IS 1 Wi 1, 'til !¦»;<; «Y^ILIE«¥MH¥JEI^S]Iir¥- DEPOSITED BY THE LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY THE DIVORCE OP CATHERINE OF ARACON THE DIVORCE OF CATHERINE OF ARAGON THE STORY AS TOLD BY THE IMPERIAL AMBASSADORi RESIDENT AT THE COURT OP HENRY Vni. IN VSUM LAICORUM BT J. A. FKOUDE BEING A SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME TO THE AUTHOR'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1891 [AU rights reserved\ Copyright, 1891, Bl CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 7%e Riverside Press^ Cambridge,, Mass. ^ U.S. A. Electrotyped aud Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Gompauy, CONTENTS PAGE IHTBODDCTION . , , , 1 CHAPTER I, Prospects of a disputed succession to the crown — Various claim ants — Catherine incapable of having further children — Irregularity of her marriage with the King — Papal dispen sations — First mention of the divorce — Situation of the Papacy — Charles V, — Policy of Wolsey — Anglo-French alliance — • Imperial troops in Italy — Appeal of the Pope — iMission of Inigo de Mendoza — The Bishop of Tarbes — Legit imacy of the Princess Mary called in question — Secret meet ing of the Legates' court — Alarms of Catherine — Sack of Rome by the Duke of Bourbon — Proposed reform of the Papacy — The divorce promoted by Wolsey — Unpopular in England — Attempts of the Emperor to gain Wolsey . . 21 CHAPTER II. Mission of Wolsey to Paris — Visits Bishop Fisher on the way — Anxieties of the Emperor — Letter of the Emperor to Henry VIII. — Large offers to Wolsey — Address of the French Cardinals to the Pope — Anne Boleyn chosen by Henry to succeed Catherine — Surprise and displeasure of Wolsey — Fresh attempts of the Emperor to bribe him — Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce — Mission of Dr. Knight to Rome — The Pope at Orvieto — The King applies for a dispensation to make a second marriage — Lan guage of the dispensation demanded — Inferences drawn from it — Alleged intrigue hetween the King and Mary Bo leyn . 41 vi Contents. CHAPTER in. Anxiety of the Pope to satisfy the King — Fears of the Emperor — Proposed alternatives — France and England declare war inthe Pope's defence — Campeggio to be sent to England — The King's account of the Pope's conduct — The Pope's dis tress and alarm — The secret decretal — Instructions to Cam peggio 62 CHAPTER IV. \.nne Boleyn — Letters to her from the King — The Convent at Wilton — The Divorce — The Pope's promises — Arrival of Campeggio in England — Reception at the Bridewell Palace — Proposal to Catherine to take the veil — Her refusal — Uncertainty of the succession — A singular expedient — Alarms of Wolsey — The true issue — Speech of the King in the City — Threats of the Emperor — Defects in the Bull of Pope Julius — Alleged discovery of a brief supplying them — Distress of Clement 70 CHAPTER V. Demanda of the Imperial Agent at Rome — The alleged Brief — Illness of the Pope — Aspirations of Wolsey — The Pope recovers — Imperial menaces — Clement hetween the anvil and the hammer — Appeal of Henry to iPrancis — The trial of the cause to proceed — Instructions to Campeggio — Opinion at Rome — Recall of Mendoza — iFinal interview between Mendoza and the King 86 CHAPTER VI. The Court at Blackf riars — The point at issue — The Pope's competency as judge — Catherine appeals to Rome — Im perial pressure upon Clement — The Emperor insists on the Pope's admission of the appeal — Henry demands sentence — Interference of Bishop Fisher — The Legates refuse to give judgment — The Court broken up — Peace of Cam- bray . 99 CHAPTER VIL Call of Parliament — Wolsey to he called to account — Anxiety of the Emperor to prevent a quarrel — Mission of Eustace Chapuys — Long interview with the King — Alarm of Cath- Contents. vii crine — Growth of Lutheranism — The English clergy — Lord Darcy' s Articles against Wolsey — Wolsey 's fall — De parture of Campeggio — Letter of Hem'y to the Pope — Ac tion of Parliament — Intended reform of the Church — Alien ation of English feeling from the Papacy . . . ',110 CHAPTER VIIL Hope of Wolsey to return to power — Anger of Anne Boleyn and the iDuke of Norfolk — Charles V, at Bologna — Issue of a prohibitory brief — The Pope secretly ou Henry's side — Collection of opinions — Norfolk warns Chapuys — State of feeling in England — Intrigues of Wolsey — His illness and death . , 131 CHAPTER IX. Danger of challenging the Papal dispensing power — The Royal family of Spain — Address of the English Peers to the Pope — Compromise proposed by the Duke of Norfolk — The English Agents at Rome — Arrival of a new Nuncio in Eng land — His interview with the King — Chapuys advises the King's excommunication — Position of the English clergy — Statute of Provisors — The clergy in a Praemunire — Remon strances of the Nuncio — Despair of Catherine — Her letter to the Pope — Henry prepares for war — The introduction of briefs from Rome forbidden — Warnings given to the Span ish Amhassador and the Nuncio 141 CHAPTER X. State of feeling in England — Clergy and laity — The Clergy in a PrBBmnnire — The Royal Supremacy — Hesitation at Rome — Submission of the Clergy — The meaning of the new title — More and Fisher — Alarm of the Emperor — Appeal of Catherine to him — Unpopularity of Anne Boleyn — Threats of excommunication — Determination of Henry — Deputa tion of Peers to Catherine — Catherine's reply — Intolerable pretensions of the Emperor — Removal of Catkerine from the Court 157 CHAPTER XI, Proposals for the reunion of Christendom — Warning addressed to the Pope — Address of tb? English nobles to Queen Cath- viii Contents. erine — Advances of Clement to Henry — Embarrassments of the Pope and the Emperor — Unwillingness of the Pope to decide against the King — Business in Parliament — Reform of the English Church — Death of Archbishop Warham — Bishop Fisher and Chapuys — Question of annates — Papal Briefs — The Pope urged to excommunicate Henry — The Pope refuses — Anger of Queen Catherine's Agent , . 173 CHAPTER XII, Henry advised to marry without waiting for sentence — Meeting of Henry and Francis — Anne Boleyn present at the inter view — Value of Anne to the French Court — Pressure on the Pope by the Agents of the Emperor — Complaints of Catherine ^ Engagements of Francis ^ Action of Clement — The King Conditionally excommunicated — Demand for final sentence — Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury — Marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn — Supposed connivance of the Pope — The Nuncio attends Parliament — The Act of Appeals — The Emperor entreated to intervene — Chapuys and the King 192 CHAPTER XIII, The King's claim — The obstinacy of Catherine — The Court at Dunstable — Judgement given by Cranmer — Debate in the Spanish Council of State — Objections to armed interference — The EngUsh opposition — Warning given to Chapuys — Cha puys and the Privy Council — Conversation with Cromwell — Coronation of Anne Boleyn — Discussions at Rome — BuU supra Attentatis — Confusion of the Catholic Powers — Libels against Henry — Personal history of Cromwell — Birth of Elizabeth — The King's disappointment — Bishop Fisher de sires the introduction of a Spanish army into England — Growth of Lutheranism 218 CHAPTER XIV. Interview between the Pope and Francis at Marseilles — Pro posed compromise — The^divorce case to he heard-ai£ant- Jjray — The Emperor consents — Catherine refuses — The story5rtHi~TTu'n of Kent — Bishop Fisher in the Tower — Imminent breach with the Papacy —Catherine and the Princess Mary — Separation of the Princess from her mother — Cath erine at Kimbolton — Appeals to the Emperor — Encourage- Contents. IX ment of Lutheranism — Last efforts at Rome — Final sentence delivered by the Pope — The Pope's authority abolished iu England . '^43 CHA™ ^ ,, The Papal cur:„ - Dstsrmined attitude of the Princess Mary — Chapuys desires to be heard in Parliament — Interview with the King — Permission refused — The Act of Succession — Catherine loses the title of Queen — More and Fisher re fuse to swear to the statute — Prospects of rebellion in Ire land — The Emperor unwilling to interfere — Perplexity of the Catholic party — Chapuys before the Privy Council — Insists on Catherine's rights — Singular defence of the Pope's action — Chapuys's intrigues — Defiant attitude of Catherine — Fears for her life — Condition of Europe — Prospect of war between France and the Empire — Unwillingness of the Emperor to interfere in England — Disappointment of Cath erine — Visit of Chapuys to Kimbolton 260 CHAPTER XVI, Prosecution of Lord Daore — Failure of the Crown — Rebellion in Ireland — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — Delight of the Cath olic party — Preparations for a rising in England — The Princess Mary — Lord Hussey and Lord Darcy — Schemes for insurrection submitted to Chapuys — General disaffection among the English Peers — Death of Clement VII. — Elec tion of Paul III. — Expectation at Rome that Henry would now submit — The expectation disappointed — The Act of Supremacy — The Italian conjuror — Reginald Pole — Vio lence and insolence of Anne Boleyn — Spread of Lutheran ism — Intended escape of the Princess Mary out of Eng land 283 / CHAPTER XVII. Prospects of civil w(ar — England and Spain — Illness of the Princess Mary — iPlans for \ her escape — Spirit of Queen Catherine — The Emperor uAwilling to interfere — Negotia^ tions for a new treaty between Henry and Charles — Debate in the Spanish Council of State — The rival alliances — Dis appointment of thei confederate Peers — Advance of Luther anism in England — • Cromwell and Chapuys — Catherine and Mary the obstacles to peace — Supposed designs on Mary's life 301 Contents. CHAPTER XVIIL Negotiations for a treaty — Appeal of Catherine to the Emperor — Fresh plans for the escape of Mary — Forbidden by the Emperor — The iKing and his daughter — Suggestion of Dr. Butts — The clergy and the Reformation — The Charterhouse monks — More and Fisher in the Tower — The Emperor in Africa — The treaty — Rebellion in Ireland — Absolution of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald for the murder of the Archbishop of DubUn — Treason of Lord Hussey — Fresh debates in the Spanish Council — Fisher created cardinal — Trial and execution of Fisher and More — Effect in Europe . . . 318 CHAPTER XIX. Campaign of the Empeior in Africa — Uncertainties at Rome — Policy of Francis — English preparations for war — Fresh ap peals to the Emperor — Delay in the issue of the censures — The Princess Mary — Letter of Catherine to the Pope — Disaffection of the EngUsh CathoUcs — Libels against Henry — Cromwell and Chapuys — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — Dangerous position of Henry — Death of the Duke of Milan — Effect on European policy — Intended Bull of Paul III. — Indecision of Charles — Prospect of war with France — Advice of Charles to Catherine — - Distrust of the Emperor at the Papal Court — Warhke resolution of the Pope restrained by the Cardinals .,,,..... 347 CHAPTER XX, IUness of Queen Catherine — Her physicians' report of her health — Her last letter to the Emperor — She sends for Chapuys — Interview between Chapuys and Henry — Chapuys at Kimbolton — Death of Catherine — iExamination of the hody — Suspicion of poison — Chapuys's opinion — Recep tion of the news at the Court — Message of Anne Boleyn to the Princess Mary — Advice of Chapuys — Unpopularity of Anne — Court rumours 371 CHAPTER XXI. Funeral of Catherine — Miscarriage of Anne — The Princess Mary and the Act of Supremacy — Her continued desire to escape — Effect of Catherine's death on Spanish policy — De sire of the Emperor to recover the English alliance — Chapuys and Cromwell — Conditions of the treaty — Efforts of the Contents. xi Emperor to recover Henry to the Church — Matrimonial schemes — Likelihood of a separation of the King from Anne — Jane Seymour — Anne's conduct — The Imperial treaty — Easter at Greenwich — Debate in Council — The French AlUance or the Imperial — The alternative advantages — Letter of the King to his Amhassador in Spain . . . 389 CHAPTER XXII, Easter at Greenwich — French and Imperial factions at the EngUsh court — Influence of Anne Boleyn — Beports of Anne's conduct submitted to the King — Flying rumours — Secret Commission of Enquiry — Arrests of various persons — Sir Henry Norris and the King — Anne before the Privy Council — Sent to the Tower — Her behaviour and admis sions — Evidence taken before the Commission — Trials of Norris, Weston, Brereton, and Smeton — Letter of Weston — Trial of Anne and her brother — Executions — Speech of Rochf ord on the scaffold — Anne sentenced to die — Makes a confession to Cranmer — Declared to have not heen the King's lawful wife — Nature of the confession not known — Execution 412 CHAPTER XXIIL Competition for Henry's hand — Solicitations from France and from the Emperor — Overtures from the Pope — Jane Sey mour — General eagerness for the King's marriage — Con duct of Henry in the interval before Anne's execution — Marriage with Jane Seymour — Universal satisfaction — The Princess Mary — Proposal for a General Council — Neutrality of England in the war hetween France and the Empire . . 436 CHAPTER XXIV. Expectation that Henry would retum to the Roman Communion — Henry persists in carrying out the Reformation — The Crown and the clergy — Meeting of a. new Parliament — Fresh repudiation of the Pope's authority — CompUc^tions of the succession — Attitude of the Princess Mary — Her reluc tant submission — The King empowered to name his successor by will — Indication of his policy — The Pilgrimage of Grace — Cost of the Reformation — The martyrs, CathoUc and Protestant 450 Index 465 THE DIVORCE CATHERINE OF ARAGON. INTEODUCTION. The mythic element cannot be eliminated out of history. Men who play leading parts on the world's stage gather about them the adrairation of friends and the animosity of disappointed rivals or political ene mies. The atmosphere becomes charged with legends of what they have said or done — some inventions, some distortions of facts, but rarely or never accurate. Their outward acts, being public, cannot be absolutely misstated ; their motives, being known only to them selves, are an open field for imagination ; and as the disposition is to believe evil rather than good, the por traits drawn may vary indefinitely, according to the sympathies of the describer, but are seldom too favour able. The more distinguished a man is the more he is talked about. Stories are current about him in his own lifetime, guaranteed apparently by the highest authorities ; related, insisted upon ; time, place, and circumstance accurately given — most of them mere malicious lies ; yet, if written down, to reappear in memoirs a hundred years hence, they are likely to pass for authentic, or at least probable. Even where there is no malice, imagination will still be active. People 2 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. believe or disbelieve, repeat or suppress, according to their own inclinations ; andl death, which ends the feuds of unimportant persons, lets loose the tongues over the characters of the great. Kings are espe cially sufferers ; when alive they hear only flattery ; when they are gone men revenge themselves by draw ing hideous portraits of them, and the more distin guished they may have been the more minutely their weaknesses are dwelt upon. " C'est un plaisir indici- ble," says Voltaire, " de donner des decrets contre des souverains morts quand on ne peut en lancer contre eux de leur vivant de peur de perdre ses oreilles." The dead sovereigns go their way. Their real work for good or evil lives after them; but they themselves are where the opinions expressed about their character affect them no more. To Caesar or Napoleon it mat ters nothing what judgment the world passes upon their conduct. It is of more importance for the ep ical vialue of history that acts which as they are re lated appear wicked should be duly condemned, that acts which are represented as having advanced the welfare of mankind should be duly honoured, than that the real character of indi-viduals should be correctly appreciated. To appreciate any single man -with com plete accuracy is impossible. To appreciate him even proximately is extremely difficult. Rulers of king doms may have public reasons for what they do, which at the time may be understood or allowed for. Times change, and new interests rise. 'The circumstances no longer exist which would explain their conduct.^ The student looks therefore for an explanation in ele ments which he thinks he understands — in pride, am bition, fear, avarice, jealousy, or sensuality; and, settling the question thus to his own satisfaction, resents or ridicules attempts to look for other motives. Historic Legends. 3 So long as his moral judgment is generally correct, he inflicts no injury, and he suffers none. Cruelty and lust are proper objects of abhorrence; he learns to detest them in studying the Tiberius of Tacitus, though the character described by the great Eoman historian may have been a mere creation of the hatred of the old Roman aristocracy. The manifesto of the Prince of Orange was a libel against Philip the Sec ond; but the Philip of Protestant tradition is an em bodiment of the persecuting spirit of Catholic Europe which it would be now useless to disturb. The ten dency of history is to fall into wholesome moral lines whether they be accurate or not, and to interfere with harmless illusions may cause greater errors than it aspires to cure. Cro-wned offenders are arraigned at the tribunal of history for the crimes which they are alleged to have committed. It may be sometimes sho-wn that the crimes were not crimes at all, that the sufferers had deserved their fate, that the severities were useful and essential for some great and valuable purpose. But the reader sees in the apology for acts which he had regarded as tyrannical a defence of tyr anny itself. Preoccupied -with the received interpre tation, he finds deeds excused which he had learnt to execrate; and in learning something which, even if true, is of no real moment to him, he suffers in the maiming of his perceptions of the difference between right and wrong. The whitewashing of the villains of tradition is, therefore, justly regarded as waste of labour. If successful, it is of imp^erfsct value; if unsuccessful, it is a misuse of industry which deserves to be censured. Time is too precious to be squan dered over paradoxes. The dead are gone ; the cen sure of mankind has written their epitaphs, and so they may be left. Their true award will be decided elsewhere. 4 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. This is the commonsense verdict. When the work of a man is done and ended; when, except indirectly and invisibly, he affects the li-ving world no more, the book is closed, the sentence is passed, and there he may be allowed to rest. The case is altered, however, when the dead stiU_live in their actions, when their principles and theefEectsof their conduct are still vig orous and operative, and i the movements which they initiated continue to be fought over."^ It sometimes happens that mighty revolutions can be traced to the wfll and resolution of a single man, and that the con flict continues when he is gone. The personal char acter of such a man becomes then of intrinsic impor tance as an argument for attack or defence. The changes introduced by Ilenry VIII. are stiH de nounced or defended -with renewed -violence ; the ashes of a conflict which seemed to have been decided are 'again blo-wn into a flame; and what manner of man Henry was, and what the statesmen and churchmen were who stood by him and assisted him in reshaping the English constitution, becomes (a practical question -of our o-wn time") By their fruits ye shall know them. A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, neither can a cor rupt tree bring forth good fruit. Roman Catholics argue from the act to the man, and from the man back to the act. The Reformation, they say, was a rebel lion against an authority appointed by God for the rule of the world; it was a -wicked act in itself; the author or the authors of it were presumably, l^ere- fore, themselves wicked; and the worst interpretation of their conduct is antecedently probable, because a revolt against the Church of Christ could only have originated in depraved hearts. Or again, inverting the argument, they say with sufficient plausibility that the sins and crimes of the King are acknowledged Character of Henry the Eighth. 5 facts of history; that from so bad a man no good thing could ever rise ; that Henry was a -visible ser vant of the devil, and therefore the Reformation, of which he was the instrument, was the devil's work. If the picture drawn of him by his Catholic contempo raries is correct, the inference is irresistible. That picture, however, was drawn by those whose faith he wounded and whose interests he touched, and therefore might be regarded with suspicion. Religious animos ity is fertile in calumny, because it assumes beforehand that every charge is likely to be true in proportion to its enormity, and Catholic writers were credulous of evil when laid to the charge of so dangerous an adver sary. But the Catholics have not been Henry's only accusers; aH sorts and sects have combined in the general condemnation. The Anglican^Hi^ Church man is as bitter against him as Reginald Pole himself. He admits and maintains the separation from Rome which Henry accomplished for him ; but he abhors as heartily as Pole or Lingard the internal principles of the Reformation. 'He resents the control of the clergy by the civil power.) He demands the restoration of the spiritual privileges which Henry and his parlia ments took away from them. He aspires to the recov ery of ecclesiastical independence. He therefore with equal triumph points to the blots in Henry's charac ter, and deepens their shade with every accusation, proved or unproved, which he can find in contempo rary records. ^ With him, too, that a charge was al leged at the time is evidence sufficient to entitle him to accept it as a fact. Again, Protestant -writers have been no less unspar ing, from an imprudent eagerness to detach their cause from a disreputable ally. In Elizabeth's time it was a point of honour and loyalty to believe in the inno- 6 The Dvvorce of Catherine of Aragon. cence of her mother. If Anne Boleyn was condemned on forged or false evidence to make way for Jane Sey mour, what appears so clearly to us must have been far clearer to Henry and his Council ; of all abomina ble crimes committed by tyrannical princes there was never one more base or cowardly than Anne's execu tion; and in insisting on Anne's guiltlessness they have condemned the King, his ministers, and his par liaments. Having discovered him to have murdered his wife, they have found him also to have been a per secutor of the truth. The Reformation in Engl auri was at its outset political rather than doctrinal. The avarice and tyranny of the Church officials had galled the limbs of the laity. Their first steps were to break the chains which fretted them, and to put a final end to the temporal power of the clergy. Spiritual liberty came later, and came slowly from the constitution of the English mind. Superstition had been familiarised by custom, protected by natural reverence, and shielded from inquiry by the peculiar horror attaching to un belief. The nation had been taught from immemorial time that to doubt on the mysteries of faith was the worst crime which man could commit ; and while they were willing to discover that on their human side the clergy were but brother mortals 6i questionable char acter, they drew a distinction between the Church as a national institution and the doctrines which it _ taught. An old creed could not yield at once. The King did much ; he protected individual Lutherans to the edgeoi' rashness. He gave the nation the English Bible. He made Latimer a bishop. He took away completely and for ever the power of the prelates to punish what they called heresy ex officio and on their own authority; but the zeal of the ultra-Protestants broke loose when the restraint was taken off; the Unanimity of Censure. 7 sense of the country was offended by the irreverence ¦with which objects and opinions were treated which they regarded as holy, and Parliament, which had put a bit in the mouth of the ecclesiastical courts, was driven to a substitute in the Bill of the Six Articles. The advanced section in popular movements is usually unwise. The characteristic excellence of the English Reformation is, that throughout its course it was re strained by the law, and the Six Articles Bill, tem pered as it was in the execution, was a permissible, and perhaps useful, measure in restraint of intemper ance. It was the same in Germany. Anabaptists continued to be burnt in Saxony and Hesse long after Luther's revolt ; (Calvin thought the stake a fitting penalty for doubts upon the Trinity. ) John Knox, in Scotland, approved of witch-burning and sending mass-priests to the gallows. Henry could not disre gard the pronounced feeling of the majority of the English people. He jois- himaelf btiJi^ne*of them, and changed slowly as they changed. Yet Protestant tradition has assumed that the bloody whip with six j strings was an act of arbitrary ferocity. It considers ¦' that the King could, and ought to, have advanced at once into an understanding of the principle of tolera tion — toleration of the new opinions, and a more se vere repression of the old. The Puritans and Evan gelicals forgot that he had given them the English Testament. They forgot that by setting his foot upon the bishops he had opened the pulpits to themselves, and thev classed him among the persecutors, or else joined in the shallow laughs of the ultramontane Cath olics at what they pleased to call his inconsistency. Thus from all sides a catena of invective has been ¦wrapped about Henry's character. The sensible part of the country held its tongue. The speakers and 8 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. writers were the passionate and fanatical of both pex; suasions, and by them the materials were supplied for the Henry VIII. who has been brought down to us by history, while the candid and philosophic thinkers of the last and present centuries have accepted the tra ditional figure. In their desire to be impartial they have held the balance equal between Catholics and Protestants, inclining slightly to the Catholic side, from a wish to conciliate a respectable body who had been unjustly maligned and oppressed; while they have la-vished invectives upon the early Reformers violent enough to have satisfied even Pole himself, -whose rhetoric has formed the base of their declama tion. Liberal philosophy would have had a bad time of it in England, perhaps in all Europe, if there had been no Henry VIII. to take the Pope by the throat. But one service -writers like MacaUla^ havB lUldlrtibtedly accomplished. They have shown that it is entirely im possible to separate the King from his ministers — to condemn Henry and to spare Cranmer. Protestant writers, from Burnet to Southey, have tried to save the reforming bishops and statesmen at Henry's ex pense. Cranmer, and Latimer, and Ridley have been described as saints, though their master was a -vfllain. But the Qoldjinpartialityqf Macaulay has pointed out unanswerably that in aU Henry's most questionable acts his own ministers and his prelates were active participants — that his Privy Council, his parliaments, his judges on the bench, the juries empanelled to try the victims of his tyranny, were equally his accom plices ; some actively assisting ; the rest, if these acts were really criminal, permitting themselves to be bribed or terrified into acquiescence. The leading men of aU descriptions, the nation itself, through the Contemporary Judgment. 9 guilt of its representatives, were all stained in the same detestable colours. It may be said, indeed, that they were worse than the King himself. For the King at least may be pleaded the coarse temptations of a brutal nature ; but what palliation can be urged for the peers and judges who sacrificed Anne Boleyn, or More, or Fisher, according to the received h3rpo- thesis? Not even the excuse of personal fear of an all-powerful despot. For Henry had no Janissaries or Praetorians to defend his person or execute his orders. He had but his hundred yeomen of the guard, not more numerous than the ordinary followers of a sec ond-rate noble. The Catholic leaders, who were in furiated at his attacks upon the Church, and would if they could have introduced foreign armies to de throne him, insisted on his weakness as an encourage ment to an easy enterprise. Beyond those few yeomen they urged that he had no protection save in the at tachment of the subjects whom he was alienating. What strange influence was such a king able to exer cise that he could overawe the lords and gentry of England, the learned professions, the municipal au thorities? How was it that he was able to compel them to be the voluntary instruments of his cruelty? Strangest of all, he seems to have needed no protec tion, but rather to have been personaUy popular, even among those who disapproved his public policy. The air was charged with threats of insurrection, but no conspiracy was ever formed to kill him, like those which so often menaced the life of his daughter. When the North was in arms in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and a question rose among the leaders whether in the event of victory the King was to be deposed, it was found that anyone who proposed to remove him would be torn in pieces by the people. 10 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Granting that Henry VIII. was, as Dickens said of him, "a spot of blood and grease" on the page of English history, the contemporary generation of Eng lishmen must have been fit subjects of such a sover eign. Every country, says Carlyle, gets as good a government as it deserves. The England of the CromweUs and the Cranmers, the Howards and the Fitzwilliams, the Wriothesleys and the Pagets, seems to have been made of baser materials than any land of which mankind has preserved a record. Roman Catholics may fairly plead that out of such a race no spiritual reform is likely to have arisen which could benefit any human soul. Of all the arguments which can be alleged for the return of England to the an cient fold, this is surely the most powerful. Yet England shows no intention of returning. History may say what it pleases, yet England remains tenacious of the liberties which were then won for us, and unconscious of the disgrace attaching to them; unconscious, also, that the version of the story which it accepts contains anything which requires explana tion. The legislation of Henry VIII., his Privy Council, and his parliaments is the Magna Charta of the modern world. The Act of Appeals and the Act of Supremacy asserted the national independence, and repudiated the interference of foreign bishop, prince, or potentate within the limits of the English empire. The clergy had held for many centuries an imperium in imperio. Subject themselves to no law but their o-wn, they had asserted an irresponsible jurisdiction over the souls and bodies of the people. The Act for the submission of these persons reduced them to the common condition of subjects under the control of the law. Popes were no longer allowed to dispense with ordinary obligations. Clerical privileges were abol- Permanent Character of Henry's Legislation. 11 ished. The spiritual courts, with their intolerable varieties of iniquity, were swept away, or coerced within rational limits. The religious houses were sup pressed, their enormous wealth was applied for the defence of the realm, and the worse than Augean dunghill of abuses was cleared out with resolute hand. These great results were accomplished in the face of papal curses, in defiance of superstitious terrors, so despicable when bravely confronted, so terrible while the spectre of supernatural power was still unexer cised ; in the face, too, of earthly perils which might make stout hearts shake, of an infuriated priesthood stirring the people into rebeUion, of an exasperated CathoUc Europe threatening fire and sword in the name of the Pope. These were distinguished achieve ments, not Ukely to have been done at all by an infa mous prince and infamous ministers; yet done so weU that their work is incorporated in the constitution almost in the form in which they left it; and this mighty revolution, the greatest and most far-reaching in modern times, was accomplished without a ci'vil war, by firmness of hand, by the action of Parliament, and a resolute enforcement of the law. Nor has the effect of Henry's legislation been confined to England. Every great country. Catholic or Protestant, has prac ticaUy adopted its chief pro-vdsions. Popes no longer pretend a power of deposing princes, absol-ving sub jects from their aUegiance, or seUing dispensations for offences against the law of the land. Appeals are no longer carried from the national courts _^to the court of the Rota. The papal treasury is no longer sup plied by the plunder of the national clergy, coUected by resident papal officials. Bishops and convocations have ceased to legislate above and independent of the secular authority, and clerks who commit crimes bear 12 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the same penalties as the profane. The high quality of the Reformation statutes is guaranteed by their en durance ; and it is hard to suppose that the politicians who conceived and carried them out were men of base conditions. The question is not of the character of the King. If nothing was at issue but the merits or demerits of a single sovereign, he might be left where he lies. The question is of the characters of the re forming leaders, who, jointly with the King, were the authors, of this tremendous and beneficent revolution. Henry in aU that he did acted with these men and through them. Is it possible to believe that quali- ¦liSs'so opposite as the popular theory requires existed in the same persons? Is it possible, for instance, that Cranmer, who composed or translated the prayers in the English Liturgy, was the miserable wretch which Ma^a-nlay or Lingard describes? The era of Eliza beth was the outspring of the movement which Henry VIII. commenced, and it was the grandest period in English history. Is it credible that so in-sdgorating a stream flowed from a poUuted fountain? Before accepting a conclusion so disgraceful — be fore consigning the men who achieved so great a vic tory, and risked and lost their lives in the battle, to final execration — it is at least permissible to pause. The difficulty can only be made light of by impa- ¦tience, by prejudice, or by want of thought. To me at any rate, who wished to discover what the real his tory of the Reformation had been, it seemed so con siderable, that, dismissing the polemical invectives of later writers, I turned to the accounts of their con duct, which had been left behind by the authors of it themselves. Among the fortunate anomalies of the situation, Henry departed from pre-dous custom in holding annual parliaments. At every step which he Historic Aspect of the Statute Book. 13 took, either in the rearrangement of the realm or in his o-wn domestic confusions, he took the Lords and Commons into his council, and ventured nothing with out their consent. The preambles of the principal statutes contain a narrative clear and precise of the motives of everything that he did — ¦ a narrative which at least may have been a true one, which was not put forward as a defence, but was a mere explanation of acts which on the surface seemed violent and arbi trary. If the explanation is correct, it shows us a time of complications and difficulties, which, on the whole, were successfuUy encountered. It shows us severe measures severely executed, but directed to public and necessary purpose, involving no syco phancy or baseness, no mean subser-vience to capri cious tyranny, but such as were the natural safeguards during a dangerous con-vulsion, or remedies of acci dents incidental to hereditary monarchy. The story told is clear and distinct ; pitiless, but not dishonour-. able. Between the lines can be read the storm of popular passions, the beating of the national heart when it was stirred to its inmost depths. We see established institutions rooted out, idols overthro-wn, " and injured worshippers exasperated to fury; the air, as was inevitable at such a crisis, fuU of flying ru mours, some lies, some half lies -with fragments of truth attaching to them, bred of maUce or dizzy brains, the materials out of which the popular tradi tion has been built. It was no insular revolution. The stake playedJoEJKagjhe liberty of mankind. AU Europe was watching En^a5tt7~f6rTmpand was the ] hinge on which the fate of the Reformation turned. Could it be crushed in England, the Catholics were assured of universal victory, and therefore tongues and pens were busy everywhere throughout Christen- 14 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. dom, Catholic imagination representing Henry as an incarnate Satan, for which, it must be admitted, his domestic misadventures gave them tempting opportu nities. So thick feU the showers of calumny, that, bold as he was, he at times himself winced under it. He complained to Charles V. of the Hbels circulated about him in France and Flanders. Charles, too, had suffered in the same way. He answered, humor ously, that " if kings gave occasion to be spoken about they would be spoken about ; kings were not kings of tongues." Henry VIII. was an easy mark for slan der; but if aU slanders are to pass as true which are flung at public men whose policy provides them with an army of calumniators, the reputation of the best of them is but a spotted rag. The clergy were the vocal part of Europe. They had the pulpits ; they had the writing of the books and pamphlets. They had cause to hate Henry, and they hated him with an intensity of passion which could not have been more savage had he been the devil himself. But there are men whose enmity is a compliment. They libeUed Luther almost as freely as they libeUed the English king. I myself, after reading and weighing aU that I could find forty years ago in prints or manuscripts, concluded that the real facts of Henry's conduct were to be foimd in the Statute Book and nowhere else; that the preambles of the Acts of Parliament did actually represent the sincere opinion about him of the educated laymen of England, who had better opportunities of knowing the truth than we can have, and that a modern Eng lishman may be aUowed to foUow their authority -with out the imputation of paradox or folly. With this impression, and with the Statute Book for a guide, I wrote the opening portion of my "His tory of England, from the FaU of Wolsey to the De- Discovery of Unjmblished Materials. 15 feat of the Armada." The published criticisms upon my work were generaUy unfavourable. Catholic writ ers inherited the traditions and the temper of their forefathers, and believed the catena of their o-wn his torians. Protestants could not believe in a defence of the author of the Six Articles BiU. Secular re- -viewers were easily -«dtty at the "model husband" whom they supposed me to be imposing upon them, and resented the interference -vyith a version of the story authenticated by great names among my prede cessors. The public, however, took an interest in what I had to say. The book was read, and continues to be read; at the close of my life, therefore, I have to go once more over the ground; and as I am stUl substantiaUy alone in maintaining an opinion consid ered heretical by orthodox historians, I have to decide in what condition I am to leave my work behind me. In the thirty-five years which have elapsed since those early volumes appeared large additions have been made to the materials for the history of the period. The vast coUection of manuscripts in the English Record Office, which then were only partiaUy accessi ble, have been sorted, catalogued, and calendared by the industry of my friends Mr. Brewer and Mr. Gairdner. Private coUections in great English houses have been examined and reported on by the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Foreign archives at Paris, Simancas, Rome, Venice, Vienna, and Brussels have , been searched to some extent by myself, but in a far larger degree by able scholars speciaUy aj)pointed for the purpose. In the despatches, thus made accessible, of the foreign ambassadors resident at Henry's court we have the invaluable, if not impartial, comments of trained and responsible politicians who related from day to day the events which were passing under their 16 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. eyes. Being Catholics, and representatives of Cath olic powers, they were bitterly hostile to the Reforma tion — hostile alike on political grounds and religious — and therefore inclined to believe and report the worst that could be said both of it and of its authors. But they wrote before the traditions had become ste reotyped; their accounts are fresh and original; and, being men of the world, and writing in confidence to their o-wn masters, they were as veracious as their prejudices would aUow them to be. Unconsciously, too, they render another service of infinite importance. Being in close communication with the disaffected English peers and clergy, and engaged with them se cretly in promoting rebeUion, the ministers of Charles V. reveal with extraordinary clearness the dangers with which the Government had to deal. They make it perfectly plain that the Act of Supremacy, with its stern and peremptory demands, was no more than a legitimate and necessary defence against organised treason. It was thus inevitable that much would have to be added to what I had already pubUshed. When a microscope is applied to the petal of a flower or the wing of an insect, simple outlines and simple surfaces are resolved into complex organisms -with curious and beautiful details. The effect of these despatches is precisely the same — we see with the eyes, we hear with the ears, of men who were living parts of the scenes which they describe. Stories afterwards elab orated into established facts we trace to their origin in rumours of the hour; we read innumerable anecdotes, some with the clear stamp of truth on them, many mere creations of passing wit or malice, no more au thentic than the thousands like them which circulate i-O moderi} society, guaranteed by the positive asser- Natwre of Recent Discoveries. 17 tions of personal witnesses, yet visibly recognisable as lies. Through aU this the reader must pick his way and use his own judgment. He knows that many things are false which are reported about his o-wn eminent contemporaries. He may be equaUy certain that Ues were told as freely then as now. He wiU probably aUow his sympathies to guide him.) He wiU accept as fact what fits in with his creed or his theory. He wiU share the general disposition to believe evil, especially about kings and great men. The exagger ated homage paid to princes, when they are alive, has to be compensated by suspecting the worst of them as soon as they are gone. But the perusal of aU these documents leaves the broad aspect of the story, in my opinion, precisely where it was. It is made more interesting by the greater fulness of particulars; it is made more vi-vid by the clear view which they afford of individual persons who before were no more than names. But I think now, as I thought forty years ago, that through the confusions and contra dictions of a stormy and angry time, the statute- book remains the safest guide to foUow. If there be any difference, it is that actions which tiU explained appeared gratuitously cruel, like the execution of Bishop Fisher, are seen Jbeyond dispute to have been reasonable and just. Bishop Fisher is proved by the words of the Spanish Ambassador himself to have invited and pressed the introduction of a foreign Catholic army into England in the Pope's interest. Thus I find nothing to withdraw in what I then wrote, and little to alter save in correcting some small errors of trivial moment; but, on the other hand, I find much to add; and the question rises in what way I had better do it, with fair consideration for those who have bought the book as it stands. To take the 18 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. work to pieces and introduce the new material into the text or the notes wiU impose a necessity of buying a new copy, or of being left with an inferior one, on the many friends who least deserve to be so treated. I have concluded, therefore, on writing an additional volume, where such parts of the story as have had im portant light thrown upon them can be told over again in ampler form. The body of the history I leave as it stands. It contains what I believe to be a true account of the time, of the immediate causes which brought about the changes of the sixteenth century, and of the characters and principles of the actors in them. I have only to fiU up certain deficiencies and throw light into places hitherto left dark. For the rest, I do not pretend to impartiaUty. Lbelieye the Reformation to have been the greatest incident in English history ; the root and source of the expansive force which has spread the Anglo-Saxon race over the globe, and imprinted the English genius and charac ter on the constitution of mankind. I am unwiUing to believe more evil than I can help of my countrymen who accomplished so beneficent a work, and in a book ¦written with such convictions the mythical element) cannot be whoUy wanting. Even things which imme diately surround us, things which we see and touch, we do not perceive as they are ; we perceive only our own sensations, and our sensations are a combined result of certain objects and of the faculties which ap prehend them. Something of ourselves must always be intermixed before knowledge can reach us; in every conclusion which we form, in every conviction which is forced upon us, there is stiU a subjective ele ment. It is so in physical science. It is so in art. It is so in our speculations on our own nature. It is so in reUgion. It is so even in pure mathematics. The Subjective in History. 19 The curved and rectilineal figures on which we reason are our o-wn creation, and have no existence exterior to the reasoning mind. Most of all is it so in history, where we have no direct perceptions to help us, but are dependent on the narratives of others whose beliefs were necessarily influenced by their personal disposi tions. The first duty of an histpriaTi is to be on his guard against his o-wn sympathies; but he cannot whoUy escape their influence. In judging of the truth of particular statements, the conclusion which he will form must be based partly upon evidence and partly upon what he conceives to be likely or unlikely. In a court of justice, where witnesses can be cross-exam ined, uncertain elements can in some degree be elim inated; yet, after all care is taken, judges and juries have been often blinded by passion and prejudice. When we have nothing before us but rumours set in circulation, we know not by whom or on what author ity, and we are driven to consider probabilities, the Protestant, who believes the Reformation to have been a -victory of truth over falsehood, cannot come to the same conclusion as the Catholic, who believes it to have been a curse, or perhaps to the same conclusion as the indifferent philosopher, who regards Protestant and Catholic alike with benevolent contempt. For myself, I can but say that I have discriminated with such faculty as I possess. I have kept back nothing. I have consciously distorted nothing which conflicts ¦with my o-wn -views. I have accepted what seems suffi ciently proved. I have rejected what I can find no sup port for save in hearsay or prejudice. But whether accepting or rejecting, I have endeavoured to follow the rule that incidents must not be lightly accepted as authentic which are inconsistent with the universal laws of ^uman nature, and that to disprove a calumnj 20 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. it is sufficient to show that there is no valid -witness for it. FinaUy, I do not aUow myself tp be tempted into controversy with particular writers whose views disa gree with my o-wn. To contradict in detail every hos tile version of Henry VIII. 's or his ministers' conduct would be as tedious as it would be irritating and un profitable. My censors have been so many that a reply to them aU is impossible, and so distinguished that a selection would be invidious. Those who wish for invectives against the King, or Cranmer, or CromweU, can find them everywhere, from school manuals to the grave works of elaborate historians. For me, it is enough to teU the story as it presents itself to my own mind, and to leave what appears to me to be the truth to speak for itself. The English nation throughout their long history have borne an honourable reputation. Luther quotes a saying of Maximilian that there were three real sov ereigns in Europe — the Emperor, the King of France, and the King of England. The Emperor was a king of kings. If he gave an order to the princes of the Reich, they obeyed or disobeyed as they pleased. The King of France was a king of asses. He ordered about his people at his will, and they obeyed like asses. The King of England was king of a loyal nation who obeyed him with heart and mind as loyal and faithful subjects. This was the character borne in the world by the fathers of the generation whom popular histo rians represent as having dishonoured themselves by subserviency to a bloodthirsty tyrant. It is at least possible that popular historians have been mistaken, and that the subjects of Henry VIII. were neither much better nor much worse than those who preceded or came after them. CHAPTER I. Prospects of a disputed succession to the crown — Various claimants — Catherine incapable of having further children — Irregrularity of her marriage vrith the King — Papal dispensations — First mention of the divorce — Situation of the Papacy — Charles V. — PoUcy of Wolsey — Anglo-French alUance — Imperial troops in Italy — Appeal of the Pope — Mission of Inigo de Mendoza — The Bishop of Tarbes — Legitimacy of the Princess Mary called in question — Secret meet ing of the Legates' court — Alarms of Catherine — Sack of Rome hy the Duke of Bourbon — Proposed reform of the Papacy — The divorce promoted hy Wolsey — Unpopular in England — Attempts of the Emperor to gain Wolsey. In the year 1526 the poHtical prospects of England became seriously clouded. A disputed succession had led in the previous century to a desperate civil war. In that year it became known in private circles that if Henry VIII. was to die the realm would again be left -without a certain heir, and that the strife of the Roses might be renewed on an even more distracting scale. The sons who had been born to Queen Catherine had died in childbirth or had died immediately after it. The passionate hope of the country that she might still produce a male child who would survive had been constantly disappointed, and now could be entertained no longer. She was eight years older than her hus band. She had "certain diseases " which made it im possible that she should be again pregnant, and Henry had for two years ceased to cohabit with her. He had two children stiU living — the Princess Mary, Catherine's daughter, then a girl of eleven, and an illegitimate son born in 1519, the mother being a daughter of Sir John Blount, and married afterwards 22 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. to Sir Gilbert Talboys. By presumptive law the Trincess was the next heir ; but no woman had ever sat on the throne of England alone and in her own right, and it was doubtful whether the nation would *submit to a female sovereign. The boy, though ex cluded by his birth from the prospect of the crown, was yet brought up with exceptional care, eaUed a prince by his tutors, and probably regarded by his father as a possible successor should his sister go the way of her brothers. In 1525, after the King had deliberately withdrawn from Catherine, he was cre ated Duke of Richmond — a title of peculiar signifi cance, since it had been borne by his grandfather, Henry VII. — and he was granted precedence over the rest of the peerage. lUegitimacy was a serious, but, it might be thought, was not an absolute, bar. The Conqueror had been himself a bastard. The Church, by its habits of granting dispensations for irregular marriages or of dissolving them on pleas of affinity or consanguinity or other pretext, had confused the distinction between legitimate and iUegitimate. A Church Court had iUegitimatised the chUdren of Edward IV. and Elizabeth Grey, on the ground of one of Edward's previous connections; yet no one re garded the princes murdered in the Tower as having been iUegitimate in reality; and to prevent disputes and for an adequate object, the Duke of Richmond, had he grown to manhood, might, in the absence of other claims, have been recognised by Parliament. But the Duke was still a child, and might die as Henry's other sons had died; and other claims there were which, in the face of the bar sinister, could not fail to be asserted. James V. of Scotland was next in blood, being the son of Henry's eldest sister, Mar garet. There were the Greys, inheriting from the sec- Prospect of a Disputed Succession. 23 ond sister, Mary. Outside the royal house there were the still popular representatives of the White Rose, the Marquis of Exeter, who was Edward IV. 's grandson ; the Countess of Salisbury, daughter of Ed ward's brother the Duke of Clarence, and sister of the murdered Earl of Warwick; and Henry's life was the only obstacle between the coUision of these oppos ing pretensions. James, it was quite certain, would not be aUowed to succeed without a struggle. Na tional rivalry forbade it. Yet it was no less certain that he would try, and would probably be backed by France. There was but one escape from convulsions which might easUy be the ruin of the realm. The King was in the flower of his age, and might naturaUy look for a Prince of Wales to come after him if he was married to a woman capable of bearing one. It is neither unnatural nor, under the circumstances, a matter to be censured if he and others began to reflect upon the peculiar character of his connection with Catherine of Aragon. It is not sufficiently remem bered that the marriage of a widow with her husband's brother was then, as it is now, forbidden by the laws of aU civUised countries. Such a marriage at the present day would be held ipso facto invalid and not a marriage at aU. An irregular power was then held to rest with the successors of St. Peter to dispense, under certain conditions, with the inhibitory rules. The popes are now understood to have never rightly pos sessed such an authority, and therefore, according to modern law and sentiment, Henry and Catherine never were husband and wife at aU. At the time it was un certain whether the dispensing power extended so far as to sanction such a union, and when the discussion rose upon it the Roman canonists were themselves di vided. Those who maintained the widest view of the 24 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. papal faculty yet agreed that such a dispensation could only be granted for urgent cause, such as to prevent foreign wars or internal seditions, and no such cause was alleged to have existed when Ferdinand and Henry VII. arranged the marriage between their chil dren. The dispensation had been granted by Pope Julius with reluctance, had been acted upon after con siderable hesitation, and was of doubtful validity, since the necessary conditions were absent. The marriages of kings were determined with little reference to the personal affection of the parties. Between Henry and Catherine there was probably as much and as little personal attachment as there usuaUy is in such cases. He respected and perhaps admired her character; but she was not beautiful, she was not attractive, while she was as proud and intractable as her mother IsabeUa. Their union had been settled by the two fathers to cement the aUiance between England and Spain. Such connections rest on a different founda tion from those which are voluntarily entered into be tween private persons. What is made up for poUtical reasons may pardonably be dissolved when other rea sons of a similar kind require it; and when it became clear that Catherine could never bear another chUd, that the penalty threatened in the Levitical law against marriages of this precise kind had been liter aUy enforced in the death of the male offspring, and that civil war was imminent in consequence upon the King's death, Henry may have doubted in good faith whether she had ever been his wife at aU — whether, in fact, the marriage was not of the character which everyone would now aUow to attach to similar unions. Had there been a Prince of Wales, the question would never have arisen, and Henry, Uke other kings, would have borne his fate. But there was no prince, and First Mention of the Divorce. 25 the question had risen, and there was no reason why it should not. There was no trace at the outset of an attachment to another woman. If there had been, there would be little to condemn; but Anne Boleyn, when it was first mooted, was no more to the King than any other lady of the court. He required a wife who could produce a son to secure the succession. The powers which had allowed an irregular marriage could equally dissolve it, and the King felt that he had a right to demand a familiar concession which other sovereigns had often applied for in one form or another, and rarely in vain. Thus as early as 1526 certainly, and probably as much as a year before, Cardinal Wolsey had been ' feeling his way at Rome for a separation between Henry and Catherine. On September 7 in that year the Bishop of Bath, who was English Ambassador at Paris, informed the Cardinal of the arrival there of a confidential agent of Pope Clement VII. The agent had spoken to the Bishop on this especial subject, and had informed him that there would be difficulties about it.^ The "blessed divorce" — benedictum di- vorcium the Bishop call-s it — had been already under consideration at Rome. The difficulties were not specified, but the political features of the time obliged Clement to be circumspect, and it was these that were probably referred to. Francis I. had been defeated and taken prisoner by the Imperialists at Pavia. He had been carried to 6pain, and had been released at Henry's intercession, under severe conditions^ to which he had reluctantly consented, and his sons had been left at Madrid as hostages for the due fulfilment of them. The victorious army, half Spanish, half ' Calendar of State Papers, Hen. VIII., Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. Introduction, p, 223, 26 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. German, remained under the Duke of Bourbon to complete the conquest of Italy; and Charles V., with his already vast dominions and a treasury which the world belieyed to be inexhaustibly supplied from the gold mines of the New World, seemed advancing to universal empire. France in the preceding centuries had been the he reditary enemy of England ; Spain and Burgundy her hereditary friends. The marriage of Catherine of Aragon had been a special feature of the estabUshed aUiance. She was given first to Prince Arthur, and then to Henry, as a link in the confederacy which was"to hold in check French ambition. Times were changing. Charles V. had been elected emperor, largely through English influence; but Charles was threatening to be a more serious danger to Europe than France had been. The Italian princes were too weak to resist the conqueror of Pa-via. Italy once conquered, the Papacy would become a dependency of the empire, and, with Charles's German subjects in open revolt against it, the Church would lose its au thority, and the organisation of the Catholic world would faU into hopeless decrepitude. So thought Wolsey, the most sharp-sighted of English ministers. He believed that the maintenance of the Papacy was the best defence of order and liberty. The only remedy which he could see was a change of partners. Eng land held the balance between the great rival powers. If the English aUiance could be " transferred from the Empire to France, the Emperor could be held in check, and his supposed ambition neutralised. Wol sey was utterly mistaken; but the mistake was not an unnatural one. Charles, busy with his Italian wars, had treated the Lutheran schism with suspicious forbearance. Notwithstanding his Indian ingots his The Pope and the Emperor. 27 finances were disordered. Bourbon's lansquenets had been left to pay themselves by plunder. They had sacked monasteries, piUaged cathedral plate, and rav ished nuns with irreverent ferocity. The estates of the Church had been as little spared by them as Lom bardy ; and to Clement VII. the invasion was another inroad of barbarians, and Bourbon a second Attila. What Bourbon's master meant by it, and what he might intend to do, was as uncertain to Clement as perhaps it was to Charles himsep. In the prostrate, degraded, and desperate condition into which the Church was faUing, any resolution was possible. To the clearest eyes in Europe the Papacy seemed totter ing to its faU, and Charles's hand, if he chose to raise it, might precipitate the catastrophe. To ask a pope at such a time to give mortal offence to the Spanish nation by agreeing to the divorce of Catherine of Aragon was to ask him to sign his death-warrant. No wonder, therefore, that he found difficulties. Yet it was to France and England that Clement had to look for help in his extremities. The divorce perhaps had as yet been no more than a suggestion, a part of a policy which was still in its infancy. It could wait at any rate for a more convenient season. Meantime he sent his secretary, Sanga, to Paris to beg aid; and to Henry personally he made a passionate appeal, imploring him not to desert the Apostolic See in its hour of extreme need. He apologised for his impor- tunacy, but he said he hoped that history would not have to record that Italy had been devastated in the time of Clement VII. to the dishonour of the King and of Wolsey. If France and England failed him, he would himself be ruined. The Emperor would be universal monarch. They would open their eyes at last, but they would open them too late. So piteous 28 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. was the entreaty that Henry when he read the Pope's letter burst into tears. ^ Clement had not been idle. He had brought his own smaU army into the field to oppose Bourbon; he joined the Italian League, and prepared to defend himself. He was called the father of Christendom, yet he was at open war with the most Catholic king. But Wolsey reasonably considered that unless the Western powers interfered the end would come. If England was to act, she could act only in aUiance with France. The change of policy was iU under stood, and was not popular among Henry's subjects. The divorce as yet had not been spoken of. No breath of such a purpose had gone abroad. But English sentiment was imperial, and could endure with equa nimity even the afflictions of a pope. The King was more papal than his people; he aUowed Wolsey to guide him, and negotiations were set on foot at once for a special treaty with France, one of the conditions of which was to be the marriage of the Princess Mary — aUotted like a card in a game — ¦ either to Francis or to one of his sons ; another condition being that the English crown should be settled upon her should Henry die without a legitimate son. Sir John Rus sell was simultaneously despatched to Rome with money to help the Pope in paying his troops and gar risoning the city. The ducats and the "kind words" which accompanied them "created incredible joy," encouraged his Holiness to reject unjust condition;; which had been offered, and restored him, if for tho moment only, "from death to life."^ If RusseU de- 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, lien. VIII., vol, iv, p, 1112,— Hen, VIII, to Clement VII., Oct. •>?,, 1526,-16. p, 1145, Giberto to Gambara, Dec. 20, 1526. — lb. p. 1207, 2 Giberto, Bishop of Verona, to Wolsey, Feb, 10, 1527, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, pp. 1282-3, The Imperialists in Italy. 29 scribed correctly what he saw in passing through Italy, Clement had good cause for anxiety. "The Swabians and Spaniards," he wrote, "had committed horrible atrocities. They had burnt houses to the value of two hundred miUion ducats, with all the churches, images, and priests that feU into their hands. They had compelled the priests and monks to violate the nuns. Even where they were received without opposition they had burned the place; they had not spared the boys, and they had carried off the girls ; and whenever they found the Sacrament of the Church they had thrown it into a river or into the vilest place they could find. If God did not punish such cruelty and wickedness, men would infer that He did not trouble Himself about the affairs of this world." 1 The news from Italy gave a fresh impulse to Wol sey' s policy and the Anglo-French AUiance, which was pushed forward in spite of popular disapproval. The Emperor, unable to pay, and therefore unable to control, his troops, became himself alarmed. • He found himself pressed into a course which was stimu lating the German revolt against the Papacy, and he professed himself anxious to end the war. Inigo de Mendoza, the Bishop of Burgos, was despatched to Paris to negotiate for a general pacification. From Paris he was to proceed to London to assure Henry of the Emperor's inalienable friendship, and above all things to gain over Wolsey by the means which expe rience had shown to be the nearest way to Wolsey 's heart. The great Cardinal was already Charles's pensionary, but the pension was several years in ar rear. Mendoza was to tell him not only that the 1 Giberto, Bishop of Verona, to Wolsey, Feb, 10, 1527. — Calendar Foreign and Domestic, April 26, 1527, vol. iv, p, 1386. 30 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. arrears should be immediately paid up, but that a second pension should be secured to him on the reve nues of Milan, and that the Emperor would make him a further grant of 6,000 ducats annuaUy out of the income of Spanish bishoprics. No means was to be spared to divert the hostility of so dangerous an enemy. 1., Wolsey was not to be so easily gained. He had formed large schemes which he did not mean to part with, and in the matter of pensions Francis I. was as liberal in promises as Charles. The Pope's prospects were brightening. Besides the English money, he had improved his finances by creating six new cardinals, and making 240,000 crowns out of the disposition of these sacred offices.^ A French embassy, -with the Bishop of Tarbes at its head, came to England to complete the treaty with Henry in the Pope's defence. Demands were to be made upon the Emperor ; if those demands were refused, war was to foUow, and the ce ment of the aUiance was to be the marriage of Mary with a French prince. It is likely that other secret projects were in view also of a similar kind. The marriage of Henry with Catherine had been intended to secure the continuance of the aUiance -with Spain. Royal ladies were the counters with which politicians played; and probably enough there were thoughts of placing a French princess in Catherine's place. How ever this may be, the legality of the King's marriage with his nominal queen was suddenly and indirectly raised in the discussion of the terms of the treaty, when the Bishop of Tarbes inquired whether it was certain that Catherine's daughter was legitimate. 1 Inigo de Mendoza to the Emperor, Jan, 19, 1527, — Spanish Calen dar, vol, iii, pt, 2, p, 24, 2 Alonzo Sanchez to Charles V,, May 7, 1527. —Ib. p. 176, The Treaty with France. 31 Mr. Brewer, the careful and admirable editor of the "Foreign and Domestic Calendar of State Pa pers," doubts whether the Bishop did anything of the kind. I cannot agree with Mr. Brewer. The Bishop of Tarbes was among the best-known diplomatists in Europe. He was actively concerned during subse quent years in the process of the divorce case in Lon don, in Paris, and at Rome. The expressions which he used on this occasion were publicly appealed to by Henry in his addresses to the peers and to the coun try, in the public pleas which he laid before the Eng lish prelates, in the various repeated defences which he made for his conduct. It is impossible that the Bishop should have been ignorant of the use which was made of his name, and impossible equally to sup pose that he would have allowed his name to be used unfairly. The Bishop of Tarbes was unquestionably the first person to bring the question publicly forward. It is likely enough, however, that his introduction of so startling a topic had been privately arranged be tween himseU and Wolsey as a prelude to the further steps which were immediately to follow. For the di vorce had by this time been finally resolved on as part of a general scheme for the alteration of the balance of power. The domestic reasons for it were as weighty as ever were aUeged for similar separations. The Pope's hesitation, it might be assumed, would now be overcome, since he had flung himself for support upon England and France, and his relations with the Em peror could hardly be worse than they were. The outer world, and even the persons principally concerned, were taken entirely by surprise. For the two years during which it had been under considera tion the secret had been successfully preserved. Not a hint had reached Catherine herself, and even when 32 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the match had been lighted by the Bishop of Tarbes the fuU meaning of it does not seem to have occurred to her. Mendoza, on his arrival in England, had found her disturbed ; she was irritated at the position which had been given to the Duke of Richmond ; she was angry, of course, at the French aUiance ; she com plained that she was kept in the dark about public affairs; she was exerting herself to the utmost among the friends of the imperial connection to arrest Wol sey 's policy and maintain the ancient traditions; but of the divorce she had not heard a word. It was to come upon her like a thunderstroke. ^ Before the drama opens a brief description wiU not be out of place of the two persons who were to play the principal parts on the stage, as they were seen a year later by Ludovico Falieri, the Venetian ambassador in England. Of Catherine his account is brief. "The Queen is of low stature and rather stout; very good and very religious; speaks Spanish, French, Flemish, and English; more beloved by the Islanders than any queen that has ever reigned; about forty -five years old, and has been in England thirty years. She has had two sons and one daughter. Both the sons died in infancy. One daughter sur vives." On the King, Falieri is more elaborate. "In the Sth Henry such beauty of mind and body is combined as to surprise and astonish. Grand stature, suited to his exalted position, showing the superiority of mind and character; a face like an an gel's, so fair it is; his head bald like Caesar's, and he wears a beard, which is not the English custom. He is accomplished in every manly exercise, sits his 1 Mendoza to Charles V., March 18, 1527, — Spanish Calendar, vol iii, part 2, p, 110, Preliminary. 33 horse weU, tilts with his lance, throws the quoit, shoots with his bow exceUent weU ; he is a fine tennis player, and he practises aU these gifts with the great est industry. Such a prince could not fail to have cultivated also his character and his inteUect. He has been a student from his childhood; he knows lit erature, philosophy, and theology ; speaks and writes Spanish, French, and Italian, besides Latin and Eng lish. He is kind, gracious, courteous, liberal, espe ciaUy to men of learning, whom he is always ready to help. He appears religious also, generaUy hears two masses a day, and on holy days High Mass besides. He is very charitable, giving away ten thousand gold ducats annuaUy among orphans, widows, and crip ples."^ Such was the King, such the Queen, whom fate and the preposterous pretensions of the Papacy to dis pense with the established marriage laws had irregu larly mated, and whose separation was to shake the European world. Pope Clement complained in sub sequent years that the burden of decision should have been thro-wn in the first instance upon himself. If the King had proceeded at the outset to try the ques tion in the English courts; if a judgment had been given unfavourable to the marriage, and had he imme diately acted upon it. Queen Catherine might have appealed to the Holy See ; but accomplished facts were solid things. Her case might have been indefinitely protracted by legal technicalities till it died of itself. It would have been a characteristic method of escape out of the difficulty, and it was a view which Wolsey himself perhaps at first entertained. He knew that the Pope was unwilling to take the first step. ^ Report from England, Nov, 10, 1531, — 'Venetian Calendar. Fa- Ueri arrived in England in 1528, and the general parts of the Report cover the intervening period. 34 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. On the 17th of May, 1527, after a discussion of the Treaty with France, he caUed a meeting of his Lega tine court at York Place. Archbishop Warham sate with him as assessor. The King attended, and the Cardinal, having stated that a question had arisen on the lawfulness of his marriage, enquired whether the King, for the sake of public morals and the good of his own soul, would allow the objections to be examined into. The King assented, and named a proctor. The BuU of -Julius II. was introduced and considered. Wolsey declared that in a case so intricate the canon la-wyers must be consulted, and he asked for the opin ions of the assembled bishops. The bishops, one only excepted, gave dubious answers. The aged Bishop of Rochester, reputed the holiest and wisest of them, said decidedly that the marriage was good, and the BuU which legalised it sufficient. These proceedings were not foUowed up, but the se crecy which had hitherto been observed was no longer possible, and Catherine and her friends learnt now for the first time the measure which was in contemplation. Mendoza, writing on the day foUowing the York Place meeting to the Emperor, informed him, as a fact which he had learnt on reliable authority, that Wol sey, for a final stroke of wickedness, was scheming to divorce the Queen. She was so much alarmed that she did not venture herself to speak of it, but it was certain that the la-wyers and bishops had been invited to sign a declaration that, being his brother's -widow, she could not be the wife of the King. The Pope, she was afraid, might be tempted to take part against her, or the Cardinal himself might deliver judgment as Papal Legate. Her one hope was in the Emperor. The cause of the action taken against her was her fidelity to the Imperial interests. Nothing as yet had * Capture and Sack of Rome. 35 been made formally public, and she begged that the whole matter might be kept as private as possible. ^ That the Pope would be wiUing, if he dared, to gratify Henry at Charles's expense was only too likely. The German Lutherans and the German Emperor were at the moment his most dangerous enemies. France and England were the only Powers who seemed wiUing to assist him, and a week before the meeting of Wolsey 's court he had experienced in the most terrible form what the imperial hostility might bring upon him. On the 7th of that same month of May the army of the Duke of Bourbon had taken Rome by storm. The city was given up to pil lage. Reverend cardinals were dragged through the streets on mules' backs, dishonoured and mutilated. Convents of nuns were abandoned to the licentious soldiery. The horrors of the capture may have been exaggerated, but it is quite certain that to holy things or holy persons no respect was paid, and that the atrocities which in those days were usuaUy perpe trated in stormed towns were on this occasion emi nently conspicuous. The unfortunate Pope, shut up in the Castle of St. Angelo, looked down from its battlements upon scenes so dreadful that it must have appeared as if the Papacy and the Church itseU had been overtaken by the final judgment. We regard the Spaniards as a nation of bigots, we consider it im possible that the countrymen of Charles and Philip could have been animated by any such bitterness against the centre of Catholic Christendom, Charles himseU is not likely to have intended the humiliation of the Holy See. But Clement had reason for his misgivings, and Wolsey 's policy was not without ' Inigo de Mendoza to Charles V., May 18, 1S27. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii, part 2, p. 193. 36 Ute Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. excuse. Lope de Soria was Charles's Minister at Genoa, and Lope de Soria' s opinions, freely uttered, may have been shared by many a Catholic besides himseU. On the 25th of May, a fortnight after the storm, he wrote to his master the foUowing noticeable letter : — " The sack of Rome must be regarded as a visita tion from God, who permits his servant the Emperor to teach his Vicar on earth and other Christian princes that their wicked purposes shaU be defeated, the unjust wars which they have raised shall cease, peace be restored to Christendom, the faith be exalted, and heresy extirpated. . . . Should the Emperor think that the Church of God is not what it ought to be, and that the Pope's temporal power emboldens him to promote war among Christian princes, I can not but remind your Majesty that it wiU not be a sin, but a meritorious action, to reform the Church; so that the Pope's authority be confined exclusively to his own spiritual affairs, and temporal affairs to be left to Cae.sar, since by right what is God's belongs to God, and what is Caesar's to Caesar. I have been twenty-eight years in Italy, and I have observed that the Popes have been the sole cause of aU the wars and miseries during that time. Your Imperial Majesty, as Supreme Lord on earth, is bound to apply a rem edy to that evil."i Heretical English and Germans were not the only persons who could recognise the fitness of the secular supremacy of princes over popes and Churches. Such thoughts must have passed through the mind of Charles himseU, and of many more besides him. De Soria' s words might have been dictated by Luther- or 1 Lope de Soria to Charles V., May 25, 1527. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iii, part 2, p. 209. Policy of Wolsey. 37 Thomas CromweU. Had the Emperor at that moment placed himseU at the head of the Reformation, all later history would have been different. One states man at any rate had cause to fear that this might be what was about to happen. Wolsey was the embodi ment of everything most objectionable and odious to the laity in the ecclesiastical administration of Europe. To defend the Papacy and to embarrass Charles was the surest method of protecting himseU and his order. The divorce was an incident in the situation, but not the least important. Catherine represented the Impe^^ rialist interest in England. To put her away was to make the breach with her countrymen and kindred irreparable. He took upon himself to assure the King that after the last outrage the Pope would agree to anything that France and England demanded of him, and would trust to his aUies to bear him harm less. That the divorce was a thing reasonable in it self to ask for, and certain to be conceded by any pope who was free to act on his own judgment, was assumed as a matter of course. Sir Gregory Casalis, the English agent at Rome, was instructed to obtain access to Clement in St. Angelo, to convey to him the indignation felt in England at his treatment, and then to insist on the iUegality of the King's relations with Catherine, on the King's own scruples of conscience, and on the anxiety of his subjects that there should be a male heir to the crown. The "urgent cause" such as was necessary to be produced when excep tional actions were required of the popes was the im minence or even certainty of civil war if no such heir was born. Catherine meanwhile had again communiated with Mendoza. She had spoken to her husband, and Henry, since further reticence was impossible, had 38 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. told her that they had been living in mortal sin, and that a separation was necessary. A violent scene had foUowed, with natural tears and reproaches. ^ The King endeavoured to console her, but it was not a matter where consolation could avail. Wolsey ad vised him to deal with her gently, tiU it was seen what the Pope and the King of France would do in the matter. Wolsey himseU was to go immediately to Paris to see Francis, and consult with him on the measures necessary to be taken in consequence of the Pope's imprisonment. It was possible that Clement, finding himself helpless, might become a puppet in the Emperor's hands. Under such circumstances he could not be trusted by other countries with the spir itual authority attaching to his office, and schemes were being formed for some interim arrangement by which France and England were to constitute them selves into a separate patriarchate, with Wolsey at its head as Archbishop of Rouen. Mendoza says that this proposal had been actuaUy made to Wolsey by the French Ambassador.^ In Spain it was even be lieved to be contemplated as a permanent modification of the ecclesiastical system. The Imperial Council lors at VaUadolid told the Venetian Minister that the Cardinal intended to separate the Churches of Eng land and France from that of Rome, saying that as the Pope was a prisoner he was not to be obeyed, and that even if the Emperor released him, he stiU would not be free unless his fortresses and territory now in the Emperor's hands were restored to him.^ Wolsey had reason for anxiety, for Catherine and 1 Mendoza to Charles V,, July 13, ItilT . — Spanish Calendar, vol, ii. part 2, p. 276. 2 lb. vol. iii. part 2, p. 273. ^ Andrea Navagero to the Signory, July 17, 1527. — Venetian Calen dar. English Opitiion. 39 Mendoza were -writing to the Emperor insisting that he should make the Pope revoke Wolsey 's Legatine powers. In spite of efforts to keep secret the intended di vorce, it soon became kno-wn thoughout England. The Queen was personaUy popular. The nation gen eraUy detested France, and looked on the Emperor as their hereditary friend. The reasons for the divorce might influence statesmen, but did not touch the body of the people. They naturaUy took the side of an in jured wife, and if Mendoza can be beUeved (and there is no reason why he should not be believed), the first impression was decidedly unfavourable to a project which was regarded as part of the new policy. Men doza made the most of the opposition. He told the Emperor that if six or seven thousand men were landed in Cornwall, forty thousand Englishmen would rise and join them.^ He saw Wolsey — he reasoned with him, and when he found reason ineffectual, he named the bribe which the Emperor was willing to give. Knowing what Francis was bidding, he baited his hook more liberally. He spoke of the Papacy: "how the chair was now in the Emperor's hands, and the Emperor, if Wolsey deserved it, would no doubt promote his elevation." The glittering temptation was unavailing. The papal chair had been Wolsey's highest ambition, but he remained unmoved. He said that he had served the Emperor in the past out of disinterested regard. He stiU trusted that the Em peror would replace the Pope and restore the Church. Mendoza's answer was not reassuring to an English statesman. He said that both the spiritual and tem poral powers were now centred in his master, and he advised Wolsey, if he desired an arrangement, to ' Mendoza to Charles V., July 17, 1527. — Spanish Calendar. 40 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. extend his journey from France, go on to Spain, and see the Emperor in person. It was precisely this centering which those who had charge of English lib erties had a right to resent. Divorce or no divorce, they could not aUow a power possessed of so much authority in the rest of Christendom to be the servant of a single prince. The divorce was but an iUustra tion of the situation, and such a Papacy as Mendoza contemplated would reduce England and aU Catholic Europe into fiefs of the Empire. CHAPTER II. Mission of Wolsey to Paris — Visits Bishop Fisher on the way — Anx ieties of the Emperor — Letter of the Emperor to Henry VIII. — Large offers to Wolsey — Address of the French Cardinals to the Pope — Anne Boleyn chosen by Henry to succeed Catherine — Sur prise and displeasure of Wolsey — Fresh attempts of the Emperor to bribe him — Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce — Mission of Dr. Knight to Rome — The Pope at Orvieto — The King applies for a dispensation to make a second marriage — Language of the dispensation demanded — Inferences drawn from it — Al leged intrigue between the King and Mary Boleyn. It was believed at the time — and it was the tradi tion afterwards — that Wolsey, in his mission to Paris, intended to replace Catherine by a French princess, the more surely to commit Francis to the support of Henry in the divorce, and to strengthen the new alliance. Nothing can be inherently more likely. The ostensible reason, however, was to do away with any difficulties which might have been sug gested by the objection of the Bishop of Tarbes to the legitimacy of the Princess Mary.. If iUegitimate, she would be no fitting bride for the Duke of Orleans. But she had been born bona fide parentum. There was no intention of infringing her prospective rights or of altering her present position. Her rank and title were to be secured to her in amplest measure. The Cardinal went upon his journey with the splen dour attaching to his office and befitting a church man who was aspiring to be the spiritual president of the two kingdoms. On his way to the coast he vis ited two prelates whose support to his policy was im portant, Archbishop Warham had been cold about 42 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the divorce, if not openly hostile. Wolsey found him "not much changed from his first fashion," but admitting that, although it might be unpleasant to the Queen, truth and justice must prevail. Bishop Fisher was a more difficult subject. He had spoken in the Legate's court in Catherine's favour. It was from him, as the King supposed, that Catherine herself had learnt what was impending over her. Wolsey caUed at his palace as he passed through Rochester. He asked the Bishop plainly if he had been in com munication with the Queen. The Bishop, after some hesitation, confessed that the Queen had sought his advice, and said that he had declined to give an opin ion without the King's command. Before Wolsey left London, at a last interview at York Place, the King had directed him to explain "the whole mat ter " to the Bishop. He went through the entire his tory, mentioned the words of the Bishop of Tarbes, and discussed the question which had risen upon it, on account of which he had been sent into France. FinaUy, he described the extreme -violence -with which Catherine had received the inteUigence. The Bishop greatly blamed the conduct of the Queen, and said he thought that if he might speak to her he might bring her to submission. He agreed, or seemed to agree, that the marriage had been irregu lar, though he did not himseU think that it could now be broken. Others of the bishops, he thought, agreed with him ; but he was satisfied that the King meant nothing against the laws of God, and would be fuUy justified in submitting his misgi-vdngs to the Pope.^ Mendoza's and the Queen's letters had meanwhile been despatched to Spain, to add to the anxieties 1 Wolsey to Henry VIII., >Iuly 5. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv, part 2. Bishop Fisher to Paul, ibid., p, 1471, Sit^tatlon of the Emperor. 43 which were overwhelming the Emperor. Nothing could have been less welcome at such a juncture than a family quarrel with his uncle of England, whose friendship he was stiU hoping to retain. The bird that he had caged at Rome was no convenient pri soner. The capture of Rome had not been ordered by himseU, though politically he was obliged to main tain it. The time did not suit for the ambitious Church reforms of Lope de Soria. Peace would have to be made with the Pope on some moderate condi tions. His own Spain was hardly quieted after the revolt of the Comunidades. Half Germany was in avowed apostasy from the Church of Rome. The Turks were overrunning Hungary, and sweeping the Mediterranean with their pirate fleets, and the pas sionate and restless Francis was watching his oppor tunity to revenge Pavia and attack his captor in the Low Countries and ih Italy. The great Emperor was moderate, cautious, prudent to a fault. In a calm<3r season he might have been tempted to take the Church in hand ; and none understood better the condition into which it had faUen. But he was wise enough to know that if a reform of the Papacy was undertaken at aU it must be undertaken with the joint consent of the other Christian princes, and all his present efforts were directed to peace. He was Catherine's natural guardian. Her position in England had been hitherto a political security for Henry's friendship. It was his duty and his interest to defend her, and he meant to do it ; not, however, by sending ro-vdng expeditions to land in Cornwall and raise a civil war ; aU means were to be tried before that ; to attempt such a thing, he weU knew, would throw Europe into a blaze. The letters found him at Valladolid. He replied, of course, that he was shocked at a proceeding so 44 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. unlocked for and so scandalous, but he charged Men doza to be moderate and to confine himself to remon strance.^ He wrote himseU to Henry — confiden- tiaUy, as from friend to friend, and ciphering his letter -with his own hand. He was unable to believe, he said, that Henry could contemplate seriously bringing his domestic discomforts before the world. Even supposing the marriage iUegitimate — even sup posing that the Pope had no power to dispense in such cases — " it would be better and more honourable to keep the matter secret, and to work out a remedy." He bade Mendoza remind the King that to question the dispensing power affected the position of other princes besides his own; that to touch the legitimacy of his daughter would increase the difficulties -with the succession, and not remove them. He implored the King "to keep the matter secret, as he would do himseU." Meanwhile, he told Mendoza, for Cathe rine's comfort, that he had -written to demand a mild brief from the Pope to stop the scandal. He had requested him, as Catherine had suggested, to revoke Wolsey's powers, or at least to command that neither he nor any English Court should try the case. If heard at aU it must be heard before his Holiness and the Sacred College.^ But he could not part -with the hope that he might stiU bring Wolsey to his own and the Queen's side. A council of Cardinals was to meet at A-vignon to consider the Pope's captivity. The Cardinal of England was expected to attend. Charles himseU might go to Perpignan. Wolsey might meet him there, discuss the state of Europe, and settle the King's secret affair at the same time. 1 Charles V, to Inigo de Mendoza, July 29, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv, part 2, p, 1500, s Ibid. Offers made to Wolsey. 45 Should this be impossible, he charged Mendoza once more to leave no stone unturned to recover Wolsey's friendship. "In our name," he said, "you wiU make him the foUowing offers : — "1. The payment of all arrears on his several pensions, amounting to 9,000 ducats annually. "2. Six thousand additional ducats annuaUy until such a time as a bishoprick or other ecclesiastical en dowment of the same revenue becomes vacant in our kingdom. "3. The Duke, who is to have Milan, to give him a Marquisate in that Duchy, with an annual rent of 12,000 ducats, or 15,000 if the smaller sum be not enough; the said Marquisate to be held by the Cardi nal during his life, and to pass after him to any heir whom he shaU appoint." ^ As if this was not sufficient, the Emperor paid a yet further tribute to the supposed all-powerful Cardi nal. He -wrote himself to him as to his "good friend." He said that if there was anything in his dominions which the Cardinal wished to possess he had only to name it, as he considered Wolsey the best friend that he had in the world. ^ "^ For the ministers of great countries deliberately to seU themselves to foreign princes was the custom of the age. The measure of public virtue which such a custom indicates was not exalted; and among the changes introduced by the Reformation the abolition or suspension of it was not the least beneficial. Thomas CromweU, when he came to power, |et the example of refusal, and corruption of public men on a scale so scandalously enormous was no more heard of. 1 Charles V. to Mendoza, Sept, 30, 1527. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 1569, 2 The Emperor to the Cardinal of York, Aug. 31, 1527, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii, part 2, p, 357. 46 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Gold, however, had flowed in upon Wolsey in such enormous streams and from so many sources that the Emperor's munificence and attention faUed to tempt him. On reaching Paris he found Francis bent upon war, and wiUing to promise anything for Henry's as sistance. The belief at the French Court was that the Emperor, hearing that the Churches of England and France meant to decline from their obedience to the Roman Communion, would carry the Pope to Spain; that Clement would probably be poisoned there, and the Apostolic See would be established per manently in the Peninsula.-^ Wolsey himseU -wrote this, and believed it, or desired Henry to believe it, proving the extreme uncertainty among the best-in formed of contemporary politicians as to the probable issue of the capture of Rome. The French Cardinals drew and sent an address to the Pope, intimating that as long as he was in confinement they could accept no act of his as la-wf ul, and would not obey it. Wolsey signed at the head of them. The Cardinals Sal-viati, Bourbon, Lorraine, and the ChanceUor Cardinal of Sens, signed after him.^ The first stroke in the game had been won by Wolsey. Had the Pope recaUed his powers as legate, an immediate schism might have fol lowed. But a more fatal blow had been prepared for him by his master in England. Trusting to the Car dinal's promises that the Pope would make no diffi culty about the divorce, Henry had considered himself at liberty to choose a successor to Catherine. He had suffered once in having aUowed politics to select a wife for him. This time he intended to be guided by his own inclination. When Elizabeth afterwards -wished ^ Wolsey to Henry VIII., Aug. -, 1527, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, part 2, 2 The Cardinals of France to Clement VII,, Sept, 16, 1527. — /Sjpan- ish Calendar, vol, iii, part 2, p, 383, Anne Boleyn. 47 to marry Leicester, Lord Sussex said she had better fix after her o-wn liking; there would be the better chance of the heir that her realm was looking for. Her father fixed also after his liking in selecting Elizabeth's mother. Anne Boleyn was the second daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a Norfolk knight of ancient blood, and himseU a person of some distinction in the public service. Lady Boleyn was a Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. Anne was born in 1507, and by birth and connection was early introduced into the court. When a girl she was taken to Paris to be ed ucated. In 1522 she was brought back to England, became a lady-in-waiting, and, being a witty, briUiant young woman, attracted and encouraged the atten tions of the fashionable cavaliers of the day. Wyatt, the poet, was among her adorers, and the young Percy, afterwards Earl of Northumberland. It was aUeged afterwards that between her and Percy there had been a secret marriage which had been actuaUy consum mated. That she had been involved in some danger ous intrigue or other she herseU subsequently con fessed. But she was attractive, she was witty; she drew Henry's fancy, and the fancy became an ardent passion. Now, for the first time, in Wolsey's ab sence, the Lady Anne's name appears in connection with the divorce. On the 16th of August Mendoza informed Charles, as a matter of general belief, that if the suit for the divorce was successful the King would marry a daughter of Master Boleyn, whom the Emperor would remember as once ambassador at the Imperial court.^ There is no direct evidence that before Wolsey had left England the King had seri- 1 Mendoza to Charles V., Aug, 10, 1527, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iii, part 2, p, 327. 48 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. ously thought of Anne at aU, Catherine could have had no suspicion of it, or her jealous indignation would have made itself heard. The Spanish Am bassador spoke of it as a new feature in the case. The Boleyns were Wolsey's enemies, and belonged to the growing faction most hostile to the Church. The news as it came upon him was utterly distasteful. ^ Anne in turn hated Wolsey, as he probably knew that she would, and she compelled him to stoop to the dis grace of suing for her favour. The inference is rea sonable, therefore, that the King took the step which in the event was to produce such momentous conse quences when the Cardinal was not at hand to dissuade him. He was not encouraged even by her own family. Her father, as wiU be seen hereafter, was from the first opposed to his daughter's advancement. He probably knew her character too well. But Henry, when he had taken an idea into his head, was not to be moved from it. The lady was not beautiful : she was rather short than tall, her complexion was dark, her neck long, her mouth broad, her figure not partic ularly good. The fascinating features were her long flowing brown hair, a pair of effective dark eyes, and a boldness of character which might have put him on his guard, and did not. The immediate effect was to cool Wolsey's ardour for the divorce. His mission in France, which opened so splendidly, eventuated in little. The French cardinals held no meeting at Avignon. They had signed the address to Clement, but they had not ' The date of Henry's resolution to marry Anne is of some conse quence, since the general .assumption is that it was the origin of the divorce. Rumour, of course, said so afterwards, but there is no evi dence for it. The early love-letters written hy the King to her are assigned by Mr. Brewer to the midsummer of 1527, But they are un dated, and therefore the period assigned to them is conjecture merely. Anne Boleyn and Wolsey. 