Hertfordshire had much to do with royalty during the reign of King Henry VIII, the palace at King’s Langley being bestowed on Queen Catherine, while the king himself spent much time at Hunsdon House, and also had a residence at Tittenhanger. There is, moreover, a tradition that he was married to Anne Boleyn at Sopwell. The Princess Mary lived for a time at Hertford Castle previous to her removal to Hunsdon, where Princess Elizabeth also lived before her long sojourn at Hatfield, in which beautiful park she was informed of her accession to the throne. When queen, Elizabeth continued to be a frequent visitor to the county; and in her reign, owing to plague in London, the law courts were held for a time at St Albans, while, for the same reason, Parliament sat at Hertford in 1564 and 1581. The sovereign herself came as a guest to Lord Burleigh at Theobalds, to the Earl of Essex at Cassiobury, and to Sir Nicholas Bacon at Gorhambury. James I likewise spent much time in the county, having an establishment at Royston, and dying at Theobalds. During the civil wars Hertfordshire men played an important part in connection with what was known as the Eastern Association; and in 1643, when the High Sheriff ventured to read a royal proclamation in the market-place at St Albans, he was arrested by Cromwell himself. To follow the fortunes of Hertfordshire during the conflict between Charles I and Parliament would occupy too much space; and it must suffice to mention that in 1660 Sir Harbottle Grimston of Gorhambury was Speaker of the House of Commons and took a leading part in the restoration of King Charles II. [Illustration: Cassiobury] The last event in the history of the county to which space admits allusion is the Rye House Plot. “In the spring of 1683,” to quote the words of a well-known local writer, “Charles II and James Duke of York went to see the races at Newmarket. Just opposite to the Rye House Inn there stood then a castle, built in the days of Henry VI, and in that castle lived one Rumbold, formerly an officer in the parliamentary army. Rumbold and about a score of equally reckless malcontents put their heads together over their tankards, and, so far as can be gathered from many rather contradictory narratives, they formed a plot to delay the royal party on the return journey from Newmarket to London, by placing an overturned cart in the road-way, in order that they might shoot the King and the Duke of York in the confusion. The conspiracy was frustrated, for the royal party returned earlier than Rumbold had been led to expect, and presently the plot leaked out. The Rye House was searched, incriminating papers were discovered, and the affair culminated in the arrest of those nobler patriots who, in concert with Argyle, had been planning the overthrow of what they honestly regarded as a corrupt government.” [Illustration: The Rye House. Portions of the Servants Quarters]