Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/624

 612 ENGLAND to the pope, and became head of the church in England. He was six times married, and two of his wives were beheaded and two were re- pudiated. Much that was severe in Henry's treatment of his wives has been attributed to his desire to have heirs, the wars of. the roses having made English sovereigns, statesmen, and people very sensitive on the subject of the succession. Henry interfered much in conti- nental politics, and the European balance-of- power theory dates from his time. In his reign the scaffold was occupied by victims from every class of society, the number of whom, however, has been considerably exaggerated. The highest classes were the greatest sufferers, the king being impartial in the selection of his victims. He died Jan. 28, 1547, and was suc- ceeded by his only son Edward VI., whose mother was Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife. Edward was in his 10th year, and the govern- ment was placed in the hands of a council of regency, the principal members of which were the earl of Hertford, the king's uncle, soon cre- ated duke of Somerset and protector, and Arch- bishop Cranmer. In this reign the church of England was established, and the nation placed on the Protestant side in the struggle then go- ing on in Europe. In the contests for power that took place at court, Somerset was finally worsted, and then beheaded. Dudley, duke of Northumberland, into whose hands all power passed, caused his fourth son, Lord Guildford Dudley, to marry Lady Jane Grey, great-grand- daughter of Henry VII. ; and when Edward VI. died, July 6, 1553, the duke made Lady Jane queen, to whom Edward had been per- suaded to bequeath the crown. Her reign lasted but ten days, and her party was quickly dispersed. Mary, eldest daughter of Henry VIII., ascended the throne, and behaved mer- cifully toward most of those who had sought to prevent her succession. Northumberland and others were executed, but Lady Jane and her husband were spared till the next year, when they were executed, in consequence of the lady's father, the dnke of Suffolk, having taken part in Wyatt's rebellion. Suffolk also was executed. Mary effected a reconciliation with Kome, and gave her hand to Philip II. of Spain. This marriage led to war between Eng- land and France, and an English army joined the Spanish force that invaded France, and took part in the battle of St. Quentin. The French succeeded in an attack on Calais, the loss of which shortened Mary's life. She was a devout Catholic, and caused Cranmer, Lati- mer, Ridley, and about 300 other Protestants, to be burned. Her death, which occurred Nov. 17, 1558, left the throne to Elizabeth, who, somewhat against her own inclinations, sided with the Protestants for obvious reasons of policy. Her reign, which lasted nearly 45 years, is one of the most brilliant in English history. Sagacious in the selection of her counsellors, though her occasional folly gave them great trouble, she triumphed over her en- emies, and raised her kingdom to the first place in Europe. She ruled over Scotland in fact, and put the sovereign of that country to death after having held her in captivity nearly 19 years. The Huguenots of France and Henry IV. received aid from her, and but for the as- sistance which she gave the Dutch they would have sunk under the power of Spain. She in- vited the Turks to join her in attacking the pope and Philip II. ; and over both those potentates she achieved a great triumph in 1588, when the Spanish armada was destroyed. Some of the greatest names in the literature of England belong to the Elizabethan age. The enterprise of Englishmen led them to circum- navigate the globe, to attempt colonization, to extend commerce, and to commence the trade with India. Elizabeth had not much to do directly with these things, but she was the central figure of a great nation in a great age, and all that was accomplished by her sub- jects increased the splendor of her glory. She died March 24, 1603, and with her termi- nated the Tudor dynasty, after an existence of nearly 118 years. She was succeeded by James VI. of Scotland, the son of her victim Mary Stuart, and first king of England of the Stuart line, who inherited the English crown in virtue of his descent from Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VII., who had mar- ried his great-grandfather, James IV. The new king was hailed with much satisfaction by the English. The question of the succession to the throne had been one of vital interest since the successive wives of Henry VIII. had proved BO unfruitful. Rulers and people alike had been deeply moved by the danger of a disputed suc- cession, and from the death of Edward VI. to that of Elizabeth only two women of the main line were in existence, and for 44 years only one woman, Elizabeth herself. The anxiety that was felt for the marriage of Elizabeth was owing to this dread; so that when the sceptre passed quietly to the hand of a mon- arch who was descended from their ancient kings, who was not yet at the period of middle life, and who was the father of several chil- dren, a weight was taken from the English mind. Had James been a man of common sense, he might have preserved this popularity, and laid deep the foundations of his dynasty; but he was a pedant and a tyrant, without the courage which is necessary to maintain a tyran- ny. His person, his manners, and his actions were all against him ; and before he had reached London his popularity began to decline, and was quickly exhausted. He commenced that course of policy which was destined to cause his house to become extinct in exile. The divine right of kings, so abhorrent to reason and to English ideas of government, was the basis of his conduct. He perpetually claimed higher power than any Plantagenet or Tudor, but he invariably abandoned his ground when he was resisted. His first parliament, 1604, in reply to his assertion that all their priv-