The matriculation history of England

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt: ...a source of weakness rather than of strength to Charles V.; and botli Wolsey and his master had to reckon with all these facts in framing their foreign policy. § 287. Wolsey's Foreign Policy, 1520-1525.--Henry aspired to make himself the arbiter between his two powerful contemporaries on the Continent: Wolsey, in furthering this aspiration, also hoped, by the aid of one or other of them, to attain the Papacy. Both Englishmen were courted by the rival monarchs; and in 1520-1, various interviews took place, the most famous of which was that between Henry and Francis, near Calais, in June 1520, known as the "Field of the Cloth of Gold." At first Henry leaned more to the side of Charles V.: they were closely connected by marriage (Table, p. 190); their forbears had been politically allied against France (§§ 230, 271); and the traditional policy of England had long been hostility to France (§§ 189-191). Moreover, Charles V.'s relations with the Pope commended him to both Henry and Wolsey: the King, who had had special training in theology, proved his orthodoxy by attacking Luther in that Defence of the Seven Sacraments which won for him from the Pope the title Defensor Fidei (" Defender of the Faith "), still attached to the English crown; the Cardinal preferred Charles V., not only because he was a monarch of unimpeachable orthodoxy, but also because his strength in Italy made his influence greater than that of Francis in a Papal conclave. The alliance between Henry and the Emperor lasted for some five or six years; but the English share in the fighting was confined to raiding across the Channel and over the Scottish Borders. The chief result of the war for England was increased Government demands for money, which we...