COMMERCE.-Several statutes for its regulation. Land transfer facilitated by the Statute of 1484. INSTITUTIONS.-Herald's College, March 1484. WAR AND BATTLES.—Last struggle of the Wars of the Roses (1455—1485),—Bosworth, 22 Aug. 1485. EMINENT MEN.-Lord Hastings, d. 1483; earl Rivers, d. 1483; Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, d. 1483; William Caxton the Printer, d. 1491; Dr. (abp.) Morton. "From the accession of the House of Tudor a new period is to be dated in our history, far more prosperous in the diffusion of opulence and the preservation of general order than the preceding, but less distinguished by the spirit of freedom and jealousy of tyrannical power" (Hallam). HENRY VII., 22 AUG. 1485-21 APRIL 1509. Born at Pembroke Castle, 26 July 1455. Son of Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, and Margaret, the daughter of John, duke of Somerset (d. 1444), the son of John Beaufort, marquis of Somerset (d. 1410), who was the legitimatized son* of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by Catherine, widow of Sir Hugh de Swinford: consequently Henry VII. was great-great-grandson of the 4th son of Edward III. "When at length many aspiring nobles had perished on the field of battle [in Wars of the Roses, see p. 101] or by the hands of the executioner, when many illustrious houses+ had disappeared for ever from history, * Catherine bore this son and several other children to the duke of Lancaster before her marriage to him. Richard II. granted a charter of legitimation-but "excepting their rights to the Crown "-to them, and it was passed by Parlia ment. "In the year 1451 Henry VI. summoned fifty-three temporal Lords to Parliament. . . The temporal Lords summoned by Henry VII. to the Parliament of A.D. 1485 were only twenty-nine, and of these several had recently been elevated to the Peerage" (Macaulay). were then when those great families which remained had been exhausted and sobered by calamities, it was universally acknowledged that the claims of all the contending Plantagenets were united in the House of Tudor" (Macaulay). "It is certain that none of the titles relied on by Henry made the slightest approach to validity. Even if his descent from John of Gaunt had been legitimate, he was not the nearest descendant of that Prince's children; for issue of undisputed legitimacy living in the Spanish peninsula; but their distance and want of the means of interposition precluded all hope of their enforcing their claims. Had the doctrine of the indefeasible succession of the House of York been likely at that crisis to have obtained the national concurrence, there were two claimants in England: Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick (eldest son of George, Duke of Clarence), and Margaret, daughter of that Prince [George, of Clarence] and spouse of Sir Richard Pole" (Mackintosh). Henry VII. married, 18 Jan. 1486, Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. and Elizabeth Woodville, by whom he had 4 sons-Arthur, Prince of Wales (b. 20 Sep. 1486, d. 2 April 1502), Henry (VIII.), Edmund and Edward (both died in infancy) and four daughters-Margaret (wife of James IV. of Scotland), Elizabeth (d. Sep. 1495), Mary (wife of Louis XII. of France, and afterwards of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk), and Catherine (d. in infancy). "The services which he rendered the people were derived from his views of private advantage, rather than the motives of public spirit; and where he deviated from interested regards, it was unknown to himself, and ever from the malignant prejudices of faction, or the mean projects of avarice, not from the sallies of passion or allurements of pleasure, still less from the benign motives of friendship and generosity. His capacity was excellent, but somewhat contracted by the narrowness of his heart; he possessed insinuation and address, but never employed those talents, except where some great point of interest was to be gained; and, while he neglected to conciliate the affections of his people, he often felt the danger of resting his authority on their fear and reverence alone. He was always extremely attentive to his affairs, but possessed not the faculty of seeing far into futurity; and was more expert at providing a remedy for his mistakes, than judicious in avoiding them. Avarice was, on the whole, his ruling passion; and he remains an instance, almost singular, of a man placed in a high station, and possessed of talents for great affairs, in whom that passion predominated above ambition. Even among private persons, avarice is commonly nothing but a species of ambition, and it is chiefly incited by the prospect of that regard, distinction, and consideration, which attend on riches. The powers of the Kings of England had always been somewhat irregular or discretionary, but was scarcely ever so absolute during any former reign, at least after the establishment of the Great Charter, as during that of Henry" (Hume). For comparison with his son, see under "Henry VIII.,” p. 119. A. D. 1485. HENRY VII. (æt. 30) crowned by lord Stanley at Bosworth, 22 Aug.: enters London, 27 Aug.: is crowned A.D. at Westminster by abp. Bourchier of Canterbury, 30 Oct. Parliament settles the Crown on Henry VII. and his lawful heirs. The Sweating Sickness carries off 20,000. 1486. Henry VII. marries the princess Elizabeth of York, 18 Jan. Confiscation of Yorkists' estates: "The reign of Henry VII. may be characterised as the restoration to power of the Lancastrian faction. It was necessarily so to some extent, for it cannot be denied that policy required of the King that he should reward his adherents; but Henry had too long been the leader of a party not to be carried by his habits and passions beyond this. To this error, though not perhaps without excuse, are to be ascribed the chief disorders of England under his administration" (Mackintosh). Insurrection (from confiscations) under Lord 1487. Simnel, personator of Edward Plantagenet, earl of Warwick, lands from Ireland with John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, at Furness joins insurgents under Lovelis defeated at Stoke by Henry VII., 16 June, and made a scullion in the palace and afterwards a falconer. "Thus ended a revolt, absurd in its plan, unintelligible in its circumstances, keeping up a sort of faint existence for a longer period than its vital powers seemed capable of, and at last closing in a manner which neither valour nor clemency could prevent from being ludicrous" (Mackintosh). 