[Henry VIII] Tudor Crown

There is no doubt that the death of the Duke of Suffolk dealt an immeasurable blow to Henry VIII.With the generous funding of the king, the first minister in the Tudor era was buried in St. George's Church, where the Knights of the Garter pay pilgrimage to the king every year, and the glory of countless Knights of the Garter will live here forever.

"Let the Marquis of Dorset handle the funeral of the Duke of Suffolk. Since the couple will inherit the title of the Duke of Suffolk, they should also do something to inherit the title." Henry VIII who returned to Hampton Palace After retiring the serving staff, he looked much older and weaker: "Tell the Marchioness of Dorset that I will personally attend her father's funeral."

Henry VIII thought about the relationship between the Duke of Suffolk and his daughters, and he was a little worried: "As for the Countess of Nottingham, as one of the heirs of the Duke of Suffolk, the Princess of Wales will take her to the Suffolk Duke Fokker's funeral."

"But Your Majesty, the Princess of Wales will be returning to Belgium in the near future, and I'm afraid I won't be able to make it in time for the Duke's funeral." Richard Cromwell, who was in charge of the message, said suddenly: "Enrique II has some urgent matters and the Princess of Wales needs to go back. So Her Royal Highness originally planned to leave by boat this afternoon."

"What can happen in Belgium? As long as François, who annexed Luxembourg, wants to be a monster again, what can't be slowed down?" Henry VIII said angrily, "Could it be that she can't even make time for the funeral?" out?"

The double-standard king who is stricter on others and more lenient on himself hopes that everyone will feel as uncomfortable as him, but the reality has dealt him a fatal blow.

"It was the Protestants of La Rochelle who sent a distress message to Henry II of Belgium." Richard Cromwell carefully looked at Henry VIII's face, hoping not to offend the Tudor tyrant: " Enrique II hopes that the Princess of Wales will preside over this matter, which can be regarded as paving the way for her succession. Besides, the Princess of Wales has not returned to Belgium for a long time. If things go on like this, I am afraid that the Belgian subjects will find it difficult to convince Her Royal Highness the Princess.”

"That's the truth." Henry VIII nodded approvingly, and the dying plight of the Duke of Suffolk appeared in his mind, and he couldn't help but rejoice that he was a king whose male heir was about to come of age—but he couldn't relax his vigilance yet, because his The illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy died suddenly after getting married, leaving only a young widow and a posthumous woman: "It is troublesome for women to succeed to the throne. First, they can't lead the army to fight, and second, they can't get rid of marriage's interference in royal power. Card Isabella of Styria is a minority after all, and Princess Mary is not as capable as her mother, but compared to Juana..."

Henry VIII couldn't help squinting his eyes, recalling the rumors about Princess Juana in his mind, and finally sighed with a little doubt on his lips: "Juana is a good boy."

At least from the perspective of this era, there is no more suitable marriage partner than Juana.But Henry VIII always felt that Juana was too assertive, and even compared with Catherine of Aragon, she was not much inferior.

"Little Mr. Cromwell, what do you think of William?" Henry VIII set his sights on Richard Cromwell - the latter had stayed by William Tudor's side for several years, accompanying the former Lived through the most important period of growing up, so you should know William Tudor well.

Richard Cromwell was taken aback by Henry VIII's sudden question, wondering how to answer so as to preserve the Prince of Wales and satisfy Henry VIII: "Your Majesty, as father and monarch , should be the only person in England who is qualified to comment on the Prince of Wales, so please allow me to find the most suitable answer.”

"Hmph! You really are a good son Thomas Cromwell taught." Of course, Henry VIII understood that this question was an open trap, no matter whether the answer was good or not, he would be questioned by him.It's just that compared to Thomas Cromwell, this young boy is still too tender.At least Thomas Cromwell could somewhat read his mind and give a vague answer.

However, judging from Richard Cromwell's age, it is enough for him to be in awe and not betray William Tudor under the pressure of Henry VIII.

[He is a smart man who can still be used after the Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne. 】

Henry VIII averted his eyes to the fiery fireplace, and had a new appreciation for Richard Cromwell.

"Go and find John Dudley and William Cecil." Henry VIII knew that he would only have a few more years to live than the Duke of Suffolk, so he always wanted to arrange for William Tudor before his death. Take care of everything to prevent him from being held hostage by powerful officials for a lifetime like the unlucky James V.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the old group of nobles are dying and declining.The only person who can be called lingering is Thomas Percy, the seventh Earl of Northumberland. His father, Henry Percy, had a relationship with Anne Boleyn, but after Thomas Wolsey and Henry VIII Under the strong intervention, the man had to break up with Anne Boleyn, and then the elders of the family arranged a well-matched marriage for Henry Percy.

