HENRY VII (iii), 1498-1509-THE DYNASTY ASSURED
[Sidenote: Scotland and England]
From time immemorial almost, it might be said that Scotland had been a
perpetual menace to her southern neighbour. Since the days of Bruce she
had, it is true, been torn by ceaseless dissensions; a succession of long
royal minorities with intrigues over the regency, family feuds between the
great barons, strong kings who found themselves warring on a turbulent
nobility, weak ones who could exercise no control, had not given the
country much chance of consolidation; but the one binding sentiment that
could be relied on in a crisis was antagonism to England. To settle the
question by conquest had been proved impossible. Scotland might be
over-run, but she could not be held in subjection. If England's eyes were
bent on France, she must still manage to keep a watch on the north: but so
long as dissensions were raging, there was not much fear of anything more
serious than raiding expeditions.
[Sidenote: Henry's Scottish policy]
To keep Scotland innocuous was a primary object with the Tudor King. At the
time when he grasped the sceptre of England, the King of Scots, James III.,
was a feeble ruler surrounded by unpopular favourites, with a baronage
preparing to rise against him, and there was little danger to be
apprehended. He was over-thrown and murdered in 1488. But James IV, who
succeeded to the throne was of a different type. He was only a boy,
however, and Henry was not long in initiating a policy, more fully
developed by his descendants, of purchasing the support of leading nobles,
notably at this time and for forty years to come, the Earls of Angus-with
whom there was a compact as early as 1491. James, however, soon proved
himself a popular and vigorous monarch, of a type which attracted the
loyalty of his subjects, with a strong disposition to make his country a
serious factor in the politics of the time, and by no means devoid of
political sagacity despite his unfortunate impulsiveness and want of
balance. To block Scotland out of the field by the simple process of
keeping her thoroughly occupied with internal factions was not practicable
under these conditions, and the attitude of James in the affair of Perkin
Warbeck showed that he must be taken into serious account. Henry's
political acuteness recognised in alliance with Scotland a more hopeful
solution of the national problem than in eternal strife. The idea of a
matrimonial connexion had indeed once before, since the days of Edward I.,
taken shape in the union of James I. to Jane Beaufort; but with little
practical effect. This idea Henry revived in a form destined ultimately to
revolutionise the relations of the two kingdoms. His own eldest daughter
Margaret was but eighteen years younger than the King of Scots--quite near
enough for compatibility. From the time of the peace entered upon after
Warbeck's capture, Henry began to work with this marriage as one of his
objects. His foresight and sagacity is marked by the fact that he
recognised--and did not shrink from the possibility--that a Scottish
monarch might thus one day find himself heir to the throne of England.
[Sidenote 1: France and England]
[Sidenote 2: 1498]
The peace-policy towards Scotland was facilitated by the development of
friendly relations with France, especially after the accession of Lewis
XII.: for the traditional "auld alliance," between France and Scotland, had
proved times out of mind too strong to be over-ridden by English treaties.
If France wanted Scottish help, or Scotland wanted French help, there was
always some excuse for rendering it; the plain truth being that no treaties
could restrain the forays and counter-forays of the border clans on both
sides of the Tweed, whether the Wardens of the Marches winked at them or
not; so that there was, in either country, a standing pretext for declaring
that the other had broken truce. An instance of these border difficulties
occurred within a few months of the truce of December, 1497. A small party
of Scots crossed the border, and appeared in the neighbourhood of Norham.
They were challenged, and replied--with insolence or with proper spirit,
according to the point of view. Thereupon they were attacked by superior
numbers; some were slain; in the pursuit, damage was done on the north side
of the border. The Scots King felt that he had been outraged, and was on
the verge of breaking off all negotiations with his brother of England. It
required all the diplomatic skill of Fox (at this time Bishop of Durham),
and the mediatorial efforts of the Spaniard Ayala to prevent a serious
breach from resulting.