49 made the Cardinal of York into their patriarch. Rouen was not added to his other preferments. Could he but have proposed a marriage for his sovereign with the Princess of Alencon, aU might have been different, but it had fared -with him as it fared with the Earl of Warwick, whom Henry's grandfather had sent to France to woo a bride for him, and in his absence married Elizabeth Grey. He perhaps regret ted the munificent offers of the Emperor which he had hastily rejected, and he returned to England in the autumn to feel the consequences of the change in his situation. Mr. Brewer labours in vain to prove that Wolsey was unfavourable to the divorce from the beginning. Catherine believed that he was the insti gator of it. Mendoza was of the same opinion. Un questionably he promoted it with all his power, and made it a part of a great policy. To maintain that he was acting thus against his conscience and to please the King is more dishonouring to him than to suppose that he was either the originator or the wiUing instru ment. All, however, was altered when Anne Boleyn came upon the stage, and she made haste to make him feel the change. "The Legate has returned from France," wrote Mendoza on the 26th of October. He went to -visit the King at Richmond, and sent to ask where he could see him. The King was in his chamber. It happened that the lady, who seemed to entertain no great affection for the Cardinal, was in the room with the King, and before the latter could answer the message she said for him, "Whei* else is the Cardinal to come? Tell him he may come here where the King is." The Legate felt that such treat ment boded no good to him, but concealed his resent ment. "The cause," said Mendoza, "is supposed to be that the said lady bears the Legate a grudge, for 50 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. other reasons, and because she has discovered that during his visit to France the Legate proposed to have an aUiance for the King found in that country." ^ Wolsey persuaded Mendoza that the French marriage had been a fiction, but at once he began to endeavour to undo his work, and prevent the dissolution of the marriage with Catherine. He tried to procure an unfavourable opinion from the EngUsh Bishops before legal proceedings were commenced. Mendoza, how ever, doubted his stability if the King persisted in his purpose, and advised that a papal decision on the case should be procured and forwarded as soon as possi- ble.2 The Pope's captivity, however, would destroy the value of any judgment which he might give while he continued in durance. The Emperor, encouraged by the intimation that Wolsey was wavering, reverted to his previous hope. In a special memorandum of measures to be taken, the most important, notwith standing the refusal of the previous offers, was still thought to be to "bribe the Cardinal." He must instantly be paid the arrears of his pensions out of the revenues of the sees of Palencia and Badajoz. If there was not money enough in the treasury, a further and larger pension of twelve or fourteen thousand crowns was to be given to him out of some rich bishop ric in Castile. The Emperor admitted that he had promised the Cortes to appoint no more foreigners to Spanish sees, but such a promise could not be held binding, being in violation of the liberties of the Church. Every one would see that it was for the good of the kingdom. 1 Mendoza to Charles V., Oct. 26, 1527. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. part 2, p, 432. " Ibid. Mission of Dr. Knight to the Pope. 6l The renewed offer was doubtless conveyed to Wol sey, but he probably found that he had gone too deep to retire. If he made such an effort as Mendoza re lates, he must have speedily discovered that it would be useless. He had encouraged the King in a belief that the divorce would be granted by the Pope as a matter of course, and the King, ha-ving made up his own mind, was not to be moved from it. If Wolsey now drew back, the certain inference woidd be that he had accepted an imperial bribe. There was no re source, therefore, but to go on. While Wolsey had been hesitating, the King had, unkno-wn to him, sent his secretary, Dr. Knight, to Rome -with directions to obtain access if possible to the Pope, and procure the dispensation which had been already applied for to enable him to marry a second time without the formalities of a judgment. Such an expedient would be convenient in many ways. It would leave Catherine's position unaffected and the legitimacy of the Princess Mary unimpugned. Knight went. He found that without a passport he could not even enter the city, stiU less be aUowed an interview. "With ten thousand cro-wns he could not bribe his way into St. Angelo." He contrived, how ever, to have a letter introduced, which the Pope an swered by teUing Knight to wait in some quiet place. He (the Pope) would "there send him aU the King's requests in as ample a form as they were desired." Knight trusted in a short time "to have in his custody as much, perfect, sped, and under lead, as his High ness had long time desired." ^ Knight was too sanguine. The Emperor, find ing the Pope's detention as a prisoner embarrassing, 1 Knight to Henry -VIII., Dec. 4. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 1633-4. 52 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. aUowed him, on the 9th of December, to escape to Orvieto, where he was apparently at liberty ; but he was only in a larger cage, aU his territories being occupied by Imperial troops, and he himseU watched by the General of the Observants, and warned at his peril to grant nothing to Catherine's prejudice. Henry's Secretary foUowed him, saw him, and ob tained something which on examination proved to be worthless. The negotiations were left again in Wol sey's hands, and were pressed with aU the eagerness of a desperate man. Pope Clement had ceased to be a free agent. He did not look to the rights of the case. He would gladly have pleased Henry could he have pleased him without displeasing Charles. The case itself was pe culiar, and opinions differed on the rights and -wrongs of it. iThe reader must be from time to time*re- / minded that, as the law of England has stood ever since, a marriage with a brother's widow was not a 1 marriage. As the law of the Church then stood, it was not a marriage unless permitted by the Pope; and according to the same law of England the Pope neither has, nor ever had, any authority to dispense with the law. Therefore Henry, on the absteact con tention, was in the right. He had married Catherine under an error. The problem was to untie the knot with as little suffering to either as the nature of the case permitted. That the negotiations were fuU of inconsistencies, evasions, and contradictions, was nat ural and inevitable. To cut the knot without un tying it was the only direct course, but that all means were exhausted before the application of so violet a remedy (was rather a credit than a reproach) i't?""^ The first inconsistency was in the King. He did not regard his marriage as valid; therefore he thought The Pope at Orvieto. 53 himseU at liberty to marry again ; but he did not wish to illegitimatise his daughter or degrade Catherine. He disputed the validity of the dispensation of Julius II. ; yet he required a dispensation from Clement which was equaUy questionable to enable him to take a second wife. The management of the case having reverted to Wolsey, fresh instructions were sent to Sir Gregory Casalis, the regular English agent at the Papal court, to wait on Clement. Casalis was "bid consider how much the affair concerned the relief of the King's conscience, the safety of his soul, the pre servation of his Ufe, the continuation of his succes sion, the weUare and repose of aU his subjects now and hereafter." The Pope at Orvieto was personaUy accessible. Casalis was to represent to him the many difficulties which had arisen in connection with the marriage, and the certainty of civil war in England should the King die leaving the succession no better pro-vided for. He was, therefore, to request the Pope to grant a commission to Wolsey to hear the case and to decide it, and (perhaps as an alternative) to sign a dispensation, a draft of which Wolsey enclosed. The language of the dispensation was peculiar. Wolsey explained it by saying that "the King, remembering by the example of past times what false claims [to the crown] had been put forward, to avoid all colour or pretext of the same, desired this of the Pope as abso lutely necessary." If these two requests were con ceded, Henry undertook on his part to remiire the Emperor to set the Pope at liberty, or to declare war against him If he refused. A dispensation, which was to evade the real point at issue, yet to convey to the King a power to take another wife, was a novelty in ItseU and likely to be carefuUy worded. It has given occasion among mod- 54 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. ern historians to Important inferences disgraceful to everyone concerned. The sinister meaning supposed to be obvious to modern critics could not have been concealed from the Pope himseU. Here, therefore, foUow the words which have been fastened on as for ever fatal to the inteUigence and character of Henry and his Ministers. The Pope, after reviewing the later history of Eng land, the distractions caused by rival claimants of the crown, after admitting the necessity of guarding against the designs of the ambitious, and empowering Henry to marry again, was made to address the King in these words : ^ — " In order to take away aU occasion from evil doers, we do In the plenitude of our power hereby suspend hoc vice aU canons forbidding marriage in the fourth degree, also aU canons de impedimento puhlicce ho- nestatis preventing marriage in consequence of clan destine espousals, further aU canons relating to precon tracts clandestinely made but not consummated, also aU canons affecting impediments created by affinity rising ex illicito coitu, in any degree even in the first, so far as the marriage to be contracted by you, the petitioner, can be objected to or in any wise be im pugned by the same. Further, to avoid canonical ob jections on the side of the woman by reason of former contract clandestinely made, or impediment of public honesty or justice arising from such clandestine con tract, or of any affinity contracted in any degree even_ the first, ex illicito coitu : and in the event that it has proceeded beyond the second or third degrees of con sanguinity, whereby otherwise you, the petitioner, would not be allowed by the canons to contract mar riage, we hereby license you to take such woman for 1 I foUow Mr. Brewer's translation. The Required Dispensation. 55 wife, and suffer you and the woman to marry free from aU ecclesiastical objections and censures." The explanation given by Wolsey of the wording of this document is that it was intended to preclude any objections which might be raised to the prejudice of the offspring of a marriage in Itself irregular. It was therefore made as comprehensive as possible. Dr. Lingard, foUowed by Mr. Brewer, and other writers see in it a transparent personal application to the situation in which Henry intended to place himseU in making a wife of Anne Boleyn. Two years sub sequent to the period when this dispensation was asked for, when the question of the divorce had de veloped into a battle between England and the Pa pacy, and the passions of Catholics and Reformers were boiling over In recrimination and Invective, the King's plea that he was parting from Catherine out of conscience was met by stories set floating in society that the King himseU had previously intrigued with the mother and sister of the lady whom he intended to marry; precisely the same obstacle existed, there fore, to his marriage with Anne, being further aggra vated by incest. No attempt was ever made to prove these charges; no particulars were given of time or place. No witnesses were produced, nor other evi dence, though to prove them would have been of in finite importance. Queen Catherine, who if any one must have known it if the accusation was true, never aUudes to Mary Boleyn in the fiercest of her denun ciations. It was heard of only in the conversation of disaffected priests or secret visitors to the Spanish Ambassador, and was made public only in the mani festo of Reginald Pole, which accompanied Paul III.'s BuU for Henry's deposition. Even this authority, which was not much in ItseU, is made less by the fact 56 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. that in the first draft of "Pole's Book," sent to Eng land to be examined in 1535, the story is not men tioned. Evidently, therefore, Pole had not then heard of it or did not believe it. The guilt with the mother is now abandoned as too monstrous. The g^ilt with the sister is peremptorily insisted on, and the words of the dispensation are appealed to as no longer leav ing room for doubt. To what else, it is asked, can such extraordinary expressions refer unless to some disgraceful personal liaison f The uninstructed who draw inferences of fact from the verbiage of legal documents will discover often what are caUed "mare's nests." I wIU request the reader to consider what this supposition involves. The dispensation would have to be copied into the Roman registers, subject to the inspection of the acut est canon lawyers In the world. If the meaning is so clear to us, it must have been clear to them. We are, therefore, to believe that Henry, when demanding to be separated from Catherine, as an escape from mor tal sin, for the relief of his conscience and the surety of his succession, was gratuitously putting the Pope in possession of a secret which had only to be pub lished to extinguish him and his plea in an outburst of scorn and laughter. There was no need for such an acknowledgment, for the intrigue could not be proved. It could not be re quired for the legitimation of the children that were to be born; for a man of Wolsey's ability must have kno-wn that no dispensation would be held valid that was granted after so preposterous a confidence. It was as If a man putting in a claim for some great property, before the case came on for trial privately informed both judge and jury that it was based on forgery. The Mary Boleyn Scandal. 57 We are caUed on to explain further, why, when aU Europe was shaken by the controversy, no hint is to be found In any public document of a fact which, if true, would be decisive ; and yet more extraordinary, why the Pope and the Curia, when driven to bay In all the exasperation of a furious controversy, left a weapon imused which would have assured them an easy -victory. Wolsey was not a fool. Is it conceiv able that he would have composed a document so fatal and have drawn the Pope's pointed attention to it? My creduUty does not extend so far. We cannot prove a negative; we cannot prove that Henry had not intrigued -with Mary Boleyn, or with aU the ladies of his court. But the language of the dispensation cannot be adduced as an evidence of it, unless King, Pope, and aU the interested world had parted with their senses. As to the story ItseU, there Is no ground for distin guishing between the mother and the daughter. When it was first set circulating both were named together. The mother only has been dropped, lest the improba bility should seem too violent for beUef . That Mary Boleyn had been the King's mistress before or after her own marriage is now asserted as an ascertained fact by respectable historians — a fact sufficient, can it be proved, to cover with infamy for ever the Eng lish separation from Rome, King, Ministers, Parlia ments, Bishops, and every one concerned with it. The effectiveness of the weapon commends it to Cath olic controversialists. I have only to repeat" that the e-vidence for the charge is nothing but the floating gossip of Catholic society, never heard of, never whis pered, tiU the second stage of the quarrel, when it had developed into a passionate contest; never even then aUeged in a form in wliich it could be met and 58 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. answered. It could not have been hid from Queen Catherine if it was known to Reginald Pole. We have many letters of Catherine, eloquent on the story of her -wrongs ; letters to the Emperor, letters to the Pope; yet no word of Mary Boleyn. What reason can be given save that It was a legend which grew out of the temper of the time? Nothing could be more plausible than to meet the King's plea of conscience with an aUegation which made it ridiculous. But in the public pleadings of a cause which was discussed in every capital in Europe by the keenest lawyers and diplomatists of the age, an accusation which, if maintained, would have been absolutely decisive, is never aUuded to In any public document tUl the ques tion had passed beyond the stage of discussion. The silence of all responsible persons is sufficient proof of its nature. It was a mere floating calumny, born of wind and malice. Mr. Brewer does indeed imagine that he has dis covered what he describes as a tacit confession on Henry's part. When the Act of Appeals was before the House of Commons which ended the papal juris diction in England, a smaU knot of Opposition mem bers used to meet privately to deliberate how to op pose It. Among these one of the most active was Sir George Throgmorton, a man who afterwards, -with his brother Michael, made himseU usefid to CromweU and played with both parties, but was then against the divorce and against aU the measures which grew out of it. Throgmorton, according to his own account, had been admitted to an interview with the King and CromweU. In 1537, after the Pilgrimage of Grace, while the ashes of the rebeUion were stiU smouldering, after Michael Throgmorton had betrayed CromweU 's confidence and gone over to Reginald Pole, Sir George Throgmorton^ s Story. 59 was reported to have used certain expressions to Sir Thomas Dyngley and to two other gentlemen, which he was caUed on by the Council to explain. The let ter to the King in which he replied is stiU extant. He said that he had been sent for by the King after a speech on the Act of Appeals, "and that he saw his Grace's conscience was troubled about having married his brother's wife." He professed to have said to Dyngley that he had told the King that if he did marry Queen Anne his conscience would be more troubled at length, for it was thought he had meddled both with the mother and the sister; that his Grace said: "Never with the mother," and my Lord Pri-vy Seal (CromweU), standing by, said, "nor with the sister neither, so put that out of your mind." Mr. Brewer construes this Into an admission of the King that Mary Boleyn had been his mistress, and omits, of course, by inadvertence, that Throgmorton, being asked why he had told this story to Dyngley, answered that "he spake it only out of vainglory, to show he was one that durst speak for the Commonwealth." Nothing is more common than for "vainglorious" men, when admitted to conversations -with kings, to make the most of what they said themselves, and to re port not very accurately what was said to them. Had the conversation been authentic, Throgmorton would naturally have appealed to CromweU' s recoUec tion. But Mr. Brewer accepts the version of a con fessed boaster as if it was a complete and trustworthy account of what had actuaUy passed. He .does not ask himself whether if the King or CromweU had given their version it might not have borne another complexion. Henry was not a safe person to take liberties with. Is it likely that if one of his sub jects, who was actively opposing him in Parliament, 60 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. had taxed him with an enormous crime, he would have made a confession which Throgmorton had only to repeat in the House of Commons to ruin him and his cause? Mr. Brewer should have added also that the authority which he gave for the story was no better than Father Peto, afterwards Cardinal Peto, as bit ter an enemy of the Reformation as Pole himself. Most serious of aU, Mr. Brewer omits to mention that Throgmorton was submitted afterwards to a severe cross-examination before a Committee of Council, the effect of which, U he had spoken truly, could only be to establish the authenticity of a disgraceful charge.^ The last e-vidence alleged Is the confession made by Anne Boleyn, after her condemnation, of some mys tery which had invalidated her marriage with the King and had been made the ground of an Act of Parliament. The confession was not published, and Catholic opinion concluded, and concludes stiU, that it must have been the Mary Boleyn intrigue. Cath olic opinion does not pause to inquire whether Anne could have been said to confess an offence of the King and her sister. The cross-examination of Throgmor ton turns the conjecture into an absurdity. When asked, in 1537, whom he ever heard say such a thing, he would have had but to appeal to the proceedings in Parliament In the year immediately preceding. Is it likely finaUy that if Throgmorton's examina tion proves what Mr. Brewer thinks it proves, a rec- ^ 1. When he says, " It is thought," let him he examined whom he ever heard say any such thing of the King. 2. -Where, when, and why he spoke those words to Sir Wm. Essex and Sir Wm. Barentyne, 3, Whether he communicated the matter to any other, 5, 6. Whether he thought the words true and why. 7, 8. -Whether he did not think the words very slanderous to any man's good name. 10, 15. Whether he thinks such reports conducive to the peace of the Commonwealth, or fitting for a true subject to spread. — Calendar, Foreign and Domes tic, 1537, p, 333. Tlie Mary Boleyn Scandal. 61 ord of it would have been preserved among the offi cial State Papers? If all the stories current about Henry VIII. were to be discussed with as much detail as I have aUowed to this, the world would not contain the books which should .be written. An Irish lawyer told me in my youth to believe nothing which I heard in that country which had not been sifted in a court of justice, and only half of that. Legend is as the air in-vulnerable, and blows aimed at it, U not "malicious mockery " are waste of effort. Charges of scandalous immorality are precious to controversialists, for if they are dis proved ever so completely the stain adheres. CHAPTER in. Anxiety of the Pope to satisfy the King — Fears of the Emperor — Proposed alternatives — France and England declare war in the Pope's defence — Campeggio to he sent to England — The King's account of the Pope's conduct — The Pope's distress and alarm — The secret decretal — Instructions to Campeggio. The story returns to Orvieto. The dispensation was promised on condition that it should not be im mediately acted on.i Catherine having refused to acquiesce in a private arrangement, Wolsey again pressed the Pope for a commission to decide the cause in England, and to bind himseU at the same time not to revoke it, but to confirm any judgment which he might himself give. "There were secret causes," he said, "which could not be committed to writing which made such a concession imperative: certain diseases in the Queen defying all remedy, for which, as for other causes, the King would never again live with her as his wife." The Pope, smarting from iU-treatment and grateful for the help of France and England, professed himseU earnestly anxious to do what Henry desired. But he was stIU -virtually a prisoner. He had been obliged by the General of the Observants, when in St. Angelo, to promise to do nothing "whereby the King's divorce might be judged in his own dominions." He pleaded for time. He promised a commission of some kind, but he said he was undone if action was taken 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1672. The Pope's Embarrassments. 63 upon it while the Germans and Spaniards remained in Italy. He saw evident ruin before him, he said, but he professed to be wiUing to run the hazard rather than that Wolsey should suspect him of ingratitude. He implored the Cardinal, cum, suspiriis et lacrymis, not to precipitate him for ever, and precipitated he would be if, on receiving the commission, the Cardinal at once began the process.^ A fortnight later Casalis described a long conversation with the Pope and Car dinals on the course to be pursued. Henry had de sired that a second Legate should be sent from Rome to act with Wolsey. To consent to this would directly compromise the Papal Court. Clement had no objec tion to the going forward -with the cause, but he did not wish to be himseU responsible. He signed an Im perfect commission not inconsistent with his promise to the General of the Observants. On this Wolsey might act or, U he preferred it, might proceed on his own Legatine authority. For himseU, instead of en gaging to confirm Wolsey's sentence, he said that no doctor could better resolve the point at Issue than the King himseU. If he was resolved, said the Pope, let him commit his cause to the Legate, marry again, foUow up the trial, and then let a public application be made for a Legate to be sent from the Consistory. If the Queen was cited first, she would put In no an swer, save to protest against the place and judges. The Imperialists would demand a prohibition, and then the King could not marry, or, if he did, the off spring would be iUegitimate. They would also de mand a commission for the cause to be heard at Rome, which the Pope would be unable to refuse. But the King being actually married again, they could not ask for a prohibition. They could only ask that the 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, part 2, p. 1672, 64 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. cause should be re-examined at Som^, when the Pope would give sentence and a judgment could b© passed which would satisfy the whole world. ^ This was tte Pope's own advice, but he did not wish it to be knowii that it had come from himseU. Casalis might select the Legate to England after the first steps had been taken. Campeggio he thought the fittest, being al ready an English bishop.^ At any rate, the Peps bade Casalis say he would do his best to satisfy tlig King, though he knew that the Emperor would never forgive him. It is not certain what would have followed bad Henry acted on the Pope's suggestion. The judg ment which Clement promised might have been iH ii^ favour. Clement evidently -wished him to think that it would. But he might, after all, have found himseU required to take Catherine back. Either alternative was possible. At any rate he did not mean, if he could help It, to have recourse to violent methods. Charles himseU, though he intended to prevent, if he could, a legal decision against his aunt, had hinted at the possibility and even desirableness of a private arrangement, if Catherine would agree. Catherine", unfortunately, would agree to nothing, but stood reso lutely upon her rights, and Charles was forced to stand by her. Henry was equaUy obstinate, and the Pope was between the rock and the whirlpool. The Pope had promised, however, and had promised with apparent sincerity. The Papal states remaining occupied by the Imperial troops, Henry carried out 1 CasaUs to Wolsey, January 13, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1694. ^ Three foreigners held English sees, not one of which either of them had probably ever visited. Campeggio was Bishop of Salisbury ; Ghi- nucci, the auditor of the Rota, was Bishop of Worcester ; and Cathe rine's Spanish confessor, who had come with her to England, was Bishop of Llandaff. Declaration of War. 65 his own part of the engagement by joining France In a declaration of war against the Emperor. Toison d'or and Clarencieulx appeared before Charles at Bur gos on the 22nd of January, Charles sitting on his throne to receive their defiance. Toison d'or said that the Emperor had opened Christendom to the Turks, had imprisoned the Pope, had allowed his armies to sack Rome and plunder churches and monasteries, had insulted the holy relics, slain or robbed princes of the Church, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, outraged nunneries and convents, had encouraged Lutheran heretics in committing these atrocities, &c. For these reasons France declared open war with the Emperor. The English herald — ^he was accused afterwards of having exceeded his instructions — ¦ was almost as per emptory. Henry, in earlier times, had lent Charles large sums of money, which had not been repaid. Clarencieulx said that, unless the Pope was released and the debt settled, the King of England must make common cause with his brother of France. Six weeks' interval was aUowed for the Emperor to consider his answer before hostilities on the side of England should commence. The Emperor replied with calmness and dignity. War with France was inevitable. As to England, he felt like Cicero, when doubting whether he should quarrel -with Caesar, that it was inconvenient to be In debt to an enemy. If England attacked him he said he would defend himseU, but he declined to accept the defiance. Mendoza was not recaUed from London. At the end of the six weeks the situation was pro longed by successive truces tiU the peace of Cambray. But Henry had kept his word to the Pope. England appeared by the side of France in the lists as the armed champion of the Papacy, and the Pope was 66 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. expected to fulfil his promises without disguise or sub terfuge. Clement's method of proceeding with the divorce was rejected. The dispensation and commission which had been amended with a view to it were rejected also as worthless. Dr. Fox and Stephen Gardiner were despatched to Orvieto with fuUer powers and with a message peremptory and even menacing. They were again to impress on the Pope the danger of a disputed succession. They were to hint that, if relief was re fused in deference to the Emperor, England might decline from obedience to the Holy See. The Pope must, therefore, pass the commission and the dispen sation in the form in which it had been sent from Eng land. If he objected that it was unusual, they were to announce that the cause was of great moment. The King would not be defrauded of his expectation through fear of the Emperor. If he could not obtain justice from the Pope, he would be compeUed to seek it elsewhere.-'The language of these instructions shows that the King and Wolsey understood the Proteus that they were dealing with, and the necessity of binding his hands if he was not to slip from them. It was not now the fountain of justice, the august head of Chris tendom, that they were addressing, but a shUty old man, clad by circumstances with the robe of authority, but whose wiU was the wiU of the power which hap pened to be strongest in Italy. It was not tolerable that the Emperor should dictate on a question which touched the -vital Interests of an independent king dom. Spanish diplomatists had afterwards to excuse and 1 Wolsey to Gardiner and Fox, February -, 1528. — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p, 1740. The Promises made hy the Pope. 67 explain away Clement's concessions on the ground that they were signed when he was angry at his Imprison ment, had been extorted by threats, and were there fore of no vaUdity. He struggled hard to avoid com mitting himseU. The unwelcome documents were recast into various forms. The dispensation was not signed after aU, but in the place of it other briefs were signed of even graver importance. The Pope yielded to the demand to send a second Legate to try the cause with Wolsey in England, where it was assumed as a matter of course that judgment would be given for the King. The Legate chosen was Campeggio, who was himseU, as was said, an English bishop. The Pope also did express in writing his own opinion on the cause as favourable to the King's plea. What passed at Orvieto was thus afterwards compendiously related by Henry in a published statement of his case. "On his first scruple the King sent to the Bishop of Rome, as Christ's Vicar, who had the keys of know ledge, to dissolve his doubts. The said Bishop refused to take any knowledge of it and desired the King to apply for a commission to be sent into the realm, au thorised to determine the cause, thus pretending that it might no wise be entreated at Rome, but only within the King's own realm. He delegated his whole pow ers to Campeggio and Wolsey, gi-ving them also a special commission in form of a decretal, wherein he declared the King's marriage null and empowered him to marry again. In the open commission also he gave them fuU authority to give sentence for the King. Secretly he gave them instructions to burn the com mission decretal and not proceed upon it; (but) at the time of sending the commission he also sent the King a brief, written in his own hand, admitting the justice of his cause and promising sanctissime sub 68 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. verbo Pontificis that he would never advocate it to Rome."i Engagements which he intended to keep or break according to the turns of the war between Francis and Charles did not press very heavily perhaps on Clem ent's conscience, but they were not extorted from him without many agonies. " He has granted the commis sion," Casalis wrote. "He is not unwilling to please the King and Wolsey, but fears the Spaniards more than ever he did. The Friar-General has forbidden him in the Emperor's name to grant the King's re quest. He fears for his life from the Imperialists if the Emperor knows of it. Before he would grant the brief he said, weeping, that it would be his utter ruin. The Venetians and Florentines desired his destruction. His sole hope of life was from the Emperor. He asked me to swear whether the King would desert him or not. Satisfied on this point, he granted the brief, say ing that he placed himseU in the King's arms, as he would be dra-wn into perpetual war with the Emperor. Wolsey might dispose of him and the Papacy as U he were Pope himseU."^ The Emperor had insisted, at Catherine's desire, that the cause should not be heard in England. The Pope had agreed that it should be heard in England. Consent had been -wrung from him, but his consent had been given, and Campeggio was to go and make the best of it. His open commission was as ample as words could make It. He and Wolsey were to hear the cause and decide it. The secret "decretal" which he had wept over while he signed It declared, before the cause was heard, the sentence which was to be 1 Embassy to the German Princes, January 5, 1534. — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol, vii, p. 10. " Casalis to Peter Vannes, AprU, 1538. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1842. Instructions to Campeggio. 69 given, and he had pledged his solemn word not to revoke the hearing to Rome. All that Clement could do was to instruct the Legate before he started to waste time on his way, and, on his arrival In England, to use his skiU to "accommodate matters," and to per suade the Queen — - If he found her persuadeable — to save him from his embarrassments by taking the veil. This was a course which Charles himself in his private mind would have recommended, but was too honoura ble to advise it. The fatal decretal was to be seen only by a very few persons, and then, as Henry said, Campeggio was to burn It. He was instructed also to pass no sentence without first referring back to Rome, and, U driven to extremity, was to find an excuse for postponing a decision; very natural conduct on the part of a weak, frightened mortal — conduct not un like that of his predecessor, Alexander IIL, in the quarrel between Becket and Henry II. — but In both cases purely human, not such as might have been looked for in a divinely guided Vicar of Christ. CHAPTER IV. Anne Boleyn — Letters to her from the King — The Convent at Wilton — The Divorce — The Pope's promises — Arrival of Campeggio in England — Reception at the Bridewell Palace — Proposal to Cathe rine to take the veil — Her refusal — Uncertainty of the succession — A singular expedient — Alarms of Wolsey — The true issue — Speech of the King in the City — Threats of the Emperor — Defects in the Bull of Pope Julius — Alleged discovery of a brief supplying them — Distress of Clement. The marriage with Anne Boleyn was now a fixed idea in Henry's mind. He had become passionately attached to her, though not perhaps she to him. The evidence of his feeling remains in a series of letters to her — how preserved for public inspection no one knows. Some of them were said to have been stolen by Campeggio. Perhaps they were sold to him; at any rate, they survive. A critic in the "Edinburgh Review" described them as such as "might have been -written by a pot-boy to his girl." The pot-boy must have been a singular specimen of his kind. One, at any rate, remains to show that, though Henry was in love, he did not aUow his love to blind him to his duty as a prince. The lady, though obliged to wait for the fuU gratification of her ambition, had been using her influence to advance her friends, while Wolsey brought upon himseU the rebuke of his master by insufficient care in the distribution of Church patronage. The correspondence throws an unexpected light upon the King's character. The Abbess of Wilton had died. The situation The Convent at Wilton. 71 was a pleasant one. Among the sisters who aspired to the vacant office was a certain Eleanor Carey, a near connection of Anne, and a favourite with her. The appointment rested virtually with the Crown. The Lady Anne spoke to the King. The King deputed Wolsey to inquire Into the fitness of the various can didates, with a favourable recommendation of Eleanor Carey's claims. The inquiry was made, and the result gives us a glimpse into the habits of the devout re cluses in these sacred institutions.^ "As for the matter of Wilton," -wrote Henry to Anne, "my Lord Cardinal here had the nuns before him, and examined them in the presence of Master BeU, who assures me that she whom we would have had Abbess has confessed herseU to have had two chil dren by two different priests, and has since been kept not long ago by a servant of Lord Broke that was. Wherefore I would not for aU the gold in the world clog your conscience nor mine, to make her ruler of a house which is of so ungodly demeanour, nor I trust you would not that, neither for brother nor sister,^ I should so distain mine honour or conscience. And as touching the Prioress [Isabella Jordan] or Dame Elea nor's elder sister, though there is not any evident cause proved against them, and the Prioress is so old that of many years she could not be as she was named, yet notwithstanding, to do you pleasure I have done that neither of them shaU have it, but that some other good and weU-disposed woman shaU have it, whereby the house shaU be better reformed, whereof I assure you it hath much need, and God much the better served." 1 Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn, June or July, 1528. — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p, 1960, 2 Eleanor Carey was the sister of Mary Boleyn's husband. 72 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. This letter is foUowed by another to the Cardinal. Wolsey, in whose hands the King had left the matter, in a second letter which is lost, instead of looking out for the "good and weU-disposed woman," though Isa beUa Jordan's reputation was doubtful, yet chose to appoint her, and the King's observations upon this action of his are worth attending to, as addressed by such a person as Henry is supposed to have been to a Cardinal Archbishop and Legate of the Holy See. Many of the letters signed by the King were the com position of his ministers and secretaries. This to Wolsey was his o-wn. "The great affection and love I bear you, causeth me, using the doctrine of my Master, quem dlligo cas- tigo, thus plainly as now ensueth to break to you my mind, ensuring you that neither sinister report, affec tion to my o-wn pleasure, interest, nor mediation of any other body beareth part in this case, wherefore whatsoever I do say, I pray you think it spoken of no displeasure, but of him that would you as much good both of body and soul as you would yourseU. "Methinks it is not the right train of a trusty lov ing friend and servant when the matter Is put by the master's consent into his arbitre and judgement — especiaUy in a matter wherein his master hath both royalty and interest, to elect and choose a person who was by him defended. And yet another thing which displeaseth me more. That is to cloke your offence made by ignorance of my pleasure, saying that you expressly knew not my determinate mind in that be- haU. Alas, my lord, what can be more e-vident or plainer than these words, speciaUy to a wise man — ' His Grace careth not who, but ref erreth it aU to you, so that none of those who either be or have been spotted with incontinence, like as by report the Pri- A Letter to Wolsey. 73 oress hath been in her youth, have it ; ' and also in another place in the letter, ' And therefore his High ness thinketh her not meet for that purpose ; ' thirdly, in another place in the same letter by these words, ' And though his Grace speaketh not of It so openly, yet meseemeth his pleasure Is that in no wise the Pri oress have it, nor yet Dame Eleanor's eldest sister, for many considerations the which your Grace can and ¦wiU best consider. ' "Ah, my Lord, it is a double offence both to do ill and to colour it too ; but with men that have wit it cannot be accepted so. Wherefore, good my Lord, use no more that way with me, for there is no man li-ving that more hateth it. These things ha'ving been thus committed, either I must have reserved them in pectore, whereby more displeasure might happen to breed, or else thus soundly and plainly to declare them to you, because I do think that cum amico et fanoiliari sincere semper est agendum,, and especiaUy the master to his best beloved servant and friend, for in so doing the one shall be more circumspect in his doing, the other shaU declare and show the lothness that is in him to have any occasion to be displeased with him. "And as touching the redress of Religion [convent discipline], if It be observed and continued, undoubt edly it is a gracious act. Notwithstanding, if aU re ports be tme, ah imhedllis imhecilla expectantur. How be it, Mr. BeU hath informed me that the Pri oress's age, personage and manner, proe se fert gra- vitatem. I pray God It be so indeed,^seeing she is preferred to that room. I understand furthermore, which is greatly to my comfort, that you have ordered yourseU to Godward as religiously and virtuously as any Prelate or father of Christ's Church can do, 74 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. where in so doing and persevering there can be no thing more acceptable to God, more honour to your seU, nor more desired of your friends, among the which I reckon myseU not the least. . . . "I pray you, my Lord, think it not that it is upon any displeasure that I write this unto you. For surely it is for my discharge before God, being in the room that I am in, and secondly for the great zeal I bear unto you, not undeserved in your behalf. Where fore I pray you take It so; and I assure you, your fault acknowledged, there shaU remain in me no spark of displeasure, trusting hereafter you shall recompense that with a thing much more acceptable tb me. And thus fare you weU; advertising you that, thanked be God, I and aU my folk be, and have been since we came to AmpthiU, which was on Saturday last, July 11, in marveUous good health and clearness of air. "Written with the hand of him that is, and shaUbe your loving Sovereign Lord and friend, — Henry R."i Campeggio meanwhile was loitering on his way as he had been directed, pretending iUness, pretending difficulties of the road. In sending him at all the Pope had broken his promise to Charles. He engaged, however, that no sentence should be given which had not been submitted first to Charles's approval. The Emperor, anxious to avoid a complete rupture with England, let the Legate go forward, but he directed Mendoza to inform Wolsey that he must defend his aunt's honour ; her cause was his and he would hold it as such. 2 Wolsey, though afraid of the consequence o^ opposing the divorce to himseU and the Church, yet ' Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv,. Introduction, pp, 388-9. 2 The Emperor to Mendoza, July 5, 1528. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii, part 2, p, 728, The Legatine Commission. 75 at heart had ceased to desire it. Mendoza reported that English opinion was stiU unfavourable, and that he did not believe that the commission would have any result. The Pope would Interpose delays. Wolsey would aUow and recognise them. Both Legates would agree privately to keep the matter In suspense. The English Cardinal appeared to be against the Queen, but every one knew that secretly he was now on her side.^ Catherine only was seriously frightened. She had doubtless been informed of the secret decretal by which the Pope appeared to have prejudged her cause. She supposed that the Pope meant it, and did not understand how lightly such engagements sate upon him. The same Clement, when Benvenuto CeUIni reproached him for breaking his word, replied, smil ing, that the Pope had power to bind and to loose. Catherine came before long to know him better and to understand the bearings of this singular privilege ; but as yet she thought that words meant what they seemed to say. When she heard that Campeggio was actually coming, she wrote passionately to the Empe ror, flinging herself upon him for protection. Charles calmed her alarm. She was not, he said, to be con demned without a hearing. The Pope had assured him that the Legates should determine nothing to her detriment. The case should be decided at Rome, as she had desired. Campeggio 's orders were to advise that It should be dropped. Apart from his present infatuation, the King was a good Christian and would act as one. If he persisted, she might rely on the Pope's protection. She must consent to nothing which would imply the dissolution of her marriage. If the ' Mendoza to the Emperor, September 18, 1528. —Ibid. vol. iii. part 2, p, 788. 76 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. worst came, the King would be made conscious of his duties.^ In the middle of October the Legate arrived. He had been iU in eamest from gout and was stiU suffer ing. He had to rest two days in Calais before he could face the Channel. The passage was wild. A deputa tion of Peers and Bishops waited to receive him at Dover. Respectful demonstrations had been prepared at the towns through which he was to pass, and a state ceremonial was to accompany his entrance into Lon don. But he was, or pretended to be, too sick to aUow himseU to be seen. He was eight days on the road from the coast, and on reaching his destination he was carried privately in a state barge to the house pro-vided for his residence. Wolsey caUed the next morning. The King was absent, but returned two days later to the BrideweU palace. There Campeggio waited on him, accompanied by Wolsey. The weather continued to fro-wn. "I wish," wrote Gerardo Molza to the Marchioness of Mantua, "that you could have seen the two Cardinals abreast, one on his mule, the other carried in his chair, the rain faUing fast so that we were all drenched." The King, simple man, believed that the documents which he held secured him. The Pope in sending the Legate had acted in the teeth of the Emperor's prohibition, and no one guessed how the affair had been soothed do-wn. The farce was weU played, and the language used was what Henry ex pected. Messer Florlano, one of Campeggio 's suit, made a grand oration, setting out the storming of Rome, the perils of the Church, and the misery of Italy, with moving eloquence. The crowd was so dense In the hall of audience that some of the Italians ^ Charles V, to Queen Catherine, September 1, 1528. — Spanish Cal endar, vol. iii. part 2, p. 779. The Legatine Commission. 11 lost their shoes, and had to step back barefoot to their lodgings through the wet streets. The Legate was exhausted by the exertion, but he was not aUowed to rest, and the serious part of the business began at once behind the scenes. He had hoped, as the Emperor said, that the case might be dropped. He found Henry immoveable. "An angel from heaven," he wrote on the 17th of October,^ "would not be able to persuade the King that his mar riage was not invalid. The matter had come to such a pass that it could no longer be borne with. The Cardinal of York and the whole kingdom insisted that the question must be settled In some way." One road out of the difficulty alone presented ItseU. The Em peror had insisted that the marriage should not be dis solved by. Catherine's consent, objecting reasonably that a judgment invalidating It would shake other royal marriages besides hers. But no such judgment would be necessary if Catherine could be Induced to enter "lax religion," to take vows of chastity which, at her age and under her conditions of health, would be a mere form. The Pope coidd then aUow Henry to take another -wife without offence to any one. The legitimacy of the Princess would not be touched, and the King undertook that the succession should be set tled upon her if he had no male heir. The Queen in consenting would lose nothing, for the King had for two years lived apart from her, and would never re turn to cohabitation. The Emperor would be deliv ered from an obligation infinitely inconvenient to him, and his o-wn honour and the honour of Spain would be equaUy untouched. These arguments were laid before the Queen by 1 Campeggio to Salviati and to Sanga, Octoher 17, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 2099-2102. 78 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. both the Legates, and urged with aU their eloquence. In the interests of the realm, in the Interests of Eu rope, in the interests of the Church, in her own and her daughter's interest as weU, it would have been wiser if she had complied. Perhaps she would have complied had the King's plea been confined, as at first, to the political exigencies of the succession. But the open and premature choice of the lady who was to take her place was an indignity not to be borne. She had the pride of her race. Her obstinacy was a match for her husband's. She was shaken for a moment by the impassioned entreaties of Campeggio, and she did not at once absolutely refuse. The Legate postponed the opening of his court. He referred to Rome for further instructions, complaining of the responsibUity which was thro-wn upon him. Being on the spot he was able to measure the danger of disappointing the King after the secret commission, the secret decretal, and the Pope's private letter teUing Henry that he was right. Campeggio -wrote to Salviati, after his first inter-view with Catherine, that he did not yet despair. Something might be done if the Emperor would advise her to comply. He asked Fisher to help him, and Fisher seemed not wholly un-wiUing; but, after a few days' reflection, Catherine told him that before she would consent she would be torn limb from limb ; she would have an authoritative sentence from the Pope, and would accept nothing else; nothing should make her alter her opinion, and if after death she could return to life, she would die over again rather than change it.^ Wolsey was in equal anxiety. He had set the stone rolling, but he could not stop it. If Clement failed 1 Campeggio to Salviati, October 26, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 2108. The Question at Stake. 79 the King now, after all that he had promised, he might not only bring ruin on Wolsey himself, but might bring on the overthrow of the temporal power of the Church of England. Catherine was personaUy popu lar ; but in the middle classes of the laity, among the peers and gentlemen of England, the exactions of the Church courts, the Pope's agents and collectors, the despotic tyranny of the Bishops, had created a resent ment the extent of which none knew better than he. The entire gigantic system of clerical dominion, of which Wolsey was himself the pillar and representa tive, was tottering to its faU. If the King was driven to bay, the favour of a good-natured people for a suf fering woman would be a poor shelter either for the Church or for him. Campeggio turned to Wolsey for advice on Catherine's final refusal. The Pope, he said, had hoped that Wolsey would advise the King to yield. Wolsey had advised. He told Cavendish that he had gone on his knees to the King, but he could only say to Campeggio that "the King — fortified and justified by reasons, writings, and counsels of many learned men who feared God — would never yield." If he was to find that the Pope had been playing with him, and the succession was to be left undetermined, "the Church would be ruined and the realm would be in infinite peril." How great, how real, was the dread of a disputed succession, appears from an extraordinary expedient which had suggested ItseU to Campeggio himseU, and which he declares that some perplexed politicians had seriously contemplated. "They have thought," he wrote on the 28th of October, "of marrying the Prin cess Mary to the King's natural son [the Duke of Richmond] if it could be done by dispensation from His HoUness." The Legate said that at first he had 80 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. himself thought of this as a means of establishing the succession ; but he did not believe it would satisfy the King's desire.^ If anything could be more astonishing than a proposal for the marriage of a brother and sis ter, it was the reception which the suggestion met with at Rome. The Pope's secretary replied that "with regard to the dispensation for marrying the son to the daughter of the King, if on the succession being so estabUshed the King would abandon the divorce, the Pope would be much more inclined to grant it." ^ Clement's estimate of the extent of the dispensing power was large. But the situation was desperate. He had entangled himseU in the meshes. He had promised what he had no intention of performing. He was find ing that he had been trifling with a lion, and that the lion was beginning to rouse himseU. Again and again Wolsey urged the dangers upon him. He wrote on the 1st of November to Casalis that "the King's honour was touched, having been so great a benefac tor to the Holy See. The Pope would alienate aU faith and devotion to the Apostolic See. The sparks of opposition which had been extinguished with such care and -vigilance would blaze out to the utmost anger of aU, both in England and elsewhere."^ Clement and his Cardinals heard, but imperfectly believed. "He teUs us," wrote Sanga, "that if the divorce Is not granted the authority of the Apostolic See in Eng land will be annlhUated ; he is eager to save it because his own greatness Is bound up with ours." The Curia was incredulous, and thought that Wolsey was only alarmed for himseU. Wolsey, however, was right. ^ Campeggio to Sanga, Oct. 28. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vi, part 2, p. 2113, ^ Sanga to Campeggio, Deo. -, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. vi. part 2, p. 2210. » Wolsey to Casalis. Nov. 1, 1528. — JJ. vol. iv. part 2, p. 2120. Speech of the King in the City. 81 Although opinions might have varied on the merits of the King's request, people were beginning to ask what value as a supreme judge a pope could have, who could not decide on a point of canon law. The excitement was growing. Certain knowledge of what was going on was confined to the few who had access to the secret correspondence, and they knew only what was meant for their own eyes. AU parties, English and Imperial alike, distrusted the Pope. He had impartiaUy lied to both, and could be depended on by neither, except so far as they could influence his fears. Catherine was stiU the favourite with the London citizens. She had been seen accidentaUy in a gaUery of the Palace, and had been enthusiasticaUy cheered. The King found it necessary to explain him seU. On the Sth of November he summoned the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, the Pri-vy Council, and a body of Peers, and laid the situation before them from his own point of view. He spoke of his long friendship with the Emperor, and of his hope that it would not be broken, and again of his alliance with France, and of his desire to be at peace with aU the world. "He had -wished," he said, "to attach France more closely to him by marrying his daughter to a French prince, and the French Ambassador, in considering the pro posal, had raised the question of her legitimacy. His own mind had long misgiven him on the lawfulness of his marriage. M. de Tarbes' words had added to his uneasiness. The succession to the cro-wn was uncer tain ; he had consulted his bishops and la-wyers, and they had assured him that he had been living in mor tal sin. ... He meant only to do what was right, and he warned his subjects to be careful of forming hasty judgments on their Prince's actions." Apart from the present question the King was 82 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. extremely popular, and reports arriving from Spain touched the national pride. There was a talk of call ing Parliament. Mendoza and Catherine again urged Charles to speak plainly. The Pope must inhibit Par liament from interfering. The Nuncio in London would present the order, and Parliament, they thought, would submit.^ They were mistaking the national temper. Mendoza's letters had persuaded the Spanish Council that the whole of England was in opposition to the King. The Spanish Chancellor had said pub licly that if the cause was proceeded with there would be war, and "the King would be dethroned by his own subjects." The words were reported to Wolsey, and were confirmed by an English agent, Sylvester Darius, who had been sent to VaUadolid on business connected with the truce. 2 Darius had spoken to the Chancel lor on the probability of England taking active part with France. "Why do you talk of the King of Eng land?" the Chancellor had answered; "if we -wished, we could expel him from his kingdom in three months. What force had the King? his own subjects would expel him. He knew how matters were."' It was one thing for a free people to hold Independent opin ions on the arrangements of their o-wn royal family. It was another to be threatened with civil war at the instigation of a foreign sovereign. Wolsey quoted the dangerous language at a public meeting in Lon don ; and a voice answered, " The Emperor has lost the hearts of a hundred thousand Englishmen."* A • Catherine to Charles V., Nov, 24, \r>'2&. — Spanish Calendar, foX. iii, part 2, p, 855, 2 Mendoza to Charles V., Dec, 2, 1528. — Ji, p. 862. Jan. 16, 1529. — ib. p, 878. 5 Sylvester Darins to Wolsey, Nov. 25, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, pt, 2, p. 2126, ^ Du Bellay to Montmorency, Dec, 9, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. pt. 2, p. 2177. Papal Brief discovered in Spain. 83 fresh firebrand was thrown into the flames immediately after. The national pride was touched on a side where It was already sensitive from interest. There were 15,000 Flemish artisans in London. English workmen had been jealous of their skiU, and had long looked askance at them. The cry rose that they had an army of traitors In their midst who must be instantly expeUed. The Flemings' houses were searched for arms, and watched by a guard, and the working city population, traders, shopkeepers, mechanics, appren tices, came over to the King's side, and remained there. Meantime the cause ItseU hung fire. A new fea ture had been introduced to enable Campeggio to de cline to proceed and the Pope to withdraw decently from his promises. The original BuU of Pope Julius permitting the marriage had been found to contain irregularities of form which were supposed fatal to it. The validity of the objection was not denied, but was met by the production of a brief alleged to have been found in Spain, and bearing the same date with the Bidl, which exactly met that objection. No trace of such a brief could be found in the Vatican Register. It had informalities of Its own, and its genuineness was justly suspected, but it answered the purpose of a new circumstance. A copy only was sent to Eng land, which was shown by Catherine in triumph to Henry, but the original was detained. It would be sent to Rome, but not to London; without it Cam peggio could pretend inability to move, and meanwhile he could refuse to proceed on his commission. Sub terfuges which answer for the moment revenge them selves In the end. Having been once raised, it was absolutely necessary that a question immediately affect ing the succession should be settled in some way, and 84 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. many of the peers who had been hitherto cool began to back the King's demands. An address was drawn up, having among others the Duke of Norfolk's sig nature, teUing the Pope that the divorce must be con ceded, and complaints were sent through Casalis againt Campeggio 's dUatoriness. The King, he was to say, would not submit to be deluded. Casalis delivered his message, and describes the effect which it produced. "The Pope," he wrote, "very angry, laid his hand on my arm and forbade me to proceed, saying there was but too good ground for complaint, and he was deluded by his own coun ciUors. He had granted the decretal only to be shown to the King, and then burnt. Wolsey now wished to divulge it. He saw what would foUow, and would gladly recaU what had been done, even with the loss of one of his fingers." Casalis replied that Wolsey wished only to show it to a few persons whose secrecy might be depended on. Was it not demanded for that purpose? Why had the Pope changed his mind ? The Pope, only the more excited, said he saw the BuU would be the ruin of him, and he would make no more concessions. Casalis prayed him to consider. Waving his arms violently, Clement said, "I do consider. I consider the ruin which is hanging over me. I repent what I have done. If heresies arise, is it my fault? I wiU not violate my conscience. Let them, if they like, send the Legate back, because he wIU not proceed. They can do as they please, provided they do not make me responsible." Did the Pope mean, then, Casalis asked, that the commission should not proceed? The Pope could not say as much as that; he had told Campeggio, he said, to dissuade the King and persuade the Queen. The Pope's Perplexities. 85 "What harm could there be," Casalis inquired, "in showing the decretal, under oath, to a few of the Privy Council?" The Pope said the decretal ought to have been burnt, and refused to discuss the matter further.^ 1 John Casalis to Wolsey, Dec. 17, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p, 2186. CHAPTER V. Demands of the Imperial Agent at Rome — The alleged Brief — Illness of the Pope — Aspirations of Wolsey — The Pope recovers — Impe rial menaces — Clement between the anvil and the hammer — Ap peal of Henry to Francis — The trial of the cause to proceed — In structions to Campeggio — Opinion at Rome — Recall of Mendoza — Final interview between Mendoza and the King. Human pity is due to the unfortunate Pope — Vicar of Christ, supreme judge in Europe, whose decrees were the Inspirations of the Holy Ghost — spinning like a whipped top under the alternate lashes of the King of England and the Emperor. He had hoped that his decretal would not be known. It could not be concealed from Mendoza, who discovered, putting the worst interpretation upon it, "that the Pope and King had been endeavouring to intimidate the Queen into retiring into a convent." Finding that he, too, could put no faith in Clement, the Emperor's repre sentative at Rome now forced a new promise from him. The proceedings in England were not to be opened -without a fresh direct order from the Pope, and this the Pope was to be forbidden to give. If the King was obstinate and the Queen demanded it, Campeg gio was to leave England, and, notwithstanding his engagements to the contrary, Clement was to advocate the cause to Rome. The new brief was sufficient plea. Without it the Legates could come to no conclusion, "the whole right of the Queen being based upon its The Bull and the Brief. 87 contents." The Emperor had it in his hands, and by refusing to allow it to be examined, except at Rome, might prevent them from moving. There was little doubt that the brief had been forged for the occasion. The Pope having sent a commission to England, the King considered that he had a right to the production of documents essential to the case. He required Catherine to write to Charles to ask for it. Catherine did as he desired, and the messenger who carried her letter to the Spanish Court was sworn to carry no private or separate missive from her. Mendoza dared not write by the same hand himseU, lest his despatches should be examined. He made the messenger, therefore, learn a few words by heart, teU ing the Emperor that the Queen's letter was not to be attended to. "We thought," he said, "that the man's oath was thus saved." ^ Thus time drifted on. The new year came, and no progress had been made, though Campeggio had been three months in England. The Pope, more helpless than dishonest, continued to assure the King that he would do all that by law could be required of him, and as much as he could do ex plenitudine potestatis. No peril should prevent him. " If the King thought his resigning the Papacy would conduce to his purpose, he could be content, for the love he bore his Highness, rather than fail to do the same." If the Pope was so well disposed, the King could not see where the difficulty lay. The Queen had re fused his entreaty that she should enter religion. Why should not the Pope, then, aUow the decretal to be put in execution? But Cardinal Salviati informed 1 Mendoza to Charles V., Feb. 4, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii, part 2. 88 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Casalis that a sentence given in virtue of the decretal would have no effect, but would only cause the Pope's deposition. 1 Visibly and unpleasantly it became now apparent to Henry to what issues the struggle was tending. He had not expected It. Wolsey had toll him that the Pope would yield; and the Pope had promised what was asked ; but his promises were turn ing to vapour. Wolsey had said that the Emperor could not afford to quarrel with him. The King found that war with the Emperor in earnest was likely enough unless he himseU drew back, and draw back he would not. The poor Pope was as anxious as Henry. He had spoken of resigning. He was near being spared the trouble. Harassed beyond his strength, he fell iU, and was expected to die; and before Wolsey there was now apparently the strange alternative either of utter disgrace or of himseU as cending the chair of St. Peter as Clement's successor. His election, perhaps, was really among the chances of the situation. The Cardinals had not forgiven the sack of Rome. A French or English candidate had a fair prospect of success, and Wolsey could command the French interest. He had boundless money, and money In the Sacred CoUege was only not omnipotent. He undertook, if he was chosen, to resign his enor mous English preferments and reside at Rome, and the vacancy of his three bishoprics and his abbey would pour a cataract of gold Into the Cardinals' purses. The BuUs for English bishoprics had to be paid for on a scale which startled Wolsey himseU. Already archbishop of York, bishop of Winchester, and abbot of St. Albans, he had just been presented to Durham. He had paid 8,000 ducats to "expedite " 1 Knight and Benet to Wolsey, Jan. 8, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 3, p. 2262. Influences at Rome. 89 his BuUs for Winchester. The Cardinals demanded 13,000 ducats for Durham. The ducat was worth five shiUings, and five shiUings in 1528 were worth fUty shiUings of modern money. At such a rate were Eng lish preferments bled to support the CoUege of Cardi nals ; and If aU these great benefices were again vacated there would be a fine harvest to be gathered. For a week or two the splendid vision suspended even the agitation over the divorce ; but the Pope revived, and the Legates and he had to resume their ungrateful burden. It was stUl reaUy uncertain what Clement would do. Weak, impulsive men often leave their course to fate or chance to decide for them. Casalis, when he was able to attend to business again, told him in Wol sey's name that he must take warning from his late damger. "By the wlUuUy suffering a thing of such high importance to be unreformed to the doing whereof. Almighty God worked so openly he would incur God's displeasure and perU his soul." The ImperlaUsts were as anxious as Wolsey, and equaUy distrustful. In the Sacred CoUege English gold was an infiuence not to be despised, and Henry had more to give than Charles. Micer Mai, the Imperial agent at Rome, found, as the spring came on, that the Italian Cardi nals were growing cold. Sal-viati insisted to him that Catherine must go into a convent. Casalis denounced the new brief as a forgery, and the Sacred College seemed to be of the same opinion. The fiery Mai complained in the Pope's presence of the scant cour tesy which the Ministers of the Emperor were meeting with, wMle the Insolent and overbearing were regaled like the Prodigal Son.^ The Pope assured him that, 1 Mai to Charles V., April 3, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iii, part 2, p. 973. 90 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. come what might, he would never authorise the divorce ; but Mai only partiaUy believed him. At trying moments Mai was even Inclining to take the same view of the Papacy as Lope de Soria. "At other times," he said, "many things could be got out of the Pope by sheer intimidation ; but now that could not be tried, for he would fall Into despair, and the Imperialists would lose him altogether. They owed him something for what he had done for them before, otherwise he would be of opinion that it would be for God's service to reduce them to their spiritual powers."^ OccasionaUy Mai's temper broke through, and he used language worth observing. One of the Cardi nals had spoken slightingly of the Emperor. "I did not caU on his Holiness," he -wrote to Charles, "but sent him a message, adding that, if ever it came to my notice that the same Cardinal, or any member of the CoUege, had dared to speak in such an indecent manner of the Emperor, I took my most solemn oath that I would have him beheaded or burnt alive within his o-wn apartment. I had this time refrained out of respect for his Holiness; but should the insult be repeated I would not hesitate. They might do as they would with their BuUs and other rogueries ¦ — grant or refuse them as they liked ; but they were not to speak evil of princes, or make themselves judges in the affairs »f kingdoms."^ This remarkable message was conveyed to the Pope, who seemed rather pleased than otherwise. Mai, how ever, observed that the revolt of the Lutherans was ' Micer Mai to the Emperor, May 11, 1529, — Ibid, vol, iv. part 1, p. 20, ^ In Spanish the words are even more emphatically contemptuous : " Y que ennoramala que se curasen de sus hulas y de sus bellaquerias, si las querian dar 6 no dar, y que no pongan lengua en los reyes y qnerir ser jueces de la subjeccion de los reynos," Imperial Menaces. 91 not to be wondered at, and in what they said of Rome he considered that they were entirely right, except on points of faith. ^ Cardinals had been roughly handled in the sack of the Holy City at but a year's distance. The possi bUity was extremely real. The Imperial Minister, it appeared, could stiU command the services of the Spanish garrisons in the Papal territories if severity was needed, and the members of the Sacred CoUege had good reason to be uneasy ; but King Henry might reasonably object to the trial of his cause in a country where the assessors of the supreme judge were Uable to summary execution if they were insubordinate. That Charles could aUow his representative to write in such terms to him proves that he and Mai, and Henry himseU, were in tolerable agreement on Church questions. The Pope knew It; one of his chief fears was that the Emperor, France, England, and the Ger man Princes, might come to an understanding to his own disadvantage. Perhaps it might have been so had not the divorce kept Henry and Charles apart. Campeggio wrote to Sanga on the 3rd of April that certain advances had been made by the Lutherans to Henry, in which they promised to relinquish aU here sies on articles of faith, and to believe according to Divine law if he and the King of France would reduce the ecclesiastical state to the condition of the Primitive Church, taking from it aU its temporalities. He had told the King this was the Devil dressed in angel's clothing, a mere design against the property of the Church; and that It had been ruled by councils and theologians that It was right for the Church to hold temporal property. The King said those rules had 1 Micer Mai to the Emperor, June 5, 1529, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 60. 92 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. been made by Churchmen themselves, and now the laity must interfere. He said also that Churchmen were said to be leading wicked lives, especiaUy about the Court of Rome. ^ Growled at on both sides, in terror for himseU, in terror for the Church, the Pope drifted on, hoping for some accident to save him which never came, and wishing perhaps that his iUness had made an end of him. The Emperor complained of Campeggio as partial to the King because he held an EngUsh bishopric. "If the Pope leaves the succession undetermined," insisted Wolsey, on the other side, "no Prince would tolerate such an injury." "Nothing was done," wrote the Pope's secretary to Campeggio, "and nothing would be done. The Pope was in great trouble be tween the English and Imperial Ambassadors. He wished to please the King, but the King and Cardinal must not expect him to move till they had forced the Venetians to restore the Papal territories." Stephen Gardiner, who knew Clement weU and watched him from day to day, said: "He was a man who never resolved anything unless compeUed by some violent affection. He was in great perplexity, and seemed wiUing to gratify the King if he could, but when it came to the point did nothing. He would be glad if the King's cause could be determined In England by the Legates ; and if the Emperor made any suit against what should be done there, they would serve him as they now served the King, and put off the time." So matters would go on, "unless Campeggio would frankly promise to give sentence in the King's favour; other- ' Campeggio to Sanga, April 3, 1529, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, iv, p, 2379. The Pope's Hesitations. 93 -wise such delays would be found as the counterfeit Brief had caused." ^ Sir Francis Bryan, who was also at the Papal court, wrote to the King that the Pope woidd do nothing for him, and whoever had told the King that he would, had not done him the best ser- -vice. " He was very sorry to write thus, but the King must not be fed with their flattering words. "^ To wait longer on the Pope's action was now seen in England to be useless. The Pope dared not offend the Emperor further, and the Emperor had interposed to prohibit future action. Clement had himseU sev eral times suggested that the best way was to decide the case first in England in the Legate's court, and leave Catherine to appeal; he had promised Charles that no judgment should be given In England by the Legates ; but he had worn so double a face that no one could say which truly belonged to him. Gardiner and Bryan were recaUed. The King, finding the Pope's Ingratitude, "resolved to dissemble with him, and proceed on the commission granted to Wolsey and Campeggio." ' The Cardinal of York encouraged his brother Legate by assuring him that if the marriage was now dissolved means would be found to satisfy the Emperor. Catherine would be left with her state undiminished, would have anything that she desired "except the person of the King." The Emperor's natural daughter might be married to the Duke of Richmond, and aU would be weU. * So Wolsey wrote, but his mind was less easy than 1 Gardiner to Henry VIII,, April 21. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, iv, p, 2415, 2 Bryan to Henry VIII. — Ibid. p. 2418, 8 Wolsey to Gardiner, May 5, 1529. — Jis't/, p, 2442. * Campeggio to Salviati, May 12, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, p, 2451. 94 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. he pretended. Unless Henry was supported actively by the French, he knew that the Pope would fail him in the end ; and Francis had been disappointed in the hope that Henry would stand actively by him in the war. Without effectual help from that quarter, Wol sey saw that he was himself imdone. The French Ambassador represented to his Court that Wolsey was sincerely attached to the French aUiance, that the King had only been induced to enterprise the affair by the assurance which the Cardinal had always g^ven that he had nothing to fear from the Emperor ; Wolsey had advanced the divorce as a ''''means to break off for ever the alliance with the Emperor " ; and Fran cis, by now declaring himseU, would confer a very great favour on the King, and would obUge Wol sey as much as U he had made him pope.-^ His master was not only now concerned for the discharge of his conscience and his desire to have issue, but the very safety and independence of England was at stake. He could not have It said that he left the succession to the throne uncleared for the threats of his enemy. ^ The Duke of Suffolk was despatched to Paris to bring Francis to the point. Francis professed the warmest good-wiU to his brother of England. He undertook to advise the Pope. He assured Suffolk that if the Emperor attempted force Henry would find him at his side ; but further he would not pledge him seU. The time was past for a Wolsey patriarchate, and Francis, curiously enough, expressed doubts whether Wolsey was not after aU betraying Henry. "There are some," he said, "which the King my bro- ' Du Bellay to Montmorency, May 22, 1529. -JJid. vol. iv. p. 2469. 2 Ibid. May 28, 1529, p, 2476-7. Resolution to proceed. 95 ther doth trust in that matter that would it should never take effect. Campeggio told me he did not think the divorce would be brought about, but should be dissembled weU enough. When the Cardinal of England was with me, as far as 1 could perceive, he desired the divorce might take place, for he loved not the Queen ; but I advise my brother not to trust any man too much, and to look to his own matters. The Cardinal has great inteUigence with the Pope, and Campeggio and they are not inclined toit."i Things could not go on thus for ever. There would have been an excuse for Clement, if with a conscious ness of his high office he had refused to anticipate a judgment till the case had been heard and considered. But from the first the right or wrong of the cause ItseU had been disregarded as of no moment. No thing had been thought of but the alternate dangers to be anticipated from the King or the Emperor. Had the French driven the Imperialists out of Italy, the divorce would have been granted without further ques tion. The supreme tribunal in Christendom was trans parently influenced by no motive save Interest or fear. Clement, In fact, had anticipated judgment, though he dared not avow it. He had appointed a commis sion, and by the secret decretal had ruled what the decision was to be. The decretal could not be pro duced, but, with or without it, the King insisted that the court should sit. Campeggio had been sent to try the cause, and try it he should. Notice was given that the suit was to be heard at the end of June. Wolsey perhaps had chosen a date not far from the close of 1 The Duke of Suffolk to Henry VIIL, June 4, 1529, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv. p. 2491. 96 The Divorce oj Catherine of Aragon. term, that the vacation might suspend the process, and give time for further delay. Since a trial of some kind could not be avoided, final instructions were sent from Rome to Campeggio. "If," wrote Sanga to him, "the Pope was not certain that he remembered the injunctions which he gave hini by word of mouth, and which had been written to hiin many times, he would be very anxious. His Holiness had always desired that the cause should be protracted in order to find some means by which he could satisfy the King without proceeding to sentence. The cita tion of the cause to Rome, which he had so often in sisted on, had been deferred, not because it was doubted whether the matter could be treated with less scandal at Rome than there, but because His Holi ness had ever shrunk from a step which would offend the King. But, since Campeggio had not been able to prevent the commencement of the proceedings. His Holiness warned him that the process must be slow, and that no sentence must in any manner be pro- noimced. He would not lack a thousand means and pretexts, If on no other point, at least upon the brief which had been produced."^ According to Casalis the view taken of the general situation at Rome was this. " The Pope would not declare openly for . the Em peror tiU he saw how matters went. He thought the Emperor would come to Italy, and if there was a war would be victorious, so that It would be for His Holi ness's advantage to obtain his friendship beforehand. If peace was made the Emperor would dictate terms, and more was to be hoped from his help than from the 1 Sanga to Campeggio, May 29, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. iv. p. 2479. Recall of Mendoza. 97 French King. The Emperor was the enemy of the AUies, and sought to recover the honour which he lost by the sack of Rome by making himseU protector of the Pope." 1 Wolsey's dream was over, and with it the dreams of Lope de Soria and Micer Mai. The fine project to unite France and England in defence of the Papacy was proving baseless as the sand on which it was built. Henry VIII. was to lead the reform of the Church In England. Charles, Instead of beheading cardinals, was to become the champion of the Roman hierarchy. The air was clearing. The parties in the great game were drifting into their natural situations. The fate which lay before Wolsey himself, the fate which lay before the Church of England, of the worst corrup tions of which he was himseU the chief protector and example, his own conscience enabled him too surely to foresee. Mendoza was recalled, and before leaving had an interview with the King. "The Emperor," he said, "was obliged to defend his aunt. It was a private affair, which touched the honour of his family." The King answered that the Emperor had no right to in terfere. He did not meddle himself with the private affairs of other princes. Mendoza was unable to guess what was likely to happen. The suit was to go on. If a prohibitory mandate arrived from the Pope, it was uncertain whether Wolsey would obey it, and it was doubtful also whether any such mandate would be sent. He suspected Clement of possible deliberate treachery. He believed that orders had been sent to the Legate to proceed, and give sentence in virtue of 1 Casalis to Wolsey, June 13, 1529, — Calendar, Foreign and Domes tic, pp, 2507-8. 98 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the first commission. In that case the sentence would certainly be against the Queen, and not a moment must be lost in pressing an appeal to Rome.-^ 1 Mendoza to Charles V., June 17, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, yoI. iv. part 1, p. 96. CHAPTER VI. The Court at Blackfriars — The point at issue — The Pope's compe tency as judge — Catherine appeals to Rome — Imperial pressure upon Clement — The Emperor insists on the Pope's admission of the appeal — Henry demands sentence — Interference of Bishop Fisher — The Legates refuse to give judgment — The Court broken up — Peace of Cambray. The great scene In the hall at the Blackfriars when the cause of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon was pleaded before Wolsey and Campeggio is too well known to require further description. To the Legates it was a splendid farce. They knew that it was to end in nothing. The world outside, even the parties chiefly concerned, were uncertain what the Pope in tended, and waited for the event to determine their subsequent conduct. There was more at issue than the immediate question before the Court. The point reaUy at stake was, whether the interests of the Eng lish nation could be trusted any longer to a judge who was degrading his office by aUowing himseU to be in fluenced by personal fears and interests; who, when caUed on to permit sentence to be delivered, by dele gates whom he had himself appointed, yet confessed himself unable, or unwilling, to decide whether it should be delivered or not. Abstractly Henry's de mand was right. A marriage with a brother's wife was not la-wf ul, and no Papal dispensation could make it so ; but long custom had sanctioned what in ItseU was forbidden. The Pope could plead the undisputed 100 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. usage of centuries, and If when the case was first sub mitted to him he had imequivoeally answered that a marriage contracted bona fide under his predecessor's sanction could not be broken, English opinion, it is likely, would have sustained him, even at the risk of a disputed succession, and the King himself would have dropped his suit. But the Pope, as a weak mor tal, had wished to please a powerful sovereign. He had entertained the King's petition; he had hesitated, had professed Inability to come to a conclusion, finaUy had declared that justice was on the King's side, and had promised that it should be so declared. If he now drew back, .broke his engagements, and raised new difficulties in the settlement of a doubt which the long discussion of it had made serious; if he aUowed It to be seen that his change of purpose was due to the menaces of another secular Prince, was such a judge to be any longer tolerated ? Was not the Papacy itseU degenerate, and unfit to exercise any longer the authority which it had been allowed to assume? This aspect of the matter was not a farce at aU. The Papal supremacy Itself was on Its trial. On the 16th of June the King and Queen were cited to appear in court. Catherine was unprepared. She had been assured by the Emperor that her cause should not be tried in England. She eaUed on Cam peggio to explain. Campeggio answered that the Pope, having deputed two Legates for the process, could not revoke their commission without grave consideration. He exhorted her to pray God to enlighten her to take some good advice, considering the times. He was not without hope that, at the last extremity, she would yield and take the vows. But she did not in the least accede to his hints, and no. one could teU what she The Court at Blackfriars. 101 meant to do.^ She soon showed what she meant to do. On the 18th the court sate. Henry appeared by a proctor, who said for him that he had scruples about the validity of his marriage, which he required to be resolved. Catherine attended in person, rose, and delivered a brief protest against the place of trial and the competency of the judges. Wolsey was an Eng lish subject, Campeggio held an English bishopric. They were not impartial. She demanded to be heard at Rome, delivered her protest in writing, and with drew. It was at once answered for the King that he could not plead in a cify where the Emperor was master. The court adjourned for three days that the Cardinals might consider. On the 21st they sate again. The scene became more august. Henry came now himself, and took his place under a canopy at the Legates' right hand. Catherine attended again, and sate In equal state at their left. Henry spoke. He said he believed that he had been In mortal sin. He could bear It no longer, and required judgment. Wolsey replied that they would do what was just; and then Catherine left her seat, crossed in front of them, and knelt at her husband's feet. She had been his lawful wife, she said, for twenty years, and had not deserved to be repudiated and put to shame. She begged him to remember their daughter, to remember her own relations, Charles and Ferdinand, who would be gravely offended. Crowds of women, gathered about the palace gates, had cheered her as she cam© In, and bade her care for nothing. If women had to decide the case, said the French Ambassador, the Queen would win. Their voices availed nothing. She was 1 Campeggio to Salviati, June 16, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv, p, 2509. 102 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. told that her protest could not be admitted. She then left the court, was thrice summoned to come back, and, as she refused, was pronounced contumacious. For the King to appear as a suitor at Rome was justly regarded as impossible. Casalis was directed to teU Clement that, being in the Emperor's hands, he could not be accepted as a judge In the case, and that sovereign princes were exempted by prerogative from pleading in courts outside their own dominions. If he admitted the Queen's appeal, he would lose the devotion of the King and of England to the See Apos tolic, and would destroy Wolsey for ever.^ Had the Legates been in earnest there would have been no time to learn whether the appeal was aUowed at Rome or not ; they would have gone on and given sentence un der their commission. It appeared as If this was what they intended to do. The court continued sitting. Catherine being contumacious, there was nothing left to delay the conclusion. She was In despair; she be lieved herseU betrayed. Mendoza, who might have comforted her, was gone. She wrote to him that she was lost unless the Emperor or the Pope interposed. Even Campeggio seemed to be Ignorant how he was to avoid a decision. Campeggio, the French Ambassa dor wrote, was already half conquered. If Francis would send a word to him, he might gather courage to pass sentence, and Henry would be brought to his knees in gratitude. The very Pope, perhaps, in his heart would not have been displeased if the Legates had disobeyed the orders which he had given, and had proceeded to judgment, as he had often desired that they might. Micer Mai's accounts to Charles of the shifts of the poor old man, as the accounts from Eng- ' Wolsey to Casalis, June 22, 1529, — Calendar, Foreign and Domes tic, vol, iv, p, 2526, Micer Mai and the Pope. 103 land reached him, are almost pathetic. Pope, Car dinals, canon lawyers, Mai regarded as equaUy feeble, if not as equaUy treacherous. One reads with won der the Spaniard's real estimate of the persons for whose sake and in whose name Charles and Philip were to paint Europe red with blood. "Salviati," said Mai, "who, though a great rogue, has not wit enough to hide his tricks, showed me the minute of a letter they had -written to Campeggio : a more stupid or rascaUy composition could not have been concocted in heU."-^ Campeggio was directed in this letter to reveal to no one that he had received orders not to give sentence. He was to go on making delays, which was what "those people desired," be cause, if he was to say that he would make no declara tion In the affair, the Archbishop of York would act by himseU, the Pope's mandate having been origi naUy addressed to the two Legates conjointly or to one individuaUy. The letter had gone on to direct Campeggio, if he could not manage this, to carry on the proceedings until the final sentence, but not de liver sentence without first consulting Rome. If possi ble, he was to keep this part of his instructions secret, for fear of displeasing the King. "I lost aU patience," Mai continued. "Andrea de Burgo and I went to the Pope, and told him we had seen the instructions sent to Campeggio, which were of such a nature that if we were to inform your Maj esty of their contents you would undoubtedly resent the manner in which you were being treated. We would not do that, but we would speak our minds plainly. The letter to Campeggio was a breach of faith so often pledged by his Holiness to your Majesty that the di-^ vorce suit should be advocated to Rome. The vlola- 1 " La mas necia y bellaca carta que se pudiera hacer en el Intiemo." 104 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. tion of such a promise and the writing to Campeggio to go on with the proceeding was a greater insult and offence to your Majesfy than the commission given to him in the first Instance. It was a wonder to see how lightly his Holiness held promises made in accordance with justice and reason. An offence of such a kind bore so much on the honour of your Majesty and the princes of the Imperial family, that your Majesty would not put up with it. The King would have but to ask Campeggio whether he would or would not give sentence, and. If he refused, the duty would then de volve on the other Legate. His Holiness should be careful how he added fuel to the fire now raging in Christendom."^ It was not enough for Mai that the cause should be revoked to Rome. The English agents said that If an independent sovereign was to be forced to plead at Rome, the Pope must at least hear the suit In per son. He must not refer It to the Rota. Mai would not hear of this. To the Rota it must go and no where else. The Pope might mean weU, but he might die and be succeeded by a pope of another sort, or the English might regain the influence they once had, and indeed had still, in the Papal court. They were great favourites, bribing right and left and spending money freely.^ What was a miserable pope to do ? Casalis, and Dr. Benet who had joined him from England, pointed out the ine-vitable consequences if he aUowed himself to be governed by the Emperor. The Pope replied with lamentations that none saw that better than he, but he was so placed between the hammer and the anvil, that, though he wished to please the ^ Mai to Charles V., August 4, 1529. — SpantsA Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, page 1.55 (abridged). ^ Same to the same, August 28, — Jbid. p, 182, Process of the Suit. 105 King, the whole storm would fall on him. The Em peror would not endure an insult to his family, and had said that he regarded the cause more than all his kingdoms. Those were only ornaments of fortune, whUe this touched his honour. He would postpone the advocation for a few days, but it could not be refused. He was In the Emperor's power, and the Emperor could do as he pleased with him. The few days' respite meant a hope that news of some decisive act might arrive meanwhile from Eng land. The King must determine, Casalis and Benet thought, whether it would be better to suspend the process at his own request, or to proceed to sentence before the advocation.^ The Pope, the Commissioners added, was weU disposed to the King, and would not refuse to shed his blood for him ; but in this cause and at this time he said it was impossible. While matters were going thus at Rome, the suit in England went forward. The Cardinals availed them selves of every excuse for delay; but In the presence of Catherine's determined refusal to recognise the court, delay became daily more difficult. The King pressed for judgment; formal obstacles were ex hausted, and the Roman Legate must either produce his last instructions, which he had been ordered not to reveal, or there was nothing left for him to urge as a reason for further hesitation. It was not supposed that In the face of a distinct promise the Pope would revoke the commission. Campeggio and Wolsey were sitting with fuU powers to hear and determihe. De termine, it seemed, they must; when, at the fifth ses sion, uncaUed on and unlocked for, the Bishop of Rochester rose and addressed the court. The King, 1 Benet, CasaUs, and Vannes to Henry VIII. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. pp. 2567-8. 106 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. he said, had declared that his only intention was to have justice done, and to relieve himself of a scruple of conscience, and had invited the judges and every one else to throw light upon a cause which distressed and perplexed him. He [the Bishop], having given two years' diligent study to the question, felt himseU bound in consequence to declare his opinion, and not risk the damnation of his soul by withholding It. He undertook, therefore, to declare and demonstrate that the marriage of the King and Queen could be dissolved by no power, human or divine, and for that conclusion he was ready to lay down his life. The Baptist had held it glorious to die in a cause of marriage, when marriage was not so holy as it had been made by the shedding of Christ's blood. He was prepared to encounter any peril for the truth, and he ended by presenting his arguments in a written form.^ The Bishop's allusion to the Baptist was neither respectful nor felicitous. It implied that Henry, who as yet at least had punished no one for speaking freely, was no better than a Herod. Henry's case was that to marry a brother's wife was not lawful, and the Baptist was of the same opinion. The Legates an swered quietly that the cause had not been committed to Fisher, and that it was not for him to pronounce judiciaUy upon it. Wolsey complained that the Bishop had given him no notice of his intended interference. They continued to examine -witnesses as If nothing had happened. But Fisher's action was not without effect. He was much respected. The public was divided on the merits of the general question. Many stiU thought the meaning of it to be merely that the King v/-as tired of an old wife and wanted a young one. Courage is 1 Campeggio to Salviati, June 29, 1520. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2538. Campeggio refuses to pass Sentence. 107 Infectious, and comment grew loud and unfavourable. The popular voice might have been disregarded. But Campeggio, who had perhaps reaUy wavered, not knowing what Clement wished him to do, gathered heart from Fisher's demonstration. "We are hurried on," he -wrote to Salviati on the 13th of July, "always faster than a trot, so that some expect a sentence In ten days. ... I wiU not fail in my duty or office, nor rashly or wiUIngly give offence to any one. When giving sentence I wiU have only God before my eyes and the honour of the Holy See." ^ A week later Du BeUay said that things were almost as the King wished, and the end was expected immediately, when Cam peggio acted on the Pope's last verbal instructions at their parting at Rome. He was told to go on to the last, but must pause at the final extremlfy. He obeyed. When nothing was left but to pronounce judgment, he refused to speak it, and said that he must refer back to the Holy See. Wolsey declined to act without him, and Campeggio, when pressed, if we can beUeve his o-wn account of what he said, ans\yered : "Very weU, I vote in favour of the marriage and the Queen. If my coUeague agrees, weU and good. If not, there can be no sentence, for we must both agree." ^ Wolsey's feeUngs must be conjectured, for he never revealed them. To the Commissioners at Rome he wrote : " Such discrepancies and contrariety of opinion has ensued here that the cause will be long delayed. In a week the process will have to ctese, and two months of vacation ensue. Other counsels, therefore, are necessary, and it is important to act as If the advo- 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, p. 2581, 2 Mai to Charles V., Sept. 3, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p, 195. 108 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. cation was granted. Campeggio unites with me to urge the Pope, if it must be granted, to qualify the language ; for if the King be cited to appear in person or by proxy, and his prerogative be interfered with, none of his subjects wUl tolerate it; or if he appears in Italy it will be at the head of a formidable army.^ A citation of the King to Rome on threat of excom munication is no more tolerable than the whole loss of the King's dignity. If, therefore, the Pope has granted any such advocation, it must be revoked. If it arrives here before such a revocation, no mention of it shaU be made, not even to the King."^ This was Wolsey's last effort. Before his despatch could reach Rome the resolution was taken. Had it arrived in time, It would have made no difference while Micer Mai was able to threaten to behead Car dinals in their own apartments. The cause was ad- voked, as it was caUed — reserved to be heard in the Rota. The Legates' commission was canceUed. The court at Blackfriars was dissolved, as Campeggio said, in anger, shame, and disappointment. He had fulfilled his orders not without some alarm for himseU as he thought of his bishopric of Salisbury. Catherine, springing from despondency into tri umph, imagined that aU was over. The suit, she thought, would be instantly recommenced at Rome, and the Pope would give judgment in her favour with out further form. She was to learn a harsher lesson, and would have consulted better for her happiness If she had yielded to the Pope's advice and retired into ^ This was not an idle hoast, A united army of French and English might easily have marched across the Alps ; and nothing would have pleased Francis hotter than to have led such an army, with his brother of England at his side, to drive out the Emperor. ^ Wolsey to Benet, etc., July 27. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2591. Peace of Cambray. 109 seclusion. While the Legates were sitting in London, another conference was being held at Cambray, to arrange conditions of European peace. France and the Empire adjusted their quarrels for another inter val. The Pope and the Italian Princes were included — England was included also — and the divorce, the point of central discord between Henry and the Em peror, was passed over in silenee as too dangerous to be touched. CHAPTER VII. Call of Parliament — Wolsey to be called to account — Anxiety of the Emperor to prevent a quarrel — Mission of Eustace Chapuys — Long interview with the King — Alarm of Catherine — Growth of Luther anism — The English clergy — Lord Darcy's Articles against Wol sey — Wolsey's fall — Departure of Campeggio — Letter of Henry to the Pope — Action of Parliament — Intended reform of the Church — Alienation of English feeling from the Papacy. "On the collapse of the commission it was at once announced that the King would summon a Parliament. For many years Wolsey had governed England as he pleased. The King was now to take the reins in his own hands. The long-suffering laity were to make their voices heard, and the great Cardinal understood too well that he was to be caUed to account for his stewardship. The Queen, who could think of nothing but her o-wn -wrongs, conceived that the object must be some fresh violence to herseU. She had requested the Pope to Issue a minatory brief forbidding Parlia ment to meddle with her. She had mistaken the pur pose of its meeting, and she had mistaken the King's cnaracter. Important as the divorce question might be, a great nation had other things to think of which had waited too long. It had originated in an ambi- Tibus scheme of Wolsey to alter the balance of power in Europe, and to form a new combination which the English generaUy disliked. Had his policy been suc cessful he would have been continued in office, with various consequences which might or might not have Call of Parliament. Ill been of advantage to the country. But he had failed miserably. He had drawn the King into a quarrel with his hereditary aUy. He had entangled him, by ungrounded assurances, in a network of embarrass ments, which had been made worse by the premature and indecent advancement of the Queen's intended successor. For this the Cardinal was not responsible. It was the King's own doing, and he had bitterly to pay for it. But Wolsey had misled his master into believing that there would be no difficulty. In the last critical moment he had not stood by him as the King had a right to expect ; and, in the result, Henry found himseU summoned to appear as a party before the Pope, the Pope himseU being openly and confess edly a creature In the hands of the Emperor. No English sovereign had ever before been placed in a situation so degrading. Parliament was to meet for other objects — objects which could not be attained while Wolsey was in power and were themselves of Incalculable consequence. But Anne Boleyn was an embarrassment, and Henry did for the moment hesitate whether it might not be bet ter to abandon her. He had no desire to break_the~ unify of Christendom or to disturb the peace_ofJiis own kingdom tor "the ^ake of a pretfy woman. The Duke of NOTfolk, though he was Anne's uncle, U he" did not oppose her intended elevation, did nothing to encourage It. Her father. Lord Wiltshire, had been against it from the first. The Peers and the people would be the sufferers from a disputed succession, but they seemed wiUing to encounter the risk, or at least they showed no eagerness for the King's marriage with this particular person. If Reginald Pole is to be believed, the King did once inform the Council that he would go no further with it. The Emperor, to 112 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. make retreat easy to him, had aUowed nothing to be said on the subject at Cambray, and had instructed the Pope to hold his hand and make no further move- mento He sent a new Ambassador to England, on a mission of doulceur et amytie. Eustace Chapuys, the Minister whom he selected, was not perhaps the best selection which he could have made, and Lord Paget, who knew him well, has left an account of him not very favourable. "For Chapuys," he said, "I never took him for a wise man, but for one that used to speak cum summa licentla whatsoever came in hue- cam, without respect of honesfy or truth, so it might serve his turn, and of that fashion it is smaU mastery to be a wise man. He is a great practicer, with which honest term we cover tale-teUing, lying, dissimuling, and flattering." 1 Chapuys being the authorify for many of the scandals about Henry, this description of him by a competent observer may be borne in remem brance; but there can be no question that Charles sent him to England on an embassy of peace, and one diplomatist is not always perhaps the fairest judge of another of the same trade. The King's hesitation, if he ever did hesitate, was not of long duration. . He had been treated like a child, tricked, played with, trifled with, and he was a dangerous person to deal with in so light a fashion. Chapuys reached London in the beginning of September. On landing he found the citation to Rome had not been officiaUy notified to the King, as a morsel too big for him to swaUow.^ The King received him politely, invited him to dine in the palace, and aUowed him afterwards to be intro duced to Catherine, who was stiU residing at the court. 1 Paget to Petre. — Stoie Papers, Henry VIIL, vol, x. p. 466, 2 Chapuys to the Regent Margaret, Sept, 18, 1529. — Spanish Calen dar, voh iv. part 1, p. 214. Eustace Chapuys. 113 Three days after he had a long interview with Henry. His commission, he said, was to smooth aU differences between the King and his master. The King responded with equal graciousness, but turned the conversation upon those differences themselves. The Emperor, he said, had not used him well. The advocation to Rome was absurd. He had written himseU to the Pope with his own 'hand, telling him It was not only expedient but absolutely necessary that the cause should be tried in England. The Roman territories were stiU in the occupation of the Imperial troops. The Pope had committed it to two of his Cardinals, had solemnly promised that it should not be revoked, and that he would confirm any sentence which the Legates should pronounce. These engagements the Emperor had obliged the Pope to break. He himseU had not pro ceeded upon light grounds. He was a conscientious prince, he said, who preferred his own salvation to aU worldly advantages, as appeared sufficiently from his conduct in the affair. Had he been differently situ ated and not attentive to his conscience, he might have adopted other measures, which he had not taken and never would take.^ Chapuys attempted to defend Clement. "Enough of that pope," Henry sharply Interrupted. "This Is not the first time that he has changed his mind. I have long known his versatile and fickle nature."^ The Pope, he went on, "would never dare pronounce sentence, unless it favoured the Emperor." Catherine was eagerly communicative.* Chapuys learned from her that the King had offered that the case should be heard at Cambray — which she had, of 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 2. — Spanish Calendar, vol, v, part 2, p, 225, 2 Ibid, p, 229, 114 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. course, refused. She was much alarmed about the Parliament, "the King having played his cards so weU that he would have a majority of votes in his fa vour. ' ' It was quite certain that he meant to persevere. She professed outwardly that she was personaUy at tached to the King ; yet she desired Chapuys expressly to caution the Emperor against belie-ving that his eon- duct had anything to do with conscience. The idea of separation, she said, had originated entirely in his own Iniquity and malice, and when the treaty of Cambray was completed, he had announced it to her with the words: "My peace with the Emperor is made: It wIU last as long as you choose." ^ Chapuys had been charged to ascertain the feeling of the English people. He found them generaUy well affected to the Queen. But the Lutheran heresy was creeping in. The Duke of Suffolk had spoken bitterly of Papal legates, and Chapuys believed If they had nothing to fear but the Pope's malediction, there were great numbers who would foUow the Duke's ad-vice and make Popes of the King and Bishops, aU to have the divorce case tried In England.^ The Queen was afraid of pressing her appeal, fearing that If the Com mons in Parliament heard that the King had been summoned to Rome, measures injurious to her might easily be proposed and carried.^ Even the Duke of Norfolk was not satisfactory. He professed to be devoted to the Emperor; he said he would wiUingly have lost a hand so that the divorce question should never have been raised ; but it was an affair of theo logy and canon law, and he had not meddled with it. ^ Chapuys to Charles V,, Sept, 2, 1529, — Spanish Calendar, vol, vi, part 1, pp, 236-7. 2 Ibid, p, 236, 8 Ibid, p, 274, Church Reform. 115 If the Emperor had remained neutral, instead of inter fering. It would have been sooner settled. ^ But, for the instant, the interests of the people of England were fixed on a subject more immediately close to them. The sins of the clergy had at last found them out. They pretended to be a supernatural order, to hold the keys of heaven and heU, to be persons too sacred for ordinary authorify to touch. Their vices and their tyranny had made them and their fantastic assumptions no longer bearable, and aU Europe was in revolt against the scandals of the Church and Church- . men. The ecclesiastical courts, as the pretended guar dians of moralify, had the laity at their mercy ; and every offence, real or imaginary, was converted into an occasion of extortion. The courts were themselves nests of corruption ; while the lives and habits of the order which they represented made ridiculous their affectations of superiority to common men. Clem ent's conduct of the divorce case was only a supreme instance of the methods in which the clerical tribunals administered what they called justice. An authority equaUy oblivious of the common principles of right and wrong was extended over the private lives and language of every family in Catholic Christendom. In England the cup was f uU and the day of reckoning had arrived. I have related In the first volume of my history of the period the meeting of the Parliament of 1529, and I have printed there the Petition of the Commons to the Crown, with the Bishops' reply to It.^ I need not repeat what has been -written already. A few more words are needed, however, to explain the 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Sept, 2, 1529, — Spanish Calendar, vol, vi, part 1, p, 294. "^ The transcripts of these documents were furnished to me by the late Sir Francis Palgrave, who waa then K ieper of the Records, 116 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. animosity which broke out against Wolsey. The great Cardinal was the living embodiment of the de tested ecclesiastical domination, and a representation in his own person of the worst abuses complained of. He had been a vigorous Minister, full of large schemes and high ambitions. He had been conscious of much that was wrong. He had checked the eagerness of the bench of Bishops to interfere with opinion, had sup pressed many of the most disorderly smaller monas teries, and had founded coUeges out of their revenues. But he had left his own life unreformed, as an exam ple of avarice and pride. As Legate he had absorbed the control of the entire ecclesiastical organisation. He had trampled on the Peers. On himseU he had piled benefice upon benefice. He held three great bishoprics, and, in addition to them, the wealthiest of the abbeys. York or Durham he had never entered; Winchester he may have visited in intervals of busi ness ; and he resided occasionally at the Manor of the More, which belonged to St. Albans : but this was aU his personal connection with offices to which duties were attached which he would have admitted to be sacred, if, perhaps, with a smile. As Legate and Lord ChanceUor he disposed of the whole patronage of the realm. Every priest or abbot who needed a license had to pay Wolsey for it. His officials were busy in every diocese. Every will that was to be proved, every marriage within the forbidden degrees, had to pass under their eyes, and from their courts streams richer than Pactolus flowed Into Wolsey's coffers. Foreign princes, as we have seen, were eager to pile pensions upon him. His wealth was known to be enormous. How enormous was now to be revealed. Even his own son — for a son he had — was charged upon the com monwealth. The worst iniquity of the times was the Lord Darcy of Templehurst. 117 appointing children to the cure of souls. Wolsey's boy was educated at Paris, and held benefices worth 1,500 cro-wns a year, or 3,000 pounds of modern Eng lish money. A political mistake had now destroyed his credit. His enemies were encouraged to speak, and the storm burst upon him. A list of detailed complaints against him survives which is curious alike from its contents, the time at which it was dra-wn up, and the person by whom It was composed — the old Lord Darcy of Templehurst, the leader afterwards In the Pilgrimage of Grace. Darcy was an earnest Catholic. He had fought in his youth under Ferdinand at the conquest of Granada. He was a dear friend of Ferdinand's daughter, and an earnest supporter, against Wolsey, of the Imperial aUiance. His paper is long and the charges are thrown together without order. The date is the 1st of July, when the Legates' court had begun its sittings and was to end, as he might weU suppose, in Catherine's ruin. They express the bitterness of Darcy's feelings. The briefest epitome is all that can be attempted of an indictment which extended over thewhole of Wolsey's public career. It commences thus : — "Hereafter foUoweth, by protestation, articles against the Cardinal of York, shewed by me, Thomas Darcy, only to discharge my oath and bounden duty to God and the King, and of no malice. "1. AU articles that touches God and his Church and his acts against the same. "2. AU that touches the King's estate^ honour and prerogative, and against his laws. "3. Lack of justice, and using himseU by his au thorify as ChanceUor faculties legatine and cardinal ; what wrongs, exactions he hath used. "4. All his authorities, legatine and other, pur- 118 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. chased of the Pope, and offices and grants that he hath of the King's grace, special commissions and instruc tions sent into every shire; he, and the Cardinal's servants, to be straitly examined of his unlawful acts." FoUowing vaguely this distribution, Darcy proceeds with his catalogue of wrongs. HaU the list is of re forms commenced and imfinished, everything disturbed and nothing set right, to "the ruffling of the good order of the realm." Of direct offences we find Wol sey unexpectedly accused of having broken the Prse- munlre statute by introducing facidties from Rome and aUowing the Pope to levy money in the realm contrary to the King's prerogative royal, whUe for himself, by "colour of his powers as Cardinal legate a latere and faculties spiritual and temporal, he had assembled marvellous and mighty sums of money." Of bishops, abbots, priors, deans, &c., he had re ceived (other sums) for promotion spiritual since his entry. He had appropriated the plate and jewels of the suppressed abbeys. He had raised the "probate duty " all over the realm, the dufy going Into his o-wn coffers. He had laid importable charges on the nobles of the realm. He had Towered, Fleeted, and put to the waUs of Calais a number of the noblemen of Eng land, and many of them for Ught causes. He had pro moted none but such as served about the King to bring to pass his purposes, or were of his council in such things as an honest man would not vouchsafe to be acquainted with. He had hanged, pressed, and banished more men since he was in authority than had suffered death by way of justice in aU Christendom besides. He had wasted the King's treasure, &c. He had levied mighty sums of other houses of religion, some for dread to be pulled down, and others by his Articles against Wolsey. 119 feigned visitations under colour of virtuous reforma tion. As Chancellor "he had taken up all the great matters depending in suit to determine after his dis cretion, and would suffer no way to take effect that had been devised by other men." In other times "the best prelate in the reahn was contented with one bishoprick." Darcy demanded that the duties of bish ops should be looked Into. They should hold no tem poral offices, nor meddle with temporal affairs. They should seek no dispensation from the Pope. The tenure of land in England should be looked into, to find what temporal lands were in spiritual men's hands, by what titles, for what purposes, and whether it was foUowed or no. The King's grace should pro ceed to determine aU reformations, of spiritual and temporal, within his realm. Never more Legate nor Cardinal should be In England: these legacies and faculties should be clearly annuUed and made frus trate, and search and enquiry be made what had been le-vied thereby. He recommended that at once and without notice Wolsey's papers and accounts should be seized. "Then matters much unknown would come forth surely concerning his affairs with Pope, Em peror, the French King, other Princes, and within the realm." 1 Many of Darcy's charges are really creditable to Wolsey, many more are exaggerated ; but of the op pressive character of his courts, and of the immense revenue which he drew from them, no denial was pos sible. The special interest of the composition, how ever, is that it expresses precisely the temper of the Parliament of 1529. It enables us to understand how the ChanceUorship came to be accepted by Sir Thomas ' Cardinal Wolsey and Lord Darcy, July 1, 1529, — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol, iv, pp. 2548-62, 120 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. More. It contains the views of conservative CathoUc English statesmen who, while they had no sympathy with changes of doctrine, were weary of ecclesiastical domination, who desired to restrict the rights of the Pope in England within the limits fixed by the laws of the Plantagenets, to relieve the clergy of their tem poral powers and employments, and reduce them to their spiritual functions. Micer Mai and De Soria had said the same thing; Charles V., likely enough, shared their opinion, though he could not see his way towards acting upon it. In England it could be acted upon, and it was. There is no occasion to repeat the weU-known tale of the fall of Wolsey. He resigned the seals on the 18th of October ; his properfy was seized and examined Into. The Venetian Ambassador reported that his ordinary income was found to have been 150,000 crowns, besides pensions, gifts from foreign princes, and irregular contributions from home. His personal effects were worth half a miUion more. He said that it had been all gathered for the King ; if the King was pleased to take it before his end, the King was wel come to it. The King was thenceforward his own first minister ; the Duke of Norfolk became President of the Council; Suffolk was Vice-President, and Sir Thomas More Lord ChanceUor. But the King intended to rule with Parliament to advise and to help him. Catherine told Chapuys, in fear for herseU, that the elections to the Lower House had been influenced to her o-wn Injury. She was mistaken, for the elections had not turned on the divorce. The object of the meeting of the Legis lature was to reform the clergy, and upon this all par ties among the laity -W^ere agreed. It may be (though the Queen could not know It) that exertions were Fall of Wolsey. 121 made to counteract or control the local influences of individual nobles or prelates. If the object was to secure a real representation of popular feeling, it was right and necessary to protect the electors against the power of particular persons. But it is at least clear that this Parliament came up charged with the grievances of which Darcy's indictment was the epitome. The Houses met on the 3rd of November, and went at once to business. I can add nothing to what I have ¦written elsewhere on the acts of the first session. Wolsey was impeached ; the Peers would have attainted him or sent him to trial for high treason; the Com mons were more moderate, listening to Cromwell, who faced unpopularify by defending gaUantly his old pa tron. But the King himseU did not wish the faUen Cardinal to be pressed too hard ; and it was said that, determined to protect him, he forbade the attainder. He had determined to pardon him, and an attainder would have made pardon more difficult. Very Inter esting accounts of Wolsey's own behaviour in his calamify are found in the letters of the foreign Am bassadors. Du BeUay saw him on the 17th of Octo ber, the day before he surrendered the Great Seal, and found him entirely broken. He wept; he "hoped the French King and Madam would have pity on him." His face had lost its fire; "he did not desire legate- ship, seal of office, or power ; he was ready to give up everything, to his shirt, and live in a hermitage, if the King would not keep him in his displeasure." He wished Francis to write to Henry In his favour. He had been the chief instrument of the present amity with France; and such a service ought not to have given a bad impression of him. Suspicions were abroad that he had received large presents from the 122 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. French Court ; they were probably tme, for he said "he hoped Madam would not do him an injury if it were spoken of." ^ Nothing could be more piteous. The poor old man was like a hunted animal; lately lord of the world, and now "none so poor to do him reverence." Darcy had raised the question of the Praemunire. The an cient Statute of Provisors had forbidden the introduc tion of BuUs from Rome, and the statute was awake again. He was made to confess that the penalties of Praemunire — confiscation of goods and imprisonment — had been incurred by him when he published the BuU which made him Legate, and by the use of which he had unlawfuUy vexed the greater number of the prelates of the realm, and the King's other subjects. His brother Legate, Campeggio, had remained for some weeks in London after the dissolution of the court. But England was no place for him in the hurly-burly which had broken loose. He went, and had to submit to the Indlgnify of ha-ving his luggage searched at Dover. The cause aUeged was a fear that he might be taking with him some of Wolsey's jewels. Tradition said that he had obtained possession of the letters of the King to Anne Boleyn, and that it was through him that they reached the Vatican. At any rate, the locks were forced, the trunks Inspected, and nothing of importance was found in them.^ Campeg gio complained to the King of the -violation of his priv ilege as ambassador. Henry told him ironicaUy that he had suffered no -vsTong: his legateship was gone when the cause was revoked ; he had no other commis sion : he was an English bishop, and so far, therefore, ' Du Bellay to Montmorency, Oct, 17, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, pt. 3, p, 2675, ' Chapuys to the Emperor, Oct, 25, 1529, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv, pt. 1, p. 304. The Divorce. 123 an English subject. But a courteous apology was made for the unnecessary violence which had been used;^ Campeggio 's ruffled plumes were smoothed, and he wrote to Salviati from Paris with the latest news of Wolsey, teUing him "that the King would not go to extremes, but would act considerately in the matter, as he was accustomed to do in aU his actions." ^ Although no mention was made in Parliament of the divorce, the subject, of course, could not sleep. The question of the succession to the crown having been made so prominent, it would, and must, sooner or later, come before the Legislature to be settled, and had already become a topic of general consideration and anxiefy. Mary's legitimacy had been impugned. FaUeri, writing from London and reporting what he heard in society, said that "by English law females were excluded from the throne." Custom might say so, for no female had, in fact, ever sat on the throne ; but enacted law or rule there was none : It was only one uncertainty the more. At any rate, Falieri said that the King had determined to go on with the di vorce, that he might have a legitimate male heir. Henry's experience of Clement had taught him that he need not fear any further immediate steps. The advocation of the cause Implied of ItseU a desire for longer delay, and, with more patience than might have been looked for in such a disappointment, he had resolved to wait for what the Pope would do. That an English sovereign should plead before the Rota at Rome was, of course, preposterous. The* suggestion of it was an insult. But other means might be found. He had himseU proposed Cambray as a neutral spot - Hen. VIII. to Campeggio, Oct. 22, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv, p. 2677. ' To Salviati, Nov. 5.— Ibid. p. 2702. 124 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. for a first commission; he reaUy believed that the Pope was at heart on his side, and therefore did not wish to quarrel with him. When Campeggio was leaving England the King wrote to Clement more politely than might have been expected. He did not Insist that the English commission should be re newed. "We could have wished," he said, "not less for your sake than our o-wn, that aU things had been so expedited as corresponded to our expectation, not rashly conceived, but according to your promises. As it is, we have to regard with grief and wonder the incredible confusion which has arisen. If a Pope can relax Divine laws at his pleasure, surely he has as much power over human laws. We have been so often deceived by your Holiness's promises that no depen dence can be placed on them. Our dignify has not been consulted in the treatment which we have met with. If your Holiness wiU keep the cause now ad- voked to Rome In your o-wn hands, until it can be decided by impartial judges, and in an indifferent place, in a manner satisfactory to our scruples, we wiU forget what is past, and repay kindness by kind ness."^ As the Pope had professed to be ignorant of the extent of his dispensing power, the King proposed to submit this part of the question to the canon lawyers of Europe. The Nuncios, meanwhile, in Paris and London advised that the Pope and the Emperor should write In a friendly way to the King. Charles was believed in England to have said "that the King should stick to his -wife in spite of his beard." He had not used such words, and ought to disclaim them, ^ Hen, VIII, to Clement VII, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, p, 2660, The Pope and the Emperor. 125 but he might endeavour to persuade the King to let the divorce drop. The Parliament meanwhile had been fiercely busy in cutting do-wn the Church courts — abolishing or Umlting the various forms of extortion by which the laity had been plundered. The clergy were required to reside upon their benefices. "Pluralities" were restricted. The business of the session had been a series of Clergy Discipline Acts. The Bishop of Rochester especiaUy clamoured over the "want of faith" which such Acts exhibited, but nothing had been done of which the Pope could complain, nothing of which, perhaps, he did not secretly approve. Cath erine, through her agents at Rome, demanded instant sentence In her cause. The Pope's inclination seemed again on Henry's side. He described an interview with the Emperor, who had urged Catherine's case. He professed to have replied that he must be cautious when the case was not clear. Many things, he said, made for the King. AU the divines were against the power of the Pope to dispense. Of the canon la-wyers, some were against it; and those who were not against It considered that the dispensing powers could only be used for a very urgent cause, as, to prevent the ruin of a kingdom. The Pope's function was to judge whether such a cause had arisen ; but no such inquiry was made when the dispensation of Julius was granted. The Emperor must not be surprised if he could do no more for the Queen. ^ The Emperor himseU thought of nothing less than taking his imcle "by the beard." He wished to be reconciled to him if he could find a way to it. For one thing, he was In sore need of help against the ' Casalis to Henry VIIL, Deo. 26, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2722. 126 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Turks, and Chapuys was directed to as-certain if Henry would give him money. Henry's reply was not encouraging, and sounded ominously, as if his mind was making perilous progress on the great ques tions of the day. He said it would be a foolish thing for him to remit money to the Emperor and help him to maintain three armies In Italy, which ought to be elsewhere. He had consulted his Parliament, and had found he could not grant it. The said money might be turned to other use, and be employed to promote dissension among Christian princes.^ At a subse quent interview the conversation was renewed and took a more general turn. The King spoke of the Court of Rome — the ambitious magnificence of which, he said, "had been the cause of so many wars, discords, and heresies." Had the Pope and Cardinals, he said, observed the precepts of the Gospel and attended to the example of the Fathers of the Church [several of whom the King mentioned, to Chapuys' surprise], they would have led a different life, and not have scan dalised Christendom by their acts and manners. So far, Luther had told nothing but the truth ; and had Luther limited himseU to inveighing against the vices, abuses, and errors of the clergy, instead of attacking the Sacraments of the Church, everyone would have gone with him ; he would himseU have written in his favour, and taken pen in hand in his defence. Into the Church in his own dominions he hoped, little by little, to introduce reforms and end the scandal.^ These expressions were dangerous enough, but there was worse to foUow. "Henry maintained that the only power which Churchmen had over laymen was 1 Chapujrs to Charles V., Deo. 6, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, voh iv. part 1, p. 344. 2 Ibid. The Pope and the Emperor. 121 absolution from sin"; Chapuys found that he had told the Queen that he was now waiting for the opin ions of the foreign doctors; when he had obtained these he would forward them to Rome; and should not the Pope, in conformity with the opinions so ex pressed, declare the marriage nuU and void, he would denounce the Pope as a heretic and marry whom he pleased.^ "The Lady Anne," Chapuys said, "was growing impatient, complaining that she was wasting her time and youth to no purpose." The House of Commons had already "clipped the claws" of the clergy, and it was not impossible that, on the plea of the various and contradictory judgments on the matter, they and the people might consent to the divorce. The hope that the King might be held back by na tional disapproval was thus seen to be waning. The national pride had been touched by the citation of an English sovereign to plead before a foreign court. Charles V. feared that the Pope, alarmed at the pros pect of losing England, would "commit some new folly " which might lead to war.^ The English Nun cio in fact Informed Chapuys, much to the latter's astonishment, that the Pope had ordered him to find means to reconcile the King and the Emperor. Chapuys thought the story most unlikely. The Em peror would never have trusted the Pope with such a commission, nor was the Pope a promising mediator, seeing that he was more hated in England than might have been supposed. There were evident signs now that the coimtry meant to support the King. The Duke of Norfolk 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Dec, 6, 1529, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p, 351, ^ Charles V. to Ferdinand, Jan, 11, 1530, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p, 2742, 128 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. told the Ambassador that unless the Emperor would permit his master to divorce the Queen and take another wife, there was no remedy left. The King's scruples of conscience, instead of abating, were on the increase, owing to the opinions of others who thought as he did, and no one in the world could turn him.^ Chapuys thought it more likely than not that the ques tion would be introduced at once into Parliament, where he had heard that a majority had been bribed or gained over to the King's side. With the consent of the Commons he would consider himseU secure aU round. Should the Pope pronounce in favour of the Queen, the English would say that the sentence was unjust, for, besides the suspicion and iU-wUl they had towards the Pope and other ecclesiastical judges, they would aUege that In confirming the BuU of Pope Ju lius, the Pope and Cardinals would be only influenced by their o-wn interest "to increase the authorify of the Pope, and procure him money by such dispensations." ^ At this moment Chapuys feared some precipitate step on Henry's part. Norfolk, whom he saw fre quently, told him that "there was nothing which the King would not grant the Emperor to obtain his con sent, even to becoming his slave for ever."^ "The reform of the clergy was partly owing to the anger of the people at the advocation of the cause to Rome." "Nearly all the people hated the priests," Chapuys said — an important testimony from an unwiUing -wit ness. Peers and Commons might be brought to agree that Popes could grant no dispensations in marriages or anything else, and so save their money. If there was nothing to restrain them but respect for the Pope, 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 9, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p, 359, 2 Ibid, p, 361, » Ibid. p. 366. Possible Return of Wolsey to Power. 129 they would not care much for him, and the Holy See would have no more obedience in England than in Germany. The Duke of Norfolk talked as mena cingly as the rest. He said publicly to the Ambassa dor "that the Pope himseU had been the first to per ceive the invalidity of the marriage, had written to say that it could not stand, and would so declare him seU, or have it legally declared .... and now, being in the Emperor's power, the same Pope would have the case tried and determined only as the Empe ror -wished."^ Under these circumstances Chapuys could only ad vise that means should be taken to weaken or defer the action of Parliament. The Cambray proposal might be revived, or a suggestion made that the cause should be argued before the Sorbonne at Paris. The Duke of Norfolk could perhaps be gained over; but, unfortunately, he and Queen Catherine were not on good terms. The Duke was afraid also — the words show how complicated were the threads which ruled the situation — that, should the King dismiss the Lady Anne, the Cardinal would in all probability regain his influence, owing to his uncommon abilify and the King's readiness to restore him to favour. Everyone perceived the King bore the Cardinal no real iU-will, and should the King's affection for the lady abate in the least, the Cardinal would soon find means of set tling the divorce in a manner which would cost the opposite parfy their lives. ^ In this letter of Chapuys Is the first aUusion which I have found to the Mary Boleyn scandal, then beginning to be heard of in cir cles opposed to the divorce: "People say," he wrote, ' Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 9, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p, 367. 2 Ibid. p. 368. 130 The Divorce of Catherine qf Aragon. "that it is the King's evU destiny that impels him; for had he, as he asserts, only attended to the voice of conscience, there would have been stiU greater affinify to contend with in this intended marriage than in that of the Queen his wife." ^ The story is referred to as a fresh feature of the case, which had not before been heard of. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 9, 1529, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 369. CHAPTER VIII. Hope of Wolsey to return to power — Anger of Anne Boleyn and the Duke of Norfolk — Charles V. at Bologna — Issue of a prohibitory brief — The Pope secretly on Henry's side — Collection of opinions — Norfolk warns Chapuys — State of feeling in England — Intrigues of Wolsey — His illness and death. The momentous year of 1529 wore out. Parlia ment rose before Christmas ; Peers and Commons dis persed to their homes; and the chief parties in the drama were still undetermined what next to do. The Duke of Norfolk was afraid of Wolsey's return to power. It was less impossible than it seemed. A parliamentary impeachment, though let fall, ought to have been fatal; but none knew better than Wolsey by how transitory a link the parties who had combined for his ruin were reaUy held together. More and Darcy had little sympathy with the advanced Reform ers whose eyes were fixed on Germany. They agreed in cutting down the temporal encroachments of the clergy; they agreed in nothing besides. The King had treated Wolsey with exceptional forbearance. He had left him the' Archbishopric of York, with an in come equal in modern money to eight or ten thousand pounds a year, and had made him large presents besides of money, furniture, and jewels. Finding himseU so leniently dealt with, the Cardinal recovered heart, and believed evidently that his day was not over. In a letter to Gardiner, written in January, 1530, he complained as a hardship of having been 132 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. made to surrender Winchester and St. Albans. He had not "deserved to lose them," he said, "and had not expected to lose them on his submission. His long services deserved at least a pension."^ The King agreed, or seemed to agree; for a further grant of 3,000 crowns was aUowed him, charged on the See of Winchester. Anne Boleyn was furious. The Duke of Norfolk swore that "sooner than suffer Wolsey's return to office he would eat him up alive." ^ Though he had never seen his diocese, the Cardinal was mak ing no haste to go thither. He lingered on at Esher, expecting to be sent for, and it is evident from the alarm of his rivals that there was real likelihood of it. The Lady Anne so hated him that she quarreUed with her uncle Norfolk for not having pressed his attainder. Catherine liked him equally iU, for she regarded him as the cause of her sufferings. He had been "dls- evangelised, " as Norfolk caUed it; but Henry missed at every turn his dexterity and readiness of hand. He had monopolised the whole business of the realm; the subordinate officials everywhere were his creatures, and the threads of every branch of administration had centred in his cabinet ; without him there was univer sal confusion. The French Court was strongly in his favour. He had himseU made the Anglo-French aUiance; and the Anglo-French aUiance was stUl a necessify to Henry, if he meant to defy the Emperor and retain an influence at Rome, 'flie King wished, if he could, to keep on terms -with the Pope, and Wol sey, U any one, could keep the Papal Court -within limits of moderation. The situation was thus more critical than ever. 1 Wolsey to Gardiner, Jan, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv, p, 2763, 2 Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 6, 1530, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. pp. 449-50. General Uncertainty. 133 Catherine knew not what to look for. Those among thg peers who, like Norfolk, would naturally have been her friends, and would have preferred that the divorce should never have been spoken of, yet saw no reason why on a private ground the Emperor should light up a European war again. They conceived that by protesting he had done enough for his honour, and that he ought to advise his aunt to give way. Ac cording to Chapuys, attempts were privately made to obtain a declaration of opinion from the House of Commons before Parliament rose.^ He says that the attempts were unsuccessful. It may have been so. But Chapuys could not hope that the unwillingness would last. Charles was determined to stand by Cath erine to aU extremities. Henry was threatening to marry his mistress whether the Pope consented or not, professing to care not a straw, and almost caUing the Pope a heretic. The Pope did not wish to be a party to a scandal, but also would be sorry to see the King lose aU submission and reverence to the See of Rome. For hImseU, the Emperor said he could not see how the affair woidd end, "but he was certain that Henry would persist, and war would probably come of it." He directed his brother Ferdinand to avoid irritating the German Lutherans, as France might probably take part -with England.^ Fresh efforts were made to per suade Catherine to take the veil. They were as un successful as before.^ The Emperor was now in Italy. He had gone to Bologna for his coronation on the conclusion of the ' Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 31, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. p. 387. 2 Charles V, to Ferdinand, Jan, 11, 1530, — Ibid, vol, iv, part 1, pp. 405-6, ' Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb. 6, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. iv. p. 2780. 134 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Peace of Cambray, and the Pope was to be made to feel the weight of his Imperial presence. Henry used the occasion to send a deputation to Bologna, composed of the Earl of Wiltshire, Anne's father, who was per sonally kno-vm to Charles, Dr. Cranmer, then coming into prominence, and Stokesly, the Bishop of London, who, ha-ving been first on Catherine's side, had been converted. They were directed to lay before the Em peror the motives for the King's action, to protest against his interference, and to explain the certain consequences U he persisted in supporting the Queen. The Emperor gave a cold answer, and declined to hear the Earl's instructions, while the Pope, the Earl said, was led by the Emperor, and dared not displease him. The second act of the drama was now to open, and Clement was made to strike the first blow. In consequence of the reports from Catherine and Cha puys that Henry was coUecting the opinions of the canonists of Europe, and intended to act on them if favourable, a brief was issued on the 7th of March ordering the King to restore Catherine to her rights, and prohibiting him from making a second marriage while the suit was undetermined. The divines and lawyers of Catholic Europe were at the same time threatened with excommunication if they presumed to declare themselves favourable to the divorce. But though the voice was Clement's, the hand was the Emperor's. Clement was being dragged along against his will, and was stiU "facing both ways" in honest or dishonest Irresolution. While issuing the brief under compulsion, he said precisely the opposite in his communication with the French Ambassador, the Bishop of Tarbes. The Ambassador was able to assure his own master that the Pope would never give sentence in Catherine's favour. In direct contradic- France, England, and Germany. 135 tion of the brief, the Bishop wrote "that the Pope had told him more than three times in secret he would be glad if the marriage between Henry and Anne was already made, either by dispensation of the English Legate or otherwise, provided it was not by his au thorify or in diminution of his powers of dispensation and limitation of divine law." ^ In England the Pope had stIU his own Nuncio — a Nuncio who, as Chapuys declared, was "heart and soul" with the King. He was the brother of Sir Gregory Casalis, Henry's agent at Rome, and Henry was said to have promised him a bishopric as soon as his cause should be won. The Pope could not have been ignorant of the dispo sition of his o-wn Minister. Chapuys reported a mysterious State secret which had reached him through Catherine's physician. The Smalcaldic League was about to be formed among the Protestant Princes of Germany. Francis was inviting the King to support them and to join with himseU in encouraging them to dethrone the Emperor ; the King was said to have agreed on the ground that the Pope and the Emperor had behaved IU to him, and the pro- babiUfy was that both France and England in the end would become Lutheran. Had there been nothing else, the Queen's sterility was held a sufficient ground for the divorce. If she had been barren from the first, the marriage would have been held invalid at once. Now that the hope of succession was gone, the Pope, It was said, ought to have ended it.^ The King had been busy aU the winter carrying out his project of coUecting the opinions of the learned. 1 Bishop of Tarbes to Francis I,, from Bologna, March 27, 1530, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p, 2826, ^ Chapuys to Charles V., Dec, 31, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p. 394. 136 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The Pope's prohibition not having been issued in Eng land, his own Bishops, the Universities, and the can onists had declared themselves in favour of the divorce. The assent had not in aU instances been given very wiUingly. Oxford and Cambridge had attempted a feeble resistance, and at Oxford the Commissioners had been pelted with stones. StiU, given it had been, and the conservative Peers and gentry were coming to the same conclusion. The King was known to be wish ing to recaU Wolsey. The return of Wolsey to power might imply the acceptance of the French policy ; per haps the aUiance with the Lutherans — at any rate, war with the Emperor. The Duke of Norfolk and his friends were English aristocrats, adherents of the old traditions, dreading and despising German revolu tionists; but they believed that the King and the Emperor could only be drawn together by Charles's consent to the divorce. The King, Norfolk said to Chapuys, was so much bent on it that no one but God could turn him. He believed it imperative for the welfare of the realm that his master should marry again and have male succession; he would give aU that he possessed for an hour's interview -with the Emperor; if his Majesfy would but consent to the marriage, the friendship between him and the King would then be indissoluble ; ^ the divorce was nothing by the side of the larger interests at issue ; "the King," it was rumoured, "had written, or was about to write, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that U the Pope persisted in refusing justice, his o-wn and aU Church authority would be at an end in England; " the nobles and people, provoked and hurt at the advocation of the suit to Rome, were daily more and more incensed 1 Chapuys to Chwle? V., Jan. 12, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1,'p. 417. The Duke of Norfolk. 137 against Churchmen, and would become Lutherans in the end.^ The Pope had confessed that the presence of the Imperial army in Italy left him no liberty. If revolution came, the Emperor would be the cause of it. The Duke spoke with the Indignation of an Eng lishman at a rumour that the Emperor had "threat ened to use all his power in the Queen's support." Such menaces, he said, were useless, and the nation would not endure them. Foreign princes had no au thority over English kings. Chapuys did not mend matters by saying that the Emperor was not thinking of employing force, for he did not believe that the King would give occasion for it. The Emperor's Interference, indeed, would be unnecessary, for the Duke must be aware that if the divorce was proceeded with there would be a civil war in England. 2 Chapuys was vain of his insight into things and characters. Like so many of his succes sors, he mistook the opinion of a passionate clique of priests and priCst-ridden malcontents for the general sentiment of the nation. They told him, as they told other Spanish ambassadors after him, that aU the world thought as they did. Fanatics always think so ; and the belief that they were right proved in the end the ruin of the Spanish empire. In the present instance, however, Chapuys may be pardoned for his error. Norfolk imagined that Wolsey was scheming for a return to power on the old anti-Imperial lines. Wolsey was foUowing a more dangerous line of his own. Impatient with the delay in his restoration, he imagined that by embroiling matters more fataUy he could make his own help indispensable ; and he was 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 20, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 436. " Ibid. April 23, 1530, p. 511. 138 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. drifting into what can only be caUed treachery — treachery speciaUy dishonourable to him. Wolsey, the originator of the divorce and the French alliance, had now become the friend of Catherine and the secret adviser of Chapuys. He had welcomed, had perhaps advised, the issue of the prohibitory Papal brief. Copies of it were sent for from Flanders to be sho-wn in England. "The Queen," -wrote Chapuys on the 10th of May,i "is now firmer than ever, and believes the King will not dare make the other marriage ; if he does, which may God prevent, I suspect he wUl repent and be thankful to return to his first marriage, if by so doing he could be freed from his second. This is the opinion of Cardinal Wolsey and of many others. The Cardinal would have given his archbishopric that this had been done two years ago. He would have been better revenged on the intrigue which has ruined him." These words, taken by themselves, prove that Wol sey was now in the confidence of Catherine's friends, but would not justify further inference. Another let ter which foUows leaves no room for doubt. On the 15th of June Chapuys -writes again.^ "I have a letter from the Cardinal's physician. In which he teUs me that his master, not knowing exactly the state of the Queen's affairs, cannot give any special advice upon them; but with fuUer information would counsel and direct as if he was to gain Paradise by it, as on her depended his happiness, honour, and peace of mind. As things stood he thought that the Pope should proceed to the weightier censures, and should caU In the secular arm ; there was want of nerve in the 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, April 23, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 533, " Ibid. p. 600. Treachery of Wolsey. 139 way in which things were handled." ^ The caUing in the secular arm meant invasion and open war. To advise it was treasonable in any English subject. There may be circumstances under which treason of such a kind might be moraUy defended. No defence, moral or political, can be made for Wolsey; and it was the more discreditable because at this time he was professing the utmost devotion to his King, and endeavouring to secure his confidence. Three differ ent petitions Norfolk discovered him to have sent in, "desiring as much authority as ever he had." Nor folk no doubt watched him, and may have learnt enough to suspect what he was doing. The whispers and the messages through the intriguing physician had not gone unobserved. The King persisted in his gen erous confidence, and could not be persuaded that his old friend could be reaUy treacherous,^ but he con sented to send him down to his diocese. Wolsey went, stiU affecting his old magnificence, with a train of six hundred knights and gentlemen; but he never reached his cathedral city. Chapuys heard, to his alarm, that the physician was arrested and was in the Tower. He congratulated himseU that, were aU revealed which had passed between him and Wolsey, nothing could be discovered which would compromise his own safety. But it was true that Wolsey's physician had betrayed his master, revealing secrets which he had bound him- ^ "J'ay re§eu lettres du medicin du Cardinal, par lesquelles il m'ad- vertit que sou maystre pour non sgavoir en quelles termes sont les affaires de la Reyne, il ne scauroit particulierement quel conseil donner et que estant informe, il y vouldroit donner conseil et addresse comme ce estoit pour gagner paradis. Car de la depend son bien, honneur et repoz, et qu'il lui semble pour maintenant que I'on debvroyt proceder a plus grandes censures et a la invocation du bras seculier. Car mainte- pant il n'y a nul nerf," 2 T. Arundel to Wolsey, Oct. 16, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. iv. p. 3013. 140 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. seU never to teU. He had confessed, so Chapuys learnt, that the Cardinal had advised the Pope to excommunicate the King, if he did not send away the "Lady" from the court, hoping thus "to raise the country and obtain the management." ^ Too evidently the Cardinal had been intriguing, and not honourably, merely for his own purposes. He might have per suaded himseU that the divorce would be injurious to the country ; but after the part which he had played it was not for him to advise the Pope to strike at his master, whom he had himseU tempted to go so deep with it. The King was convinced at last. Orders were sent down to arrest him and bring him back to London. He knew that all was now over with him, and that he would not be again forgiven. He refused to take food, and died on his way at Leicester Abbey on St. Andrew's Day. He was buried, it was observed, in the same church where the body lay of Richard IH. One report said that he had starved himseU; another that he had taken poison. Chapuys says "that he died like a good Christian, protesting that he had done nothing against the King." His designs had failed, whatever they might have been, and he ended his great career struggling ineffectually to conjure back into the vase the spirit which he had himseU let loose. 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Nov, 27, 1530, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p, 3035, CHAPTER IX. Danger of challenging the Papal dispensing power — The Royal family of Spain — Address of the English Peers to the Pope — Compromise proposed by the Duke of Norfolk — The Enghsh Agents at Rome — Arrival of a new Nuncio in England — His interview with the King — Chapuys advises the King's excommunication — Position of the English clergy — Statute of Provisors — The clergy in a Praemunire — Remonstrances of the Nuncio — Despair of Catherine — Her let ter to the Pope — Henry prepares for war— The introduction of briefs from Rome forbidden — Warnings given to the Spanish Am bassador and the Nuncio. The question whether the Pope had power to license marriages -within the forbidden degrees affected Inter ests immeasurably wider than the domestic difficulties of Henry VIII. Innumerable connections had been contracted, in reliance upon Papal dispensations, the issue of which would be iUegitimate if the authority was declared to be Insufficient. The Emperor himseU was Immediately and personally concerned. Emman uel of Portugal had been three times married. His first -wUe was Isabel, daughter of Ferdinand and Isa beUa, Catherine's sister and Charles's aunt. His sec ond wife was her sister Maria; his third, Charles's sister Eleanor. Charles's own Empress was the child of the second of these marriages, and they had aU been contracted under dispensations from Rome. A sudden change of the law or the recognition in a single instance that the Pope's authorify in such matters might be chaUenged would create universal disturbance ; and it was not for Catherine's sake alone that the Emperor 142 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. had so peremptorily resisted Henry's demand. The difficulty would have been evaded had Catherine agreed to take the vows ; and Henry himself, when Catherine refused, had been so far conscious of the objection that he had hitherto based his demand on the irregu larity of the original BuU of Pope Julius. Clement had said often that a way could be found if Charles would consent; but Charles had not consented. In England, the marriage having been once chaUenged, a decision of some kind was necessary to avoid a dis puted succession, and larger issues had now to be raised. The Emperor having dismissed the English Embassy at Bologna with scant courtesy, the Pope, as we have seen, had fallen back secretly on his old wish that Henry would take the matter into his own hands, disregard the inhibition, and marry as he pleased, -with out throwing the responsibility on himself. Henry, however, after the assurances which the Pope had given him, was determined that he should not escape in this way. He had gained or extorted a favourable opinion from his own learned corporations. Francis had assisted him to a similar opinion from the Univer- sify of Paris. Confident in these authorities, a great body of English peers, spiritual and temporal, now presented a formal demand to Clement that the King's petition should be conceded, and intimated that if it was again refused they must seek a remedy for them selves. Wolsey himself signed, for the petition was drawn in the summer before his death. Archbishop Warham signed, followed by bishops, abbots, dukes, earls, and barons. Some, doubtless, had to strain their consciences, but the act as a whole must be taken as their own. The King, unless he was supported by the people, had no means of forcing them or of punish ing them if they refused. Norfolk stiU laboured des- The English Peers petition the Pope. 143 perately to work upon Chapuys. He told him, before the address was despatched, that, as there seemed no other way of bringing the business to an end, he would sacrifice the greater part of what he o-wned in the world if God would be pleased to take to himseU the Queen and his niece also,^ for the King would never enjoy peace of mind tiU he had made another marriage, for the relief of his conscience and the tranquiUity of the realm, which could only be secured by male posterity to succeed to the cro-wn. The King, Norfolk said, could not plead at Rome, which was garrisoned by a Spanish army, and the Pope would do the Emperor's bidding U It was to dance in the streets in a clown's coat; the Queen objected to a trial in England; but could not a neutral place be found with impartial judges ? Might not the Cardinal of Liege be trusted, and the Bishop of Tarbes ? The blunt and honest Norfolk was an indifferent successor to the dexterous Cardinal. To- wish that Catherine and Anne Boleyn were both dead was a nat ural, but not a valuable, aspiration. A neutral place of trial was, no doubt, desirable, and the Cardinal of Liege might be admissible, but de Tarbes would not do at aU. "He had been one of the first," Chapuys remarked, "to put the fancy in the King's head."^ At Rome the diplomatic fencing continued, the Pope secretly longing to "commit some folly " and to come to terms with Henry, while the Imperial agents kept their claws fixed upon him. In October Mai reported that Henry's representatives were Insisting that Clem ent should dissolve the marriage without legal process, on the ground that the kingdom must have an heir, ^ Anne Boleyn. ^ Chapuys to Charles V., July 11, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 630. 144 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. and because the King protested that he was living in mortal sin. If this could not be done, the Pope should at least promise that if the King married he should not be proceeded against. The Pope seemed too much inclined to listen ; ^ but with Mai at his shoulder, he could not afford to be valiant. He was made to answer that he had done his best ; but he coidd not reject the Queen's appeal; the King had not named a proctor to appear for him, and therefore delay had been unavoidable; the threat of the Peers in their address that unless the divorce was granted they would seek a remedy elsewhere, was unworthy of them, and could not have been sanctioned by the King; he had always wished to comply with the King's requests when it could be done with justice.^ True to his policy of doing nothing and trusting to time, Clement hoped to tire Henry out by smooth words and hopes indirectly conveyed; but he was slowly swept on by the tide, and, when forced to act at all, had to act at Mai's dictation. The Nuncio in England had been too openly on Henry's side. A change was necessary. John Casalis was recaUed. The Baron de Burgo was sent to succeed him, who was expected to be of sterner material. Chapuys had ascertained from two legal friends in the House of Commons that, when the next session opened, the di vorce would be brought before Parliament, and that Parliament would stand by the King ; also that M. du BeUay had come from Paris with promises from Francis to settle matters with the Pope afterwards, if the King cut the knot and married.^ Unless the Em- > Mai to Charles V., Oct. 2 and Oct, 10, 1530, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, pp, 3002, 3009, 2 Answer of the Pope, Sept, 27, 1530, — Ibid, p, 2291 . » Chapuys to Charles V,, Sept, 4, 1530, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 707. The King and the Nuncio. 145 peror gave way, of which there was no hope, or unless the Pope dared the Emperor's displeasure, to which Clement was as disinclined as ever, a breach with the Papacy seemed now unavoidable. His Holiness still hoped, however, that there might be a third alternative. The new Nuncio reached England in the middle of September. He reported briefly that at his first in terview the King told him that, unless the cause was committed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the English Bishops, he would act for himseU, since he knew that the Pope had promised the Emperor to de clare for the Queen. Chapuys supplied the Emperor with fuUer particulars of the interview. The Nuncio had declared to the King that, in view of the injury likely to ensue to the authority of the Church, "his Holiness would rather die or resign the Papacy than that the cause should not be settled to the mutual sat isfaction of those concerned In it." The King, instead of replying graciously, as the Nuncio expected, had broken into violent abuse of the Pope himseU and the whole Roman Court. The Church, Henry had said, required a thorough reformation, and the Church should have it. The Pope alone was to blame for the difficulty in which he found himself. He had sent him a brief from Orvieto, admitting the divorce to be a necessify, and now he had promised the Emperor, as he knew from good authority, that judgment should be given for the Queen. He would not endure such treatment. He would never consent that the cause shoidd be decided at Rome, or in any place where either Pope or Emperor had jurisdiction. It was an ancient privilege of England, "that no cause having its origin in that kingdom should be advoked to an other." If the Pope would not do him justice, he would appeal to his Parliament, which was about to 146 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. assemble, and if the Emperor threatened him with war, he hoped to be able to defend himseU. The Nuncio had deprecated precipitate action. If the King would only do nothing, the Pope, he said, would pause also, till an amicable settlement could be arrived at; but the King would promise nothing; "he would act as seemed best to himseU." Henry being thus peremptory, Chapuys and the Nuncio had to consider what was to be done. The Pope, before the Nuncio's despatch, had received pri vate advices from Wolsey, of which the Baron de Burgo had been informed. The evU, Wolsey had admitted, was too far gone for gentle treatment: it needed cautery and incision ; but they must proceed cautiously. If the Pope used threats, the King would go at once to Parliament; there would then be war, in which France would take a part. Might not a per sonal interview be brought about between the King and the Emperor? The Nuncio could not see his way, but was wiUing to be guided by Chapuys. Chapuys was for instant action on the Pope's part. Modera tion, he said, was useless. He believed (of course Wolsey had told him so) that, if the Pope would deliver sentence at Rome Immediately, the King would find no one in the realm, or out of it, to help him in a quarrel against the Church. The responsi bility ought not to be thrown upon the Emperor. The Pope must speak, and aU good Catholics would be at his side.^ The Nuncio agreed. The clergy in Eng land were irritated and alarmed, and the opportunify was favourable. The Nuncio and the Ambassadors decided between them that the Pope was to be advised to end the cause at once, threaten the King with > Chapuys to Charles, Sept. 20, i;30. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv, part 1, p, 726, The Statute of Provisors. 147 excommimlcatlon, and let a copy of the brief be in England before Parliament opened. Chapuys, weU as he thought that he understood England, had something to learn about it which was to be a disagreeable surprise. He had imagined that the Pope's authorify, when boldly asserted there, had never been successfuUy resisted. Tradition remem bered Anselm and Becket. It had forgotten the legislation of the Edwards and of Richard II. Ac cording to Chapuys, the Pope was to issue a brief forbidding Parliament to meddle In the divorce case. There were laws on the statute book which forbade the interference of the Pope under any circumstances In the internal affairs of the English reahn. Should the Pope, by buU or brief, by presentation to offices of the Church or by delegation of his authority, attempt to exercise direct jurisdiction in England to the prejudice of the rights of the Crown, aU persons who introduced such buUs or briefs, who recognized the Pope's pre tensions or acted on his orders, feU under Praemunire — a vague but terrible consequence, almost as fatal as a proved charge of treason. The statutes had been long obsolete. The sword was in its scabbard. Wol sey had forgotten their existence when he sought and accepted the position of Legate of the Holy See. Henry had forgotten them when he applied for a Legatine commission to try his cause in London. The clergy who had claimed to be independent of the State, to be an imperium in imperio with the Pope at their head, the officials who had made the name of a Church court execrated in every county in England — aU had forgotten them. But the Acts themselves were unrepealed, and survived as a monument of the spirit of a past generation. Doubtless it was known that the Pope was being urged to violence. Doubtless 148 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. it was known that large numbers of the clergy were prepared to stand by him, in terror at the threatened Reformation. The blow was to be parried by an ap peal to the historical precedents of the reahn. These impatient persons were to learn that, instead of join ing in attack upon the King, they would have enough to do to purchase their pardons for their own offences. The weU-tempered steel sprang to light again bright as ever, and while the Nuncio was dreaming of ex communication and interdict, he learnt to his aston ishment that the subject coming before Parliament was not the divorce of the Queen, but the position of the whole spiritualty of the realm. By recognising Wolsey as Legate from the Holy See the entire clergy were found to be under Prae munire. On the divorce, perhaps, or on excommuni cation arising out of it, there might stiU have been a difference of opinion in Parliament; but the Papal authority was now to be argued there on the lines of the past development of English llberfy. Notice of what was coming was given at the beginning of Octo ber by a proclamation warning aU persons of the ille- gaUty of introducing briefs from Rome. The Nuncio rushed to the council chamber; he saw the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk ; he asked passionately what was meant? what was the Pope accused of? what Eng lish privileges had he violated? why had he not been warned beforehand? The two Dukes answered "that they cared nothing for Pope or Popes in England — not even if St. Peter himseU came to life again. The King was Emperor and Pope in his own dominions. The Pope was alienating the English people, and, if he wished to recover their affection, he must deserve it by attending to their petitions." i 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Oct, 1, 1,530, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p, 734. The Clergy in a Prmmunlre. 149 The Nuncio assumed a bold face and told them they would find themselves mistaken if they thought they could intimidate the Holy See. He applied to the King. Henry told him that nothing had been pub lished to the Pope's injury. He was merely using his prerogative to guard against opposition to the ordi nances which he had made, or was about to make, for the reformation of the clergy. He had gone promptly to work, lest the Pope should Issue an inhibition. The Nuncio knew not what to make of it. Queen Catherine was greatly disturbed ; she feared the edict was a proof that the King was not afraid of the Pope after aU. On the whole, the Nuncio considered that an attempt was being made to frighten him, and he sent off fresh letters advising the Pope to proceed at once to pass sentence.^ Henry was, in fact, checkmating them all. With the help of the revived Statute of Provisors he was able to raise the whole question of the Pope's author ify In England without fresh legislation on present points of difference. Parliament, which was to have met in October, was prorogued tiU January, to mature the intended measures. The King went to Hampton Court. He sent for the Nuncio to come to him. He told him that by the citation to Rome the Pope had violated the privileges of sovereign princes, and had broken the promise which he had given him in writ ing at Orvieto. If the Pope showed no more con sideration for him, he would have to show that the Pope's pretension to authority was a usurpation, and very serious consequences would then follow. The King, the Nuncio said, spoke with much show of regret and with tears in his eyes. He added that * Chapuys to Charles V,, Oct, 1, 1530, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p, 734. 150 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the present Parliament had been caUed at the request of the nation for the restraint of the clergy. They were so hated throughout the reahn, both by nobles and people, that, but for his protection, they would be utterly destroyed. He should wait to take action till February, to see whether the Pope would mean while change his conduct towards hlm.^ Norfolk, to whom the Nuncio went next, gave him no comfort; he said that, "though Queen Catherine was a good woman, her coming to England had been the curse of the country;" God had shown his dis pleasure at the marriage by denying the King a male heir ; if the King should die without a son, old feuds would be reopened and the realm would be plunged into misery. It was not tolerable that the -vital In terests of England should be sacrificed to the Em peror. He advised the Nuncio to use his Influence with the Pope. "The King's severify might then perhaps be modified." One more direct appeal was made by Henry himseU to Clement. "Finding his just demands neglected, the requests of the King of France unattended to, and the address of his nobles despised and derided," he perceived, he said, that the Pope was whoUy devoted to the Emperor's will, and ordained, prorogued and altered to serve the times. He required the Pope, therefore, to set down in writing his grounds for re jecting his suit. He demanded once more that the cause should be heard in England before indifferent judges. "The laws of the realm would not suffer the contrary; he abhorred contention, but would not brook denial."^ ' Chapuys to Charles V,, Oct, 15, 1530, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 759, 2 Henry VIII, to Clement VII,, Dec, 6, 1530, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, iv, p, 3055, Appeals to the Pope. 151 Queen Catherine was in despair. The hearing of the cause had again been postponed at Rome. A parfy in her favour had been formed in the House of Commons, but were at a loss what course to follow. If the Pope would give a decision they would know what to do, but the delay of sentence seemed to imply that he was himseU uncertain where the right reaUy lay. They questioned Chapuys whether any direc tions had arrived from Rome on which to rest their opposition, hoping perhaps that an inhibitory brief had been issued. Opposition, they feared, would be useless without further action at the Papal Court. "The Pope," Chapuys said, "had been so dilatory and so dissembling that he was not in favour with either side." ^ A change was passing over public feel ing. Every day gave strength to the King's cause. Archbishop Warham, who had been hitherto for the Queen, was beginning to waver, and even to think that he might try the suit in his own court. ^ The Queen, the Nuncio, the Bishop of Rochester, and the friends who remained staunch to her agreed unani mously that the boldest course would be the -wisest. Immediate sentence at Rome in the Queen's favour was the only remedy. Gentleness was thrown away. Let the King see that the Pope was reaUy in earnest, and he would not venture to go further. Catherine herseU wrote to Clement with the passion of a suffer ing woman. "Delay," she said, "would be the cause of a new hell upon earth, the remedy for which would be worse than the worst that had ever yet been tried." * She did not blame the King. The fault was ¦with the wicked counseUors who misled him. Once ^ Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 21, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv, part 1, p. 853. 2 Ibid. * Catherine to the Pope, Dec, 17, 1530, — Ibid, p, 855, 152 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. delivered out of their hands, he would be as dutiful a son of the Church as he had ever been.^ It is noticeable throughout that each of the two parties assumed that the Pope's judgment when he gave it must be on its own side. The King de manded a sentence in favour of the divorce; the Queen and the Emperor a sentence that the marriage was good. The Pope was to try the cause; but neither admitted that the right or the wrong was doubtful, or that the Pope must hear the arguments before he could decide. Doubtless they were justified in so regarding the Pope's tribunal. The trial would be undertaken, if a trial there was to be, with a fore gone conclusion; but what kind of a court of justice could the Rota be if it could be so spoken of, and Its master so be addressed ? Most Idolatries pass through the same stage. The idol is whipped before he is finally discarded. The Holy Ghost is stIU invited to assist the Cathedral Chapters in the choice of a Bishop, but must choose the person already named by the Prime Minister under pain of Praemunire. Men should choose their idols better. Reasonable beings are not fit objects of such treatment. Much is to be said in favour of stuffed straw or the graven image, which the scourge itself cannot force to speak. Anne Boleyn was jubi lant. "She is braver than a lion," wrote Chapuys. She said to one of the Queen's ladies that she wished aU the Spaniards in the world were In the sea. The lady told her such language was disrespectful to her mistress. She said she cared nothing for the Queen, and would rather see her hanged than acknowledge her as her mistress.^ Clement, goaded by Micer 1 Catherine to the Pope, December 17, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p, 855, 2 Chapuys to Charles V,, Jan, 1, 1531, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, V, p, 10, Chapuys advises War. 153 Mai, issued at last a second brief, repeating the terms of the first, again forbidding the second marriage, and threatening Parliaments, Bishops, and Divines in England if they dared to Interfere. But between a brief and the execution of it was a long Interval. Sentence on the original cause he would not pass; and in leaving his final decision doubtful he left opin ion free to the rest of the world. The brief was to be presented by the Nuncio. The Pope accompanied It with a deprecatory, and not undignified, letter to Henry from himseU. i Chapuys feared that "by his loose talk" Clement was secretly encouraging the King. The brief might bring on a crisis. He did not relish the prospect of remaining in England "In the boUIng vortex likely to be opened." But as the Queen insisted that he should stay, he pressed unceas ingly for "excommunication and interdict." "The Emperor might then make effectual war with the English. They would lose their trade with Spain and Flanders, and the disaffection to the King and Council would be greatly increased." ^ On the spot and surrounded by an atmosphere of passion, Chapuys was in favour of war. The Em peror, stUl un-wiUIng to part with the hereditary friendship of England, was ahnost as reluctant as Clement. He had supposed that Henry was influ enced by a passing infatuation, that by supporting Catherine he would please the greater part of the na tion, and ultimately, perhaps, secure the gratitude of Henry himseU. He had not aUowed for the changes which were passing over the mind of the English peo ple. He had not foreseen the gathering indignation ^ Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 12, 2 Chapuys to Charles, Dee, 21, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 854, 154 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. of a proud race jealous of their liberties when they saw him dictating to the Spiritual Judge of Europe on a question which touched their own security. But he had gone too far to draw back. He found himseU sustained, not only by Spanish opinion, but by the part of his subjects about whom he had felt most un easy. The Italian universities had for the most part gone with Paris and declared against the dispensing power. In Germany Henry had been disappointed. The King of England had been an old antagonist of Luther. Sir Thomas More, as ChanceUor, had been enforcing the heresy laws against Luther's EngUsh proselytes -with increased severify. The Lutherans in turn declared decidedly against Henry's divorce. The Emperor was their feudal sovereign. They saw no reason for entering Into a new quarrel with him on a cause which, so far as they understood, was none of their own. Henry was evidently alarmed. Chapuys reported that he was busy building ships, casting can non, repairing fortresses, and replenishing the Tower arsenal, as If conscious that he might have serious work before him. The Emperor stiU clung to the be lief that he would be afraid to persevere, and Chapuys himseU began to think that the Emperor might be more right than himself, and that the storm might pass off. No sign, however, appeared of yielding. The new brief was known to have been issued, and to have been forwarded to the Nuncio. Not contented with the warning already given by proclamation, Nor folk on the 13th of January sent for Chapuys to draw his attention once more to the law. The introduction of briefs from Rome touching the honour and author ity of the Crown was forbidden by Act of Parliament. It was understood that "certain decretals" had been procured by the Queen's friends, and were about to Thrust and Counter-Thrust. 155 be published. The Duke desired the Ambassador to know that if the Pope came In person to present such briefs he would be torn in pieces by the people. It was not a new question. Popes had tried in past times to usurp authority in England. The King's predecessors had always resisted, and the present King would resist also. Kings were before Popes. The King was master In his own dominions. If any such decretal came into the Ambassador's hands, the Duke warned him not to issue it.i Imperialist officials were more accustomed to dictate to others than to submit to commands. Chapuys was brave, and, when occasion required, could be haughty to insolence. He thanked the Duke for giving him the notice. "He would not argue," he said, "on the authority possessed by Popes over disobedient kings and kingdoms. It was a notorious fact in fuU practice at that very time. His curiosity had not extended so far as the study of the English statute book, and on such points he must refer the Council to the Nuncio. For himseU he could only say he thought they would have done better if they had not given occasion for such 'briefs' from the Pope. The Emperor would not con sent to an unreasonable sentence against the King, for he regarded him as his ally and friend, but he could assure the Duke that if his master was to direct him to assist the publication of any Papal brief in Eng land he would unquestionably execute his Majesty's commands. As to the nation at large, he did not think they would resist the Pope's decretals. He thought, on the contrary, they would help their execu tion with aU their power. Truth and justice must reign everywhere, even among thieves and in heU. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., January 13, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 2, p. 22, 156 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The Church of Christ was never so unprovided with defenders as to be unable to carry the world with her, and the English would have no right to complain if the Emperor, having exhausted aU means of concilia tion, caused justice to take her course." ^ Such language could bear but one meaning. Cha puys perhaps intended to frighten Norfolk. The Duke was suspected to be less staunch in support of the King than he professed to be in Council. The Duchess was a fiery partisan of Catherine, and a close intimate of the Ambassador himseU. He thought that he had produced an impression ; but Norfolk an swered at last that, "If the King could take another wife he certainly would; " the Pope had no business to interfere, except in cases of heresy.^ To the Nuncio the Duke gave the same warning which he had given to the Ambassador, drawing special attention to the pains and penalties to which disobedience would make him liable. The Nuncio answered, like Chapuys, that at whatever cost he would obey the Pope's orders, and "would die if necessary for his lord and master." 1 Chapuys to Charles V., January 13, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p, 23. 2 Ibid. p. 26. CHAPTER X. State of feeling in England — Clergy and laity — The Clergy in a Prse- munire — The Royal Supremacy — Hesitation at Rome — Submis sion of the Clergy — The meaning of the new title — More and Fisher — Alarm of the Emperor — Appeal of Catherine to him — Unpopu larity of Anne Boleyn — Threats of excommunication — Determina^ tion of Henry — Deputation of Peers to Catherine — Catherine's reply — Intolerable pretensions of the Emperor — Removal of Cath erine from the Court. A STRUGGLE was now inevitable between the King and the Pope, and the result of it would depend on the sentiments of the English nation. Chapuys and the Nuncio believed the majority of the people to be loy aUy attached to the see of Rome. To the Pope as pope the King and Council were wiUing to submit; but a pope who was the vassal and mouthpiece of an other secular sovereign, they believed the country would support them in refusing to acknowledge. Was Chapuys right or was the King? The Parliament about to open would decide. In the clergy of Eng land the Pope had a ready-made army completely at his devotion. In asserting their independence of ci-vil control the clerical order had been conscious that they could not stand alone, and had attached themselves with special devotion to their Spiritual Sovereign at Rome. They might complain of annates and first- fruits and other tributes which they were made to pay; but the Pope's support they knew to be essential to the maintenance of their professional privileges; 158 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. and in any contest which might arise they were cer tain to be found on the side of the Holy See. The hero of the imagination of every English priest was Becket of Canterbury. In theory he regarded the secular prince as ruling only by delegation from the Supreme Pontiff, and as liable In case of contumacy to be deposed. In case of quarrel between the clergy and the State the enormous influence of the Church was pledged to the order and to its chief at Rome. The spiritualfy were already exasperated by the clip ping of their claws in the last session. From the Bishop of Rochester, who represented clerical opinion in its most accentuated form, from great ladies, and from a party of the nobles with whom, as Catherine's friends, he mainly associated, Chapuys had heard unanimous censures of the King's conduct. These persons told him that the whole nation agreed with them, and certainly the opposition of a body so power ful as the clergy was by itself formidable. Before it came to war, therefore, with the Pontiff, the King had prepared his measures to disarm the Pontiff's legionaries. To clip their claws was not enough. Their mouths had to be held with bit and bridle. Parliament, after repeated prorogations, was opened at last in January. Convocation, which was caUed simultaneously, was put formaUy in possession of a fact which had appeared on the first rumour of it in credible — that the whole body of the clergy lay under Praemunire for having recognised Cardinal Wolsey's legation and the Papal BuU by which it was instituted. It was an Intimation that the old English laws were awake again. The clergy were subjects of the Crown, not of the Pope, and to impress the fact upon their minds they learnt that legaUy their property was for feited, that they would obtain their pardon only oq Meaning of the Royal Supremacy. 159 paying a fine of a hundred thousand pounds, and on distinctly acknowledging the King as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Chapuys's corre spondence explained the motives of the Government in extorting the confession; and justified the arbitrary use which was made of the Praemunire. The Tope was being urged to excommunicate the King and de clare him deposed. The clergy, through whom the Pope would act, were to be forced to admit that they were subjects of the Crown and were bound to obey the laws of their country. It was In no idle vanity, no ambitious caprice that Henry VIII. demanded the title which has been so much debated. It was as a practical assertion of the unity and independence of the reahn. England was to have but one sovereign supreme within her own limits, with whom no foreign prince, secidar or spiritual, had a right to Interfere; and an acknowledgement of their obligation was de manded in ample form from the order which looked elsewhere for its superior. The black regiments were to be compeUed to swear aUegiance to the proper sov ereign. Clement's mind had always misgiven him that, if he pushed Henry too far, mischief would befaU him. He had refused the last brief till it was extorted from him.i As If Mai had not been pressing and vehement enough, Catherine had now at Rome a special repre sentative of her own. Dr. Ortiz, a bitter Catholic the ologian with the qualities which belong to that profes sion. Mai and Ortiz together, listening to no excuse, drove the Pope on from day to day, demanding sea- tence with its inevitable consequence. The Cardinals were alarmed. One of them told Mai that. In his 1 Muxetula to Charles V,, Jan, 12, 1531. — Calendar, Foreign an^ , vol, V, p, 18, 160 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. opinion, the original dispensation really was void, that Julius had no faculty to dispense in such a case. The Pope suggested that the affair might be sus pended for two years. It might then, perhaps, drop and be forgotten. He enquired whether, if the King consented to plead by proxy before him, the Emperor would agree to any accommodation. Should the case go on. It might last fifteen or twenty years. AU the Cardinals, said Mai, nay, the Pope himself, would like to put off the affair entirely, to avoid trouble.^ The Court of Rome had, in fact, discovered at last that matters were reaUy serious, that Henry would not be played with, and that the quarrel must be peace ably settled. Mai and Ortiz were furious. They in sisted on immediate action. Delay, they said, would be injurious to the Queen. Their orders were to urge the Pope to proceed and pass sentence, whether the parties appeared or not. They hinted that very soon there would be no more trouble from England ; they had been told, and they believed, that, with the clergy on Catherine's side, a Papal decree would end the whole business. Their confidence was shaken and their activity rudely arrested by the news of the Praemunire and the demand for the submission of the English clergy. Too weU the meaning of it was understood. On Chapuys and the Nuncio it feU like a thunderbolt. They held an anxious consultation, and they agreed on the least wise measure which they could possibly have adopted. The Nuncio, as representing the maj esfy of the Holy See, determined to go himseU to Convocation, and exhort the Bishops to uphold the Church and resist the King and the House of Com- ' Mai to Covos, Feb. 13, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, Submission of the Clergy. 161 mons. He actuaUy went, and was much astonished at the reception which he met with. The right rev erend body was so "scandalised " at his Intrusion that they entreated him to withdraw, without giving him time to declare his errand. They told him that, if he had anything to say, "he must address himself to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was not then present." The Nuncio had to withdraw precipitately. In his vexation he had not even the prudence to de part quietly, but insisted on thrusting on the Bishop of London the words which he had meant to speak. ^ The Bishops and clergy themselves were compeUed to submit to the inevitable. The law under which they suffered had marked an epoch of successful resis tance to Papal usurpation. The revival of it was to mark another and a greater. They struggled long enough and violently enough to deprive their resis tance of dignify, and then, "swearing they would never consent," consented. They agreed to pay the hundred thousand pounds as the price of their pardon. They agreed, in accepting It, to acknowledge the King as Supreme Head of the English Church, and, to ease their conscience, they were aUowed to intro duce as a qualifying phrase, quantum per legem Christi licet. But the law of Christ would avail them little for their special privileges. It would have to be interpreted by the rejection of another form which they had desired to substitute and were not aUowed. For "legem Christi" they had desired to read ''''legem EcdesicB." The supposed claims of the Chflrch were precisely what they were to be compeUed to disavow. It was done. The enchantment was gone from them. They had become as other men, shorn Sam- 1 Chapuys to the Emperor, Jan. 23, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. IT. part 2, p. 39, 162 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. sons and no longer dangerous. The Pope might say what he pleased. The clergy were now the King's servants, and not the Pope's, and must either support the Crown or become confessed traitors. Thus when the Brief arrived, the Nuncio was aUowed to present it. The King took It with a smile and passed it on to the Privy Council, talked to him good-humouredly of indifferent matters, and had never been more polite. In a light way he told the Nuncio that he knew of his attempt to persijade the Bishops to agree to nothing to the Pope's prejudice; but his anxiefy was unneces sary; no injury would be done to the Pope, unless the Pope brought it upon himseU. The King's gracious ness was but too inteUigible. To Catherine and Cha puys and aU their friends the meaning of it was that Henry had made himseU " Pope " In England. The Queen foresaw her own fate as too sure to foUow. She feared "that, since the King was not ashamed of doing such monstrous things, and there being no one who could or dared contradict him, he might, one of these days, undertake some further outrage against her o-wn person." ^ The blame of the defeat was thrown on the unfor tunate Clement. The Pope's timidity and dissimula tion, wrote Chapuys, had produced the effect which he had aU along foretold. It had prejudiced the Queen's interests and his own authority. Her cause was making no progress. The Pope had promised Mai that if the King disobeyed his first brief and aUowed Anhe Boleyn to remain at court he would excommunicate him, and now aU that he had done had been to issue another conditional brief less strong than the first, and the Lady was left defiant and with 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb. 14, 1531, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 63, Indulgence to the Lutherans. 163 as much authority as ever. The Queen had begun to think that the Pope had no desire to settle the matter, and, as Norfolk observed to Chapuys, was glad that the Princes should be at discord, for fear they might combine to reform the clergy. If the Pope had di rectly ordered the King to separate from the Lady Anne, the King would never have claimed the supre macy ^ which had caused such universal consternation. The Chancellor [Sir Thomas More] was so horrified at it, Chapuys said, that he would quit office as soon as possible. The Bishop of Rochester was sick with grief. He opposed as much as he could; but they threatened to fling him and his friends into the river, so he had to yield at last, and had taken to his bed in despair. The Bishops, it was thought, would now do anything against the Queen which they were ordered, especiaUy seeing how cold and indifferent the Pope seemed about her fate. The Nuncio had questioned the King about the nature of his new Papacy. The King told him that if the Pope showed him proper respect he might retain his lawful authority, "other wise he knew what he would himseU do." ^ The last words were explained in another letter in which Chapuys said that the Lady Anne was support ing the Lutherans. They had been treated to prison and stake while More had held the seals. On More's retirement they were now to have an easier time of it. Between them and the King there was the link of a common enemy in the Pope, and the King was show ing a disposition to protect them. The reviVal of the Praamunire created embarrassments of many kinds. