of Jerusalem. They are significant. His ideal was founded consciously on
the models of Arthur and Godfrey as national king and leader of
Christendom. So he is the typical medieval hero. For that very reason
his schemes were doomed to end in disaster, since the time was come for
a new departure. Yet he was not reactionary. His policy was
constructive: a firm central government supported by parliament; church
reform on conservative lines; commercial development; and the
maintenance of national prestige. His aims in some respects anticipated
those of his Tudor successors, but he would have accomplished them on
medieval lines as a constitutional ruler. His success was due to the
power of his personality. He could train able lieutenants, but at his
death there was no one who could take his place as leader. War,
diplomacy and civil administration were all dependent on his guidance.
His dazzling achievements as a general have obscured his more sober
qualities as a ruler, and even the sound strategy, with which he aimed
to be master of the narrow seas. If he was not the founder of the
English navy he was one of the first to realize its true importance.
Henry had so high a sense of his own rights that he was merciless to
disloyalty. But he was scrupulous of the rights of others, and it was
his eager desire to further the cause of justice that impressed his
French contemporaries. He has been charged with cruelty as a religious
persecutor; but in fact he had as prince opposed the harsh policy of
Archbishop Arundel, and as king sanctioned a more moderate course.
Lollard executions during his reign had more often a political than a
religious reason. To be just with sternness was in his eyes a duty. So
in his warfare, though he kept strict discipline and allowed no wanton
violence, he treated severely all who had in his opinion transgressed.
In his personal conduct he was chaste, temperate and sincerely pious. He
delighted in sport and all manly exercises. At the same time he was
cultured, with a taste for literature, art and music. Henry lies buried
in Westminster Abbey. His tomb was stripped of its splendid adornment
during the Reformation. The shield, helmet and saddle, which formed part
of the original funeral equipment, still hang above it.
Of original authorities the best on the English side is the _Gesta
Henrici Quinti_ (down to 1416), printed anonymously for the English
Historical Society, but probably written by Thomas Elmham, one of
Henry's chaplains. Two lives edited by Thomas Hearne under the names
of Elmham and Titus Livius Forojuliensis come from a common source;
the longer, which Hearne ascribed incorrectly to Elmham, is perhaps
the original work of Livius, who was an Italian in the service of
Humphrey of Gloucester, and wrote about 1440. Other authorities are
the Chronicles of Walsingham and Otterbourne, the _English Chronicle_
or _Brut_, and the various _London Chronicles_. On the French side the
most valuable are Chronicles of Monstrelet and St Remy (both
Burgundian) and the _Chronique du religieux de S. Denys_ (the official
view of the French court). For documents and modern authorities see
under HENRY IV. See also Sir N. H. Nicolas, _Hist. of the Battle of
Agincourt and the Expedition of 1415_ (London, 1833); C. L. Kingsford,
_Henry V., the Typical Medieval Hero_ (New York, 1901), where a fuller
bibliography will be found. (C. L. K.)
HENRY VI. (1421-1471), king of England, son of Henry V. and Catherine of
Valois, was born at Windsor on the 6th of December 1421. He became king
of England on the 1st of September 1422, and a few weeks later, on the
death of his grandfather Charles VI., was proclaimed king of France
also. Henry V. had directed that Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick
(q.v.), should be his son's preceptor; Warwick took up his charge in
1428; he trained his pupil to be a good man and refined gentleman, but
he could not teach him kingship. As early as 1423 the baby king was made
to appear at public functions and take his place in parliament. He was
knighted by his uncle Bedford at Leicester in May 1426, and on the 6th
of November 1429 was crowned at Westminster. Early in the next year he
was taken over to France, and after long delay crowned in Paris on the
16th of December 1431. His return to London on the 14th of February 1432
was celebrated with a great pageant devised by Lydgate.
During these early years Bedford ruled France wisely and at first with
success, but he could not prevent the mischief which Humphrey of
Gloucester (q.v.) caused both at home and abroad. Even in France the
English lost ground steadily after the victory of Joan of Arc before
Orleans in 1429. The climax came with the death of Bedford, and
defection of Philip of Burgundy in 1435. This closed the first phase of
Henry's reign. There followed fifteen years of vain struggle in France,
and growing disorder at home. The determining factor in politics was the
conduct of the war. Cardinal Beaufort, and after him Suffolk, sought by
working for peace to secure at least Guienne and Normandy. Gloucester
courted popularity by opposing them throughout; with him was Richard of
York, who stood next in succession to the crown. Beaufort controlled the
council, and it was under his guidance that the king began to take part
in the government. Thus it was natural that as Henry grew to manhood he
seconded heartily the peace policy. That policy was wise, but national
pride made it unpopular and difficult. Henry himself had not the
strength or knowledge to direct it, and was unfortunate in his advisers.
