dering foray. Henry, however, early in =1497=, obtained
from Parliament a grant of money, to enable him to resist any attempt
to repeat it. This grant had unexpected consequences. The Cornishmen,
refusing payment, marched up to Blackheath, where on June 18 they were
overpowered by the king's troops. James IV., thinking it time to be
quit of Perkin, sent him off by sea. In July Perkin arrived at Cork,
but there was no shelter for him there now that Kildare was Lord
Deputy, and in September he made his way to Cornwall. Followed by
6,000 Cornishmen he reached Taunton, but the news of the defeat of the
Cornish at Blackheath depressed him, and the poor coward ran away from
his army and took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey. He was brought to
London, where he publicly acknowledged himself to be an impostor.
Henry was too humane to do more than place him in confinement.

[Illustration: Tower of St. Mary's Church, Taunton: built about 1500.]

16. =European Changes. 1494--1499.=--In =1494= Charles VIII. had
passed through Italy as a conqueror to make good his claims to the
kingdom of Naples. In =1495= he had returned to France, and in =1496=
the French army left behind had been entirely destroyed. Yet the
danger of a renewed attack from France made the other Continental
powers anxious to unite, and in =1496= the Archduke Philip married
Juana, the eldest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, whilst his
sister was sent to Spain to be married to their only son, Juan. In
=1497= the death of the young prince led to consequences unexpected
when the two marriages were arranged. Philip, who held Franche Comte
and the Netherlands, and who was through his father Maximilian heir to
the German dominions of the House of Austria, would now, that his wife
had become the heiress of Spain, be able to transmit to his
descendants the whole of the Spanish monarchy as well. That monarchy
was no longer confined to Europe. Portugal at the end of the
fourteenth century had led the way in maritime adventure, and
Portuguese navigators discovered a way to India round the Cape of Good
Hope. Spain was anxious to do as much, and in =1492= Columbus had
discovered the West Indies, and the kings of Spain became masters of
the untold wealth produced by the gold and silver mines of the New
World. It was impossible but that the huge power thus brought into
existence would one day arouse the jealousy of Europe. For the
present, however, the danger was less than it would