HENRY VIII.

BY

A.F. POLLARD, M.A.

Professor Of Constitutional History At University College,
London; Examiner In Modern History In The Universities Of Oxford
And London; Author Of "A Life Of Cranmer," "England Under
Protector Somerset," Etc., Etc.

_NEW IMPRESSION_

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
FOURTH AVENUE & 30th STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1919

_First published by Messrs. Goupil & Co.
in June, 1902, with numerous illustrations._
_New Edition, May, 1905._
_Reprinted, January, 1913, and October, 1919._

PREFACE. (p. v)

It is perhaps a matter rather for regret than for surprise that so few
attempts have been made to describe, as a whole, the life and
character of Henry VIII. No ruler has left a deeper impress on the
history of his country, or done work which has been the subject of
more keen and lasting contention. Courts of law are still debating the
intention of statutes, the tenor of which he dictated; and the moral,
political, and religious, are as much in dispute as the legal, results
of his reign. He is still the Great Erastian, the protagonist of laity
against clergy. His policy is inextricably interwoven with the high
and eternal dilemma of Church and State; and it is well-nigh
impossible for one who feels keenly on these questions to treat the
reign of Henry VIII. in a reasonably judicial spirit. No period
illustrates more vividly the contradiction between morals and
politics. In our desire to reprobate the immorality of Henry's
methods, we are led to deny their success; or, in our appreciation of
the greatness of the ends he achieved, we seek to excuse the means he
took to achieve them. As with his policy, so with his character. (p. vi)
There was nothing commonplace about him; his good and his bad
qualities alike were exceptional. It is easy, by suppressing the one
or the other, to paint him a hero or a villain. He lends himself
readily to polemic; but to depict his character in all its varied
aspects, extenuating nothing nor setting down aught in malice, is a
task of no little diffi