ristmastide may be mentioned the resolution of the King's minister,
Thomas Cromwell, and his party, in 1533, to break the ecclesiastical
connection with Rome, and establish an independent Church in England.
The necessary Bills were framed and introduced to Parliament soon
after the Christmas holidays by Cromwell, who for his successful
services was made Chancellor of the Exchequer for life. Authority in
all matters ecclesiastical, as well as civil, was vested solely in the
Crown, and the "courts spiritual" became as thoroughly the King's
courts as the temporal courts at Westminster. The enslavement of the
clergy, the dissolution of the monasteries, and the gagging of the
pulpits followed, the years of Cromwell's administration being an
English reign of terror. But the ruthless manner in which he struck
down his victims sickened the English people, and they exhibited their
disapprobation in a manner which arrested the attention of the King.
The time of Cromwell himself was coming, for the block was the goal to
which Henry's favourite minister was surely hastening; and it is only
anticipating events by very few years, to say that he was beheaded on
Tower Hill, July 28, 1540.

ANOTHER ROYAL CHRISTMAS.

That following the execution of Anne Boleyn (1536), Henry spent in the
company of his third Queen, Jane Seymour, at Richmond Palace, with a
merry party, and subsequently crossed the frozen Thames to Greenwich.
During the following summer the Queen went with her husband on a
progress, and in the autumn retired to Hampton Court, where she gave
birth to a son (who became Edward VI.), and died twelve days
afterwards, on the 14th of October, 1537.

During the married life of Queen Jane, the Princess Mary was often
with the Court at Richmond, affecting affectionate attachment for the
Queen, apparently to conciliate her father. The birth of a prince,
followed by the death of the queen, it might have been thought would
have a chastening effect upon Mary, as somewhat altering her
prospects; but after acting as chief mourner to her friendly
stepmother, she spent a pleasant Christmas at Richmond, where she
remained till February. Her losses at cards during the Christmas
festivities were very considerable, for she was fond of gambling. And
she appears to have also amused herself a good deal with her
attendant, "Jane the Fool," to whose maintenance she contributed while
staying at Richmond. One curious entry in the Household Book of