CHAPTER IV.-CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.-A.D 1520–1526.

HENRY VIII-ACCESSION, A.D. 1509-DEATH, A.D. 1547.

Mutual visits between Henry VIII. and Charles V.-Duke of Buckingham suspected-Accused of treason-Tried and executed-Henry becomes champion of the Romish church against the Reformation-His negotiations with Charles V. against France-Wolsey's intrigues for the popedom-League against the French kingWolsey disappointed of the popedom-Charles V. visits England-Wolsey's oppressive measures to raise money-France unsuccessfully invaded-Ireland and Scotland stirred up by France against England-Regency of Margaret, Henry's sister, in Scotland-She is succeeded in the regency by the Duke of Albany-Margaret's flight into England-Heury espouses her cause-Insurrections in Scotland-The Duke of Albany leaves Scotland-Margaret returns thither-Tumults in Scotland-Albany returns, and resumes the regency-Intrigues of Henry VIII. and Wolsey to embroil Scottish affairs-Albany invades England-The invasion followed by a truce-Albany again leaves Scotland-Henry re-assembles his parliament to raise money-Independent conduct of parliament-The demanded supplies withheld-France invaded--Troubles in that country--The Duke of Bourbon driven to revolt-His treaty with Henry VIII. and Charles V.-He escapes from France-Unsuccessful campaign of the English in France-Wolsey's intrigues for the popedom-His failure-Wars in France -Francis I. besieges Pavia-He is defeated and taken prisoner-Intrigues of the English court on that event -Wolsey's unpopular proceedings-Henry concludes a peace with France-Francis I. liberated from cap tivity-Fruitless attempt of Luther to conciliate Henry VIII.

rashness of James, he might have done without | "yet will I drink of my lord's wine as I pass;" consulting the stars) that the King of England and then a gentleman of my lord-cardinal's would return home safe from France, and that brought the duke with much reverence into the the King of Scots would surely perish if he cross-cellar, where the duke drank. But when he saw ed the Borders. The fulfilment of both prophe- and perceived no cheer to him was made, he cies raised the monk's fame, and with it the cre- changed colour, and so departed.": dulity of Buckingham, who, thereafter, had frequent and familiar intercourse with the prophet. The monk, seeing that the duke was mindful of his royal descent, and of the fact that the king had no sons, began to foresee that there was 30mething wonderfully high in the destinies of young Stafford, the duke's heir. In other words, it seems he hinted that the duke's son would be Henry's successor on the throne. For so great an effect as the judicial murder of this popular nobleman, people naturally sought a variety of causes. "Being yet a child," says the Bishop of Hereford, "I have heard ancient men say that by his bravery of apparel and sumptuous feasts, he exasperated the king, with whom, in these things, he seemed to contend." Another cause assigned was the enmity of Wolsey, without whose advice, it was believed, the king never undertook anything; and, though the cardinal was not a man of blood, he may have contributed to the present execution, his dislike of the duke being notorious.

A.D. 1521.

As he descended the Thames, and drew near the city, his barge was hailed and boarded by Sir Henry Marney, captain of the body-guard, who attached him as a traitor in the king's name. The duke was carried on shore, and conveyed through Thames Street to the Tower, to the great astonishment and regret of the people. This was on the 16th of April. On the 13th of May he was put upon his tríal as a peer, but not before a full house assembled in a parliamentary manner. Seventeen peers chosen by the king, and the Duke of Norfolk, as high-steward, constituted the tribunal. He was charged with tempting Friar Hopkins to make traitorous prophecies, by means of messages and personal conferences; with having tampered with the king's servants and yeomen of the guard, by means of presents and promises; with having declared his determination, in the event of the king's death, to cut off the heads of the lord-cardinal and some others, and then to seize the government, &c., &c. At first Buckingham pleaded that nothing in the indictment amounted to an overt act, and that, therefore, even in the showing of the prosecution, there was no guilt of treason; but Fineux, the chief-justice, laid it down as good law, that there was treason in imagining the death of the king, and that words spoken without any overt act were evidence enough. The duke, then, with great force and eloquence, replied to the indictment, charge by charge, denied his guilt in every particular, and boldly demanded to be confronted with the witnesses. Hopkins the prophet, De la Court his confessor, Perk his

