{"product_id":"2940013708730","title":"The Spanish Marriage","description":"England in the early years of Henry VIII may be seen as a newly risen\u003cbr\u003epower, with continental commitments; a rich country, thanks to the\u003cbr\u003eeconomies of the King's father, and for this reason sought as an ally by\u003cbr\u003ethe more considerable States. Her traditional friendships were with Spain\u003cbr\u003eand Portugal, her enmities with Scotland and France; of these latter,\u003cbr\u003eScotland, crushed by the victory of Flodden in 1513, gave little trouble\u003cbr\u003eduring Henry's reign.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Empire was a sprawling net of territories that included Spain, the\u003cbr\u003eNetherlands, Burgundy, Sicily, and Naples, with a host of small\u003cbr\u003eprincipalities, electorates, and bishoprics in Central Europe, now\u003cbr\u003edrawing together against the advancing menace of the Turk. These\u003cbr\u003eterritories encircled France, and perpetually threatened, according to\u003cbr\u003ethe temper of their masters, that compact kingdom. In 1521, Charles,\u003cbr\u003egrandson of Ferdinand of Aragon, was elected to the imperial throne, and\u003cbr\u003ethereby found himself heir to an alliance with England, together with a\u003cbr\u003econsiderable debt; Henry VIII had lent money to his wife's relatives for\u003cbr\u003ewars in Barbary and for the quieting of the Low Countries. Charles was\u003cbr\u003eprepared to accept and further this alliance, without any wish to add to\u003cbr\u003ehis responsibilities by conquest, and to pay the debt by any means which\u003cbr\u003edid not involve the passing of money. The New World had not yet begun to\u003cbr\u003eyield its treasures. The Emperor, for all his power, was poor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrance was ruled by a young man of great personal courage but indifferent\u003cbr\u003ejudgment, Francis I. He succeeded Louis XII, who had no children by his\u003cbr\u003emarriage with Mary, a sister of Henry VIII. This marriage left no trace\u003cbr\u003ein French history, and English history is concerned with it only because\u003cbr\u003eLouis' death left his widow free to marry the Duke of Suffolk; from her\u003cbr\u003eJane Grey's claim to the English Crown derived. Francis, quarrelsome,\u003cbr\u003estill had the wit to perceive that no country could deal successfully\u003cbr\u003ewith enemies attacking from all sides; and when Burgundy, Spain, Navarre\u003cbr\u003eand the Netherlands came together under Charles, he attempted to shield\u003cbr\u003ehimself against invasion from the west by friendship with England. This\u003cbr\u003eplan wrecked itself on the personality of Henry, jealous of the French\u003cbr\u003eKing's success in war--he had won Milan and Genoa at the age of\u003cbr\u003etwenty--and inclined by tradition and family ties to side with the\u003cbr\u003eEmpire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Pope from 1513 to 1521 was Leo X, a Medici, whose predecessors in\u003cbr\u003eFlorence France had, not long before, dispossessed. As a temporal\u003cbr\u003esovereign he was England's ally, and when his spiritual authority began\u003cbr\u003eto be disputed he found English theology at his service. Luther's theses\u003cbr\u003eon Predestination and the Sacraments were combated, the first by Erasmus,\u003cbr\u003ethe second by Henry, who gained thereby the title of Defender of the\u003cbr\u003eFaith which has remained with the English Crown. Germany took the disease\u003cbr\u003eof heresy first and badly; ten years of it threatened to split the\u003cbr\u003eEmpire. Persecutions had not been unknown hitherto in Europe, but as\u003cbr\u003eprinting and translation spread knowledge of the Bible, they multiplied.\u003cbr\u003eThe Reformation was a political force from its inception.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the time Mary, Princess of England, was born her father was\u003cbr\u003etwenty-five, Francis three years younger, and Charles a boy of sixteen,\u003cbr\u003enot yet Emperor. The two former were near in temperament as in years,\u003cbr\u003ewarlike, absolute, and jealous. Charles physically was no match for\u003cbr\u003eeither; he was poor, prudent, and peaceful to hold his own, though he had\u003cbr\u003ea heavy hand with rebellion. The approaches and withdrawals of these\u003cbr\u003ethree men, with the spiritual war in which according to temperament they\u003cbr\u003etook sides, made twenty years of the history of Europe.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47156133396720,"sku":"2940013708730","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013708730_p0.jpg?v=1763584667","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013708730","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}