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 21, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv, part 2, p. 69 ; and Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 49, There are a few verbal differences hetween the two versions, ^ Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 21, 1530, — Ibid, 164 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The Pope had officials of his own In England and Ire land, whom he appointed himself, and could not real ise the extent of the change which he had brought on. It is amusing to find him in the midst of the storm peacefully soliciting Henry for help against the Turks, and the Nuncio paying friendly visits to the palace. Henry told him that he had made a final appeal to Rome and was waiting to see the result. The Pope might excommunicate him If he pleased; he cared nothing for his excommunication ; the Emperor might, no doubt, hurt him; but he was not sure that the Emperor desired to hurt him, or, if it came to that, he could defend himself and the realm. Norfolk was equaUy decided. They knew, he said, that the Queen and the Emperor were pressing the Pope for sentence, but it was time lost. If the Pope issued ten thousand excommunications, no notice would be taken of them. The Archbishop and not the Pope was the lawful judge in English causes. Chapuys expressed a hope that a day would come when the King would Usten to his true friends again, etc. "You wiU see before long," replied the Duke, "that the Emperor will re pent of not having consented to the divorce."^ In fact, the Emperor had begun to repent already, or. If not to repent, yet to be perplexed with the ad dition which his action had brought upon him to his many burdens. The Praemunire and the successful establishment of the authority of the Crown over the clergy had startled aU Europe. The King and Par liament, It had been universaUy supposed, would yield before a threat of excommunication. When it ap peared that they were as careless of the Pope's curses 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, March 22, 1531, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 94, Ibid, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p. 68. Hesitation at Rome. 165 as Luther and the Elector of Saxony, the affair wore another aspect. Even the Imperialist Cardinals in the Consistory came round to the Pope's own view and wished to let the cause rest for two or three years. Mai feared that such a course might lead to Nove- dades or revolution, but admitted that much might be said for it, especiaUy considering the difficulties In Germany. He ceased to press the Pope for immediate sentence, and Dr. Ortiz, Catherine's passionate agent, complained that he found the Emperor's Ambassador growing cold and less eager to support his own argu ments.^ Catherine, seeing her clerical friends pros trated, could but renew her entreaties to her own rela tions. Her position was growing daily weaker. The nation, seeing the Pope confining himseU to weak threats and unable or unwiUing to declare her marriage valid, was rapidly concluding that on the main question the King was right, and that to throw the realm into a convulsion for an uncertainty was not tolerable. No appeal had as yet been made to Parliament, but "the King of France," Catherine -wrote to Charles, "has asked the Pope to delay sentence. If this be aUowed, the means now employed by these people to gain the consent of the nation to his second marriage are such that they will obtain what they desire and accomplish my ruin at the next session. If the delay be not already granted, I entreat your Highness not to consent to it. Insist that the Pope shaU give judg ment before next October, when Parliament will meet again. Forgive my importunity. I cannot rest till justice is done to me. For the love of Heaven let It be done before the time I name. I myseU, if it must 1 Micer Mai to Covos, March 28, 1531, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 105, Ortiz to the Archbishop of Santiago, April 11, 1531, — Ibid, p, 116. 166 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. be so, shall go to Parliament and declare before its members the justice'of my case."^ The harassed Pope was obstinately cautious, and occasionally even turned upon his persecutors. Mai now urged him to call a General Council and settle aU questions. The word "council" rang painfuUy in Papal ears. Why did not the Emperor make war upon the Lutherans ? he pettishly asked. Mai told him the Lutherans were rich and stubborn and strong, and it would be an endless work. Why not then, said Clement, begin with the Swiss, who were not so strong? Mai answered that it could not be. The heretics everywhere made common cause, and the Em peror could not fight them aU single-handed. The Pope sighed, and said he feared there would be little help from France ahd England.^ In England events moved steadily on, -without hes itation, yet without precipitation. The Bishops were not yet agreed on the divorce. At the close of the session (March, 1531) Sir Thomas More read in the Upper House the opinions which had been coUected from the Universities at home and abroad, and a de bate ensued upon them. . . . London and Lincoln were on the King's side. St. Asaph and Bath were of opinion that Parliament had no right to interfere. Norfolk cut the argument short by saying that the documents had been introduced merely to be read. There was no proposal before the House. More said briefly that the King knew what his opinion was, and that he need not repeat it. The judgments were sent down to the House of Commons, where Chapuys persuaded himseU that they were heard with more 1 Queen Catherine to the Emperor, April 5, 1531. — Spanish Calen dar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 112, 2 Micer Mai to Charles V., April 21, 1531, — Ibid. p. 130. English Sentiment. 167 displeasure than approval. The session ended, and ParUament was prorogued till the foUowing autumn. The Emperor himself wrote to More. The letter was forwarded through Chapuys, who wished to deliver It in person. More declined his visit and declined the letter. If it was placed In his hand, he said, he must communicate it to the King. Parliament having risen, there was again a breathing time.^ So far as the persons of the two ladies were con cerned who were the central figures in the quarrel, there was little difference of opinion in England. The Duke of Norfolk, who represented the feelings of the great body of the nation, thought that the Inter ests of the succession made the divorce a necessity. The realm could not be left exposed to the risk of another ci-vil war. He was jealous of the honour and liberties of the country, and ill liked to see a ques tion which touched them so nearly left to the pleasure of the Emperor. But Norfolk as much admired Cath erine as he disliked his niece, and there were probably few English statesmen who did not regret that a pub- lie cause should have been tainted by a love-affair. AU the leading men regretted that the King had fastened his .choice upon a person neither liked nor respected. Anne's antecedents were unfavourable. Her elevation had tumed her brain; she had made herself detested for her Insolence and dreaded for her intrigues. Catherine, on the other hand, was a prin cess of royal birth and stainless honour. The Duke observed to the Marquis of Exeter that It was a won der to see her courage — nothing seemed to frighten her; "the De-vil and no other," he said, "must have originated so wretched a business." The same view ' Chapuys to Charles V,, April 2, 1531. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. V. p. 83. 168 7%e Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. of the matter was growing at Rome in the Pope and among the Cardinals. The Bishop of Tarbes, who represented Francis at the Papal Court, warned Clem ent that the loss of England might be the loss _of France also. If the King of England, he said, was driven to desperation, the miserable divorce suit would be the ruin of the world; Francis would and must stand by him If the Pope proceeded to excommuni cation. His impatience with his marriage might be unreasonable, but was no adequate ground for the convulsion of Catholic Christendom. Clement was at heart of the same opinion. The course which he wished to follow was to delay indefinitely. A formal suspension would not be needed. They had only to go on slowly. The King would then most likely marry, and the cause would drop. Andrea de Burgo, Ferdinand's ainbassador, said that the Emperor was strong enough to settle the matter by himself. "Not so strong as you think," Clement observed. "Be tween the Turks and the Lutherans the Emperor may have trouble enough of his own." ^ The Pope's unwillingness was well understood in England. He made another faint effort to save Cath erine ; he ordered the Nuncio to announce to Henry that the brief must be obeyed, or "justice would have Its course." Believing that the message would be resented, the Nuncio hesitated to deliver it, but, en couraged by Chapuys, at last demanded audience and informed Henry in the Pope's name what he was to expect if he persisted. Henry shortly answered that the Pope was losing his time. He already knew what the Nuncio had come to tell him, but, once for all, he would never accept the Pope as his judge In an affair 1 Micer Mai to Charles V,, May 25, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p, 165, Deputation sent to the Queen. 169 concerning himseU and the English nation. "The Pope may excommunicate me," he said. "I care not a fig for his excommunication. Let him do as he wills at Rome. I wiU do here as I wiU. ... I take the Pope to be a worthy man on the whole, but ever since the last war he has been so afraid of the Empe ror that he dares not act against his wishes." ^ The most obvious resource was to adopt the sugges tion aUeady made that the case should be transferred to Cambray, or to some other spot not open to objec tion, where it could be heard with impartiality. Clem ent himseU was weary of the struggle, and eager to escape from it by any reasonable means. If Cather ine would agree, Charles was unlikely to hesitate; but, though weary and worn out with disappoint ments, she was a resolute woman, and as long as she persisted the Emperor was determined not to desert her. With small hope of success, but as an experi ment which it was thought desirable to try, a deputa tion of Peers and Bishops were commissioned to see Catherine, to ask her to withdraw her demand for an immediate sentence, and consent that the cause should be tried in a neutral place ; while the Pope, through his Legate in Spain, made a similar proposition to Charles. The Queen heard that they were coming, and prepared for them by causing several "masses of the Holy Ghost " to be said, that she might be enlight ened how to answer. The delegates arrived shortly after the masses were completed, the two Dukes, Lord Exeter, Earls, Barons, Bishops, and cancm lawyers, thirfy of them in aU. Norfolk spoke for the rest. He said that the King had been treated with contempt and -vituperation by the Pope on her account ; he had 1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 6, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 170. 170 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. been cited to appear personaUy at Rome — a measure never before enforced by any pope against an English king. He could not go ; he could not leave his king dom — nor could the dispute be settled by the Pope's insistence on it. A fitter place and fitter judges must be chosen by the mutual consent of the parties, or she would be the cause of trouble and scandal to them and their posterity. The Duke entreated her to consider the consequences of refusal — to remember the many good services which the King had rendered to her father and to the Emperor, and to aUow the constitu tion of some other court before which the King could plead. In ItseU the demand was reasonable. It was im possible for a king of England to plead before the Pope, in the power, as he was, of the Emperor, who was himseU a party interested in the dispute. A neu tral place might have been easily found. Neutral judges might be less easily procurable; but none could be less fit than his Holiness. The Queen, how ever, replied stoutly as ever that her cause should be judged by the Pope and by no one else ; not that she expected any favour at his hands ; so far the Pope had shown himseU so partial to the King that more could not be asked of him ; she, and not the King, had cause to complain of his Holiness ; but the Pope held the place and had the power of God upon earth, and was the image of eternal truth. To him, and only to him, she remitted her case. If trouble came, it would be the work of others, not of her. She aUowed that in past times the King had assisted her relations. The Emperor had not denied it, and was the King's true friend. With a scornful allusion to the Supremum Caput, she said, the King might be Lord and Master in temporal matters, but the Pope was the true Sover- Deputation to the Queen. 171 eign and Vicar of God in matters spiritual, of which matrimony was one.^ The Spanish Legate had succeeded no better with Charles, who returned a peremptory refusal; but so little confidence had the Emperor in the true Sover eign and Vicar of God that he insisted not merely that the Pope should try the case, but should try it in his own presence, lest the Queen's interests should suffer injury. The request ItseU indicated a disposi tion on the Pope's part to evade his duty. Charles gave him to understand, in language sufficiently per emptory, that he intended that dufy to be done.^ In this direction there was no hope. Catherine had been even more emphatic with the deputation. After her reply to Norfolk, the bishops and lawyers took up the word. She always denied that she had been Prince Arthur's actual wUe. She herseU on all occasions courted the subject, and was not afraid of indelicacy. The Church doctors responded. They said she had slept with Prince Arthur, and the pre sumptions were against her. She bade them go plead their presumptions at Rome, where they would have others than a woman to answer them. She was aston ished, she said, to see so many great people gathered against a lone lady without friends or counsel. Among the great persons before her she had stiU some staunch friends. Anne Boleyn was detested by them aU; and those who, Uke Norfolk, wished her, for her own sake, to be less uncompromising could not refuse to admire the gaUant spirit of Isabella'*s daugh ter. But, alas ! the refusal to aUow the cause to be heard in a free cify, before an Impartial tribunal, was 1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 6, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p, 172, 2 Answer to the Papal Legate respecting the Cause of England, July, 1631. — Spanish Calendar, voh iv. part 2, p. 203. 172 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. equivalent to a consciousness that, unless by a court under the Emperor's control, an unfavourable judg ment was to be looked for. They could not, any one of them, aUow their Sovereign to plead where an Im perial Minister could threaten the lives of uncompliant Cardinals. But, unless every knightly feeling had been dead In them, they could not have refused their sympathy. Had the Pope spoken plainly from the first, most of the Peers would perhaps have stood by the lady before them with voice and sword. But the Pope had allowed that the King was in the right. He had dra-wn back only under compulsion, and even at that moment was only prevented by fear from decid ing on the King's side. Glad as they might have been had the question never been raised, they could not submit their Prince to the Indignify of a condem nation by a coerced tribunal — a tribunal which was to be trusted to proceed only, as it now appeared, in the Emperor's own presence. They carried the answer back to their master. "I feared It would be so," he said, "knowing as I do the heart and temper of the Queen. We must now pro vide in some other way." Norfolk, who wished weU to the Queen, regretted that she had taken a course so little likely to profit her. "The Emperor's action," he said, "in causing the King to be cited to Rome was outrageous and un precedented. The cause ought to be tried in England, and the Queen had been un-wise In rejecting the ad vice of the Peers." ^ The Emperor on refiection reconsidered his o-wn first refusal to aUow the cause to be transferred; to insist on the trial being conducted before himseU was ^ Chapuys to Charles V„ June 24, 1531, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, pp, 144r-5, Attitude of the Emperor. 173 reaUy intolerable, and he drew a more moderate re ply ; but he stIU persisted that the Pope alone should hear the case, and decide it in the Queen's favour. "The affair," he said, "was of such a nature as to ad mit of no solution save the declaring that a marriage contracted with the authority and license of the Holy See was valid and indissoluble. As the patron and defender of the Apostolic See he was more in duty bound than any other Prince to remove and defend aU smaU offences and disputes." In fact he stiU ad vanced a claim of sovereign jurisdiction which it was impossible for England to aUow.^ Catherine was weU aware that the Pope had been a parfy to the request for the removal of her cause, and bitterly she railed at him. Charles sent her a copy of his o-wn answer. It reassured her, if she had doubted; she saw that, let Clement struggle how he would, she could be confident that her nephew would compel him to decide for her. The Pope, she an nounced, was responsible for aU that had happened by refusing to do her justice. This last move showed that he was as little disposed to apply the remedy ^ as he had been. If the cause was removed from Rome, the judges, whoever they might be, would declare that black was white. ^ Up to this time Catherine had continued at the Court with her own apartments, and with the Prin cess Mary as her companion. She had refused the only available means of a peaceful arrangement, and was standing out, avowedly resting on the Emperor's protection. She was not reticent. She spoke out ^ The Emperor's Answer to the Legate, July 26, 1521.— Spanish Cal endar, vol, iv. part 2, p, 218, ^ Catherine's phrase for the excommunication of her husband. ' Queen Catherine to Charles V,, July 28, — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 220. 174 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. freely of her wrongs and her expectations. To sepa rate mother and daughter would have been a needless aggravation had the suit been between private individ uals. But Mary was a public person with her own rights on the succession. It was found necessary to remove Catherine from London and to place the Prin cess out of reach of her influence. Moor Park, which had been a country-house of Wolsey's, was assigned for the Queen's residence, while Mary was sent to the palace at Richmond. Catherine was too proud to re sist when resistance would be useless, but she said she would prefer the Tower. -^ The Nuncio remonstrated. He advised the King "to recaU her to the Court and shut a hundred thousand tongues." The King re plied, "nearly in tears," that he had sent her away because she used such high words and was always threatening him with the Emperor.^ Of Mary, Henry was personaUy fond. He met her one day in Richmond Park, spoke affectionately to her, and re gretted that he saw her so seldom. She cannot be where the Lady is, said Chapuys, "because the Lady has declared that she wiU not have It, nor hear of her." She would not even aUow the King to speak to Mary without being watched on the occasion just men tioned. She sent two of her people to report what passed between them.^ 1 Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 239, 2 Chapuys to Charles V,, January 4, 1532, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 335, ' Chapuys to Charles V,, October 1, 1531, — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, p. 256. CHAPTER XI. Proposals for the reunion of Christendom — Warning addressed to the Pope — Address of the English nobles to Queen Catherine — Ad vances of Clement to Henry — Embarrassments of the Pope and the Emperor — Unwillingness of the Pope to decide against the King — Business in Parhament — Reform of the English Church — Death of Archbishop Warham — Bishop Fisher and Chapuys — Question of annates — Papal Briefs — The Pope urged to excommunicate Henry —The Pope refuses — Anger of Queen Catherine's Agent, The unify of Christendom was not to be broken in pieces without an effort to preserve it. Charles V. was attempting impossibilities In his own dominions, labouring for terms on which the Lutheran States might return to the Church. He had brought the Pope to consent to the "communion in both kinds," and to the "marriage of priests " — a vast concession, which had been extorted by Micer Mai In the inter vals of the discussions on the divorce. Efforts which fail are forgotten, but they represent endeavours at least honourable. Catherine was absorbed in her own grievances. Charles gave them as much atten tion as he could spare, but had other things to think of. As long as he could prevent Clement from tak ing any fatal step, he supposed that he' had done enough. He had at least done all that he could, and he had e-vidently allowed Chapuys to persuade him that Henry's course would be arrested at the last extremity by his own subjects. He left Mai to watch the Pope, and Ortiz to urge for sentence; but when the pres- 176 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. sure of his own hand relaxed his agents could effect but little. The English Parliament was to open again in January. The King's Commissioners at Rome informed the Consistory that if it was decided finaUy to try the cause at Rome they were to take their leave, and the King would thenceforward regard the Pope as his public enemy. ^ The threat "produced a great impression." The Pope had no wish to be Henry's enemy in order to please the Emperor. Mai and Ortiz told him that the English menaces were but words; he had but to speak and England would sub mit. The Pope did not believe it, and became again "lax and procrastinating. " ^ The English nobles made a last effort to move Catherine. Lord Sussex, Sir WiUiam FitzwiUiam, and Lee, Archbishop of York, who had been her warm supporter, waited on her at Moor Park to urge her. If she would not aUow the case to be tried at Cambray, to permit it to be settled by a commission of bishops and la-wyers. The Pope confessedly was not free to give his own opinion, and English causes could not be ruled by the Emperor. If Cath erine had consented, it is by no means certain that Anne Boleyn would have been any more heard of. A love which had waited for five years could not have been unconquerable; and it was possible and even probable in the existing state of opinion that some other arrangement might have been made for the suc cession. The difficulty rose from Catherine's deter mination to force the King before a tribunal where the national pride would not permit him to plead. The independence of England was threatened, and 1 Mai to Covos, Oct, 24, 1531, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 276, 2 Ibid. Determination of Catherine. Ill those who might have been her friends were disarmed of their power to help her. Unfortunately for her seU, perhaps fortunately for the English race which was yet to be born, she remained stUl inflexible. " The King's plea of conscience," she said, "was not honest. He was acting on passion, pure and simple; and English judges would say black was white." Sus sex and FitzwiUiam knelt to entreat her to reconsider her answer. She too knelt and prayed them for God's honour and glory to persuade the King to return to her, as she was his la-wf ul wife. All present were in tears, but there was no remedy. Chapuys said that the coldness and indifference with which the affair was treated at Rome was paralysing her defenders. The question could not stand in debate for ever, and, unless the Pope acted promptly and resolutely, he feared that some strong act was not far distant. ^ She was destroying her own chance. She persisted in relying on a defence which was itseU fatal to her. " God knows what I suffer from these people," she wrote to the Emperor, "enough to kiU ten men, much more a shattered woman who has done no harm. I can do nothing but appeal to God and your Majesty, on whom alone my remedy depends. For the love of God procure a final sentence from his HoUness as soon as possible. The utmost diUgence Is required. May God forgive him for the many delays which he has granted and which alone are the cause of my ex tremity. I am the King's lawful wife, and while I live I wiU say no other. The Pope's tardiness makes many on my side waver, and those who would say the truth dare not. Speak out yourseU, that 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 16, 1531. —Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 2, p. 263. 178 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. my friends may not think I am abandoned by aU the world."! Well might Catherine despair of Clement. WhUe she was expecting him to excommunicate her husband, he was Instructing his Nuncio to treat that husband as his most trusted friend. He invited Henry to as sist in the Turkish war; he consulted him about the protection of Savoy from the Swiss Protestants; he apologised to him for the language which he was obliged to use on the great matter. Henry, con temptuous and cool, "not showing the passion which he had shown at other times," replied that the Pope must be jesting in inviting him, far off as he was, to go to war with the Turk. If Christendom was in danger he would bear his part with the other Princes. As to Savoy, the Duke had disregarded the wishes of France and must take the consequences. For the rest, the message which he had sent through his Ambassa dor at Rome was no more than the truth. "If," said he to the Nuncio, " I ask a thing which I think right, the answer is ' The law forbids. ' If the Emperor ask a thing, law and rules are changed to please him. The Pope has greatly wronged me. I have no parti cular animosity against him. After aU, he does not bear me much IU wiU. The fear of the Emperor makes him do things which he would not otherwise do. Proceedings may be taken against me at Rome. I care not. If sentence is given against me, I know what to do. "2 The Pope never meant to give sentence if he could help it. Every day brought Parliament nearer and 1 Catherine to Charles V,, Nov, 6, 1531. — JJ, p. 279, I must remind the reader that I have to compress the substance both of this and many other letters, 2 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 4, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 320. Impatience of Catherine. 179 he drove Mai distracted with his evasions. " I have said all that I could to his Holiness and the Cardinals without offending them," he reported to Charles. "Your Majesty may believe me when I say that these devils are to a man against us. Some take side openly, being of the French or English faction ; oth ers wUl be easily corrupted, for every day I hear the English Ambassador receives blUs for thousands of ducats, which are said to go in bribery." ^ Promises were given In plenty, but no action fol lowed, and Ortiz had the same story to tell Catherine. "Your Ambassador at Rome," she wrote to her nephew, "thinks the Pope as cold and Indifferent as when the suit began. I am amazed at his Holiness. How can he aUow a suit so scandalous to remain so long undecided? His conduct cuts me to the soul. You know who has caused all this mischief. Were the King once free from the snare in which he has been caught he would confess that God had restored his reason. His misleaders goad him on like a buU in the arena. Pity that a man so good and virtuous should be thus deceived. God enlighten his mind! "^ To the Emperor himseU, perhaps, the problem was growing more difficult than he expected. He himseU at last pressed for sentence, but sentence was nothing unless foUowed by excommunication if it was dis obeyed, and the Pope did not choose to use his thun der if there was to be no thunderbolt to accompany it. The Cardinal Legate in Spain assured him that the Emperor would employ all his force in the execution of the censures. The Pope said that he prized that promise as "a word from Heaven." But though 1 Mai to Charles v., Dec, 12, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p. 328. 2 Catherine to Charles V., Dec, 15, 1531, —J6, p, 331. 180 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Charles might think the English King was doing what was wrong and unjust, was it so wrong and so unjust that fire and sword we're to be let loose tlirough Chris tendom? Chapuys and Catherine were con-vinced that there would be no need of such fierce remedies. They might be right, but how if they were not right? How if England supported the King? The Emperor could not be certain that even his o-vyn subjects would approve of a war for such an object. Three years later, when the moment for action had arrived, if ac tion was to be taken at aU, it will be seen that the Spanish Council of State took precisely this view of the matter, and saw no reason for breaking the peace of Europe for what, after aU, was but "a family quar rel." The Pope was cautious. He knew better than his passionate advisers how matters reaUy stood. "The Pope may promise," Mai said, "but as long as the world remains in its troubled state, these people wiU be glad of any excuse to prolong the settlement." January came, when the English Parliament was to meet, and the note was stiU the same. "The Pope says," wrote Mai, "that we must not press the Eng lish too hard. I have exhausted aU that I could say without a rupture. I told him he was discrediting the Queen's case and your Majesty's authorify. I made him understand that I should be obliged to apply else where for the justice that was denied me at Rome. He owns that I am right, but Consistory foUows Con sistory and more delays are allowed. We can but press on as we have always done, and urge your Maj- esfy's displeasure." ^ If a sentence could not be had, Ortiz insisted on the issue of another minatory brief. Anne Boleyn 1 Mai to the Emperor, Jan. 15, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 360. A New Brief 181 must be sent from the court. The King must be made to confess his errors. The Pope assented ; said loudly that he would do justice; though England and France should revolt from the Holy See In conse quence, a brief should go, and, if it was disobeyed, he would proceed to excommunicate: "the Kings of England and France were so bound together that if he lost one he lost both, but he would venture notwith standing." But like the Cardinals who condemned Giordano Bruno, Clement was more afraid of passing judgment than Henry of hearing it passed. The brief was written and was sent, but it contained nothing but mild expostulation. 1 AU the distractions of the world were laid at the door of the well-meaning, un certain, wavering Clement. La Pommeraye, the French Ambassador in London, said (Chapuys vouches for the words) that "nothing could have been so easy as to bring all Christian Princes to agree had not that devil of a Pope embroiled and sown dissen sion through Christendom." 2 In England alone was to be found clear purpose and steadiness of action. The divorce in England was an Important feature in the quarrel with the Papacy, but it was but a single element in the great stream of Re formation, and the main anxiefy of King and people was not fixed on Catherine, but on the mighty changes which were rushing forward. When a Parliament was first summoned, on the faU of Wolsey, the Queen had assumed that it was caUed for nothing else but to empower the King to separate from her. So she thought at the beginning, so she continued to think. Yet session had followed session, and the Legislature 1 Clement VII, to Henry -VIII,, Jan, 25, 1532.— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v. p. ,S58, " Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p. 368. 182 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. had found other work to deal with. They had man acled the wrists of her friends, the clergy; but that was all, and she was to have yet another year of res pite. The "blind passion " which is supposed to have governed Henry's conduct was singularly deliberate. Seven years had passed since he had ceased cohabi tation with Catherine, and five since he had faUen under the fascination of the impatient Anne; yet he went on as composedly with public business as If Anne had never smiled on him, and he was still content to wait for this particular satisfaction. As long as hope remained of saving the unity of Christendom without degrading England into a vassal State of the Empire, Henry did not mean to break it. He had occupied himseU, in concert with the Parliament, with reform ing the Internal disorders and checking the audacious usurpations of the National Church. He had, so far, been enthusiastically supported by the immense ma jority of the laity, and was about to make a further advance in the same direction. The third Session opened on 13th of January, Peers, Prelates, and Commons being present in fuU number. By this time a smaU but active opposition had been formed in the Lower House to resist meas ures too violently anti-clerical. They met occasionaUy to concert operations at the Queen's Head by Temple Bar. The Bishops, who had been stunned by the Praemunire, were recovering heart and Intending to show fight. Tunstal of Durham, who had been re flecting on the Royal Supremacy during the recess, repented of his consent, and had written his misgiv ings to the King. The King used the opportunity to make a remarkable reply. "People conceive," he said, "that we are minded to separate our Church of England from the Church of Struggles of the English Bishops. 183 Rome, and you think the consequences ought to be considered. My Lord, as touching schism, we are informed by virtuous and learned men that, consider ing what the Church of Rome is, it is no schism to separate from her, and adhere to the Word of God. The lives of Christ and the Pope are very opposite, and therefore to foUow the Pope is to forsake Christ. It is to be trusted the Papacy will shortly vanish away, if it be not reformed; but, God wiUing, we shaU never separate from the Universal body of Chris tian men."-! Archbishop Warham also had failed to realise the meaning of his consent to the Royal Supremacy. He had consecrated the Bishop of St. Asaph on the re ceipt of a nomination from Rome before the Bulls had been presented to the King. He learnt that he was again under a Praemunire. The aged Primate, fallen on evU times, drew the heads of a defence which he intended to make, but never did make, in the House of Lords. Archbishops, he said, were not bound to enquire whether Bishops had exhibited their Bulls or not. It had not been the custom. If the Archbishop could not give the spiritualities to one who was pro nounced a bishop at Rome tiU the King had granted him his temporalities, the spiritual powers of the Archbishops would depend on the temporal power of the Prince, and would be of little or no effect, which was against God's law. In consecrating the Bishop of St. Asaph he had acted as the Pope's Commis sary. The act ItseU was the Pope's act. *The point for which the King contended was one of the Articles which Henry II. sought to extort at Clarendon, and which he was afterwards compelled to abandon. The ' Henry "VEIL to the Bishop of Durham, Feb. 24, 1532, Compressed, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 387. 184 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. liberties of the Church were guaranteed by Magna Charta, and the Sovereigns who had violated them, Henry II. , Edward IIL, Richard II. , had come to an iU end. The lay Peers had threatened that they would defend the matter with their swords. The lay Peers should remember what befeU the knights who slew St. Thomas. The Archbishop said he would rather be hewn in pieces than confess this Article, for which St. Thomas died, to be a Praemunire. ^ Warham was to learn that the spirit of Henry II. was alive again in the present Henry, and that the Constitutions of Clarendon, then premature, were to become the law of the land. Fisher of Rochester had received no summons to attend the present Parliament ; but he sent word to the Imperial Ambassador that he would be in his place, whether called up or not, that he might defend Cath erine should any measure be introduced which affected her. He begged Chapuys not to mention his name in his despatches, except in cipher. If they met in pub lic Chapuys must not speak to him or appear to know him. He on his part would pass Chapuys -without notice tiU the present tyranny was overpast. Bishop Fisher was entering upon dangerous courses, which were to lead him Into traitorous efforts to introduce an invading army into England and to bring his o-wn head to the block. History has only pity for these unfortunate old men, and does not care to remember that, if they could have had their way, a bloodier per secution than the Marian would have made a swift end of the Reformation. I need not repeat what I have -written elsewhere on 1 Archbishop Warham, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. y. p. 541, Church Legislation. 185 the acts of this Session. ^ A few details only deserve further notice. The privilege of the clergy to com mit felony without punishment was at last abolished. Felonious clerks were thenceforward to suffer like sec ular criminals. An accident provided an illustrative example. A priest was executed In London for chip ping the coin, having been first drawn through the streets In the usual way. Thirty women sued in vain for his pardon. He was hanged in his habit, without being degraded, against the protest of the Bishop — "a thing never done before since the Island was Chris tian." ^ The Constitutions of Clarendon were to be enforced at last. The Arches court and the Bishops' courts were reformed on similar lines, their methods and their charges being brought within reasonable limits. Priests were no longer aUowed to evade the Mortmain Acts by working on death-bed terrors. The exactions for mortuaries, legacy duties, and pro bate duties, long a pleasant source of revenue, were abolished or cut down. The clergy in their synods had passed what laws they pleased and enforced them with spiritual terrors. The clergy were Informed that they would no longer be aUowed to meet in synod without royal Ucence, and that their laws would be revised by laymen. Chapuys wittily observed that the clergy were thus being made of less account than cordwainers, who could at least enact their own stat utes. A purpose of larger moment was announced by Henry for future execution. More's chaAcellorship had been distinguished by heresy-prosecutions. The stake in those three years had been more often lighted 1 History of England, vol. i. p. 322, etc. ^ Carlo CapeUo to the Signory, July 10, 1532. — Venetian Calendar, vol. iv. p. 342. 186 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. than under aU the administration of Wolsey. It was as if the Bishops had vented on those poor victims their irritation at the rude treatment of their privileges. The King said that the clergy's province was with souls, not with bodies. They were not in future to arrest men on suspicion, imprison, examine, and pun ish at their mere pleasure. There was an outcry, in which the Chancellor joined. The King suspended his resolution for the moment, but did not abandon It. He was speciaUy displeased with More, from whom he had expected better things. He intended to per sist. "May God," exclaimed the orthodox and shocked Chapuys, "send such a remedy as the inten sity of the evil requires." ^ None of Henry's misdeeds shocked Chapuys so deeply as the tolerating heresy. The Royal Supremacy had been accepted by Con vocation. It was not yet confirmed by ParUament. Norfolk felt the pulses of the Peers. He caUed a meeting at Norfolk House. He described the Pope's conduct. He Insisted on the usual topics — that matri monial causes were of temporal jurisdiction, not spirit ual; that the King was sovereign in his o-wn domin ions, etc., etc., and he invited the Peers' opinions. The Peers were cold. Lord Darcy had spoken freely against the Pope in his indictment of Wolsey. It seemed his ardour was abating. He said the King and Council raust manage matters without letting loose a cat among the legs of the rest of them.^ The meet ing generally agreed with Darcy, and was not pressed further. Papal privilege came before Parliament in 1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 13, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p, 446, 2 " Le Roy et son Conseil sgavoient bien qu'U y en avoient a faire sans vouloir mestre le chat entre les jambes dautres," Chapuys to the Emperor, Feh, 14, 1532, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p. 384; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 381. The Annates Bill. 187 a more welcome form when a bill was introduced to withdraw annates or first fruits of benefices which had been claimed and paid as a tribute to the Holy See. The imposition was a grievance. There were no an nates in Spain. The Papal coUectors were detested. The House of Commons made no difficulty. The Nun cio complained to the King. The King told him that it was not he who brought forward these measures. They were moved by the people, who hated the Pope marveUously.i In the Upper House the Bishops stood by their spiritual chief this time unanimously. Among the mitred Abbots there was division of opin ion. The abbeys had been the chief sufferers from annates, and had complained of the exaction for cen turies. AU the lay Peers, except Lord Arundel, sup ported the Government. The biU was passed, but passed conditionally, leaving power to the Crown to arrange a compromise if the Pope would agree to treat. For the next year the annates were paid in full, as usual, to give time for his Holiness to consider himseU.^ Thus steadily the ParUament moved on. Arch bishop Warham, who was dying broken-hearted, dic tated a feeble protest from his bed against aU which had been done by it in derogation of the Pope or In limitation of the privileges of the Church. More had fought through the session, but, finding resistance use less, resigned the chanceUorship. He saw what was 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 28, 1532, — Calendg,r, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p, 392, ^ An address purporting to have heen presented by Convocation on this occasion, not only complaining of the annates, hut inviting a com plete separation from the See of Rome, was perhaps no more than a draft submitted to the already sorely humihated body, and not accepted by it, — History of England, vol. i, p, 332-3. The French Ambassador says distinctly that the clergy agreed to nothing, but their refusal was treated as of no consequence. 188 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. coming. He could not prevent it. If he retained his office he found that he must either go against his con science or increase the displeasure of the King.^ He preferred to retire. In this way, at least in England, the situation was clearing, and parties and individuals were drifting into definite positions. Montfalconet,^ writing to Charles In May, said that he had been in England and had seen Queen Catherine, who was stiU clamouring for the Pope's sentence. "Every one," he continued, speaking for the Catholic party, whom alone he had seen, "was angry with the Pope, and angry with the Emperor for not pressing him further. Peers, clergy, laity, aU loved the Queen. She was patient. She thought that if she could but see the King aU might yet be weU. Were the sentence once delivered she was satisfied that he would submit."^ The French Ambassador in London, on the other hand, recom mended Francis to force the Pope to hold his hand. He told Chapuys that "France must and would take Henry's part if a rupture came. The Emperor had no right to throw Europe into confusion for the sake of a wom^n. If the King of England wished to marry again, he should do as Louis XII. had done under the same circumstances — take the woman that he liked and waste no more time and money." * At Rome the Pope had been fingering his briefs with hesitating heart. The first, which he had issued under Charles's eye at Bologna, had been compar- 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, May 22, 1532, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 476, 2 Maitre d'hotel to the Emperor, and Governor of Brescia, 8 Montfalconet to Charles V,, May, 1532, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 479, * Chapuys to the Emperor, April 16, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 425. In 1499 Louis XII. repudiated his first wife, Jeanne de France, and married Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles VIH. The Papal Censures. 189 atively firm. He had there ordered Henry to take Catherine back under penalty of excommunication. The last, though so hardly extracted from him, was meagre and insignificant. The King, when it was presented, merely laughed at it. "The Pope," he said, "complains that I have sent the Queen away. If his Holiness considers her as my wife, the right, of punishing her for the rudeness of her behaviour be longs to me and not to him." ^ Ortiz, finding it hopeless to expect a decision on the marriage itself from the Pope, demanded excom munication on the plea of disobedience to the Bologna brief. He had succeeded, or thought he had suc ceeded, in bringing the Pope to the point. The ex communication was drawn up, "but when it was to be engrossed and sealed the enemy of mankind pre vented its completion In a manner only known to God." Ortiz continued to urge. The document could be sent secretly to the Emperor, to be used at his dis cretion. "If the Emperor thought fit to issue it, bearing, as it did, God's authority, God in such cases would infallibly send his terrors upon earth and pro vide that no IU should come of it."^ The Pope was less certaiin that God would act as Ortiz undertook for him, and continued to offend the Lord by delay. In vain Catherine's representative railed at him, in vain told him that he would commit a great sin and offence against God if he did not excommunicate a King who was, in mortal sin, keeping a mistress at his Court. The Pope rationaUy answered that there was no evi dence of mortal sin. " It was the custom in England for Princes to converse intimately with ladies. He could not prove that, in the present case, there was ^ Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p. 447, 2 Ortiz to Charles V,, May, 1532, — Ibid, p, 438. 190 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. anything worse, and the King might aUege his con science as a reason for not treating the Queen as a husband." ^ Ortiz Insisted that the devil had got hold of the King In the shape of that woman, and unless the Pope obliged him to put her away, the Pope would be damned. But it was an absurdify to excommuni cate the King and declare him to have forfeited his crown when the original cause of the quarrel was stiU undecided. The King might prove after aU to be right, as modern law and custom has in fact declared him to have been. Charles himself felt that such a position could not be maintained. Henry was evidently not frightened. There was no sign that the English people were turn ing against him. If a buU of excommunication was Issued, Charles himseU would be caUed on to execute it, and it was necessary to be sure of his ground. Ortiz raged on. "I told his Holiness," he wrote, "that if he did not excommunicate the King I would stand up at the day of judgment and accuse him before God."^ Charles was obliged to teU Ortiz that he must be more moderate. A further dlfficulfy had risen in Rome ItseU. If the cause was tried at Rome, was it to be tried before the Cardinals in consistory or before the court of the Rota? The Cardinals were men of the world. Micer Mai's opinion was that from the Rota only a judgment could be with certainty expected in the Queen's favour.* "The winds are against us," he wrote to Secretary Covos; "what is done one day is undone the next. The Cardinals wiU not stir, but quietly pocket the ducats which come 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p, 539, 2 Ortiz to Charles V., July 28, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv, part 1, p, 486. 8 Ortiz to Charles V., July 28, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 414. Micer Mai and the Cardinals. 191 from the Emperor, and the larger sums which come from the English, who are lavish in spending. The Pope wiU not break with France. He says he has so many ties -with the Kings of France and England that he must pretend goodwiU to the latter for fear they both break off from the Church, as they have threat ened to do." ^ 1 Ortiz to Charles v., July 28, 1532, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p. 469. CHAPTER XII. Henry advised to marry without waiting for sent3nce — Meeting of Henry and Francis — Anne Boleyn present at the interview — Value of Anne to the French Court — Pressure on the Pope by the Agents of the Emperor — Complaints of Catherine — Engagements of Fran cis — Action of Clement — The King conditionally excommunicated — Demand for final sentence — Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury — Marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn — Supposed connivance of the Pope — The Nuncio attends ParUament — The Act of Appeals — The Emperor entreated to intervene — Chapuys and the King. The Pope had promised Ortiz that nothing should be said of the intended excommunication tiU the brief was complete. He betrayed the secret to the English Agents, by whom it was conveyed to Henry. The French Ambassador had advised the King to hesitate no longer, but to marry and end the controversy. The Pope himseU had several times in private ex pressed the same wish. But Henry, in love though he is supposed to have been, determined to see Fran cis in person before he took a step which could not be recalled. He desired to know distinctly how far France was prepared to go along with him in defying the Papal censures. An interview between the two Kings at such a crisis would also show the world that their aUiance was a practical fact, and that if the Emperor declared war in execution of the censures he Meeting of Henry and Francis. 193 would have France for an enemy as well as Eng land. The intended meeting was announced at the end of August, and, strange to say, there was still a belief prevailing that a marriage would come of it between the King and a French princess, and that Anne would be disappointed after aU. "If it be so," wrote Cha puys, "the Lady Anne is under a singular delusion, for she writes to her friends that at this interview all that she has been so long wishing for will be accom plished." One thing was clear, both to the Imperial Ambassador and the Nuncio, that the Pope by his long trifling had brought himseU Into a situation where he must either have to consent to a judgment against Catherine or encounter as best he could the combination of two of the most powerful Princes In Christendom. The least that he could do was to Issue an inhibition against the King's marriage either with Anne or with the Frenchwoman. The Pope's danger was real enough, but Anne Boleyn had nothing to fear for herself. She was to form part of the cortege. She was to go, and to be received at the French court as Henry's bride-elect, and she was created Marchioness of Pembroke for the occasion. Queen Catherine believed that the mar riage would be completed at the interview with a pub- hcify which would make Francis an accomplice. The Emperor was incredulous. Reluctantly he had been driven to the conclusion that Henry was really in ear nest, and he still thought it impossible thalf such an outrage as a marriage could be seriously contemplated while the divorce w^as still undecided.^ Yet contem- ' Charles V, to Mary of Hungary, Nov, 7, 1532, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 642. 194 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. plated it evidently was. PolitlcaUy the effect would have been Important, and it is not certain that Fran cis would not have encouraged a step which would be taken as an open insult by Charles. The objection, so Chapuys heard, came from the lady herseU, who desired to be married in state with the usual formali ties in London.^ Invited to the interview, however, she certainly was by Francis. The French Queen sent her a present of jewels. The Sieur de Langey came with special compliments from the King to re quest her attendance. She had been a useful instru ment in dividing Henry from the Emperor, and his master, De Langey said, desired to thank her for the inestimable services which she had rendered, and was daily rendering him. He wished to keep her devoted to his interests. Wolsey himseU had not been more valuable to him. He had not to pay her a pension of 25,000 crowns, as he had done to the Car dinal. Therefore he meant to pay her in flattery and in forwarding the divorce at Rome.^ In vain Catherine poured out to Clement her wail ing cries for sentence — sentence -without a moment's delay. Less than ever could the Pope be brought to move. He must wait and see what came of the meet ing of the Kings ; and whether the Emperor got the better of the Turks. It was the harder to bear be cause she had persuaded herself, and had persuaded Ortiz, that, if the King was once excommunicated, the whole of England would rise against him for his contumacious disobedience.* 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Oct, 1, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, V, p, 592, 2 Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 512, ' Ortiz to the Emperor, Sept, 30, 1532. — JJ, p, 533. French Bishop)S sent to Rome. 195 The interview which took place In October between the Kings of France and England was a momentous incident in the struggle, for it did, in fact, decide Henry to take the final step. The scene ItseU, the fes tivities, the regal reception of Anne, the Nun of Kent and the discovery of the singular Influence which a hysterical Impostor had been able to exercise In the higher circles of English life, have already been de scribed by me, and I can add nothing to what I have already written. A more particular account, however, must be given of a French Commission which was immediately after despatched to Rome. Francis had not completely satisfied Henry. He had repeated the ad-vice of his Ambassadors. He had encouraged the King to marry at once. He had reiterated his pro mises of support if the Emperor declared war. Even an engagement which Henry had desired to ob tain from him, to unite France with England in a separate communion, should the Pope proceed to vio lence, Francis had seemed to give, and had wished his good brother to believe It. But his language had been less explicit on this point than on the other. The Bishop of Tarbes, now Cardinal Grammont, was sent to Rome, with Cardinal Tournon, direct from the interview, with open instructions to demand a General Council, to inform the Pope that if he re fused the two Kings would call a Council themselves and In-vite the Lutheran Princes to join them, and that. If the Pope excommunicated Henry, he would go to Eome for absolution so weU accompanied that the Pope would be glad to grant It.^ If Catherine's ^ Instructions to Cardinal Grammont and Tournon, Nov, 13, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 648, 196 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. friends In Rome were rightly informed, the Cardinals had brought also a secret Commission, which went the full extent of Henry's expectation. The Pope was to be required to fuUU at once the promise which he had given at Orvieto, and to give judgment for the divorce; " otherwise the Kings of France and England would abrogate the Papal authority in their several realms." The Pope, confident that the alternative before him was the loss of the two kingdoms, was preparing to yield. 1 Henry certainly returned to England with an understanding that Francis and himself were per fectly united, and would adopt the same course, what ever that might be. A report went abroad that, relying on these assurances, he had brought his hesi tation to an end, and immediately after landing made Anne secretly his wife. The rumour was premature, but the resolution was taken. The Pope, the King said, was making himself the tool of the Emperor. The Emperor was judge, and not the Pope; and neither he nor his people would endure it. He would maintain the liberties of his country, and the Pope, if he tried violence, would find his mistake.^ It is not easy to believe that on a point of such vast consequence Henry could have misunderstood what Francis said, and he considered afterwards that he had been deliberately deceived; but under any aspect the meeting was a demonstration against the Papacy. Micer Mai, who watched the Pope from day to day, declared that his behaviour was enough to drive him out of his senses. Mai and Ortiz had at last forced another brief out of him — not a direct excommunica- 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Nov, 10. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. V, p. 644. 2 Ibid, p, 667. The Complaints of the Queen. 197 tion, but an excommunication which was to foUow on further disobedience. They had compelled him to put it in writing that he might have committed himself before the French Cardinals' arrival. But when it was written he would not let it out of his hands. He was to meet the Emperor again at Bologna, and tiU he had learnt from Charles's own lips what he was prepared to do. It was unfair and unreasonable, he said, to require an act which might fataUy commit him. He was not, however, to be aUowed to escape. Cath erine, when she heard of ,the despatch of the Cardi nals, again flung herself on her nephew's protection. She insisted that the Pope should speak out. The French must not be listened to. There was -nothing to be afraid of. " The English themselves carried no lightning except to strike her.''^ Letters from Ortiz brought her news of the Pope's continued Indecision — -an indecision fatal, as she considered it, to the Church and to herseU. Rumours reached her that the King had actuaUy married, and she poured out her miseries to Chapuys. "The letters from Rome," she said, "reopen all my wounds. They show there is no justice for me or my daughter. It is withheld from us for political considerations. I do not ask His Holiness to declare war — a war I would rather die than provoke ; but I have been appealing to the Vicar of God for justice for six years, and I cannot have it. I refused the proposals made to me two years ago by the King and Council. Must I accept them now? Since then I have received fresh injuries. I am sep arated from my lord, and he has married another woman without obtaining a divorce; and this last act ' To the Emperor, Nov, 11, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv. part 1, p. 554, 198 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. has been done while the suit is still pending, and in defiance of him who has the power of God -upon earth. I cover these lines with my tears as I write. I con fide in you as my friend. Help me to bear the cross of my tribulation. Write to the Emperor. Bid him Insist that judgment be pronounced. The next Par liament, I am told, will decide if I and my daughter are to suffer martyrdom. I hope God wiU accept it as an act of merit by us, as we shaU suffer for the sake of the truth." ^ Catherine might say, and might mean, that she did not wish to be the cause of a war. But unless war was to be the alternative of her husband's submission, the Papal thunders would be as ineffectual as she sup posed the English to be. The Emperor had not de cided what he would do. He may still have clung to the hope that a decision would not be necessary, but he forced or persuaded the Pope to disregard the dan ger. The brief was issued, bearing the date at which it was drawn, and was transmitted to Flanders as the nearest point to England for publication. In removing the Queen from his company without waiting for the decision of his cause, and cohabiting with a certain Anne, Clement told the King that he was insulting Divine justice and the Papal authority. He had already warned him, but his monition had not been respected. Again, therefore, he exhorted him on pain of excommunication to take Catherine back as his Queen, and put Anne away within a month of the presentation of the present letter. If the King 1 Queen Catherine to Chapuys, Nov. 22, 1532. — Compressed Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 291. The editor d.ates this letter Nov. 1531. He has mistaken the year. No report had gone abroad that the King was married to Anne before his return from France, Conditional Excommunication of Henry. 199 stiU disobeyed, the Pope declared both him and Anne to be, ipso facto, excommunicated at the expiration of the term fixed, and forbade him to divorce himseU by his own authority.^ It might seem that the end had now come, and that in a month the King, and the subjects who continued loyal to him, would incur all the consequences of the Papal censures. But the proceedings of the Court of Rome were enveloped . in formalities. Conditional excommunications affected the spiritual status of the persons denounced, but went no further. A second BuU of Excommunication was stiU requisite, declar ing the King deposed and his subjects absolved from their aUegiance, before the secular arm could be caUed in; and this last desperate remedy could not decently be resorted to, with the approval even of the Catholic opinion of Europe, until it had been decided whether Catherine was really legal queen. The en thusiastic Ortiz, however, believed that judgment on "the principal cause" would now be immediately given, and that the victory was won. He enclosed to the Empress a letter from Catherine to him, "to be preserved as a relic, since she would one day be can onised." "May God Inspire the King of England," he said, "to acknowledge the error into which the En emy of Mankind has led him, and amend his past conduct; otherwise it must foUow that his disobedi ence to the Pope's injunction and his infidelity to God once proved, he wIU be deprived of his kingdom and the execution of the sentence committed to his Impe rial Majesty. This done, all those in England who fear God will rise in arms, and the King will be ' Clement VII, to Henry VIII,, Nov, 15, 1532 ; second date, Dec, 23, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, v, p, 650. 200 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. punished as he deserves, the present brief operating as a formal sentence against him. On the main cause, there being no one In Rome to answer for the opposite party, sentence cannot long be delayed."^ Ortiz was too sanguine, and the vision soon faded. The brief sounded formidable, but it said no more than had been contained or implied in another which Clement had issued three years before. He had al lowed the first to be disregarded. He might equaUy aUow the last. Each step which he had taken had been forced upon him, and his reluctance was not di minished. Chapuys thought that he had given a brief instead of passing sentence because he could recall one and could not recaU the other; that "he was playing both with the King and the Emperor;" and in England, as weU as elsewhere. It was thought "that there was some secret inteUigence between him and the King." The Pope and the Emperor had met at Bologna and Charles's language had been as em phatic as Catherine desired ; yet even at Bologna it self and during the conference Clement had assured the English Agents that there was still a prospect of compromise. It was even rumoured that the Empe ror would allow the cause to be referred back to Eng land, if securities could be found to protect the rights of the Princess Mary ; nay, that he had gone so far as to say, "that, if the King made a suitable marriage, and not a love-marriage, he would bring the Pope and Catherine to allow the first marriage to be annuUed."^ In London the talk continued of the removal of the suit from Rome to Cambray. The Nuncio and the ' Ortiz to the Empress, Jan. 19, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, pp, 579-80, 2 Carlo CapeUo to the Signory, March 15, 1533, — Venetian Calendar, vol. iv, p, 389, Unpopularity of Anne Boleyn. 201 King were observed to be much together and on im proved terms, the Nuncio openly saying that his Ho liness wished to be relieved of the business. It was even considered still possible that the Pope might concede the dispensation to the King which had been originaUy asked for, to marry again without legal process. "If," wrote Chapuys, who thoroughly dis trusted Clement, " the King once gains the point of not being obliged to appear at Rome, the Pope will have the less shame in granting the dispensation by abso lute power, as it is made out that the King's right is so evident; and if his Holiness refuses it, the King will be more his enemy than ever. A sentence is the only sovereign remedy, and the Queen says the King would not resist. If only from fear of his subjects, who are not only well disposed to her and to your Majesty, but for tho most part are good Catholics and would not endure excommunication and interdict. If a tumult arose I know not if the Lady, who is hated by aU the world, would escape with life and jewels. But, unless the Pope takes care, he will lose his au thority here, and his censures will not be regarded." ^ It was true that Anne was ill liked in England, and the King, In choosing her, was testing the question of his marriage in the least popular form which It could have assumed. The Venetian Ambassador mentions that one evening "seven or eight thousand women went out of London to seize Boleyn's daughter," who was supping at a viUa on the river, the King not being with her. Many men were among 'them in women's clothes. Henry, however, showed no sign 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb, 9, ISS.', vol. vi, p, 62. The same let ter will he found in the Spanish Calendar, with some differences in the translation, The original French is in parts obscure. 202 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. of change of purpose. He had presented her to the French Court as his Intended Queen. And on such a matter he was not to be moved by the personal ob jections of his subjects. The month allowed in the brief went by. She was still at the court, and the continued negotiations with the Nmicio convinced Catherine's friends that there was mischief at work behind the scenes. Their uneasiness was increased by the selection which was now made of a successor to Archbishop Warham. Thomas Cranmer had been Lord Wiltshire's private chaplain, and had at one time been his daughter's tutor. He had attended her father on his Embassy to the Emperor, had been active in coUecting opinions on the Continent favourable to the divorce, and had been resident ambassador at the Imperial court. He had been much in Germany. He was personaUy ac quainted with Luther. He had even married, and, though he could not produce his wife openly, the con nection was well known. Protestant priests in taking wives were asserting only their natural liberfy. Luther had married, and had married a nun. An example laudable at Wittenberg could not be cen surable in London by those who held Luther excused. The German clergy had released themselves from their vows, as an improvement on the concubinage which had long and generaUy prevailed. Wolsey had a son and was not ashamed of him, even charging his edu cation on English benefices. Clerical marriages were forbidden only by the Church law, which Parliament had never been invited to sanction, and though Cran mer could not introduce a wife into society he was at least as fit for archi-episcopal rank as the great Cardi nal. He -was a man of high natural gifts, and ardent Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. 203 to replace superstition and corruption by purer teach ing. The English Liturgy survives to teU us what Cranmer was. His nomination to the Primacy took the world by surprise, for as yet he had held no higher preferment than an archdeaconry ; but the reorganisa tion of the Church was to begin; Parliament was to meet again in February, and the King needed aU the help that he could find in the House of Lords. The Bishops were stiU but haU conquered. A man of in teUect and learning was required at the head of them. "King Henry loved a man," it was said. He knew Cranmer and valued him. The appointment was made known in the first month of the new year. Be fore the new Primate could be instaUed a BuU of Confirmation was stiU legaUy necessary from Rome. The King was in haste. The annates due on the va cancy of the see of Canterbury were despatched at once, the King himseU advancing the money and tak ing no advantage of the late Act. Such unusual pre cipitancy raised suspicions that something more was contemplated in which Cranmer 's help would be needed. The knot had, in fact, been cut which Henry had been so long struggling to untie. The Lady Anne had aspired to being the central figure of a grand ceremony. Her nuptials were to be attended with the pomp and splendour of a royal marriage. Public feeling was In too critical a condition to permit what might have been resented; and, lest the prize should escape her after aU, she had brought down her pride to agree to a private service. When it was per formed, and by whom, was never known. The date usuaUy received was "on or before the 25th of Jan uary." Chapuys says that Cranmer himseU officiated 204 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. in the presence of the lady's father, mother and brother, two other friends of the lady, and a Canter bury priest.^ But Chapuys was relating only the story current at the time in society. Nothing au thentic has been-' asccFtained. T~ . . The fact that the marriage had taken place was concealed tiU the di vorce could be pronounced by a Court protected by Act of Parliament, and perhaps with the hope that the announcement could be softened by the news that the nation might hope for an heir. Dispatch was thus necessary with Cranmer 's BuUs. He himself spoke without reserve on the right of the King to remarry, "being ready to maintain it with his life." Chapuys and the Nuncio both wrote to request the Pope not to be in a hurry with the confirmation of so dangerous a person.^ The Pope seemed determined to justUy the suspicions enter tained of him by his eagerness to meet Henry's wishes. It is certain that the warning had reached him.^ He sent the BuUs with aU the speed he could. He knew, perhaps, what they were needed for. Henry meanwhile was preparing to meet the Par liament, when the secret would have to be communi cated to the world. The modern reader wiU conceive that no other subject could have occupied his mind. The relative importance of things varies with the dis tance from which we view them. He was King of England first. His domestic anxieties held stiU the second place. Before the opening, as the matter of greatest consequence, a draft Act was prepared to 1 Chapuys to the Emperor, Feb, 23, 1533, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 1, p, 609, ^ Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vi. p. 65, ' Ghinucci and Lee to Henry VIII,, March 11, 15SS, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vi, p, 100, Limitation of the Powers of the Bishops. 205 carry out the object which in the last year he had failed in securing — "an Act to restrain bishops from citing or arresting any of the King's subjects to ap pear before them, unless the bishop or his commissary was free from private grudge against the accused, unless there were three, or at least two, credible wit nesses, and a copy of the libel had in all cases been delivered to the accused, with the names of the ac cusers." Such an Act was needed. It was not to shield what was stIU regarded as impiety, for Frith was burned a few months later for a denial of the Real Presence, which Luther himself caUed heresy. It was to check the arbitrary and indiscriminate tyr anny of a sour, exasperated party, who were pursuing everyone with fire and sword who presumed to oppose them. More, writing to Erasmus, said he had pur posely stated in his epitaph that he had been hard upon the heretics. He so hated that folk that, unless they repented, he preferred their enmity, so mischiev ous were they to the world. ^ The spirit of More was alive and dangerous. To Catholic minds there could be no surer evidence that the King was given over to the E-vil One than len iency to heretics. They were the more disturbed to see how close the intimacy had grown between him and the Pope's representative. The Nuncio was con stantly closeted with Henry or the Council. When Chapuys remonstrated, he said "he was a poor gentle man, living on his salary, and could not do otherwise.'' "The Pope had advised him to neglect no opportunity of promoting the weUare of religion." "Practices," Chapuys ascertained, were stiU going forward, and the ' More to Erasmus. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vi, p, 144, 206 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Nuncio was at the bottom of them. The Nuncio as sured him that he had exhorted the King to take Catherine back. The King had replied that he would not, and that reconciliation was impossible. Yet the secret communications did not cease, and the aston ishment and alarm increased when the Nuncio con sented to accompany the King to the opening of Par liament. He was conducted in state in the Royal barge from Greenwich. Henry sate on the throne, the Nuncio had a chair on his right, and the French Ainbassador on his left. The object was to show the nation how little was reaUy meant by the threat of excommunication, to intimidate the Bishops, and to make the clergy understand the extent of favour which they could expect from the Nuncio's master. The Nuncio's appearance was not limited to a single occasion. During the progress of the Session he at tended the debates in the House of Commons. Nor folk gave him notice of the days on which the Pope would not be directly mentioned, that he might be present without scandal. The Duke admitted a wish for the world to see that the King and the Court of Rome understood each other. " By this presumption, ' ' said Chapuys, "they expect to make their profit as regards the people and the prelates who have hitherto supported the Holy See, who now, for the above reason, dare not speak, fearing to go against the Pope."i The world wondered and was satisfied. The Op position was paralysed. The Bishop of Rochester complained to the Nuncio, and received nothing but regrets and promises which were not observed. Again, 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 15, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vi, p, 73, Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 600, The Quedn Demands Sentence. 207 a council was held of Peers, Bishops, and lawyers to consider the divorce, when it was agreed at last that the cause might be tried in the Archbishop of Canter bury's court, and that the arrival of the Bulls would be accepted as a sign of the Pope's tacit connivance. Chapuys had failed to stop them. "The Queen," he said, "was thunderstruck, and complained bitterly of his Holiness. He had left her to languish for three and a haU years since her appeal, and, instead of giv ing sentence, had now devised a scheme to prolong her misery and bastardise her daughter. She knew the King's character. If sentence was once given there would be no scandal. The King would obey, or, if he did not, which she thought impossible, she woidd die happy, knowing that the Pope had declared for her. Her own mind would be at rest, and the Princess would not lose her right. The Pope was entirely mistaken if he thought that he would induce the King to modify his action against the Church. The Lady and her father, who were staunch Luther ans, were urging him on. The sentence alone would make him pause. He dared not disobey, and if the people rose the Lady would find a rough handling." This, Chapuys said, was the Queen's opinion, which she had commanded him to communicate to the Em peror. For himseU, he could only repeat his request that the BuUs for Canterbury should be delayed till the sentence was ready for delivery. If the Pope knew Cranmer 's reputation as a heretic, he would be in no haste to confirm hlm.-'^ Clement knew weU enough what Cranmer was, and the BuUs had been despatched promptly before the ' Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 9, 1533, Compressed, -SpanijA (Cal endar, vol, iv, part 2, pp, 592-600. 208 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Emperor could interfere. The King meanwhile had committed himself, and now went straight forward. He aUowed his marriage to be kno-wn. Lord Wilt shire had withdra-wn his opposition to It.^ Lord Roch- fort, Anne's brother, was sent at the beginning of March to Paris, to say that the King had acted on the advice given him by his good brother at their last interview. He had taken a wife for the establish ment of his realm in the hope of having male Issue. He trusted, therefore, that Francis would remember his promise. In citing him to Rome the Pope had violated the rights of sovereign Princes. It touched them aU, and. If aUowed, would give the Pope uni versal authority. The time was passed when such pretensions could be tolerated. ^ At home he prepared for the worst. The fleet was further increased, new ships were put on the stocks; the yeomanry were armed, driUed, and equipped, and England rang with sounds of preparation for war; while in Parliament the famous Act was introduced which was to form the constitutional basis of national Independence, and to end for ever the Papal jurisdic tion in England. From the time that Convocation had acknowledged the King to be the Head of the Church the question of appeals to Rome had been -vir tually before the country. It was now to be settled, and English lawsuits were henceforth to be heard and decided within the limits of the empire. The Sibyl's 1 Chapuys here mentions this very curious fact : " The Earl of Wilt shire," he wrote on Feb, 15, " has never declared himself up to this moment. On the contrary, he has hitherto, as the Duke of Norfolk has frequently told me, tried to dissuade the King rather than otherwise from the marriage," — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 602, 2 Henry VIII, to Francis I., March 11, 1533,— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 103, The Act of Appeals. 209 pages were being rent out one by one. The Prae munire had been revived, and the Pope's claim of in dependent right to interfere by buU or brief in Eng lish affairs had been stmck rudely down. Tribute in the shape of annates went next ; the appellate juris diction -was now to foUow. Little would then be left save spiritual precedence, and this might not be of long continuance. There had been words enough. The time had come to act. On the introduction of the Act of Appeals the King spoke out to Chapuys as if the spirit of the Plantagenets was awake in him. "He said a thousand things in disparagement of the Pope, complaining of the authority and power he unduly assumed over the kingdoms of Christendom. He professed to have seen a book from the Papal library, in which It was maintained that aU Chris tian princes were only feudatories of the Pope. He himself, he said. Intended to put a remedy to such inordinate ambition, and repair the errors of Henry II. and John, who had been tricked into making Eng land tributary to the Holy See." "The Emperor," he said, "not only demanded justice, but would have justice done in his own way, and according to his own caprice. For himself, he thought of resuming to the Crown the lands of the clergy, which his predecessors had alienated without right." Chapuys advised him to wait for a General Council before he tried such high measures. "But the King could not be per suaded " that a council was needed for such a pur pose.^ The Act of Appeals touched too many Interests to be passed without opposition. Private persons as ' Chapuys to Charles V,, March 11, 1533, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 619, 210 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. weU as princes had appealed to the Roman law-courts, and suits pending or determined there might be re opened at home and produce confusion unless pro vided for. However complacent the Pope might ap pear, it could not be supposed that he would bear patiently the open renunciation of his authority. Ex communication was haU perceived to be a spectre; but spectres had not whoUy lost their terrors. With an excommunication pronounced In eamest might come interdict and stoppage of trade, perhaps war and rebellion at home ; and one of the members for London said that if the King would refer the question between himseU and the Queen to a General Council, the City of London would give him two hundred thou sand pounds. The arrival of Cranmer's BuUs, while the Act was stiU under discussion, moderated the alarm. The Pope e-vidently was in no warlike hu mour. At the bottom of his heart he had throughout been in Henry's favour; he hoped probably that a time might come when he could say so, and that aU this hostile legislation would then be repealed. When the excitement was at Its hottest, and it was known at Rome, not only that the last brief had been defied, but that the King was about to marry the lady, the Pope had borne the news with singular calmness. After aU, he said to the Count de Cifuentes, if the marriage is completed, we have only to think of a remedy. The remedy, Cifuentes said, was for the Pope to do jus tice ; the King had been encouraged in his rash course by the toleration with which he had been treated aud the constant delays. Clement answered that he would certainly do justice; but if the marriage was "a fact accomplished," he wished to know what the Emperor meant to do. Cifuentes told him that his Holiness The Act of Appeals. 211 must do his part first, and then the Emperor would "act as became a powerful and wise Prince." ^ The Pope had heard this language before. The Emperor was afraid of going to war with England, and the Pope knew it. The alternative, therefore, was either to make some concession to Henry or to let him go on as he pleased, bringing the Holy See into contempt by exposing its weakness : and either course would be equaUy dispiriting to the Queen and his own friends in England. "Everybody," wrote Chapuys, "cries murder on the Pope for his delays, and for not detaining the Archbishop's BuUs, till the definitive sentence had been given. He was warned of the dan ger of granting them. There is not a lord in the Court of either side who does not say publicly his Holiness wUl betray the Emperor. The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk speak of It with more assurance, saying they know it well and could give good evidence of it. "2 The Act of Appeals, though strongly resisted in the House of Commons for fear of the consequences, was evidently to pass; and it was now understood that, as soon as it became law, Cranmer was to try the divorce suit and to give final judgment. The Pope's extraordinary conduct had paralysed opposi tion. The clergy, like some wild animal hardly broken in, were made to parade their docility and to approve beforehand the Archbishop's intended action. It was to be done in haste, for Anne was enceinte. The members of the Synod were aUowed scant time, even to eat their dinners ; they were so harassed that no one opened his mouth to contradict, except the 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, April 21, 1533, vol. iv. p. 171 . ^ Chapuys to Charles V., March 31. —Ibid, vol. vi. p, 128. 212 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Bishop of Rochester, and Rochester had no weight, being alone against aU the rest. So docile was the assembly and so imperious the King that the Queen and aU her supporters now regarded her cause as lost.^ Ortiz wrote from Rome to Charles that, "though he was bound to believe the contrary, he feared the Pope had sent, or might send, absolution to the King." Something might be done underhand to revoke the last brief, although the Pope knew what an evil thing It would be, and how ignominious to the Holy See. 2 The reforming party in England laughed at the expected interdict. The Pope, they said, would not dare to try It, or, if he did. Christian princes would not trouble themselves about him. The King said, significantly, to the Nuncio that he was only defend ing himself : " If the Pope gave him occasion to recon sider the matter, he might undo what was being aimed at his authority."^ The BiU passed more rapidly through Its later stages. The Papal jurisdiction was ended. Anyone who introduced Briefs of Excommunication or Inter dict into the realm was declared guUfy of high trea son. The Bishop of Rochester, becoming violent, was committed to friendly custody under charge of Gardi ner, now Bishop of Winchester. Appeals to the Pope on any matter, secular or spiritual, were forbid den thenceforward, and the Act was made retrospec tive, applying to suits already in progress. AU was thus over. The Archbishop's sentence was kno-wn beforehand, and Anne Boleyn was to be cro-wned at 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, March 31, — Calendar, Foreign and Domes tic, vol, vi, p. 128. 2 Dr. Ortiz to Charles V,, April 14, 1533, — Ibid. pp. 159-60. ^ Chapuys to Charles V,, March 31,1533, — Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p. ()2('i, The Emperor and the English Catholics. 213 Whitsuntide. Force was now the only remedy, and the constitutional opposition converted ItseU into con spiracy, to continue in that form tiU the end^f the century. The King was convinced that the strength and energy of the country was with him. When told that there would be an invasion, he said that the Eng lish could never be conquered as long as they held together. Chapuys was convinced equally that they would not hold together. The clergy, and a section of the peers with whom he chiefiy associated, spoke all In one tone, and he supposed that the language which they used to him represented a universal opin ion. Thenceforward he and his English friends be gan to urge on the Emperor the necessify of armed intervention, and assured him that he had only to declare himseU to find the whole nation at his back. "Englishmen, high and low," Chapuys wrote, "de sire your Majesty to send an army to destroy the ven omous influence of the Lady and her adherents, and 'reform the realm. Forgive my boldness, but your Majesfy ought not to hesitate. When this accursed Anne has her foot in the stirrup she will do the Queen and the Princess all the hurt she can. She boasts that she will have the Princess in her own train; one day, perhaps, she wiU poison her, or wiU marry her to some varlet, while the realm ItseU will be made over to heresy. A conquest would be perfectly easy. The King has no trained army. AU of the higher ranks and aU the nobles are for your Majesty, except the Duke of Norfolk and two or three besides. Let the Pope caU in the secular arm, stop the trade, en courage the Scots, send to sea a few ships, and the thing wiU be over. No Injustice will be done, and, without this, England will be estranged from the Holy Faith and will become Lutheran. The King points 214 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the way and lends them wings, and the Archbishop of Canterbury does worse. There Is no danger of French interference. France wiU wait to see the issue, and wiU give you no more trouble U this King receives his due. Again forgive me, but pity for the Queen and Princess obliges me to speak plainly." ^ The King could hardly be ignorant of the communi cations between the disaffected nobles and the Impe rial Ambassador, but no outward sign appeared that he was aware of them. Lord Mountjoy, however, was sent with a guard to watch Catherine's residence, and, the decisive Act being passed through Parlia ment, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, with Lord Exeter and the Earl of Oxford, repaired to her once more to invite her, since she must see that further resistance was useless, to withdraw her appeal, and to ' tell her that, on her compliance, every arrangement should be made for her state and comfort, with an es tablishment suited to her rank. Chapuys demanded an audience of the King to remonstrate, and a remark- . able conversation ensued. The Ambassador said he had heard of the proceedings in Convocation and in Parliament. It was his dufy to speak. If the King had no regard for men whom he despised, he hoped that he would have respect to God. " God and his conscience," Henry answered calmly, "were on per fectly good terms." Chapuys expressed a doubt, and the King assured him that he was entirely sincere. Chapuys said he could not believe that at a time when Europe was distracted with heresies the King of England would set so evil an example. The King rejoined that, if the world found his new marriage 1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 10, 1533, Compressed, — Ca/endar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vi. pp, 149-51, Spanish Calendar, vol, iv, part 2, p, 630, Chapuys and the King. 215 strange, he himseU found it more strange that Pope Julius should have granted a dispensation for his mar riage with his brother's wife. He must have an heir to succeed him in his realm. The Emperor had no right to prevent him. The Ambassador spoke of the Princess. To provide a husband for the Princess would be the fittest means to secure the succession. Henry said he would have children of his own, and Chapuys ventured on more dangerous ground than he was aware of by hinting that he could not be sure of that. "Am I not a man," the King said sharply, "am I not a man like others? Am I not a man?" Thrice repeating the words. "But," he added, "I wiU not let you into my secrets." The Ambassador enquired whether he intended to remain on friendly terms with the Emperor. The King asked him with a fro-wn what he meant by that. On his replying that the Emperor's friendship depended on the treat ment of the Queen, the King said coldly that the Emperor had no right to interfere with the laws and constitution of England. Chapuys persisted. The Emperor, he said, did not wish to meddle with his laws, unless they personally affected the Queen. The King wanted to force her to abandon her ap peal, and it was not to be expected that she would submit to statutes which had been carried by compul sion. The King grew impatient. The statutes, he said, had been passed in Parliament, and the Queen as a subject must obey them. The Ambassador retorted that new laws could not be retrospective; and, as to the Queeli being a sub ject. If she was his wife she was his subject ; if she was not his wife, she was not his subject. 216 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. This was true, and Henry was to be made to feel the dilemma. He contented himself, however, -v Chapuys to Charles V., March 30, — Spanish Calendar, vol, v. p. 96. Indifference to the Papal Censure. 267 he have advised her to run such a risk of exasperating the- King, while the Lady Anne was never ceasing day or night to injure her. His own advice had been that when violence was threatened she should yield ; but he had been overruled by Catherine.^ Chapuys's intercourse with the Court was now re stricted. He was received when he applied for a for mal Interview ; but for his information on what was passing there, he was left to secret friends or to his diplomatic coUeagues. He asked the French Ambas sador how the King took the Pope's sentence. The ambassador said the King did not care in the least, which Chapuys was unable to believe. The action of the Parliament alarmed and shocked him. Among the hardest blows was the taking from the Bishops the powers of punishing heretics — a -violation, as It appeared to him, of common right and the constitution of the realm. The sharp treatment of Bishop Nixe he regarded as an outrage and a crime. The Easter preachers were ordered to denounce the Pope in their sermons. Chapuys shuddered at their language. "They surpassed themselves in the abominations which they uttered." Worse than sermons followed. On the arrival of the "sentence," the Commission began its work in requiring the oath to the Succession Act. Those whose names had been compromised in the revelation of the Nun were naturaUy the first to be put to the test. Fisher, who had been found guilty of misprision of treason, had so far been left unpun ished. It is uncertain whether the Government was aware of his communications with Chapuys, but enough was known to justUy suspicion. The oath was offered him. He refused to take it, and he was com mitted to the Tower in earnest. He had been sen- * Chapuys to Charles V., 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 96. 268 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. tenced to imprisonment before, but had been so far left at liberfy. Sir Thomas More might have been let alone, for there was no fear that he would lend himself to active treason. He, too, however, was re quired to swear, and declined, and foUowed Fisher to the same place. The Pope had declared war against the King, and his adherents had become the King's enemies. Chapuys himseU was suspected. His en couragement of disaffection could not have been whoUy concealed. He believed that his despatches had been opened in Calais, and that CromweU had read them. There had been a Scotch war. As the Emperor was disinclined to stir, Chapuys had looked on James as a possibly useful instrument in disturbing Henry's peace. A Scottish Commission was in London to arrange a treaty, "as they had found England too strong for them alone." The Ambassador, more eager than ever, tried his best to dissuade the Chief Commissioner from agreeing to terms, pointing out the condition of the kingdom and the advantage to Scotland in joining In an attack on the King. The Scotchman listened, and promised to be secret. Cha puys assured him of the Emperor's gratitude,^ and, though the treafy was concluded, he consoled the Am bassador by saying " that the peace would not prevent his master from waging war on the English. Pleas in plenty could easily be found. "^ Ireland was a yet more promising field of opera tions. On the first rumour of the divorce the Earl of Desmond had offered his services to the Emperor. Chapuys discovered a more promising champion of the Church in Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, whom he 1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 22, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp, 126, 127. 2 Ibid. May 14, p. 151. The Papal S&ntence. 269 described as "a youth of high promise." If the Pope would send the censures to Dublin, he undertook that Lord Thomas would publish them, and would be found a useful friend. Again, in spite of refusal, he urged the Emperor to take action himseU. Harm, he said, would befall the Queen and Princess, U there was longer delay; Mrs. Shelton had told Mary that she would lose her head U she persisted in disobedience; the people loved them weU, but were afraid to move -without support.. The Lutherans were Increasing, and would soon be dangerously strong. The present was the time to act. The King thought he could hold the recusants do-wn by obliging them to swear to his statute; but U the chance was aUowed, they would show their real minds. ^ One dlfficulfy remained in the way of action. The Pope, though he had given judgment, had not yet caUed in the secular arm which was supposed to be necessary as a preliminary, and aU parties, save Cath erine and her passionate advisers, were unwilling that a step should be taken from which there would be no returning. The Emperor did not wish it. Francis, Irritated at the refusal to listen to Du BeUay, told the Pope that he was throwing England away. "The Pope," wrote the Cardinal of Jaen to Secretary Covos, "Is restive. If we push him too hard he may go over to the enemy. "^ Charles ordered Cifuentes to keep strictly to his instructions. The e-vident hesitation amused and encouraged the English Cabinet. "Which Pope do you mean?" said the Duke of Nor folk to the Scotch Ambassador, who had spoken of 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, April 14, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 125-31. 2 Ibid. May 21, 1534, p. 167. 270 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Clement as an arbiter on some point in dispute, "the Pope of Rome or the Pope of Lambeth?" Henry, finding Francis had not whoUy deserted him, "praised God" at a public dinner for having given him so good a brother in the King of France. Under these circumstances, the Catholic parfy in England were alarmed and perplexed. Catherine had been undeceived at last in her expectation that the King would submit when the Pope had spoken. She informed Chapuys that she now saw it was neces sary to use stronger remedies. What these remedies should be Chapuys said she dared not write, lest her letters should be intercepted. She was aware, too, that the Emperor knew best what should be done. Something must be tried, however, and speedily; for the King was acting vigorously, and to wait would be to be lost. A startling difference of opinion also was beginning to show ItseU even among the Queen's friends. Some might turn round, Chapuys said, as they feared the Emperor, in helping her, would set up again the Pope's authority, which they called tyran nical. It was the alarm at this which enabled the King to hold his subjects together.^ Though Mary had "sho-wn her teeth" at her mo ther's bidding, she had not provoked her father to further severities. He asked Mrs. Shelton if her pride was subdued. Mrs. Shelton saying there were no signs of it, he ordered that she should be more kindly treated ; and he sent her a message that. If she was obedient, he would find some royal marriage for her. She answered that God had not so blinded her that she should confess that her father and mother had lived in adultery. The words, perhaps, lost nothing 1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 14, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 153, 154. Position of the Queen and the Princess Mary. 271 in the repeating; but the King said, and said rightly, that it was her mother's influence. Catherine had persuaded her that his kindness was treachery, and that there was a purpose to poison her.