[Gutenberg 48057] • Ten Tudor Statesmen

Ten Tudor Statesmen was written by Arthur D. Innes (1863 – 1938), also the author of "England Under the Tudors". This book was published in London in 1906. (468 pages) There are also 10 illustrations included at the end of the book. They are also available for viewing and download at [www.digitaltextpublishing.com](http://www.digitaltextpublishing.com)

The Publisher has copy-edited this book to improve the formatting, style and accuracy of the text to make it readable. This did not involve changing the substance of the text.

Contents:

I. Henry VII

II. Cardinal Wolsey

III. Sir Thomas More

IV. Thomas Cromwell

V. Henry VIII

VI. Protector Somerset

VII. Archbishop Cranmer

VIII. William Cecil (Lord Burghley)

IX. Sir Francis Walsingham

X. Sir Walter Raleigh

Prefatory:

.....The series of studies contained in this volume is in no way a history of the Tudor period. My object in preparing it has been first to form in my own mind and secondly to present to my readers a clear and consistent conception of the character of sundry persons, who in their own day either exercised an effective influence on the course of politics, or embodied political ideas which have influenced succeeding generations. The events narrated are considered not in the light of their intrinsic importance, but as they bear on the particular character under investigation.

.....To arrive at a fair estimate of any man's character, the primary necessity is to endeavor to realize his point of view, to appreciate his preconceptions. If we require of him that his preconceptions shall coincide with our own, we may reconstruct an interesting dramatic figure, but we shall not discover the man as he really was. And if we do succeed in placing ourselves at his point of view, we shall almost inevitably find that the man who ultimately emerges is different from, and probably somewhat better than, the man as we had previously conceived him.

.....Concerning these ten figures, two curious points may be noted. Eight of them may be described as ministers: not one of the eight was actually of noble birth, two were not even of gentle birth. That fact emphasises the change in the political centre of gravity which accompanied the establishment of the Tudor Dynasty. Secondly, of those eight, four perished on the scaffold and one at the stake: a sixth was in custody under accusation of treason when death released him. That illustrates not less emphatically the distance at which we stand from the Tudors today.

A.D.I.

Excerpts:

.....This was the man who had grasped a scepter to which it was impossible to establish for him a legal title. In plain truth, he was King of England because he was the only man of the blood-royal who was able to challenge the usurper who was wearing the crown. As far as right of inheritance went, if Edward IV.'s daughters were barred by their sex, the son of Clarence was indubitably the heir of Edward III., whether descent through the female line were admitted or no. Henry might marry Elizabeth of York and claim the crown in her right; but then her death would leave him in a highly anomalous position; it was imperative that he should be accepted himself as the lawful king in his own person. The marriage might make matters perfectly safe for a son, but not for him. Hence even the semblance of depending on his wife's title must be avoided.

.....He had won the realm by the sword; that was the first step. The second was to commit the representatives of the nation to affirm that he was the lawful sovereign: this was effected by a Declaratory Act in Parliament, which judiciously abstained from naming the grounds on which his claim rested. After that was to come the marriage, which should muzzle the partisans of York.