[Sidenote: Marriage negotiations, 1498-1503]
The opportunity, however, was seized by Fox to emphasise his master's
pacific intentions by bringing forward the proposal for the marriage of
James with Margaret. Nevertheless, for the next twelve months, Henry
displayed no eagerness in the matter. Margaret was only in her eighth year,
so that in any case the marriage could not be completed for some time; but
apart from that, there was already existing a project of marriage between
James and one of the Spanish princesses--which Spain had no real wish to
carry out, while James was disposed to push it. It would appear, therefore,
that Henry meant to give effect to his own scheme, but did not intend Spain
to feel free of the complication while it could be used as a means of
pressure.
[Sidenote: Marriage of James IV, and Margaret 1503]
At last, however, in July, 1499, a fresh treaty of peace was concluded with
Scotland, but it was not till January, 1502, that the marriage treaty was
finally ratified; the marriage to take place in September, 1503 (when
Margaret would be nearly thirteen), and the two Kings to render each other
mutual aid in case either of them was attacked. James, however, declined to
bind himself permanently to refuse renewal of the French alliance. There
was much characteristic haggling over dower and jointure, matters in which
the Tudors always drove the hardest bargain they could. The ceremony was
performed by proxy, after the fashion of the times, the day after the
treaty was ratified; and the actual marriage took place at the time fixed,
in the autumn of 1503--a momentous event, since it brought the Stuarts into
the direct line of succession, next to descendants of Henry in the male
line; and--inasmuch as one of Henry's sons had no children, and the other
no grandchildren--ultimately united on one head the Crowns of England and
Scotland, exactly one hundred years after the marriage.
[Sidenote: Spain and England: marriage negotiations, 1488-99]
In the meantime the other and much older project for the union between the
Prince of Wales and a daughter of Spain had been carried out. Originally,
Henry's prime motive in this matter had been to secure a decisive
recognition of his dynasty by the sovereigns, whom he regarded as the
greatest political force in Europe. By this time, however, (1498), the
stability of his throne and of the succession was no longer in peril; but
Spain was still the Power whose alliance would give the best guarantees
against hostile combinations. Neither Spain nor England wished to be
involved in war with France; but neither country could view her
aggrandisement with complete equanimity. At the same time, while her
ambitions were chiefly directed to Italy both could afford for the most
part to abstain from active hostilities. On the other hand, times had
changed since Henry had been ready to go almost cap-in-hand to Ferdinand
and Isabella for their support. The Spanish sovereigns were now quite as
much afraid of his joining France as he was of any step that they could
take. So the marriage treaty was ratified in 1497 on terms satisfactory
enough to Henry; and both in 1498 and 1499 proxy ceremonies took place. In
the latter year, clauses left somewhat vague in the earlier treaties were
given a clearer definition in a sense favourable to Henry.
[Sidenote: 1499 Lewis XII]
The accession of Lewis XII. in 1497 affected French policy. Lewis required
in the first place, to gain the friendship of the Pope Alexander VI., in
order to obtain a divorce from his wife and a dispensation to marry
Charles's widow, Anne of Brittany, so as to retain the duchy. In the second
place, he claimed Milan as his own in right of his descent from Valentina
Visconti (not as an appanage of the French Crown). He was anxious then to
conciliate both Spain and England, and ready to make concessions to both in
order to hold them neutral. His first steps, therefore, aimed at satisfying
them, and at detaching the Archduke Philip from his father Maximilian; all
of which objects were rapidly accomplished, England obtaining the renewal
of the treaty of Etaples, with additional undertakings in the matter of
harbouring rebels. Lewis made separate treaties with Spain and with Philip;
but the former remained none the less anxious on the score of a possible
further _rapprochement_ between France and England.
[Sidenote: The Spanish marriage negotiation, 1499-1501]
So long as Perkin Warbeck had been able to pose as Richard of York, he was
necessarily, to all who believed in him, the legitimate King of England.
