writings of Pope Pius II. In England, however, from the first the murdered King was held in veneration. He was regarded as a just and upright ruler, and there sprang up all over the country a popular devotion to him, which the civil authorities could not suppress. As it continued to grow, the process of the canonization was begun in Rome at the instance of King Henry VII. The tomb of the murdered King at Windsor became a place of universal pilgrimage renowned for the multitude of the miracles and favours granted by God at his intercession.
During the religious changes of the sixteenth century these facts became obscured and forgotten. It is the object of this book to bring back to its readers what our ancestors believed about holy King Henry VI.