Buckingham, who was living quietly on his estate of Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, was now suddenly invited to court. The duke, suspecting no mischief, obeyed the summons, and started on his journey, not observing for some time that he was closely followed by three knights of the king's body-guard, "and a secret power of servants-at-arms." His suspicions were first awakened at Windsor, where he lodged for the night, and where he saw the "same three knights lying close by." He was also treated with marked disrespect by a creature of the court, one Thomas Ward, "who was gentle-chancellor, and Sir Charles Knevitt, his own couman harbinger to the king;" and the next morning, at breakfast, "his meat would not down." The whole management of the arrest is marked with a detestable treachery worthy of the worst of times. Before inveigling the duke to court, Henry had thrown one Perk, that nobleman's chancellor, into the Tower, in the view of extorting from him confessions injurious to his master. From Windsor Buckingham rode slowly on to Westminster, and there took his barge, in order to row down to Greenwich, where the court then

was.

He stopped on his way at my lord-cardinal's bridge,' where he landed with four or five of his servants, and desired to speak with Wolsey; "but he was answered how my lord was diseased (indisposed)." "Well," said the duke,

The quay, or jetty, at York House. The quays on the river side were called bridges.

sin, and formerly his steward, were brought into court. All these individuals had been throw into the Tower, where, according to the dark practices of those days, they may have been tor tured, or threatened with torture, or corrupted by money and promises. They all persisted in their story; but the most determined evidence against him was that of his cousin Knevitt. The Duke of Norfolk rose to pronounce sentence, for the seventeen peers (as might have been expected) unanimously found him guilty; and the hardy soldier, the victor of Flodden Field, though he had not virtue enough to oppose a jealous tyrant, wept like a child as he spoke. Buckingham replied, with a manly voice, "My Lord of Norfolk, you have said to me as a traitor should be said unto; but I was never none. Still, my

Hall, Chron.

lords, I nothing malign you for that you have done unto me. May the eternal God forgive you my death, as I do! I shall never sue to the king for life, how beit he is a gracious prince, and more grace may come from him than I desire. I desire you, my lords, and all my fellows, to pray for me." The edge of the axe was then turned towards him, and he was led to his barge. He persisted in his resolution not to implore the king's mercy, and on the 17th of May the sheriffs led him from his dungeon to the scaffold on Tower-hill. He was as undaunted in sight of the block as he had been before his judges; and he died as brave men die-firmly and meekly, without bravado. As his head fell on the scaffold, the people groaned and lamented, for they were not yet brutalized by the frequent spectacle of such executions. "God have mercy on his soul!" exclaims one who reported his trial; "for he was a most wise and noble prince, and the mirror of all courtesy."

ments, which, as he fondly conceived, smashed Luther and all his doctrines. In the month of October, Clark, the English ambassador at Rome, presented this book to the pope in full consistory; and Leo X., after giving himself leisure to read the treatise, was pleased to declare, in an express bull, that he found it sprinkled with the dew of ecclesiastical grace, and that he rendered thanks to God for having inspired the king to write it for the defence of the blessed faith. In the same bull he formally conferred upon Henry the title of "Defender of the Faith," as a glorious and christianly addition to his other styles.3

