Henry the Great: The England that might have been

By David Holmes

For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the knight was lost, for want of a knight the battle was lost, for want of a battle the kingdom was lost. So a kingdom was lost-all for want of a nail. Sometimes a minor thing can have great consequences. The death of the eldest son of James I of England allowed his brother Charles to take the throne and civil war ensued. Not a story as such but a timeline of what might have been...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781447530787

Book preview

A timeline by David Holmes.

Edited by David Harper

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For want of a shoe the horse was lost,

For want of a horse the knight was lost,

For want of a knight the battle was lost,

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

So, a kingdom was lost - all for want of a nail.

Sometimes a minor thing can have great consequences.

The death of Henry, the eldest son of James I of England allowed his brother Charles to take the throne and civil war ensued.

Not a story as such but a timeline of what might have been had Henry survived...

Chapter 1)

Original Time Line (OTL)

Long recognised as one of the greatest monarchs the United Kingdoms of England and Scotland has produced, Henry IX was a man seemingly destined from birth to be one of the great movers and shakers of history.

Born in Scotland (19th February 1594) at Stirling castle, the son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. He was christened at midsummer and it is said that the central event in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, written shortly after, was based on the royal baptismal party.

His father had high expectations of his eldest and in 1598 wrote the ‘Basilikon Doron’ (Royal Gift) giving guidelines as to how a successful monarch should rule his subjects.

(1594) Henry Stuart was born. He was immediately given the titles Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Lord of the Isles, confirming him in the highest of Scottish titles.

(1603) Elizabeth I died and James VI becomes James I of England. He confirmed Henry as Duke of Cornwall.

(1605) The Gunpowder plot.

(1610) Henry was confirmed as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. Bringing together the titles which every male monarch who has subsequently occupied the throne of Britain has held. During this time Henry also befriended Sir Walter Raleigh as well as establishing a correspondence with Henry VI of France and Gustav Adolphus of Sweden. Though when his father suggested a French marriage, he answered that he was 'resolved that two religions should not lie in his bed'.

(1611) King James Bible published.

(1612) (This is the Point of Departure from the Original Time Line (OTL)). In November Henry decided to take an unseasonable swim in the Thames, subsequently contracted typhoid and was only saved by the intervention of his friend Sir Walter Raleigh who, despite being in the Tower of London, procured some quinine to break the fever. (In OTL Henry died and Charles became the successor.)

(1612 – 1625) During this time Henry added to his increasing popularity by living a fairly austere protestant lifestyle (as opposed to the decadence of the Jacobean court). He championed such causes as naval reform and reconstruction, and, with an eye to the future, colonisation especially of Virginia, as well as encouraging various ‘troublemaking’ protestant sects to set up their own colonies in the New World. He also interceded with his father to stay the execution of his friend and mentor Sir Walter Raleigh. It was during this time that Henry was betrothed in marriage to Maria Elisabet of Sweden, daughter of Charles IX and his second wife, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. The marriage was ostensibly a happy one, though rumours abounded of internal strife between the young couple, though this was mostly due to the couple both being very intelligent and having fixed views on what was needed for the Kingdom. Though an initial friendship with Henry IV of France's son, Louis XIII, had been established, this relationship became strained over the years as the influence of Louis' mother and her protégé Cardinal Richeleiu dominated Louis' life. Henry also became famous for chivalry and his patronage of artists, architects, and men-of-letters seemed to promise that the reign would be a potential golden age for Britain. His friendship with various members of Parliament (despite James having dissolved it) and his preparedness to listen to reason, even if it went against his views, frequently brought him into strife with his father when he voiced them. It is thought that it was at this time that Henry's later reforms of Parliament and taxation were formulated by his discussions and friendship with William Cavendish, John Byron and the lawyer, John Bradshaw. His knowledge of Robert Cecil's ‘Great Contract’ undoubtedly played a part as well.

(1618) Henry and Maria's first child, a son, James Alexander was born.

(1619) Charles was married to Elisabeth von Nassau-Siegen.

(1621) Henry and Maria's second child, a son, Robert William was born.

(1624) Charles' wife died in childbirth as did the child, a daughter.