^ A serious question, however, had risen about the Statute of Succession. The oath had been universaUy taken by everyone to whom it had been offered save More and Fisher. The reason for demanding it was the notorious intention of the Catholic party to take arms in Catherine's and Mary's interests. Were oth ers to be sworn, and were the two ladies chiefly con cerned to be exempted? Catherine, in ceasing to be queen, might be held to have recovered her rights as a foreigner. But she had remained in England by ^) her o-wn wish, and at the desire of the Emperor, to assist in fighting out the battle. Mary was undoubt edly a subject, and Catherine and she had both Inti mated that if the oath was demanded of them they would not take it. The Peers and Bishops were caUed together to consider the matter, and, as Cath erine was a Spanish Princess, Chapuys was invited to attend. The council-room was thronged. The Ambassador was introduced, and a copy of the statute was placed before him. He was informed that English subjects generally had voluntarily sworn to obey it. Two ladies only. Madam Catherine and Madam Mary, had declined, and the pains and penalties were pointed out to him which they might Incur if they persisted. Chapuys had been refused an opportunity of speak ing his opinion in Parliament. It was now spontane ously offered him. He might, if he had pleased, have denounced the hardship of compeUing the Queen and 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, May 14, 1534, — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp, 153, 154. 272 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. her daughter to assent personaUy to a statute which took their rights from them. The preamble declared the King's marriage with Catherine to have been in valid, and In swearing to the Act of Succession she would be abandoning her entire plea. There was no intention, however, of forcing the oath upon the mother. Mary was the person aimed at; and Mary might have been spared also, if she had not "she-wn her teeth " so plainly. Chapuys, however, spoke out boldly on the whole question. The King, he said, could not deprive the Princess of her place as heir to the crown, nor was the English Parliament competent to decide as to the validity of a marriage. The pre amble of the statute was a lie. He would have proved it had he been permitted to speak there. People had sworn because they were afraid, and did not wish to be martyrs ; and the oath being Imposed by force, they knew that It could be no more binding than the oaths which he had lately taken to the Pope had bound the Archbishop of Canterbury. For a general answer, he produced the Pope's sentence. The obstinacy which they complained of, he said, was in them, and not in the ladies. He could not persuade the ladies to swear ; if he could, he would not, unless under orders from the Emperor ; and he warned the Council that U they tried further violence they must be prepared to find the Emperor and Ferdinand their open enemies ; tho Emperor regarded the Queen as his mother, and the Princess as his sister ; and, though he aUowed that he was speaking without instructions, he intimated dis tinctly that the Emperor would not fail to protect them, and protect the cause of the Church, which had been intertwined -with theirs. Chapuys was bold, bolder perhaps than the Council had expected. The Bishop of Durham rose after a Debate in Council. 273 short pause. He had been Catherine's advocate, and, as Chapuys said, was one of the most learned and honest prelates in the realm. But he, too, had come to see that the cause now at issue was the Independ ence of England. He said that the statute had been weU considered. It had been passed for the quiet of the realm, and must be obeyed. On Chapuys re joining that the quiet of the realm required the King's return to his wife, TunstaU mentioned the promises which had been made at the beginning of the suit, and produced the decretal which the Pope had given at Orvieto, declaring the marriage -with Catherine invalid. Chapuys, In his answer, admitted, unconsciously, the justice of the English plea. He said the decretal had been issued when the Pope had just escaped from St. Angelo, and was angry and exasperated against the Emperor. As to other promises, he might or might not have made them. If he said he would give judg ment in the King's favour, he might have meant merely such a judgment as would be good for the King; or perhaps he was doing as criminal judges often did — holding out hopes to prisoners to tempt confessions from them. Such practices were legiti mate and laudable. The EngUsh argument was that a judge such as Chapuys described was not to be trusted with Eng Ush suits. Henry himseU could not have put the case more effectively. The Bishop of London spoke, and the Archbishop of York, and then Sampson (the Dean of the Chapel Royal), who affirmed bluntly that the Pope had no inherent rights over England. Man had given him his authority, and man might take it from him. Chapuys replied that the King had found it established when he came to the throne, and had himseU recognised it in referring his cause to the Pope. 274 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Cranmer was present, but took no direct part. He brought out, however, the true issue, by suggesting, through TunstaU, that the Pope had incapacitated himseU by submitting to be controlled by the Emperor. This was the point of the matter. To aUow an Eng lish suit to be decided by Charles V. was to make England a vassal state of the Empire. To this Cha puys had no valid answer, for none could be given; and he discreetly turned the argument by reflecting on the unfitness of Cranmer also. So far the laymen on the Council had left the dis cussion to the Bishops, and the Ambassador thought that he had the best of it. The Duke of Norfolk, he Imagined, thought so too ; for the Duke rose after the taunts at the Archbishop. The King's second mar riage, he said, was a fait accompli, and to argue further over it was loss of time. They had passed their statute, and he, for one, would maintain it to the last drop of his blood. To refuse obedience was high treason ; and, the fact being so, the ladies must submit to the law. The King himseU could not dis obey an Act which concerned the tranquiUify of the realm. Chapuys would not yield. He said their laws were like the laws of Mahomet — laws of the sword — being so far worse, that Mahomet did not make his subjects swear to them. Not with entire honesty — for he knew now that Catherine had consented to the use of force — he added, that they could have smaU confi dence in their own strength If they were afraid of two poor weak women, who had neither means nor -wiU to trouble them. The Council said that they would report to the King, and so the conversation ended. Chapuys spoke afterwards privately to CromweU. He renewed his Appeals to Catherine. 275 warning that, if violence was used, there would be real danger. Cromwell said he would do his best. But there was a general fear that something harsh would be tried at the instigation of the "accursed Concu bine." Probably the question would be submitted to Parliament, or as some thought the Queen and Prin cess would be sent to the Tower. ^ Conceiving ex tremities to be close, Chapuys asked the Scotch Am bassador whether, if a mandate came from the Pope against England, the Scots would obey it. Certainly they would obey it, was the answer, though they might pretend to regret the necessify. Violence such as Chapuys anticipated was not In contemplation. The opinion of Europe would have been outraged, if there had been no more genuine rea son for moderation. An appeal was tried on Cathe rine herseU. The Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham, both of whom had been her friends, went down to her to explain the nature of the statute and persuade her to obedience. Two accounts remain of the Interview — that of the Bishops, and another sup plied to Chapuys by the Queen's friends. The Bish ops said that she was in great choler and agony, inter rupted them with violent speeches, declared that she was the King's la-wful wife, that between her and Prince Arthur there had been never more than a formal connection. The Pope had declared for her. The Archbishop of Canterbury was a shadow. The Acts of Parliament did not concern her.^ Chapuys's story is not very different, though two elderly prelates, once her staunch supporters, could hardly have been ^ Chapuys to Charles V,, May 19, 1534, — Spanish Calendar, vol, v. pp. 155-66. 2 Lee and TunstaU to Henry VIII,, May 21, 1534, — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol, vii, p, 270. 276 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. as brutal as he describes. After various rough speeches, he said that the Bishops not only referred to the penalties of the statute (they themselves admit ted this) but told her that If she persisted she might be put to death. She had answered that if any of them had a warrant to execute her they might do it at once. She begged only that the ceremony should be public. In the face of the people, and that she might not be murdered in her room.^ The mission had been rather to advise than to exact, and special demands were rather made on Catherine's side than the King's. Not only she would not swear herseU to the statute, but she insisted that her house hold should be exempted also. She required a con fessor, chaplains, physician, men-servants, as many women as the King would aUow, and they were to take no oath save to the King and to her. Henry made less difficulty than might have been looked for — ^less than he would have been entitled to make had he known to what purpose these attendants would be used. The oath was for his native subjects ; it was not exacted from herseU, or by implication from her confessor, who was a Spaniard, or from her foreign servants.^ If she would be reasonable he said that some of her requests might be granted. She might order her household as she pleased, U they would swear fidelify to him, and to herseU as Princess Dow ager. But he could not aUow them to be sworn to her as Queen. Chapuys's business was to make the worst of the story to the Emperor. The Court was at Richmond. 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, May 29, 1534, — Spanish Calendar, vol, v. p, 169, 2 Thus much was certainly meant by the King's words: " He could not aUow any of his native subjects to refuse to take the oath," — Cal endar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, vii. p. 272. ' Fears for Catherine's Life. 277 Chapuys went thither, presented a complaint to the Coimcil, and demanded an inter-view with the King. Henry would not see him, but sent him a message that he would inquire into what had passed, and would send him an answer. Chapuys, who had been for two years urging war in vain, exaggerated the new injuries. Others, and perhaps he himseU, really believed the Queen's life to be in danger. "Every one," he -wrote, after describing what had taken place, "fears that mischief wiU now befall her; the con cubine has said she wiU never rest tiU she is put out of the way. It is monstrous and almost incredible, yet such Is the King's obstinacy, and the wickedness of this accursed woman, that everything may be ap prehended."^ Anne, it is likely, was really danger ous. The King, so far as can be outwardly traced, was making the best of an unpleasant situation. The Council promised Chapuys that his remonstrances should be attended to. The Queen was left to herseU, with no more petfy persecutions, to manage her house hold in her own way. They might swear or not swear as pleased themselves and her; and with passionate loyalty they remained devoted to her ser-vice, assist ing her in the conduct of a correspondence which every day became more dangerous. The European sky meanwhile was blackening with coming storms. Francis had not forgotten Pavia, and as little could aUow England to be conquered by Charles as Charles could aUow France to be bribed by the promise of Calais. His Agents continued busy at Rome keeping a hand on the Pope ; a fresh interview was proposed between the French King and" Henry, who was to meet him at Calais again in the summer; and an aggressive Anglo-French aUiance was a possi- 1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 172. 278 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. bUIfy which the Emperor had still to fear. He had smaU confidence in the representations of Chapuys, and had brought himseU to hope that by smooth measures Henry might still be recovered. A joint embassy might be sent to England from himseU and the Pope to remonstrate on the schism. If nothing else came of it, their o-wn position would be set right before the world and in the eyes of English opinion. Clement, however, now made difficulties, and had no desire to help Charles out of his embarrassments. Charles had forced a judgment out of him without promising to execute it. Charles might now realise the inconven ience of having driven him on against his o-wn inclina tion. Cifuentes had again received instructions to delay the issue of the Brief of Execution, or the caU ing in the secular arm. The Pope felt that he had been made use of and had been cheated, and was nat uraUy resentful. Cifuentes made his proposal. Cle ment, "with the placid manner which he generaUy showed when a subject was disagreeable to him, . . . said that the embassy might go U the Emperor -wished. ... It would not be of the sUghtest use . . . but it might do no harm. He must, of course, however, first consult the King of France." Cifu entes not liking the mention of France, the Pope went on maliciously to say that, if he had not gone to MarseiUes, France would certainly have broken with the Church, as England had done, and would have set up a Patriarchate of its o-wn. Indeed he was afraid i* might yet come to that. The King of France had told him how he had been pressed to consent, and had made a merit of refusing. Cifuentes could but re mark on the singular character of the King of France's religious convictions.^ 1 Cifuentes to Charles V., June 6, 1534, — Spanish Calendar, vol. v, pp. 174 et seq. Humours of Anne Boleyn. 279 The embassy was not sent to England, and the Pope kept back his invocation of the secular arm tiU a Prince could be found who would act. No one would be the first to move, and the meeting of the two Kings at Calais was indefinitely postponed. Francis com plained of Henry's arbitrary manner, "speaking to me at times as if I were his subject." The explana tion given to the world of the abandonment of the in ter-view was that Henry found it inconvenient to leave the reahn. A letter of Chapuys explains where the special inconvenience lay. The Lady Anne would be Regent In his absence, and could not be trusted in her present humour. "I have received word from a trustworthy source," he wrote on the 23d of June to the Emperor, "that the concubine has said more than once, and with great assurance, that the moment the King crosses the Channel to the interview, and she is left Regent, she wiU put the Princess to death by sword or otherwise. Her brother. Lord Rochford, teUing her she would offend the King, she answered she cared not if she did. She would do it if she was burnt or flayed aUve afterwards. The Princess knows her danger, but it gives her no concern. She puts her trust In God." Imperfect credit must be given to stories set current by malicious credulity. But the existence of such stories shows the reputation which Anne had earned for herseU, and which in part she deserves. Chapuys reiterated his warnings. "Pardon my importunify," he continued, "but, unless your Majesty looks promptly to it, things wiU be past remedy. Lutheranism spreads fast, and the King calculates that it wiU make the people stand by him and wiU gain the Germans. So long as danger is not feared from without. Parliament wiU agree to 280 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. aU that he wishes. Were your Majesty even to over look aU that he has done, he would persist In the same way. Good Catholics are of opinion that the readiest way to bridle France and Germany is to begin in England. It can be done with ease. The people only wait for your Majesty to give the signal."^ The Inaction of the Emperor was incomprehensible to Catherine's friends. To herseU it was distracting. She had fed upon the hope that when the Pope had given judgment her trial would be at an end ; that the voice of Catholic Europe would compel the King to submit. The Roman lightning had flashed, but the thunderbolt had not faUen. The English laity, long waiting In suspense, had begun to think, as Chapuys feared they would, that the Pope was the shadow, and Cranmer the substance. Cut off from the world, she thought she was forsaken, or that the Emperor's care for her would not carry him to the point of Interfer ence. If no voice was raised in her favour in her own Spain,* the Spanish Ambassador might at least show that her countrymen had not forgotten her. She sent pressing messages to Chapuys, begging him to visit her; and Chapuys, impatient himseU of his master's hesitating policy, resolved to go. He ap plied for permission to the Council. It was refused. But the Council could not forbid his making a sum mer pilgrimage to our Lady of Walsingham, and the road lay near Kimbolton. He -wrote to CromweU that, leave or no leave, he was going Into Norfolk, and meant to caU there. The porters might refuse him entrance if they pleased. He gave him fair no tice. It should not be said that he had acted under hand. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 23, 1534. Abridged. — Spanish Cal endar, vol. V. pp. 198-99, Visit of Chapuys to Kimbolton. 281 It was the middle of July. Making as much dis play as possible, with a retinue of sixty horse, and ac companied by a party of Spaniards resident in London, the Ambassador rode ostentatiously through the City, and started on the great North Road. Spending a night on the way, he arrived on the second evening within a few miles of Catherine's residence. At this point he was overtaken by two gentlemen of the house hold, with an Intimation that he would not be admit ted. He demanded to see their orders, and, the or ders not being produced, he said that, being so near the end of his journey, he did not mean to turn back. He would have persisted, but a message came to him from the Queen herseU, or from one of her people, to say that she could not receive him ; he could proceed to Walsingham if he pleased, but he must not ap proach within bowshot of the Castle. Some peremp tory command must have reached her. A second se cret message foUowed, that, although she had not dared to say so, she was grateful for his visit; and, though he must not come on himself, a party Of his suite might show themselves before the gates. Thus the next morning, under the bright July sky, a picturesque Spanish cavalcade was seen parading under the windows of Kimbolton, "to the great conso lation of the ladies of the household, who spoke to them from the battlements; and with astonishment and joy among the peasantry, as if the Messiah had actually come." The Walsingham pilgrimage was abandoned, lest It should be thought to have been the real object of the journey ; and Chapuys, with polite irony, sent the King word that he had relinquished it in deference to his Majesty's wishes. He returned to London by another road, to make a wider impression upon the people. 282 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. "The Emperor," he said, in relating his expedition, "would now see how matters stood. The Queen might be almost called the King's prisoner. The house," he said, "was well kept and weU found, though there were complaints of shortness of provisions. She had five or six servants, and as many ladies-in-waiting, be sides the men whom she looked on as her guards." ^ ^ Chapuys to Charles V., July 27, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 219-20. CHAPTER XVI. Prosecution of Lord Dacre — Failure of the Crown — ReheUion in Ire land — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — DeUght of the Catholic party — Preparations for a rising in England — The Princess Mary — Lord Hussey and Lord Darcy — Schemes for insurrection submitted to Chapuys — General disaffection among the EngUsh Peers — Death of Clement VII, — Election of Paul III, — Expectation at Rome that Henry would now submit — The expectation disappointed — • The Act of Supremacy — The ItaUan conjuror — Reginald Pole — Violence and insolence of Anne Boleyn — Spread of Lutheranism — Intended escape of the Princess Mary out of England, The English Peers are supposed to have been the ser-vlle instruments of Henry VIIL' s tyrannies and caprices, to have been ready to divorce or murder a vnie, or to execute a bishop, as it might please the King to command. They were about to show that there were limits to their obedience, and that when they saw occasion they could assert their independence. Lord Dacre of Naworth was one of the most powerful of the northern nobles. He had distinguished himseU as a supporter of Queen Catherine, and was particularly detested by the Lady Anne. His name appears prom inently in the lists supplied to Chapuys of those who could be counted upon In the event of a rising. The Government had good reason, therefore, to watch him with anxiefy. As Warden of the Marches he had been in constant contact with the Scots, and a Scotch invasion in execution of the Papal censures had been part of Chapuys's scheme. Dacre was suspected of 284 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. underhand dealings with the Scots. He had been indicted at Carlisle for treason in June, and had been sent to London for trial. He was brought to the bar before the Peers, assisted by the twelve Judges. An escape of a prisoner was rare when the Cro-vm prose cuted; the Pri-vy Council prepared the e-vidence, drew up their case, and in bringing a man to the bar made themselves responsible for the charge; failure, there fore, was equivalent to a vote of censure. The prose cution of Dacre had been set on foot by CromweU, who had perhaps been Informed of particulars of his conduct which it was undesirable to bring forward. The Peers looked on CromweU as another Wolsey — as another intruding commoner who was taking liberties with the ancient blood. The Lady Anne was supposed to have borne malice against Dacre. The Lady Anne was to be made to know that there were limits to her power. Dacre spoke for seven hours to a sympa thetic court; he was unanimously acquitted, and the Cify of London celebrated his escape with bonfires and illuminations. The Court had received a sharp rebuff. Norfolk, who sate as High Steward, had to accept a verdict of which he alone disapproved.^ At Rome the acquittal was regarded as perhaps the begin ning of some commotion with which God was prepar ing to punish the King of England.^ More serious news arrived from Ireland. While the English Catholics were muttering discontent and waiting for foreign help. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, "the youth of promise" whom Chapuys had recom mended to Charles's notice, had broken into open rebeUion, and had forsworn his aUegiance to Henry 1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 27, 1534. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, vii, p. 389. ^ Cifuentes to Charles V., Aug. 1, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 229. Irish RebeUion. 285 as an excommunicated sovereign. Fitzgerald was a ferocious savage, but his crimes were committed in the name of religion. In my history of this rebeUion I connected it with the sacred cause of More and Fisher, and was severely rebuked for my alleged un fairness. The fresh particulars here to be mentioned prove that I was entirely right, that the rising in Ire land was encouraged by the same means, was part of the same conspiracy, that It was regarded at Rome and by the Papal parfy everywhere as the first blow struck in a holy war. It commenced with the murder of the Archbishop of Dublin, a feeble old man, who was dragged out of his bed and slaughtered by Fitzgerald's own hand. It spread rapidly through the English Pale, and Cha puys recorded its progress with deUght. The English had been caught unprepared. Skeffington, the Dep- ufy, was a fool. Ireland, in Chapuys's opinion, was practicaUy recovered to the Holy See, and with the smaUest assistance from the Emperor and the Pope the heretics and all their works would be made an end of there. ^ A fortnight later he wrote stiU more enthusiasticaUy. Kildare's son was absolute master of the island. He had driven the King to ask for terms; he had re fused to Usten, and was then everywhere expeUing the English or else kiUing them. The pleasure felt by aU worthy people, Chapuys said, was incredible. Such a turn of events was a good beginning for a settlement in England, and the CathoUc party desired his Majesty most passionately not to lose the opportunify. On all sides the Ambas sador was besieged with entreaties. "An exceUent 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Aug. 11, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 243-4. 286 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. nobleman had met him by appointment in the coun try, and had assured him solemnly that the least move on the Emperor's part would end the matter." The Irish example had "fired aU their hearts. They were longing to foUow it." As this inteUigence might fail to rouse Charles, the Ambassador again added as a further reason for haste that the Queen and Princess were in danger of losing their lives. CromweU had been heard to say that their deaths would end aU quarrels. Lord WUtshire had said the same, and the fear was that when Parlia ment reassembled the ladies might be brought to trial under the statute.^ If Cromwell and Lord Wiltshire used the words ascribed to them, no evil purpose need have been im pUed or intended. Catherine was a confirmed inva lid; the Princess Mary had just been attacked with an alarming illness. Chapuys had dissuaded Mary at last from making fresh quarrels with her governess ; she had submitted to the Indignities of her situation with reluctant patience, and had foUowed unresist ingly In the various removals of Elizabeth's establish ment. The irritation, however, had told on her health, and at the time of Chapuys's conversation -with the "exceUent nobleman" her IUe was supposed to be in danger from ordinary causes. That Anne wished her dead was natural enough; Anne had re cently been again disappointed, and had disappointed the King in the central wish of his heart. She had said she was enceinte, but the signs had passed off. It was rumoured that Henry's feelings were cooling towards her. He had answered, so Court scandal said, to some imperious message of hers that she ought to be satisfied with what he had done for her; were 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Aug. 29, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, p. 250. The Princess Mary. 287 things to begin again he would not do as much. Re port said also that there were nouvelles amours ; but, as the aUeged object of the King's attention was a lady devoted to Queen Catherine, the amour was prob ably innocent. The Ambassador built little upon this; Anne's wiU to injure the Princess he knew to be boundless, and he beUeved her power over Henry stiU to be great. Mary herseU had sent him word that she had discovered practices for her destruction. Any peril to which she might be exposed would ap proach her, as Chapuys was obliged to confess, from one side only. He ascertained that "when certain members of the Council had advised harsh measures to please the Lady Anne," the King had told them that he would never consent, and no one at the Court — neither the Lady nor any other person — dared speak against the Princess. "The King loved her," so Cromwell said, "a hundred times more than his latest born." The notion that the statute was to be enforced against her life was a chimera of malice. In her iUness he showed the deepest anxiefy ; he sent his own physician to attend on her, and he sent for her mother's physician from Kimbolton. Chapuys ad mitted that he was naturaUy kind — " d'aymable et cordiale nature " — that his daughter's death would be a serious blow to himseU, however welcome to Anne and to poUticians, and that, beyond his natural feel ing, he was conscious that, occurring under the pres ent circumstances. It would be a stain on his reputa tion. More than once Henry had interfered for Mary's protection. He had perhaps heard of what Anne had threatened to do to her on his proposed journey to Calais. She had been the occasion, at any rate, of sharp differences between them. He had resented, 288 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. when he discovered it, the manner in which she had been dragged to the More, and had aUowed her, when staying there, to be publicly visited by the ladies and gentlemen of the court, to the Lady's great annoyance. Nay, Mary had been permitted to refuse to leave her room when Anne had sent for her, and the strictest orders had been given through CromweU that anyone who treated her disrespectfully should be severely pun ished.^ True as aU this might be, however, Chapuys's feel ings towards the King were not altered, his fears di minished, or his desire less eager to bring about a re beUion and a revolution. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald's performances in Ireland were spurring into energy the disaffected in England. The nobleman to whom Chapuys had referred was Lord Hussey of Lincoln shire, who had been Chamberlain to the Princess Mary when she had an establishment of her own as next in succession to the cro-wn. Lord Hussey was a dear friend of her mother's. Having opened the ground he again visited the Ambassador "in utmost secrecy." He told him that he and aU the honest men in the reahn were much discouraged by the Em peror's delay to set things straight, as it was a thing which could so easily be done. The lives of the Queen and Princess were undoubtedly threatened; their cause was God's cause, which the Emperor was bound to uphold, and the English people looked to him as their natural sovereign. Chapuys replied that if the Emperor was to do as Lord Hussey desired, he feared that an invasion of England would cause much hurt and suffering to many innocent people. Lord Hussey was reputed a wise man. Chapuys asked him 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 24, 153i. — Spanish Calendar, vol, v, pp, 294 et seq. Disaffection of English Catholics. 289 what would he do himseU if he were in the Emperor's place. Lord Hussey answered that the state of Eng land was as weU known to Chapuys as to himself. Almost everyone was looking for help to the Emperor. There was no fear of his injuring the people ; their in dignation was so great that there would be no resist ance. The war would be over as soon as it Was begun. The details, he said. Lord Darcy would explain better than he could do. The Emperor should first Issue a declaration. The people would then take arms, and would be joined by the nobles and the clergy. Fisher had used the same language. Fisher was In the Tower, and no longer accessible. Lord Darcy of Templehurst has been already seen in drawing the in dictment against Wolsey. He was an old crusader; he had served under Ferdinand and IsabeUa, was a Spaniard in sympathy, and was able, as he repre sented, to bring eight thousand men into the field from the northern counties. On Lord Hussey' s rec ommendation Chapuys sent a confidential servant to Darcy, who professed himself as zealous as his friend. Darcy said that he was as loyal as any man, but things were going on so outrageously, especially in matters of religion, that he, for one, could not bear it longer. In the north there were six hundred lords and gentlemen who thought as he did. Measures were about to be taken in Parliament to favour the Lu therans. He was going himseU into Yorkshire, where he intended to commence an opposition. If the Em peror would help him he would take the field* behind the crucifix, and would raise the banner of Castile. Measures might be concerted with the Scots ; a Scotch army might cross the border as soon as he had himseU taken arms ; an Imperial squadron should appear sim ultaneously at the mouth of the Thames, and a battal- 290 The Divorce of Cathenne of Aragon. Ion of soldiers from Flanders should be landed at Hull, with arms and money for the poorer gentlemen. He and the northern lords would supply their own forces. Many of the other Peers, he said, entirely agreed with him. He named especiaUy Lord Derby and Lord Dacre. -^ V This letter is of extreme importance, as explaining the laws which It was found necessary to pass in the ensuing Parliament. A deeply rooted and most dan gerous conspiracy was actively forming — how danger ous the Pilgrimage of Grace afterwards proved — in which Darcy and Hussey were the principal leaders. The Government was weU served. The King and Cromwell knew more than it was prudent to publish. The rebeUion meditated was the more formidable be cause it was sanctified by the name of religion, with the avowed purpose of .executing the Papal Brief. Fitzgerald's rising In Ireland was but the first drop ping of a storm designed to be universal. HaU the Peers who surrounded Henry's person, and voted in Parliament for the reforming statutes, were at heart leagued with his enemies. He had a right to impose a test of loyalty on them, and force them to declare whether they were his subjects or the Pope's. For a moment it seemed as if the peril might pass over. It became kno-wn in England in October that Clement VII. had ended his pontificate, and that Car dinal Farnese reigned In his stead as Paul III. On Clement's death the King, according to Chapuys, had counted on a schism in the Church, and was disap pointed at the facility with which the election had been carried through; but Farnese had been on Hen ry's side in the divorce case, and the impression in the 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. .30, 1534, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vii, p, 466 ; Spanish Calendar, vol, v , p, 608, Accession of Paul III. 291 English Council was that the quarrel with Rome would now be composed. The Duke of Norfolk, who had been the loudest In his denunciations of Clement, was of the opinion that the King, as a Catholic Prince, would submit to his successor. Even Cromwell laid the blame of the rupture on Clement personally, and when he heard that he was gone, exclaimed that "the Great Devil was dead." Henry knew better than his Minister that "the Great Devil " was not this or that pontiff, but the Papacy ItseU. He had liberated his kingdom; he did not mean to lead it back Into bond age. "Let no man, " he said to Norfolk, "try to persuade me to such a step. I shall account no more of the Pope than of any priest in my realm." ^ Farnese undoubtedly expected that Henry would make advances to him, and was prepared to meet them ; he told Casalis that he had taken a legal opinion as to whether his predecessor's judgment in the divorce case could be reopened, and a decision given in the King's favour; the la-wyers had assured him that there would been no difficulty, and the Pope evidently wished the King to believe that he might now have his way if he would place himseU in the Pope's hands. Henry, however, was too wary to be caught. He must have deeds, not words, he said. If the Pope was sincere he would revoke his predecessor's sentence of his own accord. Francis, by whose influence Farnese had heen elected, tried to bring Henry to submission, but to no purpose. The King was no longer to be moved by vague phrases like those to which he had once trusted to his cost. Surrounded by treachery though he knew himseU to be, he looked no longer for pal liatives and compromises, and went straight on upon ' Chapuys to Charles V,, Oct. 13, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 279. 292 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. his way. The House of Commons was with him, growing in heartiness at each succeeding session. The Peers and clergy might conspire in secret. In public, as estates of the realm, they were too cowardly to oppose. Parliament met In November. The other Acts which were passed by it this year are relatively unim portant, and may be read elsewhere. The great busi ness of the session, which has left its mark on history, was to pass the Act of Supremacy, detailing and ex plaining the meaning of the title which Convocation two years previously had conferred upon the King. Unentangled any longer with saving clauses, the sov ereign authorify under the law in aU causes, ecclesi astical and civil, was declared to rest thenceforward in the Crown, and the last vestiges of Roman juris diction in England were swept off and disappeared. No laws, no injunctions, no fancied rights over the consciences of English subjects were to be pleaded further as a rule to their conduct which had not been sanctioned by Crown and Parliament. No clergy, English or foreign, were to exercise thenceforward any power not delegated to them and limited under the law of the land, except what could not be taken from them — their special privilege of administering' the sacraments. Double loyalty to the Crown and to the Papacy was thenceforward Impossible. The Pope had attempted to depose the King. The Act of Su premacy was England's answer. But to enact a law was not enough. With Ireland in Insurrection, with half the nobles and more than half the clergy, regular and secular. In England invit ing a Spanish invasion, the King and Commons, who were in earnest In carrying through the reforms which they had begun, were obliged to take larger measures The Act of Supremacy. 293 to distinguish their friends from their enemies. If the Catholics had the immense majority to which they pretended, the Constitution gave them the power of le gitimate opposition. If they were professing with their lips and sustaining with their votes a course of policy which they were plotting secretly to overthrow, it was fair and right to compel them to show their true col ours. Therefore the Parliament further enacted that to deny the royal supremacy — in other words, to maintain the right of the Pope to declare the King deprived — should be high treason, and the Act was so interpreted that persons who were open to suspi cion might be interrogated, and that a refusal to an swer should be accepted as an acknowledgment of guilt. In quiet times such a measure would be un necessary, and therefore tyrannical. Facta arguan- tur dicta impune sint. In the face of Chapuys's correspondence it will hardly be maintained that the reforming Government of Henry VIII. was in no dan ger. The Statute of Supremacy must be judged by the realify of the peril which it was designed to meet. I If the Reformation was a crime, the laws by which it \ defended itseU were criminal along with it. If the Reformation was the da-wnlng of a new and briUiant era for Imperial England, if It was the opening of a fountain from which the English genius has flowed out over the wide surface of the entire globe, the men who watched over its early trials and enabled the movement to advance, undishonoured and undisfig- ured by civil war, deserve rather to be respected for their resolution than reviled as arbitrary despots. To try the actions of statesmen in a time of high national peril by the canons of an age of tranquillity is the highest form of historical injustice. The naked truth?— and nakedness is not always 294 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. indecent — was something of this kind. A marriage with a brother's wife was forbidden by the universal law of Christendom. Kings, dukes, and other great men who disposed as they pleased of the hands of their sons and daughters, found it often desirable, for po litical or domestic reasons, to form connections which the law prohibited, and therefore they maintained an Italian conjuror who professed to be able for a con sideration to turn wrong into right. To marriages so arranged it was absurd to attach the same obligations as belonged to unions legitimately contracted. If, as often happened, such marriages turned out IU, the same conjuror who could make could unmake. This function, also, he was repeatedly caUed on to exer cise, and, for a consideration also, he was usuaUy compliant. The King of England had been married as a boy to Catherine of Aragon, carrying out an arrangement between their respective fathers. The marriage had failed in the most important object for which royal marriages are formed : there was no male heir to the crown, nor any prospect of one. Henry, therefore, as any other prince in Europe would have done, applied to the Italian for assistance. The con juror was willing, confessing that the case was one where his abilities might properly be employed. But another of his supporters interfered, and forced him to refuse. The King of England had always paid his share for the conjuror's maintenance. He was vio lently deprived of a concession which it was admitted that he had a right to claim. But for the conjuror's pretensions to make the unlawful lawful he would not have been in the situation in which he found himself. What could be more natural than that, finding him self thus treated; he should begin to doubt whether the conjuror, after aU, had the power of making wrong Reginald Pole. 295 into right? whether the marriage had not been wrong from the beginning? And, when the magical artist began to curse, as his habit was when doubts were thro-wn on his being the Vicar of the Almighty, what could be more natural also than to throw him and his tackle out of window? The passing of the Act Increased the anxiety about the position of the Princess Mary. In the opinion of most reasonable persons her claim to the succession was superior to that of Elizabeth, and, if she had sub mitted to her father, it would probably have been al lowed and established. In the eyes of the disaffected, however, she was already, by Clement's sentence, the legitimate possessor of the throne. Reginald Pole, Lady Salisbury's son and grandson of the Duke of Clarence, was stiU abroad. Henry had endeavoured to gain him over, but had not succeeded. He was of the blood of the White Rose, and, with his brother, had gone by instinct into opposition. His birth, in those days of loyalty to race, gave him infiuence in England, and Catherine, as has been seen, had fixed upon him as Mary's husband. He had been brought aheady under Charles's notice as likely to be of use in the intended rebeUion. The Queen, wrote Cha puys to the Emperor, knew no one to whom she would better like her daughter to be married; many right- minded people held that the right to the crown lay in the family of the Duke of Clarence, Edward's chil dren having been IUegitimate ; U the Emperor would send an army across with Lord Reginald attached to it everyone would declare for him ; his younger bro ther Geoffrey was a constant visitor to himseU; once more he insisted that nothing could be more easy than the conquest of the whole kingdom.^ ^ Chapuys to Charles V,, Nov, 3, 1534, — Calendar, Foreign and Do- emslic, vol, vii. p, 519. 296 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The object with Chapuys was now to carry Mary abroad, partly that she might be married to Pole, partly for her own security. Notwithstanding the King's evident care for her health and good treatme/it he could not look into the details of her daUy life, and Anne was growing daily more dangerous. Both Catherine and the Princess had stiU many friends among the ladies of the Court. To one of these, young and beautiful — and, therefore, certainly not the plain Jane Seymour — the King was supposed to have paid attentions. Like another lady who had been men tioned previously, she was devoted to Catherine's in terests, and obviously not, therefore, a pretender to Henry's personal affections. Anne had affected to be jealous, and under other aspects had reason for uneasi ness. She had demanded this lady's dismissal from the court, and had been so violent that "the King had left her in displeasure, complaining of her importunacy and vexatlousness." The restoration of Mary to fa vour was a constant alarm to Anne, and she had a party of her own which had been raised by her pat ronage, depended on her influence, and was ready to execute her pleasure. Thus the petty annoyances of which both Catherine and her daughter complained were not discontinued. The household at Kimbolton was reduced ; a confidential maid who had been useful in the Queen's correspondence was discovered and dis missed. Mary was left under the control of Mrs. Shelton, who dared not openly displease Anne. It was Anne that Chapuys blamed. Anne hated the Princess. The King had a real love for her. In her illness he had been studiously kind. When told it had been caused by mental trouble he said, with a sigh, "that it was pity her ob stinacy should prevent hiin from treating her as he Attitude of English Peers. 297 wished and as she deserved. The case was the harder, as he knew that her conduct had been dictated by her mother, and he was therefore obliged to keep them sep arate."^ The Pri-vy CounciUors appear to have remonstrated with Anne on- her behaviour to Mary. Passionate scenes, at any rate, had occurred between her and Henry's principal Ministers. She spoke to her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, in terms "which would not be used to a dog." Norfolk left the room in indigna tion, muttering that she was a ^''grande putaine." The malcontents increased daily and became bolder in word and action. Lord Northumberland, Anne's early lover, of whom Darcy had been doubtful, pro fessed now to be so disgusted with the malice and arrogance of the Lady that he, too, looked to the Em peror's coming as the only remedy. Lord Sandys, Henry's chamberlain, withdrew to his house, pretend ing sickness, and sent Chapuys a message that the Emperor had the hearts of the English people, and, at the least motion which the Emperor might make, the realm would be in confusion.^ The news from Fitzgerald was less satisfactory. His resources were failing, and he wanted help, but he was still standing out. England, however, was more and more sure; the northern counties were unanimous, in the south and west the Marquis of Exeter and the Poles wero superior to any force which could be brought against them ; the spread of Lutheranism was creating more exasperation than even the divorce. Moderate men had hoped for an arrangement with the new Pope. Instead of it, the heretical preachers were more vio- 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec, 19, 1534, — Spanish Calendar, vol. v, p, 343, ^ Chapuys to Charles V,, Jan. 14, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viu, p, 14. 298 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. lent than ever, and the King was believed to have en couraged them. Dr. Brown, an Augustinian friar, and General of the Mendicant Order, who, as some believed, had married the King and Anne, had dared to maintain in a sermon "that the Bishops and aU others who did not burn the Bulls which they had re ceived from the Pope, and obtain others from the King, deserved to be punished. Their authorify was derived from the King alone. Their sacred chrism would avail them nothing while they obeyed the Idol of Rome, who was a limb of the Devil." "Language so abominable," said Chapuys, in re porting it, "must have been prompted by the King, or else by Cromwell, who made the said monk his right hand in all things unlawful; " CromweU and Cranmer being of Luther's opinion that there was no difference between priests and bishops, save what the letters patent of the Crown might constitute. "CromweU," Chapuys said, "had been feeling his way with some of the Bench on the subject." At a meeting of Coun cil he had asked Gardiner and others whether the King could not make and unmake bishops at his plea sure. They were obliged to answer that he could, to save their benefices. ^ Outrages so flagrant had shocked beyond longer en durance the Conservative mind of England. Darcy, at the beginning of the new year (a year which, as he hoped, was to witness an end to them), sent Chapuys a present of a sword, as an indication that the time was come for sword-play.^ Let the Emperor send but a little money ; let a proclamation be drawn in his name 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 28, 1535.- Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, viii, p, 38, '' " VeuiUant denoter par icelle, puisque n'a moyen de m'envoyer dire securement, que la saison sera propice pour jouer des cousteaidx," — Ibid. Jan, 1, p, 1 ; and MS. Vienna, Hesitation of the Emperor. 299 that the nation was in arms for the cause of God and the Queen, the comfort of the people, and the restor ation of order and justice, and a hundred thousand men woidd rush to the field. The present was the propitious moment. If action was longer delayed it might be too late.^ To the enthusiastic and the eager the cause which touches themselves the nearest seems always the most important in the world. Charles V. had struggled long to escape the duty which the Pope and destiny appeared to be combining to thrust upon him. With Germany unsettled, with the Turks In Hungary, with Barbarossa's corsair-fleet commanding the Mediterra nean and harassing the Spanish coast, with another French war visibly ahead, and a l-enewed invasion of Italy, Charles was in no condition to add Henry to the number of his enemies. Chapuys and Darcy, Fisher and Reginald Pole allowed passion to persuade them that the English King was Antichrist in person, the centre of aU the disorder which disturbed the world. AU else could wait, but the Emperor must first strike do-wn Antichrist and then the rest would be easy. Charles was wiser than they, and could bet ter estimate the danger of what he was called on to undertake; but he could not shut his ears entirely to entreaties so reiterated. Before anything could be done, however, means would have to be taken to se cure the persons of the Queen and Princess — of the Princess especiaUy, as she would be in most danger. So far he had discouraged her escape when it had been proposed to him, since, were she once in his hands, he had thought that war could no longer be avoided. He now allowed Chapuys to try what he could do to 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Jan. 28, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, viii. p, 38. 300 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. get her out of the country, and meanwhile to report more particularly on the landing of an invading force. The escape ItseU presented no great difficulty. The Princess was generaUy at the Palace at Greenwich. Her friends would let her out at night; an armed barge could be waiting off the waUs, and a Flemish man-of-war might be ready at the Nore, of size suffi cient to beat off boats that might be sent in pursuit. Should she be removed elsewhere the enterprise would not be so easy. In the event of an insurrection while she was stiU in the realm, Chapuys said the first step of the Lords would be to get possession of her mother and Mary. If they failed, the King would send them to the Tower : but In the Tower they would be out of danger, as the Constable, Sir WiUiam Kingston, was their friend. In any case he did not believe that hurt would be done them, the King feeling that, if war did break out, they would be useful as mediators, like the wife and mother of Coriolanus. CHAPTER XVII. Prospects of civil war — England and Spain — IUness of the Princess Mary — Plans for her escape — Spirit of Queen Catherine — The Emperor unwiUing to interfere — Negotiations for a new treaty be tween Henry and Charles — Debate in the Spanish CouncU of State — The rival aUiances — Disappointment of the confederate Peers — Advance of Lutheranism in England — CrOmweU and Chapuys — Catherine and Mary the obstacles to peace — Supposed designs on Mary's life, England, to aU appearance, was now on the eve of a bloody and desperate war. The conspirators were confident of success; but conspirators associate exclusively with persons of their own opinions, and therefore seldom judge accurately of the strength of their opponents. Chapuys and his friends had been equaUy confident about Ireland. Fitzgerald was now a fugitive, and the insurrection was burning down; yet the struggle before Henry would have been at least as severe as had been encountered by his grandfather Edward, and the country itself woidd have been torn to pieces ; one notable difference only there was in the situation — that the factions of the Roses had begun the battle of themselves, without waiting for help from abroad; the reactionaries under Henry VIIL, con fessedly, were afraid to stir without the avowed sup port of the Emperor; and Charles, when the question came seriously before him, could not have failed to ask himseU why. If they were as strong as they pre- 302 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. tended, and the King's party as weak as they said it was, they endured what they could easily prevent. These refiections naturally presented themselves both to the Emperor and to the Spanish Council when they had to decide on the part which they would take. If what Chapuys represented as a mere demonstration should turn into serious war, England and France would then unite In earnest ; they would combine with Germany; and Europe would be shaken -with a con- ¦vulslon of which it was impossible to foresee the end. The decision was momentous, and Charles paused be fore coming to a resolution. Weeks passed, and Cha puys could have no positive answer, save that he was to give general encouragement to the Queen's friends, and let them know that the Emperor valued their fidelity. Weary of his hesitation, and hoping to quicken his resolution, Catherine sent Chapuys word that the Princess was to be forced to swear to the Act of Supremacy, and that, on her refusal, she was to be executed or imprisoned for life. Catherine -wrote what she, perhaps, believed, but could not know. But the suspense was trying, and the worst was natu rally looked for. News came that English sailors had been burnt by the Inquisition at Se-ville as heretics. CromweU observed to Chapuys that "he had heard the Emperor was going to make a conquest of the realm." The Ambassador had the coolness to as sure him that he was dreaming; and that such an enter prise had never been thought of. CromweU knew better. He had learnt, for one thing, of the plans for Mary's escape. He knew what that would mean, and he had, perhaps, prevented it. The project had been abandoned for the moment. Instead of escaping, she had shown symptoms of the same dangerous illness by which she had been attacked before. There was Rlness of the Princess Mary. 303 the utmost alarm, and, as a pregnant evidence of the condition of men's minds, the physicians refused to prescribe for her, lest, if she died, they should be sus pected of having poisoned her. The King's physician declined. Queen Catherine's physician declined — unless others were caUed. In to assist — and the unfor tunate girl was left without medical help, in imminent likelihood of death, because every one felt that her dying at such a time would be set down to foul play. The King sent for Chapuys and begged that he would select a doctor, or two doctors, of eminence to act with his own. Chapuys, with polite irony, replied that it was not for him to make a selection ; the King must be better acquainted than he could be with the reputa tion of the London physicians; and the Emperor would be displeased if he showed distrust of his Maj esty's care for his child. CromweU, who was present, desired that if the Princess grew worse Chapuys would aUow one of his own people to be with her. Henry continued to express his grief at her sufferings. Some members of the Council "had not been ashamed to say " that as men could find no means of reconciling the King with the Emperor, God might open a door by taking the Princess to himseU. It was a very natural thought. Clement had said the same about Catherine. But the aspiration would have been better left unexpressed.^ Chapuys's sus picions were not removed. He perceived the King's anxiety to be unfeigned; but he detested him too sin cerely to believe that in anything he cotdd mean well. The Princess recovered. Catherine took advantage of the attack to entreat again that her daughter might be under her o-wn charge. It was cruel to be obliged to refuse. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb, 9, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Do- hiestic, vol, viii, pp, 68-72, 304 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Chapuys presented the Queen's request. The King, he said, ^heard him patiently and graciously, and, instead of the usual answer that he knew best how to provide for his daughter, replied, gently, that he would do his utmost for the health of the Princess, and, since her mother's physician would not assist, he would find others. But to let Chapuys understand that he was not ignorant of his secret dealings, he said he could not forget what was due to his own hon our. The Princess might be carried out of the king dom, or might herseU escape. She could easily do it if she was left in her mother's charge. He had per ceived some indications, he added significantly, that the Emperor wished to have her in his hands. Ambassadors have a privilege of lying. Chapuys boldly declared that there was no probability of the Emperor attempting to carry off the Princess. The controversy had lasted five years, and there had been no indication of any such purpose. The King said that it was Catherine who had made the Princess so obstinate. Daughters owed some obedience to their mothers, but their first duty was to the father. This Chapuys did not dispute, but proposed as an alterna tive that she should reside with her old governess, Lady Salisbury. The King said the Countess was a foolish woman, and of no experience.^ The difficulty was very great. To refuse so natu ral a request was to appear hard and unfeeling ; yet to allow Catherine and Mary to be together was to fur nish a head to the disaffection, of the extent of which the King was perfectly aware. He knew Catherine, and his words about her are a key to much of their relations to one another. "She was of such high 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 25, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, viu, p, 100. Fresh Ajypeals to the Emperor. 305 courage," he said, "that, with her daughter at her side, she might raise an army and take the field against him -with as much spirit as her mother Isa beUa." 1 Catherine of Aragon had qualities with which his tory has not credited her. She was no patient, suf fering saint, but a bold and daring woman, capable, if the opportunity was offered her, of making Henry repent of what he had done. But would the opportu nify ever come ? Charles was stiU silent. Chapuys continued to feed the fire with promises. GranveUe, Charles's Minister, might be more persuasive than himself. To GranveUe the Ambassador wrote "that the Concubine had bribed some one to pretend a reve lation from God that she was not to conceive children while the Queen and the Princess were alive. The Concubine had sent the man with the message to the King, and never ceased [Wolsey had called Anne 'the night crow'] to exclaim that the ladles were rebels and traitresses, and deserved to die."^ Norfolk, irritated at Anne's insolence to him, with drew from court in iU-humour. He complained to Reginald Pole's brother. Lord Montague, that his ad vice was not attended to, and that his niece was intol erable. The Marquis of Exeter regretted to Chapuys that the chance had not been aUowed him so far to shed his blood for the Queen and Princess. "Let the movement begin, and he would not be the last to join." Mary, notwithstanding the precautions taken 1 " Car estant la Royne si haultain de cceur, luy venant en fantasye, a I'appuy de la faveur de la Princesse, eUe se pourroit mettre au champs et assembler force des gents et luy faire la guerre aussy hardiment que fit la Royne sa mere," Chapuys k I'Empereur, Mar, 23, 1535, — MS. Vienna. 2 Chapuys to GranveUe, March 23, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v, p, 432 ; and MS. Vienna, 306 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. to keep her safe, had not parted with her hope of es cape. If she could not be with her mother she thought the Emperor might, perhaps, intercede with the King to remove her from under Mrs. Shelton's charge. The King might be brought to consent; and then, Chapuys said, with a pinnace and two ships in the river, she might still be carried off when again at Greenwich, as he could find means to get her out of the house at any hour of the night. ^ At length the suspense was at an end, and the long- waited-for decision of the Emperor arrived. He had considered, he said, the communications of Lord Darcy and Lord Sandys; he admitted that the disor ders of England required a remedy; but an armed interference was at the present time impossible.^ It was a poor consolation to the English Peers and clergy; and there was worse behind. Not only the Emperor did not mean to declare war against Henry, but, spite of Catherine, spite of excommimication, spite of heresy, he intended, if possible, to renew the old aUiance between England and the House of Bur gundy. Politics are the religion of princes, and if they are wise the peace of the world weighs more with them than orthodoxy and family contentions. Honour, pride. Catholic obligations recommended a desperate stroke. Prudence and a higher dufy com manded Charles to abstain. Sir John WaUop, the English representative at Paris, was a sincere friend of Queen Catherine, but was unwiUing, for her sake, to see her plunge into an Insurrectionary whirlpool. Viscount Hannart, a Flemish nobleman with English connections, was Charles's Minister at the same Court. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb,' 25, 1534, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, viii. p. 105. 2 Spanish Calendar, Feb. 26, 1535, vol. v, p, 402, Proposed Treaty hetween Charles and Henry. 307 Together they discussed the situation of their respec tive countries. Both agreed that a war between Henry and the Emperor would be a calamity to man kind ; while in aUiance they might hold in check the impatient ambition of France. Wallop suggested that they might agree by mutual consent to suspend their differences on the divorce ; might let the divorce pass in silence for future settlement, and be again friends. The proposal was submitted to the Spanish Council of State. The objections to it were the wrongs done, and stiU being done, to the Queen and Princess in the face of the Pope's sentence, and the obligations of the Emperor to see that sentence enforced. An arrange ment between the Emperor and the King of England on the terms suggested would be iU received in Chris tendom, would dispirit the two ladies, and their friends in England who had hitherto supported the claims of the Princess Mary to the succession; while it might, further, encourage other princes to divorce their wives on similar grounds. In favour of a treaty, on the other hand, were the notorious designs of the French King. France was relying on the support of Eng land. If nothing was done to compose the existing differences the King of England might be driven to desperate courses. The Faith of the Church would suffer. The General Council, so anxiously looked for, would be unable to meet. The French King would be encouraged to go to war. Both he and the King of England woiild support the German schism, and the lives of the Princess and her mother would proba bly be sacrificed. A provisional agreement might modify the King of England's action, the Church might be saved, the ladies' lives be secured, and doubt and distrust be introduced between England 308 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. and France. The Emperor could then deal with the Turks, and other difficulties could be tided over tiU a Council could meet and settle everjrthing.^ Chapuys had written so confidently on the strength of the insurrectionary party that it was doubted whether choice between the alternative courses might not better be left for him to decide. Charles, who could better estimate the value of the promises of disaffected subjects, determined otherwise. The Am bassador, therefore, was informed that war would be inconvenient. Lord Darcy's sword must remain in the scabbard, and an attempt be made for reconcUi- ation on the lines suggested by Sir John WaUop. Meanwhile, directions were given to the Inquisitors at SeviUe to be less precipitate in their dealings with English seamen. From the first it had been CromweU's hope and conviction that an open quarrel would be escaped. The French parfy in the English CouncU — Anne Boleyn, her family, and friends — had been urging the alliance with France, and a general attack on Charles's scattered dominions. CromweU, though a Protestant In religion, distrusted an associate who, when England was once committed, might make his own terms and leave Henry to his fate. In politics Cromwell had been consistently Imperialist. He had already persuaded the King to aUow the Princess to move nearer to Kimbolton, where her mother's physi cian could have charge of her. He sent thanks to Charles in the King's name for his Interference with the Holy Office. He left nothing undone to soften the friction and prepare for a reconciliation. Cath erine and Mary he perceived to be the only obstacle to a return to active friendship. If the broken health of ' Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, Feb, 26, 1535, vol, viii, p, 106, Cromwell and the Treaty. 309 one, and the acute iUness of the other, should have a fatal termination, as a politician he could not but feel that it would be an obstacle happily removed. Chapuys's intrigue with the confederate Peers had been continued to the latest moment. AU arrange ments had been made for their security when the rising shoidd break out. Darcy himseU was daily looking for the signal, and begged only for timely notice of the issue of the Emperor's manifesto to escape to his castle in the north. ^ The Ambassador had now to trim his sails on the other tack. The Emperor was ready to aUow the execution of Clement's sentence to stand over tiU the General Coimcil, without prejudice to the rights of parties, provided an engagement was made for the respectful treatment of the Queen and Princess, and a promise given that their friends should be unmolested. To Catherine the disappointment was hard to bear. The talk of a treaty was the death- kneU of the hopes on which she had been feeding. A close and confidential intercourse was established between Chapuys and CromweU to discuss the prelim inary conditions, Chapuys, ill liking his work, desir ing to fail, and on the watch for any point on which to raise a suspicion. The Princess was the first difficulty. Cromwell had promised that she should be moved to her mother's neighbourhood. She had been sent no nearer than AmpthiU. CromweU said that he would do what he could, but the subject was disagreeable to the King, and he could say no more. He entered at once, how ever, on the King's desire to be again on good terms with the Emperor. The King had instructed him to discuss the whole situation with Chapuys, and it would be unfortunate, he said, if the interests of two women 1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp, 421-22, 310 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. were aUowed to interfere with weighty matters of State. The Queen had been more than once seriously ill, and her life was not likely to be prolonged. The Princess was not likely to live either; and it did not appear that either in Spain or France there was much anxiety for material alteration in their present posi tion. Meanwhile, the French were passionately im portuning the King to join in a war against the Emperor. CromweU said that he had been himseU op posed to it, and the present moment, when the Em peror was engaged with the Turks, was the last which the King would choose for such a purpose. The ob ject to be arrived at was the pacification of Christen dom and the general imion of all the leading Powers. The King desired it as much as he, and had, so far, prevented war from being declared by France. It was true that the peace of the world was of more importance than the complaints of Catherine and Mary. Catherine had rejected a compromise when the Emperor himseU recommended it, and Mary had defied her father and had defied Parliament at her mother's bidding. There were limits to the sacrifices which they were entitled to demand. Chapuys pro tested against CromweU's impression that the Euro pean Powers were Indifferent. The strongest interest was felt in their fate, he said, and many inconven iences would follow should harm befall them. The world would certainly believe that they had met with foul play. The Emperor would be charged with having caused it by neglecting to execute the Pope's sentence, and it would be said also that, but for the expectations which the Emperor had held out to them of defending their cause, they would themselves have conformed to the King's wishes; they would then have been treated with due regard and have escaped their Negotiations for the Treaty. 311 present miseries. CromweU undertook that the ut most care and vigilance should be observed that hurt should not befaU them. The Princess, he said, he loved as much as Chapuys himseU could love her, and nothing that he could do for them should be neglected ; but the Ambassador and the Emperor's other agents were like hawks who soared high to stoop more swiftly on their prey. Their object was to have the Princess declared next in succession to the crown, and that was impossible owing to the late statutes. Chapuys reported what had passed to his master, but scarcely concealed his contempt for the business in which he was engaged. "I cannot teU," he wrote, "what sort of a treaty could be made with this King as long as he refuses to restore the Queen and Prin cess, or repair the hurts of the Church and the Faith, which grow worse every day. No later than Sunday last a preacher raised a question whether the body of Christ was contained, or not, in the consecrated wafer. Your Majesfy may consider whither such propositions are tending." ^ A stiU more important conversation followed a few days later. It can hardly be doubted, in the face of Chapuys's repeated declaration that both Catherine and her daughter were in personal danger, that Anne Boleyn felt her position always precarious as long as they were alive, and refused to acknowledge her mar riage. She perhaps felt that it would go hard with herseU in the event of a successful insurrection. She had urged, as far as she dared, that they should be tried under the statute ; but Henry would not allow such a proposal to be so much as named to him. Other means, however, might be found to make away 1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 7, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 413-422. 312 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. with them, and Sir Arthur Darcy, Lord Darcy's son, thought they would be safer in the King's hands in the Tower than in their present residence. "The devil of a Concubine would never rest tiU she had gained her object." The air was thick with these rumours when Cha puys and Cromwell again met. The overtures had been commenced by the Emperor. CromweU said the King had given him a statement in writing that he was wiUing to renew his old friendship -with the Em peror and make a new treaty -with him, U proper safe guards could be provided for his honour and reputa tion ; but it was to be understood distinctly that he would not permit the divorce question to be reopened ; he would rather forfeit his cro-wn and his life than con sent to it, or place himseU in subjection to any foreign authority; this was his firm resolution, which he de sired Chapuys to make known to the Emperor. The Spanish Ministry had been wiUing that the Pope's sentence should be re-vised by a General Coun cil. Why, Chapuys asked, might not the King con sent also to refer the case to the Council? The King knew that he was right. He had once been wlUing — -why should he now refuse? A Council, it had been said, would be caUed by the Pope, and would be composed of clergy who were not his friends; but Chapuys would undertake that there should be no unfair dealing. Were the Pope and clergy to intend harm, aU the Princes of Christendom would interfere. The Emperor would recommend nothing to which the King would not be wiUing to subscribe. The favour able verdict of a Council would restore peace in Eng land, and would acquit the Emperor's conscience. The Emperor, as matters stood, was bound to execute the sentence which had been delivered, and could not Negotiations for a Treaty. 313 hold back longer -without a hope of the King's sub mission. CromweU admitted the reasonableness of Chapuys's suggestion. The Emperor was showing by the ad vances which he had commenced that he desired a reconciliation. A Council controUed by the princes of Europe might perhaps be a useful Instrument. CromweU promised an answer in two days. Then, after a pause, he returned to the subject of which he had spoken before : — In a matter of so much consequence to the world as the good inteUigence of hImseU and the King of England, he said that the Emperor ought not to hesitate on account of the Queen and the Princess. They were but mortal. If the Princess was to die, her death would be no great misfortune, when the result of it would be the union and friendship of the two Princes. ^ He begged Cha puys to think it over when alone and at leisure. He then went on to inquire (for Chapuys had not informed him that the Emperor had already made up his mind to an arrangement) whether the ladies' business might not be passed over silently in the new treaty, and be left in suspense for the King's life. A General Council might meet to consider the other disorders of Christendom, or a congress might be held, previously appointed jointly by the King and the Emperor, when the ladies' rights might be arranged without mystery. 1 "II me dit que vostre Majesty ne se dehvoit arrester pour empescher ung si inestimable bien que produiroit en toute la Chresfteanet^ I'union et la bonne inteUigence dentre vostre Majesty et le Roi son maistre pour I'affaire des Royne et Princesse qui n'estoient que mortelles ; et que ne seroit grande dommage de la morte de la dicte Princesse au pris du bien que sortiroit de la dicte union et intelUgence ; en quoy U me prioit vou loir considerer quand seroy seul et desoccup^." Chapuys to Charles V,, March 23, 1535. — MS. Vienna ; and Spanish Calendar, vol, v, p, 426, This and other of Chapuys's most important letters I transcribed myself at Vienna, 314 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Then once more, and, as Chapuys thought, with marked emphasis, he asked again what harm need be feared if the Princess were to die. The world might mutter, but why should it be resented by the Em peror ? 1 Chapuys says that he replied that he would not dwell on the trouble which might arise if the Princess sud denly died in a manner so suspicious. God forbid that such a thing should be ! How could the Em peror submit to the reproach of having consented to the death of his cousin, and sold her for the sake of a peace ? Chapuys professed to believe, and evidently wished the Emperor to believe, that CromweU was seriously proposing that the Princess Mary should be made away with. A single version of a secret conversation is an insufficient e-vidence of an intended monstrous crime. We do not know in what language it was car ried on. CromweU spoke no language but English with exactness, and Chapuys understood English im perfectly. The recent and alarming IUness of the Princess, occasioned by restraint, fear, and irritation, had made her condition a constant subject of Cha puys's complaints, and CromweU may have been think ing and speaking only of her dying under the natural consequences of prolonged confinement. Chapuys's unvarying object was to impress on the Emperor that her life was in danger. But CromweU he admitted had been uniformly friendly to Mary, and, had foul play been reaUy contemplated, the Emperor's Am bassador was the last person to whom the intention would have been communicated. ^ "Me repUequant de nouveaulx quel dommage ou danger seroyt que la dicte Princesse feust morte oyres que le peuple en murmurast, et queUe raison auroit vostre Majesty en fayre cas." Cromwell and Chapuys. 315 The conversation did not end with Chapuys's an swer. Cromwell went on, he said (stiU dwelling on points most likely to wound Charles), to rage against popes and cardinals, saying that he hoped the race would soon be extinct, and that the world would be rid of their abomination and tyranny. Then he spoke again of France, and of the pressure laid on Henry to join -with the French in a war. Always, he said, he had dissuaded his master from expeditions on the Continent. He had himseU refused a large pension which the French Government had offered him, and he intended at the next Parliament to introduce a BiU prohibiting EngUsh Ministers from taking pensions from foreign princes on pain of death. Men who have been proposing to commit murders do not lightly turn to topics of less perilous interest. Some days passed before Chapuys saw CromweU again ; but he continued to learn from him the various intrigues which were going on. Until the King was sure of his ground with Charles, the French faction at the court continued their correspondence with Francis. The price of an Anglo-French aUiance was to be a promise from the French King to support Henry In his quarrel with Rome at the expected Coun cU, and Chapuys advised his master not to show too much eagerness for the treaty, as he would make the King more intractable. The Emperor's way of remedying the affairs of England could not be better conceived, he said, pro vided the English Government met him with an hon est response, provided they would forward the meeting of the CouncU, and treat the Queen and Princess bet ter, who were in great personal danger. This, how ever, he believed they would never do. The Queen had instmcted him to complain to the Emperor that 316 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. her daughter was still left in the hands of her ene mies, and that if she was to die it would be attributed to the manner in which she had been dealt with ; the Queen, however, was satisfied that the danger would disappear if the King and the Emperor came to an understanding; and, if she could be assured that mat ters would be conducted as the Emperor proposed, he would be able to persuade her to approve of the whole plan. Chapuys never repeated his suspicion that danger threatened Mary from CromweU, and, U he had reaUy believed it, he would hardly have faUed to make further mention of so dark a suggestion. He was not scrupulous about tmth : diplomatists with strong personal convictions seldom are. He had assured the King that a thought had never been entertained of an armed Interference in England, while his letters for many months had been f uU of schemes for Insurrection and invasion. He was eager for the work to begin. He was incredulous of any other remedy, and, if he dared, would have forced the Emperor's hand. He depended for his information of what passed at the court upon Anne Boleyn's bitterest enemies, and he put the worst interpretation upon every story which was brought to him. CromweU, he said, had spoken like Caiaphas. It Is hardly credible that CromweU would have ventured to Insult the Emperor -with a sup position that he would make himseU an accompUce in a crime. But though I think it more Ukely that Cha puys misunderstood or misrepresented CromweU than that he accurately recorded his words, yet it is certain that there were members of Henry's Council who did seriously desire to try and to execute both Mary and her mother. Both of them were actively dangerous. Their friends were engaged in a conspiracy for open Personal Dangers to the Princess Mary. 317 rebeUion in their names, and, under the Tudor prin ces, nearness of blood or station to the Crown was rather a danger than a protection. Royal pretenders were not gently dealt with, even when no immediate peril was feared from them. Henry VII. had nothing to fear from the Earl of Warwick, yet Warwick lay In a bloody grave. Mary herseU executed her cousin Jane Grey, and was hardly prevented from executing her sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth, in turn. Imprisoned Catherine Grey, and let her die as Chapuys feared that Mary was now about to die. The dread of another war of succession lay like a nightmare on the generations which carried with them an ever-present memory of the Wars of the Roses. CHAPTER XVIII. Negotiations for a treaty — Appeal of Catherine to the Emperor — Fresh plans for the escape of Mary — Forbidden by the Emperor — The King and his daughter — Suggestion of Dr, Butts — The clergy and the Reformation — The Charterhouse monks — More and Fisher in the Tower — The Emperor in Africa — The treaty — RebeUion in Ireland — Absolution of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald for the murder of the Archbishop of DubUn — Treason of Lord Hussey — Fresh de bates in the Spanish Council — Fisher created cardinal — Trial and execution of Fisher and More ^ Effect in Europe, More than a year had now passed since Clement had delivered judgment on the divorce case. So far the discharge had been ineffective, and the Brief of Execution, the direct command to the Catholic Powers to dethrone Henry and to his subjects to renounce their allegiance, was stiU withheld. The advances which the new Pope had made to England having met with no response, Paul III. was ready to strike the final blow, but his hand had been held by Charles, who was now hoping by a treaty to recover the Eng lish alliance. Catherine had consented, but consented reluctantly, to an experiment from which she expected nothing. Chapuys himseU did not wish it to succeed, and was unwiUing to part with the expectations which he had built on Darcy's promises. The Span ish Council, in recommending the course which the Emperor had taken, had foreseen the dispiritment which it might produce among the Queen's friends, and the Injury to the Holy See by the disregard of a Letter of the Queen to the Emperor. 319 sentence which Charles had himseU Insisted on. The treafy made no progress. The sacrifice appeared to be fruitless, and Catherine appealed to Charles once more in her old tone. She would be wanting In her duty to herseU, she said, and she would offend God, U she did not seek the help of those who alone could give her effectual assistance. She must again press upon his Majesty the increasing perils to the Catholic Faith and the injury to the English realm which his neglect to act was producing. The sentence of Clem ent had been powerless. She entreated him with aU her energy as a Christian woman to hesitate no longer. Her daughter had been iU, and had not yet recovered. Had her health been strong, the treatment which she received would destroy It, and, U she died, there would be a double sin. The Emperor need not care for herseU. She was accustomed to suffering and could bear anything. But she must let him know that she was as poor as Job, and was expecting a time when she would have to beg ahns for the love of God.-*^ Mary was scarcely In so bad a case as her mother represented. Her spirit had got the better of her Ill ness, and she was again alert and active. The King had supplied her with money and had sent her various kind messages, but she was stiU eager to escape out of the realm, and Charles had again given a qualified consent to the attempt being made if it was sure of success. With Mary in his hands, he could deal with Henry to better advantage. A favourable opportunify presented itseU. Three Spanish ships were lying in the Lower Pool; Mary was stiU at Greenwich, and their crews were at her disposition. Chapuys asked If she was ready. She was not only ready but eager. 1 Queen Catherine to Charles V., April 8. — MS. Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii, p, 197. 320 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. She could leave the palace at night with the help of confederates, be carried on board, and disappear down the river. Accident, or perhaps a whispered warning, de ranged her plans. By a sudden order she was re moved from Greenwich to Eltham. The alteration of residence was not accompanied with signs of suspi cion. She was treated with marked respect. A State litter of some splendour was provided for her. The governess, Mrs. Shelton, however, was continued at her side, and the odious presence redoubled her wish to fly. Before she left Greenwich she sent a message to Chapuys Imploring his advice and his as sistance. She begged him for the love of God to contrive fresh means for removing her from the coun try. The enterprise, he thought, would be now dan gerous, but not impossible, and success would be a glorious triumph. The Princess had told him that in her present lodging she could not be taken away at night, but she might walk in the day in fine weather, and might be surprised and carried off as if against her consent. The river would not be many miles dis tant, and, if she could be faUen in with when alone, there might be less difficulty than even at Green-wich, because she could be put on board below Gravesend.^ As a ship would be required from Flanders, Cha puys communicated directly with GranveUe. He was conscious that, if he was himseU in England when the enterprise was attempted, his own share In It would be suspected and it might go hard with him. He proposed, therefore, under some excuse of business in the Low Countries, to cross over previously. It would be a splendid coup, he said, and, consider- 1 Chapu3rs to Charles v., April 4, 1535. — MS. Vienna; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. p. 193. Cromwell and Chapuys. 321 ing how much the Princess wished it and her remark able prudence and courage, the thing could, no doubt, be managed. Could she be once seized and on horse back, and U there was a galley at hand and a large ship or two, there would be no real difficulty. The country-people would help her, and the parties sent in pursuit would be in no hurry. ^ Either the difficulties proved greater than were ex pected, or Charles was stiU hoping for the treaty, and would not risk an experiment which would spoil the chances of an accommodation. Once more he altered his mind and forbade the venture, and Chapuys had to take up again a negotiation from which he had no expectation of good. He met CromweU from time to time, his master's pleasure being to preserve peace on tolerable terms ; and the Ambassador continued to pro pose the reference of the divorce case to the General CouncU, on which CromweU had seemed not un-wiUing to listen to him. If Henry could be tempted by vague promises to submit his conduct to a Council caUed by the Pope, he would be again in the meshes out of which he had cut his way. The cunning Ambassador urged on CromweU the honour which the King would gain U a Council confirmed what he had done ; and when Cromwell answered that a Council under the Emperor's influence might rather give an adverse sen tence, he said that, U It was so, the King would have shown by a voluntary submission that his motives had been pure, and might have perfect confidence in the Emperor's fairness. CromweU said he would consult the King; but the real dlfficulfy lay In the pretensions of the Princess. CromweU was weU served ; he prob ably knew, as well as Chapuys, of the intended rape 1 Chapuys to GranveUe, April 5, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, voL -viii. p. 194 • and MS. Vienna. 322 The Divorce of Cathenne of Aragon. at Eltham, and aU that it would involve. "Would to God " — he broke out impatiently, and did not fin ish the sentence ; but Chapuys thought he saw what the finish would have been.^ Henry may be credited with some forbearance towards his troublesome daugh ter. She defied his laws. Her supporters were try ing to take his crown from him, and she herseU was attempting to escape abroad and lev^war upon him. Few of his predecessors would have hesitated to take ruder methods with so unmaUeable a piece of metal. She herseU believed that escape was her only chance of life. She was in the power of persons who, she had been told, meant to poison her, while no means were neglected to exasperate the King's mind against her. He, on his side, was told that she was Incurably obstinate, while everything was concealed that might make him more favourably disposed towards her. In the midst of public business with which he was over whelmed, he could not know what was passing inside the waUs at Eltham. He discovered occasionaUy that he had been deceived. He complained to Cromwell "that he had found much good In his daughter of which he had not been properly informed." But if there was a conspiracy against Mary, there was also a conspiracy against himself. In a quarter where it could have been least expected. Dr. Butts, the King's physician, whose portrait by Holbein is so famUiar to us, was one of the most de voted friends of Queen Catherine. During Mary's Illness, Dr. Butts had affected to be afraid of the re sponsibility of attending upon her. He had consented afterwards, though with apparent reluctance, and had met in consultation Catherine's doctor, who had also 1 Chapuys to Charies V,, April 17, 15^, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viu. p. 209. The King's Physician. 323 aUowed himseU to be persuaded. Henry sent Butts do-wn to Eltham with his own horses. The Royal physician found his patient better than he expected, and, instead of talking over her disorders, he talked of the condition of the realm with his brother practi tioner. "The Doctor is a very clever man," wrote Chapuys, reporting the account of the conversation which he received from the Queen's physician, "and is intimate with the nobles and the Council. He says that there are but two ways of assisting the Queen and Princess and of setting right the affairs of the reahn : one would be if it pleased God to -visit the King -with some little malady." ^ "The second method was force, of which, he said, the King and his Ministers were in marvellous fear. If it came to a war, he thought the King would be speciaUy careful of the Queen and Princess, meaning to use them, should things turn to the worst, as mediators for peace. But if neither of these means were made use of, he reaUy believed they were in danger of their lives. He con sidered It was lucky for the King that the Emperor did not know how easy the enterprise of England would be; and the present, he said, was the right time for it." His private physician. It is to be remembered, was necessarily, of aU Henry's servants, the most trusted by him; and the doctor was not contented with indi rect suggestions, for he himseU sent a secret message to Chapuys that twenty great peers and a hundred knights were ready, they and their vassals, to venture 1 "Le premier estoit si Dieu vouloit visiter le Roy de quelque petite maladie," The word petite implied perhaps in Chapuys's mind that Dr, Butts contemplated a disorder of which he could control the dimen sions, and the word, if he used it, is at leeist as suspicious as CromweU's lai^ruage about Mary. 324 The Divorce of Cathenne of Aragon. fortune and life, with the smallest assistance from the Emperor, to rise and make a revolution.^ Dr. Butts with his petite maladie was a "giant traitor," though, happily for himseU, he was left un discovered. Human sympathies run so ine-vitably on the side of the sufferers in history, that we forget that something also is due to those whom they forced Into dealing hardly with them. Catherine and the faith ful Catholics who conspired and lost their lives for her cause and the Pope's, are in no danger of losing the favourable judgment of the world; the tyranny and cruelty of Henry VIII. wiU probably remain for ever a subject of eloquent denunciation; but there is an altera pars — another -view of the story, which we may be permitted without offence to recognise. Henry was, on the whole, right; the general cause for which he was contending was a good cause. His -victory opened the fountains of English national IUe, won for England spiritual freedom, and behind spiritual free dom her political liberties. His defeat would have kindled the marfyr-fires in every EngUsh town, and would have burnt out of the country thousands of poor men and women as noble as Catherine herseU. He had stained the purity of his action by intermingling -with it a weak passion for a foolish and bad woman, and bitterly he had to suffer for his mistake; but the re volt against, and the overthrow of, ecclesiastical des potism were precious services, which ought to be re membered to his honour ; and, when the good doctor to whom he trusted his life, out of compassion for an unfortunate lady was, perhaps, wiUing to administer 1 "Affirmant pour tout certain qu'U y avoit une xx des prinoipaulx Seigneurs d' Angleterre et plus de cent ChevaUers tout disposes et prests k employer personnes, biens, armes, et subjects, ayant le moindre as sistance de vostre Majesty," Chapuys to Charles V,, April 25, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viu. p. 222 ; and MS. Vienna. The Monastic Orders. 325 a doubtful potion to him, or to aid in inviting a Cath oUc army into England to extinguish the light that was dawning there, only those who are Catholics first and Englishmen afterwards will say that it was weU done on the doctor's part. The temper of the nation was growing dangerous, and the forces on both sides were ranging themselves for the battle. Bishop Fisher has been seen sounding on the same string. He, with More, had now been for many months in the Tower, and his communica tions with Chapuys having been cut off, he had been unable to continue his solicitations; but the Ambas sador had undertaken for the whole of the clergy on the instant that the Emperor should declare himseU. The growth of Lutheranism had touched their hearts with pious indignation ; their hatred of heresy was al most the sole distinction which they had preserved be longing to their sacred caUing. The regular orders were the most worthless ; the smaller monasteries were nests of depravity; the purpose of their existence was to sing souls out of purgatory, and the efficacy of their musical petitionings being no longer believed In, the King had concluded that monks and nuns could be better employed, and that the wealth which main tained them could be turned to better purpose — to the purpose especiaUy of the defence of the realm against them and their machinations. The monks everywhere were the active missionaries of treason. They writhed under the Act of Supremacy. Their hope of continuance depended on the restoration of the Papal authority. When they were discovered to be at once useless and treacherous, it was not unjust to take their lands from them and apply the money for which those lands could be sold, to the fleet and the fortresses on the coast. 326 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. In this, the greatest of his reforms, CromweU had been the King's chief adviser. He had been em ployed under Wolsey in the first suppression of the most corrupt of the smaller houses. In the course of his work he had gained an insight Into the scandalous habits of their occupants, which convinced him of the impoUcy and uselessness of attempting to prolong their existence. Institutions however ancient, organiza tions however profoundly sacred, cannot outlive the recognition that the evil which they produce is con stant and the advantage visionary. That the monastic system was doomed had become generally felt; that the victims of the intended over throw should be impatient of their fate was no more than natural. The magnitude of the design, the in terests which were threatened, the imagined sanctify attaching to properfy devoted to the Church, gave an opportunity for outcry against sacrilege. The entire body of monks became in their various orders an army of insurrectionary preachers, weU supplied -with money, terrifying the weak, encouraging the strong, and appealing to the superstitions so powerful with a people like the English, who were tenacious of their habits and associations. The Abbots and Priors had sworn to the supre macy, but had sworn reluctantly, with secret reserva tions to save their consciences. With the prospect of an Imperial deliverer to appear among them, they were recovering courage to defy their excommuni cated enemy. Those who retained the most of the original spirit of their religion were the first to recover heart for resistance. The monks of the London Char terhouse, who were exceptions to the general corrup tion, and were men of piefy and character, came for ward to repudiate their oaths and to dare the law to T%e Charterhouse Monks. 