Setting him aside, it was still possible to argue for the Earl of Warwick
as against his cousin Elizabeth, Henry's queen. But when Perkin and Warwick
were both put to death at the end of 1499, there was no arguable case for
any one outside Henry's own domestic circle. Even if it were held that
Henry's title was invalid, and that a woman could not herself reign in her
own right, Elizabeth's son had indisputably a title prior to any other
possible claimant. It was stated, though the truth of the statement is
doubtful, that the Spanish sovereigns had never felt at ease as to the
stability of the Tudor dynasty till November, 1499; but, at any rate, after
that date they could not even for diplomatic purposes pretend to feel any
serious apprehensions. The year 1500 presents the somewhat curious
spectacle of Henry on one side and Ferdinand and Isabella on the other,
each quite determined to carry through the marriage of Arthur and
Katharine, but each also determined to make a favour of it. In this
diplomatic contest, Henry proved the more skilful bargainer, though the
Spaniards were adepts. He frightened them not a little by crossing the
Channel and holding a conference with the Archduke Philip, which was
suspected of having for its object the negotiation of another marriage for
the Prince of Wales with Philip's sister (Maximilian's daughter) Margaret,
who was already a widow. [Footnote: Margaret had been married to Don John,
son of Ferdinand and Isabella; while Philip married their second daughter
Joanna. Their eldest daughter married the Portuguese Infant.] In fact,
there was no such intention; but an agreement was actually made that Prince
Henry should many Philip's daughter, while the youngest Tudor princess,
Mary, should be betrothed to Philip's infant son Charles, then a babe of
four months, in after years the great Emperor Charles V.
[Sidenote: Marriage of Prince Arthur and Katharine 1501]
So the marriage treaty was once more ratified. But it was not till the
summer of the next year (1501) that Katharine sailed from Spain; and in
November the actual marriage took place with no little display. It is
probable, however, that Arthur and Katharine were still husband and wife in
name only when, six months later, the Prince of Wales was stricken with
mortal illness and died; leaving his brother Henry heir to the throne, and
a fresh crop of matrimonial schemes to be matured.
[Sidenote 1: 1502 New marriage schemes]
[Sidenote 2: 1504 Dispensation granted]
The truth was that Ferdinand of Aragon and Henry of England were men of
very much the same type. Both were crafty diplomatists, cautious and
long-headed, not to be inveigled into rash schemes, keenly suspicious,
masters of the art of committing themselves irrevocably to nothing; both
had a keen appreciation of the value of money, and were experts at striking
a bargain; while each wanted the political support of the other. Each had
been working up to the matrimonial alliance which was now nullified by
Arthur's death. Ferdinand had already paid over half his daughter's dower;
he now declared that the Princess and her dower ought to be returned to
Spain. Henry argued on the other side that the balance of the dower should
be paid over. The Spaniards then proposed that the young widow should be
betrothed to the still younger prince, Henry; but at a comparatively early
stage in the negotiations over the new project, Henry's own queen died
(February, 1503), and it was no long time before the English King began to
contemplate a new marriage for himself. He is even said [Footnote:
Gairdner, _Henry VII._ (_Twelve English Statesmen_), p. 190. The
rumour was current, but it is doubtful whether it was more than a rumour;
_cf._ Busch, p. 378.] to have thought of proposing that he should take
his own son's widow to wife. Logically, of course, as a mere question of
affinity, the idea was not more inadmissible than that of Katharine's
marriage with Henry Prince of Wales; but it was infinitely more repellent,
and Isabella was horrified at the suggestion. At any rate, nothing came of
it, and an agreement for the marriage of Katharine with the younger Henry
was ratified in the course of the year [Footnote: It was in the August of
this same year (1503) that the other marriage, between James of Scotland
and Henry's elder daughter Margaret, was finally concluded.]--subject, of
course, to a papal dispensation. This was obtained, during 1504, from the
successor of Alexander VI., Pope Julius II., and Isabella had the
satisfaction of seeing it before her death. Political exigencies had only
recently been accepted by Pope Alexander as justifying a dispensation for
the divorce of Lewis XII. from his wife, to enable him to marry Anne of
Brittany; but this dispensation of Pope Julius was destined to an immense
importance in history--to be the hinge whereon swung open the gates of the
English Reformation.
