Henry VIII.

Henry VIII., by A. F. Pollard

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Title: Henry VIII.
Author: A. F. Pollard
Release Date: January 6, 2007 [EBook #20300]
Language: English
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HENRY VIII.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI. TO THE DEATH OF
ELIZABETH (1547-1603). (Political History of England, Vol. VI.).
With 2 Maps.
THE COMMONWEALTH AT WAR. 8vo.
THE WAR: ITS HISTORY AND MORALS. 8vo.
THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. FROM CONTEMPORARY SOURCES.
Selected and arranged with an Introduction. Crown 8vo.
Vol. I. Narrative Extracts. Vol. II. Constitutional, Social, and Economic
History. Vol. III. Diplomacy, Ecclesiastical Affairs and Ireland.
* * * * *
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON INTERMEDIATE SOURCE-BOOKS
OF HISTORY.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER'S ENGLAND. Edited by MISS
DOROTHY HUGHES. With a Preface by A.F. POLLARD, M.A.,
Litt.D., Fellow of All Souls, and Professor of English History in the
University of London. Crown 8vo.
ENGLAND UNDER THE YORKISTS. 1460-1485. Illustrated from
Contemporary Sources by ISOBEL D. THORNLEY, M.A., Assistant
in the Department of History, University College, London. With a
Preface by A.F. POLLARD, M.A., Litt.D. Crown 8vo.
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., LONDON, NEW YORK,
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS.

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 difficulty. It is two centuries and a half since Lord
Herbert produced his Life and Reign of Henry VIII.[1] The late Mr.
Brewer, in his prefaces to the first four volumes of the Letters and
Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., published under the direction of the
Master of the Rolls, dealt adequately with the earlier portion of Henry's
career. But Mr. Brewer died when his work reached the year 1530; his
successor, Dr. James Gairdner, was directed to confine his prefaces to
the later volumes within the narrowest possible limits; and students of
history were deprived of the prospect of a satisfactory account of
Henry's later years from a writer of unrivalled learning.
[Footnote 1: The edition cited in the text is that of 1672.]
Henry's reign, from 1530 onwards, has been described by the late Mr.
Froude in one of the most brilliant and fascinating