(1904) is a brief treatment by an acknowledged authority on the period. R. W. Dixon, History of the Church of England (6 vols., 1878-1902) covers the period 1529-1570, thorough and scholarly from the High Church standpoint. B. F. Westcott, History of the English Bible (1868). Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 141-158, for the whole reign.

CHAPTER XXI

THE HENRICIAN REGIME (1509-1547)

Distinctive Features of Henry's Absolutism. While Henry owed much to his father, he succeeded in carrying royal absolutism far beyond the point which it had reached at his succession. The Church was reduced by his measures to a mere creature of the Crown. The old nobility were pushed further along the road to ruin by the extravagance of Henry's Court, while his hostile watchfulness prevented their leaders from recovering their old position in public affairs. Several who aspired to raise their heads were ruthlessly put to death. Almost invariably he chose new men to sit in his councils and carry out his policy; to them he gave offices, revenues, and lands; and he had an eye for picking competent Ministers from the ranks of obscurity. Wolsey and Cromwell are merely the best known of many. By such agents, by the spoils of the monasteries, by checking glaring abuses, and by the maintenance of stable government, the middle class, already closely attached to the father, were bound still more closely to the son.

Henry's Management of Parliament. Henry's adroit manipulation of Parliament was another means by which he strengthened his absolutism. During the first part of the reign, before he had exhausted the inherited royal treasure and before he embarked on his peculiar policy, he followed Wolsey's advice and rarely called a Parliament; from 1529, however, he made use of frequent Parliaments to give a color of popular sanction to his measures. While there are evidences of coercion and corruption, of interference with elections, bribery, creation of new boroughs, and pressure on members, the amount has been exaggerated, and it was mainly employed by Cromwell to maintain his own ascendancy. Such methods were scarcely necessary in the royal behalf; for the representation was mainly in the hands of the landed gentry and the prosperous commercial classes, whose interests in general were identical with Henry's, though on the rare occasions when these interests clashed, Parliament

1

did not hesitate to resist stoutly. Henry professed to be a champion of parliamentary privilege, but he employed blandishments, bargaining, or even trickery as need arose; when important measures were being discussed he generally visited both Houses in person, and, if the terror of his presence was not enough, even resorted to dire threats to secure their passage. As a means of blocking legislation which he opposed he could always resort to the veto, though, as a matter of fact, most of the legislation was initiated by Henry or his Ministers. Summary of Henry's Methods. Altogether Henry's power was acquired, not so much by juggling with the representation as by the identity of interest between him and the dominant classes, by his force of will, and by his dextrous politics. He had the tact and foresight to draw back when he saw that he was going too far. Moreover, he had the unscrupulous cunning to intrust great powers to his principal agents, and to make them the scapegoats for his unpopular policies. Finally, he had the wisdom not to demand excessive taxes. He called upon Parliament primarily to sanction grants which he had extorted from some other quarters; forced loans, for instance, which were remitted by Statute, in 1529 and 1543, forfeitures, papal fees, and the spoils from monasteries and shrines. He borrowed and extorted so long as he could, and only applied to Parliament when it was absolutely necessary.

The Royal Extravagance. Henry dissipated his father's savings with lavish hand. Much went for costly raiment; more was consumed in revels, feasts, tournaments, and other ornate displays. When he took the field, in 1513, he had an enormous train of hundreds of wagons and thousands of horses to carry his tents, his wardrobe, his cooks, his confectioners, and, most amazing of all, the choir of his chapel royal, consisting of 115 chaplains and singers. The splendors of the later meeting at the Field of Cloth of Gold were the wonder of the age and of generations to come. The sumptuousness of Henry and his courtiers stimulated trade, furnished employment for many, and opened up many new industries; yet in the long run, the effect was injurious, since the example was ruinous to the lesser folk, and it raised the prices out of all proportion to the increase of wages cost of agricultural products nearly doubled from 1495 to 1533, while wages rose only 25 per cent. Moreover, the King was in constant need of money to support such extravagances, and taxes were only kept within the normal limits by loans, confiscations, and other irreg

the

1The chief changes in the composition came from the exclusion of abbots and priors from the Lords, and granting representation to Wales, Chester, and Calais in the Commons.

