The History of England

A.D.

1483.

TO THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH.

EDWARD V.-RICHARD III.

1483-1485.

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

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
Disappearance of the Princes; Reasons for believing

Military Progress in the North

Committal of Edward Plantagenet to the Tower

Pretensions of Symnel

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
Richard attempts to gain Popularity by legal Reform-

62

ations

52

53

(February) Symnel countenanced by the Earl of Kildare
Lord Deputy of Ireland

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

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(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

· 67

1485-1509.

Various and jarring Grounds on which the Title of Henry
rested; Parliamentary Settlement

70

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

75

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

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

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.

1509-1547.

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

117

(August) Alliance between England and France

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

104

(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

- 118

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

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;

- 126, 127

129, 130

A.D.

1483.

1520.

1525.

1527.

CHAP. V.

HENRY VIII. continued.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.

1572.

Page

Importance of the Reformation in a Civil Point of View - 131
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

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

- 136

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
136, 137
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"