"By English law," wrote Falier, the Venetian ambassador, in 1531, "females are excluded from the throne;"[511] that was not true, but it was undoubtedly a widespread impression, based upon the past history of England.

No Queen-Regnant had asserted a right to the English throne but one, and that one precedent provided the most effective argument for avoiding a repetition of the experiment.

Matilda was never crowned, though she had the same claim to the throne as Mary, and her attempt to (p.

180) enforce her title involved England in nineteen years of anarchy and civil war.

Stephen stood to Matilda in precisely the same relation as James V.of Scotland stood to the Princess Mary; and in 1532, as soon as he came of age, James was urged to style himself "Prince of England" and Duke of York, in manifest derogation of Mary's title.[512] At that time Charles V.was discussing alternative plans for deposing Henry VIII.