lomew.-1574, Henry III.-1588, States of Blois.-1589, Henry IV.-1598, Edict of Nantes.

ITALIAN PENINSULA.-1501, Naples conquered by French.-1503, Battle of Cerignola; 1525, of Pavia.-1537, Cosmo de Medici.-1547, Fieschi's Conspiracy.-1580, Charles Emanuel of Savoy.-1585, Pope Sixtus V. SPANISH PENINSULA.-1500, Charles V. born; Ximenes. — 1539, Last Castilian Cortes.-1555, Philip II.-1557, Sebastian of Portugal.-1578, Henry I. of Portugal.-1596, Cadiz taken by the English.

UNITED PROVINCES.-1568, Death of Counts Egmont and Horn.-1579, Union of Utrecht.-1584, Prince of Orange murdered.-1597, Victory of Turnhout. GERMANY.-1501, Aulic Council.-1517, Luther.-1519, Charles V. Emperor, -1530, Diet of Augsburg.-1535, Anabaptist War.-1545, Council of Trent. -1552, Treaty of Passau.-1556, Ferdinand I.; 1564, Maximilian II.; 1576, Rudolph II.

HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA.-1490, Ladislaus.-1516, Louis II.—1526, Battle of Mohaz; John Zapoli and Ferdinand.-1541, John Sigismund.-1548, Hereditary Succession of Bohemia.-1566, Turkish Invasion.

POLAND AND RUSSIA.-1506, Sigismund I. king of Poland.-1519, Polish War against Teutonic Order.-1533, Ivan IV.-1550, New Code.-1573, Henry of Valois.-1581, Conquest of Siberia.-1598, End of Rurik Dynasty. DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY. -1448, Christian II.—1523, Gustavus Vasa.1534, Christian III.-1560, Eric of Sweden. - 1592, Sigismund of Poland.

THE EAST.-1501, Ismael Sophi, King of Persia.-1512, Selim I.-1515, Mogul Empire in the East Indies.-1521, Belgrade taken.-1522, Siege of Rhodes. -1548, War with Persia.-1553, Roxalana.-1571, Battle of Lepanto.1574, Amurath III.-1585, Shah Abbas.

COLONIES.1500, Brazil discovered. 1503, Portuguese first established in India. 1508, West Indies. -1513, Discovery of the South Sea.-1526, Pizarro in Peru.-1584, Virginia, the First English Colony.-1586, Davis' Straits.

THE CHURCH.-1517, Luther.-1525, Capuchin Order.-1530, Confession of Augsburg.-1533, Calvinists.-1534, English Reformation.-1540, Jesuits. -1545, Council of Trent.-1546, Socinians.-1552, St. Francis Xavier.— 1568, Bull in Caná Domini, -1572, Massacre of St. Bartholomew.-1580, Chinese Mission. INVENTIONS, &c.-1517, Gun-locks.-1538, Lotteries.-1548, Balance Wheel. -1582, Reformed Calendar; Oil-Painting.-1593, Telescope and Ther

mometer.

BRITAIN.

ENGLAND. In 1501 and 1502 were concluded two marriages which led to important results in after-times. Arthur, prince of Wales, son of Henry VII., having espoused Catherine of Aragon, fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and dying six months afterwards, his brother, afterwards Henry VIII., accepted the hand of the widow; while Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII., married James IV. of Scotland, thereby transmitting rights to her descendants which at length placed the Stuart family on the English throne.

HENRY VIII. Succeeded his father in the year 1509, at the age of eighteen. His accession to the throne excited transports of joy in the nation, which had been dissatisfied with the parsimonious habits of his predecessor. The treasures amassed by the latter furnished the young king with immense resources; the chief potentates of the Continent sought his alliance; the treaties with France were made perpetual; and nothing was thought wanting to his happiness. The celebrated Wolsey now first appeared on the theatre of politics; and, soon after his introduction to Henry, became the most influential member of the privycouncil, and was considered prime-minister. Although older than his majesty, he made it his study to flatter and subserve the natural disposition of his master for luxury and every kind of pleasure. Henry speedily dissipated in tournaments and banquets the wealth left by his parent; and turned his attention to political intrigues and active warfare. Pope Julius II., eager to expel the French, whom, in virtue of the league of Cambray, he had introduced into Italy, spared no means to gain his support. He succeeded so far as to interrupt the friendly relations with Louis XII., and the English king in person led an army into Flanders, where he took Terouenne, and routed the enemy at Guinegate, in the Battle of the Spurs. In Scotland, the arms of Henry were not less successful; and James IV., the Scottish monarch, was entirely defeated and slain at Flodden in 1513. But finding at length that he had been the dupe of the Pope, he concluded a treaty with Louis XII., giving him in marriage his sister Mary, 1514.