ular methods. One of the most baneful means employed was the debasement of the coinage, a process which Henry began as early as 1526, and which went on until, in 1551, a silver coin contained only a seventh of the pure metal of one issued twenty-five years before. During the two previous centuries there had been several such debasements, but with less injurious effects; because of the constant drain of money to the Orient for the purchase of goods and to Rome for the payment of papal dues, causing a scarcity of specie which lowered prices and thus counteracted the upward trend due to debasement. In Henry's time trade was more evenly balanced and papal dues ceased, therefore, since debased coins circulated at their face value, good coin was hoarded or exported, and prices went on soaring without a check.

The Laboring Classes in Town and Country. While the producers, the manufacturers, and the exporters of wool and cloth were waxing fat, the condition of the mass of the small farmers and agricultural laborers was growing steadily worse. Enclosing went on increasing, and not only leaseholders but copyholders and even freeholders were evicted from their tenements. The process received a fresh impulse from the dissolution of the monasteries, which transferred great estates from the easy-going monks to the hands of keen, greedy capitalists. Multitudes were thrown out of work, the land was overrun with beggars, and disorder multiplied to a degree that taxed even the iron rule of Henry. In order to check enclosures, measures were enacted limiting the number of sheep that a single owner could hold, and ordering a return to tillage under penalty of forfeiture till the law was obeyed. But since profits from wool were tempting and since the King needed the support of the class against which the measures were framed, the legislation proved futile. Similar disturbing conditions prevailed in the towns, the rich were growing richer and the poor poorer. The restrictive policy of the gilds was only slowly breaking down and remained a great clog on trade. Labor and capital withdrew from the old towns where the system was intrenched and poured into the smaller places, which grew as their ancient rivals declined, though the competition of those displaced from agricultural pursuits and the increase of population largely offset the benefits which the proletariat gained from their migration.

2

1 Although money was growing steadily more plentiful, owing to the treasure brought by the Spanish from the New World, England was little affected during Henry's reign.

2 It is estimated that the population increased from 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

Public Health and Sanitation. The plague, which continued a frequent and destructive visitor, was not an unmixed evil; flourishing chiefly in the miserable and crowded centers, it checked the na ral increase of population among the poorer classes, and thus worked in favor of a higher standard of well-being. In London various steps were taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic. Enactments were passed requiring that infected houses be marked with wisps of straw and that exposed persons carry a white rod in their hands. Gradually, rules for isolating plague-stricken houses became more rigid, searchers were appointed to give notice of the presence of the disease, and severe penalties were imposed for concealment. Measures for disposing of the refuse of shambles, against stray dogs and cats, and for cleansing filthy streets are not unheard of, though they were apparently not enforced till Elizabeth's time.

1

Poor Relief. Among the most interesting measures of Henry's reign were those taken to relieve the deserving poor and to put a check on the idle and disorderly beggars. During the Middle Ages the care of the destitute was left to private persons and institutions to voluntary alms, to hospitals and gilds, and, most of all, to monasteries. This medieval system was very inadequate. The monks, in particular, gave in pursuance of the divine command to clothe the naked and to feed the hungry: since they did not inquire sharply into the needs of applicants they were often imposed upon by the unscrupulous; and, by their indiscriminate almsgiving, tended to foster poverty beyond the point where they could deal with it. Already, some time before the Reformation and the consequent destruction of ecclesiastical foundations, certain Continental municipalities had taken up the problem and devised measures of public relief. In England, too, new methods would soon have been necessary in any event. The dissolution of the monasteries made them immediately imperative. Great numbers of needy persons were suddenly thrown upon the country, and at the same time the chief means of providing for them, ineffective as it had been, was cut off. The year in which the first attack on the monasteries was opened marked the beginning of a new policy, quite at variance with that initiated by the Statute of Laborers and succeeding measures, providing that sturdy beggars should be put to work at a fixed wage and the impotent should be licensed to beg. By an Act of 1536 the dis-. pensing of private alms was forbidden. In each parish a fund for the

A hospital was originally a place for the aged and destitute as well as the sick. A few parishes had poor funds, and so had some of the towns by the fifteenth century, but these were rare exceptions.

Q