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ELEVATION OF ANNE BOLEYN.

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A. D.

men, who would settle the matter on the sole authority of the Ch.4. Bible, without reference to the Pope. This remark was reported to the King, and Cranmer was sent to reside with the 1533. father of Anne Boleyn, and was employed in writing a treatise to support his opinion. His ability led to further honors, until, on the death of Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, he was appointed to the vacant see, the first office in dignity and importance in the kingdom, and from which no King, however absolute, could eject him, except by the loss of life. We shall hereafter see that, in all matters of religion, Cranmer was the ruling spirit in England until the accession of Mary.

Crom

Cromwell's origin was even more obscure than that of Thomas Wolsey; but he received his education at one of the univer- well. sities. We first hear of him as a clerk in an English factory at Antwerp, then as a soldier in the army of the Constable Bourbon when it sacked Rome, then as a clerk in a mercantile house in Venice, and then again as a lawyer in England, where he attracted the attention of Wolsey, who made him his solicitor, and employed him in the dissolution of the monasteries. He then became a member of the House of Commons, where his address and business talents were conspicuous. He was well received at court, and confirmed in the stewardship of the monasteries, after the disgrace of his master. His office brought him often into personal conference with the King; and, at one of these, he recommended him to deny the authority of the Pope altogether, and declare himself supreme head of the church. The boldness of this advice was congenial to the temper of the King, vexed by the opposition of Rome to his intended divorce, and Cromwell became a member of the privy council. His fortune was made by his seasonable advice.

With such ministers as Cranmer and Cromwell, the mea- Eleva

tion of

sures of Henry were now prompt and bold. Queen Catharine Anne was soon disposed of; she was divorced and disgraced, and Boley Anne Boleyn was elevated to her throne (1533). The anathemas of the Pope, and the outcry of all Europe followed.

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SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES.

Ch. 4. Sir Thomas More resigned the seals, and retired to poverty and solitude. But he was not permitted to enjoy his retire1535. ment long. Refusing to take the oath of supremacy to Henry, as head of the church as well as of the state, he was executed, with other illustrious Catholics. The execution of More was the most cruel and uncalled-for act of the whole reign, and entailed on its author the execrations of all the learned and virtuous men in Europe, most of whom appreciated the transcendent excellencies of the murdered chancellor, the author of the Utopia, and the Boethius of his age.

First steps of the

The fulminations of the Pope only excited Henry to more decided opposition. The parliament, controlled by Cromwell, acknowledged him as the supreme head of the Church of England, and the separation from Rome was final and irrevocable.

The independence of the Church of England, effected in 1535, was followed by important consequences, and was the Refor- first step to the Reformation, afterwards perfected by Edward mation. VI. But as these acts were prompted by political consider

ations, the reformers in England, during the reign of Henry VIII., should be considered chiefly in a political point of view. The separation from Rome, during the reign of this Prince, was not followed by the abolition of the Roman Catholic worship, nor by any change in the rites and ceremonies of that church. Neither was religious toleration secured. Everything was subservient to the royal conscience; a secular, instead of an ecclesiastical pope, reigned in England. Henry now resolved to suppress the monasteries, both because they were notoriously corrupt, and because he wished asteries. to enrich himself and his courtiers with their wealth. As parliament was only an instrument of royalty at this time, it willingly lent its aid to the proposed spoliation. The nation was suddenly astounded with the intelligence that parliament had passed a bill, giving to the King and his heirs all the monastic establishments in the kingdom, which did not exceed two hundred pounds a year. Three hundred

Suppression

of mon

SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES.

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and eighty thus fell at a blow, whereby the King was enriched Ch. 4. to the extent of thirty-two thousand pounds a year, and A. D. one hundred thousand pounds in ready money-an immense 1539. sum in that age. By this suppression, perhaps called for, but exceedingly unjust and harsh, and in violation of all the rights of property, thousands were reduced to beggary and misery, while there was scarcely an eminent man in the kingdom who did not come in for a share of the plunder. Vast grants of land were bestowed by the King on his favorites and courtiers, in order to appease the nation; and the foundations of many of the great estates of the English nobility were thus laid. These spoliations led to many serious riots, especially in Lincolnshire, where at one place forty thousand rebels were under arms; but they were easily suppressed.

monks.

