had apparently been absorbed in Charles' Empire, and Henry's life seemed all that protected England from Rome's fate. If the young princess Mary had become Queen, her Spanish mother would have been England's ruler; under their guidance England might have become a province of Charles' Empire.

The right of a woman to succeed to the throne of England was by no means certain. Mary's cousin, James V. of Scotland, would probably have contested her claim. James could have counted on help from France, whilst Mary would have been supported by Spain. Unless Henry left a male heir civil war in England seemed inevitable after his death, and it was well known that Queen Catherine could no longer bear children. It was therefore decided that the King should obtain a divorce from Catherine on the ground of her having been his brother's wife; and Henry chose Anne Boleyn as his future wife. The need of an English heir to the throne of England was so urged that, in normal times, Henry's request would probably have been granted; but Spain's influence at Rome was too powerful, and the divorce of Queen Catherine developed into a struggle during which the English learned that their nationality was in danger unless they severed themselves from Rome.

For six years Henry's divorce suit was argued at Rome, where men who had lived under the Borgias must have wondered why Catherine and her daughter were not quietly poisoned. It is absurd to suppose that sensual passion prompted Henry to persevere with his suit. After 1527 he lived openly with Anne Boleyn, and he could only have sought to give England

a lawful king if his union with Anne proved fruitful. England and France formed a close alliance and declared war against the Emperor in 1528; but in the following year Francis abandoned the contest as hopeless. All hope of freeing the papacy from Charles' control passed away, and Wolsey, who had staked his future on obtaining the divorce without breaking with Rome, died a ruined man in 1530. His dependent, Thomas Cromwell, became at first the secret and then the open adviser of the King. Cranmer, a priest who had embraced Luther's doctrines and was secretly married, aided Cromwell in arranging Henry's divorce and England's breach with Rome. Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532. Cromwell and Cranmer had little difficulty in obtaining the consent of Parliament to the breach with Rome, which put an end to the payments made by England to the papacy. In January 1533 Henry, hoping that Anne was about to present him with the longed-for heir, privately married her. Archbishop Cranmer lost no time in proclaiming Henry's divorce from Catherine and the validity of his marriage to Anne, whose daughter Elizabeth was born in September 1533. There was great fear in England of a Spanish invasion, and severe measures were taken against those who denied the King's supremacy over the English Church. The two most conspicuous martyrs were Cardinal Fisher and Sir Thomas More. In January 1536 Catherine of Aragon died and fear of invasion passed away.

Within a few months of Catherine's death, Anne Boleyn was accused of having committed adultery with four men, one of whom was her own brother. More

than seventy English noblemen and gentlemen, including Anne's father, uncle, and her former lover, were unanimous in returning verdicts of guilty after they had heard the evidence against the Queen and those who were accused with her. All the accused were executed, and Henry at once married another English wife, Jane Seymour, who died in October 1537 after giving birth to a son, the future Edward VI. Whilst Henry's bureaucratic government did not hesitate to strike at men as eminent and virtuous as Sir Thomas More, it was keenly alive to the danger of offending the mass of the people of England. Increased taxation, which otherwise would have followed the rise in prices, was avoided by granting to the King the dues which had been paid to the Pope. The monasteries, deprived of all support from Rome, were suppressed and plundered. Some of the plunder found its way into the pockets of the magnates, but the bulk of it was placed in the royal treasury.

The English Reformation was at first economic rather than religious. The English people had little sympathy with Luther's doctrines and Henry shared their views. In 1523 the Pope bestowed on him the title Defender of the Faith as a reward for his having written against Luther, in which he eloquently described a husband's duty to his wife. England's needs made him a reformer whose conduct as a husband has been sharply criticised. The English, alarmed perhaps by the socialist excesses which accompanied the Reformation in Germany, wished to retain the ancient creed, and Henry gave them what they wished. The suppression of the monasteries led to insurrec

tions, such as the Pilgrimage of Grace in Yorkshire; but these had little chance of success without foreign aid. During one of the most critical periods in England's history Spain was the foe England chiefly dreaded, and troubles in Germany, fear of a Turkish invasion, and the hostility of France kept Charles too fully occupied to interfere in English affairs. In 1539, however, it seemed as if Charles and Francis had forgotten their differences and could unite to restore Rome's authority in England. The danger was so great that it affords at least some excuse for the measures that were taken to avert it.

XVIII

ENGLAND FREES HERSELF FROM PAPAL SUPREMACY

1539-1559

ENGLAND was fortifying her coasts in 1539 to be ready for the threatened invasion. Charles and Francis had signed a truce for ten years in June 1538, and as a preliminary to a direct attack arrangements were being made to close the markets of the Continent to English goods. The French were willing to break off all commercial intercourse with England if Charles would close the ports of his Empire. A great stimulus would have been given to the production of France by the destruction of English industry. But Charles' Empire depended on international trade. In 1528 the merchants of the Empire had taught their Emperor that he must not interfere with their trade. It was their opposition which forced Charles to acquiesce sullenly in the divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The Emperor was unable to agree to commercial war, and before plans for a direct attack on England were made, in 1539 Charles was compelled to devote his energies to crushing a rebellion of the burghers of Ghent. England's danger passed away when, in 1540, it became evident that the war between Francis and Charles would soon begin afresh.