66 danger. As the king never had an aunt on his father's side, and had not now any on his mother's, and there was no child of any brother of the king, it would seem that the Act was intended to apply to the royal family in future generations also. The preamble throws a curious light on the Preamble prospects of the succession at the time. "It is of the Act. "vehemently to be suspected that the said Lord "Thomas hath imagined that in case our said sovereign lord should die without heir of his "body, which God defend, then the said Lord "Thomas by reason of marriage in so high a blood, "and to one such which pretendeth to be lawful 'daughter to the said Queen of Scots, should aspire by her to the dignity of the said Imperial "crown of this realm, or at the least making "division for the same, by all likelihood having a “firm hope and trust that the subjects of this realm "would incline and bear affection to the said Lady 66 66 66 Margaret, being born in this realm, and not to "the King of Scots her brother, to whom this realm "hath not, nor ever had, any affection, but would "resist his attempt to the crown to the uttermost "of their power. And for more likelihood and "vehement suspicions of the said traitorous intent, "the said Queen of Scots her mother, as it hath "been lately hinted and spoken and come to the 'king's knowledge, hath coveted to come into this "realm, and to be restored and reconciled to the 66 Death of and release 66 "Earl Douglas, her late husband, and father to the "said Lady Margaret, from whom she hath been "long divorced by the laws of the Church, minding "by the same, by all vehement presumption and "likelihood, to advance the said Lord Thomas and "the said Lady Margaret, her daughter, into the "favour of the people of this realm, by reason "whereof the traitorous intent of the said Lord "Thomas might be sooner brought to pass." Lord Thomas died in the Tower shortly after his committal, and Margaret Douglas was thereupon released. At the time of the passing of the second Act of Succession, it was thought probable that the king would, in default of lawful issue of himself, exercise the power given to him by it in favour of his illegitimate son Henry, Duke of Richmond. This intention, however, if it existed, was disRichmond, appointed by the duke's death on the 24th of A.D. 1536, July 1536, six days after the passing of the Act. July 24. But this loss to the royal family seemed more than compensated in the following year. Death of the Duke of Birth of October 12. On the 12th of October 1537 was born the much-desired son, afterwards Edward VI. The king had now an heir of undoubted legitimacy. But the rupture with the Court of Rome which had begun with the divorce of Katharine was nearly complete. At the Christmas of 1536, the Pope had sent to James V. of Scotland the James V., 1536. mission. marriage, bull in August. significant present of a consecrated sword, accom- The Pope's panied with expressions not less significant. Soon present to after, Reginald Pole, who was now a cardinal, Christmas, received from the Pope a commission hostile to Reginald Henry, and addressed to James amongst others. Pole's comIn July of 1537 James lost his wife, the French James V.'s Princess Magdalene, but within twelve months second of her death, again cemented his alliance with A.D. 1538. France by marriage, taking as his wife, Mary of Guise, whom Henry much desired to marry. The Pope had also, as long ago as August 1535, pre- The Pope's pared a bull by which he purported to excom- petto, A.D. municate and depose Henry, unless he should 1535, within ninety days appear in person or by proxy at Rome, and it was now generally known that its publication was imminent. It was in fact Published launched in the December of 1537. Pole's conduct naturally brought suspicion Ruin of upon his mother, the Countess of Salisbury, and family, his brothers; and in November 1538 his eldest A.D. 1538. brother, Lord Montague, and the Marquis of Exeter, were lodged in the Tower on the information of Geoffrey Pole, the Countess's second son. They were found guilty on the 3rd of December, and executed in that or the next month. I feel some doubt whether they were actually guilty of high treason itself. It cannot, however, reasonably be doubted but that the Poles, the Marquis of Exeter, and James of Scotland, were united by a December 1537. Pole's 1 Planta Countess of Exeter's common and dangerous hostility against Henry, Execution although any pretensions to the crown which they of Margaret might severally entertain were irreconcilable. genet, The tragedy of the Pole family ended with their Salisbury, attainder in 1539, and the cruel execution on the 1541, 27th of May 1541 of the aged Countess, last May 27. Marquis of survivor of those who had born the illustrious only child, surname of Plantagenet. The Marquis of Exeter Edward. left an only child, Edward Courtenay, afterwards Montague's Earl of Devon. Lord Montague, eldest son of the children. Countess of Salisbury, left only two daughters, and we hear no more during Henry's reign of any Succession pretensions of the Courtenays or the Poles to the Acts, 35 crown. From this point we may pass on to the Henry VIII. c. 1, last of Henry's Acts of Succession, that which was A.D. 1543, passed in 1543, in the 35th year of his reign, and, Lord The last of Henry March 29. The king's like the first of these Acts, on the eve of the marriage king's departure for France. with, and divorce Howard Between the birth of Prince Edward and the from, Anne of Cleves. passing of this Act the king had lost his wife, The king's Jane Seymour within a few days of the prince's marriage with birth, had married and divorced Anne of Cleves, Katharine had married and executed Katharine Howard, and was now husband of Katharine Parr, whom he had married in the July of 1543. Anne of Cleves was still living, but her marriage with the king Katharine had been annulled by an Act of Parliament, passed in 1540, in the thirty-second year of the king's reign. The king's children were, the boy and her execution. Sixth and last marriage with Parr, A.D. 1543, July. children at Act of Succession. Edward, the only one whom he recognised as The king's legitimate, and the ladies Mary and Elizabeth, this time. who, though not recognised as legitimate, were in other respects treated as the king's daughters. As is well known, Henry never had a child after Edward's birth. The Act recites the settlement The last of the crown in the twenty-eighth year of the king's reign, that since the making of the Act the king had one only issue of his body lawfully begotten, Prince Edward, that his Majesty had then of late, since the death of Queen Jane, taken to his wife the lady Katharine, that by her as yet his Majesty had no issue, but might have full well, when it should please God, and then proceeded thus: "His highness most prudently and "wisely considering and calling to his remembrance "how this realm standeth at this present time in "the case of succession, and poising and weighing "further with himself the great trust and con"fidence that his loving subjects have had, and "have in him, putting in his hands wholly the "order and declaration of the succession of this "realm, recognising and acknowledging also that "it is in the only pleasure and will of Almighty "God how long his Highness or his said entirely "beloved son Prince Edward shall live, and "whether the said prince shall have heirs of his "body lawfully begotten or not, or whether his Highness shall have heirs begotten and pro 66 K |