A.D.

1483.

1485.

CHAP. II.

TO THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH.

EDWARD V.-RICHARD III.

1483-1485.

Page

51

State of Court Parties at the Death of Edward IV.

(29th of April) Meeting between the young King and

his Uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester; Richard seeks

a Quarrel with the Woodvilles, Edward's Maternal

Uncles

He assumes the Title of Protector

52

He lodges the young Princes in the Tower (13th of June);

Murder of Hastings and Rivers, and Imprisonment of

others

Penance inflicted on Jane Shore, to render the Memory
of Edward IV. obnoxious

Aspersions on the Legitimacy of the young Princes
Parliamentary Adoption of the Calumny

(26th of June) Richard King

55

56

57

-

Disappearance of the Princes; Reasons for believing
them murdered

(18th of October) Revolt of Buckingham

His Execution; many of his Adherents, who escape to

Britany, do Homage to Henry of Richmond as King 62

Richard attempts to gain Popularity by legal Reform-

ations

(6th of August) Henry lands at Milford

(22d of August) Battle of Bosworth; Henry King
State of Law and Government; Influence of the Nobility
in Elections; Character of English Institutions by De
Comines and Fortescue

CHAP. IIL

67

HENRY VII.

1485-1509.

Various and jarring Grounds on which the Title of Henry

rested; Parliamentary Settlement

(14th of January) Marriage of Henry with Elizabeth of

York

Military Progress in the North

1487.

Committal of Edward Plantagenet to the Tower

Pretensions of Symnel

(February) Symnel countenanced by the Earl of Kildare

(May) Landing of an Irish Force in Lancashire, in Sup-

port of Symnel

A.D.

Page

75

-

76

1493.

1496.

1497.

1498.
1499.

1499.

(22d of June) The Insurgents defeated; Symnel made a
Turnspit in the King's Kitchen

Pretensions of Perkin Warbeck; Reasons for rejecting
his Statement that he was the Duke of York
He is received in Ireland; Sir R. Clifford and others of
the York Party go to Flanders to enquire into his His-
tory

Clifford acts a double Part, and, on his Return, several

Yorkists are put to Death on his Evidence

(May) Warbeck attempts to land near Deal, but is de-
feated

James King of Scotland espouses the Cause of Warbeck,
but on James acceding to a Truce with England,
Warbeck leaves Scotland

He lands in Cornwall; Insurrection of the Cornish Men
in his favour, who march towards London

(23d of June) The Insurgents defeated

(September) Perkin takes Sanctuary at the Abbey of
Beaulieu in Hampshire; (January) he yields himself up 83
Conspiracy between him and Clarence for their joint De-
liverance from the Tower; probability that he was in
this a Tool of Henry for the Destruction of Clarence,
whose Title was a Source of Anxiety

(November) Execution of Warbeck and of Clarence

The Murder of the latter was, in all probability, coolly

planned between Henry and Ferdinand of Spain, the

Claims of Clarence, being deemed, by Ferdinand, an

Objection to the Marriage of the Infanta with Prince

Arthur

86

87, 88

Foreign Alliances, and Relations of Henry; State of the

European Governments

-

89, 92

1503.

Peace with Scotland; Marriage of Margaret Tudor with

James

Treacherous Attempts, of which Henry had been guilty,
against James

His treacherous Extortion from Philip of the Surrender of
De la Pole

-

97

(November) Marriage of Prince Arthur to the Infanta;
(April) his Death; (June) Treaty for the Marriage of
Prince Henry with his Brother's Widow

Laws of this Reign; Origin of the Star Chamber 98-100

Spirit of Maritime Discovery and Commerce; Voyage of

Sebastian Cabot; Treaty of "the Great Intercourse" be.

tween England and Burgundy; evident Approach of

those mighty Changes, which were about "to raise the

middle Classes; to restore the Importance of personal

Property; to extend political Knowledge; and, at length,

to diffuse Education so widely, as to alter the Seat of

Power"

100-103

A.D.

Page

104

1509.

Hoard amassed by Henry; Extortions of Empson and

Dudley

(22d of April) Death of Henry; his Character: "no
Personage in History, of so much Understanding and
Courage, is so near being despised "

CHAP. IV.

HENRY VIII.

TO THE REFORMATION.

-

106

1509-1547.

1509.

1511.
1512.

1513.

1517.

1520.

1521.

1523.

1525.