[Sidenote: 1499-1506 Affairs on the Continent]
The years from 1498 to 1503 had not been without importance in Franco-
Spanish relations, more particularly with reference to the position of the
two Powers in Italy. Lewis had made himself master of Milan in 1499; but
the kingdom of Naples presented a more difficult problem; since, after
disposing of the reigning family, the French King would still find a rival
claimant in Ferdinand of Spain. In 1500 these two monarchs agreed to a
partition; but French and Spaniards quarrelled, war broke out, the Spanish
captain Gonsalvo de Cordova expelled the French; and in 1508 Naples was
annexed to Aragon. A renewed attempt of France upon Naples in the following
year proved a complete failure.
In 1503 died the Borgia Pope, Alexander VI.--poisoned, as it was believed,
by the cup he had intended for another. The personal wickedness of
Alexander and his relatives was the climax of papal iniquity, the
_reductio ad absurdum_ of the claim of the Roman Pontiff to be the
representative of Christ on earth. His immediate successor hardly survived
election to the Holy See; and was followed by Julius II., an energetic and
militant Pope, who was bent on forming the Papal States into an effective
temporal principality.
In the next year Isabella of Castile died, and by her death the European
situation was again materially affected. While she lived she worked in
complete accord with her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon; her name stands high
among the ablest of European sovereigns. But with her death the Crowns of
Castile and Aragon were no longer united. Ferdinand was not King of
Castile; the sceptre descended to the dead Queen's daughter Joanna,
[Footnote: The elder sister was already dead, as well as the one brother.]
and in effect to her husband, the Archduke Philip, Maximilian's son, and
after her to their son Charles. At the most, Ferdinand could hope only to
exercise a dominant influence (converted after Philip's death in 1506 into
practical sovereignty as Regent), with a perpetual risk of Maximilian
turning his flighty ambitions towards asserting himself as a rival.
[Sidenote: The Earl of Suffolk 1499-1505]
Although both Warbeck and Warwick had been removed in 1499, Henry had not
been altogether free from Yorkist troubles in the succeeding years. Edmund
de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, was brother of that Earl of Lincoln who had
fallen at the battle of Stoke, and son of a sister of Edward IV. The Earl
had not hitherto come forward as a claimant to the throne; but in 1499 he
developed a personal grievance against the King, and betook himself to the
Continent, where a certain Sir Robert Curzon espoused his cause with
Maximilian. At the time, nothing came of the matter; Henry was not afraid
of Suffolk, whom he induced to return to England with a pardon. In 1501,
however, the Earl again betook himself to the Continent and made a direct
appeal to Maximilian for assistance. But Henry was now on particularly good
terms with the Archduke Philip, and Maximilian was inclining to revert to
friendly relations with England. He was in his normal condition of
impecuniosity, and Henry was prepared to provide a loan to help him in a
Turkish war if his own rebellious subjects were handed over. The issue of
these negotiations, towards the end of 1502, was a loan from Henry of fifty
thousands crowns, and a promise from Maximilian to eject Suffolk and his
supporters. In the meantime several of Suffolk's accomplices were executed
in England, including James Tyrrel who had abetted Richard III. in the
murder of the Princes in the Tower; and [Footnote: See genealogical table
(_Front_.).] William de la Pole and William Courtenay (son of the Earl
of Devonshire) were imprisoned on suspicion of complicity. Suffolk,
however, remained at Aix la Chapelle, Maximilian making him many promises
and providing inadequate supplies, while with equal lightness of heart--
having got his loan--he left his pledges to Henry unfulfilled by anything
more substantial than professions that he was doing his best to carry them
out. In 1504 the migratory Earl had the misfortune to fall into the hands
of the Duke of Gueldres, who detained him for use as circumstances might
dictate--to the annoyance of the Kings of France and Scotland, both of whom
wished him to be handed over to the King of England.
