It was war to the knife, and the King won.
Froude regarded Henry's victory as the salvation of England.

The dissolution of the monasteries was an incident in the struggle, necessary for the public interest, and justified by the evidence.
Although part of their confiscated property was bestowed upon statesmen and courtiers, part went to found new Cathedral colleges, or grammar schools, and part to strengthen the national defences.
Henry was a strange mixture, quite as much patriot as tyrant, and not safe enough on his throne to tolerate Popery.

In Froude's view he stood for the nation.

More and Fisher were for a foreign power.
The time with which Froude chose to deal was full of blazing fire, which the ashes of three hundred years imperfectly covered.

He did not realise the ordeal to which he was exposing himself, the malice he was stirring up.