But compared to his father who was beaten with a club, Thomas Percy was not much better.Because his father and grandfather were both Catholic supporters, after conspiring with the Seymour brothers to kill the Prince of Wales, in order to save the rest of the family, Thomas Percy's father asked the butler to kill himself, so Henry VIII He couldn't hold the Percy family accountable for his faults, so he could only suppress Thomas Percy's title and plan to transfer it to others.

You must know that the titles of England at this time are still in a relatively sufficient stage. It is far from the situation in the late fifteenth century, when no duke can be found in the whole country.

Because the Tudor dynasty was the ultimate beneficiary of the "War of the Roses", Henry VII knew that powerful nobles could easily lead to frequent changes in kingship.Although the cause of the war between the York family and the Lancaster family was that Margaret of Anjou forcibly executed the Duke of York, but the root cause was that the king was too weak and the nobles were too strong.That's why the Duke of York dared to ask the Parliament to list him as the first heir to the throne. He didn't care that Henry VI already had a legal child, and he didn't mind Margaret of Anjou's undisguised anger.

Therefore, after learning the lessons of the Lancaster family, both Henry VII and Henry VIII devoted themselves to weakening the power of the great nobles and suppressing any collateral blood that could claim the throne.

During the reign of Henry VII alone, nine nobles were deprived of their titles, and three nobles were permanently deprived of their territories and family titles.During the reign of Henry VIII, the number of deprived titles rose to twelve, among which the Duke of Buckingham and the previously executed Duke of Norfolk belonged to the subjects of permanent deprivation.

After some weighing, Henry VIII retained their titles, collected most of the land, and then bequeathed a small part to his children.

Because Miss Elizabeth has some relatives with the Howard family, and Henry VIII did not want the Prince of Wales to take up too much land and title, so after the death of the two sons of the Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII decided to add Miss Elizabeth to the throne. The Countess of Mary, and then married her to the Earl of Morrie, the illegitimate son of James V, to ensure that after Mary Stuart arrived in England, there would be his blood relatives in Scotland to equally divide the power of the Earls of Angus and Earls of Arron, Don't let the Scottish throne be completely emptied.

"Your Majesty, Sir Dudley and Sir Cecil have arrived."

Henry VIII, who was in deep thought, was brought back to his senses by Richard Cromwell's announcement, so he waved at the latter and motioned him to go down.

"Your Majesty." Both John Dudley and William Cecil took off their hats to Henry VIII, and then sat down very stiffly in front of the old king.

"Dear two gentlemen, I am very glad that you are willing to accept my invitation in spite of your busy schedule." Henry VIII tried his best to calm down his face, not letting the leg injury affect his thinking ability.

"How are your discussions with the Spaniards, Sir Dudley?"

Because the pirates in England received the invisible support of Henry VIII, and they played an unparalleled role in the Dutch War.Therefore, under the suggestion of William Tudor, Henry VIII incorporated these pirates as special inspectors-as long as they handed over one-fifth of the goods they robbed, then His Majesty the King would not be able to do so unless he received local merchant ships or military pay. The news of being robbed, otherwise I would not care what the pirates did.

However, after being unable to rob merchant ships in the English Channel, the pirates expanded their activities to the vicinity of Cape St. Vincent, and finally made an earth-shattering big ticket-they robbed a Spanish treasure ship transporting silver from America.

You must know that Charles V at that time was waiting for silver from America to ease war expenses (he was fighting with France again).

As a result, after the British pirates intervened in this way, Charles V was so angry that he imprisoned all the British merchants in the Habsburg territory, and even confiscated their property, prohibiting domestic trade with England.

Does Henry VIII have a statement on this?

Have.

But the statement was to ask Charles V to release the imprisoned English merchants as soon as possible, and said nothing about the robbed American silver, as if this had never happened.

As for the banning of English merchants, Henry VIII was briefly concerned, but Thomas Cromwell and William Tudor felt that this was not a big problem.

Because as early as after the Netherlands was divided among the three, England's main commodities were bound to the Netherlands and sold to all parts of Europe and even the Ottoman Empire through the Schmalkar Union.So if you really want to look closely, England's exports to Spain have been decreasing year after year under the influence of the policies of the two countries.

What made William Tudor feel speechless the most was that half of the wool products that Charles V bought from the Hansa merchants in Germany were MADEIN England—after all, the handicraft workshops in the Netherlands are much more developed than those in Germany, and the handicrafts Fees are often the place where you can get the most premium.

John Dudley has been busy dealing with the Spanish ambassador these days.After all, Henry VIII's request was for Charles V to release the English merchants in Spain as soon as possible, but he refused to accept Charles V's request to return the silver or hang the pirates.

This brought the negotiations between the two countries to a deadlock.

John Dudley, whose hair was about to fall out of worry, struggled with the ugly Spanish ambassador for a week before handing over an eye-catching negotiation draft.

Silver, return one-half, but those freed English merchants must confiscate their property in Spain.

In this regard, Henry VIII's answer was to drink a glass of wine, and then yelled at John Dudley lightly: "Go away, let Thomas Cromwell negotiate instead of you."