(1625) This year saw the death of James I of England, a man who started off in great popularity with the English but whose actions over the years, including his most cherished ambition – the union of England and Scotland – were thwarted by Parliament, who objected to James's wish to rename the joint realm 'Britain'. To Parliament, a new name meant a new kingdom in which James would be free to set himself up as an absolute emperor. In contrast, Parliament would be a mere provincial assembly.

James's reaction was to try to enact the Union symbolically, using his own powers under the royal prerogative. By proclamation he assumed the title 'King of Great Britain'. He then announced a new union currency, Royal Coat of Arms and flag.

Not content with symbols, he also practiced a union by stealth by filling his bedchamber, the inner circle of his court, almost exclusively with Scots. James took a more than fatherly interest in Scots’ lads with well-turned legs and firm buttocks, but recruiting them also suited him politically.

James had inherited a substantial debt from Elizabeth. He also had a large family to maintain and wanted to spend money on his favourites and pleasures. The crown's 'ordinary income' from land and custom duties was hopelessly inadequate, and there was no choice but to ask Parliament for more money. But Parliament saw no reason why English tax payers' money should end up in the pockets of Scottish favourites.

Upon his accession, in 1625 Henry was crowned, despite Parliament's objections, as King of Britain. However, one of his first acts as King was to assemble Parliament to sort out the Royal finances and, despite his inclination towards the divine right of Kings, Henry accepted a modified version of the Great Contract, allowing his household an income of £250,000 per annum. In return Henry gave up his feudal privileges and despite the occasional bouts of acrimony a working relationship (of sorts) was established. Indeed, Parliament saw the need to strengthen the Kingdom both militarily and financially and, with the support of the King, looked for means to increase commerce and trade in order to pay for naval and military reconstruction.

At this time Henry also dismissed all of James I's favourites from the court including George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, a man whom he distrusted greatly and whom he had prevented inveigling his dying father into declaring war on Spain. Removing several of his titles in the process, Henry had Villiers exiled to Scotland. Henry then appointed the capable John Pym to represent him in France in negotiations with Cardinal Richelieu over concerns with the Huguenot Protestants currently in revolt at La Rochelle in France. This Pym managed successfully, despite his disdain for Catholicism, allowing an earlier Huguenot exodus to England and Ireland with a corresponding transfer of dissidents in return. The resulting gain to the English and Irish economies further boosted Henry's attempts to revitalize Britain. Henry also appointed Thomas Wentworth, as his President of the Council of the North after dismissing Emmanuel Scrope, Earl of Sunderland, from his position for suspected Catholic sympathies. Henry, although like his father being tolerant of other faiths, was determined always to have ultimate control over the organizations that controlled them. Henry was also able to recruit Ernst Von Mansfeldt to advise him on military affairs. This after Maria had persuaded him not to get involved in funding a Danish attempt to seize the Palatinate, despite it being his sister's husband's original demesne and her pressurising him to permit it.

(1626) Henry appointed his brother Charles to represent the ‘King’ at the Scottish Parliament. This was meant to free Charles from his entanglements with extreme Protestant groups and isolate him from various influences within the royal court. All this led to was Charles coming under the influence of James' old cabal, including Buckingham, who resented their loss of influence (and wealth) within the ‘English’ court.

(1627) Henry and Maria's third child, a daughter, Christina Elizabeth, was born. The labour was difficult and the subsequent fever left Maria barren and prone to bouts of weakness, though she still remained her husband's enduring love. It was at this time that Henry, horrified at the actions of the doctors, actively started to seek out ‘men of knowledge, science and the arts’ It was his desire to see his kingdom as a shining beacon of light and progress.

