June, 1519 7. In the castle-hall of Leipsic, before the great and the wise of Northern Germany, he maintained the authority of the Bible as the only rule of religious faith, and claimed for every man the right to read and interpret the Sacred Book for himself. At the gate of Wittenberg Castle, he severed the last tie which bound him to the Church of Rome, by casting into the flames the Papal bull proclaiming his excommunication. A.D. Dec. 10, 1520 A.D. 8. The news of these things was heard joyfully in England by many who remembered with reverence the doctrines of John Wyclif. But Henry was as yet a strict Roman Catholic. He wrote a book in Latin defending the seven sacraments of the Church of Rome, and sent a copy of it to 1521 the Pope. Leo, glad to receive aid so illustrious, con- A.D. ferred on him the title, 'Defender of the Faith." 66 9. War at length broke out between Charles V. and Francis I., and Henry sided with the Emperor. Twice English troops invaded France, but without success, although on the second occasion the army reached a town eleven leagues from Paris. Want of money was one cause of these failures. The immense hoards of the late King had long since been exhausted; and, to fill his empty treasury, Henry was forced in 1523 to call a Parliament. There had been no meeting of the Houses for seven years. 10. When the Commons assembled, Wolsey entered the hall to demand £800,000 for the King; but the House was not to be thus overawed. It was with difficulty prevailed on to grant only half that sum; and when the Cardinal began to press his claim with arguments, he was told that members of the Commons alone were allowed to debate there. Other seven years passed before the King called another Parliament. During these years Wolsey raised money by means of Benevolences, and Henry ruled as a despot over a submissive but by no means a contented people. 11. But the foreign policy of Henry soon changed. At the Battle of Pavia (February 24, 1525) Francis lost, as he himself said, "all but honour," and was now the prisoner of Charles. Henry had gained nothing by the war, either in territory or in glory, and he began to suspect that Charles had used him as his tool. Wolsey took advantage of this mood to press his peace policy on the King. Francis was not released for a year, when by the Treaty of Madrid he agreed to give Burgundy to the Emperor as his ransom-a promise, however, never fulfilled. Two years later, when Rome was sacked by the Emperor's troops, and the Pope was cast into prison, Henry and Francis united in a league to release the Pontiff, and to carry war into the Emperor's dominions. QUESTIONS.-1. Where was Wolsey born? How old was he when he graduated? What was his first living? Who recommended him to Henry VII.? What posts did he receive from him? What made him a favourite of Henry VIII.? To what offices did he rise under him? 2. To what dignity was he raised in 1515? For what did he then become conspicuous? When was he made Papal Legate? During what time was he Henry's sole minister? How often was Parliament called during these years? 3. Who was now King of France? Why did he wish to live at peace with England? What was Wolsey's wish? Who was chosen Emperor in 1519? 4. What were Charles's possessions? What made Francis a formidable rival to him? Why was Henry courted by both? Where was he to meet Francis? What took place before that meeting could be effected? 5. What name has been given to the interview of Francis and Henry? Why? Where did Henry immediately go? 6. What great event was then in progress in Europe? What was its immediate origin? What doctrine did Luther defend at Wittenberg? 7. What did he maintain at Leipsic? How did he sever the last tie between him and the Church of Rome? 8. Who in England rejoiced at the news of these things? What part did Henry take in the controversy? How was he rewarded? 9. Between whom did war at length break out? Which side did Henry take? What was the cause of his failures in France? What was he therefore forced to do? 10. What took place when the Commons assembled? To what grant did they agree? What was Wolsey told when he began to argue the King's cause? How long was it till another Parliament was called? How was money raised during that time? 11. What led Henry to change his policy? When was Francis released? What was the object of the league between Henry and Francis ? CONTEMPORARY FOREIGN EVENTS. 1. 1517.—Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses against indulgences to the door of the church of Wittenberg, and began the Reformation struggle in Germany. 2. 1517. The Sultan Selim I. took Jerusalem, and afterwards conquered Egypt from the Mamelukes. The Mamelukes (lit. slaves), like the Janissaries (see 1362), were originally a body of troops consisting of Tartar slaves bought by the Sultan of Egypt. The Mamelukes acquired supreme power, founding one dynasty in 1254, and another in 1382. After 1517, Egypt was governed by twenty-four Mameluke Beys or governors of provinces, till the close of the eighteenth century. (Sec 1798 and 1811.) 3. 1519. The Emperor Maximilian died, and was succeeded by Charles V. (Charles I. of Spain). This election greatly disappointed Francis I. of France, who was also a candidate, and war ensued between these princes. 4. 1519.-Mexico was conquered by the Spaniards under Cortes, who treated the natives cruelly at first, but afterwards tried to civilize them. It was constituted a kingdom, with Cortes as governor. Montezuma, the last native Emperor, was imprisoned, and died in 1520 of a wound which he received accidentally from one of his own people. 5. 1522. The Sultan Selim II. took Rhodes from the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem; to whom the Emperor Charles gave Malta. The Knights of St. John defended Malta successfully against the Turks in 1565. 