THE TUDOR LINE.

Henry VII., of Richmond.

D. Henry was the son of Margaret (daughter of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset) and of Edmund Tudor. John Beaufort’s father was an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt. B. probably at Pembroke, 1456. M. Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. Dd. at Richmond, April 21, 1509. R. 23¾ years (1485 to 1509).

1485. The earl of Warwick, son of the duke of Clarence, confined in the Tower. Parliament settled the crown on Henry and his heirs.

1486. Henry married Elizabeth, and the rival claims of the two houses were blended. The Court of Star Chamber established.

1487. Lambert Simnel appeared in Ireland, and, personating the earl of Warwick, was proclaimed king as Edward VI. He and his supporters landed in England, and were defeated at Stoke, near Newark (June 16).

1492. Perkin Warbeck appeared in Ireland, and declared himself to be Richard, duke of York (son of Edward IV.), generally supposed to have been murdered in the Tower. Columbus discovered America. Henry invaded France, but soon concluded a peace with Charles VIII. at Estaples (Nov. 3).

Charles agreed to pay £149,000, partly to reimburse Henry for his expenses in a war in Brittany, and partly as arrears of Edward’s pension.

1494. Joan Boughton, the first English female martyr, burnt for heresy.

1496. James IV. of Scotland espoused the cause of Warbeck, and invaded England. None of the English joined the invaders, and the Scots returned laden with plunder.

1497. A heavy tax, voted by parliament for war with Scotland, led to an insurrection in Cornwall. The insurgents marched to Blackheath, near London, where they were defeated (June 22). Warbeck landed in Cornwall, and besieged Exeter, but retreated on the approach of the royal forces. He afterwards surrendered, and was sent prisoner to London. John Cabot and his son Sebastian discovered Newfoundland. Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope.

1499. Warbeck and the earl of Warwick executed for high treason.

1501. Prince Arthur married Catherine of Arragon. He died in the following year.

1503. James IV. of Scotland married the king’s daughter Margaret. Henry, whose ruling passion was avarice, exacted, in the course of his reign, immense sums from his subjects by unjust and irregular means. He is said to have died worth £1,800,000. The chief instruments of his exactions were two lawyers, named Empson and Dudley.

Henry VIII.

D. He was the son of Henry VII. B. at Greenwich, 1491. M. (1) Catherine of Arragon, his brother’s widow, whom he divorced—she died 1536; (2) Anne Boleyn, beheaded for alleged immorality, May 19, 1536; (3) Jane Seymour, the day after Anne’s execution—she died 1537; (4) Anne of Cleves, whom he divorced; (5) Catherine Howard, beheaded for immorality, Feb 13, 1542; (6) Catherine Parr, who survived him. Dd. at Westminster, Jan. 28, 1547. R. 37¾ years (1509 to 1547).

1510. Empson and Dudley executed on a frivolous charge of high treason.

1512. War with France. Sir Edward Howard gained a victory over the French fleet near Brest (Aug. 12).

1513. Henry besieged and captured Terouenne. During the siege a body of French troops advanced for its relief, and were defeated at Guinegate: their hasty retreat led the battle to be called the “Battle of Spurs” (Aug. 16). James IV. invaded England, and was defeated and slain at FLODDEN (Sept. 9).

1514. Peace concluded with France and Scotland.

1515. Wolsey made Cardinal by the Pope, and chancellor by the king. In 1518 he was appointed papal legate.

1520. Henry visited Francis I. of France. The place where they met called “The Field of the Cloth of Gold.”

1521. Edward, duke of Buckingham, first peer of the realm, executed for high treason. Henry wrote a book against Luther, and, in return, the pope conferred on him the title of Defender of the Faith.

1527. Henry began to express doubts as to the validity of his marriage with Catherine.

1529. Cardinals Wolsey and Compeggio held a court to try the validity of the marriage, but adjourned it without coming to any decision. Wolsey sentenced, soon after, to the loss of his goods, and imprisonment during the king’s pleasure, for having received bulls from Rome. Henry released from his debts by statute.

1530. Wolsey pardoned, but afterwards arrested for treason. He died in Leicester Abbey on his way to the Tower.

1532. Sir Thomas More, who had succeeded Wolsey as chancellor, resigned his office. Commencement of the Reformation.

1533. Cranmer appointed archbishop of Canterbury. He held a court at Dunstable, and declared that Henry’s marriage with Catherine was null and void.