327 punish them. Their tragical story is famiUar to aU readers of English history. Chapuys adds a few par ticulars. Their Prior, Haughton, had consented to the Act of Supremacy ; but his conscience told him that in doing so he had committed perjury. He went voluntarily, with three of the brotherhood, to Crom weU, and retracted his oath, declaring that the King In caUing himseU Head of the Church was usurping the Pope's authority. They had not been sent for; their house was in no immediate danger; and there was no intention of meddling with them. Their act was a gratuitous defiance; and under the circum stances of. the country was an act of war. The effect, if not the purpose, was, and must have been, to en courage a spirit which would explode in rebellion. CromweU warned them of their danger, and advised them to keep their scruples to themselves. They said they would rather encounter a hundred thousand deaths. They were called before a Council of Peers. The Knights of the Garter were holding their annual Chapter, and the attendance was large. The Duke of Norfolk presided, having returned to the Court, and the proceedings were unusuaUy solemn. The monks were required to withdraw their declaration; they were told that the statute was not to be disputed. They persisted. They were aUowed a night to refiect, and they spent it on their knees in prayer. In the morning they were recaUed; their courage held, and they were sentenced to die, with another friar who had spoken and written to similar purpose*. They had thro-wn do-wn a chaUenge to the Govern ment; the chaUenge was accepted, and the execution marked the importance of the occasion. They were not a handful of insignificant priests, they were the advanced guard of insurrection ; and to aUow them to 328 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. triumph was to admit defeat. They were conducted through the streets by an armed force. The Duke of Norfolk,, the Duke of Richmond, Henry's iUegitimate son. Lord Wiltshire, and Lord Rochford attended at the scaffold. Sir Henry Norris was also there, masked, with forfy of the Royal Guard on horseback. At the scaffold they were again offered a chance of life; again they refused, and died gaUantly. The struggle had begun for the Crown of England. In claiming the supremacy for the Pope, these men had abjured their aUegiance to the King whom the Pope had excommunicated. Conscience was nothing — motive was nothing. Conscience was not aUowed as a plea when a Lutheran was threatened with the stake. In aU civil conflicts high motives are to be found on both sides, and in earnest times words are not used without meaning. The Statute of Supremacy was Henry's defence against an attempt to deprive him of his cro-wn and deprive the kingdom of its indepen dence. To disobey the law was treason ; and the pen- alfy of treason was death. ^ Chapuys in teUing the story urged it as a proof to Charles that there was no hope of the King's repen tance. It was now expected that More and Fisher, and perhaps the Queen and Princess, would be caUed on also to acknowledge the supremacy, and, U they refused, would suffer the same fate. The King's Min isters, Chapuys said, were known to have often re proached the King, and to have told him it w;as a shame for him and the kingdom not to punish them as traitors. Anne Boleyn was fiercer and haughtier than ever she was.^ Sir Thomas More was under the 1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 5, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 452. " Ibid, Action on the Statute. 329 same impression that Anne had been instigator of the severities. She would take his head from him, he said, and then added, propheticaUy, that her o-wn would foUow. The presence of her father and bro ther and her favourite Norris at the execution of the Carthusians confirmed the impression. The action of the Government had grounds more sufficient than a woman's urgency. More and Fisher received notice that they would be examined on the statute, and were aUowed six weeks to prepare their answer. Chapuys did not believe that any danger threatened Catherine, or threatened her household. She herseU, however, anticipated the worst, and only hoped that her own fate might rouse the Emperor at last. The Emperor was not to be roused. He was pre paring for his great expedition to Tunis -to root out the corsairs, and had other work on hand. In vain Chapuys had tried to make him believe that CromweU meditated the destruction of the Princess Mary; In vain Chapuys had told him that words were useless, and that "cautery was the only remedy" — that the English Peers were panting for encouragement to take arms. He had no confidence In insurgent sub jects who could not use the constitutional methods which they possessed to do anything for themselves. He saw Henry crushing do-wn resistance -with the re lentless severify of the law. He replied to Chapuys's entreaties that, although he could not In conscience abandon his aunt and cousin, yet the Ambassador must temporise. He had changed his mind about Mary's escape : he said it was dangerous, unadvisable, and not to be thought of.^ The present was not the proper moment. He wrote a cautious letter to the 1 Charles V. to Chapuys, May 10, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 459. 330 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. King, which he forwarded for Chapuys to deliver. In spite of Charterhouse monks and Lutheran preachers, the Ambassador was to take up again the negotiations for the treaty. Thus CromweU and he recommenced their secret meetings. A country-house was selected for the pur pose, where their interviews would be unobserved. Chapuys had recommended that Henry should assist in eaUing a General Council. CromweU undertook that Henry would consent, provided the Council was not held in Italy, or in the Pope's or the Emperor's dominions, and pro-vided that the divorce should not be among the questions submitted to it. The Empe ror, he said, had done enough for his honour, and might now leave the matter to the King's conscience. With respect to the Queen and Princess, the King had already -written to Sir John WaUop, who was to lay his letters before the Spanish Ambassador in Paris. The King had said that, although the Empe ror, in forsaking a loyal friend for the sake of a woman, had not acted weU with him, yet he was wiU ing to forget and forgive. If the Emperor would ad vise the ladies to submit to the judgment of the Uni versities of Europe, which had been sanctioned by the English estates of the realm, and was as good as a de cree of a Council, they would have nothing to com plain of.i Chapuys observed that such a letter ought to have been shown to himself before it was sent; but that was of no moment. The King of France, Crom weU went on, would bring the Turk, and the Devil, too, into Christendom to recover Milan ; the King and the Emperor ought to draw together to hold France in check; and yet, to give Chapuys a hint that he knew what he had been doing, he said he had heard, 1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 459. Cromwell and Chapuys. 331 though he did not believe it, that the Emperor and the King of the Romans had thought of invading Eng land, in a belief that they would make an easy con quest of it. They would find the enterprise more costly than they expected, and, even if they did con quer England, they could not keep it. Chapuys, wishing to learn how much had been discovered, asked what CromweU meant. CromweU told him the exact tmth. The scheme had been to stop the trade between England and Flanders. A rebeUion was ex pected to foUow, which, CromweU admitted, was not unlikely; and then, in great detail and with a quiet air of certainty, he referred to the solicitations con tinuaUy made to the Emperor to send across an army. Leaving Chapuys to wonder at his sources of inform ation, so accurate, CromweU spoke of an approaching' conference at Calais, which was to be held at the re quest of the French King. He did not think any thing would come of it. He had himseU declined to be present, but one of the proposals to be made would be an offer of the Duke of Angouleme for the young Princess Elizabeth. The Council, he said, had mean time been revie-wing the old treaty for the marriage of the Emperor to the Princess Mary, and the King had spoken in the warmest terms of the Emperor. Perhaps as a substitute for the French connection, and provided the divorce was not caUed in question again, he thought that the Princess Elizabeth might be betrothed to Philip, and a marriage could be found out of the reahn for the Princess Mary with the Em peror's consent and approbation. The King, in this case, would give her the greatest and richest dower that was ever given to any Queen or Empress.^ 1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 8, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 457. 332 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Chapuys observed that the divorce must be disposed of before fresh marriages coidd be thought of. Crom weU wished him to speak himseU to the King. Cha puys politely declined to take so delicate a negotiation out of CromweU's hands. For himseU, he had not yet abandoned hope of a different Issue. Lord Darcy was stiU eager as ever, and wished to communicate directly with the Emperor. From Ireland, too, the news were less discouraging. The insurrection had burnt do-wn, but was stUl unsubdued. Lord Thomas found one of his difficulties to lie in the incomplete ness of the Papal censures. The formal BuU of De position was stiU unpublished. The young chief had written to the Pope to say that, but for this deficiency, he would have driven the EngUsh out of the island, and to beg that it might be immediately suppUed. He had himseU, too, perhaps, been in fault. The murder of an archbishop who had not been directly excommunicated was an irregularify and possibly a crime. He prayed that the Pope would send bim ab solution. Paul as he read the letter showed much pleasure. He excused his hesitation as ha-ving risen from a hope that the King of England would repent. For the future he said he would do his dufy; and at once sent Lord Thomas the required pardon for an act which had been really meritorious.^ The absolution may have benefited Lord Thomas's soul. It did not save him from the gaUows. Again CromweU and Chapuys met. Again the discussion returned to the insoluble problem. The Spanish Council of State had half recommended that the divorce should be passed over, as It had been at Cambray. Chapuys laboured to entangle Henry in 1 Dr, Ortiz to Charles V., May 27, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p, 462. Proposed Treaty with the Emperor. 333 an engagement that it should be submitted to the intended General Council. The argument took the usual form. CromweU said that the King could not revoke what he had done, without disgrace. Chapuys answered that it was the only way to avoid disgrace, and the most honourable course which he could adopt. The King ought not to be satisfied in such a matter -with the laws and constitutions of his own country. If he would yield on this single point, the taking away the property of the clergy might in some degree be confirmed. The ground aUeged for it being the de fence of the realm, there would be less occasion for such measures in future; the Emperor would aUow the King to make his submission in any form that he might choose, and everything should be made as smooth as Henry could desire. CromweU, according to Chapuys, admitted the soundness of the argument, but he said that it was neither In his power, nor in any man's power, to per suade the King, who would hazard aU rather than yield. Even the present Pope, he said, had, when Cardinal, written an autograph letter to the King, teU ing him that he had a right to ask for a divorce, and that Clement had done him great wrong. The less reason then, Chapuys neatly observed, for refusing to lay the matter before a General Council. The Ambassador went through his work dutifuUy, though expecting nothing from it, and his reports of what passed with the English Ministers ended gene raUy with a recommendation of what he thought the wiser course. Lord Hussey, he said, had sent to him to say that he could remain no longer in a country where aU ranks and classes were being driven into heresy ; and would, therefore, cross the Channel to see the Emperor in person, to urge his o-wn opinion and 334 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. learn the Emperor's decision from his o-wn lips. Tf the answer was unfavourable he would teU his friends, that they might not be deceived in their expectations. They would then act for themselves.^ It is likely that Chapuys had been instructed to reserve the concessions which Charles was prepared to make tiU it was certain that, without them, the treafy would fail. France meanwhile was outbidding the Emperor, and the King was using, without disguise, the offers of each Power to alarm the other. Crom weU at the next meeting told Chapuys that Francis was ready to support the divorce unreservedly U Henry would assist him in taking MUan. The French, he said, should have a sharp answer, could confidence be felt in the Emperor's overtures. A sharp struggle was going on in the Council between the French and Imperial factions. HimseU sincerely anxious for the success of the negotiation in which he was engaged, CromweU said he had faUen into worse disgrace with Anne Boleyn than he had ever been. Anne had never liked him. She had told him recently "she would like to see his head off his shoulders." ^ She was equaUy angry with the Duke of Norfolk, who had been too frank in the terms in which he had spoken of her. If she discovered his Interviews with Chapuys she would do them both some ill turn. The King himseU agreed with CromweU In pre ferring the Emperor to Francis, but he would not part company with France tiU he was assured that Charles no longer meant his harm. Charles, it -wUl be re membered, had himself written to Henry, and the letter had by this time arrived. Chapuys feared that, 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, May 23, 1535. — Calendar , Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii, p, 280 ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 465. '^ Spanish Calendar, vol. v, p. 484. Proposed Treaty with the Emperor. 335 U he presented it at a public audience, the Court would conclude that the Emperor was reconciled, and had abandoned the Queen and Princess, so he applied for a private reception. The King granted it, read the letter, spoke graciously of the expedition against the Turks, and then significantly of his o-wn arma ments and the new fortifications at Dover and Calais. He believed (as Chapuys had heard from the Princess Mary) that, if he could tide over the present summer, the winter would then protect him, and that in an other year he would be strong enough to fear no one. Seeing that he said nothing of the treaty, Chapuys began upon it, and said that the Emperor was anxious to come to terms with him, so far as honour and con science would aUow. Henry showed not the least eagerness. He repUed with entire frankness that France was going to war for Milan. Large offers had been made to him, which, so far, he had not ac cepted; but he might be induced to listen, unless he could be better assured of the Emperor's intention. ^ It was evident that Henry could neither be cajoled nor frightened. Should Charles then give up the point for which he was contending? Once more the Imperial Privy Council sat to consider what was to be done. It had become clear that no treaty could be made with Henry unless the Emperor would distinctly consent that the divorce should not be spoken of. The old objections were again weighed — the injuries to the Queen and to the Holy See, the Emperor's obligations, the bad effect on Christendom and on England which a composition on such terms would produce, the encouragement to other Princes to act as Henry had done — stubborn facts of the case which 1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 5, 1^5.— Spanish Calendar, vol. v. ' p. 483. 336 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. could not be evaded. On the other hand were the dangerous attitude of Francis, the obstinacy of Henry, the possibility that France and England might unite, and the Inabilify of the Emperor to encounter their coalition. Both Francis and Henry were powerful Princes, and a quarrel would not benefit the Queen and her daughter if the Emperor was powerless to help them. The divorce was the difficulty. Shoidd the Emperor insist on a promise that it should be sub mitted to a General Council? It might be advisable, under certain circumstances, to create disturbances in England and Ireland, so as to force the King into an aUiance on the Emperor's terms. But if Henry could be induced to suspend or modify his attacks on the Faith and the Church, to break his connection with France and withdraw from his negotiations with the Germans, if securities could be taken that the Queen and Princess should not be compeUed to sign or pro mise anything without the Emperor's consent, the e-vi dent sense of the Spanish Council of State was that the proceedings against the King should be suspended, perhaps for his life, and that no stipulations should be insisted on, either for the King's return to the Church or for his consent to the meeting of the General Council. God might perhaps work on the King's conscience -without threat of force or -violence ; and the Emperor, before starting on his expedition to Tunis, might teU the EngUsh Ambassador that he wished to be the King's friend, and would not go to war with any Christian Prince unless he was compeUed. The Queen's consent would, of course, be necessary; she and the Princess would be more miserable than ever if they were made to believe that there was no help .for them.i But their consent. If there was no alter- 1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 486. Proposed Treaty ^cith the Emperor. 337 native, might be assumed when a refusal would be If the wiUingness to make concessions was the mea sure of the respective anxieties for an agreement be tween the two countries, Spain was more eager than England, for the Emperor was wlUing to yield the point on which he had broken the unity of Christen dom and content himseU with words, while Henry would yield nothing, except the French alliance, for which he had cared little from the time that France had refused to foUow him into schism. An aUiance of the Emperor with an excommuni cated sovereign in the face of a sentence which he had himseU insisted on, and with a BuU of Deposition ready for launching, would be an insult to the Holy See more dangerous to It than the revolt of a single kingdom. The treaty might, however, have been completed on the terms which Wallop and the Im perial Ambassador had agreed on at Paris, and which the Imperial Council had not rejected. The Pope saw the peril, struck in, and made it impossible. In the trial and execution of the Carthusians Henry had sho-wn to Europe that he was himself in earnest. The blood of martyrs was the seed of the Church, and Paul calculated rightly that he could not injure the King of England more effectually than by driving him to fresh severities and thus provoking an insurrection. No other explanation can be given for his having chosen this particular moment for an act which must and would produce the desired consequence Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More had been aUowed six weeks to consider whether they would acknowledge the Statute of Supremacy. More was respected by every one, except the Lutherans, whom he confessed that he hated; Fisher was regarded as a saint by the Cath- 338 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. olic part of England ; and the King, who was depend ent after aU on the support of his subjects and could not wish to shock or alienate them, would probably have pressed them no further, unless challenged by some fresh provocation. Fisher had waded deep into treason, but, if the King knew it, there was no evi dence which could be produced. Before the six weeks were expired the Court and the world were as tonished to hear that Paul had created the Bishop of Rochester a cardinal, and that the hat was already on the way. Casalis, who foresaw the consequences, had protested against the appointment, both to the Pope and the Consistory. Paul pretended to be frightened. He begged Casalis to excuse him to the King. He professed, what it was impossible to believe, that he had intended to pay England a compliment. A gen eral Council was to meet. He wished England to be represented there by a Prelate whom he understood to be distinguished for learning and sanctify. The Roman Pontiffs have had a chequered reputation, but the weakest of them has never been suspected of a want of worldly acuteness. The condition of England was as weU understood at Rome as it was understood by Chapuys, and, with Dr. Ortiz at his ear, Paul must have been acquainted with the disposition of every peer and prelate in the realm. Fisher's name had been famUiar through the seven years' controversy as of the one English Bishop who had been constant in resistance to every step of Henry's policy. Paul, who had just absolved Silken Thomas for the Archbishop of Dublin's murder, had little to leam about the con spiracy, or about Fisher's share in it. The excuse was an insolence more affronting than the act ItseU. It was Impossible for the King to acknowledge him seU defied and defeated. He said briefly that he Fisher and More. 339 would send Fisher's head to Rome, for the hat to be fitted on it. Sir Thomas More, as Fisher's dearest friend, connected with him in opposition to the Ref ormation and sharing his Imprisonment for the same actions, was involved along with him in the fatal ef fects of the Pope's cunning or the Pope's idiotcy. The six weeks ran out. The Bishop and the ex-Chan- ceUor were caUed again before the Council, refused to acknowledge the supremacy, and were committed for trial. The French and English Commissioners had met and parted at Calais. Nothing had been concluded there, as CromweU said with pleasure to Chapuys, prejudicial to the Emperor ; but as to submitting the King's conduct to a Council, CromweU reiterated that it was not to be thought of. Were there no other reason, the hatred borne to him by all the English prestraylle for having pulled down the tyranny of the Church and tried to reform them, would be cause suf ficient. The Council would be composed of clergy. More than this, and under the provocation of the fresh Insult, CromweU said that neither the King nor his subjects would recognise any Council convoked by the Pope. A Council convoked by the Emperor they would acknowledge, but a Papal Council never. They intended to make the Church of England a true and singular mirror to aU Christendom. ^ Paul can hardly have deliberately contemplated the results of what he had done. He probably calculated, either that Henry would not dare to go to extremities with a person of so holy a reputation as Bishop Fisher, or that the threat of it would force Fisher's and the Queen's friends into the field in time to save 1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 30, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. V. p. 500. 340 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. him. They had boasted that the whole country was with them, and the Pope had taken them at their word. Yet his own mind misgave him. The Nuncio at Paris was directed to beg Francis to intercede. Francis said he would do his best, but feared the "hat" would prove the Bishop's death. Henry, Francis said, was not always easy to deal with. He almost treated him as a subject. He was the strangest man in the world. He feared he could do no good with hlm.^ There was not the least likelihood that the King would aUow the interposition either of Francis or of any one. The crime created by the Act of Supremacy was the denial byword or act of the King's sovereignty, ecclesiastical or civil, and the object was to check and punish sedi tious speaking or preaching. As the Act was first drafted, to speak at all against the supremacy brought an offender under the penalties. The House of Com mons was unwiUing to make mere language into high treason, and a strong attempt was made to Introduce the word "maliciously." Men might deny that the King was Head of the Church in ignorance or inad vertence ; and an Innocent opinion was not a proper subject for severity. But persons who had exposed themselves to suspicion might be questioned, and their answers interpreted by coUateral e-vidence, to prove disloyal intention. Chapuys's letters leave no doubt of Fisher's real disloyalty. But his desire to bring In an Imperial army was shared by half the Peers, and, if proof of it could be produced, their guilty con sciences might drive them into open rebeUion. It was ascertained that Fisher and More had communicated with each other in the Tower on the answers which they were to give. But other points had risen for 1 The Bishop of Faenza to M, Ambrogio, June 6, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. p. 320. Fisher and More. 341 which Fisher was not prepared. Among the papers found in his study were letters in an unknown hand addressed to Queen Catherine, which apparently the Bishop was to have forwarded to her, but had been prevented by his arrest. They formed part of a cor respondence between the Queen and some Foreign Prince, carried on through a reverend father spoken of as E. R. . . . aUuding to things which " no mor tal man was to know besides those whom it behoved," and to another letter which E. R. had received of the Bishop himseU. Fisher was asked who wrote these letters: "Who was E. R.? Who was the Prince?" What those things were which no mortal was to know? If trifies, why the secrecy, and from whom were they to be concealed? What were the letters which had been received from the Bishop himseU to be sent over sea? The letters found contained also a request to know whether Catherine wished the writer to proceed to other Princes in Germany and solicit them; and again a promise that the writer would maintain her cause among good men there, and -would let her know what he could succeed in bringing to pass with the Princes. The Bishop was asked whether, saving his faith and aUegiance, he ought to have assisted a man who was engaged in such enterprises, and why he concealed a matter which he knew to be intended against the King; how the letter came Into his hands, who sent it, who brought it. If the Bishop refused to answer or equivocated, he was to understand that the King knew the truth, for he had proof in his hands. The writer was craffy and subtle and had promised to spend his labour with the Princes that they should take in hand to defend the Lady Catherine's cause. The King held the key to the whole mystery. The 342 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. mine had been undermined. The intended rebellion was no secret to Henry or to CromweU. Catherine, a divorced wife, and a Spanish princess, owed no aUe giance in England. But Fisher was an English sub ject, and conscience is no excuse for treason, until the treason succeeds. Fisher answered warily, but certainly untruly, that he could not recoUect the name either of the Prince who wrote the letter which had been discovered or of the messenger who brought it. It was probably some German prince, but, as God might help him, he could not say which, unless it was Ferdinand, King of Hungary. E. R. was not himseU, nor did he ever consent that the writer should attempt anything with the German Princes against the King. He had been careful. He had desired Chapuys from the beginning that his name should not be men tioned, except in cipher. He had perhaps abstained from directly ad-vising an application to Ferdinand, who could not act without the Emperor's sanction. His messages to Charles through his Ambassador even Fisher could scarcely have had the hardiness to deny; but these messages, if known, were not aUeged. The Anglo-Imperial aUiance was on the anvil, and the question was not put to him.^ Of Fisher's malice, however, as the law construed it, there was no doubt. He persisted in his refusal to acknowledge the supremacy of the Crown. Five days after his examination he was tried at Westminster HaU, and in the week following he was executed on Tower Hill. He died bravely in a cause which he believed to be right. To the last he might have saved himseU by submission, but he never wavered. He 1 Examination of Fisher in the Tower, June 12, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, viii, pp, 331 et seq. Fisher and More. 343 knew that he could do better service to the Queen and the Catholic Church by his death than by his life. CromweU told Chapuys that " the Bishop of Rome was the cause of his punishment, for having made a Car dinal of the King's worst enemy.'-' He was "greatly pitied of the people." The pity would have been less had his real conduct been revealed. A nobler victim followed. In the lists of those who were prepared to take arms against the King there is no mention of the name of Sir Thomas More ; but he had been Fisher's intimate friend and com panion, and he could hardly have been ignorant of a conspiracy with which Fisher had been so closely concerned ; while malice might be inferred without in justice from an acquaintance with dangerous purposes which he had not revealed. He paid the penalty of the sociefy to which he had attached himself. He, even more than the Bishop of Rochester, was the chief of the party most opposed to the Reformation. He had distinguished himseU as Chancellor by his zeal against the Lutherans, and. If that parfy had won the day, they would have gone to work as they did after wards when Mary became Queen. No one knew bet ter than More the need in which the Church stood of the surgeon's hand; no one saw clearer the fox's face under the monk's cowl: but, like other moderate re formers, he detested impatient enthusiasts who spoilt their cause by extravagance. He felt towards the Protestantism which was spreading In England as Burke felt towards the Convention and the Jacobin Club, and while More lived and defied the statute the vast middle parfy in the nation which was yet unde cided found encouragement In opposition from his ex ample. His execution has been uniformly condemned by historians as an act of wanton tyranny. It was 344 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, not wanton, and it was not an act of tyranny. It was an inevitable and painful incident of an infinitely blessed revolution. The received accounts of his trial are confirmed with slight additions by a paper of news from England which was sent to the Imperial Court. More was charged with having deprived the King of the title of "Supreme Head of the Church," which had been granted to him by the last Parliament. He replied that, when questioned by the King's Secre tary what he thought of the statute, he had answered that, being a dead man to the world, he cared nothing for such things, and he could not be condemned for silence. The King's Attorney said that all good sub jects were bound to answer without dissimulation or reserve, and silence was the same as speech. Silence, More objected, was generaUy taken to mean consent. Whatever his thoughts might be, he had never ut tered them. He was charged with having exchanged letters with the Bishop of Rochester in the Tower on the replies which they were to give on their examination. Each had said that the statute was a sword with two edges, one of which slew the body, the other the soul. As they had used the same words it was clear that they were confederated. More replied that he had answered as his conscience dictated, and had advised the Bishop to do the same. He did not believe that he had ever said or done any thing maliciously against the statute. The jury consulted only for a quarter of an hour and returned a verdict of "guilty." Sentence passed as a matter of course, and then More spoke out. As he was condemned, he said he would now declare his opinion. He had studied the question for seven Execution of Sir Thomas More. 345 years, and was satisfied that no temporal lord could be head of the spiritualty. For each bishop on the side of the Royal Supremacy he could produce a hun- di-ed saints. For their Parliament he had the Coun cils of a thousand years. For one kingdom he had all the other Christian Powers. The Bishops had broken their vows ; the Parliament had no authority to make laws against the unity of Christendom, and had capi- taUy sinned in making them. His crime had been his opposition to the second marriage of the King. He had faith, however, that, as St. Paul persecuted St. Stephen, yet both were now In Paradise, so he and his judges, although at variance in this world, would meet in charify hereafter. ^ The end came quickly. The trial was on the 1st of July; on the 6th the head feU of one of the most interesting men that England ever produced. Had the supremacy been a question of opinion, had there been no conspiracy to restore by arms the Papal ty ranny, no clergy and nobles entreating the landing of an army like that which wasted Flanders at the com mand of the Duke of Alva, no Irish nobles murdering Archbishops and receiving Papal absolution for it, to have sent Sir Thomas More to the scaffold for believ ing the Pope to be master of England would have been a barbarous murder, deserving the execration which has been poured upon it. An age which has no such perils to alarm Its slumbers forgets the ene mies which threatened to waste the country with fire and sword, and admires only the virtues wWch remain fresh for aU time ; we, too, if exposed to similar pos sibilities might be no more mercUul than our fore fathers. 1 News from England, July 1, 1535, — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 507, 346 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The execution of Fisher and More was the King's answer to Papal thunders and domestic conspirators, and the effect was electric. Darcy again appealed to Chapuys, praying that the final sentence should be instantly issued. He did not wish to wait any longer for Imperial aid. The Pope having spoken, the coun try would now rise of ItseU. The clergy would fur nish aU the money needed for a beginning, and a way might be found to seize the gold in the treasury. Time pressed. They must get to work at once. If they loitered longer the modern preachers and prelates would corrupt the people, and aU would be lost.^ Cifuentes wrote from Rome to the Emperor that the Bishop of Paris was on his way there with proposals from Francis for an arrangement with England which would be fatal to the Queen, the Church, and the morals of Christendom. He begged to be allowed to press the Pope to hold in readiness a brief deposing Henry; a brief which, if once issued, could not be recaUed.^ ' Chapuys to Charles V,, July 11, 1535, — Spanish Calendar, vol, v. p, 512, 2 Cifuentes to Charles V,, July 16, 1535. — Jiirf. p. 515. CHAPTER XIX. Campaign of the Emperor in Africa — Uncertainties at Rome — Policy of Francis — English preparations for war — Fresh appeals to the Emperor — Delay in the issue of the censures — The Princess Mary — Letter of Catherine to the Pope — Disaffection of the Enghsh Cathohcs — Libels against Henry, CromweU, and Chapuys — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — Dangerous position of Henry — Death of the Duke of MUan — Effect on European poUcy — Intended Bull of Paul III, — Indecision of Charles — Prospect of war with France — Ad vice of Charles to Catherine — Distrust of the Emperor at the Pa pal Court — Warlike resolution of the Pope restrained by the Car dinals, Cifuentes had been misinformed when he feared that Francis was again about to interpose in Henry's . behaU at Rome. The conference at Calais had broken up without definite results. The policy of France was to draw Henry off from his treafy with the Emperor; Henry preferred to play the two great Catholic Pow ers one against the other, and commit himseU to nei ther; and Francis, knowing the Indignation which Fisher's execution would produce at Rome, was turn ing his thoughts on other ineans of accomplishing his purpose. The Emperor's African campaign was splen didly successful — too successful to be satisfactory at the Vatican. The Pope, as the head of Christendom, was bound to express pleasure at the defeat of the In fidels, but he feared that Charles, victorious by land and sea, might give him trouble in his own dominions, ^ 1 Spanish Calendar, vol, v, p, 532. 348 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. A settled purpose, however, remained to pmiish the English King, and Henry had need to be careful. The French faction in the Council wished him to pro ceed at once to extremities -with the Princess, which woidd effectuaUy end the hopes of an Imperial aUi ance. Anne Boleyn was continuaUy teUing the King that the Queen and Princess were his greatest danger. "They deserved death more than those who had been lately executed, since they were the cause of aU the mischief."^ Chapuys found himseU no longer able to communicate with Mary, from the increased precau tion in guarding her. It was aUeged that there was a fear of her being carried off by the French. The Imperial party at Rome, not knowing what to do or to advise, drew a curious memorandum for Charles's consideration. The Emperor, they said, had been in formed when the divorce case was being tried at Rome, that England was a fief of the Church of Rome, and as the King had defied the Apostolic See, he deserved to be deprived of his crown. The Emperor had not approved of a step so severe. But the King had now beheaded the Bishop of Rochester, whom the Pope had made a cardinal. On the news of the execution the Pope and Cardinals had moved that he should be deprived at once and without more delay for this and for his other crimes. Against taking such action was the danger to the Queen of which they were greatly afraid, and also the sense that if, after sentence, the cro-wn of England devolved on the Holy See, injury might be done to the prospects of the Princess. It might be contrived that the Pope in depriving the King might assign the crown to his daughter, or the Pope In consistory might declare secretly that they were acting in favour of the Princess and without prejudice i Chapuys to Charles V., July 25, 1535.— Ibid. vol. v, p, 518. The Emperor's Difficulties. 349 to her claim. To this, however, there was the objec tion that the King might hear of it through some of the Cardinals. Something at any rate had to be done. AU courses were dangerous. The Emperor was re quested to decide.-' A new ingredient was now to be thrown into the political cauldron. So far from -wishing to reconcile England with the Papacy, the Pope informed Cifu entes that Francis was now ready and wiUing to help the Apostolic See in the execution of the sentence against the King of England. Francis thought that the Emperor ought to begin, since the affair was his personal concern; but when the first step was taken Francis himseU would be at the Pope's disposition. The meaning of this, in the opinion of Cifuentes, was merely to entangle the Emperor in a war with Eng land, and so to leave him. The Pope himseU thought so too. Francis had been heard to say that when the Emperor had opened the campaign he would come next and do what was most for his own interest. The Pope, however, said, as Clement had said before him, that, if Charles and Francis would only act together against England, the "execution" could be managed satisfactorily. Cifuentes rSplied that he had no com mission to enter into that question. He reported what had passed to his master, and said that he would be in no haste to urge the Pope to further mea sures.^ Henry had expected nothing better from France. He had dared the Pope to do his worst. ' He stood alone, with no protection save in the jealousy of the rival Powers, and had nothing to trust to save his own ' Memorandum on the Affairs of England, — Spanish Calendar.,^ vol, V, p. 522, 2 Jbid. p. 535. 350 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. ability to defend his country and his cro-wn. His chief anxiety was for the security of the sea. A successful stoppage of trade would, as CromweU admitted, lead to confusion and insurrection. Ship after ship was built and launched in the Thames. The busy note of preparation rang over the realm. The clergy, Lord Darcy had said, were to furnish money for the rising. The King was taking precautions to shorten their re sources, and turn their revenues to the protection of the realm. CromweU's visitors were out over England examining into the condition of the religious houses, exposing their abuses and sequestrating their estates. These dishonoured institutions had been found to be "very stews of unnatural crime" through the length and breadth of England. Their means of mischief were taken away from such worthless and treacherous communities. Crown officials were left in charge, and their final fate was reserved for Parliament. Henry, meanwhile, confident in his subjects, and taking lightly the dangers which threatened him, went on progress along the Welsh borders, hunting, -visit ing, showing himseU everywhere, and received with apparent enthusiasm. The behaviour of the people perplexed Chapuys. "I am told," he wrote, "that in the districts where he has been, a good part of the peasantry, after hearing the Court preachers, are abused into the belief that he was inspired by God to separate himseU from his brother's wife. They are but idiots. They -wiU return soon enough to the truth when there are any signs of change." They would not return, nor were they the fools he thought them. The clergy, Chapuys himseU confessed it, had made them selves detested by the English commons for their loose lives and the tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts. The monasteries, too many of them, were nests of infamy France and the Papacy. 351 and fraud, and the King whom the Catholic world caUed Antichrist appeared as a deliverer from an odious despotism. At Rome there was stiU uncertainty. The Imperial memorandum explains the cause of the hesitation. The Emperor was engaged in Africa, and could de cide nothing tiU his return. The great Powers were divided on the partition of the bear's skin, while the bear was stiU unstricken. Why, asked the impa tient English Catholics, did not the Pope strike and make an end of him when even Francis, who had so long stayed his hand, was now urging him to pro ceed? Francis was probably as insincere as Cifuentes beUeved him to be. But the mere hope of help from such a quarter gave fresh IUe to the wearied Cathe rine and her agents. "The Pope," wrote Dr. Ortiz to the Empero-r, "has committed the deprivation of the King of Eng land and the adjudication of the realm to the Apos tolic See as a fief of the Church to Cardinals Cam peggio, Simoneta, and Cesls. The delay in granting the executorials in the principal cause is wonderful. Although the deposition of the King was spoken of so hotly in the Consistory, and they wrote about it to aU the Princes, they -wiU only proceed -with delay and with a monition to the King to be intimated in neighbour ing countries. This is needless. His heresy, schism, and other crimes are notorious. He may be deprived without the delay of a monition. If it is pressed, It is to be feared it wiU be on the side of Fitance. It Is a wonderful revenge which the King of France has taken on the King of England, to favour him until he has faUen into schism and heresy, and then to forsake him in it, to delude him as far as the gaUows, and to 352 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. leave him to hang. The blood of the saints whom that King has martyred caUs to God for justice." ' Catherine, sick with hope deferred and tired of the Emperor's hesitation, was catching at the new straw which was fioating by her. Ortiz must have kept her informed of the French overtures at the Vatican. She prayed the Regent Mary to use her influence -with the French Queen. Now was the time for Francis to show himseU a true friend of his brother of England, and assist in delivering him from a state of sin.^ Strange rumours were current In France and in England to explain the delay of the censures. The Pope had confessed himseU alarmed at the complete ness of Charles's success at Tunis. It was thought that the Emperor, fresh from his victories, might act on the advice of men like Lope de Soria, take his Holiness himself in hand and abolish the Temporal Power; that the Pope knew it, and therefore feared to make matters worse by provoking England further.^ Pope and Princes might watch each other in dis trust at a safe distance ; but to the English conspira tors the long pause was IUe or death. Delays are usuaUy fatal with intended rebellion. The only safety Is in immediate action. Enthusiasm cools, and se crets are betrayed. Fisher's fate was a fresh spur to them to move, but it also proved that the Govern ment knew too much and did not mean to flinch. ^ Ortiz to the Empress, Sept. 1, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, ix, p, 84, '•^ " Cuando se viese con la Seiiora Reyna su hermana despues de dadas mis afectuosas encomiendas rogarle de mi parte quisiese tener mencion de my con el Christianisimo Rey su marido y hacer quanto pudiese ser, que el sea buen amigo al Rey mi Sefior proeurando de quitarle del pecado, en que esta," Catherine to the Regent Mary, Aug, 8, 1535. — MS. Vienna. 3 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept, 25, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. pp. 140-141. The Emperor and the Pope. 353 Chapuys tried GranveUe again. "Every man of position here," he said, "is in despair at the Pope's inaction. If something is not done promptly there wiU be no hope for the ladles, or for religion either, ' which is going daily to destruction. Things are come to such a pass that at some places men even preach against the Sacrament. The Emperor is bound to interfere. What he has done in Africa he can do in England with far more ease and with incomparably more political advantage." ^ GranveUe could but answer that* Henry was a mon ster, and that God would undoubtedly punish him; but that for himseU he was so busy that he could scarcely breathe, and that the Emperor continued to hope for some peaceful arrangement. Cifuentes meanwhile kept his hand on Paul. His task was difficult, for his orders were to prevent the issue of the executorials for fear France should act upon them, while Catholic Christendom would be shaken to its base if it became known that It was the Emperor who was preventing the Holy See from avenging itseU. Even with the Pope Cifuentes could not be candid, and Ortiz, working on Paul's jealousy and unable to comprehend the obstacle, had persuaded his Holiness to draw up "the brief of execution" and furnish a copy to himself.^ 1 Chapuys to Granvelle, Sept, 25, 1535, — Vienna MS. ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, ix. p. 141. ^ The executory brief was not identical with the Bull of Deposition, The tirst was the final act of Catherine's process, a declaration that Henry, having disobeyed the sentence on the divorce dehvered by Clement VII,, was excommunicated, and an invitation to the Cathohc Powers to execute the judgment by force. The second involved a claim for the Holy See on England as a fief of the Church — an intimation that the King of England had forfeited his crown and that his subjects' allegiance had reverted to their Supreme Lord, The Pope and Con sistory preferred the complete judgment, as more satisfactory to them- 354 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. "In the matter of the executory letters," Cifuen tes wrote to Charles, " I have strictly followed your Majesty's instructions. They have been kept back for a year and a half without the least appearance that the delay proceeded from us, but, on the contrary, as If we were disappointed that they were not drawn when asked for. Besides his Holiness's wish to wait for the result of the offers of France, another circum stance has served your Majesfy's purpose. There were certain clauses to which I could not consent, in the draft sho-wn tg me, as detrimental to the right of the Queen and Princess and to your Majesfy's preemi nence. "Now that aU hope has vanished of the retum of the King of England to obedience. Dr. Ortiz, not know ing that you wished the execution to be delayed, has taken out the executory letters and almost despatched them while I was absent at Perugia. The letters are ready, nothing being wanted but the Pope's seal. I have detained them for a few days, pretending that I must examine the wording. They -wiU remain in my possession tiU you Inform me of your pleasure."^ The issue of the Pope's censures either In the form of a letter of execution or of a BuU of Deposition was to be the signal of the English rising, with or without the Emperor. Darcy and his friends were ready and resolved to begin. But without the Pope's direct sanc tion the movement would lose its inspiration. The Irish rebeUion had collapsed for the want of it. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald had surrendered and was a pris oner in the Tower. selves. The Catholic Powers objected to it for the same reason. The practical effect would he the same. ' Cifuentes to Charles V., Oct. 8, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol, v, p. 547, Petition of Mary to the Emperor. 355 It was not the part of a child, however great her imagined -wrongs, deliberately to promote an insurrec tion against her father. Henry II. 's sons had done it, but times were changed. The Princess Mary was de termined to justify such of Henry's Council as had recommended the harshest mea.sures against her. She wrote a letter to Chapuys which. If Intercepted, might have made it difficult for the King to save her. "The condition of things," she said, "Is worse than wretched. The realm wiU faU to ruin unless his Majesfy, for the service of God, the weUare of Chris tendom, the honour of the King my father, and com passion for the afflicted souls in this country, wiU take pify on us and apply the remedy. This I hope and feel assured that he wiU do if he Is rightly Informed of what is taking place. In the midst of his occupa tions in Africa he wiU have been unable to realise our condition. The whole truth cannot be conveyed in letters. I would, therefore, have you despatch one of your o-wn people to inform him of everything, and to supplicate him on the part of the Queen my mother, and myseU for the honour of God and for other re spects to attend to and provide for us. In so acting he wiU accomplish a service most agreeable to Al mighty God. Nor will he win less fame and glory to himseU than he has achieved in the conquest of Tunis or in aU his African expedition." ^ Catherine simultaneously addressed herseU to the ^ "Et luy supplier de la part de la Reyne, mamore, et myenne en I'honneur de Dieu et pour aultres respects que dessus vouloit entendre et pourvoyr aux affaires dycy. En quoy fera tres agreable service a Dieu, et n'en acquerra moins de gloire qu'en la conqueste de Tunis et de toute I'affaire d'Afrique." De la Princesse de V Angleterre b. P Am bassadeur, October, 1535, — MS. Vienna ; Spanish Calendar, vol, v, p. 559, 356 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Pope In a letter equally characteristic. The "brief of execution" was the natural close of her process, which, after judgment in her favour, she was entitled to de mand. The Pope wished her to apply for it, that It might appear to be granted at her instance and not on his own impulse. "Most Holy and Blessed Father," she wrote, "I kiss your Holiness's hands. My letters have been fiUed with complaints and importunities, and have been more calculated to give you pain than pleasure. I have therefore for some time ceased from writing to your Holiness, although my conscience has reproached me for my silence. One only satisfaction I have in think ing of the present state of things: I thank unceas ingly our Lord Jesus Christ for having appointed a vicar like your Holiness, of whom so much good is spoken at a time when Christendom Is In so great a strait. God in His mercy has preserved you for this hour. Once more, therefore, as an obedient child of the Holy See, I do entreat you to bear this realm In special mind, to remember the King, my lord and hus band, and my daughter. Your Holiness knows, and aU Christendom knows, what things are done here, what great offence is given to God, what scandal to the world, what reproach is thrown upon your Holiness. If a remedy be not applied shortly there wIU be no end to ruined souls and martyred saints. .The good wiU be firm and wiU suffer. The lukewarm wUl fail if they find none to help them, and the rest wIU stray out of the way like sheep that have lost their shep herd. I place these facts before your Holiness be cause I know not any one on whose conscience the deaths of these holy and good men and the perdition bf so many souls ought to weigh more hea-vily than Appeal of Catherine to the Pope. 357 on yours, inasmuch as your Holiness neglects to en counter these evils which the Devil, as we see, has so-wn among us. "I write frankly to your Holiness, for the discharge of my o-wn soul, as to one who, I hope, can feel with me and my daughter for the martyrdoms of these admirable persons. I have a mournful pleasure in expecting that we shall follow them in the manner of their torments. And so I end, waiting for the remedy from God and from your Holiness. May it come speedily. If not, the time wiU be past. Our Lord preserve your Holiness's person." ^ On the same day and by the same messenger she wrote to Charles, congratulating him on his African victory, and imploring him, now that he was at lib erfy, to urge the Pope into activity. In other words, she was desiring him to carry fire and sword through England, when U she herself six years before would have aUowed the Pope's predecessor to guide her and had retired into "religion," there would have been no divorce, no schism, no martyrs, no dangers of a European convulsion on her account. Catherine, as other persons have done, had aUowed herseU to be gov erned by her o-wn wounded pride, and caUed it con science. Chapuys conveyed the Queen's arguments both to Charles and to Granvelle. He again assured them that the Princess and her mother were In real danger of death. If the Emperor continued to hesitate, he said, after his splendid -victories in Africa, there would be general despair. The opportunity would be gone, and an enterprise now easy would then be diffi cult. If not Impossible. ' Queen Catherine to the Pope, October 10, 1535. — MS. Vienna. 358 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Now was the time. The execution of More and Fisher, the suppression of the monasteries, the spolia tion of the Church, had fUled clerical and aristocratic England with fear and fury. The harvest had failed; and the failure was Interpreted as a judgment from Heaven on the King's conduct. So sure Chapuys felt that the Emperor would now move that he sent posi tive assurances to Catherine that his master would-not return to Spain tiU he had restored her to her rights. Even the Bishop of Tarbes, who was again in Lon don, believed that Henry was lost at last. The whole nation, he said. Peers and commons, and even the King's o-wn servants, were devoted to the Princess and her mother, and would join any prince who would take up their cause. The discontent was universal, partly because the Princess was regarded as the right heir to the crown, partly for fear of war and the ruin of trade. The autumn had been wet : haU the corn was stiU in the fields. Queen Anne was universaUy execrated, and even the King was losing his love for her. If war was declared, the entire country would rlse.^ The Pope, it has been seen, had thought of declar ing Mary to be Queen In her father's place. Such a step. If ventured, would inevitably be fatal to her. Her friends in England wished to see her married to some foreign prince — if possible, to the Dauphin — that she might be safe and out of the way. The Prin cess herseU, and even the Emperor, were supposed to desire the match with the Dauphin, because in such an aUiance the disputes with France might be forgot ten, and Charles and the French king might unite to coerce Henry into obedience. 1 The Bishop of Tarbes to the Bailly of Troyes, October, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix, p. 187^ Danger of Henry's Situation. 359 The wildest charges against Henry were now printed and circulated in Germany and the Low Countries. CromweU complained to Chapuys. " Worse, " he said, "could not be said against Jew or Devil." Chapuys replied ironicaUy that he was sorry such things should be published. The Emperor would do his best to stop them, but in the general disorder tongues could not be controUed. So critical the situation had become in these autumn months that CromweU, of course with the King's con sent, was obliged to take the unusual step of interfer ing with the election of the Lord Mayor of London, alleging that, with the State in so much peril, it was of the utmost consequence to have a weU-disposed man of influence and experience at the head of the Cify. "CromweU came to me this moming," Chapuys -wrote to his master on the 13th of October; "he said the King was Informed that the Emperor Intended to attack him in the Pope's name (he caUed his Holi ness, ' bishop of Rome, ' but begged my pardon while he did so,) and that a Legate or Bishop was coming to Flanders to stir the fire. The King could not believe that the Emperor had any such real Intention after the friendship which he had shown him, especially when there was no cause. In breaking with the Pope he had done nothing contrary to the law of God, and religion was nowhere better regulated and reformed than it was now in England. The King would send a special embassy to the Emperor, If I thought it would be favourably received. I said I could not advise so great a Prince. I believed that, if the object of such an embassy was one which your Majesty could grant in honour and conscience, it would not only be weU 360 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. received but would be successful. Otherwise, I could neither recommend nor dissuade." ^ By the same hand which carried this despatch Cha puys forwarded the letters of Catherine and Mary, add ing another of his o-wn to GranveUe, in which he said that "If the Emperor wished to give peace and union to Christendom, he must begin in England. It would be easy, for everyone was irritated. The King's trea sure would pay for all, and would help, besides, for the enterprise against the Turk. It was time to pun ish him for his folly and impiety." ^ Charles seemed to have arrived at the same conclu sion. He had already written from Messina, on his return from Tunis, both to Chapuys and to his Am bassador in Paris, that, as long as Henry retained his concubine, persisted in his divorce, and refused to re cognise the Princess as his heir, he could not honour ably treat with him.^ The Pope, when Catherine's letter reached him, was fuming with fresh anger at the fate of the Irish rebellion. Lord Thomas, spite of Papal absolution and blessing, was a prisoner in the Tower. He had surrendered to his uncle. Lord Leon ard Grey, under some promise of pardon. He had been carried before the King. For a few days he was left at liberty, and might have been forgiven. If he woidd have made a satisfactory submission; but he calculated that "a new world" was not far off, and that he might hold out in safety. Such a wild cat required stricter keeping. The Tower gates closed on him, and soon after he paid for the Archbishop's life with his own. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., October 13, 153^.- Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, ix. p. 196. 2 Chapuys to GranveUe, October 13, 1535. — Ibid, p, 199. 3 Ibid, pp, 225, 228, Enthusiasm at Rome. 361 Ortiz, when he heard that Fitzgerald was impris oned, said that the choice lay before him to die a martyr or else to be perverted. God, he hoped, would permit the first. The spirit of one of the murdered Carthusians had appeared to the brother hood and informed them of the glorious crown which had been bestowed on Fisher. ^ In this exalted humour Catherine's letter found Pa'-J and the Roman clergy. The Pope had already in formed CUuentes that he meant to proceed to "de privation." The letters of execution had been so drawn or re-dra-wn as to involve the forfeiture of Henry's throne,^ and Ortiz considered that Providence had so ordered it that the Pope was now acting motu propria and not at the Queen's solicitation. Cifuentes was of opinion, however, that Paul meant to wait for the Queen's demand, that the responsibility might be hers. Chapuys's courier was ordered to deliver Cath erine's letter into the Pope's own hands. CUuentes took the liberty of detaining it till the Emperor's pleasure was known. But no one any longer doubted that the time was come. France and England were no longer united, and the word for action was to be spoken at last. At no period of his reign had Henry been in greater danger. At home the public mind was unsettled. A large and powerful faction of peers and clergy were prepared for revolt, and abroad he had no longer an aUy. England seemed on the eve of a conflict the issue of which no one could foresee. At this moment Providence, or the good luck which had so long be friended him, interposed to save the King and save the Reformation. 1 Spanish Calendar, Octoher 24, 1535, vol, v, p. 559, 2 Ortiz to the Emperor, November 4, 1535. — Ibid. vol. v. p. 565. 362 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Sforza, Duke of Milan and husband of Christina of Denmark, died childless on the 24th of October. Milan was the special subject of difference between France and the Empire. The dispute had been sus pended while the Duke was alive. His death re opened the question, and the war long looked for for the Milan succession became inevitable and Immedi ately imminent. The entire face of things was now changed. Fran cis had, perhaps, never seriously meant to join in exe cuting the Papal sentence against England ; but he had intended to encourage the Emperor to try, that he might fish himseU afterwards in the troubled waters, and probably snatch at Calais. He now required Henry for a friend again, and the old difficulties and the old jealousies were re-vived in the usual form. Both the great Catholic Powers desired the suspension of the censures. The Emperor was again unwiUing to act as the Pope's champion while he was uncertain of the French King. Francis wished to recover his position as Henry's defender. The Pope was au Italian prince as weU as sovereign of the Church, and his secular interest was thought to be more French than Imperial. No sooner was Sforza gone than the Cardinal Du Bellay and the Bishop of Macon were despatched from Paris to see and talk with Paul. They found him stiU too absorbed in the English question to attend to any thing besides. He was in the high exalted mood of Gregory VII. , imagining that he was about to reassert the ancient Papal prerogative, and again dispose of kingdoms. The Pope, wrote the French Commissioners, having heard that there was famine and plague In England, had made up his mind to act, and was incredibly ex- Bull prepared against Henry. 363 cited. The sentence was prepared and was to issue unexpectedly like a bolt out of the blue sky. They enclosed a copy of It, and waited for instructions from Francis as to the line which they were to take. To set things straight again would, they said, be almost im possible ; but they would do their best to prevent ex tremities, and to show the King of England that they had endeavoured to serve him. Nothing like the sen tence which Paul had constructed had been ever seen before. Some articles had been inserted to force Fran cis to choose between the Pope and the King. They were maUcious, unjust, and terriblement enormes.^ The new HUdebrand, applying to himseU the words of Jeremiah, "Behold, I have set thee over nations and kingdoms, that thou mayest root out and destroy," had proceeded to root out Henry. He had cursed him ; he cursed his abettors. His body when he died was to lie unburied and his soul lie in heU for ever. His subjects were ordered to renounce their aUegiance, and were to faU under interdict U they continued to obey him. No true son of the Church was to hold inter course or aUiance with him or his adherents, under pain of sharing his damnation; and the Princes of Europe and the Peers and commons of England were required, on their aUegiance to the Holy See, to expel him from the throne.^ This was the "remedy" for which Catherine had been so long entreating, out of affection for her mis guided lord, whose soul she wished to save. The love which she professed was a love which her lord could have dispensed with. The Papal Nuncio reported from Paris the attitude 1 Du Bellay and the Bishop of MScon to Francis I., November 12, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, ix. p. 273. 2 Fronde's History of England, vol. ii. p. 386. 364 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. which France intended to assume. He had been speak ing with the Admiral Philip de Chabot about England. The Admiral had admitted that the. King had doubt less done violent things, and that the Pope had a right to notice them. France did not wish to defend him against the Pope, but, if he was attacked by the Em peror, would certainly take his part. The Nuncio said that he had pointed out that the King of England had God for an enemy; that he was, therefore, going to total ruin ; and that the Pope had hoped to find in Francis a champion of the Church. The Admiral said that, of course, England ought to return to the faith : the Pope could deal with him hereafter; but France must take care of her o-wn Interests.^ Charles, too, was uneasy and undecided. Until the Milan question had been reopened the French had spoken as if they would no longer stand between Henry and retribution, but he was now assured that they would return to their old attitude. They had stood by Henry through the long controversy of the divorce. Even when Fisher was sent to the scaffold they had not broken their connection with him. The King, he knew, was frightened, and would yield, if France was firm; but, unless the Pope had a promise from the French King under his own hand to assist In executing the censures, the Pope would fiind himseU disappointed; and the fear was that Francis would draw the Emperor into a war with England and then leave him to make his own bargain.^ Kings whose thrones and lives are threatened can not afford to be lenient. Surrounded by traitors, uncertain of France, with the danger in which he ' Bishop of Faenza to M. Ambrogio, November 15, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p, 276, 2 Charles V, to Cifuentes, November, 1535, — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 277. Catherine and the Princess Mary. 365 stood Immeasurably increased by the attitude of Cath erine and her daughter, the King, so the Marchioness of Exeter reported to Chapuys, had been heard to say that they must bend or break. The anxiety which they were causing was not to be endured any longer. Parliament was about to meet, and their situation woidd have then to be considered.^ The Marchioness entreated him to let the Emperor know of this, and teU him that, if he waited longer, he would be too late to save them. Chapuys took care that these alarming news should lose nothing in the relating. Again, after a fortnight. Lady Exeter came to him, disguised, to renew the warning. The " she- devil of a Concubine," she said, was thinking of no thing save of how to get the ladies despatched. The Concubine ruled the Council, and the King was afraid to contradict her. The fear was, as Chapuys said, that he would make the Parliament a joint party with him in his cruelties, and that, losing hope of pardon from the Emperor, they would be more determined to defend themselves.^ The danger, if danger there was, to Catherine and Mary, was Chapuys's o-wn creation. It was he who had encouraged them in defying the King, that they might form a visible raUying-poInt to the rebeUion. Charles was more rational than the Ambassador, and less credulous of Henry's wickedness. "I cannot be- 1 "Tout a cest instant la Marquise de Exeter m'aenvoy^ dire que le Roy a demierement dit k ses plus privfo conseillers qu'd ne voulloit plus demeurer en les fascheuses crainctes et grevements qu'il avoit de long temps eus k cause des Royne et Princesse ; et qu'il y regardassent k ce prochain Parlement I'eu faire quiete, jurant bien et tres obstinement qu'il n'actendoit plus longuement de y pourvoir." Chapuys to Charles v., Nov, 6, 1535, — MS. Vienna. 2 "Afin que par ce moyen, perdant I'espoir de la clemence et miseri- eorde de Vostre Majeste toute-fois fussent plus determinez a se defen dre," Chapuys k I'Empereur, — MS. Vienna, Nov. 23, 366 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. lieve what you teU me," he replied to his Ambassador's frightful story. "The King cannot be so unnatural as to put to death his own wUe and daughter. The threats you speak of can only be designed to terrUy them. They must not give way, U it can be avoided; but, U they are reaUy in danger, and there is no alter native, you may teU them from me that they must yield. A submission so made cannot prejudice their rights. They can protest that they are acting under compulsion. In fear for their lives. I wiU take care that their protestation is duly ratified by their proctors at Rome." ^ Chapuys was a politician, and obeyed his orders. But that either Catherine or her daughter should give way was the last wish either of him or of Ortiz, or any of the fanatical enthusiasts. Martyrs were the seed of the Church. If Mary abandoned her claim to the succession, her name could no longer be used as a battle-cry. The object was a revolution which would shake Henry from his throne. On the scaffold, as a victim to her fideUfy to her mother and to the Holy See, she would give an impulse to the in surrection which nothing could resist. The croaks of the raven were each day louder. Lady Exeter declared that the King had said that the Princess should be an example that no one should dis obey the law. There was a prophecy of him that at the beginning of his reign he would be gentle as a lamb, and at the end worse than a Uon. That prophecy he meant to fulfil.^ Ortiz, who had his information from Catherine her seU, said that she was preparing to die as the Bishop of Rochester and the others had died. She regretted 1 The Emperor to- Chapuys. — MS. Vienna. 2 Chapuys to Granvelle, Nov. 21, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. ix, p, 290. Hesitation of the Pope. 367 only that her life had not been as holy as theirs. The "ki' chen-w^mch" — as Ortiz named Anne — had often said of the Princess that either Mary would be her death or she would be Mary's, and that she would take care that Mary did not laugh at her after she was gone.^ Stories flying at such a time were half of them the creation of rage and panic, imperfectly believed by those who related them, and reported to feed a fire which It was so hard to kindle; but they show the spirit of which the air was fuU. At Rome there was stiU distrust. Francis had shown the copy "of the in tended sentence to the different Ambassadors at Paris. He had said that the Pope was claiming a position for the Apostolic See which could not be allowed, and must be careful what he did.^ Paul agreed with the Emperor that, before the sentence was delivered, pledges to assist must be exacted from Francis, but had thought that he might calculate with sufficient certainty on the hereditary enniify between France and England. Cifuentes told him that he must judge of the future by the past. The French were hanker ing after Italy, and other things were nothing in com parison. The Pope hinted that the Emperor was said to be treating privately with Henry. Cifuentes could give a flat denial to this, for the treaty had been dropped. If the Emperor, however, resolved to un dertake the execution Francis was not to be allowed to hear of it, as he would use the knowledge to set Henry on his guard. ^ Chapuys was a master of the art of conveying false impressions while speaking literal truth. 1 Ortiz to the Empress, Nov, 22, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, ix, pp, 293-4, 2 Bishop of Faenza to M, Ambrogio, Dec, 9, — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 317. 3 Cifuentes to Charles V., Nov, 30, 1535. —Jbid. vol. vs.. p. 303. 368 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Francis, who, in spite of Cifuentes, learnt what was being projected at Rome, warned Henry that the Em peror was about to invade England. He even said that the Emperor had promised that, if he would not interfere, the English cro-wn might be secured to a French prince by a marriage with Mary. CromweU questioned Chapuys on such "strange news." Lying cost Chapuys nothing. The story was true, but he repUed that it was wUd nonsense. Not only had the Emperor never said such a thing, but he had never even thought of anything to the King's prejudice, and had always been solicitous for the honour and tranquiUify of England. The Emperor wished to increase, not diminish, the power of the King, and even for the sake of the Queen and Princess he would not -wish the King to be expeUed, knowing the love they bore him. CromweU said he had always told the King that the Emperor would attempt nothing against him unless he was forced. Chapuys agreed: so far, he said, from promoting hostilities against the King, the Emperor, ever since the sentence on the divorce, had held back the execution, and, U further measures were taken, they would be taken by the Pope and Cardinals, not by the Emperor.-' In this last intimation Chapuys was more correct than he was perhaps aware of. The Pope, sick of the irresolutions and mutual ani mosities of the great CathoUc Powers, had determined to act for himseU. Catherine's friends had his ear. They at aU events knew their own minds. On the 10th of December he caUed a consistory, said that he had suffered enough in the English cause, and would bear it no more. He required the opinions of the Car- ^ Chapuys to Charles V., Deo. 18, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p. 333, The Intended Bull. 369 dinals on the issue of the executorial brief. The scene Is described by Du BeUay, who was one of them, and was present. The Cardinals, who had been debating and disagreeing for seven years, were still in favour of further delays. They aU felt that a brief or bull deposing the King was a step from which there would be no retreat. The Great Powers, they were well aware, would resent the Pope's assumption of an au thorify so arrogant. AU but one of them said that before the executory letters were published a moni tion must first be sent to the King. The language of the letters, besides, was too comprehensive. The King's subjects and the King's aUies were included in the censures, and, not being in fault, ought not to suf fer. Voices, too, were heard to say that kings were privUeged persons, and ought not to be treated with disrespect. The Pope, before dissatisfied with their objections, now in high anger at the last suggestion, declared that he would spare neither emperors, nor kings, nor princes. God had placed him over them all; the Papal authorify was not diminished — it was greater than ever, and would be greater stUl when there was a pope who dared to act without faction or cowardice. He reproached the Cardinals with embroiling a clear matter. The brief, he maintained, was a good brief, faulfy perhaps in style, but right In substance, and approved it was to be, and at once. It hit aU round — hit the English people who con tinued loyal to their sovereign, hit the Continental Powers who had treaties with Henry which they had not broken. The Cardinals thought the Pope xould spoil everything. Campeggio said such a BuU touched the French King, and must not appear. The Arch bishop of Capua went with the Pope : "Issue at once," 370 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. he said, "or the King wiU be sending protests, as he did In Clement's time." The Pope spoke in great anger, but to no purpose. The majority of the Car dinals was against him, and the BuU was aUowed to sleep tiU a more favourable time. "It is long," said Du BeUay, "since there has been a Pope less loved by the CoUege, the Romans, and the world." ^ 1 Cardinal du Bellay to the Cardinals of Lorraine and Tournon, Dec. 22, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. pp. 341-43. CHAPTER XX. niness of Queen Catherine — Her physician's report of her health — Her last letter to the Emperor — She sends for Chapuys — Interview between Chapuys and Henry — Chapuys at Kimbolton — Death of Catherine — Examination of the body — Suspicion of poison — Cha puys's opinion — Reception of the news at the Court — Message of Anne Boleyn to the Princess Mary — Advice of Chapuys — Unpop ularity of Anne — Court rumours. While the Pope was held back by the Cardinals, and the Great Powers were watching each other, afraid to move, the knot was about to be cut, so far as it affected the fortunes of Catherine of Aragon, In a man ner not unnatural and, by CromweU and many others, not unforeseen. The agitation and anxieties of the protracted conflict had shattered her health. Severe attacks of illness had more than once caused fear for her life, and a few months previously her recovery had been thought unlikely, if not impossible. Crom weU had spoken of her death to Chapuys as a contin gency which would be useful to the peace of Europe, and which he thought would not be whoUy unwelcome to her nephew. Politicians in the sixteenth century were not scrupulous, and Chapuys may perhaps have honestly thought that such language suggested a darker purpose. But Cromwell had always been Catherine's friend within the limits permitted by his duty to the King and the Reformation. The words which Chapuys attributed to him were capable of an innocent inter- 372 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. pretation ; and it is in the highest degree unlikely that he, of aU men, was contemplating a crime of which the danger would far outweigh the advantage, and which would probably anticipate for a few weeks or months only a natural end, or that, if he had seriously entertained such an intention, he would have made a confidant of the Spanish Ambassador. Catherine had been wrought during the autumn months into a state of the highest excitement. Her letters to the Pope had been the outpourings of a heart driven near to breaking; and U Chapuys gave her Charles's last mes sage, if she was told that it was the Emperor's plea sure that she and her daughter must submit, should extremities be threatened against them, she must have felt a bitter conviction that the remedy which she had prayed for would never be applied, and that the strug gle would end in an arrangement in which she would herseU be sacrificed. The life at Kimbolton was like the life at an ordi nary weU-appointed English country-house. The es tablishment was moderate, but the castle was In good condition and weU-furnished ; everything was provided which was required for personal comfort; the Queen had her own servants, her confessor, her physician, and two or three ladies-in-waiting; if she had not more state about her it was by her own choice, for, as has been seen, she had made her recognition as queen the condition of her accepting a more adequate establish ment. Bodily hardships she had none to suffer, but she had a chronic disorder of long standing, which had been aggravated by the high-strung expectations of the last haU-dozen years. Sir John WaUop, the Eng lish ambassador at Paris, had been always "her good servant;" Lady WaUop was her creatura and was passionately attached to her. From the WaUops the Last Letters of Catherine. 373 Nuncio at the French Court heard in the middle of December that she could not live more than six months. They had learnt the "secret" of her iUness from her own physician, and their evident grief convinced him that they were speaking the truth. Francis also was aware of her condition ; the end was known to be near, and it was thought in Court circles that when she was gone "the King would leave his present queen and return to the obedience of the Church."^ The disorder from which Catherine was suffering had been mentioned by CromweU to Chapuys. The Ambassador asked to be aUowed to -visit her. Crom weU said that he might send a servant at once to Kim bolton, to ascertain her condition, and that he would ask the King's permission for himseU to foUow. The alarming symptoms passed off for the moment; she rallied from the attack, and on the 13th of December she was able to write to Ortiz, to tell him of the com fort and encouragement which she had received from his letters, and from the near prospect of the Pope's action. In that alone lay the remedy for the suffer ings of herseU and her daughter and "aU the good." The Devil, she said, was but haU-tied, and slackness would let him loose. She could not and dared not speak more clearly ; Ortiz was a wise man, and would understand.^ On the same day she wrote her last letter to the Emperor. The handwriting, once bold and powerful, had grown feeble and tremulous, and the imperfectly legible lines convey only that she expected something to be done at the approaching parliament which would ^ The Bishop of Faenza to M. Ambrogio, Dec, 13, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, ix, p, 326, 2 Queen Catherine to Dr. Ortiz, Dee. 13, 1535. — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 326. B74 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. be a world's scandal and her own and her daughter's destruction.^ Finding herself a little better, she desired Chapuys to speak to Cromwell about change of air for her, and to ask for a supply of money to pay the servants' wages. Money was a gratuitous dlfficulfy: she had refused to take anything which was addressed to her as princess dowager, and the aUowance was in arrears. She had some confidence in CromweU, and Charles, too, believed, in spite of Chapuys's stories, that Crom weU meant well to Catherine, and wished to help her. He wrote himseU to CromweU to say that his loyal service would not be forgotten.^ Chapuys heard no more from Kimbolton for a fort night, and was hoping that the attack had gone off like those which had preceded it; on the 29th, however, there came a letter to him from the Spanish physician, saying that she was again very iU, and wished to see him. Chapuys went to Cromwell immediately. Crom weU assured him that no objection would be raised, but that, before he set out, the King desired to speak with him. He hurried to Greenwich, where the Court was staying, and found Henry more than usually gra cious, but apparently absorbed in politics. He walked np and down the room with his arm around the Am bassador's neck, complained that Charles had not writ ten to him, and that he did not know what to look for at his hands. The French, he said, were making ad vances to him, and had become so pressing, since the death of the Duke of Milan, that he would be forced to listen to them, unless he could be satisfied of the Emperor's intentions. He was not to be deluded into 1 Queen Catherine to Charles V,, Dec, 13, 1535. — MS. Vienna. 2 The Emperor to Thomas Cromwell, Dec, 13, 15'S). — Spanish Cal endar, vol. ix. p. 588. Henry hetween France and the Empire. 375 • a position where he would lose the friendship of both of them. Francis was burning for war. For himseU he meant honourably, and would be perfectly open with Chapuys : he was an Englishman, he did not say one thing when he meant another. Why had not the Emperor let him know distinctly whether he would treat with him or not? Chapuys hinted a fear that he had been playing with the Emperor only to extort better terms from France. A war for Milan there might possibly be, but the Emperor after his African successes was stronger than he had ever been, and had nothing to fear. AU that might be very weU, Henry said, but If he was to throw his sword into the scale the case might be different. Hitherto, however, he had rejected the French overtures, and did not mean to join France in an Italian campaign U the Emperor did not force him. As to the threats against himseU, English commerce would of course suffer severely If the trade was stopped with the Low Countries, but he could make shift else where; he did not conceal his suspicions that the Emperor meant him IU, or his opinion that he had been treated unfairly in the past.^ Chapuys enquired what he wished the Emperor to do. To abstain, the King replied, from encouraging the Princess and her mother in rebeUion, and to re quire the revocation of the sentence which had been given on the divorce. The Emperor coidd not do ^ "Et que vostre Ma'^ luy avoit us^ de la plus grande ingratitude que I'on scauroit dire, sohcitant k I'appetit d'une femme tant de choses centre luy, que luy avoit faict innumerables maux et fascheries, et de telle importance, que vostre Ma'^ par menasses et force avoit frict donner la sentence contre luy, comme le mesme Pape I'avoit confess^," Chapuys k I'Empereur, Dec. 30, 1535, — MS. Vienna ; Spanish Calen dar, vol. V. p, 595. 876 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. that, Chapuys rejoined, even U he -wished to do it. The King said he knew the Pope had caUed on the Emperor to execute the sentence ; he did not believe, however, that Madame, as he caUed Catherine, had long to live, and, when she was gone, the Emperor would have no further excuse for interfering In Eng lish affairs. Chapuys replied that the Queen's death would make no difference. The sentence had been a necessity. The King ended the conversation by teU ing him that he might go to see her, if he liked; but she was in extremis, and he would hardly find her alive. At the Princess's request, Chapuys asked U she also might go to her mother. At first Henry re fused, but said, after a moment, he would think about it, and added, as Chapuys afterwards recoUected, a few words of kindness to Catherine herseU. Unfeeling and brutal, the world exclaims. More feeling may have been shown, perhaps, than Chapuys cared to note. But kings whose thrones are menaced with invasion and rebellion have not much leisure for personal emotions. Affection for Catherine Henry had none, however, and a pretence of it would have been affectation. She had harassed him for seven years ; she had urged the Pope to take his crown from him; she had done her worst to stir his subjects into insurrection, and bring a Spanish fleet and army into English waters and upon English soU. Respect her courage he did, but love for her, if in such a mar riage love had ever existed, must have long disap peared, and he did not make a show of a regret which it was Impossible for him to feel. He perhaps con sidered that he had done more than enough In resisting the advice of his Council to take stronger measures. After despatching the letter describing the inter- -view at Grreenwich, the Ambassador started with his Last Illness of Catherine. 377 suite for Kimbolton, and with a gentleman of Crom weU's household in attendance. Immediately on his arrival Catherine sent for him to her bedside, and de sired that this gentleman should be present also, to hear what passed between them. She thanked Cha puys for coming. She said, If God was to take her. It would be a consolation to her to die in his arms and not like a wild animal. She said she had been taken seriously Ul at the end of November with pain in the stomach and nausea; a second and worse attack of the same kind had foUowed on Christmas Day; she could eat nothing, and believed that she was sinking. Cha puys encouraged her — expressed his hopes for her re covery — said that he was commissioned to teU her that she might choose a residence for herself at any one of the royal manors, that the King would give her money, and was sorry to hear of her Illness. He him seU entreated her to keep up her spirits, as on her re covery and life the peace of Christendom depended. The visit excited her, she was soon exhausted, and they then left her to rest. After an interval she sent for the Ambassador again, and talked for two hours with him alone. She had brightened up; the next morning she was better; he remained four days at Kimbolton, which were spent in private conversation. She was the same Catherine which she had always been — courageous, resolute, and inflexible to the end. She spoke incessantly of the Emperor, and of her own and her daughter's situation. She struck per petuaUy on the old note: the delay of the "remedy" which was causing Infinite evil, and destroying the souls and bodies of aU honest and worthy people. Chapuys explained to her how the Emperor had been circumstanced, and how impossible it had been for him to do more than had been done. He com- 378 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. forted her, however, with dilating on the Pope's in dignation at the execution of Fisher, and his deter mination to act in earnest at last. He told her how Francis, who had been the chief dlfficulfy, was now becoming alienated from the King, and satisfied her that the delay had not been caused by forgetfulness of herseU and the Princess. With these happier pros pects held out to her she recovered her spirits and ap peared to be recovering her health. At the end of the four days she was sleeping soundly, enjoying her food, laughing and exchanging CastUIan jokes with a Span iard whom Chapuys had brought with him. She was so much better, so happy, and so contented, that the Ambassador ceased to be alarmed about her. He thought it would be imprudent to abuse the King's permission by remaining longer unnecessarily. The physician made no objection to his going, and prom ised to let him know if there was again a change for the worse ; but this person evidently no longer believed that there was any Immediate danger, for his -last words to Chapuys were to ask him to arrange for her removal from Kimbolton to some better air. Cathe rine, when the Ambassador took leave, charged him to write to the Emperor, to GranveUe, and to Secre tary Covos, and entreat them, for God's sake, to make an end one way or the other, for the uncertainfy was mining the realm and would be her own and her daughter's destruction. This was on the night of Tuesday, the 4th of Jan uary. Chapuys was to leave the next morning. Be fore departing he ascertained that she had again slept weU, and he rode off without disturbing her. Through the Wednesday and Thursday she continued to im prove, and on the Thursday afternoon she was cheer ful, sate up, asked for a comb and dressed her hair. Death of Catherine. 379 That midnight, however, she became suddenly rest less, begged for the sacrament, and became impatient for morning when it could be administered. Her confessor. Father Ateca (who had come with her from Spain, held the see of Llandaff, and had been left un disturbed through aU the changes of the late years), offered to anticipate the canonical hour, but she would not aUow him. At dawn on Friday she communi cated, prayed God to pardon the King for the wrongs which had been inflicted upon her, and received ex treme unction; she gave a few directions for the dis position of her personal property, and then waited for the end. . At two o'clock in the afternoon she passed peacefuUy away (Friday, Jan. 7, 1536). A strange circumstance followed. The body was to be embalmed. There were in the house three per sons who, according to Chapuys, had often performed such operations, neither of them, however, being sur geons by profession. These men, eight hours after the death, opened the stomach in the usual way, but without the presence either of the confessor or the phy sician. Chapuys says that these persons were acting by the King's command,^ but there is nothing to In dicate that the confessor and physician might not have been present at the operation had they thought it ne cessary. Chapuys had previously asked the physician U the Queen could have been poisoned. The physi cian said that he feared so, as she had not been weU since she had taken some Welsh ale ; if there had been poison, however, it must have been very subtle, as he had observed no symptom which indicated it ; when the body was opened they would know.^ The physi- 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan, 21, 1536, — MS. Vienna ; Spanish Calendar, vol, v, part 2, p, 18, 2 " Je demanday par plusieurs fois au m^decin s'U y avoit quelque eoubson de venin. II me diet qu'U s'en doubtoit, car depuys qu'eUe 380 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. clan had thus looked forward to an examination, and had he reaUy entertained suspicions he would cer tainly have made an effort to attend. If he was prohibited, or if the operation had been hurried through without his knowledge, it is not conceivable that, after he had left England and returned to his own country, he would not have made known a charge so serious to the world. This he never did. It is equaUy remarkable that on removing from Kimbolton he was aUowed to attend upon the Princess Mary — a thing impossible to understand if he had any mystery of the kind to communicate to her, or If the Govern ment had any fear of what he might say. When the operation was over, however, one of the men went to the Father Ateca and told him in confession, as U in fear of his life, that the body and Intestines were nat ural and healthy, but that the heart was black. They had washed It, he said; they had divided it, but it remained black and was black throughout. On this evidence the physician concluded that the Queen, be yond doubt, had died of poison.^ A reader who has not predetermined to believe the worst of Henry VIII. wIU probably conclude differ ently. The world did not believe Catherine to have been murdered, for among the many slanders which the embittered Catholics then and afterwards heaped upon Henry, they did not charge him with this. Cha puys, however, believed, or affected to believe, that by some one or other murdered she had been. It was a terrible business, he wrote. The Princess would die avoit heu d'une cervise de Galles elle n'avoit fait bien ; et qu'U faiUoit que ne fust poison terming et artificeux, car U ne veoit les signes de simple et pur venin." Chapuys k I'Empereur, Jan, 9, 1536, — MS. Vi enna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x, p, 22. 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan, 9 and Jan, 21, 1536. — JlfS. Vienna; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 2-10, Suspicions of Poison. 381 of grief, or else the Concubine would klU her. Even U the Queen and Princess had taken the Emperor's advice and submitted, the Concubine, he thought, under colour of the reconciliation which would have foUowed, would have made away with them the more fearlessly, because there would then be less suspicion. He had not been afraid of the King. The danger was from the Concubine, who had sworn to take their lives and would never have rested tUl it was done. The King and his Mistress, however, had taken a shorter road. They were afraid of the issue of the brief of execution. With Catherine dead the process at Rome would drop, the chief party to the suit being gone. Further action would have to be taken by the Pope on his own account, and no longer upon hers, and the Pope would probably hesitate ; while, as soon as the mother was out of the way, there would be less dif ficulty in working upon the daughter, whom, being a subject, they would be able to constrain.^ It was true that the threatened Papal brief, being a part and consequence of the original suit, would have to be dropped or recaUed. Henry could not be pun ished for not taking back his wife when the wife was dead. To that extent her end was convenient, and thus a motive may be suggested for making away with her. It was convenient also, as was frankly avowed, in removing the principal obstacle to the reconciliation of Henry and the Emperor ; but, surely, on the condi tion that the death was natural. Had Charles allowed Chapuys to persuade him that his aunt had been mur dered, reconcUiation would have been made impossi ble for ever, and Henry would have received the just reward of an abominable crime. Chapuys's object 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan, 21, 1536.— MS. Vienna; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x. p. 47. 382 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. from the beginning had been to drive the Emperor into war with England, and if motive may be conjec tured for the murder of Catherine, motive also can be found for Chapuys's accusations, wliich no other evi dence, direct or indirect, exists to support. If there had been foul play there would have been an affectation of sorrow. There was none at aU. When the news arrived Anne Boleyn and her friends showed unmixed pleasure. The King (Chapuys Is again the only witness and he was reporting from hearsay) thanked God there was now no fear of war ; when the French knew that there was no longer any quarrel between him and the Emperor, he could do as he pleased with them. Chapuys says these were his first words on receiving the tidings that Catherine was gone — words not unnatural If the death was innocent, but scarcely credible if she had been removed by as sassination. The effect was of general relief at the passing away of a great danger. It was thought that the Pope would now drop the proceedings against the King, and Cromwell said that perhaps before long they would have a Legate among them. Even Chapuys, on con sideration, reflected that he might have spoken too confidently about the manner of Catherine's end. Her death, he imagined, had been brought about partly by poison and partly by despondency. Had he reflected further he might have asked himseU how poison could have been administered at aU, as the Queen took nothing which had not been prepared by her own servants, who would aU have died for her. Undoubtedly, however, the King breathed more freely when she was gone. There was no longer a woman who claimed to be his wUe, and whose pres ence in the kingdom was a reflection on the legitimacy Relief at the Court. 