HENRY VIII.
WARS
In 1511 Henry formed a league with Ferdinand of
Aragon against France and Scotland, and in 1513 the Emperor Maximilian became a party to it
In 1513, during a campaign in alliance with the Emperor against France, a cavalry skirmish near Terouenne was dignified
by the name of the Battle of the Spurs. In the same year the Earl of Surrey, who had fought at Barnet for the house
of York, and been made prisoner at Bosworth, defeated and killed James IV. of Scotland in an obstinate battle at
Flodden in Northumberland .There was continued desultory warfare on the Scotch border, and Scotland, which had
held a really position since the return of James I from his English captivity in 1424, became alternately dependent
upon England , a connexion usually supported by the Douglasses, or upon France, whose alliance was chiefly upheld
by the Chancellors James Betoun from 1513 - 1526, and David Betoun, Privy Seal 1528 - 1543, Chancellor 1543 - 1546,
uncle and nephew , both Archbishops of St. Andrews.
In 1542 war again broke out with Scotland, and in 1543 Henry and the Emperor declared war against France. In 1544
the English took Boulogne. Peace was concluded with France and Scotland in 1546.
In 1536 a dangerous insurrection, called the Pilgrimage of Grace, broke out in the Northern Counties and Lincolnshire
against the kings ecclesiastical policy - the insurgents were cajoled into dispersing. The insurrection was renewed
and put down in the following year. The older nobility and the remains of the Yorkist party were concerned in it,
or at least wished it well.
OFFICIALS
Archbishops. - William Warham, d.1533 ; Thomas Cranmer,1533 - 1547.
Chancellors - William Warham, Archbishop, 1509 - 1515;Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and Cardinal, 1515 - 29;Thomas
Howard Duke of Norfolk, and Charles Brandon Duke
of Suffolk, the king's brother-h-law, Keepers, 1529; Sir Thomas More, 1529 - 1532; Sir Thomas Audley, Keeper,1532
- 1533, Chancellor, 1533 - 1544; Thomas Lord Wriothesley,1544 - 1547.
Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, was Treasurer, 1509 - 1522. He was succeeded by his son,
Thomas Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, 1522 - 1546. Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex, was
Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1533 - 1540; Principal Secretary to the king, 1534 - 1536; Vicar-General and Vice-Regent
to the king in Spiritualibus, 1536 - 1540. Stephen Gardiner; afterwards Bishop of Winchester, was Secretary to
the king, 1528 - 1533. Thomas Wriothesley, afterwards Chancellor, was Secretary,1536 - 1546.
THE WILL OF HENRY VIII
The succession to the crown, the uncertainty concerning which had been a principal reason for the avoidance of the king's first marriage, had been three times regulated by Act of Parliament. By Henry VIII. 25, c. 22 the marriage with Katherine had been declared void, and the crown settled upon Elizabeth or other male issue of the marriage with Anne Boleyn. By Henry VIII. 28, c. 7 Elizabeth had been declared illegitimate, and the crown settled on the children of Jane Seymour. By Henry VIII. 35, c. 1 the crown was settled upon the king's son, and, should he die without heirs, upon Mary and her heirs, and upon Elizabeth and her heirs in succession. The king reserving to himself the right to impose conditions upon their succession, as being heirs only by favour, not right, and further reserving power to dispose of the crown entirely by will
His will was accordingly made, dated December 30th, 1546. By it he left the crown to his son Edward and his heirs,
failing these to Mary and her heirs, failing these to Elizabeth and her heirs. Failing all issue of his body to
the daughters of his younger sister Mary and their heirs passing over the descendants of his elder sister Margaret
Queen of Scots, failing these to " the next rightful heirs " Mary and Elizabeth, however, were not to
succeed unless they acted by consent of the king's son's Privy Council in their marriages.
The following were appointed his executors and privy councillons to his son Edward: The Archbishop Cranmer, the
Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, Lord St. John, the Earl of Hertford, Lord Russell, Viscount Lisle, Tunstall, Bishop
of Durham, Sir Antony Brown, Sir Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Justice Bromley, Sir Edward
North, Sir William Paget, Sir Anthony Denny, Sir William Herbert, Sir Edward Wootton, Master Doctor Wootton. (Rymer
xv,110.)
There was some attempt in this list of councillors to combine the more forward reforming and the reactionary party,
Tunstall and Wriothesley belonging decidedly to the latter, though such a strong partisan as Gardiner was omitted.
