Реферат: Henry VIII examinational essay by

ENGLAND UNDER

HENRY THE EIGHTH.

Henry VIII Tudor (1491-1547)

was the second son of Henry VII.

His brother Arthur, being only 15, married to Catherine,

the daugter of the Spanish monarch.

But in a very few month he sickened and died.

Henty VII arranged that the young widow

should marry his second son Henry,

then 12 years of age, when he too should be 15.

A few years after settling this marriage, in 1509,

the King died of the gout.

King Henry the Eighth was just eighteen

years of age when he came to the throne.

People said he was a handsome boy, but

in later life he did not seem handsome at

all. He was a big, burly, noisy, small-eyed,

large-faced, double-chinned fellow, as we

know from the portraits of him, painted by

the famous Hans Holbein*.

The king was anxious to make himself

popular, and the people, who had long dis-

liked the late king, believed to believe that

he deserved to be so.

He was extremely fond of show and display, and so were they. There-fore there was great rejoicing when he married the Princess Catherine, and when they were both crowned. And the King fought at tournaments and always came off victorious - for the courtiers took care of that - and there was a general outcry that he was a wonderful man.

The prime favourites of the late King, who were engaged in money-raising matters, Empson, Dudley, and their supporters, were accused of a variety of crimes they really had been guilty; and they were pilloried, and

then beheaded, to the satisfaction of the people, and the enrichment of the

King.

The Pope, so indefatigable in getting the world into trouble, had mixed

himself up in a war on a continent of Europe, occasioned by the reigning

Princes of little quarrelling states in Italy having at various times married

into other royal families, and so led to their claiming a share in those petty

Governments. The King, who discovered that he was very fond of the Pope, sent a herald to the King of France, to say he must not make war

upon the father of all Christians. As the French King did not mind this relationship in the least, and also refused to admit a claim King Henry made to certain lands in France, war was declared between the two coun-

tries.

England made a blundering alliance with Spain, and got stupidly taken in by that country, which made its own terms with France when it could,

and left England in the lurch. Sir Edward Howard, a bold admiral, son of the Earl of Surrey, distinguished himself by his bravery against the French

in this business; but, unfortunately, he was more brave than wise, for, skimming into the French harbour of Brest with only a few row-boats, he

attempted to take some strong French ships, well defended with cannons.

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