The cardinal was old, his nephews John and Edmund Beaufort were
incompetent, Suffolk, though a man of noble character, was tactless.
Suffolk, however, achieved a great success by negotiating the marriage
of Henry to Margaret of Anjou (q.v.) in 1445. Humphrey of Gloucester and
Cardinal Beaufort both died early in 1447. Suffolk was now all-powerful
in the favour of the king and queen. But his home administration was
unpopular, whilst the incapacity of Edmund Beaufort ended in the loss of
all Normandy and Guienne. Suffolk's fall in 1450 left Richard of York
the foremost man in England. Henry's reign then entered on its last
phase of dynastic struggle. Cade's rebellion suggested first that
popular discontent might result in a change of rulers. But York, as heir
to the throne, could abide his time. The situation was altered by the
mental derangement of the king, and the birth of his son in 1453. York
after a struggle secured the protectorship, and for the next year ruled
England. Then Henry was restored to sanity, and the queen and Edmund
Beaufort, now Duke of Somerset, to power. Open war followed, with the
defeat and death of Somerset at St Albans on the 22nd of May 1455.
Nevertheless a hollow peace was patched up, which continued during four
years with lack of all governance. In 1459 war broke out again. On the
10th of July 1460 Henry was taken prisoner at Northampton, and forced to
acknowledge York as heir, to the exclusion of his own son. Richard of
York's death at Wakefield (Dec. 29, 1460), and the queen's victory at St
Albans (Feb. 17, 1461), brought Henry his freedom and no more. Edward of
York had himself proclaimed king, and by his decisive victory at Towton
on the 29th of March, put an end to Henry's reign. For over three years
Henry was a fugitive in Scotland. He returned to take part in an
abortive rising in 1464. A year later he was captured in the north, and
brought a prisoner to the Tower. For six months in 1470-1471 he emerged
to hold a shadowy kingship as Warwick's puppet. Edward's final victory
at Tewkesbury was followed by Henry's death on the 21st of May 1471,
certainly by violence, perhaps at the hands of Richard of Gloucester.
Henry was the most hapless of monarchs. He was so honest and
well-meaning that he might have made a good ruler in quiet times. But he
was crushed by the burden of his inheritance. He had not the genius to
find a way out of the French entanglement or the skill to steer a
constitutional monarchy between rival factions. So the system and policy
which were the creations of Henry IV. and Henry V. led under Henry VI.
to the ruin of their dynasty. Henry's very virtues added to his
difficulties. He was so trusting that any one could influence him, so
faithful that he would not give up a minister who had become impossible.
Thus even in the middle period he had no real control of the government.
In his latter years he was mentally too weak for independent action. At
his best he was a "good and gentle creature," but too kindly and
generous to rule others. Religious observances and study were his chief
occupations. His piety was genuine; simple and pure, he was shocked at
any suggestion of impropriety, but his rebuke was only "Fie, for shame!
forsooth ye are to blame." For education he was really zealous. Even as
a boy he was concerned for the upbringing of his half-brothers, his
mother's children by Owen Tudor. Later, the planning of his great
foundations at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, was the one thing
which absorbed his interest. To both he was more than a royal founder,
and the credit of the whole scheme belongs to him. The charter for Eton
was granted on the 11th of October 1440, and that for King's College in
the following February. Henry himself laid the foundation-stones of both
buildings. He frequently visited Cambridge to superintend the progress
of the work. When at Windsor he loved to send for the boys from his
school and give them good advice.
Henry's only son was Edward, prince of Wales (1453-1471), who, having
shared the many journeys and varying fortunes of his mother, Margaret,
was killed after the battle of Tewkesbury (May 4, 1471) by some noblemen
in attendance on Edward IV.
There is a life of Henry by his chaplain John Blakman (printed at the
end of Hearne's edition of Otterbourne); but it is concerned only with
his piety and patience in adversity. English chronicles for the reign
are scanty; the best are the _Chronicles of London_ (ed. C. L.
Kingsford), with the analogous _Gregory's Chronicle_ (ed. J. Gairdner
for Camden Soc.) and _Chronicle of London_ (ed. Sir H. N. Nicolas).
_The Paston Letters_, with James Gairdner's valuable Introductions,
are indispensable. Other useful authorities are Joseph Stevenson's
_Letters and Papers illustrative of the Wars of the English in France
during the Reign of Henry VI._; and _Correspondence of T. Bekynton_
(both in "Rolls" series). For the French war the chief sources are the
_Chronicles_ of Monstrelet, D'Escouchy and T. Basin. For other
documents and modern authorities see under HENRY IV. For Henry's
foundations see Sir H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, _History of Eton College_
(London, 1899), and J. B. Mullinger, _History of the University of
Cambridge_ (London, 1888). (C. L. K.)
