked and cruel policy reduced bloodshed to a science. He first introduced the practice of
condemning an accused prisoner without any form of trial (by Act of Attainder), and sending him to the block[1]
without alowing him to speak in his own defense (S356). No one was now safe who did not openly side with
the King.
[1] Act of Attainder. See Constitutional Documents in Appendix, p. xxxi.
Sir Thomas More, who had been Lord Chancelor (S339), and the aged Bishop Fisher were executed because
they could not affirm that they conscientiously believed that Henry was moraly and spiritualy entitled to be the
head of the English Church (S349).
Both died with Christian fortitude. More said to the governor of the
Tower with a flash of his old humor, as the steps leading to the
scaffold shook while he was mounting them, "Do you see me safe up, and
I wil make shift to get down by myself."
352. Destruction of the Monasteries; Seizure of their Property, 1536-1539.
When the inteligence of the judicial murder of the venerable ex-chancelor reached Rome, the Pope issued a bul
of excommunication and deposition against Henry (S194). It delivered his soul to Satan, and his kingdom to the
first invader.
The King retaliated by the suppression of the monasteries. In doing so, he simply hastened a process which had
already begun. Years before, Cardinal Wolsey had not scrupled to shut up several, and take their revenues to
found Christ Church Colege at Oxford. The truth was, that, in most cases, monasticism "was dead long before
the Reformation came to bury it" (S339, note 1). It was dead because it had done its work,—in many respects a
great and good work, which the world could il have spared (SS43, 45, 46, 60). The monasteries simply shared
the fate of al human institutions, however excelent they may be.
"Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they."[1]
[1] Tennyson's "In Memoriam."
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Henry, however, had no such worthy object as Wolsey had. His pretext was that these institutions had sunk into
a state of ingnorance, drunkenness, and profligacy. This may have been true of some of the smaler monasteries,
though not of the large ones. But the vices of the monasteries the King had already made his own. It was their
wealth which he now coveted. The smaler religious houses were speedily swept out of existence (1536). This
caused a furious insurrection in the North, caled the "Pilgrimage of Grace" (1537); but the revolt was soon put down.
Though Parliament had readily given its sanction to the extinction of the smaler monasteries, it hesitated about
abolishing the greater ones. Henry, it is reported, sent for a leading member of the House o Commons, and,
laying his hand on the head of the kneeling representative, said, "Get my bil passed by to-morrow, little man, or else to-morrow this head of yours wil come off." The next day the bil passed, and the work of destruction
began anew (1539). Property worth milions of pounds was confiscated, and abbots like those of Glastonbury
and Charter House, who dared to resist, were speedily hanged.[1]
[1] The total number of religious houses destroyed was 645 monasteries, 2374 chapels, 90 colegiate churches,
and 110 charitable institutions. Among the most famous of these ruins are Glastonbury, Kirkstal, Furness,
Netley, Tintern, and Fountains abbeys.
The magnificent monastic buildings throughout England were now stripped of everything of value, and left as
ruins. (See map opposite.) The beautiful windowes of stained glass were wantonly broken; the images of the
saints were cast down from their niches; the chimes of bels were melted and cast into cannon; while the valuable
libraries were torn up and sold to grocers and soap boilers for wrapping paper.
At Canterbury, Becket's tomb (S170) was broken open, and after he had been nearly four centuries in his grave,
the saint was summoned to answer a charge of rebelion and treason. The case was tried at Westminster Abbey,
the martyr's bones were sentenceeed to be burned, and the jewels and rich offerings of his shrine were seized by
the King.
Among the few monastic buildings which escaped was the beautiful abbey church, now the cathedral of
Peterborough, where Catharine of Aragon (S345), who died soon after the King's marriage with her rival, was
buried. Henry had the grace to give orders that on her account it should be spared, saying that he would leave to
her memory "one of the goodliest monuments in Christendom."
The great estates thus suddenly acquired by the Crown were granted to favorites or thrown away at the gambling
table. "It is from this date," says Halam, "that the leading families of England, both within and without the peerage, became conspicuous through having obtained possession of the monastery lands." These were
estimated to comprise about one fourth of the whole area of the kingdom.
353. Effects of the Destruction of Monasteries.
The sweeping character of this act had a twofold effect. First, it made the King more absolute than before, for,
since it removed the abbots, who had held seats in the House of Lords, that body was made just so much
smaler and less able to resist the royal wil.
Next, the abolition of so many religious institutions necessarily caused much misery, for the greater part of the
monks and al of the nuns were turned out upon the world destitute of means. In the end, however, no permanent
injury was done, since the monasteries, by their profuse and indiscriminate charity, had undoubtably encouraged
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much of the very pauperism which they had relieved.
354. Distress among the Laboring Classes.
An industrial revolution was also in progress at this time, which was productive of widespread suffering. It had
begun early in Henry's reign through the great numbers of discharged soldiers, who could not readily find work.
Sir Thomas More had given a striking picture of their miserable condition in his "Utopia," a book in which he urged the government to consider measures for their relief; but the evil had since become much worse. Farmers,
having discovered that wool growing was more profitable than the raising of grain, had turned their fields into
sheep pastures; so that a shepherd with his dog now took the place of several families of laborers.