Francis I. renewed the treaties of his predecessors, and Wolsey seized on this opportunity of making himself agreeable to the French ruler, whose influence he required at Rome to obtain a cardinal's hat, the object of his ambition. The crafty churchman, however, took advantage of the success gained by his patron at Marignano to alarm Henry as to the effect of the victories of the young and warlike sovereign. The long rivalry between Francis I. and Charles V., consequent on the elevation of the latter to the imperial dignity, for which Henry had himself been a candidate, brought the English monarch into the quarrel, in the first instance, as the ally of the emperor.

Discussions of a very different character soon engrossed the attention of the English monarch. Henry, who piqued himself greatly on his theological abilities, was indignant at the contempt with which Luther had treated Thomas Aquinas. In support of his favourite author, he composed "A Treatise in Defence of the Seven Sacraments," which was presented to the Pope, who, besides comparing it to the writings of Jerome and Augustin, gratified the king with the title of "Defender of the Faith," 1521. In return, the royal author, who was not inaccessible to the voice of praise, entered readily into the league against the King of France.

The English invaded Picardy, and advanced to within eleven leagues of Paris, when the defeat and capture of Francis at Pavia in 1525, altered the policy of their sovereign. His intercession between the captive and Charles led to new conventions between England and France, whereby Henry gave up all pretensions to the crown of the latter country, which his predecessors had claimed since the reign of Edward III.

In 1527, Henry was seized with a passion for Anne Boleyn, one of

the queen's maids of honour; and he seems to have early formed the design of getting rid of Catherine, and making this new favourite his wife. The quarrel between Pope Clement VII. and Charles V. appeared to Henry a favourable moment for accomplishing his purpose. Proposals to annul the marriage had been ineffectually made to the Pope several months before Anne appeared at court, when the king's determination assumed all the violence natural to his character. Affecting to have scruples as to the lawfulness of his union with Catherine, and adopting the express language of the Book of Leviticus, he forwarded a theological treatise on the subject to Clement, who, pressed on the one side by a prince whom he was desirous of conciliating, and on the other by the emperor whom he feared, promised and temporized, in the hope that the passion of the former would cool. But this delay only irritated Henry's impatient temper, and, after a disgraceful scene before the two legates, he banished the unfortunate Catherine from court, 1529. Meanwhile the Pope had become reconciled with Charles V., at whose instigation the case was transferred to Rome. For this change the king held Wolsey responsible, who, overwhelmed with sudden disgrace, was stripped of his immense riches, and died of a broken heart, 1530. His place was soon supplied by Cranmer, under whose advice Henry consulted the principal universities of Europe, the majority of which were favourable to his wishes; and to annoy and weaken the clergy, he included them in the charge previously brought against the cardinal, of violating the statute of "præmunire.' A convocation was immediately summoned, and £100,000 were offered for a full pardon, which Henry, who had now resolved on entirely subverting the papal authority, refused unless he were acknowledged "Supreme Head of the Church in England." Having attained his object, he secretly married Anne Boleyn, 1533; and after publicly acknowledging his new wife, had her crowned with great ceremony so soon as Cranmer, now raised to the see of Canterbury, could pronounce the sentence of divorce against Catherine. The parliament ratified the marriage with Anne, and declared Mary, the issue of the previous union, illegitimate. It also formally annulled the pontifical authority, and conferred on the king the title of "Supreme Head of the Anglican Church," with most of the spiritual prerogatives previously exercised by the Pope.

In separating from the Romish communion, Henry pretended still to be orthodox. Believing himself absolute master, of the minds of his subjects as well as of their bodies, he changed the discipline of the church, but retained its doctrines. In his eyes it was equally criminal to believe in the Pope or in Luther; and those of either party who were unable to disguise their sentiments, were punished alike. In 1535, two illustrious victims, Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More, perished on the scaffold for refusing to take the oath of supremacy; and at the same time, Protestants were dragged to the stake for speaking against the sacraments of the Roman church. The monks, whose credit had fallen with the power of the pontiff, detested the sacrilege which they conceived

*This law, which is still in force, was passed during the disputes of Richard II. with the papacy, and enacts, that if any man shall seek or obtain, in the court of Rome or elsewhere, any translations of bishops from their present sees to other sees out of the kingdom; any excommunications, bulls, or other instruments against the king's crown and dignity; that his goods and chattels, lands and tenements, shall be forfeited to the crown, and his body imprisoned.

the king to have committed; and, on the other hand, Henry regarded them as his principal enemies, whom it was necessary to destroy. For this purpose, Cromwell, his secretary, was appointed "royal vicegerent and vicar-general," with orders to visit by his commissioners the convents of both sexes throughout the kingdom. Though time had introduced abuses and disorders into these institutions, the visiters published an exaggerated relation of them.* The parliament immediately made a first step towards the entire destruction of the religious orders, by suppressing all monasteries whose yearly income did not exceed £200 sterling. By this measure, 380 communities were abolished, whose total revenue amounted to £32,000, besides plate and jewels to the value of £100,000.