The first King of undisputed Title for more than a Cen-

tury

107

Aged Eighteen; warm Hopes of the Nation regarding him 108

The new Council composed under the Advice of his
Mother; his Marriage with Catharine of Aragon
(July and October) Conviction and Execution of Dudley
and Empson

Policy of Louis XII. of France; League of Cambray

against Venice; general Review of European Affairs 112, 115

Expedition against France; Debate in the English Council 115

Ferdinand delays to join Henry's forces, who mutiny and
compel their Leaders to return to England

(4th of August) Battle of the Spurs; Defeat of the French;
Irruption of the Scots; (7th of September) Battle of
Flodden Field; Death of James
Peace between Henry and Louis; Marriage of Louis
with Mary Tudor

Administration of Wolsey; Sketch of his History

Rise of the lower Labourers of London against foreign

Competitors

117

- 118

Meeting between Henry and Francis I, at the Field of

the Cloth of Gold

Trial and Execution of Stafford Duke of Buckingham

Progress of Wolsey's Administration; no Parliament

from 1516 to 1523

A Parliament; Debate on the Subsidy; Scene between
Wolsey and Sir Thomas More the Speaker
Wolsey unsuccessfully aspires to the Papacy
Wars in Italy between Charles and Francis;
taken Prisoner

(August) Alliance between England and France

1526, 1527. Francis released; (6th of May) Sack of Rome

- 127

128

129, 130

Importance of the Reformation in a Civil Point of View -
Every Impediment to Liberty of Enquiry robs a Man of
some Share of his rational and moral Nature
The Reformation of 1517 was the first successful Example
of Resistance to human Authority

But the Reformers assumed the same Authority, though

they rendered the Claim self-contradictory, by renounc

ing the Pretension to Infallibility

131

132

132

1483.

1520.

1525.

-

Extirpation, the only Persecution which could be finally
successful is happily impossible

-

-

-

133

133

134

136

136, 137

-

Causes which prepared the Soil for the Reformation
Luther born at Eisleben Mansfeldt, thirty Years after the
Invention of Printing and twelve Years before the Dis-
coveries of America and a maritime Road to India
His early Life
Indulgences; Luther roused to Opposition by their abuse
in Germany
They found Luther engaged in the Contemplation of the
Principle which places the Source of all true Righteous-
ness in the Heart: a Principle which is "the Basis of
all pure Ethics, the Cement of the eternal Alliance be
tween Morality and Religion, and the Badge of the In-
dependence of both on the low Motives and dim Insight
of human Laws"

(15th of June) Bull condemning Luther's Writings as

Heretical

Zwinglius; Calvin; Melancthon

Transubstantiation

Erasmus; the moderate Part that he acted

138

189

Revolt of the Boors of Swabia; Luther's Solicitude to

rescue the Reformation from the Reproach of these Dis-

orders

But such Disorders are incident even to the greatest and
most beneficial Movements of the human Mind

CHAP. VI.

HENRY VIII. — continued.

1527-1535.

TO THE EXECUTION OF SIR THOMAS MORE.

1527.

Henry's Attachment to Anne Boleyn

He seeks a Divorce from Catharine, on the Ground of

Affinity

A.D.

1528.

Clement VII. temporises from fear of the Emperor, but

grants a Commission to Legates to determine the

Question

Page

153. 155. 162

1529. (June) A Reconciliation between the Pope and the Em-
peror, precludes all Hope of the former consenting to
degrade an Austrian Princess

1530.

1533.

-

Questions addressed by Henry to the Universities of Eu-
rope on the validity of the Marriage

Cranmer employed in a Mission for this Purpose

Proceedings on the Papal Commission by Cardinals

Wolsey and Campeggio

157

. 159

- 161

- 162

They fail in persuading Catherine to take the Veil

Campeggio temporises, and Henry is incensed at Wolsey's

yielding to Delay

(October) Wolsey deprived of the Great Seal; Proceed-

ings against him

(July) Clement had removed the Suit to Rome; Suspicion

of Wolsey's secret Understanding with the Papal Court 165

Wolsey convicted of receiving Bulls from Rome; in Feb-

ruary 1530 pardoned and restored to the See of Win-

chester; (September) arrested for Treason; (30th of

November) His Death

- 166

169

(June) Henry procures a Letter to be sent from several of
the English Nobility to the Pope, praying him to hasten
the Determination of the Suit
England at this Time prepared for Resistance to the Pa-
pacy, but not for Separation from the Romish Church

(23d of May) Cranmer as Primate and Legate pronounces

the Marriage void

169, 170

The King had been married to Anne Boleyn before the

Sentence was pronounced; (1st of June) Her Coronation 170

In Petitions from the Clergy Henry is styled "Supreme
Head of the Church of England" whence it crept into
Acts of Parliament

New Administration of Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk,

Sir F. More and Thomas Cromwell

171

The only Measure hitherto adopted against the Romish

See was the Stoppage of Annates

172

1533, 1534. The Church of England withdrawn from Obedience to

Rome by a Series of Statutes passed in these Years

The King expressly declared Supreme Head of the Church

of England

The Marriage with Anne recognised by Parliament

Singular Passiveness of the Clergy during the Revolu-

tion in Religion