383 of his second daughter. On the Sunday foUowing, the smaU Elizabeth was carried to church with special ceremony. In the evening there was a dance in the haU of the palace, and the King appeared in the mid dle of it with the child In his arms. AU aUowance must be made for the bitterness with which Chapuys described the scene. He was fresh from Catherine's bedside. . He had witnessed her sufferings; he had Ustened to the story of her -wrongs from her own lips. He had talked hopefully with her of the future, and had encouraged her to expect a grand and Immediate redress ; and now she was dead, worn out with sorrow, U with nothing worse, an object at least to make the duUest heart pity her, while of pify there was no sign. What was to be done? He himseU had no doubt at aU. The enemy was off his guard and now was the moment to strike. Anne Boleyn sent a message to Mary that she was ready, on her submission, to be her friend and a sec ond mother to her. Mary replied that she would obey her father in everything, saving her honour and eon- science, but that it was useless to ask her to abjure the Pope. She was told that the King himseU would use his authorify and command her to submit. She con sulted Chapuys on the answer which she was to give should such a command be sent. He advised her to be resolute but cautious. She must ask to be left in peace to pray for her mother's soul; she must say that she was a poor orphan, without experience or know ledge; the King must allow her time to consider. He himseU despatched a courier to the Regent of the Netherlands with plans for her escape out of England. The Pope, he said, must issue his BuU without a day's delay, and in it, for the sake of Catherine's hon our, it must be stated that she died queen. Instant 384 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. preparations must be made for the execution of the sentence. Meanwhile he recommended the Emperor to send some great person to remonstrate against the Princess's treatment and to speak out boldly and se verely. The late Queen, he wrote, used to say that the King and his advisers were like sheep to those who appeared like wolves, and lions to those who were afraid of them. Mildness at such a moment would be the ruin of Christendom. If the Emperor hesi tated longer, those who showed no sorrow at the mo ther's death would take courage to make an end with the daughter. There would be no need of poison. Grief and hard usage would be enough.^ The King with some hesitation had consented to Chapuys's request that Catherine's physician should be aUowed to attend the Princess. The presence of this man would necessarily be a protection, and either Anne's influence was less supreme than the Ambassa dor had feared or her sinister designs were a malicious invention. It is unlikely, however, that warnings so persistently repeated and so long continued should have been whoUy without foundation, and, if the inner secrets of the Court could be laid open, it might be found that the Princess had been the subject of many an altercation between Anne and the King. Even Chapuys always acknowledged that it was from her, and not from Henry, that the danger was to be feared. He had spoken warmly of Mary, had shown affection for her when her behaviour threatened his o-wn safety. He admired the force of character which she was showing, and had silenced peremptorily the Ministers who recommended severify. But if he was her father, he was also King of England. If he was to go 1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 21 and Jan. 29. — Spanish Calendar, vol. V. part 2, pp. 10-26. Unpopularity of Anne Boleyn. 386 through with his policy towards the Church, the un disguised antagonism of a child whom three quarters of his subjects looked on as his legitimate successor, was embarrassing and even perilous. Had Annp Boleyn produced the Prince so much talked of all would then have been easy. He would not then be preferring a younger daughter to an elder. Both would' yield to a brother with whom all England would be satisfied, and Mary would cease to have claims which the Emperor would feel bound to advocate. The whole nation were longing for a prince ; but the male heir, for which the King had plunged into such a sea of troubles, was stIU withheld. He had interpreted; the deaths of the sons whom Catherine had borne him into a judgment of Heaven upon ,his first marriage ; ¦ the same disappointment might appear to a super stitious fancy to be equaUy a condemnation of the second. Anne Boleyn's conduct during the last two years had not recommended her either to the country or perhaps to her husband. Setting aside the graver charges afterwards brought against her, it is evident that she had thrown herseU fiercely into the political struggles of the time. To the Catholic she was a diablesse, a tigress, the author of all the mischief which was befalling them and the realm. By the pru dent and the moderate she was almost equally dis liked; the nation generaUy, and even Reformers like CromweU and Cranmer, were Imperialist; Anne Boleyn was passionately French. Personally she had made herseU disliked by her haughty and arrogant manners. She had been received as Queen, after her marriage was announced, with coldness, if not with hostility. Had she been gracious and modest she might have partially overcome the prejudice against' her. But she had been carried away by the vanity 386 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. of her elevation ; she had insulted the great English nobles; she had spoken to the Duke of Norfolk "as if he was a dog; " she had threatened to take off Crom- -weU's head. Such manners and such language could not have made Henry's difficulties less, or been pleas ing to a sovereign whose authority depended on the goodwiU of his people. He had faUen in love with an unworthy woman, a.s men wIU do, even the wisest; yet in his first affection he had not been blind to her faults, and, even before his marriage, had been heard to say that, if it was to be done again, he would not have committed himself so far. He had persisted, perhaps, as much from pride, and because he would not submit to the dictation of the Emperor, as from any real attachment. Qualities that he could respect she had none. Catherine was gone ; from that con nection he was at last free, even in the eyes of the Roman Curia ; but whether he was or was not married la-wf uUy to Anne, was a doubtful point in the mind of many a loyal Englishman; and, to the best of his own friends, to the Emperor, and to all Europe, his separation from a woman whom the CathoUc world caUed his concubine, and a marriage with some other lady which would be open to no suspicion and might result in the much desired prince, would have been welcomed as a peace-offering. She had done nothing to reconcile the nation to her. She had left nothing undone to exasperate it. She was believed, justly or unjustly, to have endeavoured to destroy the Princess Mary. She was credited by remorseful compassion with having been the cause of her mother's death. The isolation and danger of England was aU laid to her account. She was again enceinte. If a prince was born, aU faults would be forgotten ; but she had miscarried once since the birth of Elizabeth, and a Anne and the Princess Mary. 387 second misfortune might be dangerous. She had failed in her attempts to conciliate Mary, who, but for an accident, would have made good her escape out of England. When the preparations were almost complete the Princess had been again removed to an other house, from which It was found impossible to carry her away. But Chapuys mentions that, glad as Anne appeared at the Queen's death, she was less at ease than she pretended. Lord and Lady Exeter had brought him a Court rumour of words said to have been uttered by the King, that "he had been drawn into the marriage by witchcraft; God had shown his displeasure by denying him male children by her, and therefore he might take another wife." Lord and Lady Exeter were not trustworthy author ities — on this occasion even Chapuys dlcj not believe them — but stories of the kind were in the wind. It was notorious that everything was not well between the King and Lady Anne. A curious light is thrown on the state of Anne's mind by a letter which she wrote to her aunt, Mrs. Shelton, after Mary's rejec tion of her advances. Mrs. Shelton left it lying open on a table. Mary found it, copied It, and replaced it, and the transcript, in Mary's handwriting, is now at Vienna. "Mrs. Shelton, — My pleasure is that you seek to go no further to move the Lady Mary towards the King's grace, other than as he himseU directed in his o-wn words to her. What I have done myself has been more for charity than because the King or I care what course she takes, or whether she will change or not change her purpose. When I shaU have a son, as soon I look to have, I know what then will come to her. Remembering the word of God, that we should 388 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. do good to our enemies, I have wished to give her no tice before the time, because by my daily experience I know the wisdom of the King to be such that he wiU not value her repentance or the cessation of her mad ness and unnatural obstinacy when she has no longer power to choose. She would acknowledge her errors and evil conscience by the law of God and the King If blind affection had not so sealed her eyes that she wiU not see but what she pleases. "Mrs. Shelton, I beseech you, trouble not yourself to turn her from any of her wilful ways, for to me she can do neither good nor IU. Do your own dufy towards her, following the King's commandment, as I am assured that you do and wIU do, and, you shall find me your good lady, whatever comes. • "Your good Mistress, "Anne R." CHAPTER XXI. Funeral of Catherine — Miscarriage of Anne — The Princess Mary and the Act of Supremacy — Her continued desire to escape — Effect of Catherine's death on Spanish poUcy — Desire of the Emperor to recover the Enghsh alhance — Chapuys and Cromwell — Conditions of the treaty — Efforts of the Emperor to recover Henry to the Church — Matrimonial schemes — Likehhood of a separation of the King from Anne — Jane Seymour — Anne's conduct — The Imperial treaty — Easter at Greenwich — Debate in Council — The French alhance or the Imperial — The alternative advantages — Letter of the King to his Ambassador in Spain. Catherine was buried with some state in Peter borough Cathedral, on the 29th of January. In the ceremonial she was described as the widow of Prince Arthur, not as the Queen of England, and the Span ish Ambassador, therefore, declined to be present. On the same day Anne Boleyn again miscarried, and this time of a male Infant. She laid the blame of her misfortune on the Duke of Norfolk. The King had been thrown from his horse ; Norfolk, she said, had alarmed her, by telling her of the accident too sud denly. This Chapuys maliciously said that the King knew to be untrue, having been informed she had heard the news with much composure. The disap pointment worked upon his mind; he said he saw plainly God would give him no male children by that woman; he went once to her bedside, spoke a few cold words, and left her with an intimation that he would speak to her again when she was recovered. 390 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Some concluded that there was a defect in her consti tution; others whispered that she had been irritated at attentions which the King had been paying to Jane Seymour, who In earlier days had been a lady- in-waiting to Catherine. Anne herself, according to a not very credible story of Chapuys's, was little dis turbed ; her ladies were lamenting ; she consoled them by saying that it was aU for the best; the child that had been lost had been conceived in the Queen's life time, and the legitimacy of it might have been doubt ful; no uncertainty would attach to the next.^ It is not Ukely that Anne felt uncertain on such a point, or would have avowed It U she had. She might have reasons of her own for her hopes of another chance. Henry seemed to have no hope at aU; he sent Cha puys a message through CromweU that Mary's situa tion was now changed; her train should be increased, and her treatment improved — subject, however, of course, to her submission. Mary had made up her mind, under Chapuys's ad vice, that if a prince was born, she woidd acknowledge the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Succession -with a secret protest, as the Emperor had recommended her. She had no intention, however, of parting with her pretensions, and alienating her friends, as long as there was no brother whose claims she could not dispute. Chapuys had imagined, and Mary had be lieved, that the Emperor would have resented the alleged poisoning of Catherine; that, instead of her death removing the danger of war, as Henry sup- 1 " L'on m'a dicte que la Concubine consoloit ses demoiselles qui pleu- roient, leur disant que c'estoit pour le mieulx, car elle en seroit tant plus tost enceint?, et que le fils qu'elle pourterait ne seroit dubieulx comme fust este icelle, estant conceu du vivant de la Royne," Chapuys to Granvelle, Feb, 25, 1536, — JUS, Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x. p. 135, Intended Escape of Mary. 391 posed, war had now become more certain than ever. With this impression, the Princess still kept her mind fixed on escaping out of the country, and continued to press Chapuys to take her away. She had infinite courage ; a Flemish ship was hovering about the mouth of the Thames ready to come up, on receiving notice, within two or three miles of Gravesend. The house to which she had been removed was forty miles from the place where she would have to embark; it was inconvenient for the intended enterprise, and was, perhaps, guarded, though she did not know it. She thought, however, that, if Chapuys would send her something to drug her women with, she could make her way into the garden, and the gate could be broken open. "She was so eager," Chapuys said, "that. If he had told her to cross the Channel in a sieve, she would venture it; " the distance from Gravesend was the dlfficulfy : the Flemish shipmaster was afraid to go higher up the river: a forty miles' ride would re quire relays of horses, and the country through which she had to pass was thickly inhabited. Means, how ever, might be found to take her do-vm in a boat, and if she was once out of England, and under the Em peror's protection, Chapuys was convinced that the King would no longer kick against the pricks. Mary herseU was less satisfied on this point. Happy as she would be to find herseU out of personal danger, she feared her father might stiU persist in his heresies, and bring more souls to perdition; "she would, therefore, prefer infinitely," she said, "the general and total remedy so necessary for God's ser vice." She wished Chapuys to send another messen ger to the Emperor, to stir him up to activity. But Chapuys, desperate of rousing Charles by mere en treaties, encouraged her flight out of the country as 392 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. the surest means of bringing Henry to a reckoning. The difficulty would not be very great; the King had shown an inclination to be more gentle with her ; Mrs. Shelton had orders to admit her mother's physician to her at any time that he pleased; and others of the household at Kimbolton were to be transferred to her service; these relaxations would make the enterprise much easier, and Chapuys was disposed to let it be tried. The Emperor's consent, however, was of course a preliminary condition, and his latest instruc tions had been unfavourable. The -Ambassador, therefore, referred the matter once more to Charles's judgment, adding only, with a view to his own safefy, that, should the escape be carried out, his own share in it would immediately be suspected; and the King, who had no fear of anyone in the world, would un doubtedly klU him. He could be of no use In the execution of the plot, and would, therefore, make an excuse to cross to Flanders before the attempt was made.i Chapuys's precipitancy had been disappointed be fore, and was to be disappointed again ; he had worked hard to persuade Charles that Catherine had been murdered; Charles, by the manner in which he re ceived the intelligence, showed that his Minister's representations had not con-vinced him. In sending word to the Empress that the Queen was dead, the Emperor said that accounts differed as to her last iU ness : some saying that It was caused by an affection of the stomach, which had lasted for some days ; others that she had drunk something suspected to have con tained poison. He did not himself say that he be lieved her to have been poisoned, nor did he wish it ^ Chapuys to Charles V., Feb, 17, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x, p, 116. Advice of the Spanish Council. 393 to be repeated as coming from him. The Princess, he heard, was inconsolable; he hoped God would have pify on her. He had gone into mourning, and had ordered the Spanish Court to do the same.^ In Spain there was an obvious consciousness that nothing had been done of which notice could be taken. Had there been a belief that a Spanish princess had been made away -with in England, as the consum mation of a protracted persecution, so proud a people would indisputably have demanded satisfaction. The effect was exactly the opposite. Articles had been dra-wn by the Spanish Council for a treaty with France . as a settlement of the dispute about Milan. One of the conditions was the stipulation to which CromweU had referred in a conversation with Chapuys, that France was to undertake the execution of the Papal sentence and the reduction of England to the Church. The Queen being dead, the Emperor's Council recom mended that this article should now be withdrawn, and the recovery of the King be left to negotiation.^ In stead of seeing In Catherine's death an occasion for ¦violence, they found in it a fresh motive for a peace ful arrangement. It was assumed that if the Princess escaped, and if Henry did not then submit, war would be the imme diate consequence. The Emperor, always disinclined towards the "remedy" which his Ambassador had so long urged upon him, acted as Cromwell expected. The adventurous flight to Gravesend had to .be aban doned, and he decided that Mary must remain quiet. In protecting Catherine while alive he had so far be haved like a gentleman and a man of honour. He 1 Charles V. to the Emperor, Feb, 1, 1536, — Spanish Calendar, vol. V, part 2, p, 33, 2 Report of the Privy CouncU of Spain, Feb, 26, 1536. — Jbid. p. 60, 394 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. was her nearest relation, and it was impossible for him to allow her to be pushed aside without an effort to prevent it. But as a statesman he had felt through out that a wrong to his relation, or even a wrong to the Holy See, in the degraded condition of the Papacy, was no sufficient cause for adding to the confusions of Christendom. He had rather approved than con demned the internal reforms in the Church of Eng land: and, after taking time to reflect and perhaps Inquire more particularly into the circumstances of Catherine's end, he behaved precisely as he would have done if he was satisfied that her death was nat ural: he gave Chapuys to understand, in a letter from Naples,^ that, if a fresh opening presented ItseU, he must take up again the abandoned treafy; and the secret interviews recommenced between the Ambassa dor and the English Chief Secretary. These instructions must have arrived a week after the plans had been completed for Mary's escape, and Chapuys had to swaUow his disappointment and obey ¦with such heart as he could command. The first ap proaches were wary on both sides. CromweU said that he had no commission to treat directly ; and that, as the previous negotiations had been aUowed to drop, the first overtures must now come from the Emperor; the Queen being gone, however, the ground of differ ence was removed, and the restoration of the old aUi ance was of high importance to Christendom ; the King and the Emperor united could dictate peace to the world; France was on the eve of invading Italy, and had invited the King to make a simultaneous attack upon Flanders ; a party in the Council -wished him to consent; the King, however, preferred the friendship 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 224, Negotiations for d Treaty. 395 of the Emperor, and, Catherine being no longer alive, there was nothing to keep them asunder. Chapuys, who never liked the proposal of a treaty at aU, listened coldly ; he said he had heard language of that kind before, and wished for something more precise ; Cromwell replied that he had been speaking merely his own opinion; he had no authorify and, therefore, could not enter into details ; U there was to be a reconciliation, he repeated that the Emperor must make the advances. The Emperor, Chapuys rejoined, would probably make four conditions : the King must be reconciled to the Church as weU as to himseU ; the Princess must be restored to her rank and be declared legitimate; the King must assist in the war with the Turks, and the league must be offensive as weU as defensive. CromweU's answer was more encouraging than Cha puys perhaps desired. The fourth article, he said, would be accepted at once, and on the third the King would do what he could ; no great objection would be made to the second ; the door was open. Reconciliation with Rome would be difficult, but even that was not impossible. If the Emperor would write under his own hand to the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, and to the Duke of Richmond, who in mind and body singu larly resembled his father, much might be done. A confidential Minister would not have ventured so far without knowing Henry's private views, and such large concessions were a measure of the decline of Anne Boleyn's infiuence. As regarded the Princess Mary, Chapuys had found that there was a real dis position to be more kind to her, for the King had sent her a crucifiLx which had belonged to her mother, containing a piece of the true cross, which Catherine 396 Tlie Divorce ef Catherine of Aragon. had desired that she should have,^ and had otherwise showed signs of a father's affection. The Emperor himseU now appears upon the scene, and the eagerness which he displayed for a reconcUia tion showed how little he had reaUy seen to blame in Henry's conduct. So long as Catherine lived he was boimd in honour to insist on her acknowledgment as queen; but she was gone, and he was wiUing to say no more about her. He saw that the inteUect and energy of England were running upon the German Unes. Chapuys, and perhaps other correspondents inore trustworthy, had assured him that, if things went on as they were going, the hold of the CathoUc Church on the English people would soon be lost. The King himseU, U he wished it, might not be able to check the torrent, and the opinion of his vassals and his o-wn imperious disposition might carry him to the extreme lengths of Luther. The Emperor was eager to rescue Henry before It was too late from the influences under which his quarrel with the Pope had plunged him. He praised Chapuys's dexterity; he was pleased with what CromweU had said, and pro ceeded himseU to take up the points of the proposals. "The withdrawal of the King from the Church of Rome," he said, "was a matter of great importance. His pride might stand in the way of his turning back : he might be ashamed of showing a want of resolution before the world and before his subjects, and he was obstinate in his own opinions." Charles, therefore, directed Chapuys to lay before him such considerations as were likely to affect his judgment, the perU to his soul, the division and confusion sure to arise in his realm, and the evident danger should the Pope go on 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, Feb, 25, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. X. pp. 131 et seq. Proposal made hy the Emperor. 397 to the execution of the sentence and caU in the assist ance of the Princes of Christendom. Under the most favourable aspect, both he and his supporters would be held in continual anxiety; and, though he might be able to maintain what he had begun as long as he him self lived, he could not do it without great difficulty, and would inevitably leave an inheritance of calamity to those who came after him. Chapuys was to advise him, therefore, to take timely measures for the secu rify of the realm, and either refer his differences with the Pope to a General Council, or trust to Charles himseU to negotiate for him with the Holy See, which he might assure himseU that Charles would do on honourable and favourable terms. The chief objec tions likely to be raised by Henry would be the Pope's sentence in the divorce case, the interests of his coun try in the annates question, and other claims upon the realm which the Pope pretended. The first could be disposed of in the arrangement to be made for the Princess ; the annates could be moderated, and a limit fixed for the Pope's other demands; as to the supreme authorify over the Church of England, Chapuys might persuade the King that the relative positions of the Crown and the Holy See might be determined to his own honour, and the profit and weUare of the realm. ^ The Emperor, indeed, was obliged to add he could give no pledge to the prejudice of the Church without the Pope's consent, but Chapuys might promise that he would use his utmost exertions to bring about a reasonable composition. Charles e-vidently did not In tend to aUow the pretensions of the Papacy to stand in the way of the settlement of Europe. If the Ambas- 1 " Et aussy quant k I'auctorit^ de I'Eglise Anghcane l'on pourroit persuader au Roy que la chose se appoineteroit k son honneur, proufit, et bien du royauhne." 398 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. sador saw that a reconciliation with Rome was hope less, sooner than lose the treaty the Emperor was ready to consent to leave that point out In order to carry the others, provided the King did not require him directly to countenance what he had done. As to the Princess, care would have to be taken not to com promise the honour of the late Queen, or the legiti macy and rights of her daughter. If her father would not consent to recognise formally her claim on the succession, that too might be left in suspense tiU the King's death; and Charles was wlUing to undertake that, as long as Henry lived, no action was to be taken against him, and none permitted to be taken on the part of any one, not even of the Pope, to punish him for his treatment of Catherine — not though her end had been hastened, as some suspected, by sinister means. A marriage could be arranged for Mary be tween the King and the Emperor; and, should the King himseU decide to abandon the Concubine and marry again in a fit and convenient manner, Chapuys was to offer no opposition, and the Emperor said that he would not object to help him in conformity with the treaty. 1 It was obvious to everyone that, if Henry separated from Anne, an Immediate marriage with some other person would follow. Charles was already weighing the possibility, and when the event occurred It wiU be seen that he lost not a moment in endeavouring to secure Henry's hand for another of his own relations. Princes and statesmen are not scrupulous in arranging their political aUiances, but, considering aU that had ''Leas part of it, Charles V, to Chapuys, March 28, 1536,'— MS. Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x, pp, 224 et seq. ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 71 et seq. There are some dif ferences in the translations in the two Calendai's. When I refer to the MS. at Vienna I use copies made there by myself. Speculation on the King's Remarriage. 399 happened and aU that was about to happen, the readi ness of Charles V. to bestow a second kinswoman on the husband of Queen Catherine may be taken to prove that his opinion of Henry's character was less unfavourable than that which is generally given by historians. CromweU had been premature in aUowing a prospect of the restoration of the Papal authority in England. Charles, in his eagerness to smooth matters, had sug gested that a way might be found to leave the King the reality of the supremacy, while the form was left to the Pope. But no such arrangement was really possible, and Henry had gone on with his legislative measures against the Church as if no treaty was under consideration. Parliament had met again, and had passed an Act for the suppression of the smaUer mon asteries. That the Emperor should be suing to him for an aUiance while he was excommunicated by the Pope, and was deliberately pursuing a policy which was exasperating his own clergy, was peculiarly agree able to Henry, and he enjoyed the triumph which It gave him; a still greater triumph would be another marriage Into the Imperial family ; and a wish that he should form some connection, the legality of which could not be disputed, was widely entertained and freely uttered among his own subjects. Chapuys, be fore Charles's letter could have reached him, had been active in encouraging the idea. He had spoken to Mary about it, and Mary had been sq delighted at the prospect of her father's separation from Anne, that she said she would rejoice at it, though it cost her the succession. ^ That the King was likely to part with Anne was the general talk of London. Chapuys 1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 1, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p, 243, 400 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. caUed on CromweU, aUuded to the rumour which had reached him, and intimated how much mischief would be avoided U the King could make up his mind to take another wUe, against whom no objection could be brought. CromweU said that he had never himself been in favour of the marriage with Anne, but, seeing the King bent on it, he had assisted him to the best of his power; he believed, however, that, the thing having been done, the King would abide by it; he might pay attentions to other ladies, but they meant nothing. CromweU's manner seemed peculiar, and Chapuys observed him more closely. The Secretary was lean ing against a window, turning away his face as if to conceal a smile. There had been a report that some French princess was being thought of, and perhaps Chapuys made some aUusion to it; for CromweU said that Chapuys might assure himseU that, U the King did take another wife, he would not look for her in France. The smile might have had a meaning which Cha puys could not suspect. The Secretary was by this time acquainted with circumstances in Anne's conduct which might throw another aspect on the situation, but the moment had not come to reveal them. It is likely enough that the King had been harassed and uncertain. The air was thick with stories claiming to be authentic. Lady Exeter had told Chapuys that the King had sent a purse and a letter to Jane Sey mour, of whom Anne had been jealous. Jane Sey mour had returned the letter unopened and the money along with it, and had prayed the bearer to say to the King that he must keep his presents tiU she made some honourable marriage. Lady Exeter and her friends made their own com- Position of Anne Boleyn. 401 ments. Anne's enemies, it was said, were encoura ging the intimacy with Jane, and had told the lady to impress upon the King that the nation detested his con nection with Anne and that no one believed it lawful ; as U it was likely that a woman in the position in which Jane Seymour was supposed to stand could have spoken to him on such a subject, or would have rec ommended herself to Henry, U she did. At the same time it is possible and even probable that Henry, ob serving her quiet, modest and upright character, may have contrasted her with the lady to whom he had bound himseU, may have wished that he could change one for the other, and may even have thought of doing it; but that, as CromweU said, he had felt that he must make no more changes, and must abide by the destiny which he had imposed on himseU. ^ For, in fact, it was not open to Henry to raise the question of the lawfulness of his marriage with Anne, or to avail himseU of it if raised by others. He had committed himseU far too deeply, and the Parliament had been committed along with him, to the measures by which the marriage was legalised. Yet Anne's ascendancy was visibly drawing to an end, and clouds of a darker character were gathering over her head. In the early days of her married life outrageous Ubels had been freely circulated, both against her and against the King. Henry had been caUed a de-vil. The Duke of Norfolk had spoken of his niece as a grande putaine. To check these effusive utterances the severest penalties had been threatened' by procla mation against aU who dared to defame the Queen's character, and no one had ventured to whisper a word against her. But her conduct had been watched ; light 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, April 1, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x, p, 242, 402 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. words, light actions had been observed and carefuUy noted. Her overbearing manner had left her without a friend save her own immediate connections and per sonal aUies. "Men's mouths had been shut when they knew what ought not to have been concealed."^ A long catalogue of misdeeds had been registered, with dates and particulars, treasured up for use by the ladies of the household, as soon as it should become safe to speak; and if her conduct had been reaUy as abandoned as it was afterwards aUeged to have been, the growing alienation of the King may be easily un derstood. It was impossible for any woman to have worn a mask so long and never to have given her husband occasion for dissatisfaction. Incidents must have occurred in the details of daily life, if not to rouse his suspicions, yet to have let him see that the woman for whom he had fought so fierce a battle had never been worth what she had cost him. Anne Boleyn's fortunes, however, like Catherine's, were but an episode in the affairs of England and of Christendom, and the treaty with the Emperor was earnestly proceeded with as if nothing was the matter. The great concerns of nations are of more consequence to contemporary statesmen than the tragedies or com edies of royal households. Events rush on ; the pub lic interests which are aU-absorbing whUe they last are superseded or forgotten ; the personal interests re main, and the modern reader thinks that incidents which most affect himseU must have been equaUy ab sorbing to every one at the time when they occurred. The mistake is natural, but it is a mistake notwith standing. The great question of the hour was the alternative aUiance with the Empire or with France, 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 2, 1536, vol, x. pp, 428 et seq, Negotiations for a Treaty with the Emperor. 403 and the result to be expected from the separation of England from Rome. The Emperor wrote, as CromweU had suggested, to the three Dukes. Chapuys paid Cromwell a visit at his country-house in the middle of April, to dis cuss again the four conditions. CromweU had laid them before the King, and had to report his answer. The reconciliation with Rome was declared impossible. Henry said that the injuries to England by the Pope's sentence had been too great, and the statutes too recent to be repealed. The Pope himself was now making overtures, and was disposed to gratify the King as much as possible. Something, therefore, might be done in the future, but for the present the question could not be entertained. CromweU offered to show the Ambassador the Pope's letters, if he wished to see them. Chapuys observed sarcastically that, after all that had passed, the King ought to be highly gratified at finding his friendship solicited by the Pope and the Emperor, the two parties whom he had most offended. It might be hoped that, having enjoyed his triumph, the King would now recollect that something was due to the peace of Christendom. Cromwell did not at tempt a repartee, and let the observation pass. He said, however, that he hoped much from time. On the other points, all consideration would be shown for the Princess, but the King could not consent to make her the subject of an article in the treaty ; no diffi culty would be made about assistance in the Turkish war; as to France, the Council were now unanimous in recommending the Imperial alliance, and had repre sented their views to the King. The King was paus ing over his resolution, severely blaming the course which Francis was pursuing, but less willing to break with France than CromweU had himself expected. 404 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Francis, Cromwell said, had stood by the King as a friend in the worst of his difficulties, and the King did not like to quarrel with him; he, however, in tended to speak to Chapuys himseU. The Court was keeping Easter at Greenwich, and thither the Ambassador repaired. Easter Sunday falling on the 16th of April, the Chapter of the Gar ter was to be held there, and the assembly was large and splendid. Anne Boleyn was present in state as Queen, with her brother Lord Rochford, the demea nour of both of them undisturbed by signs of ap proaching storm. When Chapuys presented himseU, Rochford paid him particular attention. The Am bassador had been long absent from the Court circle. Cromwell told him that the King would be pleased if he would now pay his respects to Anne, which he had never hitherto done, adding that, if he objected, it would not be insisted on. Chapuys excused himseU. For various reasons, he said, he thought it not desir able. CromweU said that his answer would be taken in good part, and hoped that the rest of their business would run smoothly. Henry himseU passed by as CromweU was speaking to Chapuys. He bowed, took off his cap, and mo tioned to the Ambassador to replace his o-vni. He then Inquired after his health, asked how the Emperor was, how things were going in Italy — In short, was particularly courteous. Service foUowed in the chapel. Rochford con ducted Chapuys thither, and, as his sister was to be present and an encounter could not be avoided, people were curious to see how she and the Ambassador would behave to each other, Anne was "affable" enough, and curtseyed low as she swept past. After mass the King and several members of the Easter at Greenwich. 405 Council dined in Anne's [apartments. As it was pre sumed that Chapuys Would not desire to form one of the party, he was entertained by the household. Anne asked why he had not been invited. The King said there was reason for it. Dinner over, Henry led Chapuys into his private cabinet, Cromwell foUowing with the Chancellor Audeley. No one else was present at the beginning of the conference. The King drew the Ambassador apart into a window, when Chapuys again produced at length his four points. The King listened patiently as Chapuys expatiated on the action of the French, remarking only that MUan and Burgundy belonged to France and not to the Emperor. The observation showed Chapuys that things were not yet as he could have wished. He inquired whether. If the treaty was made, England would be prepared to assist the Em peror should France attack the Duke of Gueldres. Henry answered that he would do his part better than others had done their parts -with him; he then caUed up CromweU and Audeley, and made Chapuys repeat what he had said. This done, Chapuys withdrew to another part of the room, and feU into conversation with Sir Edward Seymour, who had since entered. He left Henry talking earnestly with the two Minis ters, and between him and them Chapuys observed that there was a strong difference of opinion. The King's voice rose high. CromweU, after a time, left him, and, saying that he was thirsty, seated himself on a chest out of the King's sight and asked for water. The King then rejoined the Ambassador, and told him that his communications were of such Importance that he must have them in writing. Chapuys objected that this was unusual. He had no order to write anything, and dared not go beyond his instructions. 406 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Henry was civil, but persisted, saying that he could give no definite answer till he had the Emperor's offer in black and white before him. GeneraUy, however, he said that his quarrel with Rome did not concern the Emperor. If he wished to treat with the Pope, he could do it without the Emperor's interposition; the Princess was his daughter, and would be used accord ing to her deserts ; a subvention for the Turkish war might be thought of when the aUiance -with Charles was renewed. FinaUy he said that he would not re fuse his friendship to those who sought It in becoming terms, but he was not a child, to he whipped first and then caressed and invited hack again and called sweet names. He drummed with his finger on his knees as he spoke. He insisted that he had been injured and expected an acknowledgment that he had been injured. The overtures, he repeated, must come from the Em peror. The Emperor must write him a letter re questing him to forget and forgive the past, and no more should then be said about it; but such a letter he must and would have. Chapuys restrained his temper. He said it was unreasonable to expect the Emperor to humiliate himseU. Henry only grew more excited, called Charles ungrateful, declared that but for himseU he would never have been on the Im perial throne, or even have recovered his authority in Spain when the commons had revolted; and, in re turn, the Emperor had stirred up Pope Clement to deprive him of his kingdom. Chapuys said it was not the Emperor's doing. The Pope had done it himseU, at the solicitation of other parties. So the conference ended, and not satisfactorily. Henry was not a child to be whipped and caressed. Charles wanted him now, because he was threatened Easter at Greenwich. 407 by France ; and he, of his own judgment, preferred the Imperial aUiance, like the rest of his countrymen ; but Charles had coerced the Pope Into refusing a con cession which the Pope had admitted to be just, and the King knew better than his Council that the way to secure the Emperor's friendship was not to appear too eager for it. The sharpness with which the King had spoken dis appointed and even surprised Cromwell, who, when the audience was over, could hardly speak for vexa tion. His Impression apparently was that the French faction had stiU too much influence with the King, and the French faction was the faction of Anne. He recovered his spirits when Chapuys informed him of the concessions which the Emperor was prepared to make, and said that he still hoped for "a good result." The next morning, Wednesday, 19th of April, the Privy Council met again In fuU number. They sate for three hours. The future of England, the future of Europe, appeared to them at that moment to be hang ing on the King's resolution. They went in a body to him and represented on their knees that they be lieved the Imperial aUiance essential to the safety of the country, and they implored him not to reject a hand so unexpectedly held out to him on a mere point of honour. Henry, doubtless, felt as they did. Since his quarrel with Charles he had hardly known a quiet hour; he had been threatened with war, ruin of trade, interdict, and internal rebeUion. On a return to the old friendship the suUen clergy, the angry Peers, would be compeUed Into submission, for the friend on whom they most depended would have deserted them ; the traders would no longer be in alarm for their ven tures; the Pope and his menaces would become a laughingstock, and In the divorce controversy the right 408 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. would be tacitly aUowed to have been with the King, since it was to be passed over without being men tioned. Immense advantages. But the imperious pride of Henry insisted on the form as weU as the substance — on extorting a definite confession in words as well as a practical acknowledgment. All the troubles which had f aUen on him — the quarrel with the Papacy, the obstinate resistance of Catherine and Mary, the threats of invasion, and insurrection — he looked upon as Charles's work. It was true that the offered friendship was important to England, but England's friendship was important to the Emperor, and the Emperor must ask for it. He told the kneel ing CounciUors that he would sooner lose his crown than admit, even by implication, that he had given Charles cause to complain of him. He was wlUIng to take the Emperor's hand, but he would not seek or sue for it. The Emperor himseU must write to him. CromweU, in describing what had passed to Chapuys, said that he was sorry that things had gone no better, but that he was not discouraged. The King had di rected him to thank Chapuys for his exertions, and, for himseU, he trusted that the Ambassador would persevere. If the Emperor would send even a letter of credit the King would be satisfied. In aU his private conversations, although he had taken the re sponsibility on himself, he had acted under the King's Instructions. The Ambassador asked him, if this was so, what could have caused the change. He answered that kings had humours and peculiarities of their o-wn, unknown to ordinary mortals. In spite of what had passed, the King was writing at that moment to Francis, to require him to desist from his enterprise against Italy. Chapuys replied that he would endeavour to obtain Easter at Greenwich. 409 the letter from the Emperor which the King de manded. He wrote to Charles, giving a fuU and per haps accurate account of all that had passed; but he ended with advice of his own which showed how weU Henry had understood Chapuys's own character, and the slippery ground on which he was standing. Chapuys had disliked the treaty with England from the beginning. He told his master that Henry's real purpose was to make him force out of the Pope a re vocation of the sentence on the divorce. He recom mended the Emperor once more to leave Henry to reap the fruit of his obstinacy, to come to terms -with France, and aUow the Pope to issue the Bull of De position — with a proviso that neither he nor Francis would regard any child as legitimate whom the King might have, either by the Concubine or by any other woman whom he might marry during the Concubine's IUe, unless by a dispensation from the Pope, which was not likely to be asked for. He did not venture to hope that the Emperor would agree, but such a course, he said, would bring the King to his senses, and force would be unnecessary.^ To GranveUe the Ambassador wrote more briefly to the same purpose. "God knew," he said, "how he had worked to bring the King to a right road ; but he had found him unspeakably obstinate. The King seemed determined to compel the Emperor to ac knowledge that Clement's sentence had been given under pressure from himseU. Cromwell had behaved like an honest man, and had taken to his bed for sor row. CromweU knew how necessary the Emperor's 1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 21, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. pp. 287 et seq. ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 85 et seq. 410 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. friendship was to the King, but God or the DevU was preventing it."^ Henry gave his own version of the story to the Eng lish Ministers at Charles's court. "The Emperor's Ambassador," he said, "has been with us at Greenwich with offers to renew the aUi ance, the conditions being that he would aUow the Emperor to reconcile us with the Pope, that we wiU declare our daughter Mary legitimate and give her a place in the succession, that we wiU help him against the Turks, and declare war against France should France Invade Milan. "Our answer was that the breach of amify came first from the Emperor himself. We gave him the Imperial cro-wn when it lay with us to dispose of. We lent him money in his difficulties, etc. In re turn he has shown us nothing but ingratitude, stirring the Bishop of Rome to do us injury. If he -wiU by express writing desire us to forget his unkind doings, or will declare that what we consider unkindness has been wrongly imputed to him, we wUl gladly embrace his overtures; but as we have sustained the wrong we wiU not be suitors for reconcUiation. As to the Bishop of Rome, we have not proceeded on such sUght grounds as we would revoke or alter any part of our do ings, having laid our foundation on the Law of God, nature, and honesty, and estabUshed our work there upon with the consent of the Estates of the Reahn in open and high court of Parliament. A proposal has been made to us by the Bishop himseU which we have not yet embraced, nor would it be expedient that a reconciliation should be compassed by any other means. We should not think the Emperor earnestly desired a 1 AprU 21.— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, Easter at Greenwich. 411 reconcUiation with us, if he desired us to alter any thing for the satisfaction of the Bishop of Rome, our enemy. "As to our daughter Mary, if she will submit to the laws we will acknowledge and use her as our daughter; but we wiU not be directed or pressed therein. It is as meet for us to order things here without search for foreign ad-vice as for the Emperor to determine his affairs without our counsel. About the Turks, we can come to no certain resolution; but if a reconciliation of the affairs of Christendom en sue, we wUl not fail to do our dufy. Before we can treat of aid against the French King the amity with the Emperor must first be renewed." ^ 1 Henry "VIII. to Pate, AprU 25, 1536. Abridged. — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 306. CHAPTER XXII. Easter at Greenwich — French and Imperial factions at the English court — Influence of Anne Boleyn — Reports of Anne's conduct sub mitted to the King — Flying rumours — Secret Commission of In quiry — Arrests of various persons — Sir Henry Norris and the King — Anne before the Privy CouncU — Sent to the Tower — Her behaviour and admissions — Evidence taken before the Commission — Trials of Norris, Weston, Brereton, and Smeton — Letter of Wes ton — Trial of Anne and her brother — Executions — Speech of Rochford on the scaffold — Anne sentenced to die — Makes a con fession to Cranmer — Declared to have not been the King's lavrful wife — Nature of the confession not known — Execution. At the moment when the King was bearing him seU so proudly at the most important crisis of his reign, orthodox historians require us to believe that he was secretly contriving to rid himself of Anne Boleyn by a foul and false accusation, that he might proceed im mediately to a new marriage with another lady. Men who are meditating enormous crimes have usuaUy nei ther leisure nor attention for public business. It is as certain as anything in history can be certain that to startle Europe with a domestic scandal while mighty issues were at stake on which the fate of England de pended was the last subject with which England's King was likely to have been occupied. He was assuming an attitude of haughfy Independence, where he would need aU his strength and aU the confidence of his sub jects. To conspire at such a moment against the hon our and life of a miserable and Innocent woman would have occurred to no one who was not a maniac. Ru- Easter at Greenwich. 413 mour had been busy spreading stories that he was weary of Anne and meant to part with her; but a few days previously he had dissolved the Parliament which for seven years had been described as the complacent in strument of his wiU. He could not be equaUy assured of the temper of another, hastily elected. In the un easy condition of the public mind; and, without a Par liament, he could take no action which would affect the succession. However discontented he might be -with his present Queen, the dissolution of Parliament is a conclusive proof that at the time of Chapuys's visit to Green-wich he was not contemplating a matrimonial convulsion. Probably, in spite of aU the stories set flo-wing into Chapuys's long ears by the ladies of the household, he had resolved to bear his fortune, bad as it was, and was absolutely ignorant of the revelation which was about to break upon him. Husbands are proverbiaUy the last to know of their wives' infideli ties ; and the danger of bringing charges which could not be substantiated against a woman in Anne's po sition would necessarily keep every lip shut tiU the evidence could be safely brought forward. CromweU appears to have been in possession of important in formation for many weeks. The exposure, however, might stiU have been delayed, but for the unfavour able answer of the King to the Emperor's advances, which had so much distressed the advocates of a re newal of the amity. France was now going to war, and making large offers for the English alliance. Henry, though his affection for Anne had cooled, still resented the treatment which he had received from Charles, and had a fair opportunity of revenging him seU. The wisest of his Ministers were against Conti nental adventures, and wished him earnestly to accept the return of a friendship the loss of which had cost the 414 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. country so dear. But the French faction at the court, Anne and her relations, and the hot-tempered young men who surrounded him, were stiU able to work upon his wounded pride. Could they plunge the country into war at the side of Francis, they would recover their ascendancy. Any day might see some fatal step taken which could not be recovered. Both Anne and Rochford were bold, able, and unscrupulous, and CromweU, with a secret in his hand which would de stroy them, saw that the time was come to use it. That it was not accident which connected the out burst of the storm on Anne's head with the poUtical negotiations is certain from CromweU's o-wn, words. He told Chapuys that it was the disappointment which he had felt at the King's reply to him on the Wednes day after Easter that had led him to apply the match to the train. ^ A casual incident came to his assistance. A Privy CounciUor, whose name is not mentioned, ha-ving re marked sharply on the light behaviour of a sister who was attached to the court, the yoimg lady admitted 1 "Et que a luy avoit este I'auctorite de descouvrir et parachever les affairs de la dicte Concubine, en quoy U avoit eu une merveUleuse pene ; et que sur le desplesir et courroux qu'il avoit eu sur le reponse que le Roy son maistre m'avoit donn^ le tiers jour de Pasques U se mit a fantasier et conspirer le diet affaire," etc. Chapuys to Charles V., June 6, 1536, — MS. Vienna ; Spanish Calendar, vol, v, part 2, p. 137, From the word " conspirer " it has heen inferred that the accusation of Anne aud her accompUces was a conspiracy of CromweU's, got up in haste for an immediate political purpose, Cromwell must have been marveUously rapid, since within four days he was able to produce a case to lay before a Special Commission composed of the highest per sons in the realm assisted by the Judges, involving the Queen and a stUl powerful faction at the court. We are to believe, too, that he had the inconceivable foUy to acknowledge it to Chapuys, the most dangei> ous person to whom such a secret could be communicated. CromweU was not an idiot, and it is impossible that in so short a time such an accumulation of evidence could have been invented and prepared so skilfuUy as to deceive the Judges. Easter at Greenwich. 415 her offence, but said it was nothing in comparison -with the conduct of the Queen. She bade her bro ther examine Mark Smeton, a groom of the chamber and a favourite musician.^ The Privy CounciUor re lated what he had heard to two friends of the King, of whom Cromwell must have been one. The case was so serious that they agreed that the King must be in formed. They told him. He started, changed colour, thanked them, and directed an inquiry to be held in strict secrecy. The ladies of the bedchamber were cross-questioned. Lady Worcester ^ was "the first accuser." "Nan Cobham"and a maid gave other evidence; but "Lady Worcester was the first ground."^ Nothing was allowed to transpire to disturb the festivities at Greenwich. On St. George's Day, April 23, the Queen and her brother received an in timation that they were in less favour than usual. The Chapter of the Garter was held. An order was vacant; Anne asked that it should be given to Lord Rochford, and the request was refused; it was con ferred on her cousin, Sir Nicholas Carew, to her great vexation. In this, however, there was nothing to alarm her. The next day, the 24th, a secret committee was appointed to receive depositions, consisting of the ChanceUor, the Judges, CromweU, and other mem bers of Council; and by this time whispers were abroad that something was -wrong, for Chapuys, writ ing on the 29th of April, said that "it would not be Carew' s fault U Anne was not out of the saddle before long, as he had heard that he was daUy conspiring 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 2, vol. x. p, 428. ^ Daughter of Sir Anthony Brown, Master of the Horse, 2 John Husee to Lady Lisle, May 24, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, voh^x, p. 397. 416 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. against her and trying to persuade Mistress Seymoui and her friends to work her ruin. Four days ago [i. e. on April 25] Carew and other gentlemen sent word to the Princess to take courage, as the King was tired of the Concubine and would not endure her long."i Geoffrey Pole, Reginald's brother, a loose- tongued gentleman, told Chapuys that the Bishop of London (Stokesley) had been lately asked whether the King could dismiss the Concubine; the Bishop had declined to give an opinion tiU the King asked for it, and even then would not speak tiU he knew the King's intention. The Bishop, Chapuys said, was one of the promoters of the first divorce, and was now penitent, the Concubine and aU her family being accursed Lu therans.^ Such stories were but surmise and legend. I insert them to omit nothing which may be construed into an indication of conspiracy. The Commission mean while was collecting facts which grew more serious every day. On Thursday, the 27th, Sir William Brereton, a gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber, was privately sent to the Tower, and on the 30th was foUowed thither by the musician Smeton. The next morning, the 1st of May, High Festival was held at Green-wich. A tournament formed a part of the cer emony, with the Court in attendance. Anne sate in a gaUery as Queen of the day, while her knights broke lances for her, caring nothing for flying scandal, and unsuspecting the abyss which was opening under her feet. Sir Henry Norris and Lord Rochford were In the lists as defender and chaUenger, when, suddenly, the King rose ; the pageant was broken up in confu sion ; Henry mounted his horse and, foUowed by a ^ Chapuys to Charles V., April 29. — Spanish Calendar, p. 105. 2 Ibid. Easter at Greenwich. 417 small train, rode off for London, taking Norris -with him. Sir Henry Norris was one of Henry's most intimate personal friends. He was his equerry, and often slept in his room or In an adjoining closet. The inquiries of the Commission had not yet implicated him as a principal, but it had appeared that circum stances were known to him which he ought to have repealed. The King promised to forgive him U he would teU the truth, but the truth was more than he could dare to reveal. On the foUowing day he, too, was sent to the Tower, ha-ving been first examined before the Commissioners, to whom — perhaps misled by some similar hope of pardon held out to him by Sir WUliam FitzwiUiam — he confessed more than it was possible to pardon, and then withdrew what he had acknowledged.^ So far, Smeton only had con fessed to " any actual thing," and it was thought the King's honour would be touched if the guilt of the rest was not proved more clearly. Anne had been left at Greenwich. On the next morning she was brought before the Council there, her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, presiding. She was Informed that she was charged with adultery with various persons. Her answers, such as they were, the Duke set aside as irrelevant. She complained after wards that she had been " crueUy handled " by the CouncU. It was difficult not to be what she would consider cruel. She, too, was conducted up the river to the Tower, where she found that to Smeton and Brereton and Norris another gentleman of the house hold. Sir Francis Weston, had now been added. A small incident is mentioned which preserves a lost practice of the age. " On the evening of the day on which the Concubine was sent to the Tower, the Duke 1 1 History of England, vol. ii. p, 454. 418 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. of Richmond went to his father to ask his blessing, according to the English custom. The King said, in tears, that he, and his sister the Princess, ought to thank God for having escaped the hands of that woman, who had planned to poison them." ^ Chapuys made haste to inform the Emperor of the welcome catastrophe. The Emperor, he said, would recoUect the expressions which he had reported»as used by CromweU regarding the possible separation of the King and the Concubine. Both he and the Princess had been ever since anxious that such a sepa^ ration should be brought about. What they had de sired had come to pass better than any one could have hoped, to the great disgrace of the Concubine, who, by the judgment of God, had been brought in fuU daylight from Greenwich to the Tower, In charge of the Duke of Norfolk and two chamberlains. Report said it was for continued adultery with a spinet-player belonging to her household. The player had been committed to the Tower also, and, after him. Sir H. Norris, the most familiar and private companion of the King, for not having revealed the matter.^ Fresh news poured in as Chapuys was -writing. Before closing his despatch he was able to add that Sir Francis Weston and Lord Rochford were arrested also. The startling story flew from lip to Up, gather ing volume as it went. Swift couriers carried it to Paris. Viscount Hannaert, the Imperial Ambassador there,^ wrote to GranveUe that Anne had been sur- 1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, p. 125, 2 Chapuys to Charles V,, May 2, 1536, — MSS. Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x, p, 330 ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, p. 107. 8 In transcribing the MS, twenty years ago at Vienna I mistook the name for Howaidi whioh it muoh resembled in the handwriting oi Um In the Tower. 419 prised in bed with the King's organist.^ In the course of the investigation, witnesses had come forward to say that nine years pre-viously a marriage had been made and consummated between Anne and Percy, Earl of Northumberland. Percy, however, swore, and received the sacrament upon it, before the Duke of Norfolk and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, that no contract or promise of marriage of any kind had passed between them.^ Anne's attendants in the Tower had been ordered to note what she might say. She denied that she was g-uilty, sometimes with hys terical passion, sometimes with a flighty levity ; but not, so far as her words are recorded, with the clear ness of conscious innocence. She admitted that with Norris, Weston, and Smeton she had spoken foolishly of their love for herseU, and of what might happen were the King to die. Smeton, on his second exami nation, confessed that he had on three several occa sions committed adultery with the Queen. Norris repudiated his admissions to Sir William Fltz-wUlIam — what they were is unkno-wn — and offered to main tain his own innocence and the Queen's with sword and lance. Weston and Brereton persisted in absolute denial. Meanwhile the Commission continued to take evi dence. A more imposing list of men than those who composed it could not have been collected in England. The members of it were the Lord ChanceUor, the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Suffolk, Lord Wilt- time, I am reminded correctly that there was no Viscount Howard in the English Peerage. 1 " Le Visconte Hannaert a escript au Sr de Granvelle que au mesme instant U avoit entendu de bon heu que la concubine du diet Roy avoit est4 surprise couch^e avec I'organiste du diet Roy." 2 The Earl of Northumberland to CromweU, May 13, 1536, — Calen dar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x, p. 356. 420 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. shire, Anne's and Rochford's father, the Earls of Oxford, Westmoreland, and Sussex, Lord Sandys, Thomas CromweU, Sir WUliam FItz-wiUiam, the Lord High Admiral, Sir William Paulet, Lord Treasurer, and nine judges of the courts at Westminster. Be fore these persons the -witnesses were examined and their depositions written down. "The confessions," Cromwell wrote afterwards to Gardiner, " were so abominable that a great part of them were not given in evidence, but were clearly kept secret." ^ The alleged offences had been committed in two counties. The Grand Juries of Kent and Middlesex returned true biUs on the case presented to them. On the 7th of May writs were sent out for a new ParUa ment, to be chosen and to meet immediately. The particular charges had been submitted to the Grand Juries with time, place, and circumstance. The de tails have been related by me elsewhere.^ In general the Indictment was that for a period of more than two years, from within a few weeks after the birth of EUzabeth to the November immediately preceding, the Queen had repeatedly committed acts of adultery with Sir Henry Norris, Sir William Brereton, Sir Francis Weston, Mark Smeton, and her brother Lord Rochford. In every case the instigation and solicit ing were aUeged to have been on the Queen's side. The particulars were set out circumstantiaUy, the time at which the solicitations were made, how long an in terval elapsed between the solicitation and the act, and when and where the several acts were committed. FinaUy it was said that the Queen had promised to marry some one of these traitors whenever the King 1 CromweU to Gardiner, July 5, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, xi. p, 17, 2 History of England, vol. ii. p. 470. Evidence before the Commission. 421 depart this life, affirming that she would never love the King In her heart. Of aU these details evidence of some kind must have been produced before the Commission, and it was to this that Cromwell referred in his letter to Gardi ner. The accused gentlemen were aU of them in sit uations of trust and confidence at the court, with easy access to the Queen's person, and, U their guUt was real, the familiarity to which they were admitted through their offices was a special aggravation of their offences. In a court so jealous, and so divided, many eyes were on the watch and many tongues were busy. None knew who might be implicated, or how far the Queen's guUt had extended. Suspicion fell on h^ cousin. Sir Francis Bryan, who was sharply examined by Crom weU. Suspicion fell also on Anne's old lover. Sir Thomas Wyatt, Surrey's friend, to whom a letter sur- -vives, written on the occasion by his father. Sir Henry. The old man told his son he was sorry that he was too Ul to do his duty to his King in that dangerous time when the King had suffered by false traitors. He prayed God long to give him grace, to be -with him and about him that had found out the matter, and the false traitors to be punished to the example of others.^ Cranmer had been much attached to Anne. The Catholic party being so bitter against her, she had made herseU the patroness of the Protestant preach ers, and had protected them against persecution. The Archbishop had regarded her as an instrument of Providence, and when the news reached him of the arrest and the occasion of it he was thunderstruck. He wrote an anxious and beautiful letter to the King, 1 Sir Henry Wyatt to Thomas Wyatt, May 7, 1536, — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol, a, p. 345, " Him " refers to CromweU. 422 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. expressing a warm belief and hope that the Queen would be able to clear herself. Before he could send it he was invited to meet the Council in the Star Chamber. On his return he added a postscript that he was very sorry such faults coidd be proved by the Queen as he heard of their relation.^ On Friday, the 12th of May, the four commoners were brought up for trial. The Court sat in West minster Hall, Lord Wiltshire being on the bench with the rest. Their guilt, if proved, of course involved the guUt of his daughter. The prisoners were brought to the bar and the Indictment was read. Smeton pleaded guilfy of adultery, but not guilty of the inferential charge of compassing the death of the King. The other three teld to their denial. Weston was married. His mother and his young wife appeared in court, " oppressed with grief," to petition for him, offering " rents and goods " for his deliverance ; ^ but it could not avaU. The jury found against them all, and they were sentenced to die. Two letters to Lord and Lady Lisle from a friend in London convey sometliing of the popular feeling. " John Husee to Lady Lisle. May 13. " Madam, I think verily if aU the books and chron icles were totally revolved and to the uttermost perse cuted and tried, which against women hath been penned, contrived, and -written since Adam and Eve, those same were, I think, verily nothing in comparison of that which hath been done and committed by Anne the Queen, which though I presume be not all things as it is now rumoured, yet that which hath been by 1 History of England, vol. ii. pp. 469-462. ^ Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. z. p, 130. Trial of Sir Francis Weston, 423 her confessed, and other offenders with her, by her own alluring, procurement, and instigation, is so abom inable and detestable, that I am ashamed that any good woman should give ear thereunto. I pray God give her grace to repent while she now liveth. I think not the contrary but she and aU they shall suffer." ^ " To Lord Lisle. Same date. " Here are so many tales I cannot tell what to write. Some say young Weston shall scape, and some that none shaU die but the Queen and her brother ; others, that Wyatt and Mr. Page are as like to suffer as the rest. If any escape, it wiU be young Weston, for whom importunate suit is made." Great interest was felt in Sir F. Weston. The appearance of his -wife and mother in court had created general compassion for him. He was young, rich, accompUshed. He was well known in Paris, had been much liked there. M. d'Intevelle, who had been his friend, hurried over to save him, and the Bishop of Tarbes, the resident Ambassador, earnestly interceded. Money, if money could be of use, was ready to be la-vished. But Uke Norris, Weston had been distin guished by Henry with peculiar favour ; and if he had betrayed the confidence that was placed in him he had nothing to plead which would entitle him to spe cial mercy. A letter has been preserved, written by Weston to his family after his sentence, inclosing an inventory of his debts, which he desired might be paid. If any one can believe, after reading it, that the -writer was about to die for a crime of which he I Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p, 357. 424 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. knew that he was innocent, I shall not attempt to reason with such a person. " Father, mother, and wife, " I shaU humbly desire you, for the salvation of my soul, to discharge me of this bill, and forgive me aU the offences that I have done unto you, and in especial to my -wife, which I desire for the love of God to for give me and to pray for me ; for I believe prayer wUl do me good. God's blessing have my children and mine. " By me, a great offender to God." ^ On Sunday the 14th a report of the proceedings up to that moment was sent by CromweU to Sir John Wallop and Gardiner at Paris. The story, he said, was now notorious to every one, but he must inform them further how the truth had been discovered and how the King had proceeded. The Queen's IncontlT nent living was so rank and common that the ladies of the Pri-vy Chamber could not conceal it. It came to the ears of some of the Council, who told his Majesty, though with great fear, as the case enforced. Certain persons of the household and others who had been about the Queen's person were examined ; and the matter appeared so e-vident that, besides the crime, there brake out a certain conspiracy of the King's death, which extended so far that they that had the examination of it quaked at the danger his Grace was In, and on their knees gave God laud and praise that he had preserved him so long from it. Certain men were committed to the Tower, Mark and Norris, and the Queen's brother. Then she herseU was appre- ^ Autograph letter of Sir Francis Weston, May 3, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 358, Trial of Anne Boleyn, 425 hended ; after her. Sir Francis Weston and Brereton. Norris, Weston, Brereton, and Mark were already condemned to death, ha-ving been arraigned at West minster on the past Friday. The queen and her brother were to be arraigned the next day. He -wrote no particulars. The things were so abominable that the like was never heard. ^ Anne Boleyn was already condemned by implication. The guUt of her paramours was her own. She herself was next brought to the bar, with her brother, to be tried by the Peers. The court was held at the Tower. Norfolk presided as High Steward. Lord Wiltshire was wiUing to sit, but the tragedy was terrible enough -without further aggravation, and the world was spared the spectacle of a father taking part in the con-viction of his o-wn children on a charge so hideous. The Earl of Northumberland did sit, though IU from anxiefy and agitation. Twenty-five other Peers took their places also. The account of the proceedings is preserved in out line in the official record ; a further detailed descrip tion was furnished by Chapuys to the Emperor, con taining new and curious particulars. On Monday the 15th of May, Chapuys wrote, the Concubine and her brother were condemned for trea son by the principal nobles of England. The Duke of Norfolk passed sentence, and Chapuys was told that the Earl of Wiltshire was ready to assist at the trial, as he had done at that of the rest. The putaine and her brother were not taken to Westminster, as the others had been, but were brought to the bar at the Tower. No secret was made of it, however, for over two thousand persons were present. The princl- ^ CromweU to WaUop and Gardiner, May 14, 1536, — Calendar, For eign and Domestic, vol, x. p. 359, 426 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. pal charge against her was that she had cohabited -with her brother and the other accomplices, that a promise had passed between her and Norris that she would marry him after the King's decease — a proof that they had desired his death ; that she had ex changed medals -with Norris, implying that they were leagued together; that she had poisoned the late Queen, and intended to poison the Princess.^ To most of these charges she returned an absolute denial ; others she answered plausibly, but confessed having given money to Weston and to other gentlemen. She was likewise charged, and the brother also, with hav ing ridiculed the King, showing in many ways she had no love for him, and was tired of her life with him. The brother was accused of ha-ving had connection ¦with his sister. No proof of his guilt was produced, except that of haAdng been once alone with her for many hours, and other smaU folUes. He replied so weU that many who were present were betting two to one he would be acquitted. Another charge against him was that the Concubine had told his -wife that the King was unequal to his duties.^ This was not read out in court ; it was given ^ " Qu'eUe avoit faict empoissoner la feue Royne et machyh^ de faire de mesme k la Princesse," Chapuys was not present, but was writing from report, and was not always trustworthy. No trace is foimd of these accusations in the Record, but they may have been mentioned in the pleadings. 2 " Que le Roy n'estoit habiUe en cas de copxder avec femme, et qu'U n'avoit ni vertu ni puissance." Historians, to make their narrative coherent, assume an intimate acquaintance with the motives for each man's or woman's actions. Facts may be difficult to ascertain, but motives, which cannot be ascertained at aU unless when acknowledged, they are able to discern by intuition. They have satisfied themselves that the charges against Anne Boleyn were invented because the King wished to marry Jane Seymour, I pretend to no intuition myself, I do not profess to be wise beyond what I find written. In this instance I hazard a conjecture — a conjecture merely — which occurred tome long ago as an explanation of some of the disasters of Henry's mar- Trial of the Queen and her Brother. 427 to Rochford in writing, with a direction not to make it public, but to say merely yes or no. To the great annoyance of CromweU and others, who did not wish suspicions to be created which might prejudice the King's issue, Rochford read It aloud.^ He was accused also of having used words implying a doubt whether Anne's daughter was the King's, to which he made no answer. The brother and sister were tried separately and did not see each other. The Concubine was sentenced to be burnt aUve or beheaded, at the King's pleasure. When she heard her fate she received It calmly, say ing that she was ready to die, but was sorry that others who were innocent and loyal should suffer on her account. She begged for a short respite, to dis pose her conscience. The brother said that, since die he must, he would no longer plead " not guilty," but would confess that he deserved death, and requested only that his debts might be paid out of his properfy.^ Two days after the trial of the Queen and Rochford, the five gentlemen suffered on Tower HiU. The Con- riages, and which the words, alleged to have been used by Aime to Lady Rochford, tend, pro tanto, to confirm. Henry was already showing signs of the disorder which eventuaUy kiUed him. Infirmities in his constitution made it doubtful, both to others and to himself, whether healthy chUdren, or any chUdren at all, would in future be bom to him. It is possible — I do not say more — that Anne, feeUng that her own precarious position could only be made secure if she became the mother of a prince, had turned for assistance in despair at her disappointments to the gentlemen by whom she was surrounded. As an hypothesis, this is less intolerable than to suppose her another MessaUna, In every instance of aUeged of^nce the solici tation is said to have proceeded from herself, and to have been only yielded to after an interval of time, 1 " Au grand despit de CromweU et d'aucungs autres qui ne vonl- droient en cest endroit s'engendroit suspicion qui pourroit prejudiquer a la Ugn^e que le diet Roy pretend avoir,' — MSS. Vienna. 2 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19, 1536.— MSS. Vienna; Spanish Calendar, vol, v, part 2, pp, 122 et seq. In one or two instances my translation wUl he found to differ slightly from that of S' Gayangas. 428 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, cubine, wrote Chapuys, saw them executed from the windows of the Tower, to enhance her misery. The Lord Rochford declared himself innocent of every thing with which he was charged, although he con fessed that he had deserved death for having contam inated himself with the new sects of religion, and for ha-ving infected many others. For this he said that God had justly punished him. He prayed all the world to keep clear of heresy, and his words would cause the recovery and conversion of innumerable souls.i This is a good instance of Chapuys's manner, and is a warning against an easy acceptance of his various stories. It is false that Rochford declared himself innocent of the adultery. It Is false that he said that he deserved death for heresy. He said no thing — not a word — about heresy. What he did say is correctly given In Wriothesley's Chronicle, which confirms the report sent from London to the Regent of the Netherlands.^ The Spanish writer says that his address was " muy Men Catolica," but it wUl be seen that he carefuUy avoided a denial of the crime for which he suffered. "Masters all, I am come hither not to preach a sermon, but to die, as the law hath found me, and to the law I submit me, desiring you all, and specially my masters of the Court, that you will trust in God specially, and not in the vanities of the world ; for if I had so done I think I had been alive as ye be now. Also I desire you to help to the setting forth of the true Word of God ; I have been diUgent to read it and set it forth truly ; but if I had been as diUgent to observe it and done and lived thereafter as I was to 1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, p, 128, 2 History of England, vol, ii, p, 483, Executions. 429 read it and set it forth, I had not come hereto. Wherefore I beseech you aU to be workers and live thereafter, and not to read it and live not thereafter. As for my offences, it cannot avail you to hear them that I die here for ; but I beseech God that I may be an example to you all, and that aU you may beware by me, and heartUy I require you aU to pray for me and to forgive me if I have offended you, and I for give you aU, and God save the king." ^ Of the other four, Smeton and Brereton admitted the justice of their sentence, Brereton adding that, if he had to die a thousand deaths, he deserved them aU. Norris was ahnost sUent. Weston lamented in gen eral terms the wickedness of his past life. From not one of the five came the indlg-nant repudiation of a false accusation which might have been surely looked for from innocent men, and especially to be looked for when the Queen's honour was compromised along -with theirs. A Protestant spectator of the execution, a foUower of Sir H. Norris, and a friend and schoolfellow of Brereton, said that at first he and aU other friends of the Gospel had been unable to believe that the Queen had behaved so abominably. " As he might be saved before God, he could not believe It, till he heard them speak at their death ; but in a manner aU confessed but Mr. Norris, who said almost nothing at aU." '^ Dying men hesitate to leave the world with a lie on their Ups. It appears to me, therefore, that these five gentlemen did not deny their guilt, because they knew that they were guilty. The unfortunate Anne was stiU alive ; and while there was life there was hope. 1 Wriothesley's Chronicle (Camden Society's PubUcations), vol, i, p, 39, 2 Constantine's Memorial. — Archceologia, vol, xxiii, pp. 63-66. 430 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. A direct confession on their part would have been a confession for her as well as themselves, and they did not make it ; but, if they were reaUy innocent, that they should have suffered as they did without an effort to clear themselves or her is one more inexpUcable mystery in this extraordinary story. Something even more strange was to foUow. At her trial Anne had been " unmoved as a stone, and had carried herseU as if she was recei-ving some great honour." She had been aUowed a chair, and had bowed to the Peers as she took her seat. She said little, " but her face spoke more than words, and no one to look on her would have thought her guilty." " She protested that she had not miscon ducted herself." When Norfolk delivered sentence her face did not change. She said merely that she would not dispute the judgment, but appealed to God.^ Smeton had repeated his own confession on the scaf fold. She turned pale when she was told of it. " Did he not acquit me of the Infamy he has laid on me ? " she said. " Alas, I fear his soul wiU suffer for it ! " '' But she had asked for time to prepare her con science and for spiritual help ; she called herseU a Lutheran, and on the Tuesday, the day after her trial, Cranmer went to the Tower to hear her confession. She then told the Archbishop something which, if tme, invaUdated her marriage with the King ; U she had not been his -wife, her intrigues were not techni- caUy treason, and Cranmer perhaps gave her hope that this confession might save her, for she said after wards to Sir WiUiam Kingston that she expected to be spared and would retire Into a nunnery.^ The con- 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 2, vol. x, p, 430, 2 Ibid, p, 431. ^ Kingston to CromweU, May 16, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol. X. p. 371. The Lambeth Sentence. 431 fession, whatever it might be, was produced on the foUowing day by the Archbishop sitting judicially at Lambeth,^ and was there considered by three eccle siastical lawyers, who gave as their opinion that she had never been the King's lawful wife, and this opin ion was confirmed by the Chancellor, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Oxford, and a committee of bishops. The confession itself belonged to the secrets which CromweU desci^-ibed as " too abominable to be made known," and was never published. The judg ment of the Archbishop itseU was ratified on the 28th of June by the two Houses of Convocation. It was laid before ParUament and was made the basis of a new arrangement of the succession. But the Statute merely says " that God, from whom no secret things could be hid, had caused to be brought to light evi dent and open knowledge of certain impediments un known at the making of the previous Act, and since that time confessed by the Lady Anne before the Archbishop of Canterbury, sitting judicIaUy for the same, whereby it appeared that the marriage was never good nor consonant to the laws." Conjecture was, of course, busy over so singular a mystery. Some said that the Archbishop had declared Elizabeth to have been Norris's bastard, and not the daughter of the King. Others revived the story of Henry's supposed intrigue with Anne's sister, Mary, and Chapuys added a story which even he did not affect to believe, agreeable as it must have been to him. " Many think," he said, " that the Concubine had become so audacious in -vice, because most of the new bishops had persuaded her that she need not go to confession ; and that, according to the new sect, it was lawful to seek aid elsewhere, even from her own rela- 1 28 Hen. VIH. cap, 7- 432 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. tions, when her husband was not able to satisfy her." ^ The Wriothesley Chronicle says positively that, on the 17th of May, in the afternoon, at a solemn court kept at Lambeth by the Archbishop of Canterbuiy and the doctors of the law, the King was divorced from his wUe, Queen Anne ; and there at the same court was a privy contract approved that she had made to the Earl of Northumberland, afore the King's time, and so she was discharged, and was never la^wful Queen of England.^ There are difficulties In acceptmg either of these conjectures. Chapuys, like Dr. Lingard after him, decided naturaUy for the hypothesis most disgraceful to the King. The Mary Boleyn story, authoritatively confirmed, at once covered Henry's divorce process with shame, and established the superior claim of Mary to the succession.^ But in the Act of Parlia ment the cause is described as something unkno'wn in 1533, when the first Statute was passed : and the al leged intrigue had then been the common subject of talk in Catholic circles and among the Opposition members of Parliament. The Act says that the cause 1 Chapuys to GranveUe, May 19, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, X, p. 380, 2 Wriothesley's Chronicle, vol, i, pp. 40, 41. ^ Chapuys's words are worth preserving. He was mistaken in his account of the Statute. It did not declare Mary legitimate, aud it left Henry power to name his own successor should his marriage with Jane Seymour prove unfruitful. So great an error shows the looseness with which he welcomed any story which feU in with his wishes. He sajrs : " Le statut declairant la Princesse legitime heretiere, la fiUe de la Con cubine, a est^ revoqu^, et eUe declair^ bastarde, non point comme fiUe de M, Norris, comme se pouvoit plus honnestement dire, mais pour avoir est^ la marriage entre la dicte C6ncubine et le diet Roy iUegitime k cause qu'U avoit cogneu charneUement la sceur de la dicte Concubine : pour laquelle cause I'Archevesque de Canterburi, ung ou deux jours avant que la dicte Concubine fut execut^e, donna et prefera la sentence de divorce, de quoy, comme sgavez trop mieulx, n'estoit grand be- soign, puisque I'ep^e et la mort les auroit prochainement et absolument The Lambeth Sentence. 433 was a fact confessed by the Lady Anne. The Lady Anne might confess her own sins, but her confession of the sins of others was not a confession at all, and could have carried no validity unless supported by other evidence. Chapuys's assertion requires us to sup pose that Henry, being informed of Anne's allegation, consented to the establishment of his own disgrace by making It the subject of a legal investigation ; that he thus himseU allowed a crime to be substantiated against him which covered him with infamy, and which no other attempt was ever made to prove. How did Chapuys know that this was the cause of the divorce of Anne ? If it was communicated to Parliament, it must have become the common property of the realm, and have been no longer open to question. If it was not communicated, but was accepted by Parliament, ItseU on the authority of the Council, who were Cha puys's informants, and how did they know ? Under Chapuys's hypothesis the conduct of King, Council, Parliament, and Convocation becomes gratuitous foUy — foUy to which there was no temptation and for which there was no necessify. The King had only to deny the truth of the story, and nothing further would have been made of it. The real evidence for the liaison with Mary Boleyn is the ineradicable convic tion of a certain class of minds that the most probable interpretation of every act of Henry is that „which most combines stupidity and wickedness. To argue such a matter Is useless. Those who believe without reason cannot be convinced by reason. divorces : et puisque aussy le vouloient faire, Ie pretext eust est^ plus honneste d'alleguer qu'eUe avoit este mair^e k aultre encores vivant. Mais Dieu a voulu descouvrir plus grande abomination, qui est plus que inexcusable aetendu qu'il ne peut alleguer ignorance neque juris neque facti. Dieu veuiUe que teUe soit la fin de toutes ses folies ! " Chapuys k GranveUe, July 8, 1536. — MS. Vienna. 434 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The Northumberland explanation is less improba ble, but to this also there are many objections. North umberland himself had denied on oath, a few days be fore, that any contract had ever passed between Anne and himself. If he was found to have perjured him seU, he would have been punished, or, at least, dis- , graced ; yet, a few months later, in the PUgrimage of Grrace, he had the King's confidence, and deserved it by signal loyalty. The Norris story is the least un- Ukely. The first act of criminaUty -with Anne men tioned in the indictment was stated to have been committed with Norris four weeks after the birth of EUzabeth, and the intimacy may have been earUer ; whUe the mystery observed about it may be better accounted for, since, if it had been avowed, Eliza beth's recognition as the King's daughter would have made ever after Impossible, and the King did beUeve that she was reaUy his own daughter. But here, again, there is no evidence. The expla/- nation Ukeliest of aU is that it was something differ ent from each of these — one of the confessions which had been kept back as " too abominable." It is idle to speculate on the antecedents of such a woman as Anne Boleyn. If she had expected that her confession would save her, .she was mistaken. To marry a king after a previous unacknowledged Intrigue was in those days constructive treason, since it tainted the blood royal.^ The tragedy was wound up on Friday, the 19th of May ; the scene was the green in front of the Tower. Foreigners were not admitted, but the London citi zens had coUected In great numbers, and the scaffold had been built high that everyone might see. The ChanceUor, the Duke of Suffolk, the young Duke of ' This was distinctly laid down in the case of Catherine Howard. Execution of Anne Boleyn. 435 Richmond — then himseU sick to death — Cromwell, and other members of the CouncU, were present by the King's order. Throughout the pre-vious day Anne had persisted in declaring her innocence. In the evening she had been hysterical, had talked and made jokes. The people would call her " Queen Anne sans tete," she said, and "laughed heartily." In the morning at nine o'clock she was led out by Sir William Kingston, foUowed by four of her ladies. She looked often over her shoulder, and on the fatal platform was much " amazed and exhausted." When the time came for her to speak, she raised her eyes to heaven and said, " Masters, I submit me to the law, as the law has judged me, and as for my offences, I accuse no man. God knoweth them. I remit them to God, beseeching him to have mercy on my sold. I beseech Jesu save my sovereign and master, the King, the most godly, noble, and gentle Prince there is." ^ She then laid her head on the block and so ended ; she, too, dying without at the last denying the crime for which she suffered. Of the six who were executed not one made a protesta tion of innocence. If Innocent they were, no similar instance can be found in the history of mankind. 1 Wriothesley's Chronicle, pp, 41, 42, CHAPTER XXIII. Competition for Henry's hand— Sohcitations from France and from the Emperor — Overtures from the Pope — Jane Seymour — General eagerness for the King's marriage — Conduct of Henry in the in terval before Anne's execution — Marriage with Jane Seymour — Universal satisfaction — The Princess Mary — Proposal for a Gen eral Council — Neutrahty of England in the war between France and the Empire, Human nature is said to be the same in aU ages and countries. Manners, if it be so, sIgnaUy vary. Among us, when a wife dies, some decent interval is aUowed before her successor is spoken of. The exe cution for adidtery of a Queen about whom aU Eu rope had been so long and so keenly agitated might have been expected to be followed by a pause. No pause, however, ensued after the faU of Anne Boleyn. If Henry had been the most interesting and popular of contemporary princes, there could not have been greater anxiety to secure his vacant hand. Had he been the most pious of Churchmen, the Pope could not have made greater haste to approach him -with offers of friendship. There was no waiting even for the result of the trial. No sooner was it known that Anne had been committed to the Tower for adultery than the result was anticipated as a certainfy. It was assumed as a matter of course that the King would instantly look for another wife, and Francis and the Emperor lost not a moment in trying each to Competition for Henry's Hand. 437 be beforehand with the other. M. d'InteviUe had come over to intercede for Sir Francis Weston, but he brought a commission to treat for a marriage between Henry and a French princess. To this overture the King repUed at once that it could not be, and, accord ing to Chapuys, added ungraciously, and perhaps with disgust, that he had experienced already the effects of French education.^ The words, perhaps, were used to Cromwell, and not to the French Am- ' bassador ; but Chapuys was hardly less surprised when CromweU, In reporting them, eooUy added that the King could not marry out of the reahn, because, U a French princess misconducted herseU, they could not punish her as they had punished the last.^ The Ambassador did not understand irony, and was natu raUy startled, for he had received instructions to make a simUar appUcation on behaU of his own master. Charles was eager to secure the prize, and, anticipat ing Anne's fate, he despatched a courier to Chapuys on hearing of her arrest, with orders to seize the oppor tunify. " If Hannaert's news be true," he -wrote on the 15th of May, the day of the trial at Westminster, " the King, now that God has permitted this woman's damnable IUe to be discovered, may be more inclined to treat with us, and there may be a better fomida- tlon for an arrangement in favour of the Princess. ' " LeRoy respondit qu'U avoit trop experiment^ en la dicte Concu bine, que c'estoit de la nourriture de France," Chapuys k I'Empereur, .lune 6, — MS. Vienna. » •^ " Me diet qu'iceUuy BaUy de Troyes et I'autre Ambassadeur avoi ent propos^ le mariage de I'aisn^e fiUe de France avec ce Roy, mais que c'estoit peine perdue. Car ce Roy ne se marieroit oncques hors de son royauhne, et, luy demandant raison pourquoy, il m'en dit avec assez mine assurance que se venant k mesfaire de son corps une Reine estran- gere qui fut de grand sang et parentage, l'on ne pourroit chastier et s'en faire qiutte comme U avoit fait de la derniere," Chapuys k I'Em pereur, — MS, Vienna, June 6, 438 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. But you must use aU your sklU to prevent a marriage with France, The King should rather choose one of his own subjects, either the lady for whom he has already sho-wn a preference or some other." So far Charles had -written when Chapuys's messen ger arrived with later news. " George has just come," the Emperor then continued, " and I have heard from him what has passed about the Concubine. It Is sup posed that she and the partners of her guilt wiU be executed, and that the King, being of amorous com plexion and anxious, as he has always pretended, for a male heir, will now marry immediately. Overtures wiU certainly be made to him from France. You wUl endeavour, either as of yourseU or through CromweU, to arrange a match for him with the Infanta of Portu gal, my niece, who has a settlement by wiU of 400,000 ducats. Simultaneously you wiU propose another mar riage between the Princess Mary and the Infant of Portugal, Don Louis, my brother-in-law. You wiU point out that these aUiances wiU remove past un pleasantness, and will unite myself, the King, and our respective countries. You wiU show the advantage that wUl accrue to the realm of England should a Prince be the result, and we may reasonably hope that it wiU be so, the Infanta being young and weU nurtured. If you find the King disinclined to this marriage, you may propose my niece, the Duchess Dowager of Milan, a beautiful young lady with a good dowry." ^ On the same 15th of May Granvelle, no less eager, wrote to Chapuys also. " M. I'Ambassadeur, my good brother and friend, I have received your letters and have heard what your messenger had to teU me. You 1 Charles V, to Chapuys, May 15, 1536. — MS. Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x. p. 370, Competition for Henry's Hand. 439 have done weU to keep us Informed about the Concu bine. It is indeed fine music and food for laughter.