1540] FALL OF CROMWELL 1540. 413 insisted on his bringing some "She much wished,” she said, upon the daughter of the Duke of Cleves, and, though warned of her want of beauty, he wilfully deceived the King upon that point, and went so far as to employ Holbein to paint a falsely flattering picture. The marriage was arranged, and the Princess Marriage with brought with great pomp to England. Her homely Anne of Cleves. German habits somewhat scandalized the admiral who was bringing her over, when she friends with him to dine with her. "to see how Englishman ate." She was brought to Rochester on New Year's Eve. The King, who had heard much praise of her beauty, and wished to do something lover-like, came there incognito with his Master of the Horse to see her. Sir Anthony Browne went to warn her that the King would visit her. He was never, he said, "more dismayed in his life" than when he saw her. The King followed close upon him. He was so shocked with her appearance that he could not bring himself to remain with her more than twenty minutes, and forgot to take the present he had prepared for her out of his pocket. It is true that there were some drawbacks to intimacy, as neither knew a word of the other's language. Henry was much hurt at the trick, for he considered it nothing else, that Cromwell had played upon him. He felt sure that he could never bring himself to live comfortably with his wife, and he at once tried all methods of getting rid of her. He listened with eagerness to a whisper of a preengagement, but her assertions on this head rendered that plea hopeless. He did not venture to repudiate her at once, and it was this which rendered Cromwell's share in the affair so odious to him. It would not do to offend the Protestant Germans, and throw them into the arms of Charles. He therefore, full of anger, consented to the completion of the marriage. Cromwell took his opportunity and set on foot a treaty with the Elector of Saxony, the Duke of Cleves, and the Landgrave of Hesse. He asked Francis to join it, which would have rendered it too strong for the Emperor. Francis disclosed the plan to Charles, who thus became still more hostile, and being acquainted with the plans of England, could tamper with and withdraw from the consequent fall treaty the German Princes. Cromwell's plan, for which of Cromwell. he had risked Henry's displeasure, fell to pieces, and Henry was uselessly linked to his ugly wife. The minister's position was one of great difficulty. In his reforming career he had quarrelled hopelessly with the Peers; a new and self-made man, he had lorded over them without restraint. He was somewhat ostentatious of his wealth, and was brusque and rude in his manner of dealing with them. His preponderance had become almost unbearable. His religious tendencies were well known. The passing of the Bill of the Six Articles was a distinct triumph over him. It was easy to make the King believe that in spite of it he would move forward in his old direction. Henry's jealousy was always easily stirred, and when, as now, he was thoroughly irritated with his minister on other grounds, it was probably enough to hint that he was inclined to be a rebel against the royal authority. The conspiracy answered. Cromwell was arrested at the very Council table. He was charged with taking upon himself to set at liberty people convicted of treason, with having issued commissions on his own authority, and as a heretic with having dispersed heretical books, with having released heretics from prison, with having supported them by force, and with having rebuked their accusers; with having despised the nobles, and made a fortune by bribes. In his present temper these were just the charges to irritate Henry. Usurpation of his authority, and an attempt to override his laws of heresy, could not fail to rouse his anger. Cromwell was not brought to trial, but was condemned by a Bill of Attainder, and executed. It is very probable that the charges against him were true, and that he had in some instances exceeded his power. Still there is something exceedingly base in the manner in which Henry, as soon as Cromwell's plans ceased to please him, lent his ear to the first whispers of the reactionary party that he had trenched on the prerogative, and suffered to be destroyed by legal niceties a man who had served him as few kings are served, and with the general tenor of whose government and opinions he must have been perfectly acquainted. Marriage with Before Cromwell had died, a divorce had been contrived from the obnoxious Anne of Cleves, who had been quite satisfied Catherine with a handsome pension; and the triumph of the party Triumph of the opposed to Cromwell was completed when the King married immediately Catherine Howard, the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, and niece of the Duke of Howard. reactionary party. Norfolk. The history of the remaining years of the reign turns chiefly upon the affairs of Scotland. The struggle which had succeeded the battle of Flodden, in which the parties of France and of England had alternately risen to influence, had closed in the year 1525 in a compromise, by which the government of Scotland was placed in the hands of a Council of Eight. In this both Affairs in 1525] AFFAIRS IN SCOTLAND 415 parties were represented. Under these circumstances, Henry had brought forward a proposition which he had much at heart for the union of the two crowns-a marriage between the young King James and one of the English Princesses. Anarchy, however, shortly regained its sway. Angus, at the head of the English party, contrived to keep some appearance of power; but in the year 1528 he was overpowered and driven into exile. Under the care of his immoral mother, the King had been taught to regard the English party as his enemies, and attached himself to the Papacy. He had besides the usual prejudices of Scotchmen against England. Henry used all his influence to win him to his views. He promised even to create him Duke of York, and put him in the line of inheritance, but the influence of the clergy was too strong, and in 1537 he united himself with the enemies of England by marrying Magdalen de Valois, and accepting from the Pope a consecrated hat and sword as the champion of orthodoxy. His wife did not live long, but in June 1538 the French influence received fresh strength when James married as a second wife Mary, daughter of the Duke of Guise, and widow of the Duke of Longueville. Her influence was rendered still stronger by the command gained over the King by David Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews. Henceforward Scotland could be reckoned only among the enemies of Henry. His final effort at reconciliation produced a promise of a personal meeting to be held at York, whither the King journeyed with his young wife in 1540. Beaton had influence enough to make James break his promise and absent himself from the meeting. Henry returned home angry and bent on war. Catherine Howard. The news that met him on his return was not likely to cheer him. The ill fortune which accompanied all his efforts at Execution of matrimony had again pursued him. During his absence the Council had been examining certain charges 1542. against his young Queen, whose company he had been thoroughly enjoying during his Northern journey. There seems no doubt that before her marriage she had misconducted herself grossly, and that even during the late progress, Denham, one of her former lovers, had been in her household, and by the connivance of Lady Rochfort had been admitted to her room. Both the Queen and Lady Rochfort were executed. Parliament passed a stringent Act making Marriage of it high treason for any lady whom the King sought to Catherine Parr. marry to hide from his knowledge any questionable circumstances in her past life, and the King secured domestic peace by marrying Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer. 1543. Henry was not wrong in supposing that a war with Scotland was imminent. It was a necessary consequence of the state of affairs in Europe, where the rivalry between Francis and Charles was again to involve England in its complications. Francis was now in close alliance with the Pope, who had quarrelled with Charles, and had allied himself, to the horror of Christendom, with the Turks. As such conduct would naturally incline England to join the opposite party, and ally itself to Germany, Francis continued energetically the traditionary policy of friendship with Scotland, hoping thus to keep Henry in check. In October the Scotch began a war, and at Halidon Rig captured Sir Robert Bowes, who commanded on the English frontier. A war on a larger scale at once followed. The Duke of Norfolk marched across the Tweed, ravaging in the usual manner, and James assembled his nobles to meet him. But he was unable to induce them to follow him; the affection he had shown for the Church, his attachment to favourites, and the banishment of the Douglases had made him unpopular among the nobility. A second army, collected by Church influence, marched into Cumberland. At first no leader was appointed; but on reaching England Oliver Sinclair, a personal favourite of the King's, was raised to the command over the head of all the nobles present. An Battle of archy and mismanagement were the consequence. An attack from a few hundred borderers was thought to be an assault from Norfolk's army, which was in fact thirty miles distant, and the whole expedition took to flight and was utterly ruined in Solway Moss, which has given its name to this flight. The loss was very great, and the disgrace affected James so much that he died, leaving behind him his wife, who had just presented him with a daughter the well-known Mary Stuart. Scotland was once again plunged into anarchy. Cardinal Beaton, anxious to preserve the power he had exerted over the late King, had contrived to get from him on his deathbed, perhaps even after his death, a paper declaring himself Regent. But the forgery was too palpable, and the Earl of Arran succeeded in obtaining the regency, and in throwing Beaton into prison. The possession of a certain number of noble prisoners from the flight of Solway, and this apparent change in the government of Scotland, encouraged Henry again to hope for the peaceable union of the two crowns. He liberated his prisoners on condition that they should support his interests, and he had thus a permanent party in Scotland. For three-quarters of a year (Dec. 1542-Sept. 1543) perpetual intrigues were carried on. For a time Arran 1543] WAR WITH SCOTLAND 417 Triumph of the party. seemed inclined towards the Reformation and against the clerical party, but Beaton was so much the abler man of the two, that by persuasion, or by threats of ecclesiastical censure, he at last completely mastered Arran. He got possession of the Queen; he drew assistance from France, although the French fleet anti-English was speedily defeated; he seems to have played upon the national prejudices even of the returned prisoners; till at last, although a Parliament had already accepted Henry's terms, all hope of a peaceful solution of the question ceased, the rival parties were reconciled, the infant Queen was crowned, and Scotland was united in its enmity to England. Meanwhile, England had no longer been able to keep clear of European difficulties. Henry was, in fact, urgent that War with Charles V., who had now quarrelled with the Pope, France. should follow his example, and declare the supremacy of the civil power, and should join with him in demanding a free council to settle religious difficulties. He, moreover, was determined not to be excluded from any general effort which might be necessary to beat back the advancing Turks. Being thus joined by similarity of interests, he formed an alliance with the Empire, and as a matter of course found himself at war with France. It was agreed between the two powers that they would invade France jointly the following year -the one from the Upper Rhine, the other from Calais. Their armies were to meet at Paris. This expedition was to take place in June. In the interval Henry took the opportunity of carrying on war against Scotland. An English fleet was sent to Leith, carrying with it an army of 10,000 men under Lord Hertford, the brother of Jane Seymour, whilst 4000 horse marched from Berwick, but not before the King had been informed of and given his approbation to an easier method of bringing the Scotch to reason. An offer was made, which the King approved, by Sir James Kirkaldy, Norman Leslie, and others to assassinate Cardinal Beaton. The conspirators were even promised money. They were unable to act immediately, and Hertford's invasion took place. Leith and Edinburgh were taken and sacked. Both the towns were partially burnt (May 5, 1544), and the country for seven miles round laid waste. Hertford and his army passed over to Calais for the French expedition; but the war, with all the horrors which at that time attended border warfare, continued, and Scotland was mercilessly ravaged. In spite of Henry's representations, urging the inexpediency of a |