Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/662

 648 HENRY VIII. (ENGLAND) France, Scotland, and Ireland alarmed Henry. He detected a conspiracy among the nobility, and put the leaders to death, including Sir William Stanley, to whom he owed the vic- tory of Bosworth and the throne. A Cornish rebellion, caused by taxation, was put down at Blackheath, June 22, 1497. To revive this rebellion, Perkin went to Cornwall, but failed, and fell into the king's hands. Henry had him set in the stocks, and forced him to admit that he was an impostor, he reading the confession which he had written with his own hand to the people assembled in Cheapside. He was then confined in the tower, and, after an at- tempt to escape, was hanged at Tyburn in 1499. Warwick, who had shared in the at- tempt, and had been the object of a third plot, was beheaded, a deed as foul as any that has been attributed to Richard III. Henry's motive was to satisfy Ferdinand of Aragon, who would not give his daughter Catharine to the prince of Wales while any Yorkist prince remained on earth. The son in behalf of whom this act was committed died in 1502. Henry became very avaricious in his last years, and by the revival of old laws and other means amassed 1,800,000, according to some ac- counts, which are perhaps exaggerated. He extorted money from his subjects under pre- tence of making war on France, which they demanded, but which he knew better than to undertake. He sold pardons, and drove a trade in offices of the court and the church. The two most noted instruments of his avarice were Empson and Dudley. In the llth year of his reign the statute for the security of the subject obeying and aiding a king de facto was passed, which was made necessary by the ju- dicial slaughter that had occurred among the aristocracy while the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster distracted Eng- land. Seven years earlier was passed the stat- ute of fines, which was but a copy of that of Richard III., and probably redacted only to give validity to that monarch's laws. The clergy were not friendly to Henry, and in each case of a pretender a priest was concerned. Yet he followed the policy of the house of Lancaster, causing at least two Lollards to be burned, and severely persecuting many others. He sought the reform of the church, and in his reign we find the first indications of that course which, in his successor's time, ended in the English reformation. Henry encouraged com- merce and patronized voyages of discovery. His foreign policy was judicious; and by mar- rying his eldest daughter to James IV. of Scot- land, he furthered the ultimate union of the two kingdoms. Worn out with anxiety and care, he died before the end of his 53d year. HENRY VIII., second king of England of the Tudor dynasty, and second son of the pre- ceding king and Elizabeth of York, born at Greenwich palace, June 28, 1491, ascended the throne April 22, 1509, died Jan. 28, 1547. His father intended that he should become the head of the English church, and was educating him for the office of archbishop of Canterbury, when the death of his elder brother. Arthur' made him heir apparent, April 2, 1502. Ar- thur had married Catharine of Aragon, daugh- ter of Ferdinand and Isabella, receiving with her 200,000 crowns, one half of which was paid down; and on his death her parents desired that she might be sent home, and the money refund- ed. Henry VII. objected, and proposed that Catharine should marry the new prince of Wales, who was five years her junior; and she was betrothed to him, June 25, 1503. Two years later the prince read and signed a pro- test against this contract, in presence of his father's councillors, declaring that he did not mean to fulfil it. This was the work of his father, who wished to marry Juana, widow of Philip I. of Castile, and elder sister of Catharine. Henry VII. probably altered the date of the protest at a later period, so as to disguise its object. The prince of Wales was at that time attached to Catharine, and a dis- pensation had been granted by the pope as early as 1504, allowing them to marry, on the ground that the marriage with Prince Arthur had not been consummated. The king, who was always conscientious when ill, appears at times to have had some scruples on the subject of the marriage, and would have restored the princess to her parents, but that he could not bear to part with her portion. He died, and in less than two months Henry VIII. and Catharine were married. This hasty marriage was made, in the first instance, at the king's desire, but it was probably urged on by most of the statesmen around him because of their anxiety to establish the succession. The wars of the roses in the preceding century had made an indelible impression on the English mind, the effect of which was visible throughout the entire history of England during the exist- ence of the house of Tudor, and to which must be attributed much of their vicious conduct. Should Henry VIII. die without an heir, there would ensue an immediate contest for the crown between the houses of York and Tudor, both represented by women; the for- mer by the countess of Salisbury, a daughter of the last duke of Clarence, brother of Ed- ward IV., and the latter by the daughters of Henry VII. Archbishop Warham opposed the marriage, on the ground of their relationship. Bishop Fox argued in its favor, though it was under his direction that the king when prince of Wales had protested against it. The privy council recommended the marriage. It was solemnized at Greenwich, June 7, 1509, and they were crowned June 24. Few monarchs have been more popular than was Henry at his accession. He was the heir of both branches of the old royal house, his father representing that of Lancaster, and his mother that of York. His person was eminently hand- some, his mind had been highly cultivated, and he was fond of martial pleasures. He gave up