ENGLISH HISTORY READING BOOKS PART IV. ENGLISH MODERN HISTORY. I. HENRY VII. I. THE reign of Henry VII. brought peace to the English, who were wearied out with the long wars of York and Lancaster. The two lines were joined together when Henry, the descendant of John of Gaunt, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. A rose, both red and white, was therefore taken as the badge of the Tudor family. 2. All the Lancastrian nobles who had been in hiding, and in great poverty, came forth once more. Among them was the son of that Lord Clifford who had killed the young Earl of Rutland. His mother had sent him to a shepherd in Westmoreland, and he had been bred up to tend the sheep, never knowing his high birth, till he was brought to his own castle, and restored to his place and rank. He was a good and wise man, and the Shepherd Lord, as he was called, was much loved. 3. Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, the sister of Edward IV., hated Henry VII., and so did other friends of the House of York. The son of her brother George, Duke of Clarence, was weak in mind, and had always been kept shut up, though he bore the title of Earl of Warwick, which he had inherited from his grandfather, the King-maker. Everyone was surprised to hear a report that this young Earl was in Ireland, with an army, claiming to have his lands given to him. 4. King Henry made the real Earl ride through London that everyone might see him ; but Duchess Margaret sent the false one both men and money. The man then landed in England, but he was soon overcome and made prisoner. He confessed that his name was Lambert Simnel, and that he was the son of a baker, who had been trained by an ambitious priest to act the part of the Earl of Warwick. Henry forgave him and made him a scullion in the royal kitchen. 5. In the year 1491, another young man appeared. He called himself Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two princes who had disappeared in the Tower. The Duchess of Burgundy treated him as her nephew, and the Kings of France and Scotland appeared to believe in his claim. Indeed the young Scottish King, James IV., raised an army. and came with him to England to help him to gain the crown. 6. However, the young man did not shew himself brave, nor act like a prince, and James soon gave up his cause, made a treaty with England, and pro EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF WARWICK. 9 mised to marry Henry's daughter Margaret. Before long, the supposed Duke was deserted by all who had joined him, and was taken by the King. He was forced to confess publicly, in London, that he was a young Fleming, named Perkin Warbeck, and he was then shut up in the Tower of London. 7. There he met the Earl of Warwick, and the two young men became friends. Perkin persuaded the Earl to join him in trying to make their escape, but their plans were found out, and they were both tried and put to death, though the poor young Earl had been kept in captivity all his life, and had never done harm to any one. 8. The real cause of this cruel and unjust act was that King Henry wished to marry his eldest son, Arthur, Prince of Wales, to Katharine of Aragon, the daughter of the King and Queen of Spain, and he had found that her father did not. believe that the house of Tudor could be safe upon the throne so long as any male of the family of Plantagenet survived. After the death of the Earl of Warwick, Katharine was brought to England and the wedding took place, but while the Prince. and Princess were still children, Arthur died. The King then wished to give Katharine to his next son, Henry, but as this would have been against the Canon' or rule of the Church, it could not be done without a dispensation 2 from the Pope. 1 Canon, a rule of the church. 2 Dispensation, permission granted by the Pope to disobey a rule of the church. |