1534. PAPAL SUPREMACY ABOLISHED IN ENGLAND. Henry declared to be “the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England.” Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More attainted of high treason for refusing to acknowledge the invalidity of Henry’s marriage with Catherine.

1535. Fisher and More executed for declining to acknowledge Henry as head of the church. Cromwell appointed the king’s vicar-general in ecclesiastical matters.

1536. Wales incorporated with England, and subjected to English laws. Suppression of the lesser monasteries. Insurrection in Lincolnshire, and another in Yorkshire, called the Pilgrimage of Grace, both of which were caused by the changes in religion.

1539. Suppression of the remaining monasteries. Statute passed known as the Statute of Six Articles. The abbots of Glastonbury, Reading, and Colchester executed for high treason.

By the Statute of Six Articles—1, Transubstantiation; 2, Communion in one kind; 3, The celibacy of the clergy; 4, Vows of chastity; 5, Private masses; and 6, Auricular confession,—were declared to be agreeable to the law of God. Those who denied the first were to be burnt; those who denied the rest were to suffer the loss of property for the first offence, and death for the second.

1540. Cromwell, now earl of Essex, executed for high treason.

1541. Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, executed for high treason. Henry declared king of Ireland.

1542. War with Scotland. The Scottish army routed on Solway Moss (Nov. 25); James V. died a few days after, and was succeeded by his daughter Mary, only a week old.

1544. Henry empowered to alter the succession by will. Parliament remitted to the king all money he had borrowed since 1542, and directed that any sums he had paid back should be returned to him. He invaded France, besieged and captured Boulogne, but, as his ally the Emperor Charles made a separate peace at Crêpy, he was obliged to return to England.

1545. An indecisive action between the English and French fleets off Portsmouth.

1546. Peace concluded with France. The duke of Norfolk and his son, the earl of Surrey, committed to the Tower for high treason.

1547. Execution of the earl of Surrey. The execution of his father was prevented by the death of the king.

Edward VI.

D. He was the son of Henry VIII. and of Jane Seymour. B. at Hampton Court, 1537. Dd. at Greenwich, July 6, 1553. R. 6½ years (1547 to 1553).

1547. The earl of Hertford, the king’s maternal uncle, appointed protector, and soon after created duke of Somerset. War with Scotland. The Scots defeated with great loss at Pinkie (Sept. 10). Repeal of the Statute of Six Articles.

1548. The French sent troops to assist the Scots; and Queen Mary was conveyed to France.

1549. The Act of Uniformity of divine worship passed. Execution of Lord Seymour, brother of the protector, for high treason. Insurrections in Cornwall, Devon, and Norfolk;—the western insurrection caused chiefly by the changes in religion; the eastern by the enclosing of land;—the latter, which was the most formidable, was suppressed by the earl of Warwick; and Ket, the leader, was hanged at Norwich Castle. These outbreaks led to the institution of lords-lieutenant of counties. Somerset removed from the protectorate by Warwick and his friends, and sent to the Tower.

1550. Peace concluded with France and Scotland. Somerset released, and re-admitted to the council. Joan Bocher (or Joan of Kent) burnt for heresy.

1552. Execution of Somerset on a charge of intending to imprison the earl of Warwick (who had just been created duke of Northumberland).

1553. Edward, on the suggestion of Northumberland, altered the succession, and made Lady Jane Grey heir to the throne.

She was granddaughter of Henry VIII.’s sister Mary, and wife of Lord Guildford Dudley, fourth son of Northumberland.

Mary.

D. She was the daughter of Henry VIII. and of Catherine of Arragon. B. at Greenwich, 1516. M. Philip (son of Charles V., emperor of Germany), who soon after became king of Spain. Dd. at St. James’s, Westminster, Nov. 17, 1558. R. 5¼ years (1553 to 1558).

1553. Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen; but the people were not disposed to sanction the change of the succession, and soon recognized Mary. Norfolk, Bishop Gardiner, and others, released from prison. Execution of Northumberland for high treason. Practical re-establishment of the Catholic religion. Lady Jane Grey, her husband, and Cranmer, convicted of high treason.

1554. Insurrection of Sir Thomas Wyatt to prevent the queen’s marriage with Philip. Wyatt taken and executed. Lady Jane Grey and her husband executed. The Princess Elizabeth placed in prison, because she was supposed to be concerned in the insurrection.

1555. Commencement of the Marian persecution. Rogers, prebendary of St. Paul’s, Bishops Hooper, Latimer, Ridley, and many other persons, burnt for heresy.