HENRY VII. (1457-1509), king of England, was the first of the Tudor
dynasty. His claim to the throne was through his mother from John of
Gaunt and Catherine Swynford, whose issue born before their marriage had
been legitimated by parliament. This, of course, was only a Lancastrian
claim, never valid, even as such, till the direct male line of John of
Gaunt had become extinct. By his father the genealogists traced his
pedigree to Cadwallader, but this only endeared him to the Welsh when he
had actually become king. His grandfather, Owen Tudor, however, had
married Catherine, the widow of Henry V. and daughter to Charles VI. of
France. Their son Edmund, being half brother of Henry VI., was created
by that king earl of Richmond, and having married Margaret Beaufort,
only daughter of John, duke of Somerset, died more than two months
before their only child, Henry, was born in Pembroke Castle in January
1457. The fatherless child had sore trials. Edward IV. won the crown
when he was four years old, and while Wales partly held out against the
conqueror, he was carried for safety from one castle to another. Then
for a time he was made a prisoner; but ultimately he was taken abroad by
his uncle Jasper, who found refuge in Brittany. At one time the duke of
Brittany was nearly induced to surrender him to Edward IV.; but he
remained safe in the duchy till the cruelties of Richard III. drove more
and more Englishmen abroad to join him. An invasion of England was
planned in 1483 in concert with the duke of Buckingham's rising; but
stormy weather at sea and an inundation in the Severn defeated the two
movements. A second expedition, two years later, aided this time by
France, was more successful. Henry landed at Milford Haven among his
Welsh allies and defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth (August 22,
1485). He was crowned at Westminster on the 30th of October following.
Then, in fulfilment of pledges by which he had procured the adhesion of
many Yorkist supporters, he was married at Westminster to Elizabeth
(1465-1503), eldest daughter and heiress of Edward IV. (Jan. 18, 1486),
whose two brothers had both been murdered by Richard III. Thus the Red
and White Roses were united and the pretexts for civil war done away
with.
Nevertheless, Henry's reign was much disturbed by a succession of
Yorkist conspiracies and pretenders. Of the two most notable impostors,
the first, Lambert Simnel, personated the earl of Warwick, son of the
duke of Clarence, a youth of seventeen whom Henry had at his accession
taken care to imprison in the Tower. Simnel, who was but a boy, was
taken over to Ireland to perform his part, and the farce was wonderfully
successful. He was crowned as Edward VI. in Christchurch Cathedral,
Dublin, and received the allegiance of every one--bishops, nobles and
judges, alike with others. From Ireland, accompanied by some bands of
German mercenaries procured for him in the Low Countries, he invaded
England; but the rising was put down at Stoke near Newark in
Nottinghamshire, and, Simnel being captured, the king made him a menial
of his kitchen.
This movement had been greatly assisted by Margaret, duchess dowager of
Burgundy, sister of Edward IV., who could not endure to see the House of
York supplanted by that of Tudor. The second pretender, Perkin Warbeck,
was also much indebted to her support; but he seems to have entered on
his career at first without it. And his story, which was more prolonged,
had to do with the attitude of many countries towards England. Anxious
as Henry was to avoid being involved in foreign wars, it was not many
years before he was committed to a war with France, partly by his desire
of an alliance with Spain, and partly by the indignation of his own
subjects at the way in which the French were undermining the
independence of Brittany. Henry gave Brittany defensive aid; but after
the duchess Anne had married Charles VIII. of France, he felt bound to
fulfil his obligations to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and also to
the German king Maximilian, by an invasion of France in 1492. His
allies, however, were not equally scrupulous or equally able to fulfil
their obligations to him; and after besieging Boulogne for some little
time, he received very advantageous offers from the French king and made
peace with him.
Now Perkin Warbeck had first appeared in Ireland in 1491, and had
somehow been persuaded there to personate Richard, duke of York, the
younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower, pretending that he had
escaped, though his brother had been killed. Charles VIII., then
expecting war with England, called him to France, recognized his
pretensions and gave him a retinue; but after the peace he dismissed
him. Then Margaret of Burgundy received him as her nephew, and
Maximilian, now estranged from Henry, recognized him as king of England.
With a fleet given him by Maximilian he attempted to land at Deal, but
sailed away to Ireland and, not succeeding very well there either,
sailed farther to Scotland, where James IV. received him with open arms,
married him to an earl's daughter and made a brief and futile invasion
of England along with him. But in 1497 he thought best to dismiss him,
and Perkin, after attempting something again in Ireland, landed in
Cornwall with a small body of men.