6. 1523. The Reformation in Switzerland was begun by Zwingle. Zwingle was killed in a battle between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant cantons in 1531. 7. 1524.-The Peasants' War, caused by a rising of the Anabaptists of Münster, desolated the Rhenish provinces. 8. 1525.--Francis I. of France was defeated and taken prisoner at Pavia in Italy. This war began in 1521, when the Pope joined the Emperor against France. After a year's captivity Francis was released on condition of ceding Burgundy to Charles V. The Burgundians refused to fulfil this condition, and the war was renewed to release the sons of Francis, who had been given up as hostages. The Pope having deserted the Emperor, Rome was mercilessly sacked by the imperial troops in 1527. The war was concluded by the Peace of Cambray, in 1529. 9. 1525.-The Teutonic Order in Prussia, having been humbled by Poland, was abolished; and Albert of Brandenburg, the grand master, became Duke of Prussia, holding his duchy as a fief of the Polish crown. The Duchy of Prussia and the Electorate of Brandenburg were united in 1618. (See 1640.) 10. 1525.-Baber founded the Mogul Empire at Delhi. (See 1399.) 11. 1525.-Frederic, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, became King of Denmark and Norway. His son, Charles III., annexed SchleswigHolstein to the Danish crown in 1533. QUESTIONS.-1. What began the Ref- | ment was set up? Who was the last ormation struggle in Germany?-2. native Emperor?-5. Why did the Who took Jerusalem in 1517? What Knights of St. John leave Rhodes? country did he afterwards conquer? Where did they go? Who gave them From whom? Who were the Mame- Malta?-6. Who began the Reformalukes?-3. Who succeeded Maximilian tion in Switzerland? How did he die? as Emperor?-4. When did the Span-7. What was the cause of the Peasiards conquer Mexico? What govern- ants' War? What provinces did it des A.D. 6. The Queen's Withdrawal. 9. Pardon from the King. 12. His Successor. 1. Now arose on the horizon a speck which soon darkened all the sky of Wolsey's life. The Bishop of Tarbês, engaged in negotiating a proposed marriage between the Princess 1527 Mary, Henry's daughter, and a son of the French King, suggested some doubts as to the legality of the marriage from which the girl had sprung. Eighteen years had come and gone since Henry and Catherine had first lived in wedlock. No whisper of the sort seems ever to have stirred the air before. The King certainly had seen three dead sons, and had long despaired of a living one. And a cold dislike had taken the place of the kindly feeling which had once united the English husband to his Spanish wife. At this conjuncture the evil hint, which yielded so many woes, was dropped doubtless by Wolsey himself, who hoped thereby to complete the breach with Spain. 2. It so happened that there was among the attendants of the Queen a pretty maid of honour, who had spent some years in France, and now, at the age of twenty, was not unknown in the coquetries that went on beneath the palace roof. This was Anne Boleyn, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, a lady of the ducal house of Norfolk. The King fell in love with her; and this passion hardened all his floating discontents and dislikes into a firm resolve to obtain a divorce from his cold, delicate, elderly Spanish wife. 3. Wolsey heard of this resolve-a seed of his own sowing— shortly before he went on that splendid embassy to France which resulted in the league of 1527. He had promised the French King that his sister-in-law Renée should fill the place of the divorced Queen. But he was reckoning without his host. When Henry heard, on the Cardinal's return, of the new matrimonial alliance arranged for him, he declared that no French princess was needed, since Anne Boleyn, and no other, should be his second wife. Wolsey had observed the King's flirtation with Anne, but had never dreamed of his marrying her. The news filled him with dismay. It meant ruin to all the schemes of his life. For four hours he knelt at Henry's feet, seeking to change his purpose. But no entreaties and no arguments could move the stubborn King. 4. Everything then turned against the unhappy Cardinal, who strove in vain to stem the tide. Pope Clement, placed "between the hammer and the forge," dreaded the rage of the Emperor, whose aunt Queen Catherine was, and dreaded equally the loss of Henry's favour. Delay seemed his only safety. But the blame of this delay fell heavily on Wolsey, although he was in truth most eager to have the matter settled. Henry stormed at him. Anne grew to hate him: Catherine knew that in his brain the fatal divorce-idea had first been hatched. Thus, pierced with his own dart, Wolsey lingered through many torturing days. To add to his misery, news soon came from Italy of a great French army wasted away before Naples by hunger and disease; and the consequent ruin of all the ambitious hopes which he had built on the French alliance. 5. After long delay, Cardinal Campeggio, appointed by the Pope to try the divorce case in conjunction with Wolsey, arrived in England. The popular mind was in a ferment against Wolsey; for a danger which menaced the comfort, nay, the safety of a thousand English homes-the danger of an interruption of the Flemish trade, loomed in the immediate future. Campeggio came to hear the case, but not to decide it. Within the great hall of the Black Friars' Monastery the two Cardinals sat enthroned, supported on the right hand by the King, on the left by the Queen whom he wanted to fling off. 6. Henry answered to the calling of his name. But Catherine, who had already appealed from the judgment of June 21, 1529 A.D. |