1556. Cranmer burnt for heresy, and Cardinal Pole consecrated archbishop the day after his death.

1557. War declared against France. Battle of St. Quentin, in which the Spaniards, aided by the English, defeated the French (Aug. 10).

1558. Calais taken by the duke of Guise after it had been in the possession of the English for 210 years (Jan. 7). Death of Cardinal Pole.

Elizabeth.

D. She was the daughter of Henry VIII. and of Anne Boleyn. B. at Greenwich, 1533. Dd. at Richmond, March 24, 1603. R. 44½ years (1558 to 1603).

1558. Sir William Cecil (afterwards Lord Burleigh) chosen by the queen as her chief adviser.

1559. The Protestant religion re-established by Parliament: Act of Supremacy and Act of Uniformity passed. Peace concluded with France at Cateau-Cambresis (April 2). Parker appointed archbishop of Canterbury.

1561. Mary, queen of Scots, widow of Francis II. of France, returned to Scotland after an absence of about thirteen years.

1562. Ratification of the 39 Articles. The Puritan party were defeated in Convocation.

The Puritans objected to the wearing of ecclesiastical vestments, to the sign of the cross in baptism, to kneeling at the communion, to bowing at the name of Jesus, to the ring in marriage, and, some years later, to the Episcopal form of government. Elizabeth, who was fond of some of the Romish practices, was bitterly opposed to the Puritans, but they were secretly supported by Cecil, Leicester, and other of her councillors.

1565. Mary, queen of Scots, married her cousin, Lord Darnley.

1567. Lord Darnley was murdered; and Mary married Bothwell, who was publicly charged with the crime. She was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, and compelled to resign the crown to her infant son James.

1568. Mary escaped and raised an army, but was defeated by the regent Murray. She fled into England, and was detained as a prisoner.

1569. The earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland raised an insurrection in the north, for the purpose of re-establishing the Catholic religion, and of liberating Mary, but were soon compelled to abandon the attempt.

1572. Execution of the duke of Norfolk for high treason. He was charged with conspiring to dethrone Elizabeth, and to marry Mary. Massacre of Protestants in France on St. Bartholomew’s day.

1578. Elizabeth concluded an alliance with the people of the Netherlands, who had revolted against Spain.

1579. Treaty of Union between the revolted provinces at Utrecht—the foundation of the Netherland Republic.

1580. Francis Drake returned from his voyage round the world.

1583. Complete establishment of the High Commission Court.

1585. Elizabeth sent military aid to the Netherlands, and appointed the earl of Leicester commander-in-chief.

1586. Sir Philip Sidney mortally wounded at Zutphen. A plot discovered for assassinating the queen and liberating the queen of Scots. Babington and other conspirators executed. Trial and conviction of Mary for complicity in the plot.

1587. Execution of Mary, queen of Scots, at Fotheringay (Feb. 8).

1588. THE SPANISH ARMADA. Philip sent a large armada to invade England, but it was defeated and dispersed.

The “Invincible Armada” consisted of about 130 ships and 30,000 men, and an army of invasion of about 35,000 men was collected in the Netherlands, under the duke of Parma, ready to be carried across in transports, under the protection of the Armada. The Spaniards lost 81 vessels and 13,500 men.

1589. Henry IV. succeeded to the crown of France, and was opposed by the confederacy of the Catholic nobles, known as the League, as well as by the pope and Philip II. Elizabeth rendered him military and pecuniary aid.

1596. Cadiz captured by an armament under the earl of Essex and Lord Howard.

1598. Henry IV. granted toleration and protection to the Protestants by the Edict of Nantes. Death of Lord Burleigh, and of Philip II. of Spain. The English were defeated at Blackwater by the rebel earl of Tyrone (Aug. 14).

1599. The earl of Essex appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In stead of resorting to active hostilities, he made a treaty with the earl of Tyrone. On returning home to justify his conduct, he was placed in custody, but was set at liberty the next year.

1600. Establishment of the East India Company.

1601. Essex plotted to seize the queen, and compel her to remove his enemies from power. He attempted to raise an insurrection in London, but failed, and was executed for high treason. Great complaints made in Parliament about monopolies. Poor Law Act passed: this act, with some modifications, remained in force till 1834.

1602. Submission of the earl of Tyrone.

In the course of this reign several extremely severe laws were passed against the Catholics, and some very intolerant ones against the Protestant Nonconformists. Commencement of the maritime greatness of England.