(1628) By now Henry had consolidated his position as monarch in England and Wales, though was still struggling to sort out the nation’s finances to his satisfaction (and advantage). In order to increase his influence, Henry proposed to Parliament a review of the Magna Carta with a view to ‘expanding the influence of the realm in its dealings with all good men’. Henry's main thoughts at the time, according to his chronicler, were towards increasing the size of Parliament by including new boroughs as well as denuding Parliament of its rotten ones (and increasing his influence by patronage). He immediately faced opposition in the form of Robert Devereaux, 3rd Earl of Essex, a man who had been married to Frances Howard, Countess of Suffolk, in 1606, but was divorced by James I so that she could marry one of his favourites. Devereaux, a man who hated the Stuarts with a passion, his first act was to gather up like-minded men in an attempt to limit the King's power and to tie him to Parliament's tail by causing Henry to dissolve Parliament as his father had and foment dissent within the country. By constant thwarting of debate by means of gerrymandering and prevarication all Devereaux managed to do was isolate himself and his followers from the moderates within Parliament who wanted reform. Henry himself spent little time debating. Being a man of action, he was currently using his new wealth to support and finance endeavours abroad, as well as having the keels laid of a new generation of warships. He preferred to leave debate in the hands of his confidants, William Cavendish, John Byron and John Bradshaw. At length though, Parliament produced a set of proposals to which the King felt himself able to give assent.

The main proposals were:

• No taxes to be levied without consent of Parliament;

• No subject to be imprisoned without cause (this reaffirmed the right of habeas corpus);

• Enfranchisement of all men having a value in property of over £1,000;

• Constituency reform in that all voting boroughs shall have an equal number of voters;

• Parliament to be increased to represent the new franchises.

At this time Parliament agreed to properly finance the King in order to expand the Navy. In return the King would give up his right to the Sea Tax, Knight's tax and various other means monarchs had used to obtain additional income without recourse to Parliament.

Parliament also allowed Henry the tonnage and poundage (customs) income to be allocated towards the Navy.

(1629) With a guaranteed income from the state to meet the needs of his now modest court and economic growth within the country, Henry's mind was turned to what he saw as the greatest threat to the internal peace of the realm, religion. Though a devout protestant believer himself, Henry had become alarmed over the years at the treatment of other fine men who had other beliefs, indeed he was aware of the possibilities of this treatment driving them into the arms of those extremists who wanted a Catholic takeover.

Yet the Protestants of England had very good reason to fear foreign Catholic powers and their influence.

In the 1550's Bloody Queen Mary had burned nearly 300 Protestants at the stake simply for opposing her rule.

The Spanish Inquisition was still a force to be reckoned with abroad, particularly Spain, one of the two premier powers on the continent.

(1560) The Spanish Duke of Alva massacred Protestant civilians in the Netherlands, suppressing a revolt.

(1573) The St Bartholemew Massacre in Paris, where Catholics had murdered 5,000 to 30,000 (estimated) Protestants in cold blood, took place, crippling the Huguenot cause.

(1558) The Spanish Armada and several Catholic plots against Elizabeth were dealt with.

There was still the Catholic Church's threat to recover all the land stolen from them by Henry VIII.

Indeed, his own father had been the subject of the Gunpowder plot. So, the fears were very real.

Henry called a conclave of religious leaders to discuss the issues involved, hoping for a solution as he himself resolved to make Britain so tough a nut to crack that foreign adventurism would be looked at as an act of desperation by the Catholic super-states of France or Spain.

(1630) The Conclave held in York was currently stalemated, often resulting in brawls between various factions and churchmen. That no-one had died was more due to the result of Henry's royal guards searching the attendees for edged weapons than any act of God. Many of the Puritan representatives had also threatened to boycott the Conclave when they were made aware of the need to include some Roman Catholic laymen. Only a personal appeal by the King and Queen brought them unwillingly to the debate.

The first of the new naval craft built by Henry took to sea. Looked upon as the most heavily armed ship of its type in the world, its duties were to patrol the English Channel to deal with various pirates and slavers operating in the area. Others were near completion and would be used to extend British influence both around the islands and in the New World.

(1631) The ‘Great Conclave’ finally yielded results, though they were not to anyone's great satisfaction they produced a compromise most could live with. The most controversial was the call for a ‘Freedom of Religion’ whereby no man could be forced to worship in a manner he found not to his taste. This would essentially mean that Roman Catholicism would be tolerated again (though not loved by those in authority). The Puritan influence within Anglicanism was salved by moves to unite with Lutheranism (the puritans, being essentially patriarchal, nevertheless had a great admiration for Henry's Queen and her ‘simple piety’). There was recognition too for such groups such as the Quakers and other dissident religious organisations. The downside from Henry's point of view was that the Conclave concluded that he could no longer be the secular head of God's Church in England. This meant in essence that he was being asked to hand over to the church various religious properties he still held in trust as its head. The downside from Parliament's view was the conclave asking them to remove the laws requiring mandatory attendance at an Anglican church. Not that removing a law was difficult, but because of the rancorous debate that followed on the ‘probable decline in moral standards’. The one thing all agreed upon was the Conclave's statement that ‘All men must come to God, though it is to the weakness of man that God has provided many paths in His church. Yet all good men must be subject to the laws of this land and its King, seeking not to undermine that which is good and proper.’ And so, it was decided. Church and State must separate and remain separated. As later historians put it, ‘It was not easy and it was not immediate and were it not for Henry's decision to allow free transport to the New World for those who could not live in peace together then the circumstances which followed would likely have been so much worse’.

Britain's fleet at this time had now increased to 60 ships of the line, ten of which were the new type based on the ‘Sovereign of the Seas’ with a further fifteen under construction.

At this time Henry and Parliament also made major investments in the New World, expanding the colonies and building two new shipyards and ship repair facilities. At this time also the colonists came into conflict with those of New France and New Holland. A low-key war of raid and counter-raid commenced, with both sides picking off each other's outposts and shipping. The British colonists however had the advantage of numbers and infrastructure as their King and Parliament had been encouraging growth and industry in their lands since before he became King.

(1632) France however had other plans for dealing with Britain and its upstart people. Henry's spies in the French court had got wind of plans to invade Ireland. This however, was a ruse to take Henry and Parliament’s eye off what was about to happen in Scotland. It meant that the British Navy was out in strength around the Irish coast when the real plan was sprung.

Charles, Henry’s brother, under the influence of various Scottish and English nobles who were rightly fearful of losing their influence and power, was crowned King of Scotland in Stirling. Bankrolled by France and promised French troops in support, many (though not a majority) in Scotland rallied to his side seeking independence. To add to Henry's woes, the Devereaux uprising began with Essex and Kentish militias seeking to free their counties of pernicious foreign influences (Huguenots) forced on them by the King.

The British Civil war had begun.

Chapter 2)

(1632) Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and now rebel against the crown, was a seasoned military commander and Parliamentarian, having served three times abroad in the Bohemian rebellion and war of the Palatinate (OTL 30-years war). His distaste for the House of Stuart, stemming from losing his wife, Frances Howard, Countess of Suffolk, in 1606, in a forced divorce by James I so that she could marry James' favourite. This had hardened into hatred over what he saw as the betrayal of the Palatinate by the refusal of Henry to support any foreign adventures during the time of national rebuilding. Gathering together various disgruntled and ambitious nobles, many of whom were facing financial ruin due to the inflation of James I’s reign by having fixed rents on their land tenants along with poor investments abroad. Taking advantage of a poorly organised local rebellion in Essex and Kent against the Huguenots, Devereaux gathered an army with the intent of marching on London and restoring England's rightful place in the world. Many historians have argued over the years just what Devereaux's intentions actually were. Was he a republican or just a usurper? No one, not even Devereaux, seemed to know for sure. Many of the nobles and their personal retinues fighting for Devereaux seemed to have their own agenda, though all seemed to agree this ‘Merchant’ King must go. The Rebellion in Scotland seemed perfect for them to get what they wanted and divide up the spoils afterwards. Unfortunately for them, Charles' seeming indecision in Scotland after taking the Scottish crown (he was in fact waiting for French reinforcements and coinage), left them the first to face Henry.

Henry however had his own problems, the calling out of the various militias to face Charles and Devereaux was not going well. Though having many loyal supporters, there were also many who had decided to sit on the fence, deciding that a problem in Scotland was not their problem. So, it took several months for Henry to assemble a force of 10,000 men to face Devereaux and his 8,000 in Essex.

Henry's chronicler noted the King's reaction to the march to face Devereaux. ‘His majesty is not amused by the damage to his kingdom that the militias perform. Theft, arson, rape, and murder seem to follow in the wake of the armies billeting on the roads to find the rebels. The noble commanders seem to have no control over their men. Indeed, many seem not to know where their