Already Cornwall had risen in insurrection that year, not liking the
taxation imposed for the purpose of repelling the Scotch invasion. A
host of the country people, led first by a blacksmith, but afterwards by
a nobleman, marched up towards London and were only defeated at
Blackheath. But the Cornishmen were quite ready for another revolt, and
indeed had invited Perkin to their shores. He had little fight in him,
however, and after a futile siege of Exeter and an advance to Taunton he
stole away and took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire. But, being
assured of his life, he surrendered, was brought to London, and was only
executed two years later, when, being imprisoned near the earl of
Warwick in the Tower, he inveigled that simple-minded youth into a
project of escape. For this Warwick, too, was tried, condemned and
executed--no doubt to deliver Henry from repeated conspiracies in his
favour.
Henry had by this time several children, of whom the eldest, Arthur, had
been proposed in infancy for a bridegroom to Catherine, daughter of
Ferdinand of Aragon. The match had always been kept in view, but its
completion depended greatly on the assurance Ferdinand and Isabella
could feel of Henry's secure position upon the throne. At last Catherine
was brought to England and was married to Prince Arthur at St Paul's on
the 14th of November 1501. The lad was just over fifteen and the
co-habitation of the couple was wisely delayed; but he died on the 2nd
of April following. Another match was presently proposed for Catherine
with the king's second son, Henry, which only took effect when the
latter had become king himself. Meanwhile Henry's eldest daughter
Margaret was married to James IV. of Scotland--a match distinctly
intended to promote international peace, and make possible that ultimate
union which actually resulted from it. The espousals had taken place at
Richmond in 1502, and the marriage was celebrated in Scotland the year
after. In the interval between these two events Henry lost his queen,
who died on the 11th of February 1503, and during the remainder of his
reign he made proposals in various quarters for a second
marriage--proposals in which political objects were always the chief
consideration; but none of them led to any result. In his latter years
he became unpopular from the extortions practised by his two
instruments, Empson and Dudley, under the authority of antiquated
statutes. From the beginning of his reign he had been accumulating
money, mainly for his own security against intrigues and conspiracies,
and avarice had grown upon him with success. He died in April 1509,
undoubtedly the richest prince in Christendom. He was not a niggard,
however, in his expenditure. Before his death he had finished the
hospital of the Savoy and made provision for the magnificent chapel at
Westminster which bears his name. His money-getting was but part of his
statesmanship, and for his statesmanship his country owes him not a
little gratitude. He not only terminated a disastrous civil war and
brought under control the spirit of ancient feudalism, but with a clear
survey of the conditions of foreign powers he secured England in almost
uninterrupted peace while he developed her commerce, strengthened her
slender navy and built, apparently for the first time, a naval dock at
Portsmouth.
In addition to his sons Arthur and Henry, Henry VII. had several
daughters, one of whom, Margaret, married James IV., king of Scotland,
and another, Mary, became the wife of Louis XII. of France, and
afterwards of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk.
The popular view of Henry VII.'s reign has always been derived from
Bacon's _History_ of that king. This has been edited by J. R. Lumby
(Cambridge, 1881). But during the last half century large accessions
to our knowledge have been made from foreign and domestic archives,
and the sources of Bacon's work have been more critically examined.
For a complete account of those sources the reader may be referred to
W. Busch's _England under the Tudors_, published in German in 1892 and
in an English translation in 1895. Some further information of a
special kind will be found in M. Oppenheim's _Naval Accounts and
Inventories_, published by the Navy Records Society in 1896. See also
J. Gairdner's _Henry VII._ (1889). (J. Ga.)
HENRY VIII. (1491-1547), king of England and Ireland, the third child
and second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, was born on the 28th
of June 1491 and, like all the Tudor sovereigns except Henry VII., at
Greenwich. His two brothers, Prince Arthur and Edmund, duke of Somerset,
and two of his sisters predeceased their father; Henry was the only son,
and Margaret, afterwards queen of Scotland, and Mary, afterwards queen
of France and duchess of Suffolk, were the only daughters who survived.
Henry is said, on authority which has not been traced farther back than
Paolo Sarpi, to have been destined for the church; but the story is
probably a mere surmise from his theological accomplishments, and from
his earliest years high secular posts such as the viceroyalty of Ireland
were conferred upon the child. He was the first English monarch to be
educated under the influence of the Renaissance, and his tutors included
the poet Skelton; he became an accomplished scholar, linguist, musician
and athlete, and when by the death of his brother Arthur in 1502 and of
his father on the 22nd of April 1509 Henry VIII. succeeded to the
throne, his accession was hailed with universal acclamation.