While Henry was thus seeking distinction by the pen, Francis I. and Charles V. were fighting for worldly dominion. The French king was the first to draw the sword. Encouraged by a formidable revolt of the Spaniards against the despotic government of Charles, he marched an army to the crest of the Pyrenees, and, in fifteen days, overran the kingdom of Navarre. Thus It was while the blood of Buckingham was far the insurgents of Spain looked on with indiffresh upon him that Henry set himself up as the ference; but when the French rashly crossed the defender and champion of the holy (Roman) frontiers of Castile the Spaniards of all parties flew mother church. The Reformation was begun to arms, and not only drove them back, but also by Luther in earnest in the year 1517. The doc- recovered Navarre in less than a fortnight. At trines of the great Reformer had been eagerly the same time Francis and his auxiliaries threatreceived by many minds in England, where a ened the emperor with an invasion of the Netherrespect for the Catholic clergy had long been on lands. But the French king was not more sucthe decline, and where the seed scattered by cessful in the north than in the south; and, to Wyckliffe had never been entirely extirpated. increase his embarrassments, Leo X. threw up On the 14th of May, 1521, Wolsey issued orders | his alliance, and contracted a new one with the to all the bishops of England to seize all hereti- | emperor. At this crisis Francis applied for the cal books, or books containing Martin Luther's errors. On the 20th of the same month, three days after Buckingham's execution, Henry wrote, with his own hand, a fiery letter to Louis of Bavaria, denouncing "this fire which hath been kindled by Luther, and fanned by the arts of the devil;" and calling upon Louis, as a good Christian, to exterminate Luther, and burn both him and his books.'

But, as Henry had not the power to burn the Reformer, he took up the pen of controversy, being led thereto by a wish of showing his scholastic learning, and of pleasing the court of Rome, which, on a former occasion, when Louis XII. was lying under ban, had threatened to deprive the French kings of their title of "Most Christian," and to give it to Henry and his successors, the Kings of England. Another incentive was found in the fact that Luther had spoken disrespectfully of St. Thomas Aquinas, Henry's favourite author. Thus animated, and with plenty of priests and able scholars to supply fuel to his zeal, and give polemical point to his pen, Henry wrote his celebrated defence of the Seven Sacra

State Trials; Herbert; Hall; Stow; Holinshed. 2 Geddes, Hist. Reform.

friendly mediation of Henry, who immediately engaged to act as a most impartial umpire, and then sent Wolsey, not to negotiate a peaceful and honourable arrangement, but to concert measures with Charles for the dismemberment of the French monarchy. The cardinal arbitrator-for the whole business was intrusted to him-embarked at Dover on the 30th of July, and landed on the same day at Calais with a magnificent train, including lords, bishops, doctors learned in the law, and knights and squires out of number. At Calais he was met by ambassadors from Charles and by ambassadors from Francis, and of course he found the pretensions of these diplomatists irreconcilable. Upon this, with the alleged design of disposing the emperor to more pacific measures, but with the real intention of completing the hostile league against France, he repaired in all his pomp to the city of Bruges, where Charles received him with wonderful respect." He spent a huge mass of money in that ambassage, not against his will; for he by all means sought the emperor's favour, hoping that Leo X., although much younger than he, either

3 Wilkins, Concilia; Fiddes, Life of Wolsey: Capefigue, Hiet. de la Reforme. • Tytler.

cut off by treachery or his own intemperance, | might leave the world before him; and then were it no hard matter for him, being underpropped by the emperor and our king, to be advanced to the Papacy."

On the 19th of August this impartial arbitrator wrote from Bruges to his master Henry, telling him that the emperor earnestly required his

elections of popes-"as if that pure Spirit would deign to occupy souls full of ambition and incredible cupidity, and almost all the slaves of luxurious, not to say dishonest pleasures.”2 The Italian historians do not intimate that the emperor had influenced this election of his preceptor; but when the thoughts of the conclave were once turned in that direction, there were no doubt many who paid respect to the growing power of the Imperialists in Italy and in the rest of Europe; and as the name of Wolsey seems never to have been mentioned as that of a candidate, it is quite certain that Charles had not kept his promises with the English favourite. Wolsey, however, showed no ill-humour at the time; and he, in common with several of his scarlet brothers, probably consoled himself for his present disappointment by the thought that Adrian was an infirm old man, not likely to wear the tiara long. At his order Secretary Pace remained at Rome, to await the arrival of the new pope, to congratulate the holy father in his name, and to solicit from him the necessary confirmation or renewal of his high authority as Legate of England.

