Henry VIII

Chapter III

Reading edition

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF HENRY VIII.

That acre sown indeed With the richest, royallest seed That the earth did e'er drink in.

There, in the vault beneath the chapel in Westminster Abbey, which bears his name and testifies to his magnificence in building, Henry VII. was laid to rest beside his Queen; dwelling, says Bacon, "more richly dead in the monument of his tomb than he did alive in Richmond or any of his palaces". For years before and after, Torrigiano, the rival of Buonarotti, wrought at its "matchless altar," not a stone of which survived the Puritan fury of the civil war.

This reversal of the pacific policy which had marked the first two and a half years of Henry's reign was not exclusively due to the King's zeal for the Church. The clerical party of peace in his council was now divided by the appearance of an ecclesiastic who was far more remarkable than any of his colleagues, and to whose turbulence and energy the boldness of English policy must, henceforth, for many years be mainly ascribed. Thomas Wolsey had been appointed Henry's almoner at the beginning of his reign, but he exercised no apparent influence in public affairs. It was not till 1511 that he joined the council, though during the interval he must have been gradually building up his ascendancy over the King's mind. To Wolsey, restlessly ambitious for himself, for Henry, and England, was attributed the responsibility for the sudden adoption of a spirited foreign policy; and it was in the preparations for the war of 1512 that his marvellous industry and grasp of detail first found full scope.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · Quietly and peacefully, without a threat from abroad or a murmur at home, the crown, which his father had won amid the storm and stress of t Note 2 · On the day of his father's death, or the next, the new King removed from Richmond Palace to the Tower, whence, on 23rd April, was dated the Note 3 · If filial piety demanded the delivery of his father's soul from peril, it counselled no less the fulfilment of his dying requests, and the a Note 4 · Though he had wedded a wife and been crowned a king, Henry was as yet little more than a boy. A powerful mind ripens slowly in a vigorous fr Note 5 · With the exception of Empson and Dudley, Henry made little or no change in the council his father bequeathed him. Official precedence appert Note 6 · At the head of the latter stood Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, soon to be rewarded for his victory at Flodden by his restoration to the duke Note 7 · Such was the situation with which Henry VIII. and his council were required to deal. The young King entered the arena of Europe, a child of Note 8 · But, in spite of Venetian, Spanish and papal instigations to "recover his noble inheritance in France," in spite of his own indignation at t Note 9 · In the midst of their preparation against infidels, so runs the preamble to the treaty in which Henry and Ferdinand signified their adhesion Note 10 · The main attack of the English and Spanish monarchs was to be on Guienne,[107] and in May, 1512, Henry went down to Southampton to speed the Note 11 · Henry's first military enterprise had ended in disgrace and disaster. The repute of English soldiers, dimmed by long peace, was now further Note 12 · Such reasoning, he thought, would appeal to the pious and unsophisticated Henry. To other sovereigns he used arguments more suited to their Note 13 · For many months Henry knew not, or refused to credit, his father-in-law's perfidy. To outward appearance, the Spanish King was as eager as e Note 14 · Henry's temper required no spur. Tudors never flinched in the face of danger, and nothing could have made Henry so resolved to go on as Ferd Note 15 · Meanwhile, Henry's army was gathering at Calais.[130] On 30th June, at 7 p.m., the King himself landed. Before his departure, the unfortunat Note 16 · Thérouanne, the Battle of Spurs, and Tournay were not the only, or the most striking, successes in this year of war. In July, Catherine, who Note 17 · The results of the campaign of 1513 were a striking vindication of the refusal of Henry VIII. and Wolsey to rest under the stigma of their S Note 18 · But Henry's actions proclaimed louder than the words of himself or of others that he believed peace to be the first of English interests. He Note 19 · The fact that he had only achieved a small part of the conquest he professed to set out to accomplish was, therefore, no bar to negotiations Note 20 · That design had occupied him throughout the summer, before Louis had become so amenable; then he was urging Maximilian that the Pope must be Note 21 · So on 13th March, 1514, Ferdinand renewed his truce with France, and Maximilian joined it soon after.[155] The old excuses about the reforma Note 22 · Henry was learning by bitter experience. Not only was he left to face single-handed the might of Louis; but Ferdinand and Maximilian had sec Note 23 · But the meekest and saintliest monarch could scarce pass unscathed through the baptism of fraud practised on Henry; and Henry was at no time Note 24 · Maximilian and Ferdinand were left out in the cold. Louis not only broke off his negotiations with them, but prepared to regain Milan and di Note 25 · Henry had struck back with a vengeance. His blow shivered to fragments the airy castles which Maximilian and Ferdinand were busy constructin