did not call till he was
fully in possession and crowned King, he was met by a very genuinely
English point of law. It arose from the fact that many members of the
Lower House had been attainted by the late government. How could they
make laws who were themselves beyond the pale of law? Who could
cleanse them from the stain that clove to them? This objection could
be raised against Henry himself. In this perplexity recourse was had
to the judges: and they decided that the possession of the crown
supplied all defects, and that the King was already King even without
the assent of Parliament.[75] In the general disorder things had gone
so far, that it was necessary to find some power outside the
continuity of legal forms, from which they might start afresh. The
actual possession of the throne formed this time the living centre
round which the legal state could again form itself. By exercising the
authority inherent in the possession of the crown, the King could
effect the revocation of the sentences that weighed on his partisans
and on a large portion of the Parliament. After the legal character of
that Assembly had been established, it proceeded to recognise Henry's
rights to the crown in the words used for the first of the Lancastrian
house.

In the papal bull which ratified Henry's succession, three grounds are
assigned for it: the right of war, the undoubted nearest right to the
succession, and the recognition by Parliament. On the first the King
himself laid great stress: he once designates the issue of the battle
as the decision of God between him and his foes. He thus avoided any
mention of the marriage with Edward IV's daughter, which he did not
complete till he was acknowledged on all sides. The papal bull
declared that the crown of England was to be hereditary in Henry's
descendants, even if they did not spring from the Yorkist marriage.

We can easily understand this: Henry would not tolerate by his side in
the person of his wife a joint ruler of equal, and even better, right
than his own; but we can understand also that this proceeding drew on
him new enmities. At the very outset the widowed Queen gave it to be
understood that her daughter was rather lowered than raised by the
marriage. The whole party of York moreover felt itself contemned and
insulted. To the ferment of displeasure and ambition into which it
fell must be attributed the fact that a pair of adventurers, who acted
the part of genuine descenda