The rapacious King was not satisfied with the plunder he Ruin of had secured, and, in 1539, the final suppression of all the the monasteries in England was decreed. Then followed the seizure of all the church property in England connected with monasteries, such as shrines, relics, gold and silver vessels of immense value and rarity, lands, and churches. Canterbury, Bath, Merton, Stratford, Bury St. Edmonds, Glastonbury, and St. Albans, suffered most, and many beautiful monuments of Gothic architecture were levelled with the dust. Neither the church nor the universities profited much from this confiscation of property; only six new bishoprics were formed, and only fourteen abbeys were converted into cathedrals and collegiate churches. The King and his nobles were the only gainers by the spoil.

After renouncing the Pope's supremacy, and suppressing the monasteries, where were collected the treasures of the middle ages, one would naturally suppose that the King would have gone farther, and changed the religion of his people. Henry

un

But Henry hated Luther and his doctrines. Reform therefore friendly proceeded no farther in his reign; while, on the other hand, to furhe caused a decree to pass both houses of his timid, complying ther Reparliament, by which the doctrines of transubstantiation, the tion.

forma

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LAST DAYS OF HENRY.

Ch. 4. communion in one kind, the celibacy of the clergy, masses, and auricular confession, were established; and any departure 1540 from, or denial of these, subjected the offender to the punishto ment of death.

1547. We will not describe the new domestic difficulties of the

His last

King, since they belong to the internal history of England, rather than to the progress of European civilization. The ordinary histories have made all familiar with the cruel and iniquitous execution of Anne Boleyn, for suspected inconstancy; the third marriage of Henry with Jane Seymour; her death, after having given birth to a prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VI.; the fourth marriage of the king with Anne of Cleves; his disappointment and disgust, which led to her divorce; his fifth marriage with Catharine Howard; her execution; and his final marriage with Catharine Parr, who survived her husband.

The last years of any tyrant are always melancholy, and years. those of Henry were embittered by jealousies and domestic

troubles. His finances were deranged, his treasury was exhausted, and his subjects were discontented. He was often at war with the Scots, as well as with different continental powers. He added religious persecution to his other bad traits, and executed, for their opinions, some of the best people in the kingdom. His father had made him the richest sovereign of Europe; he had seized the abbey lands, and extorted heavy sums from his oppressed people; and yet he was poor. All his wishes were apparently gratified, and yet he was the most miserable man in his dominions. He had exhausted all the sources of pleasure, and nothing remained but satiety and disgust. His mind and his body were alike diseased. It was dangerous to approach this "corrupt mass of dying tyranny." It was impossible to please him, and the least contradiction drove him into fits of madness and frenzy.

One of his last acts was the attainder and order for the execution of the Duke of Norfolk, the first nobleman of the kingdom, but the tyrant died before the sentence was carried

ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI.

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into effect. Thousands perished by the axe of the execu- Ch.4. tioner during his disgraceful reign; some of them the lights of the age, and the glory of their country.

A. D.

1547.

ter.

By nature, Henry was probably amiable, generous, and munificent. But his temper was spoiled by self-indulgence and incessant flattery. The moroseness he exhibited in Charachis latter days was partly the effect of physical disease, brought about by intemperance and gluttony. He was faithful to his wives, so long as he lived with them; and, while he doted on them, listened to their advice. But few of his advisers dared to tell him the truth; and Cranmer himself can never be exculpated from flattering his perverted conscience. He expired, in agony, January, 1547, in the thirtyeighth year of his reign, and the fifty-sixth of his age, and was buried, with great pomp, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. His son, Edward VI., a boy, nine years of age, reigned in his stead, under a council of regency, appointed by Edward the late King, and composed of sixteen persons, at the head VI. of which, as Protector, was the Earl of Hertford, uncle of the King, who afterwards became Duke of Somerset. Cranmer, as Archbishop of Canterbury, was also of their council, and had great weight in the management of affairs. He, however, especially devoted himself to the completion of the Reformation, having now ample scope to prosecute that work, which, in his heart, he had long desired to effect.

We are obliged to omit reference to the civil troubles which immediately followed; the ambition of Somerset, his forced resignation of the Protectorate, the rise of his rival Warwick, who became Duke of Northumberland, the execution of Somerset, the schemes of Northumberland, and the rivalries of the great nobles. It is the English Reformation for which the reign of Edward is memorable.

Succession of

deeds of

Cran

It was the good fortune of Cranmer to accomplish two The great things which gave glory to the Reformation - the removal of Roman abuses, and the establishment of the evan- mer. gelical creed. He placed the Bible in all the churches, and

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