the Church of Rome. In 1539 appeared the Statute of the Six Articles, affirming the doctrines of transubstantiation, communion in one kind, vows of chastity, utility of private masses, celibacy of the clergy, auricular confession. Death was threatened to all who rejected these doctrines, and the enactment was carried out with such severity that it obtained the name of the Bloody Statute.

Translations of the Bible came into general use in this reign. In 1526 copies of Tyndale's Bible were introduced into England from Antwerp, where it was printed. In 1535 Miles Coverdale's Bible was published in England by the king's authority. Matthew's Bible appeared in 1537, and the Great Bible, or Cranmer's Bible, in 1539. A copy of the Bible in the vulgar tongue was ordered to be set up in every parish church.

A

THIRD WAR WITH FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. war with France and Scotland occupied the latter part of this reign. It was commenced on frivolous pretexts.

The Scotch were defeated at the Rout of Solway, 1542. James V. was so mortified at this overthrow that he died of vexation shortly afterwards. He left an infant daughter, afterwards the celebrated Mary Queen of Scots. It was arranged that she should be married to the young Prince Edward.

In 1544 the English troops took Boulogne. The next year a peace was concluded, and it was agreed that Boulogne should be restored on the payment of two million crowns.

HENRY'S CRUELTY. The king became more cruel than ever towards the end of his reign. We have seen that he punished both Roman Catholics and Protestants. Thomas Cromwell was executed in 1540 on charges of heresy and extortion, but really because he had lost the king's favour by advising the marriage with Anne of Cleves.

More than 70,000 persons are said to have been executed in this reign for various offences.

Ann Askew, a friend of Catherine Parr, was cruelly tortured and burned alive for heresy.

Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, and his father, the Duke of Norfolk, were arrested on a false charge of treason. Surrey was at once executed, 1547, and the Duke of Norfolk was only saved by the death of the tyrant himself.

HENRY'S DEATH. The king died in great pain at Whitehall, 1547. He was buried at Windsor.

EDWARD VI. (1547-1553).

FAMILY. Edward was born in 1537. He was the son of Henry VIII. His mother was Jane Seymour. He was never married.

ACCESSION. Edward was only in his tenth year when his father died. Henry VIII. had by will fixed the majority of the young king at eighteen, and appointed a regency of sixteen executors to rule the kingdom till he came of age. Among these were Cranmer, the Chancellor Wriothesley, and the Earl of Hertford, who was brother of Jane Seymour and therefore uncle to Edward VI. These executors were to be assisted by a council of twelve, having very limited powers. At the first meeting of the executors they appointed Hertford protector of the kingdom, under the title of Duke of Somerset. His brother, Sir Thomas Seymour, became Lord Seymour, and Wriothesley was created Earl of Southampton. The Duke of Norfolk, who had been sentenced to death by Henry VIII., remained in imprisonment, though his life was spared.

WAR WITH SCOTLAND. At the conclusion of the war with Scotland in the last reign it was agreed that a marriage should take place between the Prince Edward and the young Princess Mary of Scotland.

Cardinal Beaton, who was at the head of affairs in Scotland, opposed this marriage. He was murdered in 1546, and negotiations were carried on for the fulfilment of the proposed alliance. By the influence of France, however, this arrangement was broken up. The protector, Somerset, now declared war against Scotland, and invaded that country with an army of 18,000 men.

The Scots were defeated in a great battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, 1547. The war, however, had no result. Mary was sent to France for greater security, where she afterwards married the dauphin. After ravaging the country round Edinburgh, the protector returned to England.

THE REFORMATION. The king, the protector, Cranmer, and most of the council belonged to the Protestant party, and the Reformation made great progress in this reign.

The Bloody Statute was repealed, the Prayer-Book was published, the Roman mass was abolished, a Book of Homilies was issued, and forty-two articles of religion were drawn up.

An Act of Uniformity was passed in 1549, enforcing the use of the English Prayer-Book. Edward's First Prayer-Book was issued in this year. In 1552 a revised edition, much the same as that now used by the Church of England, was published. The chief agent in making these changes was Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, who had great influence over the young king.

