Part 1 (2/2)
So small a matter might have proved a _casus belli_.
The meeting was held amidst scenes of unparalleled splendour. The temporary palace erected for the occasion was so magnificent that a chronicler tells us it might have been the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
Henry ”the goodliest prince that ever reigned over the realm of England,”
is described as ”_honnete, hault et droit_, in manner gentle and gracious, rather fat, with a red beard, large enough, and very becoming.”
On this occasion Wolsey was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen clad in crimson velvet, and had a body-guard of two hundred archers. He was clothed in crimson satin from head to foot, his mule was covered with crimson velvet, and her trappings were all of gold.
There were jousts and many entertainments and rejoicings, many kissings of Royal cheeks, but the Sovereigns hated each other cordially. While they were kissing they were plotting against each other. A more unedifying page of history has not been written. Appalling, indeed, are the s.h.i.+fts and intrigues which go to make up the records of the time.
The rulers of Europe were playing a game of cards, in which all the players were in collusion with, and all cheating each other. Temporizing and intriguing, Henry met the Spanish monarch immediately before and immediately after his meeting with the French King. Within a few months, France and Spain were again at war, and England, in a fruitless and costly struggle, fought on the side of Spain.
It was the divorce from Katharine of Aragon and its momentous consequences, which finally put an end to the alliance with Spain, and to the struggle with France succeeded a long struggle with Spain, which culminated in the great event of The Armada in the reign of Henry's daughter, Elizabeth.
However, in these pages it is not proposed to enlarge upon the political aspect of the times, but rather to deal with the dramatic and domestic side of Henry's being. In the play of _Henry VIII._, the author or authors (for to another than Shakespeare is ascribed a portion of the drama), have given us as impartial a view of his character as a due regard for truth on the one hand, and a respect for the scaffold on the other, permitted.
_His Aspirations_
There can be no doubt that when Henry ascended the throne, he had a sincere wish to serve G.o.d and uphold the right.
In his early years he was really devout and generous in almsgiving.
Erasmus affirmed that his Court was an example to all Christendom for learning and piety. To the Pope he paid deference as to the representative of G.o.d.
With youthful enthusiasm, the young King, looking round and seeing corruption on every side, said to Giustinian, the Venetian amba.s.sador: ”Nor do I see any faith in the world save in me, and therefore G.o.d Almighty, who knows this, prosper my affairs.”
In Henry's early reign, England was trusted more than any country to keep faith in her alliances. At a time when all was perfidy and treachery, promises and alliances were made only to be broken when self-interest prompted. History, like Nature itself, is ruled by brutal laws, and to play the round game of politics with single-handed honesty would be to lose at every turn. Henry was born into an inheritance of blood and blackmail. Corruption has its vested interests. It is useless to attempt to stem the recurrent tide of corruption by sprinkling the waves with holy water.
Then religion was a part of men's daily lives, but the principles of Christianity were set at naught at the first bidding of expediency.
Men murdered to live--the axe and the sword were the final Court of Appeal. Nor does the old order change appreciably in the course of a few hundred years. In international politics, as in public life, when self-interest steps in, Christianity goes to the wall.
To-day we grind our axe with a difference. A more subtle process of dealing with our rivals obtains. To-day the pen is mightier than the sword, the stylograph is more deadly than the stiletto. The bravo still plies his trade. He no longer takes life, but character. To intrigue, to combine against those outside the ring is often the swiftest way to fortune. By such combination do weaker particles make themselves strong.
To ”play the game” is necessary to progress. The world was not made for poets and idealists. To quote an anonymous modern writer:
”'Act well your part, there all the honour lies'; Stoop to expediency and honour dies.
Many there are that in the race for fame, Lose the great cause to win the little game, Who pandering to the town's decadent taste, Barter the precious pearl for gawdy paste, And leave upon the virgin page of Time The venom'd trail of iridescent slime.”
Henry's eyes soon opened. His character, like his body, underwent a gradual process of expansion.
_His Pastimes_
Soon the lighter side of kings.h.i.+p was not disdained. One authority wrote in 1515: ”He is a youngling, cares for nothing but girls and hunting.” He was an inveterate gambler, and turned the sport of hunting into a martyrdom, rising at four or five in the morning, and hunting till nine or ten at night. Another contemporary writes: ”He devotes himself to accomplishments and amus.e.m.e.nts day and night, is intent on nothing else, and leaves business to Wolsey, who rules everything.”
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