1488. Henry VII. sends an army of 6,000 to aid the princess Anne of Brittany against Charles VIII. of France: Anne marries Charles VIII. and Brittany is annexed to the French crown. 1489. Insurrection in the north from war taxes. Henry VII. raises Benevolences. 1491. Perkin Warbeck, personator of Richard, duke of York (brother of Edward V.), lands in Ireland: goes to France. 1492. Henry VII. besieges Boulogne, Oct.: Treaty of Estaples with France, 3 Nov.: Perkin Warbeck flees from France to Flanders to Margaret, duchess-dowager of Burgundy (sister of Edward IV.). 1494. Burning of Jane Broughton and other Lollard martyrs at Smithfield. 1495. Perkin Warbeck is repulsed from Deal and Waterford, July. 1 A.D. 1496. Commercial Treaty with the archduke Philip, regulating trade with Flemings, Feb. Warbeck, expelled from Flanders, goes to Scotland: James IV. and Warbeck invade England. 1497. Second insurrection from war-taxes, in Cornwall, under Lord Audley: insurgents defeated at Blackheath, 22 June. The Scots invade England, June. Warbeck sails for Cork, July. Seven Years' truce with Scotland, Sep. Warbeck lands at Whitsand Bay, Sep.: styles himself king Richard IV.: fails in the siege of Exeter : deserts his supporters at Taunton : surrenders and is sent to the Tower, Oct. 1498. Warbeck escapes: is retaken: confesses his imposture publicly. 1499. Ralph Wulford personates the earl of Warwick in Kent: is executed, March. Negotiations for marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, with Catherine of Aragon: objections from the claims of the earl of Warwick to the English throne. Warbeck and the earl of Warwick (æt. 27), accused of conspiring to escape, are executed for treason. "The extinction of so harmless and joyless a life [as Warwick's], in defiance of justice and in the face of mankind, is a deed which should seem incapable of aggravation; but the motives, the base interests to which the victim was sacrificed, and the horrible coolness of the two veteran tyrants [Henry VII. and Ferdinand of Spain] who devised the crime, are aggravations perhaps without parallel” (Mackintosh). 1500. The Asiatic Plague desolates England. 1501. Catherine of Aragon marries Arthur, Prince of Wales, 14 Nov. 1502. Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Scotland, Jan. : the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., married by proxy to James IV. Arthur, Prince of Wales, dies, 2 April: his widow, by dispensation of Pope Alexander VI., is betrothed to his brother, Prince Henry (VIII.). 1506. The archduke Philip, on his voyage to assume crown of Castile, is driven by storm into Weymouth, Jan.: Henry VII. extorts the second Commercial Treaty A D. (called by Flemings, Malus Intercursus), March, and the surrender of Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk. 1508. The Sweating Sickness again visits England. Henry VII. joins the German emperor Maximilian I., Louis XII. of France, Ferdinand V. of Spain, and Pope Julius II. in the League of Cambray, 10 Dec., to compel the republic of Venice to cede to Spain her possessions in the kingdom of Naples. 1509. Henry VII. (at. 51) dies of consumption at Shene, 21 April (leaving a fortune of £1,800,000). STATE OF SOCIETY.-Population estimated at 3,000,000, London and Westminster containing about 60,000. Great ravages from the Sweating Sickness, 1485 and 1508, and the Asiatic Plague, 1500. Heavy exactions of the king through his extortioners, abp. Morton, Sir Richard Empson, and Sir Edmund Dudley. Continued persecution of the Lollards-Jane Broughton and others burnt at Smithfield. Great importance of the Geographical Discoveries made during this reign,-impetus to industry and the arts, increase of luxury, rise of the commercial classes to political influence. PARLIAMENTS AND LAWS. "The strength of the nobility had been grievously impaired by the bloodshed of the civil wars and the attainders that followed them [see p. 111]. The Commons were by this time much degenerated from the spirit they had displayed under Edward III. and Richard II. Thus the founder of the line of Tudor came, not certainly to an absolute, but a vigorous, Prerogative, which his cautious dissembling temper and close attention to business were all calculated to extend" (Hallam). * "At the accession of Henry VII. the essential checks upon the royal authority were five in number.-1. The King could levy no sort of new tax upon his people except by the grant of his Parliament, consisting as well of bishops and mitred abbots or Lords Spiritual, and of hereditary peers or Temporal Lords, who sat and voted promiscuously in the same chamber, as of Representatives from the freeholders of each county, and from burgesses of many towns and less considerable places, forming the Lower or Commons' House. 2. The previous assent and authority of the same assembly were necessary for every new law, whether of a general or temporary nature. 3. No man could be committed to prison but by a legal warrant specifying his offence; and, by an usage nearly tantamount to constitutional right, he must be speedily brought to trial by means of regular sessions of gaol-delivery. 4. The fact of guilt or innocence on a criminal charge was determined in a public court, and in the county where the offence was alleged to have occurred, by a jury of twelve men, from whose unanimous verdict no appeal |