This change brought multitudes of poor people to the verge of starvation; and as the monasteries no longer
existed to hold out a helping hand, the whole realm was overrun with beggars and thieves. Bishop Latimer, a
noted preacher of that day, declared that if every farmer should raise two acres of hemp, it would not make rope
enough to hang them al. Henry, however, set to work with characteristic vigor and made away, it is said, with
great numbers, but without materialy abating the evil (S403).
355. Execution of Anne Boleyn; Marriage with Jane Seymour (1536).
Less than three years after her coronation, the new Queen, Anne Boleyn (SS343, 349), for whom Henry had
"turned England and Europe upside down," was accused of unfaithfulness. She was sent a prisoner to the Tower.
A short time after, her head roled in the dust, the light of its beauty gone out forever.
The next morning Henry married Jane Seymour, Anne's maid of honor. Parliament passed an act of approval,
declaring that it was al done "of the King's most excelent goodness." It also declared Henry's two previous
marriages, with Catharine and with Anne Boleyn, void, and affirmed that their children, the Princesses Mary and
Elizabeth, were not lawfuly the King's daughters. A later act of Parliament gave Henry the extraordinary power
of naming his successor to the crown.[1] A year afterwards Henry's new Queen died, leaving an infant son,
Edward. She was no sooner gone than the King began looking about for some one to take her place.
[1] By his last wil he made Mary and Elizabeth heirs to the crown in case al male and female issue by himself or
his son Edward failed (S361). Henry's eldest sister, Margaret (see No. 3 in Genealogical Table on page 207),
was passed by entirely. But long after Henry's death, Parliament set his wil aside (1603) and made James I (a
descendent of Margaret) King of England.
356. More Marriages (1540).
Thomas Cromwel, the King's trusted adviser (S351), succeeded in persuading his master to agree to marry
Anne of Cleves, a German Protestant Princess. Henry had never seen her, but her portrait represented her as a
woman of surpassing beauty.
When Anne reached England, Henry hurried to meet her with al a lover's ardor. To his dismay, he found that not
only was she ridiculously ugly, but that she could speak—so he said—"nothing but Dutch," of which he did not understand a word. Matters, however, had gone too far to retract, and the marriage was duly solemnized
(1540). The King obtained a divorce within six months, and then took his revenge by cutting off Cromwel's
head. What is more, he cut it off by virtue of that very Act of Attainder which Cromwel had used so
unscrupulously in Henry's behalf (S351).
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The same year (1540) Henry married Catharine Howard, a fascinating girl stil in her teens, whose charms so
moved the King that it is said he was tempted to have a special thanksgiving service prepared to commemorate
the day he found her.
Unfortunately, Catharine was accused of having been guilty of misconduct before her marriage. She confessed
her fault, but for such cases Henry had no mercy. The Queen was tried for high treason, and soon walked that
fatal road in which Anne Boleyn had preceded her (S355).
Not to be baffled in his matrimonial experiments, the King took Catherine Parr for his sixth and last wife (1543).
She was inclined to be a zealous Protestant, and she too might have gone to the block, on a charge of heresy,
but her quick wit came to her rescue. She flattered the King's self-conceit as a profound theologian and the
compliment saved her life.
357. Henry's Action respecting Religion.
Though occupied with these rather numerous domestic infelicities, Henry was not idle in other directions. By an
act known as the Six Articles, or, as the Protestants caled it, the "Bloody Act," or the "Whip with Six Lashes"
(1539), the King established a new and peculiar form of religion. In words, at least, it seemed to be practicaly
the same as that upheld by the Pope, but with the Pope left out.[1]
[1] The Six Articles: The chief article ordered that al persons who denied the Catholic doctrine of
transubstantiation should be burned at the stake as heretics and that al their possessions should be forfeited to
the Crown. The remaining five articles affirmed the obligation of al persons to accept and obey certain other
Catholic doctrines under pain of punishment for felony, if they refused.
Geographicaly, the country was about equaly divided between Catholicism and Protestantism. The
northwestern half clung to the ancient faith; the southeastern half, including most of the large cities where
Wycliffe's doctrines had formerly prevailed was favorable to the Reformation.
On the one hand, Henry prohibited the Lutheran or Protestant doctrine (S340); on the other, he caused the Bible
to be translated (SS254, 339), and ordered a copy to be chained to a desk in every parish church in England
(1538); but though al persons might now freely read the Scriptures, no one but the clergy was alowed to
interpret them. Later in his reign, the King became alarmed at the spread of discussion about religious subjects,
and prohibited the reading of the Bible by the "lower sort of people."
358. Henry versus Treason.
Men now found themselves in a strange and cruel delimma. If it was dangerous to believe too much, it was
equaly dangerous to believe too little. Traitor and heretic were dragged to execution on the same hurdle; for
Henry burned as heretics those who declared their belief in Protestantism, and hanged or beheaded, as traitors,
those who acknowledged the authority of the Pope and denied the