Soon after these arbitrary proceedings, the queen was suddenly arrested and conveyed to the Tower, being accused of adultery and high treason. Seventeen days saw Anne Boleyn pass from the throne to the scaffold. There is no doubt that her vivacity and freedom of manner had given rise to suspicion; but the best exculpation of her character is to be found in Henry's marriage with Jane Seymour, one of her maids of honour, on the day succeeding Anne's execution, 1536. During these transactions, the violent religious changes had excited great discontent, particularly in the north of England, where several revolts broke out. Thirty thousand of the malcontents marched towards London; but they were dispersed, and the principal leaders executed. These commotions increased the king's dislike to the monks, whom he not unjustly accused of being the secret agents of the insurrection. To crush them entirely, he determined to destroy all the remaining religious communities. The parliament readily passed the necessary measures; and the annual revenue of the crown was augmented by an addition of £160,000.

In the midst of his hostility to the Romish church, Henry never failed in his zeal to uphold its dogmas. The parliament, becoming daily more servile, approved of his intolerance by the famous bill of the Six Articles, called the Bloody Statute,-a law which asserted the real presence and communion of one kind, forbade the marriage of priests, admitted vows of chastity, and declared the utility of private masses, with the necessity of auricular confession. Any violation of the first article was punishable with death; and for the others, the penalties were confiscation of property and imprisonment during the royal pleasure. To crown all, the same parliament gave to the king's proclamations the force of statute law.

In 1540, Henry, left a widower by the death of his queen, Jane Seymour, who died in 1537, twelve days after giving birth to a son, subsequently Edward VI., contracted a new marriage with Anne, daughter of the Duke of Cleves. His union with this princess, whose personal appearance did not correspond with Cromwell's flattering description, led to the destruction of that favourite, whose sudden exaltation and tyrannical conduct had caused him to be generally hated. The king gave him over to his enemies, by whom he was accused of heresy and high treason; the very parliament which condemned him to death hav

The substance of these charges has never been impeached; and their existence is in a measure confirmed by similar imputations attached to monastic institutions even of these later days in Italy and Spain, as may be seen in the life of Scipio Ricci, bishop of Pistoia.

ing, but a few days before, declared him worthy to be the "vicar-general of the universe." The disgrace of this high officer was followed by the divorce of the queen; and in less than a month Henry married a niece of the Duke of Norfolk, Lady Catherine Howard, who was decapitated eighteen months afterwards on a charge of incontinence before and after marriage. The king next espoused Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer. A revolt in Ireland, hostilities and negotiations with Scotland, and a war with France, occupied the latter years of his reign.

As Henry was descended from the Welsh Tudors, he naturally directed his attention to the country of his ancestors, which was a prey to all the disorders of feudal anarchy, and where his proclamations were without force. In 1536, it was enacted that the whole of Wales should be incorporated with England, being made subject to the same laws, and authorized to send to parliament a member for every county.

In Ireland, the religious innovations countenanced by the government had excited so profound a sensation as to unite in one common cause the natives and the settlers, hitherto apparently irreconcilable enemies. But O'Neill, the head of the insurgents, having been defeated, the other chiefs submitted to the royal authority. In 1542, that country was raised from a lordship to a kingdom, and several of the most powerful leaders created earls, among whom O'Neil received the title of Tyrone. Lastly, some regulations for the administration of justice completed its pacification, and the power of the English had never appeared more firmly established since the invasion of Henry II.

The king, finding his authority confirmed in England and Ireland, wished to extend his influence into Scotland, and oblige his nephew, James V., to adopt his religious opinions and declare war against France. An invasion by an English army produced no other effect than the burning of a few villages; and the death of the Scottish sovereign, in 1542, led to a cessation of hostilities. Henry was now at leisure to turn his attention to France, whither he sent a numerous army, which took Boulogne. After the defection of Charles V. from his alliance, the war continued two years longer, but was not marked by any memorable event. In virtue of the treaty of 1546, Henry retained his conquests until certain sums of money owing by the enemy were paid.

The end of this extraordinary monarch now rapidly approached; and his death, on the 28th of January 1547, saved the life of the Duke of Norfolk, who had been condemned to be executed the following morning.

Hallam thus describes Henry's rule and character: A government administered with so frequent violations not only of the chartered privileges of Englishmen, but of those still more sacred rights which national law has established, must have been regarded, one would imagine, with just abhorrence and earnest longings for a change. Yet contemporary authorities by no means answer to this expectation, some mentioning Henry after his death in language of eulogy. I do not indeed believe that he had really conciliated his people's affection; for that perfect fear which attended him must have cast out love. But he had a few qualities that deserve esteem, and several which a nation is pleased to behold in a sovereign. He was without dissimulation; his manners were affable, and his temper generous. Though his schemes of foreign policy were not very sagacious, and his wars productive of no material advantage, yet 'hey were uniformly successful, and retrieved the honour of the English name. But the main cause of the reverence with which our forefathers cherished this king's memory, was the share he had taken in the Reformation. They saw