of the Mass (both of which were taught in the Six Articles).
Danger of foreign invasion on behalf of the Pope.Now all these changes were carried through under continued danger from abroad, for of course the Pope had declared Henry to be deposed, and called on all Catholic princes to go and depose him. Much of the danger was from the old alliance of France and Scotland, but far more from the power of Spain, Germany and Flanders, now all in the hands of the Emperor, Charles V. Henry arms his people.Threats of invasion were incessant, but Henry armed his people to the teeth, and, at the end of Henry his reign, had a navy of seventy ships ready for action. He built castles all round his southern and eastern coasts, and was always making great guns to put in them. He knew that the few remaining descendants of Edward III were plotting to upset his throne, especially the exiled Reginald Pole, a great favourite of the Pope. He had already sliced off the heads of all his royal cousins whom he could catch. Who should succeed Henry?With the approval of his Parliament, he had settled that the crown should go after his death to his son Edward; if Edward had no children, to Mary; then, if Mary had no children, to Elizabeth; lastly, if all three of his children died without direct heirs, it was to go to the heirs of his younger sister, Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, not to those of his elder sister, Margaret, Queen of Scotland. He hated Scotland as bitterly as Edward I, and continued the Border wars as fiercely until his death in 1547.
Henry’s character.Thus you will say I have drawn for you the picture of a monster of cruelty and selfishness? Yes, Henry was just that. But he was also something much more. He was a great patriot, a great Englishman. He taught Englishmen to rely on themselves and their ships; and
