England had never recognised a Salic law at home; on occasion she had disputed its validity abroad.

But Henry VII.

was not disposed to let his mother rule; she could not unite the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims by marriage, and, in addition to other disabilities, she had a second husband in Lord Stanley, who might demand the crown matrimonial.

So Henry VII.'s hereditary title was judiciously veiled in vague obscurity.

Parliament wisely admitted the accomplished fact and recognised that the crown was vested in him, without rashly venturing upon the why or the wherefore.