Some of the clergy refused to acquiesce in these measures. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and Bonner, bishop of London, were imprisoned for their opposition to the religious changes.

There was some persecution on account of religion, but it mostly took the form of imprisonment. Only two persons were burnt for heresy; Joan Bocher (Joan of Kent) for denying the incarnation; and Van Paris, a Dutchman, for Arianism (or denying the divinity of Christ).

INSURRECTIONS.

Much discontent prevailed in this reign. The fall of the monasteries had caused great distress, many were dissatisfied with the religious changes, taxation was heavy, trade was bad, and many of the laws were oppressive.

In Devonshire and Cornwall about 10,000 insurgents assembled and marched on Exeter, but were dispersed by Lord Grey. Many were slain in the fields, or perished by the executioner.

In Norfolk a formidable revolt arose under Ket, a tanner. Supported by about 20,000 rebels, he took his station under an oak at Mousehold Hill, near Norwich, and ruled the county at his will. He defeated the Marquis of Northampton, who was sent against him, but was afterwards overthrown by the Earl of Warwick. He was taken and hanged at Norwich Castle; his chief followers were hanged from the oak where he had held his tribunal, and the insurrection was suppressed, 1549.

FALL OF SOMERSET. The protector became unpopular. He affected supreme power, and endeavoured to use his influence over the king to make himself independent of the rest of the council. He increased his unpopularity by the execution of his brother, Admiral Lord Seymour, who had married Catherine Parr, and on her death aspired to the hand of the Princess Elizabeth. The protector accused him of high treason, and he was executed on Tower Hill, 1549.

Dudley, Earl of Warwick, a very ambitious man, and a member of the council, intrigued against Somerset, and encouraged the public discontent. Incited by Warwick, the majority of the council turned against the protector, and accused him of usurping the regal authority. He was committed to the Tower, 1549, pleaded guilty, and was released on the payment of £10,000.

Somerset still had a seat on the council, but Warwick, now Duke of Northumberland, was bent on his ruin. In 1550 the latter procured the arrest of his rival, who was sent to the Tower. Somerset was tried, convicted of felony, and beheaded on Tower Hill, 1552.

Northumberland was

SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE. now supreme in the council. Possessed with boundless ambition, he endeavoured to divert the succession to the crown into his own family. He persuaded the king that the princesses Mary and Elizabeth were both illegitimate, and that the right of succession belonged to Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter of Mary, youngest sister of Henry VIII. The king entered into

this scheme with the more readiness, because he feared the succession of his sister Mary, who was a strict Roman Catholic. Cranmer favoured it for the same reason. Letters patent were issued conferring the succession to the throne on Lady Jane Grey, who had been married to Lord Guildford Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland.

DEATH OF EDWARD. The young king's health had always been feeble. He had small-pox, but recovered; then he exhibited symptoms of consumption. After the settlement of the succession his health rapidly declined. Northumberland

caused the physicians to be removed from him, and placed him in the charge of a woman, under whose treatment he rapidly became worse, and died, 1553, at Greenwich, aged 16 years. His death was attributed by many to poison. He was buried at Westminster.

MARY (1553-1558).

FAMILY. Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII. by Catherine of Aragon. She was born 1516. She married Philip, son of Charles V., emperor of Germany. Philip became king of Spain in 1555. He was much disliked by the English. He resided chiefly in Spain.

Both Mary and her

SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE. sister Elizabeth had been declared illegitimate in the reign of Henry VIII. Their rights to the throne had, however, been restored by the parliament in the same reign, and confirmed by the will of their father. Edward VI. had, however, been induced by the intrigues of Northumberland (as we have already seen) to set aside their claims to the succession in favour of Lady Jane Grey. There can be no doubt, however, that the act of Edward VI. and the council was illegal, and that Mary was the lawful heir to the throne.

LADY JANE GREY. This lady was then sixteen years old. She was granddaughter of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, and of Mary, daughter of Henry VII. Her father was