Henry VIII. | Page 2

masterpieces of
historical literature, a work which still holds the field in popular, if not
in scholarly, estimation. But Mr. Froude does not begin until Henry's
reign was half over, until his character had been determined by
influences and events which lie outside the scope of Mr. (p. vii)
Froude's inquiry. Moreover, since Mr. Froude wrote, a flood of light
has been thrown on the period by the publication of the
above-mentioned Letters and Papers;[2] they already comprise a
summary of between thirty and forty thousand documents in twenty
thousand closely printed pages, and, when completed, will constitute
the most magnificent body of materials for the history of any reign,
ancient or modern, English or foreign. Simultaneously there have
appeared a dozen volumes containing the State papers preserved at

Simancas,[3] Vienna and Brussels and similar series comprising the
correspondence relating to Venice,[4] Scotland[5] and Ireland;[6] while
the despatches of French ambassadors have been published under the
auspices of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at Paris.[7] Still further
information has been (p. viii) provided by the labours of the Historical
Manuscripts Commission,[8] the Camden,[9] the Royal Historical,[10]
and other learned Societies.
[Footnote 2: This series, unlike the Calendars of State Papers, includes
documents not preserved at the Record Office; it is often inaccurately
cited as Calendar of State Papers, but the word "Calendar" does not
appear in the title and it includes much besides State papers; such a
description also tends to confuse it with the eleven volumes of Henry
VIII.'s State papers published in extenso in 1830-51. The series now
extends to Dec., 1544, and is cited in the text as L. and P..]
[Footnote 3: Cited as Spanish Calendar; the volume completing
Henry's reign was published in 1904.]
[Footnote 4: Cited as Ven. Cal.; this correspondence diminishes in
importance as the reign proceeds, and also, after 1530, the documents
are epitomised afresh in L. and P..]
[Footnote 5: Three series, viz., that edited by Thorp (2 vols., 1858), a
second edited by Bain (2 vols., 1898) and the Hamilton Papers (2 vols.,
1890-92).]
[Footnote 6: Vol. i. of the Irish Calendar, and also of the Carew MSS.;
see also the Calendar of Fiants published by the Deputy-Keeper of
Records for Ireland.]
[Footnote 7: Correspondance de MM. Castillon et Marillac, edited by
Kaulek, and of Odet de Selve, 1888.]
[Footnote 8: The most important of these is vol. i. of Lord Salisbury's
MSS.; other papers of Henry VIII.'s reign are scattered up and down the
Appendices to a score and more of reports.]

[Footnote 9: E.g., Wriothesley's Chronicle, Chron. of Calais, and
Greyfriars Chron.]
[Footnote 10: E.g., Leadam, Domesday of Inclosures, and Transactions,
passim.]
These sources probably contain at least a million definite facts relating
to the reign of Henry VIII.; and it is obvious that the task of selection
has become heavy as well as invidious. Mr. Froude has expressed his
concurrence in the dictum that the facts of history are like the letters of
the alphabet; by selection and arrangement they can be made to spell
anything, and nothing can be arranged so easily as facts. Experto crede.
Yet selection is inevitable, and arrangement essential. The historian has
no option if he wishes to be intelligible. He will naturally arrange his
facts so that they spell what he believes to be the truth; and he must of
necessity suppress those facts which he judges to be immaterial or
inconsistent with the scale on which he is writing. But if the
superabundance of facts compels both selection and suppression, it
counsels no less a restraint of judgment. A case in a court of law is not
simplified by a cloud of witnesses; and the new wealth of
contemporary evidence (p. ix) does not solve the problems of Henry's
reign. It elucidates some points hitherto obscure, but it raises a host of
others never before suggested. In ancient history we often accept
statements written hundreds of years after the event, simply because we
know no better; in modern history we frequently have half a dozen
witnesses giving inconsistent accounts of what they have seen with
their own eyes. Dogmatism is merely the result of ignorance; and no
honest historian will pretend to have mastered all the facts, accurately
weighed all the evidence, or pronounced a final judgment.
The present volume does not profess to do more than roughly sketch
Henry VIII.'s more prominent characteristics, outline the chief features
of his policy, and suggest some reasons for the measure of success he
attained. Episodes such as the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, the
dissolution of the monasteries, and the determination of the relations
between Church and State, would severally demand for adequate
treatment works of much greater bulk than the present. On the divorce

valuable light has recently been thrown by Dr. Stephan Ehses