The century just closing was indeed one of the most remarkable in history, not only in what it had actually accomplished, but still more in the seed it was sowing for the future.  The celebrated German artist Kaulbach, in his fresco of “The Age of the Reformation,” has summed up all that it was, and all that it was destined to become in its full development.

Therein we see it as the period which witnessed the introduction of firearms, and the consequent overthrow of feudal warfare and feudal institutions; the growth of the power of royalty and of nationality through royalty; the sailing of Columbus and of Cabot; the revival of classical learning; the publication of the first printed book; and finally, the birth of Martin Luther, the monk who broke away from the Catholic Church, and persuaded many people to become Protestants.

337.  Summary.

Looking back, we find that with Henry VII the absolutism of the Crown, or “personal monarchy,” began in England.  Yet the repressive power of that “personal monarchy” procured peace for the English people and, despite “benevolences” and other exactions, they grew into a stronger national unity.

Simultaneously with this increase of royal authority came the discovery of a “New World,” in which England and her colonies were to have the chief part.  A century will elapse before those discoveries begin to bear fruit.  After that, our attention will no longer be confined to the British Islands, but will be fixed as well on that western continent where British enterprise and English love of liberty were destined to find a new and broader field of activity.

Henry VIII—­1509-1547

338.  Henry’s Advantages.

Henry VIII was not quite eighteen when he came to the throne.  The country was at peace, was fairly prosperous, and the young King had everything in his favor.  He was handsome, well educated, and fond of athletic sports.  His frank disposition won friends everywhere, and he had inherited from his father the largest private fortune that had ever descended to an English sovereign.  Intellectually, he was in hearty sympathy with the revival of learning, then in progress both on the Continent and in England.

339.  The New Learning; Colet, Erasmus, More.

During the greater part of the Middle Ages the chief object of education was to make men monks, and originally the schools established at Oxford and Cambridge were exclusively for that purpose.  In their day they did excellent work; but a time came when men ceased to found monasteries, and began to erect colleges and hospitals instead.[1]

[1] In the twelfth century four hundred and eighteen monasteries were founded in England; in the next century, only about a third as many; in the fourteenth, only twenty-three; after that date their establishment may be said to cease.

In the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries William of Wykeham and King Henry VI built and endowed colleges which were specially designed to fit their pupils to live in the world and serve the state, instead of withdrawing from it to seek their own salvation.