Leo than Cardinal Wolsey, who was informed of the event in a wonderfully short space of time, and who instantly sent messengers to remind the emperor of his promises, and despatched Secretary Pace to Rome to manage his interests with the conclave. As the conclave began its close sittings on the 27th of December, there was not much time for intrigue. Thirty-nine' cardinals deliberated for twenty-three days on the choice of the head of the Catholic world, and their deliberations were as stormy as if they had met to elect the captain of a band of robbers. The candidate that started with the most advantages was Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who had recently distinguished himself in the war in Lombardy. Giulio, indeed, obtained more than a third part of the votes, and as nobody could be elected without having two-thirds of the suffrages, it was clear that he could exclude any rival if he could not secure his own election. He and his partizans tried hard to weary out the old cardinals, whose infirmities made them feel sensibly the close imprisonment and other privations attendant on a conclave; but the old men were not easily beaten, and, as they were resolved not to elect him, and as they could not agree among themselves in pro- Francis, who knew the volatile temper of the posing another candidate-nearly every one of English cabinet, did not despair of making them hoping that he might be chosen himself Henry turn once more. He administered the the affair was drawn out to such a length that most copious doses to his vanity-he humbled Giulio became uneasy as to business out of doors, himself in a painful manner-he spoke of paying well knowing that the interests of his family re- more money; but, finding that all this had no quired his presence with an army in Tuscany. effect, he stopped the payment of Henry's penOne morning at the scrutiny, which, according sion, laid an embargo on the English shipping in to form, was made every day, the Medici party his ports, and seized the goods of the English most unexpectedly proposed Adrian, Cardinal of merchants. This brought on a declaration of hostiTortosa, a Fleming by birth, who had been tutor lities at an awkward time, and some two months to the emperor, and who was now Charles' confi- sooner than Wolsey had calculated. As soon as dential minister, and Viceroy of Spain. He was Henry learned the seizure of his wine-ships he named without any notion of his being elected, flew into a paroxysm of rage, as if Francis had and merely to consume time, but a vote or two betrayed him: he confined the French ambaswere tendered for him, and then Cajetano, Car-sador to his house, ordered the instant arrest of dinal of San Sisto, made what seemed an interminable oration in his favour, lauding his great learning and his many virtues, upon which a few of the cardinals began to yield, and then the rest, with extraordinary rapidity, as if rather from impulse than from deliberation, voted on the same side; and, in fine, that same morning Adrian was unanimously elected supreme pontiff. Those who elected him seemed themselves astonished at what they had done, and not being able to give any other reason to the Italians, who murmured at this election of an unknown foreigner, they attributed the event to the sudden inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who, as they said, always acted directly upon the hearts of the cardinals in their

The deceased pope (Leo X.) had greatly augmented the Sacred College. At his own election only twenty-four cardinals had voted.

VOL. I.

all Frenchmen in London, and sent his defiance to Francis by Clarencieux king-at-arms. Henry was now in the humour which the emperor wished for; and on the 26th of May Charles V. landed at Dover, to pay his promised visit. Wolsey met him at the landing-place, and, after a loving embrace, conducted him by the arm to Dover Castle, where the king, in his usual state, soon waited upon him. In the war they were to make together the emperor counted much upon the naval forces of England; and Henry now took great pride in showing him over the fleet which lay in the Downs. On the following day the emperor proceeded to the palace of Greenwich, where he reverently asked a blessing of his

2 Guicciardini.

3 All the ships which Henry, by Wolsey's advice, had sent oallowed to go to Bordeaux, were seized.

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