[Sidenote: 1505 Henry's position]
In 1505 then Henry's relations with all foreign Powers were satisfactory:
that is, none of them were hostile and most of them were anxious for his
friendship. In these later years, however, of Henry's reign he appears
consistently in a more definitely unamiable light than before. The two
counsellors who, however thoroughly they endorsed his policy, had probably
exercised a moderating and refining influence--Cardinal Morton and Reginald
Bray--were now both dead, and there is no doubt that Elizabeth of York,
popular herself, had been a very judicious helpmeet to her husband.
Moreover, though he was still by no means an old man, Henry was becoming
worn out; yet he could never escape from dynastic anxieties, the younger
Henry being now his only son. Marriage schemes had always been prominent
features in his policy, and the marriage schemes for himself which he
evolved one after the other in the closing years of his reign show him in a
singularly unattractive light, at the same time that his financial methods
were growing increasingly mean, and his evasions of honourable obligations
increasingly unscrupulous.
Now the Duke of Gueldres was in conflict with the Archduke Philip--at this
time not only lord of the Burgundian domains, but also in right of his wife
King of Castile and not on the best of terms with his father-in-law of
Aragon. In 1505 Philip got possession in his turn of the person of Suffolk,
by capturing the town where the Duke of Gueldres held him. Therefore during
this year Henry became particularly anxious to make friends with Philip,
and lent him money; having got which, Philip preferred placing his hostage
again in the hands of the Duke of Gueldres, who had submitted to him.
[Sidenote: Schemes for his marriage]
Out of these conditions rose another futile suggestion of a marriage for
Henry: who had already considered and dismissed the idea of marrying the
younger of the two living ex-Queens of Naples--both named Joanna--a niece
of Ferdinand of Aragon. The wife now proposed was Philip's sister,
Margaret, who on her first widowhood had been spoken of as a possible
alternative to Katharine for Arthur of Wales. Since then, she had become
Margaret of Savoy, the name by which she is generally known; but had been
widowed a second time. This proposal probably came from Philip, but was
resolutely resisted by Margaret herself.
[Sidenote: 1506 Philip in England]
In 1506 fortune favoured Henry. Philip sailed from the Netherlands in
January to take possession of the throne of Castile: but was driven on to
the English shores by stress of weather. The English King received him
royally, but while the utmost show of friendliness prevailed, Philip found
that he had no alternative to acceptance of Henry's suggestions. Before the
King of Castile departed, he had not only entered on a treaty for mutual
defence against any aggressor, but had actually delivered over the person
of the unhappy Suffolk [Footnote: So Busch. Gairdner is doubtful.] to his
sovereign, though under promise that he should not be put to death. The
prisoner, however, was committed to the Tower, and though Henry kept his
word, he is reported to have advised his son that the promise would not be
binding on him. At any rate Suffolk was executed, apparently without
further trial, early in the next reign. His brother Richard, known as the
"White Rose," who had abetted him, remained abroad, and was ultimately
killed in the service of Francis I. at the battle of Pavia in 1525, leaving
no children.
Philip had hardly departed from England when a new commercial treaty which
he had authorised was signed with the Netherlands, terminating the war of
tariffs which had again become active in recent years. This treaty, it is
not surprising to remark, was so favourable to England that in
contradistinction to the older _Intercursus Magnus_ the Flemings
entitled it the _Intercursus Malus_.
[Sidenote: Death of Philip]
The few remaining months of Philip's life were troubled. The position in
Castile was difficult enough, and in his absence the Duke of Gueldres again
revolted, with some assistance from France. Henry interfered, as he was
bound to do by the recent treaty, not without some effect. But Philip's
death in September left his wife Joanna Queen of Castile, with her father
Ferdinand as Regent, and her young son Charles Lord of the Netherlands,
with Margaret of Savoy at the head of the Council of Regency. Under these
new conditions Henry agreed to modifications in the new commercial treaty,
which indeed, as it stood, was almost impossible of fulfilment; probably in
the hope that his project of marriage with Margaret of Savoy might still be
carried out, the dowry she would bring being very much more satisfactory
than that of Joanna of Naples.