^ God is revealing the iniquify of those from whom so much mischief has risen. We must make our profit of it, and manage matters as the Emperor directs. Use aU your diUgence and dexterify. Immense advantage -wiU foUow, public and private. You wiU yourself not fail of your reward for your true and faithful ser vices." ^ So anxious was Charles for fresh matrimonial ar rangements with Henry, that he wrote again to the same purpose three days later — a strange wish if he believed Catherine to have been murdered, or her suc cessor to be on the eve of execution because the King was tired of her. To Charles and GranveUe, as to Chapuys himseU, the unfortunate Anne was the Eng lish Messalina. The Emperor and aU the contem porary world saw in her nothing but a wicked woman at last detected and brought to justice.^ What came of these advances wUl be presently seen ; but, before proceeding, a glance must be given at the receipt of the inteUigence of Anne's faU at the Holy See. This also was chose de rire. Chapuys had sent to Rome in the past winter a story that Henry had said Anne Boleyn had bewitched him. The Pope had taken it literaUy, and had supposed that when the witch was removed the enchantment would end. He sent for Sir Gregory Casalis on the 17th of May, and informed him of what he had heard from England. He said that he had always recog nised the many and great qualities of the King ; and 1 " Qui k la verity est une musique de hault genre et digne de rire," ^ MS. Vienna. 8 Chapuys to GranveUe, May 19, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, X. p. 380, 440 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. those qualities he did not doubt would now show themselves, as he had been relieved from his unfortu nate marriage. Let the King reattach himseU to Holy Church and take the Pope for an aUy; they could then give the law both to the Emperor and to the King of France, and the entire glory of restoring peace to Christendom would attach to Henry himseU. The King, he said, had no cause to regard him as an enemy ; for he had always endeavored to be his friend. In the matrimonial cause he had remonstrated In private with his predecessor. At Bologna he had argued for four hours with the Emperor, trying to persuade him that the King ought not to be interfered with.i Never had he desired to offend the King, al though so many violent acts had been done in England against the Holy See. He had made the Bishop of Rochester a cardinal solely -with a -view to the General Council, and because the Bishop had written a leamed book against Luther. On the Bishop's execution, he had been compeUed to say and do certain things, but he had never intended to give effect to them. If the Pope had thought the King to have been right in his divorce suit, it was not easy to understand why he had excommunicated him and tried to deprive him of his cro-wn because he had disobeyed a judg ment thus confessed to have been unjust. Casalis asked him U he was to communicate what he had said to the King. The Pope, after reflectmg a little, said that Casalis might communicate it as of himseU ; that he might teU the King that the Pope was weU-dis- 1 " In causS matrimonii et in consistoriis et publice et privatim apud Clementem VII, se omnia quae potuit pro vestrS Majestate egisse : et Bononiffi Imperatori per boras quatuor accurate persuadere conatum fuisse, non esse Majestatem vestram per illam causam impugnandam." Sir Gregory Casahs to Henry VIIL, May 27, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, x, pp, 406 et seq. Overtures from Rome. 441 posed towards him, and that he might expect every favour from the Pope. Casalis wrote in consequence that on the least hint that the King desired a recon cUiation, a Nuncio would be sent to England to do everything that could be found possible; after the many Injuries which he had received, opinion at Rome would not permit the Pope to make advances until he was assured- that they would be well received ; but some one would be sent in Casalis's name bringing credentials from his Holiness. Never since the world began was a dastardly as sassination, U Anne Boleyn was an innocent woman, rewarded with so universal a solicitation for the friend ship of the assassin. In England the effect was the same. Except by the Lutherans, Anne had been uni versaUy hated, and the king was regarded with the respectful compassion due to a man who had been ciueUy injured. The late marriage had been tolerated out of hope for the birth of the Prince who was so passionately longed for. Even before the discovery of Anne's conduct, a considerable parfy, with the Princess Mary among them, had desired to see the King separated from her and married to some other respectable woman. Jane Seymour had been talked about as a steady friend of Catherine, and, when Catherine was gone, of the Princess. The King had paid her attentions which, U Chapuys's stories were literaUy true — as probably they were not — had been of a marked kind. In aU respects she was the op posite of Anne. She had plain features, ^Jale complex ion, a low figure — in short, had no personal beauty, or any pretensions to it, with nothing in her appear ance to recommend her, except her youth. She was about twenfy-five years of age. She was not witfy either, or briUiant ; but she was modest, quiet, with a 442 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. strong understanding and rectitude of principle, and, so far as her age and her opportunities allowed, she had taken Mary's part at the court. Perhaps this had recommended her to Henry. Whether he had himseU ever seriously thought of dismissing Anne and inviting Jane Seymour to take her place is very dubious ; nor has anyone a right to suppose that under such conditions Jane Seymour would hJTve regarded such a proposal as anything but an insult. How soon after the detection of Anne's crime the intention was formed is equaUy uncertain.^ Every jjerson at home and abroad regarded It as obvious that he must marry some one, and marry at once. He himself professed to be unwiUing, ." unless he was constrained by his subjects." In Chapuys's letters, truth and lies are so intermixed that all his personal stories must be received with dis trust. Invariably, however, he believed and reported the most scandalous rumours which he could hear. Everybody, he said, rejoiced at the execution of the putaine ; but there were some who spoke variously of the King. He had heard, from good authorify, that in a conversation which passed between Mistress Sey mour and the King before the arrest of the Concu bine, the lady urged him to restore the Princess to the court. The King told her she was a fool ; she ought to be thinking more of the children which they might expect of their o^wn, than of the elevation of the other. The lady repUed that in soUcitIng for the Princess, she was consulting for the good of the King, of herseU, of her children should she have any, and 1 CromweU, writing to Gardiner to inform him of the marriage, said that " the nobles aud Council upon their knees had moved him to it." It their entreaty had been uo more than a farce, CromweU would hardly have mentioned it so naturaUy in a private letter to a brother Privy CounciUor, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, xi, p, 16, The King's Behaviour. 443 of aU the realm, as, without it, the EngUsh nation would never be satisfied. Such a conversation is not in itseU likely to have been carried on before Anne's arrest, and certainly not where it could be overheard by others ; especiaUy as Chapuys admitted that the King said publicly he would not marry anyone unless the Parliament Invited him. One would like to know what the trustworthy authorify might have been. Un fortunately for the veracify of his informant, he went on with an account of the King's personal behaviour, the accuracy of which can be tested. " People," he said, " had found it strange that the King, after having received such ignominy, should have gone about at such a time banqueting with ladies, sometimes remaining after midnight, and returning by the river, accompanied by music and the singers of his chamber. He supped lately," the Ambassador continued, " with several ladies at the house of the Bishop of Carlisle, and showed extravagant joy." The Bishop came the next morning to teU Chapuys of the ¦visit, and added a story of the King ha^ving said that he had -written a tragedy on Anne's conduct which he offered the Bishop to read.^ Of John Kite, the Bishop of CarUsle, little Is known, save that Sir WiUiam Kingston said he used to play " penny gleek " with him. But it happens that a letter exists, written on the same day as Chapuys's, which describes Henry's conduct at precisely the same period. John Husee, the friend and agent of Lord Lisle, was in London on some errand from his employer. His business required him to speak to the King, and he said that he had been unable to obtain admittance, the King having remained in strict seclusion from the day > Chapuys to Charles V,, May 19, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 378. 444 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. of Anne's arrest to her execution. " His Grace," Husee -wrote, " came not abroad this fortnight, except it was in the garden or in his boat, when it may be come no man to interrupt him. Now that this matter is past I hope to see him." ^ Chapuys was very clever ; he may be believed, with limitations, when writing on business or describing conversations of his own with particular persons ; but so malicious was he, and so careless in his matters of fact or probability, that he cannot be believed at aU when reporting scandalous anecdotes which reached him from his " trustworthy authorities." It is, however, true that, before the fortnight had expired, the King had resolved to do what the CouncU recommended — marry Jane Seymour, and marry her promptly, to close further solicitation from foreign Powers. There Is no sign that she had herseU sought so questionable an elevation. A powerful parfy in the State wished her to accept a position which could have few attractions, and she seems to have acquiesced with out dlfficulfy. Francis and Charles were offering their respective Princesses ; the readiest way to answer them without offence was to place the so much coveted hand out of the reach of either. On the 20th of May, the morning after Anne was beheaded, Jane Seymour was brought secretly by water to the palace at Westminster, and was then and there formaUy betrothed to the King. The marriage foUowed a few days later. On Ascension Day, the 25th of May, the King, in rejecting the of fered match from Francis, said that he was not then actuaUy married. On the 29th or 30th, Jane was formaUy introduced as Queen. Chapuys was disappointed in his expectation of 1 John Husee to Lord Lisle, May 19, — Calendar, Foreign and Do mestic, vol, X, p, 385, Marriage with Jane Seymour, 445 popular displeasure. Not a murmur was heard to break the expression of universal satisfaction. The new Queen was a general favourite ; everyone knew that she was a friend of the Princess Mary, and everyone desired to see Mary replaced In her rights. Fortu nately for the Princess, the attempt at escape had never been carried out. She had remained quietly watching the overthrow of her enemy, and trusting the care of her fortunes to CromweU, who, she knew, had always been her advocate. She had avoided writ ing to him to intercede for her, because, as she said, " I perceived that nobody dared speak for me as long as that woman lived who is now gone, whom God in his mercy forgive ! " ^ The time had now come for her to be received back into favour. Submission of some kind it would be necessary for her to make ; and the form in which It was to be done was the dlfficulfy. The King could not replace in the line of the succession a daughter who was openly defying the law. Crom weU drew for Mary a sketch of a letter which he thought would be sufficient. It was to acknowledge that she had offended her father, to beg his blessing and his forgiveness, and to promise obedience for the future, to congratulate him on his marriage, and to ask permission to wait on the new Queen. He showed the draft to Chapuys, for the Princess to transcribe and send. Chapuys objected that the surrender waa too absolute. CromweU said that he might alter it U he pleased, and a saving clause was introduced, not too conspicuous. She was to promise to submit in aU things " under God." In this form, apparently, the let ter was despatched, and was said to have given great satisfaction both to Henry and the new Queen. Now 1 The Princess Mary to CromweU, May 26, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 446 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. it was thought that Mary would be restored to her rank as Princess. She would be excluded from the succession only U a son or daughter should be bom of the new marriage ; but this did not alarm Chapuys, for "according to the opinion of many," he said, " there was no fear of any issue of either sex." On Ascension Day, the Ambassador had been ad mitted to an audience, the first since the unprosperous discussion at Greenwich. The subject of the treaty with the Emperor had been renewed under more promising auspices. The King had been gracious. Chapuys had told him that the Emperor desired to explain and justUy the actions of which the King had complained ; but before entering on a topic which might renew unpleasant feelings, he said that the Em peror had instructed him to consult the King's wishes ; and he undertook to conform to them. The King listened with evident satisfaction ; and a long talk fol lowed, in the course of which the Ambassador intro duced the various proposals which the Emperor had made for fresh matrimonial connections. The King said that Chapuys was a bringer of good news ; his o-wn desire was to see a union of aU Christian princes ; U the Emperor was in earnest, he hoped that he would furnish the Ambassador with the necessary powers to negotiate, or would send a plenipotentiary for that particular purpose. The offer of the Infanta of Portugal for the King himseU was, of course, declined, the choice being already made ; but CromweU said afterwards that Don Luis might perhaps be accepted for the Princess, the position of the Princess being the chief point on which the stabUify of all other arrangements must depend. As to the " General Council," it was not to be supposed that the King wanted to set up " a God of his own," Proposal for a General Council. 447 or to separate himseU from the rest of Christendom. He was as anxious as any one for a Council, but it must be a Council caUed by the Emperor as chief of Christian Europe. It is to be observed that Henry, as Head of the Church of England, took upon him seU the entire ordering of what was or was not to be. Even the form of consulting the clergy was not so much as thought of. Chapuys could not answer for as much Indifference on the Emperor's part. The Council, he thought, must be left m the" Pope's hand at the outset. The CouncU ItseU, when it assembled, could do as it pleased. He suggested, however, that Cromwell should put in -writing his conception of the manner in which a CouncU could be caUed by the Emperor, which CromweU promised to do. AU things were thus appearing to run smooth. Four days later, when the marriage with Jane Sey mour had been completed, Chapuys saw Henry again. The King asked him U he had heard further from the Emperor. Chapuys was able to assent. Charles's eager letters had come in by successive posts, and one had just arrived in which he had expressed his grief and astonishment at the conduct of Anne Boleyn, had described how he had spoken to his o-wn Council about the woman's horrible ingratitude, and had himseU offered thanks to God for having discovered the con spiracy, and saved the King from so great a danger. Henry made gracefiU acknowledgments, replied most politely on the offer of the Infanta, for which he said he was infinitely obliged to the Emper6r, and con ducted the Ambassador into another room to introduce him to the Queen. Chapuys was aU courtesy. At Henry's desire he kissed and congratulated Jane. The Emperor, he said, would be deUghted that the King had found so good 448 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. and virtuous a wUe. He assured her that the whole nation was united in rejoicing at her marriage. He recommended the Princess to her care, and hoped that she woidd have the honourable name of peacemaker. The King answered for her that this was her nature. She would not for the world that he went to war. Chapuys was aware that Henry was not going to war on the side of Francis — that danger had passed ; but that he would not go to war at aU was not pre cisely what Chapuys wished to hear. What Charles wanted was Henry's active help against the French. The fourth condition of the proposed treaty was an aUiance offensive and defensive. Henry merely said he would mediate, and, U France would not agree to reasonable terms, he would then declare for the Em peror.^ The Emperor, like many other persons, had attrib uted the whole of Henry's conduct to the attractions of Anne Boleyn. He had supposed that after his eyes had been opened he would abandon aU that he had done, make his peace with the Pope, and return to his old friends -with renewed heartiness. He was sur prised and disappointed. Mediation would do no good at aU, he said. If the King would join him against France, the Emperor would undertake to make no peace without Including him, and would take security for the honour and weUare of the reahn. But he de clined to quarrel with the Pope to please the King ; and If the King would not return to the obedience of the Holy See or submit his differences with the Pope to the Emperor and the Council, he said that he could make no treaty at all with him. He directed Chapuys, however, to continue to discuss the matter in a friendly ^ Chapuys to Chai'les V., June 6, — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol, X, p, 440 ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v, pp, 137 et seq. European War. 449 way, to gain time tlU it could be seen how events would tum.i How events did turn is sufficiently well known. The war broke out — the French Invaded Italy ; the Emperor, unable to expel them, turned upon Provence, where he faded miserably -with the loss of the greater part of his army. Henry took no part. The state of Europe was con sidered at length before the EngUsh Council. Chapuys was heard, and the French Ambassador was heard ; and the result was a declaration of neutrality — the only honourable and prudent course where the choice lay between two faithless friends who, if the King had committed himself to either, would have made up their OAVn quarrels at England's expense. 1 Charles V. to Chapuys, June 30, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 511. CHAPTER XXIV. Expectation that Henry would retum to the Roman Communion — Henry persists in carrying out the Reformation — The Crown and the clergy — Meeting of a new Parhament — Fresh repudiation of the Pope's authority — Comphcations of the succession — Attitude of the Princess Mary — Her reluctant submission — The King em powered to name his successor by wiU — Indication of his pohcy — The PUgrimage of Grace — Cost of the Reformation — The martyrs. Catholic and Protestant, Whether Henry, on the exposure of the charac ter of the woman for whom, in the world's union, he had quarreUed with Rome and broken the union of Christendom, would now reverse his course and retum to the communion of the Apostolic See, was the ques tion on which aU minds were exercising themselves. The Pope and the European Powers were confident, believing the reports which had reached them of the discontent in England. Cranmer feared it, as he almost confessed in the letter which he ¦wrote to the King when he first heard of the arrest of Anne. She had been conspicuously Lutheran ; her f amUy and her party were Lutheran, and the disgrace might naturaUy extend to the cause which they represented. The King was to show that he had not, as he said himself, " proceeded on such light grounds." The divorce had been the spark which kindled the mine ; but the ex plosive force was in the temper of the English nation. The English nation was weary of a tribunal which sold Its decrees for money, or aUowed itseU to be used The Clergy and the Crown. 451 as a tool by the Continental Sovereigns. It was weary of the iniquities of its o^wn Church Courts, which had plundered rich and poor at their arbitrary pleasure — of a clergy which, protected by the im munities which Becket had won for them, and re strained by no laws save those which they themselves aUowed, had made their liyes a scandal and their pro fession an offence. The property which had been granted them in pious confidence for holy uses was squandered in luxurious seU-indulgence ; and they had rephed to the reforms which were forced upon them by disloyalty and treason. They had been coerced into obedience ; they had been brought under the con trol of the law, punished for their crimes in spite of their sacred caUing urider which they had claimed ex emption, and been driven into the position of ordinary citizens. Their prelates were no longed able to seize and burn ex officio obnoxious preachers, or imprison or ruin under the name of heretics rash persons who dared to speak the truth of them. In exasperation at the invasion of these time- honoured pri^vileges, they denounced as sacrilege the statutes which had been required to restrain them. They had conspired to provoke the Pope to excom municate their Sovereign, and solicited the Catholic Powers to invade their country and put the Reformers down with fire and sword. The King, who had been the instrument of their beneficent humiliation, did not intend either to submit the internal interests of the country to the authority of a foreign bishop, or to aUow the black regiments at home to recover the power which they had so long abused. CromweU's commissioners were stiU busy on the visitation of the religious houses. Each day brought in fresh reports of their condition. These communi- 452 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. ties, supposed to be special servants of God, had be come special servants of the De-vil. The eagerness -with which the Pope soUcited Henry's retum, the assurance that he had always been his friend — had always maintained that Henry was right in the divorce case, when he had a BuU ready in his desk taking his cro-wn from him — was in ItseU sufficient e-vidence of the fitness of such a ruler to be the Supreme Judge in Christendom. Just as Uttle could the Emperor be trusted, whose affectations of friendship were qualified by secret reservations. The King had undertaken a great and beneficent work in his own reahn and meant to go through with it. The Pope might do as he pleased. The Continental Princes might quarrel or make peace, hold their Councils, settle as they liked their own affairs, in their own way ; England was suf ficient for herseU. He had caUed his people under arms ; he had fortified the coasts ; he had regenerated the na-vy. The nation, or the nobler part of it, he believed to be loyal to himseU — to approve what he had done and to be ready to stand by him. He was not afraid of attack from abroad. If there was a rebeUious spirit at home, if the clergy were mutinous because the bit was in their mouths, if the Peers of the old blood were alarmed at the gro^wth of reUgious liberfy and were discontented because they could no longer deal ¦with It in the old way, the King was con vinced that he was acting for the tme interests of the country, that Parliament would uphold him, and that he could control both the ecclesiastics and the nobles. The world should see that the reforms which he had Introduced Into England were not the paltry accidents of a domestic scandal, but the first steps of a revolution deUberately resolved on and sternly carried out which was to free the island for ever from the usurped au- Call of Parliament. 453 thorify of an Italian Prelate, and from the poisonous influences ¦within the realm of a corrupt and demoral ising superstition. The call of Parliament after Anne's execution was the strongest evidence of confidence in his people which Henry had yet given. He had much to ac knowledge and much to ask. He had to confess that, although he had been right in demanding a separa tion from his brother's wUe, he had fataUy mistaken the character of the woman whom he had chosen to take her place. The succession which he had hoped to establish he had made more intricate than before. He had now three children, aU technically iUegitimate. The Duke of Richmond was the son of the only mis tress with whom he was ever known to have been reaUy connected. The Duke was now eighteen years old. He had been educated as a Prince, but had no position recognised by the law. Elizabeth's mother had acknowledged to ha^ving committed herseU be fore her marriage with the King, and many persons doubted whether EUzabeth was the King's true daugh ter. Maiy's claim was justly considered as the best, for, though her mother's marriage had been declared iUegal, she had been born bond fide parentum. What ParUament would do in such extraordinary circum stances could not be foreseen with any certainfy, and the elections had to be made ¦with precipitancy and without time for preparation. The writs were Issued on the 7th of May. The meeting was to be on the 8th of June. The Crown could influence or control the elections at some particular places. At Canter bury Cromwell named the representatives who were to be chosen,! as, tlU the Reform BiU of 1832, they continued to be named by the patrons of boroughs. 1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 6, 1536, vol, x, p, 389. 454 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Yet it would be absurd to argue from single instances that the Cro^wn could do what it pleased. Even with leisure to take precautions and with the utmost exer cise of its powers, it could only affect the returns, ui the great majorify of the constituencies, through the Peers and lando-wners, and the leading citizens in the corporations. With only four weeks to act in, a Queen to try and execute, and a King to marry in the interval, no ingenuity and no industry could have sufficed to secure a House of Commons whose sub serviency could be counted on, U subserviency was what the King required. It is clear only that, so far as concerned the general opinion of the country, the condemnation of Anne Boleyn had rather streng^- ened than impaired his popularlfy. As Queen she had been feared and disliked. Her punishment was regarded as a creditable act of justice, and the King was compassionated as a sufferer from abominable ingratitude. Little is known in detail of the proceedings of this Parliament. The Acts remain : the debates are lost. The principal difficulties with which it had to deal concerned Anne's trial and the disposition of the In heritance of the Crown. On the matter of real im portance, on the resolution of King and Legislature to go forward with the Reformation, aU doubts were promptly dispelled. An Act was passed without op position reasserting the extinction of the Pope's au thority, and another taking away the protection of sanctuary from felonious priests. The succession was a harder problem. Day after day it had been debated in the CouncU. Lord Sussex had proposed that, as aU the chUdren of the King were iUegitimate, the male should be preferred to the female and the crown Act of Sut^cession. 455 be settled on the Duke of Richmond.^ Richmond was personaUy liked. He resembled his father in appearance and character, and the King himseU was supposed to favour this solution. With the outer world the favourite was the Princess Mary. Both she and her mother were respected for a misfortune which was not due to faults of theirs, and the Prin cess was the more endeared by the danger to which she was believed to have been exposed through the machinations of Anne. The new Queen was her strongest advocate, and the King's affection for her had not been diminished even when she had tried him the most. He could not have been ignorant of her correspondence with Chapuys : he probably knew that she had wished to escape out of the reahn, and that the Pope, who was now suing to him, had meant to bestow his own crown upon her. But her qualities were Uke his o-wn, tough and unmaUeable, and In the midst of his anger he had admired her resolution. Every one expected that she would be restored to her rank after Anne's death. The King had apparently been satisfied -with her letter to him. CromweU was her friend, and Chapuys, who had' quaUfied her sub mission, was triumphant and confident. He was led to expect that an Act would be introduced declaring her the next heir — nay, he had thought that such an Act had been passed. Unfortunately for him the question of her acknowledgment of the Act of Su premacy was necessarUy re-vived. Had she or had she not accepted it? The Act had been imposed, with the Statute of Treasons attached, as a test of loyalfy to the Reformation. It was impossible to place her nearest to the throne as long as she refused 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, June 6, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 441. 456 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. obedience to a law essential to the national indepen dence. To refuse was to confess of a purpose of un doing her father's work, should he die and the crown descend to her. She had supposed that " she was out of her trouble " while she had saved her conscience by the reservation in her submission. Chapuys found her again " in extreme perplexity and anger." The reservation had been observed. The Duke of Nor folk, Lord Sussex, a Bishop, and other Pri-vy Coun ciUors, had come with a message to* her, like those which had been so often carried ineffectuaUy to her mother, to represent the necessify of obedience. Chapuys said that she had confounded them with her wise answers, and that, when they could not meet her arguments, they " told her that. If she was their daughter, they would knock her head against the waU tiU it was as soft as a baked apple." In passing through Mary and through Chapuys the words, per haps, received some metaphorical additions. It is hkely enough, however, that Norfolk, who was sup porting her claims with all his power, was irritated at the re-vival of the old difficulties which he had hoped were removed. The Princess " in her extreme neces sify" wrote for ad-vice to the Ambassador. The Emperor was no longer in a condition to threaten, and to secure Mary's place as next in the succession was of too -vital importance to the Imperialists to per mit them to encourage her in scruples of conscience, Chapuys answered frankly that, U the King persisted, she must do what he required. The Emperor had distinctly said so. Her IUe was precious, she must hide her real feeUngs tiU a time came for the redress of the disorders of the reahn. Nothing was demanded of her expressly against God or the Articles of Faith, and God looked to intentions rather than acts. Act of Succession. 457 Mary stUl hesitated. She had the Tudor obstinacy, ind she tried her wiU against her father's. The King was extremely angry. He had beUeved that she had given way and that the troubles which had distracted his famUy were at last over. He had been exception- aUy weU-disposed towards her. He had probably de cided to be governed by the wishes of the people and to appoint her by statute presumptive heir, and she seemed determined to make it impossible for him. He suspected that she was being secretly encouraged. To defend her conduct, as CromweU ventured to do, pro voked him the more, for he felt, truly, that to give way was to abandon the field. Lady Hussey was sent to the Tower ; Lord Exeter and Sir WiUiam Fitz- -wiUiam were suspended from attendance on the Coun cU ; and even CromweU, for four or five days, counted himseU a lost man. Jane Seymour interceded in vain. To refuse to acknowledg^the supremacy was treason, and had been made treason for ample reason. Mary, as the first subject in the reahn, could not be allowed to deny it. Henry sent for the Judges, to consider what was to be done, and the Court was once more in terror. The Judges advised that a strict form of sub mission should be drawn, and that the Princess should be required to sign it. If she persisted in her refusal, she would then be liable to the law. The difficulty was overcome, or evaded, in a manner characteristic of the system to which Mary so passionately adhered. Chapuys drew a secret protest that, in submitting, she was yielding only to force. Thus* guarded, he assured her that her consent would not be binding, that the Pope would not only refrain from blaming her, but would highly approve. She was stUl unsatis fied, tiU she made him promise to write to the Im perial Ambassador at Rome to procure a secret abso- 458 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. lution from the Pope for the fuU satisfaction of her conscience. Thus protected, she disdainfully set her name to the paper prepared by the Judges, without condescending to read it, and the marked contempt, in Chapuys's opinion, would serve as an excuse for her in the future.-^ While the crisis lasted the Council were in perma nent session. Timid Peers were alarmed at the King's peremptoriness, and said that it might cost him his throne. The secret process by which Mary had been brought to yield may have been conjectured, and her resistance was not forgotten, but she had signed what was demanded, and it was enough. In the Court there was universal delight. Chapuys congratulated Crom weU, and CromweU led him to beheve that the crown would be settled as he -wished. The King and Queen drove down to Richmond to pay the Princess a visit. Henry gave her a handsome present of money and said that now she might have anything that she pleased. The Queen gave her a diamond. She was to return to the court and resume her old station. One cloud only remained. If It was generaUy under stood that the heir presumptive in her heart detested the measures in which she had formally acquiesced, the country could no longer be expected to support a policy which would be reversed on the King's death. Mary's conduct left Uttle doubt of her real feehngs, and therefore it was not held to be safe to give her by statute the position which her friends desired for her. The facilify with which the Pope could dispense with inconvenient obligations rendered a verbal acquies cence an imperfect safeguard. Parliament, therefore, did not, after all, entail the cro-wn upon her, in the 1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 1, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp, 184 et seq. Act of /Succession. 459 event of the King's present marriage being unfruitful, but left her to deserve it and empowered the King to name his o-wn successor. Chapuys, however, was able to console himseU with the reflection that the Bastard, as he called EUzabeth, was now out of the question. The Duke of Richmond was IU — sinking under the same weakness of consti tution which had been so fatal in the Tudor family and of which he, in fact, died a few weeks later. The prevailing opinion was that the King could never have another chUd. Mary's prospects, therefore, were tolerably " secure. I must admit," Chapuys wrote on the Sth of July, " that her treatment improves every day. She never had so much liberfy as now, or was served with so much state even by the little Bastard's waiting-women. She wiU want nothing in future but the name of Princess of Wales,! and that is of no con sequence, for aU the rest she wIU have more abun dantly than before." Mary, in fact, now wanted nothing save the Pope's pardon for ha-ving abjured his authority. Chapuys had undertaken that it would be easily granted. The Emperor had himseU asked for it, yet not only could not Cifuentes obtain the absolution, but he did not so much as dare to speak to Paul on the subject. The absolution for the murder of an Archbishop of Dublin had been bestowed cheerfuUy and Instantly on Fitz gerald. Mary was left with perjury on her con science, and no reUef could be had. There appeared 1 Chapuys to Charles V,, July 8, 1536, — Spanish Calendar, vol, v. part 2, p. 221. In using the words, " Princess of Wales," Chapuys adds a curious fact, if fact it be — " Nowhere that I know of," he says, " is the title of Princess given to a King's daughter as long as there is hope of male descent. It waa the Cardinal of York who, for some whim or other of his own, broke through the rule and caused Henry's daughter by Catherine to he called ' Princess of Wales.' " 460 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. to be some technical dlfficulfy. " Unless she retracted and abjured in the presence of the persons before whom she took the oath, it was said that the Pope's absolution would be of no use to her." There was, perhaps, another objection. CUuentes imperfectly trusted Paul. He feared that U he pressed the re quest the secret would be betrayed and that Mary's IUe would be in danger.^ Time, perhaps, and reflection aUeviated Mary's re morse and enabled her to dispense with the Papal anodyne, whUe CromweU further comforted the Am bassador in August by teUing him that the King felt he was growing old, that he was hopeless of further offspring, and was thinking seriously of making Mary his heir after aU.^ Age the King could not contend with, but for the rest he had carried his policy through. The first act of the Reformation was closing, and he was left in eommand of the situation. The curtain was to rise again with the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire rebeUion, to be foUowed by the treason of the Poles. But there is no occasion to teU a story over again which I can teU no better than I have done already, nor does it belong to the subject of the present volume. The Pilgrimage of Grace was the outbreak of the con spiracy encouraged by Chapuys to punish Henry, and to stop the progress of the Reformation ; Chapuys's successors in the time of Elizabeth foUowed his ex ample; and with them aU the result was the same — the ruin of the cause which with such weapons they were trymg to maintain, and the deaths on the scaf fold of the -victims of visionary hopes and promises which were never to be made good. 1 Cifuentes to Charles V., August 4, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol. V. part 2, p, 221, ^ Chapuys to Charles V., August 12, 1536. ,' Fate of Catholic Conspirators, 461 All the great persons whom Chapuys names as -wiUing to engage in the enterprise — the Peers, the Knights, who, with the least help from the Emperor, would hurl the King from his throne. Lord Darcy and Lord Hussey, the Bishop of Rochester, as later on, the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Montague, and his mother — sank one after another into bloody graves. They mis took their imaginations for facts, their passions for arguments, and the vain talk of an unscrupulous Am bassador for solid ground on which to venture into treason. In their dreams they saw the phantom of the Emperor coming over with an army to help them. Excited as they had been, they could not part with their hopes. They knew that they were powerful in numbers. Their preparations had been made, and many thousands of clergy and gentlemen and yeomen had been kindled into crusading enthusiasm. The flame burst out sporadically and at Intervals, without certain plan or purpose, at a time when the Emperor could not help them, even U he had ever seriously Intended it, and thus the conflagration, which at first blazed through aU the northern counties, was extinguished before it turned to ci-vil war. The common people who had been concerned in it suffered but lightly. But the roots had penetrated deep ; the conspiracy was of long standing ; the intention of the leaders was to carry out the Papal censures, and put do-wn what was caUed heresy. The rising was really formidable, for the loyalfy of many of the great nobles was not above suspicion, and, U not promptly dealt -with, it might have enveloped the whole island. Those who rise in arms against Govemments must take the consequences of failure, and the leaders who had been the active spirits in the sedition were inexorably punished. In my History of the time I have imderstated the num- 462 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. ber of those who were executed. Care was taken to select only those who had been definitely prominent. Nearly three hundred were hanged in aU — in batches of twenty-five or thirty, in each of the great northem cities ; and, to emphasize the example and to show that the sacerdotal habit would no longer protect trea son, the orders were to select particularly the priests and friars who had been engaged. The rising was undertaken in the name of reUgion. The clergy had been the most eager of the instigators. Chapuys had told the Emperor that of aU Henry's subjects the clergy were the most disaffected, and the most wiUing to supply money for an invasion. They were there fore legitimately picked out for retribution, and in Lincoln, York, Hull, Doncaster, Newcastle, and Car lisle, the didactic spectacle was -witnessed of some scores of reverend persons swinging for the crows to eat in the sacred dress of their order. A severe lesson was required to teach a superstitious world that the clerical immunities existed no longer and that priests who broke the law would suffer like common mortals ; but it must be clearly understood that, U these men could have had their way, the hundreds who suffered would have been thousands, and the -victims would have been the poor men who were looking for a purer faith in the pages of the New Testament. When we consider the rivers of blood which were shed elsewhere before the Protestant cause coidd estab- Ush itseU, the real wonder is the small cost in human hfe of the mighfy revolution successfuUy accomplished by Henry. With him. Indeed, Chapuys must share the honour. The Catholics, if they had pleased, might have pressed their objections and their remonstrances in Parliament ; and a nation as disposed for compro mise as the English might have mutilated the inevita- The Martyrs of Faith, 463 ble changes. Chapuys's counsels tempted them into more dangerous and less pardonable roads. By en couraging them in secret conspiracies he made them a menace to the peace of the realm. He brought Fisher to the block. He forced the Government to pass the Act of Supremacy as a defence against treason, and was thus the cause also of the execution of Sir Thomas More and the Charterhouse Monks. To Chapuys, perhaps, and to his faithful imitators later in the century — De Quadra and Mendoza — the country owes the completeness of the success of the Reformation. It was a battle fought out gallantly between two principles — a crisis In the eternal strug gle between the old and the new. The Catholics may boast legitimately of their martyrs. But the Protes tants have a martyrology longer far and no less hon ourable, and those who continue to believe that the -victory won in England in the sixteenth century was a -victory of right over wrong, have no need to blush for the actions of the brave men who, in the pulpit or in the Council Chamber, on the scaffold or at the stake, won for mankind the spiritual liberty which is now the law of the world. mDEX. ABBOTS, mitred : division of opin ion on the Annates Bill, 187. "Advocation" of a cause to Rome, 108. Alengon, Princesse d' : Wolsey's alleged desire of Henry VIII.'s marriage with, idsq. Amadas, Mrs. , 235. Annates Bill, 187. Appeals, Act of, 58, 209. Arches Court, the, reformation of, 185. Arthur, Prince (Henry VIII. 's brother) : question of the consummation of his marriage with Catherine, 171. Ateca, Father (Bishop of Llandaff), Catherine's confessor, 379. Audeley, Chancellor., 405. BARENTYNE, Sir William, 60. Barton, Elizabeth. Sea Nun of Kent. Bath, Bishop of (English ambassador at Paris), on the initial stages of the di vorce of Henry VIIL, 25. Becket, Archbishop (Canterbury), the hero of the English clergy, 158. Bellay du (French ambassador to Eng land) : on Wolsey's position towards the divorce, 94 ; on the Blackfriars Legatine court, 107 ; account of Wol sey after his fall, 121 ; mission from Francis to Anne Boleyn, 250 ; special mission to Clement, 256 ; the Pope's reply, 257 sqq ; mission to the Pope in regard to Milan, 362 ; description of the debate iu Consistory on the Bull of Deposition, 369. Benet, Dr., English agent at Rome, 104. Bishop's courts, the, reformation of, 185. Bishops, English : their qualified accep tance of the Royal Supremacy, 161 ; their official opinions on the divorce question, 166 ; unanimous against the Annates Bill, 187. Bilney, Thomas, bumt as a heretic, by a bishop's order, 255. Blackfriars, the trial of the divorce cause before the Legatine court at, 49 ; the Papal supremacy on its trial there, 100. Boleyn, Sir Thomas (Anne Boleyn's fa ther : afterwards Earl of Wiltshire ) : opposed to his daughter's advance ment, 48. Bee also Wiltshire. Earl of. Boleyn, Lady, 47 ; the charge of her be ing unduly intimate witti Henry VIIL, 55, 57. Boleyn, Anne : account of her family and her early life, 47 ; alleged amour with Henry Percy, ib. \ hatred of Wolsey, 48 ; her personal appearance, ib. ; attempt to influence Henry in appointing an Abbess, 71 ; annoyance at Wolsey's getting a pension after his fall, 132 ; pleasure at the signs of Henry's breach with the Papacy, 152 ; said (by Chapuys) to be favouring the Lutherans, 163 ; unpopularity arising from her insolence and her intrigues, 167 ; objects to the Princess Mary be ing near her father, 174 ; created Mar chioness of Pembroke, 193 ; compli ments paid her by the French king, 194 ; present at the Interview between Henry and Francis, 195 ; continued unpopularity, 201 ; agrees to a private marriage, 203 ; a staunch Lutheran, 207 ; announcement of her being en ceinte., 211 ; her coronation, 230 ; gives birth to a daughter, 238 ; Bill establishing the succession in her off spring by Henrv, 262; attempts to force Princess Mary to acknowledge her as Queen, 266 ; alleged threats against Mary, 262, 266, 269, 279 ; sus pected evil intentions against Cather ine, 277 ; meets a rebuff in the ac quittal of Lord Dacre, 284 ; violence and iosolence to the King through jealousy, 296; and to hia principal Ministers, 297 ; oirges Henry to bring Catherine and Mary to trial under the Succession Act, 312.; joy at Cather ine's death, 382; friendly message to Mary, 383 ; Anne's continued unpop ularity, 385 ; letter to Mrs. Shelton about Mary, 387 ; a second miscar riage, 388 ; a long catalogue of mis deeds charged against her, 402; Easter (1536) at Greenwich, 404 ; in quiry into infidelities charged against her, 415 ; charged before the Council with adultery, 417 ; sent to the Tower, Index, ib. ; alleged to have planned the poi soning of the Princess Mary and the Duke of Richmond, 418 ; denial of the charge of adultery, 419 ; charged with having been herself the solicitor to adultery, 420 ; her trial : the indict ment, 426 ; a reason suggested for her infidelities, 426 n. ; her trial, 480 sqq. ; her confession to Cramer, invalidating her marriage with Henry, 431 ; her marriage declared null, 431 ; her dy ing speech, 435 ; execution, ib. Boleyn, Mary : Henry VIII.'s alleged Intimacy with, 55 sqq. ; Chapuys's reference to it, 130. Bourbon, Cardinal, 46. Bourbon, Duke of : his treatment of Italy after the battle of Pavia, 27 ; sack of Rome by (1527), 35. Brereton, Sir William (paramour of Anne Boleyn), 416, 419 ; execution, 420. • Brewer, Mr. : his translation and inter pretation of Wolsey's suggested Papal dispensation for Henry VIII.'s second marriage, 54: sq.; his views on the alleged intrigue between Henry and Mary Boleyn, 58. Bribery of ministers, a common custom, 45. Brief of Execution : Its issue still de layed by Paul IIL, 318 ; differences between it and the Bull of Deposition, 353 n. Brown, Dr. (Augustinian friar) : de nounces the authority of the Pope in England, 298. Bryan, Sir Francis : his opinion of Cle ment VII.'s intentions towards Henry VIIL, 93; suspected of intriguixig with Anne, 421. Bulls for English bishoprics, enormous cost of, 89. Burgo, Andrea de, 103, 168. Burgo, Baron de : appointed to succeed Casalis as Nuncio in England, 144 ; Chapuys's account of his first inter view with Henry, ' 145 ; protest against the revival of the statute of Praemunire, 148 ; Henry's reply, 149 ; report of an interview with Henry at Hampton Court, and with Norfolk, 150 ; reply to Norfolk's caution against introducing Papal briefs, 156 ; his attempted appeal to Convocation, 160; presents Clement's firief to Henry, 162; account of Henry's re ception of the threat of excommuni cation, 169; secret communications with Henry, 205; accompanies the King in state to the opening of Parlia ment, 206. Butts, Dr. (Henry's physician) : Cha puys's account of his treachery, 323. CALAIS, Conference at, 339, 347. Cambrai : suggested as neutral ground for the trial of the divorce cause, 124, 129, 169, 176, 200. Cambrai, Peace of, 66, 109, 112, 114, 134, 223. Campeggio, Bishop (Salisbury), 64, 92 ; chosen by the Pope as special Legate to England, 67 sq.j 74; reception in England, 76 ; his reports thence, 78 ; his consultation with Wolsey, 79 ; sug gestion to marry the Princess Mary to the Duke of Richmond, ib. ; dilatori- uess, 84 ; account of Lutheran propo sals to Henry, 91 ; his advice to Cath erine at Blackfriars, 100 ; effect upon him of Bishop Fisher's denunciation of the divorce, 107 ; indignity offered to him on his leaving England, 122; Henry's reply to his complaint, ib. ; revenues of lus see sequestrated, 238. Canonists, Henry VIII.'s consultation of, and the results, 136. Capello, Carlo (Venetian ambassador to London) : his account of Anne Bo leyn's unpopularity, 201. Carew, Sir Nicholas, 415. Carey, Eleanor: Henry VIII.'s refusal to appoint her Abbess of WUton, 71. Casalis, Sir Gregory, English agent at Rome, 37 ; on a special mission to the Pope at Orvieto, 53; his report, 63; on the Pope's position, 68 ; account of his interview with Clement to com plain of dilatorinesB, 84 ; after tbe Pope's recovery from illness, 89 ; re sume of the Pope's position towards the Emperor, 96 ; protests to the Pope against Fisher being made Cardinal, 338. Casalis, John (Papal Nuncio in Eng land) : his statement that the Pope desired to reconcile the King and the Emperor, 127; the Nuncio " heart and soul " with the King, 135. Catherine of Aragon : death of her male children by Henry, 21 ; irregularity of her marri^e, 23 ; her character, 24 ; description of her by Falieri, 32 ; first discovery of the proposal for a di vorce, 34 ; a scene with her husband, 38 ; endeavours to obtain the revoca tion of Wolsey's Legatine powers, 39 ; no suspicion for some time of Anne Boleyn, 48 ; believed that Wolsey was the instigator of the divorce, 49 ; her ignorance of any intrigue between Henry and either Lady Boleyn or her daughter Mary, 58 ; Catherine refuses to acquiesce in a private arrangement of the divorce, 62 ; stands resolutely upon her rights, 64 ; objects to the case being tried in EnglMid, 75 ; the arguments of the Legates to her, 77 ; the Queen remains still firm, 78 ; her popularity, 79, 81 ; the Brief amend ing defects in Julius' dispensation, 83, 86 ; Catherine refuses to embrace a conventual life, 87 ; protest against the trial at Blackfriars, 101 ; appeal to Henry there, ib. ; Catherine pro nounced contumacious, 102 ; her joy at the advocation of the cause to Index. 467 Rome, 108 ; objection to the summon ing of Parliament, 110 ; first interview with Chapuys, 113 sq. ; demands from Rome instant sentence in her cause, 125 ; dislike of Wolsey up to his death, 132 ; fresh efforts to persuade her to take the veil, 133; the suggestion of a neutral place for the trial, 143 ; alarm at the enforcement of Praemu nire, 149 ; a party formed iu her favour in the House of Commons, 151 ; letter of Catherine to Clement, 151 ; sends a special representative to Rome, 159 ; reception of the new.s that Henry had declared himself " Pope " in England, 162 ; distrust of Clement's intentions, 163 ; renewed appeal to the Emperor, 165 ; causes of her popularity, 167 ; her answer to a delegation of Feers and Bishops urging a neutral place of trial, 170; sneer at the "Supremum Caput," 171 ; question of the consum mation of lier marriage with Prince Arthur, 171 ; Catherine separated from her daughter, aud sent to Moor Park, 174 ; English nobles make another effort to move Catherine, "176; her reply, 177 ; annoyed at the Pope's de lays, 179 ; her opinion on the proba ble result of the meeting of Henry and Francis, 193 ; complaints to Charles, 197 ; the proposal that Cranmer should try the cause in the Archbishop's court, 207 ; Catherine pressed by Eng lish peers to withdaw her appeal, after the passing of the Act of Ap peals, 214 ; her reply, 216 ; rSsume of her position in regard to Henry, 217 sq. ; summoned, refuses to appear be fore Cranmer's court at Dunstable, 220 ; her rejection of the demand tliat she be styled and endowed as " Prin cess Dowager," 234; allowed to have the Princess Mary with her, 234 ; said to have desired a marriage between the Princess and Reginald Pole, 241, 295 ; absolute refusal of the renewed Cambrai proposition, 246 ; sent to Kimbolton, and separated again from her daughter, 252 ; fear of foul play, 254; insistence that Chapuys should appeal to Parliament for her, 262 ; refusal to take the Succession oath, 271 ; two accounts of her interview with Tunstal and Lee on the subject, 275 sq. ; suspected evil intentions of Anne against her, 277 ; disquiet at the Emperor's inaction, 280; obliged to refuse to receive Chapuys at Kim bolton, 281 ; her household reduced by Anne, 296 ; endeavours to quicken the Emperor's resolution, 302; anxi ety caused by her daughter's second illness, 304 ; the Emperor's refusal to interfere the death-knell of her hopes, 309 ; another appeal to Charles, 319 ; appeal to the Pope to " apply a rem edy," 356 ; a similar appeal to Charles, 357; what the "remedy" was, 362; Catherine's expectation of "martyr dom," 366; seized with fatal illness, 372 ; her last letters, 373 ; interviews with Chapuys, 377 ; hei death, 379 ; suspicion that she was poisoned, 379 sqq. ; her burial as " widow of Prince Arthur," 389. Catholic party in England : incipient treason develops into definite conspir acy, 240 ; notorious intention to take arms in behalf of Catherine and Mary, 271 ; all their leaders sank into bloody graves, 4C1. Cellmi, lienvenuto : anecdote of Clem ent VII , 75. Chabot, Admiral Philip de, 364. Chapuys, Eustace (Imperial aml^ssador to England): his character, 112; his reception in England, ib. ; interview with Henry, 113 ; and with Catherine, 114 ; report on the feeling of the peo ple, ib. ; report of Henry's refusal to aid Charles with money against the Turks, 126 ; and of Henry's attack on the Pope and Cardinals, ib. ; on Henry's firm determination to marry again, 127 ; on English popular hatred of the priests, 128 ; suggestion of ref erence to the Sorbonne, 129 ; on Nor folk's dread of Wolsey's return to office, 132 ; statement that the Com mons were sounded on the divorce, 133 ; report of Norfolk's opinion of probable results of refusing the di vorce, 136 sq. ; Chapuys's mistaken estimate of English feeling, 137 ; on Wolsey's communications with Cath erine, 138; and his desire to "call in the secular arm," 139; secrets ob tained from Wolsey's physician, 140 ; his account of De Burgo's (Nuncio) first interview vrith Henry (1530), 145 ; advice to the Nuncio, 146 ; on Anne Boleyn's jubilance, 152 ; diahke of his position in England, 153 ; reply to Norfolk's statement of the superiority in England of the King's to the Pope's authority, 155 ; astounded by the en forcement of Praemunire against the English clergy, 160 ; blames Clement's timidity and dissimulation, 162; his account of Henry's treatment of the Pope's attempts at friendly negotia tions, 178 ; report of Henry's denun ciation of Papal claims in England, 209 ; desires the Emperor to make war on England, 213; mterview with Henry after the passing of the Act of Appeals, 214'; report on Cranmer's judgment, 221 ; bold action, and con sequent discussion with the Council, 226 ; proposes a special Spanish em bassy to London, 233 ; his high opinion of Thomas Cromwell, 236 ; attempt to combine Scotland and England through a marriage between James and the Princess Mary, 261 ; interview with Henry aa to Catherine's appeal to Par liament, 263 ; his intrigues with Scot- 468 Index, land and with Ireland against the peace of England, 268 sq., 275 ; speech to the English Council against the Succession oath, 272 sq. ; presses his views on Cromwell, 275 ; account of Tunstal's aud Lee's interview with Catherine on the Succession oath, 276; expresses fears for the safety of Cath erine's life, 277 ; his pilgrimage to our Lady of Walsingham '(taking Kimbol ton on the way), 281 sq. ; delight at the Irish rebellion, 285 ; renewed fears for the safety of Catherine and Mary, 280 ; negotiations for insurrection with Lords Hussey and Darcy, 288 sq. ; reversal of his revolutionary tactics, 309 ; fresh negotiations with Cromwell, 309 sqq. ; belief that Cromwell desired to have the Princess Mary made away with, 314 ; presses on Cromwell the appeal to a General Council, 321 ; let ter to Charles emphasizing Catherine's appeals for the ' ' remedy, ' ' 357 ; belief that time and circumstances were pro pitious, 358 ; reception of Cromwell's protest against the Emperor's sup posed intended attack on Henry, 359 ; mterviews with the Marchioness of Exeter, 365 ; interview with Henry before visiting Catherine in her mor tal illness, 374 ; visit to Catherine, 377 ; suspicions as to her having been poisoned, 379 sqq. ; advice to Mary in regard to Anne Boleyn, 383 ; another plan for Mary's escape, 391 ; resumes negotiations with Cromwell for a trea ty between Charles and Henry, 394 ; expectations of Henry's separation from Anne, 400 ; continued negotia tions for the treaty, 403 ; account of the Easter (1536) at Greenwich, 404; Henry insists on a letter from Charles, 406, 408 ; Chapuys's report to Charles, 409 ; report to the Emperor of Anne Boleyn's downfall, 418 ; false account of Rochford's dying speech, 428; his explanation of Anne's mysterious con fession to Cranmer, 432 ; reports about Jane Seymour, 442 ; the negotiations for a treaty again taken up, 446 ; in troduced to Henry's new Queen, 448 ; advises Mary to take the Succession oath with a secret protest, 457 ; on the title " Princess of Wales," 459 n. ; dif ficulty with Rome about absolution for Mary's " protest," 460 ; the success of the Reformation indirectly owing to Chapuys, 463. Charles V. (Emperor) : his position in regard to Europe in 1526, 26 ; his re lations to the Church, 43; letter to Henry VIII. on his desired divorce, 44 ; letter to Wolsey, 45 ; persistent efforts to bribe Wolsey, 50 ; allows the Pope to escape from captivity, 52 ; suggests a private arrangement be tween Henry and Catherine, 64 ; dec laration of war by France and Eng land against Charles, 65 ; his reply, ih. ; instructions to Mendoza on the Legatine Commission, 74; letter to Catherine, 75 ; suggestion that she should take the veil, 77 ; becomes the champion of the Roman hierarchy, 97 ; seeks Henry's aid against the Turks, 126; determination to stand by Catherine, 133 ; fear of exciting the German Lutherans, ib. ; his corona tion at Bologna, 134 ; reply to the English deputies, ib. ; personal inter est in the question of papal dispensa tions — his affinity to his wife, 141 ; unconscious of the changes passing over the mind of the English people, 154 ; perplexed by Henry's enforce ment of Praemunire, 164; letter to Sir T. More, 167 ; insistence that only the Pope should be the judge in Henry's case, 171 ; slight modification in his demand, 173 ; efforts to effect reunion of the Lutherans with the Church, 175 ; his position towards England after Cranmer's judgment, 222 sqq. ; his nearness to the succes sion to the English Crown, 254; dread of an Anglo-French alliance, 278 ; suggests a joint embassy to England from the Pope and himself, ib. ; causes of his hesitation to accede to the wishes of the reactionists in Eng land, 299, 302 ; ultimate refusal, 306, 308 ; proposed treaty between Charles and Henry, 307 ; letter to Henry re lating to the proposed treaty, 335 ; hia successful campaign m Africa, 347 ; memorandum of the Spanish Council of State, 348 ; apparent change of feeling towards Henry, 360 ; modifica tions of policy after the death of Duke Sforza (Milan), 364 ; Charles's treat ment of Chapuys's alarms about Henry's intentions towards Catherine and Mary, 366; reception of the news of Catherine's death, 392 ; resump tion of negotiations for the aban doned treaty, 394 ; eagemessfor recon ciliation with Henry, 396 ; liis pro posal, 397 ; anticipated remarriage of Henry, 398 ; reply to Cromwell's sug gestions on the treaty, 403 ; proposes the Infanta of Portugal as a wife for Henry, and the Infant (Don Louis) as a husband for Princess Mary, 438 ; an alternative proposal, ih. ; disappointed with Henry's conduct after his new marriage, 448 ; signally defeated by the French in Provence, 449. Charterhouse monks : their retractation of their Supremacy oath, 327 ; execu ted for treason ,-328. Church reform in the Parliament of 1529, 115 sqq.., 127 sq. Cifuentes, Count de (Imperial ambassa dor to Rome), 210, 224, 231, 256 sqq., 270, 278, 346 sq.., 353, 460. Clarencieulx (English herald), 65. Clarendon, Constitutions of, 184 sq. Index. 469 Clement VIL, Pope: his political posi tion when the divorce was first mooted, 25 ; Charles V.'s inroads on Italy, 27 ; the Pope's appeal for help _to Henry VIIL, ih. ; financial difficult 'ties and the method of relieving them j 30 ; a witness of the sack of Rome (1527), 35 ; his captivity, 38, 44 ; Dr. Knight's mission to, from Henry VIIL, 51; the Pope's escape to Or vieto, 52 ; his desire to please Henry, 62 ; his suggestion of a compromise, 63 ; concessions to Henry, 67 ; con sent that the cause should be heard in England, 68 ; the secret " decretal," 69 ; alleged contingent assent to the proposal to marry Princess Mary to Duke of Richmond, 80; perplexities in regard to the secret "decretal," 84; fresh pressure from the Emperor, 86 ; the brief of Julius H., 87 ; serious Ill ness of Clement, 88 ; expresses deter mination not to grant the divorce, 90 ; resume of his halting conduct in the cause, 99 ; between the hammer and the anvil, 105 ; veers towards Henry's side, 125 ; desirous to reconcile Henry and the Emperor, 127 ; his prohibi tory brief against Henry's second marriage, 134 ; the hand of the Em peror therein, ib. ; his desire that Henry should solve the difficulty, by marriage, 142 ; his reply to the Eng lish mission after the failure at Black friars, 144 ; issues a second brief for bidding Henry's second marriage, 153 ; continued desire of a compro mise, 160 ; treatment of the appeal to a General Council, 166 ; reasons for his delay in the divorce case, 168 sq. ; brought by Micer Mai to consent to communion in both kinds and to the marriage of priests, 175 ; attempts friendly negotiations with Henry, 178 ; Clement's distrust as to the state ments about English popular senti ment, 180 ; he sends Henry another expostulating brief, 181, 189 ; Ortiz's attempt to extract a sentence of ex communication, 189 ; Clement's pri vately expressed wish that Henry would marry without waiting for sen tence, 192 ; another brief prepared against Henry, 196 ; continued inde cision, 197 ; conditional excommuni cation of Henry, 198 ; reception of the news of Henry's marriage, 210 ; preparation for the interview with Francis at Nice, 231 ; Clement signs the brief Super Attentatis^ 233 ; inter view with Francis at Marseilles, 243; treatment of the French suggestion that Henry's case should be heard at Cambrai, 244 ; subject to a cross-fire of influences, 256 sqq. ; the sentence delivered : the raarriage of Henry and Catherine declared valid, 259 ; threat to absolve English subjects from their allegiance, ^5 ; the Brief of Execution (calling in the secular arm) held back, 278 ; Clement's death, 290. Clergy Discipline Acts, 125. Clergy (English) ; their state, and the popular feeling towards them, 115 ; their sentiments on the contest be tween Henfy and the ^ope, 157 ; unanimous censure of the Smg, 158 ; the clergy under Prsemunite, w, \ fe lonious clerks punished like secular criminals, 185 ; traitor priests exe cuted in their clerical habits, 185, 462 ; indignation of the clergy at the stat utes passed in restraint of their privi leges, 451. Commission to investigate charges against Anne Boleyn, the, 420 ; the evidence before them, 421. Commons, Petition of the (1529), 115. Comun idades, the revolt of the, 43, Conspiracy connected with the Nun o£ Kent, 195, 247, 265. Convocation : De Burgo's futile appeal to, 160 ; acceptance of Royal Supre macy, 186 ; alleged address against annates, 187 n. Covos, Secretary, 269. Cranmer, Thomas (afterwards Arch bishop) : one of the English deputies at the coronation of Charles V., 134; his marriage as a priest, 202 ; made Archbishop of Canterbury, 203 ; tlie proposal that he should try the di vorce cause, 207 ; gives judgment for the divorce, 220 ; his qualified oath to the Pope, 227 ; his high regard for Anne, 421 ; his alarm for the political results of Anne's guilt, 450. Cromwell, Thomas : his relations with Chapuys, 229, 235, 240 ; sketch of his career, 236 ; eager for the reform of the clergy, 237 ; alleged desire of the deaths of Catherine and Mary, 286 ; his discovery of the Emperor's inten tions in regard to Princess Mary, 302 ; on the illness of the Princess, 303 ; his political principles, 308; in negotia tion again with Chapuys, 309, 321, 330, 333 ; professed anxiety for Catherine's aud Mary's safety, 311 ; Anne Bo leyn's enmity to him, 334 ; statement of English objection to a Papal Gen eral Council, 339 ; interferes with the election of the Lord Mayor, 359; treatment of Chapuys's advances for resuming negotiations of the aban doned treaty, 394 ; contingent accept ance of the Emperor's proposals, 395 ;, sounded by Chapuys as to Henry'a possible separation from Anne, 400;. negotiations continued, 403 ; his. knowledge of Anne's infidelities, 413 ; informs the King, 415 ; report of the proceedings against Anne, 424; the commission of investigation of monas-. tic establishments, 452 ; influence over some parliamentary elections, 454 ; a strong friend of Princess Mary, 470 Index. 455; her refusal of the Succession oath brings on Cromwell the King's displeasure, 457 ; expresses his belief that Mary will be declared his heir by the King, 460. DACRE of Naworth, Lord : tried for treason, and acquitted, 284. Darcy of Templehurst, Lord : his charges against Wolsey, 117 sqq. ; opinions on the Royal Supremacy, 186 ; scheme proposed by him to Chapuys for an insurrection against Henry, 289 ; intimates to Chapuys that the time of action has arrived, 298 ; eager for insurrection, 332, 346 ; comes to a violent end, 461. Darcy, Sir Arthur (Lord Darcy's son), 312. Darius, Sylvester, English agent at Val ladolid, 82. Davalos, Rodrigo (Spanish lawyer) : his special method of expediting the di vorce suit at Rome, 232. Deceased husband's brother, marriage with, 24, 52. Deposition, the Bull of : not identical with the Brief of Execution, 353 n. Desmond, Earl of : offers his services to the Emperor against Henry, 269. Dispensing power, the Papal claim of, in matrimonial matters, 24, 33 ; vari ous views of canou lawyers, 125 ; how it affected various Royal families, 141 ; a Cardinal's opinion of the al leged power, 160. Dublin, Archbishop of, slaughtered by Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, 285. Dunstable, Cranmer's court at, 220. Durham, Wolsey bishop of, 89. D3nQgley, Sir Thomas, 59. ECCLESIASTICAL Courts : their tyranny over the laity, 115. Edward IV. : his children by Elizabeth Grey declared by a Church court to be illegitimate, 22. Elections, parliamentary, limited extent of Crown influence over, 453 sq. Elizabeth, Princess ; proposal for her marriage with the Duke of Angou- ISme, 331. Emmanuel, King (Portugal) : married successively to two sisters and their niece, 141. English people : their sentiments on the contest between Henry and the Pope, 157, 167 ; wearied of the tyranny of Rome, and of the iniquities of Church courts and the clergy, 451. Esher, Wolsey's residence at, 132. Essex, Sir William, 60. Europe, general interest of, in the Eng lish Reformation movement, 13. Exeter, Marchioness of, 365 sq.,, 400. £xeter. Marquis of (grandson of Edward IV. : a possible claimant to succeed Henry VUL), 23, 214, 457, 461. FALIERI, Ludovico (Venetian ambas sador to England) : his descriptions of Queen Catherine aud Henry VIII., 32 ; on female succession to the Eng lish crown, 123. Ferdinand (King of Hungary, and King of the Romans : Charles V.'s brother), 133, 342. Fisher, Bishop (Rochester) : his first views about the divorce, 42 ; his em phatic denunciation of it, 106 ; objec tion to the Clergy Discipline Acts, 125 ; staunch in favour of Catherine, 151 ; his opposition to the Royal Su premacy overcome by threats, 163 ; determination to defend Catherine in Parliament, 184 ; committed to the custody of Bishop Gardiner, 212 ; re leased, 231 ; becomes leader of the Catholic conspiracy, 241 ; sent to the Tower, 249 ; again sent to the Tower for refusing to take the Succession oath, 268; created Cardinal, 338; committed for trial, 339 ; incrimina ting letters found on him, 341 ; trial and execution, 343. Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas : in negotia tion with Chapuys, 269 ; in open re bellion against Henry, 285 ; want of means, 297 ; defeat, 301 ; receives the Pope's absolution for the murder of the Archbishop of Dublin, 332 ; a pri soner in the Tower, 355 ; executed, 361. Fitzwilliam, Sir WiUiam, 176, 417, 419, 457. Flemish artisans in London, 83. Florlano, Messer : his speech on Cam- peggio's arrival in London, 76. Foxe, Dr. (afterwards Bishop) : his mis sion from Henry to Clement, 66 ; his reply to Chapuys's defence of his ac tion for Catherine, 227. Francis I. (France), defeat uid capture of, at Pavia, 25 ; his belief that Charles intended to transfer the Apostolic See to Spain, 46 ; doubts Wolsey's- hon esty in regard to Henry VIH., 95 ; negotiations with the Smalcaldic League against Charles V., 135 ; pro mise to arrange with the Pope if Henry cut the knot and married, 144 ; desires the Pope to delay sentence, 165 ; his compliments and presents to Anne Boleyn, 194; meeting with Henry, 195; encourages Henry to marry and break with the Pope, ib. ; fails to keep his apparent promise to Henry, 231 ; abandons Henry, 243 ; letter to Anne Boleyn, 250 ; last ef forts at Rome, 256 sq. ; influence on him of the remembrance of Pavia, 278 ; desire to set up a Patriarchate of France, 279 ; promotes the election of Farnese (Paul IH.), 291 ; anxious desire to take Milan, 331, 334 ; dubi ous position on the question of the Papal deposition of Henry, 349 ; fresh aspirations towards Milan, 362; po- Index. 471 licy towards the Bull of Deposition, 364 ; successful invasion of Italy, 449 ; defeats Charles in Provence, ib. GARDINER, Stephen, 66, 92, 131, 212, 424. General Council : suggested appeal to, for the settlement of difficulties, 166, 312, 320, 339 ; demanded of the Pope by France and England, 195. Ghinucci, Bishop (Worcester), 64 ; rev enues of his see sequestrated, 238. Granvelle (Spanish Minister), 353, 409, 419, 438. Grey, Lord Leonard, 360. Greys, the family of, possible claimants to succeed Henry VIIL, 23. Gueldres, Duke of, 405. HANNAERT, Viscount (Charles's ambassador at Paris) : promotes a treaty between Charles and Henry, 307 ; bis report on Anne's infldelity, 419. Haughton, Prior (Charterhouse), exe cuted for treasofi, 328. Henry VIIL : effect of religious preju dice in estimating his character : on Catholics, 4 ; High Churchmen, 5 ; Protestants, ib, ; his ministers and prelates must share in whatever was questionable in his acts, 8 ; his per sonal popularity, 9 ; permanent char acter of his legislation, 10 ; its bene fits extended beyond England, 11 ; all his laws were submitted to his Parlia ment, 13 ; calumnies and libels against Henry in his lifetime, 14 ; recent dis covery of unpublished materials for his history, 15 ; nature and especial value of these, 16 sq. Henry VIIL : prospects (in 1526) of a disputed succession through the lack of an heir, 21 ; primary reason for his ceasing to cohabit with Catherine, ib. ; irregularity of his marriage, 23 ; first mention of the divorce, 25 ; receives an appeal for help from Clement VII. , 27 ; sends the Pope money, 28 ; the first public expression of a doubt as to Princess Mary's legitimacy, 31 ; Falieri's description of Henry, 32 j the King before tbe Legatine court, 34 ; unpopularity of the divorce, 39 ; receives a letter from Charles urging him not to make the divorce question public, 44 ; Henry determines to choose a successor to Catherine, 47 ; attracted to Anne Boleyn, ib. ; en deavors to obtain from the Pope a dis pensation to marry a second time, 51 ; risum^ of Henry's position, 52 sq. ; examination of the charge that Henry's connection with Anne was incestuous, 55 sqq. ; the Pope's advice that he should marry again and then proceed with the trial, 63 ; Henry joins with France in declaring war against Charles, 65 ; his statement of his case as laid before Clement at Orvieto, 67 ; Henry's letter to Anne Boleyn, 70; the Abbess of Winton, 71 ; Henry's letter of complaint to Wolsey about the appointment of an unfitting per son, 72; Campeggio's prearranged de lays, 74 ; speech in the City, 81 ; re solves to let the trial proceed before Caujpeggio and Wolsey, 93; Henry's address to the Legates at Blackfriars, 101 ; refuses to accept Clement, the Emperor's prisoner, as judge of his cause, 102 ; his momentary inclina tion to abandon Anne, 111 ; reception of Chapuys, the Imperial ambassador, 112 ; interpretation of the advocation of his case to Rome, 123 ; denuncia tion of the Pope and Cardinals, 126 ; approves of the reforming side of Lu theranism, ib. ; consults foreign doc tors on his cause, 127, 134, 136 ; con tinued liking for Wolsey, 129 ; a brief from Clement forbidding his marriage, 134 ; Henry invited by Francis to join the Smalcaldic League, 135 ; desire to recall Wolsey, 136 ; sends him down to his diocese, 139 ; the suggestion of 9, neutral place for the trial, 143 ; Henry again denounces the Pope and all his Court, 145 ; emphatically refuses to allow his ca'use to be tried at Rome, ib. ; revival of the Prdemunire, 147 ; a step towards the break with the Pa pacy, 149 ; Henry's direct appeal to the Pope, 150 ; Clement's second brief against Henry's second marriage, 153 ; a struggle with the Pope inevitable, 157 ; clipping the claws of the clergy, 158 ; Henry declared Supreme Head of the Church of England, 159 ; receives the Papal brief forbidding his second marriage, 162 ; reply to the Nuncio's questions as to the nature of his new Papacy, 163 ; and to the Pope's ap peal for aid against the Turks, 164, 178 ; disregards the Pope's threat of excommunication, 169 ; rejects the Pope's efforts at friendly negotiations, 178 ; alleged bribery by Henry's am bassador at Rome, 179 ; deliberateness of Henry's conduct of his policy, 182 ; his reply to Bishop Tunstal's letter against schism , 183 ; steps towards the toleration of hereayj 186 ; displeasure with More, ib. ; Annates Bill, 187 ; French advice to Henry to marry without waitmg for sentence, 192; meeting with Fr^cis, 193 sqq. ; the immediate outcome thereof, 195 sq. ; rumour of his secret marriage with Anne, 196 ; again threatened with ex communication, 198 ; Henry appoints Crasmer to Canterbury, 203 ; pri vately married to Anne Boleyn, ib. ; his law in restraint of the powers of bishops, 205 ; courteous conduct to wards the Nuncio, 206; allows his marriage to be known, 208 ; prepara tions for possible war, ib. \ appeals tQ 472 Index. Rome forbidden, 209; rSsume of Henry's position (in regard to the divorce) towards the Pope, 218 sq. ; Cranmer's judgment, 220 ; Henry in forms the Emperor of his marriage, 224 ; the formal announcement in the House of Lords, 225 ; discovers that he had been misled by Francis, 231, 235, 245 ; disappointment at the birth of a daughter, 238 ; order that the Pope was only to be styled "Bishop of Rome," 250 ; difficulty in disposing of Catherine, 251 ; Henry's fears of an insurrection, ¦!&. ; the King's nomi nation to bishoprics sufficient, without requiring Papal Bulls, 256 ; the Papal sentence, 259 ; passage of the Act abolishing the Pope's authority in Eng land, ib. ; refusal of Chapuys's de mand to speak in Parliament for Cath erine, 263 ; enforces the oath to the Succession Act, 267; orders more kindly treatment of Princess Mary, 271 ; the question of demanding the Succession oath from Catherine and Mary, 271 sqq. : the King modifies the demand, 276; another meeting with Francis arranged, but postponed, 279 ; cooling of his feelings for Anne, 286 ; reported nouvelles amours., 287, 296 ; interference on behalf of Mary, 287 ; refuses to acknowledge any special authority in any Pope, 291 ; prospects of civil war, 301 ; anxiety for Mary in her second illness, 303 ; refuses Cha puys's request that she should be again placed under her mother's care, 304 i hia high opinion of Catherine's courage, 305; desire to be on good terms with Charles, 310 ; letters to Sir John Wallop for the Spanish Am bassador in Paris, 330 ; receives a let ter from Charles, 335 ; threat in re gard to " Cardinal " Fisher, 339 ; jealousy of the rival Powers, 350 ; en thusiastic reception during his pro gress to the Welsh borders, ib. ; slan ders against bim on tbe Continent, 359 ; interference in the election of Lord Mayor, ib. ; a period of danger for Henry, 361 ; opinion that Cather ine and Mary must " bend or break," 365; interview with Chapuys during Catherine's mortal illness, 375 ; effect of Catherine's death, 382 ; rejoicings in the Palace, 383 ; Henry's treatment of Mary, 384 ; beginning of his dissat isfaction with Anne, 387 ; disappoint ment at her second miscarriage, 389 : present from him to Mary of her mo ther's crucifix, 395 ; speculation on his remarriage, 398 ; rumours about Henry's partiality to Jane Seymour, 400 ; his legal position towards Anne Boleyn, 401 ; refuses the Emperor's proposal of reconciliation with Rome, 403 ; reception of Chapuys at Green wich (Easter, 1536), 404 sgg. ; Henry's (ietermined position towards Charles, 406 sqq. ; his report on the affair to his ambassador to the Emperor, 410; dissolution of Parliament, 413 ; in formed of Anne's infidelities, orders an inquiry, 415 ; the trials resulting, 422 sqq. ; the trial of Anne, 425 ; the mystery of Anne's confession to Cran mer, 430 sqq. ; the Lambeth sentence, 431 ; Anne's execution ; high person ages present by the King's command, 435 ; competition from the Continent for his hand, 436 ; overtures for re conciliation from Rome, 440 sq. ; Jane Seymour, 441 ; speedy marriage with her, 444 ; Mary restored to favor, 445 ; Henry's declaration of neutrality in tbe war between Francis and Charles, 449 ; his return to the Ro man communion expected by the Catholics, 450 ; determination to carry out the Reformation, 452; his diffi cult position towards the new Parlia ment, 453 ; his popularity strength ened by the condemnation of Anne, 454 ; strength of his affection for Mary, 455 ; his anger at htr again re fusing to take the Succession oath, 457 ; joy at her acquiescence, 458 ; hopeless of further offspring, 460 ; close of the first Act of the Reformat tion, 460 sqq. Husee, John : his letter on Anne Boleyn to Lord and Lady Lisle, 422 ; on Hen ry's seclusion after Anne Boleyn's execution, 444. Hussey, Lady, 457. Hussey, Lord, 288, 334^ 46I. ILLEGITIMACY, treatment of, by the Church of Rome, 22. Inteville, M. d' : his compound mission to England, 423, 437. Ireland, rebellion in : proofs that it was part of a Papal holy war, 285. Italian conjuror, the, 294. Italian League, the, 28. JAEN, Cardinal of, 269. James V. of Scotland, a possible claimant to succeed Henry VUL, 23. Jordan, Isabella (Prioress of Wilton), 71. Julius IL, Pope ; his dispensation for Henry VIII. 's first marriage, 53 ; de fects in his Bull of dispensation to Henry, 83 ; alleged brief correcting these, 83, 87 ; a Roman opinion of the nullity of his dispensation, 160. KIMBOLTON, Catherine's residence at, 252. Kingston, Sir W. (Constable of the Tower), 300, 431, 435, 443. Kite, Bishop (Carlisle), 443. Knight, Dr. (secretary to Henry VIH.) : his special mission to Rome, 51. LAITY, English middle class : their feelings towards Queen Catherine and towards the Church, 79. Index. 473 Lambeth sentence, the : the nullity of Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, 431 sq, Langey, Sieur de : special envoy to Anne Boleyn from Francis, 194. Lee, Archbishop (York), 176. Legatine Commission, the (Gampeg- gio's), 67 sqq,^ 74, 76. Legatine court, Wolsey's, 34. Legend, invulnerability of, 61. Legends, historic, 1 sqq. Liberty, spiritual, of the world, won by Henry's work in the Reformation, 463. Liege, Cardinal of : suggested as a judge in the divorce cause, 144. Lincolnshire rebellion, 460. Lingard, Dr. : his interpretation of Wolsey's suggested Papal dispensation for Henry VIII.'s second marriage, 55. Llandaff, Queen Catherine's confessor Bishop of, 64. Lorraine, Cardinal, 46. Louis XIL : his method of settling a matrimonial difficulty, 188. Luther, Henry VIII. 's partial sympathy with, 126. Lutheran advances to Henry VIII., 91. Lutheranism : its rapid spread in Eng land, 255, 280, 297. Lutherans, German : then- tacit encour agement by Charles V., 27, 35; his fear of exciting them, 133 ; decidedly opposed to Henry's divorce, 154. MAI, Micer, Imperial agent at Rome, 89; resentment of a slight put upon the Emperor, 90 ; assent to Lu theran political objections to Rome, 91 ; his opinion of the Pope and his councillors, 103 ; and of Salviati's in structions to Campeggio, ib. ; reports on the mission from Henry to Cle ment, 143 ; suggestion of a General Council to settle difficulties, 166 ; ob tains from Clement concessions as to reunion of Lutherans, 175 ; distracted with the Pope's evasions, 179 ; charges English ambassador with bribery, 179, 191. Manor of the More, Wolsey's residence at, 116. Martyrology : the Protestant longer and no less honourable than the Catholic, 463. Mary, Princess : proposed marriage of, with Francis I. or with one of his sons, 29 ; suggested proposal to marry her to her father's natural son (Duke of Richmond), 79 ; separated from her mother, 174 ; her father's- love of her, ib. ; the Emperor's desire to pro tect her rights, 200 ; aUowed again to live with her mother, 234 ; deprived of the title of "Princess," 240; let ter to her father after his marriage with Anne, 254 ; attached to the estab lishment of her sister Elizabeth, 252 ; anecdotes of the King's affection for her, 252 sq. ; her determined attitude, 261, 266 ; " shows her teeth " against the Succession oath, 271 sq. ; has an alarming illness, 286 ; belief that her life is threatened, 287 ; project to con vey her out of England, 300 ; another serious illness, 302; consternation of the physicians, 303 ; reality of her personal danger, 317 ; fresh plans for her escape, 319 ; removed from Green wich to Eltham, 320 ; further plans, ib. ; petition to the Emperor to " ap ply the remedy," 355; her friends desire to have her married to the Dauphin, 358 ; reply to Anne Boleyn's friendly message after Catherine's death, 383 ; discovery of a letter about her from Anne to Mrs. Shelton, 388 ; proposal to take the Succession oath with a mental reservation, 390 ; another plan of escape, 391 ; rejoiced at the prospect of her father's separa^ tion from Anne, 399 ; received back into her father's favor, 445; question of her marriage, 446 ; her popularity increased In consequence of the machinations of Anne, 455 ; the ques tion of the Succession oath revived, 456 ; by Chapuys's advice she submits (with a secret protest), 457 ; delight of the King and Queen, 458 ; her real feeUngs not disguised, ih. ; unable to obtain a Papal absolution for the "secret protest" connected with her oath, 460. Maximilian, Emperor : his high opinion of the English people, 20. Medici, Catherine de' (niece of Cle ment VIL), marriage of, with the Duke of Orleans, 243. " Melun, the eels of " (proverb), 226. Mendoza, Inigo de (Bishop of Burgos), mission of, from Spain to France and England, 29, 32, 34,38 ; offers Wolsey the bribe of the Papacy, 39; in structed to offer other bribes to win Wolsey's friendship to the Emperor, 45 ; his first mention of Anne Boleyn, 48 ; his belief that Wolsey was the instigator of the divorce, 49 ; reports to Charles on the Legatine Commis sion, 75 ; mistaken estimate of Eng lish national opinion, 82 ; recalled : his fareweU interview with Henry, 97. Milan : the question of succession re opened, 362 ; treaty prepared by Spain for settlement of the dispute, 393. Molza, Gerardo : his account of Cam- peggio's reception in England, 76. Monastic orders : tiieir depraved condi tion, 325 ; preachers of insurrection, 326 ; the " very stews of unnatural crime," 350 ; continued proofs of their iniquitous condition, 452. Money, comparative value of, in Henry VIII.'s time, 89, 117. Montague, Lord, 305, 461. Montfalconet (Ch&rles'smattre d'hotel) : his report to Charles on Catherine's desire for a sentence, 188. 474 Index, Moor" Park: Catherine's residence at, 174. More, Sir Thomas : made Lord Chancel lor, 120; lack of sympathy with ad vanced Reformers, 131 ; enforces heresy laws against Lutherans, 154 ; horrified ab the King's claim to Supremacy over the Church, he re signs the Chancellorship, 163 ; state ment before the Lords of the opinions of Universities on the divorce, 166 ; his chanceUorship distinguished for heresy-prosecutions, 186 ; resigns his office, 188 ; sent to the Tower for re fusing to take the Succession oath, 268 ; his prophecy in regard to Anne Boleyn's fate, 329 ; committed for trial, 339 ; sketch of his position, 343 ; trial, 344 ; execution, 345. Mortmain Acts : measures to prevent their evasion, 185- Mountjoy, Lord, 214. Mythic element, the, influence of, in history, 1. NIXE, Bishop (Norwich) : impris oned for burning a heretic, 255 sq. Norfolk, Duke of (uncle of Anne Boleyn), joins in an appeal to the Pope to concede the divorce, 84 ; op posed to Anne's marriage with the King, 111 ; sentiments about the di vorce, 114 ; made President of the Council, 120 ; his opinion on the ab solute need of the divorce (1529), 128 ; condemnation of the Pope's position in the matter, 129 ; suaplcions of Wolsey's possible return to power, 129, 131 sq. ; his statement to Chapuys of the necessity of Henry having made succession, 136; suggests the Cardinal of Li^ge and the Bishop of Tarbes as judges in the divorce cause, 143 ; cautions Chapuys against in troducing Papal briefs into England, 154 ; firm stand against the threat of excommunication, 164; admiration of Catherine and dislike of Anne Boleyn, 167 ; heads a deputation of Peers and Bishops to Catherine, 170 ; consulta tion with Peers on restraint of Papal jurisdiction, 186 ; his courtesies to the Papal Nancio, 206 ; interview with Chapuys before attending the meeting of the Pope and King Francis at Nice, 230 ; denunciation of Rome and Romanism, 250 ; expected that Henry would submit to the successor of Cle ment in the Papacy, 291 ; withdrawal from Court, 305 ; present at the exe cution of Charterhouse monks, 328. Norris, Sir Henry, 255 ; present at the execution of Charterhouse monks, 328 ; a paramour of Anne Boleyn, 416 sq.^ 418, 419 ; execution, 429. Northumberland, Earl of (Henry Percy), alleged secret marriage of, with Anne Boleyn, 47 ; disgust at Anne's arro gance, 297. Nun of Kent; disclosures connected with, 195, 265; the effect of the "re velations," 247. OBSERVANTS, tbe General of the, Charles V.'s guardian of the Pope, 52, 62, 68. Orleans, Duke of : marriage with Cathe rine de' Medici, 243. Ortiz, Dr., Catherine's special repres entative at Rome, 159, 165, 176, 178 sq., 181, 189, 194, 199, 259, 261, 351 sqq., 361, 367, 373. Orvieto, imprisonment of Clement VII. at, 52, 62. Oxford, Earl of, 214. PAGET, Lord : his description of Chapuys's character, 112. Papal curse, inefficiency of, in modern days, 260. Paris, University of: decision in favor of the divorce, 142. Parliaments , annual , introduced by Henry, 13. Parliament summoned after the failure of the Blackfriars court, 110 ; object of the meeting, 120 ; impeachment of Wolsey, 121 ; reform of Church courts, and Clergy Discipline Acts, 125; effect of Clement's delays on, 151 ; treatment (session 1531) of the Universities' opinions on the divorce, 166 ; third session (Jan. 1532) : forma tion of an Opposition against violent anti-clerical measures, 182 ; measures passed in restraint of clerical claims, 185 ; the Opposition (Peers and Pre lates) appeal to Chapuys for armed intervention by the Emperor, 225 ; the Act of Supremacy, 292 ; dissolu tion, 413 ; a new Parliament apeedUy summoned after Anne's execution, 453 ; no account left of the debates in this Parliament, 454 ; the new Act of Succession, 455. Patriarchate, a new, proposed, with Wol sey as its head, 38. Paul III. (Famese) : elected Pope as suc cessor to Clement VII., 290 ; favoura bly disposed towards Henry, 291 ; re strained by Charles from issuing the Brief of Execution, 318 ; acknowledg ment (when Cardinal) of Henry's right to a divorce, 333 ; prevents the treaty between Charles and Henry, 337 ; cre ates Fisher a Cardinal, 338 ; exaspe ration at the news of the execution of Fisher, 348 ; difficulties of desired re taliation, 349 ; delay in issuing the censures, 351 ; reasons therefor, 352 ; desire that Catherine should apply for the Brief of Execution, 356; thinks of declaring Mary Queen in place of her "deposed" father, 358; annoy ance at the failure of Fitzgerald's re- belUon, 360 ; thinks himself a new HUdebrand, 362 ; summary of-his Bull against Henry, 363 ; delay in its issue, Index. 475 367 ; a warm debate in Consistory, 368 sqq. ; professes kindly feelings to Henry after Catherine's death, 403; reception of the news of Anne's fall, 439 ; overtures for reconciliation, 440 sq. ; eager solicitations to Henry to return to the Roman communion, 454. Paulet, Sir WilUam, 420. Pavia, poUtical resiilts of the defeat of Francis I. at, 25 sqq. Peers, EngUsh : their petition to Clem ent to grant Henry's petition, 142. "Penny Gleek," 443. Percy, Henry (Earl of Northumberland) : his statement that Anne Boleyn meant to poison the Princess Mary, 253 ; swears that there was never contract of marriage between him and Anne, 419. Petition of the Commons (1529), 115. Peto, Cardinal, 60. Pilgrim^e of Grace, the, 59, 460. Pole, Geoffrey (brother of Reginald), 295, 416. Pole, Reginald : his manifesto accompa nying Paul III.'s Bull deposing Henry VUL, 56 ; his statement of Henry's desire to break mth Anne Boleyn, 111 ; suggested marriage with Princess Mary, 241, 295. Pommeraye, La (French ambassador iu London): his denunciation of "that devil of a Pope," 181 ; recommenda^ tion that Henry should foUow Louis Xll'a example, 188, 192. Praemunire, 118, 147; proclamation for its enforcement, 148 ; embarrassments caused by its revival, 164. Prejudice, influence of, in judging his torical characters, 2 sqq. Provisors, the Statute of, 122; its re vival, 149. REFORMATION, English: at first poUtical rather than doctrinal, 6 ; its characteristic excellence, 7. Reunion of Christendom, Charles V.'s efforts for, 175. Richmond, Duke of (cr. 1525), natural son of Henry VIIL, 22, 395; pres ent at the execution of Charterhouse monks, 328 ; educated as a Prince, but his position not recognized by the law, 453 ; his popularity and re semblance to his father, 455 ; Surrey's proposal that the Crown should be settled on him, 455 ; his death, 459. Rochford, Lord (Anne Boleyn's broth er) : mission to Paris to announce his sister's marriage, 208 ; present at the execution of Charterhouse monks, 328; specially attentive to Chapuys, 404 ; refused the Garter, 415 ; t^es part in the tournament (1536), 416 ; ax'rested, 418 ; charged with incest with his sis ter, 420 ; his trial, 426 sq. ; Chapuys's account of his dying speech, 428 ; the real speech, ih. Rome, sack of, by the Duke of Bour bon, 35. Royal Supremacy, meaning of, 159 ; ac cepted by Convocation, 186. Russell, Sir John, sent with money to Clement VIL, 28. ST. ALBANS, Wolsey abbot of, 89, 116. St. John the Baptist and Herod, Bishop Fisher's allusion to, in the matter of the divorce, 106. SaUsbury, Countess of, 23, 241, 461. Salviati, Cardinal, 46, 88, 103, 233. Sampson, Dean (of the Chapel Royal) : speech against the Pope's claims over England, 274. v Sanctuary : felonious clerks deprived of the right of, 454. Sandys, Lord (Henry's chamberlain), 297. Sanga (Clement VII. 's secretary), 27, 80, 96. Sens, Cardinal (Chancellor), 46. Seymour, Sir Edward, 405. Seymour, Jane : first association of her name with Henry, 400 ; her marriage, 444 ; great popularity, 445 ; kindness to Mary, 455, 458. Sforza, Duke of MUan, death of, 362. Shelton Mrs. (Anne Bolejm's aunt), 252, 262, 267, 269 sq., 320, 387, 392. Six Articles BiU, the, 7. Smalcaldic League, the, 135, 255. Smeton, Mark (paramour of Anne Bol eyn), 415, 416, 419 ; execution, 429. Sorbonne, the : suggested reference of the divorce cause to, 129. Soria, Lope de (Minister of Charles V. at Genoa), his letter on the sack of Rome, 36, 43. Spain : the Cabinet's discussion of Cath erine's position after Cranmer's judg ment, 221 sqq.\ their decision, 223; debates on proposed treaty between Charles and Henry, 307, 335. Spaniards, the : their atrocities in Italy, 29,35. Statute Book, the : its historic aspect, 13. Stokesley, Bishop (London), ,134, 416. Succession to the English throne, dan ger of a disputed, 21, 79, 123 ; various possible claimants if Henry VIII. had no heir, 23. Succession, Act of, 264 ; the oath to it enforced, 267 ; debate in Council as to its enforcement on Catherine and Mary, 271 sqq. ; (after Anne's death) the discussion of, 454 sq. Suffolk, Duke of : his mission from Hen ry to France, 94 ; Chapuys's report on his sentiments about the divorce, 114 ; made Vice-President of the Council, 120. Supremacy, Act of (explaining in detail the meaning of the Royal Supremacy), 292 sq. ; enforced, 327 sqq. 476 Index. Sussex, Lord : one of a deputation of nobles to Catherine 'at Moor Park, 176 ; proposes to Parliament (alter Anne's execution) that tlie Duke of Richmond should have the succession to the Crown, 455. TARBES, Bishop of (afterwards Car dinal Grammont) : his mission to England from France, 30 ; the first pubUcly to question the legitimacy of the Princess Mary, 31, 81 ; (ambassa dor to Clement VII.) his statement of Clement's real opinion on the divorce, 134 ; suggested by Duke of Norfolk as a judge in the divorce cause, 143 ; caution to Clement as to the con sequences of his losing England, 168 ; mission to Rome to demand a General Council, 195 ; a proposal to Clement apparently in Henry's name, 244. Talboys, Sir Gilbert ; married the moth er of Henry VIII.'s iUegitimate son, 22. Throgmorton, Sir George : his state ments about Henry VIIL, Lady Boleyn and her daughters, 59 sqq. Throgmorton, Michael, 59. Toison d'or (French herald), 65. Tournon, Cardinal : his special mission to Rome to demand a General Coun cU, 195, 231. Treasons, the Statute of, 456. Tunstal, Bishop (Durham) : his letter to Henry on the Royal Supremacy, 182 ; speech in favor of the Succes sion Act, 273 sq. ; mission to Cathe rine on the subject^275. WALLOP, Sir John (English repre sentative at Paris), 306, 373, 424. Warham, Archbishop (Canterbury), as sessor to Wolsey as Legate, 34 ; doubt ful as to the divorce,-42 ; afterwards in favour of it, 142 ; his halting opin ions, 151 ; protest against the Royal Supremacy, 183 ; dying protest against the anti-papal legislation, 187. Weston, Sir Francis, paramour of Anne Boleyn, 417 sqq.,, 422 sq. ; execution, 429. Wilton, the state of the convent at, 71 ; Henry VIII.'s letters on the appoint ment of its Abbess, 72. Wiltshire, Earl of (Sir Thomas Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's father). 111, 134 ; one of the English deputies at the corona tion of Charles V., 134 ; withdraws his opposition to his daughter's mar riage with the King, 208 ; present at the execution of the Charterhouse monks, 328. Winchester, Wolsey bishop of, 89, 116. Wolsey, Cardinal : his first efforts to promote the divorce of Henry, 25; ea^er to maintain the Papacy, 26 ; -his desire of an Anglo-French alliance, 29 ; a pensionary of the Emperor, ib. ; brings the question of divorce before his Legatine court, 34 ; his policy af ter the Sack of Rome, 37 ; the pro posal to make Wolsey Archbishop of Rouen and Patriarch, 38 ; refuses the Emperor's offered bribe of the Papacy, 39; mission to Paris, 41; interview with Bishop Fisher, 42 ; further bribes offered him by Charles, 45 ; signs the French Cardinals' protest against the Pope's captivity, 46 ; disgust at the King's selection of Anne Boleyn, 49 ; at first endeavors to check the di vorce, 50 ; sends a draft dispensation for the Pope's signature, 53 ; the wording thereof, 54 ; consultations with Campeggio, 79 ; the secret decre* tal, 84, 88 ; chances of Wolsey's elec tion to the Papacy, 88 ; his boundlesa wealth, ib. ; letter to Campeggio on Catherine's position, 93 ; in doubt about the progress of his French poUcy, 94; foresight of coming events, 97 ; the Legatine court at Blackfriars, 99; delays, 105; effect of Bishop Fisher's interposition, 106 ; Campeggio refuses to pass sentence, 107 ; despatch to the Commissioners at Rome, ib. ; causes of the animosity that broke out against him, 116 ; the manifold sources of his wealth, ib. ; his son, 117 ; Lord Darcy's Ust of complaints against him, ib. ; details of his fall, 120 sqq. ; hopes of return to power, 131 ; obliged to resign the sees of Winchester and St. Albans, 132 ; aUowed a grant by way of pen sion, ih. ; becomes the friend of Cathe rine and the secret adviser of Cha puys, 138 ; starts to visit his diocese, 139 ; his death at Leicester Abbey. 140. Worcester, Lady, the first accuser of Anne, 415. Wriothesley Chronicle, the, 428, 432. Wyatt, Sir Henry, 421. Wyatt, Sir Thomas (the poet), one of the lovers of Anne Boleyn, 47, 421. YORK, Archbishop (Lee) : mission, with Tunstal, to Catherine about the Succession Act, 275. York, Wolsey archbishop of, 89, 116. Yorkshire rebeUion, 460, YALE UNIVERSITY a39002 00i*0tt8162b ',».,. ^M .;'i 1-',>jM| ,1. 1 h,'." iii. if'.'fi P-'-t.'L''".: ' MM (¦!(lf N"' iHh";'" "?=;'!il!S *»m iHP: ¦>'Xn[ iUi IK^i 1 .^^ itih ;>.;<'*«%:.: }?i5 !^«: