King Henry VII, by a painter of the sixteenth-century British School in the manner of Anglo-Dutch artist Hans Holbein (?1497-1543). Henry came to the throne in 1485 by defeating Richard III in battle at Bosworth in Leicestershire. To end the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic struggle for the crown that had been rumbling on for thirty years, Henry married Edward IV’s daughter (Richard’s niece) Elizabeth of York in 1486, but had to face several conspiracies hatched by the Yorkists. Henry kept government in his own hands, sharing it with few but a select circle of shrewd financiers including Sir Richard Empson (?1450-1510) and Edmund Dudley (?1462-1510), and his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509).
Introduction
King Henry VII, so Sir Francis Bacon tells us, aspired to be held in awe by his subjects, rather than in love. To this end he employed spies not only in the courts of his European neighbours but also in England, and kept abreast of all that was going in his own court by compiling private notebooks in which the words and deeds of every courtier were carefully recorded.
AS for his secret spials* which he did employ both at home and abroad, by them to discover what practices and conspiracies were against him; surely his case required it; he had such moles perpetually working and casting* to undermine him.* Neither can it be reprehended; for if spials be lawful against lawful enemies, much more against conspirators and traitors. But indeed to give them credence by oaths or curses, that cannot be well maintained for those are too holy vestments for a disguise.* Yet surely there was this further good in his employing of these flies and familiars: that as the use of them was cause that many conspiracies were revealed, so the fame and suspicion of them kept (no doubt) many conspiracies from being attempted. [...]
That is, acts of surveillance; the word (now obsolete) was also used to mean ‘spies’.
That is, digging beneath the ground and throwing up earth upon earth to form a molehill; compare ‘worm cast’.
One of the most industrious of these ‘moles’ was Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV and of Richard III, the king whose crown Henry had taken at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. From Burgundy (the Duchy she held following the death of her husband Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy) she worked to undermine Henry’s government and was behind the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. There were also popular uprisings against Henry’s government in Yorkshire (1489) and Cornwall (1497).
Sir Francis prefers covert spying to getting suspects to swear allegiance and loyalty on the Bible.
Précis
In his history of the reign of Henry VII, Sir Francis Bacon recorded that the king had instituted a network of spies throughout the kingdom. Given the repeated conspiracies against Henry, said Sir Francis, it was a wise and justified course, and better than abusing the Bible by getting suspects to swear loyalty upon it. (55 / 60 words)
In his history of the reign of Henry VII, Sir Francis Bacon recorded that the king had instituted a network of spies throughout the kingdom. Given the repeated conspiracies against Henry, said Sir Francis, it was a wise and justified course, and better than abusing the Bible by getting suspects to swear loyalty upon it.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, despite, must, ought, unless, whether, who.
Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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