[Sidenote: 1507-8 Matrimonial projects]
In a very short time, however, Margaret had another rival, at least for the
purposes of diplomacy. This was Joanna of Castile, Philip's widow, whom
Henry had seen in the spring of 1506. That her sanity was already very much
in question seems to have made very little difference. Throughout the
greater part of 1507 and 1508 the English King was making overtures to
Margaret herself, and for Joanna to Ferdinand, blowing hot and cold in the
matter of his son Henry and Katharine, and pushing on the betrothal of his
younger daughter Mary with the boy Charles--a proposal brought forward,
when the latter was but four months old, in 1500, but not at that time
sedulously pressed. In part, at least, the explanation of all this
diplomatic play lies in Henry's relations with Ferdinand. The King of
Aragon, having lost his wife Isabella, wished to retain control of Castile;
at the same time he was in difficulties about paying up the balance of
Katharine's dowry, without which Henry would not allow her marriage with
his son to go forward, while the luckless princess was kept scandalously
short of supplies. Henry certainly wished to put all the pressure possible
on Ferdinand to get the dowry; perhaps he seriously contemplated marriage
with Joanna as a means of himself depriving Ferdinand of control in
Castile; the marriage of Charles to his daughter Mary would have a similar
advantage. On the other hand, if he married Margaret of Savoy he would get
control of the Netherlands, and still grasp at the control of Castile
through Charles, while playing off the boy's two grandfathers, Maximilian
and Ferdinand, against each other. Henry was in fact paying Ferdinand back
in his own coin; but the picture is an unedifying one, of craft against
craft, working by sordid methods for ends which had very little to do with
patriotism and no connexion with justice.
[Sidenote: 1508 The League of Cambrai]
If, however, it was now Henry's primary object to isolate Ferdinand so that
he could impose his own terms on him, the object was not attained.
Maximilian had just taken up a new idea--the dismemberment of Venice; an
object which appealed both to Lewis of France and to Pope Julius.
Ferdinand could generally reckon that if he joined a league he would manage
to get more than his share of the spoils for less than his share of the
work. The League of Cambrai--a simple combination for robbery without
excuse--was formed at the end of 1508. Henry was left out, for which,
indeed, he cared little, knowing that the process of spoliation would
inevitably result in quarrels among the leaguers. But though he advanced
the arrangements for the marriage of Charles and Mary so far as to have a
proxy ceremony performed, the marriage project with Joanna was withdrawn,
and his overtures were also finally declined by Margaret of Savoy.
[Sidenote: Wolsey]
In the last year of his life, however, his diplomatic successor--destined
to outshine him in his own field--came into employment as a negotiator. It
was Thomas Wolsey who probably carried through the arrangement for the
union with Charles; Wolsey also who re-established friendly relations with
Scotland, which had been becoming seriously strained. In 1505 James had
more definitely promised not to renew the French alliance; but had
considered himself absolved from this and other obligations, on the usual
ground of border raids, in which Wolsey himself admitted that the English
had been very much more guilty than the Scots.
[Sidenote: 1509 Death of Henry VII.]
But Henry's own days were numbered. As a boy and as a young man he had
lived a hard life; throughout the four-and-twenty years of his reign he had
never been free from the strain of anxiety, never relaxed his labours,
never allowed himself to cast his cares upon other shoulders. In 1508 he
had a serious illness, from which he never fully recovered; in the early
spring of 1509 his health finally and fatally broke down. On April 21st
the founder of the Tudor dynasty and of the Tudor system left the throne,
which he had won by the sword, to a son, whose right by inheritance was
beyond dispute.