murder of the Princes in the Tower; and [Footnote: See genealogical table
(_Front_.).] William de la Pole and William Courtenay (son of the Earl
of Devonshire) were imprisoned on suspicion of complicity. Suffolk,
however, remained at Aix la Chapelle, Maximilian making him many promises
and providing inadequate supplies, while with equal lightness of heart--
having got his loan--he left his pledges to Henry unfulfilled by anything
more substantial than professions that he was doing his best to carry them
out. In 1504 the migratory Earl had the misfortune to fall into the hands
of the Duke of Gueldres, who detained him for use as circumstances might
dictate--to the annoyance of the Kings of France and Scotland, both of whom
wished him to be handed over to the King of England.

[Sidenote: 1505 Henry's position]

In 1505 then Henry's relations with all foreign Powers were satisfactory:
that is, none of them were hostile and most of them were anxious for his
friendship. In these later years, however, of Henry's reign he appears
consistently in a more definitely unamiable light than before. The two
counsellors who, however thoroughly they endorsed his policy, had probably
exercised a moderating and refining influence--Cardinal Morton and Reginald
Bray--were now both dead, and there is no doubt that Elizabeth of York,
popular herself, had been a very judicious helpmeet to her husband.
Moreover, though he was still by no means an old man, Henry was becoming
worn out; yet he could never escape from dynastic anxieties, the younger
Henry being now his only son. Marriage schemes had always been prominent
features in his policy, and the marriage schemes for himself which he
evolved one after the other in the closing years of his reign show him in a
singularly unattractive light, at the same time that his financial methods
were growing increasingly mean, and his evasions of honourable obligations
increasingly unscrupulous.