The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (204 page)

Henry paid then a visit to the emperor and Margaret of Savoy at 24th June.

Gravelines, and engaged them to go along with him to Calais, and pass some days in that fortress. The artful and politic Charles here completed the impression, which he had begun to make on Henry and his favourite, and effaced all the friendship, to which the frank and generous nature of Francis had given birth. As the house of Austria began sensibly to take the ascendant over the French monarchy, PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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the interests of England required, that some support should be given to the latter, and above all, that any important wars should be prevented, which might bestow on either of them a decisive superiority over the other. But the jealousy of the English against France has usually prevented a cordial union between these nations: And Charles, sensible of this hereditary animosity, and desirous farther to flatter Henry’s vanity, had made him an offer (an offer in which Francis was afterwards obliged to concur); that he should be entirely arbiter in any dispute or difference that might arise between the monarchs. But the masterpiece of Charles’s politics was the securing of Wolsey in his interests, by very important services, and still higher promises. He renewed assurances of assisting him in obtaining the papacy; and he put him in present possession of the revenues belonging to the sees of Badajox and Palencia in Castile.

The acquisitions of Wolsey were now become so exorbitant, that, joined to the pensions from foreign powers, which Henry allowed him to possess, his revenues were computed nearly to equal those which belonged to the crown itself; and he spent them with a magnificence, or rather an ostentation, which gave general offence to the people; and even lessened his master in the eyes of all foreign nations.
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The violent personal emulation and political jealousy, which had War between Charles taken place between the emperor and the French king, soon and Francis.

broke out in hostilities. But while these ambitious and warlike princes were acting against each other in almost every part of Europe, they still made professions of the strongest desire of peace;

and both of them incessantly carried their complaints to Henry, 1521. Mediation of

as to the umpire between them. The king, who pretended to be Henry.

neutral, engaged them to send their ambassadors to Calais, there to negociate a peace under the mediation of Wolsey and the pope’s nuncio. The emperor was well apprized of the partiality of these mediators; and his demands in the conference were so unreasonable, as plainly proved him conscious of the advantage.

He required the restitution of Burgundy, a province, which many years before had been ceded to France by treaty, and which, if in his possession, would have given him entrance into the heart of that kingdom: And he demanded to be freed from the homage, which his ancestors had always done for Flanders and Artois, and which he himself had, by the treaty of Noyon, engaged to renew. On Francis’s rejecting these terms, the congress of Calais broke up, and Wolsey,

soon after, took a journey to Bruges, where he met with the 24th Nov.

emperor. He was received with the same state, magnificence, and respect, as if he had been the king of England himself; and he concluded in his master’s name an offensive alliance with the pope and the emperor against France. He stipulated, that England should next summer invade that kingdom with forty thousand men; and he betrothed to Charles the princess Mary, the king’s only child, who had now some prospect of inheriting the crown. This extravagant alliance, which was prejudicial to the interests, and might have proved fatal to the liberty and independence of the kingdom, was the result of the humours and prejudices of the king, and the private views and expectations of the cardinal.

The people saw every day new instances of the uncontrouled authority of this minister. The duke of Buckingham, constable of England, the first nobleman both for family and fortune in the kingdom, had imprudently given disgust to the cardinal; and PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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it was not long before he found reason to repent of his indiscretion. He seems to have been a man full of levity and rash projects;

and being infatuated with judicial astrology, he entertained a Trial and

commerce with one Hopkins, a carthusian friar, who encouraged condemnation of the him in the notion of his mounting one day the throne of England. duke of Buckingham.

He was descended by a female from the duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward III.; and though his claim to the crown was thereby very remote, he had been so unguarded as to let fall some expressions, as if he thought himself best intitled, in case the king should die without issue, to possess the royal dignity. He had not even abstained from threats against the king’s life, and had provided himself with arms, which he intended to employ, in case a favourable opportunity should offer. He was brought to a trial; and the duke of Norfolk, whose son, the earl of Surrey, had married Buckingham’s daughter, was created lord steward, in order to preside at this solemn procedure. The jury consisted of a duke, a marquis, seven earls, and twelve barons; and they gave their verdict against Buckingham, which was soon after carried into execution. There is no reason to think the sentence unjust;
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but as Buckingham’s crimes seemed to proceed more from indiscretion than deliberate malice, the people who loved him, expected that the king would grant him a pardon, and imputed their disappointment to the animosity and revenge of the cardinal. The king’s own jealousy, however, of all persons allied to the crown, was, notwithstanding his undoubted title, very remarkable during the whole course of his reign; and was alone sufficient to render him implacable against Buckingham. The office of constable, which this nobleman inherited from the Bohuns, earls of Hereford, was forfeited, and was never after revived in England.

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[Back to Table of Contents]

XXIX

Digression concerning the ecclesiastical state — Origin of the reformation — Martin
Luther — Henry receives the title of defender of the faith — Causes of the progress of
the reformation — War with France — Invasion of France — War with Scotland — A
parliament — Invasion of France — Italian wars — The king of France invades Italy

— Battle of Pavia and Captivity of Francis — Francis recovers his liberty — Sack of
Rome — League with France

During some years, many parts of Europe had been agitated with 1521.

those religious controversies, which produced the reformation, one of the greatest events in history: But as it was not till this time, that the king of England publicly took part in the quarrel, we had no occasion to give any account of its rise and progress. It will now be necessary to explain these theological disputes; or what is more material, to trace from their origin those abuses, which so generally diffused the opinion, that a reformation of the church or ecclesiastical order was become highly expedient, if not absolutely necessary. We shall be better enabled to comprehend the subject, if we take the matter a little higher, and reflect a moment on the reasons, why there must be an ecclesiastical order, and a public establishment of religion in every civilized community. The importance of the present occasion will, I hope, excuse this short digression.

Most of the arts and professions in a state are of such a nature, Digression

that, while they promote the interest of the society, they are also concerning the useful or agreeable to some individuals; and in that case, the ecclesiastical state.

constant rule of the magistrate, except, perhaps, on the first introduction of any art, is, to leave the profession to itself, and trust its encouragement to those who reap the benefit of it. The artizans, finding their profits to rise by the favour of their customers, encrease, as much as possible, their skill and industry; and as matters are not disturbed by any injudicious tampering, the commodity is always sure to be at all times nearly proportioned to the demand.

But there are also some callings, which, though useful and even necessary in a state, bring no particular advantage or pleasure to any individual; and the supreme power is obliged to alter its conduct with regard to the retainers of those professions. It must give them public encouragement in order to their subsistence; and it must provide against that negligence, to which they will naturally be subject, either by annexing peculiar honours to the profession, by establishing a long subordination of ranks and a strict dependance, or by some other expedient. The persons, employed in the finances, armies, fleets, and magistracy, are instances of this order of men.

It may naturally be thought, at first sight, that the ecclesiastics belong to the first class, and that their encouragement, as well as that of lawyers and physicians, may safely be entrusted to the liberality of individuals, who are attached to their doctrines, and who find benefit or consolation from their spiritual ministry and assistance. Their industry and vigilance will, no doubt, be whetted by such an additional motive; and their skill PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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in the profession, as well as their address in governing the minds of the people, must receive daily encrease, from their encreasing practice, study, and attention.

But if we consider the matter more closely, we shall find, that this interested diligence of the clergy is what every wise legislator will study to prevent; because in every religion, except the true, it is highly pernicious, and it has even a natural tendency to pervert the true, by infusing into it a strong mixture of superstition, folly, and delusion. Each ghostly practitioner, in order to render himself more precious and sacred in the eyes of his retainers, will inspire them with the most violent abhorrence of all other sects, and continually endeavour, by some novelty, to excite the languid devotion of his audience. No regard will be paid to truth, morals, or decency in the doctrines inculcated. Every tenet will be adopted that best suits the disorderly affections of the human frame. Customers will be drawn to each conventicle by new industry and address in practising on the passions and credulity of the populace. And in the end, the civil magistrate will find, that he has dearly paid for his pretended frugality, in saving a fixed establishment for the priests; and that in reality the most decent and advantageous composition, which he can make with the spiritual guides, is to bribe their indolence, by assigning stated salaries to their profession, and rendering it superfluous for them to be farther active, than merely to prevent their flock from straying in quest of new pastures. And in this manner ecclesiastical establishments, though commonly they arose at first from religious views, prove in the end advantageous to the political interests of society.

But we may observe, that few ecclesiastical establishments have been fixed upon a worse foundation than that of the church of Rome, or have been attended with circumstances more hurtful to the peace and happiness of mankind.

The large revenues, privileges, immunities, and powers of the clergy rendered them formidable to the civil magistrate, and armed with too extensive authority an order of men, who always adhere closely together, and who never want a plausible pretence for their encroachments and usurpations. The higher dignities of the church served, indeed, to the support of gentry and nobility; but by the establishment of monasteries, many of the lowest vulgar were taken from the useful arts, and maintained in those receptacles of sloth and ignorance. The supreme head of the church was a foreign potentate, guided by interests, always different from those of the community, sometimes contrary to them. And as the hierarchy was necessarily solicitous to preserve an unity of faith, rites, and ceremonies, all liberty of thought ran a manifest risque of being extinguished; and violent persecutions, or what was worse, a stupid and abject credulity took place every where.

To encrease these evils, the church, though she possessed large revenues, was not contented with her acquisitions, but retained a power of practising farther on the ignorance of mankind. She even bestowed on each individual priest a power of enriching himself by the voluntary oblations of the faithful, and left him still an urgent motive for diligence and industry in his calling. And thus, that church, though an expensive and burthensome establishment, was liable to many of the inconveniencies, which belong to an order of priests, trusted entirely to their own art and invention for attaining a subsistence.

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The advantages, attending the Romish hierarchy, were but a small compensation for its inconveniencies. The ecclesiastical privileges, during barbarous times, had served as a cheque on the despotism of kings. The union of all the western churches under the supreme pontiff facilitated the intercourse of nations, and tended to bind all the parts of Europe into a close connection with each other. And the pomp and splendor of worship which belonged to so opulent an establishment, contributed, in some respect, to the encouragement of the fine arts, and began to diffuse a general elegance of taste, by uniting it with religion.

It will easily be conceived, that, though the balance of evil prevailed in the Romish church, this was not the chief reason, which produced the reformation. A concurrence of incidents must have contributed to forward that great revolution.