Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/623

 ENGLAND 611 tOli s ized the reins of government, was made pro- tector, put to death several of the monarch's relatives and supporters, and finally made him- self king. Edward V. and his brother, the duke of York, were placed in confinement, and soon disappeared, the general belief being that they were murdered by Richard's orders. The reign of Richard III. was brief, and much dis- turbed by conspiracies; he had offended the Yorkists, and had not conciliated the Lancas- trians. A coalition was formed against him, at the head of which stood the earl of Rich- mond, who was the great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt, founder of the house of Lan- caster, being descended from the earl of Somer- set, son of that prince by Catharine Swynford, his mistress. Somerset had been legitimated by parliament, but cut off from the line of suc- cession to the crown. On his father's side Richmond belonged to the "Welsh family of Tudor, his grandfather, Owen Tudor, having married Catharine of Valois, widow of Henry V. of England. Thus Richmond had no legiti- mate claim to the throne; but party exigen- cies overcame everything, and to satisfy the Yorkists it was agreed that Richmond should marry Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV. The first effort of the conspirators failed, and the duke of Buckingham, the chief of them in England, was beheaded. In 1485 they were more successful. Richmond landed in Wales at the head of a small force, marched into England, encountered Richard at Bosworth, Aug. 22, and defeated him, the king falling in the battle. The crown that he wore in the action was placed on the head of Richmond, who was hailed as Henry VII. This monarch, first of the Tudor line, bore himself as chief of the Lancastrian party, and depressed the York- ists whenever he could do so, though he felt " imself compelled to marry the princess Eliza- th. His reign was disturbed by many con- spiracies, and by the appearance of pretenders to the crown. The first of these was Lambert SimneL, who personated the earl of Warwick, son of the last duke of Clarence, and undoubt- ed heir to the crown, failing children of Ed- ard IV. The Irish supported this pretender, ho was the son of an English baker, and he as aided by the duchess dowager of Bur- indy, a sister of Edward IV., and notorious r her hatred of Henry VII. At the head of miscellaneous force of Irish and foreign sol- iers, the Yorkist leaders landed in England, d had they received any considerable Eng- ish support would probably have succeeded; t they were left to fight unaided, and were totally defeated at Stoke, June 16, 1487. mong the slain was the earl of Lincoln, next Warwick the chief member of the house of ork. Simnel was taken prisoner and made scullion in the king's kitchen. Another pre- nder was Perkin Warbeck, said to have been the son of a Tournay trader, but who claimed to be Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, sec- d son of Edward IV., a claim which has found strong defenders. Henry regarded him as a much more important character than Sim- nel, and foreign potentates treated him as if they believed in his claim. James IV. of Scot- land gave him one of his relatives in marriage, and marched an army into England to aid him. But all his efforts failed. A Cornish insurrec- tion was put down by the king, at the battle of Blackheath; yet when the pretender en- tered Cornwall he was regarded as king, was joined by a large force, and laid siege to Exeter. On the approach of the royal army, however, he fled, and subsequently surrendered on condition that his life should be spared. Flying a second time, he again gave himself up on the same terms, but was set in the stocks, and made to read a confession that he was an impostor. Consigned to the tower, he sought to escape, and was hanged at Tyburn (1499). Henry at the same time caused the earl of. Warwick, the last survivor of the legitimate male descendants of Edward III., to be put to death, on a groundless charge of conspiracy with Perkin. With these proceedings closed the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, in the complete prostration of the former, though the latter was represented by an illegitimate member, who was not even de- scended from Henry IV., the founder of Lan- castrian royalty. The last years of Henry VII. were more peaceably passed, and he became a powerful sovereign at home, while his influ- ence was great abroad. Under him England entered upon her career of maritime discov- ery. His master passion was avarice. He pretended to make war on France, but only that he might obtain money from his subjects, and then sold peace to the French monarch. He depressed the power of the high nobility in various ways. The law that no man should be held guilty of treason for adhering to the king de facto was passed in his reign. He died April 21, 1509. Henry VIII., his suc- cessor, was his second son, the first, Arthur, having died before his father. Arthur had married the princess Catharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and on his death his father had procured a dispen- sation from the pope allowing the marriage of Catharine and his second son, which was not solemnized until after the accession of Henry VIII. He was frequently engaged in hostilities with foreign countries, and the great victory of Flodden was won by one of his generals over James IV. of Scotland, husband of his sister Margaret. His policy was the result of his passions. That he was troubled concerning his marriage with his brother's widow, after that marriage failed to produce sons that could arrive at matu- rity, is easily believed, as he was singularly superstitious; but it required his passion for Anne Boleyn to give his scruples much force. Had the court of Rome aided him to a divorce, he would have remained a Catholic ; but that court refusing this, he threw off his allegiance