Henry VIII

Chapter XV

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THE FINAL STRUGGLE.

Such a danger to England must at all costs be averted. Marriages between Scots kings and French princesses had never boded good to England; but the marriage of the Queen of Scotland to a French prince, and possibly to one who might succeed to the French throne, transcended all the other perils with which England could be threatened. The union of the Scots and French crowns would have destroyed the possibility of a British Empire. Henry had sadly mismanaged the business through vaulting ambition, but there was little fault to be found with his efforts to prevent the union of France and Scotland; and that was the real objective of his last war with France. His aim was not mere military glory or the conquest of France, as it had been in his earlier years under the guidance of Wolsey; it was to weaken or destroy a support which enabled Scotland to resist the union with England, and portended a union between Scotland and France. The Emperor's efforts to draw England into his war with France thus met with a comparatively ready response. In May, 1543, a secret treaty between Henry and Charles was ratified; on the 22nd of June a joint intimation of war was notified to the French ambassador; and a detachment of English troops, under Sir John Wallop and Sir Thomas Seymour, was sent to aid the imperialists in their campaign in the north of France.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · The first of the "good things" brought out of the divorce of Anne of Cleves was a fifth wife for the much-married monarch. Parliament, which Note 2 · The King was thoroughly satisfied with his new marriage from every point of view. The reversal of the policy of the last few years, which he Note 3 · That policy was, in foreign affairs, a close adherence to the Emperor, partly because it was almost universally held to be the safest course Note 4 · And yet there was no peace. Henry, who had succeeded in so much, had, with the full concurrence of the majority of his people, entered upon Note 5 · Disloyalty, meanwhile, was no more extinct than diversity in religious opinion. Early in 1541 there was a conspiracy under Sir John Neville,Note 6 · A greater trial than the failure of James to accept his invitation to York awaited Henry on his return from the North. Rumours of Catherine Note 7 · Thus ended one of the "good things" which had come out of the repudiation of Anne of Cleves. Other advantages were more permanent. The breac Note 8 · As in the case of similar enterprises, Henry could easily find colourable pretexts for his attack on Scots independence.[1125] Beton had bee Note 9 · The negotiations lasted throughout the summer of 1542. In October Norfolk crossed the Borders. The transport broke down; the commissariat wa Note 10 · Within a few days of the Scots disaster, Lord Lisle (afterwards Duke of Northumberland) expressed a wish that the infant Queen were in Henry Note 11 · Before hostilities actually broke out, Henry wedded his sixth and last wife. Catherine Parr was almost as much married as Henry himself. Thi Note 12 · The winter of 1543-44 and the following spring were spent in preparations for war on two fronts.[1136] The punishment of the Scots for repud Note 13 · His labours were all in vain, and Henry, for the first time in his life was left to face an actual French invasion of England. The horizon s Note 14 · Boulogne was safe for the time, but a French fleet entered the Solent, and effected a landing at Bembridge. Skirmishing took place in the wo Note 15 · France could hope for little profit from a continuance of the war, and England had everything to gain by its conclusion. The terms of peace Note 16 · Meanwhile, amid the distractions of his Scottish intrigues, of his campaign in France, and of his defence of England, the King was engaged i Note 17 · The King had more to do with the Necessary Doctrine, commonly called the "King's Book" to distinguish it from the Bishops' Book of 1537, for Note 18 · The only ecclesiastical change that went on without shadow of turning was the seizure of Church property by the King; and it is a matter of Note 19 · The bond betwixt Henry and his subjects, which had lasted thirty-eight years, and had survived such strain as has rarely been put on the loy Note 20 · Suddenly the balance upset. On the 12th of December, 1546, Norfolk and his son, the Earl of Surrey, were arrested for treason and sent to th Note 21 · The original charge against Surrey was prompted by personal and local jealousy, not on the part of the Seymours, but on that of a member of Note 22 · That night Norfolk lay doomed in his cell in the Tower, and Henry VIII. in his palace at Westminster. The Angel of Death hovered over the tw Note 23 · "And for my body," wrote Henry in his will,[1166] "which when the soul is departed, shall then remain but as a cadaver, and so return to the Note 24 · Midway between the stalls and the Altar the tomb of Queen Jane Seymour was opened to receive the bones of her lord. Hard by stood that mauso