HENRY VIII. (ENGLAND) the continuance of auricular confession. This was followed by a persecution of the reform- ers. At the beginning of 1540 Henry married Anne of Cleves, a marriage that had been ne- gotiated by Cromwell, with a view to uniting the Protestants of England and Germany ; but the lady's unprepossessing appearance so dis- gusted the king that he soon procured a divorce, and in a few months Cromwell was sent to the scaffold. Henry took for his fifth wife Cath- arine Howard, niece of the duke of Norfolk, who was soon attainted and executed for adul- tery. He married a sixth time (1543), taking Catharine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer, who survived him. The countess of Salisbury, last of the Plantagenets, was executed in 1541. A war broke out between England and Scot- land, in which the latter met with nothing but disgrace. England and the empire drew to- gether again, and war was made by both with France. The emperor made peace with France in violation of his faith to England ; but peace between England and France was not restored till 1546. In the mean time Henry continu- ed to persecute both Catholics and reformers, and many persons suffered death. Internal re- form, however, also went on, and among other changes worship was performed in English. Extreme men on both sides were offended by the king's course, who sought to trim between them. An act of parliament vested the prop- erties of all hospitals, colleges, and chantries in the crown, but this was to prevent the re- sumption of such properties after the dissolu- tion of the monasteries, and not as preliminary to confiscation. Toward the close of Henry's reign the conservatives obtained the ascen- dancy in his councils, and persecuted Protes- tants with considerable zeal, though Henry, in his very last speech to parliament (Decem- ber, 1545), spoke as favorably of toleration as any statesman of that age could speak of it. Some of the worst deeds of his reign occurred at this time. Anne Askew was racked and burned, Latimer was arrested, and an attempt was made against the queen. Henry's inter- ference put a stop to the last of these doings, and he was on the point of going as far for- ward in his work as Elizabeth afterward went, when his reign came to an end. The danger to which Protestantism was exposed in 1546, through the course of the emperor, alarmed him, and he suggested to the Germans an of- fensive and defensive league, to be called "the league Christian," of which he should be the head. He was ready to settle all minor dif- ferences with the Germans on religion, and to present a solid front to Rome. Home changes were to be made, the chief of which was the change of the mass into the modern commu- nion. The Germans did not respond well to his offers, and were overthrown by the emperor. Henry was now very ill, being unable either to stand or to walk, and he prepared to settle the government that should exist during his son's minority. The Catholic party was then con- ' HENRY I. (FRANCE) 653 spiring to get possession of all power, headed by the earl of Surrey, who was accused of trea- son, condemned, and executed a few days be- fore Henry's death ; and his father, the duke of Norfolk, was attainted by parliament, which met Jan. 14, 1547, and is supposed to have escaped the scaffold only because of the king's death, which happened at 1 o'clock on the morning of the 28th. As Henry's end approached he signified his wish to see Cranmer, who did not arrive until the king had become speechless. The archbishop spoke to him, and, asking him to give him some token that he put his faith in God through Jesus Christ, the king wrung his hand hard, and died. His will, which pro- vided that daily masses should '" be said perpet- ually while the world shall endure," at an altar to be erected near his tomb and that of Queen Jane, had been completed four weeks before his decease. He bequeathed the crown to his son and his issue, and, failing them, to such issue as he might have of his queen Catharine (Parr), or any other lawful wife whom he might marry. Failing such issue, it was to descend to Mary and her heirs, and then to Elizabeth and her heirs, provided they mar- ried not without the consent of their brother, or of the council appointed for his guardian- ship. Finally, and passing over the Scottish line, it was to go to the children of his sister Mary's two daughters. The government se- lected for Edward's minority was composed of men from both parties. Henry's reign has often been called a tyranny, but more than once he had to yield to the bold expression of the popular will. He was allowed to do as he pleased with the aristocracy, and he never encountered opposition when he glutted the scaffold with the noblest of victims. His reign was the seedtime of modern English parties, and its history has been written in a partisan spirit which has obscured it. James Anthony Froude is his ablest apologist. A collection of the papers of Henry VIII. was commenced by J. S. Brewer in 1862, of which seven volumes had been published in 1873. II. FRANCE. HENRY I., the third French king of the Capetian dynasty, born about 1011, died Aug. 4, 1060. As early as 1027 he was associated in the government by Robert, his father, whom he succeeded in 1031, notwithstanding the re- bellion raised against him by his stepmother Constance. This he quelled through the as- sistance of Robert the Devil, duke of Norman- dy. Henry's weakness encouraged his vassals to rebel, and more than once he had to take the field against them; and toward the end of his reign he was even embroiled in a war with his former ally, the duke of Normandy. The hostilities were soon terminated by a treaty of peace, but were the beginning of the ill feeling which lasted so long between the kings of France and the English descendants of the dukes of Normandy. During his reign, France
