Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-23
THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ENGLAND.


ness from designation of the reigns under
which they were enacted, so the history of
our ancestors takes permanency and order
10 our memories from clear arrangement
in our minds of the successive dynasties
which have occupied the throne.
1t is not very profitable to discuss the
history of England or her rulers previous to
the Norman Conquest, since little more
than the names of individuals and events
have come down to us free from conjecture.
In the shadowy light of the first ten CEN
turtles of our era, we catch a glimpse of
British, Danish and Saxon kings fitting
through scenes Of blood, the origin of which
we understand as little as we do their short
intervals Of repose, and this is nearly all.
A strong light, however, is thrown upon
King Harold H., the last type of the early
stock, by the very magnitude of his loss at
Hastings; it was no less than life and the
British crown. On this occasion, in the
person OF William the Conqueror, came a
line of sovereigns to the English throne,
one of whose branches, after the lapse of
eight centuries, still sways the sceptre. The
Norman Kings, after about century, dur
ing which they were occupied in securing
and extending their power in Britain, re-
ceiyed the name PEantage7lets in 1854, of
whom Henry II. was the first. The desig
nation pldTte genet, a sprig Of broom, is of
French origin. Henry II. was the great
grandson of the Conqueror, the grandson
Of Henry L., Of England, the son of the
French Earl of Anjou and Matilda,
daughter Of Henry 1. The French
Earl of Anjou was called Godfrey
PLGntGgenet, deriving the latter designation
from a sprig of broom which be used to
wear in his cap. Henry II. adopted this
cognomen of his father, and it was borne by
fourteen English soyereigns in direct sue
cession until 1885, when King Richard Ill,
the last of the Plantagenets who succeeded
to the throne, persisted on the field of Bos
worth, and the Earl of Richmond was pro-
claimed King of England under the title of
Henry VII, thus introducing the line of
the Tudors. Many circumstances in Eng
fish history are unknown to majority of
Englishmen, but of this circumsta nee the
genius Of Shakespeare has rendered the
knowledge universal.
During the reign of the Plantagenets, the
law Of succession was not sufficiently
established, or rather acquiesced in by
the people, to prevent dispute about
titles. The war Of tie Roses
was q family quarrel between the des-
cendants Of Edward Ill "That monarch
was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II,
who being deposed, the Duke Of Lancaster
was proclaimed King, by the title Of Henry
~, in prejudice to the Duke of York, the
right heir TO the crown; he being descend
ed from Lionel The second son of Edward
Ill, whereas the Duke of Lancaster was
the son of John Of GaUnt, the third son Of
King Edward" The Prince Of Wales,
eldest son of Edward was the celebrated
Edward, the Black Prince, so called from
the color of his armour; he died shortly
before his father, and was lanented by the
whole nation. Had Edward the Black
Prince, lived to succeed his father,
England would have escaped the most
tedious and desolating civil war known
to her annals. The symbol of the
'partisans of the House of York was a
white rose, that of the Lancastriaus a red
rose. According to the present accepted
law of succession, the Duke of Lancaster
usurped the throne in 1877, but in 1885,
Richard Ill, though Of the House Of York,
was also usurper, that is, he was not the
nearest of kin to the line Of unquestioned title.
Henry VII. the " Richmond on the seas, -
was himself a usurper, his mother being
alive and preceding him in the order Of
succession. Still he was no. "usurper"
in the legal sense Of the word. Lord Hale
in his commentary on the laws of England
does not put him down as such. He speci-
fes only four surpers Stephen, John,
Henry III. and Richard III. Henry
VII. gave peace to the country,
and as head of Lancaster, he
married Elizabeth, daughter of Ed
ward ", of the House of York, thus uni
ting the roses. Henry VII. was the
first of the five sovereigns Of the Tudor
line, Queen Eliza beth being the last, the
family having occupied the throne from
1885 to 1908. They received the name Tu-
dor, from Sir Owen Tudor, the grandfather
of Henry VII. The father of Henry VII
was Edmond, an earl of Richmond, and
half brother to King Henry VI, son Of Sir
Owen Tudor and Catherine, widow of
Henry Y. Of France.
Under this family, England assumed
her rank as a first rate power IN Europe,
from which she has never TeCeded. Henry
VII. before he died was the richest Prince
in Europe, and the commerce Of his realm,
small as it was compared with the present,
was probably superior TO that of any other
nation Of the world. Under Hen
ry VIII. still greater advances
were made in commerce, arts, and
literature; the English Reformation was in
augurated, the Pope was repudiatod, and
the Church of England founded. Under
Elizabeth, the last of the Tudors, England
greatly extended the limits of her authority.
The Tudors, with the exception of Mary,
were distinguished for their talents, their
naughty spirit, and their popularity. In
the words of Macaulay: "The people ad-
mired the high and fiery blood of their
sovereigns."
In 1903, the Stuart family assembled tie
throne Of England in the person of James l.
called also James VIZ of Scotland, who was
the son of Mary Queen Of Scots, who was
the daughter of James V. of Scotland, and
grand daughter of tie eldest daughter Of
Henry VII, of England; the eldest daughter
n IJoDvrv Tarrarat rOsrriad Iamas " Of